Precision technique for trimming dies using a magnification device.

PubMed

Beck, D B

1980-05-01

This article described a technique for trimming a die under magnification. However, the microscope is also useful for checking (1) margins of wax patterns for completeness, (2) the internal surfaces of castings for imperfections, bubbles, or retained investment particles which could prevent proper seating of the castings on the dies, (3) for cracks or contamination in dental porcelain as well as porcelain flash on margins; and (4) precision attachment operation after casting or soldering procedures. Attention to detail in these laboratory procedures greatly improves the final fit of dental castings and saves subsequent chairside adjustments and remakes.

Study of the Open Loop and Closed Loop Oscillator Techniques

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Imel, George R.; Baker, Benjamin; Riley, Tony

This report presents the progress and completion of a five-year study undertaken at Idaho State University of the measurement of very small worth reactivity samples comparing open and closed loop oscillator techniques.The study conclusively demonstrated the equivalency of the two techniques with regard to uncertainties in reactivity values, i.e., limited by reactor noise. As those results are thoroughly documented in recent publications, in this report we will concentrate on the support work that was necessary. For example, we describe in some detail the construction and calibration of a pilot rod for the closed loop system. We discuss the campaign tomore » measure the required reactor parameters necessary for inverse-kinetics. Finally, we briefly discuss the transfer of the open loop technique to other reactor systems.« less

Evaporation dynamics of a sessile droplet on glass surfaces with fluoropolymer coatings: focusing on the final stage of thin droplet evaporation.

PubMed

Gatapova, Elizaveta Ya; Shonina, Anna M; Safonov, Alexey I; Sulyaeva, Veronica S; Kabov, Oleg A

2018-03-07

The evaporation dynamics of a water droplet with an initial volume of 2 μl from glass surfaces with fluoropolymer coatings are investigated using the shadow technique and an optical microscope. The droplet profile for a contact angle of less than 5° is constructed using an image-analyzing interference technique, and evaporation dynamics are investigated at the final stage. We coated the glass slides with a thin film of a fluoropolymer by the hot-wire chemical vapor deposition method at different deposition modes depending on the deposition pressure and the temperature of the activating wire. The resulting surfaces have different structures affecting the wetting properties. Droplet evaporation from a constant contact radius mode in the early stage of evaporation was found followed by the mode where both contact angle and contact radius simultaneously vary in time (final stage) regardless of wettability of the coated surfaces. We found that depinning occurs at small contact angles of 2.2-4.7° for all samples, which are smaller than the measured receding contact angles. This is explained by imbibition of the liquid into the developed surface of the "soft" coating that leads to formation of thin droplets completely wetting the surface. The final stage, which is little discussed in the literature, is also recorded. We have singled out a substage where the contact line velocity is abruptly increasing for all coated and uncoated surfaces. The critical droplet height corresponding to the transition to this substage is about 2 μm with R/h = 107. The duration of this substage is the same for all coated and uncoated surfaces. Droplets observed at this substage for all the tested surfaces are axisymmetric. The specific evaporation rate clearly demonstrates an abrupt increase at the final substage of the droplet evaporation. The classical R 2 law is justified for the complete wetting situation where the droplet is disappearing in an axisymmetric manner.

Treatment of a unicameral bone cyst of calcaneus with endoscopic curettage and percutaneous filling with corticocancellous allograft.

PubMed

Yildirim, Cengiz; Mahiroğullari, Mahir; Kuşkucu, Mesih; Akmaz, Ibrahim; Keklikci, Kenan

2010-01-01

The surgical procedures for unicameral solitary calcaneal bone cysts have ranged from simple curettage and grafting to subperiosteal resection with internal fixation and grafting. In this article, an endoscopically assisted technique is proposed for the curettage of a simple calcaneal cyst that takes advantage of direct visualization of the cyst wall and contents and permits accurate assessment of the extent of the lesion. After curettage, percutaneous filling of the defect with corticocancellous allograft makes the technique a complete, minimally invasive surgical approach for this condition. The technique uses 2 lateral portals, one for viewing and the other for manipulation, both of which are created under fluoroscopic control. Once the cyst has been located, the 30 degrees arthroscope is used to evacuate fluid, after which more solid cyst contents are fragmented and removed. Thereafter, curettage of the inner surface of the cavernous cyst wall is performed. Finally, complete packing of the previously cystic cavity with crushed corticocancellous allograft is performed under endoscopic visualization and confirmed radiographically. Copyright 2010 American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

40 CFR 35.2216 - Notice of building completion and final inspection.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Notice of building completion and final... Notice of building completion and final inspection. The grantee shall notify the Regional Administrator when the building of the project is complete. Final inspection shall be made by the Regional...

Cluster analysis based on dimensional information with applications to feature selection and classification

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eigen, D. J.; Fromm, F. R.; Northouse, R. A.

1974-01-01

A new clustering algorithm is presented that is based on dimensional information. The algorithm includes an inherent feature selection criterion, which is discussed. Further, a heuristic method for choosing the proper number of intervals for a frequency distribution histogram, a feature necessary for the algorithm, is presented. The algorithm, although usable as a stand-alone clustering technique, is then utilized as a global approximator. Local clustering techniques and configuration of a global-local scheme are discussed, and finally the complete global-local and feature selector configuration is shown in application to a real-time adaptive classification scheme for the analysis of remote sensed multispectral scanner data.

Color masking of developmental enamel defects: a case series.

PubMed

Torres, C R G; Borges, A B

2015-01-01

Developmental defects involving color alteration of enamel frequently compromise the esthetic appearance of the tooth. The resin infiltration technique represents an alternative treatment for color masking of these lesions and uniformization of tooth color. This technique is considered relatively simple and microinvasive, since only a minimal portion of enamel is removed. This article illustrates the color-masking effect with resin infiltration of fluorosis and traumatic hypomineralization lesions with a case series. The final esthetic outcomes demonstrated the ability of the resin infiltrant to mask the color of white developmental defect lesions, resulting in satisfactory clinical esthetic improvements. However, in more severe cases, the color-masking effect was not complete.

Reduction and possible elimination of coating thermal noise using a rigidly controlled cavity with a quantum-nondemolition technique.

PubMed

Somiya, Kentaro

2009-06-12

Thermal noise of a mirror is one of the most important issues in high-precision measurements such as gravitational-wave detection or cold damping experiments. It has been pointed out that thermal noise of a mirror with multilayer coatings can be reduced by mechanical separation of the layers. In this Letter, we introduce a way to further reduce thermal noise by locking the mechanically separated mirrors. The reduction is limited by the standard quantum limit of control noise, but it can be overcome with a quantum-nondemolition technique, which finally raises a possibility of complete elimination of coating thermal noise.

The Establishment of a Systematic Program of Mobility Instruction for Blind Persons in the District of Columbia. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thompson, William W.

To train blind persons in the use of the long cane mobility technique and to reach a variety of clients, a demonstration used the trainee's home as a base of operation. Of 198 referrals during the 3-year project, 61 persons started training and 42 persons between the ages of 12 and 92 successfully completed the instruction. Trainees began to learn…

Comparison Between Laser Scanning and Automated 3d Modelling Techniques to Reconstruct Complex and Extensive Cultural Heritage Areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fassi, F.; Fregonese, L.; Ackermann, S.; De Troia, V.

2013-02-01

In Cultural Heritage field, the necessity to survey objects in a fast manner, with the ability to repeat the measurements several times for deformation or degradation monitoring purposes, is increasing. In this paper, two significant cases, an architectonical one and an archaeological one, are presented. Due to different reasons and emergency situations, the finding of the optimal solution to enable quick and well-timed survey for a complete digital reconstruction of the object is required. In both cases, two survey methods have been tested and used: a laser scanning approach that allows to obtain high-resolution and complete scans within a short time and a photogrammetric one that allows the three-dimensional reconstruction of the object from images. In the last months, several methodologies, including free or low cost techniques, have arisen. These kinds of software allow the fully automatically three-dimensional reconstruction of objects from images, giving back a dense point cloud and, in some case, a surfaced mesh model. In this paper some comparisons between the two methodologies above mentioned are presented, using the example of some real cases of study. The surveys have been performed by employing both photogrammetry and laser scanner techniques. The methodological operational choices, depending on the required goal, the difficulties encountered during the survey with these methods, the execution time (that is the key parameter), and finally the obtained results, are fully described and examinated. On the final 3D model, an analytical comparison has been made, to analyse the differences, the tolerances, the possibility of accuracy improvement and the future developments.

Automated high-performance cIMT measurement techniques using patented AtheroEdge™: a screening and home monitoring system.

PubMed

Molinari, Filippo; Meiburger, Kristen M; Suri, Jasjit

2011-01-01

The evaluation of the carotid artery wall is fundamental for the assessment of cardiovascular risk. This paper presents the general architecture of an automatic strategy, which segments the lumen-intima and media-adventitia borders, classified under a class of Patented AtheroEdge™ systems (Global Biomedical Technologies, Inc, CA, USA). Guidelines to produce accurate and repeatable measurements of the intima-media thickness are provided and the problem of the different distance metrics one can adopt is confronted. We compared the results of a completely automatic algorithm that we developed with those of a semi-automatic algorithm, and showed final segmentation results for both techniques. The overall rationale is to provide user-independent high-performance techniques suitable for screening and remote monitoring.

State-of-the-art molecular imaging in esophageal cancer management: implications for diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment

PubMed Central

Lin, Jolinta; Kligerman, Seth; Goel, Rakhi; Sajedi, Payam; Suntharalingam, Mohan

2015-01-01

Molecular imaging techniques are increasingly being used in addition to standard imaging methods such as endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) and computed tomography (CT) for many cancers including those of the esophagus. In this review, we will discuss the utility of the most widely used molecular imaging technique, 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET). 18F-FDG PET has a variety of potential applications ranging from improving staging accuracy at the time of initial diagnosis to assisting in radiation target volume delineation. Furthermore, 18F-FDG PET can be used to evaluate treatment response after completion of neoadjuvant therapy or potentially during neoadjuvant therapy. Finally, we will also discuss other novel molecular imaging techniques that have potential to further improve cancer care. PMID:25642333

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase laboratory assay: How, when, and why?

PubMed

Minucci, Angelo; Giardina, Bruno; Zuppi, Cecilia; Capoluongo, Ettore

2009-01-01

Glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency is the most common defect of red blood cells. Although some different laboratory techniques or methods are employed for the biochemical screening, a strict relationship between biochemists, clinicians, and molecular biologists is necessary for a definitive diagnosis. This article represents an overview on the current laboratory tests finalized to the screening or to the definitive diagnosis of G6PD-deficiency, underlying the problems regarding the biochemical and molecular identification of heterozygote females other than those regarding the standardization of the clinical and laboratory diagnostic procedures. Finally, this review is aimed to give a flow-chart for the complete diagnostic approach of G6PD-deficiency.

Complete denture tooth arrangement technology driven by a reconfigurable rule.

PubMed

Dai, Ning; Yu, Xiaoling; Fan, Qilei; Yuan, Fulai; Liu, Lele; Sun, Yuchun

2018-01-01

The conventional technique for the fabrication of complete dentures is complex, with a long fabrication process and difficult-to-control restoration quality. In recent years, digital complete denture design has become a research focus. Digital complete denture tooth arrangement is a challenging issue that is difficult to efficiently implement under the constraints of complex tooth arrangement rules and the patient's individualized functional aesthetics. The present study proposes a complete denture automatic tooth arrangement method driven by a reconfigurable rule; it uses four typical operators, including a position operator, a scaling operator, a posture operator, and a contact operator, to establish the constraint mapping association between the teeth and the constraint set of the individual patient. By using the process reorganization of different constraint operators, this method can flexibly implement different clinical tooth arrangement rules. When combined with a virtual occlusion algorithm based on progressive iterative Laplacian deformation, the proposed method can achieve automatic and individual tooth arrangement. Finally, the experimental results verify that the proposed method is flexible and efficient.

[Comparison of 2 lacrimal punctal occlusion methods].

PubMed

Shalaby, O; Rivas, L; Rivas, A I; Oroza, M A; Murube, J

2001-09-01

To study and compare two methods for canalicular occlusion: Cautery and Punctal Patch. The study included fourty patients divided in two groups of 20 patients. The end point was 4 occluded puncti. The first group underwent deep cauterization resulting in occlusion of the full vertical aspect of the canaliculus. The second group underwent punctal patch technique for canalicular occlusion. Differential parameters were the following: time of intervention, ease of use, risks and precision. In the post operatory, discomfort, subjective and objective improvement in ocular surface as well as long term result of each technique was analysed. Time of intervention was longer for punctal patch compared to cautery. Both methods exhibited similar ease of use and improvement in ocular surface. Precision was high in punctal patch technique showing complete and final occlusion and no punctum needed reopening, while cautery technique presented 20% rate of reopening intervention. Postoperatory discomfort and irritation were remarkably evident with punctal technique, while minimal in cautery technique. Survival analysis after one year follow up, showed a higher rate of advantages for punctal patch technique over cautery technique.

Ultra-Flexible Thermal Bus for Use in the Astro-H Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kimball, Mark O.; Shirron, Peter J.

2015-01-01

The adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR) developed for the Astro-H Soft-X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) is a multi-stage solid-state cooler. It is capable of holding the SXS detector array at 0.050 K for greater than 24 hours with a recycle time of less than one hour. This quick recycle time relies upon high-conductivity thermal straps to couple the individual stages to a pair of heat switches without imposing a lateral load on the paramagnetic salt pills. To accomplish this we construct thermal straps using a technique of diffusion bonding together the ends of high-purity copper straps leaving the length between as individual foils. A thermal bus created this way has a thermal conductivity comparable to a solid strap of the equivalent thickness but with much-increased flexibility. The technique for selecting the base material, machining, cleaning, forming into final shape, and finally bonding together individual foils will be discussed along with examples of complete straps in various geometries.

A comprehensive program to develop correlations for physical properties of kraft black liquor. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fricke, A.L.; Zaman, A.A.; Stoy, M.O.

A wide variety of experimental techniques have been used in this work, and many of these have been developed completely or improved significantly in the course of the research done during this program. Therefore, it is appropriate to describe these techniques in detail as a reference for future workers so that the techniques can be used in future work with little additional effort or so that the results reported from this program can be compared better with future results from other work. In many cases, the techniques described are for specific analytical instruments. It is recognized that these may bemore » superseded by future developments and improvements in instrumentation if a complete description of techniques used successfully in the past on other instrumentation is available. The total pulping and liquor preparation research work performed included chip and white liquor preparation, digestion, pulp washing, liquor and wash recovery, liquor sampling, weak liquor concentration in two steps to about 45--50% solids with an intermediate soap skimming at about 140F and 27--30% solids, determination of pulp yield and Kappa number, determination of total liquor solids, and a check on the total material balance for pulping. All other research was performed either on a sample of the weak black liquor (the combined black liquor and washes from the digester) or on the skimmed liquor that had been concentrated.« less

Wolffian duct derivative anomalies: technical considerations when encountered during robot-assisted radical prostatectomy.

PubMed

Acharya, Sujeet S; Gundeti, Mohan S; Zagaja, Gregory P; Shalhav, Arieh L; Zorn, Kevin C

2009-04-01

Although malformations of the genitourinary tract are typically identified during childhood, they can remain silent until incidental detection in evaluation and treatment of other pathologies during adulthood. The advent of the minimally invasive era in urologic surgery has given rise to unique challenges in the surgical management of anomalies of the genitourinary tract. This article reviews the embryology of anomalies of Wolffian duct (WD) derivatives with specific attention to the seminal vesicles, vas deferens, ureter, and kidneys. This is followed by a discussion of the history of the laparoscopic approach to WD derivative anomalies. Finally, we present two cases to describe technical considerations when managing these anomalies when encountered during robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy. The University of Chicago Robotic Laparoscopic Radical Prostatectomy (RLRP) database was reviewed for cases where anomalies of WD derivatives were encountered. We describe how modifications in technique allowed for completion of the procedure without difficulty. None Of the 1230 RLRP procedures performed at our institution by three surgeons, only two cases (0.16%) have been noted to have a WD anomaly. These cases were able to be completed without difficulty by making simple modifications in technique. Although uncommon, it is important for the urologist to be familiar with the origin and surgical management of WD anomalies, particularly when detected incidentally during surgery. Simple modifications in technique allow for completion of RLRP without difficulty.

New imaging systems in nuclear medicine. Final report, January 1, 1993--December 31, 1995

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

1995-12-31

The aim of this program has been to improve the performance of positron emission tomography (PET) to achieve high resolution with high sensitivity. Towards this aim, the authors have carried out the following studies: (1) explored new techniques for detection of annihilation radiation including new detector materials and system geometries, specific areas that they have studied include--exploration of factors related to resolution and sensitivity of PET instrumentation including geometry, detection materials and coding, and the exploration of technique to improve the image quality by use of depth of interaction and increased sampling; (2) complete much of the final testing ofmore » PCR-II, an analog-coded cylindrical positron tomograph, developed and constructed during the current funding period; (3) developed the design of a positron microtomograph with mm resolution for quantitative studies in small animals, a single slice version of this device has been designed and studied by use of computer simulation; (4) continued and expanded the program of biological studies in animal models. Current studies have included imaging of animal models of Parkinson`s and Huntington`s disease and cancer. These studies have included new radiopharmaceuticals and techniques involving molecular biology.« less

Three-dimensional reconstruction with x-ray shape-from-silhouette

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simioni, E.; Ratti, F.; Calliari, I.; Poletto, L.

2010-09-01

In the field of restoration of ancient handworks, X-ray tomography is a powerful method to reconstruct the internal structure of the object in non-invasive way. In some cases, such as small objects fully realized with hard metals and completely hidden by clay or products of oxidation, the tomography, although necessary to obtain the 3D appearance of the object, does not give any additional information on its internal monolithic structure. We present here the application of the shape-from-silhouette technique on X-ray images to reconstruct the 3D profile of handworks. The acquisition technique is similar to tomography, since several X-ray images are taken while the object is rotated. Some reference points are placed on a structure co-rotating with the object and are acquired on the images for calibration and registration. The shape-from-silhouette algorithm gives finally the 3D appearance of the handwork. We present the analysis of a tin pendant of VI-VIII century b.C. (Venetian area) completely hidden by solid ground. The 3D reconstruction shows surprisingly that the pendant is a very elaborated piece, with two embraced figures that were completely invisible before restoration.

Multiview photometric stereo.

PubMed

Hernández Esteban, Carlos; Vogiatzis, George; Cipolla, Roberto

2008-03-01

This paper addresses the problem of obtaining complete, detailed reconstructions of textureless shiny objects. We present an algorithm which uses silhouettes of the object, as well as images obtained under changing illumination conditions. In contrast with previous photometric stereo techniques, ours is not limited to a single viewpoint but produces accurate reconstructions in full 3D. A number of images of the object are obtained from multiple viewpoints, under varying lighting conditions. Starting from the silhouettes, the algorithm recovers camera motion and constructs the object's visual hull. This is then used to recover the illumination and initialise a multi-view photometric stereo scheme to obtain a closed surface reconstruction. There are two main contributions in this paper: Firstly we describe a robust technique to estimate light directions and intensities and secondly, we introduce a novel formulation of photometric stereo which combines multiple viewpoints and hence allows closed surface reconstructions. The algorithm has been implemented as a practical model acquisition system. Here, a quantitative evaluation of the algorithm on synthetic data is presented together with complete reconstructions of challenging real objects. Finally, we show experimentally how even in the case of highly textured objects, this technique can greatly improve on correspondence-based multi-view stereo results.

Strong Electroweak Symmetry Breaking in the Large Hadron Collider Era

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Evans, Jared Andrew

2011-12-01

With the Large Hadron Collider collecting data, both the pursuit of novel detection techniques and the exploration of new ideas are more important than ever. Novel detection techniques are essential in order for the community to garner the most worth from the machine. New ideas are needed both to expand the boundaries of what could be observed and to foster the creative mindset of the community that moves particle physics into fascinating, and often unexpected, directions. Discovering whether electroweak symmetry is broken strongly or weakly is one of the most pressing questions to be answered. Exploring the possibility of strong electroweak symmetry breaking is the topic of this work. The first of two major sectors in this work concerns the theory of conformal technicolor. We present the low energy minimal model for conformal technicolor and verify that it can satisfy current constraints from experiment. We will also provide a UV completion for this model, which realistically extends the sector with high-energy supersymmetry. Two complete models of flavor are presented. This is the first example of a complete, consistent model of strong electroweak symmetry breaking. The second of the two sectors discusses experimental signatures arising in a large class of general technicolor models at the Large Hadron Collider. The possible existence of narrow scalar states that can be produced via gluon-gluon fusion is first discussed. These states can decay into exotic final states of multiple electroweak gauge bosons, third generation particles and even light composite Higgs particles. A two Higgs doublet model is proposed as an effective way to model these exciting states. Lastly, we discuss the array of possible final states and their possible discovery.

[Endoscopically assisted fronto-orbitary correction in trigonocephaly].

PubMed

Hinojosa, J; Esparza, J; García-Recuero, I; Romance, A

2007-01-01

The development of multidisciplinar Units for Craneofacial Surgery has led to a considerable decrease in morbidity even in the cases of more complex craniofacial syndromes. The use of minimally invasive techniques for the correction of some of these malformations allows the surgeon to minimize the incidence of complications by means of a decrease in the surgical time, blood salvage and shortening of postoperative hospitalization in comparison to conventional craniofacial techniques. Simple and milder craniosynostosis are best approached by these techniques and render the best results. Different osteotomies resembling standard fronto-orbital remodelling besides simple suturectomies and the use of postoperative cranial orthesis may improve the final aesthetic appearence. In endoscopic treatment of trigonocephaly the use of preauricular incisions achieves complete pterional resection, lower lateral orbital osteotomies and successful precoronal frontal osteotomies to obtain long lasting and satisfactory outcomes.

The use of self-Reiki for stress reduction and relaxation.

PubMed

Bukowski, Elaine L

2015-09-01

More than one-third of college students reported the desire for stress reduction techniques and education. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a 20-week structured self-Reiki program on stress reduction and relaxation in college students. Students were recruited from Stockton University and sessions were conducted in the privacy of their residence. Twenty students completed the entire study consisting of 20 weeks of self-Reiki done twice weekly. Each participant completed a Reiki Baseline Credibility Scale, a Reiki Expectancy Scale, and a Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) after acceptance into the study. The PSS was completed every four weeks once the interventions were initiated. A global assessment questionnaire was completed at the end of the study. Logs summarizing the outcome of each session were submitted at the end of the study. With the exception of three participants, participants believed that Reiki is a credible technique for reducing stress levels. Except for two participants, participants agreed that Reiki would be effective in reducing stress levels. All participants experienced stress within the month prior to completing the initial PSS. There was a significant reduction in stress levels from pre-study to post-study. There was a correlation between self-rating of improvement and final PSS scores. With one exception, stress levels at 20 weeks did not return to pre-study stress levels. This study supports the hypothesis that the calming effect of Reiki may be achieved through the use of self-Reiki.

Computer animation challenges for computational fluid dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vines, Mauricio; Lee, Won-Sook; Mavriplis, Catherine

2012-07-01

Computer animation requirements differ from those of traditional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) investigations in that visual plausibility and rapid frame update rates trump physical accuracy. We present an overview of the main techniques for fluid simulation in computer animation, starting with Eulerian grid approaches, the Lattice Boltzmann method, Fourier transform techniques and Lagrangian particle introduction. Adaptive grid methods, precomputation of results for model reduction, parallelisation and computation on graphical processing units (GPUs) are reviewed in the context of accelerating simulation computations for animation. A survey of current specific approaches for the application of these techniques to the simulation of smoke, fire, water, bubbles, mixing, phase change and solid-fluid coupling is also included. Adding plausibility to results through particle introduction, turbulence detail and concentration on regions of interest by level set techniques has elevated the degree of accuracy and realism of recent animations. Basic approaches are described here. Techniques to control the simulation to produce a desired visual effect are also discussed. Finally, some references to rendering techniques and haptic applications are mentioned to provide the reader with a complete picture of the challenges of simulating fluids in computer animation.

IDENTIFICATION OF MEMBERS IN THE CENTRAL AND OUTER REGIONS OF GALAXY CLUSTERS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Serra, Ana Laura; Diaferio, Antonaldo, E-mail: serra@ph.unito.it

2013-05-10

The caustic technique measures the mass of galaxy clusters in both their virial and infall regions and, as a byproduct, yields the list of cluster galaxy members. Here we use 100 galaxy clusters with mass M{sub 200} {>=} 10{sup 14} h {sup -1} M{sub Sun} extracted from a cosmological N-body simulation of a {Lambda}CDM universe to test the ability of the caustic technique to identify the cluster galaxy members. We identify the true three-dimensional members as the gravitationally bound galaxies. The caustic technique uses the caustic location in the redshift diagram to separate the cluster members from the interlopers. Wemore » apply the technique to mock catalogs containing 1000 galaxies in the field of view of 12 h {sup -1} Mpc on a side at the cluster location. On average, this sample size roughly corresponds to 180 real galaxy members within 3r{sub 200}, similar to recent redshift surveys of cluster regions. The caustic technique yields a completeness, the fraction of identified true members, f{sub c} = 0.95 {+-} 0.03, within 3r{sub 200}. The contamination, the fraction of interlopers in the observed catalog of members, increases from f{sub i}=0.020{sup +0.046}{sub -0.015} at r{sub 200} to f{sub i}=0.08{sup +0.11}{sub -0.05} at 3r{sub 200}. No other technique for the identification of the members of a galaxy cluster provides such large completeness and small contamination at these large radii. The caustic technique assumes spherical symmetry and the asphericity of the cluster is responsible for most of the spread of the completeness and the contamination. By applying the technique to an approximately spherical system obtained by stacking the individual clusters, the spreads decrease by at least a factor of two. We finally estimate the cluster mass within 3r{sub 200} after removing the interlopers: for individual clusters, the mass estimated with the virial theorem is unbiased and within 30% of the actual mass; this spread decreases to less than 10% for the spherically symmetric stacked cluster.« less

BETA (Bitter Electromagnet Testing Apparatus)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bates, Evan M.; Birmingham, William J.; Rivera, William F.; Romero-Talamas, Carlos A.

2017-10-01

The Bitter Electromagnet Testing Apparatus (BETA) is a 1-Tesla (T) prototype of the 10-T Adjustable Long Pulse High-Field Apparatus (ALPHA). These water-cooled resistive magnets use high DC currents to produce strong uniform magnetic fields. Presented here is the successful completion of the BETA project and experimental results validating analytical magnet designing methods developed at the Dusty Plasma Laboratory (DPL). BETA's final design specifications will be highlighted which include electromagnetic, thermal and stress analyses. The magnet core design will be explained which include: Bitter Arcs, helix starters, and clamping annuli. The final version of the magnet's vessel and cooling system are also presented, as well as the electrical system of BETA, which is composed of a unique solid-state breaker circuit. Experimental results presented will show the operation of BETA at 1 T. The results are compared to both analytical design methods and finite element analysis calculations. We also explore the steady state maximums and theoretical limits of BETA's design. The completion of BETA validates the design and manufacturing techniques that will be used in the succeeding magnet, ALPHA.

The da Vinci robotic surgical assisted anterior lumbar interbody fusion: technical development and case report.

PubMed

Beutler, William J; Peppelman, Walter C; DiMarco, Luciano A

2013-02-15

Technique development to use the da Vince Robotic Surgical System for anterior lumbar interbody fusion at L5-S1 is detailed. A case report is also presented. To evaluate and develop the da Vinci robotic assisted laparoscopic anterior lumbar stand-alone interbody fusion procedure. Anterior lumbar interbody fusion is a common procedure associated with potential morbidity related to the surgical approach. The da Vinci robot provides intra-abdominal dissection and visualization advantages compared with the traditional open and laparoscopic approach. The surgical techniques for approach to the anterior lumbar spine using the da Vinci robot were developed and modified progressively beginning with operative models followed by placement of an interbody fusion cage in the living porcine model. Development continued to progress with placement of fusion cage in a human cadaver, completed first in the laboratory setting and then in the operating room. Finally, the first patient with fusion completed using the da Vinci robot-assisted approach is presented. The anterior transperitoneal approach to the lumbar spine is accomplished with enhanced visualization and dissection capability, with maintenance of pneumoperitoneum using the da Vinci robot. Blood loss is minimal. The visualization inside the disc space and surrounding structures was considered better than current open and laparoscopic techniques. The da Vinci robot Surgical System technique continues to develop and is now described for the transperitoneal approach to the anterior lumbar spine. 4.

Current status and some future test directions for the U.S. National Transonic Facility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gloss, Blair B.

1992-01-01

The construction of the National Transonic Facility was completed in September 1982 and the start-up and checkout of the tunnel systems were performed over the following two years. In August 1984, the facility was declared operational for final checkout of cryogenic instrumentation and control systems, and for the aerodynamics calibration and testing to commence. Since 1984 several operational problems have been identified and successfully solved which is demonstrated by the fact that the facility has operated the last year with no significant facility down times. Also during this time period, development of test techniques and instrumentation has continued. This paper will review some of the recent test techniques and instrumentation developments, and will briefly review the status of the facility.

Method for Controlling Space Transportation System Life Cycle Costs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McCleskey, Carey M.; Bartine, David E.

2006-01-01

A structured, disciplined methodology is required to control major cost-influencing metrics of space transportation systems during design and continuing through the test and operations phases. This paper proposes controlling key space system design metrics that specifically influence life cycle costs. These are inclusive of flight and ground operations, test, and manufacturing and infrastructure. The proposed technique builds on today's configuration and mass properties control techniques and takes on all the characteristics of a classical control system. While the paper does not lay out a complete math model, key elements of the proposed methodology are explored and explained with both historical and contemporary examples. Finally, the paper encourages modular design approaches and technology investments compatible with the proposed method.

Complementary home mechanical ventilation techniques. SEPAR Year 2014.

PubMed

Chiner, Eusebi; Sancho-Chust, José N; Landete, Pedro; Senent, Cristina; Gómez-Merino, Elia

2014-12-01

This is a review of the different complementary techniques that are useful for optimizing home mechanical ventilation (HMV). Airway clearance is very important in patients with HMV and many patients, particularly those with reduced peak cough flow, require airway clearance (manual or assisted) or assisted cough techniques (manual or mechanical) and suctioning procedures, in addition to ventilation. In the case of invasive HMV, good tracheostomy cannula management is essential for success. HMV patients may have sleep disturbances that must be taken into account. Sleep studies including complete polysomnography or respiratory polygraphy are helpful for identifying patient-ventilator asynchrony. Other techniques, such as bronchoscopy or nutritional support, may be required in patients on HMV, particularly if percutaneous gastrostomy is required. Information on treatment efficacy can be obtained from HMV monitoring, using methods such as pulse oximetry, capnography or the internal programs of the ventilators themselves. Finally, the importance of the patient's subjective perception is reviewed, as this may potentially affect the success of the HMV. Copyright © 2014 SEPAR. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

On application of image analysis and natural language processing for music search

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gwardys, Grzegorz

2013-10-01

In this paper, I investigate a problem of finding most similar music tracks using, popular in Natural Language Processing, techniques like: TF-IDF and LDA. I de ned document as music track. Each music track is transformed to spectrogram, thanks that, I can use well known techniques to get words from images. I used SURF operation to detect characteristic points and novel approach for their description. The standard kmeans was used for clusterization. Clusterization is here identical with dictionary making, so after that I can transform spectrograms to text documents and perform TF-IDF and LDA. At the final, I can make a query in an obtained vector space. The research was done on 16 music tracks for training and 336 for testing, that are splitted in four categories: Hiphop, Jazz, Metal and Pop. Although used technique is completely unsupervised, results are satisfactory and encouraging to further research.

Two-Stage Progressive Femoral Lowering Followed by Cementless Total Hip Arthroplasty for Treating Crowe IV-Hartofilakidis Type 3 Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip.

PubMed

Binazzi, Roberto

2015-05-01

High developmental dysplasia of the hip is commonly treated with total hip arthroplasty and shortening osteotomy. We present a two stage technique, consisting of progressive femoral lowering followed by total hip arthroplasty. The clinico-radiographic results of eleven patients (twelve hips) who were operated on with the two-stage technique were evaluated at a mean follow-up of 11 ± 5 years. At the final follow-up, ten patients (eleven hips) had a mean Harris hip score of 85 ± 5 points with no implant loosening. One patient (one hip) was revised at 5 years due to infection. No neurovascular complications were observed in any patients. With this technique, we could place the cup in the anatomical position and obtain complete limb symmetry with excellent clinical results at long-term. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Applied photo interpretation for airbrush cartography

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Inge, J. L.; Bridges, P. M.

1976-01-01

Lunar and planetary exploration has required the development of new techniques of cartographic portrayal. Conventional photo-interpretive methods employing size, shape, shadow, tone, pattern, and texture are applied to computer-processed satellite television images. Comparative judgements are affected by illumination, resolution, variations in surface coloration, and transmission or processing artifacts. The portrayal of tonal densities in a relief illustration is performed using a unique airbrush technique derived from hill-shading of contour maps. The control of tone and line quality is essential because the mid-gray to dark tone densities must be finalized prior to the addition of highlights to the drawing. This is done with an electric eraser until the drawing is completed. The drawing density is controlled with a reflectance-reading densitometer to meet certain density guidelines. The versatility of planetary photo-interpretive methods for airbrushed map portrayals is demonstrated by the application of these techniques to the synthesis of nonrelief data.

Facilitating LOS Debriefings: A Training Manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McDonnell, Lori K.; Jobe, Kimberly K.; Dismukes, R. Key

1997-01-01

This manual is a practical guide to help airline instructors effectively facilitate debriefings of Line Oriented Simulations (LOS). It is based on a recently completed study of Line Oriented Flight Training (LOFT) debriefings at several U.S. airlines. This manual presents specific facilitation tools instructors can use to achieve debriefing objectives. The approach of the manual is to be flexible so it can be tailored to the individual needs of each airline. Part One clarifies the purpose and objectives of facilitation in the LOS setting. Part Two provides recommendations for clarifying roles and expectations and presents a model for organizing discussion. Part Tree suggests techniques for eliciting active crew participation and in-depth analysis and evaluation. Finally, in Part Four, these techniques are organized according to the facilitation model. Examples of how to effectively use the techniques are provided throughout, including strategies to try when the debriefing objectives are not being fully achieved.

Endovascular technique using a snare and suture for retrieving a migrated peripherally inserted central catheter in the left pulmonary artery

PubMed Central

Teragawa, Hiroki; Sueda, Takashi; Fujii, Yuichi; Takemoto, Hiroaki; Toyota, Yasushi; Nomura, Shuichi; Nakagawa, Keigo

2013-01-01

We report a successful endovascular technique using a snare with a suture for retrieving a migrated broken peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) in a chemotherapy patient. A 62-year-old male received monthly chemotherapy through a central venous port implanted into his right subclavian area. The patient completed chemotherapy without complications 1 mo ago; however, he experienced pain in the right subclavian area during his last chemotherapy session. Computed tomography on that day showed migration of a broken PICC in his left pulmonary artery, for which the patient was admitted to our hospital. We attempted to retrieve the ectopic PICC through the right jugular vein using a gooseneck snare, but were unsuccessful because the catheter was lodged in the pulmonary artery wall. Therefore, a second attempt was made through the right femoral vein using a snare with triple loops, but we could not grasp the migrated PICC. Finally, a string was tied to the top of the snare, allowing us to curve the snare toward the pulmonary artery by pulling the string. Finally, the catheter body was grasped and retrieved. The endovascular suture technique is occasionally extremely useful and should be considered by interventional cardiologists for retrieving migrated catheters. PMID:24109502

Hands-on Simulation versus Traditional Video-learning in Teaching Microsurgery Technique

PubMed Central

SAKAMOTO, Yusuke; OKAMOTO, Sho; SHIMIZU, Kenzo; ARAKI, Yoshio; HIRAKAWA, Akihiro; WAKABAYASHI, Toshihiko

2017-01-01

Bench model hands-on learning may be more effective than traditional didactic practice in some surgical fields. However, this has not been reported for microsurgery. Our study objective was to demonstrate the efficacy of bench model hands-on learning in acquiring microsuturing skills. The secondary objective was to evaluate the aptitude for microsurgery based on personality assessment. Eighty-six medical students comprising 62 men and 24 women were randomly assigned to either 20 min of hands-on learning with a bench model simulator or 20 min of video-learning using an instructional video. They then practiced microsuturing for 40 min. Each student then made three knots, and the time to complete the task was recorded. The final products were scored by two independent graders in a blind fashion. All participants then took a personality test, and their microsuture test scores and the time to complete the task were compared. The time to complete the task was significantly shorter in the simulator group than in the video-learning group. The final product scores tended to be higher with simulator-learning than with video-learning, but the difference was not significant. Students with high “extraversion” scores on the personality inventory took a shorter time to complete the suturing test. Simulator-learning was more effective for microsurgery training than video instruction, especially in understanding the procedure. There was a weak association between personality traits and microsurgery skill. PMID:28381653

Comparative evaluation of border molding using two different techniques in maxillary edentulous arches: A clinical study

PubMed Central

Qanungo, Anchal; Aras, Meena Ajay; Chitre, Vidya; Coutinho, Ivy; Rajagopal, Praveen; Mysore, Ashwin

2016-01-01

Purpose: The aim of this in vivo study was to compare the single-step border molding technique using injectable heavy viscosity addition silicone with sectional border molding technique using low fusing impression compound by evaluating the retention of heat cure trial denture bases. Materials and Methods: Ten completely edentulous patients in need of prostheses were included in this study. Two border molding techniques, single-step (Group 1) and sectional (Group 2), were compared for retention. Both border molding techniques were performed in each patient. In both techniques, definitive wash impression was made with light viscosity addition silicone. The final results were analyzed using paired t-test to determine whether significant differences existed between the groups. Results: The t-value (3.031) infers that there was a significant difference between Group 1 and Group 2 (P = 0.014). The retention obtained in Group 2 (mean = 9.05 kgf) was significantly higher than that of Group 1 (mean = 8.26 kgf). Conclusion: Sectional border molding technique proved to be more retentive as compared to single-step border molding although clinically the retention appeared comparable. PMID:27746597

Statistical mechanics of the vertex-cover problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hartmann, Alexander K.; Weigt, Martin

2003-10-01

We review recent progress in the study of the vertex-cover problem (VC). The VC belongs to the class of NP-complete graph theoretical problems, which plays a central role in theoretical computer science. On ensembles of random graphs, VC exhibits a coverable-uncoverable phase transition. Very close to this transition, depending on the solution algorithm, easy-hard transitions in the typical running time of the algorithms occur. We explain a statistical mechanics approach, which works by mapping the VC to a hard-core lattice gas, and then applying techniques such as the replica trick or the cavity approach. Using these methods, the phase diagram of the VC could be obtained exactly for connectivities c < e, where the VC is replica symmetric. Recently, this result could be confirmed using traditional mathematical techniques. For c > e, the solution of the VC exhibits full replica symmetry breaking. The statistical mechanics approach can also be used to study analytically the typical running time of simple complete and incomplete algorithms for the VC. Finally, we describe recent results for the VC when studied on other ensembles of finite- and infinite-dimensional graphs.

Detection of explosives by differential hyperspectral imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dubroca, Thierry; Brown, Gregory; Hummel, Rolf E.

2014-02-01

Our team has pioneered an explosives detection technique based on hyperspectral imaging of surfaces. Briefly, differential reflectometry (DR) shines ultraviolet (UV) and blue light on two close-by areas on a surface (for example, a piece of luggage on a moving conveyer belt). Upon reflection, the light is collected with a spectrometer combined with a charge coupled device (CCD) camera. A computer processes the data and produces in turn differential reflection spectra taken from these two adjacent areas on the surface. This differential technique is highly sensitive and provides spectroscopic data of materials, particularly of explosives. As an example, 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene displays strong and distinct features in differential reflectograms near 420 and 250 nm, that is, in the near-UV region. Similar, but distinctly different features are observed for other explosives. Finally, a custom algorithm classifies the collected spectral data and outputs an acoustic signal if a threat is detected. This paper presents the complete DR hyperspectral imager which we have designed and built from the hardware to the software, complete with an analysis of the device specifications.

Transfemoral implantation of an Edwards SAPIEN valve in a tricuspid bioprosthesis without fluoroscopic landmarks.

PubMed

Calvert, Patrick A; Himbert, Dominique; Brochet, Eric; Radu, Costin; Iung, Bernard; Hvass, Ulrik; Darondel, Jean-Marc; Depoix, Jean-Pol; Nataf, Patrick; Vahanian, Alec

2012-03-01

We describe the first report of an Edwards SAPIEN valve implanted in a tricuspid bioprosthesis from the femoral vein. We highlight the feasibility of this previously avoided approach and the techniques involved. A 61-year-old woman with multiple valve replacements for rheumatic heart disease presented with NHYA IV dyspnoea secondary to a severely stenosed tricuspid bioprosthesis. After failed aggressive medical therapy and surgical turn down, an Edwards SAPIEN XT valve was deployed in the tricuspid bioprosthesis via the right femoral vein. Adaptations to the standard transfemoral transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) technique included: (1) crossing the tricuspid bioprosthesis with a balloon floatation catheter; (2) temporary pacing wire in the coronary sinus rather than the right ventricle; (3) mounting of the SAPIEN XT valve in the reverse orientation to transfemoral TAVI; and (4) fine positioning of the final valve position pre-deployment by 3D transoesophageal echocardiography (3D TOE) alone due to complete radiolucency of the tricuspid bioprosthesis. The procedure was completed without complication and resulted in significant symptomatic improvement. Deployment of an Edwards SAPIEN valve in a tricuspid bioprosthesis via the femoral vein is feasible and, with careful adaptations to established TAVI techniques, can be performed without complications and with good clinical response.

Practical Nonlinearities

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-07-01

All Initial Designs for Final Fab Run Month 29 Masks and wafers prepared for Final Fab Run Month 30 Start of Final Fab Run Month 35 Completion of...Final Fab Run Month 36 Delivery of devices based on designs from other DEFYS performers Because of momentum from efforts prior to the start of...report (June 2016), our project is completed, with most tasks completed ahead of schedule. For example, the 3rd Fab Run started 5 months early and was

New results for global exponential synchronization in neural networks via functional differential inclusions.

PubMed

Wang, Dongshu; Huang, Lihong; Tang, Longkun

2015-08-01

This paper is concerned with the synchronization dynamical behaviors for a class of delayed neural networks with discontinuous neuron activations. Continuous and discontinuous state feedback controller are designed such that the neural networks model can realize exponential complete synchronization in view of functional differential inclusions theory, Lyapunov functional method and inequality technique. The new proposed results here are very easy to verify and also applicable to neural networks with continuous activations. Finally, some numerical examples show the applicability and effectiveness of our main results.

Controllability of fractional higher order stochastic integrodifferential systems with fractional Brownian motion.

PubMed

Sathiyaraj, T; Balasubramaniam, P

2017-11-30

This paper presents a new set of sufficient conditions for controllability of fractional higher order stochastic integrodifferential systems with fractional Brownian motion (fBm) in finite dimensional space using fractional calculus, fixed point technique and stochastic analysis approach. In particular, we discuss the complete controllability for nonlinear fractional stochastic integrodifferential systems under the proved result of the corresponding linear fractional system is controllable. Finally, an example is presented to illustrate the efficiency of the obtained theoretical results. Copyright © 2017 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Image Matrix Processor for Volumetric Computations Final Report CRADA No. TSB-1148-95

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Roberson, G. Patrick; Browne, Jolyon

The development of an Image Matrix Processor (IMP) was proposed that would provide an economical means to perform rapid ray-tracing processes on volume "Giga Voxel" data sets. This was a multi-phased project. The objective of the first phase of the IMP project was to evaluate the practicality of implementing a workstation-based Image Matrix Processor for use in volumetric reconstruction and rendering using hardware simulation techniques. Additionally, ARACOR and LLNL worked together to identify and pursue further funding sources to complete a second phase of this project.

Low- to moderate-temperature geothermal resource assessment for Nevada: area specific studies, Pumpernickel Valley, Carlin and Moana. Final report June 1, 1981-July 31, 1982

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Trexler, D.T.; Flynn, T.; Koenig, B.A.

1982-01-01

Geological, geophysical and geochemical surveys were used in conjunction with temperature gradient hole drilling to assess the geothermal resources in Pumpernickel Valley and Carlin, Nevada. This program is based on a statewide assessment of geothermal resources that was completed in 1979. The exploration techniques are based on previous federally-funded assessment programs that were completed in six other areas in Nevada and include: literature search and compilation of existing data, geologic reconnaissance, chemical sampling of thermal and non-thermal fluids, interpretation of satellite imagery, interpretation of low-sun angle aerial photographs, two-meter depth temperature probe survey, gravity survey, seismic survey, soil-mercury survey, andmore » temperature gradient drilling.« less

Skylab program earth resources experiment package sensor performance evaluation, volume 1, (S190A)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kenney, G. P.

1975-01-01

The results of S190A sensor performance evaluation are summarized based on data presented by all contributors to the sensor performance evaluation interim reports. Techniques used in sensor performance evaluation are discussed. Topics discussed include: performance degradation identified during the Skylab missions, S190A and EREP system anomalies that affected S190A performance, and the performance achieved, in terms of pertinent S190A parameters. Additional analyses include final performance analyses completed after submittal of the SL4 interim sensor performance evaluation reports, including completion of detailed analyses of basic performance parameters initiated during the interim report periods and consolidation analyses to reduce independent mission data (SL2, SL3, and SL4) to determine overall performance realized during all three Skylab missions.

Dental students' preferences and performance in crown design: conventional wax-added versus CAD.

PubMed

Douglas, R Duane; Hopp, Christa D; Augustin, Marcus A

2014-12-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate dental students' perceptions of traditional waxing vs. computer-aided crown design and to determine the effectiveness of either technique through comparative grading of the final products. On one of twoidentical tooth preparations, second-year students at one dental school fabricated a wax pattern for a full contour crown; on the second tooth preparation, the same students designed and fabricated an all-ceramic crown using computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) technology. Projects were graded for occlusion and anatomic form by three faculty members. On completion of the projects, 100 percent of the students (n=50) completed an eight-question, five-point Likert scalesurvey, designed to assess their perceptions of and learning associated with the two design techniques. The average grades for the crown design projects were 78.3 (CAD) and 79.1 (wax design). The mean numbers of occlusal contacts were 3.8 (CAD) and 2.9(wax design), which was significantly higher for CAD (p=0.02). The survey results indicated that students enjoyed designing afull contour crown using CAD as compared to using conventional wax techniques and spent less time designing the crown using CAD. From a learning perspective, students felt that they learned more about position and the size/strength of occlusal contacts using CAD. However, students recognized that CAD technology has limits in terms of representing anatomic contours and excursive occlusion compared to conventional wax techniques. The results suggest that crown design using CAD could be considered as an adjunct to conventional wax-added techniques in preclinical fixed prosthodontic curricula.

Optically gated beating-heart imaging

PubMed Central

Taylor, Jonathan M.

2014-01-01

The constant motion of the beating heart presents an obstacle to clear optical imaging, especially 3D imaging, in small animals where direct optical imaging would otherwise be possible. Gating techniques exploit the periodic motion of the heart to computationally “freeze” this movement and overcome motion artifacts. Optically gated imaging represents a recent development of this, where image analysis is used to synchronize acquisition with the heartbeat in a completely non-invasive manner. This article will explain the concept of optical gating, discuss a range of different implementation strategies and their strengths and weaknesses. Finally we will illustrate the usefulness of the technique by discussing applications where optical gating has facilitated novel biological findings by allowing 3D in vivo imaging of cardiac myocytes in their natural environment of the beating heart. PMID:25566083

Wettability Switching Techniques on Superhydrophobic Surfaces

PubMed Central

2007-01-01

The wetting properties of superhydrophobic surfaces have generated worldwide research interest. A water drop on these surfaces forms a nearly perfect spherical pearl. Superhydrophobic materials hold considerable promise for potential applications ranging from self cleaning surfaces, completely water impermeable textiles to low cost energy displacement of liquids in lab-on-chip devices. However, the dynamic modification of the liquid droplets behavior and in particular of their wetting properties on these surfaces is still a challenging issue. In this review, after a brief overview on superhydrophobic states definition, the techniques leading to the modification of wettability behavior on superhydrophobic surfaces under specific conditions: optical, magnetic, mechanical, chemical, thermal are discussed. Finally, a focus on electrowetting is made from historical phenomenon pointed out some decades ago on classical planar hydrophobic surfaces to recent breakthrough obtained on superhydrophobic surfaces.

Bilateral Wilms' tumor with anaplasia: lessons from the National Wilms' Tumor Study.

PubMed

Hamilton, Thomas E; Green, Daniel M; Perlman, Elizabeth J; Argani, Pedram; Grundy, Paul; Ritchey, Michael L; Shamberger, Robert C

2006-10-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether initial diagnostic technique influenced the ability to identify anaplastic histology, to determine the time interval to diagnosis of anaplasia, and to delineate the incidence of discordant pathology in bilateral Wilms' tumor. We hypothesized that delay in diagnosis of anaplasia could affect time to appropriate surgery and intensive multimodality therapy. One hundred eight-nine children were enrolled in the fourth National Wilms' Tumor Study with synchronous bilateral tumors, 27 of whom were eventually shown to have anaplastic histology. Initial diagnostic technique, time interval to diagnosis of anaplasia, and the incidence of discordant pathology were determined. Anaplasia was identified in 0 of 7 tumors by core needle biopsy, 3 of 9 tumors by open wedge biopsy, and in 7 of 9 cases by partial or complete nephrectomy. The mean duration of first chemotherapy regimen (DD or EE) was 20, 39, and 36 weeks, respectively, before anaplasia was identified at second surgery. Discordant pathology between bilateral tumors was identified on final tissue diagnosis in 20 patients. Only 4 patients had anaplastic tumors in both kidneys. Core needle biopsy did not identify anaplasia in 7 of 7 children. Open biopsy or partial/complete nephrectomy identified anaplasia at initial diagnostic procedure in 10 of 18 children. Twenty of 24 patients at final tissue diagnosis had discordant pathology between the 2 kidneys. Earlier interval incisional biopsy or resection may identify anaplastic histology and limit the duration of chemotherapy targeted to favorable histology for children with bilateral Wilms' tumor and anaplasia.

Fire-protection research for energy technology: Fy 80 year end report

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hasegawa, H. K.; Alvares, N. J.; Lipska, A. E.; Ford, H.; Priante, S.; Beason, D. G.

1981-05-01

This continuing research program was initiated in order to advance fire protection strategies for Fusion Energy Experiments (FEE). The program expanded to encompass other forms of energy research. Accomplishments for fiscal year 1980 were: finalization of the fault-free analysis of the Shiva fire management system; development of a second-generation, fire-growth analysis using an alternate model and new LLNL combustion dynamics data; improvements of techniques for chemical smoke aerosol analysis; development and test of a simple method to assess the corrosive potential of smoke aerosols; development of an initial aerosol dilution system; completion of primary small-scale tests for measurements of the dynamics of cable fires; finalization of primary survey format for non-LLNL energy technology facilities; and studies of fire dynamics and aerosol production from electrical insulation and computer tape cassettes.

Results of the EURAMET.RI(II)-S6.I-129 supplementary comparison

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

García-Toraño, Eduardo; Altzitzoglou, Timotheos; Auerbach, Pavel; Bé, Marie-Martine; Lourenço, Valérie; Bobin, Christophe; Cassette, Philippe; Dersch, Rainer; Kossert, Karsten; Nähle, Ole; Peyrés, Virginia; Pommé, Stefaan; Rozkov, Andrej; Sanchez-Cabezudo, Anabel; Sochoro&vacute; , Jana

2015-01-01

An international comparison of the long-lived gamma-ray emitter 129I has been recently completed. A total of 5 laboratories measured a solution prepared by Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT). Aliquots of the master solution were standardized in terms of activity per mass unit by participant laboratories using 4 different techniques. The results of the comparison can be used as the basis for establishing the equivalence among the laboratories. Main text. To reach the main text of this paper, click on Final Report. Note that this text is that which appears in Appendix B of the BIPM key comparison database kcdb.bipm.org/. The final report has been peer-reviewed and approved for publication by the CCRI, according to the provisions of the CIPM Mutual Recognition Arrangement (CIPM MRA).

[Operative applications of occupational therapy].

PubMed

Saade, A

2010-01-01

Occupational therapy is the branch of rehabilitation whose main aim is to achieve maximum possible autonomy of the disabled person and the most complete integration into society, family and work. In subjects with motor disabilities following an occupational injury, the re-education programme includes a series of interventions aimed at progressive recovery of the ability to carry out work tasks compatible with the residual motor capacity of the worker. This article presents some examples related to the different stages making up the specific re-education programme: from the initial stages (with more purely kinesiotherapeutic techniques) directed at recovering movements and muscle strength, to the intermediate and final stages (more typically ergotherapeutic) directed first at the recovery of basic functions (clasping, pulling, pushing, lifting, lowering, carrying, etc.) and then, finally, retraining of work movements, with the introduction of compensatory methods and/or use of auxiliaries, when necessary.

El Paso County Geothermal Project at Fort Bliss. Final Project Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lear, Jon; Bennett, Carlon; Lear, Dan

The El Paso County Geothermal Project at Fort Bliss was an effort to determine the scale and scope of geothermal resources previously identified on Fort Bliss’ McGregor Range in southern Otero County, New Mexico. The project was funded with a $5,000,000 grant to El Paso County from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and a $4,812,500 match provided by private sector partners. The project was administered through the DOE Golden Field Office to awardee El Paso County. The primary subcontractor to El Paso County and project Principal Investigator -more » Ruby Mountain Inc. (RMI) of Salt Lake City, Utah - assembled the project team consisting of Evergreen Clean Energy Management (ECEM) of Provo, Utah, and the Energy & Geoscience Institute at the University of Utah (EGI) in Salt Lake City, UT to complete the final phases of the project. The project formally began in May of 2010 and consisted of two preliminary phases of data collection and evaluation which culminated in the identification of a drilling site for a Resource Confirmation Well on McGregor Range. Well RMI 56-5 was drilled May and June 2013 to a depth of 3,030 ft. below ground level. A string of slotted 7 inch casing was set in 8.75 inch hole on bottom fill at 3,017 ft. to complete the well. The well was drilled using a technique called flooded reverse circulation, which is most common in mineral exploration. This technique produced an exceptionally large and complete cuttings record. An exciting development at the conclusion of drilling was the suspected discovery of a formation that has proven to be of exceptionally high permeability in three desalinization wells six miles to the south. Following drilling and preliminary testing and analysis, the project team has determined that the McGregor Range thermal anomaly is large and can probably support development in the tens of megawatts.« less

An unusual course after injection of industrial silicone for penile augmentation.

PubMed

Shin, Yu Seob; You, Jae Hyung; Choi, Hwang; Zhang, Li Tao; Zhao, Chen; Choi, In Sung; Park, Jong Kwan

2015-01-01

A 48-year-old male patient had an injection of industrial silicone under the penile skin for augmentation by non-medical practitioners a week before. There was complete necrosis of the dorsal part of the penile skin and soft tissue. In a penile magnetic resonance image, big masses of silicone under the penile skin were found and a part of the silicone was partially exposed. Debridement of the necrotic tissue was done. As the right side of the tunica albuginea was thin-walled, a silicone-induced infection developed. Because of this, the wet dressing was done daily without closing the wound for the next 23 days. Finally, both scrotal skins were drawn and sutured to the dorsal glandular skin after the total penile skin was completely removed and sutured with T-style anastomosis. The ventral flap was anastomosed to the ventral glandular skin with the end-to-end technique with inverted V incision at 1 cm proximal from the sutured margin. Flaps survived completely without skin necrosis or dehiscence.

Serial MRI evaluation following arthroscopic rotator cuff repair in double-row technique.

PubMed

Stahnke, Katharina; Nikulka, Constanze; Diederichs, Gerd; Haneveld, Hendrik; Scheibel, Markus; Gerhardt, Christian

2016-05-01

So far, recurrent rotator cuff defects are described to occur in the early postoperative period after arthroscopic repair. The aim of this study was to evaluate the musculotendinous structure of the supraspinatus, as well as bone marrow edema or osteolysis after arthroscopic double-row repair. Therefore, magnetic resonance (MR) images were performed at defined intervals up to 2 years postoperatively. Case series; Level of evidence, 3. MR imaging was performed within 7 days, 3, 6, 12, 26, 52 and 108 weeks after surgery. All patients were operated using an arthroscopic modified suture bridge technique. Tendon integrity, tendon retraction ["foot-print-coverage" (FPC)], muscular atrophy and fatty infiltration (signal intensity analysis) were measured at all time points. Furthermore, postoperative bone marrow edema and signs of osteolysis were assessed. MR images of 13 non-consecutive patients (6f/7m, ∅ age 61.05 ± 7.7 years) could be evaluated at all time points until ∅ 108 weeks postoperatively. 5/6 patients with recurrent defect at final follow-up displayed a time of failure between 12 and 24 months after surgery. Predominant mode of failure was medial cuff failures in 4/6 cases. The initial FPC increased significantly up to 2 years follow-up (p = 0.004). Evaluations of muscular atrophy or fatty infiltration were not significant different comparing the results of all time points (p > 0.05). Postoperative bone marrow edema disappeared completely at 6 months after surgery, whereas signs of osteolysis appeared at 3 months follow-up and increased to final follow-up. Recurrent defects after arthroscopic reconstruction of supraspinatus tears in modified suture bridge technique seem to occur between 12 and 24 months after surgery. Serial MRI evaluation shows good muscle structure at all time points. Postoperative bone marrow edema disappears completely several months after surgery. Signs of osteolysis seem to appear caused by bio-absorbable anchor implantations.

Open capsular and ligament reconstruction with semitendinosus hamstring autograft successfully controls superior and posterior translation for type V acromioclavicular joint dislocation.

PubMed

Garofalo, Raffaele; Ceccarelli, Enrico; Castagna, Alessandro; Calvisi, Vittorio; Flanagin, Brody; Conti, Marco; Krishnan, Sumant G

2017-07-01

Appropriate surgical management for type V complete acromioclavicular (AC) joint dislocation remains controversial. The purpose of this paper is to retrospectively report the clinical and radiographic outcomes of an open surgical technique consisting for AC joint ligamentous and capsular reconstruction using autologous hamstring tendon grafts and semi-permanent sutures. Between January 2005 and December 2011, 32 consecutive patients with symptomatic type V complete AC joint dislocation underwent surgical treatment using the same technique. The median time from injury to surgery was 45 days (range 24-90). The average median postoperative clinical and radiographic follow-up time was 30 months (range 24-33). Clinical outcomes measures included the ASES score, the visual analog score (VAS), and subjective patient satisfaction score. Minimum follow-up was 2 years. ASES score increased from a median of 38.2 ± 6.2 preoperative to 92.1 ± 4.7 postoperatively (p ≤ 0.05). The median VAS score improved from 62 mm (range 45-100 mm) preoperatively to 8 mm (range 0-20 mm) at final follow-up (p ≤ 0.05). No patient experienced pain or discomfort with either direct palpation of the AC joint or with cross-body adduction. Final radiographs demonstrated symmetric AC joint contour in 25/32 (78%) patients. Seven patients (22%) radiographically demonstrated superior translation of the distal clavicle relative to the superior margin of the acromion but less than 50% of the clavicular width. 30/32 patients (93%) were able to return to their pre-injury level of work and sports activities. This novel surgical technique using a free graft and braided suture for simultaneous coracoclavicular ligament and AC joint capsular reconstruction successfully controls superior and posterior translations after type V AC joint dislocation and minimizes the incidence of persistent postoperative AC joint subluxation. Retrospective case series, Level IV.

Pattern of Change in Prolonged Exposure and Cognitive-Processing Therapy for Female Rape Victims With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

PubMed Central

Nishith, Pallavi; Resick, Patricia A.; Griffin, Michael G.

2010-01-01

Curve estimation techniques were used to identify the pattern of therapeutic change in female rape victims with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Within-session data on the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Scale were obtained, in alternate therapy sessions, on 171 women. The final sample of treatment completers included 54 prolonged exposure (PE) and 54 cognitive-processing therapy (CPT) completers. For both PE and CPT, a quadratic function provided the best fit for the total PTSD, reexperiencing, and arousal scores. However, a difference in the line of best fit was observed for the avoidance symptoms. Although a quadratic function still provided a better fit for the PE avoidance, a linear function was more parsimonious in explaining the CPT avoidance variance. Implications of the findings are discussed. PMID:12182271

Electronic drop sensing in microfluidic devices: automated operation of a nanoliter viscometer

PubMed Central

Srivastava, Nimisha; Burns, Mark A.

