Development of a low profile laser Doppler probe for monitoring perfusion at the patient – mattress interface

The clinical importance of pressure ulcers is reviewed confirming the need for continuous monitoring of skin blood perfusion at the patient – mattress interface. The design of a low profile (H≈1mm) laser Doppler probe is then described together with the experimental setup used for evaluation. The results show that the performance of the new sensor does not vary significantly from that of currently available probes over a wide range of operating parameters. The authors conclude that the sensor design provides a low cost perfusion monitoring solution with potential to significantly reduce the risk of bed sores in hospital patients

Late Middle Woodland Settlement and Subsistence Patterns in the Eastern Highland Rim of Tennessee

The Owl Hollow phase, a late Middle Woodland tradition, is identified in the upper Duck and Elk river valleys in the Eastern Highland Rim of south-central Tennessee. This hunter-gatherer and horticultural adaptation is documented with the material remains and features associated with eight large intensively occupied sites located in the main river valleys along minor tributary streams that drain the Highland Rim. Forty radiocarbon and eight archaeomagnetic dates indicate a temporal range of about A.D. 200-650 for the late Middle Woodland Owl Hollow phase. The recovery of contemporaneous warm and cold season structures and a variety of associated seasonality data provides evidence that the Owl Hollow phase sites were occupied as year-round villages. The villages are delineated by organic-enriched middens that often occur in a circular pattern around a debris-free area that may have functioned as a plaza. A community pattern of one (or more) double earth oven winter lodges and contiguous light- framed circular or oval summer structures was revealed on four of the eight Owl Hollow sites excavated. The analysis of floral and faunal materials indicates that subsistence was based primarily on hunting, fishing, and shellfish collecting, and on the gathering of arboreal hickory nuts, acorns, and herbaceous seeds. Squash/gourd, sunflower, and maize were cultivated and possibly contributed significantly to the Owl Hollow phase diet. The increased utilization of cultigens may have influenced the locality and the permanency of sites in the lowlands adjacent to large areas of alluvial soil. The cultural materials diagnostic of the Owl Hollow phase are lanceolate, spike-shaped projectile points, and limestone and limestone/chert-tempered plain and stamped pottery. The analysis and typological comparison of these material remains suggests that both cultural continuity and change occurred during the Owl Hollow phase. The chronometric dates, which form three clusters, lend support to early, middle, and late periods of cultural development and occupation of Owl Hollow phase sites. The separate periods are distinguishable by relative frequencies of diagnostic cultural materials, changes in subsistence patterns, and variations in settlement locations

The Geography of the Globe

Geography is the study of the intimate interrelationship of mankind with his environment. So the Geography of The Globe is then the study of the relationship of all of the many peoples of the globe with the global environment in which they live

Hymns as an ecumenical force.

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston UniversityThe term ecumenical is not a new word. It comes to us from two Greek words which, combined, mean "of one world, "united," or "world-wide." But in modern usage, the word "ecumenical" has assumed new implications. It is the word that has been peculiarly adopted by the movement to unite Christians the world over, the movement which has manifested itself in conferences in Amsterdam, Edinburgh, and other places, too numerous to mention. The goal of the ecumenical movement is unity, but unity of a special kind--unity of spirit. This goal has been determined by the leaders of the movement through years of study and work. The readiness of the Church now to accept and comprehend a concept of spiritual unity is apparent because of the movements within the Church and the outside movements affecting the Church throughout all the years of its history. [TRUNCATED] Today the entire world, Christians or not, is "one-world" conscious. We have reached the realization that the only way we will have unity is to achieve it in the minds and hearts of the people themselves. As Christians we believe that the Church has a task, a task which will require the efforts of all of us, a task whose goal is unity, whose aim through this goal is salvation, and whose only alternative is destruction. The Church of Christ has always been a singing church, expressing in time of joy and in time of need its deepest emotions in its songs of prayer and praise. This music of the Church has been a powerfUl uniting force in the past and is capable of expanding power to help meet the needs of the future

Tiling the sphere with rational bezier patches

technical reportOne of the fundamental problems in Computer Aided Geometric Design (CAGD) is the representation of shapes. Two representation schemes that have proved useful for modeling free-form shapes are parametric Bezier and B-spline surfaces [2,8]. In fact the Bezier patch is a special case of the B-spline surface. Therefore remarks below about B-spline surfaces apply as well to Bezier patches. For some modeling systems the B-spline or Bezier representation is the base upon which other shape descriptions rest. For example, the Unisurf system [2] uses Bezier patches, and the Alpha_l system relies on B-splines. For such a modeling system it is necessary to provide adequate representation of simple shapes (e.g. spheres, ellipsoids, and cones) in terms of the more general scheme. One would like the underlying representation to be exact, with accuracy limited only by the numeric representation within the computer, not by the choice of representation. Furthermore, this representation should avoid degeneracies that would impair the robustness of the modeling system