bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A synthetic gene increases TGFβ3 accumulation by 75‐fold in tobacco chloroplasts enabling rapid purification and folding into a biologically active molecule
Authors: Gisby Martin F. , Mellors Philip , Madesis Panagiotis , Ellin Marianne , Laverty Hugh , O’Kane Sharon , Ferguson Mark W. J. , Day Anil
Published: April 2011

Human transforming growth factor‐β3 (TGFβ3) is a new therapeutic protein used to reduce scarring during wound healing. The active molecule is a nonglycosylated, homodimer comprised of 13‐kDa polypeptide chains linked by disulphide bonds. Expression of recombinant human TGFβ3 in chloroplasts and its subsequent purification would provide a sustainable source of TGFβ3 free of animal pathogens. A synthetic sequence (33% GC) containing frequent chloroplast codons raised accumulation of the 13‐kDa TGFβ3 polypeptide by 75‐fold compared to the native coding region (56% GC) when expressed in tobacco chloroplasts. The 13‐kDa TGFβ3 monomer band was more intense than the RuBisCO 15‐kDa small subunit on Coomassie blue–stained SDS‐PAGE gels. TGFβ3 accumulated in insoluble aggregates and was stable in leaves of different ages but was not detected in seeds. TGFβ3 represented 12% of leaf protein and appeared as monomer, dimer and trimer bands on Western blots of SDS‐PAGE gels. High yield and insolubility facilitated initial purification and refolding of the 13‐kDa polypeptide into the TGFβ3 homodimer recognized by a conformation‐dependent monoclonal antibody. The TGFβ3 homodimer and trace amounts of monomer were the only bands visible on silver‐stained gels following purification by hydrophobic interaction chromatography and cation exchange chromatography. N‐terminal sequencing and electronspray ionization mass spectrometry showed the removal of the initiator methionine and physical equivalence of the chloroplast‐produced homodimer to standard TGFβ3. Functional equivalence was demonstrated by near‐identical dose–response curves showing the inhibition of mink lung epithelial cell proliferation. We conclude that chloroplasts are an attractive production platform for synthesizing recombinant human TGFβ3.
Engineering plastid fatty acid biosynthesis to improve food quality and biofuel production in higher plants
Authors: Rogalski Marcelo , Carrer Helaine
Published: April 2011

The ability to manipulate plant fatty acid biosynthesis by using new biotechnological approaches has allowed the production of transgenic plants with unusual fatty acid profile and increased oil content. This review focuses on the production of very long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (VLCPUFAs) and the increase in oil content in plants using molecular biology tools. Evidences suggest that regular consumption of food rich in VLCPUFAs has multiple positive health benefits. Alternative sources of these nutritional fatty acids are found in cold‐water fishes. However, fish stocks are in severe decline because of decades of overfishing, and also fish oils can be contaminated by the accumulation of toxic compounds. Recently, there is also an increase in oilseed use for the production of biofuels. This tendency is partly associated with the rapidly rising costs of petroleum, increased concern about the environmental impact of fossil oil and the attractive need to develop renewable sources of fuel. In contrast to this scenario, oil derived from crop plants is normally contaminant free and less environmentally aggressive. Genetic engineering of the plastid genome (plastome) offers a number of attractive advantages, including high‐level foreign protein expression, marker‐gene excision and transgene containment because of maternal inheritance of plastid genome in most crops. Here, we describe the possibility to improve fatty acid biosynthesis in plastids, production of new fatty acids and increase their content in plants by genetic engineering of plastid fatty acid biosynthesis via plastid transformation.
The Natural 3D Spiral
Authors: Harary Gur , Tal Ayellet
Published: April 2011

Logarithmic spirals are ubiquitous in nature. This paper presents a novel mathematical definition of a 3D logarithmic spiral, which provides a proper description of objects found in nature. To motivate our work, we scanned spiral‐shaped objects and studied their geometric properties. We consider the extent to which the existing 3D definitions capture these properties. We identify a property that is shared by the objects we investigated and is not satisfied by the existing 3D definitions. This leads us to present our definition in which both the radius of curvature and the radius of torsion change linearly along the curve. We prove that our spiral satisfies several desirable properties, including invariance to similarity transformations, smoothness, symmetry, extensibility, and roundness. Finally, we demonstrate the utility of our curves in the modeling of several animal structures.
Fruit Senescence and Decay Simulation
Authors: Kider Joseph T. , Raja Samantha , Badler Norman I.
Published: April 2011

Aging and imperfections provide important visual cues for realism. We present a novel physically‐based approach for simulating the biological aging and decay process in fruits. This method simulates interactions between multiple processes. Our biologically‐derived, reaction‐diffusion model generates growth patterns for areas of fungal and bacterial infection. Fungal colony spread and propagation is affected by both bacterial growth and nutrient depletion. This process changes the physical properties of the surface of the fruit as well as its internal volume substrate. The fruit is physically simulated with parameters such as skin thickness and porosity, water content, flesh rigidity, ambient temperature, humidity, and proximity to other surfaces. Our model produces a simulation that closely mirrors the progression of decay in real fruits under similar parameterized conditions. Additionally, we provide a tool that allows artists to customize the input of the program to produce generalized fruit simulations.
Learning Line Features in 3D Geometry
Authors: Sunkel M. , Jansen S. , Wand M. , Eisemann E. , Seidel H.‐P.
Published: April 2011

