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One Advantage (one + advantage)
Selected AbstractsBqR-Tree: A Data Structure for Flights and Walkthroughs in Urban Scenes with Mobile ElementsCOMPUTER GRAPHICS FORUM, Issue 6 2010J.L. Pina I.3.6 [Computer Graphics]: Graphics data structures and data types Abstract BqR-Tree, the data structure presented in this paper is an improved R-Tree data structure based on a quadtree spatial partitioning which improves the rendering speed of the usual R-trees when view-culling is implemented, especially in urban scenes. The city is split by means of a spatial quadtree partition and the block is adopted as the basic urban unit. One advantage of blocks is that they can be easily identified in any urban environment, regardless of the origins and structure of the input data. The aim of the structure is to accelerate the visualization of complex scenes containing not only static but dynamic elements. The usefulness of the structure has been tested with low structured data, which makes its application appropriate to almost all city data. The results of the tests show that when using the BqR-Tree structure to perform walkthroughs and flights, rendering times vastly improve in comparison to the data structures which have yielded best results to date, with average improvements of around 30%. [source] Cable model with frequency dependent parameters calculated by using subconductorsEUROPEAN TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRICAL POWER, Issue 1 2003L. Hofmann A cable model with frequency dependent parameters in the time domain for the simulation of transients in the short time range is presented. The model is based on the division of the transmission line into m short lossless delay line segments of length ,xk = l/m, which are connected to each other by damping-networks consisting of constant ohmic resistances and by distortion-networks simulating the frequency dependence of the series impedance per unit length. The damping-networks consider ohmic line losses as well as leakage losses by shunt conductances. The distortion-networks are represented by state space equations in the time domain. One advantage of the model in comparison to generally used models is the direct determination of the model parameters from the geometrical dimensions of the line-ground configuration. This model also provides a fast and accurate algorithm. [source] The Onset of Health Problems and the Propensity of Workers to Change Employers and OccupationsGROWTH AND CHANGE, Issue 3 2003Jodi Messer Pelkowski Although many studies have investigated how poor health affects hours of work and labor force participation, few have examined the extent to which individuals adapt in order to remain in the labor market. Individuals experiencing health problems may move to different types of work in order to remain in the labor force or to reduce the negative labor market consequences of illness. This paper investigates the movement between employers, and among occupation categories when changing employers, using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). One advantage of the HRS is that its questions on life-cycle employment and health patterns permit a long-term perspective on job mobility that is unavailable in most other datasets. Workers with health problems are more likely than healthy workers to remain with their current employer than to switch employers. But among those who switch employers, those with health problems are more likely to change broad occupational categories than are healthy workers. While many individuals remain with the same employer after the onset of health problems, many do switch employers and occupations, even in the presence of ADA legislation. [source] Comparison of ethylammonium formate to methanol as a mobile-phase modifier for reversed-phase liquid chromatographyJOURNAL OF SEPARATION SCIENCE, JSS, Issue 5 2006Martin M. Waichigo Abstract Ethylammonium formate (EAF), (C2H5NH3+HCO2,), is a room-temperature ionic liquid that has a polarity similar to that of methanol (MeOH) or acetonitrile. The separation at 1 mL/min of a test mixture of vitamins or phenols on a polystyrene-divinylbenzene column using either an EAF- or MeOH-water mobile phase is similar in terms of both resolution and analysis time. Because the viscosity of EAF is higher than that of MeOH, the plate count for phenol at room temperature is lower by about a factor of 1.1,1.4 depending on the flow rate. However, van Deemter plots show that this loss in plate count at 1 mL/min can be recovered and improved from 1500 to 2400 plates by working at a slightly elevated temperature of 55°C. A slower flow rate such as 0.8 mL/min can also substantially improve the plate count as compared to 1,1.5 mL/min. Log P (octanol partition coefficient) versus log k, data for a variety of neutral test solutes are again similar whether EAF or MeOH is used as the organic modifier. Resolution of certain peak pairs such as 2,4-dinitrophenol/2,4,6-trinitrophenol and p -aminobenzoate/benzoate is enhanced using EAF as compared to MeOH. One advantage of EAF is that control of retention of solutes such as water-soluble vitamins under totally aqueous mobile phase conditions is environmentally preferable for quality control applications. In addition, EAF seems to be a milder mobile-phase modifier than MeOH for certain proteins such as lysozyme. [source] Automated identification of technologically similar organizationsJOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, Issue 10 2005Anthony Breitzman This article introduces and validates a method for identifying technologically similar organizations, industries, or regions by applying the techniques from information science for term similarity to international patent classifications. Several applications of the method are explored, including identifying hidden competitive threats, finding potential acquisition targets, locating university expertise within a technology, identifying competitor strategy shifts, and more. One advantage of the method is that it is size invariant, meaning, for example, that it is possible for a huge corporation to identify smaller firms in its space before they become significant competitors. Another advantage is that technologically similar organizations can be identified on a large scale without any particular knowledge of the technology or business of either source organizations or target organizations. [source] Current role of liver transplantation