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Terms modified by Forward Selected AbstractsEcosystem-Service Science and the Way Forward for ConservationCONSERVATION BIOLOGY, Issue 6 2007P. R. Armsworth First page of article [source] Temporal association between food distribution and human caregiver presence and the development of affinity to humans in lambsDEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOBIOLOGY, Issue 2 2008Céline Tallet Abstract The presence of the caregiver around feeding favors the development of a human,animal relationship. To understand the underlying mechanism, we tested various temporal associations between food distribution and human presence: from an early age, a person was repeatedly present for 2 min just before milk distribution ("Forward"), during milk distribution ("Simultaneous"), and 20 min afterwards ("Delayed"). The "Control" group received no human contacts. During the treatments, "Forward" and "Delayed" lambs had more physical contacts with the person than "Simultaneous" lambs. When tested in unfamiliar environments, they stood longer near the person than did "Control" or "Simultaneous" lambs, which did not differ. Only "Forward" and "Delayed" lambs bleated when separated from the person. Fasting before testing had no effect. "Forward" and "Delayed" seemed to produce the same human,animal relationship, showing that this did not rely only on a conditioning process associating the caregiver with food. The caregiver may acquire properties for social support through other mechanisms (attachment and/or postingestive effects). © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 50: 147,159, 2008. [source] Editorial: Looking Forward to 2009ELECTROANALYSIS, Issue 1 2009Article first published online: 23 DEC 200 No abstract is available for this article. [source] Pricing of Forward and Futures ContractsJOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SURVEYS, Issue 2 2000Ying-Foon Chow There has long been substantial interest in understanding the relative pricing of forward and futures contracts. This has led to the development of two standard theories of forward and futures pricing, namely, the Cost-of-Carry and the Risk Premium (or Unbiased Expectations) hypotheses. These studies have modelled the relationship between spot and forward/futures prices either through a no-arbitrage condition or a general equilibrium setting. Relatively few studies in this area have considered the impact of stochastic trends in the data. With the emergence of non-stationarity and cointegration in recent years, more sophisticated models of futures/forward prices have been specified. This paper surveys the significant contributions made to the literature on the pricing of forward/futures contracts, and examines recent empirical studies pertaining to the estimation and testing of univariate and systems models of futures pricing. [source] The Scientific Practitioner and Family Therapy: A way Forward, a Strait-jacket or a Distraction?JOURNAL OF FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 2 2002Ivan Eisler First page of article [source] Physicians, Industry, and Science: Moving Forward as Neuromodulation MaturesNEUROMODULATION, Issue 3 2007Timothy R. Deer MD [source] Introduction: Moving Forward the Discussion on Childhood ObesityTHE JOURNAL OF LAW, MEDICINE & ETHICS, Issue 1 2007P. K. Newby No abstract is available for this article. [source] EDITORIAL: Stepping Forward or Staying in Our Comfort ZoneTHE JOURNAL OF SEXUAL MEDICINE, Issue 8 2010Sue Goldstein AB Editorial Assistant No abstract is available for this article. [source] Reading the Tea Leaves,Interpreting the Meaning and Significance of China's Climate Commitments: Blog Review of "China Environmental Law"1 and the "Green Leap Forward"2ASIAN POLITICS AND POLICY, Issue 4 2010Melinda Herrold-Menzies No abstract is available for this article. [source] HYBRID ACE: COMBINING SEARCH DIRECTIONS FOR HEURISTIC PLANNINGCOMPUTATIONAL INTELLIGENCE, Issue 3 2005Dimitris Vrakas One of the most promising trends in Domain-Independent AI Planning, nowadays, is state-space heuristic planning. The planners of this category construct general but efficient heuristic functions, which are used as a guide to traverse the state space either in a forward or in a backward direction. Although specific problems may favor one or the other direction, there is no clear evidence why any of them should be generally preferred. This paper presents Hybrid-AcE, a domain-independent planning system that combines search in both directions utilizing a complex criterion that monitors the progress of the search, to switch between them. Hybrid AcE embodies two powerful domain-independent heuristic functions extending one of the AcE planning systems. Moreover, the system is equipped with a fact-ordering technique and two methods for problem simplification that limit the search space and guide the algorithm to the most promising states. The bi-directional system has been tested on a variety of problems adopted from the AIPS planning competitions with quite promising results. [source] Performance-driven muscle-based facial animationCOMPUTER ANIMATION AND VIRTUAL WORLDS (PREV: JNL OF VISUALISATION & COMPUTER ANIMATION), Issue 2 2001Byoungwon Choe Abstract We describe a system to synthesize facial expressions by editing captured