431 research outputs found
Introduction. Human perspectives on the quest for knowledge
We firstly introduce the new Springer series Human Perspectives in Health Sciences and Technology (HPHST), and then we move on to illustrate the topic this volume deals with, namely whether machines will replace scientists in scientific development. We then explain the decision of having this volume to be the first volume of the HPHST series. Finally, we describe the organization of this book and give a brief presentation of each chapter
An adaptive prefix-assignment technique for symmetry reduction
This paper presents a technique for symmetry reduction that adaptively
assigns a prefix of variables in a system of constraints so that the generated
prefix-assignments are pairwise nonisomorphic under the action of the symmetry
group of the system. The technique is based on McKay's canonical extension
framework [J.~Algorithms 26 (1998), no.~2, 306--324]. Among key features of the
technique are (i) adaptability---the prefix sequence can be user-prescribed and
truncated for compatibility with the group of symmetries; (ii)
parallelizability---prefix-assignments can be processed in parallel
independently of each other; (iii) versatility---the method is applicable
whenever the group of symmetries can be concisely represented as the
automorphism group of a vertex-colored graph; and (iv) implementability---the
method can be implemented relying on a canonical labeling map for
vertex-colored graphs as the only nontrivial subroutine. To demonstrate the
practical applicability of our technique, we have prepared an experimental
open-source implementation of the technique and carry out a set of experiments
that demonstrate ability to reduce symmetry on hard instances. Furthermore, we
demonstrate that the implementation effectively parallelizes to compute
clusters with multiple nodes via a message-passing interface.Comment: Updated manuscript submitted for revie
Report from the third international consensus meeting to harmonise core outcome measures for atopic eczema/dermatitis clinical trials (HOME).
This report provides a summary of the third meeting of the Harmonising Outcome Measures for Eczema (HOME) initiative held in San Diego, CA, U.S.A., 6-7 April 2013 (HOME III). The meeting addressed the four domains that had previously been agreed should be measured in every eczema clinical trial: clinical signs, patient-reported symptoms, long-term control and quality of life. Formal presentations and nominal group techniques were used at this working meeting, attended by 56 voting participants (31 of whom were dermatologists). Significant progress was made on the domain of clinical signs. Without reference to any named scales, it was agreed that the intensity and extent of erythema, excoriation, oedema/papulation and lichenification should be included in the core outcome measure for the scale to have content validity. The group then discussed a systematic review of all scales measuring the clinical signs of eczema and their measurement properties, followed by a consensus vote on which scale to recommend for inclusion in the core outcome set. Research into the remaining three domains was presented, followed by discussions. The symptoms group and quality of life groups need to systematically identify all available tools and rate the quality of the tools. A definition of long-term control is needed before progress can be made towards recommending a core outcome measure
Developing serious games for cultural heritage: a state-of-the-art review
Although the widespread use of gaming for leisure purposes has been well documented, the use of games to support cultural heritage purposes, such as historical teaching and learning, or for enhancing museum visits, has been less well considered. The state-of-the-art in serious game technology is identical to that of the state-of-the-art in entertainment games technology. As a result, the field of serious heritage games concerns itself with recent advances in computer games, real-time computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence. On the other hand, the main strengths of serious gaming applications may be generalised as being in the areas of communication, visual expression of information, collaboration mechanisms, interactivity and entertainment. In this report, we will focus on the state-of-the-art with respect to the theories, methods and technologies used in serious heritage games. We provide an overview of existing literature of relevance to the domain, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the described methods and point out unsolved problems and challenges. In addition, several case studies illustrating the application of methods and technologies used in cultural heritage are presented
Clinical-pathological study on ÎČ-APP, IL-1ÎČ, GFAP, NFL, Spectrin II, 8OHdG, TUNEL, miR-21, miR-16, miR-92 expressions to verify DAI-diagnosis, grade and prognosis
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the most important death and disability cause, involving substantial costs, also in economic terms, when considering the young age of the involved subject. Aim of this paper is to report a series of patients treated at our institutions, to verify neurological results at six months or survival; in fatal cases we searched for ÎČAPP, GFAP, IL-1ÎČ, NFL, Spectrin II, TUNEL and miR-21, miR-16, and miR-92 expressions in brain samples, to verify DAI diagnosis and grade as strong predictor of survival and inflammatory response. Concentrations of 8OHdG as measurement of oxidative stress was performed. Immunoreaction of ÎČ-APP, IL-1ÎČ, GFAP, NFL, Spectrin II and 8OHdG were significantly increased in the TBI group with respect to control group subjects. Cell apoptosis, measured by TUNEL assay, were significantly higher in the study group than control cases. Results indicated that miR-21, miR-92 and miR-16 have a high predictive power in discriminating trauma brain cases from controls and could represent promising biomarkers as strong predictor of survival, and for the diagnosis of postmortem traumatic brain injury
Racial difference in Acylation Stimulating Protein (ASP) correlates to triglyceride in non-obese and obese African American and Caucasian women
© 2009 Scantlebury-Manning et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens
The Hubble Constant
I review the current state of determinations of the Hubble constant, which
gives the length scale of the Universe by relating the expansion velocity of
objects to their distance. There are two broad categories of measurements. The
first uses individual astrophysical objects which have some property that
allows their intrinsic luminosity or size to be determined, or allows the
determination of their distance by geometric means. The second category
comprises the use of all-sky cosmic microwave background, or correlations
between large samples of galaxies, to determine information about the geometry
of the Universe and hence the Hubble constant, typically in a combination with
other cosmological parameters. Many, but not all, object-based measurements
give values of around 72-74km/s/Mpc , with typical errors of 2-3km/s/Mpc.
