Filling n-sided regions with NURBS patches

n -sided region with G ^ɛ continuous NURBS patches that interpolate boundary curves and approximate given cross-boundary derivatives. The NURBS surfaces joining along inner or boundary curves have normal vectors that do not deviate more than the user-specified angular tolerance ɛ. The method is general in that there are no restrictions on the number of boundary curves, and the cross-boundary derivatives can be specified independently. To satisfy all conditions, only one degree elevation is needed.     

Socioeconomic Status and Insomnia.

This investigation compared the likelihood of insomnia and insomnia-related health consequences among individuals of different socioeconomic status. A random-digit dialing procedure was used to recruit at least 50 men and 50 women in each age decade from 20 to 80 + years old. Participants completed 2 weeks of sleep diaries as well as questionnaires related to fatigue, sleepiness, and psychological distress. Socioeconomic status was measured by education status assessed at 3 different levels: individual, household, and community. Results indicated that individuals of lower individual and household education were significantly more likely to experience insomnia even after researchers accounted for ethnicity, gender, and age. Additionally, individuals with fewer years of education, particularly those who had dropped out of high school, experienced greater subjective impairment because of their insomnia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Testing the Value of Checklists in Code Inspections

Checklists are an important part of code and design inspections. Ideally, they aim to increase the number of faults found per inspection hour by highlighting known areas of previous failure. In practice, although some researchers have quantified checklists' benefits, the conclusions' statistical robustness hasn't been as well represented. The author subjects checklists' effectiveness to formal statistical testing, using data from 308 inspections by industrial engineers over a three-year period. The results showed no evidence that checklists significantly improved these inspections. Further analysis revealed that individual inspection performance varied by a factor of 10 in terms of faults found per unit time, and individuals found on average about 53 percent of the faults. Two-person teams found on average 76 percent of the faults.     

Effects of verbal evaluation feedback and interpersonal distance on behavioral compliance.

80 female clients were individually interviewed in the context of a weight-reduction clinic. In a 2 * 2 factorial design, a counselor offered either accepting or neutral verbal feedback for a client's self-disclosures and sat either at a "personal" or "social" distance from the client. A significant interaction was obtained, which showed that physical proximity strengthened adherence to a counselor's dieting recommendations when accepting feedback was offered and lowered compliance when neutral feedback was expressed. Results are discussed in terms of the notion of consistency in communicative channels. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pro-labour myometrial gene expression: are preterm labour and term labour the same?

Preterm labour (PTL) is the most important cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality. While some causes have been identified, the mechanisms involved remain elusive. This study investigates whether term labour (TL) is an appropriate model for PTL by examining pro-labour gene expression, using quantitative rtPCR, and protein synthesis, using Western analysis, in preterm and term myometrial samples obtained from the upper and lower uterine segments before and after the onset of labour. In the lower segment, the levels of prostaglandin H synthase type-2 (PGHS-2), interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), IL-6 and IL-8 mRNA expression were significantly higher in TL compared with PTL samples. Compared with non-labour controls, the expression of IL-1beta and IL-8 mRNA was increased in both PTL and TL samples and the expression of PGHS-2 and IL-6 mRNA was increased in TL samples only. In the upper segment, there were no differences between PTL and TL samples and the mRNA expression of PGHS-2 and IL-1beta was increased in TL compared with term no labour samples. No effect of PTL or TL was seen on either oxytocin receptor or connexin-43 mRNA expression or protein levels. The multiple regression analysis and studies in primary cultures of uterine myocytes suggest that the inflammatory cytokines, IL-1beta and tumour necrosis factor-alpha, are the most important regulators of PGHS-2 and IL-8. Our data show that preterm and term labouring myometrium are significantly different and that the most marked labour-induced changes in gene expression are in the lower segment. These changes may occur in response to the release of inflammatory cytokines by the labour-associated inflammatory infiltration.     

An investigation into the governance of information technology projects in South Africa

Information technology (IT) projects are often perceived as adding little or no organisational value despite substantial investments being made. The non-adoption of governance principles might contribute to this perception as unfeasible projects are often approved and initiated without proper discourse. To test this statement, 16 semi-structured interviews were conducted to understand current practice. This article reports on the investigation of IT projects in South African organisations to determine whether generally accepted governance principles were applied in the project domain. The main trend that emerged as a result of the investigation is that adherence to governance principles is a myth and that it does not guide decision-making for IT projects. Using the findings of the investigation, a conclusion is drawn that the majority of the organisations do have corporate governance in place but that they do not comply with IT and IT project governance.