bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
HLA-A2-Restricted CD8+-Cytotoxic-T-Cell Responses to Novel Epitopes inMycobacterium tuberculosisSuperoxide Dismutase, Alanine Dehydrogenase, and Glutamine Synthetase
Authors: Dong Yuzhi , Demaria Sandra , Sun Xuming , Santori Fabio R. , Jesdale Bill M. , De Groot Anne S. , Rom William N. , Bushkin Yuri
Published: March 2004

Major histocompatibility complex class I-restricted CD8+cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) are implicated in protective Th1 immunity toMycobacterium tuberculosisinfection. We report the identification of three novel HLA-A*0201-restricted CTL epitopes within mycobacterial superoxide dismutase (SodA),l-alanine dehydrogenase (AlaDH), andl-glutamine synthetase (GlnS) proteins.
Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate Dehydrogenase of
Streptococcus pneumoniae
Is a Surface-Displayed Plasminogen-Binding Protein
Authors: Bergmann Simone , Rohde Manfred , Hammerschmidt Sven
Published: March 2004

The recruitment of plasminogen endows the bacterial cell surface of
Streptococcus pneumoniae
with proteolytic activity. In this study we demonstrate specific plasmin- and plasminogen-binding activity for the glycolytic enzyme glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), which is located in the cytoplasm as well as on the surface of pneumococci. GAPDH exhibits a high affinity for plasmin and a significantly lower affinity for plasminogen.
Neutralization of Interleukin-10 Significantly Enhances Gamma Interferon Expression in Peripheral Blood by Stimulation with Johnin Purified Protein Derivative and by Infection withMycobacterium aviumsubsp.paratuberculosisin Experimentally Infected Cattle with Paratuberculosis
Authors: Buza Joram J. , Hikono Hirokazu , Mori Yasuyuki , Nagata Reiko , Hirayama Sachiyo , Bari Abusaleh M. , Shu Yujing , Tsuji Noriko M. , Momotani Eiichi
Published: March 2004

Monoclonal antibody neutralization of interleukin-10 (IL-10) increased Johnin purified protein derivative-induced whole-blood gamma interferon (IFN-γ) secretion 23-fold and also increased IFN-γ secretion ninefold following in vitroMycobacterium aviumsubsp.paratuberculosisinfection of peripheral blood mononuclear cells. These results demonstrate the suppressive effect of IL-10 on immune responses toM. aviumsubsp.paratuberculosisinfection in cattle.
Yersinia pseudotuberculosis
Anti-Inflammatory Components Reduce Trinitrobenzene Sulfonic Acid-Induced Colitis in the Mouse
Authors: Marceau Michael , Dubuquoy Laurent , Caucheteux-Rousseaux Christel , Foligne Benoit , Desreumaux Pierre , Simonet Michel
Published: March 2004

Rectal instillation of trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS) induces acute colitis in the mouse. We tested the efficacy of
Yersinia pseudotuberculosis
anti-inflammatory components in preventing TNBS-triggered colitis. Animals were orally inoculated with virulence-attenuated
Yersinia
cells (a
phoP
mutant) prior to TNBS administration. Under these experimental conditions, colonic lesions and tumor necrosis factor alpha mRNA levels were significantly reduced.
Adaptation of Diverse Lyme Disease Spirochetes in a Natural Rodent Reservoir Host
Authors: Richter Dania , Klug Birte , Spielman Andrew , Matuschka Franz-Rainer
Published: March 2004

We compared the relative reservoir competence of European wood mice for two genospecies of Lyme disease spirochetes by analyzing susceptibility, intrinsic incubation period, and degree and duration of infectivity.Borrelia afzelii, specializing in particular reservoir hosts, is better adapted to those hosts than is the more generalist genospeciesB. burgdorferisensu stricto.
Evaluation of the reliability of two field hockey specific sprint and dribble tests in young field hockey players
Authors: Lemmink K A P M , Elferink-Gemser M T , Visscher C
Published: March 2004

Objectives:To determine the reliability of two field hockey specific tests: the shuttle sprint and dribble test (ShuttleSDT) and the slalom sprint and dribble test (SlalomSDT).

Methods:The shuttle sprint and dribble performances of 22 young male and 12 young female field hockey players were assessed on two occasions within 4 weeks. Twenty one young female field hockey players took part in the slalom sprint and dribble test twice in a 4 week period.

The ShuttleSDT required the players to perform three 30 m shuttle sprints while carrying a hockey stick alternated with short periods of rest and, after a 5 minute rest, three 30 m shuttle sprints alternated with rest while dribbling a hockey ball. The SlalomSDT required the players to run a slalom course and, after a 5 minute rest, to dribble the same slalom with a hockey ball.

Results:There were no differences in mean time scores between the two test sessions. The mean differences were small when compared with the means of both test sessions. With the exception of the slalom sprint time, zero lay within the 95% confidence interval of the mean differences indicating that no bias existed between the two measurements. With the exception of delta shuttle time (0.79), all intraclass correlation coefficient values for the ShuttleSDT, met the criterion for reliability of 0.80. Intraclass correlation coefficient values for SlalomSDT were 0.91 for slalom sprint time, 0.78 for slalom dribble time, and 0.80 for delta slalom time.

