181 research outputs found
Pathogenesis of the clinical synergy between respiratory viruses and bacterial endotoxin in the lungs of pigs
No full textPathogenesis of the clinical synergy between respiratory viruses and bacterial endotoxin in the lungs of pig
3D performance capture for facial animation
No full textThis work describes how a photogrammetry based 3D capture system can be used as an input device for animation. The 3D Dynamic Capture System is used to capture the motion of a human face, which is extracted from a sequence of 3D models captured at TV frame rate. Initially the positions of a set of landmarks on the face are extracted. These landmarks are then used to provide motion data in two different ways. First, a high level description of the movements is extracted, and these can be used as input to a procedural animation package (i.e. CreaToon). Second the landmarks can be used as registration points for a conformation process where the model to be animated is modified to match the captured model. This approach gives a new sequence of models, which have the structure of the drawn model but the movement of the captured sequence
Highly stylised drawn animation
No full textIn this paper we argue for our NPAR system as an effective 2D alternative to most of NPR research which is focused on frame coherent stylised rendering of 3D models. Our approach gives a highly stylised look to images without the support of 3D models, and yet they still behave as though animated by drawing, which they are.
First, a stylised brush tool is used to freely draw extreme poses of characters. Each character is built up of 2D drawn brush strokes which are manually grouped into layers. Each layer is assigned its place in a drawing hierarchy called a Hierarchical Display Model (HDM). Next, multiple HDMs are created for the same character, each corresponding to a specific view. A collection of HDMs essentially reintroduces some correspondence information to the 2D drawings needed for in-betweening and, in effect, eliminates the need for a true 3D model.
Once the models are composed the animator starts by defining keyframes from extreme poses in time. Next, brush stroke trajectories defined by the keyframe HDMs are in-betweened automatically across intermediate frames. Finally, each HDM of each generated in-between frame is traversed and all elements are drawn one on another from back to front.
Our techniques support highly rendered styles which are particularly difficult to animate by traditional means including the ‘airbrushed’, scraperboard, watercolour, Gouache, ‘ink-wash’, and the ‘crayon’ styles.
We believe our system offers a new fresh perspective on computer aided animation production and associated tools.
Keywords:Artist driven, stylised modelling, stylised animation, computer animation, computer-assisted animation, NPR, NPAR
Urban architecture, hybrid buildings: Studio Beveren
No full textMet als bijlage: A0 posterArchitectur
Influenza at the animal-human interface : a review of the literature for virological evidence of human infection with swine or avian influenza viruses other than A(H5N1)
No full textFactors that trigger human infection with animal influenza virus progressing into a pandemic are poorly understood. Within a project developing an evidence-based risk assessment framework for influenza viruses in animals, we conducted a review of the literature for evidence of human infection with animal influenza viruses by diagnostic methods used. The review covering Medline, Embase, SciSearch and CabAbstracts yielded 6,955 articles, of which we retained 89; for influenza A(H5N1) and A(H7N9), the official case counts of the World Health Organization were used. An additional 30 studies were included by scanning the reference lists. Here, we present the findings for confirmed infections with virological evidence. We found reports of 1,419 naturally infected human cases, of which 648 were associated with avian influenza virus (AIV) A(H5N1), 375 with other AIV subtypes, and 396 with swine influenza virus (SIV). Human cases naturally infected with AIV spanned haemagglutinin subtypes H5, H6, H7, H9 and H10. SIV cases were associated with endemic SIV of H1 and H3 subtype descending from North American and Eurasian SIV lineages and various reassortants thereof. Direct exposure to birds or swine was the most likely source of infection for the cases with available information on exposure
Investigation of molecular determinants of hosts tropism of the avian-like swine influenza A (H1N1) lineage
No full textGenetic Adaptation of Influenza A Viruses in Domestic Animals and Their Potential Role in Interspecies Transmission: A Literature Review
No full textIn December 2011, the European Food Safety Authority awarded a Grant for the implementation of
the FLURISK project. The main objective of FLURISK was the development of an epidemiological and
virological evidence-based influenza risk assessment framework (IRAF) to assess influenza A virus strains
circulating in the animal population according to their potential to cross the species barrier and cause
infections in humans. With the purpose of gathering virological data to include in the IRAF, a literature review
was conducted and key findings are presented here. Several adaptive traits have been identified in influenza
viruses infecting domestic animals and a significance of these adaptations for the emergence of zoonotic
influenza, such as shift in receptor preference and mutations in the replication proteins, has been hypothesized.
