Prefix Codes: Equiprobable Words, Unequal Letter Costs

Describes a near-linear-time algorithm for a variant of Huffman coding, in which the letters may have non-uniform lengths (as in Morse code), but with the restriction that each word to be encoded has equal probability. [See also ``Huffman Coding with Unequal Letter Costs'' (2002).]Comment: proceedings version in ICALP (1994

Sons of Nehemiah: Raising the Level of Leadership in Ten Pastor Revitalizers of the Montgomery Baptist Association

There are churches in America seeking vitality through the restorative and refreshing power of the Holy Spirit. The present term of renewal is called “church revitalization.” Each struggling congregation has or is securing a pastor revitalizer. The question many will ask is, “Are these holy shepherds high capacity leaders? Will they lead the church with a compelling vision, a devoted work ethic, a contagious passion, and a kingdom focus based on a community context?” The thesis project researches ten pastor revitalizers from Montgomery, Alabama. The researcher gives them the name Sons of Nehemiah to build rapport and accentuate Nehemiah’s biblical value as a role model regarding the above four competencies. The researcher performs applied research on these men and their leadership as well as the churches they serve. He coaches the pastors by leading a six-week lecture series that includes peer dialogue, the examination of books, and online courses conducted by national church revitalization leaders. Also, he exposes the pastors to personal time with national leaders who are contemporary church practitioners. The researcher observes the church members’ comments regarding their church longevity and historical legacy. He collects quantitative data from community demographics and annual church profiles. Research concludes that if ten pastor revitalizers with nominal leadership capacity subject themselves to high-level leadership training, then a higher level of leadership capacity should be the anticipated result. The project proves that these men gain a higher degree of leadership skills and inspiration to lead their churches due to the intensive development efforts

An A Priori Knowledge Based Wiener Filtering Approach to Ultrasonic Scattering Amplitude Estimation

The Wiener filter is currently used in the ultrasonic scattering amplitude estimation problem as a means of desensitization during deconvolution [1,2,3]. The work summarized here focuses on a Wiener filtering approach which incorporates a priori flaw and noise information. It will be shown that this approach leads to improved scattering amplitude estimates and improved radius estimates

Creating Noise-Corrupted Flaw Signals for Ultrasonic Nondestructive Evaluation

Noise-corrupted flaw signals with known contributions due to flaw scattering are needed to study flaw detection and characterization approaches. The inability to create these “known flaw” signals which are corrupted with acoustic noise (e.g., grain scattering noise) has presented a problem to the nondestructive evaluation (NDE) community for years. An approach is needed for creating noise-corrupted flaw signals which can be used as a basis for studying the impact of different flaw types, measurement system configurations, signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), acoustic noise types, etc. on digital signal processing algorithms which are being developed

IMMUNOPATHOGENESIS OF ACUTE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM DISEASE PRODUCED BY LYMPHOCYTIC CHORIOMENINGITIS VIRUS : II. ADOPTIVE IMMUNIZATION OF VIRUS CARRIERS

Lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCM) virus carriers were established by intracerebral inoculation of adult BALB/c mice followed by a single dose of cyclophosphamide (CY) (150 mg/kg) 3 days after infection, and by intracerebral injection within 24 hr of birth. These carriers were then adoptively immunized with spleen cells or serum from immune or normal BALB/c donors. Transfer of immune spleen cells into drug-induced carriers consistently resulted in acutely fatal choriomeningitis, histologically strikingly similar to classical LCM. Normal spleen cells or immune serum failed to produce either central nervous system (CNS) pathology or illness with any regularity. In addition, focal necrosis of the cerebellum was seen after adoptive immunization of drug-induced carriers but only when mice received cells at least 3 wk after inoculation, which is probably explained by the gradual spread of infection from membranes to the neural parenchyma during the first month after establishment of the carrier state in adult mice. Immune spleen cells, when transferred to neonatal carriers, led to a decrease in virus titers in blood and brains and to development of antibody without acute CNS disease. It appears that the production of fatal choriomeningitis after LCM infection is determined in part by the distribution of viral antigen, and this is markedly different in neonatal and drug-induced carriers at the time of cell transfer. Another factor of potential importance is the much higher level of circulating viral antigen in the plasma of neonatal than in that of drug-induced LCM carriers. Classical LCM disease can only be transferred by immune lymphoid cells and not by antiserum. Furthermore, little or no complement-fixing (CF) antibody was found in the plasma of mice dying of acute choroiditis. These observations strongly suggest that acute choroiditis is dependent upon the cell-mediated immune response

Forage Legumes for Texas.

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Forage Legumes for Texas.

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An Examination of the Application of Wiener Filtering to Ultrasonic Scattering Amplitude Estimation

In 1978, Murakami, et al. [1], applied the Wiener filter to the flaw characterization problem. The filter was used at that time and is still used as a means of desensitization to noise during deconvolution. In 1980, Elsley, et al. [2], outlined use of the Wiener filter as a maximum likelihood based scattering amplitude estimation technique. To date, the Wiener filter has not been applied explicitly in this manner. The intent of this paper is to explore use of the Wiener filter as a scattering amplitude estimation technique rather than as a means of desensitization.</p