GUIDELINES FOR DESIGNING EIS INTERFACES Meeting Executives' Information Needs

For users of an executive information system (EIS), the EIS interface is the system and is crucial to the EIS's success. These guidelines for designing EIS interfaces are based on studies of actual EIS interfaces that meet the unique information needs of executives.     

Luminescence from praseodymium doped AlN thin films deposited by RF magnetron sputtering and the effect of material structure and thermal annealing on the luminescence

Thin films of Praseodymium doped AlN are deposited on silicon (111) substrates at 77 K and 950 K by rf magnetron sputtering method. About 500–1000 nm thick films are grown at 100–200 watts RF power and 5–8 mTorr nitrogen, using a metal target of Al with Pr. X-rays diffraction results show that films deposited at 77 K are amorphous and those deposited at 950 K are crystalline. Cathodoluminescence studies are performed at room temperature and luminescence peaks are observed in a wide range from ultraviolet to infrared region. The most intense peak is obtained in green at 526 nm from amorphous films as a result from ³P₁→³H₅ transition. In crystalline films the intense peak was obtain in red at 648 nm as a result from ³P₀→³F₂ transition. Films are thermally activated at 1300 K for half an hour in a nitrogen atmosphere. Thermal activation enhances the intensity of luminescence. Two peaks at 488 nm and 505 nm merged after thermal activation, giving rise to a single peak at 495 nm.     

Contractor Prebid Planning Principles

Planning is an essential function of project management. Yet, many small- and medium-sized contractors do a relatively poor job of operational planning. Better prebid plans will reduce costs, shorten schedules, and improve labor productivity. Unfortunately, the published literature offers little guidance for smaller contractors on what constitutes effective planning. Most papers describe planning as a macrolevel process for owners. Most emphasize scope definition for industrial projects. This paper describes a microlevel planning process for contractors. It consists of eight steps which are: (1) assess contract risks; (2) develop a preliminary execution plan; (3) develop site layout plans; (4) identify the sequences that are essential-to-success; (5) develop detailed operational plans; (6) develop proactive strategies to assure construction input into design; (7) revise the preliminary plan; and (8) communicate and enforce the plan. The entire process is illustrated with a case study project and is fully illustrated with figures which show how to integrate the work of multiple contractors, keep key resources (crews or equipment) fully engaged with no downtime, provide time buffers so the work of follow on crews can be efficiently done, expedite the schedule using multiple work stations and concurrent work, ways to communicate the work plan to the superintendent and foremen, and how to assess the feasibility of various work methods. The steps are easy to understand and implement. They will yield immediate positive results.     

Denial of illness in stroke

BACKGROUND: The effects of stroke on classically nondominant hemisphere functions have received less attention than those on the dominant hemisphere, but visuospatial neglect and denial of illness both produce significant morbidity. SUMMARY OF COMMENT: The early literature on denial of illness is discussed and the etiological theories are examined. These are explanations based on deficits of higher mental function, impaired sensory input (especially proprioceptive), an abnormal representation of body image, psychodynamic defense mechanisms, and/or premorbid personality factors. CONCLUSIONS: Denial of illness is an important consequence of stroke. No explanation thus far proposed is entirely satisfactory. The consequences on rehabilitation and strategies for therapy have not been adequately investigated.     

High-dose busulfan, melphalan, thiotepa and peripheral blood stem cell infusion for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer

The purpose of this study was to determine the outcome of patients with metastatic breast cancer treated with high-dose busulfan (Bu), melphalan (Mel) and thiotepa (TT) followed by peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) infusion. Fifty-one patients with chemotherapy refractory (n = 32) or responsive (n = 19) metastatic breast cancer received Bu (12 mg/kg), Mel (100 mg/m2) and TT (500 mg/m2) followed by PBSC collected after chemotherapy and growth factor (n = 43) or growth factor alone (n = 8). The 100 day treatment-related mortality was 8% including one death from cytomegalovirus pneumonia, one from aspiration pneumonia and two from regimen-related toxicity (RRT). Seven of 28 refractory (25%) and 5/7 (71%) responsive patients with evaluable disease achieved a complete response of all measurable disease or all soft tissue disease with at least improvement in bone lesions (PR*). Fifteen of 51 patients (29%) are alive and progression-free a median of 423 days (range 353-934) after treatment, 5/32 (16%) with refractory disease and 10/19 (53%) with responsive disease. The probabilities of progression-free survival (PFS) at 1.5 years for the patients with refractory (n = 32) and responsive (n = 19) disease were 0.24 and 0.53, respectively. These preliminary data suggest that high-dose Bu/Mel/TT has significant activity in patients with advanced breast cancer and may be superior to some previously published regimens.     

