Connectivity Compression for Irregular Quadrilateral Meshes

Applications that require Internet access to remote 3D datasets are often limited by the storage costs of 3D models. Several compression methods are available to address these limits for objects represented by triangle meshes. Many CAD and VRML models, however, are represented as quadrilateral meshes or mixed triangle/quadrilateral meshes, and these models may also require compression. We present an algorithm for encoding the connectivity of such quadrilateral meshes, and we demonstrate that by preserving and exploiting the original quad structure, our approach achieves encodings 30 - 80% smaller than an approach based on randomly splitting quads into triangles. We present both a code with a proven worst-case cost of 3 bits per vertex (or 2.75 bits per vertex for meshes without valence-two vertices) and entropy-coding results for typical meshes ranging from 0.3 to 0.9 bits per vertex, depending on the regularity of the mesh. Our method may be implemented by a rule for a particular splitting of quads into triangles and by using the compression and decompression algorithms introduced in [Rossignac99] and [Rossignac&Szymczak99]. We also present extensions to the algorithm to compress meshes with holes and handles and meshes containing triangles and other polygons as well as quads

O systemie ochrony informacji niejawnych w Polsce w latach 1918-2011

O systemie ochrony informacji niejawnych w Polsce w latach 1918-201

Subdomain Aware Contour Trees and Contour Evolution in Time-Dependent Scalar Fields

For time-dependent scalar fields, one is often interested in topology changes of contours in time. In this paper, we focus on describing how contours split and merge over a certain time interval. Rather than attempting to describe all individual contour splitting and merging events, we focus on the simpler and therefore more tractable in practice problem: describing and querying the cumulative effect of the splitting and merging events over a user-specified time interval. Using our system one can, for example, find all contours at time tº that continue to two contours at time t¹ without hitting the boundary of the domain. For any such contour, there has to be a bifurcation happening to it somewhere between the two times, but, in addition to that, many other events may possibly happen without changing the cumulative outcome (e.g. merging with several contours born after tº or splitting off several contours that disappear before t¹). Our approach is flexible enough to enable other types of queries, if they can be cast as counting queries for numbers of connected components of intersections of contours with certain simply connected domains. Examples of such queries include finding contours with large life spans, contours avoiding certain subset of the domain over a given time interval or contours that continue to two at a later time and then merge back to one some time later. Experimental results show that our method can handle large 3D (2 space dimensions plus time) and 4D (3D+time) datasets. Both preprocessing and query algorithms can easily be parallelized

Critical dynamics and tree-like spatiotemporal patterns in exciton-polaritoncondensates

We study nonresonantly pumped exciton-polariton system in the vicinity of the dynamical instability threshold. We find that the system exhibits unique and rich dynamics, which leads to spatiotemporal pattern formation. The patterns have a tree-like structure and are reminiscent of structures that appear in a variety of soft matter systems. Within the approximation of slow and fast time scales, we show that the polariton model exhibits self-replication point in analogy to reaction-diffusion systems

