bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
New software for lens retro‐illumination digital image analysis
Authors: Gershenzon A , Robman L D 
Published: July 2002

Purpose: To describe functions of new software for cataract assessment and compare its validity with that of the Nidek EAS‐1000 software (Nidek, Japan). Methods: A new Microsoft Windows 3.1/95 (Microsoft, USA) compliant software, Retroillumination Image Analysis (RIA), has been developed. The cataract reading is based on the contrasts in illumination between the opaque and transparent areas of the lens. Image loading, pupil detection and image analyses are automated. Differentiation between the different cataract types (cortical/posterior subscapsular) and other opacities is possible. Results: The program was tested on 233 Nidek EAS‐1000 images. In all, 148 eyes had clear media or cortical cuneiform cataract, 37 also had confounding opacities and 48 had no confounding opacities but pupils were unevenly illuminated. The results of analysis with both Nidek EAS‐1000 and RIA software were compared against clinical Wilmer grading. The correlation of cortical opacity size in Nidek EAS‐1000 3.01c and RIA software, respectively, were 0.50* and 0.57* for whole data set, 0.54* and 0.55* for subgroup with no confounders or artefacts, 0.54* and 0.66* for subgroup with artefacts, 0.27 (P < 0.105) and 0.65* for subgroup with confounders (*P < 0.001). Conclusion: The RIA software significantly improves the accuracy of cataract measurement in lens images with uneven pupil illumination or confounding opacities. Automation of (i) image loading, (ii) pupil detection and (iii) defining of the opacity area increases the efficiency of digital eye photography, eliminates human errors and speeds assessment.
Evaluation of clinical staging before cystectomy in transitional cell bladder carcinoma: a long‐term follow‐up of 276 consecutive patients
Authors: WijkstrÖM  , Norming  , Lagerkvist  , Nilsson  , NÄslund  , Wiklund  
Published: July 2002

Objective To evaluate retrospectively the clinical staging in a consecutive series of patients selected for cystectomy and to define its limitations with a view to possible improvements.Patients and methods From 1979 to 1988, 276 patients with newly detected or recurring transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of the bladder, were offered pre‐operative irradiation (20 Gy) and cystectomy. The patients were assessed during 1995 and the outcome related to both clinical and surgical data. Survival was analysed on the basis of ‘intention to treat’. Estimates of survival probabilities were calculated by the method of Kaplan and Meier. Differences in survival among subgroups were assessed using the log rank test and Cox stepwise regression analysis.Results Cancer‐specific actuarial survival for the whole series was 68% at 5 years and 63% at 10 years. Survival was closely related to the depth of invasion found at surgery, clearly discriminating those with tumours confined to the bladder wall (≤P3A) from those with extravesical extension (≥P3B). The cancer‐specific survival at 5 years for patients with ≤P3A tumours was 85% and for those with ≥P3B tumours was 50%. This important distinction was anticipated accurately using bimanual palpation before surgery, those patients with no palpable mass after transurethral resection of bladder tumour (TURBT) having an actuarial survival of 83%, and those with a residual mass a survival of 50% at 5 years. In the multivariate analysis, increasing clinical stage was the only pretreatment variable with significant prognostic value for survival. However, this variable was highly dependent on the palpatory findings after TURBT, the presence of a residual mass being a prerequisite for the clinical stage T3 in case of muscle‐invasive tumour.Conclusion Bimanual palpation remains crucially important in clinical staging, and there is a need for further standardization and refinement of this procedure.
Changes in the surface conditioning of calcium‐salt crystals treated with physiological and alkaline urine
Authors: Santin  , Motta  , Cannas  
Published: July 2002

