We present a new solution for temporal coherence in non-photorealistic rendering (NPR) of animations. Given the conflicting goals of preserving the 2D aspect of the style and the 3D scene motion, any such solution is a tradeoff. We observe that primitive-based methods in NPR can be seen as texture-based methods when using large numbers of primitives, leading to our key insight, namely that this...

A heterozygous frameshift mutation causing a 12-amino acid extension to the C terminus of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) was recently genetically linked to patients with familial atrial fibrillation (Hodgson-Zingman, D. M., Karst, M. L., Zingman, L. V., Heublein, D. M., Darbar, D., Herron, K. J., Ballew, J. D., de Andrade, M., Burnett, J. C., Jr., and Olson, T. M. (2008) N. Engl. J. Med. 359,...

We tested the hypothesis that the nuclear progesterone receptor (nPR) is involved in respiratory control and mediates the respiratory stimulant effect of progesterone. Adult female mice carrying a mutation in the nPR gene (PRKO mice) and wild-type controls (WT) were implanted with an osmotic pump delivering vehicle or progesterone (4 mg/kg/day). The mice were instrumented with EEG and neck EMG ...

Modern line rendering systems can create high-quality illustrations. However, the interaction possible with such systems is often limited to selecting an appropriate viewpoint and applying certain line styles to the entire model. NPR Lenses are a new non-photorealistic rendering tool, that allows integrated distortions in 3D with common 2D interaction techniques. NPR Lenses support local adjust...

This work presents a theoretical discussion on the ability of traditional noise power ratio (NPR) setups to characterize the in-band signal distortion of general RF circuits. It is shown that NPR tests are optimistic in estimating co-channel distortion, as they are blind for the signal-correlated components. Therefore, an alternative standard for co-channel distortion specification and the asso...

Background TGF-beta 1 (TGF), is one of the potent profibrotic factors which plays a fundamental role in myocardial remodeling. Cardiac fibrosis results from excessive deposition of extracellular matrix including collagen type I (Col I) which is mainly produced by cardiac fibroblasts. CD-NP is a novel engineered designer natriuretic peptide (NP) which consists of the ring structure of human C-ty...

Background Natriuretic peptide receptors A (NPR-A) and B (NPR-B) are transmembrane guanylyl cyclases that regulate blood pressure, heart size and long bone growth. Unlike most cell surface receptors that are desensitized by direct phosphorylation, phosphorylation of natriuretic peptide receptors is essential for activation, and dephosphorylation causes their desensitization. While there are six...

In this paper, a new kind of hierarchical tube with a negative Poisson's ratio (NPR) is proposed. The first level tube is constructed by rolling up an auxetic hexagonal honeycomb. Then, the second level tube is produced by substituting the arm of the auxetic sheet with the first level tube and rolling it up. The Nth ( ) level tube can be built recursively. Based on the Euler beam theory, the eq...

Natriuretic peptide receptor-C (NPR-C) has a unique structure consisting of pre-existing covalent homodimers, but it is not known whether each subunit has ligand-binding activity or whether the dimeric structure is necessary for binding activity. To answer this question, a number of C-terminally truncated mutants were designed, subcloned into the mammalian expression vector pcDNA3 and expressed...