performances. For this purpose, we use the actuation of expression muscles to control facial expressions. We note that there have been numerous algorithms already developed for editing gross body motion. While the joint angle has direct effect on the configuration of the gross body, the muscle actuation has to go through a complicated mechanism to produce facial expressions. Therefore,we devote a significant part of this paper to establishing the relationship between muscle actuation and facial surface deformation. We model the skin surface using the finite element method to simulate the deformation caused by expression muscles. Then, we implement the inverse relationship, muscle actuation parameter estimation, to find the muscle actuation values from the trajectories of the markers on the performer's face. Once the forward and inverse relationships are established, retargeting or editing a performance becomes an easy job. We apply the original performance data to different facial models with equivalent muscle structures, to produce similar expressions. We also produce novel expressions by deforming the original data curves of muscle actuation to satisfy the key-frame constraints imposed by animators.Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] An enhanced level of motor cortical excitability during the control of human standingACTA PHYSIOLOGICA, Issue 3 2009C. D. Tokuno Abstract Aim:, The study examined the role of the motor cortex in the control of human standing. Methods:, Subjects (n = 15) stood quietly with or without body support. The supported standing condition enabled subjects to stand with a reduced amount of postural sway. Peripheral electrical stimulation, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) or transcranial electrical stimulation (TES) was applied to elicit a soleus (SOL) H-reflex, or motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) in the SOL and the tibialis anterior (TA). Trials were grouped based on the standing condition (i.e. supported vs. normal) as well as sway direction (i.e. forward and backward) while subjects were standing normally. Results:, During normal when compared to supported standing, the SOL H-reflex was depressed (,11 ± 4%), while the TMS-evoked MEPs from the SOL and TA were facilitated (35 ± 11% for the SOL, 51 ± 15% for the TA). TES-evoked SOL and TA MEPs were, however, not different between the normal and supported standing conditions. The data based on sway direction indicated that the SOL H-reflex, as well as the SOL TMS- and TES-evoked MEPs were all greater during forward when compared to backward sway. In contrast, the TMS- and TES-evoked MEPs from the TA were smaller when swaying forward as compared to backward. Conclusions:, The results indicated the presence of an enhanced cortical excitability because of the need to control for postural sway during normal standing. The increased cortical excitability was, however, unlikely to be involved in an on-going control of postural sway, suggesting that postural sway is controlled at the spinal and/or subcortical levels. [source] Accounting for uncertainty in DEMs from repeat topographic surveys: improved sediment budgetsEARTH SURFACE PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS, Issue 2 2010Joseph M. Wheaton Abstract Repeat topographic surveys are increasingly becoming more affordable, and possible at higher spatial resolutions and over greater spatial extents. Digital elevation models (DEMs) built from such surveys can be used to produce DEM of Difference (DoD) maps and estimate the net change in storage terms for morphological sediment budgets. While these products are extremely useful for monitoring and geomorphic interpretation, data and model uncertainties render them prone to misinterpretation. Two new methods are presented, which allow for more robust and spatially variable estimation of DEM uncertainties and propagate these forward to evaluate the consequences for estimates of geomorphic change. The first relies on a fuzzy inference system to estimate the spatial variability of elevation uncertainty in individual DEMs while the second approach modifies this estimate on the basis of the spatial coherence of erosion and deposition units. Both techniques allow for probabilistic representation of uncertainty on a cell-by-cell basis and thresholding of the sediment budget at a user-specified confidence interval. The application of these new techniques is illustrated with 5 years of high resolution survey data from a 1,km long braided reach of the River Feshie in the Highlands of Scotland. The reach was found to be consistently degradational, with between 570 and 1970,m3 of net erosion per annum, despite the fact that spatially, deposition covered more surface area than erosion. In the two wetter periods with extensive braid-plain inundation, the uncertainty analysis thresholded at a 95% confidence interval resulted in a larger percentage (57% for 2004,2005 and 59% for 2006,2007) of volumetric change being excluded from the budget than the drier years (24% for 2003,2004 and 31% for 2005,2006). For these data, the new uncertainty analysis is generally more conservative volumetrically than a standard spatially-uniform minimum level of detection analysis, but also produces more plausible and physically meaningful results. The tools are packaged in a wizard-driven Matlab software application available for download with this paper, and can be calibrated and extended for application to any topographic point cloud (x,y,z). Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Investigating DNA migration in pulsed fields using a miniaturized FIGE systemELECTROPHORESIS, Issue 23 2008Xiaojia Chen Abstract PFGE is a well-established technique for fractionation of DNA fragments ranging from kilobases to megabases in length. But many of these separations require an undesirable combination of long experiment times (often approaching tens of hours) and application of high voltages (often approaching tens of kV). Here, we present a simple miniaturized FIGE apparatus capable of separating DNA fragments up to 32.5,kb in length within 3,h using a modest applied potential of 20,V. The device is small enough to be imaged under a fluorescence microscope, permitting the migrating DNA bands to be observed during the course of the separation run. We use this capability to investigate how separation performance is affected by parameters including the ratio of forward and backward voltage, pulse time, and temperature. We also characterize the dependence of DNA mobility on fragment size N, and observe a scaling in the vicinity of N,0.5 over the size range investigated. The high speed, low power consumption, and simple design of this system may help enable future studies of DNA migration in PFGE to be performed quickly and inexpensively. [source] Sorption irreversibility of 1,4-dichlorobenzene in two natural organic matter,rich geosorbentsENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY & CHEMISTRY, Issue 3 2009Michael Sander Abstract Hysteresis, a frequently observed phenomenon in sorption studies, is inconsistent with the key assumption of sorption reversibility in most fate and bioavailability models. Therefore, a study of the underlying causes of hysteresis is essential. Carbon-radiolabeled 1,4-dichlorobenzene (DCB) isotope tracer exchange was carried out at select points along the isotherms of DCB in a brown coal and a peat soil, holding total DCB concentration constant. Tracer exchange was performed both in the forward (sorption) and reverse (desorption) directions at the bulk sorption points and in the desorption direction at the corresponding bulk desorption points. Bulk DCB isotherms showed concentration-dependent hysteresis. However, tracer reequilibration in all cases was consistent with free exchange between sorbed and aqueous-phase molecules. These results rule out common experimental artifacts and demonstrate that sorption of bulk DCB is truly hysteretic (i.e., irreversible). The differences in rates between bulk and tracer sorption and desorption are consistent with the coupling of bulk DCB diffusion to other processes that retard equilibration, which we assign to matrix swelling or shrinking. Hysteresis is attributed to matrix deformation,specifically, to inelastic expansion and creation of voids accommodating sorbate molecules in the matrix, which leads to enhanced affinity in the desorption step. Comparing the results to previous results for naphthalene in the coal, we find that irreversible effects are similar for DCB and naphthalene in the coal but differ for DCB between the two sorbents. An explanation based on the different physical properties of these sorbents is provided. Solid-phase extraction of equilibrated DCB with Tenax® revealed a highly desorption-resistant fraction. While too small to account for the observed hysteresis, this fraction may represent molecules that become trapped as the matrix collapses and simultaneously stiffens during abrupt desorption. [source] Postural stability of Parkinson's disease patients is improved by decreasing rigidityEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY, Issue 2 2005A. Bartoli Postural instability has a big impact on the quality of life of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) as it often leads to an insecure stance and fall. We investigated if postural stability in these patients improves by decreasing rigidity with a dopaminergic agonist. In our study, we tested eight PD patients with no concomitant diseases. Their age was 61 ± 2 years (mean ± SE) and their Hoehn-Yahr score was 3 ± 0.1. The patients were evaluated according to the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale for motor function (mUPDRS) and with stabilometric measurements of forward,backward and side-to-side body oscillations during free stance with eyes open. Both evaluations were performed in an ,off' state and in an apomorphine-induced ,on' state. As expected, the mUPDRS score was significantly decreased in the ,on' state with posture being improved in six patients, gait in eight patients and postural stability in seven of eight patients. In addition, apomorphine caused a significant reduction of the relative amplitude of lower frequencies and an increase of the relative amplitude of higher frequencies of forward,backward body oscillations. The results of stabilometry and mUPDRS evaluations are in agreement with the effect of apomorphine on rigidity, indicating that postural stability of PD patients is improved by decreasing rigidity. [source] Analysis of multilocus models of associationGENETIC EPIDEMIOLOGY, Issue 1 2003B. Devlin Abstract It is