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Nanoparticles, particles with a diameter of 1-100 nanometers (nm), are of interest in many applications including device fabrication, quantum computing, and sensing because their decreased size may give rise to certain properties that are very different from those exhibited by bulk materials. Further advancement of nanotechnology cannot be realized without an increased understanding of nanoparticle properties such as size (diameter) and size distribution. Frequently, these parameters are evaluated using numerous imaging modalities including transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). In the past, these parameters have been obtained from digitized images by manually measuring and counting many of these nanoparticles, a task that is highly subjective and labor intensive. Recently, computer imaging particle analysis routines that count and measure objects in a binary image¹ have emerged as an objective and rapid alternative to manual techniques. In this paper a procedure is described that can be used to preprocess a set of gray scale images so that they are correctly thresholded into binary images prior to a particle analysis ultimately resulting in a more accurate assessment of the size and frequency (size distribution) of nanoparticles. Particle analysis was performed on two types of calibration samples imaged using AFM and TEM. Additionally, results of particle analysis can be used for identifying and removing small noise particles from the image. This filtering technique is based on identifying the location of small particles in the binary image, assessing their size, and removing them without affecting the size of other larger particles.

Nanoparticles, particles with a diameter of 1-100 nanometers (nm), are of interest in many applications including device fabrication, quantum computing, and sensing because their size may give them properties that are very different from bulk materials. Further advancement of nanotechnology cannot be obtained without an increased understanding of nanoparticle properties such as size (diameter) and size distribution frequently evaluated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In the past, these parameters have been obtained from digitized TEM images by manually measuring and counting many of these nanoparticles, a task that is highly subjective and labor intensive. More recently, computer imaging particle analysis has emerged as an objective alternative by counting and measuring objects in a binary image. This paper will describe the procedures used to preprocess a set of gray scale TEM images so that they could be correctly thresholded into binary images. This allows for a more accurate assessment of the size and frequency (size distribution) of nanoparticles. Several preprocessing methods including pseudo flat field correction and rolling ball background correction were investigated with the rolling ball algorithm yielding the best results. Examples of particle analysis will be presented for different types of materials and different magnifications. In addition, a method based on the results of particle analysis for identifying and removing small noise particles will be discussed. This filtering technique is based on identifying the location of small particles in the binary image and removing them without affecting the size of other larger particles.

Thresholding is an image processing procedure used to convert an image consisting of gray level pixels into a black and white binary image. One application of thresholding is particle analysis. Once foreground objects are separated from the background, a quantitative analysis that characterizes the number, size and shape of particles is obtained which can then be used to evaluate a series of nanoparticle samples. Numerous thresholding techniques exist differing primarily in how they deal with variations in noise, illumination and contrast. In this paper, several popular thresholding algorithms are qualitatively and quantitatively evaluated on transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) images. Initially, six thresholding algorithms were investigated: Otsu, Riddler-Calvard, Kittler, Entropy, Tsai and Maximum Likelihood. The Riddler-Calvard algorithm was not included in the quantitative analysis because it did not produce acceptable qualitative results for the images in the series. Two quantitative measures were used to evaluate these algorithms. One is based on comparing object area the other on diameter before and after thresholding. For AFM images the Kittler algorithm yielded the best results followed by the Entropy and Maximum Likelihood techniques. The Tsai algorithm yielded the top results for TEM images followed by the Entropy and Kittler methods.

This paper provides a description of how the topic of Google hacking was incorporated into a graduate course on web security which was offered in the Fall of 2005. It begins by providing an overview of Google hacking and describes what it is, how it is used, and most importantly how to defend against it. The paper then describes a series of exercises that students must complete providing them with hands-on Google hacking strategies, techniques and countermeasures. Copyright 2007 ACM.

We consider cluster systems with multiple nodes where each server is prone to run tasks at a degraded level of service due to some software or hardware fault. The cluster serves tasks generated by remote clients, which are potentially queued at a dispatcher. We present an analytic queueing model of such systems, represented as an M/MMPP/1 queue, and derive and analyze exact numerical solutions for the mean and tail-probabilities of the queue-length distribution. The analysis shows that the distribution of the repair time is critical for these performability metrics. Additionally, in the case of high-variance repair times, the model reveals so-called blow-up points, at which the performance characteristics change dramatically. Since this blowup behavior is sensitive to a change in model parameters, it is critical for system designers to be aware of the conditions under which it occurs. Finally, we present simulation results that demonstrate the robustness of this qualitative blow-up behavior towards several model variations. © 2007 IEEE.

Pipelining is the suitable architecture to adopt applications that are naturally divided into stages. Recently, applications tend to be Object Oriented (OO). Within the context of OO, there are a lot of interactions among different objects that result in many communication activities. Besides the feed-forward communication activities, many bypassing activities are generated in the pipeline structure. In this paper, we present a performance model that analyzes and evaluates the execution and communication times of OO software that runs on pipeline architecture. The model realizes both the feed-forward and the bypassing communication. We utilize the model to restructure the target software to achieve better performance. The restructuring algorithm has two phases; the first phase is concerned with maximizing the throughput. The second phase aims to minimize the latency and fully exploit the system resources. © 2006 - IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved.