Gestational diabetes mellitus - an analysis of risk factors

Wstęp: Cukrzyca ciążowa (GDM, Gestational Diabetes Mellitus) zwiększa ryzyko powikłań ciąży, porodu i powikłań u noworodka. Celem pracy była ocena czynników ryzyka zachorowania na cukrzycę ciążową i ich wartości predykcyjnych. Materiał i metody: Do grupy badanej włączono 510 ciężarnych kobiet z rozpoznaną według kryteriów Światowej Organizacji Zdrowia (WHO, World Health Organization) cukrzycą ciążową (grupa GDM, gestational diabetes mellitus). Grupę kontrolną stanowiło 1160 kobiet z prawidłową gospodarką węglowodanową w ciąży (grupa NGT, normal glucose tolerance). Dla rozpoznanych czynników ryzyka cukrzycy ciążowej wykonano analizę wieloczynnikową oraz wyliczono iloraz szans. Wyniki: Pacjentki z GDM były starsze (30,1 vs. 27,2 lat; p < 0,0001), miały wyższy BMI przed ciążą (25,0 vs. 21,6 kg/m2; p < 0,0001), częściej miały krewnych z cukrzycą (40.0 vs. 25,7%; p < 0,01), częściej były wieloródkami (33,6 vs. 16,0%; p < 0,001) i częściej przebyły niepowodzenia położnicze (21,4 vs. 13,7%; p < 0,01) niż kobiety z NGT. Na podstawie analizy wieloczynnikowej wyłoniono następujące czynniki ryzyka GDM: BMI > 25 kg/m2 (OR 4,14); urodzenie dziecka z makrosomią (OR 2,72), 3 lub następne ciąże (OR 1,8), pozytywny wywiad rodzinny w kierunku cukrzycy (OR 1,76) oraz wiek > 25 lat (OR 1,34). U 12% ciężarnych z GDM nie stwierdzono żadnego czynnika ryzyka, a przynajmniej jeden czynniki ryzyka stwierdzono u 74,1% ciężarnych bez zaburzeń tolerancji glukozy w ciąży. Nie udało się znaleźć takiego zestawu czynników ryzyka, który pozwoliłby wyłonić pacjentki z wysokim ryzykiem cukrzycy ciążowej z ogółu ciężarnych. Wnioski: Wiek, nadwaga i otyłość, rodzinne obciążenie cukrzycą, rodność, makrosomia i niepowodzenia w wywiadzie położniczym są czynnikami ryzyka cukrzycy ciążowej. Ze względu na brak możliwości wyłonienia na podstawie obecności czynników ryzyka kobiet szczególnie zagrożonych cukrzycą ciążową, laboratoryjne badania przesiewowe powinny być wykonywane u wszystkich ciężarnych. (Endokrynol Pol 2008; 59 (5): 393-397)Introduction: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is associated with an increased frequency of gestational, perinatal and neonatal complications. The aim of the study was to evaluate risk factors for GDM and their predictive value. Material and methods: The group studied consisted of 510 pregnant women with GDM diagnosed according to World Health Organization (WHO) criteria (GDM). The controls were 1160 pregnant women with normal glucose tolerance (NGT). Multifactorial analysis was performed and odds ratios (OR) were calculated for each risk factor identified. Results: The GDM patients were significantly older than the NGT subjects (30.1 vs. 27.2 years; p < 0.0001), had a greater tendency towards obesity before pregnancy (BMI 25.0 vs. 21.6 kg/m2; p < 0.0001), more often had relatives with diabetes (40.0 vs. 25.7%; p < 0.01), had greater parity (third or subsequent pregnancy: 33.6 vs. 16.0%; p < 0.001) and more often experienced adverse perinatal outcomes (21.4 vs. 13.7%; p 25 kg/m2 (OR 4.14), a history of macrosomia (OR 2.72), being pregnant for the third time or more (OR 1.8), a family history of diabetes (OR 1.76) and age at gestation > 25 years (OR 1.34). No risk factors were present in 12% of GDM subjects, and at least one risk factor was found in 74.1% of subjects with NGT. No risk factor cluster was found which could be used easily in everyday practice to identify reliably subjects at increased risk of GDM. Conclusions: Age, overweight and obesity, diabetes in the family, parity, macrosomia and a history of perinatal complications were identified as risk factors for GDM. As no reliable method of identifying subjects at increased GDM risk was found, we suggest that all pregnant women should undergo laboratory screening for GDM. (Pol J Endocrinol 2008; 59 (5): 393-397

Impact of nebivolol on levels of serum nitric oxide, plasma von Willebrand factor and exercise stress testing parameters in hypertensive and ischemic heart disease patients

Background: The dysfunction of vascular endothelium precedes the development of atherosclerosis in patients with arterial hypertension. Nebivolol is a very specific beta-blocker, which can be characterized by a strong endothelial vasodilatative effect. The aim of the study was the assessment of changes in concentrations of serum nitric oxide (NO), plasma von Willebrand factor (vWf) and selected parameters of electrocardiographic exercise tests after 4-week nebivolol treatment. Methods: Twenty-one patients were included in the study, aged from 34 to 82 years with primary arterial hypertension or primary arterial hypertension and ischemic heart disease. Blood samples were taken for measurements of serum NO and plasma vWf. Electrocardiographic stress tests were also performed. Subsequently, nebivolol was administered for four weeks and the aforementioned measurements were repeated. Results: A significant increase in serum NO concentration was found in all the investigated patients after nebivolol treatment. A prolongation of exercise time, increase in metabolic equivalent and decrease in double product were also noted in patients after nebivolol treatment. Conclusions: Nebivolol treatment improves parameters of electrocardiographic exercise test in patients with arterial hypertension. The improvement of the parameters of the exercise test was not observed in those patients who showed no significant increase in serum NO concentration following nebivolol treatment. (Cardiol J 2008; 15: 162-168

