More about polyhedra-interpretation through constructions in the image plane

This paper deals with the interpretation and feasibility check of line drawings representing polyhedral scenes. The polyhedra are of general types and there are no restrictions on camera position. The geometric consistency check and the line labeling are carried out through constructions in the image plane. An algorithm for the geometric construction is suggested, and the necessary conditions for these constructions are discussed. The image plane construction can be used for preparing labeled junction catalogs for junctions other than trihedral. In addition the paper analyzes the relation between the image plane construction and the gradient space construction suggested by Mackworth [7] for the same purpose.     

An Alternative Approach for Solving the Environmentally-Oriented Discrete Network Design Problem

This paper addresses the discrete network design problem (DNDP) with emphasis on the environmental benefits. These benefits are traditionally quantified by emission models, which in general account for vehicle speeds, traffic flows and emission coefficients. An alternative approach for approximating the environmental impact of traffic is developed. This approach finds the route that keeps the most balanced speed profile throughout the route, which contributes to fuel consumption reduction. The paper formulates an optimization problem that includes the described approach for the DNDP. The solution of the problem consists of projects that contribute the most to the generation of such “balanced speed routes”. The paper illustrates the problem and the solution for a real-size network with a medium-size set of candidate projects.     

Capturing new developments in an emerging technology: an updated search strategy for identifying nanotechnology research outputs

Bibliometric analysis of publication metadata is an important tool for investigating emerging fields of technology. However, the application of field definitions to define an emerging technology is complicated by ongoing and at times rapid change in the underlying technology itself. There is limited prior work on adapting the bibliometric definitions of emerging technologies as these technologies change over time. The paper addresses this gap. We draw on the example of the modular keyword nanotechnology search strategy developed at Georgia Institute of Technology in 2006. This search approach has seen extensive use in analyzing emerging trends in nanotechnology research and innovation. Yet with the growth of the nanotechnology field, novel materials, particles, technologies, and tools have appeared. We report on the process and results of reviewing and updating this nanotechnology search strategy. By employing structured text-mining software to profile keyword terms, and by soliciting input from domain experts, we identify new nanotechnology-related keywords. We retroactively apply the revised evolutionary lexical query to 20 years of publication data and analyze the results. Our findings indicate that the updated search approach offers an incremental improvement over the original strategy in terms of recall and precision. Additionally, the updated strategy reveals the importance for nanotechnology of several emerging cited-subject categories, particularly in the biomedical sciences, suggesting a further extension of the nanotechnology knowledge domain. The implications of the work for applying bibliometric definitions to emerging technologies are discussed.     

Workload, control, and social support effects on serum lipids: A longitudinal study among apparently healthy employed adults.

The authors investigated the direct and interactive effects of the job demand– control–support (JDC-S) model’s components on subsequent changes in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides (TRI) separately for male and female employees. In contrast to all 14 past studies on these relationships, the authors used a longitudinal design. Study participants (N = 1,137, 66% men) were all apparently healthy employees who underwent a routine health check at 2 points in time (Time 1 and Time 2) about 22 months apart. In these analyses, the authors controlled for the Time 1 level of each criterion and for other confounders. Most of the direct and moderating effects found did not support the predictions of the JDC-S model; this finding is in agreement with the majority of past cross-sectional studies. The authors did not find any evidence supporting the existence of a reverse causation for either of the components of the JDC-S model. The authors suggest that serum lipids may not be a physiological mechanism mediating the effects of the JDC-S model on atherosclerotic diseases. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Generating a multiplicity of policies for agent steering in crowd simulation

Pedestrian steering algorithms range from completely procedural to entirely data‐driven, but the former grossly generalize across possible human behaviors and suffer computationally, whereas the latter are limited by the burden of ever‐increasing data samples. Our approach seeks the balanced middle ground by deriving a collection of machine‐learned policies based on the behavior of a procedural steering algorithm through the decomposition of the space of possible steering scenarios into steering contexts. The resulting algorithm scales well in the number of contexts, the use of new data sets to create new policies, and in the number of controlled agents as the policies become a simple evaluation of the rules asserted by the machine‐learning process. We also explore the use of synthetic data from an “oracle algorithm” that serves as an as‐needed source of samples, which can be stochastically polled for effective coverage. We observe that our approach produces pedestrian steering similar to that of the oracle steering algorithm, but with a significant performance boost. Runtime was reduced from hours under the oracle algorithm with 10 agents to on the order of 10 frames per second (FPS) with 3000 agents. We also analyze the nature of collisions in such a framework with no explicit collision avoidance. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Electronic Properties of C60 Thin Films

Abstract

The electronic structure of polycrystalline C₆₀ thin films has been investigated using surface photovoltage spectroscopy (SPS) and conductivity measurements. the films show n-type semiconductivity with an activation energy of ～ 0.8 eV as found from the temperature dependence of the conductivity at high temperatures. the electronic structure emerging from our SPS results comprises a 1.6 eV photo-conduction gap, a mobility gap of about 2.25 eV and two gap states, a donor and an acceptor, at 0.35 eV and (1.0-1.1) eV, respectively, below the photo-conduction edge. the results indicate the possibility of the existence of band tails, extending into the optical gap of these films, as well as other deep gap states.     

Advanced trauma life support versus Combat Trauma Life Support courses: a comparison of cognitive knowledge decline

Post-thyroidectomy I-131 whole-body scintigraphy is an important aspect in the management of patients with thyroid cancer. The scan is used to detect residual thyroid tissue and distant functioning metastases. Extrathyroid I-131 accumulation does not always denote metastatic disease, and several potential sources of false-positive I-131 scans have been identified. This report presents four cases of benign oral disease as a cause of false-positive I-131 uptake. Benign oral disease has not been documented previously as an important source of false-positive I-131 whole-body scans.