On the recognition of printed characters of any font and size

We describe the current state of a system that recognizes printed text of various fonts and sizes for the Roman alphabet. The system combines several techniques in order to improve the overall recognition rate. Thinning and shape extraction are performed directly on a graph of the run-length encoding of a binary image. The resulting strokes and other shapes are mapped, using a shape-clustering approach, into binary features which are then fed into a statistical Bayesian classifier. Large-scale trials have shown better than 97 percent top choice correct performance on mixtures of six dissimilar fonts, and over 99 percent on most single fonts, over a range of point sizes. Certain remaining confusion classes are disambiguated through contour analysis, and characters suspected of being merged are broken and reclassified. Finally, layout and linguistic context are applied. The results are illustrated by sample pages.     

Electroanalytical tools to investigate the divalent state of Eu（III） and Nd（III） ions in non-aqueous medium

The divalent state of Ln(Ⅲ) ions has attracted much interest because of their ability to serve isomorphously in many biological sys-tem of divalent Ca(II) ion. Therefore, present paper deals with the study of divalent state of Eu(Ⅲ) and Nd(Ⅲ) ions in non-aqueous medium. In present study, cyclic voltammetry and chronopotentiometry were utilized to establish the divalent state of Eu(Ⅲ) and Nd(Ⅲ) ions. The cy-clic voltammetric technique showed two-step reduction process at cathode for both Ln(Ⅲ) ions under specified experimental conditions and chronopotentiometric method also showed two different transition times (). Looking to the shape of cyclic voltammogram we calculated het-erogeneous forward rate constant (K0fh, cm/s) and diffusion coefficient (D, cm2/s) for both ions, which suggested that sweep rate had great ef-fect on the shape of cyclic voltammogram of Eu(Ⅲ) and Nd(Ⅲ) ions. The result of chronopotentiometry also suggested that stable divalent states of Eu(Ⅲ) and Nd(III) ions existed with chronopotentiogram with two distinct transition times. The diffusion coefficients (D, cm2/s) were calculated from Sand equation. The diffusion coefficients of both techniques were compared and the results suggested that the system at electrode surface was changing from being reversible to irreversible.     

Comparison between enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and cytotoxic cross-match procedures for detecting IgG anti-donor antibodies

BACKGROUND: Disadvantages inherent to complement-dependent cytotoxicity cross-match (CDC XM) methods are the requirements for complement and viable target cells, detection of antibodies (Abs) against non-HLA antigens, and subjective scoring. Cross-Stat (SangStat Medical Corp., Menlo Park, CA), a recently developed enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay XM procedure for the detection of IgG anti-donor HLA Abs, is theoretically devoid of these flaws. METHODS: We compared results of Cross-Stat and our standard anti-human globulin (AHG)-enhanced CDC XM procedure on 524 sera from 230 transplant candidates, which were evaluated against 51 cadaveric donors. RESULTS: There was a significant correlation between AHG-CDC IgG XM and Cross-Stat results (P<0.001). For false negative sera, repeat AHG-CDC IgG XMs were still positive after platelet absorption, indicating that the Abs present were either non-HLA Abs or anti-HLA class II. Flow cytometry testing of false positive sera usually (42/62) substantiated Cross-Stat results, indicating that the discrepancy with AHG-CDC IgG XM is caused by greater sensitivity of Cross-Stat. Relative to the AHG-CDC XM, the sensitivity of Cross-Stat was 100%, the specificity was 93%, the positive predictive value was 73%, and the negative predictive value was 100%. A technical shortcoming of the Cross-Stat assay is that the frequency of indeterminate samples in the assays was 15%. Among 49 Cross-Stat negative vs. 13 Cross-Stat positive primary cadaveric renal allograft recipients (all AHG-CDC IgG-XM negative), there was no statistical difference in overall graft survival. CONCLUSION: Given the important theoretical advantages of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay-based XM methods over the CDC XM, however, further testing of the clinical relevance of the Cross-Stat is warranted.     