Objective To study, using anin vitromodel, the early phases of deposition of urinary components onto the surface of calcium‐salt crystals treated with physiological and alkaline urine.Materials and methods Calcium carbonate, oxalate and phosphate crystals were incubated in either freshly collected ‘physiological’ urine (pH 5.5) or with urine at pH 8.0. The surface conditioning was characterized using sodium‐dodecyl sulphate‐polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis immunoblot profiles of the adsorbed proteins and by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Crystal morphology and aggregation were assessed using scanning electron microscopy.Results The patterns of protein adsorption from physiological urine showed the ubiquitous adsorption of bands within 51–86 kDa, while Tamm‐Horsfall protein (THP) and alpha1‐microglobulin were found only in calcium oxalate crystals. Less aggregation was detected in calcium oxalate and phosphate crystals treated in urine at pH 5.5, while a new crystalline phase was deposited on calcium carbonate surfaces. Incubation in alkaline urine led to changes in the protein electrophoretic profiles, with a significant variation in the morphology of the inorganic phase only in calcium phosphate crystals.Conclusions The binding of urinary proteins onto crystals depends on the chemistry of the surface and on the physicochemical composition of the urine. THP, albumin, alpha1‐microglobulin and a 20 kDa protein were able to bind calcium crystals under different circumstances. Except for THP, there was no clear relationship between the adsorption of proteins on crystals and the re‐arrangement of the inorganic phase.
Subcutaneous curettage vs. injection of botulinum toxin A for treatment of axillary hyperhidrosis
Authors: Rompel R , Scholz S 
Published: July 2002

AbstractBackgroundAxillary hyperhidrosis is a functional non‐inflammatory abnormality of the eccrine sweat glands. The cause of genuine hyperhidrosis is unknown and, therefore, no specific corrective therapy is available and conservative treatment often fails. Subcutaneous sweat gland curettage of the axillae is one of the proven surgical modalities. Local injection of botulinum toxin A (BT‐A) is a promising new conservative approach.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of subcutaneous curettage vs. injection of BT‐A in axillary hyperhidrosis.MethodsA total of 113 patients (36.3% males, 63.7% females) suffering from genuine axillary hyperhidrosis were treated by either subcutaneous curettage (n = 90) or local injection of BT‐A (n = 23). Median follow‐up period was 23.5 months. Questionnaires were handed out to patients for a subjective assessment of symptoms before treatment, 6 months after the procedure, and at the time of last follow‐up. The patients were asked to rate the amount of axillary sweating based on a score ranging from 1 (no axillary secretion) to 6 (maximum axillary secretion). The subjective scores of sweating at rest, at high temperatures, under physical stress, under emotional stress and after spicy meals were assessed.ResultsThe patients’ subjective assessments of the overall outcome after subcutaneous curettage were ‘very good’ in 36.4%, ‘good’ in 29.9% and ‘satisfactory’ in 16.9%. The subjective score of axillary sweating at rest was reduced to 40.0% after 6 months, and finally to 45.7% at the end of follow‐up (median: 28.2 months). Patients treated by BT‐A injection assessed outcome as ‘very good’ in 39.1%, ‘good’ in 21.7% and ‘satisfactory’ in 8.7%. Sweating at rest was reduced to 48.5% after 6 months, and finally to 68.8% at the end of follow‐up (median: 16.1 months). The mean duration of the antiperspiration effect of BT‐A was 7.6 months (median: 7 months), but there were two cases of long durations, i.e. 14 and 18 months.ConclusionsSubcutaneous curettage and injection of BT‐A both present major advantages compared with earlier methods. Subcutaneous curettage offers the same permanent efficacy but far fewer side‐effects than sympathectomy, and less scarring than local excisional procedures, respectively. Of the conservative approaches BT‐A is by far the most efficacious. Patients should be informed of the advantages and disadvantages of both methods.
Eruptive syringoma: 27 new cases and review of the literature
Authors: Soler‐Carrillo J , Estrach T , Mascaró JM 
Published: July 2002

AbstractBackgroundEruptive syringomas are uncommon eccrine sweat gland tumours. Only 64 cases have been reported in the literature.ObjectiveClinical findings of 27 patients with eruptive syringomas were reviewed over a 47‐year period.ResultsThe tumours appeared as multiple yellow–brown‐coloured papules localized on the neck, anterior trunk, axillae, shoulders, abdomen or pubic area. This disorder occurs more frequently among women, and is frequent in the prepubertal as well as in the postpubertal age. The diagnosis was not clinically suspected in most cases.ConclusionsEruptive syringomas have to be considered in differential diagnosis of papular dermatosis at any age.
Role of peripheral vision in terms of critical perception – its relevance to the visually impaired
Authors: Wolffe Michael 
Published: July 2002

