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Vienna, Va., Oct. 4, 2012—NJVC, an information technology solutions provider headquartered in Northern Virginia,andVirtustream, Inc., a leading enterprise cloud software company, today announced a new alliance to provide the Virtustream xChange cloud marketplace to government customers. Under the terms of the agreement, NJVC customers will use xChange technology to shop for on-demand compute services from providers that are looking to sell unused capacity, often at a discount. This service will soon be available to the federal government through the new NJVC Cloudcuity Government Marketplace via the NJVC Cloudcuity Management Portal.
NJVC recently announced its Cloudcuity portfolio of services to support mission- and business-focused cloud computing environments, and is now expanding its capabilities through this alliance.
"Virtustream xChange will give NJVC Cloudcuity users the automated ability to compare the cost of service offerings across the Cloudcuity Management Portal," said Kevin L. Jackson, vice president and general manager, NJVCCloudcuity. "Users will be able to take advantage of temporary price reductions through spot pricing and arbitrage. In addition, it will give the company the ability to dynamically adjust rates and apply a variety of pricing methodologies, such as fixed, variable, tiered and subscription,delivering on an important tenant of agile acquisition."
Virtustream's xChange allows enterprises in any vertical, including government, healthcare, education and financial services, to create a virtual cloud marketplace of approved vendors and consumers of cloud services. Each industry vertical has unique requirements and standards for the cloud, for example, healthcare (HIPAA), ecommerce (PCI), government (FISMA, G-cloud) and defense (DIACAP, NIST-800-53). As a result, it had been difficult to interconnect clouds within verticals to share capacity (cloud-bursting), applications (community clouds) or information (cloud federation).xChange now provides this secure and compliant capability.
Hosted on Cloudcuity, the government-focused xChange will also provide supplier scoring, billing, price comparisons and workload migration, while offering a dashboard on performance and service level agreement requirements. Employing a marketplace concept, xChange enables users to respond to dynamic pricing based on availability and demand.
"xChange is a trusted cloud marketplace that brings together approved vendors and consumers, and enables users to buy/sell capacity, access spot pricing and see future pricing," said Kevin Reid, Virtustream chief executive and technology officer. "The majority of broker applications use a department store model—one shop with a handful of suppliers. xChange leverages dynamic market conditions to reduce the cost of infrastructure, while assuring enterprise cloud customers that they will stay competitive, compliant and secure."
About NJVC
With a focus on information technology automation, NJVC specializes in supporting highly secure, complex IT enterprises in business- and mission-critical environments, particularly for the intelligence and defense communities. We offer a wide breadth of IT and strategic solutions to our customers, ranging from strategic consulting to managed flexible services in five business areas: Cloud Services, Cyber Security, Data Center Services, IT Services and Print Solutions. Our global workforce includes dedicated and talented employees, with more than 90 percent holding security clearances. We partner with our customers to support their missions with security-cleared, dedicated and talented employees ready to deploy globally. To learn more, visit www.njvc.com.
About Virtustream
Virtustream is a leading cloud innovator offering enterprise class cloud solutions for enterprises, governments and service providers. Virtustream simplifies moving complex IT to the cloud—whether private, public or hybrid—while delivering the full economic and business benefits of the cloud. Virtustream offers xStream: a secure, high availability, enterprise class hybrid cloud solution, delivering application level SLAs for mission critical applications (SAP, Oracle, Microsoft and thousands more). xStream is available as software for existing data centers and as a managed service from Virtustream's cloud—all backed by professional services to design, migrate and manage clouds. Virtustream offers xStream worldwide; owns data centers in the United States and EMEA; operates an international Cloud Exchange; has offices in San Francisco, New York, London, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Toronto and Dublin, and has partners in Asia and China.
Media Contacts:
Michelle Snyder
Audra Capas
Lisa Desmond
Virtustream, Inc.
Heather Fitzsimmons
Mindshare PR


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Korean satellite to aid disaster efforts
South Korea's space agency has joined its international counterparts in putting satellite data at the disposal of rescue authorities following major disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis.
The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), under the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, formally became the newest member of the International Charter 'Space and Major Disasters' on 7 July.
Founded by ESA and the French space agency, CNES, the Charter is an international collaboration between the owners and operators of Earth observation missions to provide rapid access to satellite data to help disaster management authorities in the event of a natural or man-made disaster.
Through the Charter, satellite data were used to create maps and aid rescue efforts following recent disasters such as the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, the February 2011 earthquake in New Zealand and the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
"The Charter in an excellent example of international cooperation in the field of natural disasters, as it has recently been demonstrated in connection with the tsunami in Japan and severe snow in the east coast of Korea," said Dr Yougsik Chun, Director of Satellite Operations & Applications Division, after the signing ceremony.
As the Charter's newest member, KARI will contribute free images from its Kompsat-2 satellite.
Launched in 2006, Kompsat-2 is equipped with a multispectral camera able to acquire 1 m-resolution panchromatic images and 4 m-resolution colour images.
KARI has now established a collaboration with Korea's National Institute for Disaster Protection (NIDP) under the National Emergency Management Agency to respond to disasters based on satellite information.
Dr Seung Jo Kim, KARI President, noted, "We are proud to have KARI join its space partners in supporting the disaster charter, particularly since the charter has recently illustrated the relevance of space in alleviating human suffering caused by natural and technological disasters."

subset: commoncrawl


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Current Theme Song (aka what's playing on my ipod right now): Invisible Touch by Genesis.
Dot's in San Fransisco now.
Can it really be? *glances at my sidebar* I can't believe it, but it's true. Today is my blog's very first birthday. I made it an entire year. Whew. And you know what? It's been a blast. I've had more fun than I thought possible doing this and connecting with so many people. And when life is this good, I like to celebrate (of course, I like celebrating in general). But instead of throwing a bash and telling you what's going to go down, I'm going to let you decide! You are the guests, after all.
So to celebrate being alive and kicking on here for an entire year, what should I do? And I will do whatever the majority picks *gives a slight shudder* So I leave it to your kind, gentle, and extremely loving hands. Click what you will. :)
P.S Incidentally, it is also the New Year in Thailand today, which I just thought was uber cool since I went there. Connections people, connections. :)


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Tinker Bell: Secret of the Wings
Tinker Bell meets Periwinkle and ventures into the winter woods with her and Tinker Bell's other friends to find the secret of fairy wings.
Starring Mae Whitman, Debby Ryan, Timothy Dalton, Megan Hilty, Anjelica Huston, Matt Lanter, Raven-Symoné, Lucy Liu, Jesse McCartney, Lucy Hale
Directed by Ryan Rowe
Running Time - 1:32
Genre - Animation
Opened in Theaters - Friday, August 17th, 2012 (7 years ago)
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Unforgettable Week: Amitabh and Jaya, and fruit juice and a song
Why, Amitabh and Jaya were terms for the serving sizes (a play on their difference in height)! How creative, na? Innovative would be a more appropriate word. And we thought Starbucks with their tall and grande sizes (staying away from small for negative connotations of the term) were b-school case study material?! :o)
Of course I appreciated how pervasive Amitabh's personality is, ever since. Cheers to fruit juice! Speaking of Amitabh and Jaya, Tere Mere Milan Ki was an excellent song from an excellent film -- Abhimaan (1973) -- starring the couple. With music by S. D. Burman, lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri, and vocals by Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar. Enjoy it at this link.
PS: Amit-ji has this interesting blog post after the first show of the Tour last night. Although there's the usual jab at the media. Perhaps if he stopped his assault, they would reciprocate? And perhaps if Abhi-Ash were (or at least appeared to be) less full of themselves or gave us better films (or more to Kajra Re to), we would all root for them? In other news, Shah Rukh Khan and Akshay Kumar have concurrent releases this Diwali. Should be fun.
3 comments:
- Filmi Girl said...
I meant to comment on this earlier. I agree about your final points on Amit-ji and Aish and Abhi.
I have a nice big shopping bag with the poster from Devdas printed on both sides and this weekend, when I was out shopping, the Indian cashier who rang me out asked if I was a Bollywood fan (YES!) and she went on to say how much she really didn't like Aishwarya and Abhi and how she thought Aishwarya made Indian women look stupid.
While, I don't agree with that point, I do think that the Bachchan clan has yet to work out how to deal with Western press and media with a more ironic tone - something like David Letterman. This disconnect makes their self-importance seem much worse.
- Monday, July 21, 2008
- theBollywoodFan said...
Couldn't agree more, Filmi Girl. If you read some of the comments here during coverage of the Dostana filming in Miami earlier in the year (especially ones I had to reject for language), this is evident not only in their interactions with the media, but with the fans as well.
Thumbs up for carrying a bag with a Devdas poster. And two thumbs up for doing your part (I assume, almost certainly correctly) to not use too many plastic bags! =)
- Monday, July 21, 2008
Adab Nawab!
