L ittle evokes a sense of wonder about the past like moments frozen in time: the contorted bodies of Pompeii’s horrified citizens fixed in their final poses, the footprints of an ancient hominin family cemented on an African savanna, the tracks of a Jurassic predator closing in on unsuspecting prey along a muddy riverbank, or tree stumps from an ancient Carboniferous rainforest buried in place ...

This paper presents an original informationretrieval engine, called MIRE, for integrating structured data and text. Among other things, MIRE is designed to work in a natural and efficient way with the inherent hierarchies of structured data. While multi-dimensional access methods have originally been developed for spatial applications, they can be successfully used to index hierarchical structu...

Purpose: To evaluate anterior surface topographic technologies and display algorithms in mapping keratoconus. Materials and methods: A total of 27 eyes of 17 subjects clinically diagnosed with keratoconus were imaged on six topographers: EyeSys, Alcon EyeMap, Keratron, TMS-1, Orbscan and PAR corneal topography system. Axial distance (AD) and instantaneous radius of curvature (IROC) algorithms w...

PURPOSE To develop the instrumentation and software for wide-angle corneal topography using a Placido-based videokeratographer. The objective is to allow the measurement of a greater area of the cornea using a simple adaptation to the Placido mire. METHODS Using the traditional Placido disc of a commercial corneal topographer, 9 LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) were installed on the conic mire so...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of anodyne monochromatic infrared photo energy (MIRE) in-home treatments over a 90-day period to improve peripheral sensation and self-reported quality of life in individuals with diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS This was a double-blind, randomized, sham-controlled clinical trail. We randomly assigned 69 individuals with d...

The attenuation provided by a hearing protection device (HPD) in the field is usually estimated by applying a derating factor to the laboratory-determined noise reduction rating (NRR) of the HPD. However, attenuation is highly dependent on individual-specific HPD fit. Prediction of an individual's attenuation depends on the accuracy of the measurement system and the variability of attenuation o...

the objective of this research was to identify and describe the different ecological species groups (vegetation types) present in the rural heritage museum of guilan. the study area was approximately 260 ha, which is located in the saravan forest park in guilan province, north of iran. sampling procedure was performed with a systematic random technique. a total of 89 plots were sampled. classif...

The end-Triassic mass extinction event (∼201.4 million years ago) caused major faunal and floral turnovers in both the marine and terrestrial realms. The biotic changes have been attributed to extreme greenhouse warming across the Triassic-Jurassic (T-J) boundary caused by massive release of carbon dioxide and/or methane related to extensive volcanism in the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (...