Alien Registration- Guimond, Adelard J. (Burlington, Penobscot County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/10281/thumbnail.jp

Difficulties Encountered in Projecting Canada’s Aboriginal Population

Abstract not availabl

Shape recognition: convexities, concavities and things in between.

Visual objects are effortlessly recognized from their outlines, largely irrespective of viewpoint. Previous studies have drawn different conclusions regarding the importance to shape recognition of specific shape features such as convexities and concavities. However, most studies employed familiar objects, or shapes without curves, and did not measure shape recognition across changes in scale and position. We present a novel set of random shapes with well-defined convexities, concavities and inflections (intermediate points), segmented to isolate each feature type. Observers matched the segmented reference shapes to one of two subsequently presented whole-contour shapes (target or distractor) that were re-scaled and re-positioned. For very short segment lengths, performance was significantly higher for convexities than for concavities or intermediate points and for convexities remained constant with increasing segment length. For concavities and intermediate points, performance improved with increasing segment length, reaching convexity performance only for long segments. No significant differences between concavities and intermediates were found. These results show for the first time that closed curvilinear shapes are encoded using the positions of convexities, rather than concavities or intermediate regions. A shape-template model with no free parameters gave an excellent account of the data

A Look at Technology Use Across the Country: State Implementation of AT Practices for Infants and Toddlers

EI professionals from across the country recently participated in the Tots-n-Tech’s (TnT) Assistive Technology (AT) Program Self-Assessment. Part C Coordinators designated agency and program directors, regional coordinators, or other relevant people in their states to respond to the on-line self assessment of AT practices. The self-assessment is designed to provide a picture of how well recommended AT practices are implemented within state communities. Information from all respondents is combined to provide state-wide and regional views of how programs are doing in making AT available for infants and toddlers with disabilities or delayed development

Does life satisfaction reduce risk of incident hypertension and stroke? Evidence from the Whitehall II cohort

Background: Previous studies showed life satisfaction is related to reduced risk of coronary heart disease and diabetes, but its association with other cardiometabolic endpoints including hypertension and stroke remains unexplored. This study examined life satisfaction's prospective association with incident hypertension and stroke in middle-aged adults. Methods: At baseline (1985–1988), 6225 healthy British civil servants aged 35–55 from the Whitehall II cohort completed the validated Satisfaction with Life Scale and provided information regarding sociodemographics, a range of health-related factors, and psychological distress. Incident hypertension was ascertained according to clinic-derived measures of systolic or diastolic blood pressure of ≥140/90 mmHg, respectively, or self-reports of either physician-diagnosed hypertension or hypertensive medication use. Incident stroke and transient ischemic attack (TIA) were ascertained by self-reported physician diagnosis. Follow-up assessments occurred every 2–5 years through 2017. Cox proportional hazards regression models estimated hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of hypertension and stroke/TIA risk separately. Results: Over a 31-year follow-up, 2703 cases of hypertension and 370 cases of stroke/TIA occurred. Life satisfaction was not related to risk of developing hypertension but was associated with 12% decreased risk of stroke/TIA after controlling for sociodemographics, health status, and health behaviors (HRper 1-SD = 0.88; 95%CI = 0.79–0.98). However, the association was attenuated after adjustment for psychological distress. Conclusions: No robust associations were found between life satisfaction and incident hypertension and stroke/TIA, respectively, after accounting for well-established risk factors and psychological distress. More research is needed to understand why associations of life satisfaction with cardiometabolic health seem to vary across endpoints

Heparin Isomeric Oligosaccharide Separation Using Volatile Salt Strong Anion Exchange Chromatography

The complexity of heparin and heparan sulfate saccharides makes their purification, including many isomeric structures, very challenging and is a bottleneck for structure–activity studies. High-resolution separations have been achieved by strong anion exchange (SAX) chromatography on Propac PA1 and cetyltrimethylammonium (CTA)-C18 silica columns; however, these entail subsequent desalting methodologies and consequent sample losses and are incompatible with orthogonal chromatography methodologies and, in particular, mass spectrometry. Here, we present the CTA-SAX purification of heparin oligosaccharides using volatile salt (VS) buffer. In VSCTA-SAX, the use of ammonium bicarbonate buffer for elution improves resolution through both weaker dissociation and conformational coordination of the ammonium across the sulfate groups. Using ion mobility mass spectrometry, we demonstrate that isomeric structures have different structural conformations, which makes chromatographic separation achievable. Resolution of such structures is improved compared to standard SAX methods, and in addition, VSCTA-SAX provides an orthogonal method to isolate saccharides with higher purity. Because ammonium bicarbonate is used, the samples can be evaporated rather than desalted, preventing substantial sample loss and allowing more effective subsequent analysis by electrospray mass spectrometry. We conclude that VSCTA-SAX is a powerful new tool that helps address the difficult challenge of heparin/heparan sulfate saccharide separation and will enhance structure–activity studies

Wind Retrieval Algorithms for the IWRAP and HIWRAP Airborne Doppler Radars with Applications to Hurricanes

Algorithms for the retrieval of atmospheric winds in precipitating systems from downward-pointing, conically-scanning airborne Doppler radars are presented. The focus in the paper is on two radars: the Imaging Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler(IWRAP) and the High-altitude IWRAP (HIWRAP). The IWRAP is a dual-frequency (Cand Ku band), multi-beam (incidence angles of 30 50) system that flies on the NOAAWP-3D aircraft at altitudes of 2-4 km. The HIWRAP is a dual-frequency (Ku and Kaband), dual-beam (incidence angles of 30 and 40) system that flies on the NASA Global Hawk aircraft at altitudes of 18-20 km. Retrievals of the three Cartesian wind components over the entire radar sampling volume are described, which can be determined using either a traditional least squares or variational solution procedure. The random errors in the retrievals are evaluated using both an error propagation analysis and a numerical simulation of a hurricane. These analyses show that the vertical and along-track wind errors have strong across-track dependence with values of 0.25 m s-1 at nadir to 2.0 m s-1 and 1.0 m s-1 at the swath edges, respectively. The across-track wind errors also have across-track structure and are on average, 3.0 3.5 m s-1 or 10 of the hurricane wind speed. For typical rotated figure four flight patterns through hurricanes, the zonal and meridional wind speed errors are 2 3 m s-1.Examples of measured data retrievals from IWRAP during an eyewall replacement cycle in Hurricane Isabel (2003) and from HIWRAP during the development of Tropical Storm Matthew (2010) are shown

Visual Hypo and Hypergnosia as Exemplars of Poles of Psychic Tonus in the Occipital Lobes: Multiple Case Analyses

The “psychic tonus” model or PTM [1] of hemispheric specialization states that the left hemisphere is a psychic and behavioral activator and that the right hemisphere is an inhibitor. The PTM predicts that the tonus of visual representation ought to manifest hemispheric specialization in the occipital lobes. Specifically PTM predicts that pathological positive visual tonus (visual hallucination) ought to be associated more frequently with right occipital lesions. PTM also predicts that pathological negative visual tonus (loss of visual imagery) ought to result more often from left occipital lesions. We reviewed 78 cases of post lesion hallucination and 12 cases of post lesion loss of evocation of images, all following a unilateral lesion. Analyses of these relevant previously published cases support the predictions. In accordance with previously published demonstrations of hemispheric specialization for auditory tonus in the temporal lobes and for somesthetic tonus in the parietal lobes, the present findings extend the psychic tonus model of hemispheric specialization to vision in the occipital lobes