Well thanks for commenting on my post on Abhimaan, and I do recall this post of yours, which now after seeing the film is even more interesting. Let me link you into my post and here's mine, dost:
All the film's songs were great as is the one you included here.
All the best!
- Monday, August 11, 2008


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Farmers struggle with frequent rain
Wet weather reduces vegetable crop
Frequent rain has left farmers with few vegetables to sell at markets this summer.
Every sale at the Hartford Farmers Market has been made against the odds.
While 2013 brought one of the wettest springs on record, that came after several days of snow.
"We've got, on our farm, 40 acres that was supposed to go into field corn, and it never got planted," Dodge County farmer John Schwendimann said. "It was just too wet all the time to get into."
Farmers say too wet is worse than the drought of 2012.
"They at least got something last year. This year, the empty fields aren't going to bring them in anything. It's getting almost too late for corn now," farmer Charles Naab said.
To help recoup some of the losses, Gov. Scott Walker asked the federal government for help by declaring 24 counties as disaster zones.
The agriculture secretary approved the request, which paved the way for federal aid.
Green onions, lettuce and other cool-weather crops managed to find a way through the mud and onto dinner tables.
Farmers said hay hasn't been so lucky because it's too wet to bale it.
"I have never ever seen, in almost 50 years that I farmed, seen this many acres not being planted and too wet to go in and plant," Naab said.
In Ozaukee, Dodge, Sheboygan and Washington counties, crop losses exceeded 30 percent between New Year's Day and the end of May.
But farmers are patient. They know there's nothing they can do but wait -- be it for the weather or the government.
Farmers who meet certain requirements are eligible for federal assistance, including emergency loans, which are based on the extent of the losses and whether the farmer can pay it back.


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LOS ANGELES (AP) _ The California Supreme Court has been asked to step into the volatile issue of the impending release of a serial rapist.
Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey, who lost an earlier bid to an appeals court, filed a request with the high court Friday for a hearing.
She said the release from a state hospital of 62-year-old Christopher Hubbart would pose a significant threat to public safety. Hubbart admitted raping and sexually assaulting 38 women in California between 1971 and 1982, including some in the Bay Area.
He was declared a sexually violent predator in 1996. Lacey's earlier appeal objected only to his release to LA County. She said his home was Santa Clara County.
In her new filing, Lacey seeks to prevent his release into any community. She asked that he continue to be held at a state hospital until legal issues are resolved.
"I am asking the California Supreme Court to grant us an opportunity to oppose the release of a sexually violent predator into any community -- not just ours,'' Lacey said in a statement released by her office.
She initially objected to a ruling by Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Gilbert Brown, who held that Hubbart should be released in Los Angeles County where he was born and raised. But Lacey argued that he lived in Santa Clara County in the years leading to his arrest and no longer has family in Los Angeles.
"A new hearing independent of regional loyalties should be held to determine whether Hubbart should be conditionally released,'' said the appeal. Hubbart's prison term was due to end in January 1996, but he was instead admitted to a state hospital under a then newly-enacted law that allowed sexually violent predators to be civilly committed for treatment.
Hubbart's release is the final phase in a multi-step treatment process that ends with a conditional release to the community under the supervision of Liberty Healthcare Corporation.
The decision to release Hubbart was made by a panel of professionals at the state hospital who have followed and analyzed his progress.
Release terms would require him to wear a GPS ankle bracelet, continue treatment, obey a curfew and be subject to random searches and seizures, drug testing and polygraphs.


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It's back! One of our top selling Guerras has returned with a natural hemp pesticide free body and original custom woven accent.
World traveler and raconteur, Gigi Guerra was the inspiration for our first hi-top. Having traveled across every continent collecting the greatest fabrics, clothing, knick knacks and more, Gigi's rich, cross-cultural appreciation for the world at large is impossible to duplicate. We made our ultra comfortable, slim fitting hi-top for everyone who's a world traveler at heart.
CONSCIOUSNESS: Every day people are bombarded with decisions. One of our goals is to make your choice in footwear easier, and one of the ways we do this is by making all Keep products vegan and cruelty-free. This means no animals were harmed when making our shoes. This also means that we produce all of our footwear in factories audited by international, third-party non-profits who monitor ethical working conditions. A Keep representative is on the line of every production.
CRAFT: We pull our inspiration from the beauty of the everyday: from our walks through the city and through nature, from the things we read and eat, see and feel. We use natural, organic, and sustainably-grown materials as much as possible. We treasure the longtime traditions of handicraft, especially in textiles, and source materials from artisans in Guatemala, Japan and North America. Whether it's our obsession with handwoven ikat fabric and traditional Japanese indigo prints, or hand-pieced quilt patchwork and perfect herringbones, we try to pay homage to the skill and history of our favorite craftsmanship through the details of our shoes.
(Product#68550 - Guerra)


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Ozone Air & Water Sanitisers
Ozone Air & Water Sanitisers
Ozone & Oxygen Air Sanitisers | Oxygenio | Eliminate Virus & Bacteria
Chest of Drawers
Chest of Drawers
Modern Chest of Drawers | Contemporary Dressers | Italian Furniture
Featured Products From Our Store... (8)
Contemporary Furniture | Modern Furniture | Designer FurnitureWe can supply hundreds of pieces of Italian furniture from ever manufacturer and even match the prices of our competitors, contact us today to find out how and whether you qualify for our 40% discount.
Here at My Italian Living, we offer a variety of modern, contemporary furniture that have more than one function, to help you make the most out of your living space. Our Living Room section offers a high quality selection of TV units, coffee & side tables, lounge chairs sofas, and bookcases. The Dining Room section provides solutions for those seeking upholstered chairs, fixed & extendable tables, stools and lastly, sideboards. As it pertains to the Bedroom, we have an amazing collection of bedside cabinets, chest of drawers, tallboys, wardrobes, and beds - whether upholstered, wooden or wrought iron - that also have an option of storage space. Classic and modern cots, cribs, bunk beds and storage options occupy our Baby & Kid section; while our Garden section is full of patio/outside chairs, barstools and tables. Lastly, we have many accessories including lighting, fireplaces, stands, shoe cabinets and rugs all designed and manufactured in Italy.
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WazHack is a procedurally-generated dungeon game. This is not a button mashfest - you can spend all the time you need contemplating your actions. With over 300 different types of items to be found, there are many different ways to deal with the more than 130 different types of monsters. You will have to use your sword or staff as much as your inventory. It's not a game of plodding to the end and winning (though it is winnable), it's about experiencing the attempt... and learning lessons that will help your next valiant attempt!
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DMX Baby Mother "Yadira Borrego" Sounding Off On DMX Calling Her A Slut On Dr. Drew's "Lifechangers"! [Response To Dmx]
Yadira Borrego Responds to DMX's "Slut" Allegations
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Building Windows Games with Unity
Event Dates
Pre-Event: Monday, April 8
Main Event: Tuesday, April 9
Game Jam: Wed, April 10
Event Location
Microsoft Silicon Valley Campus
Galileo Room SVC Conference Center 1065 La Avenida
Mountain View, California 94043 United States
Live Stream
If you can't attend in person, watch the live stream at https://channel9.msdn.com
Windows offers the broadest platform reach for game developers. From PCs to laptops to tablets to phones, Windows is there. With the new Windows Store offering global distribution and the new Unity 4 support for Windows Store apps, it has never been easier for Unity developers to capitalize on this huge opportunity!
Join Unity and Microsoft for this free, two-day training designed to help you port your Unity games to the Windows Store and the Windows Phone Store.
Learn from experts in a low-key, interactive way and then get hands-on time to apply what you've learned.
Pre-event Training
Pre-event runs from 6:30 to 9:00 PM on Monday April 8th.
For in-person attendees, we will have an introduction to Unity game development on the evening before the main event. If you're an experienced Unity developer, feel free to skip this session.
· Registration and pizza (6:30-7:00PM)
· Introduction to game development with Unity (7:00 to 9:00 PM)
Main Event Agenda
Event runs from 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM
Evening Social from 5:30 PM to 8:00 PM
· Introduction to the Windows 8 platform and the Windows Store.
· End-to-End: Develop, debug and deploy a Unity game for the Windows Store.
· Deep dive: Tips & tricks for porting games from other platforms to Windows 8.
· Differentiate: Integrate your game with Windows 8 platform features (such as contracts, notifications, and live tiles).
· Sharing code: Learn how to reuse all this new knowledge on the Windows Phone platform.
· Partner sessions: Hear the lessons learned from those that have already done it.
· Discussions and Q&A with Microsoft and Unity engineering and product specialists
· Evening social: Appetizers, beer, wine and gaming.
Post Event, Game Jam
Event runs from 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM
· Bring your laptop and software and immerse yourself in a full day of Windows game development using the Unity platform in a casual environment.
