Digital Commons Network^™

Locating The Source Of Topological Error In Reconstructed 3d Models, Eric Firestone, Craig Povey, Zoë J. Wood

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Although range scanning technology has offered great improvements to digital model creation in recent years, it has also introduced some new concerns. Specifically, recent work shows that topological errors such as tiny handles can significantly lower the overall quality of range-scanned models for down-stream applications (such as simplification and parameterization). In this paper we present our investigation into the source of this topological error in the range scanning process, and our methods to alleviate the error. We concentrated our investigation of the scanning process on: (1) signal noise or calibration error in the laser scanner (resulting in bad data points) …

Commonwealth Times 2008-01-28

Commonwealth Times, 1969-

No abstract provided.

The Bg News January 28, 2008, Bowling Green State University

BG News (Student Newspaper)

The BGSU campus student newspaper. January 28, 2008. Volume 98-Issue 91.

Banner News, Craig Vandeventer, Hannah Quinn, Greg Laraia, Shane Meier, J. Parry, Justin Mitchell, Roberto Ramirez, Derrick J. Roffman

Banner News

No abstract provided.

Pepperbox - January 28, 2008, Student Newspaper Of Arcata High School

The Pepperbox

Volume 80, Number 4

Computational Prediction And Molecular Confirmation Of Helitron Transposons In The Maize Genome, Chunguang Du, Jason Caronna, Limei He, Hugo K. Dooner

Department of Biology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Background: Helitrons represent a new class of transposable elements recently uncovered in plants and animals. One remarkable feature of Helitrons is their ability to capture gene sequences, which makes them of considerable potential evolutionary importance. However, because Helitrons lack the typical structural features of other DNA transposable elements, identifying them is a challenge. Currently, most researchers identify Helitrons manually by comparing sequences. With the maize whole genome sequencing project underway, an automated computational Helitron searching tool is needed. The characterization of Helitron activities in maize needs to be addressed in order to better understand the impact of Helitrons on the …

The Daily Gamecock, Monday, January 28, 2008, University Of South Carolina, Office Of Student Media

January

No abstract provided.

Fireworks Program, The Rite Of Spring

Chamber Music Programs

Program listing performers and works performed

The Current: Volume 18: Issue 15, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.

Review Of The Genus Microchilus Blanchard (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Rutelinae: Geniatini), Mary Liz Jameson

University of Nebraska State Museum: Entomology Papers

The Brazilian scarab beetle genus Microchilus Blanchard (Rutelinae: Geniatini) is reviewed. Based on examination of type specimens, Microchilus beckeri Martínez is transferred to the genus Leucothyreus becoming L. beckeri (Martínez), new combination; Leucothyreus bucki Machatschke is a new junior synonym of L. beckeri (Martínez). Microchilus is limited to two species, M. beckeri (Martínez) and a new species, Microchilus rodmani Jameson, here described. Characters that circumscribe the genus, biology, and species distribution are discussed.

The Dynastinae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) Of The Bahamas With A Description Of A New Species Of Cyclocephala From Great Inagua Island, Brett C. Ratcliffe, Ronald D. Cave

University of Nebraska State Museum: Entomology Papers

The seven genera and 13 species of dynastine scarabs recorded from the Bahamas are reviewed. Two of those species are endemic, including Cyclocephala dolichotarsa Ratcliffe and Cave, new species, described from Great Inagua Island. Eleven species are also known to occur in the USA and/or Cuba. Six species are probably not established based on infrequency of collection.

Abstraction, Extension And Structural Auditing With The Umls Semantic Network, Yan Chen

Dissertations

The Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) is a two-level biomedical terminological knowledge base, consisting of the Metathesaurus (META) and the Semantic Network (SN), which is an upper-level ontology of broad categories called semantic types (STs). The two levels are related via assignments of one or more STs to each concept of the META.

Although the SN provides a high-level abstraction for the META, it is not compact enough. Various metaschemas, which are compact higher-level abstraction networks of the SN, have been derived. A methodology is presented to evaluate and compare two given metaschemas, based on their structural properties. A consolidation …

Mechanisms Of Ionic Current Changes Underlying Rhythmic Activity Recovery After Decentralization, Olga E. Khorkova Sherman

Dissertations

Neuronal networks capableof generating rhythmic output in the absence of patterned sensory or central inputs are widely represented in the nervous system where they support a variety of functions, from learning and memory to rhythmic motor activity such as breathing. To perfectly function in a living organism, rhythm-generating networks have to combine the capability of producing a stable output with the plasticity needed to adapt to the changing demands of the organism and environment. This dissertation used the pyloric network of the crab Cancer borealis to identify potential mechanisms that ensure stability and adaptation of rhythm generation by neuronal networks …

