We conducted a field study in Corpus Christi, Texas, and Cobb County, Georgia, to evaluate exposure measures for disinfection by-products, with special emphasis on trihalomethanes (THMs). Participants were mothers living in either geographic area who had given birth to healthy infants from June 1998 through May 1999. We assessed exposure by sampling blood and water and obtaining information abo...

An improved stochastic stereo-matching algorithm is presented. It incorporates two substantial modifications to an earlier version: a new variation of simulated annealing that is faster, simpler, and more controllable than the conventional "heatbath^ version, and a hierarchical, coarse-to-fine-resolution cont ro l structure. The Hamil tonian used in the original model is minimized, but far more...

A complete system of learning spelling-tophoneme conversion of English words consists of three major processes: alignment, mapping learning, and grapheme generation. Such a system can be used to construct prototypes of reading machines for English or other lan­ guages quickly and automatically. This paper focusses on the alignment process, which is crit­ ical to mapping learning and grapheme ge...

We investigate the problem of learning D N F concepts f rom examples using decision trees as a concept description language. Due to the replication problem, D N F concepts do not always have a concise decision tree descrip­ tion when the tests at the nodes are l im­ ited to the in i t ia l at t r ibutes. However, the representational complexity may be overcome by using high level at tr ibutes a...

The primary respiratory mechanism (PRM) as manifested by the cranial rhythmic impulse (CRI), a fundamental concept to cranial osteopathy, and the Traube-Hering-Mayer (THM) oscillation bear a striking resemblance to one another. Because of this, the authors developed a protocol to simultaneously measure both phenomena. Statistical comparisons demonstrated that the CRI is palpably concomitant wit...

Future experiments to probe the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarization will need arrays of 1000s of sensitive bolometers. We are developing a Transition-edge Hot-electron Microbolometer (THM) to fill this need. This small-volume bolometer consists of a superconducting bilayer Transition-Edge Sensor (TES) with a thin-film absorber. Unlike traditional monolithic bolometers which make use ...

In this work, we present a Genetic A lgor i thm (GA) system "Evolu t ionary Counterpoint" (EVOC) that generates contrapuntal music. Counterpoint is the construct ion of a musical piece by superimposing mul t ip le melodies, ind i rectly fo rming an under ly ing harmonic structure. Here, we include a descript ion of the underly ing a lgor i thm, fitness funct ion, and overal l system modules.

Thermo-active structures exchange heat with the ground to provide thermal energy buildings. Consequently, is subjected changes in temperature, inducing thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) interactions within soil. To insights into origin and manifestations of main mechanisms taking place complex fully THM-coupled finite element (FE) analyses, simple, one-dimensional problems are firstly analysed this...

BACKGROUND Evidence for an association between exposure during pregnancy to trihalomethanes (THMs) in drinking water and impaired fetal growth is still inconsistent and inconclusive, in particular, for various exposure routes. We examined the relationship of individual exposures to THMs in drinking water on low birth weight (LBW), small for gestational age (SGA), and birth weight (BW) in single...

Hydrolysis could contribute to the loss of trihalomethanes (THMs) in the drinking water at elevated temperatures. This study was aimed at investigating THM hydrolysis pertaining to the storage of hot boiled water in enclosed containers. The water pH value was in the range of 6.1-8.2 and the water temperature was varied from 65 to 95 °C. The effects of halide ions, natural organic matter, and dr...