· Meet other Unity Windows 8 developers, share experiences.
· Meet members of the Unity and Windows evangelism team and get expert advice.
· Play with Windows phones and tablets and see how your games work on production hardware.
To secure your seat in this event, please register at http://unitywindowsgames.eventbrite.com
Live Stream
If you can't attend in person, watch the live stream of the event at https://channel9.msdn.com. You do not have to register for the live stream - simply point your browser to Channel 9 on the day of the event. Only the main event (April 9th) will be streamed live.
This event is brought to you by the Microsoft and Unity and is free of charge. Attendees are responsible for booking and paying for their own travel and accommodations.
Email your questions to firstname.lastname@example.com
Technorati Tags: Windows 8,Unity3D,Game Development,Gamedev,Visual Studio,C#,Mono,Win8


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Say bye bye Suri!!
Here are Tom Cruise and Suri waving goodbye to France. It's so nice to see Tom smiling!!(Photo courtesy: People.com)
1 comments:
"Buy, mommy! Daddy's taking me home to see the space aliens!"
Come to think of it, that would be a real quote in my house.
(I love commenting on this site, by the way ... hope you don't mind)
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I want to wish you ALL a Happy Thanksgiving :)
I found this on the internet...
Thanksgiving, also known as Thanksgiving Day, is a harvest festival. Traditionally, it is a time to give thanks for the harvest and express gratitude in general. It is primarily a North American holiday which has generally become a national secular holiday with religious origins.
The dates and whereabouts of the first Thanksgiving celebration are a topic of modest contention. Though the earliest attested Thanksgiving celebration was on September 8, 1565 in what is now Saint Augustine, Florida, the traditional "first Thanksgiving" is venerated as having occurred at the site of Plymouth Plantation, in 1621.
Today, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. Thanksgiving dinner is held on this day, usually as a gathering of family members.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
*Happy Thanksgiving*
I want to wish you ALL a Happy Thanksgiving :)
Posted by The Crackling Crows Banners at 12:28 AM 3 comments
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Posted by The Crackling Crows Banners at 10:00 PM 1 comments
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
*Veteran's Day*
...to all our men and women who served and still serving our great country!
I found this wonderful poem on the Internet...by Gerd Schroeder, Major in the United States Army...
What is the Greatest Sacrifice a Soldier Gives to us?
For the thoughtless the answer is "his life",
For the mother and wife the answer is his time,
That is taken for a year or more,
Or for eternally,
The Christian may say "no greater love..."
A whole man can say his limb, his health,
In truth it is something that no man can know unless he has served his countrymen,
How long a mortal must labor to replace this ghost little thought of,
Like virginity it can only be given once,
And God or his angles never can replace,
A wonderful, and a horrible gift paid for spiritually,
What does a Sergeant give to us when his team is all killed?
Or a friend, as dear as any brother lies in pieces in his arm?
Or the commander,
Who counts his men at the gate?
Again and again,
Who refuses to stop rather than admit the truth:
That one, some, or many, is never to return,
What does a soldier give to us when he takes another human's life?
One, two or many, what he gives took just one sure shot
But will be exacted throughout eternity,
What of the Medic, who toils for hours in vain,
To save a strange, blood covered man, woman, or child,
With a face absent a name,
But a Child of God all the same,
What of the Soldiers in hospital beds,
With no feet or with no legs,
They still yet yearn to return,
To a sand covered land,
Filled with haters, and killers, not a few,
To stand in harms way with his brothers again,
What of the Soldiers, who conceal wounds deep and unseen,
Who will struggle in secret until the years wear him thin,
And still in the end he will not win back his gift,
This thing that is lost, given,
To Americans one and all,
They bear the same burden, and yet most can hide the scars,
But no doctor can ever heal,
Nor saint could atone,
That God will not return the most precise gift these Soldiers give,
To us all unbidden,
For one cannot see, or understand what is gave,
Unless one has given the same terrible gift,
Secret, unfelt, by most of the American masses,
We oft profess awe, and feign understanding,
In grand speeches, marches, and holidays,
Yet eternity will fade and we can't comprehend,
This deepest sacrifice given, unbraden and freely,
By millions of American Soldiers,
Throughout the last fortcentury,
It rips these souls asunder,
Leaves the brave quaking,
Alone in darkness,
For the most prime part of his soul,
That no matter what joy or richness of life after,
Can never return to fill what the soul, will now, be eternally lacking,
So what is the Greatest Gift A Soldier, too you gave,
We lucky Americans?
His life, heath, time, or wealth?
No, nothing so mundane,
He creeds to us freely simply His Humanity,
Given without grudge,
Too all Americans, whether sinister or saint,
Too us all the same blessings are counted,
So today as we enjoy our families, friends and freedom,
A holiday from our short good lives,
Remember the rights,
Given unalienable by God,
Yet, exacted through brave men's sacrifice of their Humanity to you,
Thank a Soldier but don't think you can understand,
Unless you have served, his deep pain, pride and honor,
In giving his Humanity to you.
To all the American Fighting men, and women we in ignorance thank you for all that you have sacrificed and will sacrifice to protect this Great Nation.
May God grant you peace.
Gerd Schroeder is a Major in the United States Army. He is a Veteran of OIF and OEF; and when time permits is a contributor to the American Thinker
God Bless America!
Posted by The Crackling Crows Banners at 12:21 PM 2 comments
Monday, November 10, 2008
* My sweet Maja...*
Posted by The Crackling Crows Banners at 2:55 PM 14 comments


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enfuse is a command-line program used to merge different exposures of the same scene to produce an image that looks very much like a tonemapped image (without the halos) but requires no creation of an HDR image. Therefore it is much simpler to use and allows the creation of very large multiple exposure panoramas.
enfuse is based on a paper by Tom Mertens, Jan Kautz and Frank Van Reeth. The implementation was done by Andrew Mihal (developer of enblend) - http://research.edm.uhasselt.be/~tmertens/exposure_fusion/
enfuse is currently in beta and available with the development version of enblend.
Enfuse merges overlapping images using the Mertens-Kautz-Van Reeth exposure fusion algorithm. This is a quick way to produce blend differently exposed images into a nice output image, without producing intermediate HDR images that are then tonemapped to a viewable image. This simplified process often works much better than the currently known tonemapping algorithms.
Enfuse can also be used to build extended DOF images, by blending a focus stack.
The basic idea is that pixels in the input images are weighted according to qualities such as proper exposure, good contrast, and high saturation. These weights determine how much a given pixel will contribute to the final image. A Burt & Adelson multiresolution spline blender is used to combine the images according to the weights. The multiresolution blending ensures that transitions between regions where different images contribute more heavily are difficult to see.
Enfuse uses three different criteria to judge the quality of a pixel: Exposure, saturation, and contrast. The exposure criteria favors pixels with luminance close to the middle of the range. These pixels are considered better-exposed than those with high or low luminance levels. The saturation criteria favors highly-saturated pixels. The contrast criteria favors high-contrast pixels. The local gray or color value standard deviation is used as a contrast measure. The Mertens-Kautz-Van Reeth paper suggest using a laplacian filter, but the standard deviation produces much better results for differently focussed images.
You can adjust how much importance is given to each criteria by setting the weight parameters on the command line. For example, if you set --wExposure=1.0 and --wSaturation=0.5, Enfuse will favor well-exposed pixels over highly-saturated pixels when blending the source images. The impact of these parameters on the final result will not always be clear. The quality of the result is subject to your artistic interpretation. Playing with the weights may or may not give you a more pleasing result. I encourage you to experiment (perhaps using downsized images for speed).
Enfuse expects each input image to have an alpha channel. By setting the alpha values of pixels to zero, users can manually remove those pixels from consideration when blending. If an input image lacks an alpha channel, Enfuse will print a warning and continue assuming all pixels should contribute to the final output. Any alpha value other than zero is interpreted as "this pixel should contribute to the final image".
The usage below refers to the CVS version of the 21 Dec 2007.
Common options
Print information on the available options.
-l num
Use exactly this many levels for pyramid blending. This trades off quality of results for faster execution time and lower memory usage. The default is to use as many levels as possible given the size of the overlap region. Enfuse may still use a smaller number of levels if the geometry of the images demands it.
-o output-file
Required. Specify the name of the output file.
Verbose output.
Blend around the -180/+180 boundary. Useful for full-360 panoramas. Enfuse currently does not blend the zenith or the nadir, so you may still see some seams in these areas.
Write a compressed output file. Valid values are LZW and DEFLATE for TIFF files, and numbers from 0-100 for JPEG files.
Extended options
-b kilobytes
Set the block size for Enfuse's image cache. This is the amount of data that Enfuse will move to and from the disk in one go. The default is 2 MiB which should be good for most systems.
