Second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory without basis set superposition error : II : open-shell systems

The basis set superposition error-free second-order MØller-Plesset perturbation theory of intermolecular interactions was studied. The difficulties of the counterpoise (CP) correction in open-shell systems were also discussed. The calculations were performed by a program which was used for testing the new variants of the theory. It was shown that the CP correction for the diabatic surfaces should be preferred to the adiabatic ones

Open Door, Winter 2003

The Open Door newsletter includes information about the latest happenings at the Iowa Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.

Open Door, Summer 2003

The Open Door newsletter includes information about the latest happenings at the Iowa Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.

Transforming growth factor-beta: the breaking open of a black box.

Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) and its related proteins regulate broad aspects of body development, including cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis and gene expression, in various organisms. Deregulated TGF-beta function has been causally implicated in the generation of human fibrotic disorders and in tumor progression. Nevertheless, the molecular mechanisms of TGF-beta action remained essentially unknown until recently. Here, we discuss recent progress in our understanding of the mechanism of TGF-beta signal transduction with respect to the regulation of gene expression, the control of cell phenotype and the potential usage of TGF-beta for the treatment of human diseases.

Multi-scale label interaction to improve object detection and segmentation

The project aims at advancing the state of the art in the use of context information for classification of image and video data. The use of context in the classification of images has been showed of great importance to improve the performance of actual object recognition systems. In our project we proposed the concept of Multi-scale Feature Labels as a general and compact method to exploit the local and global context. The feature extraction from the discriminative probability or classification confidence label field is of great novelty. Moreover the use of a multi-scale representation of the feature labels lead to a compact and efficient description of the context. The goal of the project has been also to provide a general-purpose method and prove its suitability in different image/video analysis problem. The two-year project generated 5 journal publications (plus 2 under submission), 10 conference publications (plus 2 under submission) and one patent (plus 1 pending). Of these publications, a relevant number make use of the main result of this project to improve the results in detection and/or segmentation of objects.

Desarrollo de un portal web para instituciones deportivas utilizando componentes Open Source

El proyecto puede dividirse en dos grandes partes, diseño de un portal deportivo y análisis de una herramienta Open Source para el desarrollo de portales web. El apartado de diseño cuenta con un club de atletismo que proporciona unos requerimientos y necesidades de cara a tener un problema real y no basado en especulaciones. Se ha diseñado tanto la base de datos como la estructura del portal y se tienen en cuenta las necesidades del cliente. La parte de análisis de una herramienta Open Source desglosa los módulos de esta, viendo que necesidades cubre cada uno y que pueden hacer, que tecnologías usan y que soluciones pueden dar al problema planteado.

Correction of pectus excavatum combined with open heart surgery in a patient with Marfan's syndrome.

We report a patient with Marfan's syndrome and pectus excavatum who underwent open heart surgery with simultaneous correction of the sternal malformation. Permanent internal stabilization, achieved by bilateral overlapping of the bevelled ends of the lowest ribs and reinforced with sternal closure wires offered a maintained postoperative chest wall stability, avoided the potential postoperative complications of cardiac compression, and improved the aesthetic appearance of the anterior chest wall. The increased risk of bleeding due to extensive dissection was minimized by postponing the repair of pectus excavatum to when protamin is administered after termination of cardiopulmonary bypass.

Multiple non-collinear TF-map alignments of promoter regions

Background: The analysis of the promoter sequence of genes with similar expression patterns isa basic tool to annotate common regulatory elements. Multiple sequence alignments are on thebasis of most comparative approaches. The characterization of regulatory regions from coexpressedgenes at the sequence level, however, does not yield satisfactory results in manyoccasions as promoter regions of genes sharing similar expression programs often do not shownucleotide sequence conservation.Results: In a recent approach to circumvent this limitation, we proposed to align the maps ofpredicted transcription factors (referred as TF-maps) instead of the nucleotide sequence of tworelated promoters, taking into account the label of the corresponding factor and the position in theprimary sequence. We have now extended the basic algorithm to permit multiple promotercomparisons using the progressive alignment paradigm. In addition, non-collinear conservationblocks might now be identified in the resulting alignments. We have optimized the parameters ofthe algorithm in a small, but well-characterized collection of human-mouse-chicken-zebrafishorthologous gene promoters.Conclusion: Results in this dataset indicate that TF-map alignments are able to detect high-levelregulatory conservation at the promoter and the 3'UTR gene regions, which cannot be detectedby the typical sequence alignments. Three particular examples are introduced here to illustrate thepower of the multiple TF-map alignments to characterize conserved regulatory elements inabsence of sequence similarity. We consider this kind of approach can be extremely useful in thefuture to annotate potential transcription factor binding sites on sets of co-regulated genes fromhigh-throughput expression experiments.

Free-and open source software for a course on network management: authoring and enactment of scripts based on collaborative learning strategies

This paper describes a Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) case study in engineering education carried out within the context of a network management course. The case study shows that the use of two computing tools developed by the authors and based on Free- and Open-Source Software (FOSS) provide significant educational benefits over traditional engineering pedagogical approaches in terms of both concepts and engineering competencies acquisition. First, the Collage authoring tool guides and supports the course teacher in the process of authoring computer-interpretable representations (using the IMS Learning Design standard notation) of effective collaborative pedagogical designs. Besides, the Gridcole system supports the enactment of that design by guiding the students throughout the prescribed sequence of learning activities. The paper introduces the goals and context of the case study, elaborates onhow Collage and Gridcole were employed, describes the applied evaluation methodology, anddiscusses the most significant findings derived from the case study.