Morse set classification and hierarchical refinement using Conley index

Reliable analysis of vector elds is crucial for the rigorous interpretation of the ow data stemming from a wide range of engineering applications. Morse decomposition of a vector field has proven a useful topological representation that is more numerically stable than previous vector field skeletons. In this paper, we enhance the procedure of Morse decomposition and propose an automatic refinement scheme to construct the Morse Connection Graph (MCG) of a given vector eld in a hierarchical fashion. Our framework allows a Morse set to be re ned through a local update of the flow combinatorialization, which leads to a more detailed MCG. This refined MCG has consistent topology with the original MCG because the refinement is conducted locally. The computation is faster than the original t-map approach because we reuse the previous tracing information and perform only local updates. The classification of the exetracted Morse sets is a crucial step for the construction of MCG. In this work, we advocate the use of Conley index for the classification. Conley index is a more general characteristic than Poincar´e index for the classi cation of flow dynamics. We present a framework to compute the Conley index of an isolating block in a flow. In addition, an efficient algorithm for computing an upper bound of the Conley index of any given Morse set is introduced to assist the automatic refinement process. Furthermore, an improved visualization technique for MCG is described which conveys the classification information of different Morse sets with the aid of the visualization of their Conley indices. Finally, we apply the proposed techniques to a number of synthetic and simulation data sets to demonstrate their utility

Wpływ nebiwololu na stężenia tlenku azotu w surowicy krwi i osoczowego czynnika von Willebranda oraz parametry próby wysiłkowej u pacjentów z nadciśnieniem tętniczym i chorobą niedokrwienną serca

Wstęp: Zaburzenia funkcji śródbłonka naczyniowego poprzedzają rozwój miażdżycy u pacjent ów z nadciśnieniem tętniczym. Nebiwolol jest bardzo szczególnym, oddziałującym na śródbłonek beta-adrenolitykiem, wywołującym silny efekt wazodylatacyjny. Celem badania było określenie zmian stężenia w surowicy krwi tlenku azotu (NO), czynnika von Willebranda (vWf) w osoczu i wybranych parametrów zapisu elektrokardiograficznego próby wysiłkowej po 4-tygodniowym leczeniu nebiwololem. Metody: Badaniem objęto 21 pacjentów w wieku 34-82 lat z rozpoznaniem pierwotnego nadciśnienia tętniczego lub pierwotnego nadciśnienia tętniczego i choroby niedokrwiennej serca. W próbkach krwi pobranych od chorych wykonywano oznaczenia NO w surowicy krwi i vWf w osoczu. Przeprowadzano tak&#191;e elektrokardiograficzny test wysiłkowy. Następnie przez 4 tygodnie podawano nebiwolol i powtarzano wymienione pomiary. Wyniki: U wszystkich badanych pacjentów zaobserwowano istotny wzrost stężenia NO w surowicy po leczeniu nebiwololem. Po zakończeniu terapii nebiwololem odnotowano także wydłużenie czasu trwania próby wysiłkowej, wzrost metabolicznego równoważnika i spadek wartości produktu podwójnego. Wnioski: Stosowanie nebiwololu poprawia parametry elektrokardiograficznego testu wysiłkowego u pacjentów z rozpoznanym nadciśnieniem tętniczym. Poprawy parametrów próby wysiłkowej nie zanotowano u tych osób, u których po leczeniu nebiwololem nie wykazano istotnego wzrostu stężenia NO w surowicy krwi

Loss of the MAF Transcription Factor in Laryngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

MAF is a transcription factor that may act either as a tumor suppressor or as an oncogene, depending on cell type. We have shown previously that the overexpressed miR-1290 influences MAF protein levels in LSCC (laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma) cell lines. In this study, we shed further light on the interaction between miR-1290 and MAF, as well as on cellular MAF protein localization in LSCC. We confirmed the direct interaction between miR-1290 and MAF 3'UTR by a dual-luciferase reporter assay. In addition, we used immunohistochemistry staining to analyze MAF protein distribution and observed loss of MAF nuclear expression in 58% LSCC samples, of which 10% showed complete absence of MAF, compared to nuclear and cytoplasmatic expression in 100% normal mucosa. Using TCGA data, bisulfite pyrosequencing and CNV analysis, we excluded the possibility that loss-of-function mutations, promoter region DNA methylation or CNV are responsible for MAF loss in LSCC. Finally, we identified genes involved in the regulation of apoptosis harboring the MAF binding motif in their promoter region by applied FIMO and DAVID GO analysis. Our results highlight the role of miR-1290 in suppressing MAF expression in LSCC. Furthermore, MAF loss or mislocalization in FFPE LSCC tumor samples might suggest that MAF acts as a LSCC tumor suppressor by regulating apoptosis.</p