Weight measurement using image-based pose analysis

Image-based gait analysis as a means of biometric identification has attracted much research attention. Most of the existing methods focus on human identification, posture analysis and movement tracking. There have been few investigations on measuring the carried load based on the carrier＇s gait characteristics by automatic image processing. Nevertheless, this measurement is very useful in a number of applications, such as the study of the carried load on the postural development of children and adolescence. In this paper, we investigate how to automatically estimate the carried weight from a sequence of images. We present a method to extract human gait silhouette based on an observation that humans tend to minimize the energy during motion. We compute several angles of body leaning and determine the relationship of the carried weight, the leaning angles and the centroid location according to a human kinetic study. Our weight determination method has been verified successfully by experiments.     

Changes in glycosaminoglycan sulfation and protein kinase C subcellular distribution during differentiation of the human colon tumor cell line Caco-2

Summary During the spontaneous differentiation (day 5 to day 15 of the culture) of Caco-2 cells, the sulfation of cell layer glycosaminoglycans increased, whereas protein kinase C activity was concomitantly redistributed from the membrane to the cytosol. The protein kinase C activators, 4-phorbol 12-myristate, 13-acetate and 1,2-dioctanoyl-glycerol inhibited glycosaminoglycan sulfation. By contrast, 4-phorbol 12, 13 didecanoate was ineffective.These results suggest that membrane-bound PKC may exert a modulatory effect on glycosaminoglycan sulfation, and this effect is gradually attenuated as Caco-2 cell differentiation progresses.     

Systems and organizations: Distal and proximal thinking

The paper introduces the contributions to this special issue ofSystems Practice on Systems and Organizations: New Directions in terms ofdistal andproximal thinking. Distal thinking refers to ready-made concepts, to the finished effects and outcomes of thought and action; proximal thinking, to process and event, to the continuous and unfinished. The papers presented here deal with various aspects of the distal/proximal distinction in social systems and organizations, and especially draw out the implications of recent work in information technology, sociology of technology, accounting theory, and organization studies for a proximal conception of systems and organizations.     

Internalization of polypeptide hormones and receptor recycling

Conclusion The insulin receptor is an integral protein of the plasma membrane of the cell. It is composed of two subunits: an subunit, which binds the hormone, and a subunit which is a tyrosine specific protein kinase capable of undergoing autophosphorylation. These independent subunits are synthesized by way of a higher molecular weight single chain precursor and thus are the product of a single gene^{29, 49, 85} localized to chromosome 19^{29, 91}. Assuming that the insulin receptor is synthesized in the same fashion as other integral membrane glycoproteins, then the nucleus, the rough endoplasmic reticulum, and the Golgi apparatus are involved in its biosynthesis. Further, there must be some form of transport of the mature receptor subunits to the plasma membrane where they are inserted.By contrast, the endocytotic route involves coated pits, coated vesicles, large clear vesicles or endosomes, multivesicular bodies and other lysosomal forms. In addition, it is possible that some other as yet unidentified organelle is involved in recycling (fig. 8). At the present time, with respect to the insulin receptor, the biosynthetic pathway and the endocytotic pathway appear to be separate. Further, it does not appear that either pathway, i. e. synthesis or endocytosis, exerts a regulatory function over the other.     

Interferon therapy: side effect scare hits French trials

The French Ministry of Health, acting on the advice of its scientific council, has halted clinical trials of interferon in cancer patients after four out of eleven recipients died of myocardial infarctions. Trials are expected to resume after the domestically produced drug stock is repurified and successfully retested. It has been suggested that council oversight should be extended to imported interferon and other experimental drugs which are now being used in human trials without the Ministry's control or knowledge.     

Predicting returns and volatility with macroeconomic variables: evidence from tests of encompassing

Tests of forecast encompassing are used to evaluate one‐step‐ahead forecasts of S&P Composite index returns and volatility. It is found that forecasts over the 1990s made from models that include macroeconomic variables tend to be encompassed by those made from a benchmark model which does not include macroeconomic variables. However, macroeconomic variables are found to add significant information to forecasts of returns and volatility over the 1970s. Often in empirical research on forecasting stock index returns and volatility, in‐sample information criteria are used to rank potential forecasting models. Here, none of the forecasting models for the 1970s that include macroeconomic variables are, on the basis of information criteria, preferred to the relevant benchmark specification. Thus, had investors used information criteria to choose between the models used for forecasting over the 1970s considered in this paper, the predictability that tests of encompassing reveal would not have been exploited. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reproductive Biology and Prospects for Conservation of Caldesia parnassifolia (Alismataceae)——A Threatened Monocot in China

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A preliminary study of crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) in the endangered aquatic quillwortIsoetes sinensis Palmer in China

Isoetes sinensis Palmer (Isoetaceae) is an aquatic or amphibious plant that is critically endangered in China. Previous studies have revealed the crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM)-like photosynthetic pathway occurs commonly in submerged leaves in genusIsoetes. Water chemistry parameters and the titratable acidity content of the plant extract were measured from samples obtained in the early morning (7∶00) and late afternoon (15∶00) from twoI. sinensis populations in China. One population occurs in the eulittoral zone of a freshwater tidal river at low elevation (134 m) and another occurs in a densely vegetated, high elevation (1 100 m) alpine shallow pool. Significant differences in pH and titratable acidity of the plant extract were detected between the morning and afternoon samples. These changes are associated with diurnal changes in water chemistry. Our results provide the first evidence for the existence of the CAM pathway in the East Asian endemicIsoetes sinensis Palmer. The magnitude of fluctuations in the titratable acidity of the plant extract may be correlated with the severe carbon limitation imposed on the plants by its aquatic habitat. Foundation item: Supported by the State Key Basic Research and Development Plan (G2000046805) Biography:Pang Xin-an (1974-), male, Master candidate, research direction: conservation biology.