2007-01-01

We describe three droplet sensing techniques: a digital electrode, an analog electrode, and a thermal method. All three techniques use a single layer of metal lines that is easy to microfabricate and an electronic signal can be produced using low DC voltages. While the electrode methods utilize changes in electrical conductivity when the air/liquid interface of the droplet passes over a pair of electrodes, the thermal method is based on convective heat loss from a locally heated region. For the electrode method, the analog technique is able to detect 25 nL droplets while the digital technique is capable of detecting droplets as small as 100 pL. For thermal sensing, temperature profiles in the range of 36 °C and higher were used. Finally, we have used the digital electrode method and an array of electrodes located at preset distances to automate the operation of a previously described microfluidic viscometer. The viscometer is completely controlled by a laptop computer, and the total time for operation including setup, calibration, sample addition and viscosity calculation is approximately 4 minutes. PMID:16738725

Wireless ultrasonic wavefield imaging via laser for hidden damage detection inside a steel box girder bridge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

An, Yun-Kyu; Song, Homin; Sohn, Hoon

2014-09-01

This paper presents a wireless ultrasonic wavefield imaging (WUWI) technique for detecting hidden damage inside a steel box girder bridge. The proposed technique allows (1) complete wireless excitation of piezoelectric transducers and noncontact sensing of the corresponding responses using laser beams, (2) autonomous damage visualization without comparing against baseline data previously accumulated from the pristine condition of a target structure and (3) robust damage diagnosis even for real structures with complex structural geometries. First, a new WUWI hardware system was developed by integrating optoelectronic-based signal transmitting and receiving devices and a scanning laser Doppler vibrometer. Next, a damage visualization algorithm, self-referencing f-k filter (SRF), was introduced to isolate and visualize only crack-induced ultrasonic modes from measured ultrasonic wavefield images. Finally, the performance of the proposed technique was validated through hidden crack visualization at a decommissioned Ramp-G Bridge in South Korea. The experimental results reveal that the proposed technique instantaneously detects and successfully visualizes hidden cracks even in the complex structure of a real bridge.

Wafer hot spot identification through advanced photomask characterization techniques: part 2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, Yohan; Green, Michael; Cho, Young; Ham, Young; Lin, Howard; Lan, Andy; Yang, Richer; Lung, Mike

2017-03-01

Historically, 1D metrics such as Mean to Target (MTT) and CD Uniformity (CDU) have been adequate for mask end users to evaluate and predict the mask impact on the wafer process. However, the wafer lithographer's process margin is shrinking at advanced nodes to a point that classical mask CD metrics are no longer adequate to gauge the mask contribution to wafer process error. For example, wafer CDU error at advanced nodes is impacted by mask factors such as 3-dimensional (3D) effects and mask pattern fidelity on sub-resolution assist features (SRAFs) used in Optical Proximity Correction (OPC) models of ever-increasing complexity. To overcome the limitation of 1D metrics, there are numerous on-going industry efforts to better define wafer-predictive metrics through both standard mask metrology and aerial CD methods. Even with these improvements, the industry continues to struggle to define useful correlative metrics that link the mask to final device performance. In part 1 of this work, we utilized advanced mask pattern characterization techniques to extract potential hot spots on the mask and link them, theoretically, to issues with final wafer performance. In this paper, part 2, we complete the work by verifying these techniques at wafer level. The test vehicle (TV) that was used for hot spot detection on the mask in part 1 will be used to expose wafers. The results will be used to verify the mask-level predictions. Finally, wafer performance with predicted and verified mask/wafer condition will be shown as the result of advanced mask characterization. The goal is to maximize mask end user yield through mask-wafer technology harmonization. This harmonization will provide the necessary feedback to determine optimum design, mask specifications, and mask-making conditions for optimal wafer process margin.

Comparison of effects of static, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation and Mulligan stretching on hip flexion range of motion: a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Yıldırım, M S; Ozyurek, S; Tosun, Oç; Uzer, S; Gelecek, N

2016-03-01

The aim of this study was to compare the effects of static stretching, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) stretching and Mulligan technique on hip flexion range of motion (ROM) in subjects with bilateral hamstring tightness. A total of 40 students (mean age: 21.5±1.3 years, mean body height: 172.8±8.2 cm, mean body mass index: 21.9±3.0 kg · m(-2)) with bilateral hamstring tightness were enrolled in this randomized trial, of whom 26 completed the study. Subjects were divided into 4 groups performing (I) typical static stretching, (II) PNF stretching, (III) Mulligan traction straight leg raise (TSLR) technique, (IV) no intervention. Hip flexion ROM was measured using a digital goniometer with the passive straight leg raise test before and after 4 weeks by two physiotherapists blinded to the groups. 52 extremities of 26 subjects were analyzed. Hip flexion ROM increased in all three intervention groups (p<0.05) but not in the no-intervention group after 4 weeks. A statistically significant change in initial-final assessment differences of hip flexion ROM was found between groups (p<0.001) in favour of PNF stretching and Mulligan TSLR technique in comparison to typical static stretching (p=0.016 and p=0.02, respectively). No significant difference was found between Mulligan TSLR technique and PNF stretching (p=0.920). The initial-final assessment difference of hip flexion ROM was similar in typical static stretching and no intervention (p=0.491). A 4-week stretching intervention is beneficial for increasing hip flexion ROM in bilateral hamstring tightness. However, PNF stretching and Mulligan TSLR technique are superior to typical static stretching. These two interventions can be alternatively used for stretching in hamstring tightness.

Comparison of effects of static, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation and Mulligan stretching on hip flexion range of motion: a randomized controlled trial

PubMed Central

Ozyurek, S; Tosun, OÇ; Uzer, S; Gelecek, N

2016-01-01

The aim of this study was to compare the effects of static stretching, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) stretching and Mulligan technique on hip flexion range of motion (ROM) in subjects with bilateral hamstring tightness. A total of 40 students (mean age: 21.5±1.3 years, mean body height: 172.8±8.2 cm, mean body mass index: 21.9±3.0 kg · m-2) with bilateral hamstring tightness were enrolled in this randomized trial, of whom 26 completed the study. Subjects were divided into 4 groups performing (I) typical static stretching, (II) PNF stretching, (III) Mulligan traction straight leg raise (TSLR) technique, (IV) no intervention. Hip flexion ROM was measured using a digital goniometer with the passive straight leg raise test before and after 4 weeks by two physiotherapists blinded to the groups. 52 extremities of 26 subjects were analyzed. Hip flexion ROM increased in all three intervention groups (p<0.05) but not in the no-intervention group after 4 weeks. A statistically significant change in initial–final assessment differences of hip flexion ROM was found between groups (p<0.001) in favour of PNF stretching and Mulligan TSLR technique in comparison to typical static stretching (p=0.016 and p=0.02, respectively). No significant difference was found between Mulligan TSLR technique and PNF stretching (p=0.920). The initial–final assessment difference of hip flexion ROM was similar in typical static stretching and no intervention (p=0.491). A 4-week stretching intervention is beneficial for increasing hip flexion ROM in bilateral hamstring tightness. However, PNF stretching and Mulligan TSLR technique are superior to typical static stretching. These two interventions can be alternatively used for stretching in hamstring tightness. PMID:26929476

Finding Waldo: Learning about Users from their Interactions.

PubMed

Brown, Eli T; Ottley, Alvitta; Zhao, Helen; Quan Lin; Souvenir, Richard; Endert, Alex; Chang, Remco

2014-12-01

Visual analytics is inherently a collaboration between human and computer. However, in current visual analytics systems, the computer has limited means of knowing about its users and their analysis processes. While existing research has shown that a user's interactions with a system reflect a large amount of the user's reasoning process, there has been limited advancement in developing automated, real-time techniques that mine interactions to learn about the user. In this paper, we demonstrate that we can accurately predict a user's task performance and infer some user personality traits by using machine learning techniques to analyze interaction data. Specifically, we conduct an experiment in which participants perform a visual search task, and apply well-known machine learning algorithms to three encodings of the users' interaction data. We achieve, depending on algorithm and encoding, between 62% and 83% accuracy at predicting whether each user will be fast or slow at completing the task. Beyond predicting performance, we demonstrate that using the same techniques, we can infer aspects of the user's personality factors, including locus of control, extraversion, and neuroticism. Further analyses show that strong results can be attained with limited observation time: in one case 95% of the final accuracy is gained after a quarter of the average task completion time. Overall, our findings show that interactions can provide information to the computer about its human collaborator, and establish a foundation for realizing mixed-initiative visual analytics systems.

Incorporating an ERP Project into Undergraduate Instruction

PubMed Central

Nyhus, Erika; Curtis, Nancy

2016-01-01

Electroencephalogram (EEG) is a relatively non-invasive, simple technique, and recent advances in open source analysis tools make it feasible to implement EEG as a component in undergraduate neuroscience curriculum. We have successfully led students to design novel experiments, record EEG data, and analyze event-related potentials (ERPs) during a one-semester laboratory course for undergraduates in cognitive neuroscience. First, students learned how to set up an EEG recording and completed an analysis tutorial. Students then learned how to set up a novel EEG experiment; briefly, they formed groups of four and designed an EEG experiment on a topic of their choice. Over the course of two weeks students collected behavioral and EEG data. Each group then analyzed their behavioral and ERP data and presented their results both as a presentation and as a final paper. Upon completion of the group project students reported a deeper understanding of cognitive neuroscience methods and a greater appreciation for the strengths and weaknesses of the EEG technique. Although recent advances in open source software made this project possible, it also required access to EEG recording equipment and proprietary software. Future efforts should be directed at making publicly available datasets to learn ERP analysis techniques and making publicly available EEG recording and analysis software to increase the accessibility of hands-on research experience in undergraduate cognitive neuroscience laboratory courses. PMID:27385925

[Benign multicystic peritoneal mesothelioma in a patient with Crohn disease].

PubMed

Fluxá, Daniela; Kronberg, Udo; Lubascher, Jaime; O'Brien, Andrés; Las Heras, Facundo; Ibáñez, Patricio; Quera, Rodrigo

2016-12-01

Benign multicystic peritoneal mesothelioma is an uncommon lesion arising from the peritoneal mesothelium. It is asymptomatic or presents with unspecific symptoms. Imaging techniques may reveal it, however the final diagnosis can only be made by histopathology. Surgery is the only effective treatment considering its high recurrence rate. We report a 19 years old male with Crohn’s disease. Due to persistent abdominal pain, an abdominal magnetic resonance imaging was performed, showing a complex cystic mass in the lower abdomen. The patient underwent surgery and the lesion was completely resected. The pathological study reported a benign multicystic peritoneal mesothelioma.

Software maintenance in scientific and engineering environments: An introduction and guide

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wright, David

1986-01-01

The purpose of software maintenance techniques is addressed. The aims of perfective, adaptive and corrective software maintenance are defined and discussed, especially in the NASA research environment. Areas requiring maintenance, and tools available for this, and suggestions for their use are made. Stress is placed on the organizational aspect of maintenance at both the individual and group level. Particular emphasis is placed on the use of various forms of documentation as the basis around which to organize. Finally, suggestions are given on how to proceed in the partial or complete absence of such documentation.

Antennas in matter: Fundamentals, theory, and applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

King, R. W. P.; Smith, G. S.; Owens, M.; Wu, T. T.

1981-01-01

The volume provides an introduction to antennas and probes embedded within or near material bodies such as the earth, the ocean, or a living organism. After a fundamental analysis of insulated and bare antennas, an advanced treatment of antennas in various media is presented, including a detailed study of the electromagnetic equations in homogeneous isotropic media, the complete theory of the bare dipole in a general medium, and a rigorous analysis of the insulated antenna as well as bare and insulated loop antennas. Finally, experimental models and measuring techniques related to antennas and probes in a general dissipative or dielectric medium are examined.

Respiratory protective device design using control system techniques

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Burgess, W. A.; Yankovich, D.

1972-01-01

The feasibility of a control system analysis approach to provide a design base for respiratory protective devices is considered. A system design approach requires that all functions and components of the system be mathematically identified in a model of the RPD. The mathematical notations describe the operation of the components as closely as possible. The individual component mathematical descriptions are then combined to describe the complete RPD. Finally, analysis of the mathematical notation by control system theory is used to derive compensating component values that force the system to operate in a stable and predictable manner.

The contribution of Raman spectroscopy to the analytical quality control of cytotoxic drugs in a hospital environment: eliminating the exposure risks for staff members and their work environment.

PubMed

Bourget, Philippe; Amin, Alexandre; Vidal, Fabrice; Merlette, Christophe; Troude, Pénélope; Baillet-Guffroy, Arlette

2014-08-15

The purpose of the study was to perform a comparative analysis of the technical performance, respective costs and environmental effect of two invasive analytical methods (HPLC and UV/visible-FTIR) as compared to a new non-invasive analytical technique (Raman spectroscopy). Three pharmacotherapeutic models were used to compare the analytical performances of the three analytical techniques. Statistical inter-method correlation analysis was performed using non-parametric correlation rank tests. The study's economic component combined calculations relative to the depreciation of the equipment and the estimated cost of an AQC unit of work. In any case, analytical validation parameters of the three techniques were satisfactory, and strong correlations between the two spectroscopic techniques vs. HPLC were found. In addition, Raman spectroscopy was found to be superior as compared to the other techniques for numerous key criteria including a complete safety for operators and their occupational environment, a non-invasive procedure, no need for consumables, and a low operating cost. Finally, Raman spectroscopy appears superior for technical, economic and environmental objectives, as compared with the other invasive analytical methods. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Return to Sport after ACL Surgery: A Comparison between Two Different Reconstructive Techniques.

PubMed

Baldassarri, Matteo; Perazzo, Luca; Ghinelli, Diego; Ricciarelli, Marco; Pilla, Federico; Buda, Roberto

2018-05-23

The anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) has become a very common surgical procedure. One of the main success indicators of the surgical procedure is the return to preinjury sporting level. In recent years, reconstructive techniques have been geared toward less morbidity and optimized ligaments process to speed up the recovery of sports activity. This study compares clinical and imaging data, to evaluate the timing of return to sport, of two populations undergoing ACLR using two different techniques: ACLR with hamstring maintaining tibial insertion (MHG) and an all-inside technique with complete hamstring detachment (DHG). Patients were clinically evaluated with Marx rating scale, International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) score, and Tegner activity scale at a minimum follow-up (FU) of 4 years. The two groups have homogeneous characteristics: age, sex, type, and level of sports activity. Since November 2012, 59 patients with unilateral ACL insufficiency underwent ACLR: 31 patients using the MHG technique and 28 patients using the DHG technique. In both groups, a significant improvement in the clinical scores of the administered tests was observed. The MHG group reported a higher percentage of normal knees (83.8%) compared with the DHG group (78.6%). IKDC subjective score improved at each FU. Comparing the two techniques, at 12 months' FU the MHG group achieved better IKDC results (89.6) compared with the DHG technique (84.2). Marx and Tegner score values improved over time reaching comparable results at final FU. At final FU, 98% of patients returned to the same preinjury professional sporting level. Both techniques have been able to provide good clinical results. The MHG group, however, had a resumption of sports activity of the same level and intensity slightly longer (6.3 months) than that in the DHG group (5.9 months). Furthermore, the resumption of training and athletic gestures for the type of sport practiced was earlier than the DHG group. However, in the long run the level of sporting activity leveled in both groups, demonstrating the effectiveness of both techniques. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Research on slow electron collision processes in gases. Final report, September 15, 1970--December 31, 1972

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Baldwin, G C

1974-04-30

Research on low energy electron collisions in gases by the time-of- flight velocity selection technique included, as a preliminary to total cross section measurements, investigations of the statistical and systematic errors inherent in the technique. In particular, thermal transpiration and instrumental fluctuation errors in manometry were investigated, and the results embodied in computer programs for data reduction. The instrumental system was improved to permit extended periods of data accumulation without manual attention. Total cross section measurements in helium, made prior to, and in molecular nitrogen, made after the supporting work was completed, are reported. The total cross sec tion ofmore » helium is found to be higher than reported in previous beam determinations. That of nitrogen is found to be structureless at low energies. (auth)« less

The University of Chicago technique of complete intracorporeal pediatric robotic-assisted laparoscopic augmentation ileocystoplasty and Mitrofanoff appendicovesicostomy.

PubMed

Gundeti, Mohan S; Acharya, Sujeet S; Zagaja, Gregory P

2009-06-01

We present the University of Chicago technique for complete intracorporeal robotic-assisted laparoscopic augmentation ileocystoplasty and Mitrofanoff appendicovesicostomy. The operative steps of the open procedure were replicated laparoscopically using robotic assistance. Initially, five transperitoneal laparoscopic ports are placed prior to docking the da Vinci S robotic system. A 20 cm ileal segment is isolated, and the gastrointestinal anastomosis is performed in an end-to-end fashion using intracorporeal suturing. The appendix is anastomosed to the right posterior wall of the bladder over an 8F feeding tube in an extravesical fashion. Then, the bladder is incised in a coronal plane, and the simple detubularized ileal on-lay patch is anastomosed to the posterior and anterior walls of the bladder. A suprapubic catheter and pelvic drain are placed. Finally, the Mitrofanoff stoma is then fashioned. Cystography is done at 4 weeks postoperatively. This report suggests that robotic-assisted ileocystoplasty and appendicovesicostomy is feasible. A reasonable outcome with early recovery, resumption of normal activities, and excellent cosmesis can be achieved in select patients. A large case series, however, is necessary to determine whether a robotic-assisted approach provides any significant advantages over conventional open procedures.

Holes in the ocean: Filling voids in bathymetric lidar data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coleman, John B.; Yao, Xiaobai; Jordan, Thomas R.; Madden, Marguertie

2011-04-01

The mapping of coral reefs may be efficiently accomplished by the use of airborne laser bathymetry. However, there are often data holes within the bathymetry data which must be filled in order to produce a complete representation of the coral habitat. This study presents a method to fill these data holes through data merging and interpolation. The method first merges ancillary digital sounding data with airborne laser bathymetry data in order to populate data points in all areas but particularly those of data holes. What follows is to generate an elevation surface by spatial interpolation based on the merged data points obtained in the first step. We conduct a case study of the Dry Tortugas National Park in Florida and produced an enhanced digital elevation model in the ocean with this method. Four interpolation techniques, including Kriging, natural neighbor, spline, and inverse distance weighted, are implemented and evaluated on their ability to accurately and realistically represent the shallow-water bathymetry of the study area. The natural neighbor technique is found to be the most effective. Finally, this enhanced digital elevation model is used in conjunction with Ikonos imagery to produce a complete, three-dimensional visualization of the study area.

Uav Surveying for a Complete Mapping and Documentation of Archaeological Findings. The Early Neolithic Site of Portonovo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malinverni, E. S.; Conati Barbaro, C.; Pierdicca, R.; Bozzi, C. A.; Tassetti, A. N.

2016-06-01

The huge potential of 3D digital acquisition techniques for the documentation of archaeological sites, as well as the related findings, is almost well established. In spite of the variety of available techniques, a sole documentation pipeline cannot be defined a priori because of the diversity of archaeological settings. Stratigraphic archaeological excavations, for example, require a systematic, quick and low cost 3D single-surface documentation because the nature of stratigraphic archaeology compels providing documentary evidence of any excavation phase. Only within a destructive process each single excavation cannot be identified, documented and interpreted and this implies the necessity of a re- examination of the work on field. In this context, this paper describes the methodology, carried out during the last years, to 3D document the Early Neolithic site of Portonovo (Ancona, Italy) and, in particular, its latest step consisting in a photogrammetric aerial survey by means of UAV platform. It completes the previous research delivered in the same site by means of terrestrial laser scanning and close range techniques and sets out different options for further reflection in terms of site coverage, resolution and campaign cost. With the support of a topographic network and a unique reference system, the full documentation of the site is managed in order to detail each excavation phase; besides, the final output proves how the 3D digital methodology can be completely integrated with reasonable costs during the excavation and used to interpret the archaeological context. Further contribution of this work is the comparison between several acquisition techniques (i.e. terrestrial and aerial), which could be useful as decision support system for different archaeological scenarios. The main objectives of the comparison are: i) the evaluation of 3D mapping accuracy from different data sources, ii) the definition of a standard pipeline for different archaeological needs and iii) the provision of different level of detail according to the user needs.

Monitoring glycolipid transfer protein activity and membrane interaction with the surface plasmon resonance technique.

PubMed

Ohvo-Rekilä, Henna; Mattjus, Peter

2011-01-01

The glycolipid transfer protein (GLTP) is a protein capable of binding and transferring glycolipids. GLTP is cytosolic and it can interact through its FFAT-like (two phenylalanines in an acidic tract) motif with proteins localized on the surface of the endoplasmic reticulum. Previous in vitro work with GLTP has focused mainly on the complete transfer reaction of the protein, that is, binding and subsequent removal of the glycolipid from the donor membrane, transfer through the aqueous environment, and the final release of the glycolipid to an acceptor membrane. Using bilayer vesicles and surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy, we have now, for the first time, analyzed the binding and lipid removal capacity of GLTP with a completely label-free technique. This technique is focused on the initial steps in GLTP-mediated transfer and the parameters affecting these steps can be more precisely determined. We used the new approach for detailed structure-function studies of GLTP by examining the glycolipid transfer capacity of specific GLTP tryptophan mutants. Tryptophan 96 is crucial for the transfer activity of the protein and tryptophan 142 is an important part of the proteins membrane interacting domain. Further, we varied the composition of the used lipid vesicles and gained information on the effect of membrane properties on GLTP activity. GLTP prefers to interact with more tightly packed membranes, although GLTP-mediated transfer is faster from more fluid membranes. This technique is very useful for the study of membrane-protein interactions and lipid-transfer rates and it can easily be adapted to other membrane-interacting proteins. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Canal and isthmus debridement efficacies of two irrigant agitation techniques in a closed system

PubMed Central

Susin, L.; Yoon, J. C.; Liu, Y.; Parente, J. M.; Loushine, R. J.; Ricucci, D.; Bryan, T.; Weller, R. N.; Pashley, D. H.; Tay, F. R.

2010-01-01

Aim To compare canal and isthmus debris debridement efficacies of the manual dynamic irrigation (MDI) and apical negative pressure (ANP) techniques in the mesial root of mandibular first molars with narrow isthmi, using a closed canal design. Methodology Micro-computed tomography was employed to select 20 teeth, each containing a narrow isthmus. Each root was sealed at the apex with hot glue and embedded in polyvinylsiloxane to simulate a closed canal system. The teeth were submitted to a standardised instrumentation protocol. Final irrigation was performed with either the MDI or the ANP technique using the EndoVac system (N=10). Masson trichrome-stained sections were prepared from completely demineralised roots at ten canal levels between 1–2.8 mm of the anatomical apices. Areas occupied by canals and isthmus of each root and debris in the corresponding regions were digitised by the NIH Image J software and statistically analysed using two-way repeated measures ANOVA. Results For the instrumented canals, there were no differences between the two groups (p=0.131) in the area occupied by debris at all canal levels (p=0.343). Conversely, for the isthmus, less debris was found in the ANP group (p<0.001) but no differences were seen in each group with respect to the ten canal levels (p=0.352). Conclusion Neither technique produce completely removed debris from the isthmus regions. However the EndoVac system, which encompasses the ANP concept, removed considerably more debris from narrow isthmi of the mandibular mesial roots. PMID:20726910

Deriving preference order of post-mining land-uses through MLSA framework: application of an outranking technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soltanmohammadi, Hossein; Osanloo, Morteza; Aghajani Bazzazi, Abbas

2009-08-01

This study intends to take advantage of a previously developed framework for mined land suitability analysis (MLSA) consisted of economical, social, technical and mine site factors to achieve a partial and also a complete pre-order of feasible post-mining land-uses. Analysis by an outranking multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) technique, called PROMETHEE (preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluation), was taken into consideration because of its clear advantages on the field of MLSA as compared with MADM ranking techniques. Application of the proposed approach on a mined land can be completed through some successive steps. First, performance of the MLSA attributes is scored locally by each individual decision maker (DM). Then the assigned performance scores are normalized and the deviation amplitudes of non-dominated alternatives are calculated. Weights of the attributes are calculated by another MADM technique namely, analytical hierarchy process (AHP) in a separate procedure. Using the Gaussian preference function beside the weights, the preference indexes of the land-use alternatives are obtained. Calculation of the outgoing and entering flows of the alternatives and one by one comparison of these values will lead to partial pre-order of them and calculation of the net flows, will lead to a ranked preference for each land-use. At the final step, utilizing the PROMETHEE group decision support system which incorporates judgments of all the DMs, a consensual ranking can be derived. In this paper, preference order of post-mining land-uses for a hypothetical mined land has been derived according to judgments of one DM to reveal applicability of the proposed approach.

Treatment of hidradenitis suppurativa with intralesional photodynamic therapy with 5-aminolevulinic acid and 630nm laser beam.

PubMed

Suárez Valladares, María Jesús; Eiris Salvado, Noemi; Rodríguez Prieto, Manuel Angel

2017-03-01

Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic relapsing inflammatory skin disease with multiple treatment options that have been used with mixed results. To evaluate the effectiveness, safety and tolerability of intralesional photodynamic therapy (I-PDT) in the management of HS. Also, to assess the effect of this technique on the different areas treated. Case series of 38 HS patients treated with I-PDT between 2011-2015 following a standardized protocol to assess response at the treated areas RESULTS: 29 patients achieved a complete response, while persistence was noted on 8 cases and only 1 suffered a recurrence. Difference between basal (median 28.5) and final (0) Hidradenitis Severity Score showed a significant reduction of 24.5 points (p<0.001, 95% OR 19.5-31). Basal (median 10) and final (1) Dermatology Life Quality Index scores reached a reduction of 10 points (p<0.001, 95%OR 8-12). Complete response was achieved in 68.2% of armpits, 88.5% of groins, 88.9% of buttocks and 100% of other locations. 18 out of 38 patients needed only a session to achieve a complete response, while maintaining a good tolerability. We believe that I-PDT might be an alternative treatment option for localized HS lesions, achieving a high rate of remission with an adequate maintenance of response i and few complications. Copyright © 2016 Japanese Society for Investigative Dermatology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

On the Importance of Electronic Symmetry for Triplet State Delocalization

DOE PAGES

Richert, Sabine; Bullard, George; Rawson, Jeff; ...

2017-03-29

The influence of electronic symmetry on triplet state delocalization in linear zinc porphyrin oligomers is explored by electron paramagnetic resonance techniques. Using a combination of transient continuous wave and pulse electron nuclear double resonance spectroscopies, it is demonstrated experimentally that complete triplet state delocalization requires the chemical equivalence of all porphyrin units. These results are supported by density functional theory calculations, showing uneven delocalization in a porphyrin dimer in which a terminal ethynyl group renders the two porphyrin units inequivalent. When the conjugation length of the molecule is further increased upon addition of a second terminal ethynyl group that restoresmore » the symmetry of the system, the triplet state is again found to be completely delocalized. Finally, the observations suggest that electronic symmetry is of greater importance for triplet state delocalization than other frequently invoked factors such as conformational rigidity or fundamental length-scale limitations.« less

Supervisory manipulation based on the concepts of absolute vs relative and fixed vs moving tasks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brooks, T. L.

1980-01-01

If a machine is to perform a given subtask autonomously, it will require an internal model which, combined with operator and environmental inputs, can be used to generate the manipulator functions necessary to complete the task. This paper will advance a technique based on linear transformations by which short, supervised periods of manipulation can be accomplished. To achieve this end a distinction will be made between tasks which can be completely defined during the training period, and tasks which can be only partially defined prior to the moment of execution. A further distinction will be made between tasks which have a fixed relationship to the manipulator base throughout the execution period, and tasks which have a continuously changing task/base relationship during execution. Finally, through a rudimentary analysis of the methods developed in this paper, some of the practical aspects of implementing a supervisory system will be illustrated

Human cDNA mapping using fluorescence in situ hybridization. Final progress report, April 1, 1994--July 31, 1997

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Korenberg, J.R.

The ultimate goal of this research is to generate and apply novel technologies to speed completion and integration of the human genome map and sequence with biomedical problems. To do this, techniques were developed and genome-wide resources generated. This includes a genome-wide Mapped and Integrated BAC/PAC Resource that has been used for gene finding, map completion and anchoring, breakpoint definition and sequencing. In the last period of the grant, the Human Mapped BAC/PAC Resource was also applied to determine regions of human variation and to develop a novel paradigm of primate evolution through to humans. Further, in order to moremore » rapidly evaluate animal models of human disease, a BAC Map of the mouse was generated in collaboration with the MTI Genome Center, Dr. Bruce Birren.« less

Designing and verifying a disassembly line approach to cope with the upsurge of end-of-life vehicles in China.

PubMed

Zhang, Chunliang; Chen, Ming

2018-06-01

An upsurge of end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) is emerging in China, which means a potential monumental environmental crisis. The approach of disassembly line is expected to be an effective solution to such increasing volumes. Due to the complexity of vehicle product and uncertainties of disassembly processes, a complete set of disassembly line system should be taken into detailed consideration. We have designed and constructed a novel disassembly line using a flexible transition technique with the objective of complete disassembly. Prior to productivity testing, comparative Arena-based simulations on four scenarios have been performed and finally a best scenario is selected. The results show that the guarantee of cycle time is the key to meet the productivity target of 30,000 vehicles for one year. To achieve it, some constructive measures such as forcible entry tools are given. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Using sociodrama and psychodrama to teach communication in end-of-life care.

PubMed

Baile, Walter F; De Panfilis, Ludovica; Tanzi, Silvia; Moroni, Matteo; Walters, Rebecca; Biasco, Guido

2012-09-01

End-of-life discussions can be stressful and can elicit strong emotions in the provider as well as the patient and family. In palliative care, understanding and effectively addressing emotions is a key skill that can enhance professional competency and patient/family satisfaction with care. We illustrate how in coursework for a Master's degree in palliative medicine we used dramatic "action methods" derived from sociodrama and psychodrama in the portrayal of two challenging cases to train providers in the emotional aspects of caring for patients with advanced cancer. We describe the specific techniques of constructing and enacting case scenarios using warm-ups, role-creation, doubling and role-reversal. In particular, we illustrate how these techniques and others were used to reveal and address the "hidden" emotions, attitudes, and values that were central to the communication dilemma. Finally, we present an evaluation completed by the 26 participants who attended the course.

Intelligent Tracking Control for a Class of Uncertain High-Order Nonlinear Systems.

PubMed

Zhao, Xudong; Shi, Peng; Zheng, Xiaolong; Zhang, Jianhua

2016-09-01

This brief is concerned with the problem of intelligent tracking control for a class of high-order nonlinear systems with completely unknown nonlinearities. An intelligent adaptive control algorithm is presented by combining the adaptive backstepping technique with the neural networks' approximation ability. It is shown that the practical output tracking performance of the system is achieved using the proposed state-feedback controller under two mild assumptions. In particular, by introducing a parameter in the derivations, the tracking error between the time-varying target signal and the output can be reduced via tuning the controller design parameters. Moreover, in order to solve the problem of overparameterization, which is a common issue in adaptive control design, a controller with one adaptive law is also designed. Finally, simulation results are given to show the effectiveness of the theoretical approaches and the potential of the proposed new design techniques.

Distributed Adaptive Neural Network Output Tracking of Leader-Following High-Order Stochastic Nonlinear Multiagent Systems With Unknown Dead-Zone Input.

PubMed

Hua, Changchun; Zhang, Liuliu; Guan, Xinping

2017-01-01

This paper studies the problem of distributed output tracking consensus control for a class of high-order stochastic nonlinear multiagent systems with unknown nonlinear dead-zone under a directed graph topology. The adaptive neural networks are used to approximate the unknown nonlinear functions and a new inequality is used to deal with the completely unknown dead-zone input. Then, we design the controllers based on backstepping method and the dynamic surface control technique. It is strictly proved that the resulting closed-loop system is stable in probability in the sense of semiglobally uniform ultimate boundedness and the tracking errors between the leader and the followers approach to a small residual set based on Lyapunov stability theory. Finally, two simulation examples are presented to show the effectiveness and the advantages of the proposed techniques.

New anastomosis technique for (laparoscopic) instrumental small-diameter anastomosis.

PubMed

Schöb, O; Schmid, R; Schlumpf, R; Klotz, H P; Spiess, M; Largiadèr, F

1995-04-01

This study presents a new technique for visceral anastomosis. The principle consists of connecting the two parts to be anastomosed around a reabsorbable stent which is transluminally introduced into small-diameter viscus, where it is fixed. Advancing a larger tube along the axis of the machine, the larger, perforated viscus is inverted and pulled over the stent, and finally a rubber band pops off the machine endoluminally in order to fix the intestinal walls in seroserosal contact onto the stent. To evaluate this "micro" anastomosis, a biliary bypass (choledochojejunostomy and roux-en-y-loop) was performed in ten pigs. Nine of ten animals showed biliary bypass with good runoff in contrast radiography and completely reabsorbed stent after a 3-month follow-up. Weight gain, bilirubin, and alkaline phosphatase were normal. This technology demonstrates a safe and quick way to perform instrumental "micro" anastomosis without remnant foreign material.

Raster Scan Computer Image Generation (CIG) System Based On Refresh Memory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dichter, W.; Doris, K.; Conkling, C.

1982-06-01

A full color, Computer Image Generation (CIG) raster visual system has been developed which provides a high level of training sophistication by utilizing advanced semiconductor technology and innovative hardware and firmware techniques. Double buffered refresh memory and efficient algorithms eliminate the problem of conventional raster line ordering by allowing the generated image to be stored in a random fashion. Modular design techniques and simplified architecture provide significant advantages in reduced system cost, standardization of parts, and high reliability. The major system components are a general purpose computer to perform interfacing and data base functions; a geometric processor to define the instantaneous scene image; a display generator to convert the image to a video signal; an illumination control unit which provides final image processing; and a CRT monitor for display of the completed image. Additional optional enhancements include texture generators, increased edge and occultation capability, curved surface shading, and data base extensions.

Double Guiding Catheters for Complex Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

PubMed Central

Chou, Shing-Hsien; Lin, Chia-Pin; Lin, Yen-Chen; Kuo, Chi-Tai; Lin, Ming-Shyan; Chang, Chi-Jen

2012-01-01

A large-lumen guiding catheter is often used for complex percutaneous coronary intervention—particularly when a final kissing-balloon or 2-stent technique is required. However, catheter insertion is sometimes restricted by diseased vascular access sites or a tortuous vascular route. We report 2 cases in which a unique double guiding catheter technique was used to create a lumen of sufficient size for complex percutaneous coronary intervention. In each patient, two 6F guiding catheters were used concurrently to engage the ostium of 1 target vessel. In 1 patient, these catheters were used for the delivery of 2 balloons to complete kissing-balloon dilation after single-stent placement. In the other patient, the catheters were used to deliver 2 stents sequentially to their respective target lesions. The stents were then deployed simultaneously as kissing stents, followed by high-pressure kissing-balloon postdilation. PMID:22412243

Slip casting and extruding shapes of rhenium with metal oxide additives. 1: Feasibility demonstration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barr, F. A.; Page, R. J.

1986-01-01

The feasibility of fabricating small rhenium parts with metal oxide additives by means of slip casting and extrusion techniques is described. The metal oxides, ZrO2 and HfO2 were stabilized into the cubic phase with Y2O3. Additions of metal oxide to the rhenium of up to 15 weight percent were used. Tubes of 17 mm diameter with 0.5 mm walls were slip cast by adapting current ceramic oxide techniques. A complete cast double conical nozzle demonstrated the ability to meet shapes and tolerances. Extrusion of meter long tubing lengths of 3.9 mm o.d. x 2.3 mm i.d. final dimension is documented. Sintering schedules are presented to produce better than 95% of theoretical density parts. Finished machining was found possible were requried by electric discharge machining and diamond grinding.

Detection of Traces of Ovalbumin and Casein in White and Red Wines by Quantitative Western Blotting.

PubMed

Meyer, Philippe; Zanetti, Simone

2015-09-01

Fining of wine with agents containing cow's milk or hen's egg white is a common and traditional procedure. In light of increasing food allergies all over the world, the presence of fining residues has been subject of intense debate. Switzerland does not make exception, and since 2009 the Federal Department of Home Affairs has modified its food regulations stating that the labels must show if traces of fining agents are present. Nevertheless, the application of this regulation is not based on an official analytical method. In this study we show that immunoblotting is an efficient technique to detect and quantify ovalbumin and casein residues in bottled wine. We showed that final filtration is an essential step to remove finings in red wine, and that overfining of white wine may result in fining residues in finished products. Finally, for the first time in Switzerland, 22 samples were taken by food safety inspectors and officially analyzed for the regional food control authority of the Canton of Vaud. These samples were allergen free, but a larger study is currently planned in collaboration with other regional authorities of Switzerland to complete these results and make a complete picture of the Swiss wine production. © 2015 Institute of Food Technologists®

THE PRISM MULTI-OBJECT SURVEY (PRIMUS). II. DATA REDUCTION AND REDSHIFT FITTING

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cool, Richard J.; Moustakas, John; Blanton, Michael R.

2013-04-20

The PRIsm MUlti-object Survey (PRIMUS) is a spectroscopic galaxy redshift survey to z {approx} 1 completed with a low-dispersion prism and slitmasks allowing for simultaneous observations of {approx}2500 objects over 0.18 deg{sup 2}. The final PRIMUS catalog includes {approx}130,000 robust redshifts over 9.1 deg{sup 2}. In this paper, we summarize the PRIMUS observational strategy and present the data reduction details used to measure redshifts, redshift precision, and survey completeness. The survey motivation, observational techniques, fields, target selection, slitmask design, and observations are presented in Coil et al. Comparisons to existing higher-resolution spectroscopic measurements show a typical precision of {sigma}{sub z}/(1more » + z) = 0.005. PRIMUS, both in area and number of redshifts, is the largest faint galaxy redshift survey completed to date and is allowing for precise measurements of the relationship between active galactic nuclei and their hosts, the effects of environment on galaxy evolution, and the build up of galactic systems over the latter half of cosmic history.« less

9 CFR 113.111 - Clostridium Perfringens Type C Toxoid and Bacterin-Toxoid.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... a prescribed test shall not be released. (a) Purity test. Final container samples of completed... § 113.26. (b) Safety test. Bulk or final container samples of completed product from each serial shall be tested for safety as provided in § 113.33(b). (c) Potency test. Bulk or final container samples of...

9 CFR 113.111 - Clostridium Perfringens Type C Toxoid and Bacterin-Toxoid.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... a prescribed test shall not be released. (a) Purity test. Final container samples of completed... § 113.26. (b) Safety test. Bulk or final container samples of completed product from each serial shall be tested for safety as provided in § 113.33(b). (c) Potency test. Bulk or final container samples of...

9 CFR 113.111 - Clostridium Perfringens Type C Toxoid and Bacterin-Toxoid.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... a prescribed test shall not be released. (a) Purity test. Final container samples of completed... § 113.26. (b) Safety test. Bulk or final container samples of completed product from each serial shall be tested for safety as provided in § 113.33(b). (c) Potency test. Bulk or final container samples of...

Genome Writing: Current Progress and Related Applications.

PubMed

Wang, Yueqiang; Shen, Yue; Gu, Ying; Zhu, Shida; Yin, Ye

2018-02-01

The ultimate goal of synthetic biology is to build customized cells or organisms to meet specific industrial or medical needs. The most important part of the customized cell is a synthetic genome. Advanced genomic writing technologies are required to build such an artificial genome. Recently, the partially-completed synthetic yeast genome project represents a milestone in this field. In this mini review, we briefly introduce the techniques for de novo genome synthesis and genome editing. Furthermore, we summarize recent research progresses and highlight several applications in the synthetic genome field. Finally, we discuss current challenges and future prospects. Copyright © 2018. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.

Is it possible to standardize the treatment of primary spontaneous pneumothorax? Part 2: surgical methods of treatment

PubMed Central

Rokicki, Marek; Wojtacha, Jacek; Filipowski, Marek; Dżejlili, Agata; Czyżewski, Damian

2016-01-01

The present report provides a detailed description of the surgical methods for primary spontaneous pneumothorax (PSP) treatment, from open surgery (thoracotomy) to minimally invasive procedures (video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery – VATS). It describes the methods of preventing pneumothorax recurrence, including partial or complete resection of the parietal pleura and chemical pleurodesis with VATS. The pros and cons of each method are presented. The paper also discusses new techniques for diagnosing pneumothorax, such as fluorescein-enhanced autofluorescence thoracoscopy (FEAT) and infrared thoracoscopy. Finally, the authors propose their own algorithm for the treatment of PSP. PMID:28096830

The elastic field induced by a hemispherical inclusion in the half-space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Linzhi

2003-06-01

The elastic field induced by a hekispherical inclusion with uniform eigenstrains in a semi-infinite elastic medium is solved by using the Green's function method and series expansion technique. The exact solutions are presented for the displacement and stress fields which can be expressed by complete elliptic integrals of the first, second, and third kinds and hypergeometric functions. The present method can be used to determine the corresponding elastic fields when the shape of the inclusion is a spherical crown or a spherical segment. Finally, numerical results are given for the displacement and stress fields along the axis of symmetry ( x 3-axis).

Correlations Between the Contributions of Individual IVS Analysis Centers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bockmann, Sarah; Artz, Thomas; Nothnagel, Axel

2010-01-01

Within almost all space-geodetic techniques, contributions of different analysis centers (ACs) are combined in order to improve the robustness of the final product. So far, the contributing series are assumed to be independent as each AC processes the observations in different ways. However, the series cannot be completely independent as each analyst uses the same set of original observations and many applied models are subject to conventions used by each AC. In this paper, it is shown that neglecting correlations between the contributing series yields too optimistic formal errors and small, but insignificant, errors in the estimated parameters derived from the adjustment of the combined solution.

What We Do and Do Not Know about Teaching Medical Image Interpretation.

PubMed

Kok, Ellen M; van Geel, Koos; van Merriënboer, Jeroen J G; Robben, Simon G F

2017-01-01

Educators in medical image interpretation have difficulty finding scientific evidence as to how they should design their instruction. We review and comment on 81 papers that investigated instructional design in medical image interpretation. We distinguish between studies that evaluated complete offline courses and curricula, studies that evaluated e-learning modules, and studies that evaluated specific educational interventions. Twenty-three percent of all studies evaluated the implementation of complete courses or curricula, and 44% of the studies evaluated the implementation of e-learning modules. We argue that these studies have encouraging results but provide little information for educators: too many differences exist between conditions to unambiguously attribute the learning effects to specific instructional techniques. Moreover, concepts are not uniformly defined and methodological weaknesses further limit the usefulness of evidence provided by these studies. Thirty-two percent of the studies evaluated a specific interventional technique. We discuss three theoretical frameworks that informed these studies: diagnostic reasoning, cognitive schemas and study strategies. Research on diagnostic reasoning suggests teaching students to start with non-analytic reasoning and subsequently applying analytic reasoning, but little is known on how to train non-analytic reasoning. Research on cognitive schemas investigated activities that help the development of appropriate cognitive schemas. Finally, research on study strategies supports the effectiveness of practice testing, but more study strategies could be applicable to learning medical image interpretation. Our commentary highlights the value of evaluating specific instructional techniques, but further evidence is required to optimally inform educators in medical image interpretation.

Implementation of ADI: Schemes on MIMD parallel computers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vanderwijngaart, Rob F.

1993-01-01

In order to simulate the effects of the impingement of hot exhaust jets of High Performance Aircraft on landing surfaces a multi-disciplinary computation coupling flow dynamics to heat conduction in the runway needs to be carried out. Such simulations, which are essentially unsteady, require very large computational power in order to be completed within a reasonable time frame of the order of an hour. Such power can be furnished by the latest generation of massively parallel computers. These remove the bottleneck of ever more congested data paths to one or a few highly specialized central processing units (CPU's) by having many off-the-shelf CPU's work independently on their own data, and exchange information only when needed. During the past year the first phase of this project was completed, in which the optimal strategy for mapping an ADI-algorithm for the three dimensional unsteady heat equation to a MIMD parallel computer was identified. This was done by implementing and comparing three different domain decomposition techniques that define the tasks for the CPU's in the parallel machine. These implementations were done for a Cartesian grid and Dirichlet boundary conditions. The most promising technique was then used to implement the heat equation solver on a general curvilinear grid with a suite of nontrivial boundary conditions. Finally, this technique was also used to implement the Scalar Penta-diagonal (SP) benchmark, which was taken from the NAS Parallel Benchmarks report. All implementations were done in the programming language C on the Intel iPSC/860 computer.

An Onyx tunnel: reconstructive transvenous balloon-assisted Onyx embolization for dural arteriovenous fistula of the transverse-sigmoid sinus.

PubMed

Kerolus, Mena G; Chung, Joonho; Munich, Stephen A; Matsuda, Yoshikazu; Okada, Hideo; Lopes, Demetrius K

2017-11-17

Transvenous embolization is an effective method for treating dural arteriovenous fistulas (DAVFs) of the transverse-sigmoid sinus (TSS). However, in cases of complicated DAVFs, it is difficult to preserve the patency of the dural sinus. The authors describe the technical details of a new reconstructive technique using transvenous balloon-assisted Onyx embolization as another treatment option in a patient with an extensive and complex DAVF of the left TSS. A microcatheter and compliant balloon catheter were navigated into the left internal jugular vein and placed at the distal end of the DAVF in the transverse sinus. The microcatheter was placed between the vessel wall of the TSS and the balloon. After the balloon was fully inflated, Onyx-18 was injected at the periphery of the balloon in a slow, controlled, progressive, stepwise manner; the balloon and microcatheter were simultaneously withdrawn toward the sigmoid sinus, with Onyx encompassing the entirety of the complex DAVF. The Onyx refluxed into multiple arterial feeders in a distal-to-proximal step-by-step manner, ultimately resulting in an Onyx tunnel. The final angiography study revealed complete obliteration of the DAVF and patency of the TSS. The Onyx tunnel, or reconstructive transvenous balloon-assisted Onyx embolization technique, may be an effective treatment option for large, complex DAVFs of the TSS. This technique may provide another option to facilitate the complete obliteration of the DAVF while preserving the functional sinus.

Finding Waldo: Learning about Users from their Interactions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Brown, Eli T.; Ottley, Alvitta; Zhao, Helen

Visual analytics is inherently a collaboration between human and computer. However, in current visual analytics systems, the computer has limited means of knowing about its users and their analysis processes. While existing research has shown that a user’s interactions with a system reflect a large amount of the user’s reasoning process, there has been limited advancement in developing automated, real-time techniques that mine interactions to learn about the user. In this paper, we demonstrate that we can accurately predict a user’s task performance and infer some user personality traits by using machine learning techniques to analyze interaction data. Specifically, wemore » conduct an experiment in which participants perform a visual search task and we apply well-known machine learning algorithms to three encodings of the users interaction data. We achieve, depending on algorithm and encoding, between 62% and 96% accuracy at predicting whether each user will be fast or slow at completing the task. Beyond predicting performance, we demonstrate that using the same techniques, we can infer aspects of the user’s personality factors, including locus of control, extraversion, and neuroticism. Further analyses show that strong results can be attained with limited observation time, in some cases, 82% of the final accuracy is gained after a quarter of the average task completion time. Overall, our findings show that interactions can provide information to the computer about its human collaborator, and establish a foundation for realizing mixed- initiative visual analytics systems.« less

78 FR 65298 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-10-31

... the GPR, mid-year GPR and a final GPR within 90 days of grant closeout, which provide information for... to complete a GPR, which is due in October, to complete an abbreviated mid-year GPR due in April, and to complete a final GPR within 90 days of grant closeout. The GPR provides information for CNCS staff...

Fission gas bubble identification using MATLAB's image processing toolbox

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Collette, R.; King, J.; Keiser, Jr., D.

Automated image processing routines have the potential to aid in the fuel performance evaluation process by eliminating bias in human judgment that may vary from person-to-person or sample-to-sample. In addition, this study presents several MATLAB based image analysis routines designed for fission gas void identification in post-irradiation examination of uranium molybdenum (U–Mo) monolithic-type plate fuels. Frequency domain filtration, enlisted as a pre-processing technique, can eliminate artifacts from the image without compromising the critical features of interest. This process is coupled with a bilateral filter, an edge-preserving noise removal technique aimed at preparing the image for optimal segmentation. Adaptive thresholding provedmore » to be the most consistent gray-level feature segmentation technique for U–Mo fuel microstructures. The Sauvola adaptive threshold technique segments the image based on histogram weighting factors in stable contrast regions and local statistics in variable contrast regions. Once all processing is complete, the algorithm outputs the total fission gas void count, the mean void size, and the average porosity. The final results demonstrate an ability to extract fission gas void morphological data faster, more consistently, and at least as accurately as manual segmentation methods.« less

Silicon micromachined waveguides for millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yap, Markus; Tai, Yu-Chong; Mcgrath, William R.; Walker, Christopher

1992-01-01

The majority of radio receivers, transmitters, and components operating at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths utilize rectangular waveguides in some form. However, conventional machining techniques for waveguides operating above a few hundred GHz are complicated and costly. This paper reports on the development of silicon micromachining techniques to create silicon-based waveguide circuits which can operate at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths. As a first step, rectangular WR-10 waveguide structures have been fabricated from (110) silicon wafers using micromachining techniques. The waveguide is split along the broad wall. Each half is formed by first etching a channel completely through a wafer. Potassium hydroxide is used to etch smooth mirror-like vertical walls and LPCVD silicon nitride is used as a masking layer. This wafer is then bonded to another flat wafer using a polyimide bonding technique and diced into the U-shaped half wavelengths. Finally, a gold layer is applied to the waveguide walls. Insertion loss measurements show losses comparable to those of standard metal waveguides. It is suggested that active devices and planar circuits can be integrated with the waveguides, solving the traditional mounting problems. Potential applications in terahertz instrumentation technology are further discussed.

Proximity operations analysis: Retrieval of the solar maximum mission observatory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yglesias, J. A.

1980-01-01

Retrieval of the solar maximum mission (SMM) observatory is feasible in terms of orbiter primary reaction control system (PRCS) plume disturbance of the SMM, orbiter propellant consumed, and flight time required. Man-in-loop simulations will be required to validate these operational techniques before the verification process is complete. Candidate approach and flyaround techniques were developed that allow the orbiter to attain the proper alinement with the SMM for clear access to the grapple fixture (GF) prior grappling. Because the SMM has very little control authority (approximately 14.8 pound-foot-seconds in two axes and rate-damped in the third) it is necessary to inhibit all +Z (upfiring) PRCS jets on the orbiter to avoid tumbling the SMM. A profile involving a V-bar approach and an out-of-plane flyaround appears to be the best choice and is recommended at this time. The flyaround technique consists of alining the +X-axes of the two vehicles parallel with each other and then flying the orbiter around the SMM until the GF is in view. The out-of-plane flyaround technique is applicable to any inertially stabilized payload, and, the entire final approach profile could be considered as standard for most retrieval missions.

Evaluation of the mining techniques in constructing a traditional Chinese-language nursing recording system.

PubMed

Liao, Pei-Hung; Chu, William; Chu, Woei-Chyn

2014-05-01

In 2009, the Department of Health, part of Taiwan's Executive Yuan, announced the advent of electronic medical records to reduce medical expenses and facilitate the international exchange of medical record information. An information technology platform for nursing records in medical institutions was then quickly established, which improved nursing information systems and electronic databases. The purpose of the present study was to explore the usability of the data mining techniques to enhance completeness and ensure consistency of nursing records in the database system.First, the study used a Chinese word-segmenting system on common and special terms often used by the nursing staff. We also used text-mining techniques to collect keywords and create a keyword lexicon. We then used an association rule and artificial neural network to measure the correlation and forecasting capability for keywords. Finally, nursing staff members were provided with an on-screen pop-up menu to use when establishing nursing records. Our study found that by using mining techniques we were able to create a powerful keyword lexicon and establish a forecasting model for nursing diagnoses, ensuring the consistency of nursing terminology and improving the nursing staff's work efficiency and productivity.

Fission gas bubble identification using MATLAB's image processing toolbox

DOE PAGES

Collette, R.; King, J.; Keiser, Jr., D.; ...

2016-06-08

Automated image processing routines have the potential to aid in the fuel performance evaluation process by eliminating bias in human judgment that may vary from person-to-person or sample-to-sample. In addition, this study presents several MATLAB based image analysis routines designed for fission gas void identification in post-irradiation examination of uranium molybdenum (U–Mo) monolithic-type plate fuels. Frequency domain filtration, enlisted as a pre-processing technique, can eliminate artifacts from the image without compromising the critical features of interest. This process is coupled with a bilateral filter, an edge-preserving noise removal technique aimed at preparing the image for optimal segmentation. Adaptive thresholding provedmore » to be the most consistent gray-level feature segmentation technique for U–Mo fuel microstructures. The Sauvola adaptive threshold technique segments the image based on histogram weighting factors in stable contrast regions and local statistics in variable contrast regions. Once all processing is complete, the algorithm outputs the total fission gas void count, the mean void size, and the average porosity. The final results demonstrate an ability to extract fission gas void morphological data faster, more consistently, and at least as accurately as manual segmentation methods.« less

3D TEM reconstruction and segmentation process of laminar bio-nanocomposites

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Iturrondobeitia, M., E-mail: maider.iturrondobeitia@ehu.es; Okariz, A.; Fernandez-Martinez, R.

2015-03-30

The microstructure of laminar bio-nanocomposites (Poly (lactic acid)(PLA)/clay) depends on the amount of clay platelet opening after integration with the polymer matrix and determines the final properties of the material. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) technique is the only one that can provide a direct observation of the layer dispersion and the degree of exfoliation. However, the orientation of the clay platelets, which affects the final properties, is practically immeasurable from a single 2D TEM image. This issue can be overcome using transmission electron tomography (ET), a technique that allows the complete 3D characterization of the structure, including the measurement ofmore » the orientation of clay platelets, their morphology and their 3D distribution. ET involves a 3D reconstruction of the study volume and a subsequent segmentation of the study object. Currently, accurate segmentation is performed manually, which is inefficient and tedious. The aim of this work is to propose an objective/automated segmentation methodology process of a 3D TEM tomography reconstruction. In this method the segmentation threshold is optimized by minimizing the variation of the dimensions of the segmented objects and matching the segmented V{sub clay} (%) and the actual one. The method is first validated using a fictitious set of objects, and then applied on a nanocomposite.« less

Application and evaluation of a combination of socratice and learning through discussion techniques.

PubMed

van Aswegen, E J; Brink, H I; Steyn, P J

2001-11-01

This article has its genesis in the inquirer's interest in the need for internalizing critical thinking, creative thinking and reflective skills in adult learners. As part of a broader study the inquirer used a combination of two techniques over a period of nine months, namely: Socratic discussion/questioning and Learning Through Discussion Technique. The inquirer within this inquiry elected mainly qualitative methods, because they were seen as more adaptable to dealing with multiple realities and more sensitive and adaptable to the many shaping influences and value patterns that may be encountered (Lincoln & Guba, 1989). Purposive sampling was used and sample size (n = 10) was determined by the willingness of potential participants to enlist in the chosen techniques. Feedback from participants was obtained: (1) verbally after each discussion session, and (2) in written format after completion of the course content. The final/summative evaluation was obtained through a semi-structured questionnaire. This was deemed necessary, in that the participants were already studying for the end of the year examination. For the purpose of this condensed report the inquirer reflected only on the feedback obtained with the help of the questionnaire. The empirical study showed that in spite of various adaptation problems experienced, eight (8) of the ten (10) participants felt positive toward the applied techniques.

Description of the supporting factors of final project in Mathematics and Natural Sciences Faculty of Syiah Kuala University with multiple correspondence analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rusyana, Asep; Nurhasanah; Maulizasari

2018-05-01

Syiah Kuala University (Unsyiah) is hoped to have graduates who are qualified for working or creating a field of work. A final project course implementation process must be effective. This research uses data from the evaluation conducted by Mathematics and Natural Sciences Faculty (FMIPA) of Unsyiah. Some of the factors that support the completion of the final project are duration, guidance, the final project seminars, facility, public impact, and quality. This research aims to know the factors that have a relationship with the completion of the final project and identify similarities among variables. The factors that support the completion of the final project at every study program in FMIPA are (1) duration, (2) guidance and (3) facilities. These factors are examined for the correlations by chi-square test. After that, the variables are analyzed with multiple correspondence analysis. Based on the plot of correspondence, the activities of the guidance and facilities in Informatics Study Program are included in the fair category, while the guidance and facilities in the Chemistry are included in the best category. Besides that, students in Physics can finish the final project with the fastest completion duration, while students in Pharmacy finish for the longest time.

Research to Develop Effective Teaching and Management Techniques for Severely Disturbed and Retarded Children. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kauffman, James M.; Birnbrauer, Jay S.

The final report of a project on teaching and management techniques with severely disturbed and/or retarded children presents analysis of single subject research using contingent imitation of the child as an intervention technique. The effects of this technique were examined on the following behaviors: toyplay and reciprocal imitation, self…

Microstructure and Magnetic Properties of Magnetic Material Fabricated by Selective Laser Melting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jhong, Kai Jyun; Huang, Wei-Chin; Lee, Wen Hsi

Selective Laser Melting (SLM) is a powder-based additive manufacturing which is capable of producing parts layer-by-layer from a 3D CAD model. The aim of this study is to adopt the selective laser melting technique to magnetic material fabrication. [1]For the SLM process to be practical in industrial use, highly specific mechanical properties of the final product must be achieved. The integrity of the manufactured components depend strongly on each single laser-melted track and every single layer, as well as the strength of the connections between them. In this study, effects of the processing parameters, such as the space distance of surface morphology is analyzed. Our hypothesis is that when a magnetic product is made by the selective laser melting techniques instead of traditional techniques, the finished component will have more precise and effective properties. This study analyzed the magnitudes of magnetic properties in comparison with different parameters in the SLM process and compiled a completed product to investigate the efficiency in contrast with products made with existing manufacturing processes.

All the noncontextuality inequalities for arbitrary prepare-and-measure experiments with respect to any fixed set of operational equivalences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmid, David; Spekkens, Robert W.; Wolfe, Elie

2018-06-01

Within the framework of generalized noncontextuality, we introduce a general technique for systematically deriving noncontextuality inequalities for any experiment involving finitely many preparations and finitely many measurements, each of which has a finite number of outcomes. Given any fixed sets of operational equivalences among the preparations and among the measurements as input, the algorithm returns a set of noncontextuality inequalities whose satisfaction is necessary and sufficient for a set of operational data to admit of a noncontextual model. Additionally, we show that the space of noncontextual data tables always defines a polytope. Finally, we provide a computationally efficient means for testing whether any set of numerical data admits of a noncontextual model, with respect to any fixed operational equivalences. Together, these techniques provide complete methods for characterizing arbitrary noncontextuality scenarios, both in theory and in practice. Because a quantum prepare-and-measure experiment admits of a noncontextual model if and only if it admits of a positive quasiprobability representation, our techniques also determine the necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of such a representation.

Dynamic microscopy of nanoscale cluster growth at the solid-liquid interface.

PubMed

Williamson, M J; Tromp, R M; Vereecken, P M; Hull, R; Ross, F M

2003-08-01

Dynamic processes at the solid-liquid interface are of key importance across broad areas of science and technology. Electrochemical deposition of copper, for example, is used for metallization in integrated circuits, and a detailed understanding of nucleation, growth and coalescence is essential in optimizing the final microstructure. Our understanding of processes at the solid-vapour interface has advanced tremendously over the past decade due to the routine availability of real-time, high-resolution imaging techniques yielding data that can be compared quantitatively with theory. However, the difficulty of studying the solid-liquid interface leaves our understanding of processes there less complete. Here we analyse dynamic observations--recorded in situ using a novel transmission electron microscopy technique--of the nucleation and growth of nanoscale copper clusters during electrodeposition. We follow in real time the evolution of individual clusters, and compare their development with simulations incorporating the basic physics of electrodeposition during the early stages of growth. The experimental technique developed here is applicable to a broad range of dynamic phenomena at the solid-liquid interface.

Complete Report on the Development of Welding Parameters for Irradiated Materials

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Frederick, Greg; Sutton, Benjamin J.; Tatman, Jonathan K.

The advanced welding facility at the Radiochemical Engineering Development Center of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which was conceived to enable research and development of weld repair techniques for nuclear power plant life extension, is now operational. The development of the facility and its advanced welding capabilities, along with the model materials for initial welding trials, were funded jointly by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy, Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program, the Electric Power Research Institute, Long Term Operations Program and the Welding and Repair Technology Center, with additional support from Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Welding of irradiatedmore » materials was initiated on November 17, 2017, which marked a significant step in the development of the facility and the beginning of extensive welding research and development campaigns on irradiated materials that will eventually produce validated techniques and guidelines for weld repair activities carried out to extend the operational lifetimes of nuclear power plants beyond 60 years. This report summarizes the final steps that were required to complete weld process development, initial irradiated materials welding activities, near-term plans for irradiated materials welding, and plans for post-weld analyses that will be carried out to assess the ability of the advanced welding processes to make repairs on irradiated materials.« less

Occupational therapy with people with depression: using nominal group technique to collate clinician opinion.

PubMed

Hitch, Danielle; Taylor, Michelle; Pepin, Genevieve

2015-05-01

This aim of this study was to obtain a consensus from clinicians regarding occupational therapy for people with depression, for the assessments and practices they use that are not currently supported by research evidence directly related to functional performance. The study also aimed to discover how many of these assessments and practices were currently supported by research evidence. Following a previously reported systematic review of assessments and practices used in occupational therapy for people with depression, a modified nominal group technique was used to discover which assessments and practices occupational therapists currently utilize. Three online surveys gathered initial data on therapeutic options (survey 1), which were then ranked (survey 2) and re-ranked (survey 3) to gain the final consensus. Twelve therapists completed the first survey, whilst 10 clinicians completed both the second and third surveys. Only 30% of the assessments and practices identified by the clinicians were supported by research evidence. A consensus was obtained on a total of 35 other assessments and interventions. These included both occupational-therapy-specific and generic assessments and interventions. Principle conclusion. Very few of the assessments and interventions identified were supported by research evidence directly related to functional performance. While a large number of options were generated, the majority of these were not occupational therapy specific.

