The fMRI visual field map (VFM) is obtained by using a rotating-expanding visual target to identify the area of the retina that corresponds to activated visual cortex. Since fMRI data is (1) relative rather than absolute and (2) has a degree of noise that may mask the activation, identifying differences in VFMs requires a model that will differentiate changes in the underlying structure from di...

Graph has become increasingly important in modeling complicated structures and schemaless data such as proteins, chemical compounds, and XML documents. Given a graph query, it is desirable to retrieve graphs quickly from a large database via graph-based indices. Different from the existing methods, our approach, called VFM (Vertex to Frequent Feature Mapping), makes use of vertices and decision...

The aim of this study is to examine the relationships among perceptions of implementation processes, implementation difficulties and value for money (VFM) in UK school private finance initiative (PFI) or public private partnership (PPP) contracts. The results suggest that implementation factors, such as effective PFI ‘consultation’, ‘contractual’, ‘monitoring and review’ processes have a signif...

BACKGROUND Sophisticated equipment, lengthy protocols, and skilled operators are required to perform protein microarray-based affinity assays. Consequently, novel tools are needed to bring biomarkers and biomarker panels into clinical use in different settings. Here, we describe a novel paper-based vertical flow microarray (VFM) system with a multiplexing capacity of at least 1480 microspot bin...

Plant sterol (PS)-supplemented foods are recommended to help in lowering serum LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C). Few studies have examined the efficacy of PS-enriched skimmed milk (SM) or semi-SM enriched with vegetable fat (PS-VFM). There is also insufficient information on factors predictive of LDL-C responses to PS. We examined the effects of PS-SM (0·1 % dairy fat) and PS-VFM (0·1 % dairy fat plus 1...

In Private Finance Initiative (PFI) projects, value for money (VFM) tests and accounting treatment are distinct but related issues. VFM analysis should be concerned with total risk, not just with the sharing of risk, which dominates the accounting treatment decision. A framework is developed for logical thinking about what is meant by `̀ best VFM’’ in the context of PFI projects. This involves c...

Internet-based virtual futures markets (VFMs) have been used in predicting election results and movie ticket sales. We construct an Internet-based VFM to predict an underlying stock price. Results of Granger causality tests and tests of directional accuracy show that a VFM with only a small number of participants (75) is able to generate informative futures prices useful in the prediction of th...