Use the CIECAM02 color appearance model for blending colors. Your input TIFF files should have embedded ICC profiles. If no ICC profile is present, Enfuse will assume that image uses the sRGB color space. The difference between using this option and Enfuse's default color blending algorithm is very slight, and will be most noticeable when you need to blend areas of different primary colors together.
Gimp (ver. < 2) and Cinepaint exhibit unusual behaviors when loading images with unassociated alpha channels. Use the -g flag to work around this. With this flag Enfuse will create the output image with the associated alpha tag set, even though the image is really unassociated alpha.
-f WIDTHxHEIGHT
Set the size of the output image manually. This is useful when the input images are cropped TIFF files, such as those produced by Nona.
-m megabytes
Set the size of Enblend's image cache. This is the amount of memory Enblend will use for storing image data before swapping to disk. The default is 1 GiB.
Fusion options
Sets the relative weight of the well-exposedness criteria. Increasing this weight relative to the others will make well-exposed pixels contribute more to the final output.
Sets the relative weight of high-saturation pixels. Increasing this weight makes pixels with high saturation contribute more to the final output.
Sets the relative weight of high-contrast pixels.
Expert options
Window size for local contrast analysis. Values larger than 5 might result in a blurry composite and increased computation times. Values in the range of 3 to 5 have given good results on focus stacks.
Force hard blend masks on the finest scale. This avoids averaging of fine details (only), at the expense of increasing the noise. This improves the sharpness of focus stacks considerably.


text:
Windows 8: Is It the Right Call for CAD?13 Feb, 2013 By: Joe Dysart
Microsoft's new OS, with its radically redesigned touchscreen interface, could face an uphill climb toward professional adoption.
Sporting a radical redesign that's expected to charm some and disappoint others, Microsoft's new Windows 8 faces a tough slog ahead, including a slow adoption rate, analysts say.
"The challenges of a new user interface, a complex set of processor choices, and a long ramp to a compelling set of app offerings in the Microsoft Store will translate to a slower-than-usual Windows upgrade cycle," says Frank E. Gillett, an analyst with Forrester.
Gillett is lead author of the Forrester report, Windows: The Next Five Years. The study predicts a grim forecast for Windows 8 in 2013, but concluded that with the right moves, Microsoft could stabilize long-term market acceptance of the product line.
Microsoft is betting big on its OS, which for the first time is driven by touchscreen controls. The change makes Windows much easier to use on smartphones and tablets, but on traditional desktops, the new interface comes across as clunky and inefficient, say many early adopters.
Compared with previous versions, the Windows 8 user interface is a significant departure for Microsoft and could present a challenging transition for many users — in particular those whose applications are not optimized for the touchscreen.
This common design language is being used across all Microsoft products and services, Gillett says, including its Xbox gaming system and Bing search engine. "To run existing Windows desktop apps and to access some systems settings and features, users will switch to desktop mode. This dual OS personality will likely confuse many users, at least at first," he explains.
"Although Forrester is encouraging enterprises to look at Windows 8 in all use cases, the new Windows 8 UX Start screen is prompting concerns about the need for extensive employee training," Gillett continues. "Having finally migrated to Windows 7 in significant numbers and released their death grip on Windows XP, many enterprise IT shops are content to stand pat."
Windows 8 for CAD
Jon Peddie, president of Jon Peddie Research, a computer graphics marketing and consulting firm that tracks the CAD industry, is among the nonplussed. Compared with previous versions, he says, "The OS is no lighter — greater than 8 GB — certainly no faster, and doesn't bring any new tools or productivity enhancements. What it does bring is a barrier to work."
Like many longtime Windows users, Peddie is perfectly happy using older Windows versions for computer graphics and other work and sees Microsoft's abandonment of the traditional mouse–keyboard interface as a betrayal. "I know Microsoft is — and has been — suffering from an Apple inferiority complex and really, really wants to be cool," Peddie says. "But forcing [longtime Windows users] like me to adapt to a new metaphor is not only infuriating for the time wasted trying to get to work, but arrogant as hell to have Microsoft basically tell me, and other [longtime users], 'Go to hell; we don't care about you any more.'"
Denver Galloway, an application engineer at Autodesk reseller and consultant Mid-West CAD, is a bit more tempered in his response to the new OS — although he, too, is not rushing to embrace Windows 8.
"As of now, Autodesk has not officially given the okay to run AutoCAD or Revit products on Windows 8," Galloway says. "While that software may run in this environment, it is not yet supported by Autodesk." The same was true of Autodesk Inventor and most other Autodesk products at the time this article was published; consult the Autodesk web site for updates. Conversely, SolidWorks 2013 does support Windows 8 (64-bit).
"Regardless of where we're going, today, the majority is still in a desktop computing environment," Galloway adds. "Most of us are not using [touchscreens] yet. And we need the ability to easily find our desktop and launch our applications. Removal of the Start or Windows button, the launch directly into the touch interface, and the presence of gesture-based menus in a nontouch environment [such as CAD] will drive Windows 8 to the shelf in most businesses, I believe."
'Best of the PC and Tablet'
Not surprisingly, Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, sees things differently. Upon the launch of the new OS last October, he said, "Windows 8 brings together the best of the PC and the tablet. It works perfect for work and play … every one of our customers will find a PC that they will absolutely love."
Microsoft has put significant marketing muscle behind the new roll-out, including the release of its own, Microsoft-branded tablet for Windows 8, the Surface. The company decided to manufacture its own Windows 8 tablet to showcase the full capabilities of the OS, according to Ballmer.
The Microsoft Surface Windows 8 Pro tablet (starting at $899), shown here with the optional type cover, is designed to appeal to professionals where previous tablets have fallen short. Running Windows 8 on an Intel Core i5 processor, it incorporates a full-size USB port, external display connectivity, and 64 GB or 128 GB of memory.
Microsoft partners have released their own studies indicating that general user interest is more enthusiastic than others have found. PC Helps, a Microsoft gold-certified partner, for example, says 25% of employers with 500 or more employees anticipate migrating to Windows 8, according to its Windows Pulse Survey. Of those employers, 17% said they had expected to begin migrating to Windows 8 as soon as the OS became available.
Meanwhile, market factors outside Microsoft's control conspire against the new OS. "PCs are going through a severe slump," says Jay Chou, senior research analyst at research firm IDC, referring to sales in 2012. "The industry had already weathered a rough second quarter, and the third quarter was even worse." Stubborn economic times are a continued drag on the market, and personal computing is evolving from a desktop-only affair into a decidedly on-the-go market.
All this is not to say that Microsoft still doesn't hold formidable marketplace clout. Even Peddie admits, "If your preference is for Diet Coke and all that's available is lime Kool-Aid, sooner or later you're going to like lime Kool-Aid."
Adds Galloway of Mid-West CAD: "Touchscreen control is becoming a way of life, and integrating that into your business productivity is a smart business practice. Anytime someone can whip out a text message faster than they could type it on a keyboard, you have to take notice. There will come a point, whether the software is cloud-based or workstation-based, that CAD software will be optimized for touch. It's certainly a viable option now; however, the buttons and interface [are] now optimized for mouse/keyboard combinations. A touchscreen would need to be sized right to reduce errors in a CAD environment today."
Robert Green, a CAD management expert and Cadalyst contributing editor, observes that reliance on legacy hardware will stall the CAD industry's transition to Windows 8. What he does foresee in the near term is adoption of Windows 8–based tablets to support CAD workflows. "Windows 7/8 blended environments will be the norm through 2014," he believes.
About the Author: Joe Dysart
|Re: Windows 8: Is It the Right Call for CAD?
|by: raj
on: February 14, 2013 - 5:01pm
|Unfortunately, the driver of Windows 8 has not been productivity, but "coolness". There is a different set of ergonomics involved with tablets and smartphones compared to the desktop/laptop environment.
As you know, ergonomics has to do with orders of movement, and in a tablet/smartphone environment, there are similar orders of movement to using a keyboard in a desktop/laptop environment.
But, you know, this is not new. We have been through this exercise with floating toolbars, where users had so many of the mongrels floating about, they spent half their time moving them out of the way because they were floating right where they wanted to work. In the end, they docked the toolbars.
Then we had tool pallets. Again, it was "cool" to have tool pallets all over the screen until they cluttered up the screen.
The latest productivity killer (before Windows 8) is ribbons. They are the least productive "improvement" foisted upon the actual users of software. The problem is that we all end up having to go this way, and companies and individuals end up having to spend huge amounts of time, money and resources to redesign they systems to work around these so-called improvements.
It is almost as though the software and operating systems are designed by high school kids who have just discovered a whole new set of programming tools and widgets, and well, they must have one of those...and one of those. A bit like a kid in a candy store.