Feature detection in geometric datasets is a fundamental tool for solving shape matching problems such as partial symmetry detection. Traditional techniques usually employ a priori models such as crease lines that are unspecific to the actual application. Our paper examines the idea of learning geometric features. We introduce a formal model for a class of linear feature constellations based on a Markov chain model and propose a novel, efficient algorithm for detecting a large number of features simultaneously. After a short user‐guided training stage, in which one or a few example lines are sketched directly onto the input data, our algorithm automatically finds all pieces of geometry similar to the marked areas. In particular, the algorithm is able recognize larger classes of semantically similar but geometrically varying features, which is very difficult using unsupervised techniques. In a number of experiments, we apply our technique to point cloud data from 3D scanners. The algorithm is able to detect features with very low rates of false positives and negatives and to recognize broader classes of similar geometry (such as “windows” in a building scan) even from few training examples, thereby significantly improving over previous unsupervised techniques.
Shape Analysis with Subspace Symmetries
Authors: Berner Alexander , Wand Michael , Mitra Niloy J. , Mewes Daniel , Seidel Hans‐Peter
Published: April 2011

We address the problem of partial symmetry detection, i.e., the identification of building blocks a complex shape is composed of. Previous techniques identify parts that relate to each other by simple rigid mappings, similarity transforms, or, more recently, intrinsic isometries. Our approach generalizes the notion of partial symmetries to more general deformations. We introduce subspace symmetries whereby we characterize similarity by requiring the set of symmetric parts to form a low dimensional shape space. We present an algorithm to discover subspace symmetries based on detecting linearly correlated correspondences among graphs of invariant features. We evaluate our technique on various data sets. We show that for models with pronounced surface features, subspace symmetries can be found fully automatically. For complicated cases, a small amount of user input is used to resolve ambiguities. Our technique computes dense correspondences that can subsequently be used in various applications, such as model repair and denoising.
RTSAH Traversal Order for Occlusion Rays
Authors: Ize Thiago , Hansen Charles
Published: April 2011

We accelerate the finding of occluders in tree based acceleration structures, such as a packetized BVH and a single ray kd‐tree, by deriving the ray termination surface area heuristic (RTSAH) cost model for traversing an occlusion ray through a tree and then using the RTSAH to determine which child node a ray should traverse first instead of the traditional choice of traversing the near node before the far node. We further extend RTSAH to handle materials that attenuate light instead of fully occluding it, so that we can avoid superfluous intersections with partially transparent objects. For scenes with high occlusion, we substantially lower the number of traversal steps and intersection tests and achieve up to 2 × speedups.
Two‐Level Grids for Ray Tracing on GPUs
Authors: Kalojanov Javor , Billeter Markus , Slusallek Philipp
Published: April 2011

We investigate the use of two‐level nested grids as acceleration structure for ray tracing of dynamic scenes. We propose a massively parallel, sort‐based construction algorithm and show that the two‐level grid is one of the structures that is fastest to construct on modern graphics processors. The structure handles non‐uniform primitive distributions more robustly than the uniform grid and its traversal performance is comparable to those of other high quality acceleration structures used for dynamic scenes. We propose a cost model to determine the grid resolution and improve SIMD utilization during ray‐triangle intersection by employing a hybrid packetization strategy. The build times and ray traversal acceleration provide overall rendering performance superior to previous approaches for real time rendering of animated scenes on GPUs.
Interactive Modeling of City Layouts using Layers of Procedural Content
Authors: Lipp M. , Scherzer D. , Wonka P. , Wimmer M.
Published: April 2011

In this paper, we present new solutions for the interactive modeling of city layouts that combine the power of procedural modeling with the flexibility of manual modeling. Procedural modeling enables us to quickly generate large city layouts, while manual modeling allows us to hand‐craft every aspect of a city. We introduce transformation and merging operators for both topology preserving and topology changing transformations based on graph cuts. In combination with a layering system, this allows intuitive manipulation of urban layouts using operations such as drag and drop, translation, rotation etc. In contrast to previous work, these operations always generate valid, i.e., intersection‐free layouts. Furthermore, we introduce anchored assignments to make sure that modifications are persistent even if the whole urban layout is regenerated.
SQuad: Compact Representation for Triangle Meshes
Authors: Gurung Topraj , Laney Daniel , Lindstrom Peter , Rossignac Jarek
Published: April 2011

