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Inexpensive Way (inexpensive + way)
Selected AbstractsMultiple path-based approach to image-based street walkthroughCOMPUTER ANIMATION AND VIRTUAL WORLDS (PREV: JNL OF VISUALISATION & COMPUTER ANIMATION), Issue 2 2005Dong Hoon Lee Abstract Image-based rendering for walkthrough in the virtual environment has many advantages should over the geometry-based approach, due to the fast construction of the environment and photo-realistic rendered results. In image-based rendering technique, rays from a set of input images are collected and a novel view image is rendered by the resampling of the stored rays. Current such techniques, however, are limited to a closed capture space. In this paper, we propose a multiple path-based capture configuration that can handle a large-scale scene and a disparity-based warping method for novel view generation. To acquire the disparity image, we segment the input image into vertical slit segments using a robust and inexpensive way of detecting vertical depth discontinuity. The depth slit segments, instead of depth pixels, reduce the processing time for novel view generation. We also discuss a dynamic cache strategy that supports real-time walkthroughs in large and complex street environments. The efficiency of the proposed method is demonstrated with several experiments. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Screening for the 21st century: learning from the pastCYTOPATHOLOGY, Issue 1 2000A. E. Raffle Introduction In 1986 I took on the public health responsibility for the cervical screening service in Avon. Like many others, I understood screening to be a simple, highly effective, and inexpensive way of stopping people getting cancer. The only problem so far as I was aware was in making sure those most at risk took up the opportunity to be screened. The more involved I became with screening, however, the more I was obliged to modify this view. In summary, I was confronted with two problems. The Avon cervical screening service,thanks to contributions from many individuals over the previous two decades,was already well organized and population coverage was already high. Why then were women still dying from cancer of the cervix? Why also was there a substantial and rising number of women requiring colposcopic investigation for screen-detected abnormality when, according to screening theory, the ,prevalence' pool should have been cleared and the rate of newly detected ,incident' abnormalities should equate to the incidence of serious disease? [source] The Relation Between Mitral Annular Calcification and Mortality in Patients Undergoing Diagnostic Coronary AngiographyECHOCARDIOGRAPHY, Issue 9 2006Howard J. Willens M.D. To determine whether the observed association between mitral annular calcification (MAC) and mortality is independent of the severity of coronary artery disease (CAD), we analyzed data from 134 male veterans (age 63 ± 10 years) followed for 5 years who had undergone diagnostic coronary angiography and transthoracic echocardiography within 6 months of each other. Echocardiograms were retrospectively reviewed for the presence of MAC. The relation of MAC to all-cause mortality was analyzed using logistic regression, and odds ratios (OR) were calculated. MAC was present in 49 (37%) subjects. Over the 5-year follow-up period, 38 (28%) patients expired. Five-year survival was 80% for subjects without MAC and 56% for subjects with MAC (P = 0.003). MAC (OR = 3.16, 95% confidence interval [CI]= 1.43,6.96, P = 0.003), ejection fraction (OR = 0.76, 95% CI = 0.59,0.97, P = 0.02), and left main CAD (OR = 2.70, 95% CI = 1.11,6.57, P = 0.02) were significantly associated with mortality in univariate analysis. After adjusting for left ventricular ejection fraction, number of obstructed coronary arteries and the presence of left main coronary artery stenosis, MAC significantly predicted death (OR = 2.48, 95% CI = 1.09,5.68, P = 0.03). Similarly, after adjusting for predictors of MAC, including ejection fraction, age, diabetes, peripheral vascular disease, and heart failure, MAC remained a significant predictor of death (OR = 2.38, 95% CI = 1.02,5.58, P = 0.04). MAC also predicted death independent of smoking status, hypertension, serum creatinine, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, and C-reactive protein levels (OR = 3.98, 95% CI = 1.68,9.40, P = 0.001). MAC detected by two-dimensional echocardiography independently predicts mortality and may provide an easy-to-perform and inexpensive way to improve risk stratification. [source] Effect of cyclosporin A in Lewis rats in vivo and HeLa cells in vitroJOURNAL OF APPLIED TOXICOLOGY, Issue 3 2002Andrea Sovcikova Abstract The aim of this study was to compare the effect of cyclosporin A (CsA) in inbred Lewis rats with published assessment of immunotoxicity in ,classical' outbred Wistar rats. A second purpose was to consider the contribution of a panel of in vitro assays in cell cultures when added to an immunotoxicity study in vivo. The in vivo effect of CsA was investigated in a 28-day subacute immunotoxicity study in male Lewis rats at three different concentrations: 1.25, 5 and 20 mg kg,1. The highest dose of CsA exceeded the maximum tolerated dose. A drop in body, spleen and popliteal lymph node weight of exposed animals displayed symptoms of toxicity. At a high toxic dose, haematological changes showed a decrease in the leucocyte count and in the percentage of lymphocytes, and an increase in the percentage of polymorphonuclear leucocytes. The haematocrit was significantly dose-dependently suppressed in all rats exposed to CsA. A similar dose-dependent depression of the mean cell volume of erythrocytes was found in rats given high and middle doses of CsA. The phagocytic activity of polymorphonuclear leucocytes and monocytes also was significantly dose-dependently suppressed. No significant changes in primary antibody response to sheep erythrocytes or in vitro proliferative response of spleen lymphocytes to mitogens were found in those rats. A battery of in vitro cytotoxicity methods was selected for the evaluation of metabolic and functional activity of subcellular organelles (mitochondria, lysosomes) and for the detection of drug-induced superoxide-mediated damage in HeLa cells. This cell line was chosen because it has a lower activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) than normal cells and is sufficiently sensitive for the detection of the induction of oxygen radicals. The in vitro results indicated a direct relationship between CsA cytotoxicity and a change in the mitochondrial enzyme activity, as well as an induction of superoxide production. The results of the study indicated that a combination of selected in vivo and in vitro methods is an inexpensive way to obtain more complex information on cell status affected by xenobiotics. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Resolution deconvolution method applied to 2D-ACAR measurementsPHYSICA STATUS SOLIDI (C) - CURRENT TOPICS IN SOLID STATE PHYSICS, Issue 10 2007T. Chiba Abstract An inexpensive way to achieve high resolution 2D-ACAR measurements is to utilize resolution deconvolution techniques. We developed a resolution deconvolution method which avoids noise amplification and is applicable to the 3D reconstruction method using Fourier-Bessel transforms. (© 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source] Energy-resolved in-source collisionally induced dissociation for the evaluation of the relative stability of noncovalent complexes in the gas phaseRAPID COMMUNICATIONS IN MASS SPECTROMETRY, Issue 23 2005Nataliya Lyapchenko Energy-resolved in-source collisionally induced dissociation (CID) studies on the complexation of alkali metal cations by some crown ethers, nucleic acid bases, and amino acids have been performed. It has been shown that the cone voltage corresponding to the maximum ion abundance (Vc,Imax) of the breakdown curve is characteristic of a given ion and not influenced by the cone desolvation process or the composition of the solution. Very good agreement of the Vc,Imax value with the bond strength of the ion has been observed. Determination of the Vc,Imax values for different ionic species is a useful, simple, and inexpensive way to obtain their relative stabilities in in-source CID conditions. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | |||||||||||||