I am chairman of a state steel detailing association and the national body has decided to revamp the group's web site. As usual, it is a very young individual who has been given the task. The result is a web page that is difficult to view, and has every imaginable web page control on it. There are menus that drop down and move and change images. All this does is take your focus away from what you have done because your vision has been attracted by the change and movement. There are radio buttons and scrolling menus, and check boxes and search boxes that can't be seen and you only know one is there because of the faint magnifying glass near it (you can't see what you have typed in to search). The list goes on.
It is almost as though the programmers have been paid by the widget rather than to produce something that is functional.
Ah well...back to the rubber wall. It does not hurt anywhere near as much as the brick one, although you end up with the same flat forehead :-)
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Acta bioethica
versión On-line ISSN 1726-569X
Acta bioeth. vol.17 no.2 Santiago nov. 2011
Acta Bioethica 2011; 17(2): 225-236
Ethical health technology assessment in Latin America: lessons from Canada and Argentina
Evaluación ética de la tecnología en salud de Latinoamérica: lecciones aprendidas de Canadá y Argentina
Avaliação ética da tecnologia em saúde na América Latina: lições aprendidas do Canadá e Argentina
Carolina Martin1, Bryn Williams-Jones2, María Graciela de Ortúzar3
1Ethics Consultant, Research Ethics Board, Centre Jeunesse de Montréal-Institut Universitaire, Montréal, Canada
E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
2Associate Professor, Bioethics Programs, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada
3Associate Researcher at National Scientific and Technical Research Council -CONICET- Argentina
Abstract: A wide array of biomedical and genetic technologies is becoming available in both developed and developing nations. This situation is the cause of growing concern for health policy makers who must evaluate the utility of these technologies for their inclusion in public health insurance programs. Ideally, policy makers would have the information necessary to rationally allocate scarce resources, prioritise technologies, and ensure fair access to necessary health care services. The reality, however, is that policy makers often do not have such information. In this paper, we argue that the field of Health Technology Assessment (HTA), through the integration of ethical analyses (i.e., an "ethical HTA"), can enable Argentinean and other Latin American policy makers to better understand the soco-ethical concerns raised by new biotechnologies.
Keywords: health technology assessment, bioethics, policy, genetics, prenatal tests, Argentina, Canada
Resumen: Una amplia gama de tecnologías biomédicas y genéticas ya se encuentra disponible tanto en los países desarrollados como en vías de desarrollo. De allí la importancia de evaluar dichas tecnologías para su ulterior inclusión en los programas de salud pública. Idealmente, los responsables de formular políticas dispondrían de la información necesaria para asignar los escasos recursos de manera racional, priorizar tecnologías y asegurar un acceso equitativo a los servicios de salud. Sin embargo, la realidad es que los responsables de formular políticas carecen a menudo de dicha información. En este trabajo argumentamos que la evaluación ética de tecnologías sanitarias permitiría a los decisores políticos argentinos y de otros países latinoamericanos comprender mejor las inquietudes socio-éticas que las nuevas biotecnologías plantean.
Palabras clave: evaluación tecnologías sanitarias, bioética, política, genética, pruebas prenatales, Argentina, Canadá
Resumo: Foi disponibilizada uma ampla coleção de tecnologias biomédicas e genéticas tanto em países desenvolvidos como nos países em desenvolvimento. Esta situação é a causa de preocupação crescente dos formuladores de políticas públicas de saúde sobre como avaliar a utilidade destas tecnologias para a sua inclusão em programas de saúde pública. Idealmente, os formuladores de políticas públicas deveriam ter a informação necessária para distribuir racionalmente os escassos recursos, priorizar tecnologias e garantir acesso justo aos serviços de cuidado à saúde necessários. A realidade, entretanto, é que os formuladores de políticas públicas em geral não têm tal informação. Neste artigo, argumentamos que o campo da avaliação de tecnologia de saúde (ATS), através da integração de análise ética (ex., uma "ATS ética"), pode capacitar os formuladores de políticas públicas da Argentina e de outros países latino-americanos, a entender melhor as preocupações sociais éticas producidas pelas novas biotecnologias.
Palavras-chave: avaliação de tecnologia em saúde, bioética, políticas públicas, genética, provas pré-natais, Argentina, Canadá
The introduction of new biotechnologies in any health care system is a complex process that is closely tied to economic, political and cultural factors and thus poses a host of challenging social and ethical issues in need of urgent attention by policy makers. One approach that has been used (with some success) in developed countries to evaluate new and potentially contentious technologies for integration into health care systems, is the application of Health Technology Assessment (HTA) processes(1-3). HTA can be defined as "the scientific evaluation of medical technologies regarding their effectiveness, appropriateness, efficiency as well as social and ethical aspects and implications" (Swiss Network of HTA 2010)1. One of the aims of HTA is to provide the broad range of empirical and social information necessary for policy makers to make well founded decisions about the integration of new technologies into health programs.
In Latin America, and for our purposes Argentina, the production of HTA analyses is still quite limited. However, in March 2002, the Ministry of Health recognised the importance of HTA and announced that it would be necessary to implement a formal process of technology evaluation in order to help rationalise decisions about health care funding and delivery (República Argentina, Decreto no. 674/2003)2. In a context, such as Latin America, where poverty and social exclusion affect millions of people, the result is significant inequalities in access to health services and technologies. As such, HTA of new health technologies must be extended beyond cost-benefit analyses, to also include the evaluation of issues relating to fair and inclusive access to services, and the design of more just health and social policies. But producing an "ethical HTA" requires – amongst other things (e.g., a clear framework and methodology, empirical evidence, capacity building and public policies) – knowledge and expertise in ethical analysis that is not often available in HTA agencies, in either developed or developing countries.
There are, however, some models of how ethics can be integrated into HTA processes. To illustrate key elements necessary for effectively integrating ethics and HTA in Argentina, we present the case of the Agence d'Évaluation de Technologies et de Modes d'Intervention en Santé (AETMIS) in Québec, Canada, as an example of how HTA agencies can work to more actively integrate ethical analyses into its HTA processes. Building on this example, we argue for the importance of conducting "ethical HTA" in Argentina that specifically includes considerations of equity, and focuses not simply on efficacy or efficiency. We further argue that local professionals trained in bioethics are legitimate and vital sources of advice on ethics matters, and can contribute both to the development of more fully informed HTA recommendations (e.g., about consequences of adopting a given technology), and to the development of greater public transparency in the policy arena.
History & development of HTA
Prior to the systematic use of HTA, policy makers lacked the technical knowledge and tools to analyse the consequences of implementing new technologies such as computerized tomography scanner, or diverse predictive or diagnostic tests(4). In 1974, the U.S. Senate requested the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) to study the justifications for North American hospitals implementing expensive health technologies and procedures3. The result of this inquiry was the production of a series of reports and the development of an innovative tool for the analysis of health policies(4). Since the 1980's, the interest manifested by different stakeholders (e.g., health care managers, the pharmaceutical industry, academics, patient associations, and policy-makers) for HTA has grown considerably, especially in the developed nations. The rapid deployment of new health technologies, their increasing costs in the context of limited health care budgets, and the uncertainty provoked by as yet unknown effects are just some of the reasons that have contributed to this interest in HTA(2,3,5).
By mid-1990, the USA, Canada and most western European countries had implemented diverse health technology evaluation systems through the creation of public and/or private agencies (e.g., ministerial commissions, non-governmental organisations, university research teams). These groups were given the mandate to evaluate the security, efficacy and cost-effectiveness of new biomedical technologies, but also to reflect on their economic, legal and socio-ethical implications; in practice, however, socio-ethical analysis has been and are still rarely performed(6).
International HTA groups were also created, most notably the International Society of Technology Assessment in Health Care (now called Health Technology Assessment International, HTAi) and the International Network of Agencies for Health Technology Assessment (INAHTA), established in 1993 and currently including members from more than 50 national HTA agencies.
Although the majority of HTA is performed in order to assess specific technologies, it can also be used as an approach to evaluate the performance of health care systems and services. For example, some Canadian provinces (notably Québec, Ontario and British Columbia) have implemented initiatives to reorganise services in order to respond more efficiently to their populations' health needs. In Canada, the restructuring of health care systems has in part been necessitated by the "aging population, rapid development of medical technologies and increasing costs"(7:1464).
In Latin America, however, HTA processes are much less well developed and HTA agencies are still few in number. In 1998, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) conducted a study with the aim of determining the situation of HTA in "the Americas". This study identified two major pitfalls for Latin American nations seeking to implement technology evaluation procedures: 1) the "misunderstanding" of decision-makers about the importance of HTA for the health care systems, and 2) the absence of specialised staff(2). This study also determined that, as a consequence of the lack of evaluations, countries in Latin America were incorporating new health technologies into their health care systems without taking into account their own regional particularities, giving as a result "a diffusion of sophisticated technologies" which are almost unrelated to the populations' needs(2).