increasingly recognized that multiple genetic variants, within the same or different genes, combine to affect liability for many common diseases. Indeed, the variants may interact among themselves and with environmental factors. Thus realistic genetic/statistical models can include an extremely large number of parameters, and it is by no means obvious how to find the variants contributing to liability. For models of multiple candidate genes and their interactions, we prove that statistical inference can be based on controlling the false discovery rate (FDR), which is defined as the expected number of false rejections divided by the number of rejections. Controlling the FDR automatically controls the overall error rate in the special case that all the null hypotheses are true. So do more standard methods such as Bonferroni correction. However, when some null hypotheses are false, the goals of Bonferroni and FDR differ, and FDR will have better power. Model selection procedures, such as forward stepwise regression, are often used to choose important predictors for complex models. By analysis of simulations of such models, we compare a computationally efficient form of forward stepwise regression against the FDR methods. We show that model selection includes numerous genetic variants having no impact on the trait, whereas FDR maintains a false-positive rate very close to the nominal rate. With good control over false positives and better power than Bonferroni, the FDR-based methods we introduce present a viable means of evaluating complex, multivariate genetic models. Naturally, as for any method seeking to explore complex genetic models, the power of the methods is limited by sample size and model complexity. Genet Epidemiol 25:36,47, 2003. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Sedimentary and crustal structure from the Ellesmere Island and Greenland continental shelves onto the Lomonosov Ridge, Arctic OceanGEOPHYSICAL JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL, Issue 1 2010H. Ruth Jackson SUMMARY On the northern passive margin of Ellesmere Island and Greenland, two long wide-angle seismic reflection/refraction (WAR) profiles and a short vertical incident reflection profile were acquired. The WAR seismic source was explosives and the receivers were vertical geophones placed on the sea ice. A 440 km long North-South profile that crossed the shelf, a bathymetric trough and onto the Lomonosov Ridge was completed. In addition, a 110 km long profile along the trough was completed. P -wave velocity models were created by forward and inverse modelling. On the shelf modelling indicates a 12 km deep sedimentary basin consisting of three layers with velocities of 2.1,2.2, 3.1,3.2 and 4.3,5.2 km s,1. Between the 3.1,3.2 km s,1 and 4.3,5.2 km s,1 layers there is a velocity discontinuity that dips seaward, consistent with a regional unconformity. The 4.3,5.2 km s,1 layer is interpreted to be Palaeozoic to Mesozoic age strata, based on local and regional geological constraints. Beneath these layers, velocities of 5.4,5.9 km s,1 are correlated with metasedimentary rocks that outcrop along the coast. These four layers continue from the shelf onto the Lomonosov Ridge. On the Ridge, the bathymetric contours define a plateau 220 km across. The plateau is a basement high, confirmed by short reflection profiles and the velocities of 5.9,6.5 km s,1. Radial magnetic anomalies emanate from the plateau indicating the volcanic nature of this feature. A lower crustal velocity of 6.2,6.7 km s,1, within the range identified on the Lomonosov Ridge near the Pole and typical of rifted continental crust, is interpreted along the entire line. The Moho, based on the WAR data, has significant relief from 17 to 27 km that is confirmed by gravity modelling and consistent with the regional tectonics. In the trough, Moho shallows eastward from a maximum depth of 19,16 km. No indication of oceanic crust was found in the bathymetric trough. [source] Recovering acoustic reflectivity using Dirichlet-to-Neumann maps and left- and right-operating adjoint propagatorsGEOPHYSICAL JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL, Issue 1 2005M. W. P. Dillen SUMMARY Constructing an image of the Earth subsurface from acoustic wave reflections has previously been described as a recursive downward redatuming of sources and receivers. Most of the methods that have been presented involve reflectivity and propagators associated with one-way wavefield components. In this paper, we consider the reflectivity relation between two-way wavefield components, each a solution of a Helmholtz equation. To construct forward and inverse propagators, and a reflection operator, the invariant-embedding technique is followed, using Dirichlet-to-Neumann maps. Employing bilinear and sesquilinear forms, the forward- and inverse-scattering problems, respectively, are treated analogously. Through these mathematical constructs, the relationship between a causality radiation condition and symmetry, with respect to a bilinear form, is associated with the requirement of an anticausality radiation condition with respect to a sesquilinear form. Using reciprocity, sources and receivers are redatumed recursively to the reflector, employing left- and right-operating adjoint propagators. The exposition of the proposed method is