BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Randomization, allocation concealment, and blind outcome assessment have been shown to reduce bias in human studies. Authors from the Collaborative Approach to Meta Analysis and Review of Animal Data from Experimental Studies (CAMARADES) collaboration recently found that these features protect against bias in animal stroke studies. We extended the scope the work from C...

INTRODUCTION Meta-epidemiological studies examining the influence of methodological characteristics, such as allocation concealment and intention-to-treat analysis have been performed in a large number of healthcare areas. However, there are no studies investigating these characteristics in physical therapy interventions for patients with low back pain. The aim of this study is to investigate t...

PURPOSE This study aims to describe the interplay between the work trajectories and the passing patterns of individuals with degenerative eye conditions in different phases of their career, as well as the disease progression and the career and well-being outcomes associated with different works and passing trajectories. METHODS Qualitative interviews on the topic of work trajectories were con...

This paper presents an error concealment strategy for improving the quality of compressed video data when transmitted over noisy communication channels. Data partitioning is used to enable the recovery of motion information when the compressed bitstream is corrupted by channels errors. At low bitrates the motion data is a signiicant part of the entire video stream and its recovery enables the d...

In this paper, we propose an improved frame error concealment algorithm for TCX-based audio coders in order to improve the quality of decoded audio at the receiver. Conventional TCX-based frame error concealment algorithms in the AMR-WB+ audio codec are usually unable to adaptively adjust gain control according to changes in the magnitude of the correct frame before lost frames. Thus, we propos...

Active networks have been recently highlighted as a key enabling technology to obtain immense flexibility in terms of network deployment, configurability, and customized packet processing. However, this flexibility is often achieved at the cost of router performance. In this paper, we present a three-level node architecture that combines flexibility and high performance of network nodes. We des...

Background. This review provides the first methodological information assessment of protocol of acupuncture RCTs registered in WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP). Methods. All records of acupuncture RCTs registered in the ICTRP have been collected. The methodological design assessment involved whether the randomization methods, allocation concealment, and blinding were ...

Nest predation can greatly affect reproductive success of waterfowl. We studied factors influencing duck-nest predation near Humboldt Bay in northern California by testing the prediction that measurements of nest concealment and nest location should differ between successful and depredated artificial nests. We ran a priori hypothesized logistic regression models to evaluate the effects of nest ...