SummaryIt is recognised that discrimination of fine detail is dependent on an intact macula with the peripheral retina being responsible for motion detection. There is evidence, however, to suggest that the peripheral retina does play a critical part in such discrimination. Studies of the performance of visually impaired school children have revealed levels of visual perception far exceeding anything that would be expected for individuals so severely handicapped. The art work of visually impaired youngsters was compared with the predicted results based on their visual acuity. The results showed detail that in theory could not have been resolved with such low acuity levels. All the youngsters had dense central scotomata. The peripheral retina, therefore, must have been involved in the discrimination of such detail. These results have implications not only for the visually impaired in terms of what they are capable of doing, but also for our understanding about the way the visual cortex processes information from the peripheral retina and the use that it makes of this relatively poor quality information.
The Young’s modulus of silica beads/epoxy composites: Experiments and simulations
Authors: Monette L. , Anderson M. P. , Wagner H. D. , Mueller R. R. 
Published: July 2002

The effect of particulate volume fraction vp and diameter dp on the composite Young’s modulus Ec is studied both experimentally, using a silica bead/epoxy system, as well as with the help of computer simulations. The experimental and simulation results show that for a given particulate size, the overall Ec vs vp curve displays a concave upward shape and not a linear shape. This superlinear trend of the data implies that the average strain normalized to the applied strain λ=ε̄p/εc transferred to the particulates increases with volume fraction. The above finding is explained in terms of a mean-field picture, where a single particle interacts with an effective medium consisting of the remaining particles embedded in the matrix. As the modulus of the effective medium surrounding a reference particle increases with vp, the modulus mismatch between the reference particulate and the medium is consequently reduced. This leads to an overall increase in the normalized average strain λ transferred to each particulate as vp is increased. The experimental results using silica particulates with various sizes dp, as well as the simulation results, show that smaller particulates provide an increased composite modulus as compared to larger particulates, at constant vp. General equations are developed, which relate the composite modulus to the average particle stress or strain, given only information about the volume fraction and the Young’s modulus of each of the phases present.
Through the application of these relations, it is found that smaller particulates display a greater amount of normalized average strain λ transferred than larger particulates. The effect of particulate Young’s modulus Ep in combination with particulate size on the resulting Ec is also studied using simulations only. It is found that for a low particulate to matrix modulus ratio Ep/Em, the particulate size has very little influence on Ec. Moreover, the shape of the Ec vs vp curve can be well approximated by a straight line up to large values of vp. On the other hand, as the ratio Ep/Em is increased, the superlinear trend of the composite modulus Ec vs vp data is more apparent. This results in a smaller range of the Ec vs vp curve, which can be approximated by a linear function. It is also found that the extent of this linear region also decreases with particle size.
The experimental vibrational spectra, vibrational assignment, and normal coordinate analysis of thiirane-h4 and -d4 and c
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s- and t
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s-1,2-dideuteriothiirane: A
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i
o theoretical IR spectra of thiirane, thiirene, and isotopically substituted derivatives
Authors: Allen W. D. , Bertie John E. , Falk M. Victor , Hess B. A. , Mast George B. , Othen David A. , Schaad L. J. , Schaefer H. F. 
Published: July 2002