In Argentina, until 2000, decision makers did not recognise HTA as a tool that could help with the rational allocation of resources(8). However following the severe economic crisis that affected the country in 2001, the demand for HTA has been growing considerably as well as its role in the decision-making process(9). Argentinean policy makers have noted that a formal process of technology evaluation can contribute to transparency and efficiency in health policy decision-making processes (República Argentina 2003). Decision makers are now more aware of the relevance of HTA and this encourage the development of local HTA processes(9).
In 2008, the Health Ministry created the Comisión Nacional Salud, Ciencia y Tecnologia (to replace the former Comiisón Nacional Salud Investiga) with, as one its aims, the institutionalization of HTA in the health care system and the promotion of scientific evidence in health policy decision making4. An HTA working group was created within this body in 2009; to date, the evaluations performed by consist primarily of literature reviews and consultation with experts, and the resulting short reports focus primarily on economic information, e.g., about cost-effectiveness. These technical reports, albeit very helpful, provide decision makers with only partial information about specific aspects of technologies, such as costs and efficacy, which is arguably insufficient to enable the development of comprehensive and effective health policies.
One point that deserves particular attention is the fact that technical reports usually lacks of formal recommendations about whether to include a technology in the health care system. Such recommendations would arguably not be possible (or at least not very helpful) if the primary analyses do not also integrate attention to social, ethical and political factors that go beyond issues of cost-effectiveness. The problem with such a lack of formal recommendations is that it creates uncertainty and ambiguity for the various actors involved (e.g., patients, physicians, health managers, policy makers); without clear guidance, these actors will be hard pressed to make well informed decisions (e.g., about whether to use and/or pay for a procedure) in what are often very delicate situations.
The aforementioned awareness that decision makers currently show in Argentina about the important of HTA is a very positive step in the right direction. Yet as will be explained below, the systematised production of contextualised studies and formal integration of ethical issues in HTA is still missing in Argentina, as well as in the rest of the Latin American nations. Nevertheless, there is an opportunity for local HTA producers to broaden the scope of their evaluations. HTA is becoming both a professional practice and an academic discipline in some regional countries, such as Argentina (e.g., the work conducted by the IECS agency)5; and with a developing and vibrant bioethics community, there is also the possibility to integrate ethical expertise so as to build an ethical HTA that can help policy analyses and decision making, as is increasingly the case in North American and European nations.
A place for ethics in health technology assessment?
Following Blanquaert & Caron(10) the process of HTA can be described as a combination of two phases: 1) assessment, which includes epidemiological studies, the collection of all available scientific information (e.g., literature review, cost-effectiveness analyses) and then a subsequent analysis and synthesis; and 2) appraisal, in which contextualised studies are conducted and recommendations made. As Blancquaert(11) explains, contextual analyses that are broader or more comprehensive than the standard or traditional assessments are needed in order to produce clear and pertinent recommendations adjusted to local realities. Specifically, appraisal takes into account the environment in which a technology emerges and the different positions of the various stakeholders concerned by the use of such a technology(11).
Despite the recognition in the HTA community of the need for broader evaluations that include socio-ethical analyses, the aforementioned appraisal phase is not yet performed in a systematized manner by most HTA agencies. This gap between HTA mandate and practice has been highlighted by both HTA producers and bioethics scholars(6). Even when HTA producers recognise the importance of and need to address socio-ethical concerns, it has often proven difficult to conduct and integrate ethical analyses because of a lack of specialised staff and economic resources to assess, in a timely manner, all aspects of a technology(12,13).
In addition, as noted by Lehoux and Williams-Jones(6), the absence of adequate frameworks and procedures to guide such ethical analyses further complicates the situation. As a result, the formal integration of socio-ethical analyses is mostly conducted by "ad-hoc" advisory groups(14), even in jurisdictions where HTA has been practiced for many years. It should not be surprising, then, that if integrating socio-ethical analyses into HTA is difficult in North American and Europe, the situation will be even more challenging in countries, such as those in Latin America, in which this multidisciplinary field of study is still in its earliest stages of development. Nonetheless, there are some models for integrating ethical analyses into HTA processes(1,13,15,16) that are worth attention, and could be eventually adapted or modified to the different social contexts of Latin American countries.
The Québec experience: AETMIS
One of the few HTA agencies in Canada that had attempted to integrate ethical analyses into its practices was the Agence d'évaluation des technologies et des modes d'intervention en santé (AETMIS), in the province of Québec. Created in 2000, AETMIS was an independent organisation linked to the Ministère de la santé et des services sociaux (MSSS, Ministry of Health and Social Services of Québec). The AETMIS recently merged with the Conseil du médicament (committee in charge of evaluating medications for inclusion in the Quebec public health insurance program), and in January 2011 became the Institut national d'excellence en santé et en services sociaux (INESSS); its future operating practices and the place for ethical analyses are as yet unknown, so for this paper we will focus on the practices of the AETMIS.
The goal of AETMIS was to support and counsel health decision makers in the Québec government in their development of health policy. AETMIS was strongly engaged in promoting evaluation, knowledge translation, teaching and other educational activities(17), similar to other HTA agencies in Canada and internationally. AETMIS performed comprehensive analyses (assessment and appraisal), that can include, for example, the use of statistics and other scientific or health information about the Québec population(11).
The ethical implications of a technology are analysed within Québec's socio-cultural, economic and political context. Different methods are employed to achieve this integration: for instance, focus groups may be organised with stakeholders or interviews conducted with different actors concerned by a given technology, depending on the particular circumstances of each evaluation. At this point, it is necessary to recognize the strong influence exerted by the various stakeholders involved in implementing such innovations in a given context (e.g., technology designers, health administrators, physicians, patient groups) as well as the existence of diverse perceptions, interests and expectations that each may have about the same technology. Considering these factors and integrating them as part of the HTA process allows the AETMIS evaluators to obtain more accurate information about the utility, feasibility and acceptability of a technology in the Québec context.
Each HTA report produced formulates pragmatic policy "recommendations directly applicable to the Québec health care system"(17). For example, in 2003, AETMIS produced a report about the use of prenatal screening for Down syndrome during the first-trimester. After evaluating diverse parameters, the report concluded that even while the screening modalities were effective, more research was still needed before implementing "wide-scale first-trimester screening in Québec"(18). In January 2009, the Québec Commissaire à la santé et au bien-être (MSSS) published a report that built on the AETMIS evaluation and, in light of new technological developments and changes in the social context, recommend the introduction of population screening for Down Syndrome. The important point to note is that in both cases, the social and ethical concerns related to Down Syndrome (e.g., issues of stigmatisation, access to services for a vulnerable population, equity in access to prenatal screening) where considered and integrated in the analyses and the broader policy making process.
The changes in medical practices engendered by the development of new biomedical technologies made it necessary for AETMIS to expand the traditional process of HTA to include assessment and appraisal processes; but they have also continued to examine and test different methods (e.g., working across diverse interest groups and stakeholders) with which to integrate ethics into HTA. To be clear, we are not suggesting that AETMIS is the ideal or perfect model for ethical HTA; instead, we argue that AETMIS is a helpful example or case study from which other agencies and countries can learn to support their own efforts to integrate ethics into HTA processes. To see how some of these lessons might be applied in the Argentinean context, we turn now to an examination of an ethical HTA for the case of prenatal genetic testing.
An ethical HTA in Argentina: the example of prenatal genetics testing
To better illustrate the need to expand HTA processes in Argentina (and Latin America more generally) to include ethical analyses, we present here the case of prenatal genetic testing (PGT), a class of health technology that raises numerous social and ethical concerns that should be assessed, alongside clinical and economic considerations.
In Argentina, the medical application for PGT in the public health care and social security system6 is still quite limited, nor are there well developed public policies or regulations governing the use of these technologies(19,20). Nonetheless, private access to such services and other reproductive technologies is relatively easy (through private clinics) and Argentinean professionals employ the same techniques as their colleagues in developed countries(20,21)7. This shows that there is at least some degree of acceptability of these technologies by the Argentinean public, and by health professionals.
Following Blancquaert et al.(22), we note that as objects of assessment, genetic or genomic technologies are very complex, raising a considerable number of concerns regarding appropriateness and acceptance of these new technologies in diverse societies. Although many socio-ethical concerns about PGT are shared by other branches of medicine (e.g., who will have access to the service, who will pay), some are particular to this technology, such as the right to reproductive autonomy, confidentiality of genetic information, and the potential risk of discrimination and stigmatisation. But PGT also raises questions about how to address diverging personal convictions, values and religious beliefs. In the specific case of Argentina, the lack of regulations or guidelines dealing with genetic tests in general has made possible the introduction of commercial PGT, some of which may lack medical validation(20,23). All of these issues pose serious challenges for decision makers.