The SQuad data structure represents the connectivity of a triangle mesh by its “S table” of about 2 rpt (integer references per triangle). Yet it allows for a simple implementation of expected constant‐time, random‐access operators for traversing the mesh, including in‐order traversal of the triangles incident upon a vertex. SQuad is more compact than the Corner Table (CT), which stores 6 rpt, and than the recently proposed SOT, which stores 3 rpt. However, in‐core access is generally faster in CT than in SQuad, and SQuad requires rebuilding the S table if the connectivity is altered. The storage reduction and memory coherence opportunities it offers may help to reduce the frequency of page faults and cache misses when accessing elements of a mesh that does not fit in memory. We provide the details of a simple algorithm that builds the S table and of an optimized implementation of the SQuad operators.
Contouring Discrete Indicator Functions
Authors: Manson J. , Smith J. , Schaefer S.
Published: April 2011

We present a method for calculating the boundary of objects from Discrete Indicator Functions that store 2‐material volume fractions with a high degree of accuracy. Although Marching Cubes and its derivatives are effective methods for calculating contours of functions sampled over discrete grids, these methods perform poorly when contouring non‐smooth functions such as Discrete Indicator Functions. In particular, Marching Cubes will generate surfaces that exhibit aliasing and oscillations around the exact surface. We derive a simple solution to remove these problems by using a new function to calculate the positions of vertices along cell edges that is efficient, easy to implement, and does not require any optimization or iteration. Finally, we provide empirical evidence that the error introduced by our contouring method is significantly less than is introduced by Marching Cubes.
Freehand HDR Imaging of Moving Scenes with Simultaneous Resolution Enhancement
Authors: Zimmer Henning , Bruhn Andrés , Weickert Joachim
Published: April 2011

Despite their high popularity, common high dynamic range (HDR) methods are still limited in their practical applicability: They assume that the input images are perfectly aligned, which is often violated in practise. Our paper does not only free the user from this unrealistic limitation, but even turns the missing alignment into an advantage: By exploiting the multiple exposures, we can create a super‐resolution image. The alignment step is performed by a modern energy‐based optic flow approach that takes into account the varying exposure conditions. Moreover, it produces dense displacement fields with subpixel precision. As a consequence, our approach can handle arbitrary complex motion patterns, caused by severe camera shake and moving objects. Additionally, it benefits from several advantages over existing strategies: (i) It is robust under outliers (noise, occlusions, saturation problems) and allows for sharp discontinuities in the displacement field. (ii) The alignment step neither requires camera calibration nor knowledge of the exposure times. (iii) It can be efficiently implemented on CPU and GPU architectures. After the alignment is performed, we use the obtained subpixel accurate displacement fields as input for an energy‐based, joint super‐resolution and HDR (SR‐HDR) approach. It introduces robust data terms and anisotropic smoothness terms in the SR‐HDR literature. Our experiments with challenging real world data demonstrate that these novelties are pivotal for the favourable performance of our approach.
BSSRDF Estimation from Single Images
Authors: Munoz Adolfo , Echevarria Jose I. , Seron Francisco J. , Lopez‐Moreno Jorge , Glencross Mashhuda , Gutierrez Diego
Published: April 2011

We present a novel method to estimate an approximation of the reflectance characteristics of optically thick, homogeneous translucent materials using only a single photograph as input. First, we approximate the diffusion profile as a linear combination of piecewise constant functions, an approach that enables a linear system minimization and maximizes robustness in the presence of suboptimal input data inferred from the image. We then fit to a smoother monotonically decreasing model, ensuring continuity on its first derivative. We show the feasibility of our approach and validate it in controlled environments, comparing well against physical measurements from previous works. Next, we explore the performance of our method in uncontrolled scenarios, where neither lighting nor geometry are known. We show that these can be roughly approximated from the corresponding image by making two simple assumptions: that the object is lit by a distant light source and that it is globally convex, allowing us to capture the visual appearance of the photographed material. Compared with previous works, our technique offers an attractive balance between visual accuracy and ease of use, allowing its use in a wide range of scenarios including off‐the‐shelf, single images, thus extending the current repertoire of real‐world data acquisition techniques.
Intrinsic Shape Matching by Planned Landmark Sampling
Authors: Tevs A. , Berner A. , Wand M. , Ihrke I. , Seidel H.‐P.
Published: April 2011

Recently, the problem of intrinsic shape matching has received a lot of attention. A number of algorithms have been proposed, among which random‐sampling‐based techniques have been particularly successful due to their generality and efficiency. We introduce a new sampling‐based shape matching algorithm that uses a planning step to find optimized “landmark” points. These points are matched first in order to maximize the information gained and thus minimize the sampling costs. Our approach makes three main contributions: First, the new technique leads to a significant improvement in performance, which we demonstrate on a number of benchmark scenarios. Second, our technique does not require any keypoint detection. This is often a significant limitation for models that do not show sufficient surface features. Third, we examine the actual numerical degrees of freedom of the matching problem for a given piece of geometry. In contrast to previous results, our estimates take into account unprecise geodesics and potentially numerically unfavorable geometry of general topology, giving a more realistic complexity estimate.
Component‐wise Controllers for Structure‐Preserving Shape Manipulation
Authors: Zheng Youyi , Fu Hongbo , Cohen‐Or Daniel , Au Oscar Kin‐Chung , Tai Chiew‐Lan
Published: April 2011