This paper reports three independent studies. In the first study, the infrared band shapes and relative intensities of gaseous thiirane-d4 (ethylene sulfide-d4, C2D4S), the Raman spectrum of liquid thiirane-d4, and infrared spectra of gaseous cis- and trans-1, 2-dideuteriothiirane, (CHD)2S, are reported for the first time. The vibrational spectra of C2H4S, C2D4S, and some bands of cis-(CHD)2S are assigned from the symmetry analysis, group frequencies, infrared band shapes, and Raman polarization data. The frequencies so assigned are used to derive a modified valence force field, (MVFF), which reproduces them well, allows the remaining fundamental frequencies of cis-(CHD)2S to be found, and allows the spectrum of trans-(CHD)2S to be assigned. The MVFF is then further refined to optimize the fit to the 46 assigned frequencies of the four molecules. Twenty four nonzero force constants fit the 46 frequencies with an average error of 0.4%. The assignment is thus well based and self-consistent. In
the second study, ab initio SCF calculations of optimum geometry, vibrational frequencies, and IR intensities of thiirane, thiirene, and a number of isotopically substituted derivatives are reported for the 6-31G*, 3-21G, and STO 3G bases. The force constants of thiirane from the 6-31G* basis are in good agreement with those of the MVFF when allowance is made for the fact that some were constrained to zero in the MVFF. The potential energy distributions from the ab initio and normal coordinate calculations agree well, with the former confirming some defects in the latter. The 6-31G* force constants multiplied by 0.80 reproduced the 46 observed frequencies with an average error of 1.4%. For thiirene and isotopic derivatives, the 6-31G* IR spectra are in much better agreement with experiment than previous results with smaller bases. In particular, significantly higher frequency C–S stretches are predicted with the 6-31G* basis. Nevertheless, a few discrepancies remain between experiment and the 6-31G* SCF results. In the third study, vibrational frequencies and IR intensities of thiirene and isotopic derivatives were evaluated at the CISD level of theory using a standard DZP basis set. In the DZP-CISD thiirene spectrum, the B1 C–H out-of-plane bend and its position relative to the A1 C–S stretch differ significantly from the 6-31G* SCF results, giving confirmation of the experimental assignments. However, the same DZP-CISD force constants predict that two low-frequency bands of thiirene-d1 are assigned incorrectly. No other significant discrepancies between theory and experiment remain for the thiirene species.
Interaction of oxygen with Al(111) studied by scanning tunneling microscopy
Authors: Brune H. , Wintterlin J. , Trost J. , Ertl G. , Wiechers J. , Behm R. J. 
Published: July 2002

The interaction of oxygen with Al(111) was studied by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Chemisorbed oxygen and surface oxides can be distinguished in STM images, where for moderate tunnel currents and independent of the bias voltage the former are imaged as depressions, while the latter appear as protrusions. An absolute coverage scale was established by counting O adatoms. The initial sticking coefficient is determined to so=0.005. Upon chemisorption at 300 K the O adlayer is characterized by randomly distributed, immobile, individual O adatoms and, for higher coverages, by small (1×1) O islands which consist of few adatoms only. From the random distribution of the thermalized O adatoms at low coverages a mobile atomic precursor species is concluded to exist, which results from an internal energy transfer during dissociative adsorption. These ‘‘hot adatoms’’ ‘‘fly apart’’ by at least 80 Å, before their excess energy is dissipated. A model is derived which explains the unusual island nucleation scheme by trapping of the hot adatoms at already thermalized oxygen atoms. Oxidation starts long before saturation of the (1×1) O adlayer, at coverages around ΘO≂0.2. For a wide coverage range bare and Oad covered surfaces coexist with the surface oxide phase. Upon further oxygen uptake both chemisorbed and oxide phase grow in coverage. Oxide nucleation takes place at the interface of Oad islands and bare surface, with a slight preference for nucleation at upper terrace step edges.
Further oxide formation progresses by nucleation of additional oxide grains rather than by growth of existing ones, until the surface is filled up with a layer of small oxide particles of about 20 Å in diameter. At very large exposures up to 5×105 L they cover the entire surface as a relatively smooth, amorphous layer of aluminum oxide. The difference in Al atom density between Al metal and surface oxide is accommodated by short range processes, with no indication for any long range Al mass transport. Based on our data we discuss a simpler two step model for the interaction of oxygen with Al(111), without making use of an additional subsurface oxygen species. The complex spectroscopic data for the O/Al(111) system are rationalized by the wide coexistence range of bare and Oad covered surface with surface oxide and by differences in the electronic and vibronic properties of the surface atoms depending on the number of neighboring O adatoms in the small Oad islands.
Transverse deuteron spin relaxation studies of a smectic liquid crystal polymer: Local motions, order director fluctuations, and the glass transition process
Authors: Reimer D. , Heaton N. , Schleicher A. , Müller K. , Kothe G. , Vilfan M. 
Published: July 2002