Nonetheless, and despite several decades of research, a comprehensive understanding of the conditions that
facilitate interspecies transmission is still lacking. This has been hampered by the intrinsic difficulties of the
subject and the complexity of correlating environmental, viral and host factors. Finding the most suitable and
feasible way of investigating these factors in laboratory settings represents another challenge. The majority of
the studies identified through this review focus on only a subset of species, subtypes and genes, such as influenza in avian species and avian influenza viruses adapting to humans, especially in the context of highly
pathogenic avian influenza H5N1. Further research applying a holistic approach and investigating the broader
influenza genetic spectrum is urgently needed in the field of genetic adaptation of influenza A viruses
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Deep Minima and Vortices for Positronium Formation in Positron-Hydrogen and Positron-Helium Collisions
No full textThis dissertation work is a study of positronium formation for positron-hydrogen and positron-helium collisions in the Ore gap (the energy region between the threshold for ground-state positronium formation and the first excitation level of the target atom) using variational K-matrices. We have fitted the K-matrices using multichannel effective range theories and using polynomials. Using the variational K-matrices and their fits, we have located zeros in the positronium-formation scattering amplitude and corresponding deep minima in the positronium-formation differential cross section. The zeros are related to the vortices in the extended velocity field associated with the positronium-formation scattering amplitude. For positron-hydrogen collisions, we have found two zeros in the positronium-formation scattering amplitude, and corresponding deep minima in the positronium-formation differential cross section, while we have obtained a zero in the positronium-formation scattering amplitude for positron-helium collisions. We have connected the zeros in the positronium-formation scattering amplitude to vortices in the extended velocity fields. Our work shows that vortices can occur for charge exchange in atomic collisions
Production of interferon-a, tumor necrosis factor-a and interleukin-1 in the lungs of pigs infected with the porcine respiratory coronavirus
No full textAnti-TNF-α therapy does not ameliorate disease in a model of acute virus-endotoxin mediated respiratory disease in pigs
No full textTumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) has been shown to play a role in many inflammatory conditions. Currently anti-TNF-alpha drugs (e.g. etanercept) are used in humans for treatment of autoimmune diseases. In this study we aimed to elucidate the role of TNF-alpha in the development of virus-endotoxin-induced respiratory disease. Twenty-two caesarean derived colostrum deprived pigs were used. Initially, the availability in the lungs and circulation, and possible clinical and inflammatory effects of etanercept alone were assessed in 4 pigs after intratracheal and intraperitoneal administration of 0.5mg/per route/per pig. High anti-TNF-alpha activity was detected in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluids, peritoneal lavage fluids and serum of all animals for at least 8h post-inoculation (HPI). No clinical symptoms, lung lesions, lung cell infiltration or induction of IFN-alpha, IL-1, IL-6, IL-12 and TNF-alpha in BAL were detected. Subsequently, the ability of etanercept to block porcine TNF-alpha and its effect on the above mentioned parameters and on lung virus titres were assessed in 8 pigs. They were inoculated intratracheally with porcine respiratory coronavirus (PRCV) followed by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) 24h later. Etanercept was administered at the time of LPS inoculation via the same routes and dose as in the initial experiment. The parameters were compared with a control group (n=8), receiving only PRCV-LPS. Half of the animals from each group were euthanized at 4 and the rest at 8h after LPS inoculation. TNF-alpha was completely neutralized in 3 of the 4 animals euthanized at 4 HPI and significantly lower than in the PRCV-LPS group at all times. No significant differences in disease severity, lung lesions, virus replication, lung cell infiltration or levels of IFN-alpha, IL-1, IL-6 and IL-12/IL-23 were observed between the two groups. Blocking of TNF-alpha alone was not sufficient to ameliorate disease in the PRCV-LPS model of respiratory disease, possibly due to the redundancy in the proinflammatory cytokine cascade, or the involvement of other unidentified disease mediators</p
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