User interfaces for structural engineering relational data base

The needs of engineers in their interaction with engineering data bases are very different from those of their counter-parts in the business world. Business data base management system interfaces typically provide only a single mode of textual communication, usually a structured query language. However, in an idealengineering data base interface, an engineer would be able to define constraints, give examples, point at parts of pictures, and (sometimes) use several modes of communication simultaneously. The paper presents an example from an engineering design application to show how a traditional query language can be enhanced to accommodate the engineering needs. The paper further describes a conceptual approach for multimodal engineering data base interface combining multipurpose graphics, an engineering query language, and other interface methodologies in an engineering workstation environment.     

Guaranteed task deadlines for fault-tolerant workloads with conditional branches

This work examines scheduling for a real-time multiprocessor (MAFT) in which both hard deadlines and fault-tolerance are necessary system components. A workload for this system consists of a set of concurrent dependent tasks, each with some execution frequency; tasks are also fully ordered by priority. Fault tolerance mechanisms include hardware-supported voting on computation results as well as on task starts, task completions, and branch conditions. The distributed agreement mechanism used on system-level decisions adds a variable threading delay to the run time of each copy of a task. These delays make current schedule verification techniques inapplicable. In the most general execution profile, each processor in the system runs a subset of the tasks, with different tasks possibly having different frequencies. In this work, however, we restrict attention to a special class of workloads, termed uni-schedule, in which each processor executes the entire task set, using the multiple processors to implement full redundancy. In addition, all tasks are assumed to have the same periodicity. Given these restrictions, we produce stable schedules consistent with the initial workload specifications. Algorithms are first given for uni-schedule workloads with no run-time branches, and then for uni-schedule workloads with branches.     

Free-space optical communications link budget estimation

This paper describes a new methodology of estimating free-space optical communications link budgets to be expected in conditions of severe turbulence. The approach is derived from observing that the ability of an adaptive optics (AO) system to compensate turbulence along a path is limited by the transmitter and receiver Rayleigh range, proportional to the diameter of the optics squared and inverse of the wavelength of light utilized. The method uses the Fried parameter computed over the range outside of the transmitter and receiver Rayleigh ranges, to calculate the Strehl ratios that yield a reasonable prediction of the light impinging on the receiving telescope aperture and the power coupling into the fiber. Comparisons will be given between theory and field measurements. These comparisons show that AO is most effective within the Rayleigh ranges, or when an atmospheric gradient is present, and lesser so when the total range is much greater than the sum of the Rayleigh ranges.     

Effects of an intensive depression-focused intervention for smoking cessation in pregnancy.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate a depression-focused treatment for smoking cessation in pregnant women versus a time and contact health education control. We hypothesized that the depression-focused treatment would lead to improved abstinence and reduced depressive symptoms among women with high levels of depressive symptomatology. No significant main effects of treatment were hypothesized. Method: Pregnant smokers (N = 257) were randomly assigned to a 10-week, intensive, depression-focused intervention (cognitive behavioral analysis system of psychotherapy; CBASP) or to a time and contact control focused on health and wellness (HW); both included equivalent amounts of behavioral and motivational smoking cessation counseling. Of the sample, 54% were African American, and 37% met criteria for major depression. Mean age was 25 years (SD = 5.9), and women averaged 19.5 weeks (SD = 8.5) gestation at study entry. We measured symptoms of depression using the Center for Epidemiological Studies–Depression Scale (Radloff, 1977). Results: At 6 months posttreatment, women with higher levels of baseline depressive symptoms treated with CBASP were abstinent significantly more often, F(1, 253) = 5.61, p = .02, and had less depression, F(1, 2620) = 10.49, p = .001, than those treated with HW; those with low baseline depression fared better in HW. Differences in abstinence were not retained at 6 months postpartum. Conclusions: The results suggest that pregnant women with high levels of depressive symptoms may benefit from a depression-focused treatment in terms of improved abstinence and depressive symptoms, both of which could have a combined positive effect on maternal and child health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Awarding Health: Contracts at the National Institutes of a Sensitivity Analysis of the Critical Parameters

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) developed an initiative that will support tobacco prevention and control research in 17 states. The model that NCI used for choosing those states that would be funded is described in Hall et al. (Operations Research, Vol. 40, pp. 1040–1052, 1992). In this paper, we present sensitivity analyses of the critical parameters of that model, and we discuss the policy implications for nationwide tobacco control efforts.     

Care of patients with leg ulcers: a nursing perspective

Chest wall reconstruction may be required after resection of malignant tumours, radiation injuries, massive trauma or infection. The ideal reconstruction should provide enough stability in the chest wall to allow adequate, spontaneous ventilation, while protecting intrathoracic organs, and be cosmetically acceptable. Recent developments have enabled the reconstruction of defects of almost any size with minimal functional disturbance.     

Automatic target detection and recognition in multiband imagery: aunified ML detection and estimation approach

Multispectral or hyperspectral sensors can facilitate automatic target detection and recognition in clutter since natural clutter from vegetation is characterized by a grey body, and man-made objects, compared with blackbody radiators, emit radiation more strongly at some wavelengths. Various types of data fusion of the spectral-spatial features contained in multiband imagery developed for detecting and recognizing low-contrast targets in clutter appear to have a common framework. A generalized hypothesis test on the observed data is formulated by partitioning the received bands into two groups. In one group, targets exhibit substantial coloring in their signatures but behave either like grey bodies or emit negligible radiant energy in the other group. This general observation about the data generalizes the data models used previously. A unified framework for these problems, which utilizes a maximum likelihood ratio approach to detection, is presented. Within this framework, a performance evaluation and a comparison of the various types of multiband detectors are conducted by finding the gain of the SNR needed for detection as well as the gain required for separability between the target classes used for recognition. Certain multiband detectors become special cases in this framework. The incremental gains in SNR and separability obtained by using what are called target-feature bands plus clutter-reference bands are studied. Certain essential parameters are defined that effect the gains in SNR and target separability.     

Introduction to implantable biomedical IC design

The physiology of bioelectrical events is briefly explained. Batteries for implantable medical devices are discussed. MOS device physics is summarized. The design of DC-DC converters, very-low-frequently filters, and low-voltage logic for implantable devices is examined