formal, that is numerical applications are not derived. The key to applications lies in the explicit representation, characterization and approximation of the relevant operators (symbols) and fundamental solutions (path integrals). Existing constructive work which could be applied to the proposed method are referred to in the text. [source] Energy Group optimization for forward and inverse problems in nuclear engineering: application to downwell-logging problemsGEOPHYSICAL PROSPECTING, Issue 2 2006Elsa Aristodemou ABSTRACT Simulating radiation transport of neutral particles (neutrons and ,-ray photons) within subsurface formations has been an area of research in the nuclear well-logging community since the 1960s, with many researchers exploiting existing computational tools already available within the nuclear reactor community. Deterministic codes became a popular tool, with the radiation transport equation being solved using a discretization of phase-space of the problem (energy, angle, space and time). The energy discretization in such codes is based on the multigroup approximation, or equivalently the discrete finite-difference energy approximation. One of the uncertainties, therefore, of simulating radiation transport problems, has become the multigroup energy structure. The nuclear reactor community has tackled the problem by optimizing existing nuclear cross-sectional libraries using a variety of group-collapsing codes, whilst the nuclear well-logging community has relied, until now, on libraries used in the nuclear reactor community. However, although the utilization of such libraries has been extremely useful in the past, it has also become clear that a larger number of energy groups were available than was necessary for the well-logging problems. It was obvious, therefore, that a multigroup energy structure specific to the needs of the nuclear well-logging community needed to be established. This would have the benefit of reducing computational time (the ultimate aim of this work) for both the stochastic and deterministic calculations since computational time increases with the number of energy groups. We, therefore, present in this study two methodologies that enable the optimization of any multigroup neutron,, energy structure. Although we test our theoretical approaches on nuclear well-logging synthetic data, the methodologies can be applied to other radiation transport problems that use the multigroup energy approximation. The first approach considers the effect of collapsing the neutron groups by solving the forward transport problem directly using the deterministic code EVENT, and obtaining neutron and ,-ray fluxes deterministically for the different group-collapsing options. The best collapsing option is chosen as the one which minimizes the effect on the ,-ray spectrum. During this methodology, parallel processing is implemented to reduce computational times. The second approach uses the uncollapsed output from neural network simulations in order to estimate the new, collapsed fluxes for the different collapsing cases. Subsequently, an inversion technique is used which calculates the properties of the subsurface, based on the collapsed fluxes. The best collapsing option is chosen as the one that predicts the subsurface properties with a minimal error. The fundamental difference between the two methodologies relates to their effect on the generated ,-rays. The first methodology takes the generation of ,-rays fully into account by solving the transport equation directly. The second methodology assumes that the reduction of the neutron groups has no effect on the ,-ray fluxes. It does, however, utilize an inversion scheme to predict the subsurface properties reliably, and it looks at the effect of collapsing the neutron groups on these predictions. Although the second procedure is favoured because of (a) the speed with which a solution can be obtained and (b) the application of an inversion scheme, its results need to be validated against a physically more stringent methodology. A comparison of the two methodologies is therefore given. [source] Development and Evaluation of an Ultrasonic Ground Water Seepage MeterGROUND WATER, Issue 6 2001Ronald J. Paulsen Submarine ground water discharge can influence significantly the near-shore transport and flux of chemicals into the oceans. Quantification of the sources and rates of such discharge requires a ground water seepage meter that provides continuous measurements at high resolution over an extended period of time. An ultrasonic flowmeter has been adapted for such measurements in the submarine environment. Connected to a steel collection funnel, the meter houses two piezoelectric transducers mounted at opposite ends of a cylindrical flow tube. By monitoring the perturbations of fluid flow on the propagation of sound waves inside the flow tube, the ultrasonic meter can measure both forward and reverse fluid flows in real time. Laboratory and field calibrations show that the ultrasonic meter can resolve ground water discharges on the order of 0.1 ,m/sec, and it is sufficiently robust for deployment in the field for several days. Data from West Neck Bay, Shelter Island, New York, elucidate the temporal and spatial heterogeneity of submarine ground water discharge and its interplay with tidal loading. A negative correlation