Extended behavioural modelling of FET and lattice-mismatched HEMT devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khawam, Yahya; Albasha, Lutfi

2017-07-01

This study presents an improved large signal model that can be used for high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) and field effect transistors using measurement-based behavioural modelling techniques. The steps for accurate large and small signal modelling for transistor are also discussed. The proposed DC model is based on the Fager model since it compensates between the number of model's parameters and accuracy. The objective is to increase the accuracy of the drain-source current model with respect to any change in gate or drain voltages. Also, the objective is to extend the improved DC model to account for soft breakdown and kink effect found in some variants of HEMT devices. A hybrid Newton's-Genetic algorithm is used in order to determine the unknown parameters in the developed model. In addition to accurate modelling of a transistor's DC characteristics, the complete large signal model is modelled using multi-bias s-parameter measurements. The way that the complete model is performed is by using a hybrid multi-objective optimisation technique (Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II) and local minimum search (multivariable Newton's method) for parasitic elements extraction. Finally, the results of DC modelling and multi-bias s-parameters modelling are presented, and three-device modelling recommendations are discussed.

D Cultural Heritage Documentation: a Comparison Between Different Photogrammetric Software and Their Products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gagliolo, S.; Ausonio, E.; Federici, B.; Ferrando, I.; Passoni, D.; Sguerso, D.

2018-05-01

The conservation of Cultural Heritage depends on the availability of means and resources and, consequently, on the possibility to make effective operations of data acquisition. In facts, on the one hand the creation of data repositories allows the description of the present state-of-art, in order to preserve the testimonial value and to permit the fruition. On the other hand, data acquisition grants a metrical knowledge, which is particularly useful for a direct restoration of the surveyed objects, through the analysis of their 3D digital models. In the last decades, the continuous increase and improvement of 3D survey techniques and of tools for the geometric and digital data management have represented a great support to the development of documentary activities. In particular, Photogrammetry is a survey technique highly appropriate in the creation of data repositories in the field of Cultural Heritage, thanks to its advantages of cheapness, flexibility, speed, and the opportunity to ensure the operators' safety in hazardous areas too. In order to obtain a complete documentation, the high precision of the on-site operations must be coupled with an effective post-processing phase. Hence, a comparison among some of the photogrammetric software currently available was performed by the authors, with a particular attention to the workflow completeness and the final products quality.

Results of treatment of choroidal malignant melanoma with high-dose-rate strontium-90 brachytherapy. A retrospective study of 46 patients treated between 1983 and 1995.

PubMed

Missotten, L; Dirven, W; Van der Schueren, A; Leys, A; De Meester, G; Van Limbergen, E

1998-03-01

We review the results of treatment of small to medium-sized choroidal malignant melanomas after high-dose-rate brachytherapy with a strontium-90 applicator. The applicator is positioned against the sclera using an afterloading technique. Brachytherapy is completed in a single session lasting 2-4 h with the patient under local anaesthesia. From September 1983 until March 1995, 46 eyes were treated in this way. Most tumours were 7-11 mm in diameter (range from 4.5-15 mm) with a mean height of approximately 3 mm (range from 1.5-7 mm). Follow-up ranged from 6 months to 12 years (mean 49 months). Thirty of the 46 eyes had at the final evaluation a nonevolutive scar (20 of these after a single application, the others with some additional treatment). In 13 eyes the tumours were in involution but their complete destruction was not yet certain, and 3 eyes were enucleated for local recurrence. Three patients developed systemic metastases. No radiogenic complications were noticed. Strontium-90 brachytherapy is a valuable and safe treatment technique for small to medium-sized choroidal malignant melanomas. In addition the use of a strontium-90 applicator is inexpensive thanks to this element's long half-life and the short application time.

Nonuniform sampling techniques for antenna applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rahmat-Samii, Yahya; Cheung, Rudolf Lap-Tung

1987-01-01

A two-dimensional sampling technique, which can employ irregularly spaced samples (amplitude and phase) in order to generate the complete far-field patterns is presented. The technique implements a matrix inversion algorithm, which depends only on the nonuniform sampled data point locations and with no dependence on the actual field values at these points. A powerful simulation algorithm is presented to allow a real-life simulation of many reflector/feed configurations and to determine the usefulness of the nonuniform sampling technique for the copolar and cross-polar patterns. Additionally, an overlapped window concept and a generalized error simulation model are discussed to identify the stability of the technique for recovering the field data among the nonuniform sampled data. Numerical results are tailored for the pattern reconstruction of a 20-m offset reflector antenna operating at L-band. This reflector is planned to be used in a proposed measurement concept of large antenna aboard the Space Shuttle, whereby it would be almost impractical to accurately control the movement of the Shuttle with respect to the RF source in prescribed directions in order to generate uniform sampled points. Also, application of the nonuniform sampling technique to patterns obtained using near-field measured data is demonstrated. Finally, results of an actual far-field measurement are presented for the construction of patterns of a reflector antenna from a set of nonuniformly distributed measured amplitude and phase data.

Completion techniques for horizontal wells in the Pearsall Austin Chalk

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pope, C.D.; Handren, P.J.

1992-05-01

Oryx Energy Co. used three basic completion techniques and various combinations of them to complete 20 horizontal wells in the Pearsall Austin Chalk. The completion method selected is based on a general set of guidelines. In this paper additionally, equipment selection and various types of workover operations are reviewed.

Is blue dye still required during sentinel lymph node biopsy for breast cancer?

PubMed

Peek, Mirjam Cl; Kovacs, Tibor; Baker, Rose; Hamed, Hisham; Kothari, Ash; Douek, Michael

2016-01-01

In early breast cancer, the optimal technique for sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) is the combined technique (radioisotope and Patent Blue V) which achieves high identification rates. Despite this, many centres have decided to stop using blue dye due to blue-dye-related complications (tattoo, anaphylaxis). We evaluated the SLNB identification rate using the combined technique with and without Patent Blue V and the blue-dye-related complication rates. Clinical and histological data were analysed on patients undergoing SLNB between March 2014 and April 2015. SLNB was performed following standard hospital protocols using the combined technique. A total of 208 patients underwent SLNB and 160 patients (342 nodes) with complete operation notes were available for final analysis. The identification rate with the combined technique was 98.8% ( n = 158/160), with blue dye alone 92.5% ( n = 148/160) and with radioisotope alone 97.5% ( n = 156/160). A total of 76.9% (263/342) of nodes were radioactive and blue, 15.5% (53/342) only radioactive and 2.3% (8/342) only blue, 5.3% (18/342) were neither radioactive nor blue. No anaphylactic reactions were reported and blue skin staining was reported in six (3.8%) patients. The combined technique should continue be the preferred technique for SLNB and should be standardised. Radioisotope alone (but not blue dye alone) has comparable sentinel node identification rates in experienced hands. National guidelines are required to optimise operative documentation.

Complete exchange on the iPSC-860

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bokhari, Shahid H.

1991-01-01

The implementation of complete exchange on the circuit switched Intel iPSC-860 hypercube is described. This pattern, also known as all-to-all personalized communication, is the densest requirement that can be imposed on a network. On the iPSC-860, care needs to be taken to avoid edge contention, which can have a disastrous impact on communication time. There are basically two classes of algorithms that achieve contention-free complete exchange. The first contains the classical standard exchange algorithm that is generally useful for small message sizes. The second includes a number of optimal or near-optimal algorithms that are best for large messages. Measurement of communication overhead on the iPSC-860 are given and a notation for analyzing communication link usage is developed. It is shown that for the two classes of algorithms, there is substantial variation in performance with synchronization technique and choice of message protocol. Timings of six implementations are given; each of these is useful over a particular range of message size and cube dimension. Since the complete exchange is a superset of communication patterns, these timings represent upper bounds on the time required by an arbitrary communication requirement. These results indicate that the programmer needs to evaluate several possibilities before finalizing an implementation - a careful choice can lead to very significant savings in time.

Learning curve for laparoscopic Heller myotomy and Dor fundoplication for achalasia

PubMed Central

Omura, Nobuo; Tsuboi, Kazuto; Hoshino, Masato; Yamamoto, Seryung; Akimoto, Shunsuke; Masuda, Takahiro; Kashiwagi, Hideyuki; Yanaga, Katsuhiko

2017-01-01

Purpose Although laparoscopic Heller myotomy and Dor fundoplication (LHD) is widely performed to address achalasia, little is known about the learning curve for this technique. We assessed the learning curve for performing LHD. Methods Of the 514 cases with LHD performed between August 1994 and March 2016, the surgical outcomes of 463 cases were evaluated after excluding 50 cases with reduced port surgery and one case with the simultaneous performance of laparoscopic distal partial gastrectomy. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to identify the cut-off value for the number of surgical experiences necessary to become proficient with LHD, which was defined as the completion of the learning curve. Results We defined the completion of the learning curve when the following 3 conditions were satisfied. 1) The operation time was less than 165 minutes. 2) There was no blood loss. 3) There was no intraoperative complication. In order to establish the appropriate number of surgical experiences required to complete the learning curve, the cut-off value was evaluated by using a ROC curve (AUC 0.717, p < 0.001). Finally, we identified the cut-off value as 16 surgical cases (sensitivity 0.706, specificity 0.646). Conclusion Learning curve seems to complete after performing 16 cases. PMID:28686640

Learning curve for laparoscopic Heller myotomy and Dor fundoplication for achalasia.

PubMed

Yano, Fumiaki; Omura, Nobuo; Tsuboi, Kazuto; Hoshino, Masato; Yamamoto, Seryung; Akimoto, Shunsuke; Masuda, Takahiro; Kashiwagi, Hideyuki; Yanaga, Katsuhiko

2017-01-01

Although laparoscopic Heller myotomy and Dor fundoplication (LHD) is widely performed to address achalasia, little is known about the learning curve for this technique. We assessed the learning curve for performing LHD. Of the 514 cases with LHD performed between August 1994 and March 2016, the surgical outcomes of 463 cases were evaluated after excluding 50 cases with reduced port surgery and one case with the simultaneous performance of laparoscopic distal partial gastrectomy. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to identify the cut-off value for the number of surgical experiences necessary to become proficient with LHD, which was defined as the completion of the learning curve. We defined the completion of the learning curve when the following 3 conditions were satisfied. 1) The operation time was less than 165 minutes. 2) There was no blood loss. 3) There was no intraoperative complication. In order to establish the appropriate number of surgical experiences required to complete the learning curve, the cut-off value was evaluated by using a ROC curve (AUC 0.717, p < 0.001). Finally, we identified the cut-off value as 16 surgical cases (sensitivity 0.706, specificity 0.646). Learning curve seems to complete after performing 16 cases.

PM-1 NUCLEAR POWER PLANT PROGRAM. Quarterly Progress Report No. 2 for June 1 to August 31, 1959

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sieg, J.S.; Smith, E.H.

1959-10-01

The objective of the contract is the design, development, fabrication, installation, and initial testing and operation of a prepackaged air- transportable pressurized water reactor nuclear power plant, the PM-1. The specified output is 1 Mwe and 7 million Btu/hr of heat. The plant is to be operational by March 1962. The principal efforts were completion of the plant parametric study and preparation of the preliminary design. A summary of design parameters is given. Systems development work included study and selection of packages for full-scale testing, a survey of in-core instrumentation techniques, control and instrumentation development, and development of components formore » the steam generator, condenser, and turbine generator, which are not commercially available. Reactor development work included completion of the parametric zeropower experiments and preparrtions for a flexible zeropower test program, a revision of plans for irradiation testing PM-1 fuel elements, initiation of a reactor flow test program, outliring of a heat tnansfer test program, completion of the seven-tube test section (SETCH-1) tests, and evaluation of control rod actuators leading to specification of a magnetic jack-type control rod drive similar to that reported in ANL-5768. Completion of the prelimirary design led to initiation of the final design effort, which will be the principal activity during the next two project quarters. Preparations for core fabrication included procurement of core cladding material for the zero-power teat core, arrangement with a subcontractor to convent UF/sub 6/ to UO/sub 2/ and to commence delivery of the oxide during the next quarter, development of fuel element fabrication and ultrasonic testing techniques, study of control rod materials, UO/sub 2/ recovery techniques, and boron analysis methods. Preliminary work on site preparation was pursued with receipt of USAEC approval for a location on the eastern slope of Warren Peak at Sundance, Wyoming. A survey of this site is underway. A preliminary Hazards Summary Report is in preparation. (For preceding period see MND-M-1812.) (auth)« less

The clustering of galaxies in the completed SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: combining correlated Gaussian posterior distributions

DOE PAGES

Sánchez, Ariel G.; Grieb, Jan Niklas; Salazar-Albornoz, Salvador; ...

2016-09-30

The cosmological information contained in anisotropic galaxy clustering measurements can often be compressed into a small number of parameters whose posterior distribution is well described by a Gaussian. Here, we present a general methodology to combine these estimates into a single set of consensus constraints that encode the total information of the individual measurements, taking into account the full covariance between the different methods. We also illustrate this technique by applying it to combine the results obtained from different clustering analyses, including measurements of the signature of baryon acoustic oscillations and redshift-space distortions, based on a set of mock cataloguesmore » of the final SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). Our results show that the region of the parameter space allowed by the consensus constraints is smaller than that of the individual methods, highlighting the importance of performing multiple analyses on galaxy surveys even when the measurements are highly correlated. Our paper is part of a set that analyses the final galaxy clustering data set from BOSS. The methodology presented here is used in Alam et al. to produce the final cosmological constraints from BOSS.« less

Improvements to the gridding of precipitation data across Europe under the E-OBS scheme

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cornes, Richard; van den Besselaar, Else; Jones, Phil; van der Schrier, Gerard; Verver, Ge

2016-04-01

Gridded precipitation data are a valuable resource for analyzing past variations and trends in the hydroclimate. Such data also provide a reference against which model simulations may be driven, compared and/or adjusted. The E-OBS precipitation dataset is widely used for such analyses across Europe, and is particularly valuable since it provides a spatially complete, daily field across the European domain. In this analysis, improvements to the E-OBS precipitation dataset will be presented that aim to provide a more reliable estimate of grid-box precipitation values, particularly in mountainous areas and in regions with a relative sparsity of input station data. The established three-stage E-OBS gridding scheme is retained, whereby monthly precipitation totals are gridded using a thin-plate spline; daily anomalies are gridded using indicator kriging; and the final dataset is produced by multiplying the two grids. The current analysis focuses on improving the monthly thin-plate spline, which has overall control on the final daily dataset. The results from different techniques are compared and the influence on the final daily data is assessed by comparing the data against gridded country-wide datasets produced by various National Meteorological Services

Combination of Tls Point Clouds and 3d Data from Kinect v2 Sensor to Complete Indoor Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lachat, E.; Landes, T.; Grussenmeyer, P.

2016-06-01

The combination of data coming from multiple sensors is more and more applied for remote sensing issues (multi-sensor imagery) but also in cultural heritage or robotics, since it often results in increased robustness and accuracy of the final data. In this paper, the reconstruction of building elements such as window frames or door jambs scanned thanks to a low cost 3D sensor (Kinect v2) is presented. Their combination within a global point cloud of an indoor scene acquired with a terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) is considered. If the added elements acquired with the Kinect sensor enable to reach a better level of detail of the final model, an adapted acquisition protocol may also provide several benefits as for example time gain. The paper aims at analyzing whether the two measurement techniques can be complementary in this context. The limitations encountered during the acquisition and reconstruction steps are also investigated.

A new method for recognizing quadric surfaces from range data and its application to telerobotics and automation, final phase

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mielke, Roland; Dcunha, Ivan; Alvertos, Nicolas

1994-01-01

In the final phase of the proposed research a complete top to down three dimensional object recognition scheme has been proposed. The various three dimensional objects included spheres, cones, cylinders, ellipsoids, paraboloids, and hyperboloids. Utilizing a newly developed blob determination technique, a given range scene with several non-cluttered quadric surfaces is segmented. Next, using the earlier (phase 1) developed alignment scheme, each of the segmented objects are then aligned in a desired coordinate system. For each of the quadric surfaces based upon their intersections with certain pre-determined planes, a set of distinct features (curves) are obtained. A database with entities such as the equations of the planes and angular bounds of these planes has been created for each of the quadric surfaces. Real range data of spheres, cones, cylinders, and parallelpipeds have been utilized for the recognition process. The developed algorithm gave excellent results for the real data as well as for several sets of simulated range data.

Neuronize: a tool for building realistic neuronal cell morphologies

PubMed Central

Brito, Juan P.; Mata, Susana; Bayona, Sofia; Pastor, Luis; DeFelipe, Javier; Benavides-Piccione, Ruth

2013-01-01

This study presents a tool, Neuronize, for building realistic three-dimensional models of neuronal cells from the morphological information extracted through computer-aided tracing applications. Neuronize consists of a set of methods designed to build 3D neural meshes that approximate the cell membrane at different resolution levels, allowing a balance to be reached between the complexity and the quality of the final model. The main contribution of the present study is the proposal of a novel approach to build a realistic and accurate 3D shape of the soma from the incomplete information stored in the digitally traced neuron, which usually consists of a 2D cell body contour. This technique is based on the deformation of an initial shape driven by the position and thickness of the first order dendrites. The addition of a set of spines along the dendrites completes the model, building a final 3D neuronal cell suitable for its visualization in a wide range of 3D environments. PMID:23761740

Acquisition and analysis of accelerometer data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Verges, Keith R.

1990-08-01

Acceleration data reduction must be undertaken with a complete understanding of the physical process, the means by which the data are acquired, and finally, the calculations necessary to put the data into a meaningful format. Discussed here are the acceleration sensor requirements dictated by the measurements desired. Sensor noise, dynamic range, and linearity will be determined from the physical parameters of the experiment. The digitizer requirements are discussed. Here the system from sensor to digital storage medium will be integrated, and rules of thumb for experiment duration, filter response, and number of bits are explained. Data reduction techniques after storage are also discussed. Time domain operations including decimating, digital filtering, and averaging are covered, as well as frequency domain methods, including windowing and the difference between power and amplitude spectra, and simple noise determination via coherence analysis. Finally, an example experiment using the Teledyne Geotech Model 44000 Seismometer to measure from 1 Hz to 10(exp -6) Hz is discussed. The sensor, data acquisition system, and example spectra are presented.

Acquisition and analysis of accelerometer data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Verges, Keith R.

1990-01-01

Acceleration data reduction must be undertaken with a complete understanding of the physical process, the means by which the data are acquired, and finally, the calculations necessary to put the data into a meaningful format. Discussed here are the acceleration sensor requirements dictated by the measurements desired. Sensor noise, dynamic range, and linearity will be determined from the physical parameters of the experiment. The digitizer requirements are discussed. Here the system from sensor to digital storage medium will be integrated, and rules of thumb for experiment duration, filter response, and number of bits are explained. Data reduction techniques after storage are also discussed. Time domain operations including decimating, digital filtering, and averaging are covered, as well as frequency domain methods, including windowing and the difference between power and amplitude spectra, and simple noise determination via coherence analysis. Finally, an example experiment using the Teledyne Geotech Model 44000 Seismometer to measure from 1 Hz to 10(exp -6) Hz is discussed. The sensor, data acquisition system, and example spectra are presented.

Neuronize: a tool for building realistic neuronal cell morphologies.

PubMed

Brito, Juan P; Mata, Susana; Bayona, Sofia; Pastor, Luis; Defelipe, Javier; Benavides-Piccione, Ruth

2013-01-01

This study presents a tool, Neuronize, for building realistic three-dimensional models of neuronal cells from the morphological information extracted through computer-aided tracing applications. Neuronize consists of a set of methods designed to build 3D neural meshes that approximate the cell membrane at different resolution levels, allowing a balance to be reached between the complexity and the quality of the final model. The main contribution of the present study is the proposal of a novel approach to build a realistic and accurate 3D shape of the soma from the incomplete information stored in the digitally traced neuron, which usually consists of a 2D cell body contour. This technique is based on the deformation of an initial shape driven by the position and thickness of the first order dendrites. The addition of a set of spines along the dendrites completes the model, building a final 3D neuronal cell suitable for its visualization in a wide range of 3D environments.

15 CFR 2301.24 - Final Federal payment.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... reasonable costs incurred in completing the planning or construction project are less than the total project..., however, the actual costs incurred in completing the project are more than the estimated total project costs, in no case will the final Federal funds paid exceed the grant award. ...

Process development for automated solar cell and module production. Task 4: Automated array assembly

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hagerty, J. J.

1981-01-01

The Unimate robot was programmed for the final 35 cell pattern to be used in the fabrication of the deliverable modules. Mechanical construction of the Automated Lamination Station and Final Assembly Station were completed on schedule. All final wiring and interconnect cables were also completed and the first operational testing began. The final controlling program was written. A local fabricator was contracted to produce the glass reinforced concrete panels to be used for testing and deliverables. A video tape showing all three stations in operation was produced.

Process Development for Automated Solar Cell and Module Production. Task 4: Automated Array Assembly

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hagerty, J. J.

1981-01-01

The Automated Lamination Station is mechanically complete and is currently undergoing final wiring. The high current driver and isolator boards have been completed and installed, and the main interface board is under construction. The automated vacuum chamber has had a minor redesign to increase stiffness and improve the cover open/close mechanism. Design of the Final Assembly Station has been completed and construction is underway.

Enhanced oil recovery utilizing high-angle wells in the Frontier Formation, Badger Basin Field, Park County, Wyoming. Final report for the period October 1992--October 1993

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Walker, J.P.; Fortmann, R.G.

1994-12-01

Badger Basin Field, discovered in 1931, produces at stripper rates from low-permeability fractured sandstones of the Upper Cretaceous Frontier Formation. Only 15% of the estimated 25 million barrels of oil originally in-place will be produced from the twenty-two attempted vertical completions. This project will increase recoverable reserves through a better understanding of the reservoir and factors which control production. Characterization of the reservoir has been accomplished through an integrated engineering, geological and geophysical approach. Production data, drilling and completion techniques, and relative location of wells on the anticline were reviewed and related to productivity. Literature was reviewed for interpretations onmore » preferred flow directions on anticlinal structures. A structure map of the producing Frontier reservoir was constructed. Porosity development and its relationship to fracture networks was examined petrographically. Fractures in core were described and oriented using paleomagnetic techniques. Azimuths of fractures in outcrop were compared to fracture azimuths measured in the core. A 17 square-mile 3D seismic survey was designed, acquired and processed. Interpretation is being performed on a Sun workstation using Landmark Graphics software. Time-structure and amplitude-distribution maps will be constructed on three Frontier horizons. A location for a high-angle well will be chosen. The slant/horizontal test will be drilled and completed to increase recovery of reserves. Transfer of successful technologies will be accomplished by technical publications and presentations, and access to project materials, data, and field facilities.« less

Self-accelerating self-trapped nonlinear beams of Maxwell's equations.

PubMed

Kaminer, Ido; Nemirovsky, Jonathan; Segev, Mordechai

2012-08-13

We present shape-preserving self-accelerating beams of Maxwell's equations with optical nonlinearities. Such beams are exact solutions to Maxwell's equations with Kerr or saturable nonlinearity. The nonlinearity contributes to self-trapping and causes backscattering. Those effects, together with diffraction effects, work to maintain shape-preserving acceleration of the beam on a circular trajectory. The backscattered beam is found to be a key issue in the dynamics of such highly non-paraxial nonlinear beams. To study that, we develop two new techniques: projection operator separating the forward and backward waves, and reverse simulation. Finally, we discuss the possibility that such beams would reflect themselves through the nonlinear effect, to complete a 'U' shaped trajectory.

Preparation and characterization of the silicon clathrate NaxSi{136} (x -> 0)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ammar, A.; Cros, C.; Pouchard, M.; Jaussaud, N.; Bassat, J.-M.; Villeneuve, G.; Reny, E.

2005-03-01

The type-II silicon clathrate, NaxSi{136}, having a residual sodium content as low as 37 ppm (x = 0.0062) has been prepared by thermal decomposition of NaSi under high vacuum in the temperature range 340-420 ° C followed by subsequent treatments under high vacuum, and completed by several treaments with iodine at 300-350 ° C. The final sample was characterized by XRD, chemical analysis and EPR spectroscopy. This latter technique proved to be particularly suitable to the characterization of highly diluted sodium atoms in the open host lattice of a type II clathrate of silicon and the quantitaive determination of the residual sodium content

The Multiwavelength Survey by Yale-Chile (MUSYC): Deep Near-Infrared Imaging and the Selection of Distant Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quadri, Ryan; Marchesini, Danilo; van Dokkum, Pieter; Gawiser, Eric; Franx, Marijn; Lira, Paulina; Rudnick, Gregory; Urry, C. Megan; Maza, José; Kriek, Mariska; Barrientos, L. Felipe; Blanc, Guillermo A.; Castander, Francisco J.; Christlein, Daniel; Coppi, Paolo S.; Hall, Patrick B.; Herrera, David; Infante, Leopoldo; Taylor, Edward N.; Treister, Ezequiel; Willis, Jon P.

2007-09-01

We present deep near-infrared JHK imaging of four 10' × 10' fields. The observations were carried out as part of the Multiwavelength Survey by Yale-Chile (MUSYC) with ISPI on the CTIO 4 m telescope. The typical point-source limiting depths are J ~ 22.5, H ~ 21.5, and K ~ 21 (5 σ Vega). The effective seeing in the final images is ~1.0″. We combine these data with MUSYC UBVRIz imaging to create K-selected catalogs that are unique for their uniform size, depth, filter coverage, and image quality. We investigate the rest-frame optical colors and photometric redshifts of galaxies that are selected using common color selection techniques, including distant red galaxies (DRGs), star-forming and passive BzKs, and the rest-frame UV-selected BM, BX, and Lyman break galaxies (LBGs). These techniques are effective at isolating large samples of high-redshift galaxies, but none provide complete or uniform samples across the targeted redshift ranges. The DRG and BM/BX/LBG criteria identify populations of red and blue galaxies, respectively, as they were designed to do. The star-forming BzKs have a very wide redshift distribution, extending down to z ~ 1, a wide range of colors, and may include galaxies with very low specific star formation rates. In comparison, the passive BzKs are fewer in number, have a different distribution of K magnitudes, and have a somewhat different redshift distribution. By combining either the DRG and BM/BX/LBG criteria, or the star-forming and passive BzK criteria, it appears possible to define a reasonably complete sample of galaxies to our flux limit over specific redshift ranges. However, the redshift dependence of both the completeness and sampled range of rest-frame colors poses an ultimate limit to the usefulness of these techniques.

A hybrid integrated services digital network-internet protocol solution for resident education.

PubMed

Erickson, Delnora; Greer, Lester; Belard, Arnaud; Tinnel, Brent; O'Connell, John

2010-05-01

The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of incorporating Web-based application sharing of virtual medical simulation software within a multipoint video teleconference (VTC) as a training tool in graduate medical education. National Capital Consortium Radiation Oncology Residency Program resident and attending physicians participated in dosimetry teaching sessions held via VTC using Acrobat Connect application sharing. Residents at remote locations could take turns designing radiation treatments using standard three-dimensional planning software, whereas instructors gave immediate feedback and demonstrated proper techniques. Immediately after each dosimetry lesson, residents were asked to complete a survey that evaluated the effectiveness of the session. At the end of a 3-month trial of using Adobe Connect, residents completed a final survey that compared this teaching technology to the prior VTC-alone method. The mean difference from equality across all quality measures from the weekly survey was 0.8, where 0 indicated neither enhanced nor detracted from the learning experience and 1 indicated a minor enhancement in the learning experience. The mean difference from equality across all measures from the final survey comparing use of application sharing with VTC to VTC alone was 1.5, where 1 indicated slightly better and 2 indicated a somewhat better experience. The teaching efficacy of multipoint VTC is perceived by medical residents to be more effective when complemented by application-sharing software such as Adobe Acrobat Connect.

Infrared micro-spectral imaging: distinction of tissue types in axillary lymph node histology

PubMed Central

Bird, Benjamin; Miljkovic, Milos; Romeo, Melissa J; Smith, Jennifer; Stone, Nicholas; George, Michael W; Diem, Max

2008-01-01

Background Histopathologic evaluation of surgical specimens is a well established technique for disease identification, and has remained relatively unchanged since its clinical introduction. Although it is essential for clinical investigation, histopathologic identification of tissues remains a time consuming and subjective technique, with unsatisfactory levels of inter- and intra-observer discrepancy. A novel approach for histological recognition is to use Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) micro-spectroscopy. This non-destructive optical technique can provide a rapid measurement of sample biochemistry and identify variations that occur between healthy and diseased tissues. The advantage of this method is that it is objective and provides reproducible diagnosis, independent of fatigue, experience and inter-observer variability. Methods We report a method for analysing excised lymph nodes that is based on spectral pathology. In spectral pathology, an unstained (fixed or snap frozen) tissue section is interrogated by a beam of infrared light that samples pixels of 25 μm × 25 μm in size. This beam is rastered over the sample, and up to 100,000 complete infrared spectra are acquired for a given tissue sample. These spectra are subsequently analysed by a diagnostic computer algorithm that is trained by correlating spectral and histopathological features. Results We illustrate the ability of infrared micro-spectral imaging, coupled with completely unsupervised methods of multivariate statistical analysis, to accurately reproduce the histological architecture of axillary lymph nodes. By correlating spectral and histopathological features, a diagnostic algorithm was trained that allowed both accurate and rapid classification of benign and malignant tissues composed within different lymph nodes. This approach was successfully applied to both deparaffinised and frozen tissues and indicates that both intra-operative and more conventional surgical specimens can be diagnosed by this technique. Conclusion This paper provides strong evidence that automated diagnosis by means of infrared micro-spectral imaging is possible. Recent investigations within the author's laboratory upon lymph nodes have also revealed that cancers from different primary tumours provide distinctly different spectral signatures. Thus poorly differentiated and hard-to-determine cases of metastatic invasion, such as micrometastases, may additionally be identified by this technique. Finally, we differentiate benign and malignant tissues composed within axillary lymph nodes by completely automated methods of spectral analysis. PMID:18759967

Optical clearing of the eye using the See Deep Brain technique.

PubMed

Hohberger, B; Baumgart, C; Bergua, A

2017-10-01

PurposeTissue clearing has been used in anatomy for the first time in Germany over a century ago. Neuronal tissue, like cortex, was investigated in mice using a water-based optical clearing method termed See Deep Brain (SeeDB). However, although the eye belongs to the central nervous system, this histological technique was not applied in the eye up to date. We applied SeeDB for the visualization of intraocular structures.Patients and methodsFour eyes of cornea donors (two male, two female: 73-84 years) obtained from the Cornea Bank of the Department of Ophthalmology Erlangen, four chicken eyes and two mices' optic nerve were used. Bulbi were fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde in phosphate-buffered saline and treated with increasing concentrations of aqueous fructose solution with 0.5% α-thioglycerol. After SeeDB, transscleral macrophotographs of the choroid were performed.ResultsComplete transparency of the sclera was obtained in enucleated human and chicken eyes after SeeDB treatment. Macroscopical anatomy of the choroid (partially transparent due to the remaining retinal pigment epithelium and melanocytes) showing vessels and other related structures was possible without preparing slides. Mice optic nerves were also transparent after SeeDB treatment.ConclusionThe SeeDB method allows visualization of intraocular structures through a completely translucent sclera. This innovative processing technique could facilitate comprehensive qualitative and quantitative topographical anatomical studies of human and animal eyes, preserving their 3D architecture. Supra- and intrachoroidal ganglionic plexus could potentially be visualized transsclerally. Finally, clinical-pathological correlations of intraocular diseases-for example, retinal tumors-will be possible in non-dissected eyes.

"How I do it"--radical right colectomy with side-to-side stapled ileo-colonic anastomosis.

PubMed

Hübner, M; Larson, D W; Wolff, B G

2012-08-01

Standardization of surgical technique helps to reproduce excellent clinical outcomes, especially in teaching institutions. We aim to describe in detail our established approach for oncological right colectomy. The right colon is mobilized in a five-step latero-inferior approach starting off with the terminal ileum, visualizing the duodenum and the head of pancreas. The ascending colon is dissected from the retroperitoneum, and takedown of the hepatic flexure is completed coming retrograde from the transverse colon. Transection of the remaining retroperitoneal attachments completes exposure of the duodenum and mobilization of the right colon. Ileocolic vessels are dissected out and divided close to their origin, and the mesocolon is divided. We then establish intestinal continuity by use of a side-to-side stapled technique. The arms of a linear cutting stapler are inserted via transverse incisions at the anti-mesenteric sides of the terminal ileum and the transverse colon (tenia) and fired. The enterotomy site is closed by removal of the specimen using a second transverse firing of the linear cutting stapler. An important final step is the reinforcement of the anastomotic ends and the crossing of the staple lines; an omental patch and closure of the mesenteric window are optional. The suggested standardized five-step lateral-to-medial dissection of the right colon and the three-step side-to-side stapled technique for ileo-colonic anastomosis are easy to learn and to reproduce. Careful adherence to pivotal technical details will help to obtain an optimal oncological outcome and a consistently low leak rate around 2%.

30 CFR 18.61 - Final inspection of complete machine.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Final inspection of complete machine. 18.61 Section 18.61 Mineral Resources MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR TESTING, EVALUATION, AND APPROVAL OF MINING PRODUCTS ELECTRIC MOTOR-DRIVEN MINE EQUIPMENT AND ACCESSORIES Inspections...

WetNet: Using SSM/I data interactively for global distribution of tropical rainfall and precipitable water

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zipser, Edward J.; Mcguirk, James P.

1993-01-01

The research objectives were the following: (1) to use SSM/I to categorize, measure, and parameterize effects of rainfall systems around the globe, especially mesoscale convective systems; (2) to use SSM/I to monitor key components of the global hydrologic cycle, including tropical rainfall and precipitable water, and links to increasing sea surface temperatures; and (3) to assist in the development of efficient methods of exchange of massive satellite data bases and of analysis techniques, especially their use at a university. Numerous tasks have been initiated. First and foremost has been the integration and startup of the WetNet computer system into the TAMU computer network. Scientific activity was infeasible before completion of this activity. Final hardware delivery was not completed until October 1991, after which followed a period of identification and solution of several hardware and software and software problems. Accomplishments representing approximately four months work with the WetNEt system are presented.

Investigation of in-house superconducting radio-frequency 9-cell cavity made of large grain niobium at KEK

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dohmae, Takeshi; Umemori, Kensei; Yamanaka, Masashi; Watanabe, Yuichi; Inoue, Hitoshi

2017-12-01

The first in-house, 9-cell, superconducting radio-frequency cavity made of large grain Nb was fabricated at KEK. Some characteristic techniques were employed for the fabrication that were not used for fine grain (FG) Nb. Even though a penetrated hole was created during electron beam welding, it was successfully repaired and did not affect the cavity performance. The completed cavity then underwent vertical tests (VTs) via several surface treatment processes. A defect that caused quenches was found after a VT at 25 mm from the equator where the typical local grinding machine developed at KEK could not be utilized. A new local grinding machine using a 3D printer was thus developed for the first time, and it completely removed this defect. Finally, the cavity achieved a maximum Q0 value of 3.8 ×1010 and accelerating gradient of 38 MV/m. The obtained Q0 value is about 1.5 times higher than that for the KEK in-house FG cavity.

A study on M/G/1 retrial G - queue with two phases of service, immediate feedback and working vacations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Varalakshmi, M.; Chandrasekaran, V. M.; Saravanarajan, M. C.

2017-11-01

In this paper, we discuss about the steady state behaviour of M/G/1 retrial queueing system with two phases of services and immediate feedbacks under working vacation policy where the regular busy server is affected due to the arrival of negative customers. Upon arrival if the customer finds the server busy, breakdown or on working vacation it enters an orbit; otherwise the customer enters into the service area immediately. After service completion, the customer is allowed to make finite number of immediate feedback. The feedback service also consists of two phases. At the service completion epoch of a positive customer, if the orbit is empty the server goes for a working vacation. The server works at a lower service rate during working vacation (WV) period. Using the supplementary variable technique, we found out the steady state probability generating function for the system and in orbit. System performance measures and reliability measures are discussed. Finally, some numerical examples are presented to validate the analyticalresults.

Shape-from-silhouette for three-dimensional reconstruction from x-ray radiography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simioni, E.; Ratti, F.; Poletto, L.

2011-06-01

We present the application of the shape-from-silhouette algorithm to reconstruct the 3D profile of handworks from a set of X-ray absorption images taken at different angles around the object. The acquisition technique is similar to tomography, but the number of images that are required to reconstruct the 3D appearance is very low compared to tomography, therefore the acquisition time is substantially reduced. Some reference points are placed on a structure corotating with the object and are acquired on the images for calibration and registration. The shape-from-silhouette algorithm gives finally the 3D appearance of the object. We present the analysis of a tin pendant from the Venetic area, VI century b.C., that was completely hidden by corrosion products and solid ground at the moment of the retrieval. The 3D reconstruction shows that the pendant is a very elaborated piece, with two embraced figures that were completely invisible before restoration.

The variational method in quantum mechanics: an elementary introduction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borghi, Riccardo

2018-05-01

Variational methods in quantum mechanics are customarily presented as invaluable techniques to find approximate estimates of ground state energies. In the present paper a short catalogue of different celebrated potential distributions (both 1D and 3D), for which an exact and complete (energy and wavefunction) ground state determination can be achieved in an elementary way, is illustrated. No previous knowledge of calculus of variations is required. Rather, in all presented cases the exact energy functional minimization is achieved by using only a couple of simple mathematical tricks: ‘completion of square’ and integration by parts. This makes our approach particularly suitable for undergraduates. Moreover, the key role played by particle localization is emphasized through the entire analysis. This gentle introduction to the variational method could also be potentially attractive for more expert students as a possible elementary route toward a rather advanced topic on quantum mechanics: the factorization method. Such an unexpected connection is outlined in the final part of the paper.

Restoration of horizontal stability in complete acromioclavicular joint separations: surgical technique and preliminary results.

PubMed

Li, Haoqing; Wang, Chuanshun; Wang, Jiandong; Wu, Kai; Hang, Donghua

2013-11-13

Our purpose was to investigate the clinical efficacy of arthroscope-assisted acromioclavicular ligament reconstruction in combination with double endobutton coracoclavicular ligament reconstruction for the treatment of complete acromioclavicular joint dislocation. During the period from February 2010 to October 2012, ten patients with Rockwood types IV and V acromioclavicular joint dislocation were hospitalized and nine were treated with acromioclavicular ligament reconstruction combined with double endobutton of coracoclavicular ligament reconstruction. The improvement in shoulder functions was assessed using a Constant score and visual analog scale (VAS) system. The mean follow-up period was 33.6 ± 5.4 months. The mean Constant scores improved from 25.2 ± 6.6 preoperatively to 92.4 ± 6.5 postoperatively, while the mean VAS score decreased from 5.9 ± 1.4 to 1.2 ± 0.9; significant differences were observed. The final follow-up revealed that excellent outcomes were achieved in eight patients and good outcome in two patients. Arthroscope-assisted acromioclavicular ligament reconstruction in combination with double endobutton of coracoclavicular ligament reconstruction is an effective approach for treatment of acute complete acromioclavicular joint dislocation.

Restoration of horizontal stability in complete acromioclavicular joint separations: surgical technique and preliminary results

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Our purpose was to investigate the clinical efficacy of arthroscope-assisted acromioclavicular ligament reconstruction in combination with double endobutton coracoclavicular ligament reconstruction for the treatment of complete acromioclavicular joint dislocation. Methods During the period from February 2010 to October 2012, ten patients with Rockwood types IV and V acromioclavicular joint dislocation were hospitalized and nine were treated with acromioclavicular ligament reconstruction combined with double endobutton of coracoclavicular ligament reconstruction. The improvement in shoulder functions was assessed using a Constant score and visual analog scale (VAS) system. Results The mean follow-up period was 33.6 ± 5.4 months. The mean Constant scores improved from 25.2 ± 6.6 preoperatively to 92.4 ± 6.5 postoperatively, while the mean VAS score decreased from 5.9 ± 1.4 to 1.2 ± 0.9; significant differences were observed. The final follow-up revealed that excellent outcomes were achieved in eight patients and good outcome in two patients. Conclusion Arthroscope-assisted acromioclavicular ligament reconstruction in combination with double endobutton of coracoclavicular ligament reconstruction is an effective approach for treatment of acute complete acromioclavicular joint dislocation. PMID:24225119

We should ban the OPCAB approach in CABG, just as we should ban jetliners and bicycles, or maybe not!

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Implementing a new technical process demands a complex preparation. In cardiac surgery this complex preparation is often reduced to visiting a surgeon who is familiar with a technique. The science of learning has identified that several steps are needed towards a successful implementation. The first step is the creation of a complete conceptual approach; this demands the deposit in writing of the actions and reactions of every involved party in this new approach. By definition a successful implementation starts with the creation of a group of involved individuals willing to collaborate towards a new goal. Then every teachable component, described in this concept, needs to be worked out in simulation training, from the smallest manual step to complete scenario training for complex situations. Finally, optimal organisational learning needs to have an existing database of the previous situation, a clear goal and objective and a new database where every new approach is restudied versus the previous one, using appropriate methods of corrections for variability. A complete implementation will always be more successful versus a partial one, due to the habit in partial implementation to return to the previous routines. PMID:27942400

Minimal access treatment of pectus carinatum: a preliminary report.

PubMed

Hock, András

2009-04-01

Unlike the minimal access repair of pectus excavatum (PE), a minimal access repair of pectus carinatum (PC) has not been established. This initial experience reports the correction of PC using a minimal access technique in five patients. The procedure was performed by insertion of a pectus bar through either bilateral or only left midaxillary incision. The pectus bar was placed so that the elevated sternum could be depressed. Thoracoscopy was not employed during the procedures and no stabiliser plates were used. On completion of the procedure, a chest tube was inserted into the thoracic cavity to evacuate the air from the thoracic cavity followed by wound closure. The operation time ranged from 75 to 110 min. The chest tube was removed on the second postoperative day and the patients were discharged between the fifth and seventh postoperative day. There was one dislocation in which the bar was finally removed, and in three patients a prolapse of the end of the strut through intercostal space necessitated refixation using wires. Despite a small series, this method offers a minimal access repair of PC, which is comparable to the technique used for PE. The invasiveness of our method is obviously far less, than of those different open surgical techniques performed worldwide presently. Our postoperative results warrant the application of this technique in patients with PC.

9 CFR 113.110 - Clostridium Botulinum Type C Bacterin-Toxoid.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

..., safety, and potency as prescribed in this section. A serial found unsatisfactory by any prescribed test shall not be released. (a) Purity test. Final container samples of completed product from each serial... test. Bulk or final container samples of completed product from each serial shall be tested for safety...

9 CFR 113.110 - Clostridium Botulinum Type C Bacterin-Toxoid.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

..., safety, and potency as prescribed in this section. A serial found unsatisfactory by any prescribed test shall not be released. (a) Purity test. Final container samples of completed product from each serial... test. Bulk or final container samples of completed product from each serial shall be tested for safety...

76 FR 53994 - Final Environmental Impact Statement, Single Nuclear Unit at the Bellefonte Plant Site, Jackson...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-08-30

... Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (December 1995) and Reservoir Operations Study Final Programmatic.... Completion and operation of the 1,260-MW Bellefonte Unit 1 was one of the resource options analyzed in the..., Completion and Operation of Bellefonte Unit 1, as TVA's [[Page 53995

Modeling a space-based quantum link that includes an adaptive optics system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duchane, Alexander W.; Hodson, Douglas D.; Mailloux, Logan O.

2017-10-01

Quantum Key Distribution uses optical pulses to generate shared random bit strings between two locations. If a high percentage of the optical pulses are comprised of single photons, then the statistical nature of light and information theory can be used to generate secure shared random bit strings which can then be converted to keys for encryption systems. When these keys are incorporated along with symmetric encryption techniques such as a one-time pad, then this method of key generation and encryption is resistant to future advances in quantum computing which will significantly degrade the effectiveness of current asymmetric key sharing techniques. This research first reviews the transition of Quantum Key Distribution free-space experiments from the laboratory environment to field experiments, and finally, ongoing space experiments. Next, a propagation model for an optical pulse from low-earth orbit to ground and the effects of turbulence on the transmitted optical pulse is described. An Adaptive Optics system is modeled to correct for the aberrations caused by the atmosphere. The long-term point spread function of the completed low-earth orbit to ground optical system is explored in the results section. Finally, the impact of this optical system and its point spread function on an overall quantum key distribution system as well as the future work necessary to show this impact is described.

The biomechanics of the long jump.

PubMed

Hay, J G

1986-01-01

The preceding review has been based on over 200 publications in Czech, English, French, German, Japanese, Polish, and Russian. Even a cursory perusal of these materials is sufficient to show that much has been done to try and obtain a scientific understanding of long jump techniques. It is clear, too, that still more remains to be done. Much of the work to date has been focused on just a few aspects of long jump technique. Other important aspects have received relatively little attention. The latter include the accuracy of the approach, the techniques used during the final strides of the approach, the role of elastic energy in the takeoff, the initiation and control of the jumper's angular momentum, and the techniques used in the landing. Future research efforts might well be directed towards resolving major issues concerning these aspects of long jump technique. The methods used to gather data in the studies reviewed have been rather unimaginative. Two-dimensional cinematography has been used in the vast majority of the studies and force platforms in a few. Other data-gathering procedures like three-dimensional cinematography, electromyography and accelerometry have rarely, if ever, been used. In only one or two studies was anything remotely approaching experimental or technological innovation in evidence. The methods used to analyze data have also been very limited. With the notable exception of a study by Ballreich, few papers have involved anything more sophisticated than means, standard deviations, correlation coefficients and an occasional multiple regression equation. Given these facts, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that our knowledge of long jump techniques might be greatly improved if the full range of available and appropriate procedures were turned to the purpose. Finally, no review of the literature on long jump techniques would be complete without reference to the level of scholarship displayed in the works under consideration. With only a few exceptions, the level shown in the scientific papers reviewed here left much to be desired. Time and again, variables were not defined, crucial measurement techniques were not described and major results were not presented or discussed. In addition, much of the data presented in tables and graphs were patently in error. In light of all this, it is clear that unless the level of scholarship improves, future progress in this area of sports biomechanics is likely to be very slow.

Expectations and final evaluation of complete dentures by patients, dentist and dental technician.

PubMed

Marachlioglou, C R M Z; Dos Santos, J F F; Cunha, V P P; Marchini, Leonardo

2010-07-01

There is a poor association between the dentist's evaluation of denture quality and patients' satisfaction with their dentures. Possible differences between dental professionals and patients' expectations might help explain differences in outcome evaluations. This study compared scores given by a dentist, a dental technician and patients for their expectations before and their final evaluation after complete dentures treatment. Twenty completely edentulous patients, a prosthodontist and a dental technician provided scores for the expected aesthetic and functional results of their dentures based on a visual analogue scale at baseline. Post-treatment completion ratings were given after adjustments, by dentist and patients. The dental technician provided post-treatment completion ratings after completing the dentures. The patients had higher expectations than the dental technician and the dentist perceived for both aesthetic and function (P < 0.001). The patients also presented higher post-treatment completion ratings than the dental professionals perceived for final aesthetics (P = 0.016, Kendall's W = 0.207) and function (P = 0.002, Kendall's W = 0.303). Only the dentist presented a statistically significant difference between expectations (lower) and final (higher) outcomes for aesthetics (P = 0.017) and function (P = 0.003). There was no correlation between expectations and post-treatment completion ratings according to the patients' age. There was also no correlation between the patients' gender and expectation scores. Patients presented higher expectations regarding their dentures than dental professionals. The dentist believed that dentures would bring fewer benefits than patients did, but his perception of denture benefits post-treatment was significantly higher than his expectations.

Multi-AUV autonomous task planning based on the scroll time domain quantum bee colony optimization algorithm in uncertain environment

PubMed Central

Zhang, Rubo; Yang, Yu

2017-01-01

Research on distributed task planning model for multi-autonomous underwater vehicle (MAUV). A scroll time domain quantum artificial bee colony (STDQABC) optimization algorithm is proposed to solve the multi-AUV optimal task planning scheme. In the uncertain marine environment, the rolling time domain control technique is used to realize a numerical optimization in a narrowed time range. Rolling time domain control is one of the better task planning techniques, which can greatly reduce the computational workload and realize the tradeoff between AUV dynamics, environment and cost. Finally, a simulation experiment was performed to evaluate the distributed task planning performance of the scroll time domain quantum bee colony optimization algorithm. The simulation results demonstrate that the STDQABC algorithm converges faster than the QABC and ABC algorithms in terms of both iterations and running time. The STDQABC algorithm can effectively improve MAUV distributed tasking planning performance, complete the task goal and get the approximate optimal solution. PMID:29186166

Multi-AUV autonomous task planning based on the scroll time domain quantum bee colony optimization algorithm in uncertain environment.

PubMed

Li, Jianjun; Zhang, Rubo; Yang, Yu

2017-01-01

Research on distributed task planning model for multi-autonomous underwater vehicle (MAUV). A scroll time domain quantum artificial bee colony (STDQABC) optimization algorithm is proposed to solve the multi-AUV optimal task planning scheme. In the uncertain marine environment, the rolling time domain control technique is used to realize a numerical optimization in a narrowed time range. Rolling time domain control is one of the better task planning techniques, which can greatly reduce the computational workload and realize the tradeoff between AUV dynamics, environment and cost. Finally, a simulation experiment was performed to evaluate the distributed task planning performance of the scroll time domain quantum bee colony optimization algorithm. The simulation results demonstrate that the STDQABC algorithm converges faster than the QABC and ABC algorithms in terms of both iterations and running time. The STDQABC algorithm can effectively improve MAUV distributed tasking planning performance, complete the task goal and get the approximate optimal solution.

An entropy-variables-based formulation of residual distribution schemes for non-equilibrium flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garicano-Mena, Jesús; Lani, Andrea; Degrez, Gérard

2018-06-01

In this paper we present an extension of Residual Distribution techniques for the simulation of compressible flows in non-equilibrium conditions. The latter are modeled by means of a state-of-the-art multi-species and two-temperature model. An entropy-based variable transformation that symmetrizes the projected advective Jacobian for such a thermophysical model is introduced. Moreover, the transformed advection Jacobian matrix presents a block diagonal structure, with mass-species and electronic-vibrational energy being completely decoupled from the momentum and total energy sub-system. The advantageous structure of the transformed advective Jacobian can be exploited by contour-integration-based Residual Distribution techniques: established schemes that operate on dense matrices can be substituted by the same scheme operating on the momentum-energy subsystem matrix and repeated application of scalar scheme to the mass-species and electronic-vibrational energy terms. Finally, the performance gain of the symmetrizing-variables formulation is quantified on a selection of representative testcases, ranging from subsonic to hypersonic, in inviscid or viscous conditions.

Development and demonstration of marketing techniques for establishment of ride-sharing corporations in New York State. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Peters, E.W.

1987-10-01

Convincing commuters to join car or vanpools can be a challenging task. Through the Energy Authority project, two guides were produced to assist in establishing ride-sharing corporations and in marketing ride-sharing services in New York State. The first guide explains how to set up a ride-sharing corporation; the second guide, developed following the completion of a Commuter Behavior Study and a six-month demonstration, discusses marketing ride-share services. The Commuter Behavior Study centered on an 18-page questionnaire mailed to 6,000 households in Long Island and upstate New York. The study's findings were incorporated into a marketing plan followed by the contractor,more » Island Rides, a Long Island-based ridesharing corporation, during a six-month demonstration project. By using the promotional techniques identified in the study, Island Rides experienced a 68% increase in ride-sharing applications during this successful demonstration. The results of both the study and the demonstration are presented in the report.« less

Evaluation of an Agricultural Meteorological Disaster Based on Multiple Criterion Decision Making and Evolutionary Algorithm

PubMed Central

Yu, Xiaobing; Yu, Xianrui; Lu, Yiqun

2018-01-01

The evaluation of a meteorological disaster can be regarded as a multiple-criteria decision making problem because it involves many indexes. Firstly, a comprehensive indexing system for an agricultural meteorological disaster is proposed, which includes the disaster rate, the inundated rate, and the complete loss rate. Following this, the relative weights of the three criteria are acquired using a novel proposed evolutionary algorithm. The proposed algorithm consists of a differential evolution algorithm and an evolution strategy. Finally, a novel evaluation model, based on the proposed algorithm and the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), is presented to estimate the agricultural meteorological disaster of 2008 in China. The geographic information system (GIS) technique is employed to depict the disaster. The experimental results demonstrated that the agricultural meteorological disaster of 2008 was very serious, especially in Hunan and Hubei provinces. Some useful suggestions are provided to relieve agriculture meteorological disasters. PMID:29597243

Gaia DR1 completeness within 250 pc and star formation history of the Solar neighbourhood

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bernard, E. J.

2017-12-01

Taking advantage of the Gaia DR1, we combined TGAS parallaxes with the Tycho-2 and APASS photometry to calculate the star formation history (SFH) of the solar neighbourhood within 250 pc using the colour-magnitude diagram fitting technique. Our dynamically-evolved SFH is in excellent agreement with that calculated from the Hipparcos catalogue within 80 pc of the Sun, showing an enhanced star formation rate (SFR) in the past ˜4 Gyr. We then correct the SFR for the disc thickening with age to obtain a SFR that is representative of the whole solar cylinder, and show that even with an extreme correction our results are not consistent with an exponentially decreasing SFR as found by recent studies. Finally, we discuss how this technique can be applied out to ˜5 kpc thanks to the next Gaia data releases, which will allow us to quantify the SFH of the thin disc, thick disc and halo in situ.

Microstructural Study of Micron-Sized Craters Simulating Stardust Impacts in Aluminum 1100 Targets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leroux, Hugues; Borg, Janet; Troadec, David; Djouadi, Zahia; Horz, Friedrich

2006-01-01

Various microscopic techniques were used to characterize experimental micro- craters in aluminium foils to prepare for the comprehensive analysis of the cometary and interstellar particle impacts in aluminium foils to be returned by the Stardust mission. First, SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) and EDS (Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy) were used to study the morphology of the impact craters and the bulk composition of the residues left by soda-lime glass impactors. A more detailed structural and compositional study of impactor remnants was then performed using TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy), EDS, and electron diffraction methods. The TEM samples were prepared by Focused Ion Beam (FIB) methods. This technique proved to be especially valuable in studying impact crater residues and impact crater morphology. Finally, we also showed that InfraRed microscopy (IR) can be a quick and reliable tool for such investigations. The combination of all of these tools enables a complete microscopic characterization of the craters.

Three-Dimensional Digital Documentation of Heritage Sites Using Terrestrial Laser Scanning and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Photogrammetry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jo, Y. H.; Kim, J. Y.

2017-08-01

Three-dimensional digital documentation is an important technique for the maintenance and monitoring of cultural heritage sites. This study focuses on the three-dimensional digital documentation of the Magoksa Temple, Republic of Korea, using a combination of terrestrial laser scanning and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry. Terrestrial laser scanning mostly acquired the vertical geometry of the buildings. In addition, the digital orthoimage produced by UAV photogrammetry had higher horizontal data acquisition rate than that produced by terrestrial laser scanning. Thus, the scanning and UAV photogrammetry were merged by matching 20 corresponding points and an absolute coordinate system was established using seven ground control points. The final, complete threedimensional shape had perfect horizontal and vertical geometries. This study demonstrates the potential of integrating terrestrial laser scanning and UAV photogrammetry for three-dimensional digital documentation. This new technique is expected to contribute to the three-dimensional digital documentation and spatial analysis of cultural heritage sites.

A Journey Through a Leaf: Phenomics Analysis of Leaf Growth in Arabidopsis thaliana

PubMed Central

Vanhaeren, Hannes; Gonzalez, Nathalie; Inzé, Dirk

2015-01-01

In Arabidopsis, leaves contribute to the largest part of the aboveground biomass. In these organs, light is captured and converted into chemical energy, which plants use to grow and complete their life cycle. Leaves emerge as a small pool of cells at the vegetative shoot apical meristem and develop into planar, complex organs through different interconnected cellular events. Over the last decade, numerous phenotyping techniques have been developed to visualize and quantify leaf size and growth, leading to the identification of numerous genes that contribute to the final size of leaves. In this review, we will start at the Arabidopsis rosette level and gradually zoom in from a macroscopic view on leaf growth to a microscopic and molecular view. Along this journey, we describe different techniques that have been key to identify important events during leaf development and discuss approaches that will further help unraveling the complex cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie leaf growth. PMID:26217168

Cleaning effectiveness and shaping ability of rotary ProTaper compared with rotary GT and manual K-Flexofile.

PubMed

Liu, Sheng-Bo; Fan, Bin; Cheung, Gary S P; Peng, Bing; Fan, Ming-Wen; Gutmann, James L; Song, Ya-Ling; Fu, Qiang; Bian, Zhuan

2006-12-01

To compare the cleaning efficacy and shaping ability of engine-driven ProTaper and GT files, and manual preparation using K-Flexofile instruments in curved root canals of extracted human teeth. 45 canals of maxillary and mandibular molars with curvatures between 25 degrees and 40 degrees were divided into three groups. The groups were balanced with regard to the angle and the radius of canal curvature. Canals in each group were prepared to an apical size of 25 with either the rotary ProTaper or GT system, or manually with K-Flexofile using the modified double-flared technique. Irrigation was done with 2 mL 2.5% NaOCl after each instrument and, as the final rinse, 10 mL 2.5% NaOCl then 10 mL 17% EDTA and finally 5 mL distilled water. The double-exposure radiographic technique was used to examine for the presence of apical transportation. The time required to complete the preparation, as well as any change in working length after preparation were recorded. The roots were then grooved and split longitudinally. The amounts of debris and smear layer were evaluated at the apical, middle and coronal regions under the scanning electron microscope. Data were analyzed either parametrically with the F-test or non-parametrically using the Kruskal-Wallis test, where appropriate. Two GT files but none of the K-Flexofile and ProTaper instruments separated. For debris removal, the ProTaper group achieved a better result than GT (P < 0.05) but not the K-Flexofile group at all three regions (apical, middle and coronal). K-Flexofiles produced significantly less smear layer than ProTaper and GT files only in the middle third of the canal (P < 0.01). Both NiTi rotary instruments maintained the original canal shape better than the K-Flexofiles (P < 0.05) and required significantly less time to complete the preparation.

Validation of Biomarkers for Prostate Cancer Prognosis

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-12-01

and Muc1. We have also completed a project in image analysis of H & E slides with Gustavo Ayala at University of Texas. Finally, we have completed...Groups using the resource include Dr. Jeremy Squire, Dr. Gustavo Ayala, Tamara Lotan and Dr. Lidong Liu. • Porting final clinical data that will be...with a manuscript near completion. • Ongoing analysis of AZGP1 with a manuscript expected soon. • Ongoing analysis of image analysis with Gustavo Ayala

Effectiveness of various irrigation activation protocols and the self-adjusting file system on smear layer and debris removal.

PubMed

Çapar, İsmail Davut; Aydinbelge, Hale Ari

2014-01-01

The purpose of the present study is to evaluate smear layer generation and residual debris after using self-adjusting file (SAF) or rotary instrumentation and to compare the debris and smear layer removal efficacy of the SAF cleaning/shaping irrigation system against final agitation techniques. One hundred and eight maxillary lateral incisor teeth were randomly divided into nine experimental groups (n = 12), and root canals were prepared using ProTaper Universal rotary files, with the exception of the SAF instrumentation group. During instrumentation, root canals were irrigated with a total of 16 mL of 5% NaOCl. For final irrigation, rotary-instrumented groups were irrigated with 10 mL of 17% EDTA and 10 mL of 5% NaOCl using different irrigation agitation regimens (syringe irrigation with needles, NaviTip FX, manual dynamic irrigation, CanalBrush, EndoActivator, EndoVac, passive ultrasonic irrigation (PUI), and SAF irrigation). In the SAF instrumentation group, root canals were instrumented for 4 min at a rate of 4 mL/min with 5% NaOCl and received a final flush with same as syringe irrigation with needles. The surface of the root dentin was observed using a scanning electron microscope. The SAF instrumentation group generated less smear layer and yielded cleaner canals compared to rotary instrumentation. The EndoActivator, EndoVac, PUI, and SAF irrigation groups increased the efficacy of irrigating solutions on the smear layer and debris removal. The SAF instrumentation yielded cleaner canal walls when compared to rotary instrumentation. None of the techniques completely removed the smear layer from the root canal walls. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Assessment of complete unilateral cleft lip and palate treatment outcome using EUROCRAN index and associated factors.

PubMed

Arshad, Anas Imran; Alam, Mohammad Khursheed; Khamis, Mohd Fadhli

2017-09-01

Assessment of treatment outcome is the only non-invasive approach to identify the effects of cleft lip and palate repair and modify management accordingly. Here the aim is to assess the outcome of complete unilateral cleft lip and palate (CUCLP) patients using EUROCRAN index and to check whether there are any factors associated with the treatment outcome. It is a retrospective cross sectional study. Dental models were collected from archives of two cleft referral centers in Pakistan. Five blinded examiners scored 101 models twice at two week interval. The primary outcome was mean EUROCRAN scores based on dental arch relationships and palatal surface morphology. A mean(SD) score of 2.72 (0.76) and 2.20 (0.73) was determined based on dental arch relationships and palatal surface morphology, respectively. According to the final logistic regression model, modified Millard technique (cheiloplasty) and Veau-Wardill-Kilners' method (palatoplasty) had higher odds of producing unfavorable treatment outcome. Present study determined a fair and a fair to poor treatment outcome based on dental arch relationships and palatal surface morphology, respectively. Our study suggests a significant association between treatment outcome and primary surgical techniques for lip and palate. These findings could warrant a modification of management protocols to ensure improvement in future cleft outcomes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

High Penetration Solar PV Deployment Sunshine State Solar Grid Initiative (SUNGRIN)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Meeker, Rick; Steurer, Mischa; Faruque, MD Omar

The report provides results from the Sunshine State Solar Grid Initiative (SUNGRIN) high penetration solar PV deployment project led by Florida State University’s (FSU) Center for Advanced Power Systems (CAPS). FSU CAPS and industry and university partners have completed a five-year effort aimed at enabling effective integration of high penetration levels of grid-connected solar PV generation. SUNGRIN has made significant contributions in the development of simulation-assisted techniques, tools, insight and understanding associated with solar PV effects on electric power system (EPS) operation and the evaluation of mitigation options for maintaining reliable operation. An important element of the project was themore » partnership and participation of six major Florida utilities and the Florida Reliability Coordinating Council (FRCC). Utilities provided details and data associated with actual distribution circuits having high-penetration PV to use as case studies. The project also conducted foundational work supporting future investigations of effects at the transmission / bulk power system level. In the final phase of the project, four open-use models with built-in case studies were developed and released, along with synthetic solar PV data sets, and tools and techniques for model reduction and in-depth parametric studies of solar PV impact on distribution circuits. Along with models and data, at least 70 supporting MATLAB functions have been developed and made available, with complete documentation.« less

Arthroscopic-assisted Arthrodesis of the Knee Joint With the Ilizarov Technique

PubMed Central

Waszczykowski, Michal; Niedzielski, Kryspin; Radek, Maciej; Fabis, Jaroslaw

2016-01-01

Abstract Arthrodesis of the knee joint is a mainly a salvage surgical procedure performed in cases of infected total knee arthroplasty, tumor, failed knee arthroplasty or posttraumatic complication. The authors report the case of 18-year-old male with posttraumatic complication of left knee because of motorbike accident 1 year before. He was treated immediately after the injury in the local Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology. The examination in the day of admission to our department revealed deformation of the left knee, massive scar tissue adhesions to the proximal tibial bone and multidirectional instability of the knee. The plain radiographs showed complete lack of lateral compartment of the knee joint and patella. The patient complained of severe instability and pain of the knee and a consecutive loss of supporting function of his left limb. The authors decided to perform an arthroscopic-assisted fusion of the knee with Ilizarov external fixator because of massive scar tissue in the knee region and the prior knee infection. In the final follow-up after 54 months a complete bone fusion, good functional and clinical outcome were obtained. This case provides a significant contribution to the development and application of low-invasive techniques in large and extensive surgical procedures in orthopedics and traumatology. Moreover, in this case fixation of knee joint was crucial for providing good conditions for the regeneration of damaged peroneal nerve. PMID:26817899

Arthroscopic-assisted Arthrodesis of the Knee Joint With the Ilizarov Technique: A Case Report and Literature Review.

PubMed

Waszczykowski, Michal; Niedzielski, Kryspin; Radek, Maciej; Fabis, Jaroslaw

2016-01-01

Arthrodesis of the knee joint is a mainly a salvage surgical procedure performed in cases of infected total knee arthroplasty, tumor, failed knee arthroplasty or posttraumatic complication.The authors report the case of 18-year-old male with posttraumatic complication of left knee because of motorbike accident 1 year before. He was treated immediately after the injury in the local Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology. The examination in the day of admission to our department revealed deformation of the left knee, massive scar tissue adhesions to the proximal tibial bone and multidirectional instability of the knee. The plain radiographs showed complete lack of lateral compartment of the knee joint and patella. The patient complained of severe instability and pain of the knee and a consecutive loss of supporting function of his left limb. The authors decided to perform an arthroscopic-assisted fusion of the knee with Ilizarov external fixator because of massive scar tissue in the knee region and the prior knee infection.In the final follow-up after 54 months a complete bone fusion, good functional and clinical outcome were obtained.This case provides a significant contribution to the development and application of low-invasive techniques in large and extensive surgical procedures in orthopedics and traumatology. Moreover, in this case fixation of knee joint was crucial for providing good conditions for the regeneration of damaged peroneal nerve.

Infrared moving small target detection based on saliency extraction and image sparse representation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Xiaomin; Ren, Kan; Gao, Jin; Li, Chaowei; Gu, Guohua; Wan, Minjie

2016-10-01

Moving small target detection in infrared image is a crucial technique of infrared search and tracking system. This paper present a novel small target detection technique based on frequency-domain saliency extraction and image sparse representation. First, we exploit the features of Fourier spectrum image and magnitude spectrum of Fourier transform to make a rough extract of saliency regions and use a threshold segmentation system to classify the regions which look salient from the background, which gives us a binary image as result. Second, a new patch-image model and over-complete dictionary were introduced to the detection system, then the infrared small target detection was converted into a problem solving and optimization process of patch-image information reconstruction based on sparse representation. More specifically, the test image and binary image can be decomposed into some image patches follow certain rules. We select the target potential area according to the binary patch-image which contains salient region information, then exploit the over-complete infrared small target dictionary to reconstruct the test image blocks which may contain targets. The coefficients of target image patch satisfy sparse features. Finally, for image sequence, Euclidean distance was used to reduce false alarm ratio and increase the detection accuracy of moving small targets in infrared images due to the target position correlation between frames.

Slit-lamp technique of draining interface fluid following Descemet's stripping endothelial keratoplasty.

PubMed

Srinivasan, Sathish; Rootman, David S

2007-09-01

To describe a new slit-lamp technique for draining interface fluid to manage complete donor disc detachments following Descemet's stripping (automated) endothelial keratoplasty (DSEK/DSAEK). Interventional case series. Five DSEK/DSAEK patients presented on the first postoperative day with complete detachment of the donor lenticule. Slit-lamp biomicroscopy showed interface fluid preventing attachment of the donor disc to the host stromal bed. A new slit-lamp technique is described to drain the interface fluid. This technique involved completely filling the anterior chamber with an air bubble using a 30-gauge needle on a 3 ml syringe. Following this, a 0.12 forceps was used to open the inferior mid-peripheral corneal drainage slit to drain the interface fluid. This technique was successful in draining the interface fluid in all five patients, leading to immediate complete reattachment of the donor disc. Donor disc detachments following DSEK/DSAEK can be successfully managed by this slit-lamp technique of draining the interface fluid.

Post-Doctoral Fellowship for Merton S. Krause. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jackson, Philip W.

The final quarter of Krause's fellowship year was spent in completing his interviews with political socialization researchers in the eastern United States and his work on methodological problems. Krause also completed a long essay on the nature and implications of the "matrix perspective" for research planning, pursued his study of measurement…

40 CFR 725.54 - Suspension of the review period.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... generated using e-PMN reporting software and be completed through the finalization step of the software, and e-PMN software must be used to print the request for suspension for submission to EPA. Paper... reporting software and be completed through the finalization step of the software, and e-PMN software must...

Title III: Curricular Development for Secondary Learning Disabilities. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goodman, Libby

Presented is the final report of a 2-year project to develop an examplary model classroom program and curriculum for the secondary learning disabled student. Section I consists of completed forms entitled Project Completion Report, Termination Report, and Equipment Inventory. Outlined in Section II is information on the following project…

40 CFR 725.54 - Suspension of the review period.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... generated using e-PMN reporting software and be completed through the finalization step of the software, and e-PMN software must be used to print the request for suspension for submission to EPA. Paper... reporting software and be completed through the finalization step of the software, and e-PMN software must...

40 CFR 725.54 - Suspension of the review period.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... generated using e-PMN reporting software and be completed through the finalization step of the software, and e-PMN software must be used to print the request for suspension for submission to EPA. Paper... reporting software and be completed through the finalization step of the software, and e-PMN software must...

40 CFR 725.54 - Suspension of the review period.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... generated using e-PMN reporting software and be completed through the finalization step of the software, and e-PMN software must be used to print the request for suspension for submission to EPA. Paper... reporting software and be completed through the finalization step of the software, and e-PMN software must...

Various Techniques to Increase Keratinized Tissue for Implant Supported Overdentures: Retrospective Case Series

PubMed Central

Cayarga, Rodrigo; Suzuki, Takanori; Kaufman, Zev

2015-01-01

Purpose. The purpose of this retrospective case series is to describe and compare different surgical techniques that can be utilized to augment the keratinized soft tissue around implant-supported overdentures. Materials and Methods. The data set was extracted as deidentified information from the routine treatment of patients at the Ashman Department of Periodontology and Implant Dentistry at New York University College of Dentistry. Eight edentulous patients were selected to be included in this study. Patients were treated for lack of keratinized tissue prior to implant placement, during the second stage surgery, and after delivery of the final prosthesis. Results. All 8 patients in this study were wearing a complete maxillary and/or mandibular denture for at least a year before the time of the surgery. One of the following surgical techniques was utilized to increase the amount of keratinized tissue: apically positioned flap (APF), pedicle graft (PG), connective tissue graft (CTG), or free gingival graft (FGG). Conclusions. The amount of keratinized tissue should be taken into consideration when planning for implant-supported overdentures. The apical repositioning flap is an effective approach to increase the width of keratinized tissue prior to the implant placement. PMID:26124833

Development of a cell culture surface conversion technique using alginate thin film for evaluating effect upon cellular differentiation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nakashima, Y., E-mail: yuta-n@mech.kumamoto-u.ac.jp; Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Yamaguchi University, 2-16-1 Tokiwadai, Ube 755-8611; Tsusu, K.

2014-06-15

Here, we sought to develop a cell culture surface conversion technique that would not damage living cells. An alginate thin film, formed on a glass plate by spin coating of sodium alginate solution and dipping into calcium chloride solution, was used to inhibit adhesion of cells. The film could be removed by ethylenediaminetetraacetate (EDTA) at any time during cell culture, permitting observation of cellular responses to conversion of the culture surface in real time. Additionally, we demonstrated the validity of the alginate thin film coating method and the performance of the film. The thickness of the alginate thin film wasmore » controlled by varying the rotation speed during spin coating. Moreover, the alginate thin film completely inhibited the adhesion of cultured cells to the culture surface, irrespective of the thickness of the film. When the alginate thin film was removed from the culture surface by EDTA, the cultured cells adhered to the culture surface, and their morphology changed. Finally, we achieved effective differentiation of C2C12 myoblasts into myotube cells by cell culture on the convertible culture surface, demonstrating the utility of our novel technique.« less

Exploiting range imagery: techniques and applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Armbruster, Walter

2009-07-01

Practically no applications exist for which automatic processing of 2D intensity imagery can equal human visual perception. This is not the case for range imagery. The paper gives examples of 3D laser radar applications, for which automatic data processing can exceed human visual cognition capabilities and describes basic processing techniques for attaining these results. The examples are drawn from the fields of helicopter obstacle avoidance, object detection in surveillance applications, object recognition at high range, multi-object-tracking, and object re-identification in range image sequences. Processing times and recognition performances are summarized. The techniques used exploit the bijective continuity of the imaging process as well as its independence of object reflectivity, emissivity and illumination. This allows precise formulations of the probability distributions involved in figure-ground segmentation, feature-based object classification and model based object recognition. The probabilistic approach guarantees optimal solutions for single images and enables Bayesian learning in range image sequences. Finally, due to recent results in 3D-surface completion, no prior model libraries are required for recognizing and re-identifying objects of quite general object categories, opening the way to unsupervised learning and fully autonomous cognitive systems.

Incomplete mobilization of the maxilla resulting in failed maxillary distraction: a case report.

PubMed

Alkan, Alper; Inal, Samet; Baş, Burcu; Ozer, Mete

2007-12-01

Maxillary distraction osteogenesis has become an accepted alternative method in the treatment of patients with severe maxillary hypoplasia in craniofacial syndromes and cleft-related deformities. Insufficient distraction, undesirable soft tissue changes, and occurrence of defective distraction vectors are among the potential complications of intraoral maxillary distraction osteogenesis. A 2-stage procedure combining maxillary advancement by distraction technique with genioplasty and mandibular setback surgery was planned to correct jaw deformities in a 22-year-old patient with severe maxillary retrusion, mandibular prognathism, and excessive lower facial height. In the first stage, osteotomies were performed and maxilla was lightly mobilized after down-fracture. Distractors were placed to the maxilla intraorally. During activation period, the maxilla rotated in a clockwise direction, producing a discrepancy between the planned and the actual vectors. Complete distraction was unsatisfactory and the complication was due to surgical technique. This case report presents the failure of maxillary distraction due to incomplete mobilization of the maxilla. Treatment of the case was achieved by the conventional osteotomy techniques at final operation. The maxilla was successfully advanced to the desired position producing good occlusion and an improved facial profile.

Immediate Implant Placement of a Single Central Incisor Using a CAD/CAM Crown-Root Form Technique: Provisional to Final Restoration.

PubMed

Vafiadis, Dean; Goldstein, Gary; Garber, David; Lambrakos, Anthony; Kowalski, Bj

2017-02-01

Preserving soft and hard tissues after extraction and implant placement is crucial for anterior esthetics. This technique will show how the information gathered from a cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) scan of the maxillary left central incisor and an intra-oral digital impression can be merged to fabricate a CAD/CAM crown-root matrix to be used as an immediate provisional restoration that mimics the natural anatomy. Due to trauma, a left central incisor appeared to be fractured and was scheduled for extraction and implant placement. The crown-root configuration captured by the CBCT scan was merged with the digital files from an intra-oral digital impression. A CAD/CAM crown-root matrix was fabricated. Because the matrix shell was fabricated with the exact anatomy of the natural tooth, it replicated the position and three dimensional anatomy of the soft and hard tissue. It was connected to the implant with a customized provisional abutment. A digital impression of a coded healing abutment was made to fabricate the final implant abutment and final restoration. Throughout the treatment time and 36 months after completion, the thickness of tissue, emergence profile, and adjacent papilla was analyzed by clinical evaluation and photography and seemed to be maintained. The use of a pre-operative intra-oral digital scan of the clinical crown-root architecture and the CBCT scan of the bone/root anatomy, can be used together to fabricate a CAD/CAM crown-root form provisional matrix. This digital design helps in the preservation of the 3D tissue topography, as well as the final restoration. The preservation of soft and hard tissue after extraction and implant placement has always been paramount for ideal anterior implant esthetics. Using the information from digital files from CBCT scans and intra-oral scans may help the clinician identify critical anatomical features that can be replicated in the provisional and final CAD/CAM restoration. (J Esthet Restor Dent 29:13-21, 2017). © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The Factorability of Quadratics: Motivation for More Techniques

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bosse, Michael J.; Nandakumar, N. R.

2005-01-01

Typically, secondary and college algebra students attempt to utilize either completing the square or the quadratic formula as techniques to solve a quadratic equation only after frustration with factoring has arisen. While both completing the square and the quadratic formula are techniques which can determine solutions for all quadratic equations,…

Surgery in ovarian cancer - Brazilian Society of Surgical Oncology consensus.

PubMed

Tsunoda, Audrey Tieko; Ribeiro, Reitan; Reis, Rosilene Jara; Andrade, Carlos Eduardo Mattos da Cunha; Marques, Renato Moretti; Baiocchi, Glauco; Fin, Fabio; Zanvettor, Paulo Henrique; Falcao, Deraldo; Batista, Thales Paulo; Azevedo, Bruno Roberto Braga; Guitmann, Gustavo; Pessini, Suzana Arenhart; Nunes, João Soares; Campbell, Leonardo Martins; Linhares, José Clemente; Coimbra, Felipe José Fernandez

2018-06-14

Surgical management in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) has a significant impact in overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS). Brazilian Society of Surgical Oncology (BSSO) supported a taskforce with experts for consensus: experienced and specialized trained surgeons, in cancer centers, provide the best EOC surgery. Laparoscopic and/or radiological staging prognosticate the possibility of complete cytoreduction (CC0) and help to reduce unnecessary laparotomies. Surgical techniques were reviewed. Multidisciplinary input is essential for treatment planning. Quality assurance criteria are proposed and need national consensus. Genetic testing is mandatory. This consensus states the final recommendations from BSSO for management of EOC. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

A study and experiment plan for digital mobile communication via satellite

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, J. J.; Craighill, E. J.; Evans, R. G.; Vincze, A. D.; Tom, N. N.

1978-01-01

The viability of mobile communications is examined within the context of a frequency division multiple access, single channel per carrier satellite system emphasizing digital techniques to serve a large population of users. The intent is to provide the mobile users with a grade of service consistant with the requirements for remote, rural (perhaps emergency) voice communications, but which approaches toll quality speech. A traffic model is derived on which to base the determination of the required maximum number of satellite channels to provide the anticipated level of service. Various voice digitalization and digital modulation schemes are reviewed along with a general link analysis of the mobile system. Demand assignment multiple access considerations and analysis tradeoffs are presented. Finally, a completed configuration is described.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Dongbo; Zhao, Jinfeng, E-mail: jinfeng.zhao@tongji.edu.cn; Li, Libing

In this work, we applied a robust and fully air-coupled method to investigate the propagation of the lowest-order antisymmetric Lamb (A{sub 0}) mode in both a stubbed and an air-drilled phononic-crystal (PC) plate. By measuring simply the radiative acoustic waves of A{sub 0} mode close to the plate surface, we observed the band gaps for the stubbed PC plate caused by either the local resonance or the Bragg scattering, in frequency ranges in good agreement with theoretical predictions. We measured then the complete band gap of A{sub 0} mode for the air-drilled PC plate, in good agreement with the bandmore » structures. Finally, we compared the measurements made using the air-coupled method with those obtained by the laser ultrasonic technique.« less

Environmental Testing Philosophy for a Sandia National Laboratories' Small Satellite Project - A Retrospective

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

CAP,JEROME S.

2000-08-24

Sandia has recently completed the flight certification test series for the Multi-Spectral Thermal Imaging satellite (MTI), which is a small satellite for which Sandia was the system integrator. A paper was presented at the 16th Aerospace Testing Seminar discussing plans for performing the structural dynamics certification program for that satellite. The testing philosophy was originally based on a combination of system level vibroacoustic tests and component level shock and vibration tests. However, the plans evolved to include computational analyses using both Finite Element Analysis and Statistical Energy Analysis techniques. This paper outlines the final certification process and discuss lessons learnedmore » including both things that went well and things that should/could have been done differently.« less

Shuttle sonic boom - Technology and predictions. [environmental impact

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Holloway, P. F.; Wilhold, G. A.; Jones, J. H.; Garcia, F., Jr.; Hicks, R. M.

1973-01-01

Because the shuttle differs significantly in both geometric and operational characteristics from conventional supersonic aircraft, estimation of sonic boom characteristics required a new technology base. The prediction procedures thus developed are reviewed. Flight measurements obtained for both the ascent and entry phases of the Apollo 15 and 16 and for the ascent phase only of the Apollo 17 missions are presented which verify the techniques established for application to shuttle. Results of extensive analysis of the sonic boom overpressure characteristics completed to date are presented which indicate that this factor of the shuttle's environmental impact is predictable, localized, of short duration and acceptable. Efforts are continuing to define the shuttle sonic boom characteristics to a fine level of detail based on the final system design.

Detection of low-contrast images in film-grain noise.

PubMed

Naderi, F; Sawchuk, A A

1978-09-15

When low contrast photographic images are digitized by a very small aperture, extreme film-grain noise almost completely obliterates the image information. Using a large aperture to average out the noise destroys the fine details of the image. In these situations conventional statistical restoration techniques have little effect, and well chosen heuristic algorithms have yielded better results. In this paper we analyze the noisecheating algorithm of Zweig et al. [J. Opt. Soc. Am. 65, 1347 (1975)] and show that it can be justified by classical maximum-likelihood detection theory. A more general algorithm applicable to a broader class of images is then developed by considering the signal-dependent nature of film-grain noise. Finally, a Bayesian detection algorithm with improved performance is presented.

An efficient predictor-corrector-based dynamic mesh method for multi-block structured grid with extremely large deformation and its applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Tongqing; Chen, Hao; Lu, Zhiliang

2018-05-01

Aiming at extremely large deformation, a novel predictor-corrector-based dynamic mesh method for multi-block structured grid is proposed. In this work, the dynamic mesh generation is completed in three steps. At first, some typical dynamic positions are selected and high-quality multi-block grids with the same topology are generated at those positions. Then, Lagrange interpolation method is adopted to predict the dynamic mesh at any dynamic position. Finally, a rapid elastic deforming technique is used to correct the small deviation between the interpolated geometric configuration and the actual instantaneous one. Compared with the traditional methods, the results demonstrate that the present method shows stronger deformation ability and higher dynamic mesh quality.

7 CFR 1486.405 - How are Recipients reimbursed for project expenditures?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... submitted to and approved by FAS. (b) A format for reimbursement claims is available from the Marketing Operations Staff, FAS, USDA. (c) Final reimbursement claims must be made no later than 90 days after the completion date of the project, and are subject to a complete final performance report acceptable to FAS. (d...

7 CFR 1486.405 - How are Recipients reimbursed for project expenditures?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... submitted to and approved by FAS. (b) A format for reimbursement claims is available from the Marketing Operations Staff, FAS, USDA. (c) Final reimbursement claims must be made no later than 90 days after the completion date of the project, and are subject to a complete final performance report acceptable to FAS. (d...

25 CFR 256.20 - How are these repairs or construction trades persons, home building contractors, or construction...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... statement of work, which identifies the work to be performed. The appropriate contracting office uses the... completing the project as advertised. (a) Payments to the winning bidder are negotiated in the contract and... the completed work. (2) Final payment will be made after final inspection and after all provisions of...

Applied Meteorology Unit (AMU)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bauman, William; Crawford, Winifred; Watson, Leela; Wheeler, Mark

2011-01-01

This Quarter's Highlights incllude: completion of the second phase of verifying the performance of the MesoNAM weather model at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS). (1) The data was delivered to the 45th Weather Squadron (45 WS) and the final report was distributed (2) Staff completed modifying and updating lightning c1imatologies for KSC/CCAFS and other airfields around central Florida. We delivered the tool to the National Weather Service in Melbourne and 45 WS and distributed the final report (3) Staff completed modifying the AMU peak wind tool by analyzing wind tower data to determine peak wind behavior during times of onshore and offshore flow. This was delivered the to the 45 WS and distributed the final report.

7 CFR 1753.49 - Closeout documents.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... Distribution Borrower Contractor 724 Final Inventory—Certificate of Completion 2 1 1 724a Final Inventory... representative of the borrower. (2) Final inventory documents. (i) The borrower shall obtain certifications from... prepare and distribute the final inventory documents in accordance with the tables contained in this...

Low-field NMR logging sensor for measuring hydraulic parameters of model soils

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sucre, Oscar; Pohlmeier, Andreas; Minière, Adrien; Blümich, Bernhard

2011-08-01

SummaryKnowing the exact hydraulic parameters of soils is very important for improving water management in agriculture and for the refinement of climate models. Up to now, however, the investigation of such parameters has required applying two techniques simultaneously which is time-consuming and invasive. Thus, the objective of this current study is to present only one technique, i.e., a new non-invasive method to measure hydraulic parameters of model soils by using low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Hereby, two model clay or sandy soils were respectively filled in a 2 m-long acetate column having an integrated PVC tube. After the soils were completely saturated with water, a low-field NMR sensor was moved up and down in the PVC tube to quantitatively measure along the whole column the initial water content of each soil sample. Thereafter, both columns were allowed to drain. Meanwhile, the NMR sensor was set at a certain depth to measure the water content of that soil slice. Once the hydraulic equilibrium was reached in each of the two columns, a final moisture profile was taken along the whole column. Three curves were subsequently generated accordingly: (1) the initial moisture profile, (2) the evolution curve of the moisture depletion at that particular depth, and (3) the final moisture profile. All three curves were then inverse analyzed using a MATLAB code over numerical data produced with the van Genuchten-Mualem model. Hereby, a set of values ( α, n, θr and θs) was found for the hydraulic parameters for the soils under research. Additionally, the complete decaying NMR signal could be analyzed through Inverse Laplace Transformation and averaged on the 1/ T2 space. Through measurement of the decay in pure water, the effect on the relaxation caused by the sample could be estimated from the obtained spectra. The migration of the sample-related average <1/ T2, Sample> with decreasing saturation speaks for a enhancement of the surface relaxation as the soil dries, in concordance with results found by other authors. In conclusion, this low-field mobile NMR technique has proven itself to be a fast and a non-invasive mean to investigate the hydraulic behavior of soils and to explore microscopical aspect of the water retained in them. In the future, the sensor should allow easy soil moisture measurements on-field.

Secure hemostasis in transhiatal esophagectomy for esophageal cancer with gauze packing.

PubMed

Hirahara, Noriyuki; Matsubara, Takeshi; Hari, Yoko; Fujii, Yusuke; Wake, Hitomi; Tajima, Yoshitsugu

2012-12-19

Transhiatal esophagectomy for esophageal cancer implies blind manipulation of the intrathoracic esophagus. We report a secure hemostatic method with gauze packing in transhiatal esophagectomy. The gauze-packing technique is utilized for hemostasis just after removal of the thoracic esophagus during transhiatal esophagectomy. After confirming cancer-free margins, the abdominal esophagus and cervical esophagus are transected. A vein stripper is inserted into the oral-side stump of the esophagus and led to exit from the abdominal-side stump of the esophagus. The vein stripper and the oral stump of the esophagus are affixed by silk thread. A polyester tape is then affixed to the vein stripper, as the polyester tape is left in the posterior mediastinum after removal of the esophagus toward the abdominal side. The polyester tape on the cervical side is ligated with gauze and the polyester tape is removed toward the abdominal side. The oral stump of gauze and new additional gauze are affixed. As the first gauze is pulled out from the abdominal side, the second gauze gets drawn from the cervical wound into the mediastinum. The posterior mediastinum is finally packed with gauze and possible bleeding at this site undergoes a complete astriction. The status of hemostasis with the gauze packing is checked by an observation of color and bloodstain on the gauze. Between January 2005 and February 2012, 13 consecutive patients with esophageal cancer underwent a transhiatal esophagectomy with the gauze-packing hemostatic technique. Hemostasis at the posterior mediastinum was performed successfully and quickly in all cases with this method, requiring up to four pieces of gauze for a complete hemostasis. Median required time for hemostasis was 1219 (range 1896 to 1293) seconds and estimated blood loss was 20.4 (range 15 to 25) ml during gauze packing. Our technique could minimize bleeding after the removal of the thoracic esophagus. The gauze-packing method is a simple and easy technique for secure hemostasis when performing a transhiatal esophagectomy.

Secure hemostasis in transhiatal esophagectomy for esophageal cancer with gauze packing

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Transhiatal esophagectomy for esophageal cancer implies blind manipulation of the intrathoracic esophagus. We report a secure hemostatic method with gauze packing in transhiatal esophagectomy. Methods The gauze-packing technique is utilized for hemostasis just after removal of the thoracic esophagus during transhiatal esophagectomy. After confirming cancer-free margins, the abdominal esophagus and cervical esophagus are transected. A vein stripper is inserted into the oral-side stump of the esophagus and led to exit from the abdominal-side stump of the esophagus. The vein stripper and the oral stump of the esophagus are affixed by silk thread. A polyester tape is then affixed to the vein stripper, as the polyester tape is left in the posterior mediastinum after removal of the esophagus toward the abdominal side. The polyester tape on the cervical side is ligated with gauze and the polyester tape is removed toward the abdominal side. The oral stump of gauze and new additional gauze are affixed. As the first gauze is pulled out from the abdominal side, the second gauze gets drawn from the cervical wound into the mediastinum. The posterior mediastinum is finally packed with gauze and possible bleeding at this site undergoes a complete astriction. The status of hemostasis with the gauze packing is checked by an observation of color and bloodstain on the gauze. Results Between January 2005 and February 2012, 13 consecutive patients with esophageal cancer underwent a transhiatal esophagectomy with the gauze-packing hemostatic technique. Hemostasis at the posterior mediastinum was performed successfully and quickly in all cases with this method, requiring up to four pieces of gauze for a complete hemostasis. Median required time for hemostasis was 1219 (range 1896 to 1293) seconds and estimated blood loss was 20.4 (range 15 to 25) ml during gauze packing. Conclusions Our technique could minimize bleeding after the removal of the thoracic esophagus. The gauze-packing method is a simple and easy technique for secure hemostasis when performing a transhiatal esophagectomy. PMID:23253358

Conventional and conformal technique of external beam radiotherapy in locally advanced cervical cancer: Dose distribution, tumor response, and side effects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mutrikah, N.; Winarno, H.; Amalia, T.; Djakaria, M.

2017-08-01

The objective of this study was to compare conventional and conformal techniques of external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) in terms of the dose distribution, tumor response, and side effects in the treatment of locally advanced cervical cancer patients. A retrospective cohort study was conducted on cervical cancer patients who underwent EBRT before brachytherapy in the Radiotherapy Department of Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital. The prescribed dose distribution, tumor response, and acute side effects of EBRT using conventional and conformal techniques were investigated. In total, 51 patients who underwent EBRT using conventional techniques (25 cases using Cobalt-60 and 26 cases using a linear accelerator (LINAC)) and 29 patients who underwent EBRT using conformal techniques were included in the study. The distribution of the prescribed dose in the target had an impact on the patient’s final response to EBRT. The complete response rate of patients to conformal techniques was significantly greater (58%) than that of patients to conventional techniques (42%). No severe acute local side effects were seen in any of the patients (Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) grades 3-4). The distribution of the dose and volume to the gastrointestinal tract affected the proportion of mild acute side effects (RTOG grades 1-2). The urinary bladder was significantly greater using conventional techniques (Cobalt-60/LINAC) than using conformal techniques at 72% and 78% compared to 28% and 22%, respectively. The use of conformal techniques in pelvic radiation therapy is suggested in radiotherapy centers with CT simulators and 3D Radiotherapy Treatment Planning Systems (RTPSs) to decrease some uncertainties in radiotherapy planning. The use of AP/PA pelvic radiation techniques with Cobalt-60 should be limited in body thicknesses equal to or less than 18 cm. When using conformal techniques, delineation should be applied in the small bowel, as it is considered a critical organ according to RTOG consensus guidelines.

Minilaparoscopic technique for inguinal hernia repair combining transabdominal pre-peritoneal and totally extraperitoneal approaches.

PubMed

Carvalho, Gustavo L; Loureiro, Marcelo P; Bonin, Eduardo A; Claus, Christiano P; Silva, Frederico W; Cury, Antonio M; Fernandes, Flavio A M

2012-01-01

Endoscopic surgical repair of inguinal hernia is currently conducted using 2 techniques: the totally extraperitoneal (TEP) and the transabdominal (TAPP) hernia repair. The TEP procedure is technically advantageous, because of the use of no mesh fixation and the elimination of the peritoneal flap, leading to less postoperative pain and faster recovery. The drawback is that TEP is not performed as frequently, because of its complexity and longer learning curve. In this study, we propose a hybrid technique that could potentially become the gold standard of minimally invasive inguinal hernia surgery. This will be achieved by combining established advantages of TEP and TAPP associated with the precision and cosmetics of minilaparoscopy (MINI). Between January and July 2011, 22 patients were admitted for endoscopic inguinal hernia repair. The combined technique was initiated with TAPP inspection and direct visualization of a minilaparoscopic trocar dissection of the preperitoneum space. A10-mm trocar was then placed inside the previously dissected preperitoneal space, using the same umbilical TAPP skin incision. Minilaparoscopic retroperitoneal dissection was completed by TEP, and the surgical procedure was finalized with intraperitoneal review and correction of the preperitoneal work. The minilaparoscopic TEP-TAPP combined approach for inguinal hernia is feasible, safe, and allows a simple endoscopic repair. This is achieved by combining features and advantages of both TAPP and TEP techniques using precise and sophisticated MINI instruments. Minilaparoscopic preperitoneal dissection allows a faster and easier creation of the preperitoneal space for the TEP component of the procedure.

Introducing quality improvement methods into local public health departments: structured evaluation of a statewide pilot project.

PubMed

Riley, William; Parsons, Helen; McCoy, Kim; Burns, Debra; Anderson, Donna; Lee, Suhna; Sainfort, François

2009-10-01

To test the feasibility and assess the preliminary impact of a unique statewide quality improvement (QI) training program designed for public health departments. One hundred and ninety-five public health employees/managers from 38 local health departments throughout Minnesota were selected to participate in a newly developed QI training program and 65 of those engaged in and completed eight expert-supported QI projects over a period of 10 months from June 2007 through March 2008. As part of the Minnesota Quality Improvement Initiative, a structured distance education QI training program was designed and deployed in a first large-scale pilot. To evaluate the preliminary impact of the program, a mixed-method evaluation design was used based on four dimensions: learner reaction, knowledge, intention to apply, and preliminary outcomes. Subjective ratings of three dimensions of training quality were collected from participants after each of the scheduled learning sessions. Pre- and post-QI project surveys were administered to collect participant reactions, knowledge, future intention to apply learning, and perceived outcomes. Monthly and final QI project reports were collected to further inform success and preliminary outcomes of the projects. The participants reported (1) high levels of satisfaction with the training sessions, (2) increased perception of the relevance of the QI techniques, (3) increased perceived knowledge of all specific QI methods and techniques, (4) increased confidence in applying QI techniques on future projects, (5) increased intention to apply techniques on future QI projects, and (6) high perceived success of, and satisfaction with, the projects. Finally, preliminary outcomes data show moderate to large improvements in quality and/or efficiency for six out of eight projects. QI methods and techniques can be successfully implemented in local public health agencies on a statewide basis using the collaborative model through distance training and expert facilitation. This unique training can improve both core and support processes and lead to favorable staff reactions, increased knowledge, and improved health outcomes. The program can be further improved and deployed and holds great promise to facilitate the successful dissemination of proven QI methods throughout local public health departments.

Head Start Evaluation and Research Center, University of Kansas. Final Report on Research Activities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Etzel, Barbara C.; And Others

This document is the final report to the Institute of Educational Development for Head Start Research Evaluation activities at the University of Kansas for 1966-67. It contains 16 separate reports of studies completed or in the process of completion. The subject matter of the reports contains 15 distinct topics and warrants individual abstracts.…

76 FR 52253 - Revisions to Forms, Statements, and Reporting Requirements for Natural Gas Pipelines

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-08-22

... FERC ] 61,033, at P 1, 7, 37. The Final Rule has a more complete discussion of the procedural history of this case. We will not reiterate that complete history here. 5. In response to the Final Rule... in this fashion, future contracts could be rewritten to achieve this end and we do not wish to open...

A modified milling system, using a bimodal distribution of highly resistant ceramics. Part 1. A natural hydroxyapatite study.

PubMed

Harabi, Abdelhamid; Harabi, Esma

2015-06-01

A careful combination of the main parameters controlling natural hydroxyapatite (NHA: Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2) production such as milling techniques, sintering temperature and holding time may lead to an interesting NHA based bio-ceramics without any foreign oxide additions. In this way, an original wet milling setup has been proposed to obtain sub-micron sized NHA powders. In order to avoid any possible NHA decomposition, a precise Ca/P ratio of NHA derived from animals was selected accordingly. Also, an alternative direct visual approach of the bone age classification was also proposed. A relative density of about 95% was obtained for powders sintered at 1300°C for 2h. The best Vickers micro-hardness and 3 point bending strength values for these sintered samples, using this proposed milling system and without any additions, were 4.7±0.3GPa and 37MPa, respectively. Finally, a complete correlation between the powder microstructure and the final product properties has been established. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Green remediation. Tool for safe and sustainable environment: a review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, Mamta; Pant, Gaurav; Hossain, Kaizar; Bhatia, A. K.

2017-10-01

Nowadays, the bioremediation of toxic pollutants is a subject of interest in terms of health issues and environmental cleaning. In the present review, an eco-friendly, cost-effective approach is discussed for the detoxification of environmental pollutants by the means of natural purifier, i.e., blue-green algae over the conventional methods. Industrial wastes having toxic pollutants are not able to eliminate completely by existing the conventional techniques; in fact, these methods can only change their form rather than the entire degradation. These pollutants have an adverse effect on aquatic life, such as fauna and flora, and finally harm human life directly or indirectly. Cyanobacterial approach for the removal of this contaminant is an efficient tool for sustainable development and pollution control. Cyanobacteria are the primary consumers of food chain which absorbed complex toxic compounds from environments and convert them to simple nontoxic compounds which finally protect higher food chain consumer and eliminate risk of pollution. In addition, these organisms have capability to solve secondary pollution, as they can remediate radioactive compound, petroleum waste and degrade toxins from pesticides.

Final results of the PICASSO dark matter search experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Behnke, E.; Besnier, M.; Bhattacharjee, P.; Dai, X.; Das, M.; Davour, A.; Debris, F.; Dhungana, N.; Farine, J.; Fines-Neuschild, M.; Gagnebin, S.; Giroux, G.; Grace, E.; Jackson, C. M.; Kamaha, A.; Krauss, C. B.; Lafrenière, M.; Laurin, M.; Lawson, I.; Lessard, L.; Levine, I.; Marlisov, D.; Martin, J.-P.; Mitra, P.; Noble, A. J.; Plante, A.; Podviyanuk, R.; Pospisil, S.; Scallon, O.; Seth, S.; Starinski, N.; Stekl, I.; Wichoski, U.; Zacek, V.

2017-04-01

The PICASSO dark matter search experiment operated an array of 32 superheated droplet detectors containing 3.0 kg of C4F10 and collected an exposure of 231.4 kgd at SNOLAB between March 2012 and January 2014. We report on the final results of this experiment which includes for the first time the complete data set and improved analysis techniques including acoustic localization to allow fiducialization and removal of higher activity regions within the detectors. No signal consistent with dark matter was observed. We set limits for spin-dependent interactions on protons of σpSD = 1.32 × 10-2 pb (90% C.L.) at a WIMP mass of 20 GeV/c2. In the spin-independent sector we exclude cross sections larger than σpSI = 4.86 × 10-5 pb (90% C.L.) in the region around 7 GeV/c2. The pioneering efforts of the PICASSO experiment have paved the way forward for a next generation detector incorporating much of this technology and experience into larger mass bubble chambers.

Quantification of Dynamic Model Validation Metrics Using Uncertainty Propagation from Requirements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brown, Andrew M.; Peck, Jeffrey A.; Stewart, Eric C.

2018-01-01

The Space Launch System, NASA's new large launch vehicle for long range space exploration, is presently in the final design and construction phases, with the first launch scheduled for 2019. A dynamic model of the system has been created and is critical for calculation of interface loads and natural frequencies and mode shapes for guidance, navigation, and control (GNC). Because of the program and schedule constraints, a single modal test of the SLS will be performed while bolted down to the Mobile Launch Pad just before the first launch. A Monte Carlo and optimization scheme will be performed to create thousands of possible models based on given dispersions in model properties and to determine which model best fits the natural frequencies and mode shapes from modal test. However, the question still remains as to whether this model is acceptable for the loads and GNC requirements. An uncertainty propagation and quantification (UP and UQ) technique to develop a quantitative set of validation metrics that is based on the flight requirements has therefore been developed and is discussed in this paper. There has been considerable research on UQ and UP and validation in the literature, but very little on propagating the uncertainties from requirements, so most validation metrics are "rules-of-thumb;" this research seeks to come up with more reason-based metrics. One of the main assumptions used to achieve this task is that the uncertainty in the modeling of the fixed boundary condition is accurate, so therefore that same uncertainty can be used in propagating the fixed-test configuration to the free-free actual configuration. The second main technique applied here is the usage of the limit-state formulation to quantify the final probabilistic parameters and to compare them with the requirements. These techniques are explored with a simple lumped spring-mass system and a simplified SLS model. When completed, it is anticipated that this requirements-based validation metric will provide a quantified confidence and probability of success for the final SLS dynamics model, which will be critical for a successful launch program, and can be applied in the many other industries where an accurate dynamic model is required.

Blending online techniques with traditional face to face teaching methods to deliver final year undergraduate radiology learning content.

PubMed

Howlett, David; Vincent, Tim; Watson, Gillian; Owens, Emma; Webb, Richard; Gainsborough, Nicola; Fairclough, Jil; Taylor, Nick; Miles, Ken; Cohen, Jon; Vincent, Richard

2011-06-01

To review the initial experience of blending a variety of online educational techniques with traditional face to face or contact-based teaching methods to deliver final year undergraduate radiology content at a UK Medical School. The Brighton and Sussex Medical School opened in 2003 and offers a 5-year undergraduate programme, with the final 5 spent in several regional centres. Year 5 involves several core clinical specialities with onsite radiology teaching provided at regional centres in the form of small-group tutorials, imaging seminars and also a one-day course. An online educational module was introduced in 2007 to facilitate equitable delivery of the year 5 curriculum between the regional centres and to support students on placement. This module had a strong radiological emphasis, with a combination of imaging integrated into clinical cases to reflect everyday practice and also dedicated radiology cases. For the second cohort of year 5 students in 2008 two additional online media-rich initiatives were introduced, to complement the online module, comprising imaging tutorials and an online case discussion room. In the first year for the 2007/2008 cohort, 490 cases were written, edited and delivered via the Medical School managed learning environment as part of the online module. 253 cases contained a form of image media, of which 195 cases had a radiological component with a total of 325 radiology images. Important aspects of radiology practice (e.g. consent, patient safety, contrast toxicity, ionising radiation) were also covered. There were 274,000 student hits on cases the first year, with students completing a mean of 169 cases each. High levels of student satisfaction were recorded in relation to the online module and also additional online radiology teaching initiatives. Online educational techniques can be effectively blended with other forms of teaching to allow successful undergraduate delivery of radiology. Efficient IT links and good image quality are essential ingredients for successful student/clinician engagement. Copyright © 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Building Change Detection from LIDAR Point Cloud Data Based on Connected Component Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Awrangjeb, M.; Fraser, C. S.; Lu, G.

2015-08-01

Building data are one of the important data types in a topographic database. Building change detection after a period of time is necessary for many applications, such as identification of informal settlements. Based on the detected changes, the database has to be updated to ensure its usefulness. This paper proposes an improved building detection technique, which is a prerequisite for many building change detection techniques. The improved technique examines the gap between neighbouring buildings in the building mask in order to avoid under segmentation errors. Then, a new building change detection technique from LIDAR point cloud data is proposed. Buildings which are totally new or demolished are directly added to the change detection output. However, for demolished or extended building parts, a connected component analysis algorithm is applied and for each connected component its area, width and height are estimated in order to ascertain if it can be considered as a demolished or new building part. Finally, a graphical user interface (GUI) has been developed to update detected changes to the existing building map. Experimental results show that the improved building detection technique can offer not only higher performance in terms of completeness and correctness, but also a lower number of undersegmentation errors as compared to its original counterpart. The proposed change detection technique produces no omission errors and thus it can be exploited for enhanced automated building information updating within a topographic database. Using the developed GUI, the user can quickly examine each suggested change and indicate his/her decision with a minimum number of mouse clicks.

Michigan Physicians' Conference on Elder Abuse. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sengstock, Mary C.; O'Brien, James G.

The final report describes the Michigan Physicians' Conference on Elder Abuse project. The project conference had four major content areas, including: a general introduction to the problem of elder abuse; clinical symptoms of abuse; legal issues; and referral and case management techniques. Training techniques included lectures, group discussion,…

10 CFR 51.118 - Final environmental impact statement-notice of availability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 10 Energy 2 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Final environmental impact statement-notice of... environmental impact statement—notice of availability. (a) Upon completion of a final environmental impact statement or any supplement to a final environmental impact statement, the appropriate NRC staff director...

10 CFR 51.118 - Final environmental impact statement-notice of availability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 10 Energy 2 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Final environmental impact statement-notice of... environmental impact statement—notice of availability. (a) Upon completion of a final environmental impact statement or any supplement to a final environmental impact statement, the appropriate NRC staff director...

10 CFR 51.118 - Final environmental impact statement-notice of availability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 10 Energy 2 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Final environmental impact statement-notice of... environmental impact statement—notice of availability. (a) Upon completion of a final environmental impact statement or any supplement to a final environmental impact statement, the appropriate NRC staff director...

10 CFR 51.118 - Final environmental impact statement-notice of availability.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 10 Energy 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Final environmental impact statement-notice of... environmental impact statement—notice of availability. (a) Upon completion of a final environmental impact statement or any supplement to a final environmental impact statement, the appropriate NRC staff director...

Space Shuttle GN and C Development History and Evolution

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zimpfer, Douglas; Hattis, Phil; Ruppert, John; Gavert, Don

2011-01-01

Completion of the final Space Shuttle flight marks the end of a significant era in Human Spaceflight. Developed in the 1970 s, first launched in 1981, the Space Shuttle embodies many significant engineering achievements. One of these is the development and operation of the first extensive fly-by-wire human space transportation Guidance, Navigation and Control (GN&C) System. Development of the Space Shuttle GN&C represented first time inclusions of modern techniques for electronics, software, algorithms, systems and management in a complex system. Numerous technical design trades and lessons learned continue to drive current vehicle development. For example, the Space Shuttle GN&C system incorporated redundant systems, complex algorithms and flight software rigorously verified through integrated vehicle simulations and avionics integration testing techniques. Over the past thirty years, the Shuttle GN&C continued to go through a series of upgrades to improve safety, performance and to enable the complex flight operations required for assembly of the international space station. Upgrades to the GN&C ranged from the addition of nose wheel steering to modifications that extend capabilities to control of the large flexible configurations while being docked to the Space Station. This paper provides a history of the development and evolution of the Space Shuttle GN&C system. Emphasis is placed on key architecture decisions, design trades and the lessons learned for future complex space transportation system developments. Finally, some of the interesting flight operations experience is provided to inform future developers of flight experiences.

Now and Next-Generation Sequencing Techniques: Future of Sequence Analysis Using Cloud Computing

PubMed Central

Thakur, Radhe Shyam; Bandopadhyay, Rajib; Chaudhary, Bratati; Chatterjee, Sourav

2012-01-01

Advances in the field of sequencing techniques have resulted in the greatly accelerated production of huge sequence datasets. This presents immediate challenges in database maintenance at datacenters. It provides additional computational challenges in data mining and sequence analysis. Together these represent a significant overburden on traditional stand-alone computer resources, and to reach effective conclusions quickly and efficiently, the virtualization of the resources and computation on a pay-as-you-go concept (together termed “cloud computing”) has recently appeared. The collective resources of the datacenter, including both hardware and software, can be available publicly, being then termed a public cloud, the resources being provided in a virtual mode to the clients who pay according to the resources they employ. Examples of public companies providing these resources include Amazon, Google, and Joyent. The computational workload is shifted to the provider, which also implements required hardware and software upgrades over time. A virtual environment is created in the cloud corresponding to the computational and data storage needs of the user via the internet. The task is then performed, the results transmitted to the user, and the environment finally deleted after all tasks are completed. In this discussion, we focus on the basics of cloud computing, and go on to analyze the prerequisites and overall working of clouds. Finally, the applications of cloud computing in biological systems, particularly in comparative genomics, genome informatics, and SNP detection are discussed with reference to traditional workflows. PMID:23248640

Now and next-generation sequencing techniques: future of sequence analysis using cloud computing.

PubMed

Thakur, Radhe Shyam; Bandopadhyay, Rajib; Chaudhary, Bratati; Chatterjee, Sourav

2012-01-01

Advances in the field of sequencing techniques have resulted in the greatly accelerated production of huge sequence datasets. This presents immediate challenges in database maintenance at datacenters. It provides additional computational challenges in data mining and sequence analysis. Together these represent a significant overburden on traditional stand-alone computer resources, and to reach effective conclusions quickly and efficiently, the virtualization of the resources and computation on a pay-as-you-go concept (together termed "cloud computing") has recently appeared. The collective resources of the datacenter, including both hardware and software, can be available publicly, being then termed a public cloud, the resources being provided in a virtual mode to the clients who pay according to the resources they employ. Examples of public companies providing these resources include Amazon, Google, and Joyent. The computational workload is shifted to the provider, which also implements required hardware and software upgrades over time. A virtual environment is created in the cloud corresponding to the computational and data storage needs of the user via the internet. The task is then performed, the results transmitted to the user, and the environment finally deleted after all tasks are completed. In this discussion, we focus on the basics of cloud computing, and go on to analyze the prerequisites and overall working of clouds. Finally, the applications of cloud computing in biological systems, particularly in comparative genomics, genome informatics, and SNP detection are discussed with reference to traditional workflows.

Canopy Density Mapping on Ultracam-D Aerial Imagery in Zagros Woodlands, Iran

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erfanifard, Y.; Khodaee, Z.

2013-09-01

Canopy density maps express different characteristics of forest stands, especially in woodlands. Obtaining such maps by field measurements is so expensive and time-consuming. It seems necessary to find suitable techniques to produce these maps to be used in sustainable management of woodland ecosystems. In this research, a robust procedure was suggested to obtain these maps by very high spatial resolution aerial imagery. It was aimed to produce canopy density maps by UltraCam-D aerial imagery, newly taken in Zagros woodlands by Iran National Geographic Organization (NGO), in this study. A 30 ha plot of Persian oak (Quercus persica) coppice trees was selected in Zagros woodlands, Iran. The very high spatial resolution aerial imagery of the plot purchased from NGO, was classified by kNN technique and the tree crowns were extracted precisely. The canopy density was determined in each cell of different meshes with different sizes overlaid on the study area map. The accuracy of the final maps was investigated by the ground truth obtained by complete field measurements. The results showed that the proposed method of obtaining canopy density maps was efficient enough in the study area. The final canopy density map obtained by a mesh with 30 Ar (3000 m2) cell size had 80% overall accuracy and 0.61 KHAT coefficient of agreement which shows a great agreement with the observed samples. This method can also be tested in other case studies to reveal its capability in canopy density map production in woodlands.

Anatomical landmarks of radical prostatecomy.

PubMed

Stolzenburg, Jens-Uwe; Schwalenberg, Thilo; Horn, Lars-Christian; Neuhaus, Jochen; Constantinides, Costantinos; Liatsikos, Evangelos N

2007-03-01

In the present study, we review current literature and based on our experience, we present the anatomical landmarks of open and laparoscopic/endoscopic radical prostatectomy. A thorough literature search was performed with the Medline database on the anatomy and the nomenclature of the structures surrounding the prostate gland. The correct handling of puboprostatic ligaments, external urethral sphincter, prostatic fascias and neurovascular bundle is necessary for avoiding malfunction of the urogenital system after radical prostatectomy. When evaluating new prostatectomy techniques, we should always take into account both clinical and final oncological outcomes. The present review adds further knowledge to the existing "postprostatectomy anatomical hazard" debate. It emphasizes upon the role of the puboprostatic ligaments and the course of the external urethral sphincter for urinary continence. When performing an intrafascial nerve sparing prostatectomy most urologists tend to approach as close to the prostatic capsula as possible, even though there is no concurrence regarding the nomenclature of the surrounding fascias and the course of the actual neurovascular bundles. After completion of an intrafascial technique the specimen does not contain any periprostatic tissue and thus the detection of pT3a disease is not feasible. This especially becomes problematic if the tumour reaches the resection margin. Nerve sparing open and laparoscopic radical prostatectomy should aim in maintaining sexual function, recuperating early continence after surgery, without hindering the final oncological outcome to the procedure. Despite the different approaches for radical prostatectomy the key for better results is the understanding of the anatomy of the bladder neck and the urethra.

Progress on development of SPIDER diagnostics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pasqualotto, R.; Agostini, M.; Barbisan, M.; Bernardi, M.; Brombin, M.; Cavazzana, R.; Croci, G.; Palma, M. Dalla; Delogu, R. S.; Gorini, G.; Lotto, L.; Muraro, A.; Peruzzo, S.; Pimazzoni, A.; Pomaro, N.; Rizzolo, A.; Serianni, G.; Spolaore, M.; Tardocchi, M.; Zaniol, B.; Zaupa, M.

2017-08-01

SPIDER experiment, the full size prototype of the beam source for the ITER heating neutral beam injector, has to demonstrate extraction and acceleration to 100 kV of a large negative ion hydrogen or deuterium beam with co-extracted electron fraction e-/D- <1 and beam uniformity within 10%, for up to one hour beam pulses. Main RF source plasma and beam parameters are measured with different complementary techniques to exploit the combination of their specific features. While SPIDER plant systems are being installed, the different diagnostic systems are in the procurement phase. Their final design is described here with a focus on some key solutions and most original and cost effective implementations. Thermocouples used to measure the power load distribution in the source and over the beam dump front surface will be efficiently fixed with proven technique and acquired through commercial and custom electronics. Spectroscopy needs to use well collimated lines of sight and will employ novel design spectrometers with higher efficiency and resolution and filtered detectors with custom built amplifiers. The electrostatic probes will be operated through electronics specifically developed to cope with the challenging environment of the RF source. The instrumented calorimeter STRIKE will use new CFC tiles, still under development. Two linear cameras, one built in house, have been tested as suitable for optical beam tomography. Some diagnostic components are off the shelf, others are custom developed: some of these are being prototyped or are under test before final production and installation, which will be completed before start of SPIDER operation.

Multi-aperture microoptical system for close-up imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berlich, René; Brückner, Andreas; Leitel, Robert; Oberdörster, Alexander; Wippermann, Frank; Bräuer, Andreas

2014-09-01

Modern applications in biomedical imaging, machine vision and security engineering require close-up optical systems with high resolution. Combined with the need for miniaturization and fast image acquisition of extended object fields, the design and fabrication of respective devices is extremely challenging. Standard commercial imaging solutions rely on bulky setups or depend on scanning techniques in order to meet the stringent requirements. Recently, our group has proposed a novel, multi-aperture approach based on parallel image transfer in order to overcome these constraints. It exploits state of the art microoptical manufacturing techniques on wafer level in order to create a compact, cost-effective system with a large field of view. However, initial prototypes have so far been subject to various limitations regarding their manufacturing, reliability and applicability. In this work, we demonstrate the optical design and fabrication of an advanced system, which overcomes these restrictions. In particular, a revised optical design facilitates a more efficient and economical fabrication process and inherently improves system reliability. An additional customized front side illumination module provides homogeneous white light illumination over the entire field of view while maintaining a high degree of compactness. Moreover, the complete imaging assembly is mounted on a positioning system. In combination with an extended working range, this allows for adjustment of the system's focus location. The final optical design is capable of capturing an object field of 36x24 mm2 with a resolution of 150 cycles/mm. Finally, we present experimental results of the respective prototype that demonstrate its enhanced capabilities.

A hardware implementation of the discrete Pascal transform for image processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goodman, Thomas J.; Aburdene, Maurice F.

2006-02-01

The discrete Pascal transform is a polynomial transform with applications in pattern recognition, digital filtering, and digital image processing. It already has been shown that the Pascal transform matrix can be decomposed into a product of binary matrices. Such a factorization leads to a fast and efficient hardware implementation without the use of multipliers, which consume large amounts of hardware. We recently developed a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) implementation to compute the Pascal transform. Our goal was to demonstrate the computational efficiency of the transform while keeping hardware requirements at a minimum. Images are uploaded into memory from a remote computer prior to processing, and the transform coefficients can be offloaded from the FPGA board for analysis. Design techniques like as-soon-as-possible scheduling and adder sharing allowed us to develop a fast and efficient system. An eight-point, one-dimensional transform completes in 13 clock cycles and requires only four adders. An 8x8 two-dimensional transform completes in 240 cycles and requires only a top-level controller in addition to the one-dimensional transform hardware. Finally, through minor modifications to the controller, the transform operations can be pipelined to achieve 100% utilization of the four adders, allowing one eight-point transform to complete every seven clock cycles.

A novel deep learning algorithm for incomplete face recognition: Low-rank-recovery network.

PubMed

Zhao, Jianwei; Lv, Yongbiao; Zhou, Zhenghua; Cao, Feilong

2017-10-01

There have been a lot of methods to address the recognition of complete face images. However, in real applications, the images to be recognized are usually incomplete, and it is more difficult to realize such a recognition. In this paper, a novel convolution neural network frame, named a low-rank-recovery network (LRRNet), is proposed to conquer the difficulty effectively inspired by matrix completion and deep learning techniques. The proposed LRRNet first recovers the incomplete face images via an approach of matrix completion with the truncated nuclear norm regularization solution, and then extracts some low-rank parts of the recovered images as the filters. With these filters, some important features are obtained by means of the binaryzation and histogram algorithms. Finally, these features are classified with the classical support vector machines (SVMs). The proposed LRRNet method has high face recognition rate for the heavily corrupted images, especially for the images in the large databases. The proposed LRRNet performs well and efficiently for the images with heavily corrupted, especially in the case of large databases. Extensive experiments on several benchmark databases demonstrate that the proposed LRRNet performs better than some other excellent robust face recognition methods. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Final incision size after cataract surgery with toric intraocular lens implantation using 2 techniques.

PubMed

Guarnieri, Adriano; Moreno-Montañés, Javier; Sabater, Alfonso L; Gosende-Chico, Inmaculada; Bonet-Farriol, Elvira

2013-11-01

To analyze the changes in incision sizes after implantation of a toric intraocular lens (IOL) using 2 methods. Department of Ophthalmology, Clínica Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain. Prospective case series. Coaxial phacoemulsification and IOL implantation through a 2.2 mm clear corneal incision using a cartridge injector were performed. Wound-assisted or cartridge-insertion techniques were used to implant the IOLs. The results were analyzed according to IOL spherical and cylindrical powers. Corneal hysteresis (CH) and the corneal resistance factor (CRF) were measured and evaluated based on the changes in incision size. Incision size increased in 30 (41.7%) of 72 eyes in the wound-assisted group and 71 (98.6%) of 72 eyes in the cartridge-insertion group. The mean incision size after IOL implantation was 2.27 mm ± 0.06 (SD) and 2.37 ± 0.05 mm, respectively (P<.01). The final incision size and IOL spherical power in the wound-assisted technique group (P=.02) and the cartridge-insertion technique group (P=.03) were correlated significantly; IOL toricity was not (P=.19 and P=.28, respectively). The CH and CRF values were not correlated with the final incision size. The final incision size and the changes in incision size after IOL implantation were greater with the cartridge-insertion technique than with the wound-assisted technique. The increase was related to IOL spherical power in both groups but not to IOL toricity. Corneal biomechanical properties were not correlated with the final incision size. Copyright © 2013 ASCRS and ESCRS. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Lithographic Printing Via Two-Photon Polymerization of Engineered Foams

DOE PAGES

Herman, Matthew J.; Peterson, Dominic; Henderson, Kevin; ...

2017-11-29

Understanding deuterium-tritium mix in capsules is critical to achieving fusion within inertial confined fusion experiments. One method of understanding how the mix of hydrogen fuels can be controlled is by creating various structured deuterated foams and filling the capsule with liquid tritium. Historically, these materials have been a stochastically structured gas-blown foam. Later, to improve the uniformity of this material, pore formers have been used which are then chemically removed, leaving behind a foam of monodisperse voids. However, this technique is still imperfect in that fragments of the pore templating particles may not be completely removed and the void distributionmore » may not be uniform over the size scale of the capsule. Recently, advances in three-dimensional printing suggest that it can be used to create microlattices and capsule walls in one single print. Demonstrated in this paper are proof-of-concept microlattices produced using two-photon polymerization with submicrometer resolution of various structures as well as a microlattice-containing capsule. Finally, with this technology, complete control of the mixing structure is possible, amenable to modeling and easily modified for tailored target design.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Herman, Matthew J.; Peterson, Dominic; Henderson, Kevin

Understanding deuterium-tritium mix in capsules is critical to achieving fusion within inertial confined fusion experiments. One method of understanding how the mix of hydrogen fuels can be controlled is by creating various structured deuterated foams and filling the capsule with liquid tritium. Historically, these materials have been a stochastically structured gas-blown foam. Later, to improve the uniformity of this material, pore formers have been used which are then chemically removed, leaving behind a foam of monodisperse voids. However, this technique is still imperfect in that fragments of the pore templating particles may not be completely removed and the void distributionmore » may not be uniform over the size scale of the capsule. Recently, advances in three-dimensional printing suggest that it can be used to create microlattices and capsule walls in one single print. Demonstrated in this paper are proof-of-concept microlattices produced using two-photon polymerization with submicrometer resolution of various structures as well as a microlattice-containing capsule. Finally, with this technology, complete control of the mixing structure is possible, amenable to modeling and easily modified for tailored target design.« less

Joint Planning and Development Office Work Plan FY10

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-01-01

IPSA ) Division will make refinements to the NextGen Portfolio Analysis. In addition, IPSA will work with the Department of Defense (DoD) to define and...Submitted Interagency Portfolio and Systems Analysis ( IPSA ) DRAFT DoD Portfolio Analysis Criteria BASELINE DoD Portfolio Analysis Criteria DRAFT...WG Work Plan Review Prototype Capability Selected and Defined CHAs Complete Safety Metrics for IPSA Complete FINAL Prototype Report FINAL

Exploring discrepancies between quantitative validation results and the geomorphic plausibility of statistical landslide susceptibility maps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steger, Stefan; Brenning, Alexander; Bell, Rainer; Petschko, Helene; Glade, Thomas

2016-06-01

Empirical models are frequently applied to produce landslide susceptibility maps for large areas. Subsequent quantitative validation results are routinely used as the primary criteria to infer the validity and applicability of the final maps or to select one of several models. This study hypothesizes that such direct deductions can be misleading. The main objective was to explore discrepancies between the predictive performance of a landslide susceptibility model and the geomorphic plausibility of subsequent landslide susceptibility maps while a particular emphasis was placed on the influence of incomplete landslide inventories on modelling and validation results. The study was conducted within the Flysch Zone of Lower Austria (1,354 km2) which is known to be highly susceptible to landslides of the slide-type movement. Sixteen susceptibility models were generated by applying two statistical classifiers (logistic regression and generalized additive model) and two machine learning techniques (random forest and support vector machine) separately for two landslide inventories of differing completeness and two predictor sets. The results were validated quantitatively by estimating the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) with single holdout and spatial cross-validation technique. The heuristic evaluation of the geomorphic plausibility of the final results was supported by findings of an exploratory data analysis, an estimation of odds ratios and an evaluation of the spatial structure of the final maps. The results showed that maps generated by different inventories, classifiers and predictors appeared differently while holdout validation revealed similar high predictive performances. Spatial cross-validation proved useful to expose spatially varying inconsistencies of the modelling results while additionally providing evidence for slightly overfitted machine learning-based models. However, the highest predictive performances were obtained for maps that explicitly expressed geomorphically implausible relationships indicating that the predictive performance of a model might be misleading in the case a predictor systematically relates to a spatially consistent bias of the inventory. Furthermore, we observed that random forest-based maps displayed spatial artifacts. The most plausible susceptibility map of the study area showed smooth prediction surfaces while the underlying model revealed a high predictive capability and was generated with an accurate landslide inventory and predictors that did not directly describe a bias. However, none of the presented models was found to be completely unbiased. This study showed that high predictive performances cannot be equated with a high plausibility and applicability of subsequent landslide susceptibility maps. We suggest that greater emphasis should be placed on identifying confounding factors and biases in landslide inventories. A joint discussion between modelers and decision makers of the spatial pattern of the final susceptibility maps in the field might increase their acceptance and applicability.