Recent shape editing techniques, especially for man‐made models, have gradually shifted focus from maintaining local, low‐level geometric features to preserving structural, high‐level characteristics like symmetry and parallelism. Such new editing goals typically require a pre‐processing shape analysis step to enable subsequent shape editing. Observing that most editing of shapes involves manipulating their constituent components, we introduce component‐wise controllers that are adapted to the component characteristics inferred from shape analysis. The controllers capture the natural degrees of freedom of individual components and thus provide an intuitive user interface for editing. A typical model usually results in a moderate number of controllers, allowing easy establishment of semantic relations among them by automatic shape analysis supplemented with user interaction. We propose a component‐wise propagation algorithm to automatically preserve the established inter‐relations while maintaining the defining characteristics of individual controllers and respecting the user‐specified modeling constraints. We extend these ideas to a hierarchical setup, allowing the user to adjust the tool complexity with respect to the desired modeling complexity. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our technique on a wide range of man‐made models with structural features, often containing multiple connected pieces.
Image Retargeting Quality Assessment
Authors: Liu Yong‐Jin , Luo Xi , Xuan Yu‐Ming , Chen Wen‐Feng , Fu Xiao‐Lan
Published: April 2011

Content‐aware image retargeting is a technique that can flexibly display images with different aspect ratios and simultaneously preserve salient regions in images. Recently many image retargeting techniques have been proposed. To compare image quality by different retargeting methods fast and reliably, an objective metric simulating the human vision system (HVS) is presented in this paper. Different from traditional objective assessment methods that work in bottom‐up manner (i.e., assembling pixel‐level features in a local‐to‐global way), in this paper we propose to use a reverse order (top‐down manner) that organizes image features from global to local viewpoints, leading to a new objective assessment metric for retargeted images. A scale‐space matching method is designed to facilitate extraction of global geometric structures from retargeted images. By traversing the scale space from coarse to fine levels, local pixel correspondence is also established. The objective assessment metric is then based on both global geometric structures and local pixel correspondence. To evaluate color images, CIE L*a*b* color space is utilized. Experimental results are obtained to measure the performance of objective assessments with the proposed metric. The results show good consistency between the proposed objective metric and subjective assessment by human observers.
Image and Video Abstraction by Coherence‐Enhancing Filtering
Authors: Kyprianidis Jan Eric , Kang Henry
Published: April 2011

In this work, we present a non‐photorealistic rendering technique to create stylized abstractions from color images and videos. Our approach is based on adaptive line integral convolution in combination with directional shock filtering. The smoothing process regularizes directional image features while the shock filter provides a sharpening effect. Both operations are guided by a flow field derived from the structure tensor. To obtain a high‐quality flow field, we present a novel smoothing scheme for the structure tensor based on Poisson's equation. Our approach effectively regularizes anisotropic image regions while preserving the overall image structure and achieving a consistent level of abstraction. Moreover, it is suitable for per‐frame filtering of video and can be efficiently implemented to process content in real‐time.
GeoBrush: Interactive Mesh Geometry Cloning
Authors: Takayama Kenshi , Schmidt Ryan , Singh Karan , Igarashi Takeo , Boubekeur Tamy , Sorkine Olga
Published: April 2011

We propose a method for interactive cloning of 3D surface geometry using a paintbrush interface, similar to the continuous cloning brush popular in image editing. Existing interactive mesh composition tools focus on atomic copy‐and‐paste of preselected feature areas, and are either limited to copying surface displacements, or require the solution of variational optimization problems, which is too expensive for an interactive brush interface. In contrast, our GeoBrush method supports real‐time continuous copying of arbitrary high‐resolution surface features between irregular meshes, including topological handles. We achieve this by first establishing a correspondence between the source and target geometries using a novel generalized discrete exponential map parameterization. Next we roughly align the source geometry with the target shape using Green Coordinates with automatically‐constructed cages. Finally, we compute an offset membrane to smoothly blend the pasted patch with C continuity before stitching it into the target. The offset membrane is a solution of a bi‐harmonic PDE, which is computed on the GPU in real time by exploiting the regular parametric domain. We demonstrate the effectiveness of GeoBrush with various editing scenarios, including detail enrichment and completion of scanned surfaces.
Guided Procedural Modeling
Authors: Beneš B. , Št'ava O. , Měch R. , Miller G.
Published: April 2011