between the discharge and tidal elevation was generally observed. A methodology was also developed whereby data for the sound velocity as a function of temperature can be used to infer the salinity and source of the submarine discharge. Independent measurements of electrical conductance were performed to validate this methodology. [source] Kinetics and mechanism of myristic acid and isopropyl alcohol esterification reaction with homogeneous and heterogeneous catalystsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL KINETICS, Issue 3 2008Tuncer Yalçinyuva The reaction of myristic acid (MA) and isopropyl alcohol (IPA) was carried out by using both homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts. For a homogeneously catalyzed system, the experimental data have been interpreted with a second order, using the power-law kinetic model, and a good agreement between the experimental data and the model has been obtained. In this approach, it was assumed that a protonated carboxylic acid is a possible reaction intermediate. After a mathematical model was proposed, reaction rate constants were computed by the Polymath* program. For a heterogeneously catalyzed system, interestingly, no pore diffusion limitation was detected. The influences of initial molar ratios, catalyst loading and type, temperature, and water amount in the feed have been examined, as well as the effects of catalyst size for heterogeneous catalyst systems. Among used catalysts, p -toluene sulfonic acid (p -TSA) gave highest reaction rates. Kinetic parameters such as activation energy and frequency factor were determined from model fitting. Experimental K values were found to be 0.54 and 1.49 at 60°C and 80°C, respectively. Furthermore, activation energy and frequency factor at forward were calculated as 54.2 kJ mol,1 and 1828 L mol,1 s,1, respectively. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 40: 136,144, 2008 [source] Dual diversity combining and decision feedback equalizer in indoor millimetre-wave channelINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, Issue 8 2002Chien-Ching Chiu Abstract Wideband communication characteristics of wireless indoor millimetre-wave channel for arched and rectangular buildings are investigated. The impulse responses of arched and rectangular buildings for any transmitter,receiver location are computed by shooting and bouncing ray/image (SBR/Image) techniques. By using the impulse responses of these multipath channels, the impact of shapes of building is presented and the bit error rate performance of binary phase shift keying (BPSK) system with phase and timing recovery circuits are also calculated. Moreover, dual space antenna diversity technique and decision feedback equalizer (DFE) with four forward and three feedback taps are used to combat the multipath fading. Numerical results show that the mean root mean square (rms) delay spread for the arched building is smaller than that for the rectangular building. In addition, it is also found that the transmission rate can be up to 20 Mbps for indoor millimetre-wave channel of these two buildings by using dual space diversity and DFE. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Peau sèche-rêche et "Hydratation".INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COSMETIC SCIENCE, Issue 4 2004Concept de la capture de l'eau organisée comme de la glace Synopsis About sixty years ago Frank and Evans showed, by entropy measurements, that when a "non-polar molecule dissolves in water it modifies the water structure in the direction of greater ,cristallinity', the water builds a microscopic iceberg around it" Now, we propose the "concept of ice-like-water capture": a lowering of organized ice-like water promotes aggregation (loss of solubility) of the filaggrin/keratin1/keratin10 associations through their hydrophobic patches. The capture of ice-like water may be performed by the glucoceramides-rich bilayers in stratum granulosum. Probably, the same process aggregates the proteins of corneocytes envelope as well as corneodesmosomes proteins. According to the "concept of ice-like-water capture", to regulate the keratinization, it is not total water that must be added to the stratum corneum, but ice-like water that must be removed from stratum granulosum. Both petrolatum (lipophilic ingredient) and glycerol (hydrophilic ingredient) would capture the ice-like water, most probably after combination with the lipid bilayers of stratum corneum. Moisturizing cream, when organized in secondary droplets is likely to perform the same action. Measurements by near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy of the skin show that petrolatum; glycerol and/or moisturizing cream enhance the quantity of bulk water (1890,1897 nm band). As the ice-like water is the complement of bulk water, the enhanced bulk water let presume an ice-like water lessening. Some desynchronization (late or forward) of the keratinization/differentiation which confer the somatosensory problems associated with "dry and flaky skin" may be linked to an excess or lack of ice-like. For instance, the winter xerosis, very common by chilling weather, could be explained by an increase of ice-like water driven by the fall of the temperature. Résumé En s'appuyant: 1°-sur d'anciens travaux de thermodynamique montrant, d'une part que les