The influence of epiphylls on remote sensing of humid forests

Epiphylls - lichens, fungi, liverworts, etc. infesting leaf surfaces - are found throughout humid forests of the world. It is well understood that epiphylls inhibit light interception by host plants, but their effect on remote sensing of colonized forests has not been examined. Incorporating leaf-level spectra from Terra Firme (primary forest) and Amazonian Caatinga (woodlands/forest growing on nutrient-deficient sandy soils), we used the GeoSAIL model to propagate leaf-level measurements to the canopy level and determine their effect on commonly used vegetation indices. In Caatinga, moderate infestations (50% leaf area epiphyll cover), lowered simulated Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) values by 6.1% and 20.4%, respectively, largely due to near infrared dampening. Heavy infestation (100% cover) simulations exhibited decreases 1.5-2 times greater than those of moderate infestations. For Terra Firme, which are generally less affected by epiphylls, moderate (20% leaf area) and heavy infestations (40%) lowered EVI by 4.4% (S.D. 0.8%) and 8.1% (S.D. 1.5%), respectively. Near infrared and green reflectance were most affected at the canopy level, showing mean decreases of 10.6% (S.D. 2.25%) and 9.5% (S.D. 3.49%), respectively, in heavy Terra Firme infestations. Time series of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) data corroborated the modeling results, suggesting a degree of coupling between epiphyll cover and the EVI and NDVI. These results suggest that, without explicit consideration of the presence of epiphylls, remote sensing-based methodologies may underestimate leaf area index, biomass and productivity in humid forests.     

Task-Space Modular Dynamics for Dual-Arms Expressed through a Relative Jacobian

This paper presents modular dynamics for dual-arms, expressed in terms of the kinematics and dynamics of each of the stand-alone manipulators. The two arms are controlled as a single manipulator in the task space that is relative to the two end-effectors of the dual-arm robot. A modular relative Jacobian, derived from a previous work, is used which is expressed in terms of the stand-alone manipulator Jacobians. The task space inertia is expressed in terms of the Jacobians and dynamics of each of the stand-alone manipulators. When manipulators are combined and controlled as a single manipulator, as in the case of dual-arms, our proposed approach will not require an entirely new dynamics model for the resulting combined manipulator. But one will use the existing Jacobians and dynamics model for each of the stand-alone manipulators to come up with the dynamics model of the combined manipulator. A dual-arm KUKA is used in the experimental implementation.     

Nanoparticle‐embedded polymer‐dispersed liquid crystal for paper‐like displays

Abstract— A polymer‐dispersed liquid‐crystal (PDLC) matrix template embedded with nano/microparticles can be backfilled/infiltrated with a dye‐doped liquid crystal for a paper‐like reflective display. In this way, a desirable degree of diffusion can be realized to reduce the viewing‐angle dependency of a gain reflector and metallic glare without changing other electro‐optical properties.     

Radiopharmacology of inhaled 133Xe in skeletal sites containing deposits of Gaucher cells

Gaucher's disease is a lysosomal storage disease in which cells of the reticuloendothelial system accumulate the lipid glucocerebroside. It is characterized by slowly progressive visceral and osseous involvement. One of the latter manifestations includes lipid infiltration of bone marrow. We monitored the rate of inhaled 133Xe uptake and wash-out over diseased and normal metaphyseal and epiphyseal areas of the knee. Twenty-two patients (15 adults, 7 children) with various degrees of previously diagnosed Gaucher's disease were positioned supine under a gamma-camera interfaced to a computer system. All patients rebreathed 133Xe gas from a closed system for 10 min followed by 14 min of wash-out. Digitized images of the lung, liver, spleen, bony sites and soft tissue were obtained at 1 min intervals during the wash-in and wash-out phases. Counts for each ROI were normalized per 100 pixels and plotted as a function (time). Maximum uptake was also calculated by relating the counts/ROI/100 pixels to the 10 min integrated lung count during equilibrium (the administered "dose"). There was essentially no 133Xe uptake in liver and spleen involved with Gaucher's disease. Monophasic uptake and biphasic wash-out curves were observed in the limited investigative population. Skeletal Gaucher deposits released the 133Xe at a greater rate relative to soft tissue.     