Procedural methods present one of the most powerful techniques for authoring a vast variety of computer graphics models. However, their massive applicability is hindered by the lack of control and a low predictability of the results. In the classical procedural modeling pipeline, the user usually defines a set of rules, executes the procedural system, and by examining the results attempts to infer what should be changed in the system definition in order to achieve the desired output. We present guided procedural modeling, a new approach that allows a high level of top‐down control by breaking the system into smaller building blocks that communicate. In our work we generalize the concept of the environment. The user creates a set of guides. Each guide defines a region in which a specific procedural model operates. These guides are connected by a set of links that serve for message passing between the procedural models attached to each guide. The entire model consists of a set of guides with procedural models, a graph representing their connection, and the method in which the guides interact. The modeling process is performed by modifying each of the described elements. The user can control the high‐level description by editing the guides or manipulate the low‐level description by changing the procedural rules. Changing the connectivity allows the user to create new complex forms in an easy and intuitive way. We show several examples of procedural structures, including an ornamental pattern, a street layout, a bridge, and a model of trees. We also demonstrate interactive examples for quick and intuitive editing using physics‐based mass‐spring system.
Dynamic Display of BRDFs
Authors: Hullin Matthias B. , Lensch Hendrik P. A. , Raskar Ramesh , Seidel Hans‐Peter , Ihrke Ivo
Published: April 2011

This paper deals with the challenge of physically displaying reflectance, i.e., the appearance of a surface and its variation with the observer position and the illuminating environment. This is commonly described by the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF). We provide a catalogue of criteria for the display of BRDFs, and sketch a few orthogonal approaches to solving the problem in an optically passive way. Our specific implementation is based on a liquid surface, on which we excite waves in order to achieve a varying degree of anisotropic roughness. The resulting probability density function of the surface normal is shown to follow a Gaussian distribution similar to most established BRDF models.
Blur‐Aware Image Downsampling
Authors: Trentacoste Matthew , Mantiuk Rafal , Heidrich Wolfgang
Published: April 2011

Resizing to a lower resolution can alter the appearance of an image. In particular, downsampling an image causes blurred regions to appear sharper. It is useful at times to create a downsampled version of the image that gives the same impression as the original, such as for digital camera viewfinders. To understand the effect of blur on image appearance at different image sizes, we conduct a perceptual study examining how much blur must be present in a downsampled image to be perceived the same as the original. We find a complex, but mostly image‐independent relationship between matching blur levels in images at different resolutions. The relationship can be explained by a model of the blur magnitude analyzed as a function of spatial frequency. We incorporate this model in a new appearance‐preserving downsampling algorithm, which alters blur magnitude locally to create a smaller image that gives the best reproduction of the original image appearance.
Paint Mesh Cutting
Authors: Fan Lubin , Lic Ligang , Liu Kun
Published: April 2011

We present a novel progressive painting‐based mesh cut out tool, called Paint Mesh Cutting, for interactive mesh segmentation. Different from the previous user interfaces, the user only needs to draw a single stroke on the foreground region and then obtains the desired cutting part at an interactive rate. Moreover, the user progressively paints the region of interest using a brush and has the instant feedback on cutting results as he/she drags the mouse. This is achieved by efficient local graph‐cut based optimizations based on the Gaussian mixture models (GMM) on the shape diameter function (SDF) metric of the shape. We demonstrate a number of various examples to illustrate the flexibility and applicability of our system and present a user study that supports the advantages of our user interface.
Projection and Parallax
Authors: Akeley Kurt
Published: April 2011

Projection and its time or spatially varying derivative, parallax, are a common thread through my work in computer graphics, stereoscopic display, human vision, and, most recently, light‐field display and capture. In this talk I'll present insights, anecdotes, and epiphanies I've accumulated along the way.
Neuromatrix: The World is Embodied in our Brain
Authors: Thierry Guillaume
Published: April 2011

Our brain is an interpreter, probably the most powerful ever conceived by Nature. However, just like every interpreter, it is limited and sometimes it can get things wrong. Most of us take it for granted that what we touch, hear, see, taste and smell is “reality”. But this reality is an illusion, a construct, which only exists in our brain, that is, a mental representation. Indeed, what if we could perceive infrared radiations like Cobras or Predator? What if we could see in very low light like cats? What if we could smell people and foods hidden from view 500 yards away? Surely “reality” would feel much different to us if our sensors and brain were able to extract and process such information from the external world. Even more puzzling is the fact that our senses can betray us completely. This is what happens when we see things that are not there or, on the contrary, when we do not see things that are before our eyes. During this lecture, I will attempt to show how the world in embodied in our brain by looking at examples of interactive visual illusions, by showing the power of attention in defining what we see in the world around us, and by introducing patients with brain lesions or mental illness who perceive the world differently.
Data Visualization: Featuring Interactive Visual Analysis
Authors: Post Frits H.
Published: April 2011

Data visualization is an application‐driven field, that is always trying to satisfy its customers and to adapt to the demands, cultures, and workflows of many application areas. Therefore, it is difficult to keep focus on techniques and approaches that are not too application specific. A lot of good work on data visualization consists of single‐problem solutions, that cannot be easily merged into general‐purpose systems.