molécules d'eau autour des zones apolaires en solution dans l'eau s'organise selon une structure d'eau-comme-de-la-glace, d'autre part qu'en l'absence de cette eau-comme-de-la-glace les molécules de protéines s'agrègent par leurs zones hydrophobes; 2°-sur des travaux récents utilisant la spectroscopie de l'infrarouge proche; technique qui permet de mesurer la quantité d'eau-en-vrac, forme que prend l'eau-comme-de-la-glace après sa fusion lors de l"établissement de liaisons/interactions hydrophobes; nous proposons le "concept de la capture de l"eau-comme-de-la-glace" selon lequel : 1° la différenciation des kératinocytes, qui se traduit à la fois par l'agrégation des trios filaggrine/K1/K10 (ainsi que notamment la formation de l'enveloppe des cornéocytes et des cornéodesmosomes) est promue par une baisse de la teneur en eau organisée dans le stratum granulosum. La captation de l'eau-comme-de-la-glace pourrait être assurée in situ par la structure lipidique riche en glucocéramides dont l'apparition dans le stratum granulosum est contemporaine du début de la baisse de la teneur en eau; 2° contrairement à la "tradition", la peau sèche-rêche n'est pas améliorée par une augmentation de l'hydratation du stratum corneum mais par la capture d'eau-comme-de-la-glace dans le stratum granulosum. 3° le glycérol, la Vaseline et les crèmes "hydratantes" peuvent concourir à cette capture d'eau-comme-de-la-glace, vraisemblablement après s"être combinés aux bicouches céramidiques du stratum corneum, et ainsi agir depuis ce stratum sur le stratum granulosum. 4°-la baisse hivernale de la température provoque une baisse de la quantité d'eau organisée et confère une aggravation de la peau sèche-rêche. 5°-une désynchronisation de la synthèse ou une modification de la structure et/ou de la composition des bicouches glucocéramidiques du stratum granulosum pourraient être à l'origine de certains types de peau sèche-rêche. [source] Monetary policy rules in practice: evidence from TurkeyINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FINANCE & ECONOMICS, Issue 1 2004Hakan Berument Abstract This paper estimates a forward-looking monetary policy reaction function of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey by considering the period from 1990:01 to 2000:10. When the spread between the interbank rate and depreciation rate of the local currency is taken as a policy tool, the empirical evidence suggests that the Turkish Central Bank responds to its foreign exchange reserves, output and M2 growth not the forward, current or lagged inflation. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] An extension of the differential approach for Bayesian network inference to dynamic Bayesian networksINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS, Issue 8 2004Boris Brandherm We extend Darwiche's differential approach to inference in Bayesian networks (BNs) to handle specific problems that arise in the context of dynamic Bayesian networks (DBNs). We first summarize Darwiche's approach for BNs, which involves the representation of a BN in terms of a multivariate polynomial. We then show how procedures for the computation of corresponding polynomials for DBNs can be derived. These procedures permit not only an exact roll-up of old time slices but also a constant-space evaluation of DBNs. The method is applicable to both forward and backward propagation, and it does not presuppose that each time slice of the DBN has the same structure. It is compatible with approximative methods for roll-up and evaluation of DBNs. Finally, we discuss further ways of improving efficiency, referring as an example to a mobile system in which the computation is distributed over a normal workstation and a resource-limited mobile device. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Int Syst 19: 727,748, 2004. [source] Flow cytometric method for simultaneous assay of foetal haemoglobin containing red cells, reticulocytes and foetal haemoglobin containing reticulocytesINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LABORATORY HEMATOLOGY, Issue 3 2001Y. Mundee Level of foetal haemoglobin (HbF) containing red cells (F cells) is a parameter for monitoring sickle cell anaemia (SS) patients undergoing treatment with HbF modulating drugs (including hydroxyurea (HU)). One convenient technique for F cell assay is flow cytometry. A flow cytometric method for the simultaneous assay of F cells, reticulocytes and HbF-containing reticulocytes (F reticulocytes) is described in this paper. These three parameters can be obtained within 2 h using double colour staining flow cytometry. Glutaraldehyde fixation, Triton X-100 permeabilization, monoclonal antibody to HbF Tri-colour® conjugate (MoAb-HbF-TC; deep-red fluorescence) immuno-staining and thiazole orange (TO; green fluorescence) are employed. The red cell gate was set on forward scatter (FSC) and logarithmic side scatter (logSSC) for 50 000 cells on the flow cytometer. Fluorescent signals were acquired from fluorescent channel 1 (FL1; green) and (FL4; deep-red). Coefficient of variation percent (%CVs) of intra- and inter-assay were less than 9% and 15%, respectively. EDTA, citrate, heparin and CTAD anticoagulants are all suitable; the samples can be stored at 4°C for up to 6 days. The method is a simple, rapid, convenient, reproducible and useful way of determining