Taux : A System For Evaluating Sound Feedback In Navigational Tasks, Robert J. Lutz

Dissertations

This thesis presents the design and development of an evaluation system for generating audio displays that provide feedback to persons performing navigation tasks. It first develops the need for such a system by describing existing wayfinding solutions, investigating new electronic location-based methods that have the potential of changing these solutions and examining research conducted on relevant audio information representation techniques. An evaluation system that supports the manipulation of two basic classes of audio display is then described. Based on prior work on wayfinding with audio display, research questions are developed that investigate the viability of different audio displays. These are …

Long Driving Hours And Health Of Truck Drivers, Stephen J. Benstowe

Theses

In recent time, the health of truck drivers has become a concern for regulatory agencies and safety professionals all over the world. Fatal and non-fatal injury rates for truck drivers are among the highest of all occupations. Truck driving is an important and tedious job. Driving for long hours, drivers are confined to a small space, sit with static lower and upper extremities posture, mentally focus and absorb vibrations.

This thesis provides an in-depth review of the literature related to the problems of long distance truck drivers and commercial motor vehicle operators. The Literature suggests that continuous exposure of truck …

Pattern Recognition Of Brain Fmri Images For Various Physiological States, Priyanka Bhatt

Theses

The development of fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) has led many researchers to localize brain functions using different stimuli. The use of pattern recognition techniques have made it possible to predict the stimuli being presented from the corresponding brain images and activation patterns. The primary objective of the present study was to use pattern recognition methods to develop a model using available fMRJ images and then to use the model to identify the stimulus presented from a large number of unknown images. Two different experimental conditions were used involving both binary and multi-class classification. Bilateral finger tapping data which had …

Fracture Healing : The Effects Of Local Insulin Delivery Via Calcium Sulfate And Tricalcium Phosphate, Sarah Elizabeth Buchala

Theses

Previous studies have documented the major role played by insulin in osseous healing. This is the first study to examine local intramedullary insulin delivery to the fracture site and its effect upon the normal fracture healing process. Preceding results show that when administered at the fracture site of the impaired fracture healing model of the diabetic BB Wistar rat, insulin will regulate early cellular proliferation and chondrogenesis and late mineralized tissue, cartilage content and mechanical strength.

In this study, two novel delivery vehicles have been evaluated for sustained insulin release in the normal fracture model of the BB Wistar rat. …

Comparison Of Linear Parametric Models For Predicting Fmri Response, Parina Gandhi

Theses

In this study, five different linear parametric models including Autoregressive model (ARX), Autoregressive Moving Average Model (ARMAX), Box-Jenkins Model (BJ), Instrument Variable Model (IV) and Prediction Error Model (PEM) were used to predict the fMRI response and their performances compared. Transfer functions were computed for every voxel time series for every subject using all the parametric models. Cross-correlation was subsequently performed between the predicted response and the actual fMRI data to compare the performance of the five models. The consistency of the models and the transfer function was checked by doing a statistical analysis. Among the five models tested, PEM …

Brain Segmentation Using Endogenous Contrast Mechanism Using Breath Holding Fmri Signal For Tissue Characterization, Samata Mukesh Kakkad

Theses

MRL has fast become the modality of choice for the analysis of the complexity of the human brain. MRJ is a non-invasive method and gives high spatial resolution maps of the brain with soft tissue contrast. Conventional MRI technique modified to be used to image the functionality at high temporal resolution is known as fMRI. In fMRI the BOLD signal we measure is the hemodynamic response to neuronal and vascular changes at rest or in response to a stimulus where the various tissue types will have a different response.

While fMRI has been traditionally been used to detect and identify …

Utr Prediction Programs For Trypanosoma Brucei, Maria Moutafis

Theses

In the past few years, the field of bioinformatics has seen a rapid increase in the need for use of various sequence analysis tools. As we advance in the fields of science and technology, new programs and software are constantly being developed in this field. Rapidly expanding gene sequence databases and rapidly evolving sequence analysis tools are providing researchers with ways to search for highly similar query sequences whether they are nucleotide, protein, or gene databases. This thesis will focus on sequence alignment tools, specifically concentrating on tools that help determine/predict non-coding regions of sequences also known as untranslated regions …

Mapping Inter-Subject And Inter-Regional Brain Connectivity During Free Viewing Of Novel Natural Scenes, Sheela Nagaraj