Towards hybrid mesh generation for realistic design environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McMorris, Harlan Tom

Two different techniques that allow hybrid mesh generation to be easily used in the design environment are presented. The purpose of this research is to allow for hybrid meshes to be used during the design process where the geometry is being varied. The first technique, modular hybrid mesh generation, allows for the replacement of portions of a geometry with a new design shape. The mesh is maintained for the portions of that have not changed during the design process. A new mesh is generated for the new part of the geometry and this piece is added to the existing mesh. The new mesh must match the remaining portions of the geometry plus the element sizes must match exactly across the interfaces. The second technique, hybrid mesh movement, is used when the basic geometry remains the same with only small variations to portions of the geometry. These small variations include changing the cross-section of a wing, twisting a blade or changing the length of some portion of the geometry. The mesh for the original geometry is moved onto the new geometry one step at a time beginning with the curves of the surface, continuing with the surface mesh geometry and ending with the interior points of the mesh. The validity of the hybrid mesh is maintained by applying corrections to the motion of the points. Finally, the quality of the new hybrid mesh is improved to ensure that the new mesh maintains the quality of the original hybrid mesh. Applications of both design techniques are applied to typical example cases from the fields of turbomachinery, aerospace and offshore technology. The example test cases demonstrate the ability of the two techniques to reuse the majority of an existing hybrid mesh for typical design changes. Modular mesh generation is used to change the shape of piece of a seafloor pipeline geometry to a completely different configuration. The hybrid mesh movement technique is used to change the twist of a turbomachinery blade, the tip clearance of a rotor blade and to simulate the aeroelastic bending of a wing. Finally, the movement technique is applied to an offshore application where the solution for the original configuration is used as a starting point for solution for a new configuration. The application of both techniques show that the methods can be a powerful addition to the design environment and will facilitate a rapid turnaround when the design geometry changes.

Short communication: Characteristics of student success in an undergraduate physiology and anatomy course.

PubMed

Gwazdauskas, F C; McGilliard, M L; Corl, B A

2014-10-01

Several factors affect the success of students in college classes. The objective of this research was to determine what factors affect success of undergraduate students in an anatomy and physiology class. Data were collected from 602 students enrolled in the Agriculture and Life Sciences (ALS) 2304 Animal Physiology and Anatomy course from 2005 through 2012. The data set included 476 females (79.1%) and 126 males (20.9%). Time to complete exams was recorded for each student. For statistical analyses, students' majors were animal and poultry sciences (APSC), agricultural sciences, biochemistry, biological sciences, dairy science, and "other," which combined all other majors. All analyses were completed using the GLIMMIX procedure of SAS (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC). Gender, major, matriculation year, major by year interaction, gender by year interaction, and time to complete the exam affected final course grade. The significant gender effect was manifested in the final grade percentage of 75.9 ± 0.4 for female students compared with 72.3 ± 0.6 for male students. Junior males had final course grades comparable with those of females, but sophomore and senior males had lower final course grades than other combinations. Biology majors had a final grade of 82.4 ± 0.6 and this grade was greater than all other majors. Students classified as "other" had a final score of 74.4 ± 0.8, which was greater than agricultural science majors (69.5 ± 0.9). The APSC grade (72.6 ± 0.5) was higher than the agricultural science majors. Junior students had significantly greater final grades (76.1 ± 0.5) than sophomores (73.3 ± 0.6) and seniors (72.9 ± 0.9). All biology students had greater final grades than all other majors, but biochemistry juniors had greater final course grades than APSC, agricultural science, and dairy science juniors. "Other" seniors had greater final course grades than agricultural science seniors. The regression for time to complete the exam was curvilinear and suggests that highest exam scores were at about 90-min completion time. It may be that some male students need better preparation for anatomy and physiology and their educational preparation should mimic that of female students more in terms of advance-placement biology in high school. These results suggest that biology majors might be better prepared for animal anatomy and physiology than other students. Copyright © 2014 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Recruitment of healthy first-trimester pregnant women: lessons from the Chemicals, Health & Pregnancy study (CHirP).

PubMed

Webster, Glenys M; Teschke, Kay; Janssen, Patricia A

2012-02-01

To describe and evaluate recruitment techniques used to enroll 152 healthy pregnant women fewer than 15 weeks gestation into a prospective study of environmental chemical exposure during pregnancy. Posters, a website, online and print advertising, recruitment emails, media coverage, recruitment from clinic waiting rooms, networking within the pregnancy community and presenting a study booth at baby "trade shows" were used to advertise the study. Participants had to meet a strict set of eligibility criteria, and were asked to donate two-second-trimester blood samples, complete two questionnaires, have samples of air, dust, lint and tap water collected from their homes, and donate a cord blood sample at delivery. Over 17 months, 171 women enrolled (49% of initial contacts, and 99% of all eligible women) and 152 women completed the study (89% retention). Total recruitment costs were approximately $400 Cdn per final participant. Posters, study booth presentations and online advertising generated the most inquiries about the study. Word of mouth, referral from another study and direct email were the most cost-effective strategies. Not surprisingly, the recruited study population was less ethnically diverse, more affluent and more educated than the background population of pregnant women in Vancouver. A combination of passive and active recruitment techniques were successful for recruiting healthy women in roughly the first trimester of pregnancy (<15 weeks gestation). While a convenience sample of women is suitable for our study questions, additional strategies may be required to recruit a more representative pregnant population in future studies.

Development of fuzzy multi-criteria approach to prioritize locations of treated wastewater use considering climate change scenarios.

PubMed

Chung, Eun-Sung; Kim, Yeonjoo

2014-12-15

This study proposed a robust prioritization framework to identify the priorities of treated wastewater (TWW) use locations with consideration of various uncertainties inherent in the climate change scenarios and the decision-making process. First, a fuzzy concept was applied because future forecast precipitation and their hydrological impact analysis results displayed significant variances when considering various climate change scenarios and long periods (e.g., 2010-2099). Second, various multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) techniques including weighted sum method (WSM), Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and fuzzy TOPSIS were introduced to robust prioritization because different MCDM methods use different decision philosophies. Third, decision making method under complete uncertainty (DMCU) including maximin, maximax, minimax regret, Hurwicz, and equal likelihood were used to find robust final rankings. This framework is then applied to a Korean urban watershed. As a result, different rankings were obviously appeared between fuzzy TOPSIS and non-fuzzy MCDMs (e.g., WSM and TOPSIS) because the inter-annual variability in effectiveness was considered only with fuzzy TOPSIS. Then, robust prioritizations were derived based on 18 rankings from nine decadal periods of RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. For more robust rankings, five DMCU approaches using the rankings from fuzzy TOPSIS were derived. This framework combining fuzzy TOPSIS with DMCU approaches can be rendered less controversial among stakeholders under complete uncertainty of changing environments. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Merged GLORIA sidescan and hydrosweep pseudo-sidescan: Processing and creation of digital mosaics

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bird, R.T.; Searle, R.C.; Paskevich, V.; Twichell, D.C.

1996-01-01

We have replaced the usual band of poor-quality data in the near-nadir region of our GLORIA long-range sidescan-sonar imagery with a shaded-relief image constructed from swath bathymetry data (collected simultaneously with GLORIA) which completely cover the nadir area. We have developed a technique to enhance these "pseudo-sidescan" images in order to mimic the neighbouring GLORIA backscatter intensities. As a result, the enhanced images greatly facilitate the geologic interpretation of the adjacent GLORIA data, and geologic features evident in the GLORIA data may be correlated with greater confidence across track. Features interpreted from the pseudo-sidescan may be extrapolated from the near-nadir region out into the GLORIA range where they may not have been recognized otherwise, and therefore the pseudo-sidescan can be used to ground-truth GLORIA interpretations. Creation of digital sidescan mosaics utilized an approach not previously used for GLORIA data. Pixels were correctly placed in cartographic space and the time required to complete a final mosaic was significantly reduced. Computer software for digital mapping and mosaic creation is incorporated into the newly-developed Woods Hole Image Processing System (WHIPS) which can process both low- and high-frequency sidescan, and can interchange data with the Mini Image Processing System (MIPS) most commonly used for GLORIA processing. These techniques are tested by creating digital mosaics of merged GLORIA sidescan and Hydrosweep pseudo-sidescan data from the vicinity of the Juan Fernandez microplate along the East Pacific Rise (EPR). 

Palateless custom bar supported overdenture: a treatment modality to treat patient with severe gag reflex.

PubMed

Singh, Kunwarjeet; Gupta, Nidhi

2012-01-01

To suggest a custom bar supported overdenture treatment modality for prosthodontic management of patients with severe gag reflex. Some patients have a severe gag reflex and cannot tolerate conventional maxillary complete dentures with maximum palatal coverage and extensions of all borders. The condition further gets complicated in patients suffering from respiratory problems along with severe gag reflex. Severe gagging acts as a barrier to treat such patients with accepted clinical procedures and prevent patients from wearing the prosthesis. By saving some of the remaining natural teeth and fabricating, a horse shoe shape palateless simple tooth or bar supported overdenture can be successfully used for treating such patients. The remaining maxillary right and left canines were prepared with the tapered round end diamond bur to receive copings of custom bar after intentional root canal treatment of same teeth. Impression was made with light body and putty of the polyvinyl siloxane elastomer with double step putty wash technique. Impression was poured with die stone. Wax pattern of copings with bar was fabricated with inlay wax which was invested and casted. After retrieving the bar, it was finished and its fit was evaluated. The coping-bar assembly was finally cemented with the glass ionomer cement. Palateless overdenture was fabricated by conventional technique used for the fabrication of complete denture. Palateless custom bar supported overdenture procedure can be successfully used for the management of patients with severe gag reflex with improved denture retention, stability, chewing efficiency and comfort of the patient.

Orbiter/payload proximity operations: Lateral approach technique

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bell, J. A.; Jones, H. L.; Mcadoo, S. F.

1977-01-01

The lateral approach is presented for proximity operations associated with the retrieval of free flying payloads. An out of plane final approach emphasizing onboard software support is recommended for all except the latter segment of the final approach in which manual control is considered mandatory. An overall assessment of various candidate proximity operations techniques are made.

20 CFR 222.21 - When marriage is terminated by final divorce.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false When marriage is terminated by final divorce... Widow(er) § 222.21 When marriage is terminated by final divorce. A final divorce, often referred to as an absolute divorce, completely dissolves the marriage relationship and restores the parties to the...

20 CFR 222.21 - When marriage is terminated by final divorce.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false When marriage is terminated by final divorce... Widow(er) § 222.21 When marriage is terminated by final divorce. A final divorce, often referred to as an absolute divorce, completely dissolves the marriage relationship and restores the parties to the...

20 CFR 222.21 - When marriage is terminated by final divorce.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 1 2013-04-01 2012-04-01 true When marriage is terminated by final divorce... Widow(er) § 222.21 When marriage is terminated by final divorce. A final divorce, often referred to as an absolute divorce, completely dissolves the marriage relationship and restores the parties to the...

20 CFR 222.21 - When marriage is terminated by final divorce.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false When marriage is terminated by final divorce... Widow(er) § 222.21 When marriage is terminated by final divorce. A final divorce, often referred to as an absolute divorce, completely dissolves the marriage relationship and restores the parties to the...

20 CFR 222.21 - When marriage is terminated by final divorce.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 1 2014-04-01 2012-04-01 true When marriage is terminated by final divorce... Widow(er) § 222.21 When marriage is terminated by final divorce. A final divorce, often referred to as an absolute divorce, completely dissolves the marriage relationship and restores the parties to the...

[Evolution of the audio-visual technologies of production and diffusion and the conditions of their application in the Third World].

PubMed

Lefebvre, M

1979-01-01

The present information production techniques are so inefficient that it is out of the question to generalize them. On the other hand audio-visual communication raises a major political problem, especially for developing countries. Audio-visual equipment has gone through adjustment phases; the example of the tape and cassette recorder is given: 2 technological improvements have completely modified its use; the transistors have allowed considerable reduction in volume and weight as well as the energy necessary; the invention of the cassette has simplified its use. Technological research is following 3 major directions: the production of equipment which consumes little energy; the improvement of electronic component production techniques (towards cheaper electronic components); finally, the designing of systems allowing to stock large quantities of information. The communication systems will probably make so much progress in the areas of technology and programming, that they will soon have very different uses than the present ones. The question is whether our civilizations will let themselves be dominated by these new systems, or whether they will succeed to turn them into progress tools.

Airborne Fungi in Sahara Dust Aerosols Reaching the Eastern Caribbean: II. Species Identification Using Molecular Techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de La Mota, A.; Betancourt, C.; Detres, Y.; Armstrong, R.

2003-12-01

Fungi samples from filters collected in Castle Bruce, Dominica from March through July 2002, were previously purified and identified to genus level using classic macroscopic and microscopic techniques. A total of 105 isolated colonies were cultured in liquid media and the mycelial mats used for DNA extraction. PCR was used to amplify the ITS region of the rDNA using the ITS1 and ITS4 primers. Both strands of the amplified products were sequenced and the final identification to species level was completed by a GenBank search. Fourteen different species and one fungal endophyte were identified from genders Aspergillus,Penicillium, Fusarium, Cladosporium, Curvularia and Phanerochaete. Some of these species such as A. fumigatus, A. japonicus, P. citrinum and C. cladosporoides are known to cause respiratory disorders in humans. A. fumigatus causes an aggressive pulmonary allergic response that might result in allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis. Other species such as F. equiseti and C. brachyspora are plant pathogens affecting economically important crops. Sahara dust is an important source of fungal spores of species that are not common in the Caribbean region.

Programmable Colored Illumination Microscopy (PCIM): A practical and flexible optical staining approach for microscopic contrast enhancement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zuo, Chao; Sun, Jiasong; Feng, Shijie; Hu, Yan; Chen, Qian

2016-03-01

Programmable colored illumination microscopy (PCIM) has been proposed as a flexible optical staining technique for microscopic contrast enhancement. In this method, we replace the condenser diaphragm of a conventional microscope with a programmable thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD). By displaying different patterns on the LCD, numerous established imaging modalities can be realized, such as bright field, dark field, phase contrast, oblique illumination, and Rheinberg illuminations, which conventionally rely on intricate alterations in the respective microscope setups. Furthermore, the ease of modulating both the color and the intensity distribution at the aperture of the condenser opens the possibility to combine multiple microscopic techniques, or even realize completely new methods for optical color contrast staining, such as iridescent dark-field and iridescent phase-contrast imaging. The versatility and effectiveness of PCIM is demonstrated by imaging of several transparent colorless specimens, such as unstained lung cancer cells, diatom, textile fibers, and a cryosection of mouse kidney. Finally, the potentialities of PCIM for RGB-splitting imaging with stained samples are also explored by imaging stained red blood cells and a histological section.

Fluid placement of fixated scrubber sludge to reduce surface subsidence and to abate acid mine drainage in abandoned underground coal mines

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Meiers, R.J.; Golden, D.; Gray, R.

1995-12-31

Indianapolis Power and Light Company (IPL) began researching the use of fluid placement techniques of the fixated scrubber sludge (FSS) to reduce surface subsidence from underground coal mines to develop an economic alternative to low strength concrete grout. Abandoned underground coal mines surround property adjacent to IPL`s coal combustion by-product (CCBP) landfill at the Petersburg Generating Station. Landfill expansion into these areas is in question because of the high potential for sinkhole subsidence to develop. Sinkholes manifesting at the surface would put the integrity of a liner or runoff pond containment structure for a CCBP disposal facility at risk. Themore » fluid placement techniques of the FSS as a subsidence abatement technology was demonstrated during an eight week period in September, October, and November 1994 at the Petersburg Generating Station. The success of this technology will be determined by the percentage of the mine void filled, strength of the FSS placed, and the overall effects on the hydrogeologic environment. The complete report for this project will be finalized in early 1996.« less

Modeling of metal thin film growth: Linking angstrom-scale molecular dynamics results to micron-scale film topographies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hansen, U.; Rodgers, S.; Jensen, K. F.

2000-07-01

A general method for modeling ionized physical vapor deposition is presented. As an example, the method is applied to growth of an aluminum film in the presence of an ionized argon flux. Molecular dynamics techniques are used to examine the surface adsorption, reflection, and sputter reactions taking place during ionized physical vapor deposition. We predict their relative probabilities and discuss their dependence on energy and incident angle. Subsequently, we combine the information obtained from molecular dynamics with a line of sight transport model in a two-dimensional feature, incorporating all effects of reemission and resputtering. This provides a complete growth rate model that allows inclusion of energy- and angular-dependent reaction rates. Finally, a level-set approach is used to describe the morphology of the growing film. We thus arrive at a computationally highly efficient and accurate scheme to model the growth of thin films. We demonstrate the capabilities of the model predicting the major differences on Al film topographies between conventional and ionized sputter deposition techniques studying thin film growth under ionized physical vapor deposition conditions with different Ar fluxes.

Fabrication of VB2/Air Cells for Electrochemical Testing

PubMed Central

Stuart, Jessica; Lopez, Ruben; Lau, Jason; Li, Xuguang; Waje, Mahesh; Mullings, Matthew; Rhodes, Christopher; Licht, Stuart

2013-01-01

A technique to investigate the properties and performance of new multi-electron metal/air battery systems is proposed and presented. A method for synthesizing nanoscopic VB2 is presented as well as step-by-step procedure for applying a zirconium oxide coating to the VB2 particles for stabilization upon discharge. The process for disassembling existing zinc/air cells is shown, in addition construction of the new working electrode to replace the conventional zinc/air cell anode with a the nanoscopic VB2 anode. Finally, discharge of the completed VB2/air battery is reported. We show that using the zinc/air cell as a test bed is useful to provide a consistent configuration to study the performance of the high-energy high capacity nanoscopic VB2 anode. PMID:23962835

A simplified chair-side remount technique using customized mounting platforms.

PubMed

Chauhan, Mamta Devendrakumar; Dange, Shankar Pandharinath; Khalikar, Arun Narayan; Vaidya, Smita Padmakar

2012-08-01

Correct occlusal relationships are part of the successful prosthetic treatment for edentulous patients. Fabrication of complete dentures comprises of clinical and laboratory procedures that should be executed accurately for achieving success with fabricated dentures. Errors occurring during the clinical and laboratory procedures of a denture may subsequently lead to the occlusal errors in the final prosthesis. These occlusal errors can be corrected in two ways: i) in patient's mouth ii) by recording new centric relation and remounting dentures on an articulator. The latter method is more feasible because the mobility of denture base on the mucosa in oral cavity does not permit the identification of premature contacts in centric occlusion and tooth guided eccentric excursions. This article describes a modest and effective clinical chair-side remount procedure using customized mounting platforms.

A simplified chair-side remount technique using customized mounting platforms

PubMed Central

Dange, Shankar Pandharinath; Khalikar, Arun Narayan; Vaidya, Smita Padmakar

2012-01-01

Correct occlusal relationships are part of the successful prosthetic treatment for edentulous patients. Fabrication of complete dentures comprises of clinical and laboratory procedures that should be executed accurately for achieving success with fabricated dentures. Errors occurring during the clinical and laboratory procedures of a denture may subsequently lead to the occlusal errors in the final prosthesis. These occlusal errors can be corrected in two ways: i) in patient's mouth ii) by recording new centric relation and remounting dentures on an articulator. The latter method is more feasible because the mobility of denture base on the mucosa in oral cavity does not permit the identification of premature contacts in centric occlusion and tooth guided eccentric excursions. This article describes a modest and effective clinical chair-side remount procedure using customized mounting platforms. PMID:22977726

Out-of-plane buckling of pantographic fabrics in displacement-controlled shear tests: experimental results and model validation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barchiesi, Emilio; Ganzosch, Gregor; Liebold, Christian; Placidi, Luca; Grygoruk, Roman; Müller, Wolfgang H.

2018-01-01

Due to the latest advancements in 3D printing technology and rapid prototyping techniques, the production of materials with complex geometries has become more affordable than ever. Pantographic structures, because of their attractive features, both in dynamics and statics and both in elastic and inelastic deformation regimes, deserve to be thoroughly investigated with experimental and theoretical tools. Herein, experimental results relative to displacement-controlled large deformation shear loading tests of pantographic structures are reported. In particular, five differently sized samples are analyzed up to first rupture. Results show that the deformation behavior is strongly nonlinear, and the structures are capable of undergoing large elastic deformations without reaching complete failure. Finally, a cutting edge model is validated by means of these experimental results.

Thallium Bromide Deposited Using Spray Coating

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferreira, E. S.; Mulato, M.

2012-08-01

Spray coating was used to produce thallium bromide samples on glass substrates. The influence of several fabrication parameters on the final structural properties of the samples was investigated. Substrate position, substrate temperature, solution concentration, carrying gas, and solution flow were varied systematically, the physical deposition mechanism involved in each case being discussed. Total deposition time of about 3.5 h can lead to 62-μm-thick films, comprising completely packed micrometer-sized crystalline grains. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy were used to characterize the samples. On the basis of the experimental data, the optimum fabrication conditions were identified. The technique offers an alternative method for fast, cheap fabrication of large-area devices for the detection of high-energy radiation, i.e., X-rays and γ-rays, in medical imaging.

Exploration and design of smart home circuit based on ZigBee

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, Huirong

2018-05-01

To apply ZigBee technique in smart home circuit design, in the hardware design link of ZigBee node, TI Company's ZigBee wireless communication chip CC2530 was used to complete the design of ZigBee RF module circuit and peripheral circuit. In addition, the function demand and the overall scheme of the intelligent system based on smart home furnishing were proposed. Finally, the smart home system was built by combining ZigBee network and intelligent gateway. The function realization, reliability and power consumption of ZigBee network were tested. The results showed that ZigBee technology was applied to smart home system, making it have some advantages in terms of flexibility, scalability, power consumption and indoor aesthetics. To sum up, the system has high application value.

Enhanced oil recovery utilizing high-angle wells in the Frontier Formation, Badger Basin Field, Park County, Wyoming. Final technical progress report, October 21, 1992--December 31, 1994

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Walker, J.P.; Fortmann, R.G.

1995-03-21

Badger Basin Field was discovered in 1931. Production is principally from low-permeability fractured sandstones of the Upper Cretaceous Frontier Formation. Though many wells initially produced at about 100 barrels of oil per day or more, they now produce at stripper rates. Only about 12% of the estimated 25 million barrels of oil originally in-place will be produced from the twenty-two attempted vertical completions. The goal of this joint project between Sierra Energy Company (Sierra) and the US Department of Energy (DOE) was to recover addition reserves at economic rates through the use of 3D seismic and horizontal drilling and completingmore » techniques.« less

On-Line Enrichment Monitor (OLEM) Phase II Final Report Techniques and Equipment for Safeguards at Gas Centrifuge Enrichment Plants

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Younkin, James R.; Garner, James R.

2017-04-01

Over the last five years, OLEM has been a collaborative development effort involving the IAEA, LANL, ORNL, URENCO, and the NNSA. The collective team has completed the following: design and modelling, software development, hardware integration, testing with the ORNL UF6 Flow Loop, a field trial at the Urenco facility in Almelo, the Netherlands, and a Demonstration at the Urenco USA facility in Eunice, New Mexico. This combined effort culminated in the deployment of several OLEM collection nodes in Iran. These OLEM units are one unattended monitoring system component of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action allowing the International Atomic Energymore » Agency to verify Iran’s compliance with the enrichment production aspects of the agreement.« less

Recent Developments in Synthetic Carbohydrate-Based Diagnostics, Vaccines, and Therapeutics.

PubMed

Fernández-Tejada, Alberto; Cañada, F Javier; Jiménez-Barbero, Jesús

2015-07-20

Glycans are everywhere in biological systems, being involved in many cellular events with important implications for medical purposes. Building upon a detailed understanding of the functional roles of carbohydrates in molecular recognition processes and disease states, glycans are increasingly being considered as key players in pharmacological research. On the basis of the important progress recently made in glycochemistry, glycobiology, and glycomedicine, we provide a complete overview of successful applications and future perspectives of carbohydrates in the biopharmaceutical and medical fields. This review highlights the development of carbohydrate-based diagnostics, exemplified by glycan imaging techniques and microarray platforms, synthetic oligosaccharide vaccines against infectious diseases (e.g., HIV) and cancer, and finally carbohydrate-derived therapeutics, including glycomimetic drugs and glycoproteins. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

A review of in situ propellant production techniques for solar system exploration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hoffman, S. J.

1983-01-01

Representative studies done in the area of extraterrestrial chemical production as it applies to solar system exploration are presented. A description of the In Situ Propellant Production (ISPP) system is presented. Various propellant combinations and direct applications along with the previously mentioned benefits and liens are discussed. A series of mission scenarios is presented which is studied in the greatest detail. A general description of the method(s) of analysis used to study each mission is provided. Each section will be closed by an assessment of the performance advantage, if any, that can be provided by ISPP. A final section briefly summarizes those missions which, as a result of the studies completed thus far, should see a sizable benefit from the use of ISPP.

The emotion dysregulation inventory: Psychometric properties and item response theory calibration in an autism spectrum disorder sample.

PubMed

Mazefsky, Carla A; Yu, Lan; White, Susan W; Siegel, Matthew; Pilkonis, Paul A

2018-06-01

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often present with prominent emotion dysregulation that requires treatment but can be difficult to measure. The Emotion Dysregulation Inventory (EDI) was created using methods developed by the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS ® ) to capture observable indicators of poor emotion regulation. Caregivers of 1,755 youth with ASD completed 66 candidate EDI items, and the final 30 items were selected based on classical test theory and item response theory (IRT) analyses. The analyses identified two factors: (a) Reactivity, characterized by intense, rapidly escalating, sustained, and poorly regulated negative emotional reactions, and (b) Dysphoria, characterized by anhedonia, sadness, and nervousness. The final items did not show differential item functioning (DIF) based on gender, age, intellectual ability, or verbal ability. Because the final items were calibrated using IRT, even a small number of items offers high precision, minimizing respondent burden. IRT co-calibration of the EDI with related measures demonstrated its superiority in assessing the severity of emotion dysregulation with as few as seven items. Validity of the EDI was supported by expert review, its association with related constructs (e.g., anxiety and depression symptoms, aggression), higher scores in psychiatric inpatients with ASD compared to a community ASD sample, and demonstration of test-retest stability and sensitivity to change. In sum, the EDI provides an efficient and sensitive method to measure emotion dysregulation for clinical assessment, monitoring, and research in youth with ASD of any level of cognitive or verbal ability. Autism Res 2018, 11: 928-941. © 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. This paper describes a new measure of poor emotional control called the Emotion Dysregulation Inventory (EDI). Caregivers of 1,755 youth with ASD completed candidate items, and advanced statistical techniques were applied to identify the best final items. The EDI is unique because it captures common emotional problems in ASD and is appropriate for both nonverbal and verbal youth. It is an efficient and sensitive measure for use in clinical assessments, monitoring, and research with youth with ASD. © 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A Novel Design Framework for Structures/Materials with Enhanced Mechanical Performance

PubMed Central

Liu, Jie; Fan, Xiaonan; Wen, Guilin; Qing, Qixiang; Wang, Hongxin; Zhao, Gang

2018-01-01

Structure/material requires simultaneous consideration of both its design and manufacturing processes to dramatically enhance its manufacturability, assembly and maintainability. In this work, a novel design framework for structural/material with a desired mechanical performance and compelling topological design properties achieved using origami techniques is presented. The framework comprises four procedures, including topological design, unfold, reduction manufacturing, and fold. The topological design method, i.e., the solid isotropic material penalization (SIMP) method, serves to optimize the structure in order to achieve the preferred mechanical characteristics, and the origami technique is exploited to allow the structure to be rapidly and easily fabricated. Topological design and unfold procedures can be conveniently completed in a computer; then, reduction manufacturing, i.e., cutting, is performed to remove materials from the unfolded flat plate; the final structure is obtained by folding out the plate from the previous procedure. A series of cantilevers, consisting of origami parallel creases and Miura-ori (usually regarded as a metamaterial) and made of paperboard, are designed with the least weight and the required stiffness by using the proposed framework. The findings here furnish an alternative design framework for engineering structures that could be better than the 3D-printing technique, especially for large structures made of thin metal materials. PMID:29642555

Outcomes of endoscopic pilonidal sinus treatment (EPSiT): a systematic review.

PubMed

Tien, T; Athem, R; Arulampalam, T

2018-05-31

Pilonidal sinus is a common disease of the natal cleft, which can lead to complications including infection and abscess formation. Various operative management options are available, but the ideal technique is still debatable. More recently minimally invasive approaches have been described. Our aim was to review the current literature on endoscopic pilonidal sinus treatment (EPSiT) and its outcomes. A systematic literature review was conducted and reported in accordance to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. A search of EMBASE, MEDLINE and Cochrane Library was conducted in November 2017. Full-text studies on the use of endoscopy for the treatment of pilonidal sinus were included in the review. Initial search results returned 52 articles. Eight studies (eight case series and one randomised control trial) were included in the final qualitative synthesis. These studies demonstrated that EPSiT has good complete healing rates and low recurrence rates. There was also a high level of patient satisfaction and little time taken off work. Two studies reported modifications to the original technique. The main limitation was the lack of comparative studies. Initial studies on EPSiT have shown promising results. However, there is a need for a standardised technique and more comparative studies to validate this novel procedure.

Self-calibrating d-scan: measuring ultrashort laser pulses on-target using an arbitrary pulse compressor.

PubMed

Alonso, Benjamín; Sola, Íñigo J; Crespo, Helder

2018-02-19

In most applications of ultrashort pulse lasers, temporal compressors are used to achieve a desired pulse duration in a target or sample, and precise temporal characterization is important. The dispersion-scan (d-scan) pulse characterization technique usually involves using glass wedges to impart variable, well-defined amounts of dispersion to the pulses, while measuring the spectrum of a nonlinear signal produced by those pulses. This works very well for broadband few-cycle pulses, but longer, narrower bandwidth pulses are much more difficult to measure this way. Here we demonstrate the concept of self-calibrating d-scan, which extends the applicability of the d-scan technique to pulses of arbitrary duration, enabling their complete measurement without prior knowledge of the introduced dispersion. In particular, we show that the pulse compressors already employed in chirped pulse amplification (CPA) systems can be used to simultaneously compress and measure the temporal profile of the output pulses on-target in a simple way, without the need of additional diagnostics or calibrations, while at the same time calibrating the often-unknown differential dispersion of the compressor itself. We demonstrate the technique through simulations and experiments under known conditions. Finally, we apply it to the measurement and compression of 27.5 fs pulses from a CPA laser.

A Novel Design Framework for Structures/Materials with Enhanced Mechanical Performance.

PubMed

Liu, Jie; Fan, Xiaonan; Wen, Guilin; Qing, Qixiang; Wang, Hongxin; Zhao, Gang

2018-04-09

Abstract : Structure/material requires simultaneous consideration of both its design and manufacturing processes to dramatically enhance its manufacturability, assembly and maintainability. In this work, a novel design framework for structural/material with a desired mechanical performance and compelling topological design properties achieved using origami techniques is presented. The framework comprises four procedures, including topological design, unfold, reduction manufacturing, and fold. The topological design method, i.e., the solid isotropic material penalization (SIMP) method, serves to optimize the structure in order to achieve the preferred mechanical characteristics, and the origami technique is exploited to allow the structure to be rapidly and easily fabricated. Topological design and unfold procedures can be conveniently completed in a computer; then, reduction manufacturing, i.e., cutting, is performed to remove materials from the unfolded flat plate; the final structure is obtained by folding out the plate from the previous procedure. A series of cantilevers, consisting of origami parallel creases and Miura-ori (usually regarded as a metamaterial) and made of paperboard, are designed with the least weight and the required stiffness by using the proposed framework. The findings here furnish an alternative design framework for engineering structures that could be better than the 3D-printing technique, especially for large structures made of thin metal materials.

Evaluation of Am–Li neutron spectra data for active well type neutron multiplicity measurements of uranium

DOE PAGES

Goddard, Braden; Croft, Stephen; Lousteau, Angela; ...

2016-05-25

Safeguarding nuclear material is an important and challenging task for the international community. One particular safeguards technique commonly used for uranium assay is active neutron correlation counting. This technique involves irradiating unused uranium with ( α,n) neutrons from an Am-Li source and recording the resultant neutron pulse signal which includes induced fission neutrons. Although this non-destructive technique is widely employed in safeguards applications, the neutron energy spectra from an Am-Li sources is not well known. Several measurements over the past few decades have been made to characterize this spectrum; however, little work has been done comparing the measured spectra ofmore » various Am-Li sources to each other. This paper examines fourteen different Am-Li spectra, focusing on how these spectra affect simulated neutron multiplicity results using the code Monte Carlo N-Particle eXtended (MCNPX). Two measurement and simulation campaigns were completed using Active Well Coincidence Counter (AWCC) detectors and uranium standards of varying enrichment. The results of this work indicate that for standard AWCC measurements, the fourteen Am-Li spectra produce similar doubles and triples count rates. Finally, the singles count rates varied by as much as 20% between the different spectra, although they are usually not used in quantitative analysis.« less

Case file audit of Lidcombe program outcomes in a student-led stuttering clinic.

PubMed

McCulloch, Julia; Swift, Michelle C; Wagnitz, Bianca

2017-04-01

The current study aimed to benchmark clinical outcomes for preschool-aged clients (2;0-5;11 years old) that attended a student-led clinic and undertook the Lidcombe Program. A case file audit was undertaken for all preschool clients who attended the clinic between February 2008 and February 2013 and commenced the Lidcombe Program. Clients were grouped according to Stage 1 completion. A mixed ANOVA was used to test for differences between the groups in initial and final percentage syllables stuttered (%SS). Associations between case variable factors and treatment duration were investigated using Pearson correlations. Clients who completed Stage 1 had final %SS and severity rating (SR) scores comparable to the literature; however, the median Stage 1 duration was greater. Over half of the clients (57%) withdrew prior to completing Stage 1. These clients had a significantly higher %SS at final treatment session than their completing peers. Initial %SS and SR scores were the only case variables associated with treatment duration. Students can achieve the same short-term treatment outcomes for children who stutter using the Lidcombe Program as the current published literature; however, treatment duration is greater and may impact completion. Implications of this for clinical education are discussed.

Modelling regulation of decomposition and related root/mycorrhizal processes in arctic tundra soils. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Linkins, A.E.

1992-09-01

Since this was the final year of this project principal activities were directed towards either collecting data needed to complete existing incomplete data sets or writing manuscripts. Data sets on Imnaviat Creek watershed basin are functionally complete and data finialized on the cellulose mineralizaiton and dust impact on soil organic carbon and phsophorus decomposition. Seven manuscripts were prepared, and are briefly outlined.

7 CFR 1940.321 - Use of completed EIS.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... final EIS will be a major factor in the Agency's final decision. Agency staff making recommendations on...-COOPERATIVE SERVICE, RURAL UTILITIES SERVICE, AND FARM SERVICE AGENCY, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (CONTINUED... subpart and provide them to the approving official prior to a final decision. ...

Predictors of performance of students in biochemistry in a doctor of chiropractic curriculum.

PubMed

Shaw, Kathy; Rabatsky, Ali; Dishman, Veronica; Meseke, Christopher

2014-01-01

Objective : This study investigated the effect of completion of course prerequisites, undergraduate grade point average (GPA), undergraduate degree, and study habits on the performance of students in the biochemistry course at Palmer College of Chiropractic Florida. Methods : Students self-reported information regarding academic preparation at the beginning of the semester using a questionnaire. Final exam grade and final course grade were noted and used as measures of performance. Multivariate analysis of variance was used to determine if number of prerequisites completed, undergraduate GPA, undergraduate degree, hours spent studying in undergraduate study, and hours spent studying in the first quarter of the chiropractic program were associated significantly with the biochemistry final exam grade or the final grade for the biochemistry course. Results : The number of prerequisites completed, undergraduate degree, hours spent studying in undergraduate study, and hours spent studying in the first quarter of the chiropractic program did not significantly affect the biochemistry final exam grade or the final grade for the biochemistry course, but undergraduate GPA did. Subsequent univariate analysis and Tukey's post hoc comparisons revealed that students with an undergraduate GPA in the 3.5 to 3.99 range earned significantly higher final course grades than students with an undergraduate GPA in the 2.5 to 2.99 range. Conclusion : No single variable was determined to be a factor that determines student success in biochemistry. The interrelationship between the factors examined warrants further investigation to understand fully how to predict the success of a student in the biochemistry course.

[Study of the appearance difference of lower complete denture between functional and anatomic impression techniques].

PubMed

Zhong, Qun; Wu, Xue-yin; Shen, Qing-yi; Shen, Qing-ping

2012-04-01

To compare the difference in oblique external ridge, oblique internal ridge and alveolar process crest of lower complete denture base made through functional impression and anatomic impression techniques. Fifteen patients were chosen to treat with two kinds of complete dentures through functional impression and anatomic impression technique respectively. 3D laser scanner was used to scan the three-dimensional model of the denture base and the differences of the surface structural between two techniques in alveolar process crest, external and internal oblique ridges were analyzed, using paired t test with SPSS 12.0 software package. Between the two techniques, there were significant differences in the areas of internal and external oblique ridge(P<0.01); there was no significant difference in the main support areas(P>0.05). The results explain why there is less tenderness when functional impression technique is applied. The differences measured also indicate that sufficient buffering should be made in external and internal oblique ridge areas in clinic.

Traco Final Exam and Course Evaluation | Center for Cancer Research

Cancer.gov

Numerous students have requested a certificate upon completion of TRACO.  To obtain a certificate you MUST answer 17 of the 26 final examination questions correctly. In the final examination, 1 question is derived from each of the 1-hour lectures.

Progressive restoration of spinal sagittal balance after surgical correction of lumbosacral spondylolisthesis before skeletal maturity.

PubMed

Thomas, Diala; Bachy, Manon; Courvoisier, Aurélien; Dubory, Arnaud; Bouloussa, Houssam; Vialle, Raphaël

2015-03-01

Spinopelvic alignment is crucial in assessing an energy-efficient posture in both normal and disease states, such as high-displacement developmental spondylolisthesis (HDDS). The overall effect in patients with HDDS who have undergone local surgical correction of lumbosacral imbalance for the global correction of spinal balance remains unclear. This paper reports the progressive spontaneous improvement of global sagittal balance following surgical correction of lumbosacral imbalance in patients with HDDS. The records of 15 patients with HDDS who underwent surgery between 2005 and 2010 were reviewed. The treatment consisted of L4-sacrum reduction and fusion via a posterior approach, resulting in complete correction of lumbosacral kyphosis. Preoperative, 6-month postoperative, and final follow-up postoperative angular measurements were taken from full-spine lateral radiographs obtained with the patient in a standard standing position. Radiographic measurements included pelvic incidence, sacral slope, lumbar lordosis, and thoracic kyphosis. The degree of lumbosacral kyphosis was evaluated by the lumbosacral angle. Because of the small number of patients, nonparametric tests were considered for data analysis. Preoperative lumbosacral kyphosis and L-5 anterior slip were corrected by instrumentation. Transient neurological complications were noted in 5 patients. Statistical analysis showed a significant increase of thoracic kyphosis on 6-month postoperative and final follow-up radiographs (p < 0.001). A statistically significant decrease of lumbar lordosis was noted between preoperative and 6-month control radiographs (p < 0.001) and between preoperative and final follow-up radiographs (p < 0.001). Based on the authors' observations, this technique resulted in an effective reduction of L-5 anterior slip and significant reduction of lumbosacral kyphosis (from 69.8° to 105.13°). Due to complete reduction of lumbosacral kyphosis and anterior trunk displacement associated with L-5 anterior slipping, lumbar lordosis progressively decreased and thoracic kyphosis progressively increased postoperatively. Adjusting the sagittal trunk balance produced not only pelvic anteversion, but also reciprocal adjustment of lumbar lordosis and thoracic kyphosis, creating a satisfactory level of compensated global sagittal balance.

Creating Kepler's Final KOI Catalog while Balancing Completeness and Reliability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thompson, Susan E.; Coughlin, Jeffrey L.; Mullally, Fergal R.; Christiansen, Jessie; Burke, Christopher J.; Kepler Team

2016-06-01

We report on the Kepler Mission's plan to create the final planetary candidate catalog (Data Release 25 KOI catalog), which will be fully automated and uniformly vetted. This catalog is based on evaluating the periodic events reported in the DR25 TCE table (Twicken et al. 2016) available at the NASA exoplanet archive. As with the previous KOI catalog (DR24) the intent is to prioritize uniformity and completeness over obtaining 100% accuracy. In this way, the completeness and the reliability of the KOI table can be measured so that exoplanet occurrence rates can easily be calculated. We use, and improve upon, the DR24 rule-based vetter (Robovetter, Coughlin et al. 2016) to create the final dispositions in the catalog. As done before, the Robovetter's decisions will be tested against injected transits to show that true transit-like signatures are retained. Additionally, the Robovetter will be tested against TCEs found in inverted light curves as a way of showing that the Robovetter is effectively removing false alarms. We will discuss our current methods, any obstacles in our path, and the timeline for delvering Kepler's final planet candidate catalog.

Dual-Tree Complex Wavelet Transform and Image Block Residual-Based Multi-Focus Image Fusion in Visual Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

Yang, Yong; Tong, Song; Huang, Shuying; Lin, Pan

2014-01-01

This paper presents a novel framework for the fusion of multi-focus images explicitly designed for visual sensor network (VSN) environments. Multi-scale based fusion methods can often obtain fused images with good visual effect. However, because of the defects of the fusion rules, it is almost impossible to completely avoid the loss of useful information in the thus obtained fused images. The proposed fusion scheme can be divided into two processes: initial fusion and final fusion. The initial fusion is based on a dual-tree complex wavelet transform (DTCWT). The Sum-Modified-Laplacian (SML)-based visual contrast and SML are employed to fuse the low- and high-frequency coefficients, respectively, and an initial composited image is obtained. In the final fusion process, the image block residuals technique and consistency verification are used to detect the focusing areas and then a decision map is obtained. The map is used to guide how to achieve the final fused image. The performance of the proposed method was extensively tested on a number of multi-focus images, including no-referenced images, referenced images, and images with different noise levels. The experimental results clearly indicate that the proposed method outperformed various state-of-the-art fusion methods, in terms of both subjective and objective evaluations, and is more suitable for VSNs. PMID:25587878

Dual-tree complex wavelet transform and image block residual-based multi-focus image fusion in visual sensor networks.

PubMed

Yang, Yong; Tong, Song; Huang, Shuying; Lin, Pan

2014-11-26

This paper presents a novel framework for the fusion of multi-focus images explicitly designed for visual sensor network (VSN) environments. Multi-scale based fusion methods can often obtain fused images with good visual effect. However, because of the defects of the fusion rules, it is almost impossible to completely avoid the loss of useful information in the thus obtained fused images. The proposed fusion scheme can be divided into two processes: initial fusion and final fusion. The initial fusion is based on a dual-tree complex wavelet transform (DTCWT). The Sum-Modified-Laplacian (SML)-based visual contrast and SML are employed to fuse the low- and high-frequency coefficients, respectively, and an initial composited image is obtained. In the final fusion process, the image block residuals technique and consistency verification are used to detect the focusing areas and then a decision map is obtained. The map is used to guide how to achieve the final fused image. The performance of the proposed method was extensively tested on a number of multi-focus images, including no-referenced images, referenced images, and images with different noise levels. The experimental results clearly indicate that the proposed method outperformed various state-of-the-art fusion methods, in terms of both subjective and objective evaluations, and is more suitable for VSNs.

Fission gas bubble identification using MATLAB's image processing toolbox

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Collette, R.

Automated image processing routines have the potential to aid in the fuel performance evaluation process by eliminating bias in human judgment that may vary from person-to-person or sample-to-sample. This study presents several MATLAB based image analysis routines designed for fission gas void identification in post-irradiation examination of uranium molybdenum (U–Mo) monolithic-type plate fuels. Frequency domain filtration, enlisted as a pre-processing technique, can eliminate artifacts from the image without compromising the critical features of interest. This process is coupled with a bilateral filter, an edge-preserving noise removal technique aimed at preparing the image for optimal segmentation. Adaptive thresholding proved to bemore » the most consistent gray-level feature segmentation technique for U–Mo fuel microstructures. The Sauvola adaptive threshold technique segments the image based on histogram weighting factors in stable contrast regions and local statistics in variable contrast regions. Once all processing is complete, the algorithm outputs the total fission gas void count, the mean void size, and the average porosity. The final results demonstrate an ability to extract fission gas void morphological data faster, more consistently, and at least as accurately as manual segmentation methods. - Highlights: •Automated image processing can aid in the fuel qualification process. •Routines are developed to characterize fission gas bubbles in irradiated U–Mo fuel. •Frequency domain filtration effectively eliminates FIB curtaining artifacts. •Adaptive thresholding proved to be the most accurate segmentation method. •The techniques established are ready to be applied to large scale data extraction testing.« less

Tracking delays in report availability caused by incorrect exam status with Web-based issue tracking: a quality initiative.

PubMed

Awan, Omer Abdulrehman; van Wagenberg, Frans; Daly, Mark; Safdar, Nabile; Nagy, Paul

2011-04-01

Many radiology information systems (RIS) cannot accept a final report from a dictation reporting system before the exam has been completed in the RIS by a technologist. A radiologist can still render a report in a reporting system once images are available, but the RIS and ancillary systems may not get the results because of the study's uncompleted status. This delay in completing the study caused an alarming number of delayed reports and was undetected by conventional RIS reporting techniques. We developed a Web-based reporting tool to monitor uncompleted exams and automatically page section supervisors when a report was being delayed by its incomplete status in the RIS. Institutional Review Board exemption was obtained. At four imaging centers, a Python script was developed to poll the dictation system every 10 min for exams in five different modalities that were signed by the radiologist but could not be sent to the RIS. This script logged the exams into an existing Web-based tracking tool using PHP and a MySQL database. The script also text-paged the modality supervisor. The script logged the time at which the report was finally sent, and statistics were aggregated onto a separate Web-based reporting tool. Over a 1-year period, the average number of uncompleted exams per month and time to problem resolution decreased at every imaging center and in almost every imaging modality. Automated feedback provides a vital link in improving technologist performance and patient care without assigning a human resource to manage report queues.

Multiple FoV MCAO on its way to the sky

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bergomi, Maria; Viotto, Valentina; Farinato, Jacopo; Marafatto, Luca; Radakrishnan, Kalyan; Ragazzoni, Roberto; Dima, Marco; Magrin, Demetrio; Arcidiacono, Carmelo; Diolaiti, Emiliano; Foppiani, Italo; Lombini, Matteo; Schreiber, Laura; Bertram, Thomas; Bizenberger, Peter; Conrad, Al; Herbst, Tom; Kittmann, Frank; Kopon, Derek; Meschke, Daniel; Zhang, Xianyu

2013-12-01

LINC-NIRVANA, an infrared camera working in a Fizeau interferometric layout, takes advantage of the Layer Oriented MCAO MFoV technique to correct a 2 arcmin FoV using only Natural Guide Stars (NGSs), exploiting the central 10 arcsec with a resolving power of a 23 meter telescope. For each arm of the LBT telescope 2 WaveFront Sensors (WFSs) optically conjugated, respectively at ground and high (7 km) layers, are used to search for NGSs. To avoid unnecessary waste of photons the two sensors look at different FoVs. The ground-layer one, essentially limited by practical conditions, searches for up to 12 NGSs in an annular 2-6 arcmin FoV, while the high-layer one, limited by the pupils superposition, looks for up to 8 NGSs in the central 2 arcmin FoV. The concept has left paper's realm to become glass and metal a few years ago. With the completion of the 2 high-layer WFSs by INAF-Bologna and, recently with the successful tests performed on the first ground-layer WFSs by INAF-Padova, further followed by the GWS Pathfinder experiment to test the ground layer correction at LBT, in collaboration with MPIA-Heidelberg, the concept is finally getting closer to its on-sky commissioning, foreseen in the next very few years. In this paper the basic concepts of MFoV MCAO will be revised, the current status of the system described and the near future toward final completion of the instrument depicted. Moreover a possible path for this concept toward an ELT will be traced.

Rapid Prototyping Technologies and their Applications in Prosthodontics, a Review of Literature

PubMed Central

Torabi, Kianoosh; Farjood, Ehsan; Hamedani, Shahram

2015-01-01

The early computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) systems were relied exclusively on subtractive methods. In recent years, additive methods by employing rapid prototyping (RP) have progressed rapidly in various fields of dentistry as they have the potential to overcome known drawbacks of subtractive techniques such as fit problems. RP techniques have been exploited to build complex 3D models in medicine since the 1990s. RP has recently proposed successful applications in various dental fields, such as fabrication of implant surgical guides, frameworks for fixed and removable partial dentures, wax patterns for the dental prosthesis, zirconia prosthesis and molds for metal castings, and maxillofacial prosthesis and finally, complete dentures. This paper aimed to offer a comprehensive literature review of various RP methods, particularly in dentistry, that are expected to bring many improvements to the field. A search was made through MEDLINE database and Google scholar search engine. The keywords; ‘rapid prototyping’ and ‘dentistry’ were searched in title/abstract of publications; limited to 2003 to 2013, concerning past decade. The inclusion criterion was the technical researches that predominately included laboratory procedures. The exclusion criterion was meticulous clinical and excessive technical procedures. A total of 106 articles were retrieved, recited by authors and only 50 met the specified inclusion criteria for this review. Selected articles had used rapid prototyping techniques in various fields in dentistry through different techniques. This review depicted the different laboratory procedures employed in this method and confirmed that RP technique have been substantially feasible in dentistry. With advancement in various RP systems, it is possible to benefit from this technique in different dental practices, particularly in implementing dental prostheses for different applications. PMID:25759851

Rapid Prototyping Technologies and their Applications in Prosthodontics, a Review of Literature.

PubMed

Torabi, Kianoosh; Farjood, Ehsan; Hamedani, Shahram

2015-03-01

The early computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) systems were relied exclusively on subtractive methods. In recent years, additive methods by employing rapid prototyping (RP) have progressed rapidly in various fields of dentistry as they have the potential to overcome known drawbacks of subtractive techniques such as fit problems. RP techniques have been exploited to build complex 3D models in medicine since the 1990s. RP has recently proposed successful applications in various dental fields, such as fabrication of implant surgical guides, frameworks for fixed and removable partial dentures, wax patterns for the dental prosthesis, zirconia prosthesis and molds for metal castings, and maxillofacial prosthesis and finally, complete dentures. This paper aimed to offer a comprehensive literature review of various RP methods, particularly in dentistry, that are expected to bring many improvements to the field. A search was made through MEDLINE database and Google scholar search engine. The keywords; 'rapid prototyping' and 'dentistry' were searched in title/abstract of publications; limited to 2003 to 2013, concerning past decade. The inclusion criterion was the technical researches that predominately included laboratory procedures. The exclusion criterion was meticulous clinical and excessive technical procedures. A total of 106 articles were retrieved, recited by authors and only 50 met the specified inclusion criteria for this review. Selected articles had used rapid prototyping techniques in various fields in dentistry through different techniques. This review depicted the different laboratory procedures employed in this method and confirmed that RP technique have been substantially feasible in dentistry. With advancement in various RP systems, it is possible to benefit from this technique in different dental practices, particularly in implementing dental prostheses for different applications.

One-stage lengthening using a locked nailing technique for distal femoral shaft nonunions associated with shortening.

PubMed

Wu, Chi-Chuan; Lee, Zhon-Liau

2004-02-01

To assess the effectiveness of a one-stage lengthening using a locked nail technique for the treatment of distal femoral shaft nonunions associated with shortening. Retrospective. University hospital. During a 6-year period, 36 distal femoral shaft nonunions associated with shortening (>1.5 cm) were treated by the one-stage lengthening technique. Indications for this technique were distal femoral shaft aseptic or quiescent infected nonunions, 1.5-5 cm shortening, and a fracture level suitable for the insertion of two distal locked screws. The surgical technique involved skeletal traction using the femoral condyle, local débridement, lengthening by

AUDIOVISUAL RESOURCES ON THE TEACHING PROCESS IN SURGICAL TECHNIQUE

PubMed Central

PUPULIM, Guilherme Luiz Lenzi; IORIS, Rafael Augusto; GAMA, Ricardo Ribeiro; RIBAS, Carmen Australia Paredes Marcondes; MALAFAIA, Osvaldo; GAMA, Mirnaluci

2015-01-01

Background: The development of didactic means to create opportunities to permit complete and repetitive viewing of surgical procedures is of great importance nowadays due to the increasing difficulty of doing in vivo training. Thus, audiovisual resources favor the maximization of living resources used in education, and minimize problems arising only with verbalism. Aim: To evaluate the use of digital video as a pedagogical strategy in surgical technique teaching in medical education. Methods: Cross-sectional study with 48 students of the third year of medicine, when studying in the surgical technique discipline. They were divided into two groups with 12 in pairs, both subject to the conventional method of teaching, and one of them also exposed to alternative method (video) showing the technical details. All students did phlebotomy in the experimental laboratory, with evaluation and assistance of the teacher/monitor while running. Finally, they answered a self-administered questionnaire related to teaching method when performing the operation. Results: Most of those who did not watch the video took longer time to execute the procedure, did more questions and needed more faculty assistance. The total exposed to video followed the chronology of implementation and approved the new method; 95.83% felt able to repeat the procedure by themselves, and 62.5% of those students that only had the conventional method reported having regular capacity of technique assimilation. In both groups mentioned having regular difficulty, but those who have not seen the video had more difficulty in performing the technique. Conclusion: The traditional method of teaching associated with the video favored the ability to understand and transmitted safety, particularly because it is activity that requires technical skill. The technique with video visualization motivated and arouse interest, facilitated the understanding and memorization of the steps for procedure implementation, benefiting the students performance. PMID:26734790

Comparative study of DNA encapsulation into PLGA microparticles using modified double emulsion methods and spray drying techniques.

PubMed

Oster, C G; Kissel, T

2005-05-01

Recently, several research groups have shown the potential of microencapsulated DNA as adjuvant for DNA immunization and in tissue engineering approaches. Among techniques generally used for microencapsulation of hydrophilic drug substances into hydrophobic polymers, modified WOW double emulsion method and spray drying of water-in-oil dispersions take a prominent position. The key parameters for optimized microspheres are particle size, encapsulation efficiency, continuous DNA release and stabilization of DNA against enzymatic and mechanical degradation. This study investigates the possibility to encapsulate DNA avoiding shear forces which readily degrade DNA during this microencapsulation. DNA microparticles were prepared with polyethylenimine (PEI) as a complexation agent for DNA. Polycations are capable of stabilizing DNA against enzymatic, as well as mechanical degradation. Further, complexation was hypothesized to facilitate the encapsulation by reducing the size of the macromolecule. This study additionally evaluated the possibility of encapsulating lyophilized DNA and lyophilized DNA/PEI complexes. For this purpose, the spray drying and double emulsion techniques were compared. The size of the microparticles was characterized by laser diffractometry and the particles were visualized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). DNA encapsulation efficiencies were investigated photometrically after complete hydrolysis of the particles. Finally, the DNA release characteristics from the particles were studied. Particles with a size of <10 microm which represent the threshold for phagocytic uptake could be prepared with these techniques. The encapsulation efficiency ranged from 100-35% for low theoretical DNA loadings. DNA complexation with PEI 25?kDa prior to the encapsulation process reduced the initial burst release of DNA for all techniques used. Spray-dried particles without PEI exhibited high burst releases, whereas double emulsion techniques showed continuous release rates.

Drilling and completion of the three CO2SINK boreholes in Europe's pilot CO2 storage and verification project in an onshore saline aquifer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prevedel, P.,; Wohlgemuth, L.; Legarth, B.; Henninges, J.; Schütt, H.; Schmidt-Hattenberger, C.; Norden, B.; Förster, A.; Hurter, S.

2009-04-01

This paper reports the CO2SINK drilling and permanent monitoring completions, as well as the well testing techniques applied in Europe's first scientific carbon dioxide onshore storage test in a saline aquifer near the town of Ketzin, 40 km east of Berlin/Germany. Three boreholes, one injection and two observation wells have been drilled in 2007 to a total depth of about 800 m. The wells were completed as "smart" wells containing a variety of permanently installed down-hole sensors, which have successfully proven their functionality during over their first injection year and are the key instruments for the continuous monitoring of the CO2 inside the reservoir during the storage phase. Constructing three wells in close proximity of 50 to 100m distance to each other with a dense sensor and monitoring cable population requires detailed planning and employment of high-end project management tools. All wells were cased with stainless final casings equipped with pre-perforated sand filters in the pay-zone and wired on the outside with two fibre-optical, one multi-conductor copper, and a PU-heating cable to the surface. The reservoir casing section is externally coated with a fibre-glass-resin wrap for electrical insulation of the 15 geo-electrical toroid antennas in the open hole section. A staged cementation program was selected in combination with the application of a newly developed swellable rubber packer technology and specialized cementation down-hole tools. This technology was given preference over perforation work inside the final casing at the reservoir face, which would have created unmanageable risks of potential damage of the outside casing cables. Prior to the start of the injection phase, an extensive production and injection well test program as well as well-to-well interference tests were performed in order to determine the optimum CO2 injection regime.

20 CFR 222.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... this chapter. Final divorce means a divorce that completely dissolves a marriage and restores the parties to the status of single persons; it is also referred to as an absolute divorce. Finally divorced person means a person whose marriage has been terminated or dissolved by a final divorce. Legal...

20 CFR 222.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... this chapter. Final divorce means a divorce that completely dissolves a marriage and restores the parties to the status of single persons; it is also referred to as an absolute divorce. Finally divorced person means a person whose marriage has been terminated or dissolved by a final divorce. Legal...

20 CFR 222.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... this chapter. Final divorce means a divorce that completely dissolves a marriage and restores the parties to the status of single persons; it is also referred to as an absolute divorce. Finally divorced person means a person whose marriage has been terminated or dissolved by a final divorce. Legal...

20 CFR 222.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... this chapter. Final divorce means a divorce that completely dissolves a marriage and restores the parties to the status of single persons; it is also referred to as an absolute divorce. Finally divorced person means a person whose marriage has been terminated or dissolved by a final divorce. Legal...

Understanding Nanoemulsion Formation and Developing a Procedure for Porous Material Growth using Assembled Nanoemulsions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yeranossian, Vahagn Frounzig

Nanoemulsions as an emerging technology have found many applications in consumer products, drug delivery, and even particle formation. However, knowledge gaps exist in how some of these emulsions are formed, specifically what pathways are traversed to reach the final state. Moreover, how these pathways affect the final properties of the nanoemulsions would affect the applications that these droplets possess. Some nanoemulsions possess unique properties, including the assembly of droplets. While the assembly of droplets is being studied in the Helgeson lab, work must be done to understand how the assembly itself could be used to control the growth of porous materials, such a hydrogels. Thus, this thesis aims to address two factors of nanoemulsions: the formation of water-in-oil nanoemulsions and the use of assemblying droplets in oil-in-water nanoemulsions to form macroporous hydrogels. To elucidate the formation mechanism of water-in-oil nanoemulsions, a combination of dynamic light scattering and small angle neutron scattering were used to study the intermediate and final states of the nanoemulsion during its formation. These nanoemulsions were prepared by slowly adding water to an oil and surfactant mixture and were diluted to effectively measure using scattering techniques without multiple scattering events. To develop a procedure to use assembled nanoemulsions for the growth of porous materials, a combination of optical microscopy and diffusional studies were employed. Optical microscopy images taken at various stages of the procedure help elucidate how the pore sizes of the final porous material is related to the droplet-rich domains of the assembled nanoemulsion. Meanwhile, diffusional measurements help confirm the size and interconnectedness of the macropores. From the work done in the completion of my thesis, the formation mechanism of the water-in-oil nanoemulsion studied has been elucidated. The neutron scattering measurements show that during the formation of the nanoemulsion, a combination of droplets and vesicles form. The presence of vesicles provides insight into how chemical additives in the water would affect the final droplet properties. This insight can be used to design water-in-oil nanoemulsions to be used for the controlled synthesis of solid nanoparticles. Additionally, this work demonstrates a potential procedure for developing macroporous hydrogels using nanoemulsions that are assembled into droplet-rich and droplet-poor domains. Through mild UV cross-linking conditions and mild solvent extraction techniques, the pore sizes could be equivalent to the droplet-rich domain sizes. The final hydrogels can control diffusivity of molecules, giving them potential applications in drug delivery.