This is in mild discrepancy with CMB-based measurements, in particular those
from the Planck satellite, which give values of 67-68km/s/Mpc and typical
errors of 1-2km/s/Mpc. The size of the remaining systematics indicate that
accuracy rather than precision is the remaining problem in a good determination
of the Hubble constant. Whether a discrepancy exists, and whether new physics
is needed to resolve it, depends on details of the systematics of the
object-based methods, and also on the assumptions about other cosmological
parameters and which datasets are combined in the case of the all-sky methods.Comment: Extensively revised and updated since the 2007 version: accepted by
Living Reviews in Relativity as a major (2014) update of LRR 10, 4, 200
Equal fitness paradigm explained by a trade-off between generation time and energy production rate
Most plant, animal and microbial species of widely varying body size and lifestyle are nearly equally fit as evidenced by their coexistence and persistence through millions of years. All organisms compete for a limited supply of organic chemical energy, derived mostly from photosynthesis, to invest in the two components of fitness: survival and production. All organisms are mortal because molecular and cellular damage accumulates over the lifetime; life persists only because parents produce offspring. We call this the equal fitness paradigm. The equal fitness paradigm occurs because: (1) there is a trade-off between generation time and productive power, which have equal-but-opposite scalings with body size and temperature; smaller and warmer organisms have shorter lifespans but produce biomass at higher rates than larger and colder organisms; (2) the energy content of biomass is essentially constant, ~22.4 kJ gâ1 dry body weight; and (3) the fraction of biomass production incorporated into surviving offspring is also roughly constant, ~10â50%. As organisms transmit approximately the same quantity of energy per gram to offspring in the next generation, no species has an inherent lasting advantage in the struggle for existence. The equal fitness paradigm emphasizes the central importance of energy, biological scaling relations and powerâtime trade-offs in life history, ecology and evolution
Participant recruitment into a randomised controlled trial of exercise therapy for people with multiple sclerosis
The success of a clinical trial is often dependant on whether recruitment targets can be met in the required time frame. Despite an increase in research into the benefits of exercise in people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS), no trial has reported detailed data on effective recruitment strategies for large-scale randomised controlled trials. The main purpose of this report is to provide a detailed outline of recruitment strategies, rates and estimated costs in the Exercise Intervention for Multiple Sclerosis (ExIMS) trial to identify best practices for future trials involving multiple sclerosis (MS) patient recruitment
Impact of Splenectomy on Thrombocytopenia, Chemotherapy, and Survival in Patients with Unresectable Pancreatic Cancer
Patients with unresectable pancreatic cancer (PDAC) or endocrine tumors (PET) often develop splenic vein thrombosis, hypersplenism, and thrombocytopenia which limits the administration of chemotherapy.
From 2001 to 2009, 15 patients with recurrent or unresectable PDAC or PET underwent splenectomy for hypersplenism and thrombocytopenia. The clinical variables of this group of patients were analyzed. The overall survival of patients with PDAC was compared to historical controls.
Of the 15 total patients, 13 (87%) had PDAC and 2 (13%) had PET. All tumors were either locally advanced (nâ=â6, 40%) or metastatic (nâ=â9, 60%). The platelet counts significantly increased after splenectomy (pâ<â0.01). All patients were able to resume chemotherapy within a median of 11.5Â days (range 6â27). The patients with PDAC had a median survival of 20Â months (range 4â67) from the time of diagnosis and 10.6Â months (range 0.6â39.8) from the time of splenectomy.
Splenectomy for patients with unresectable PDAC or PET who developed hypersplenism and thrombocytopenia that limited the administration of chemotherapy, significantly increased platelet counts, and led to resumption of treatment in all patients. Patients with PDAC had better disease-specific survival as compared to historical controls
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