2,489 research outputs found
Efficient Video Indexing on the Web: A System that Leverages User Interactions with a Video Player
In this paper, we propose a user-based video indexing method, that
automatically generates thumbnails of the most important scenes of an online
video stream, by analyzing users' interactions with a web video player. As a
test bench to verify our idea we have extended the YouTube video player into
the VideoSkip system. In addition, VideoSkip uses a web-database (Google
Application Engine) to keep a record of some important parameters, such as the
timing of basic user actions (play, pause, skip). Moreover, we implemented an
algorithm that selects representative thumbnails. Finally, we populated the
system with data from an experiment with nine users. We found that the
VideoSkip system indexes video content by leveraging implicit users
interactions, such as pause and thirty seconds skip. Our early findings point
toward improvements of the web video player and its thumbnail generation
technique. The VideSkip system could compliment content-based algorithms, in
order to achieve efficient video-indexing in difficult videos, such as lectures
or sports.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, UCMedia 2010: 2nd International ICST Conference
on User Centric Medi
Ocorrência de anticorpos anti-Neospora caninum e anti-Toxoplasma gondii em cães com leishmaniose visceral
Uninfected dogs and those naturally infected with Leishmania chagasi exhibiting different clinical forms of disease were evaluated for the presence of anti-Neospora caninum and anti-Toxoplasma gondii antibodies. Blood samples were collected from 110 mongrel dogs. Sera were tested using the indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT), and the animals with visceral leishmaniasis (VL) (n=60) were classified clinically. Out of the 110 sera investigated, 5 (4.5%) were positive for N. caninum (IFAT≥50) and 36 (32.7%) for T. gondii (IFAT≥16). Anti-L. chagasi antibody titers in asymptomatic dogs (n=10) were found to be significantly lower (P<0.05) than those in oligosymptomatic ones (n=22), which were in turn significantly lower (P<0.05) than those in symptomatic ones (n=28). No association between Leishmania and N. caninum infections was observed. Among dogs infected with L. chagasi, a tendency (P=0.053) towards an association between the infection with T. gondii and the appearance of VL symptoms was observed, suggesting that the clinical manifestation of VL in dogs may enhance their susceptibility to T. gondii. The possible influence of the immunosuppressive status of canine leishmaniasis in the different clinical forms of the disease is discussed.A presença de anticorpos anti-Neospora caninum e anti-Toxoplasma gondii foi avaliada em cães não infectados e naturalmente infectados com Leishmania chagasi manifestando diferentes formas clínicas da enfermidade. Amostras de sangue foram coletadas de 110 cães sem raça definida. Os soros foram avaliados por meio da reação de imunofluorescência indireta (RIFI) e os animais com leishmaniose visceral (LV) (n=60) foram classificados clinicamente. Dos 110 soros analisados, 5 (4,5%) foram reativos para N. caninum (RIFI≥50) e 36 (32,7%) para T. gondii (RIFI≥16). Os títulos de anticorpos anti-L. chagasi em cães assintomáticos (n=10) foram significativamente (P<0,05) mais baixos que aqueles verificados em oligossintomáticos (n=22), que por sua vez foram significativamente menores (P<0,05) que em cães sintomáticos (n=28). Não foi observada associação entre infecções por Leishmania e N. caninum. Entre os cães infectados com L. chagasi, verificou-se uma tendência de associação (P=0.053) entre infecção com T. gondii e aparecimento de sinais clínicos da LV, o que sugere que a manifestação clínica da LV em cães pode aumentar sua susceptibilidade ao T. gondii. A provável influência do quadro de imunossupressão em diferentes formas clínicas da leishmaniose canina é abordada
Early Physical Therapist Interventions for Patients With COVID-19 in the Acute Care Hospital: A Case Report Series.
The aim of this case series was to describe the experience of Swiss physical therapists in the treatment of patients with COVID-19 during their acute care hospital stay and to discuss challenges and potential strategies in the clinical management of these patients.
We report 11 cases of patients with COVID-19 from 5 Swiss hospitals that illustrate the various indications for physical therapy, clinical challenges, potential treatment methods, and short-term response to treatment.
Physical therapists actively treated patients with COVID-19 on wards and in the intensive care unit. Interventions ranged from patient education, to prone positioning, to early mobilization and respiratory therapy. Patients were often unstable with quick exacerbation of symptoms and a slow and fluctuant recovery. Additionally, many patients who were critically ill developed severe weakness, postextubation dysphagia, weaning failure, or presented with anxiety or delirium. In this setting, physical therapy was challenging and required specialized and individualized therapeutic strategies. Most patients adopted the proposed treatment strategies, and lung function and physical strength improved over time.
Physical therapists clearly have a role in the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on our experience in Switzerland, we recommend that physical therapists routinely screen and assess patients for respiratory symptoms and exercise tolerance on acute wards. Treatment of patients who are critically ill should start as soon as possible to limit further sequelae. More research is needed for awake prone positioning and early breathing exercises as well as post-COVID rehabilitation.