Probably one of the most important challenges for an effective HTA (to inform health care policies) in Argentina with regards to PGT —or for health services more generally— is the fragmentation of the health care system in terms of structure and organisation of insurance coverage(24). Even when HTA is conducted, the absence of formal recommendations following these assessments does not allow Argentinean policy makers to be fully informed about the range of contextual issues associated with a particular technology, and thus they remain unable to enhance the efficiency, the equity and quality and of the health policies. This situation is made worse by the fact that in Argentina, the links between the scientific and political spheres have been historically quite weak, which reduces the transparency of how policies are built. Regardless of the lack of regulatory oversight, Argentina, as with other neighbouring countries like Chile and Brazil, is rapidly incorporating new biomedical technologies such as molecular genetic tests (primarily into the private health sub-sector) that have been developed in North America and Europe(3,25); but this integration happens without appraisal of the social or political contexts relevant to their introduction. Such practices can result in a waste of limited resources, the use of possibly inappropriate technologies, and the perpetuation of a situation where populations have critical but unmet medical or public health needs; this creates inequity in access to important health care services and contributes to broader social injustice.
The tendency to adopt health technologies without detailed analysis is probably to some extent rooted in a widespread public belief in the power of high technologies to solve health problems (also maybe encouraged by the private healthcare sector), and a perception by many people (including policy makers and the general public) that access to these technologies is synonymous with being at the vanguard of modern medicine. As Lehoux(26) states, "for several observers, health technology…cannot be (irrationally) resisted", because "technology sounds modern… must be about the latest. It is also supposed to be better. But how and when do we know that an innovation is better?"(26:xii-3). The absence of contextualised assessments and integrated appraisals impedes efforts to determine if prenatal genetic tests or other biomedical technologies are appropriate or not for the Argentinean society.
To produce contextualised studies, it is obvious that substantial human and material resources are needed(7); but so to is awareness on the part of HTA producers of the importance of enlarging their studies beyond the analysis of clinical and economic considerations, to also include ethical and social issues, in order to make more accurate and pertinent recommendations. Unfortunately, chronic understaffing and a lack of sufficient financial resources at HTA agencies is a major part of the problem, although it can in some places be overcome by re-allocating local resources; more important, however, is to develop a willingness on the part of HTA agencies to engage in broader analyses.
In Argentina – as in other developing and developed countries – the government does not consider genetic testing (or most new reproductive technologies) as a priority for the public health care system(20); prenatal genetic tests are provided mostly by private institutions and thus are accessible only for the wealthiest. But there may be situations in which genetic tests are appropriate (e.g., for people belonging to certain at-risk groups) and justifiable in relation to other important health needs. Yet without a comprehensive HTA process that takes such issues into consideration, policy makers will be unable to rationally defend their choices (e.g., whether or not to include PGT in public health insurance).
We argue that important progress can be made if HTA producers in Argentina begin to integrate the aforementioned appraisal phase as a core part of their HTA processes. The capacity to conduct such appraisal will necessitate important efforts in education about the ethical issues related to health care and genetic technologies. HTA producers should, for example, reflect on and assess the possible consequences of not considering sensitive issues. For example, the growing commercialization of genetic tests can lead to an early introduction into the market of services that physicians may not yet be prepared to handle, and provide information to patients and third parties which can have serious legal consequences, such as discrimination, or even malpractice suits in the context of "wrongful life" claims(27) similarly strong patent protection and resulting high costs may mean that some genetic tests are simply too expensive to be considered for inclusion in public health insurance programs in countries like Argentina. It is also important to distinguish between those situations in which genetic tests are appropriate or needed (e.g., for people belonging to at-risk groups) and so justifiable in relation to other health needs; and those situations in which tests are introduced primarily because of commercial interest(23,28).
In practice, integrating contextualised studies and ethical analysis into HTA processes will require, amongst others, the development of strategic partnerships between diverse spheres: academia, policy and practice(11,29). In Argentina, a recent report from the aforementioned Comisión Nacional Salud, Ciencia y Tecnología(30) shows that those researchers working on human genetics and its clinical applications are disconnected from decisions about the provision of health services. Better collaboration with the medical genetics community is needed, as well as more fluid communication between practitioners and policy makers, to avoid any misunderstandings. For instance, in Argentina, the field of genetics is still closely associated in the public mind with eugenic practices, and this is arguably one of the principal reasons why PGT has not been included in public services(19,30,31). Promoting education and dialogue among the different stakeholders —including patients and health professionals— would help enormously to eliminate such misperceptions and misinformation.
However, producing an ethical HTA requires at least some knowledge about bioethics, such as how to use and apply relevant ethical principles, theories of justice, or analytic frameworks. The issues faced by Argentinean HTA producers are very challenging, and arguably go beyond the tools that they currently have in hand. In the next section, we argue that Argentina's Bioethics community, which has developed substantially during the last decade, can contribute in important ways to the production of better and more ethical HTA.
Building local capacity
Although there have been some initiatives in Argentina to evaluate socio-ethical aspects raised by genetic and other biomedical technologies, this has tended to occur without formal integration into existing HTA processes. The aim of such ethical evaluations has been to examine the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) of genetic technologies, as has already been done in other countries, most notably in the USA, Canada and in Western Europe. In Argentina, some National Universities —such as at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP) and the Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA)8 - have begun developing bioethics centres and programs. For example, while the first ELSI courses for law and medical students were taught by invited international scholars, it is increasingly local bioethics scholars (many of whom received training abroad and participated in other ELSI courses offered in North America) who are now engaged in both research and teaching in Argentina9 .
More recently, several research ethics bodies have been created in Argentina and begun participating in public and policy discussions about ethics and genetics, such as the Comision Nacional en Genética Humana created by the National Health Ministry; also, institutions such as the Observatorio de Bioética (created by the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, FLACSO) are analysing and discussing socio-ethical issues related to the use of new health technologies. Even though these bodies are not themselves HTA agencies, their work can be helpful for HTA producers. Nonetheless, the integration of ethics with HTA and the introduction of HTA into the policy sphere remain major challenges, and not only for developing countries(32,33).
Progress can, however, be made if Argentinean HTA producers build links with institutions where technologies are analysed from an ethical and social perspective, as is the case with some public universities, ethics commissions and non-governmental organisations. Another possibility is that HTA agencies could learn from the experience of AETMIS in Québec, and incorporate onto their staff scholars trained in bioethics in order to conduct their own analyses and reports. Such recruitment would be an opportunity for HTA staff to build awareness about ethics, and for bioethicists to recognise and better respond to the specific objectives and restrictions inherent in HTA processes(5).
Scholars trained in bioethics can contribute substantially to HTA processes. They can employ several approaches, both theoretical and empirical(6) and may be involved in conducting both qualitative and quantitative research to understand and measure what people feel or are concerned with, regarding a given technology. For instance, such research would be useful in building a better understanding of the experience of those people undergoing PGT in Argentina. By referring to ethical principles (e.g., autonomy, beneficence, justice) and identifying societal values (e.g., solidarity, empathy), ethical analyses can help to build relevant and practical frameworks to better analyse genetic technologies.
Such theoretical and empirical bioethics research can help to clarify a technology's social acceptability, appropriateness and utility within the Argentinean health care system. And when integrated with comprehensive HTA evaluations, it then becomes feasible to produce practical and relevant recommendations that can be used to make decisions on rational grounds, according to needs and not just according to particular interests or preferences. Yet, it is critical to be aware of and to guard against the use of rational bioethics-informed arguments in the service of non-transparent economic and/or political ends. For example, government actors may find such arguments useful for legitimising questionable practices, such as the mandatory or "strongly encouraged" implementation of new but possibly insufficiently tested or justified technologies (e.g., vaccines of HPV or N1H1, or population genetic screening of newborns for conditions where there are no treatments) in order to "protect public health".
We agree with Battista and Hodge(29) that building (local) capacity and knowledge transfer mechanisms remain two major challenges for the progress of HTA in all countries. Nonetheless, local capacity building can be enhanced, for example, by encouraging and supporting existing academic activities, such as research in health services, policy and in public health(29). In the case of ethics expertise, it is important to recognise that bioethics research and education has grown considerably in Latin America since the 1990s(34-36). An opportunity exists, then, to bring together the bioethics, health research and HTA communities to discuss how to effectively integrate ethical reflection into HTA and policy making.
A promising strategy would be to start with a small scale pilot project at a public or private institution in which bioethicists are employed, to develop the aforementioned appraisal phase of the HTA process, for a particular health technology. For example, bioethics and social science scholars could help gather the necessary social and scientific information about PGT in Argentina, consult with key stakeholders (e.g., physicians working in hospitals in which PGT is provided, to document existing selection criterion, if any), conduct focus groups with patients in need of PGT to learn about their concerns, or survey genetics laboratories to learn what kinds of tests are in most demand. As seen in our example of AETMIS, the dissemination of study findings is an integral part of the HTA process; so in the context of the proposed pilot study, presenting research results in academic, public and policy forums could be a way to move the issue of PGT onto the political agenda in Argentina.
