The Sun and the Cave: Gulliver's Relationship to the Divine

Unpublished manuscript analyzing the religious philosophy of Gulliver in the novel Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift. This work is part of conference proceedings from the American Academy of Religion Southwest Region conference held in, Irving, TX March 6-7, 1999

Joabin's Silence: Public and Private Life in Francis Bacon's New Atlantis (1626)

Unpublished manuscript exploring the role of Joabin in Francis Bacon's novel New Atlantis. This manuscript was part of the conference proceedings from the Academy of Jewish Philosophy, Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati, OH, June 9-10, 1991

University Scholars Day

This paper discusses research on Friedrich Nietzsche's affirmation of tragic morality

Digital mammography, cancer screening: Factors important for image compression

The use of digital mammography for breast cancer screening poses several novel problems such as development of digital sensors, computer assisted diagnosis (CAD) methods for image noise suppression, enhancement, and pattern recognition, compression algorithms for image storage, transmission, and remote diagnosis. X-ray digital mammography using novel direct digital detection schemes or film digitizers results in large data sets and, therefore, image compression methods will play a significant role in the image processing and analysis by CAD techniques. In view of the extensive compression required, the relative merit of 'virtually lossless' versus lossy methods should be determined. A brief overview is presented here of the developments of digital sensors, CAD, and compression methods currently proposed and tested for mammography. The objective of the NCI/NASA Working Group on Digital Mammography is to stimulate the interest of the image processing and compression scientific community for this medical application and identify possible dual use technologies within the NASA centers

Digital Mammography

In digital mammography, the processes of image acquisition, display, and storage are separated, which allows optimization of each. Radiation transmitted through the breast is absorbed by an electronic detector, the response of which is faithful over a wide range of intensities. Once this information is recorded, it can be displayed by using computer image-processing techniques to allow arbitrary settings of image brightness and contrast, without the need for further exposure to the patient. In this article, the current state of the art in technology for digital mammography and data from clinical trials that support the use of the technology will be reviewed. In addition, several potentially useful applications that are being developed with digital mammography will be described

External validation of a mammographic texture marker for breast cancer risk in a case–control study

Purpose: The pattern of dense tissue on a mammogram appears to provide additional information than overall density for risk assessment, but there has been little consistency in measures of texture identified. The purpose of this study is thus to validate a mammographic texture feature developed from a previous study in a new setting. Approach: A case–control study (316 invasive cases and 1339 controls) of women in Virginia, USA was used to validate a mammographic texture feature (MMTEXT) derived in a independent previous study. Analysis of predictive ability was adjusted for age, demographic factors, questionnaire risk factors (combined through the Tyrer-Cuzick model), and optionally BI-RADS breast density. Odds ratios per interquartile range (IQ-OR) in controls were estimated. Subgroup analysis assessed heterogeneity by mode of cancer detection (94 not detected by mammography). Results: MMTEXT was not a significant risk factor at 0.05 level after adjusting for classical risk factors (IQ-OR  =  1.16, 95%CI 0.92 to 1.46), nor after further adjustment for BI-RADS density (IQ-OR  =  0.92, 95%CI 0.76 to 1.10). There was weak evidence that MMTEXT was more predictive for cancers that were not detected by mammography (unadjusted for density: IQ-OR  =  1.46, 95%CI 0.99 to 2.15 versus 1.03, 95%CI 0.79 to 1.35, Phet 0.10; adjusted for density: IQ-OR  =  1.11, 95%CI 0.70 to 1.77 versus 0.76, 95%CI 0.55 to 1.05, Phet 0.21). Conclusions: MMTEXT is unlikely to be a useful imaging marker for invasive breast cancer risk assessment in women attending mammography screening. Future studies may benefit from a larger sample size to confirm this as well as developing and validating other measures of risk. This negative finding demonstrates the importance of external validation

Effective Field Theory for Highly Ionized Plasmas

We examine the equilibrium properties of hot, dilute, non-relativistic plasmas. The partition function and density correlation functions of a classical plasma with several species are expressed in terms of a functional integral over electrostatic potential distributions. The leading order, field-theoretic tree approximation automatically includes the effects of Debye screening. Subleading, one-loop corrections are easily evaluated. The two-loop corrections, however, have ultraviolet divergences. These correspond to the short-distance, logarithmic divergence which is encountered in the spatial integral of the Boltzmann exponential when it is expanded to third order in the Coulomb potential. Such divergences do not appear in the underlying quantum theory --- they are rendered finite by quantum fluctuations. We show how such divergences may be removed and the correct finite theory obtained by introducing additional local interactions in the manner of modern effective quantum field theories. We obtain explicit results for density-density correlation functions through two-loop order and thermodynamic quantities through three-loop order. The induced couplings are shown to obey renormalization group equations, and these equations are used to characterize all leading logarithmic contributions in the theory. A linear combination of pressure and energy and number densities is shown to be described by a field-theoretic anomaly. The effective theory allows us to evaluate very easily the algebraic long-distance decay of density correlation functions.Comment: 194 pages, uses elsevier & epsf.sty; final corrections include

Confinement at Weak Coupling

The free energy of U(N) and SU(N) gauge theory was recently found to be of order N^0 to all orders of a perturbative expansion about a center-symmetric orbit of vanishing curvature. Here I consider extended models for which this expansion is perturbatively stable. The extreme case of an SU(2) gauge theory whose configuration space is restricted to center-symmetric orbits has recently been investigated on the lattice hep-lat/0509156. In extension of my talk, a discussion and possible interpretation of the observed finite temperature phase transition is given. The transfer matrix of constrained SU(N) lattice gauge theory is constructed for any finite temperature.Comment: 8 pages, no figures, updated talk given at LC2005 in Cairns, Australi

Widespread Receptivity to Neuropeptide PDF throughout the Neuronal Circadian Clock Network of Drosophila Revealed by Real-Time Cyclic AMP Imaging

SummaryThe neuropeptide PDF is released by sixteen clock neurons in Drosophila and helps maintain circadian activity rhythms by coordinating a network of ∼150 neuronal clocks. Whether PDF acts directly on elements of this neural network remains unknown. We address this question by adapting Epac1-camps, a genetically encoded cAMP FRET sensor, for use in the living brain. We find that a subset of the PDF-expressing neurons respond to PDF with long-lasting cAMP increases and confirm that such responses require the PDF receptor. In contrast, an unrelated Drosophila neuropeptide, DH31, stimulates large cAMP increases in all PDF-expressing clock neurons. Thus, the network of ∼150 clock neurons displays widespread, though not uniform, PDF receptivity. This work introduces a sensitive means of measuring cAMP changes in a living brain with subcellular resolution. Specifically, it experimentally confirms the longstanding hypothesis that PDF is a direct modulator of most neurons in the Drosophila clock network

Breast density measurements with ultrasound tomography: A comparison with film and digital mammography

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/134902/1/mp2057.pd