Conclusions:ShuttleSDT and the SlalomSDT are reliable measures of sprint and dribble performances of young field hockey players.
Reliability of a device measuring triceps surae muscle fatigability
Authors: Haber M , Golan E , Azoulay L , Kahn S R , Shrier I
Published: March 2004

Objective:To examine the test–retest reliability of a protocol using an apparatus designed to standardise the standing heel rise test for the triceps surae muscle.

Subjects:40 healthy subjects volunteered to test short and medium term test–retest reliability (group SM, median age 24 years), and a convenience sample of 38 subjects with a history of unilateral deep vein thrombosis (DVT) volunteered to test long term test–retest reliability (group L, median age 52 years).

Design:Subjects carried out 23 heel rises per minute until either the pace or the height could no longer be maintained. Group SM subjects repeated the test 30 minutes later (short term), and again 48 hours later (medium term). Subjects in group L did the test on the unaffected leg, and repeated the test one week later (long term).

Results:The median number of heel rises achieved per trial in group SM was 34 (range 16 to 120). The intraclass coefficient (ICC) was 0.93 (SEM 2.1) for both 30 minute and 48 hour test–retest reliability. In group L, the median number of heel rises was 27 (range 9 to 97), with ICC 0.88 and SEM 3.4.

Conclusions:The apparatus is a simple and inexpensive standardised tool that reliably measures triceps surae fatigability in subjects with no current injury. Future research should assess its use in injured patients.
Pseudarthrosis of the first rib in the overhead athlete: Figure 1
Authors: Mithöfer K , Giza E
Published: March 2004

Fractures of the first rib are uncommon in athletes and present a different clinical entity from traumatic first rib fracture associated with high energy thoracic trauma. These fractures are stress induced and precipitated by chronic muscular forces acting on the first rib. Typically they heal with conservative treatment. This report describes a fracture of the first rib in a tennis player that developed into a symptomatic pseudarthrosis as a result of persistent overhead activities. Symptoms mimicked ipsilateral shoulder injury. Pseudarthrosis of the first rib should be included in the differential diagnosis of chronic persistent shoulder pain in the overhead athlete.
Effects of leg massage on recovery from high intensity cycling exercise
Authors: Robertson A , Watt J M , Galloway S D R
Published: March 2004

Background:The effect of massage on recovery from high intensity exercise is debatable. Many studies on massage suffer from methodological flaws such as poor standardisation of previous exercise, lack of dietary control, and inappropriate massage duration.

Objective:To examine the effects of leg massage compared with passive recovery on lactate clearance, muscular power output, and fatigue characteristics after repeated high intensity cycling exercise, with the conditions before the intervention controlled and standardised.

Methods:Nine male games players participated. They attended the laboratory on two occasions one week apart and at the same time of day. Dietary intake and activity were replicated for the two preceding days on each occasion. After baseline measurement of heart rate and blood lactate concentration, subjects performed a standardised warm up on the cycle ergometer. This was followed by six standardised 30 second high intensity exercise bouts, interspersed with 30 seconds of active recovery. After five minutes of active recovery and either 20 minutes of leg massage or supine passive rest, subjects performed a second standardised warm up and a 30 second Wingate test. Capillary blood samples were drawn at intervals, and heart rate, peak power, mean power, and fatigue index were recorded.

Results:There were no significant differences in mean power during the initial high intensity exercise bouts (p  =  0.92). No main effect of massage was observed on blood lactate concentration between trials (p  =  0.82) or heart rate (p  =  0.81). There was no difference in the maximum power (p  =  0.75) or mean power (p  =  0.66) in the subsequent Wingate test, but a significantly lower fatigue index was observed in the massage trial (p  =  0.04; mean (SD) fatigue index 30.2 (4.1)%v34.2 (3.3)%).

Conclusions:No measurable physiological effects of leg massage compared with passive recovery were observed on recovery from high intensity exercise, but the subsequent effect on fatigue index warrants further investigation.
Validity and factor structure of the bodybuilding dependence scale
Authors: Smith D , Hale B
Published: March 2004

Objectives:To investigate the factor structure, validity, and reliability of the bodybuilding dependence scale and to investigate differences in bodybuilding dependence between men and women and competitive and non-competitive bodybuilders.

Methods:Seventy two male competitive bodybuilders, 63 female competitive bodybuilders, 87 male non-competitive bodybuilders, and 63 non-competitive female bodybuilders completed the bodybuilding dependence scale (BDS), the exercise dependence questionnaire (EDQ), and the muscle dysmorphia inventory (MDI).

Results:Confirmatory factor analysis of the BDS supported a three factor model of bodybuilding dependence, consisting of social dependence, training dependence, and mastery dependence (Q =  3.16, CFI  =  0.98, SRMR  =  0.04). Internal reliability of all three subscales was high (Cronbach’s α  =  0.92, 0.92, and 0.93 respectively). Significant (p<0.001) and moderate correlations were found between all BDS and MDI subscales, and between five of the eight EDQ subscales. A multivariate analysis of covariance, with univariateFtests and Tukey HSD tests, revealed that both male and female competitive bodybuilders scored significantly (p<0.05) higher on all three BDS subscales than the male and female non-competitive bodybuilders. However, there were no significant sex differences on any of the BDS subscales (p>0.05).

