Models of visual word recognition: Sampling the state of the art.

A classification of models of visual word recognition is presented that facilitates formal comparisons between models of different formats. In light of the theoretical contributions to this special section, sets of criteria for the evaluation of models and strategies for model construction are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Water absorption properties of phosphate glass fiber‐reinforced poly‐ϵ‐caprolactone composites for craniofacial bone repair

The moisture uptake of polymers and composites has increasing significance where these materials are specified for invasive, long‐term medical applications. Here we analyze mass gain and the ensuing degradation mechanisms in phosphate glass fiber reinforced poly‐?‐caprolactone laminates. Specimens were manufactured using in situ polymerization of ?‐caprolactone around a bed of phosphate glass fibers. The latter were sized with 3‐aminopropyltriethoxysilane to control the rate of modulus degradation. Fiber content was the main variable in the study, and it was found that the moisture diffusion coefficient increased significantly with increasing fiber volume fraction. Diffusion, plasticization, and leaching of constituents appear to be the dominant aspects of the process over these short‐term tests. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2008     

Effect of stepper lens operating conditions on proximity effects in DUV optical lithography down to 250nm

Reduction of optical proximity effects (OPE), at deep uv wavelength of 248nm, caused by the variation of stepper lens operating conditions is investigated. It is shown that many of these effects, which increase as the Rayleigh limit is approached, can be minimised, and in many cases eliminated, by suitable choice of lens numerical aperture (NA) and partial coherence (sigma, σ).

Application of these results should enable the user of advanced wafer steppers to carry out high resolution lithography with a minimum of time consuming optical proximity correction (OPC).     

Adding Support for Persistence to CLOS via Its Metaobject Protocol

Language-level support for object persistence frees programmers from having to confront a broad class of database issues from within their applications. By virtue of its metaobject protocol, CLOS is a language whose semantics can be tailored by individual programmers. We used the metaobject protocol to extend CLOS with support for object persistence. Our goal was to obtain a version of CLOS with persistence to which we could easily port a commercial geometric CAD modeling system. We describe the design and implementation of our persistence extension and highlight the strengths and weaknesses exhibited by the CLOS metaobject protocol during our experiment. For many aspects of the implementation we found that the metaobject protocol was ideal. In other cases we had to choose among paying a large performance penalty, extending the protocol, and bypassing the protocol by modifying the language implementation directly.     

Pathways and crossroads to institutional leadership.

When upwardly mobile persons are promoted from lower individual contributor roles to higher, managerial roles, they are confronted by the challenge of negotiating a series of 135-degree "crossroads" or shifts in their careers. Those who make the complete journey must traverse five pathways and four crossroads. These critical career crossroads consist of discontinuous and unprecedented changes in the role responsibilities and account abilities to which managers in transition must respond. At each crossroads, people are confronted by a triple challenge: letting go of anachronistic responsibilities and competencies, preserving those that continue to be useful, and adding new discontinuous responsibilities and consequences. Managers in transition can cope with these demands by making adaptive changes in their preferred activities, behavior patterns, and style. A detailed examination of the unprecedented discontinuities that ambitious, upwardly mobile managers must bridge is presented. The adaptation process that is required at each career crossroads is described, followed by a detailed set of recommended shifts in behavior patterns for the future executive at each crossroads. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of Inhomogeneities on the Apparent Location and Magnitude of a Cardiac Current Dipole Source

A mathematical model was used to investigate the effects of electrical inhomogeneities introduced by the intracavitary blood mass and the lungs on the apparent location and magnitude of a current dipole source representing local activity in the myocardium. Radial and tangential current source moments were considered, and lung conductivity was taken as a variable parameter. Both the blood mass and the lungs cause a current source to appear closer to the heart center than it actually is. The effect increases as the source moves away from the endocardial surface, and maximum displacement is estimated to be of the order of 1 cm. The net effect of the inhomogeneities is to increase the magnitude of the radial component of a source dipole while diminishing its tangential component. These effects depend on source location.     

A VSE equation of state for liquids. V. Poly(tetrafluoroethylene), 600–725 K

Our volume–entropy–energy (VSE) equation of state for liquids, first proposed in 1973 for use with low molecular weight homogeneous liquids, is here applied for the first time to a high molecular weight liquid that is heterogeneous in molecular weight, namely, a molten polymer. Four thermo-dynamic quantities, T, s, c_p, and ε are calculated over the range of 600–725 K at ambient pressure and are compared with experimental values, with excellent results. The grand average of the standard percentage errors (S.P.E.) for the 24 points is 0.1100%.     

Electron spin resonance studies of interactions of ammonia,copper, and cupriammonia with cellulose

The electron spin resonance spectra (ESR) of complexes of copper with fibrous cotton cellulose under various experimental conditions were determined. Cupric ions dissolved in solutions of strong bases, such as concentrated ammonium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, and potassium hydroxide, formed complexes with fibrous cotton cellulose. These complexes had paramagnetic resonance properties and generated characteristic ESR spectra. Cupric ions dissolved in solutions of highly ionized neutral salts, such as sodium chloride, formed complexes with cellulose. These complexes also generated the same characteristic ESR spectra as the complexes formed in solutions of strong base. The reaction between cupric ions and cellulose was evidently very rapid and reversible. When the concentration of ammonia was decreased in, or ammonia was removed from, the cupric ion–ammonium hydroxide–cellulose complexes, the paramagnetic resonance properties of the complex were decreased or lost. Similar results were received when potassium hydroxide was removed from the complexes. The compositions of the complexes evidently are variable, that is, under different experimental conditions the relative intensities of the lines of the ESR spectra of the complexes varied, although the hyperfine splittings of the lines were constant. It was concluded that reactions of cupric ions to form complexes with adjacent hydroxyl groups on the cellulose molecule depended on an optimum spatial arrangement of the hydroxyl groups, that is, distance between the groups. Evidently, wetting of cotton cellulosic fibers with solutions of strong bases or neutral salt allowed rotation about the C₂–C₃ bond to yield this optimum arrangement. When the base or salt was removed, rotation occurred to give less favorable positions of the hydroxyl groups for complexing with cupric ions.