In this talk, I will briefly review some current trends and issues, and identify some approaches that are common to many applications. One such approach in data visualization that has attracted interest from the early days is the detection of salient features, or patterns of interest in a data set. The main idea is to extract information at a higher level of abstraction from a mass of data, that is richer in semantics but much smaller in size, and that can help to define scenes and objects for visualization. This idea was pioneered in areas such as flow visualization, but is now more widely applied. It is often considered to be necessity to keep up with the ever rapidly increasing size of data sets, and the demand for interactivity in data visualization and analysis.

Another generic approach in data visualization is called interactive visual analysis (TVA), consisting of a strongly interactive multiple‐linked‐view interfaces with integrated, powerful data analysis techniques taken from statistical analysis, pattern recognition, machine learning, and other fields. This is built on the assumptions that a single 2D or 3D visualization is often not enough, and spatial views can be augmented with abstract, derived data spaces; that strong interaction helps to promote insight; and that a better balance is needed between human visual inspection and computer‐based analysis and reasoning. Interestingly, an IVA interface can serve not only as an environment for exploration of low‐level data, but also for defining the high‐level features to be extracted, that should summarize the essence of the data. The high‐level features are usually highly application specific, and can only be found using theories from the application domains. The big challenge is to create environments for general purpose visual data analysis, and yet allow users to introduce advanced theories and methods from many application domains.

The trend towards more integration in data visualization will be illustrated with cross‐links between very different areas, such as medical and flow visualization, and the combined use of techniques from scientific visualization and information visualization, and the absorption of other data analysis techniques. Also, historic and contemporary examples of feature extraction and interactive visual analysis will be shown.
Assimilation to a Welfare State: Labor Market Performance and Use of Social Benefits by Immigrants to Finland*
Authors: Sarvimäki Matti
Published: April 2011

This paper documents the economic performance of immigrants in a country characterized by an extensive welfare state and a short immigration history. Upon arrival, immigrants to Finland have substantially lower employment rates than comparable natives. While they experience rapid employment growth, only men from OECD countries catch up with natives. Despite the persisting employment and earnings differences between non‐OECD immigrants and natives, the differences in income transfers disappear in roughly 20 years. The immigrant–native employment gaps are larger in Finland than in Australia, Canada, or the US.
Using the Job Demands–Resources model to investigate risk perception, safety climate and job satisfaction in safety critical organizations
Authors: NIELSEN MORTEN BIRKELAND , MEARNS KATHRYN , MATTHIESEN STIG BERGE , EID JARLE
Published: April 2011

Nielsen, M. B., Mearns, K., Matthiesen, S. B. & Eid, J. (2011). Using the Job Demands–Resources model to investigate risk perception, safety climate and job satisfaction in safety critical organizations.Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 52, 465–475.

Using the Job Demands–Resources model (JD‐R) as a theoretical framework, this study investigated the relationship between risk perception as a job demand and psychological safety climate as a job resource with regard to job satisfaction in safety critical organizations. In line with the JD‐R model, it was hypothesized that high levels of risk perception is related to low job satisfaction and that a positive perception of safety climate is related to high job satisfaction. In addition, it was hypothesized that safety climate moderates the relationship between risk perception and job satisfaction. Using a sample of Norwegian offshore workers (N = 986), all three hypotheses were supported. In summary, workers who perceived high levels of risk reported lower levels of job satisfaction, whereas this effect diminished when workers perceived their safety climate as positive. Follow‐up analyses revealed that this interaction was dependent on the type of risks in question. The results of this study supports the JD‐R model, and provides further evidence for relationships between safety‐related concepts and work‐related outcomes indicating that organizations should not only develop and implement sound safety procedures to reduce the effects of risks and hazards on workers, but can also enhance other areas of organizational life through a focus on safety.
Social skills in women with Turner Syndrome
Authors: SUZIGAN LÍGIA ZUPPI , DE PAIVA E SILVA ROBERTO BENEDITO , GUERRA‐JÚNIOR GIL , MARINI SOFIA HELENA VALENTE LEMOS , MACIEL‐GUERRA ANDRÉA TREVAS
Published: April 2011

Suzigan, L. Z., Silva, R. B. P., Guerra‐Júnior, G., Marini, S. H. V. L. & Maciel‐Guerra, A. T. (2011). Social skills in women with Turner Syndrome. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 52, 440–447.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of a group of women with Turner Syndrome (TS) in interpersonal situations where several social skills were required, and to compare the results with unaffected sisters. Fifty‐two TS females aged 15–35 years and 33 sisters aged 16–43 were evaluated using Del‐Prette Social Skills Inventory (SSI) and individual interviews. Thirty mothers to subjects and sisters answered questionnaires. It was found that TS girls’ performance in SSI was as good as their sisters’ and even better in meeting new people and facing unknown situations (p = 0.020). Older TS women scored better than younger ones, differently from their sisters. There were no significant correlations between total score of TS women and their age at diagnosis, time of follow‐up and height z‐score. Mothers reported having more problems with TS girls than with sisters. Although TS girls demonstrated having social difficulties, just a few of them spontaneously complained about interpersonal problems in the interview. Results suggest that social difficulties may not cause TS girls major problems nor make them unhappy with their social lives, and/or TS girls may not be able to perceive their own difficulties. Good performance in SSI also suggests that TS girls can identify adequate skills in presented situations and answer in a way to obtain good scores, but they may not necessarily use their skills due to other factors like anxiety and shyness. They may also have a tendency to answer SSI in a way they consider socially desirable, masking their real difficulties.
Combining kernel estimators in the uniform deconvolution problem
Authors: van Es Bert
Published: April 2011