Conclusion:The three factor BDS appears to be a reliable and valid measure of bodybuilding dependence. Symptoms of bodybuilding dependence are more prevalent in competitive bodybuilders than non-competitive ones, but there are no significant sex differences in bodybuilding dependence.
A successful conservative approach to managing lower leg pain in a university sports injury clinic: a two patient case study
Authors: Cunningham A , Spears I R
Published: March 2004

There is a lack of information on the conservative treatment of lower leg pain induced by running. In this study, non-invasive treatment based on a change of footwear was applied to two patients, and, on the basis of pain scale questionnaires, deemed successful.
Comparison of three preventive methods in order to reduce the incidence of ankle inversion sprains among female volleyball players
Authors: Stasinopoulos D
Published: March 2004

Background:Ankle sprains are the most common form of acute injury in volleyball. A prevention programme consisting of technical training, proprioceptive training, and external support was previously designed to reduce the rate of ankle sprains in volleyball players.

Objective:To investigate which of these three interventions is the most effective in preventing ankle sprain in female volleyball players.

Methods:Participants were 52 players who suffered ankle sprains during the season 1998–1999. They were divided randomly into three preventive groups: group 1 (n = 18) followed the technical training programme; group 2 (n = 17) followed the proprioceptive programme; group 3 (n = 17) used orthosis. The players followed their respective programmes for the whole of the 1999–2000 season. Data were collected at the end of the season.

Results:The three preventive strategies were all effective in preventive further ankle sprain. Technical training was slightly more effective than the other two methods. Orthosis was not effective in athletes who had suffered ankle sprains more than three times during their careers. Under those circumstances, technical training and proprioceptive training were equally effective at preventive further sprains.

Conclusions:Technical training and proprioceptive training are effective methods of preventing ankle sprain in volleyball players who have suffered this injury four or more times during their career. Orthosis appears effective only in players with fewer than four previous sprains.
The effect of pre-season dance training on physical indices and back pain in elite cross-country skiers: a prospective controlled intervention study
Authors: Alricsson M , Werner S
Published: March 2004

Objective:To evaluate the effect of pre-season dance training on back pain, joint mobility, and muscle flexibility, and on speed and agility in elite cross-country skiers.

Methods:26 skiers participated (mean (SD) age, 19 (3.9) years). An intervention group (n = 16) had 12 weeks of dance training; a control group (n = 10) did not dance; otherwise both groups followed a similar pre-season physical training programme. Joint mobility and muscle flexibility of the spine, hip, and ankle were measured. Two sports related functional tests (slalom and hurdle) were also done. All measurements/tests were carried out before and after the dancing period.

Results:Four (of six) subjects from the intervention group who initially complained of ski related back pain did not report back pain after the dance training; the three subjects with back pain from the control group were unchanged. At study onset the intervention group had a slightly impaired range of motion in the spine compared with the control group. After dance training, there was a better relation between kyphosis of the thoracic spine and lordosis of the lumbar spine, and a 7.1° increase in hip flexion with the knee extended (p = 0.02). In the control group hip extension decreased by 0.08 m on average (p = 0.01). No positive effects of dance training on sports related functional tests were observed.

Conclusions:Preseason dance training improved the range of hip motion and joint mobility and the flexibility of the spine. These improvements might explain the reduction in ski related back pain in the intervention group.
Exercise induced compartment syndrome in a professional footballer: Table 1
Authors: Cetinus E , Uzel M , Bilgiç E , Karaoguz A , Herdem M
Published: March 2004

Recurrent pain in the lower leg caused by exercise is a common problem in athletes. The main causes are exercise induced compartment syndrome, periostitis of the tibia, stress fracture, venous diseases, obliterative arterial diseases, and shin splints. Exercise induced compartment syndrome is the least common. A recurrent tightening or tense sensation and aching in anatomically defined compartments is pathognomonic. The symptoms are caused by abnormally high pressure in compartments of the leg during and after exercise. In this report, a case of exercise induced compartment syndrome in a professional footballer is described.
Defining the sports medicine specialist in the United Kingdom: a Delphi study
Authors: Thompson B , MacAuley D , McNally O , O’Neill S
Published: March 2004

Objective:To define the role and responsibilities of the sports medicine specialist using a recognised research technique.

Methods:A Delphi technique was employed using anonymous postal questionnaires sent to a random sample of 300 members of the British Association of Sport and Exercise Medicine. The questionnaire of 300 putative attributes was developed in a pilot study and the Delphi technique used allowed participants to modify their responses according to the responses of other participants.

Results:There was a 53% response to both rounds of the study with 75.6% of the respondents being male, 39% having a higher qualification in sports medicine, and 45.6% being general practitioners. Some 86.3% strongly agreed that sport and exercise medicine should be a recognised speciality and 90% strongly agreed that it should be available on the National Health Service (NHS). The most important specialist attributes were orthopaedic and soft tissue medicine (83.6% strongly agreed) and emergency medical management (79.7% strongly agreed). More than 75% of respondents did not agree that either research or personal playing experience were relevant.