28 CFR 22.25 - Final disposition of identifiable materials.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... RESEARCH AND STATISTICAL INFORMATION § 22.25 Final disposition of identifiable materials. Upon completion of a research or statistical project the security of identifiable research or statistical information...

28 CFR 22.25 - Final disposition of identifiable materials.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... RESEARCH AND STATISTICAL INFORMATION § 22.25 Final disposition of identifiable materials. Upon completion of a research or statistical project the security of identifiable research or statistical information...

Structural Inference in the Art of Violin Making.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morse-Fortier, Leonard Joseph

The "secrets" of success of early Italian violins have long been sought. Among their many efforts to reproduce the results of Stradiveri, Guarneri, and Amati, luthiers have attempted to order and match natural resonant frequencies in the free violin plates. This tap-tone plate tuning technique is simply an eigenvalue extraction scheme. In the final stages of carving, the violin maker complements considerable intuitive knowledge of violin plate structure and of modal attributes with tap-tone frequency estimates to better understand plate structure and to inform decisions about plate carving and completeness. Examining the modal attributes of violin plates, this work develops and incorporates an impulse-response scheme for modal inference, measures resonant frequencies and modeshapes for a pair of violin plates, and presents modeshapes through a unique computer visualization scheme developed specifically for this purpose. The work explores, through simple examples questions of how plate modal attributes reflect underlying structure, and questions about the so -called evolution of modeshapes and frequencies through assembly of the violin. Separately, the work develops computer code for a carved, anisotropic, plate/shell finite element. Solutions are found to the static displacement and free-vibration eigenvalue problems for an orthotropic plate, and used to verify element accuracy. Finally, a violin back plate is modelled with full consideration of plate thickness and arching. Model estimates for modal attributes compare very well against experimentally acquired values. Finally, the modal synthesis technique is applied to predicting the modal attributes of the violin top plate with ribs attached from those of the top plate alone, and with an estimate of rib mass and stiffness. This last analysis serves to verify the modal synthesis method, and to quantify its limits of applicability in attempting to solve problems with severe structural modification. Conclusions emphasize the importance of better understanding the underlying structure, improved understanding of its relationship to modal attributes, and better estimates of wood elasticity.

Project F. A. S. T.: Facilitating Academic Study Techniques for Handicapped Children. Volume 2. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Clessen J.

Volume 2, the appendix to the final report of Project FAST, consists of prose selections used to study the effects of text reduction techniques on the comprehension and recall of written materials among visually handicapped and hearing impaired subjects. Each selection is presented in various versions such as 10 percent subjective deleted, 20…

Effects of Cervical High-Velocity Low-Amplitude Techniques on Range of Motion, Strength Performance, and Cardiovascular Outcomes: A Review.

PubMed

Galindez-Ibarbengoetxea, Xabier; Setuain, Igor; Andersen, Lars L; Ramírez-Velez, Robinson; González-Izal, Miriam; Jauregi, Andoni; Izquierdo, Mikel

2017-09-01

Cervical high-velocity low-amplitude (HVLA) manipulation technique is among the oldest and most frequently used chiropractic manual therapy, but the physiologic and biomechanics effects were not completely clear. This review aims to describe the effects of cervical HVLA manipulation techniques on range of motion, strength, and cardiovascular performance. A systematic search was conducted of the electronic databases from January 2000 to August 2016: PubMed (n = 131), ScienceDirect (n = 101), Scopus (n = 991), PEDro (n = 33), CINAHL (n = 884), and SciELO (n = 5). Two independent reviewers conducted the screening process to determine article eligibility. The intervention that included randomized controlled trials was thrust, or HVLA, manipulative therapy directed to the cervical spine. Methodological quality was assessed using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool. The initial search rendered 2145 articles. After screening titles and abstracts, 11 articles remained for full-text review. The review shows that cervical HVLA manipulation treatment results in a large effect size (d > 0.80) on increasing cervical range of motion and mouth opening. In patients with lateral epicondylalgia, cervical HVLA manipulation resulted in increased pain-free handgrip strength, with large effect sizes (1.44 and 0.78, respectively). Finally, in subjects with hypertension the blood pressure seemed to decrease after cervical HVLA manipulation. Higher quality studies are needed to develop a stronger evidence-based foundation for HVLA manipulation techniques as a treatment for cervical conditions.

A robust seeding technique for the growth of single grain (RE)BCO and (RE)BCO-Ag bulk superconductors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Namburi, Devendra K.; Shi, Yunhua; Dennis, Anthony R.; Durrell, John H.; Cardwell, David A.

2018-04-01

Bulk, single grains of RE-Ba-Cu-O [(RE)BCO] high temperature superconductors have significant potential for a wide range of applications, including trapped field magnets, energy storage flywheels, superconducting mixers and magnetic separators. One of the main challenges in the production of these materials by the so-called top seeded melt growth technique is the reliable seeding of large, single grains, which are required for high field applications. A chemically aggressive liquid phase comprising of BaCuO2 and CuO is generated during the single grain growth process, which comes into direct contact with the seed crystal either instantaneously or via infiltration through a buffer pellet, if employed in the process. This can cause either partial or complete melting of the seed, leading subsequently to growth failure. Here, the underlying mechanisms of seed crystal melting and the role of seed porosity in the single grain growth process are investigated. We identify seed porosity as a key limitation in the reliable and successful fabrication of large grain (RE)BCO bulk superconductors for the first time, and propose the use of Mg-doped NdBCO generic seeds fabricated via the infiltration growth technique to reduce the effects of seed porosity on the melt growth process. Finally, we demonstrate that the use of such seeds leads to better resistance to melting during the single grain growth process, and therefore to a more reliable fabrication technique.

Multi-Sensor Documentation of Metric and Qualitative Information of Historic Stone Structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adamopoulos, E.; Tsilimantou, E.; Keramidas, V.; Apostolopoulou, M.; Karoglou, M.; Tapinaki, S.; Ioannidis, C.; Georgopoulos, A.; Moropoulou, A.

2017-08-01

This paper focuses on the integration of multi-sensor techniques regarding the acquisition, processing, visualisation and management of data regarding historic stone structures. The interdisciplinary methodology that is carried out here comprises of two parts. In the first part, the acquisition of qualitative and quantitative data concerning the geometry, the materials and the degradation of the tangible heritage asset each time, is discussed. The second part, refers to the analysis, management and visualization of the interrelated data by using spatial information technologies. Through the paradigm of the surveying of the ancient temple of Pythian Apollo at Acropolis of Rhodes, Rhodes Island, Greece, it is aimed to highlight the issues deriving from the separate application of documentation procedures and how the fusion of these methods can contribute effectively to ensure the completeness of the measurements for complex structures. The surveying results are further processed to be compatible and integrated with GIS. Also, the geometric documentation derivatives are combined with environmental data and the results of the application of non-destructive testing and evaluation techniques in situ and analytical techniques in lab after sampling. GIS operations are utilized to document the building materials but also to model and to analyse the decay extent and patterns. Detailed surface measurements and geo-processing analysis are executed. This integrated approach, helps the assessment of past interventions on the monument, identify main causes of damage and decay, and finally assist the decision making on the most compatible materials and techniques for protection and restoration works.

Upper and lower full arch dental reconstruction with implant supported overdentures: a case study.

PubMed

Sullivan, Jerome P

2013-04-01

In clinical situations where implant placement in the maxilla is prohibited due to the lack of available bone, more invasive techniques such as autogenous bone grafting and sinus augmentation are often off-putting to patients due to the added expense, risk and morbidity. Purpose of treatment: The intention of this treatment was to dentally restore a patient with a severely resorbed edentulous maxilla, without the use of any grafting techniques. Under local anaesthetic, five implants were placed in the patient's maxilla using the combined techniques of alveolar ridge-splitting and a Summer's lift. The crest of the alveolus was dissected bilaterally with a fine rotary disc. A combination of osteotomes and bone spreaders were then used to create the individual osteotomies. In the most distal site on the right side, the floor of the maxillary sinus was tapped up to facilitate implant placement. All implants were submerged under the gum for six months to allow them to ossteointegrate. Restorative stages were then completed. At six months, all five maxillary implants had successfully integrated. The maxilla also showed marked expansion where the alveolus had been dissected and bone had healed between the separated buccal and palatal plates. The final restoration was a metal-framed overdenture attached to a milled titanium bar supported on five implants. In this single case study, a patient's atrophic, edentulous maxilla was successfully restored without grafting techniques. The overdenture has been in trouble-free function for two years.

Northeast Corridor Improvement Project Electrification - New Haven, CT to Boston, MA : Final Environmental Statement/Report : v. 2. Technical Studies

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1994-10-31

This document is the final environmental impact statement and final environmental impact report (FEIS/R) on the proposal by the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) to complete the electrification of the Northeast Corridor main line by ex...

24 CFR 3285.6 - Final leveling of manufactured home.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 5 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Final leveling of manufactured home... HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT MODEL MANUFACTURED HOME INSTALLATION STANDARDS General § 3285.6 Final leveling of manufactured home. The manufactured home must be adequately leveled prior to completion of the...

24 CFR 3285.6 - Final leveling of manufactured home.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 5 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Final leveling of manufactured home... HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT MODEL MANUFACTURED HOME INSTALLATION STANDARDS General § 3285.6 Final leveling of manufactured home. The manufactured home must be adequately leveled prior to completion of the...

24 CFR 3285.6 - Final leveling of manufactured home.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 5 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Final leveling of manufactured home... HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT MODEL MANUFACTURED HOME INSTALLATION STANDARDS General § 3285.6 Final leveling of manufactured home. The manufactured home must be adequately leveled prior to completion of the...

24 CFR 3285.6 - Final leveling of manufactured home.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 5 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Final leveling of manufactured home... HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT MODEL MANUFACTURED HOME INSTALLATION STANDARDS General § 3285.6 Final leveling of manufactured home. The manufactured home must be adequately leveled prior to completion of the...

24 CFR 3285.6 - Final leveling of manufactured home.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 5 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Final leveling of manufactured home... HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT MODEL MANUFACTURED HOME INSTALLATION STANDARDS General § 3285.6 Final leveling of manufactured home. The manufactured home must be adequately leveled prior to completion of the...

Engineering thermoplastics for additive manufacturing: a critical perspective with experimental evidence to support functional applications.

PubMed

Cicala, Gianluca; Latteri, Alberta; Del Curto, Barbara; Lo Russo, Alessio; Recca, Giuseppe; Farè, Silvia

2017-01-28

Among additive manufacturing techniques, the filament-based technique involves what is referred to as fused deposition modeling (FDM). FDM materials are currently limited to a selected number of polymers. The present study focused on investigating the potential of using high-end engineering polymers in FDM. In addition, a critical review of the materials available on the market compared with those studied here was completed. Different engineering thermoplastics, ranging from industrial grade polycarbonates to novel polyetheretherketones (PEEKs), were processed by FDM. Prior to this, for innovative filaments based on PEEK, extrusion processing was carried out. Mechanical properties (i.e., tensile and flexural) were investigated for each extruded material. An industrial-type FDM machine (Stratasys Fortus® 400 mc) was used to fully characterize the effect of printing parameters on the mechanical properties of polycarbonate. The obtained properties were compared with samples obtained by injection molding. Finally, FDM samples made of PEEK were also characterized and compared with those obtained by injection molding. The effect of raster to raster air gap and raster angle on tensile and flexural properties of printed PC was evidenced; the potential of PEEK filaments, as novel FDM material, was highlighted in comparison to state of the art materials. Comparison with injection molded parts allowed to better understand FDM potential for functional applications. The study discussed pros and cons of the different materials. Finally, the development of novel PEEK filaments achieved important results offering a novel solution to the market when high mechanical and thermal properties are required.

Using C to build a satellite scheduling expert system: Examples from the Explorer platform planning system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mclean, David R.; Tuchman, Alan; Potter, William J.

1991-01-01

Recently, many expert systems were developed in a LISP environment and then ported to the real world C environment before the final system is delivered. This situation may require that the entire system be completely rewritten in C and may actually result in a system which is put together as quickly as possible with little regard for maintainability and further evolution. With the introduction of high performance UNIX and X-windows based workstations, a great deal of the advantages of developing a first system in the LISP environment have become questionable. A C-based AI development effort is described which is based on a software tools approach with emphasis on reusability and maintainability of code. The discussion starts with simple examples of how list processing can easily be implemented in C and then proceeds to the implementations of frames and objects which use dynamic memory allocation. The implementation of procedures which use depth first search, constraint propagation, context switching and a blackboard-like simulation environment are described. Techniques for managing the complexity of C-based AI software are noted, especially the object-oriented techniques of data encapsulation and incremental development. Finally, all these concepts are put together by describing the components of planning software called the Planning And Resource Reasoning (PARR) shell. This shell was successfully utilized for scheduling services of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System for the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite since May 1987 and will be used for operations scheduling of the Explorer Platform in November 1991.

Soil hydraulic properties estimate based on numerical analysis of disc infiltrometer three-dimensional infiltration curve

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Latorre, Borja; Peña-Sancho, Carolina; Angulo-Jaramillo, Rafaël; Moret-Fernández, David

2015-04-01

Measurement of soil hydraulic properties is of paramount importance in fields such as agronomy, hydrology or soil science. Fundamented on the analysis of the Haverkamp et al. (1994) model, the aim of this paper is to explain a technique to estimate the soil hydraulic properties (sorptivity, S, and hydraulic conductivity, K) from the full-time cumulative infiltration curves. The method (NSH) was validated by means of 12 synthetic infiltration curves generated with HYDRUS-3D from known soil hydraulic properties. The K values used to simulate the synthetic curves were compared to those estimated with the proposed method. A procedure to identify and remove the effect of the contact sand layer on the cumulative infiltration curve was also developed. A sensitivity analysis was performed using the water level measurement as uncertainty source. Finally, the procedure was evaluated using different infiltration times and data noise. Since a good correlation between the K used in HYDRUS-3D to model the infiltration curves and those estimated by the NSH method was obtained, (R2 =0.98), it can be concluded that this technique is robust enough to estimate the soil hydraulic conductivity from complete infiltration curves. The numerical procedure to detect and remove the influence of the contact sand layer on the K and S estimates seemed to be robust and efficient. An effect of the curve infiltration noise on the K estimate was observed, which uncertainty increased with increasing noise. Finally, the results showed that infiltration time was an important factor to estimate K. Lower values of K or smaller uncertainty needed longer infiltration times.

Section Work--Sleeves; Apparel Manufacturing: 9377.08.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dade County Public Schools, Miami, FL.

This course involves practice in a sleeve-making techniques. Prior to entry in this course the vocational student will have completed "Section Work--Pocket Setting." Upon completion of the course the student will be able to understand the underlying principles of sewing individual sections of garments using factory techniques comparable…

Integrating 3D facial scanning in a digital workflow to CAD/CAM design and fabricate complete dentures for immediate total mouth rehabilitation

PubMed Central

Greven, Marcus; Wismeijer, Daniel

2017-01-01

PURPOSE To integrate extra-oral facial scanning information with CAD/CAM complete dentures to immediately rehabilitate terminal dentition. MATERIALS AND METHODS Ten patients with terminal dentition scheduled for total extraction and immediate denture placement were recruited for this study. The patients were submitted to a facial scanning procedure using the in-office PritiMirror scanner with bite registration records in-situ. Definitive stone cast models and bite records were subsequently submitted to a lab scanning procedure using the lab scanner (iSeries DWOS; Dental Wings). The scanned models were used to create a virtual teeth setup of a complete denture. Using the intra-oral bite records as a reference, the virtual setup was incorporated in the facial scan thereby facilitating a virtual clinical evaluation (teeth try-in) phase. After applying necessary adjustments, the virtual setup was submitted to a CAM procedure where a 5-axis industrial milling machine (M7 CNC; Darton AG General) was used to fabricate a full-milled PMMA immediate provisional prosthesis. RESULTS Total extractions were performed, the dentures were immediately inserted, and subjective clinical fit was evaluated. The immediate provisional prostheses were inserted and clinical fit, occlusion/articulation, and esthetics were subjectively assessed; the results were deemed satisfactory. All provisional prostheses remained three months in function with no notable technical complications. CONCLUSION Ten patients with terminal dentition were treated using a complete digital approach to fabricate complete dentures using CAD/CAM technology. The proposed technique has the potential to accelerate the rehabilitation procedure starting from immediate denture to final implant-supported prosthesis leading to more predictable functional and aesthetics outcomes. PMID:29142646

Improved recovery demonstration for Williston Basin carbonates. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sippel, M.A.

The purpose of this project was to demonstrate targeted infill and extension drilling opportunities, better determinations of oil-in-place, and methods for improved completion efficiency. The investigations and demonstrations were focussed on Red River and Ratcliffe reservoirs in the Williston Basin within portions of Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota. Both of these formations have been successfully explored with conventional 2-dimensional (2D) seismic. Improved reservoir characterization utilizing 3-dimensional (3D) seismic was investigated for identification of structural and stratigraphic reservoir compartments. These seismic characterizations were integrated with geological and engineering studies. The project tested lateral completion techniques, including high-pressure jetting lance technologymore » and short-radius lateral drilling to enhance completion efficiency. Lateral completions should improve economics for both primary and secondary oil where low permeability is a problem and higher-density drilling of vertical infill wells is limited by drilling cost. New vertical wells were drilled to test bypassed oil in ares that were identified by 3D seismic. These new wells are expected to recover as much or greater oil than was produced by nearby old wells. The project tested water injection through vertical and horizontal wells in reservoirs where application of waterflooding has been limited. A horizontal well was drilled for testing water injection. Injection rates were tested at three times that of a vertical well. This demonstration well shows that water injection with horizontal completions can improve injection rates for economic waterflooding. This report is divided into two sections, part 1 covers the Red River and part 2 covers the Ratcliffe. Each part summarizes integrated reservoir characterizations and outlines methods for targeting by-passed oil reserves in the respective formation and locality.« less

Northwest Pacific typhoons documented by the Philippine Jesuits, 1566-1900

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

GarcíA-Herrera, Ricardo; Ribera, Pedro; HernáNdez, Emiliano; Gimeno, Luis

2007-03-01

In recent years, the population and the value of properties in areas prone to tropical cyclone (TC) have increased dramatically. This has caused more attention to be placed on the characterization of TC climatologies and the identification of the role that factors such as the main teleconnection patterns may play in TC variability. Due to the timescales involved, the instrumental records have proven too short to provide a complete picture. Thus, documentary and other paleoclimatological techniques have been used to reconstruct TC occurrence. This has been done mostly for the Atlantic basin, whereas in the Pacific basin, fewer attempts have been made. The aim of this paper is to provide a high-resolution chronology of typhoons and intense storms occurring in the Philippine Islands and their vicinity for the period 1566-1900. The chronology is based upon the writings of the Spanish Jesuit Miguel Selga, who produced the original work at the beginning of the 20th century. The sources, reliability, and completeness of the chronology are examined critically. A total of 652 events are included, 524 of which are reported as typhoons, the rest being considered as tropical storms. For each of these classes, the landfall location and the track (when sufficient information is available) have been drawn. This chronology is an indispensable step toward a final and complete typhoon record in the western Pacific basin.

Searching for Affective and Cognitive Restoration: Examining the Restorative Effects of Casual Video Game Play.

PubMed

Rupp, Michael A; Sweetman, Richard; Sosa, Alejandra E; Smither, Janan A; McConnell, Daniel S

2017-11-01

We investigated the effects of a passive break, relaxation activity, and casual video game on affect, stress, engagement, and cognitive performance. Reducing stress and improving cognitive performance is critical across many domains. Previous studies investigated taking a break, relaxation techniques, or playing a game; however, these methods have not been compared within a single experiment. Participants completed a baseline affective and cognitive assessment (ACA), which included the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, shortened version of the Dundee Stress State Questionnaire, and backward digit-span. Next, participants completed a vigilance task, followed by another ACA. Participants were then assigned at random to complete a break or relaxation activity or play a casual video game, followed by a final ACA. Participants who played the casual video game exhibited greater engagement and affective restoration than the relaxation condition. The break condition slightly decreased affect and prevented cognitive restoration. Playing a casual video game even briefly can restore individuals' affective abilities, making it a suitable activity to restore mood in response to stress. However, future research is needed to find activities capable of cognitive restoration. Many activities in life require sustained cognitive demand, which are stressful and decrease performance, especially for workers in performance-critical domains. Our research suggests some leisure activities are better than others for restoring fatigued affective processes.

The influence of verification jig on framework fit for nonsegmented fixed implant-supported complete denture.

PubMed

Ercoli, Carlo; Geminiani, Alessandro; Feng, Changyong; Lee, Heeje

2012-05-01

The purpose of this retrospective study was to assess if there was a difference in the likelihood of achieving passive fit when an implant-supported full-arch prosthesis framework is fabricated with or without the aid of a verification jig. This investigation was approved by the University of Rochester Research Subject Review Board (protocol #RSRB00038482). Thirty edentulous patients, 49 to 73 years old (mean 61 years old), rehabilitated with a nonsegmented fixed implant-supported complete denture were included in the study. During the restorative process, final impressions were made using the pickup impression technique and elastomeric impression materials. For 16 patients, a verification jig was made (group J), while for the remaining 14 patients, a verification jig was not used (group NJ) and the framework was fabricated directly on the master cast. During the framework try-in appointment, the fit was assessed by clinical (Sheffield test) and radiographic inspection and recorded as passive or nonpassive. When a verification jig was used (group J, n = 16), all frameworks exhibited clinically passive fit, while when a verification jig was not used (group NJ, n = 14), only two frameworks fit. This difference was statistically significant (p < .001). Within the limitations of this retrospective study, the fabrication of a verification jig ensured clinically passive fit of metal frameworks in nonsegmented fixed implant-supported complete denture. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Scaling bioinformatics applications on HPC.

PubMed

Mikailov, Mike; Luo, Fu-Jyh; Barkley, Stuart; Valleru, Lohit; Whitney, Stephen; Liu, Zhichao; Thakkar, Shraddha; Tong, Weida; Petrick, Nicholas

2017-12-28

Recent breakthroughs in molecular biology and next generation sequencing technologies have led to the expenential growh of the sequence databases. Researchrs use BLAST for processing these sequences. However traditional software parallelization techniques (threads, message passing interface) applied in newer versios of BLAST are not adequate for processing these sequences in timely manner. A new method for array job parallelization has been developed which offers O(T) theoretical speed-up in comparison to multi-threading and MPI techniques. Here T is the number of array job tasks. (The number of CPUs that will be used to complete the job equals the product of T multiplied by the number of CPUs used by a single task.) The approach is based on segmentation of both input datasets to the BLAST process, combining partial solutions published earlier (Dhanker and Gupta, Int J Comput Sci Inf Technol_5:4818-4820, 2014), (Grant et al., Bioinformatics_18:765-766, 2002), (Mathog, Bioinformatics_19:1865-1866, 2003). It is accordingly referred to as a "dual segmentation" method. In order to implement the new method, the BLAST source code was modified to allow the researcher to pass to the program the number of records (effective number of sequences) in the original database. The team also developed methods to manage and consolidate the large number of partial results that get produced. Dual segmentation allows for massive parallelization, which lifts the scaling ceiling in exciting ways. BLAST jobs that hitherto failed or slogged inefficiently to completion now finish with speeds that characteristically reduce wallclock time from 27 days on 40 CPUs to a single day using 4104 tasks, each task utilizing eight CPUs and taking less than 7 minutes to complete. The massive increase in the number of tasks when running an analysis job with dual segmentation reduces the size, scope and execution time of each task. Besides significant speed of completion, additional benefits include fine-grained checkpointing and increased flexibility of job submission. "Trickling in" a swarm of individual small tasks tempers competition for CPU time in the shared HPC environment, and jobs submitted during quiet periods can complete in extraordinarily short time frames. The smaller task size also allows the use of older and less powerful hardware. The CDRH workhorse cluster was commissioned in 2010, yet its eight-core CPUs with only 24GB RAM work well in 2017 for these dual segmentation jobs. Finally, these techniques are excitingly friendly to budget conscious scientific research organizations where probabilistic algorithms such as BLAST might discourage attempts at greater certainty because single runs represent a major resource drain. If a job that used to take 24 days can now be completed in less than an hour or on a space available basis (which is the case at CDRH), repeated runs for more exhaustive analyses can be usefully contemplated.

Space Geodetic Technique Co-location in Space: Simulation Results for the GRASP Mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuzmicz-Cieslak, M.; Pavlis, E. C.

2011-12-01

The Global Geodetic Observing System-GGOS, places very stringent requirements in the accuracy and stability of future realizations of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF): an origin definition at 1 mm or better at epoch and a temporal stability on the order of 0.1 mm/y, with similar numbers for the scale (0.1 ppb) and orientation components. These goals were derived from the requirements of Earth science problems that are currently the international community's highest priority. None of the geodetic positioning techniques can achieve this goal alone. This is due in part to the non-observability of certain attributes from a single technique. Another limitation is imposed from the extent and uniformity of the tracking network and the schedule of observational availability and number of suitable targets. The final limitation derives from the difficulty to "tie" the reference points of each technique at the same site, to an accuracy that will support the GGOS goals. The future GGOS network will address decisively the ground segment and to certain extent the space segment requirements. The JPL-proposed multi-technique mission GRASP (Geodetic Reference Antenna in Space) attempts to resolve the accurate tie between techniques, using their co-location in space, onboard a well-designed spacecraft equipped with GNSS receivers, a SLR retroreflector array, a VLBI beacon and a DORIS system. Using the anticipated system performance for all four techniques at the time the GGOS network is completed (ca 2020), we generated a number of simulated data sets for the development of a TRF. Our simulation studies examine the degree to which GRASP can improve the inter-technique "tie" issue compared to the classical approach, and the likely modus operandi for such a mission. The success of the examined scenarios is judged by the quality of the origin and scale definition of the resulting TRF.

Surface shift of the occupied and unoccupied 4f levels of the rare-earth metals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aldén, M.; Johansson, B.; Skriver, H. L.

1995-02-01

The surface energy shifts of the occupied and unoccupied 4f levels for the lanthanide metals have been calculated from first principles by means of a Green's-function technique within the tight-binding linear muffin-tin orbitals method. We use the concept of complete screening to identify the occupied and unoccupied 4f energy level shifts as the surface segregation energy of a 4fn-1 and 4fn+1 impurity atom, respectively, in a 4fn host metal. The calculations include both initial- and final-state effects and give values that are considerably lower than those measured on polycrystalline samples as well as those found in previous initial-state model calculations. The present theory agrees well with very recent high-resolution, single-crystal film measurements for Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, and Lu. We furthermore utilize the unique possibility offered by the lanthanide metals to clarify the roles played by the initial and the different final states of the core-excitation process, permitted by the fact that the so-called initial-state effect is identical upon 4f removal and 4f addition. Surface energy and work function calculations are also reported.

A Pilot Study.

PubMed

Running, Alice; Hildreth, Laura

2017-03-01

To examine the effectiveness of a bio-energy intervention on self-reported stress for a convenience sample of University students, faculty, and staff during finals week. We hypothesized that participants would report a decrease in stress after a 20 minute bio-energy intervention. A quasi-experimental, single-group, pretest-posttest design was used. Thirty-nine faculty, staff, and students participated. Participants served as their own controls. A specific technique was provided by each bio-energy practitioner for 20 minutes after participants had completed a visual analogue scale identifying level of stress and listing two positive and negative behaviors they were currently using in response to stress. A one-sample t test indicates that bio-energy therapy significantly reduces stress, t(35) = 7.74, p < .0001. A multiple regression analysis further indicates that the decrease in stress levels is significantly greater for higher initial stress levels, t(31) = 4.748, p < .0001); decreases in stress are significantly greater for faculty and staff compared to students, t(31) = -2.223, p = .034; and decreases in stress levels are marginally significantly higher for older participants, t(31) =1.946, p = .061. Bio-energy therapy may have benefit in reducing stress for faculty, staff, and students during final examination week. Further research is needed.

Guiding the process of health technology disinvestment.

PubMed

Ibargoyen-Roteta, Nora; Gutiérrez-Ibarluzea, Iñaki; Asua, José

2010-12-01

To develop a guideline for health technology disinvestment. The Nominal Group Technique was used to determine relevant aspects of disinvestment decision-making. Ideas reaching consensus and previous Spanish guidelines on the acquisition of new health technologies (GANT) and new genetic tests (GEN) structures were used to develop the domains and contents of GuNFT (Guideline for Not Funding Health Technologies). The draft was peer reviewed by local and international experts and their suggestions were incorporated to the first GuNFT version. Thirty-five ideas reached consensus. The most relevant ones referred to the reasons for disinvesting in a technology and the key aspects that would facilitate disinvestment acceptance. Considering both consensus ideas and GANT and GEN guidelines, the first GuNFT draft was elaborated. After the review process, section numbers and contents were changed. The resulting GuNFT guideline was finally divided into six domains related to: (1) general preliminary recommendations, (2) completing the application form, (3) checking and prioritising applications, (4) assessment, (5) final decision and (6) action plan design. A software was also developed to facilitate GuNFT implementation. Disinvestment should be a guided process. Accordingly, we present the first guideline for that purpose. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Final Report - Regulatory Considerations for Adaptive Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wilkinson, Chris; Lynch, Jonathan; Bharadwaj, Raj

2013-01-01

This report documents the findings of a preliminary research study into new approaches to the software design assurance of adaptive systems. We suggest a methodology to overcome the software validation and verification difficulties posed by the underlying assumption of non-adaptive software in the requirementsbased- testing verification methods in RTCA/DO-178B and C. An analysis of the relevant RTCA/DO-178B and C objectives is presented showing the reasons for the difficulties that arise in showing satisfaction of the objectives and suggested additional means by which they could be satisfied. We suggest that the software design assurance problem for adaptive systems is principally one of developing correct and complete high level requirements and system level constraints that define the necessary system functional and safety properties to assure the safe use of adaptive systems. We show how analytical techniques such as model based design, mathematical modeling and formal or formal-like methods can be used to both validate the high level functional and safety requirements, establish necessary constraints and provide the verification evidence for the satisfaction of requirements and constraints that supplements conventional testing. Finally the report identifies the follow-on research topics needed to implement this methodology.

[Application of inner figure-of-eight suture to laparoscopic colorectal surgery].

PubMed

Chen, Jianjun; Zhong, Ming

2018-03-25

Regardless of laparoscopic or open colorectal surgeries, intestinal anastomosis is usually an important operative procedure. Even if stapler is widely used in different intestinal surgery nowadays, hand sewn suture is an indispensable procedure in clinical practice, meanwhile after stapled anastomosis, additional hand sewn suture is usually performed to ensure the safety of anastomosis. The inner figure-of-eight suture is a single layer suture technique which has been widely used in skin, tendon, rectus and uterus for quick and secure approximation. We describe our innovative application of inner figure-of-eight suture technique for intestinal anastomosis and/or reinforcement after stapled anastomosis in laparoscopic colorectal surgery. Main steps of inner figure-of-eight suture for intestinal anastomosis on posterior wall are as follows: (1) At 4 mm from cut edge of bowel, needle enters vertically from one side and courses mucosa-serosa-opposite serosa-mucosa in parallel to the entry point. (2) The needle is brought back to first entry side of bowel at 45 degree to enter the mucosa 5 mm below the first entry point and out on opposite side mucosa horizontally. (3) Both lose ends of the suture are pulled to approximate bowel edges and knots are tied on mucosal surface, in which suture line presents figure-of-eight on mucosal surface and two parallel suture lines are seen on serosal surface. When inner figure-of-eight suture is performed on anterior wall, the procedure is similar, but needle passes from serosa-mucosa-opposite mucosa-serosa and repeated to complete the inner figure-8 suture and knots are tied on serosa. The final look is two parallel sutures at 0.5 mm in between and the figure-of-eight remains inside the lumen. We did not deliberately try to invert the bowel edges, and if anastomosis is not satisfactory at final examination, simple interrupted seromuscular suture can be carried out. From 2015 till now, we have successfully completed inner figure-of-eight sutures in 38 cases receiving intestinal anastomosis reinforcement procedure and in 24 cases receiving hand sewn anastomosis. Comparison study revealed inner figure-of-eight suture presented shorter anastomotic time and less medical cost without anastomotic leakage, stump leakage or bleeding. No anastomotic stenosis was found at enteroscopy examination during follow up. We think that inner figure-of-eight suture possesses safe and simple advantages and is a manual suture technique worthy of promotion.

Self streamlining wind tunnel: Further low speed testing and final design studies for the transonic facility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wolf, S. W. D.

1977-01-01

Work has continued with the low speed self streamlining wind tunnel (SSWT) using the NACA 0012-64 airfoil in an effort to explain the discrepancies between the NASA Langley low turbulence pressure tunnel (LTPT) and SSWT results obtained with the airfoil stalled. Conventional wind tunnel corrections were applied to straight wall SSWT airfoil data, to illustrate the inadequacy of standard correction techniques in circumstances of high blockage. Also one SSWT test was re-run at different air speeds to investigate the effects of such changes on airfoil data and wall contours. Mechanical design analyses for the transonic self streamlining wind tunnel (TSWT) were completed by the application of theoretical airfoil flow field data to the elastic beam and streamline analysis. The control system for the transonic facility is outlined.

Final Report. IUT No. B560420 with UC Berkeley. Organic Chemistry at High Pressures &Temperatures

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Montgomery, W; Crowhurst, J C; Zaug, J M

We have successfully completed the research outlined in our proposal: Organic Chemistry at High Pressures and Temperatures. We have experimentally determined a phase diagram which documents the phases and reaction regimes of cyanuric acid , H{sub 3}C{sub 3}N{sub 3}O{sub 3} (1,3,5-triazine-2,4,6-trione), from 300 - 750 K and 0 - 8.1 GPa. We utilized a comparatively new technique to study thin samples of cyanuric acid in the diamond anvil cell in order to collect ambient temperature, high pressure FTIR and Raman data as well as the high-pressure, high-temperature data used in the phase diagram. These experiments made use of the CMLSmore » High-pressure lab's diamond anvil facilities as well as the FTIR and Raman systems.« less

Frontally eluted components procedure with thin layer chromatography as a mode of sample preparation for high performance liquid chromatography quantitation of acetaminophen in biological matrix.

PubMed

Klimek-Turek, A; Sikora, M; Rybicki, M; Dzido, T H

2016-03-04

A new concept of using thin-layer chromatography to sample preparation for the quantitative determination of solute/s followed by instrumental techniques is presented Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) is used to completely separate acetaminophen and its internal standard from other components (matrix) and to form a single spot/zone containing them at the solvent front position (after the final stage of the thin-layer chromatogram development). The location of the analytes and internal standard in the solvent front zone allows their easy extraction followed by quantitation by HPLC. The exctraction procedure of the solute/s and internal standard can proceed from whole solute frontal zone or its part without lowering in accuracy of quantitative analysis. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Tool development in threat assessment: syntax regularization and correlative analysis. Final report Task I and Task II, November 21, 1977-May 21, 1978. [Linguistic analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Miron, M.S.; Christopher, C.; Hirshfield, S.

1978-05-01

Psycholinguistics provides crisis managers in nuclear threat incidents with a quantitative methodology which can aid in the determination of threat credibility, authorship identification and perpetrator apprehension. The objective of this contract is to improve and enhance present psycholinguistic software systems by means of newly-developed, computer-automated techniques which significantly extend the technology of automated content and stylistic analysis of nuclear threat. In accordance with this overall objective, the first two contract Tasks have been completed and are reported on in this document. The first Task specifies the development of software support for the purpose of syntax regularization of vocabulary to rootmore » form. The second calls for the exploration and development of alternative approaches to correlative analysis of vocabulary usage.« less

Porous structure and fluid partitioning in polyethylene cores from 3D X-ray microtomographic imaging.

PubMed

Prodanović, M; Lindquist, W B; Seright, R S

2006-06-01

Using oil-wet polyethylene core models, we present the development of robust throat finding techniques for the extraction, from X-ray microtomographic images, of a pore network description of porous media having porosity up to 50%. Measurements of volume, surface area, shape factor, and principal diameters are extracted for pores and area, shape factor and principal diameters for throats. We also present results on the partitioning of wetting and non-wetting phases in the pore space at fixed volume increments of the injected fluid during a complete cycle of drainage and imbibition. We compare these results with fixed fractional flow injection, where wetting and non-wetting phase are simultaneously injected at fixed volume ratio. Finally we demonstrate the ability to differentiate three fluid phases (oil, water, air) in the pore space.

Finding minimum spanning trees more efficiently for tile-based phase unwrapping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sawaf, Firas; Tatam, Ralph P.

2006-06-01

The tile-based phase unwrapping method employs an algorithm for finding the minimum spanning tree (MST) in each tile. We first examine the properties of a tile's representation from a graph theory viewpoint, observing that it is possible to make use of a more efficient class of MST algorithms. We then describe a novel linear time algorithm which reduces the size of the MST problem by half at the least, and solves it completely at best. We also show how this algorithm can be applied to a tile using a sliding window technique. Finally, we show how the reduction algorithm can be combined with any other standard MST algorithm to achieve a more efficient hybrid, using Prim's algorithm for empirical comparison and noting that the reduction algorithm takes only 0.1% of the time taken by the overall hybrid.

Verification of rain-flow reconstructions of a variable amplitude load history. M.S. Thesis, 1990 Final Report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clothiaux, John D.; Dowling, Norman E.

1992-01-01

The suitability of using rain-flow reconstructions as an alternative to an original loading spectrum for component fatigue life testing is investigated. A modified helicopter maneuver history is used for the rain-flow cycle counting and history regenerations. Experimental testing on a notched test specimen over a wide range of loads produces similar lives for the original history and the reconstructions. The test lives also agree with a simplified local strain analysis performed on the specimen utilizing the rain-flow cycle count. The rain-flow reconstruction technique is shown to be a viable test spectrum alternative to storing the complete original load history, especially in saving computer storage space and processing time. A description of the regeneration method, the simplified life prediction analysis, and the experimental methods are included in the investigation.

An overview of DREV's activities on pulsed CO2 laser transmitters: Frequency stability and lifetime aspects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cruickshank, James; Pace, Paul; Mathieu, Pierre

1987-01-01

After introducing the desired features in a transmitter for laser radar applications, the output characteristics of several configurations of frequency-stable TEA-CO2 lasers are reviewed. Based on work carried out at the Defence Research Establishment Valcartier (DREV), output pulses are examined from short cavity lasers, CW-TEA hybrid lasers, and amplifiers for low power pulses. It is concluded that the technique of injecting a low-power laser beam into a TEA laser resonator with Gaussian reflectivity mirrors should be investigated because it appears well adapted to producing high energy, single mode, low chirp pulses. Finally, a brief report on tests carried out on catalysts composed of stannic oxide and noble metals demonstrates the potential of these catalysts, operating at close to room temperature, to provide complete closed-cycle laser operation.

Missing data exploration: highlighting graphical presentation of missing pattern.

PubMed

Zhang, Zhongheng

2015-12-01

Functions shipped with R base can fulfill many tasks of missing data handling. However, because the data volume of electronic medical record (EMR) system is always very large, more sophisticated methods may be helpful in data management. The article focuses on missing data handling by using advanced techniques. There are three types of missing data, that is, missing completely at random (MCAR), missing at random (MAR) and not missing at random (NMAR). This classification system depends on how missing values are generated. Two packages, Multivariate Imputation by Chained Equations (MICE) and Visualization and Imputation of Missing Values (VIM), provide sophisticated functions to explore missing data pattern. In particular, the VIM package is especially helpful in visual inspection of missing data. Finally, correlation analysis provides information on the dependence of missing data on other variables. Such information is useful in subsequent imputations.

Projective synchronization of nonidentical fractional-order neural networks based on sliding mode controller.

PubMed

Ding, Zhixia; Shen, Yi

2016-04-01

This paper investigates global projective synchronization of nonidentical fractional-order neural networks (FNNs) based on sliding mode control technique. We firstly construct a fractional-order integral sliding surface. Then, according to the sliding mode control theory, we design a sliding mode controller to guarantee the occurrence of the sliding motion. Based on fractional Lyapunov direct methods, system trajectories are driven to the proposed sliding surface and remain on it evermore, and some novel criteria are obtained to realize global projective synchronization of nonidentical FNNs. As the special cases, some sufficient conditions are given to ensure projective synchronization of identical FNNs, complete synchronization of nonidentical FNNs and anti-synchronization of nonidentical FNNs. Finally, one numerical example is given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the obtained results. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Stent-Assisted Coil Embolization of a Mycotic Renal Artery Aneurysm by Use of a Self-Expanding Neurointerventional Stent

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rabellino, Martin, E-mail: jmrabellino@hotmail.com; Garcia-Nielsen, Luis, E-mail: luisgarcia@hospiten.es; Zander, Tobias, E-mail: tobiaszander@hospiten.es

2011-02-15

Mycotic aneurysms are uncommon, especially those located in visceral arteries. We present a case of a patient with two visceral mycotic aneurysms due to bacterial endocarditis, one located in right upper pole renal artery and the second in the splenic artery. Both aneurysms were treated as endovascular embolization using microcoils. In the aneurysm located at the renal artery, the technique of stent-assisted coils embolization was preferred to avoid coils migration due to its wide neck. The stent used was the Solitaire AB, which was designed for the treatment of intracranial aneurysms and was used recently in acute stroke as amore » mechanical thrombectomy device. Complete embolization of the aneurysm was achieved, preserving all the arterial branches without nephrogram defects in the final angiogram.« less

Solving and Learning Soft Temporal Constraints: Experimental Setting and Results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rossi, F.; Sperduti, A.; Venable, K. B.; Khatib, L.; Morris, P.; Morris, R.; Clancy, Daniel (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Soft temporal constraints problems allow to describe in a natural way scenarios where events happen over time and preferences are associated to event distances and durations. However, sometimes such local preferences are difficult to set, and it may be easier instead to associate preferences to some complete solutions of the problem. Machine learning techniques can be useful in this respect. In this paper we describe two solvers (one more general and the other one more efficient) for tractable subclasses of soft temporal problems, and we show some experimental results. The random generator used to build the problems on which tests are performed is also described. We also compare the two solvers highlighting the tradeoff between performance and representational power. Finally, we present a learning module and we show its behavior on randomly-generated examples.

Slumping technique for the manufacturing of a representative x-ray grazing incidence mirror module for future space missions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghigo, Mauro; Proserpio, Laura; Basso, Stefano; Citterio, Oberto; Civitani, Marta M.; Pareschi, Giovanni; Salmaso, Bianca; Sironi, Giorgia; Spiga, Daniele; Tagliaferri, Giampiero; Vecchi, Gabriele; Zambra, Alberto; Parodi, Giancarlo; Martelli, Francesco; Gallieni, Daniele; Tintori, Matteo; Bavdaz, Marcos; Wille, Eric; Ferrario, Ivan; Burwitz, Vadim

2013-09-01

The Astronomical Observatory of Brera (INAF-OAB, Italy), with the financing support of the European Space Agency (ESA), has concluded a study regarding a glass shaping technology for the production of grazing incidence segmented x-ray optics. This technique uses a hot slumping phase, in which pressure is actively applied on thin glass foils being shaped, to form a cylindrical approximation of Wolter I x-ray segments, and a subsequent cold slumping phase, in which the final Wolter I profile is then freeze into the glass segments during their integration in elemental X-ray Optical Units. The final goal of this study was the manufacturing of a prototype containing a number of slumped pair plates (meaning parabola and hyperbola couples) having representative dimensions to be tested both in UV light and in x-rays at the Panter facility (Germany). In this paper, the INAF-OAB slumping technique, comprising a shaping step and an integration step is described, together with the results obtained on the manufactured prototype modules: the first prototype was aimed to test the ad-hoc designed and built semi-automatic Integration MAchine (IMA) and debug its control software. The most complete module comprises 40 slumped segments of Schott D263 glass type of dimension 200 mm x 200 mm and thickness of 0.4 mm, slumped on Zerodur K20 mould and stacked together through glued BK7 glass structural ribs to form the first entire x-ray optical module ever built totally composed by glass. A last prototype was aimed at demonstrate the use of Schott glass AF32 type instead of D263. In particular, a new hot slumping experimental set-up is described whose advantage is to permit a better contact between mould and glass during the shaping process. The integration procedure of the slumped segments into the elemental module is also reviewed.

Novel Framework for Reduced Order Modeling of Aero-engine Components

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Safi, Ali

The present study focuses on the popular dynamic reduction methods used in design of complex assemblies (millions of Degrees of Freedom) where numerous iterations are involved to achieve the final design. Aerospace manufacturers such as Rolls Royce and Pratt & Whitney are actively seeking techniques that reduce computational time while maintaining accuracy of the models. This involves modal analysis of components with complex geometries to determine the dynamic behavior due to non-linearity and complicated loading conditions. In such a case the sub-structuring and dynamic reduction techniques prove to be an efficient tool to reduce design cycle time. The components whose designs are finalized can be dynamically reduced to mass and stiffness matrices at the boundary nodes in the assembly. These matrices conserve the dynamics of the component in the assembly, and thus avoid repeated calculations during the analysis runs for design modification of other components. This thesis presents a novel framework in terms of modeling and meshing of any complex structure, in this case an aero-engine casing. In this study the affect of meshing techniques on the run time are highlighted. The modal analysis is carried out using an extremely fine mesh to ensure all minor details in the structure are captured correctly in the Finite Element (FE) model. This is used as the reference model, to compare against the results of the reduced model. The study also shows the conditions/criteria under which dynamic reduction can be implemented effectively, proving the accuracy of Criag-Bampton (C.B.) method and limitations of Static Condensation. The study highlights the longer runtime needed to produce the reduced matrices of components compared to the overall runtime of the complete unreduced model. Although once the components are reduced, the assembly run is significantly. Hence the decision to use Component Mode Synthesis (CMS) is to be taken judiciously considering the number of iterations that may be required during the design cycle.

Free range users and one hit wonders: community users of an Internet-based cognitive behaviour therapy program.

PubMed

Christensen, Helen; Griffiths, Kathy; Groves, Chloe; Korten, Ailsa

2006-01-01

Little is known about the predictors of symptom change or the methods that might increase user 'compliance' on websites designed to improve mental health outcomes. The present paper: (i) examines predictors of expected final depression and anxiety scores on the MoodGYM website as a function of user characteristics; and (ii) compares the compliance rates of the original site with the new public version of the site (MoodGYM Mark II). The latter site requires compulsory completion of 'core' online assessments and may increase completion of site questionnaires. MoodGYM Mark I participants were 19,607 visitors (public registrants) between April 2001 and September 2003 plus 182 participants who had been randomly assigned to MoodGYM in an earlier trial (The BlueMood Trial). MoodGYM Mark II participants were 38,791 public registrants of the MoodGYM Mark II site collected between September 2003 and October 2004. Symptom assessments are repeated within the website intervention to allow the examination of change in symptoms. Outcome variables were gender, initial depression severity scores, number of assessments completed and final anxiety and depression scores. Men are predicted to be 0.19 units (SE=0.095) higher than women on depression, controlling for the initial depression level and number of modules completed. For initial depression scores above 2, it is predicted that the final score will indicate improvement relative to the initial score, the magnitude of the improvement increasing as a function of the number of modules attempted. For initial anxiety scores above 2, it is predicted that the final score will indicate improvement relative to the initial score, the magnitude of the improvement increasing as a function of the number of modules attempted. Mark II registrants were more likely than to Mark I registrants to complete onsite assessments. Visitors to the MoodGYM site are likely to have better psychological outcomes if they complete more of the site material. Compulsory completion of core sections increases assessment completion. There is a need to examine further the significance of attrition from online interventions, to develop methods of handling missing data, and to investigate strategies to improve visitor dropout.

Methods for Probing New Physics at High Energies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Denton, Peter B.

This dissertation covers two broad topics. The title, " Methods for Probing New Physics at High Energies," hopefully encompasses both of them. The first topic is located in part I of this work and is about integral dispersion relations. This is a technique to probe for new physics at energy scales near to the machine energy of a collider. For example, a hadron collider taking data at a given energy is typically only sensitive to new physics occurring at energy scales about a factor of five to ten beneath the actual machine energy due to parton distribution functions. This technique is sensitive to physics happening directly beneath the machine energy in addition to the even more interesting case: directly above. Precisely where this technique is sensitive is one of the main topics of this area of research. The other topic is located in part II and is about cosmic ray anisotropy at the highest energies. The unanswered questions about cosmic rays at the highest energies are numerous and interconnected in complicated ways. What may be the first piece of the puzzle to fall into place is determining their sources. This work looks to determine if and when the use of spherical harmonics becomes sensitive enough to determine these sources. The completed papers for this work can be found online. For part I on integral dispersion relations see reference published in Physical Review D. For part II on cosmic ray anisotropy, there are conference proceedings published in the Journal of Physics: Conference Series. The analysis of the location of an experiment on anisotropy reconstruction is, and the comparison of different experiments' abilities to reconstruct anisotropies is published in The Astrophysical Journal and the Journal of High Energy Astrophysics respectively. While this dissertation is focused on three papers completed with Tom Weiler at Vanderbilt University, other papers were completed at the same time. The first was with Nicusor Arsene, Lauretiu Caramete, and Octavian Micu in Romania on the detectability of quantum black holes in extensive air showers. The next was with Luis Anchordoqui, Haim Goldberg, Thomas Paul, Luiz da Silva, Brian Vlcek, and Tom Weiler on placing limits on Weinberg's Higgs portal, originally written to explain anomalous Neff values, from direct detection and collider experiments which was published in Physical Review D. The final was completed at Fermilab with Stephen Parke and Hisakazu Minakata on a perturbative description of neutrino oscillations in matter which was published in the Journal of High Energy Physics, and the code behind this paper is publicly available.

The development of an audit technique to assess the quality of safety barrier management.

PubMed

Guldenmund, Frank; Hale, Andrew; Goossens, Louis; Betten, Jeroen; Duijm, Nijs Jan

2006-03-31

This paper describes the development of a management model to control barriers devised to prevent major hazard scenarios. Additionally, an audit technique is explained that assesses the quality of such a management system. The final purpose of the audit technique is to quantify those aspects of the management system that have a direct impact on the reliability and effectiveness of the barriers and, hence, the probability of the scenarios involved. First, an outline of the management model is given and its elements are explained. Then, the development of the audit technique is described. Because the audit technique uses actual major hazard scenarios and barriers within these as its focus, the technique achieves a concreteness and clarity that many other techniques often lack. However, this strength is also its limitation, since the full safety management system is not covered with the technique. Finally, some preliminary experiences obtained from several test sites are compiled and discussed.

A Novel Repair Method for Radial Tears of the Medial Meniscus: Biomechanical Comparison of Transtibial 2-Tunnel and Double Horizontal Mattress Suture Techniques Under Cyclic Loading.

PubMed

Bhatia, Sanjeev; Civitarese, David M; Turnbull, Travis Lee; LaPrade, Christopher M; Nitri, Marco; Wijdicks, Coen A; LaPrade, Robert F

2016-03-01

Complete radial tears of the medial meniscus have been reported to be functionally similar to a total meniscectomy. At present, there is no consensus on an ideal technique for repair of radial midbody tears of the medial meniscus. Prior attempts at repair with double horizontal mattress suture techniques have led to a reportedly high rate of incomplete healing or healing in a nonanatomic (gapped) position, which compromises the ability of the meniscus to withstand hoop stresses. A newly proposed 2-tunnel radial meniscal repair method will result in decreased gapping and increased ultimate failure loads compared with the double horizontal mattress suture repair technique under cyclic loading. Controlled laboratory study. Ten matched pairs of male human cadaveric knees (average age, 58.6 years; range, 48-66 years) were used. A complete radial medial meniscal tear was made at the junction of the posterior one-third and middle third of the meniscus. One knee underwent a horizontal mattress inside-out repair, while the contralateral knee underwent a radial meniscal repair entailing the same technique with a concurrent novel 2-tunnel repair. Specimens were potted and mounted on a universal testing machine. Each specimen was cyclically loaded 1000 times with loads between 5 and 20 N before experiencing a load to failure. Gap distances at the tear site and failure load were measured. The 2-tunnel repairs exhibited a significantly stronger ultimate failure load (median, 196 N; range, 163-212 N) than did the double horizontal mattress suture repairs (median, 106 N; range, 63-229 N) (P = .004). In addition, the 2-tunnel repairs demonstrated decreased gapping at all testing states (P < .05) with a final measured gapping of 1.7 mm and 4.1 mm after 1000 cycles for the 2-tunnel and double horizontal mattress suture repairs, respectively. The 2-tunnel repairs displayed significantly less gapping distance after cyclic loading and had significantly stronger ultimate failure loads compared with the double horizontal mattress suture repairs. Complete radial tears of the medial meniscus significantly decrease the ability of the meniscus to dissipate tibiofemoral loads, predisposing patients to early osteoarthritis. Improving the ability to repair medial meniscal radial tears in a way that withstands cyclic loads and heals in an anatomic position could significantly improve patient healing rates and result in improved preservation of the articular cartilage of the medial compartment of the knee. The 2-tunnel repair may be a more reliable and stronger repair option for midbody radial tears of the medial meniscus. Clinical studies are warranted to further evaluate these repairs. © 2015 The Author(s).

Long-term evaluation of ink clearance in tattoos with different color intensity using the 1064-nm Q-switched Nd:YAG laser.

PubMed

Mankowska, Agata; Kasprzak, Wojciech; Adamski, Zygmunt

2015-12-01

The aim of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of tattoo removal treatments using the 1064-nm Q-switched (QS) Nd:YAG laser. Today, QS lasers appear to be the most common, effective, and safest methods to treat unwanted markings. A total of 64 patients with 75 unwanted tattoos were enrolled in the study. Tattoo clearance was evaluated according to the color intensity - concentration of pigment: group I (34) - black; group II (41) - gray. Consideration included methods of tattooing and tattoo techniques. In group I, after the first treatment session the median of clearance was 30% (10-50%), while in group II, the median was 50% (40-70%). After the second treatment session, median in group I increased to 40% (30-50%). Median of group II increased to 70% (50-80%). The highest number of treatment in group I was 7. After that, the median grew to 75%, while the highest amount of treatment in group II was 5 and a median of 90% was achieved. Effects were dependent upon the amount of ink deposited in the tissue. Old amateur tattoos and tattoos containing small quantities of ink (technique: shading and lines) demonstrated the quickest and the most efficacious results. Tattoos with large quantities of ink, obtained by filling, required the greatest number of treatment sessions. The final outcome in tattoo clearing can only be assessed following treatment completion, which may in some cases take 2-3 years. Presumably, in some cases, complete clearance is impossible. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Validation of semi-automatic segmentation of the left atrium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rettmann, M. E.; Holmes, D. R., III; Camp, J. J.; Packer, D. L.; Robb, R. A.

2008-03-01

Catheter ablation therapy has become increasingly popular for the treatment of left atrial fibrillation. The effect of this treatment on left atrial morphology, however, has not yet been completely quantified. Initial studies have indicated a decrease in left atrial size with a concomitant decrease in pulmonary vein diameter. In order to effectively study if catheter based therapies affect left atrial geometry, robust segmentations with minimal user interaction are required. In this work, we validate a method to semi-automatically segment the left atrium from computed-tomography scans. The first step of the technique utilizes seeded region growing to extract the entire blood pool including the four chambers of the heart, the pulmonary veins, aorta, superior vena cava, inferior vena cava, and other surrounding structures. Next, the left atrium and pulmonary veins are separated from the rest of the blood pool using an algorithm that searches for thin connections between user defined points in the volumetric data or on a surface rendering. Finally, pulmonary veins are separated from the left atrium using a three dimensional tracing tool. A single user segmented three datasets three times using both the semi-automatic technique as well as manual tracing. The user interaction time for the semi-automatic technique was approximately forty-five minutes per dataset and the manual tracing required between four and eight hours per dataset depending on the number of slices. A truth model was generated using a simple voting scheme on the repeated manual segmentations. A second user segmented each of the nine datasets using the semi-automatic technique only. Several metrics were computed to assess the agreement between the semi-automatic technique and the truth model including percent differences in left atrial volume, DICE overlap, and mean distance between the boundaries of the segmented left atria. Overall, the semi-automatic approach was demonstrated to be repeatable within and between raters, and accurate when compared to the truth model. Finally, we generated a visualization to assess the spatial variability in the segmentation errors between the semi-automatic approach and the truth model. The visualization demonstrates the highest errors occur at the boundaries between the left atium and pulmonary veins as well as the left atrium and left atrial appendage. In conclusion, we describe a semi-automatic approach for left atrial segmentation that demonstrates repeatability and accuracy, with the advantage of significant time reduction in user interaction time.

Strain-energy release rate analysis of a laminate with a postbuckled delamination

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Whitcomb, John D.; Shivakumar, K. N.

1987-01-01

The objectives are to present the derivation of the new virtual crack closure technique, evaluate the accuracy of the technique, and finally to present the results of a limited parametric study of laminates with a postbuckled delamination. Although the new virtual crack closure technique is general, only homogeneous, isotropic laminates were analyzed. This was to eliminate the variation of flexural stiffness with orientation, which occurs even for quasi-isotropic laminates. This made it easier to identify the effect of geometrical parameters on G. The new virtual crack closure technique is derived. Then the specimen configurations are described. Next, the stress analyses is discussed. Finally, the virtual crack closure technique is evaluated and then used to calculate the distribution of G along the delamination front of several laminates with a postbuckled delamination.

Northeast Corridor Improvement Project Electrification - New Haven, CT to Boston, MA : Final Environmental Impact and Statement/Report and 4(f) Statement v. 1

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1994-10-31

This document is the final environmental impact statement and final environmental impact report (FEIS/R) on the proposal by the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) to complete the electrification of the Northeast Corridor main line by ex...

Northeast Corridor Improvement Project Electrification - New Haven, CT to Boston, MA : Final Environmental Impact Statement/Report : v. 4. Comment Letters and Public Hearing Transcripts

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1994-10-31

This document is the final environmental impact statement and final environmental impact report (FEIS/R) on the proposal by the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) to complete the electrification of the Northeast Corridor main line exten...

Influences of Learning Environment Characteristics on Student Learning During Authentic Science Inquiry in an Introductory Physical Geology Course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, H. R.; Sell, K. S.; Herbert, B. E.

2004-12-01

Shifts in learning goals in introductory earth science courses to greater emphasis on critical thinking and the nature of science has led to the adoption of new pedagogical techniques, including inquiry-based learning (IBL). IBL is thought to support understanding of the nature of science and foster development of scientific reasoning and critical thinking skills by modeling authentic science inquiry. Implementation of new pedagogical techniques do not occur without influence, instruction and learning occurs in a complex learning environment, referring to the social, physical, mental, and pedagogical contexts. This study characterized the impact of an IBL module verses a traditionally structured laboratory exercise in an introductory physical geology class at Texas A&M University. Student activities in this study included manipulation of large-scale data sets, use of multiple representations, and exposure to ill-constrained problems common to the Texas Gulf Coast system. Formative assessment data collected included an initial survey of self efficacy, student demographics, content knowledge and a pre-mental model expression. Summative data collected included a post-test, post-mental model expression, final laboratory report, and a post-survey on student attitudes toward the module. Mental model expressions and final reports were scored according to a validated rubric instrument (Cronbrach alpha: 0.84-0.98). Nine lab sections were randomized into experimental and control groups. Experimental groups were taught using IBL pedagogical techniques, while the control groups were taught using traditional laboratory "workbook" techniques. Preliminary assessment based on rubric scores for pre-tests using Student's t-test (N ˜ 140) indicated that the experimental and control groups were not significantly different (ρ > 0.05), therefore, the learning environment likely impacted student's ability to succeed. A non-supportive learning environment, including student attitudes, teaching assistant attitudes, the lack of scaffolded learning, limited pedagogical content knowledge, and departmental oversight, which were all encountered during this study, can have an affect on the students' attitudes and achievements during the course. Data collected showed an overall improvement in content knowledge (38% increase); while performance effort clearly declined as seen through post-mental model expressions (a decline in performance by 24.8%) and percentage of assignments turned in (39% of all students turned in the required final report). A non-supportive learning environment was also seen through student comments on the final survey, "I think that all the TA's and the professor have forgotten that we are an intro class". A non-supportive environment clearly does not encourage critical thinking and completion of work. This pilot study showed that the complex learning environment can play a significant role in student learning. It also illustrates the need for future studies in IBL with supportive learning environments in order for students to achieve academic excellence and develop scientific reasoning and critical thinking skills.

Product development using process monitoring and NDE data fusion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peterson, Todd; Bossi, Richard H.

1998-03-01

Composite process/product development relies on both process monitoring information and nondestructive evaluation measurements for determining application suitability. In the past these activities have been performed and analyzed independently. Our present approach is to present the process monitoring and NDE data together in a data fusion workstation. This methodology leads to final product acceptance based on a combined process monitoring and NDE criteria. The data fusion work station combines process parameter and NDE data in a single workspace enabling all the data to be used in the acceptance/rejection decision process. An example application is the induction welding process, a unique joining method for assembling primary composite structure, that offers significant cost and weight advantages over traditional fasted structure. The determination of the required time, temperature and pressure conditions used in the process to achieve a complete weld is being aided by the use of ultrasonic inspection techniques. Full waveform ultrasonic inspection data is employed to evaluate the quality of spar cap to skin fit, an essential element of the welding process, and is processed to find a parameter that can be used for weld acceptance. Certification of the completed weld incorporates the data fusion methodology.

Endovascular recanalization of a port catheter-associated superior vena cava syndrome.