We construct a density estimator and an estimator of the distribution function in the uniform deconvolution model. The estimators are based on inversion formulas and kernel estimators of the density of the observations and its derivative. Initially the inversions yield two different estimators of the density and two estimators of the distribution function. We construct asymptotically optimal convex combinations of these two estimators. We also derive pointwise asymptotic normality of the resulting estimators, the pointwise asymptotic biases and an expansion of the mean integrated squared error of the density estimator. It turns out that the pointwise limit distribution of the density estimator is the same as the pointwise limit distribution of the density estimator introduced by Groeneboom and Jongbloed (Neerlandica, 57, 2003, 136), a kernel smoothed nonparametric maximum likelihood estimator of the distribution function.
Statistical inference on seemingly unrelated non‐parametric regression models with serially correlated errors
Authors: Xu Qinfeng , You Jinhong , Li Xiaoli
Published: April 2011

This article is concerned with the inference on seemingly unrelated non‐parametric regression models with serially correlated errors. Based on an initial estimator of the mean functions, we first construct an efficient estimator of the autoregressive parameters of the errors. Then, by applying an undersmoothing technique, and taking both of the contemporaneous correlation among equations and serial correlation into account, we propose an efficient two‐stage local polynomial estimation for the unknown mean functions. It is shown that the resulting estimator has the same bias as those estimators which neglect the contemporaneous and/or serial correlation and smaller asymptotic variance. The asymptotic normality of the resulting estimator is also established. In addition, we develop a wild block bootstrap test for the goodness‐of‐fit of models. The finite sample performance of our procedures is investigated in a simulation study whose results come out very supportive, and a real data set is analysed to illustrate the usefulness of our procedures.
Lexical ambiguity: making a case against spread
Authors: Kaplan Jennifer J. , Rogness Neal T. , Fisher Diane G.
Published: April 2011

We argue for decreasing the use of the word spread when describing the statistical idea of dispersion or variability in introductory statistics courses. In addition, we argue for increasing the use of the word variability as a replacement for spread.
The strange birth of liberal Denmark: Danish trade protection and the growth of the dairy industry since the mid‐nineteenth century1
Authors: HENRIKSEN INGRID , LAMPE MARKUS , SHARP PAUL
Published: April 2011

The usual story of the ‘first era of globalization’ at the end of the nineteenth century sees Denmark as something of an outlier: a country which, like the UK, resisted the globalization backlash in the wake of the inflow of cheap grain from the New World, but where agriculture, rather than going into decline, in fact flourished. Key to the success of Danish agriculture was an early diversification towards dairy production. This article challenges this simple story which sees Denmark as something of a liberal paragon. Denmark's success owed much to a prudent use of trade policy which favoured dairy production. Moreover, this favouritism continued even after a more general movement to free trade in the 1860s. Using micro‐level data from individual dairies, we quantify the implied subsidy to dairy production from the tariffs, and demonstrate that in many cases this ensured the profitability of individual dairies.
A differential evolution algorithm for joint replenishment problem using direct grouping and its application
Authors: Wang Lin , He Jing , Zeng Yu‐Rong
Published: April 2011

There has been much work in establishing joint replenishment model and designing effective and robust algorithms. Little research has been done by direct grouping methods. In this paper, we present a differential evolution (DE) algorithm that uses direct grouping to solve joint replenishment problem (JRP). Extensive computational experiments are performed to compare the performances of the DE algorithm with results of evolutionary algorithm (GA). The experimental results indicate that the DE algorithm can find a replenishment policy that incurs a lower total cost than the GA. We also conducted a case study to test the proposed DE algorithm for the JRP. The findings suggest that the proposed model is successful in decreasing spare parts ordering costs and holding costs significantly in a power plant.
Fact and Fiction in EU-Governmental Economic Data
Authors: Rauch Bernhard , Göttsche Max , Engel Stefan , Brähler Gernot
Published: April 2011

To detect manipulations or fraud in accounting data, auditors have successfully used Benford’s law as part of their fraud detection processes. Benford’s law proposes a distribution for first digits of numbers in naturally occurring data. Government accounting and statistics are similar in nature to financial accounting. In the European Union (EU), there is pressure to comply with the Stability and Growth Pact criteria. Therefore, like firms, governments might try to make their economic situation seem better. In this paper, we use a Benford test to investigate the quality of macroeconomic data relevant to the deficit criteria reported to Eurostat by the EU member states. We find that the data reported by Greece shows the greatest deviation from Benford’s law among all euro states.
Studying significance of apoptosis in mediating tolbutamide‐induced teratogenesis in vitro
Authors: Singh Gyanendra , Kumar Akhilesh , Sinha Neeraj
Published: April 2011

The incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (non‐insulin‐dependent diabetes mellitus) is growing worldwide and poses a serious public health problem in a current paradigm of changing life style and food habits. Tolbutamide (sulfonylurea) is among the commonly used anti‐diabetic drugs worldwide for treating type 2 diabetes and is known to cause congenital malformations in animals. In this study, the effect of tolbutamide on major organogenesis period and the possible involvement of apoptosis in mediating congenital malformations have been carried out. In the present study design, post‐implantation rat embryos of day 11 were cultured for 24 h with various concentrations of tolbutamide, i.e., 10, 100, and 1000 μg/mL cultures, respectively. The growth and developmental of each embryo was evaluated and compared with control ones for the presence of any malformations. The tolbutamide decreased all growth and developmental parameters in a concentration‐dependent manner, when compared with control. However, exposure to tolbutamide at 10 μg/mL culture did not show any significant effect on embryonic growth and development in vitro. In parallel to this, flow cytometric analysis (cell cycle and annexin V binding) and DNA fragmentation assay were carried out followed by quantitation by 3′‐OH labeling of cultured rat embryos to examine the role of apoptosis in bringing about tolbutamide‐induced teratogenesis. All results were found to be dose dependent and an increase in apoptosis in embryonic tissues may be related to the increased risk of congenital malformations. The outcome of the research suggested that apoptosis might be involved in mediating teratogenesis of tolbutamide in vitro. Further research is warranted to fully understand this mechanism.
Roaming Through Virginia with the Public Health Nurse
Authors: Webb Blanche
Published: April 2011

ABSTRACT
Rural health nursing has long been considered a subspecialty within public health nursing, albeit one that required the nurse to be a generalist. In the excerpts of this article, Webb (1920) shares her observations as a State Supervising Nurse for the Red Cross in Virginia while traveling in rural areas of the state with the county public health nurses. Themes evident in these excerpts include the transportation issues associated with working in remote areas, as well as nursing work in the areas of maternal and child health, communicable diseases, case finding through health inspections, and health education. Additionally, there are themes specific to rural nursing, including distance and isolation, self‐reliance, and development of trust among the rural population. In her 1922 book, The Evolution of Public Health Nursing, Annie M. Brainard identified many of these themes when she stated the ideal rural public health nurse needed to be a “school nurse, baby nurse, tuberculosis nurse, and a general visiting nurse”, as well as tactful in dealing with “country people” who are “peculiarly independent and sensitive” (1985 edition, p. 303).
The Devil Knows Best: Experimental Effects of a Televised Soap Opera on Latino Attitudes Toward Government and Support for the 2010 U.S. Census
Authors: Trujillo Matthew D. , Paluck Elizabeth Levy
Published: April 2011

Can a soap opera influence political attitudes and engagement among U.S. Latinos, particularly those perceiving a threat from immigration legislation? The extended contact hypothesis predicts that ingroup fictional characters can encourage positive affect and attitudes toward real‐world groups and issues with which they are associated. We tested the impact of a Telemundo soap opera, Más Sabe El Diablo, which portrayed a Latino character's involvement with the 2010 Census. During the census‐collection period and directly following the passage of Arizona's Senate Bill 1070 immigration act, we randomly assigned Latino participants in Arizona, Texas, and New Jersey to view (1) pro‐census scenes or (2) control scenes featuring the character but not the census. Compared to control viewers, census viewers expressed more positive attitudes and less negative affect toward the U.S. government and more behavioral support for the census (wearing pro‐census stickers and taking informational flyers). Affinity for the character was associated with stronger effects. The soap opera did not positively influence Arizona participants who were directly affected by SB 1070.
Ablation of Peri‐“Mitral” Flutter in a Patient with Congenitally Corrected Transposition of Great Vessels and Situs Inversus
Authors: PALMA EUGEN C. , RAISZADEH FARBOD
Published: April 2011

This case reports the successful ablation of a peri‐“mitral” flutter in a patient with congenitally corrected transposition of the great vessels and situs inversus using an anterior mitral line. PACE 2012; 35:e94–e96)
Atrial Oversensing by an LV Lead during Typical Flutter: The Interest of Electronic Repositioning
Authors: DUPARC ALEXANDRE , MONDOLY PIERRE , DETIS NICOLAS , CHILON TALIA , ROLIN ANNE , MAURY PHILIPPE , DELAY MARC
Published: April 2011

Occurrence of supraventricular tachycardia is a common cause of clinical impairment for patients implanted with CRT devices. We report the case of atrial activity oversensing by the left ventricular (LV) lead during typical flutter, which led to LV pacing inhibition. Temporary reprogramming of the LV detection from standard bipolar to extended bipolar and cavotricuspid isthmus ablation solved this problem. (PACE 2013; 36:e53–e55)