Conclusion:Sports and exercise medicine is an evolving speciality in the United Kingdom. We believe this is the first systematic attempt to define the role and responsibilities of the sports medicine specialist and the findings are of relevance to the future development of a career pathway.
Spontaneous atrial fibrillation in a freestyle skier
Authors: Whyte G , Stephens N , Sharma S , Shave R , Budgett R , McKenna W J
Published: March 2004

A male freestyle skier was found to have atrial fibrillation during a routine physiological assessment. This was found to be associated with the consumption of an unusually large amount of alcohol. Athletes should be counselled about the potential dangers of alcohol consumption before exhaustive exercise.
IMPROVED BLACK HOLE ENTROPY CALCULATION WITHOUT CUTOFF
Authors: SUN XUEFENG , LIU WENBIAO
Published: March 2004

The brick wall model and thin film model are most representative models in black hole entropy calculation. However, each of them must have a cutoff in order to avoid the divergence, and the divergence itself cannot be explained satisfactorily. Li Xiang6 substituted the classical uncertainty relation with the generalized uncertainty relation, the divergence was removed, consequently the cutoff was also removed. But due to the complex expression, he did not give the final solution. He only drew a conclusion that the upper bound of a black hole entropy is in proportional to its horizon area. The method using the generalized uncertainty relation to brick wall model is studied in depth. It is finally found out that the black hole entropy itself is also proportional to its horizon area instead of the upper bound.
QUARKONIUM CHROMO-POLARIZABILITY FROM THE DECAYS J/ψ(ϒ)→ππℓ+ℓ-
Authors: VOLOSHIN M. B.
Published: March 2004

It is pointed out that the diagonal amplitude of the E1–E1 chromo-electric interaction with soft gluon fields (chromo-polarizability) can be measured directly for the J/ψ and ϒ resonances in the decays J/ψ→ππℓ+ℓ- and ϒ→ππℓ+ℓ- with soft pions. For the J/ψ this amplitude is often discussed in connection with the J/ψ interaction with nuclear matter, while for the ϒ the chromo-polarizability enters the estimates of the nonperturbative mass shift of the resonance relevant to precision determination of the b quark mass from the ϒ mass.
A QUANTUM BRST–ANTI-BRST APPROACH TO CLASSICAL INTEGRABLE SYSTEMS
Authors: CHESTERMAN MICHAEL , SILKA MARCELO B.
Published: March 2004

We reformulate the conditions of Liouville integrability in the language of Gozzi et al.'s quantum BRST–anti-BRST description of classical mechanics. The Das–Okubo geometrical Lax equation is particularly suited for this approach. We find that the Lax pair and inverse scattering wave function appear naturally in certain sectors of the quantum theory.
NONCOMMUTATIVE GEOMETRY AND SUPERCONNECTIONS FOR SPONTANEOUS GAUGE SYMMETRY BREAKDOWN
Authors: NE'EMAN YUVAL
Published: March 2004

Superalgebras of differential forms have been used to guarantee off-mass-shell unitarity in gauge theories. Another type connects the one-forms of the gauge connections with the zero-forms of the Higgs field in a spontaneously-broken gauge symmetry and predicts the mass of the Higgs particle.
MACRODYNAMICS OF ELECTRICAL ACTIVITY IN THE WHOLE BRAIN
Authors: BAŞAR EROL
Published: March 2004

The general problem of brain mechanisms involved in perception can now be studied directly by means of new analysis–methods for the activity of large population of neurons. These methods range from indirect means of measuring changes in cerebral blood flow in local regions of the human cortex (functional magnetic resonance imaging, fMRI), or changes in the electrical activity of the human brain with EEG-recording with topological distributed macroelectrodes, to the use of chronically implanted multiple microelectrodes in primates. f MRI has the disadvantage of low temporal resolution and with multiple microelectrodes long distance measurements cannot yet be properly performed. Accordingly, recording of macro-activity (EEG/ERP or MEG) with a time resolution of millisecond-range is the most possibly adequate method to measure the dynamic properties of memory and the integrative brain function.

Since neuroscientists have come to the general conclusion that large numbers of different brain regions have to cooperate for any brain function, the analysis of relationships between different regions of the brain is becoming more and more important.

Before new progresses and importance of EEG studies research became clear, scientists working with macrodynamics of the brain had a long way to go, in order to elucidate brain functioning. In this tutorial report we explain in a narrative way the developments leading to the concept of Macrodynamics in search of an integrative brain function. Moreover, elements of a brain theory, which we call neurons-brain theory describing the dynamics of electrical activity in the whole brain, are introduced. The concept of superbinding in integrative brain function, which emerged from experimental data, is a consequence of this theory.
PREDICTABILITY IMPROVEMENT AS AN ASYMMETRICAL MEASURE OF INTERDEPENDENCE IN BIVARIATE TIME SERIES
Authors: FELDMANN UTE , BHATTACHARYA JOYDEEP
Published: March 2004

In many signal processing applications, especially in the analysis of complex physiological systems, an important problem is to detect and quantify the interdependencies between signals (or time series). In this paper, we focus on asymmetrical relations between two time series with the aim of quantification of the directional influences between them in the sense of "who drives whom and how strongly". To meet this aim, we modify the mixed state analysis, which was proposed by Wiesenfeldt et al. [2001] to detect primarily the nature of the coupling (unidirectional or bidirectional), for the quantification of the strength of coupling in each direction. We introduce the predictability improvement of one time series by additional consideration of another time series. The newly developed measure is an analogue of the information theoretic concept of transfer entropy and is applicable to short time series. We demonstrate the application of this approach to coupled deterministic systems and to EEG data.
RECURRENT AFFECTIVE DISORDERS: NONLINEAR AND STOCHASTIC MODELS OF DISEASE DYNAMICS
Authors: HUBER MARTIN T. , BRAUN HANS A. , KRIEG JÜRGEN-C.
Published: March 2004