for the treatment of urea cycle disorders: A review of the worldwide English literature and 13 cases at Kyoto UniversityLIVER TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 11 2005Daisuke Morioka To address the current role of liver transplantation (LT) for urea cycle disorders (UCDs), we reviewed the worldwide English literature on the outcomes of LT for UCD as well as 13 of our own cases of living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) for UCD. The total number of cases was 51, including our 13 cases. The overall cumulative patient survival rate is presumed to be more than 90% at 5 years. Most of the surviving patients under consideration are currently doing well with satisfactory quality of life. One advantage of LDLT over deceased donor liver transplantation (DDLT) is the opportunity to schedule surgery, which beneficially affects neurological consequences. Auxiliary partial orthotopic liver transplantation (APOLT) is no longer considered significant for the establishment of gene therapies or hepatocyte transplantation but plays a significant role in improving living liver donor safety; this is achieved by reducing the extent of the hepatectomy, which avoids right liver donation. Employing heterozygous carriers of the UCDs as donors in LDLT was generally acceptable. However, male hemizygotes with ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency (OTCD) must be excluded from donor candidacy because of the potential risk of sudden-onset fatal hyperammonemia. Given this possibility as well as the necessity of identifying heterozygotes for other disorders, enzymatic and/or genetic assays of the liver tissues in cases of UCDs are essential to elucidate the impact of using heterozygous carrier donors on the risk or safety of LDLT donor-recipient pairs. In conclusion, LT should be considered to be the definitive treatment for UCDs at this stage, although some issues remain unresolved. (Liver Transpl 2005;11:1332,1342.) [source] Galerkin-type space-time finite elements for volumetrically coupled problemsPROCEEDINGS IN APPLIED MATHEMATICS & MECHANICS, Issue 1 2003Holger Steeb Dipl.-Ing. The study focuses on error estimation techniques for a coupled problem with two constituents based on the Theory of Porous Media. After developing space-time finite elements for this mixed problem, we extend the numerical scheme to a coupled space-time adaptive strategy. Therefore, an adjoint or dual problem is formulated and discussed, which is solved lateron numerically. One advantage of the presented technique is the high flexibility of the error indicator with respect to the error measure. [source] Functional Correlates of Fiber Architecture of the Lateral Caudal Musculature in Prehensile and Nonprehensile Tails of the Platyrrhini (Primates) and Procyonidae (Carnivora)THE ANATOMICAL RECORD : ADVANCES IN INTEGRATIVE ANATOMY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, Issue 6 2009Jason M. Organ Abstract Prehensile-tailed platyrrhines (atelines and Cebus) and procyonids (Potos) display bony tail features that have been functionally and adaptively linked to their prehensile behaviors, particularly the need to resist relatively greater bending and torsional stresses associated with supporting their body weight during suspensory postures. We compared fiber architecture of the mm. intertransversarii caudae (ITC), the prime tail lateral flexors/rotators, in 40 individuals distributed across 8 platyrrhine and 2 procyonid genera, divided into one of two groups: prehensile or nonprehensile. We tested the hypothesis that prehensile-tailed taxa exhibit relatively greater physiologic cross-sectional areas (PCSAs) to maintain tail suspensory postures for extended periods. As an architectural trade-off of maximizing force, we also predicted prehensile-tailed taxa would exhibit relatively shorter, more pinnate fibers, and a lower mass to tetanic tension ratio (Mass/PO). Prehensile-tailed taxa have relatively higher PCSAs in all tail regions, indicating their capacity to generate relatively greater maximum muscle forces compared to nonprehensile-tailed taxa. Contrary to our predictions, there are no group differences in pinnation angles, fiber lengths or M/PO ratios. Therefore, the relatively greater prehensile PCSAs are driven largely by relative increase in muscle mass. These findings suggest that relatively greater ITC PCSAs can be functionally linked to the need for prehensile-tailed taxa to suspend and support their body weight during arboreal behaviors. Moreover, maximizing ITC force production may not come at the expense of muscle excursion/contraction velocity. One advantage of this architectural configuration is it facilitates suspension of the body while simultaneously maximizing tail contact with the substrate. Anat Rec, 292:827,841, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] A parallel and distributed-processing model of joint attention, social cognition and autismAUTISM RESEARCH, Issue 1 2009Peter Mundy Abstract The impaired development of joint attention is a cardinal feature of autism. Therefore, understanding the nature of joint attention is central to research on this disorder. Joint attention may be best defined in terms of an information-processing system that begins to develop by 4,6 months of age. This system integrates the parallel processing of internal information about one's own visual attention with external information about the visual attention of other people. This type of joint encoding of information about self and other attention requires the activation of a distributed anterior and posterior cortical attention network. Genetic regulation, in conjunction with self-organizing behavioral activity, guides the development of functional connectivity in this network. With practice in infancy the joint processing of self,other attention becomes automatically engaged as an executive function. It can be argued that this executive joint attention is fundamental to human learning as well as the development of symbolic thought, social cognition and social competence throughout the life span. One advantage of this parallel and distributed-processing model of joint attention is that it directly connects theory on social pathology to a range of phenomena in autism associated with neural connectivity, constructivist and connectionist models of cognitive development, early intervention, activity-dependent gene expression and atypical ocular motor control. [source] | ||||||||||||||||