F cell, reticulocyte and F reticulocyte levels in sickle cell and thalassaemic patients. [source] Development of a computerized assessment for visual maskingINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF METHODS IN PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH, Issue 2 2002Michael Foster Green Abstract Visual masking provides a highly informative means of assessing the earliest stages of visual processing. This procedure is frequently used in psychopathology research, most commonly in the study of schizophrenia. Deficits in visual masking tasks appear to reflect vulnerability factors in schizophrenia, as opposed to the symptoms of the illness. Visual masking procedures are typically conducted on a tachistoscope, which limits standardization across sites, as well as the number of variables that can be examined in a testing session. Although visual masking can be administered on a computer, most methods used so far have had poor temporal resolution and yielded a limited range of variables. We describe the development of a computerized visual masking battery. This battery includes a staircase procedure to establish an individual's threshold for target detection, and a relatively dense sampling of masking intervals. It includes both forward and backward masking trials for three different masking conditions that have been used previously in experimental psychopathology (target location, target identification with high-energy mask, and target identification with low-energy mask). Copyright © 2002 Whurr Publishers Ltd. [source] Translation and validation of a Chinese language version of the Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (ECOHIS)INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PAEDIATRIC DENTISTRY, Issue 6 2009GILLIAN H. M. LEE Objective., This study aimed to adapt the Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (ECOHIS) for pre-school children in a Chinese speaking community and to investigate its psychometric properties (validity and reliability). Methods., A Chinese language version of the ECOHIS was derived through a forward,backward translation and tested for face and content validity among a focus group. A convenient sample of pre-school children (n = 111) was recruited (including a sub-sample with early childhood caries and caries-free children). Parents of the children self-completed the derived Chinese-ECOHIS measure. Validity of the measure was assessed by investigating the relationship between dental caries status and Chinese-ECOHIS scores (construct and criterion validity). A sub-sample of the parents repeated the ratings of the measure to enable reliability assessments. Both internal and test,retest reliability were determined. Results., A Chinese version of ECOHIS was derived with minor modification to the original version. Chinese-ECOHIS scores were associated with children's caries experience (dmft) (r = 0.66, P < 0.05) supporting convergent validity. In addition, variations in ECOHIS scores were apparent with respect to caries and caries-free groups (P < 0.001), supporting the ability to distinguish between patient groups. Cronbach's alpha values (internal reliability) for total ECOHIS score were 0.91 and intraclass correlation coefficient value (test,retest reliability) was 0.64. Conclusions., A Chinese version of the ECOHIS was developed and demonstrated acceptable validity and reliability. These findings can enable assessments of pre-school child oral health-related quality of life in Chinese speaking communities. [source] Overview of DVB-RCS+M and its developmentINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS AND NETWORKING, Issue 3-4 2010Harald Skinnemoen Abstract The use of DVB-S and DVB-RCS for conducting two-way communications from small satellite terminals has become well established in Europe and elsewhere. During the development of DVB-RCS the possibility of limited use for satellite terminals that were moving was considered in January 2004 and incorporated into the Guideline document associated with the Standard in April 2005. It was noted, however, that this matter could be addressed further as a future development. This paper addresses the steps that have been taken since then to realize this objective. During the last few years, it has been shown that the DVB-S2/DVB-RCS specifications are good candidate baselines for the efficient implementation of broadband services to mobile users. Results of these studies were gathered in a study mission report from the TM-RCS ad hoc group. It was demonstrated that both forward and return channel waveforms are impacted by the mobile usage, and should be addressed in the scope of an update of the DVB-RCS standard. Technical analysis identified that DVB-RCS, as it had been originally designed for fixed satellite services, provided most of the features required by mobile applications above 5,GHz, and could be turned into a competitive solution with a few carefully crafted modifications. Subsequent activities within the TM-RCS Group have led to an efficient and robust standard that incorporates mobility more definitely into version 1.5.1 of the DVB-RCS specifications, along with appropriate detailed ,Guidelines' documentation giving expanded description of the standard and its use and application. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||