Evaluation of thermal conductivity from temperature profiles

A new dynamic technique for the measurement of thermal conductivity is being developed at IMGC. The experiment consists in bringing the specimen to high temperatures with a current pulse and in measuring the temperature profiles during the free cooling period. Different techniques can be used to extract the information on thermal conductivity from the profiles. The numerical computation of thermal conductivity from the experimental temperature profiles in absolute space is possible, but it is difficult and cumbersome because one must know and take into the account the exact position of the infinitesimal elements of the specimen in different profiles. Computations in tube-space (a fictitious space where no thermal expansion occurs) are simpler and lead to less complex numerical computations. Complementary techniques to evaluate thermal conductivity as a function of temperature or at constant temperature are presented with a discussion of advantages and disadvantages of each method. Computer simulations have tested the precision of the complex software. Numerically generated temperature profiles from known thermophysical properties have been obtained and thermal conductivity has been recomputed from the profiles. The relative difference using different computational approaches and different fitting functions is always less than 0.1%.Paper presented at the Third Workshop on Subsecond Thermophysics, September 17–18, 1992, Graz, Austria.     

Diagnosis and treatment of aortic valve stenosis

The present review has attempted to summarize the classic symptoms and signs of aortic valve stenosis, especially in an adult. It is emphasized that all the classic signs rarely are present and their absence may mislead an unwary clinician. The diagnostic help provided by noninvasive tests, including echocardiography and phonocardiography, has been emphasized. A need for cardiac catheterization and angiography in most patients prior to corrective surgery is stressed. The natural history of the disease without operative intervention is dim and a significant risk of sudden death exists. The current surgical approach with immediate and long-term results is summarized. Finally, attention has been drawn to the special clinical circumstances when the aortic valve stenosis provides a strinkingly different clinical picture. We cannot find a better way to end this review than by quoting a warning note given by Thomas Lewis in 1920: "It is the faint cry of an anguished and fast failing muscle, which, when it comes, all should strain to hear, for it is not long repeated. A few months, a few years at most, and the end comes."     

Nitrous oxide "analgesia": resemblance to opiate action

Nitrous oxide produced a dose-related "analgesia" in mice (median effective dose, 55 percent). The analgesia was evaluated by means of a phenylquinone writhing test. Narcotic antagonists or chronic morphinization reduced nitrous oxide analgesia. Either nitrous oxide releases an endogenous analgesic or narcotic antagonists have analgesic antagonist properties heretofore unappreciated.     

Two-handed volumetric document corpus management

To find a document in the sea of information, you must embark on a search process, usually computer-aided. In the traditional information retrieval model, the final goal is to identify and collect a small number of documents to read in detail. In this case, a single query yielding a scalar indication of relevance usually suffices. In contrast, document corpus management seeks to understand what is happening in the collection of documents as a whole (i.e. to find relationships among documents). You may indeed read or skim individual documents, but only to better understand the rest of the document set. Document corpus management seeks to identify trends, discover common links and find clusters of similar documents. The results of many single queries must be combined in various ways so that you can discover trends. We describe a new system called the Stereoscopic Field Analyzer (SFA) that aids in document corpus management by employing 3D volumetric visualization techniques in a minimally immersive real-time interaction style. This interactive information visualization system combines two-handed interaction and stereoscopic viewing with glyph-based rendering of the corpora contents. SFA has a dynamic hypertext environment for text corpora, called Telltale, that provides text indexing, management and retrieval based on n-grams (n character sequences of text). Telltale is a document management and information retrieval engine which provides document similarity measures (n-gram-based m-dimensional vector inner products) visualized by SFA for analyzing patterns and trends within the corpus     

Marine Wastewater Discharges from Multiport Diffusers. II: Unstratified Flowing Water

Laboratory experiments on the near-field mixing of buoyant plumes discharged from multiport diffusers into unstratified flowing water are reported. The spatial variation of dilution was measured by a newly developed three-dimensional laser-induced fluorescence system and a microconductivity probe. The near-field hydrodynamics are complex. The plumes discharged upstream dilute and merge more rapidly than those discharged downstream. Even with wide port spacing, the plumes eventually merge to form a laterally uniform surface wastefield. The density profile in this wastefield becomes gravitationally stable and suppresses mixing, marking the end of the near field. The value of the port spacing ratio, s/H, below which the discharge approximates a line plume is greater for discharge into a flowing current than into a stationary environment, so the port spacing plays a lesser role in a flowing current. The mixing and dilution that occurs in the surface layer is less than for a discharge into a stationary environment, and it decreases as the current speed increases. Semiempirical equations to predict the major near field characteristics are presented.