Wide frequency range sine wave VCO with a tunable inductor andcapacitor

A voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) with sine wave output has been built using a tunable inductor along with a tunable capacitor to operate at frequencies ranging from 100 kHz to over 20 MHz. The method of tuning the inductor by changing the permeability of its ferrite core and the ability to extend the frequency response of the core are discussed. Dynamic characteristics of the VCO are explained with examples of a parallel and series tank implementation     

Tile-boundary artifact reduction using odd tile size and the low-pass first convention.

It is well known that tile-boundary artifacts occur in wavelet-based lossy image coding. However, until now, their cause has not been understood well. In this paper, we show that boundary artifacts are an inescapable consequence of the usual methods used to choose tile size and the type of symmetric extension employed in a wavelet-based image decomposition system. This paper presents a novel method for reducing these tile-boundary artifacts. The method employs odd tile sizes (2N + 1 samples) rather than the conventional even tile sizes (2N samples). It is shown that, for the same bit rate, an image compressed using an odd tile length low-pass first (OTLPF) convention has significantly less boundary artifacts than an image compressed using even tile sizes. The OTLPF convention can also be incorporated into the JPEG 2000 image compression algorithm using extensions defined in Part 2 of this standard.     

Mobile tele-echography: user interface design.

Ultrasound imaging allows the evaluation of the degree of emergency of a patient. However, in some instances, a well-trained sonographer is unavailable to perform such echography. To cope with this issue, the Mobile Tele-Echography Using an Ultralight Robot (OTELO) project aims to develop a fully integrated end-to-end mobile tele-echography system using an ultralight remote-controlled robot for population groups that are not served locally by medical experts. This paper focuses on the user interface of the OTELO system, consisting of the following parts: an ultrasound video transmission system providing real-time images of the scanned area, an audio/video conference to communicate with the paramedical assistant and with the patient, and a virtual-reality environment, providing visual and haptic feedback to the expert, while capturing the expert's hand movements. These movements are reproduced by the robot at the patient site while holding the ultrasound probe against the patient skin. In addition, the user interface includes an image processing facility for enhancing the received images and the possibility to include them into a database.     

Do High-Achieving Female Students Underperform in Private? The Implications of Threatening Environments on Intellectual Processing.

Stereotype threat research has demonstrated that stereotypes can harm student performance in the face of public evaluation by peers or an experimenter. The current study examined whether stereotypes can also threaten in private settings. Female students completed a math test in 3-person groups, which consisted of either 2 other women (same gender) or 2 men (minority). In addition, students either believed their performance would be broadcasted to their peers (public) or not (private). Results revealed that minority students performed worse than same-gender students in both public and private environments. This finding supports the concept of threatening intellectual environments and shows how far reaching the effects of stereotypes can be. The authors discuss these findings in relation to research on tokenism and to stereotype threat and its educational implications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived stress management skill mediates the relationship between optimism and positive mood following radical prostatectomy.

This study evaluated relations among optimism, perceived stress management skills (PSMS), and positive mood in 46 men who had surgical treatment for localized prostate cancer. The authors found that optimism, PSMS, and positive mood scores were positively correlated. Positive mood was unrelated to demographic and disease-related control variables. In a hierarchical regression model controlling for PSMS, the relationship between optimism and positive mood became nonsignificant, whereas PSMS remained a correlate of positive mood. Results suggest that the relationship between optimism and positive mood may be mediated by belief in being able to use stress management techniques effectively. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interobl: An interactive software tool for displaying and scaling oblique ionograms

By analyzing an oblique ionogram several characteristics, such as LOF, MOF, FMUF, FHLOF, FLLOF, and 2FMOF, can be found. These characteristics are important both for ionospheric studies and for terrestrial communication purposes, as they give information about the sky wave communication conditions in the High Frequency (HF) radio spectrum.A RCS-5B sweeping HF receiver for oblique sounding was installed at Chania (Crete, Greece, 35.7°N, 24.0°E) in April 2005 to perform a radio link with Inskip (UK, 53.5°N, 2.5°W). The receiver, able to record the sounding only as a binary file, was not equipped with a tool to display and scale the recorded trace. This work describes software that is able to do this, consequently increasing the speed of the scaling phase performed by the operator. The usefulness of this software for validating FMUF prediction models is also shown.     

Metathesis as a versatile tool in oleochemistry

Olefin metathesis, awarded with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2005 for Chauvin, Grubbs and Schrock, has emerged as a powerful tool for organic as well as polymer chemistry. In oleochemistry, this reaction is well known and has been applied for many decades. Examples include the functionalization of the double bonds of different oleochemicals or the (direct) polymerization of plant oils via metathesis. More recent developments, particularly the development of better and more robust catalysts, allow for highly efficient cross‐metathesis reactions opening new possibilities for the direct introduction of chemical functionalities. Within this contribution, the development of metathesis in oleochemistry will be discussed, covering self‐metathesis as well as more recent developments in the field of cross‐metathesis that lead to desired platform chemicals.