Affective disorders tend to be recurrent and progressive and illness patterns typically evolve from isolated episodes at the beginning to more rapid, rhythmic and finally irregular "chaotic" mood patterns. Chararacteristic timecourse and disease patterns have prompted the consideration of nonlinear dynamics and chaos. In this paper we review some of our recent work where we addressed the relevance of nonlinear, stochastic and resulting cooperative dynamics for disease patterns and temporal course of affective disorders by use of a computational approach.
AN ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK FOR MODELING EVOKED AND EVENT-RELATED POTENTIALS
Authors: HUTT AXEL
Published: March 2004

The present work reviews briefly a segmentation method and a modeling approach for multivariate quasi-stationary data. The combination of both parts allows the extraction of low-dimensional models from multidimensional data. The segmentation method is applied to event-related potentials and fields and early auditory evoked potentials and extracts ERP- and ERF-components and early auditory waves objectively and independent from the number of segments. Additionally, the early auditory wave Pa is modeled by a two-dimensional system of ordinary differential equations. We find a common topology of wave Pa, which lets us conjecture intrinsic low-dimensional underlying attractors in the corresponding neuronal dynamics.
INFORMATION PROCESSING IN BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR DISPLAYED IN LARGE-SCALE SCALP TOPOGRAPHIES SUCH AS EEG AND MEG
Authors: JIRSA VIKTOR K.
Published: March 2004

We discuss a notion of information processing in brain and behavioral dynamics, in particular the processing of meaningful information, which is testable by means of an experimental coordination and transition paradigm. Two hypotheses on the existence and persistence of mappings between the dynamics of behavioral and brain signals are formulated. A mathematical foundation for the first hypothesis is suggested by means of Volterra integral expansions and by means of excitable systems. Brain signals are captured as cortical currents, as well as the resulting scalp topographies, such as electroencephalograms (EEG) and magnetoencephalograms (MEG). Experimental evidence is provided to support the hypothesis on the existence of such spatiotemporal mappings between behavioral and brain signals.
BLIND SOURCE SEPARATION TECHNIQUES FOR DECOMPOSING EVENT-RELATED BRAIN SIGNALS
Authors: MÜLLER KLAUS-ROBERT , VIGÁRIO RICARDO , MEINECKE FRANK , ZIEHE ANDREAS
Published: March 2004

Recently blind source separation (BSS) methods have been highly successful when applied to biomedical data. This paper reviews the concept of BSS and demonstrates its usefulness in the context of event-related MEG measurements. In a first experiment we apply BSS to artifact identification of raw MEG data and discuss how the quality of the resulting independent component projections can be evaluated. The second part of our study considers averaged data of event-related magnetic fields. Here, it is particularly important to monitor and thus avoid possible overfitting due to limited sample size. A stability assessment of the BSS decomposition allows to solve this task and an additional grouping of the BSS components reveals interesting structure, that could ultimately be used for gaining a better physiological modeling of the data.
HOW TO CONSTRUCT A MICROSTATE-BASED ALPHABET FOR EVALUATING INFORMATION PROCESSING IN TIME
Authors: SCHACK BÄRBEL
Published: March 2004

Cognitive processes are highly dynamic processes concatenating different components of human thinking successively or parallel in time. Thereby, different cortical networks are generated, transient or stable in time. One important integration mechanism between different cortical sites is the synchronization of electrical oscillations of neural ensembles. Prior studies have shown that instantaneous EEG coherence analysis is a useful tool to unhide transient synchronization phenomena (see e.g. [Krause et al., 1998; Miltner et al., 1999; Schack et al., 1999a, 1999b]). In those studies instantaneous coherence was investigated for selected short time intervals, respectively, specific time parameters of instantaneous coherence were examined.

The present study proposes a method for the evaluation of the whole cognitive process on the basis of instantaneous coherence without loss of time and process information. To this purpose prototypical microstates of synchronous oscillations are constructed. Their temporal, sequential and topographical properties reflect the underlying process of the dynamic activation and deactivation of neuronal networks during information processing. The sequence of microstates may be understood as the orderly arrangement of words of an alphabet in the correspondent thinking process.

The presented method is applied to an event-related cognitive task of comparing categorization processes, pattern comparison, and to an irreproducible long task when solving mathematical problems. In both cases we obtain detailed information about temporal structures and strategies of human thinking.
COMPLEXITY OF EYE MOVEMENTS IN READING
Authors: ENGBERT R. , KLIEGL R. , LONGTIN A.
Published: March 2004

During reading, our eyes perform complicated sequences of fixations on words. Stochastic models of eye movement control suggest that this seemingly erratic behavior can be attributed to noise in the oculomotor system and random fluctuations in lexical processing. Here, we present a qualitative analysis of a recently published dynamical model [Engbert et al., 2002] and propose that deterministic nonlinear control accounts for much of the observed complexity of eye movement patterns during reading. Based on a symbolic coding technique we analyze robust statistical features of simulated fixation sequences.
PARALLEL VISUAL PROCESSING: A TUTORIAL OF RETINAL FUNCTION
Authors: WERBLIN FRANK S. , ROSKA BOTOND M.
Published: March 2004

The mammalian retina extracts a set of 12 different "movies" from the visual scene and send each movie to higher visual centers. These movies exist in physically distinct strata of the inner retina, embodied in the dendritic arborizations of a dozen different ganglion cell types. The dendritic arbors are stacked in discrete layers throughout the inner retina where they are synaptically contacted by excitatory and inhibitory connections from a variety of different cell types. This paper outlines the synaptic and physical structure of these layers, and follows the image of a face through the retina from photoreceptors to final output, graphically displaying the transformations that take place as the image is processed by different neural structures.
RECEPTIVE FIELD ATLAS AND RELATED CNN MODELS
Authors: GÁL V. , HÁMORI J. , ROSKA T. , BÁLYA D. , BOROSTYÁNKŐI ZS. , BRENDEL M. , LOTZ K. , NÉGYESSY L. , ORZÓ L. , PETRÁS I. , REKECZKY CS. , TAKÁCS J. , VENETIÁNER P. , VIDNYÁNSZKY Z. , ZARÁNDY Á.
Published: March 2004

In this paper we demonstrate the potential of the cellular nonlinear/neural network paradigm (CNN) that of the analogic cellular computer architecture (called CNN Universal Machine — CNN-UM) in modeling different parts and aspects of the nervous system. The structure of the living sensory systems and the CNN share a lot of features in common: local interconnections ("receptive field architecture"), nonlinear and delayed synapses for the processing tasks, the potentiality of feedback and using the advantages of both the analog and logic signal-processing mode. The results of more than ten years of cooperative work of many engineers and neurobiologists have been collected in an atlas: what we present here is a kind of selection from these studies emphasizing the flexibility of the CNN computing: visual, tactile and auditory modalities are concerned.
BARRIER THICKNESS DEPENDENCE OF OPTICAL ABSORPTION OF EXCITONS IN GaAs COUPLED QUANTUM WIRE
Authors: KASAPOGLU E. , GUNES M. , SARI H. , SÖKMEN I.
Published: March 2004

We have calculated the binding energy of excitons, and the interband optical absorption in rectangular coupled quantum-well wires of GaAs surrounded by Ga 1-x Al x As in effective-mass approximation, using the variational approach. Results obtained show that the exciton binding energies and optical absorption depend on the sizes of the wire and barrier thickness. To the best of our knowledge the exciton binding energy and interband optical absorption in the rectangular coupled quantum wires have not been clarified yet.
POSITRON ANNIHILATION AT POLYMERIC SURFACES
Authors: RATHORE M. K. , SHRIVASTAVA S. B. , RATHORE V. , JOSHI K. P. , GUPTA V. K.
Published: March 2004

The mechanism of slow positron annihilation at polymeric surfaces has been discussed in terms of positron diffusion at the surface and trapping of positrons and positronium in free volume holes. The one-dimensional diffusion equation has been solved and the rate equations have been set up to describe the various processes supposed to occur when a thermalized positron encounters the polymeric surface. The model has been used to calculate the Doppler broadening of the line shape parameter (S parameter) in polyurethane and polystyrene as a function of incident positron energy and temperature. The results have been compared with the available experimental data. The S parameter vs temperature curves show a remarkable discontinuity at the glass transition temperature (Tg). Large variation in the S parameter has been observed at low energies, suggesting a significant structure of free volume holes near the surface.
ETHYLENE REACTIVITY WITH SILICON SURFACE
Authors: ZAÏBI M.-A. , LACHARME J.-P.
Published: March 2004

The clean Si (111)(7×7) surface has been exposed to ethylene ( C 2 H 4) doses, up to 7000 L (1 L =10-6 Torr ×1 s ) at most, under ultrahigh vacuum. The structural and electronic property changes of the surface have been studied by low energy electron diffraction (LEED), Auger electron spectrometry (AES) and photoemission yield spectroscopy (PYS). The interaction presents two types of kinetic adsorption, where the first is produced below 3000 L of C 2 H 4. In the first step, the ethylene molecule is adsorbed molecularly and the initial sticking coefficient S 0 is very low (S0≈2×10-3). At the saturation (≈ 5000–6000 L), the valence band is fitted by a power law (E — 4.42)2.5 eV .1,2 The surface is then a stronger scattering for photoemitted electrons. We attribute this result, produced at the second step of adsorption, to the C 2 H 4-π orbital and hydrogen liberated by this molecule, which break the Si – Si surface bonds.
ADSORPTION OF A MOLECULE OF S2 AND Te2 ON Si(001)c(2×4)
Authors: ROMERO M. T. , CANTO G. , TAKEUCHI N.
Published: March 2004

We have performed first-principles total energy calculations to determine the energetics and atomic geometries of single S 2 and Te 2 molecules on the Si(001)c(2×4) surface. In our study we considered nondissociative and dissociative adsorption of the molecules. For both S 2 and Te 2, a dissociated configuration is the most stable. It is characterized by adsorption of the adatoms on bridge sites on different Si dimers. However, several metastable, nondissociative configurations were also found. They may correspond to initial states in the adsorption of the S 2 and Te 2 molecules on Si(001) .
EXTENDED MEAN FIELD APPROACH TO ANALYZING PATTERN FORMATION IN SURFACE CHEMICAL REACTIONS
Authors: MOLA E. E. , KING D. A. , IRURZUN I. M. , RAFTI M. , VICENTE J. L.
Published: March 2004

In this paper we apply a model of surface chemical reactions to describe pattern formation in the CO oxidation on Pt(100). The model is an extended mean field approximation (EMFA), where two coupling processes are included: gas global coupling (to take into account the mass chemical reaction balance) and CO diffusion. The surface is divided into M×M cells; inside each of them the mean field approximation (MFA) is fulfilled. Anisotropic diffusion between nearest neighbor cells and gas coupling among all cells are also allowed.

The EMFA goes beyond the traditional reaction–diffusion approaches with Fickian terms, in favor of a more general mass balance equation that consistently incorporates the coupling between CO diffusion and the nonlinear phase transition of the substrate.

In this paper we study three different cases: (a) homogeneous coverage oscillations — when CO and O 2 partial pressures are kept constant and the whole set of M×M cells have the same value of partial coverages and phase fractions; in this case the system exhibits self-oscillations, such as those experimentally observed; (b) inhomogeneous coverage oscillations — when CO and O 2 partial pressures are kept constant and inhomogeneities of coverage are present; the system evolves by CO diffusion between nearest neighbor cells; (c) gas global coupling — when gas global coupling is allowed and inhomogeneities of coverage are present, there are oscillations in the gas phase that follow the surface evolution.
CHARACTERIZATION OF KHCO3 SINGLE CRYSTALS
Authors: ABOUELHASSAN S. , SALMAN F. , ELMANSY M. , SHEHA E.
Published: March 2004

Single crystals of KHCO 3 were grown by the slow evaporation technique of an aqueous solution. Characterization of the sample was done using different techniques such as X-ray diffraction, infrared spectra (IR) and the differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) technique. The analysis of the X-ray diffraction pattern indicated that the sample was a single crystal. The results obtained by IR and DSC indicated the presence of phase transition. From the analysis of DSC, the activation energy of transition was carried out by two methods (Kissinger and Ozawa).
GROWTH HILLOCKS ON THE {100} FACES OF L-ARGININE PHOSPHATE MONOHYDRATE SINGLE CRYSTALS INVESTIGATED BY ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY
Authors: GENG Y. L. , XU D. , SUN D. L. , WANG X. Q. , ZHANG G. H. , LI T. B.
Published: March 2004

Growth hillocks on the {100} faces of L-arginine phosphate monohydrate (LAP) single crystals grown at 25°C and at a supersaturation of 0.32 have been discussed. The typical dislocation growth hillocks are lopsided and elongate along the b direction. The dislocation sources are probably caused by the extra stress field which is introduced by the hollow cavities distributing on the steps and hillocks generated by the two-dimensional nucleus. The elongated shape is due to the characteristic structure of the LAP crystal. Apart from that, the formation of the lopsided growth hillocks is explained by the liquid flow theory.
STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF GaN FILMS GROWN ON THE 6H-SiC(0001)$(\sqrt{3}\times \sqrt{3})R30^\circ$ SUBSTRATE
Authors: DAI X. Q. , WU H. S. , XU S. H. , XIE M. H. , TONG S. Y.
Published: March 2004

Ab initio total energy calculations are performed to determine the interface structure of GaN films grown on the 6H - SiC (0001)[Formula: see text] substrate. The results show that the GaN film is of the wurtzite structure and has the Ga-polarity. It is also shown that stacking mismatch boundaries (SMBs) caused by the coalescence of GaN islands grown on stepped terraces of the 6H - SiC (0001) surface may be removed by stacking faults as the film grows. The types of SMBs on a stepped 6H - SiC (0001) surface are discussed.
SPIN WAVE MODES AND MAGNON SCATTERING AT SURFACE NANOSTRUCTURE ON 2D HEISENBERG FERROMAGNETS
Authors: BELHADI MEHAND , KHATER ANTOINE
Published: March 2004

We investigate the spin fluctuation dynamics and the scattering phenomena at adsorbed magnetic nanostructure on the surface of two-dimensional Heisenberg ferromagnets. The surface is considered as an infinite slab of two coupled atomic layers, and the nanostructure as an isolated monatomic chain on the surface of a cubic lattice. No electronic effects are considered but local changes in exchange fields between the localized spins of the nanostructure and the magnetically ordered substrate are assumed to be dominant. The mathematical framework of the matching method is used to analyze both the localization and the scattering phenomena at the nanostructure boundaries. The energy of spin wave localized modes arising from the absence of magnetic translation symmetry is determined. The transmission and reflection probabilities as well as the spin wave average transmittance across the nanostructure are calculated and numerical results are presented in a large range of scattering energies. It is shown that there are several localized spin wave modes associated with the nanostructure which may be either optical or acoustical modes (depending on the system parameters), and the coherent coupling between these localized spin modes and the propagating spin modes of the system leads to Fano resonances in the scattering spectra.
SPRITE GENERATION FROM MPEG VIDEO USING MOTION INFORMATION
Authors: BABU R. VENKATESH , RAMAKRISHNAN K. R.
Published: March 2004

Sprite coding, accepted by the emerging MPEG-4 standard is a very efficient method for representing the background video object. Still this sprite generation is an open issue due to the foreground objects which obstructs the accuracy of camera motion estimation and blurs the generated sprite. In this paper we propose a method for constructing the background sprite with partial decoding of the MPEG stream. Initially the Independently Moving Objects (IMO) are segmented out from the background by clustering the pre-processed motion vectors of MPEG video. The camera motion parameters are obtained from the motion information corresponding to the background region which is used for frame alignment.
IDENTIFICATION OF ACOUSTIC SIGNATURES FOR VEHICLES VIA REDUCTION OF DIMENSIONALITY
Authors: AVERBUCH AMIR , HULATA EYAL , ZHELUDEV VALERY , KOZLOV INNA
Published: March 2004

