Improving MPEG-4 coding performance by jointly optimising compression and blocking effect elimination

Centre for Multimedia Signal Processing, Department of Electronic and Information EngineeringAccepted ManuscriptPublishe

Optimizing MPEG-4 coding performance by taking post-processing into account

Centre for Multimedia Signal Processing, Department of Electronic and Information EngineeringRefereed conference paper2000-2001 > Academic research: refereed > Refereed conference paperVersion of RecordPublishe

Color quantization of compressed video sequences

Centre for Multimedia Signal Processing, Department of Electronic and Information Engineering2002-2003 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

A fast two-stage OMP algorithm for coding stereo image residuals

Centre for Multimedia Signal Processing, Department of Electronic and Information EngineeringRefereed conference paper2003-2004 > Academic research: refereed > Refereed conference paperVersion of RecordPublishe

Mixed low grade and high grade endometrial stromal sarcoma of uterus: Differences on immunohistochemistry and chromosome in situ hybridisation

A case of a 64 year old woman with a tumour of the uterus is reported. The patient presented with postmenopausal bleeding and subsequently underwent total hysterectomy and bilateral salpingooophorectomy. Sections of the tumour showed a low grade endometrial stromal sarcoma coexisting with areas consistent with high grade sarcoma. The sarcoma cells, in both the low and high grade areas, were positive for vimentin and negative for desmin and cytokeratin on immunohistochemistry. While the sarcoma cells in the low grade region showed immunoreactivity for oestrogen and progestogen receptors, those in the high grade region did not. Using chromosome in situ hybridisation, the low grade portion of the sarcoma was diploid for chromosomes X, 11, 12, and 17, whereas the more anaplastic areas were aneuploid for these chromosomes. This case may represent an example of high grade endometrial stromal sarcoma arising by dedifferentiation from a low grade stromal sarcoma. Adequate sampling is important in identifying such anaplastic changes as the origin of the tumour will affect patient management.published_or_final_versio

Contributors to Surgical In-patient Satisfaction—Development and Reliability of a Targeted Instrument

ObjectivePatient satisfaction is an important indicator of healthcare system performance. High patient satisfaction is associated with greater trust in caregivers, improved compliance with treatment recommendations and a better quality of life (QOL). There are few validated instruments to measure surgical patients' satisfaction. The aim of this study was to develop a culturally-specific patient satisfaction instrument, for use as an outcome measure in evaluating surgical services.DesignPatient focus groups were convened to explore dimensions of the peri-operative hospital experience. Forums uncovered pertinent domains of interest and identified terminology understood by patients. A preliminary set of items reflecting patient satisfaction was developed. Test-retest reliability of a new surgical patient satisfaction instrument was assessed in 42 subjects at hospital discharge.ResultsDomains that emerged included; admission processes and hospital environment, information provision, nursing care, doctor and nurse interaction, and ancillary staff services. Staff attitudes and human qualities were highly valued, as was prompt attention to requests for assistance. Clarity or quality of medical information did not appear to influence in-patient satisfaction. A new measure of surgical patient satisfaction, Hong Kong Index of Inpatient Happiness (HK2Happ), was developed from focus group consultation. Test-retest generated an Intra Class Correlation of 0.868–0.935, indicating a highly stable tool.ConclusionsThe initial version of HK2Happ was reliable in assessing surgical patient satisfaction. The measure is now undergoing validity testing across different surgical patient populations for generalisation and generation of a short form of discriminant items

Psychological predictors of Chinese Christians’ church attendance and religious steadfastness: A three-wave prospective study

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PDXML: extensible markup language for processor description

This paper introduces PD-XML, a meta-language for describing instruction processors in general and with an emphasis on embedded processors, with the specific aim of enabling their rapid prototyping, evaluation and eventual design and implementation. The proposed methodology is based on the extensible markup language XML widely used structured information exchange and collaboration. PDXML allows for both high-level and low-level architectural specifications required to support a toolchain for design space exploration. PD-XML consists of three intuitive entities, describing: (a) the storage components available in a design, (b) the instructions supported by an architecture, and (c) the resources afforded by the microarchitecture implementation. PD-XML is not specific to any one architecture, compiler or simulation environment and hence provides greater flexibility than related machine description methodologies. We demonstrate how PD-XML can be interfaced to to existing description methodologies and tool-flows. In particular, we show how PD-XML specifications can be translated into appropriate machine descriptions for the parametric HPL-PD VLIW processor and for the flexible instruction processor approach

Predictors and outcomes of some religious experiences

Paper Session - 117 Understanding Religious ExperiencesA non-ordinary and transcendent religious experience (NOTRE) is an event that a religious believer reports about an unusual encounter with the divine, and which does not occur on a day-to-day basis. NOTREs are distinguishable from general feelings of closeness with God, of beauty of life and the world, and of joy and comfort attributed to the divine. Often highly emotionally charged, they are events which the believers themselves consider extraordinary, miraculous, and overwhelming. In this research, we focused on NOTREs that are related to physical healing from serious illness, speaking in tongues, and prayers and meditation. Two questions formed the focus of the present longitudinal study: First, who are more likely to report NOTREs? We expected that some NOTREs would be predicted by faith-related variables (faith maturity and religiosity) measured at an earlier time. Second, what are the effects of such alleged experiences on the person’s subsequent spiritual and psychological state? We expected that some NOTREs would predict faith maturity, religiosity, and religious behaviors measured ...postprin