With regards to knowledge transfer, the communication and diffusion of HTA results and its translation into policy and practice needs to be enhanced in Argentina. As Battista and Hodge explain, these results are currently addressed almost exclusively to health ministers, but industry, clinicians and the public more generally should also be receptors of such information(29). Partnerships between a diversity of stakeholders are needed because such a translation is not just a "technical" or one-way (expert to user) procedure. Instead, evidence-based decision-making should be seen as an ongoing and interactive "social process"(32). Public participation in such social processes could be encouraged through the implementation of consultative mechanisms, as have been used by some European agencies (e.g., the "Publiforums" implemented by the Swiss Technology Assessment Agency). Such integration of citizens panels and other consultative mechanisms (e.g., roundtables) that facilitate discussions about the socio-ethical questions raised by new technologies(6,37) would go some way towards reflecting the diversity of social values, and move beyond the strict epidemiological analyses in current HTA processes.
The creation of spaces that facilitate and encourage public participation is important, and some progress is already being made in Argentina. The so called "Argentinean Roundtable" is a public forum implemented by the National Ministry of Health, where different sectors of society (government, labour associations, scientific societies, the Catholic Church, etc.) participated in discussions about various health problems and their possible solutions(38). This sort of dialogue can also be stimulated by those in academia – an area that is strongly developed in Argentina – searching for new avenues of collaboration with governmental and private institutions.
In developing countries, people often experience numerous difficulties accessing health care services, especially for those people with the lowest income(39). In this context, more inclusive health policies which have the potential to improve access to essential services are necessary. To that end, we argue that HTA in Argentina, as well as in the rest of Latin America, must engage in a broader or contextualized assessment of new technologies, to include alongside assessment, the appraisal of socio-ethical aspects. In particular, there is real need to move beyond short technical HTA reports and to instead also formulate pragmatic and socially relevant policy recommendations.
There is arguably no single "best model" for how to integrate ethics into HTA, but it is certainly possible to learn from the successes and failures of other HTA producers. Primary research is still necessary in Argentina in order to clarify how socio-ethical questions should be appraised, and possible methods explored. An important first step should be building awareness on the part of HTA producers and decision makers about the importance of conducting comprehensive assessments. Such analyses can eventually contribute not only to more efficient technology integration (i.e., to produce the desired effect of improved public health), but also to a more efficient and equitable organisation of the health care system in Argentina (e.g., addressing the challenges of understaffing and chronic under-funding of genetic public facilities). It is essential to recognize that decisions based on expert analysis and advice can lead to better results(40), but for these results to be translated and accepted, they have to be integrated into broad public and policy discussions.
To address the complex social, ethical and economic challenges raised by new biomedical technologies such as PGT, the development and collaboration between interdisciplinary teams is needed. We have suggested that there is room for the participation of local bioethics scholars who have to date not been involved in HTA processes. These scholars can help to integrate the multiples perspectives of diverse stakeholders (e.g., publics, health professionals, corporate interests) in the appraisal process, and stimulate dialogue between the different actors; bioethics scholars could also be instrumental in helping HTA producers and decision makers think more reflexively about issues of fairness and equity when considering who should have access to PGT and other novel and costly health technologies. Without such an analysis, PGT will remain a hotly contested issue for the Argentinean public (and only accessible to the wealthiest) and an ongoing challenge for policy makers.
Social inequalities are one of the core problems in modern health care systems, both in the developed and developing countries. According to Lafortune et al., equity in health and health care requires the "realignment" of health policies, and for that, "a culture of evaluation needs to be infused" in the decision-making process(41:83). Progress to develop such a culture, can, we suggest, arise through the close collaboration of bioethics scholars and HTA producers, with the shared goal of aiming to construct ethical HTA that can guide policy-making in more reflexive, inclusive and transparent decision making.
Carolina Martin was supported by a Bioethics scholarship from the Faculty of Graduate Studies (Université de Montréal); Bryn Williams-Jones was supported by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC Institutional pilot grant, 2007), and the International Institute of Research in Ethics and Biomedicine (IIREB travel award, 2008) and M. Graciela de Ortúzar was supported by National University of Patagonia Austral, Argentina (Project 29/C039, Director); National University of La Plata (Project 11 J098- Co-Director); National Scientific and Technical Research Council -CONICET- (Associate Researcher), Argentina.
1. For more information see the Swiss Network of HTA available at: http://www.snhta.ch/
2. República Argentina. 2003. Resolución Ministerial no. 674/2003. Programa Médico Obligatorio y Evaluación de Tecnologías Sanitarias", edited by Superintendencia de seguros de la Nación. Buenos Aires: República Argentina (http://www.sssalud.gov.ar).
3. For a detailed discussion of the origins and development of HTA and the creation of the OTA, see for example the National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology, available at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/nichsr/hta101/ta10103.html
4. See: República Argentina, Ministerio de Salud y Ambiente. Comisión Nacional Salud, Ciencia y Tecnología. Later, in 2009, the Unidad Coordinadora de Evaluación y Ejecución de Tecnologías en Salud was created within the Secretary of Policies, Regulations and Institutions by Ministerial Resolution 458.
5. IECS is the only Argentinean institution (and one of only a few in Latin America) affiliated with the international network INAHTA. As such, the IECS is directly linked with the international HTA community, which facilitate the exchange of ideas, methodologies and reporting models that could be adapted to the local context. This relationship provides precious opportunities for collaboration and shared learning to help improve and enlarge the production of HTA in Argentina.
6. The Argentinean health care system is formed by 3 subsystems: the public, the private, and the social security system.
7. For a detailed list of genetic services and tests already available in Argentina, see for example Primagen Diagnósticos Genéticos available at: http://www.primagen.com.ar/diagnosticosprenatales.php
8. The UNESCO Bioethics Chair was established at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) in 1994.
9. The first ELSI course in Genetics, in 1998, was financed by the U.S. National Institute of Health and Dartmouth College, and directed by Prof. Ronald Green; this allowed Prof. M. Graciela de Ortúzar to start the first courses on these subjects in the Medicine and Law Faculty, in UNLP, CIF, and was followed by several research projects and doctoral theses.
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37. Commissaire à la santé et au bien-être. Consultation sur les enjeux éthiques du dépistage prénatal de la trisomie 21, ou syndrome de Down, au Québec. Québec: Ministère de la santé et des services sociaux; 2009. Available from: http://www.csbe.gouv.qc.ca/fileadmin/www/RapportAvis/Trisomie21/CSBE_RapportConsultationTrisomie21imprimable.pdf (cited: January 30, 2010). [ Links ]
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Recibido el 25 de mayo, 2011. Aceptado el 12 de julio, 2011
Correspondence: Carolina Martin. Centre Jeunesse de Montréal-Institut Universitaire, Montréal, Canada. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Hanuman(redirected from Maruti nandan)
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus.
(Presbytis entellus), a thin-bodied monkey of the Cercopithecidae family, order Primates. The body of the males is 60–70 cm long, with a 90–100 cm tail; the weight averages 9–11 kg. The fur is gray-brown or yellow-brown, with lighter hair around the face. The face, hands, and feet are black. The hanuman is founü in Hindustan, Kashmir, Nepal, southern Tibet, Sikkim, Assam, and Ceylon. During the day it spends much of its time on the ground, although it moves about very adroitly through the crowns of trees and can jump as far as 4–12 m. Its food is made up chiefly of leaves and fruits. Sometimes the animal damages crop plantations. In India the hanuman is considered a sacred animal.
monkey deity, conqueror of demons, builder of a stone bridge from India to Ceylon. [Hindu Myth.: Collier's, IX, 214]
See: Heroism


text:
"Sightseeing" seems like such a passive word; Massachusetts sightseeing should really be called "sight-experiencing". How else would you describe retracing the steps of the colonists, soaring through the trees on a canopy tour, reliving the excitement of the Revolutionary War, quacking like a duck on an amphibious land vehicle, seeing Boston by Segway, cruising Buzzards Bay, or taking a spooky Dead of Night Ghost Tour? You can even munch your way through the Cape Cod Potato Chip factory tour, take the most delicious ride during a Bike Farm Table weekend, or treat yourself to the Boston Brew Tour. Hey, is there such a thing as sight-eating?
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I know it's just the 2nd, but is there a thread somewhere about EctoComp 2012? I'm brainstorming now.
I haven't been involved with ADRIFT since last October, but no matter what I'm doing or how busy I am there will always be a few free hours in October and November for creating and playing these little things.
If anyone is running this or has a thread on another forum, please let us know here! If not, then I will gladly take it on.