Theses

Traditional functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have used controlled tasks such as finger tapping to isolate function in distinct cortical. Recent studies have examined the mechanisms involved during natural conditions by asking subjects to freely view the presentation of a movie. The objective of our study was to further observe the extent to which similarities are present between subjects during natural vision. It was hypothesized that there would be a linear relationship between the percentage of region-specific overlap, which is the percent of the anatomical region of interest which contains spatial activation exhibited by all six subjects, and corresponding …

Dexamethasone- And Age-Sensitive Genes In Neonatal Small Intestine, Carla Cerqueira

Theses

Regulation of GLUT5 is dependent on the presence of its substrate, fructose, but it is also correlated with the developmental (aging) process of the intestine. To identify fructose-responsive genes whose expression also changes with age, intestines of 10 and 20 d old pups were perfused, by Ferraris et al., with fructose and then compared by microarray analysis. From this, a gene clustering analysis revealed that some age- and fructose-specific genes are regulated by corticosterones, which normally increase in pups ≥ 14 d old. Subsequent work indicated that priming the gut with Dexamethasone (Dex, a glucocorticoid analog) allowed fructose to precociously …

Penetration Force Measurements In The Central Nervous System With Silicon Electrodes, Ashwini Arun Nikam

Theses

One of the major challenges in neural engineering is the tissue damage that occurs during insertion of microelectrodes into the central nervous system. The damage occurs as a result of the dimpling effect that is due to the insertion force. A method which can reduce the penetration force can also reduce dimpling and the resulting tissue damage.

There are two objectives in this thesis. One is to measure the penetration force with Michigan electrodes, which are silicon based electrodes. The second is to reduce the penetration force by using mechanical vibrations.

First, the penetration force was measured in the rat …

The Extraction Of Type 1 Collagen And The Fabrication Of Multi-Filament Embedded Hydrogels For Guided Nerve Regeneration, Mevan Lakmal Siriwardane

Theses

Each year, there are approximately 11,000 new cases of spinal cord injury (SCI) in the United States [2]. There have been some success in pre-clinical studies to induce axonal generation, but the reconnection of axons over large distances remains the greatest challenge. Since the development of nerve conduit to facilitate general axonal regeneration, the primary focus has changed to directing the regeneration of axons while also promoting their outgrowth over very extensive lesions to ensure functional recovery of transected nerves during in vitro experiments by using natural materials such as type I collagen, which is the largest constituent of the …

Ultra-Fine Particle Formation Using Principle Of Rapid Expansion Of Supercritical Solutions`, Miraj Minesh Sheth

Theses

There are indications in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries that the reduction in size of a crystalline particle can lead to better performance of the drug compound, particularly for water insoluble drugs, in the final dosage form. Many particle formation techniques have been investigated in recent years by researchers to obtain desired particulate sizes and size distributions. Supercritical fluid technologies have been successfully investigated for particle formation due to its unique gas/liquid properties in the supereritical state. In this report, results of particle formation using the principles of Rapid Expansion of Supercritical Solutions (RESS) have been documented.

In the RESS …

The Murray Ledger And Times, January 26, 2008, The Murray Ledger And Times

The Murray Ledger & Times

No abstract provided.

We Are…Marshall, January 25, 2008, Office Of Marshall University Communications

We Are ... Marshall: the Newsletter for Marshall University 1999-2023

No abstract provided.

Volume 43 - Issue 15 - Friday, January 25, 2008, Rose Thorn Staff

The Rose Thorn Archive

The Rose Thorn, Rose-Hulman's independent student newspaper.

Comparative Analysis Of Selenocysteine Machinery And Selenoproteome Gene Expression In Mouse Brain Identifies Neurons As Key Functional Sites Of Selenium In Mammals, Yan Zhang, You Zhou, Ulrich Schweizer, Nicolai E. Savaskan, Deame Hua, Jonathan Kipnis, Dolph L. Hatfield, Vadim N. Gladyshev

Vadim Gladyshev Publications

Although dietary selenium (Se) deficiency results in phenotypes associated with selenoprotein depletion in various organs, the brain is protected from Se loss. To address the basis for the critical role of Se in brain function, we carried out comparative gene expression analyses for the complete selenoproteome and associated biosynthetic factors. Using the Allen Brain Atlas, we evaluated 159 regions of adult mouse brain and provided experimental analyses of selected selenoproteins. All 24 selenoprotein mRNAs were expressed in the mouse brain. Most strikingly, neurons in olfactory bulb, hippocampus, cerebral cortex, and cerebellar cortex were exceptionally rich in selenoprotein gene expression, in …

Mustang Daily, January 25, 2008

Cal Poly Student Newspaper

Student newspaper of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA.