Data compression using pre-generated dictionaries

A file is compressed by replacing its characters by codes that are dependent on the statistics of the characters. The character-to-code table, known as the dictionary, is typically incorporated into the compressed file. Popular compression schemes reach theoretical compression limit only asymptotically. Small files or files without much intra-file redundancy, either compress poorly or not at all. This disclosure describes techniques that achieve superior compression, even for small files or files without much intra-file redundancy, by independently maintaining the dictionary at the transmitting and receiving ends of a file transmission, such that the dictionary does not need to be incorporated into the compressed file

Open Access and the REF: Issues and Potential Solutions Workshop

This report provides a summary of the discussion and findings of the Open Access and the REF: Issues and Potential Solutions workshop held as part of the End-to-End Project. The workshop was highly interactive and feedback received indicated it was considered an excellent event, and that it was vital and useful to bring together various key stakeholders to discuss problems and procedures and develop ideas

Scoping exercise on fallers’ clinics : report to the National Co-ordinating Centre for NHS Service Delivery and Organisation R & D (NCCSDO)

The National Service Framework for Older People has stated the need for fall-prevention programmes. An appraisal of fallers’ clinics launched by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) was suspended because of a lack of information regarding existing services and typology. This project aimed to determine the feasibility of conducting economic modelling to appraise fallers’ clinics. To achieve this a national survey of services and reviews of the evidence of effectiveness of various models of fallers’ clinics and screening tools were undertaken

Open Access and the REF: Issues and Potential Solutions Workshop: Executive Summary

This report provides a summary of the discussion and findings of the Open Access and the REF: Issues and Potential Solutions workshop held as part of the End-to-End Project. The workshop was highly interactive and feedback received indicated it was considered an excellent event, and that it was vital and useful to bring together various key stakeholders to discuss problems and procedures and develop ideas

A Report on the use of Mobile Phones in EFL Classes

The goal of this paper is to report on English as a foreign language (EFL) classes in which mobile phones were either used for educational purposes, or prohibited. The authors created and conducted a questionnaire to learn the amount of study time, motivation and opinions related to using mobile phones for educational purposes of 181 students who participated in classes in which the teachers either encouraged the use of mobile phones through certain activities, or prohibited their use. The results indicated that although there were no statistically significant differences in motivation, students in classes in which mobile phones\u27 use was allowed tended to study significantly more than students in classes in which the use of mobile phones was prohibited. Feedback from students suggested that using mobile phones during class brings many benefits to the lesson, showing a desire for teachers to make use of these tools more regularly. In this fashion, we emphasize that by using mobile phones during EFL classes, teachers can enable students to have access to lesson content more readily, enabling them to increase their learning potential anytime they have their mobile phone on hand

On the distribution of urine output in normally cycling women

It has been suggested that it is possible to monitor the menstrual cycle by measuring the concentration of urinary reproductive steroids. This neglects the variation in void volume and in urine production rate. In neither case has any systematic analysis been reported previously. Overnight urine samples were collected each day for one complete cycle by 24 women and the void volumes and intervoid times were recorded. The void volume and urine production rate were approximately lognormally distributed and the intervoid time was approximately normally distributed. Using these distributions we consider the implications of the variation in void volume and urine production rate for the comparison of the concentrations of a urinary analyte in two samples

Expressing the quantity of urinary analytes: a discussion of some issues arising from the monitoring of the menstrual cycle

Practical domestic monitoring of the menstrual cycle requires measurements of urinary metabolites of reproductive hormones: oestrone glucuronide (E1G) and pregnanediol glucuronide (PdG). Data reported in the literature are expressed as (i) concentration, without or with either creatinine- or specific gravity correction, or (ii) excretion rates. This variation in such a fundamental issue prompts consideration of the relationships between the four measures. Because the menstrual cycle kinetics of E1G and PdG are complex, we consider measurements of urinary creatinine, urea, galactose, xylose and inulin which tend to be more stable. We show that uncorrected concentration measurements of these urinary analytes can be positively correlated, negatively correlated or uncorrelated with the serum concentration. Based on measurements of urinary creatinine concentrations, urinary specific gravity and creatinine excretion rates, we conclude that urinary analyte concentration are likely to be more reliable when creatinine-corrected rather than corrected using specific gravity, but that both are less reliable than measurements of the excretion rate. This has implications for the quantitation of any urinary analyte, but especially for the monitoring of the menstrual cycle in which changes in E1G and PdG from one day to the next can be physiologically significant for a woman monitoring her fertility

Narrative review of primary care point-of-care testing (POCT) and antibacterial use in respiratory tract infection (RTI)

Antimicrobial resistance is a global problem and is being addressed through national strategies to improve diagnostics, develop new antimicrobials and promote antimicrobial stewardship. A narrative review of the literature was undertaken to ascertain the value of C reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin, measurements to guide antibacterial prescribing in adult patients presenting to GP practices with symptoms of respiratory tract infection (RTI). Studies that were included were randomised controlled trials,controlled before and after studies, cohort studies and economic evaluations. Many studies demonstrated that the use of CRP tests in patients presenting with RTI symptoms reduces antibiotic prescribing by 23.3% to36.16%. Procalcitonin is not currently available as a point-of-care testing (POCT), but has shown value for patients with RTI admitted to hospital. GPs and patients report a good acceptability for a CRP POCT and economic evaluations show cost-effectiveness of CRP POCT over existing RTI management in primary care. POCTs increase diagnostic precision for GPs in the better management of patients with RTI. CRP POCT can better target antibacterial prescribing by GPs and contribute to national antimicrobial resistance strategies. Health services need to develop ways to ensure funding is transferred in order for POCT to be implemented