To date, there are few data on the physical therapist management of patients with COVID-19. This article is among the first to describe the role of physical therapists in the complex pandemic environment and to describe the potential treatment strategies for countering the various challenges in the treatment of these patients
O gênero Strombomonas (Euglenophyceae pigmentadas) em ambientes lênticos na Planície Costeira do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil
Eruptions of Magnetic Ropes in Two Homologous Solar Events on 2002 June 1 and 2: a Key to Understanding of an Enigmatic Flare
The goal of this paper is to understand the drivers, configurations, and
scenarios of two similar eruptive events, which occurred in the same solar
active region 9973 on 2002 June 1 and 2. The June 2 event was previously
studied by Sui, Holman, and Dennis (2006, 2008), who concluded that it was
challenging for popular flare models. Using multi-spectral data, we analyze a
combination of the two events. Each of the events exhibited an evolving
cusp-like feature. We have revealed that these apparent ``cusps'' were most
likely mimicked by twisted magnetic flux ropes, but unlikely to be related to
the inverted Y-like magnetic configuration in the standard flare model. The
ropes originated inside a funnel-like magnetic domain whose base was bounded by
an EUV ring structure, and the top was associated with a coronal null point.
The ropes appear to be the major drivers for the events, but their rise was not
triggered by reconnection in the coronal null point. We propose a scenario and
a three-dimensional scheme for these events in which the filament eruptions and
flares were caused by interaction of the ropes.Comment: 22 pages, 11 figure
The Problem of Large Leptonic Mixing
Unlike in the quark sector where simple permutation symmetries can
generate the general features of quark masses and mixings, we find it
impossible (under conditions of hierarchy for the charged leptons and without
considering the see-saw mechanism or a more elaborate extension of the SM) to
guarantee large leptonic mixing angles with any general symmetry or
transformation of only known particles. If such symmetries exist, they must be
realized in more extended scenarios.Comment: RevTeX, 4 pages, no figure
Recent advances in neutrinoless double beta decay search
Even after the discovery of neutrino flavour oscillations, based on data from
atmospheric, solar, reactor, and accelerator experiments, many characteristics
of the neutrino remain unknown. Only the neutrino square-mass differences and
the mixing angle values have been estimated, while the value of each mass
eigenstate still hasn't. Its nature (massive Majorana or Dirac particle) is
still escaping. Neutrinoless double beta decay (-DBD) experimental
discovery could be the ultimate answer to some delicate questions of elementary
particle and nuclear physics. The Majorana description of neutrinos allows the
-DBD process, and consequently either a mass value could be measured or
the existence of physics beyond the standard should be confirmed without any
doubt. As expected, the -DBD measurement is a very difficult field of
application for experimentalists. In this paper, after a short summary of the
latest results in neutrino physics, the experimental status, the R&D projects,
and perspectives in -DBD sector are reviewed.Comment: 36 pages, 7 figures, To be publish in Czech Journal of Physic
CPT, T, and Lorentz Violation in Neutral-Meson Oscillations
Tests of CPT and Lorentz symmetry using neutral-meson oscillations are
studied within a formalism that allows for indirect CPT and T violation of
arbitrary size and is independent of phase conventions. The analysis is
particularly appropriate for studies of CPT and T violation in oscillations of
the heavy neutral mesons D, B_d, and B_s. The general Lorentz- and CPT-breaking
standard-model extension is used to derive an expression for the parameter for
CPT violation. It varies in a prescribed way with the magnitude and orientation
of the meson momentum and consequently also with sidereal time. Decay
probabilities are presented for both uncorrelated and correlated mesons, and
some implications for experiments are discussed.Comment: 11 pages, references added, accepted in Physical Review
A burst with double radio spectrum observed up to 212 GHz
We study a solar flare that occurred on September 10, 2002, in active region
NOAA 10105 starting around 14:52 UT and lasting approximately 5 minutes in the
radio range. The event was classified as M2.9 in X-rays and 1N in H\alpha.
Solar Submillimeter Telescope observations, in addition to microwave data give
us a good spectral coverage between 1.415 and 212 GHz. We combine these data
with ultraviolet images, hard and soft X-rays observations and full-disk
magnetograms. Images obtained from Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic
Imaging data are used to identify the locations of X-ray sources at different
energies and to determine the X-ray spectrum, while ultra violet images allow
us to characterize the coronal flaring region. The magnetic field evolution of
the active region is analyzed using Michelson Doppler Imager magnetograms. The
burst is detected at all available radio-frequencies. X-ray images (between 12
keV and 300 keV) reveal two compact sources and 212 GHz data, used to estimate
the radio source position, show a single compact source displaced by 25" from
one of the hard X-ray footpoints. We model the radio spectra using two
homogeneous sources, and combine this analysis with that of hard X-rays to
understand the dynamics of the particles. Relativistic particles, observed at
radio wavelengths above 50 GHz, have an electron index evolving with the
typical soft-hard-soft behaviour.Comment: Submitted to Solar Physics, 20 pages, 8 fugure
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