Evidence of Nonlinear Flow In Softwoods From Wood Permeability Measurements

A series of air permeability measurements of softwoods and hardwoods was conducted with flow rates from 0.015 to 32 cm3/sec to examine nonlinear flow. The permeability of loblolly pine, Douglas-fir, and white spruce was found to decrease with flow rate. The critical Reynolds numbers obtained from the decrease in permeability and also from the increase in the applied pressure difference with flow rate, based on Tompkins' equation, were between 0.41 and 1.62. These were in good agreement with the values calculated from the length-to-radius ratio of pit openings in accordance with Siau and Petty's study of short capillaries. This indicated the presence of nonlinearity owing to kinetic energy losses at the pit openings. Nonlinear flow could not be detected for paper birch and basswood

Bilateral calf chronic compartment syndrome in an elderly male: a case report

Leg pain is a common presentation to the outpatient department. Bilateral calf chronic compartment syndrome is a rare cause of bilateral calf pain. Although this condition has been well documented in young athletes, it has rarely been reported in the elderly. We present the case of a 68-year-old male bodybuilder with bilateral calf chronic compartment syndrome, describe the presentation and evaluation of the condition, and provide a review of the literature herewith

Are Male and Female Avatars Perceived Equally in 3D Virtual Worlds?

Virtual worlds are three-dimensional, computer-generated worlds in which users take the form of avatars and use those avatars to interact with objects and other avatars in the virtual world. Virtual worlds are growing in importance in both educational institutions and businesses. Educational institutions have adopted virtual worlds as a medium for instructional delivery whereas businesses are using virtual worlds for recruitment, training, collaboration, and marketing. Given these emerging phenomena, a better understanding of behavioral and perceptual issues in virtual worlds is warranted. We propose a research model to study the interaction effects of gender stereotypicality of male and female avatars and gender typicality of tasks on trust perceptions. Gender stereotypes have been widely studied in the real world along with their effects on trust perceptions. An experiment is proposed to examine the effects of gender stereotypes on trust perceptions in virtual worlds. Implications and expected contributions are also discussed

Perceptions of Avatars in 3D Virtual Worlds: Impact of Task and Gender Stereotypicality

Virtual worlds are growing in importance and popularity in businesses. As the use of virtual worlds increases, it becomes increasingly important to understand the behavioral and perceptual issues in virtual worlds. Although gender stereotypes have been widely studied in the real world along with their effects on trust perceptions, very little such research has been conducted in virtual worlds. We propose a research model to study the interaction effects of gender stereotypicality of male and female avatars and gender typicality of tasks on trust perceptions. An experiment is proposed to examine the effects of gender stereotypes on trust perceptions in virtual worlds. Implications and expected contributions are also discussed

The African hind's (Cephalopholis taeniops, serranidae) use of artificial reefs off Sal Island (Cape Verde): a preliminary study based on acoustic telemetry

The African hind Cephalopholis taeniops (Valenciennes, 1828) is one of the most important commercial demersal species caught in the Cape Verde archipelago. The species is closely associated with hard substrate and is one of the main attractions for SCUBA divers. In January 2006 a former Soviet fishing vessel - the Kwarcit - was sunk off Santa Maria Bay (Sal Island). Young C. taeniops are commonly observed in this artificial reef (AR). In order to investigate the species' use of the AR, 4 specimens were captured and surgically implanted underwater with Vemco brand acoustic transmitters. The fish were monitored daily with an active telemetry receiver for one week after release. Simultaneously, an array of 3 passive VR2 / VR2W receivers was set for 63 days, registering data that allowed an analysis of spatial, daily and short term temporal activity patterns. The results showed site fidelity to the AR, with no migrations to the nearby natural reef. The method used allowed to register a consistent higher activity during daytime and a preference for the area opposite the dominant current

Cutaneous tactile allodynia associated with microvascular dysfunction in muscle

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cutaneous tactile allodynia, or painful hypersensitivity to mechanical stimulation of the skin, is typically associated with neuropathic pain, although also present in chronic pain patients who do not have evidence of nerve injury. We examine whether deep tissue microvascular dysfunction, a feature common in chronic non-neuropathic pain, contributes to allodynia.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Persistent cutaneous allodynia is produced in rats following a hind paw ischemia-reperfusion injury that induces microvascular dysfunction, including arterial vasospasms and capillary slow flow/no-reflow, in muscle. Microvascular dysfunction leads to persistent muscle ischemia, a reduction of intraepidermal nerve fibers, and allodynia correlated with muscle ischemia, but not with skin nerve loss. The affected hind paw muscle shows lipid peroxidation, an upregulation of nuclear factor kappa B, and enhanced pro-inflammatory cytokines, while allodynia is relieved by agents that inhibit these alterations. Allodynia is increased, along with hind paw muscle lactate, when these rats exercise, and is reduced by an acid sensing ion channel antagonist.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results demonstrate how microvascular dysfunction and ischemia in muscle can play a critical role in the development of cutaneous allodynia, and encourage the study of how these mechanisms contribute to chronic pain. We anticipate that focus on the pain mechanisms associated with microvascular dysfunction in muscle will provide new effective treatments for chronic pain patients with cutaneous tactile allodynia.</p

Using XML and XSLT for flexible elicitation of mental-health risk knowledge

Current tools for assessing risks associated with mental-health problems require assessors to make high-level judgements based on clinical experience. This paper describes how new technologies can enhance qualitative research methods to identify lower-level cues underlying these judgements, which can be collected by people without a specialist mental-health background. Methods and evolving results: Content analysis of interviews with 46 multidisciplinary mental-health experts exposed the cues and their interrelationships, which were represented by a mind map using software that stores maps as XML. All 46 mind maps were integrated into a single XML knowledge structure and analysed by a Lisp program to generate quantitative information about the numbers of experts associated with each part of it. The knowledge was refined by the experts, using software developed in Flash to record their collective views within the XML itself. These views specified how the XML should be transformed by XSLT, a technology for rendering XML, which resulted in a validated hierarchical knowledge structure associating patient cues with risks. Conclusions: Changing knowledge elicitation requirements were accommodated by flexible transformations of XML data using XSLT, which also facilitated generation of multiple data-gathering tools suiting different assessment circumstances and levels of mental-health knowledge

The Utility of the Abstract Relational Model and Attribute Paths in SQL

It is well-known that querying information is difficult for domain experts, for they are not familiar with querying actual relational schemata due to the notions of primary and foreign keys and the various ways of representing and storing information in a relational database. To overcome these problems, the Abstract Relational Model and the query language, SQLP, have been proposed. They are the theoretical foundations and ensure that explicit primary and foreign keys are hidden from the user's view and that queries can be expressed more compactly. In this paper we evaluate these theoretical advantages with user studies that compare SQLP to plain SQL as the baseline. The experiments show significant statistical evidence that SQLP indeed requires less time for understanding and authoring queries, with no loss in accuracy. Considering the positive results, we develop a method to reverse engineer legacy relational schemata into abstract relational ones