In order to evaluate the effect of training upon postoperative adhesions, standard bipolar and mechanical, nonopposing injuries were performed in the uterine horns and side walls of 52 mature female rabbits using a conventional three-puncture laparoscopy, by an endoscopic surgeon with limited experience. An additional injury, either bipolar or mechanical or both, was performed in the retro-uter...

The Douglas-Rachford algorithm is a popular iterative method for finding a zero of a sum of two maximally monotone operators defined on a Hilbert space. In this paper, we propose an extension of this algorithm including inertia parameters and develop parallel versions to deal with the case of a sum of an arbitrary number of maximal operators. Based on this algorithm, parallel proximal algorithm...

This paper presents a three-frame matching method for finding the correspondences of comer points. After a two-stage corner detector is applied to each frame to extract a set of corner points as the matching primitives, candidate transition paths, which are formed by three corner points among three consecutive corner sets, are found by utilizing the smoothness constraint of motion due to inerti...

Research Briefs: Singularity Avoidance in Canonical Quantum Gravity, by Viqar Husain 3 What’s new in LIGO, by David Shoemaker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Conference reports: Scanning New Horizons: GR Beyond 4 dimensions, by Donald Marolf 6 Quantum Gravity in the Americas III, by Jorge Pullin . . . . . . . 9 New Frontiers in Numerical Relativity, by Luciano Rezzolla . . . . 11 Teaching General...

An energy-based approach has been used to investigate the seismic behavior of code-designed asymmetric-plan systems. The systems considered in this investigation had large eccentricities in both directions, were designed for bidirectional earthquake loading, and their responses were computed with both components of ground motion acting simultaneously. The presented results demonstrate that the ...

Douglas-fir beetle (Dendroctonus pseudotsugae Hopkins) (DFB) causes considerable mortality to Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) in western North American forests. We evaluated the use of semiochemical-baited multiple-funnel traps for the protection of small, high-value stands of trees, such as those occurring in campgrounds, rest areas, and small parks when Douglas-fir mortalit...