In this paper we propose a robust algorithm that solves two related problems: (1) Classification of acoustic signals emitted by different moving vehicles. The recorded signals have to be identified to which pre-existing group they belong to independently of the recording surrounding conditions. (2) Detection of the presence of a vehicle in a certain class via analysis of its acoustic signature against the existing database of recorded and processed acoustic signals. To achieve this detection with minimal false alarms we construct the acoustic signature of a certain vehicle using the distribution of the energies among blocks which consist of coefficients of multiscale local cosine transform (LCT) applied in the frequency domain of the acoustic signal. The proposed algorithm is robust even under severe noise and diverse rough surrounding conditions. This is a generic technology, which has many algorithmic variations, can be used to solve wide range of classification and detection problems which are based on a unique derivation of signatures.
IMAGE FUSION METHOD BASED ON SHORT SUPPORT SYMMETRIC NON-SEPARABLE WAVELET
Authors: BIN LIU , PENG JIAXIONG
Published: March 2004

In this paper, image fusion method based on a new class of wavelet — non-separable wavelet with compactly supported, linear phase, orthogonal and dilation matrix [Formula: see text] is presented. We first construct a non-separable wavelet filter bank. Using these filters, the images involved are decomposed into wavelet pyramids. Then the following fusion algorithm was proposed: for low-frequency part, the average value is selected for new pixel value, For the three high-frequency parts of each level, the standard deviation of each image patch over 3×3 window in the high-frequency sub-images is computed as activity measurement. If the standard deviation of the area 3×3 window is bigger than the standard deviation of the corresponding 3×3 window in the other high-frequency sub-image. The center pixel values of the area window that the weighted area energy is bigger are selected. Otherwise the weighted value of the pixel is computed. Then a new fused image is reconstructed. The performance of the method is evaluated using the entropy, cross-entropy, fusion symmetry, root mean square error and peak-to-peak signal-to-noise ratio. The experiment results show that the non-separable wavelet fusion method proposed in this paper is very close to the performance of the Haar separable wavelet fusion method.
POWELL–SABIN SPLINE WAVELETS
Authors: VANRAES EVELYNE , MAES JAN , BULTHEEL ADHEMAR
Published: March 2004

Recently we developed a subdivision scheme for Powell–Sabin splines. It is a triadic scheme and it is general in the sense that it is not restricted to uniform triangles, the vertices must not have valence six and there are no restrictions on the initial triangulation. A sequence of nested spaces or multiresolution analysis can be associated with the base triangulation. In this paper we use the lifting scheme to construct basis functions for the complement space that captures the details that are lost when going to a coarser resolution. The subdivision scheme appears as the first lifting step or prediction step. A second lifting step, the update, is used to achieve certain properties for the complement spaces and the wavelet functions such as orthogonality and vanishing moments. The design of the update step is based on stability considerations. We prove stability for both the scaling functions and the wavelet functions.
IMPLEMENTATION OF ZERO TREE WAVELET CODERS IN DSP PROCESSOR
Authors: ARIVAZHAGAN S. , GNANADURAI D. , ANTONY VANCE J. R. , SAROJINI K. M. , GANESAN L.
Published: March 2004

With the fast evolution of Multimedia systems, Image compression algorithms are very much needed to achieve effective transmission and compact storage by removing the redundant information of the image data. Wavelet transforms have received significant attention, recently, due to their suitability for a number of important signal and image compression applications and the lapped nature of this transform and the computational simplicity, which comes in the form of filter bank implementations. In this paper, the implementation of image compression algorithms based on discrete wavelet transform such as embedded zero tree wavelet (EZW) coder, set partitioning in hierarchical trees coder without lists (SPIHT — No List) and packetizable zero tree wavelet (PZW) coder in DSP processor is dealt in detail and their performance analysis is carried out in terms of different compression ratios, execution timing and for different packet losses. PSNR is used as the criteria for the measurement of reconstructed image quality.
Insulin-independent effects of GLP-1 on canine liver glucose metabolism: duration of infusion and involvement of hepatoportal region
Authors: Dardevet D. , Moore M. C. , Neal D. , DiCostanzo C. A. , Snead W. , Cherrington A. D.
Published: March 2004

Whether glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) has insulin-independent effects on glucose disposal in vivo was assessed in conscious dogs by use of tracer and arteriovenous difference techniques. After a basal period, each experiment consisted of three periods (P1, P2, P3) during which somatostatin, glucagon, insulin, and glucose were infused. The control group (C) received saline in P1, P2, and P3, the PePe group received saline in P1 and GLP-1 (7.5 pmol·kg−1·min−1) peripherally (Pe; iv) in P2 and P3, and the PePo group received saline in P1 and GLP-1 peripherally (iv) (P2) and then into the portal vein (Po; P3). Glucose and insulin concentrations increased to two- and fourfold basal, respectively, and glucagon remained basal. GLP-1 levels increased similarly in the PePe and PePo groups during P2 (∼200 pM), whereas portal GLP-1 levels were significantly increased (3-fold) in PePo vs. PePe during P3. In all groups, net hepatic glucose uptake (NHGU) occurred during P1. During P2, NHGU increased slightly but not significantly in all groups. During P3, NHGU increased in PePe and PePo groups to a greater extent than in C, but no significant effect of the route of infusion of GLP-1 was demonstrated (16.61 ± 2.91 and 14.67 ± 2.09 vs. 4.22 ± 1.57 μmol·kg−1·min−1, respectively). In conclusion: GLP-1 increased glucose disposal in the liver independently of insulin secretion; its full action required long-term infusion. The route of infusion did not modify the hepatic response.