Molecular dynamics of a main chain thermotropic liquid crystal polymer in the smectic A phase has been investigated using multipulse dynamic nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques. Transverse deuteron spin relaxation times T2ECP from quadrupole echo pulse trains (modified Carr–Purcell–Meiboom–Gill sequence) measured for deuterons in the aromatic rings of the mesogenic units are obtained as a function of pulse spacing τ sample orientation θN, and temperature. Just below the nematic–smectic A phase transition, the relaxation times exhibit a linear dispersion regime T2ECP ∼ τ−1 consistent with smectic director fluctuations. At lower temperatures, the dispersion step gradually disappears, indicating that faster molecular motions are the dominant transverse relaxation process. The observed anisotropy in T2ECP, measured at short pulse spacings, approximately follows the (sin4θN)−1 dependence expected for axial diffusion in a highly ordered medium. Analysis of the experiments is achieved employing a density operator treatment based on the stochastic Liouville equation. The intramolecular motion is identified with phenyl ring flips and is the fastest process studied, with correlation times varying from 10−10 to 10−7 s over the temperature range investigated.
Intermolecular (individual molecule) dynamics are somewhat slower and have been interpreted as rotational diffusion in an orienting potential. The correlation times for intermolecular motion exhibit non-Arrhenius behavior approaching the glass transition, following a temperature dependence described by the Williams–Landel–Ferry equation over six orders of magnitude. This result indicates a strong coupling of the intermolecular motion to the glass transition process. The slowest motion affecting transverse deuteron spin relaxation is assigned to smectic director fluctuations or undulation waves. Analysis of the T2ECP dispersion yields information concerning the viscoelastic properties of the polymer. At T=418 K, a splay elastic constant of K1=2×10−11N has been estimated. Using the experimentally accessible value for the long wavelength cutoff of the elastic modes, the root mean square fluctuation 〈θ20〉1/2 of the director is calculated to be 4°.
Science against modernism: the relevance of the social theory of Michael Polanyi
Authors: Thorpe Charles 
Published: July 2002

ABSTRACTScience, as an institution, is widely taken by sociologists to exemplify the modern tendency towards vesting trust and authority in impersonal offices and procedures, rather than in embodied human individuals. Such views of science face an important challenge in the social philosophy of Michael Polanyi. His work provides important insights into the continuing role of embodied personal authority and tradition in science and, hence, in late modernity. I explicate Polanyi's relevance for social theory, through a comparison with Weber's essay ‘Science as a Vocation’. An understanding of the personal dimensions of trust and authority in science suggests practical limits to the position of Giddens on the disembedding of social relations and on the scepticism and reflexivity of modernity.
Class structure in a deeply divided society: class and ethnic inequality in Israel, 1974–1991
Authors: Yaish Meir 
Published: July 2002

ABSTRACTDespite the fact that in many societies ethnicity plays an important role in stratification processes, a common view held by students of stratification argues that the role of ascriptive criteria in stratification processes is diminishing, and that the main axis of the modern stratification system is rooted in the division of labour in the marketplace. Despite this, most Israeli sociologists have taken the ethnic and national cleavages to be the main axes of stratification in Israel.This paper utilizes the 1974 and 1991 mobility surveys in Israel to examine changes over time in the association between ethnicity/nationality (i.e., Ashkenazi‐Jews, Sephardi‐Jews and Israeli‐Arabs) and class position in the Israeli stratification structure. It also examines the extent to which inequality of opportunity within the Israeliclassstructure is affected byethnicity/nationality.Here it is found that the ethnic/national cleavage in Israel appears to have played a less important role over time in the allocation of Israeli men to class positions. It is shown that class crystallization processes that result from the differentiation of employment contracts in the marketplace produce a relatively common level of inequality of opportunity in Israel, across sub‐populations and over time. Any difference in the level of inequality of opportunity between the various sub‐populations would appear to result, in part, from different historical process of, and government policy towards, the three sub‐populations.