PubMed

Tonak, Julia; Fetscher, Sebastian; Barkhausen, Jörg; Goltz, Jan Peter

2015-01-01

Superior vena cava (SVC) syndrome owing to benign etiology is rare and endovascular techniques have been advocated as the treatment of choice. We report a case of endovascular revascularization of a port catheter-associated complete occlusion of the SVC with reversed flow in the azygos vein. In this setting using a sheath in combination with its dilatator to pass the occlusion of the SVC after neither a diagnostic catheter nor a PTA balloon would pass the lesion may be a valid option. A dual venous approach was established using the right common femoral vein and an indwelling port catheter in the right cephalic vein to dilate and stent the lesion. Finally, a port may be implanted after the revascularization had been successful. Passage through the port catheter-associated occlusion of the SVC was only possible by use of the sheath in combination with its dilatator. A dual venous access by the femoral approach and the indwelling central catheter is helpful in treating a SVC occlusion. Long-term central venous catheters may cause SVC syndrome, especially with a catheter tip located too far cranially. An endovascular revascularization of a complete occlusion of the SVC represents the therapy of choice.

A test technique for measuring lightning-induced voltages on aircraft electrical circuits

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Walko, L. C.

1974-01-01

The development of a test technique used for the measurement of lightning-induced voltages in the electrical circuits of a complete aircraft is described. The resultant technique utilizes a portable device known as a transient analyzer capable of generating unidirectional current impulses similar to lightning current surges, but at a lower current level. A linear relationship between the magnitude of lightning current and the magnitude of induced voltage permitted the scaling up of measured induced values to full threat levels. The test technique was found to be practical when used on a complete aircraft.

A PERT/CPM of the Computer Assisted Completion of The Ministry September Report. Research Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Feeney, J. D.

Using two statistical analysis techniques (the Program Evaluation and Review Technique and the Critical Path Method), this study analyzed procedures for compiling the required yearly report of the Metropolitan Separate School Board (Catholic) of Toronto, Canada. The computer-assisted analysis organized the process of completing the report more…

Increased Oil Production and Reserves from Improved Completion Techniques in the Bluebell Field, Uinta Basin, Utah

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Deo, M.D.; Morgan, C.D.

1999-04-28

The objective of the project is to increase oil production and reserves by the use of improved reservoir characterization and completion techniques in the Uinta Basin, Utah. To accomplish this objective, a two-year geologic and engineering characterization of the Bluebell field was conducted. The study evaluated surface and subsurface data, currently used completion techniques, and common production problems. It was determined that advanced case- and open-hole logs could be effective in determining productive beds and that stage-interval (about 500 ft [150 m] per stage) and bed-scale isolation completion techniques could result in improved well performance. In the first demonstration wellmore » (Michelle Ute well discussed in the previous technical report), dipole shear anisotropy (anisotropy) and dual-burst thermal decay time (TDT) logs were run before and isotope tracer log was run after the treatment. The logs were very helpful in characterizing the remaining hydrocarbon potential in the well. But, mechanical failure resulted in a poor recompletion and did not result in a significant improvement in the oil production from the well.« less

Aeromagnetic Survey of Taylor Mountains Area in Southwest Alaska, A Website for the Distribution of Data

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

2006-01-01

USGS Data Series Report for the release of aeromagnetic data collected in the Taylor Mountains Area of Southwest Alaska and associated contractor reports. Summary: An airborne high-resolution magnetic and coincidental horizontal magnetic gradiometer survey was completed over the Taylor Mountains area in southwest Alaska. The flying was undertaken by McPhar Geosurveys Ltd. on behalf of the United States Geological Survey (USGS). First tests and calibration flights were completed by April 7, 2004, and data acquisition was initiated on April 17, 2004. The final data acquisition and final test/calibrations flight was completed on May 31, 2004. Data acquired during the survey totaled 8,971.15 line-miles.

Techniques for information extraction from compressed GPS traces : final report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-12-31

Developing techniques for extracting information requires a good understanding of methods used to compress the traces. Many techniques for compressing trace data : consisting of position (i.e., latitude/longitude) and time values have been developed....

28 CFR 505.7 - Procedures for final disposition.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... ADMINISTRATION COST OF INCARCERATION FEE § 505.7 Procedures for final disposition. Before the inmate completes his or her sentence, Unit Team staff must review the status of the inmate's fee. Any unpaid amount...

Final Steps in Mating NuSTAR to its Rocket

NASA Image and Video Library

2012-02-23

Inside an environmental enclosure at Vandenberg Air Force Base processing facility in California, technicians complete the final steps in mating NASA Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array NuSTAR and its Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket.

Infrared Database for Process Support Materials

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bennett, K. E.; Boothe, R. E.; Burns, H. D.

2003-01-01

Process support materials' compatibility with cleaning processes is critical to ensure final hardware cleanliness and that performance requirements are met. Previous discovery of potential contaminants in process materials shows the need for incoming materials testing and establishment of a process materials database. The Contamination Control Team of the Materials, Processes, and Manufacturing (MP&M) Department at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has initiated the development of such an infrared (IR) database, called the MSFC Process Materials IR database, of the common process support materials used at MSFC. These process support materials include solvents, wiper cloths, gloves, bagging materials, etc. Testing includes evaluation of the potential of gloves, wiper cloths, and other items to transfer contamination to handled articles in the absence of solvent exposure, and the potential for solvent exposure to induce material degradation. This Technical Memorandum (TM) summarizes the initial testing completed through December 2002. It is anticipated that additional testing will be conducted with updates provided in future TMs.Materials were analyzed using two different IR techniques: (1) Dry transference and (2) liquid extraction testing. The first of these techniques utilized the Nicolet Magna 750 IR spectrometer outfitted with a horizontal attenuated total reflectance (HATR) crystal accessory. The region from 650 to 4,000 wave numbers was analyzed, and 50 scans were performed per IR spectrum. A dry transference test was conducted by applying each sample with hand pressure to the HATR crystal to first obtain a spectrum of the parent material. The material was then removed from the HATR crystal and analyzed to determine the presence of any residues. If volatile, liquid samples were examined both prior to and following evaporation.The second technique was to perform an extraction test with each sample in five different solvents.Once the scans were complete for both the dry transference and the extraction tests, the residue from each scan was interpreted.

Axial-spin technique of endoscopic intracorporeal knot tying: comparison with the conventional technique and objective assessment of knot security, learning curves, and performance efficiency across training levels.

PubMed

Gopaldas, Raja R; Rohatgi, Chand

2009-04-01

A major limitation of conventional laparoscopic surgery is the placement of an intracorporeal (IC) knot, which requires a significant amount of training and practice. An easier technique of IC knot tying using 90-degree grasper is compared with the conventional technique (CLT). The new axial-spin technique (AST) uses the spin of the instrument shaft to tie IC knots. Fourteen participants stratified into 3 training levels were instructed to tie 50 reef IC knots using each technique on trainers in 3 sessions. The final 5 knots tied using each technique were deemed to be representative of maximal performance efficiency (PE) and randomly subject to tensile strength measurements using a tensiometer at 50 mm/s distraction. Mean knot execution time (mKET) measured in seconds (s), normalized KE time (nET=group mean/mKET), knot holding capacity, relative knot security (RKS), and PE (PE=RKS/nET) of the knots tied were computed and analyzed using paired t and analysis of variance. Variables included knot-tying session, technique and the training level. On completion of the study, junior residents (JR) averaged 51.72 seconds more, senior residents (SR) averaged 26.22 seconds more and attendings (ATT) averaged 19.17 seconds less to tie using CLT compared with the AST (F=40.52, P=0.0001). Across all levels, the CLT technique was taking 83.26 seconds on average to execute an IC knot compared with 59.08 seconds with AST method (t=2.784, P=0.015). Learning curves revealed that JR significantly improved mean KE times with the AST technique (first session vs. final session: 473.8 s vs. 55.9 s) compared with CLT (672.5 s vs. 107.6 s) across the sessions as compared with those in advanced levels of training. The RKS of knots executed by AST was significantly stronger (AST: 13.1 vs. 5.44 N, t=4.9, P=0.0001). The PE of knots executed using the CLT increased geometrically across training levels (JR: 1.35% SR: 5.58% ATT: 11.22%) whereas those of AST showed a linear trend (17.09%; 17.11%, and 13.95%). The AST follows a linear pattern of learning across training levels compared with the steep exponential learning of the CLT. Inexperienced JRs were surprisingly 1.5 times more efficient with AST and 8 times less efficient with CLT compared with ATT using the CLT to execute the same knot. The AST is significantly easier to learn for JRs and could serve as a platform before acquiring more advanced knot-tying skills. Overall, with the AST, execution times are significantly shorter whereas the RKS and PE are significantly higher. JRs achieve a level of proficiency comparable with the senior level residents and ATT after participating in a reasonable training session consisting of at least 25 knots.

Repair of a complete radial tear in the midbody of the medial meniscus using a novel crisscross suture transtibial tunnel surgical technique: a case report.

PubMed

James, Evan W; LaPrade, Christopher M; Feagin, John A; LaPrade, Robert F

2015-09-01

Complete radial meniscus tears have been reported to result in deleterious effects in the knee joint if left unrepaired. An emphasis on meniscal preservation is important in order to restore native meniscal function. In this case report, a complete radial tear of the medial meniscus midbody was repaired using a novel crisscross suture transtibial technique. This technique secured the anterior and posterior meniscal horns, which were released from their extruded and scarred position along the capsule, using crisscrossing sutures passed through two transtibial tunnels and secured over a bone bridge on the anterolateral tibia. In addition, the repair was supplemented with the injection of platelet-rich plasma and bone marrow aspirate concentrate to promote the healing of the meniscal tissue. Complete healing on second-look arthroscopy is presented, including in the previously unreported white-white meniscal zone.

Automated localization and segmentation techniques for B-mode ultrasound images: A review.

PubMed

Meiburger, Kristen M; Acharya, U Rajendra; Molinari, Filippo

2018-01-01

B-mode ultrasound imaging is used extensively in medicine. Hence, there is a need to have efficient segmentation tools to aid in computer-aided diagnosis, image-guided interventions, and therapy. This paper presents a comprehensive review on automated localization and segmentation techniques for B-mode ultrasound images. The paper first describes the general characteristics of B-mode ultrasound images. Then insight on the localization and segmentation of tissues is provided, both in the case in which the organ/tissue localization provides the final segmentation and in the case in which a two-step segmentation process is needed, due to the desired boundaries being too fine to locate from within the entire ultrasound frame. Subsequenly, examples of some main techniques found in literature are shown, including but not limited to shape priors, superpixel and classification, local pixel statistics, active contours, edge-tracking, dynamic programming, and data mining. Ten selected applications (abdomen/kidney, breast, cardiology, thyroid, liver, vascular, musculoskeletal, obstetrics, gynecology, prostate) are then investigated in depth, and the performances of a few specific applications are compared. In conclusion, future perspectives for B-mode based segmentation, such as the integration of RF information, the employment of higher frequency probes when possible, the focus on completely automatic algorithms, and the increase in available data are discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Three-dimensional imaging of porous media using confocal laser scanning microscopy.

PubMed

Shah, S M; Crawshaw, J P; Boek, E S

2017-02-01

In the last decade, imaging techniques capable of reconstructing three-dimensional (3-D) pore-scale model have played a pivotal role in the study of fluid flow through complex porous media. In this study, we present advances in the application of confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) to image, reconstruct and characterize complex porous geological materials with hydrocarbon reservoir and CO 2 storage potential. CLSM has a unique capability of producing 3-D thin optical sections of a material, with a wide field of view and submicron resolution in the lateral and axial planes. However, CLSM is limited in the depth (z-dimension) that can be imaged in porous materials. In this study, we introduce a 'grind and slice' technique to overcome this limitation. We discuss the practical and technical aspects of the confocal imaging technique with application to complex rock samples including Mt. Gambier and Ketton carbonates. We then describe the complete workflow of image processing to filtering and segmenting the raw 3-D confocal volumetric data into pores and grains. Finally, we use the resulting 3-D pore-scale binarized confocal data obtained to quantitatively determine petrophysical pore-scale properties such as total porosity, macro- and microporosity and single-phase permeability using lattice Boltzmann (LB) simulations, validated by experiments. © 2016 The Authors Journal of Microscopy © 2016 Royal Microscopical Society.

Characteristics of Dry Chin-Tuck Swallowing Vibrations and Sounds

PubMed Central

Dudik, Joshua M; Jestrović, Iva; Luan, Bo; Coyle, James L.; Sejdić, Ervin

2015-01-01

Objective The effects of the chin-tuck maneuver, a technique commonly employed to compensate for dysphagia, on cervical auscultation are not fully understood. Characterizing a technique that is known to affect swallowing function is an important step on the way to developing a new instrumentation-based swallowing screening tool. Methods In this study, we recorded data from 55 adult participants who each completed five saliva swallows in a chin-tuck position. The resulting data was processed using previously designed filtering and segmentation algorithms. We then calculated 9 time, frequency, and time-frequency domain features for each independent signal. Results We found that multiple frequency and time domain features varied significantly between male and female subjects as well as between swallowing sounds and vibrations. However, our analysis showed that participant age did not play a significant role on the values of the extracted features. Finally, we found that various frequency features corresponding to swallowing vibrations did demonstrate statistically significant variation between the neutral and chin-tuck positions but sounds showed no changes between these two positions. Conclusion The chin-tuck maneuver affects many facets of swallowing vibrations and sounds and its effects can be monitored via cervical auscultation. Significance These results suggest that a subject’s swallowing technique does need to be accounted for when monitoring their performance with cervical auscultation based instrumentation. PMID:25974926

[Surface characteristics of the acrylic resins according to the polishing methods].

PubMed

Vitalariu, Anca Mihaela; Lazăr, Lenuţa; Buruiană, Tinca; Diaconu, Diana; Tatarciuc, Monica Silvia

2011-01-01

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the polishing technique and glazing on the porosity of the dental resins. The studied resins were: Castapress/Vertex, Prothyl Hot/Zermack, Rapid Simplified/Vertex, Duracryl Plus/Spofa Dental, Vertex-Soft/Vertex, Superacryl Plus/Spofa Dental. Thirty specimens, five for every resin, of 50/25/2 cm in size were done. One surface of each sample was polished with extrahard tungsten carbide burs, the other surface being polished with extrahard extrafine and diamond burs. The final polishing was done using a conventional method: pumice, water and lathe bristle brush for 90 seconds, 1500 rpm and soft leather polishing wheel for 90 seconds, 3000 rpm. Twenty surfaces were glazed after polishing with Glaze/Bosworth. Vertex Soft specimens were not polished because this is a resilient material. Surface porosity of the acrylic resin specimens was measured by optical microscopy. The lowest porosity was obtained by conventional polishing combined with glazing techniques. No differences between glazed and non/glazed self-curing resin specimens were noticed, but there were differences between self-curing and heat-curing resins. Conventional lathe polishing method is an effective and reliable technique for polishing dental resins. Specimens of self-curing resin had a higher porosity than heat curing resin following the same surface treatment. Higher surface smoothness was obtained by conventional lathe polishing completed by glazing.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Morgan, C.D.; Allison, M.L.

The Bluebell field is productive from the Tertiary lower Green River and Wasatch Formations of the Uinta Basin, Utah. The productive interval consists of thousands of feet of interbedded fractured clastic and carbonate beds deposited in a fluvial-dominated lacustrine environment. Wells in the Bluebell field are typically completed by perforating 40 or more beds over 1,000 to 3,000 vertical feet (300-900 m), then stimulating the entire interval. This completion technique is believed to leave many potentially productive beds damaged and/or untreated, while allowing water-bearing and low-pressure (thief) zones to communicate with the wellbore. Geologic and engineering characterization has been usedmore » to define improved completion techniques. A two-year characterization study involved detailed examination of outcrop, core, well logs, surface and subsurface fractures, produced oil-field waters, engineering parameters of the two demonstration wells, and analysis of past completion techniques and effectiveness. The characterization study resulted in recommendations for improved completion techniques and a field-demonstration program to test those techniques. The results of the characterization study and the proposed demonstration program are discussed in the second annual technical progress report. The operator of the wells was unable to begin the field demonstration this project year (October 1, 1995 to September 20, 1996). Correlation and thickness mapping of individual beds in the Wasatch Formation was completed and resulted in a. series of maps of each of the individual beds. These data were used in constructing the reservoir models. Non-fractured and fractured geostatistical models and reservoir simulations were generated for a 20-square-mile (51.8-km{sup 2}) portion of the Bluebell field. The modeling provides insights into the effects of fracture porosity and permeability in the Green River and Wasatch reservoirs.« less

Nano-yttria dispersed stainless steel composites composed by the 3 dimensional fiber deposition technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Verhiest, K.; Mullens, S.; De Wispelaere, N.; Claessens, S.; DeBremaecker, A.; Verbeken, K.

2012-09-01

In this study, oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) 316L steel samples were manufactured by the 3 dimensional fiber deposition (3DFD) technique. The performance of 3DFD as colloidal consolidation technique to obtain porous green bodies based on yttria (Y2O3) nano-slurries or paste, is discussed within this experimental work. The influence of the sintering temperature and time on sample densification and grain growth was investigated in this study. Hot consolidation was performed to obtain final product quality in terms of residual porosity reduction and final dispersion homogeneity.

Complete measurement of spatiotemporally complex multi-spatial-mode ultrashort pulses from multimode optical fibers using delay-scanned wavelength-multiplexed holography.

PubMed

Zhu, Ping; Jafari, Rana; Jones, Travis; Trebino, Rick

2017-10-02

We introduce a simple delay-scanned complete spatiotemporal intensity-and-phase measurement technique based on wavelength-multiplexed holography to characterize long, complex pulses in space and time. We demonstrate it using pulses emerging from multi-mode fiber. This technique extends the temporal range and spectral resolution of the single-frame STRIPED FISH technique without using an otherwise-required expensive ultranarrow-bandpass filter. With this technique, we measured the complete intensity and phase of up to ten fiber modes from a multi-mode fiber (normalized frequency V ≈10) over a ~3ps time range. Spatiotemporal complexities such as intermodal delay, modal dispersion, and material dispersion were also intuitively displayed by the retrieved results. Agreement between the reconstructed color movies and the monitored time-averaged spatial profiles confirms the validity to this delay-scanned STRIPED FISH method.

Case studies from Oman for coiled tubing deployed completion techniques

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Taylor, R.W.; Conrad, B.

1996-09-01

Although the use of ultra-large coiled tubing to complete wells is relatively new, it is gaining widespread industry application. This paper will detail the equipment necessary to perform an operation of this type and will present information from several case studies in Oman in which an operator has successfully deployed completion equipment on 3-1/2-inch-OD coiled tubing. In addition to a discussion of the equipment required to perform the necessary operations, the trial parameters that were established by this operator will be given. The information presented has been selected to allow an initial evaluation to be made of coiled tubing completionsmore » in general and will help to determine whether this method can prove to be less expensive than traditional rig-based completions. The topics presented have been chosen to provide the reader with a thorough understanding of the techniques and preparation needed to execute a coiled tubing completion. The summary of experiences will conclude that this innovative completion technique can be a viable method for completing wells. Although long-term advantages regarding production and well maintenance cannot yet be determined, the operator`s experiences to date have confirmed his initial belief that use of coiled tubing in ultra-large continuous-pipe applications can be cost effective.« less

Athletes' perceptions of coaching competency and team conflict in sport teams: A multilevel analysis.

PubMed

González-Ponce, I; Leo, F M; Jiménez, R; Sánchez-Oliva, D; Sarmento, H; Figueiredo, A; García-Calvo, T

2018-04-23

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between coaching competency and team conflict, at individual and team levels, over the season. The participants were professional female and male soccer players, who participated in the First and Second Division. A longitudinal study was performed. At Time 1, the sample of participants consisted of 581 soccer players aged between 15 and 39 years. At Time 2, 549 players were recruited from the original sample aged between 15 and 37 years. Finally, at Time 3, the sample comprised 576 players aged between 15 and 37 years. All participants completed a multi-section questionnaire assessing coaching competency (motivation, game strategy, technique competency, and character-building competency) and team conflict (task conflict and relationship conflict). Results showed that both task and relationship conflict increased significantly over time. Multilevel modelling analysis showed that game strategy and character-building competencies negatively predicted both task and relationship conflicts at the individual level, whereas motivation competency was also added as a significant predictor of task conflict at the team level. Moreover, technique competency positively predicted task conflict at the team level. The current study suggests the importance of coaching competency in group dynamics in sport.

Natural Tooth Pontic: An Instant Esthetic Option for Periodontally Compromised Teeth—A Case Series

PubMed Central

Raj, Rishi; Narayan, Ipshita; Gowda, Triveni Mavinakote; Mehta, D. S.

2016-01-01

Sudden tooth loss in the esthetic zone of the maxillary or mandibular anterior region can be due to trauma, periodontal disease, or endodontic failure. The treatment options for replacing the missing tooth can vary between removable prosthesis, tooth-supported prosthesis, and implant-supported prosthesis. Irrespective of the final treatment, the first line of management would be to provisionally restore the patient's esthetic appearance at the earliest, while functionally stabilizing the compromised arch. Using the patient's own natural tooth as a pontic offers the benefits of being the right size, shape, and color and provides exact repositioning in its original intraoral three-dimensional position. Additionally, using the patient's platelet concentrate (platelet rich fibrin) facilitates early wound healing and preservation of alveolar ridge shape following tooth extraction. The abutment teeth can also be preserved with minimal or no preparation, thus keeping the technique reversible, and can be completed at the chair side thereby avoiding laboratory costs. This helps the patient better tolerate the effect of tooth loss psychologically. The article describes a successful, immediate, and viable technique for rehabilitation of three different patients requiring replacement of a single periodontally compromised tooth in an esthetic region. PMID:27994892

New frontier in hypericin-mediated diagnosis of cancer with current optical technologies.

PubMed

Olivo, Malini; Fu, Chit Yaw; Raghavan, Vijaya; Lau, Weber Kam On

2012-02-01

Photosensitizers (PSs) have shown great potentials as molecular contrast agents in photodynamic diagnosis (PDD) of cancer. While the diagnostic values of PSs have been proven previously, little efforts have been put into developing optical imaging and diagnostic algorithms. In this article, we review the recent development of optical probes that have been used in conjunction with a potent PS, hypericin (HY). Various fluorescence techniques such as laser confocal microscopy, fluorescence urine cytology, endoscopy and endomicroscopy are covered. We will also discuss about image processing and classification approaches employed for accurate PDD. We anticipate that continual efforts in these developments could lead to an objective PDD and complete surgical clearance of tumors. Recent advancements in nanotechnology have also opened new horizons for PSs. The use of biocompatible gold nanoparticles as carrier for enhanced targeted delivery of HY has been attained. In addition, plasmonic properties of nanoparticles were harnessed to induce localized hyperthermia and to manage the release of PS molecules, enabling a better therapeutic outcome of a combined photodynamic and photothermal therapy. Finally, we discuss how nanoparticles can be used as contrast agents for other optical techniques such as optical coherence tomography and surface-enhanced Raman scattering imaging.

Synthetic Biology: Putting Synthesis into Biology

PubMed Central

Liang, Jing; Luo, Yunzi; Zhao, Huimin

2010-01-01

The ability to manipulate living organisms is at the heart of a range of emerging technologies that serve to address important and current problems in environment, energy, and health. However, with all its complexity and interconnectivity, biology has for many years been recalcitrant to engineering manipulations. The recent advances in synthesis, analysis, and modeling methods have finally provided the tools necessary to manipulate living systems in meaningful ways, and have led to the coining of a field named synthetic biology. The scope of synthetic biology is as complicated as life itself – encompassing many branches of science, and across many scales of application. New DNA synthesis and assembly techniques have made routine the customization of very large DNA molecules. This in turn has allowed the incorporation of multiple genes and pathways. By coupling these with techniques that allow for the modeling and design of protein functions, scientists have now gained the tools to create completely novel biological machineries. Even the ultimate biological machinery – a self-replicating organism – is being pursued at this moment. It is the purpose of this review to dissect and organize these various components of synthetic biology into a coherent picture. PMID:21064036

Automated synthesis, insertion and detection of polyps for CT colonography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sezille, Nicolas; Sadleir, Robert J. T.; Whelan, Paul F.

2003-03-01

CT Colonography (CTC) is a new non-invasive colon imaging technique which has the potential to replace conventional colonoscopy for colorectal cancer screening. A novel system which facilitates automated detection of colorectal polyps at CTC is introduced. As exhaustive testing of such a system using real patient data is not feasible, more complete testing is achieved through synthesis of artificial polyps and insertion into real datasets. The polyp insertion is semi-automatic: candidate points are manually selected using a custom GUI, suitable points are determined automatically from an analysis of the local neighborhood surrounding each of the candidate points. Local density and orientation information are used to generate polyps based on an elliptical model. Anomalies are identified from the modified dataset by analyzing the axial images. Detected anomalies are classified as potential polyps or natural features using 3D morphological techniques. The final results are flagged for review. The system was evaluated using 15 scenarios. The sensitivity of the system was found to be 65% with 34% false positive detections. Automated diagnosis at CTC is possible and thorough testing is facilitated by augmenting real patient data with computer generated polyps. Ultimately, automated diagnosis will enhance standard CTC and increase performance.

Apical sling: an approach to posthysterectomy vault prolapse.

PubMed

Alas, Alexandriah N; Pereira, Ines; Chandrasekaran, Neeraja; Devakumar, Hemikaa; Espaillat, Luis; Hurtado, Eric; Davila, G Willy

2016-09-01

This video demonstrates a transvaginal technique for vaginal vault suspension using an apical sling suspended from the sacrospinous ligaments. This was a retrospective review of apical sling procedures performed from July 2013 to November 2014. The technique is started by marking the vaginal apex. A posterior dissection is performed and the sacrospinous ligaments are identified after dissection into the pararectal space. A 10-cm piece of monofilament, inelastic polypropylene tape is attached to the underside of the vaginal apex. Polypropylene sutures are placed into the sacrospinous ligament and threaded though the lateral edges of the apical sling and tied down, restoring apical support. Finally, the vaginal epithelium is closed. A total of 67 women underwent an apical sling procedure with 70 % (47/67) completing 6 months follow-up. The subjective cure rate ("cured" or "greatly improved") was 78.7 % and the objective cure rate (anatomical success, defined as apical prolapse stage ≤1) was 100 % (47 patients). Our apical sling sacrospinous ligament fixation approach is a unique, minimal mesh approach using a tape commonly used for midurethral slings to suspend the vaginal apex. We achieved high anatomical success and patient satisfaction.

Multicenter study of pars plana vitrectomy for optic disc pit maculopathy: MACPIT study.

PubMed

Avci, R; Kapran, Z; Ozdek, Ş; Teke, M Y; Oz, O; Guven, D; Yilmaz, S; Kaderli, B; Durukan, A H; Sobaci, G; Unver, Y B; Akduman, L; Kaynak, S; Dogan, I; Inan, U U

2017-09-01

PurposeTo evaluate surgical intervention with pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) for correction of optic disc pit maculopathy (ODP-M).Patients and methodsRetrospective chart review from 13 centres of 51 eyes of 50 patients with ODP-M who underwent PPV between 2002-2014. Anatomic and final best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) outcomes were evaluated for all cases with different adjuvant techniques.ResultsThere were 23 males and 27 females with median age 25.5 (6-68) years. Preoperative median foveal thickness was 694.5 (331-1384) μm and improved to 252.5 (153-1405) μm. Median BCVA improved from 20/200 (20/20000 to 20/40) to 20/40 (20/2000 to 20/20) with 20/40 or better in 31 eyes. Complete retinal reattachment was achieved in 44 eyes (86.3%) at 7.1 (5.9) months. The good surgical outcomes were achieved in different adjuvant groups. Median follow-up was 24 (6 to 120) months.ConclusionsThese results confirm the long-term effectiveness of PPV for ODP-M. Prospective studies are needed to determine the effectiveness of any adjuvant technique in improving the success of PPV for ODP-M.

Effervescence-assisted dispersive solid-phase extraction using ionic-liquid-modified magnetic β-cyclodextrin/attapulgite coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography for fungicide detection in honey and juice.

PubMed

Wu, Xiaoling; Yang, Miyi; Zeng, Haozhe; Xi, Xuefei; Zhang, Sanbing; Lu, Runhua; Gao, Haixiang; Zhou, Wenfeng

2016-11-01

In this study, a simple effervescence-assisted dispersive solid-phase extraction method was developed to detect fungicides in honey and juice. Most significantly, an innovative ionic-liquid-modified magnetic β-cyclodextrin/attapulgite sorbent was used because its large specific surface area enhanced the extraction capacity and also led to facile separation. A one-factor-at-a-time approach and orthogonal design were employed to optimize the experimental parameters. Under the optimized conditions, the entire extraction procedure was completed within 3 min. In addition, the calibration curves exhibited good linearity, and high enrichment factors were achieved for pure water and honey samples. For the honey samples, the extraction efficiencies for the target fungicides ranged from 77.0 to 94.3% with relative standard deviations of 2.3-5.44%. The detection and quantitation limits were in the ranges of 0.07-0.38 and 0.23-1.27 μg/L, respectively. Finally, the developed technique was successfully applied to real samples, and satisfactory results were achieved. This analytical technique is cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and time-saving. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Creep fatigue life prediction for engine hot section materials (isotropic)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nelson, R. S.; Levan, G. W.; Harvey, P. R.

1992-01-01

This Final Report covers the activities completed under the optional program of the NASA HOST Contract, NAS3-23288. The initial effort of the optional program was report-in NASA CR189221, which consisted of high temperature strain controlled fatigue tests to study the effects of thermomechanical fatigue, multiaxial loading, reactive environments, and imposed stresses. The baseline alloy used in the tests included B1900+Hf (with or without coating) and wrought INCO 718. Tests conducted on B1900+Hf included environmental tests using various atmospheres (75 psig oxygen, purified argon, or block exposures) and specimen tests of wrought INCO 718 included tensile, creep, stress rupture, TMF, multiaxial, and mean stress tests. Results of these testings were used to calibrate a CDA model for INCO 718 alloy and to develop modifications or corrections to the CDA model to handle additional failure mechanisms. The Socie parameter was found to provide the best correlation for INCO multiaxial loading. Microstructural evaluations consisting of optical, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) techniques, and surface replication techniques to determine crack initiation lives provided data which were used to develop life prediction models.

Implementation of Satellite Techniques in the Air Transport

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fellner, Andrzej; Jafernik, Henryk

2016-06-01

The article shows process of the implementation satellite systems in Polish aviation which contributed to accomplishment Performance-Based Navigation (PBN) concept. Since 1991 authors have introduced Satellite Navigation Equipment in Polish Air Forces. The studies and researches provide to the Polish Air Force alternative approaches, modernize their navigation and landing systems and achieve compatibility with systems of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Acquired experience, conducted military tests and obtained results enabled to take up work scientifically - research in the environment of the civil aviation. Therefore in 2008 there has been launched cooperation with Polish Air Navigation Services Agency (PANSA). Thanks to cooperation, there have been compiled and fulfilled three fundamental international projects: EGNOS APV MIELEC (EGNOS Introduction in European Eastern Region - APV Mielec), HEDGE (Helicopters Deploy GNSS in Europe), SHERPA (Support ad-Hoc to Eastern Region Pre-operational in GNSS). The successful completion of these projects enabled implementation 21 procedures of the RNAV GNSS final approach at Polish airports, contributing to the implementation of PBN in Poland as well as ICAO resolution A37-11. Results of conducted research which served for the implementation of satellite techniques in the air transport constitute the meaning of this material.

Lexical Retrieval of Nouns and Verbs in a Sentence Completion Task

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abel, Alyson D.; Maguire, Mandy J.; Naqvi, Fizza M.; Kim, Angela Y.

2015-01-01

This study explored noun and verb retrieval using a sentence completion task to expand upon previous findings from picture naming tasks. Participants completed sentences missing either a target noun or verb in the final position. Non-target responses were coded for substitution type, imageability and frequency. Like picture naming, nouns and verbs…

Helping Prospective Teachers Sell Themselves: The Portfolio as a Marketing Strategy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weinberger, Helene; Didham, Cheryl K.

Education majors at Bowling Green State University (BGSU) in Ohio are required to complete a credential portfolio prior to their final evaluation conference. At this conference the cooperating teacher, student teacher, and supervisor meet and discuss the completion of student teaching competencies. The portfolio contains evidence of completion of…

Northeast Corridor Improvement Project Electrification - New Haven, CT to Boston, MA : Final Environmental Impact Statement/Report - v. 3. Response to Comments on Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1994-10-31

This document is the final environmental impact statement and final environmental impact report (FEIS/R) on the proposal by the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) to complete the electrification of the Northeast Corridor main line by ex...

77 FR 56241 - Notice of Withdrawal of Final Design Approval; Westinghouse Electric Company; Advanced Passive 1000

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-09-12

... NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [NRC-2010-0131] Notice of Withdrawal of Final Design Approval... final design approval (FDA) for the Advanced Passive 1000 (AP1000) design upon the completion of rulemaking for the amendment to the AP1000 design and the issuance of the amended AP1000 design certification...

Technique and final cause in psychoanalysis: four ways of looking at one moment.

PubMed

Lear, Jonathan

2009-12-01

This paper argues that if one considers just a single clinical moment there may be no principled way to choose among different approaches to psychoanalytic technique. One must in addition take into account what Aristotle called the final cause of psychoanalysis, which this paper argues is freedom. However, freedom is itself an open-ended concept with many aspects that need to be explored and developed from a psychoanalytic perspective. This paper considers one analytic moment from the perspectives of the techniques of Paul Gray, Hans Loewald, the contemporary Kleinians and Jacques Lacan. It argues that, if we are to evaluate these techniques, we must take into account the different conceptions of freedom they are trying to facilitate.

Pilot Study of Kano "Attractive Quality" Techniques to Identify Change in Emergency Department Patient Experience.

PubMed

Bellamkonda, Venkatesh R; Kumar, Rishi; Scanlan-Hanson, Lori N; Hess, Jennifer J; Hellmich, Thomas R; Bellamkonda, Erica; Campbell, Ronna L; Hess, Erik P; Nestler, David M

2016-11-01

We describe the use of the Kano Attractive Quality analytic tool to improve an identified patient experience gap in perceived compassion by emergency department (ED) providers. In phase 1, point-of-service surveying assessed baseline patient perception of ED provider compassion. Phase 2 deployed Kano surveys to predict the effect of 4 proposed interventions on patient perception. Finally, phase 3 compared patients receiving standard care versus the Kano-identified intervention to assess the actual effect on patient experience. In phase 1, 193 of 200 surveys (97%) were completed, showing a baseline median score of 4 out of 5 (interquartile range [IQR] 3 to 5), with top box percentage of 33% for patients' perception of receiving compassionate care. In phase 2, 158 of 180 surveys (88%) using Kano-formatted questions were completed, and the data predicted that increasing shared decisionmaking would cause the greatest improvement in the patient experience. Finally, in phase 3, 45 of 49 surveys (92%) were returned and demonstrated a significant improvement in perceived concern and sensitivity, 5 (IQR 5 to 5) versus 4 (IQR 3 to 5) with a difference of 1 (95% CI 0.1-1.9) and a top box rating of 79% versus 35% with a difference of 44% (95% CI 12-66) by patients who received dedicated shared decisionmaking interventions versus those receiving standard of care. Kano analysis is likely predictive of change in patient experience. Kano methods may prove as useful in changing management of the health care industry as it has been in other industries. Copyright © 2016 American College of Emergency Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cosmology Without Finality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mahootian, F.

2009-12-01

The rapid convergence of advancing sensor technology, computational power, and knowledge discovery techniques over the past decade has brought unprecedented volumes of astronomical data together with unprecedented capabilities of data assimilation and analysis. A key result is that a new, data-driven "observational-inductive'' framework for scientific inquiry is taking shape and proving viable. The anticipated rise in data flow and processing power will have profound effects, e.g., confirmations and disconfirmations of existing theoretical claims both for and against the big bang model. But beyond enabling new discoveries can new data-driven frameworks of scientific inquiry reshape the epistemic ideals of science? The history of physics offers a comparison. The Bohr-Einstein debate over the "completeness'' of quantum mechanics centered on a question of ideals: what counts as science? We briefly examine lessons from that episode and pose questions about their applicability to cosmology. If the history of 20th century physics is any indication, the abandonment of absolutes (e.g., space, time, simultaneity, continuity, determinacy) can produce fundamental changes in understanding. The classical ideal of science, operative in both physics and cosmology, descends from the European Enlightenment. This ideal has for over 200 years guided science to seek the ultimate order of nature, to pursue the absolute theory, the "theory of everything.'' But now that we have new models of scientific inquiry powered by new technologies and driven more by data than by theory, it is time, finally, to relinquish dreams of a "final'' theory.

The fusion of MBB with VFW finally brought to completion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1981-01-01

Two newspaper type articles describing the final, long awaited unification of the two German Air and Space companies, MBB and VFW are presented. Government participation in this "fusion" arrangement and the advantages expected to accrue are discussed.

Surgical technique for reconstruction of the nasal septum: the pericranial flap.

PubMed

Paloma, V; Samper, A; Cervera-Paz, F J

2000-01-01

We describe a new technique for the surgical reconstruction of large-sized anterior septal perforations based on the pericranial flap. The technique requires a standard open rhinoplasty combined with a pericranial flap harvested after a bicoronal approach and tunnelled to the nasal cavity. We present the case of a man with complete destruction of the nasal septum as a result of chronic cocaine abuse. Surgery resulted in a permanent and complete closure of the perforation. The main advantage of this technique is the use of well-vascularized autogenous tissue and the minimal donor site morbidity. This technique provides a new method to close large nasal perforations. Copyright 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Head Neck 22: 90-94, 2000.

Instructional Practices: A Practical Final for Speech Fundamentals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miles, Paul L.

1977-01-01

Explores the testing technique of practical extemporaneous speech finals for students enrolled in the fundamentals course and emphasizes the objectives, procedures and evaluation criteria for such an approach. (MH)

Hardware Implementation of Multiple Fan Beam Projection Technique in Optical Fibre Process Tomography

PubMed Central

Rahim, Ruzairi Abdul; Fazalul Rahiman, Mohd Hafiz; Leong, Lai Chen; Chan, Kok San; Pang, Jon Fea

2008-01-01

The main objective of this project is to implement the multiple fan beam projection technique using optical fibre sensors with the aim to achieve a high data acquisition rate. Multiple fan beam projection technique here is defined as allowing more than one emitter to transmit light at the same time using the switch-mode fan beam method. For the thirty-two pairs of sensors used, the 2-projection technique and 4-projection technique are being investigated. Sixteen sets of projections will complete one frame of light emission for the 2-projection technique while eight sets of projection will complete one frame of light emission for the 4-projection technique. In order to facilitate data acquisition process, PIC microcontroller and the sample and hold circuit are being used. This paper summarizes the hardware configuration and design for this project. PMID:27879885

Modern management of obstructive salivary diseases

PubMed Central

Capaccio, P; Torretta, S; Ottaviani, F; Sambataro, G; Pignataro, L

2007-01-01

Summary Over the last fifteen years, increasing public demand for minimally-invasive surgery and recent technological advances have led to the development of a number of conservative options for the therapeutic management of obstructive salivary disorders such as calculi and duct stenosis. These include extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy, sialoendoscopy, laser intra-corporeal lithotripsy, interventional radiology, the video-assisted conservative surgical removal of parotid and sub-mandibular calculi and botulinum toxin therapy. Each of these techniques may be used as a single therapeutic modality or in combination with one or more of the above-mentioned options, usually in day case or one-day case under local or general anaesthesia. The multi-modal approach is completely successful in about 80% of patients and reduces the need for gland removal in 3%, thus justifying the combination of, albeit, time-consuming and relatively expensive techniques as part of the modern and functional management of salivary calculi. With regard to the management of salivary duct anomalies, such as strictures and kinkings, interventional radiology with fluoroscopically controlled balloon ductoplasty seems to be the most suitable technique despite the use of radiation. Operative sialoendoscopy alone is the best therapeutic option for all mobile intra-luminal causes of obstruction, such as microliths, mucous plugs or foreign bodies, or for the local treatment of inflammatory conditions such as recurrent chronic parotitis or autoimmune salivary disorders. Finally, in the case of failure of one of the above techniques and regardless of the cause of obstruction, botulinum toxin injection into the parenchyma of the salivary glands using colour Doppler ultrasonographic monitoring should be considered before deciding on surgical gland removal. PMID:17957846

Injection Laryngoplasty Using Micronized Acellular Dermis for Vocal Fold Paralysis: Long-term Voice Outcomes.

PubMed

Hernandez, Stephen C; Sibley, Haley; Fink, Daniel S; Kunduk, Melda; Schexnaildre, Mell; Kakade, Anagha; McWhorter, Andrew J

2016-05-01

Micronized acellular dermis has been used for nearly 15 years to correct glottic insufficiency. With previous demonstration of safety and efficacy, this study aims to evaluate intermediate and long-term voice outcomes in those who underwent injection laryngoplasty for unilateral vocal fold paralysis. Technique and timing of injection were also reviewed to assess their impact on outcomes. Case series with chart review. Tertiary care center. Patients undergoing injection laryngoplasty from May 2007 to September 2012 were reviewed for possible inclusion. Pre- and postoperative Voice Handicap Index (VHI) scores, as well as senior speech-language pathologists' blinded assessment of voice, were collected for analysis. The final sample included patients who underwent injection laryngoplasty for unilateral vocal fold paralysis, 33 of whom had VHI results and 37 of whom had voice recordings. Additional data were obtained, including technique and timing of injection. Analysis was performed on those patients above with VHI and perceptual voice grades before and at least 6 months following injection. Mean VHI improved by 28.7 points at 6 to 12 months and 22.8 points at >12 months (P = .001). Mean perceptual voice grades improved by 17.6 points at 6 to 12 months and 16.3 points at >12 months (P < .001). No statistically significant difference was found with technique or time to injection. Micronized acellular dermis is a safe injectable that improved both patient-completed voice ratings and blinded reviewer voice gradings at intermediate and long-term follow-up. Further investigation may be warranted regarding technique and timing of injection. © American Academy of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery Foundation 2016.

Effect of the Polishing Procedures on Color Stability and Surface Roughness of Composite Resins

PubMed Central

Schmitt, Vera Lucia; Puppin-Rontani, Regina Maria; Naufel, Fabiana Scarparo; Nahsan, Flávia Pardo Salata; Alexandre Coelho Sinhoreti, Mário; Baseggio, Wagner

2011-01-01

Objectives. To evaluate the polishing procedures effect on color stability and surface roughness of composite resins. Methods. Specimens were distributed into 6 groups: G1: Filtek Supreme XT + PoGo; G2: Filtek Supreme XT + Sof-Lex; G3: Filtek Supreme XT + no polishing; G4: Amelogen + PoGo; G5: Amelogen + Sof-Lex.; G6: Amelogen + no polishing. Initial color values were evaluated using the CIELab scale. After polishing, surface roughness was evaluated and the specimens were stored in coffee solution at 37°C for 7 days. The final color measurement and roughness were determined. Results. Sof-Lex resulted in lower staining. Amelogen showed the highest roughness values than Filtek Supreme on baseline and final evaluations regardless of the polishing technique. Filtek Supreme polished with PoGo showed the lowest roughness values. All groups presented discoloration after storage in coffee solution, regardless of the polishing technique. Conclusion. Multiple-step polishing technique provided lower degree of discoloration for both composite resins. The final surface texture is material and technique dependent. PMID:21991483

Techniques of Final Preseal Visual Inspection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anstead, R. J.

1975-01-01

A dissertation is given on the final preseal visual inspection of microcircuit devices to detect manufacturing defects and reduce failure rates in service. The processes employed in fabricating monolithic integrated circuits and hybrid microcircuits, various failure mechanisms resulting from deficiencies in those processes, and the rudiments of performing final inspection are outlined.

Final Technical Report [Cosmogenic background and shielding R&D for a Ge Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay Experiment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Guiseppe, Vince

2013-10-01

The USD Majorana group focused all of its effort in support of the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR (MJD) experiment. Final designs of the shielding subsystems are complete. Construction of the MJD shielding systems at SURF has begun and the proposed activities directly support the completion of the shield systems. The PI and the group contribute heavily to the onsite construction activities of the MJD experiment. The group led investigations into neutron and neutron-­induced backgrounds, shielding effectiveness and design, and radon backgrounds.

DEMONSTRATION OF RADON RESISTANT CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES - PHASE II. FINAL REPORT

EPA Science Inventory

The report gives results of a demonstration of radon resistant construction techniques. Sub-slab mitigation systems were installed (in accordance with draft standards) in 15 new Florida houses in 1992, and these houses have undergone extensive testing to validate techniques used ...

A simplified method to reduce prosthetic misfit for a screw-retained, implant-supported complete denture using a luting technique and laser welding.

PubMed

Longoni, Salvatore; Sartori, Matteo; Davide, Roberto

2004-06-01

An important aim of implant-supported prostheses is to achieve a passive fit of the framework with the abutments to limit the amount of stress transfer to the bone-implant interface. An efficient and standardized technique is proposed. A definitive screw-retained, implant-supported complete denture was fabricated for an immediately loaded provisional screw-retained implant-supported complete denture. Precise fit was achieved by the use of industrial titanium components and the passivity, by an intraoral luting sequence and laser welding.

Analysis on preemptive priority retrial queue with two types of customers, balking, optional re-service, single vacation and service interruption

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuvarani, S.; Saravanarajan, M. C.

2017-11-01

This paper concerned with performance analysis of single server preemptive priority retrial queue with a single vacation where two types of customers are considered and they are called priority customers and ordinary customers. The ordinary customers arrive in batch into the system. The priority customers do not form any queue. After the completion of regular service, the customers may demand re-service for the previous service without joining the orbit or may leave the system. As soon as the system is empty, the server goes for vacation and the regular busy server can be subjected to breakdown. By using the supplementary variable technique, we obtain the steady-state probability generating functions for the system/orbit size. Some important system performance measures and the stochastic decomposition are discussed. Finally, numerical examples are presented to visualize the effect of parameters on system performance measures.

A simplified computer program for the prediction of the linear stability behavior of liquid propellant combustors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mitchell, C. E.; Eckert, K.

1979-01-01

A program for predicting the linear stability of liquid propellant rocket engines is presented. The underlying model assumptions and analytical steps necessary for understanding the program and its input and output are also given. The rocket engine is modeled as a right circular cylinder with an injector with a concentrated combustion zone, a nozzle, finite mean flow, and an acoustic admittance, or the sensitive time lag theory. The resulting partial differential equations are combined into two governing integral equations by the use of the Green's function method. These equations are solved using a successive approximation technique for the small amplitude (linear) case. The computational method used as well as the various user options available are discussed. Finally, a flow diagram, sample input and output for a typical application and a complete program listing for program MODULE are presented.

Static and low frequency noise characterization of ultra-thin body InAs MOSFETs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karatsori, T. A.; Pastorek, M.; Theodorou, C. G.; Fadjie, A.; Wichmann, N.; Desplanque, L.; Wallart, X.; Bollaert, S.; Dimitriadis, C. A.; Ghibaudo, G.

2018-05-01

A complete static and low frequency noise characterization of ultra-thin body InAs MOSFETs is presented. Characterization techniques, such as the well-known Y-function method established for Si MOSFETs, are applied in order to extract the electrical parameters and study the behavior of these research grade devices. Additionally, the Lambert-W function parameter extraction methodology valid from weak to strong inversion is also used in order to verify its applicability in these experimental level devices. Moreover, a low-frequency noise characterization of the UTB InAs MOSFETs is presented, revealing carrier trapping/detrapping in slow oxide traps and remote Coulomb scattering as origin of 1/f noise, which allowed for the extraction of the oxide trap areal density. Finally, Lorentzian-like noise is also observed in the sub-micron area devices and attributed to both Random Telegraph Noise from oxide individual traps and g-r noise from the semiconductor interface.

[Avulsion of the Proximal Hamstring Insertion. Case Reports].

PubMed

Mizera, R; Harcuba, R; Kratochvíl, J

2016-01-01

Proximal hamstring avulsion is an uncommon muscle injury with a lack of consensus on indications and the timing and technique of surgery. Poor clinical symptoms and difficulties in the diagnostic process can lead to a false diagnosis. The authors present three cases of proximal hamstring avulsion, two complete and one partial ruptures of the biceps femoris muscle. MRI and ultrasound scans were used for optimal treatment alignment. Acute surgery reconstruction (< 4 weeks) was done in two patients. Re-attachment of the full thickness ruptures was performed to the original place and secured by suture anchors, the partial rupture was fixed by a simple suture. Two patients were free of any symptoms at 6 months after surgery, the last one had pain in the subgluteal area and a mild deficit in hamstring strength. Two interesting systematic reviews published on the treatment of proximal hamstring avulsion are discussed in the final part of the paper. Key words: hamstring, rupture, avulsion.

Plastic surgeons and the management of trauma: from the JFK assassination to the Boston Marathon bombing.

PubMed

Luce, Edward A; Hollier, Larry H; Lin, Samuel J

2013-11-01

The fiftieth anniversary of the death by assassination of President John Kennedy is an opportunity to pay homage to his memory and also reflect on the important role plastic surgeons have played in the management of trauma. That reflection included a hypothetical scenario, a discussion of the surgical treatment of Kennedy (if he survived) and Governor Connally. The scenario describes the management of cranioplasty in the presence of scalp soft-tissue contracture, reconstruction of the proximal trachea, reconstitution of the abdominal wall, and restoration of a combined radius and soft-tissue defect. The development of diagnostic and therapeutic advances over the past 50 years in the care of maxillofacial trauma is described, including the evolution of imaging, timing of surgery, and operative techniques. Finally, contemporary measures of triage in situations involving mass casualties, as in the Boston Marathon bombings, complete the dedication to President Kennedy.

Therapeutically induced changes in couple identity: the role of we-ness and interpersonal processing in relationship satisfaction.

PubMed

Reid, David W; Dalton, E Jane; Laderoute, Kristine; Doell, Faye K; Nguyen, Thao

2006-08-01

Changes in partners' sense of self-in-relationship, which a systemic-constructivist couple therapy (SCCT) induced, led to robust improvement in satisfaction in 2 studies and a follow-up study. In each study, 13 referred couples completed measures of satisfaction, mutuality, similarities, and other-in-self construal pre-post 12 hours of SCCT. The authors reliably coded transcripts of 1st and final sessions for each partner's we-ness, the identity that each partner establishes in relationship to the other. Having met the criteria for the rigorous study of change in single group process-outcome design, changes in we-ness accompanied large posttherapy dyadic increments on all variables in each study. Therapeutic gains appeared at follow-up and correlated with increased we-ness obtained at end of therapy 2 years earlier. The authors raise theoretical implications for all types of couple therapies and explain clinical techniques.

A DG approach to the numerical solution of the Stein-Stein stochastic volatility option pricing model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hozman, J.; Tichý, T.

2017-12-01

Stochastic volatility models enable to capture the real world features of the options better than the classical Black-Scholes treatment. Here we focus on pricing of European-style options under the Stein-Stein stochastic volatility model when the option value depends on the time, on the price of the underlying asset and on the volatility as a function of a mean reverting Orstein-Uhlenbeck process. A standard mathematical approach to this model leads to the non-stationary second-order degenerate partial differential equation of two spatial variables completed by the system of boundary and terminal conditions. In order to improve the numerical valuation process for a such pricing equation, we propose a numerical technique based on the discontinuous Galerkin method and the Crank-Nicolson scheme. Finally, reference numerical experiments on real market data illustrate comprehensive empirical findings on options with stochastic volatility.

Communication Skill Attributes Needed for Vocational Education enter The Workplace

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wahyuni, L. M.; Masih, I. K.; Rejeki, I. N. Mei

2018-01-01

Communication skills are generic skills which need to be developed for success in the vocational education entering the workforce. This study aimed to discover the attributes of communication skill considered important in entering the workforce as perceived by vocational education students. The research was conducted by survey method using questionnaire as data collecting tool. The research population is final year student of D3 Vocational education Program and D4 Managerial Vocational education in academic year 2016/2017 who have completed field work practice in industry. The sampling technique was proportional random sampling. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and independent sampel t-test. Have ten communication skills attributes with the highest important level required to enter the workplace as perceived by the vocational education diploma. These results indicate that there was the same need related communication skills to enter the workforce

Transferring vertically aligned carbon nanotubes onto a polymeric substrate using a hot embossing technique for microfluidic applications.

PubMed

Mathur, A; Roy, S S; McLaughlin, J A

2010-07-06

We explored the hot embossing method for transferring vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs) into microfluidic channels, fabricated on poly-methyl-methacrylate (PMMA). Patterned and unpatterned CNTs were synthesized by microwave plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition on silicon to work as a stamp. For hot embossing, 115 degrees C and 1 kN force for 2 min were found to be the most suitable parameters for the complete transfer of aligned CNTs on the PMMA microchannel. Raman and SEM studies were used to analyse the microstructure of CNTs before and after hot embossing. The PMMA microparticles with dimensions (approx. 10 microm in diameter) similar to red blood cells were successfully filtered using laminar flow through these microfluidic channels. Finally, a microfluidic-based point-of-care device for blood filtration and detection of bio-molecules is drawn schematically.

Transferring vertically aligned carbon nanotubes onto a polymeric substrate using a hot embossing technique for microfluidic applications

PubMed Central

Mathur, A.; Roy, S. S.; McLaughlin, J. A.

2010-01-01

We explored the hot embossing method for transferring vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs) into microfluidic channels, fabricated on poly-methyl-methacrylate (PMMA). Patterned and unpatterned CNTs were synthesized by microwave plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition on silicon to work as a stamp. For hot embossing, 115°C and 1 kN force for 2 min were found to be the most suitable parameters for the complete transfer of aligned CNTs on the PMMA microchannel. Raman and SEM studies were used to analyse the microstructure of CNTs before and after hot embossing. The PMMA microparticles with dimensions (approx. 10 µm in diameter) similar to red blood cells were successfully filtered using laminar flow through these microfluidic channels. Finally, a microfluidic-based point-of-care device for blood filtration and detection of bio-molecules is drawn schematically. PMID:20147316

Review of Computational Stirling Analysis Methods

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dyson, Rodger W.; Wilson, Scott D.; Tew, Roy C.

2004-01-01

Nuclear thermal to electric power conversion carries the promise of longer duration missions and higher scientific data transmission rates back to Earth for both Mars rovers and deep space missions. A free-piston Stirling convertor is a candidate technology that is considered an efficient and reliable power conversion device for such purposes. While already very efficient, it is believed that better Stirling engines can be developed if the losses inherent its current designs could be better understood. However, they are difficult to instrument and so efforts are underway to simulate a complete Stirling engine numerically. This has only recently been attempted and a review of the methods leading up to and including such computational analysis is presented. And finally it is proposed that the quality and depth of Stirling loss understanding may be improved by utilizing the higher fidelity and efficiency of recently developed numerical methods. One such method, the Ultra HI-Fl technique is presented in detail.

Generating gene knockout rats by homologous recombination in embryonic stem cells

PubMed Central

Tong, Chang; Huang, Guanyi; Ashton, Charles; Li, Ping; Ying, Qi-Long

2013-01-01

We describe here a detailed protocol for generating gene knockout rats by homologous recombination in embryonic stem (ES) cells. This protocol comprises the following procedures: derivation and expansion of rat ES cells, construction of gene-targeting vectors, generation of gene-targeted rat ES cells and, finally, production of gene-targeted rats. The major differences between this protocol and the classical mouse gene-targeting protocol include ES cell culture methods, drug selection scheme, colony picking and screening strategies. This ES cell–based gene-targeting technique allows sophisticated genetic modifications to be performed in the rat, as many laboratories have been doing in the mouse for the past two decades. Recently we used this protocol to generate Tp53 (also known as p53) gene knockout rats. The entire process requires ~1 year to complete, from derivation of ES cells to generation of knockout rats. PMID:21637202

Biopatterning of Silk Proteins for Soft Micro-optics.

PubMed

Pal, Ramendra K; Kurland, Nicholas E; Wang, Congzhou; Kundu, Subhas C; Yadavalli, Vamsi K

2015-04-29

Silk proteins from spiders and silkworms have been proposed as outstanding candidates for soft micro-optic and photonic applications because of their optical transparency, unique biological properties, and mechanical robustness. Here, we present a method to form microstructures of the two constituent silk proteins, fibroin and sericin for use as an optical biomaterial. Using photolithography, chemically modified silk protein photoresists are patterned in 2D arrays of periodic patterns and Fresnel zone plates. Angle-dependent iridescent colors are produced in these periodic micropatterns because of the Bragg diffraction. Silk protein photolithography can used to form patterns on different substrates including flexible sheets with features of any shape with high fidelity and resolution over large areas. Finally, we show that these mechanically stable and transparent iridescent architectures are also completely biodegradable. This versatile and scalable technique can therefore be used to develop biocompatible, soft micro-optic devices that can be degraded in a controlled manner.

Self streamlining wind tunnel: Further low speed testing and final design studies for the transonic facility

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wolf, S. W. D.

1978-01-01

Work was continued with the low speed self streamlining wind tunnel (SSWT) using the NACA 0012-64 airfoil in an effort to explain the discrepancies between the NASA Langley low turbulence pressure tunnel (LTPT) and SSWT results obtained with the airfoil stalled. Conventional wind tunnel corrections were applied to straight wall SSWT airfoil data, to illustrate the inadequacy of standard correction techniques in circumstances of high blockage. Also one SSWT test was re-run at different air speeds to investigate the effects of such changes (perhaps through changes in Reynold's number and freestream turbulence levels) on airfoil data and wall contours. Mechanical design analyses for the transonic self-streamlining wind tunnel (TSWT) were completed by the application of theoretical airfoil flow field data to the elastic beam and streamline analysis. The control system for the transonic facility, which will eventually allow on-line computer operation of the wind tunnel, was outlined.

Perforator-based propeller flaps reliability in upper extremity soft tissue reconstruction: a systematic review.

PubMed

Vitse, J; Bekara, F; Bertheuil, N; Sinna, R; Chaput, B; Herlin, C

2017-02-01

Current data on upper extremity propeller flaps are poor and do not allow the assessment of the safety of this technique. A systematic literature review was conducted searching PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library electronic databases, and the selection process was adapted from the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis statement. The final analysis included ten relevant articles involving 117 flaps. The majority of flaps were used for the hand, distal wrist, and elbow. The radial artery perforator and ulnar artery perforator were the most frequently used flaps. The were 7% flaps with venous congestion and 3% with complete necrosis. No difference in complications rate was found for different flaps sites. Perforator-based propeller flaps appear to be an interesting procedure for covering soft tissue defects involving the upper extremities, even for large defects, but the procedure requires experience and close monitoring. II.

Missing data exploration: highlighting graphical presentation of missing pattern

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Functions shipped with R base can fulfill many tasks of missing data handling. However, because the data volume of electronic medical record (EMR) system is always very large, more sophisticated methods may be helpful in data management. The article focuses on missing data handling by using advanced techniques. There are three types of missing data, that is, missing completely at random (MCAR), missing at random (MAR) and not missing at random (NMAR). This classification system depends on how missing values are generated. Two packages, Multivariate Imputation by Chained Equations (MICE) and Visualization and Imputation of Missing Values (VIM), provide sophisticated functions to explore missing data pattern. In particular, the VIM package is especially helpful in visual inspection of missing data. Finally, correlation analysis provides information on the dependence of missing data on other variables. Such information is useful in subsequent imputations. PMID:26807411

LabVIEW 2010 Computer Vision Platform Based Virtual Instrument and Its Application for Pitting Corrosion Study.

PubMed

Ramos, Rogelio; Zlatev, Roumen; Valdez, Benjamin; Stoytcheva, Margarita; Carrillo, Mónica; García, Juan-Francisco

2013-01-01

A virtual instrumentation (VI) system called VI localized corrosion image analyzer (LCIA) based on LabVIEW 2010 was developed allowing rapid automatic and subjective error-free determination of the pits number on large sized corroded specimens. The VI LCIA controls synchronously the digital microscope image taking and its analysis, finally resulting in a map file containing the coordinates of the detected probable pits containing zones on the investigated specimen. The pits area, traverse length, and density are also determined by the VI using binary large objects (blobs) analysis. The resulting map file can be used further by a scanning vibrating electrode technique (SVET) system for rapid (one pass) "true/false" SVET check of the probable zones only passing through the pit's centers avoiding thus the entire specimen scan. A complete SVET scan over the already proved "true" zones could determine the corrosion rate in any of the zones.

An Optical Sensor for Measuring the Position and Slanting Direction of Flat Surfaces

PubMed Central

Chen, Yu-Ta; Huang, Yen-Sheng; Liu, Chien-Sheng

2016-01-01

Automated optical inspection is a very important technique. For this reason, this study proposes an optical non-contact slanting surface measuring system. The essential features of the measurement system are obtained through simulations using the optical design software Zemax. The actual propagation of laser beams within the measurement system is traced by using a homogeneous transformation matrix (HTM), the skew-ray tracing method, and a first-order Taylor series expansion. Additionally, a complete mathematical model that describes the variations in light spots on photoelectric sensors and the corresponding changes in the sample orientation and distance was established. Finally, a laboratory prototype system was constructed on an optical bench to verify experimentally the proposed system. This measurement system can simultaneously detect the slanting angles (x, z) in the x and z directions of the sample and the distance (y) between the biconvex lens and the flat sample surface. PMID:27409619

An Optical Sensor for Measuring the Position and Slanting Direction of Flat Surfaces.

