Interactive Computer Aided Design and Animation of Spatial Mechanisms

The synthesis of planar and spatial mechanisms is often accomplished by either trial and error supplemented by computer analysis or by specific analytical techniques in the literature. In either case it is extremely helpful to be able to visualize a physical design as it emerges, and to see a graphic display of it in animated motion. This paper describes the development of a general interactive program for both analyzing and viewing a spatial 4-bar (RSSR) mechanism in animated motion. The analysis provides complete position, velocity, and acceleration information and, for the special case of the planar 4-bar, the same information is available for an arbitrary coupler point. The animation, while not real time, is sufficiently fast to provide the designer with a physical feel for the relative movement of the links. The program is written in interactive BASIC and is designed to run on a standard Apple II microcomputer. The result is a helpful tool for the mechanisms designer, and an example is presented to demonstrate the program\u27s flexibility

A Rational Approach to the Estimation of Evaporation and Evapotranspiration from Climatological Data

Many attempts have been made to derive mathematical expressions relating evaporation and evapotranspiration, or consumptive use, to climatological data. IN the United States, the Blaney-Criddle formula is probably the best known for estimating consumptive use (2 and 3). Blaney (1) has also suggested that this formula is suitable for estimating evaporation as measured with a Weather Bureau pan. Other well known formulas are the Penman formulas (10), the Thornthwaite formula (15) and the Hargreaves formulas (8). Halkias, Beihmeyer and Hendrickson (6) suggest that water requirements of crops can be determined from atmometer data. Lowry and Johnson (() in an early paper showed that “valley consumptive use” could be estimated from temperature data with reasonable accuracy. Cummings and Richardson (5) and Richardson (13) have shown that evaporation is basically a function of insolation, and they have proposed formulas from which it can be estimated. Hamon (7) has recently suggested that potential evapotraspiration can be estimated from an empirical relationship involving sunshine hours and the saturated water vapor density at the daily mean temperature. Pruitt (12) has reported evapotranspiration data obtained with a large weighing lysimeter and has correlated these data with evaporation from pans and atomometers and with estimates by the Blaney-Criddle, Thornthwaite and PPenman formuals. Many other fomulas have been proposed. Criddle (4) and Halkias, et al, (6) have reviewed the literature and discussed the various formulas

Long-Term Effects of Antiviral Therapy in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C

Chronic hepatitis C is a major cause of chronic liver disease globally, and the natural history of progression may lead to cirrhosis with liver failure, hepatocellular carcinoma, and premature liver-related death. Emerging data demonstrates that interferon-based therapy, particularly among those achieving a sustained virologic response (SVR), is associated with long-term persistence of SVR, improved fibrosis and inflammation scores, reduced incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma, and prolonged life expectancy. This reduction in the rate of progression has also been demonstrated in patients with chronic hepatitis C and cirrhosis in some but not all studies. The majority of these results are reported with standard interferon therapy, and long-term results of peginterferon plus ribavirin therapy with a higher likelihood of SVR should have a yet greater impact on the population of treated patients. The impact on slowing progression is greatest in patients with an SVR, less in relapsers, and equivocal in nonresponders. Thus, the natural history of chronic hepatitis C after completion of antiviral therapy is favorable with achievement of an SVR, although further data are needed to determine the likely incremental impact of peginterferon plus ribavirin, late long-term effects of therapy, and the benefit of treatment in patients with advanced hepatic fibrosis

Public perceptions of adult ADHD:Indications of stigma?

Stigmatization represents a major barrier to treatment seeking across mental disorders. Despite this, stigma research on individual mental disorders remains in its infancy. Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adults also represents an under-researched area—being far less studied than its child counterpart. This study examined the current state of public perceptions towards adult ADHD. A simulation group consisting of 105 participants performed the Weiss Functional Impairment Rating Scale (WFIRS) and Conners’ Adult ADHD Rating Scales (CAARS) as though they had ADHD. These scores were compared to a group consisting of 98 individuals with adult ADHD and a group of 117 healthy individuals both groups being instructed to complete the WFIRS and CAARS to the best of their abilities. Simulators were found to overestimate impairments in adult ADHD (to a large effect) in the domains of hyperactivity, DSM-IV hyperactivity-impulsivity, DSM-IV total, work, school, (to a medium effect) in family and social, and (to a negligible-small effect) in inattention, impulsivity, DSM-IV inattention, and life skills when compared to the ADHD group, and in all domains (to a large effect) when compared to the control group. Current and retrospective ADHD symptoms were found to be associated with more accurate perceptions in a number of domains. Evidence for the presence of perceptions considered to be stigmatizing was found, with largest effects present in the domains of hyperactivity, impulsivity, impairments at work, school, and engagement in risky behaviour

TBestDB: a taxonomically broad database of expressed sequence tags (ESTs)

The TBestDB database contains ∼370 000 clustered expressed sequence tag (EST) sequences from 49 organisms, covering a taxonomically broad range of poorly studied, mainly unicellular eukaryotes, and includes experimental information, consensus sequences, gene annotations and metabolic pathway predictions. Most of these ESTs have been generated by the Protist EST Program, a collaboration among six Canadian research groups. EST sequences are read from trace files up to a minimum quality cut-off, vector and linker sequence is masked, and the ESTs are clustered using phrap. The resulting consensus sequences are automatically annotated by using the AutoFACT program. The datasets are automatically checked for clustering errors due to chimerism and potential cross-contamination between organisms, and suspect data are flagged in or removed from the database. Access to data deposited in TBestDB by individual users can be restricted to those users for a limited period. With this first report on TBestDB, we open the database to the research community for free processing, annotation, interspecies comparisons and GenBank submission of EST data generated in individual laboratories. For instructions on submission to TBestDB, contact [email protected]. The database can be queried at

CD24-targeted intraoperative fluorescence image-guided surgery leads to improved cytoreduction of ovarian cancer in a preclinical orthotopic surgical model

Background: The completeness of resection is a key prognostic indicator in patients with ovarian cancer, and the application of tumour-targeted fluorescence image-guided surgery (FIGS) has led to improved detection of peritoneal metastases during cytoreductive surgery. CD24 is highly expressed in ovarian cancer and has been shown to be a suit

The QUEST large area CCD camera

We have designed, constructed, and put into operation a very large area CCD camera that covers the field of view of the 1.2 m Samuel Oschin Schmidt Telescope at the Palomar Observatory. The camera consists of 112 CCDs arranged in a mosaic of four rows with 28 CCDs each. The CCDs are 600 x 2400 pixel Sarnoff thinned, back-illuminated devices with 13 µm x 13 µm pixels. The camera covers an area of 4.6° x 3.6° on the sky with an active area of 9.6 deg_2. This camera has been installed at the prime focus of the telescope and commissioned, and scientific-quality observations on the Palomar-QUEST Variability Sky Survey were started in 2003 September. The design considerations, construction features, and performance parameters of this camera are described in this paper