Face recognition: combining cognitive psychology and imageengineering

Many cognitive tasks that are easy for humans to perform are proving difficult to emulate in computer systems. Combining the disciplines of psychology and engineering may offer a solution to some of these problems. A connectionist or neural network model of face recognition by humans which incorporates aspects of a model proposed by cognitive psychologists is presented. A comparative set of experiments has been performed using this simulation and human subjects for familiar face recognition. By employing the same stimuli for both humans and the computer model, it is possible to advance not only our understanding of human cognition but also to develop improved automated systems for face recognition     

Results of the ASTM field test of tristimulus weighting functions

In 1993, the American Society for Testing and Materials carried out a field test of newly calculated tristimulus weighting factors. These weighting factors had been calculated by a method proposed by Venable. the test also included a method of correction for bandpass dependence put forth by Stearns. the purpose of the trial was to assess the possible reduction in bandpass dependence introduced by each of these sets of weights. A large number of sets of spectral data were gathered from the cooperators in the field test. Results of integration by the various sets of tristimulus weighting factors were calculated. A total of 15 120 color differences were calculated and statistics were derived to test the probable error resulting from each method of correction. Errors attributable to bandpass dependence were on the order of a few tenths to as much as one CIELAB unit when uncorrected weight sets were used. These errors could be reduced to a few hundreths of a CIELAB unit, and in some cases to a few thousandths of a unit, by employing one correcting strategy or the other. an overall mix of strategies was ultimately chosen to minimize the bandpass dependence over the entire range of weight sets. Utilizing this mixed strategy, the median error introduced into 10-nm integration by bandpass dependence was only 0.004 CIELAB units. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Knowledge conceptualization tool

Knowledge acquisition is one of the most important and problematic aspects of developing knowledge-based systems. Many automated tools have been introduced in the past, however, manual techniques are still heavily used. Interviewing is one of the most commonly used manual techniques for a knowledge acquisition process, and few automated support tools exist to help knowledge engineers enhance their performance. The paper presents a knowledge conceptualization tool (KCT) in which the knowledge engineer can effectively retrieve, structure, and formalize knowledge components, so that the resulting knowledge base is accurate and complete. The KCT uses information retrieval technique to facilitate conceptualization, which is one of the human intensive activities of knowledge acquisition. Two information retrieval techniques employing best-match strategies are used: vector space model and probabilistic ranking principle model. A prototype of the KCT was implemented to demonstrate the concept. The results from KCT are compared with the outputs from a manual knowledge acquisition process in terms of amount of information retrieved and the process time spent. An analysis of the results shows that the process time to retrieve knowledge components (e.g., facts, rules, protocols, and uncertainty) of KCT is about half that of the manual process, and the number of knowledge components retrieved from knowledge acquisition activities is four times more than that retrieved through a manual process     

Monocyte diapedesis through an in vitro vessel wall construct: inhibition with monoclonal antibodies to thrombospondin

Human peripheral blood monocytes were examined for migration across an endothelial cell monolayer in an in vitro vessel wall construct. Few monocytes invaded in the absence of a chemotactic gradient, despite significant adhesion to the endothelial monolayer. However, the addition of zymosan-activated human plasma to the lower compartment, to create a chemotactic gradient across the vessel wall, resulted in significantly enhanced monocyte migration. Pretreatment of the monocytes with monoclonal antibodies to thrombospondin (TSP) dramatically inhibited monocyte diapedesis into the vessel wall. The same treatment inhibited monocyte adhesion to endothelial cells in two-dimensional monolayer cultures as well as in vessel wall constructs (no chemotactic gradient). Of interest, however, the monoclonal antibodies had no inhibitory effect on monocyte migration into collagen gels devoid of endothelial cells in response to the same chemotactic gradient, suggesting the importance of TSP in monocyte-endothelial cell interactions. Monoclonal antibodies to fibronectin and normal mouse immunoglobulin G did not inhibit migration in this model of a vessel wall. Furthermore, monoclonal antibodies to TSP showed no inhibition of human peripheral blood neutrophil migration. Previous studies have shown that monocytes synthesize TSP and express this moiety on their surface. The present data suggest that monocytes may utilize TSP to interact with endothelial cells lining the vessel wall during diapedesis.     

Ruins and Revival: Paris in the Aftermath of the Second World War

Although many devastated European cities have been studied, the bombing and reconstruction of key industrial sites and certain suburban residential zones in greater Paris have received little scholarly attention. Using archival sources, this article explores both destruction and reconstruction, and traces how homeless families shared apartments or endured years of 'temporary' accommodation in huts and other shelters. Post-war economic planning in France privileged the restoration of industrial and commercial sites; rebuilding of housing by the state, by housing co-operatives and by individual property owners received less support and progressed far more slowly. Today, the visual legacy of reconstruction is easily confused with that of completely new post-war apartments; however its origin, if not its architecture, is distinctively different and merits recognition in its own right.