Analysis of the folksonomy of freesound

User generated content shared in online communities is often described using collaborative tagging systems where users assign labels to content resources. As a result, a folksonomy emerges that relates a number of tags with the resources they label and the users that have used them. In this paper we analyze the folksonomy of Freesound, an online audio clip sharing site which contains more than two million users and 150,000 user-contributed sound samplescovering a wide variety of sounds. By following methodologies taken from similar studies, we compute some metrics that characterize the folksonomy both at the globallevel and at the tag level. In this manner, we are able to betterunderstand the behavior of the folksonomy as a whole, and also obtain some indicators that can be used as metadata for describing tags themselves. We expect that such a methodology for characterizing folksonomies can be useful to support processes such as tag recommendation or automatic annotation of online resources.

Closed and open grade I and II tibial shaft fractures treated by reamed intramedullary nailing

RESUME Objectif : Le but de cette étude est d'évaluer les résultats du traitement par enclouage centre-médullaire alésé des fractures diaphysaires du tibia aussi bien fermées que pour les fractures ouvertes de stade I et II selon Gustillo. Méthodes: Entre 1997 et 2000, 119 patients présentant une fracture diaphysaire du tibia ont été traités dans notre service par un enclouage centre-médullaire alésé. En postopératoire, 96 patients, soit 70 fractures fermées et 26 fractures ouvertes I et II selon Gustillo, ont été suivis cliniquement et radiologiquement pour une période de plus d'une année et demi. L'introduction du clou centro-médullaire a été faite selon la technique habituelle, soit transtendineuse ou paratendineusé rotulienne. Tous les clous ont été alésés jusqu'à 1,5 mm au-dessus du diamètre du clou. Les patients ayant une fracture isolée du tibia ont été immédiatement mobilisés en charge partielle pour une période de 6 semaines. Ceux qui avaient des lésions associées, notamment au niveau de la cheville épsilatérale, ont nécessité la mise en place d'un plâtre de Type Sarmiento. Résultats : Six patients (6,3%) ont développé un syndrome des loges après chirurgie. Quarante-huit cas (50%) ont nécessité une dynamisation du clou après une période moyenne de 12 semaines en raison d'un retard de consolidation. En général, 90,6% des fractures ont consolidé après 24 semaines postopératoires en moyenne, sans aucune différence significative entre les fractures fermées et les fractures ouvertes. Deux patients (2,1 %) présentant une fracture ouverte degré II ont développé une infection profonde ayant nécessité un traitement. Nous avons également observé 9,4% de cals vicieux minimes et sans conséquence clinique. Huit patients (8,3%) ont eu une brisure des vis de .verrouillage mais également sans conséquence clinique. Au dernier contrôle, 52% des patients, dont ('introduction du clou s'est faite en transtendineux ont des douleurs antérieures du genou contre 14% parmi ceux où l'introduction était paratendineuse. Conclusion : L'enclouage centre-médullaire reste le traitement de choix pour les fractures diaphysaires du tibia, qu'elles soient fermées ou ouvertes degré I ou II selon Gustillo.

The Regulatory Choice between a Label and a Minimum-Quality Standard, 2005

This paper revisits the issue of the regulatory choice between a mandatory label and a minimum-quality standard. When the cost of regulation is relatively low, we show that the socially optimal choice depends on the producers’ cost structure for complying with regulation and improving quality. Under a marginal cost for improving quality, the mandatory labeling is sufficient for reaching the socially optimal level of quality. Under a fixed cost for improving quality, we show that each instrument or the combination of both instruments may emerge at the equilibrium.

Intraoral open reduction and internal fixation of displaced mandibular angle fractures using a specific ad hoc reduction-compression forceps: a preliminary study

OBJECTIVES: To preliminarily evaluate prospectively the accuracy and reliability of a specific ad hoc reduction-compression forceps in intraoral open reduction of transverse and displaced mandibular angle fractures. STUDY DESIGN: We analyzed the clinical and radiologic data of 7 patients with 7 single transverse and displaced angle fractures. An intraoral approach was performed in all of the patients without using perioperative intermaxillary fixation. A single Arbeitsgemeinschaft Osteosynthese (AO) unilock reconstruction plate was fixed to each stable fragment with 3 locking screws (2.0 mm in 5 patients and 2.4 mm in 2 patients) at the basilar border of the mandible, according to AO/American Society of Internal Fixation (ASIF) principles. Follow-up was at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months, and we noted the status of healing and complications, if any. RESULTS: All of the patients had satisfactory fracture reduction as well as a successful treatment outcome without complications. CONCLUSION: This preliminary study demonstrated that the intraoral reduction of transverse and displaced angle fractures using a specific ad hoc reduction-forceps results in a high rate of success.

Open source business strategies in the domain of embedded systems

El tema de este estudio es el aumento de la comprensión teórica y empírica de la estrategia de negocio de código abierto en el dominio de sistemas embebidos por investigar modelos de negocios de código abierto, retos, recursos y capacidades operativas y dinámicas.