Synergistic interaction of 3 M KCl-extracted donor antigens (e-HAg) with cyclosporine or cyclosporine/sirolimus for prolongation of rat heart allograft survival

This article examines the attaching and detaching experience of a mother encountering the perinatal death of a twin. Her experience is related to the relevant theoretical and research literature pertaining to prebirth and postbirth maternal-infant attachment and detachment (grieving). Literature for both single infants and twins is considered. The experience of this mother suggests that elements of postbirth attachment may have been accelerated into the prebirth period. In addition, her postbirth attaching and detaching experience suggests that an attachment and detachment to the twins as a unit preceded detachment from the twin who died. The health care provider's role in promoting maternal well-being, and indirectly the well-being of the surviving infant, is described.     

Object trimming: When masking dots alter rather than replace target representations.

Five experiments demonstrate that when dots appear beside a briefly presented target object, and persist on view longer than the target, the flanked object is perceptually altered by the dots. Three methods are used to explore this object trimming effect. Experiments 1–3 assess participants’ conscious reports of trimmed digits, Experiment 4 uses repetition priming to explore the target representation, and Experiment 5 examines the perception of apparent motion in trimmed targets. Results of all three methods indicate that object trimming is influenced by mechanisms of perceptual grouping that operate on target representations prior to conscious access. Separate contributions from visual crowding and backward masking are also identified. These results imply that common-onset masking does not always result from the target being substituted by the mask, but that target and mask can sometimes maintain separate mental representations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Repetition blindness, forward and backward.

In these experiments, 2 letters were presented sequentially to the left and right of fixation, followed by pattern masks. Report was cued by spatial location (Experiments 1a, 1b, 2, 4, and 5) or temporal position (Experiments 3, 4, and 5). In all experiments, 2 identical letters on a trial resulted in reduced accuracy of report (repetition blindness; RB) for both the 1st and 2nd presented letters. This decrement was greater for the 2nd letter if subjects expected temporal cues, but tended to be greater for the Ist letter if they expected spatial cues. Analyses of errors and responses on catch trials indicated no bias against report of repetitions, and the repetition decrement did not interact with output order. The data are inconsistent with both type-refractoriness and memory-retrieval accounts of RB. A modified version of N. G. Kanwisher's (1987) token-individuation theory is proposed to account for the results. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Can an immunologically, nonreactive potential allograft recipient undergo transplantation without a donor-specific crossmatch?

Performance of the pretransplant crossmatch requires 4 or more hours . Delays in the crossmatch might alter operating room availability and thereby increase donor organ cold ischemia time that might then result in increased risk of delayed graft function. To avoid these problems, recipients could be identified who would be expected to display negative donor crossmatches and who could be transplanted with a concurrent or retrospective rather than a pretransplant crossmatch. We, therefore, evaluated the percent reactive antibodies and donor IgG-antihuman globulin (AHG) crossmatch results of 1165 sera from 220 potential allograft recipients. Twenty-five (11%) of 220 recipients consistently displayed a 0% PRA and, with only one exception, their sera (n= 156) tested IgG-AHG crossmatch-negative against potential cadaveric donors (a 0.6% IgG-AHG positive crossmatch risk). These data suggest that the timing of the pretransplant serum crossmatch could be altered for a highly selected group of immunologically nonreactive recipients.     

Rapamycin: personal algorithms for use based on 250 treated renal allograft recipients

RAPA represents a likely candidate for addition to the maintenance immunosuppressive regimen, for it seems to potentiate markedly the efficacy fo CyA-based therapy. RAPA reduces the incidence of acute rejection episodes; indeed, it may even be useful to disrupt ongoing steroid- and antibody-resistant cellular and humoral acute rejection reactions. Some data in model systems, both in vitro and in vivo, suggest that RAPA may afford prophylaxis against chronic rejection. The enhanced immunosuppression is likely to permit reduction in CyA doses/concentration, thereby mitigating its nephrotoxic effects, and to permit withdrawal of corticosteroids, providing relief from their osteopenic, myopathic, and metabolic effects. As with other potent immunosuppressives, RAPA causes a range of adverse side effects, most importantly myelosuppression and hyperlipidemia. Hypothesis-testing investigations are already underway to elucidate the mechanisms of the adverse effects so as to design strategies to minimize their impact on posttransplant morbidity.