PubMed

Chen, Yu-Ta; Huang, Yen-Sheng; Liu, Chien-Sheng

2016-07-09

Automated optical inspection is a very important technique. For this reason, this study proposes an optical non-contact slanting surface measuring system. The essential features of the measurement system are obtained through simulations using the optical design software Zemax. The actual propagation of laser beams within the measurement system is traced by using a homogeneous transformation matrix (HTM), the skew-ray tracing method, and a first-order Taylor series expansion. Additionally, a complete mathematical model that describes the variations in light spots on photoelectric sensors and the corresponding changes in the sample orientation and distance was established. Finally, a laboratory prototype system was constructed on an optical bench to verify experimentally the proposed system. This measurement system can simultaneously detect the slanting angles (x, z) in the x and z directions of the sample and the distance (y) between the biconvex lens and the flat sample surface.

A polyvalent harmonic coil testing method for small-aperture magnets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arpaia, Pasquale; Buzio, Marco; Golluccio, Giancarlo; Walckiers, Louis

2012-08-01

A method to characterize permanent and fast-pulsed iron-dominated magnets with small apertures is presented. The harmonic coil measurement technique is enhanced specifically for small-aperture magnets by (1) in situ calibration, for facing search-coil production inaccuracy, (2) rotating the magnet around its axis, for correcting systematic effects, and (3) measuring magnetic fluxes by stationary coils at different angular positions for measuring fast pulsed magnets. This method allows a quadrupole magnet for particle accelerators to be characterized completely, by assessing multipole field components, magnetic axis position, and field direction. In this paper, initially the metrological problems arising from testing small-aperture magnets are highlighted. Then, the basic ideas of the proposed method and the architecture of the corresponding measurement system are illustrated. Finally, experimental validation results are shown for small-aperture permanent and fast-ramped quadrupole magnets for the new linear accelerator Linac4 at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research).

Measuring Uranium Decay Rates for Advancement of Nuclear Forensics and Geochronology

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Parsons-Davis, Tashi

Radioisotopic dating techniques are highly valuable tools for understanding the history of physical and chemical processes in materials related to planetary sciences and nuclear forensics, and rely on accurate knowledge of decay constants and their uncertainties. The decay constants of U-238 and U-235 are particularly important to Earth science, and often the measured values with lowest reported uncertainties are applied, although they have not been independently verified with similar precision. New direct measurements of the decay constants of U-238, Th-234, U-235, and U-234 were completed, using a range of analytical approaches. An overarching goal of the project was to ensuremore » the quality of results, including metrological traceability to facilitate implementation across diverse disciplines. This report presents preliminary results of these experiments, as a few final measurements and calculations are still in progress.« less

Parallel Unsteady Turbopump Simulations for Liquid Rocket Engines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kiris, Cetin C.; Kwak, Dochan; Chan, William

2000-01-01

This paper reports the progress being made towards complete turbo-pump simulation capability for liquid rocket engines. Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) turbo-pump impeller is used as a test case for the performance evaluation of the MPI and hybrid MPI/Open-MP versions of the INS3D code. Then, a computational model of a turbo-pump has been developed for the shuttle upgrade program. Relative motion of the grid system for rotor-stator interaction was obtained by employing overset grid techniques. Time-accuracy of the scheme has been evaluated by using simple test cases. Unsteady computations for SSME turbo-pump, which contains 136 zones with 35 Million grid points, are currently underway on Origin 2000 systems at NASA Ames Research Center. Results from time-accurate simulations with moving boundary capability, and the performance of the parallel versions of the code will be presented in the final paper.

LQR-Based Optimal Distributed Cooperative Design for Linear Discrete-Time Multiagent Systems.

PubMed

Zhang, Huaguang; Feng, Tao; Liang, Hongjing; Luo, Yanhong

2017-03-01

In this paper, a novel linear quadratic regulator (LQR)-based optimal distributed cooperative design method is developed for synchronization control of general linear discrete-time multiagent systems on a fixed, directed graph. Sufficient conditions are derived for synchronization, which restrict the graph eigenvalues into a bounded circular region in the complex plane. The synchronizing speed issue is also considered, and it turns out that the synchronizing region reduces as the synchronizing speed becomes faster. To obtain more desirable synchronizing capacity, the weighting matrices are selected by sufficiently utilizing the guaranteed gain margin of the optimal regulators. Based on the developed LQR-based cooperative design framework, an approximate dynamic programming technique is successfully introduced to overcome the (partially or completely) model-free cooperative design for linear multiagent systems. Finally, two numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed design methods.

Coolant mixing in LMFBR rod bundles and outlet plenum mixing transients. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Todreas, N.E.; Cheng, S.K.; Basehore, K.

1984-08-01

This project principally undertook the investigation of the thermal hydraulic performance of wire wrapped fuel bundles of LMFBR configuration. Results obtained included phenomenological models for friction factors, flow split and mixing characteristics; correlations for predicting these characteristics suitable for insertion in design codes; numerical codes for analyzing bundle behavior both of the lumped subchannel and distributed parameter categories and experimental techniques for pressure velocity, flow split, salt conductivity and temperature measurement in water cooled mockups of bundles and subchannels. Flow regimes investigated included laminar, transition and turbulent flow under forced convection and mixed convection conditions. Forced convections conditions were emphasized.more » Continuing efforts are underway at MIT to complete the investigation of the mixed convection regime initiated here. A number of investigations on outlet plenum behavior were also made. The reports of these investigations are identified.« less

Identifying old Tidal Dwarf Galaxies in Simulations and in the Nearby Universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duc, P.-A.; Bournaud, F.; Masset, F. S.

2004-06-01

Most Tidal Dwarf Galaxies (TDGs) so-far discussed in the literature may be considered as young ones or even newborns, as they are still physically linked to their parent galaxies by an umbilical cord: the tidal tail at the tip of which they are usually observed. Old Tidal Dwarf Galaxies, completely detached from their progenitors, are still to be found. Using N-body numerical simulations, we have shown that tidal objects as massive as 109 solar masses may be formed in interacting systems and survive for more than one Gyr. Old TDGs should hence exist in the Universe. They may be identified looking at a peculiarity of their ``genetic identity card": a relatively high abundance in heavy elements, inherited from their parent galaxies. Finally, using this technique, we revisit the dwarf galaxies in the local Universe trying to find arguments pro and con a tidal origin.

Using High Performance Computing to Examine the Processes of Neurogenesis Underlying Pattern Separation and Completion of Episodic Information.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aimone, James Bradley; Bernard, Michael Lewis; Vineyard, Craig Michael

2014-10-01

Adult neurogenesis in the hippocampus region of the brain is a neurobiological process that is believed to contribute to the brain's advanced abilities in complex pattern recognition and cognition. Here, we describe how realistic scale simulations of the neurogenesis process can offer both a unique perspective on the biological relevance of this process and confer computational insights that are suggestive of novel machine learning techniques. First, supercomputer based scaling studies of the neurogenesis process demonstrate how a small fraction of adult-born neurons have a uniquely larger impact in biologically realistic scaled networks. Second, we describe a novel technical approach bymore » which the information content of ensembles of neurons can be estimated. Finally, we illustrate several examples of broader algorithmic impact of neurogenesis, including both extending existing machine learning approaches and novel approaches for intelligent sensing.« less

Cross-spectrum measurement of thermal-noise limited oscillators.

PubMed

Hati, A; Nelson, C W; Howe, D A

2016-03-01

Cross-spectrum analysis is a commonly used technique for the detection of phase and amplitude noise of a signal in the presence of interfering uncorrelated noise. Recently, we demonstrated that the phase-inversion (anti-correlation) effect due to amplitude noise leakage can cause complete or partial collapse of the cross-spectral function. In this paper, we discuss the newly discovered effect of anti-correlated thermal noise that originates from the common-mode power divider (splitter), an essential component in a cross-spectrum noise measurement system. We studied this effect for different power splitters and discuss its influence on the measurement of thermal-noise limited oscillators. We provide theory, simulation and experimental results. In addition, we expand this study to reveal how the presence of ferrite-isolators and amplifiers at the output ports of the power splitters can affect the oscillator noise measurements. Finally, we discuss a possible solution to overcome this problem.

Fluid Dynamics Prize Otto Laporte Lecture:Turbulence and Aeroacoustics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Comte-Bellot, Genevieve

2014-11-01

Some significant advances obtained over the years for two closely related fields, Turbulence and Aeroacoustics, are presented. Particular focus is placed on experimental results and on physical mechanisms. For example, for a 2D channel flow, skewness factors of velocity fluctuations are discussed. The study of isotropic turbulence generated by grids in the «Velvet wind tunnel» of Stanley Corrsin, constitutes a masterpiece. Of particular note are the Eulerian memory times, analysed for all wavenumbers. Concerning hot-wire anemometry, the potential of the new constant voltage technique is presented. Some results obtained with Particule Image Velocimetry are also reported. Two flow control examples are illustrated: lift generation for a circular cylinder, and noise reduction for a high speed jet. Finally, the propagation of acoustic waves through turbulence is considered. Experimental data are here completed by numerical simulations showing the possible occurrence of caustics.

Mixed Spin-1/2 and Spin-5/2 Model by Renormalization Group Theory: Recursion Equations and Thermodynamic Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Antari, A. El; Zahir, H.; Hasnaoui, A.; Hachem, N.; Alrajhi, A.; Madani, M.; Bouziani, M. El

2018-04-01

Using the renormalization group approximation, specifically the Migdal-Kadanoff technique, we investigate the Blume-Capel model with mixed spins S = 1/2 and S = 5/2 on d-dimensional hypercubic lattice. The flow in the parameter space of the Hamiltonian and the thermodynamic functions are determined. The phase diagram of this model is plotted in the (anisotropy, temperature) plane for both cases d = 2 and d = 3 in which the system exhibits the first and second order phase transitions and critical end-points. The associated fixed points are drawn up in a table, and by linearizing the transformation at the vicinity of these points, we determine the critical exponents for d = 2 and d = 3. We have also presented a variation of the free energy derivative at the vicinity of the first and second order transitions. Finally, this work is completed by a discussion and comparison with other approximation.

Development of Next Generation Lifetime PSP Imaging Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Watkins, A. Neal; Jordan, Jeffrey D.; Leighty, Bradley D.; Ingram, JoAnne L.; Oglesby, Donald M.

2002-01-01

This paper describes a lifetime PSP system that has recently been developed using pulsed light-emitting diode (LED) lamps and a new interline transfer CCD camera technology. This system alleviates noise sources associated with lifetime PSP systems that use either flash-lamp or laser excitation sources and intensified CCD cameras for detection. Calibration curves have been acquired for a variety of PSP formulations using this system, and a validation test was recently completed in the Subsonic Aerodynamic Research Laboratory (SARL) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB). In this test, global surface pressure distributions were recovered using both a standard intensity-based method and the new lifetime system. Results from the lifetime system agree both qualitatively and quantitatively with those measured using the intensity-based method. Finally, an advanced lifetime imaging technique capable of measuring temperature and pressure simultaneously is introduced and initial results are presented.

Assessing the Effect of Adult High School Completion Programs on Graduate Placement. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Des Moines Area Community Coll., Ankeny, IA.

Three thousand eight hundred ninety-eight adults who had received a High School Equivalency Diploma (HSED) during 1976 in Iowa were surveyed to assess the impact of finishing a high school completion program on their placement after completion. Three hundred Iowa employers were also surveyed to analyze existing personnel policies and practices…

An Improved Fungal Mounting Technique for Nomarski Microscopy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fairclough, Andrew; And Others

1985-01-01

Conventional sellotape techniques for fungal mounting produce interference patterns when using Normarsky microscopy. A technique is described which overcomes this problem and produces a permanent mount with a completely clear background. (Author/JN)

Comparison of bone tunnel and suture anchor techniques in the modified Broström procedure for chronic lateral ankle instability.

PubMed

Hu, Chang-Yong; Lee, Keun-Bae; Song, Eun-Kyoo; Kim, Myung-Sun; Park, Kyung-Soon

2013-08-01

The modified Broström procedure is frequently used to treat chronic lateral ankle instability. There are 2 common methods of the modified Broström procedure, which are the bone tunnel and suture anchor techniques. To compare the clinical outcomes of the modified Broström procedure using the bone tunnel and suture anchor techniques. Cohort study; Level of evidence, 2. Eighty-one patients (81 ankles) treated with the modified Broström procedure for chronic lateral ankle instability constituted the study cohort. The 81 ankles were divided into 2 groups, namely, a bone tunnel technique (BT group; 40 ankles) and a suture anchor technique (SA group; 41 ankles). The Karlsson score, American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) ankle-hindfoot score, anterior talar translation, and talar tilt angle were used to evaluate clinical and radiographic outcomes. The BT group consisted of 32 men and 8 women with a mean age of 34.8 years at surgery and a mean follow-up duration of 34.2 months. The SA group consisted of 33 men and 8 women with a mean age of 33.3 years at surgery and a mean follow-up duration of 32.8 months. Mean Karlsson scores improved significantly from 57.0 points preoperatively to 94.9 points at final follow-up in the BT group and from 59.9 points preoperatively to 96.4 points at final follow-up in the SA group. Mean AOFAS scores also improved from 64.2 points preoperatively to 97.8 points at final follow-up in the BT group and from 70.3 points preoperatively to 97.4 points at final follow-up in the SA group. Mean anterior talar translations in the BT group and SA group improved from 9.0 mm and 9.2 mm preoperatively to 6.5 mm and 6.8 mm at final follow-up, respectively. Mean talar tilt angles were 12.0° in the BT group and 12.5° in the SA group preoperatively and 8.8° at final follow-up for both groups. No significant differences were found between the 2 groups in terms of the Karlsson score, AOFAS score, anterior talar translation, and talar tilt angle. The bone tunnel and suture anchor techniques of the modified Broström procedure showed similar good functional and radiographic outcomes. Both techniques appear to be effective and reliable methods for the treatment of chronic lateral ankle instability.

Adopting Gayet's Techniques of Totally Laparoscopic Liver Surgery in the United States

PubMed Central

Gumbs, Andrew A.; Gayet, Brice

2013-01-01

Professor Brice Gayet of the Institut Mutualiste Montsouris in Paris, France, has developed totally laparoscopic techniques for all segments of the liver. As a pioneer in the field of minimally invasive hepato-pancreato-biliary surgery, he started a Minimally Invasive Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Fellowship in 2006. A retrospective review of all hepatic cases performed by a single surgeon since completing this Fellowship was undertaken. From November 2007 to October 2012, a total of 80 liver resections were done, of which 73 were begun with the intention of completing the case laparoscopically. Of these, more than 90% were completed laparoscopically and 88% were for malignant disease. One of the foundations of Professor Gayet's techniques is the low lithotomy or ‘French’ position and the utilization of a small robotically controlled laparoscope holder that is sterilizeable and considerably more economic than complete surgical systems. Prototypes exist of robotically controlled hand-held laparoscopic instruments that, unlike the complete surgical system, enable surgeons to maintain a sense of touch (haptics). Proper training in minimally invasive hepato-pancreato-biliary techniques can be obtained with surgeons able to independently perform laparoscopic major hepatectomies without senior minimally invasive backup. Furthermore, miniature and more affordable robotics may enable more surgeons to enjoy the benefits of minimally invasive surgery while maintaining patient safety and minimizing the rising burden of health-care costs worldwide. PMID:24159591

Exceptions or alternatives to labeling requirements for products held by the Strategic National Stockpile. Final rule.

PubMed

2012-02-06

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is adopting as a final rule, without change, the interim final rule that issued regulations permitting FDA Center Directors to grant exceptions or alternatives to certain regulatory labeling requirements applicable to human drugs, biological products, or medical devices that are or will be included in the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS). FDA is taking this action to complete the rulemaking initiated with the interim final rule.

Advanced Tools and Techniques for Formal Techniques in Aerospace Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Knight, John C.

2005-01-01

This is the final technical report for grant number NAG-1-02101. The title of this grant was "Advanced Tools and Techniques for Formal Techniques In Aerospace Systems". The principal investigator on this grant was Dr. John C. Knight of the Computer Science Department, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4740. This report summarizes activities under the grant during the period 7/01/2002 to 9/30/2004. This report is organized as follows. In section 2, the technical background of the grant is summarized. Section 3 lists accomplishments and section 4 lists students funded under the grant. In section 5, we present a list of presentations given at various academic and research institutions about the research conducted. Finally, a list of publications generated under this grant is included in section 6.

Environmental information acquisition and maintenance techniques: reference guide. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Riggins, R.E.; Young, V.T.; Goran, W.D.

1980-08-01

This report provides a guide to techniques for collecting, using and maintaining data about each of the 13 environmental technical specialties in the Environmental Impact Computer System (EICS). The technical specialties are: (1) ecology, (2) environmental health, (3) air, (4) surface water, (5) ground water, (6) sociology, (7) economics, (8) earth science, (9) land use, (10) noise, (11) transportation, (12) aesthetics, and (13) energy and resource conservation. Acquisition techniques are classified by the following general categories: (1) secondary data, (2) remote sensing, (3) mathematical modeling, (4) field work, (5) mapping/maps and (6) expert opinion. A matrix identifies the most appropriatemore » techniques for collecting information on the EICS technical specialties. After selecting a method, the user may read an abstract of the report explaining that technique, and may also wish to obtain the original document for detailed information about applying the technique. Finally, this report offers guidelines on storing environmental information for future use, and on presenting that information effectively in environmental documents.« less

A complete solution of cartographic displacement based on elastic beams model and Delaunay triangulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Y.; Guo, Q.; Sun, Y.

2014-04-01

In map production and generalization, it is inevitable to arise some spatial conflicts, but the detection and resolution of these spatial conflicts still requires manual operation. It is become a bottleneck hindering the development of automated cartographic generalization. Displacement is the most useful contextual operator that is often used for resolving the conflicts arising between two or more map objects. Automated generalization researches have reported many approaches of displacement including sequential approaches and optimization approaches. As an excellent optimization approach on the basis of energy minimization principles, elastic beams model has been used in resolving displacement problem of roads and buildings for several times. However, to realize a complete displacement solution, techniques of conflict detection and spatial context analysis should be also take into consideration. So we proposed a complete solution of displacement based on the combined use of elastic beams model and constrained Delaunay triangulation (CDT) in this paper. The solution designed as a cyclic and iterative process containing two phases: detection phase and displacement phase. In detection phase, CDT of map is use to detect proximity conflicts, identify spatial relationships and structures, and construct auxiliary structure, so as to support the displacement phase on the basis of elastic beams. In addition, for the improvements of displacement algorithm, a method for adaptive parameters setting and a new iterative strategy are put forward. Finally, we implemented our solution on a testing map generalization platform, and successfully tested it against 2 hand-generated test datasets of roads and buildings respectively.

Human Lung Small Airway-on-a-Chip Protocol.

PubMed

Benam, Kambez H; Mazur, Marc; Choe, Youngjae; Ferrante, Thomas C; Novak, Richard; Ingber, Donald E

2017-01-01

Organs-on-chips are microfluidic cell culture devices created using microchip manufacturing techniques that contain hollow microchannels lined by living cells, which recreate specialized tissue-tissue interfaces, physical microenvironments, and vascular perfusion necessary to recapitulate organ-level physiology in vitro. Here we describe a protocol for fabrication, culture, and operation of a human lung "small airway-on-a-chip," which contains a differentiated, mucociliary bronchiolar epithelium exposed to air and an underlying microvascular endothelium that experiences fluid flow. First, microengineering is used to fabricate a multilayered microfluidic device that contains two parallel elastomeric microchannels separated by a thin rigid porous membrane; this requires less than 1 day to complete. Next, primary human airway bronchiolar epithelial cells isolated from healthy normal donors or patients with respiratory disease are cultured on the porous membrane within one microchannel while lung microvascular endothelial cells are cultured on the opposite side of the same membrane in the second channel to create a mucociliated epithelium-endothelium interface; this process take about 4-6 weeks to complete. Finally, culture medium containing neutrophils isolated from fresh whole human blood are flowed through the microvascular channel of the device to enable real-time analysis of capture and recruitment of circulating leukocytes by endothelium under physiological shear; this step requires less than 1 day to complete. The small airway-on-a-chip represents a new microfluidic tool to model complex and dynamic inflammatory responses of healthy and diseased lungs in vitro.

Evaluation of Programmed Instruction Techniques in Medical Interviewing. Final Report, June 15, 1966 to June 15, 1968.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adler, Leta McKinney; And Others

Since the medical interview is usually considered to be the basis of all diagnosis and treatment in medicine, this study investigated alternative ways of improving medical interview techniques. To test the hypothesis that the visual (videotape) technique would be more effective than the lecturing or audiotape technique, 12 videotaped interviews…

Economic impact study of completing the Appalachian development highway system : final report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-06-01

This study assesses the travel performance, trade, and economic development impacts directly related to completing the Appalachian Development Highway System (ADHS). The ADHS is the first highway system authorized by Congress for the purpose of stimu...

49 CFR 529.6 - Requirements for final-stage manufacturers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION MANUFACTURERS OF MULTISTAGE AUTOMOBILES § 529... section, each final-stage manufacturer whose manufacturing operations on an incomplete automobile cause the completed automobile to exceed the maximum curb weight or maximum frontal area set forth in the...

49 CFR 529.6 - Requirements for final-stage manufacturers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION MANUFACTURERS OF MULTISTAGE AUTOMOBILES § 529... section, each final-stage manufacturer whose manufacturing operations on an incomplete automobile cause the completed automobile to exceed the maximum curb weight or maximum frontal area set forth in the...

49 CFR 529.6 - Requirements for final-stage manufacturers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION MANUFACTURERS OF MULTISTAGE AUTOMOBILES § 529... section, each final-stage manufacturer whose manufacturing operations on an incomplete automobile cause the completed automobile to exceed the maximum curb weight or maximum frontal area set forth in the...

49 CFR 529.6 - Requirements for final-stage manufacturers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION MANUFACTURERS OF MULTISTAGE AUTOMOBILES § 529... section, each final-stage manufacturer whose manufacturing operations on an incomplete automobile cause the completed automobile to exceed the maximum curb weight or maximum frontal area set forth in the...

49 CFR 529.6 - Requirements for final-stage manufacturers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION MANUFACTURERS OF MULTISTAGE AUTOMOBILES § 529... section, each final-stage manufacturer whose manufacturing operations on an incomplete automobile cause the completed automobile to exceed the maximum curb weight or maximum frontal area set forth in the...

Microneurosurgical Management of Posterior Communicating Artery Aneurysm: A Contemporary Series from Helsinki.

PubMed

Thiarawat, Peeraphong; Jahromi, Behnam Rezai; Kozyrev, Danil A; Intarakhao, Patcharin; Teo, Mario K; Choque-Velasquez, Joham; Hernesniemi, Juha

2017-05-01

The objectives of this study were to analyze microsurgical techniques and to determine correlations between microsurgical techniques and the radiographic findings in the microneurosurgical treatment of posterior communicating artery aneurysms (PCoAAs). We retrospectively analyzed radiographic findings and videos of surgeries in 64 patients with PCoAAs who underwent microsurgical clipping by the senior author from August 2010 to 2014. From 64 aneurysms, 30 (47%) had acute subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) that necessitated lamina terminalis fenestration (odds ratio [OR], 67.67; P < 0.001) and Liliequist membrane fenestration (OR, 19.62; P < 0.001). The low-lying aneurysms significantly necessitated the coagulation of the dura covering the anterior clinoid process (ACP) (OR, 7.43; P = 0.003) or anterior clinoidectomy (OR, 91.0; P < 0.001). We preferred straight clips in 45 (83%) of 54 posterolateral projecting aneurysms (OR, 45.0; P < 0.001), but preferred curved clips for posteromedial projecting aneurysms (OR, 6.39; P = 0.008). The mean operative time from the brain retraction to the final clipping was 17 minutes and 43 seconds. Postoperative computed tomography angiography revealed complete occlusion of 60 (94%) aneurysms. Three (4.6%) patients with acute SAH suffered postoperative lacunar infarction. For ruptured aneurysms, lamina terminalis and Liliequist membrane fenestration are useful for additional cerebrospinal fluid drainage. For low-lying aneurysms, coagulation of the dura covering the ACP or tailored anterior clinoidectomy might be necessary for exposing the proximal aneurysm neck. Type of clips depends on the direction of projection. The microsurgical clipping of the PCoAAs can achieve good immediate complete occlusion rate with low postoperative stroke rate. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Stabilization and treatment of dental avulsions and fractures by emergency physicians using just-in-time training.

PubMed

McIntosh, Mark S; Konzelmann, Jason; Smith, Jeffrey; Kalynych, Colleen J; Wears, Robert L; Schneider, Howard; Wylie, Todd; Kaminski, Anne; Matar-Joseph, Madeline

2009-10-01

The objective of this investigation is to use a dental simulation model to compare splinting and bandaging methods for managing tooth avulsions and fractures, as measured by dentist evaluators for quality and time to complete each stabilization procedure. This was a randomized crossover study comparing 3 splinting techniques for managing a traumatically avulsed tooth (periodontal pack, wire, and bondable reinforcement ribbon) and 2 bandage techniques for managing a fractured tooth (calcium hydroxide paste and light-cured composite). After viewing a Just-in-Time training video, a convenience sample of emergency physicians performed the 5 stabilization techniques on dental models containing extracted teeth embedded in clay to simulate a segment of the human dentition. Data collected included time to complete each procedure, the evaluation of dentists about whether the procedure was performed satisfactorily or unsatisfactorily, and the ranking of dentists' and participants' preferred technique. Twenty-five emergency physicians participated in the study: 17 residents, 2 pediatric emergency medicine fellows, and 6 attending physicians. Reported median time, as well as minimum and maximum times to complete each splinting technique for an avulsed tooth, was as follows: periodontal pack 4.4 minutes (2.5 to 6.5 minutes), wire 8.6 minutes (5.8 to 12.9 minutes), and bondable reinforcement ribbon 8.9 minutes (5.6 to 15 minutes). Median time (and minimum and maximum times) to complete each protective bandaging technique for a fractured tooth was calcium hydroxide paste 4.6 minutes (3 to 9.6 minutes) and light-cured composite 7.1 minutes (5.5 to 14.1 minutes). When asked to choose a preferred splinting and bandaging technique according to the performance of the physicians, the dentists chose the bondable reinforcement ribbon 96% (24/25) and the light-cured composite 100% (25/25) of the time. Study participants had no measurable or agreeable preference for a particular splinting or bandaging technique. The results of this study suggest that of the stabilization procedures completed by emergency physicians, dentists preferred the bondable reinforcement ribbon for managing an avulsed tooth and the light-cured composite technique for managing a fractured tooth over the commonly taught and more frequently used procedures in emergency medicine.

Evaluation of Uranium-235 Measurement Techniques

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kaspar, Tiffany C.; Lavender, Curt A.; Dibert, Mark W.

2017-05-23

Monolithic U-Mo fuel plates are rolled to final fuel element form from the original cast ingot, and thus any inhomogeneities in 235U distribution present in the cast ingot are maintained, and potentially exaggerated, in the final fuel foil. The tolerance for inhomogeneities in the 235U concentration in the final fuel element foil is very low. A near-real-time, nondestructive technique to evaluate the 235U distribution in the cast ingot is required in order to provide feedback to the casting process. Based on the technical analysis herein, gamma spectroscopy has been recommended to provide a near-real-time measure of the 235U distribution inmore » U-Mo cast plates.« less

40 CFR 228.15 - Dumping sites designated on a final basis.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... designation to establish different or additional standards. The EPA will act on any such petition within 120...) Disposal not subject to the restrictions in paragraphs (b)(4)(vi)(C) through (G) or (b)(4)(vi)(I) of this... prior to the completion of the DMMP and completed within two years after the completion of the DMMP. (J...

Negative rumination in social anxiety: A randomised trial investigating the effects of a brief intervention on cognitive processes before, during and after a social situation.

PubMed

Modini, Matthew; Abbott, Maree J

2017-06-01

According to cognitive models of Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD), negative rumination is a key maintaining factor in the vicious cycle of social anxiety. However, there is a scarcity of research investigating treatment effects on rumination in social anxiety, as well as other key cognitive variables. The current study aimed to determine the effectiveness of a brief intervention on a range of cognitive processes, most notably negative rumination. Additionally, predictors of negative rumination and state anxiety are also investigated. Participants with a diagnosis of SAD were randomly allocated to an intervention (n = 24) or control group (n = 23). Participant's initially completed trait and state based measures with the intervention group also completing a brief cognitive intervention. One-week later participants completed state anxiety and cognitive measures before and after a speech task. Finally, one-week post-speech task participants completed further trait and state based measures. While the brief cognitive intervention had positive effects on some of the cognitive processes measured at different time points of the study, levels of negative rumination remained stable. Predictors of negative rumination and state anxiety were consistent with cognitive models of SAD. The brief nature of the intervention and temporal stance of the intervention (delivered one-week before the speech) may have impacted outcomes. Cognitive technique can potentially impact a range of key processes that maintain SAD, however, more powerful and tailored interventions are needed that address the different processes at play before, during and after a social situation for socially anxious individuals. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

14 CFR 330.29 - What information must air taxi operators submit on Form 330 (Final) and Form 330-C?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false What information must air taxi operators... COMPENSATION OF AIR CARRIERS Application Procedures § 330.29 What information must air taxi operators submit on Form 330 (Final) and Form 330-C? As an air taxi operator, you must complete Form 330 (Final) in...

14 CFR 330.29 - What information must air taxi operators submit on Form 330 (Final) and Form 330-C?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 4 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false What information must air taxi operators... COMPENSATION OF AIR CARRIERS Application Procedures § 330.29 What information must air taxi operators submit on Form 330 (Final) and Form 330-C? As an air taxi operator, you must complete Form 330 (Final) in...

The CP-PACS project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iwasaki, Y.; CP-PACS Collaboration

1998-01-01

The CP-PACS project is a five year plan, which formally started in April 1992 and has been completed in March 1997, to develop a massively parallel computer for carrying out research in computational physics with primary emphasis on lattice QCD. The initial version of the CP-PACS computer with a theoretical peak speed of 307 GFLOPS with 1024 processors was completed in March 1996. The final version with a peak speed of 614 GFLOPS with 2048 processors was completed in September 1996, and has been in full operation since October 1996. We describe the architecture, the final specification, the hardware implementation, and the software of the CP-PACS computer. The CP-PACS has been used for hadron spectroscopy production runs since July 1996. The performance for lattice QCD applications and the LINPACK benchmark are given.

A Key Major Guideline for Engineering Bioactive Multicomponent Nanofunctionalization for Biomedicine and Other Applications: Fundamental Models Confirmed by Both Direct and Indirect Evidence

PubMed Central

Scherrieble, Andreas; Bahrizadeh, Shiva; Avareh Sadrabadi, Fatemeh; Hedayat, Laleh

2017-01-01

This paper deals with the engineering multicomponent nanofunctionalization process considering fundamental physicochemical features of nanostructures such as surface energy, chemical bonds, and electrostatic interactions. It is pursued by modeling the surface nanopatterning and evaluating the proposed technique and the models. To this end, the effects of surface modifications of nanoclay on surface interactions, orientations, and final features of TiO2/Mt nanocolloidal textiles functionalization have been investigated. Various properties of cross-linkable polysiloxanes (XPs) treated samples as well as untreated samples with XPs have been compared to one another. The complete series of samples have been examined in terms of bioactivity and some physical properties, given to provide indirect evidence on the surface nanopatterning. The results disclosed a key role of the selected factors on the final features of treated surfaces. The effects have been thoroughly explained and modeled according to the fundamental physicochemical features. The developed models and associated hypotheses interestingly demonstrated a full agreement with all measured properties and were appreciably confirmed by FESEM evidence (direct evidence). Accordingly, a guideline has been developed to facilitate engineering and optimizing the pre-, main, and post-multicomponent nanofunctionalization procedures in terms of fundamental features of nanostructures and substrates for biomedical applications and other approaches. PMID:29333437

Identifying the Priority Topics for the Assessment of Competence in Care of the Elderly

PubMed Central

Frank, Chris C.; Allen, Tim; Lozanovska, Tatjana; Arcand, Marcel; Feldman, Sidney; Lam, Robert E.; Mehta, Pravinsagar G.; Mangal, Nadia Y.

2018-01-01

Background With Canada’s senior population increasing, there is greater demand for family physicians with enhanced skills in Care of the Elderly (COE). The College of Family Physicians Canada (CFPC) has introduced Certificates of Added Competence (CACs), one being in COE. Our objective is to summarize the process used to determine the Priority Topics for the assessment of competence in COE. Methods A modified Delphi technique was used, with online surveys and face-to-face meetings. The Working Group (WG) of six physicians acted as the nominal group, and a larger group of randomly selected practitioners from across Canada acted as the Validation Group (VG). The WG, and then the VG, completed electronic write-in surveys that asked them to identify the Priority Topics. Responses were compiled, coded, and tabulated to identify the topics and to calculate the frequencies of their selection. The WG used face-to-face meetings and iterative discussion to decide on the final topic names. Results The correlation between the initial Priority Topic list identified by the VG and that identified by the WG is 0.6793. The final list has 18 Priority Topics. Conclusion Defining the required competencies is a first step to establishing national standards in COE. PMID:29581816

Designing Cancer-Killing Artificial Viruses to Improve Student Understanding of Microbiology

PubMed Central

Kuniyuki, Andy; Sharp, Gwen

2011-01-01

Our objective was to assess the effectiveness of a “learning by designing” group project used in a lower-division Microbiology course. Students used knowledge gained from the course to design an artificial virus that would kill cancer cells. The assignment required groups to integrate the individual course topics into a unified, complex understanding of the field of microbiology. Throughout the course, students and the instructor collaborated in creating a rubric to evaluate the groups’ final presentations. This paper reports the results of an assessment of the project by comparing the instructor’s and the students’ scores for the presentations. Students’ and the instructor’s scores were correlated; the Pearson coefficient of 0.52 was statistically significant. The results indicate that students gained sufficient knowledge to accurately evaluate proposed designs. Additionally, the overall course grade distribution improved compared to the semester before the project was introduced. Finally, in order to engage students in thinking about their own learning process, they completed a reflection assignment that required them to discuss the changes in their understanding of microbiology over the course of the semester. Our assessment indicates that a design project can serve as an effective and useful learning technique in undergraduate Microbiology courses, though modifications are suggested. PMID:23653757

[Biooptical properties of marine phytoplankton as they apply to satellite remote sensing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yentsch, Charles S.

1992-01-01

This final report covers research performed over a period of 10 years from 1982 to 1992. During this time, Grant #NAGW410 was funded under three titles through a series of Supplements. The original proposal was entitled 'Photoecology, optical properties and remote sensing of warm core rings'; the second and major portion was entitled 'Continuation of studies of biooptical properties of phytoplankton and the study of mesoscale and submesoscale features using fluorescence and colorimetry'; with the final portion named 'Studies of biooptical properties of phytoplankton, with reference to identification of spectral types associated with meso- and submesoscale features in the ocean'. The focus of these projects was to try to expand our knowledge of the biooptical properties of marine phytoplankton as they apply to satellite remote sensing. We used a variety of techniques, new and old, to better measure these optical properties at appropriate scales, in some cases at the level of individual cells. We also exploited the specialized oceanic conditions that occur within certain regions and features of the ocean around the world in order to explain the tremendous variability one sees in a single remote sensing image. This document strives to provide as complete a summary as possible for this large body of work, including the pertinent publications supported by this funding.

Supplementing research ethics training in psychiatry residents: A five-tier approach.

PubMed

Viswanath, Biju; Jayarajan, Rajan Nishanth; Chandra, Prabha S; Chaturvedi, Santosh K

2018-04-01

Ethics training is a key step in the research supervision of psychiatry trainees and there is need for a structured educational module. We developed a new research ethics training module for psychiatry residents - The Five-Tier Approach. Twenty-five first year psychiatry residents of an academic psychiatric training centre in India participated in this multi-session workshop. Module 1 included the completion of NIH online certification course for research ethics training. Module 2 was a one-hour interactive group discussion on ethical principles in research. Module 3 was a two-hour session consisting of case-based group discussion of nine selected research vignettes. Module 4 involved preparation of an informed consent form. Module 5 was a mock ethics committee role-played by seven students while the larger group observed using a Fish Bowl technique and provided feedback. Assessments were done during the third and final modules. During the third module, understanding regarding certain areas - autonomy, benefits and justice was found to be inadequate. In the final step, all ethical aspects were covered by the students. This five-tier approach seems like a superior tool for research ethics training in academic institutions, especially in Southeast Asia, where the student-teacher ratios are generally very high. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A CMOS Low-Power Optical Front-End for 5 Gbps Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zohoori, Soorena; Dolatshahi, Mehdi

2018-01-01

In this paper, a new low-power optical receiver front-end is proposed in 90 nm CMOS technology for 5 Gb/s AApplications. However, to improve the gain-bandwidth trade-off, the proposed Trans-Impedance Amplifier (TIA) uses an active modified inverter-based topology followed by a common-source amplifier, which uses active inductive peaking technique to enhance the frequency bandwidth in an increased gain level for a reasonable power consumption value. The proposed TIA is analyzed and simulated in HSPICE using 90 nm CMOS technology parameters. Simulation results show a 53.5dBΩ trans-impedance gain, 3.5 GHz frequency bandwidth, 16.8pA/√Hz input referred noise, and 1.28 mW of power consumption at 1V supply voltage. The Optical receiver is completed using three stages of differential limiting amplifiers (LAs), which provide 27 dB voltage gain while consume 3.1 mW of power. Finally, the whole optical receiver front-end consumes only 5.6 mW of power at 1 V supply and amplifies the input signal by 80 dB, while providing 3.7 GHz of frequency bandwidth. Finally, the simulation results indicate that the proposed optical receiver is a proper candidate to be used in a low-power 5 Gbps optical communication system.

Denoised Wigner distribution deconvolution via low-rank matrix completion

DOE PAGES

Lee, Justin; Barbastathis, George

2016-08-23

Wigner distribution deconvolution (WDD) is a decades-old method for recovering phase from intensity measurements. Although the technique offers an elegant linear solution to the quadratic phase retrieval problem, it has seen limited adoption due to its high computational/memory requirements and the fact that the technique often exhibits high noise sensitivity. Here, we propose a method for noise suppression in WDD via low-rank noisy matrix completion. Our technique exploits the redundancy of an object’s phase space to denoise its WDD reconstruction. We show in model calculations that our technique outperforms other WDD algorithms as well as modern iterative methods for phasemore » retrieval such as ptychography. Here, our results suggest that a class of phase retrieval techniques relying on regularized direct inversion of ptychographic datasets (instead of iterative reconstruction techniques) can provide accurate quantitative phase information in the presence of high levels of noise.« less

Denoised Wigner distribution deconvolution via low-rank matrix completion

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lee, Justin; Barbastathis, George

Wigner distribution deconvolution (WDD) is a decades-old method for recovering phase from intensity measurements. Although the technique offers an elegant linear solution to the quadratic phase retrieval problem, it has seen limited adoption due to its high computational/memory requirements and the fact that the technique often exhibits high noise sensitivity. Here, we propose a method for noise suppression in WDD via low-rank noisy matrix completion. Our technique exploits the redundancy of an object’s phase space to denoise its WDD reconstruction. We show in model calculations that our technique outperforms other WDD algorithms as well as modern iterative methods for phasemore » retrieval such as ptychography. Here, our results suggest that a class of phase retrieval techniques relying on regularized direct inversion of ptychographic datasets (instead of iterative reconstruction techniques) can provide accurate quantitative phase information in the presence of high levels of noise.« less

Single-row, double-row, and transosseous equivalent techniques for isolated supraspinatus tendon tears with minimal atrophy: A retrospective comparative outcome and radiographic analysis at minimum 2-year followup

PubMed Central

McCormick, Frank; Gupta, Anil; Bruce, Ben; Harris, Josh; Abrams, Geoff; Wilson, Hillary; Hussey, Kristen; Cole, Brian J.

2014-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to measure and compare the subjective, objective, and radiographic healing outcomes of single-row (SR), double-row (DR), and transosseous equivalent (TOE) suture techniques for arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. Materials and Methods: A retrospective comparative analysis of arthroscopic rotator cuff repairs by one surgeon from 2004 to 2010 at minimum 2-year followup was performed. Cohorts were matched for age, sex, and tear size. Subjective outcome variables included ASES, Constant, SST, UCLA, and SF-12 scores. Objective outcome variables included strength, active range of motion (ROM). Radiographic healing was assessed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Statistical analysis was performed using analysis of variance (ANOVA), Mann — Whitney and Kruskal — Wallis tests with significance, and the Fisher exact probability test <0.05. Results: Sixty-three patients completed the study requirements (20 SR, 21 DR, 22 TOE). There was a clinically and statistically significant improvement in outcomes with all repair techniques (ASES mean improvement P = <0.0001). The mean final ASES scores were: SR 83; (SD 21.4); DR 87 (SD 18.2); TOE 87 (SD 13.2); (P = 0.73). There was a statistically significant improvement in strength for each repair technique (P < 0.001). There was no significant difference between techniques across all secondary outcome assessments: ASES improvement, Constant, SST, UCLA, SF-12, ROM, Strength, and MRI re-tear rates. There was a decrease in re-tear rates from single row (22%) to double-row (18%) to transosseous equivalent (11%); however, this difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.6). Conclusions: Compared to preoperatively, arthroscopic rotator cuff repair, using SR, DR, or TOE techniques, yielded a clinically and statistically significant improvement in subjective and objective outcomes at a minimum 2-year follow-up. Level of Evidence: Therapeutic level 3. PMID:24926159

Improvised Neutral Zone Technique in a Completely Edentulous Patient with an Atrophic Mandibular Ridge and Neuromuscular Incoordination: A Clinical Tip

PubMed Central

Thirumalai Thangarajan, Saravanan; Mani, Umamaheswari; Kumar V, Anand

2017-01-01

Resorption of mandibular ridges is a multifactorial and biomechanical disease that is chronic, progressive, irreversible, and cumulative leading to loss of sulcular depth, vertical dimension loss, and decreased lower facial height. Some common neurological, hormonal, and metabolic disorders affect the adaptability of dentures, and this can be diagnosed by a trained prosthodontist with proper history-taking and clinical examination.The denture becomes passive due to complex neuromuscular control and causes difficulties in impression-making, mastication, and swallowing, which in turn leads to loss of retention and stability in complete dentures. Hence, residual ridge resorption becomes a challenging scenario for a clinician during fabrication of complete dentures. The neutral zone concept plays a significant role in overcoming these challenges. The neutral zone is the area where the outward forces from the tongue are neutralized or nullified by the forces of the lips and cheeks acting inward during functional movements.The neutral zone technique is an alternative approach for the construction of lower complete dentures. It is most effective for dentures where there is a highly atrophic ridge and history of denture instability. The technique aims to construct a denture that is shaped by muscle function and is in harmony with the surrounding oral structures. The technique is by no means new, but it is a valuable one. It is rarely used because of the extra clinical step involved and its complexity. Complete and partial denture failures are often related to non-compliance with neutral zone factors. Thus, the evaluation of the neutral zone is an important factor. Increased retention and stability with reduced chairside time are the salient features of this new approach to any clinically challenging situation in complete dentures.This clinical report describes a modification of the conventional neutral zone technique using improvised procedures to minimize chairside visits for a patient with an atrophic mandibular ridge and neuromuscular incoordination. PMID:28553567

Improvised Neutral Zone Technique in a Completely Edentulous Patient with an Atrophic Mandibular Ridge and Neuromuscular Incoordination: A Clinical Tip.

PubMed

Saravanakumar, Prathibha; Thirumalai Thangarajan, Saravanan; Mani, Umamaheswari; Kumar V, Anand

2017-04-24

Resorption of mandibular ridges is a multifactorial and biomechanical disease that is chronic, progressive, irreversible, and cumulative leading to loss of sulcular depth, vertical dimension loss, and decreased lower facial height. Some common neurological, hormonal, and metabolic disorders affect the adaptability of dentures, and this can be diagnosed by a trained prosthodontist with proper history-taking and clinical examination.The denture becomes passive due to complex neuromuscular control and causes difficulties in impression-making, mastication, and swallowing, which in turn leads to loss of retention and stability in complete dentures. Hence, residual ridge resorption becomes a challenging scenario for a clinician during fabrication of complete dentures. The neutral zone concept plays a significant role in overcoming these challenges. The neutral zone is the area where the outward forces from the tongue are neutralized or nullified by the forces of the lips and cheeks acting inward during functional movements.The neutral zone technique is an alternative approach for the construction of lower complete dentures. It is most effective for dentures where there is a highly atrophic ridge and history of denture instability. The technique aims to construct a denture that is shaped by muscle function and is in harmony with the surrounding oral structures. The technique is by no means new, but it is a valuable one. It is rarely used because of the extra clinical step involved and its complexity. Complete and partial denture failures are often related to non-compliance with neutral zone factors. Thus, the evaluation of the neutral zone is an important factor. Increased retention and stability with reduced chairside time are the salient features of this new approach to any clinically challenging situation in complete dentures.This clinical report describes a modification of the conventional neutral zone technique using improvised procedures to minimize chairside visits for a patient with an atrophic mandibular ridge and neuromuscular incoordination.

The potential application of the blackboard model of problem solving to multidisciplinary design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rogers, James L.

1989-01-01

The potential application of the blackboard model of problem solving to multidisciplinary design is discussed. Multidisciplinary design problems are complex, poorly structured, and lack a predetermined decision path from the initial starting point to the final solution. The final solution is achieved using data from different engineering disciplines. Ideally, for the final solution to be the optimum solution, there must be a significant amount of communication among the different disciplines plus intradisciplinary and interdisciplinary optimization. In reality, this is not what happens in today's sequential approach to multidisciplinary design. Therefore it is highly unlikely that the final solution is the true optimum solution from an interdisciplinary optimization standpoint. A multilevel decomposition approach is suggested as a technique to overcome the problems associated with the sequential approach, but no tool currently exists with which to fully implement this technique. A system based on the blackboard model of problem solving appears to be an ideal tool for implementing this technique because it offers an incremental problem solving approach that requires no a priori determined reasoning path. Thus it has the potential of finding a more optimum solution for the multidisciplinary design problems found in today's aerospace industries.

Bayesian model-emulation of stochastic gravitational-wave spectra for probes of the final-parsec problem with pulsar-timing arrays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taylor, Stephen R.; Simon, Joseph; Sampson, Laura

2017-01-01

The final parsec of supermassive black-hole binary evolution is subject to the complex interplay of stellar loss-cone scattering, circumbinary disk accretion, and gravitational-wave emission, with binary eccentricity affected by all of these. The strain spectrum of gravitational-waves in the pulsar-timing band thus encodes rich information about the binary population's response to these various environmental mechanisms. Current spectral models have heretofore followed basic analytic prescriptions, and attempt to investigate these final-parsec mechanisms in an indirect fashion. Here we describe a new technique to directly probe the environmental properties of supermassive black-hole binaries through "Bayesian model-emulation". We perform black-hole binary population synthesis simulations at a restricted set of environmental parameter combinations, compute the strain spectra from these, then train a Gaussian process to learn the shape of the spectrum at any point in parameter space. We describe this technique, demonstrate its efficacy with a program of simulated datasets, then illustrate its power by directly constraining final-parsec physics in a Bayesian analysis of the NANOGrav 5-year dataset. The technique is fast, flexible, and robust.

Bayesian model-emulation of stochastic gravitational-wave spectra for probes of the final-parsec problem with pulsar-timing arrays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taylor, Stephen; Simon, Joseph; Sampson, Laura

2017-01-01

The final parsec of supermassive black-hole binary evolution is subject to the complex interplay of stellar loss-cone scattering, circumbinary disk accretion, and gravitational-wave emission, with binary eccentricity affected by all of these. The strain spectrum of gravitational-waves in the pulsar-timing band thus encodes rich information about the binary population's response to these various environmental mechanisms. Current spectral models have heretofore followed basic analytic prescriptions, and attempt to investigate these final-parsec mechanisms in an indirect fashion. Here we describe a new technique to directly probe the environmental properties of supermassive black-hole binaries through ``Bayesian model-emulation''. We perform black-hole binary population synthesis simulations at a restricted set of environmental parameter combinations, compute the strain spectra from these, then train a Gaussian process to learn the shape of spectrum at any point in parameter space. We describe this technique, demonstrate its efficacy with a program of simulated datasets, then illustrate its power by directly constraining final-parsec physics in a Bayesian analysis of the NANOGrav 5-year dataset. The technique is fast, flexible, and robust.

[Endoscopic Approach to the Quadrilateral Plate (EAQUAL): a New Endoscopic Approach for Plate Osteosynthesis of the Pelvic Ring and Acetabulum - a Cadaver Study].

PubMed

Trulson, Alexander; Küper, Markus Alexander; Trulson, Inga Maria; Minarski, Christian; Grünwald, Leonard; Hirt, Bernhard; Stöckle, Ulrich; Stuby, Fabian

2018-06-14

Dislocated pelvic fractures which require surgical repair are usually operated on via open surgery. Approach-related morbidity is reported with a frequency of up to 30%. The aim of this anatomical study was to prove the feasibility of endoscopic visualisation of the relevant anatomical structures in pelvic surgery and to perform completely endoscopic plate osteosynthesis of the acetabulum with available standard laparoscopic instruments. In four human cadavers, we established an endoscopic preparation of the complete pelvic ring, from the symphysis to the iliosacral joint, including the quadrilateral plate and the sciatic nerve, and performed endoscopic plate osteosynthesis along the iliopectineal line. The endoscopic preparation of the complete pelvic ring and the quadrilateral plate was demonstrated step-by-step, followed by completely endoscopic plate osteosynthesis along the pelvic brim. Endoscopic, radiographic, and schematic pictures are used to illustrate the technique. The completely endoscopic preparation of the pelvic brim and the quadrilateral plate is feasible with available standard laparoscopic instruments. Moreover, plate osteosynthesis could be performed endoscopically. Further research on reduction techniques is necessary when planning to implement this technique into a clinical scenario. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Completion of development of robotics systems for inspecting unpiggable transmission pipelines.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-02-01

This document presents the final report for a program focusing on the completion of the : research, development and demonstration effort, which was initiated in 2001, for the : development of two robotic systems for the in-line, live inspection of un...

78 FR 57293 - Medicaid Program; State Disproportionate Share Hospital Allotment Reductions

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-09-18

... reductions are prospective, not retrospective. Comment: One commenter requested clarification on how the... establish prospective DSH allotment reductions adjustments that rely on final or completed data from previous years. Response: The final rule establishes prospective DSH allotment reductions based on the most...

Electron-impact ionization of atomic hydrogen

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baertschy, Mark David

2000-10-01

Since the invention of quantum mechanics, even the simplest example of collisional breakup in a system of charged particles, e - + H --> H+ + e- + e-, has stood as one of the last unsolved fundamental problems in atomic physics. A complete solution requires calculating the energies and directions for a final state in which three charged particles are moving apart. Advances in the formal description of three-body breakup have yet to lead to a viable computational method. Traditional approaches, based on two-body formalisms, have been unable to produce differential cross sections for the three-body final state. Now, by using a mathematical transformation of the Schrödinger equation that makes the final state tractable, a complete solution has finally been achieved. Under this transformation, the scattering wave function can be calculated without imposing explicit scattering boundary conditions. This approach has produced the first triple differential cross sections that agree on an absolute scale with experiment as well as the first ab initio calculations of the single differential cross section [29].

Electron-impact ionization of atomic hydrogen

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Baertschy, Mark D.

2000-02-01

Since the invention of quantum mechanics, even the simplest example of collisional breakup in a system of charged particles, e - + H → H + + e - + e +, has stood as one of the last unsolved fundamental problems in atomic physics. A complete solution requires calculating the energies and directions for a final state in which three charged particles are moving apart. Advances in the formal description of three-body breakup have yet to lead to a viable computational method. Traditional approaches, based on two-body formalisms, have been unable to produce differential cross sections for the three-bodymore » final state. Now, by using a mathematical transformation of the Schrodinger equation that makes the final state tractable, a complete solution has finally been achieved, Under this transformation, the scattering wave function can be calculated without imposing explicit scattering boundary conditions. This approach has produced the first triple differential cross sections that agree on an absolute scale with experiment as well as the first ab initio calculations of the single differential cross section.« less

Techniques for inventorying manmade impacts in roadway environments.

Treesearch

Dale R. Potter; J. Alan. Wagar

1971-01-01

Four techniques for inventorying manmade impacts along roadway corridors were devised and compared. Ground surveillance and ground photography techniques recorded impacts within the corridor visible from the road. Techniques on large- and small-scale aerial photography recorded impacts within a more complete corridor that included areas screened from the road by...

Use of a "small-bubble technique" to increase the success of Anwar's "big-bubble technique" for deep lamellar keratoplasty with complete baring of Descemet's membrane.

PubMed

Parthasarathy, Anand; Por, Yong Ming; Tan, Donald T H

2007-10-01

To describe a quick and simple "small-bubble" technique to immediately determine the success of attaining complete Descemet's membrane (DM) separation from corneal stroma through Anwar's "big-bubble" technique of deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK) for complete stromal removal. A partial trephination was followed by a lamellar dissection of the anterior stroma. Deep stromal air injection was then attempted to achieve the big bubble to help separate the stroma from the DM. To confirm that a big bubble had been achieved, a small air bubble was injected into the anterior chamber (AC) through a limbal paracentesis. If the small bubble is then seen at the corneal periphery, it confirms that the big-bubble separation of DM was successful because the convex nature of the bubble will cause it to protrude posteriorly, forcing the small AC bubble to the periphery. If the small AC bubble is not seen in the corneal periphery, this means that it is present in the centre, beneath the opaque corneal stroma, and therefore the big bubble has not been achieved. We used the small-bubble technique to confirm the presence of the big bubble in three (one keratoconus, one interstitial keratitis and one dense corneal scar) out of 41 patients who underwent DALK. The small-bubble technique confirmed that the big bubble was achieved in the eye of all three patients. Complete stromal removal with baring of the DM was achieved, and postoperatively all three eyes achieved best corrected vision of 6/6. The small-bubble technique can be a useful surgical tool for corneal surgeons attempting lamellar keratoplasty using the big-bubble technique. It helps in confirming the separation of DM from the deep stroma, which is important in achieving total stromal replacement. It will help to make the transition to lamellar keratoplasty smoother, enhance corneal graft success and improve visual outcomes in patients.

A methodology for producing reliable software, volume 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stucki, L. G.; Moranda, P. B.; Foshee, G.; Kirchoff, M.; Omre, R.

1976-01-01

An investigation into the areas having an impact on producing reliable software including automated verification tools, software modeling, testing techniques, structured programming, and management techniques is presented. This final report contains the results of this investigation, analysis of each technique, and the definition of a methodology for producing reliable software.

Research in network management techniques for tactical data communications networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boorstyn, R.; Kershenbaum, A.; Maglaris, B.; Sarachik, P.

1982-09-01

This is the final technical report for work performed on network management techniques for tactical data networks. It includes all technical papers that have been published during the control period. Research areas include Packet Network modelling, adaptive network routing, network design algorithms, network design techniques, and local area networks.

The association between students taking elective courses in chiropractic technique and their anticipated chiropractic technique choices in future practice.

PubMed

Wanlass, Paul W; Sikorski, David M; Kizhakkeveettil, Anupama; Tobias, Gene S

2018-03-12

To assess students' opinions of the potential influence of taking elective courses in chiropractic techniques and their future practice preferences. An anonymous, voluntary survey was conducted among graduating students from a doctor of chiropractic program. The survey included questions regarding the chiropractic technique elective courses they had completed and the potential influence of these courses on their chiropractic technique choices in future practice. Surveys were pretested for face validity, and data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Of the 56 surveys distributed, 46 were completed, for a response rate of 82%. More than half of the students reported having taken at least 1 elective course in diversified technique (80%), Cox technique (76%), Activator Methods (70%), or sacro-occipital technique (63%). Less than half of the respondents reported taking technique elective courses in Gonstead or Thompson techniques. More than half of the students stated they were more likely to use Activator (72%), Thompson (68%), diversified (57%), or Cox (54%) techniques in their future practice after taking an elective course in that technique. Females stated that they were more likely to use Activator Methods ( p = .006) in future practice. Chiropractic technique elective courses in the doctor of chiropractic curriculum may influence students' choices of future practice chiropractic technique.

Research priorities of the Canadian chiropractic profession: a consensus study using a modified Delphi technique.

PubMed

French, Simon D; Beliveau, Peter J H; Bruno, Paul; Passmore, Steven R; Hayden, Jill A; Srbely, John; Kawchuk, Greg N

2017-01-01

Research funds are limited and a healthcare profession that supports research activity should establish research priority areas. The study objective was to identify research priority areas for the Canadian chiropractic profession, and for stakeholders in the chiropractic profession to rank these in order of importance. We conducted a modified Delphi consensus study between August 2015 and May 2017 to determine the views of Canadian chiropractic organisations (e.g. Canadian Chiropractic Association; provincial associations) and stakeholder groups (e.g. chiropractic educational institutions; researchers). Participants completed three online Delphi survey rounds. In Round 1, participants suggested research areas within four broad research themes: 1) Basic science; 2) Clinical; 3) Health services; and 4) Population health. In Round 2, researchers created sub-themes by categorising the areas suggested in Round 1, and participants judged the importance of the research sub-themes. We defined consensus as at least 70% of participants agreeing that a research area was "essential" or "very important". In Round 3, results from Round 2 were presented to the participants to re-evaluate the importance of sub-themes. Finally, participants completed an online pairwise ranking activity to determine the rank order of the list of important research sub-themes. Fifty-seven participants, of 85 people invited, completed Round 1 (response rate 67%). Fifty-six participants completed Round 2, 55 completed Round 3, and 53 completed the ranking activity. After three Delphi rounds and the pairwise ranking activity was completed, the ranked list of research sub-themes considered important were: 1) Integration of chiropractic care into multidisciplinary settings; 2) Costs and cost-effectiveness of chiropractic care; 3) Effect of chiropractic care on reducing medical services; 4) Effects of chiropractic care; 5) Safety/side effects of chiropractic care; 6) Chiropractic care for older adults; 7) Neurophysiological mechanisms and effects of spinal manipulative therapy; 8) General mechanisms and effects of spinal manipulative therapy. This project identified research priority areas for the Canadian chiropractic profession. The top three priority areas were all in the area of health services research: 1) Integration of chiropractic care into multidisciplinary settings; 2) Costs and cost-effectiveness of chiropractic care; 3) Effect of chiropractic care on reducing medical services.

Radiation Hardened Telerobotic Dismantling System Development Final Report CRADA No. TC-1340-96

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Smith, C.; Lightman, A.

This project was a collaborative effort between the University of California, LLNL and RedZone Robotics, Inc. for the development of radiation-hardened telerobotic dismantling systems for use in applications such as nuclear facility remediation, nuclear accident response, and Chemobyltype remediation. The project supported the design, development, fabrication and testing of a Ukrainian robotic systems. The project was completed on time and within budget. All deliverables were completed. The final project deliverables were consistent with the plans developed in the original project with the exception that the fabricated systems remained in Ukraine.

[Statistical analysis of German radiologic periodicals: developmental trends in the last 10 years].

PubMed

Golder, W

1999-09-01

To identify which statistical tests are applied in German radiological publications, to what extent their use has changed during the last decade, and which factors might be responsible for this development. The major articles published in "ROFO" and "DER RADIOLOGE" during 1988, 1993 and 1998 were reviewed for statistical content. The contributions were classified by principal focus and radiological subspecialty. The methods used were assigned to descriptive, basal and advanced statistics. Sample size, significance level and power were established. The use of experts' assistance was monitored. Finally, we calculated the so-called cumulative accessibility of the publications. 525 contributions were found to be eligible. In 1988, 87% used descriptive statistics only, 12.5% basal, and 0.5% advanced statistics. The corresponding figures in 1993 and 1998 are 62 and 49%, 32 and 41%, and 6 and 10%, respectively. Statistical techniques were most likely to be used in research on musculoskeletal imaging and articles dedicated to MRI. Six basic categories of statistical methods account for the complete statistical analysis appearing in 90% of the articles. ROC analysis is the single most common advanced technique. Authors make increasingly use of statistical experts' opinion and programs. During the last decade, the use of statistical methods in German radiological journals has fundamentally improved, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Presently, advanced techniques account for 20% of the pertinent statistical tests. This development seems to be promoted by the increasing availability of statistical analysis software.

Multiscale Documentation and Monitoring of L'aquila Historical Centre Using Uav Photogrammetry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dominici, D.; Alicandro, M.; Rosciano, E.; Massimi, V.

2017-05-01

Nowadays geomatic techniques can guarantee not only a precise and accurate survey for the documentation of our historical heritage but also a solution to monitor its behaviour over time after, for example, a catastrophic event (earthquakes, landslides, ecc). Europe is trying to move towards harmonized actions to store information on cultural heritage (MIBAC with the ICCS forms, English heritage with the MIDAS scheme, etc) but it would be important to provide standardized methods in order to perform measuring operations to collect certified metric data. The final result could be a database to support the entire management of the cultural heritage and also a checklist of "what to do" and "when to do it". The wide range of geomatic techniques provides many solutions to acquire, to organize and to manage data at a multiscale level: high resolution satellite images can provide information in a short time during the "early emergency" while UAV photogrammetry and laser scanning can provide digital high resolution 3D models of buildings, ortophotos of roofs and facades and so on. This paper presents some multiscale survey case studies using UAV photogrammetry: from a minor historical village (Aielli) to the centre of L'Aquila (Santa Maria di Collemaggio Church) from the post-emergency to now. This choice has been taken not only to present how geomatics is an effective science for modelling but also to present a complete and reliable way to perform conservation and/or restoration through precise monitoring techniques, as shown in the third case study.