Most efforts aimed at reducing the costs of video-ondemand services have focussed on reducing the cost of distributing the top ten to twenty videos by broadcasting them in a periodic fashion rather than waiting for individual requests. Unfortunately nearly all existing VOD broadcasting protocols require client set-top boxes (STB) to include enough local storage to store up to 55 percent of each...

OBJECTIVE To compare speech performance and levels of oral impairment between two types of lingual brackets. METHODS A parallel-group randomized controlled trial was carried out on patients with Class II, Division 1 malocclusion treated at the University of Hama School of Dentistry in Hama, Syria. A total of 46 participants (mean age: 22.3 ± 2.3 years) with maxillary dentoalveolar protrusion ...

We introduce a specific transport and transmission scheme for video-on-demand (VoD) called constant-rate transmission and transport (CRTT). CRTT establishes a constant bit-rate (CBR) virtual channel between the video provider and the viewer’s set-top box (STB) and then transmits cells from the provider into this channel at a constant rate. Since we assume that the number of cells in a frame is ...

Human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) readily commit to the trophoblast lineage after exposure to bone morphogenetic protein-4 (BMP-4) and two small compounds, an activin A signaling inhibitor and a FGF2 signaling inhibitor (BMP4/A83-01/PD173074; BAP treatment). During differentiation, areas emerge within the colonies with the biochemical and morphological features of syncytiotrophoblast (STB). Rel...

The Dothideomycete fungus Zymoseptoria tritici (previously known as Mycosphaerella graminicola and Septoria tritici) is the causative agent of Septoria tritici leaf blotch (STB) disease of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). In Europe, STB is the most economically damaging disease of wheat, with an estimated ∼€1 billion per year in fungicide expenditure directed toward its control. Here, an overview ...

In this study, 210 intestinal Escherichia (E.) coli isolates from enteropathogenic diseased pigs were screened for their virulence factors (F4, F5, F6, F18, STa, STb, LT, STx2e and intimin) by PCR and serogrouped by slide-agglutination (O8:K87, O45, O138:K81, O139:K82, O141:K85, O147:K89, O157 and O149:K91). In total, 24.8% enterotoxigenic E. coli, 7.1% enteropathogenic E. coli and 5.2% oedema ...

This paper reports on a children-dependent robotic approach to establish asynchronous child assistance with a social rapport network for the purpose of collecting trash from a public space. Our sociable trash box robot (STB) was unable to collect trash by itself. However, it did succeed in conveying its intentions to collect the trash from children. The main purpose of this study is to investig...

In order to satisfy the constantly increasing appetite of consumers for content in today’s world, Personal Video Recorder (PVR) function is implemented in digital TV set-top box (STB) based on Android platform. An algorithm that adjusts video Presentation Time Stamp (PTS) based on audio PTS is presented, which aims at the problem that audio is not synchronized with video existing during playbac...

Smooth tubercle bacilli (STB) including "Mycobacterium canettii" are members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC), which cause non-contagious tuberculosis in human. This group comprises <100 isolates characterized by smooth colonies and cordless organisms. Most STB isolates have been obtained from patients exposed to the Republic of Djibouti but seven isolates, including the three s...