The primary goal of this research was to investigate the ability of quantitative variables to confirm qualitative improvements of the deconvolution algorithm as a preprocessing step in evaluating micro CT bone density images. The analysis of these types of images is important because they are necessary to evaluate various countermeasures used to reduce or potentially reverse bone loss experienced by some astronauts when exposed to extended weightlessness during space travel. Nine low resolution (17.5 microns) CT bone density image sequences, ranging from between 85 to 88 images per sequence, were processed with three preprocessing treatment groups consisting of no preprocessing, preprocessing with a deconvolution algorithm and preprocessing with a Gaussian filter. The quantitative parameters investigated consisted of Bone Volume to Total Volume Ratio, the Structured Model Index, Fractal Dimension, Bone Area Ratio, Bone Thickness Ratio, Euler's Number and the Measure of Enhancement. Trends found in these quantitative variables appear to corroborate the visual improvements observed in the past and suggest which quantitative parameters may be capable of distinguishing between groups that experience bone loss and others that do not.

This paper describes a collaborative project conducted by the Computer Science Department at Southern Connecticut State University and NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Science (GISS). Animations of output from a climate simulation math model used at GISS to predict rainfall and circulation have been produced for West Africa from June to September 2002. These early results have assisted scientists at GISS in evaluating the accuracy of the RM3 climate model when compared to similar results obtained from satellite imagery. The results presented below will be refined to better meet the needs of GISS scientists and will be expanded to cover other geographic regions for a variety of time frames.

UNLABELLED: The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a relationship between fundamental frequency (Fo) and gender identification in standard esophageal (ES) or tracheoesophageal (TE) speakers. Twenty-three male and 20 female ES and TE speakers participated in this study. Recordings of these speakers reading the Rainbow Passage were played to 48 listeners who indicated perceived gender in a forced choice format. Fo was determined using PC-AUDED [Boston University (1991). Using PC-AUDED, Audio-editor and analyses program for the study of periodic segments. Boston: Boston University]. Seventy-nine percent of the speakers were identified correctly for gender. No significant difference was found between the number of male and female or TE and ES speakers identified correctly. A significant correlation was found between Fo and correct gender identification for the female speakers only. Results suggest that Fo plays a part in gender identification for female SE and TE speakers, however, other factors may also be important cues for gender identification in these speakers., LEARNING OUTCOMES: As a result of this activity, the participant will be able to: (1) describe the relationship between Fo and gender identification for male and female standard esophageal (SE) and tracheoesophageal (TE) speakers (2) discuss other variables that may influence gender identification in SE and TE speakers.

Twenty-nine youth with autism spectrum disorders and 26 with typical development between 12 and 18 years of age were engaged in structured interviews (ADOS). The interviews were videotaped and rated for atypical conversational behaviors by trained raters, using the Pragmatic Rating Scale (Landa et al. Psychol Med 22:245-254, 1992). The ASD group was divided into AS and HFA/PDD-NOS subgroups. Significant differences were found among groups on approximately one-third of the PRS items. These items involved primarily the management of topics and information, reciprocity, intonation, and gaze management. The only differences to reach significance between the AS and HFA/PDD-NOS group were a greater tendency for overly formal speech on the part of the AS group, and more difficulty with gaze management on the part of the group with HFA/PDD-NOS. The implications of these findings for understanding and treating conversational deficits in ASD are discussed., (C) Plenum Publishing Corporation 2009. All Rights Reserved.

Thirty-seven children 15-25 months of age received clinical diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and were re-evaluated two years later. All subjects were judged to have retained a diagnosis of ASD at the follow-up evaluation. Communication scores for the group as a whole during the first visit were significantly lower than nonverbal IQ. However, by the second visit, verbal and nonverbal scores were no longer significantly different. The group was divided into two subgroups, based on expressive language (EL) outcome at the second visit. The two groups were similar in the second year of life in terms of expressive communication skills and autistic symptoms, except for a trend toward more stereotypic and repetitive behavior in the worse outcome group. By the second visit, however, the groups differed significantly on all standard measures of expression and reception, as well as on autistic symptomotology and nonverbal IQ. When assessed during their second year, children who ended up in the better outcome group showed higher average nonverbal cognitive level, receptive language (RL) scores, number of sounds and words produced, use of symbolic play schemes, and response to joint attention bids. Regression analysis revealed that the variables for which significant differences between the two outcome groups in their second year of life were found provided significant prediction of EL outcome at age four. Stepwise regression identified RL and presence of stereotypic and repetitive at the first visit as significantly associated with EL outcome. Implications of these findings for early identification and intervention are discussed.

This paper reports a study of the ability to reproduce stress in a nonsense syllable imitation task by adolescent speakers with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), as compared to typically developing (TD) age-mates. Results are reported for both raters' judgments of the subjects' stress production, as well as acoustic measures of pitch range and duration during stressed and unstressed syllable production. Results reveal small but significant differences between speakers with ASD and typical speakers in both perceptual ratings of stress and instrumental measures of duration of syllables. The implications of these findings for understanding prosodic deficits in ASD are discussed. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All fights reserved.

This study compared the performance of bilingual participants on the English and Spanish versions of the Hearing in Noise Test (HINT). The participants were divided into an early bilingual (EB) group and a late bilingual (LB) group based on age of second-language acquisition. All participants acquired Spanish as their first language (L1) and English as a second language (L2). Care was taken to ensure that all participants demonstrated at least a "good competence level" for self-rated speaking, understanding, reading, and writing skills in both English and Spanish. Results revealed superior performance on the Spanish HINT versus the English HINT in both quiet and in noise for both groups of participants. Significant differences in performance were noted for the EB versus the LB participants. A number of possible explanations for superior performance in L1 are provided, and implications for educating students in their L2 are discussed.

This study attempted to elicit distal gestures within dynamic assessment structured sampling events from six children with moderate to severe intellectual disability (ages 8-13). Using four communication temptations and a least-to-most prompting hierarchy across three sessions, three participants who had both pre-symbolic and preintentional communication demonstrated an initial distal gesture, often in response to a choice making temptation. Clinical implications are discussed with regard to the utility of dynamic assessment structured sampling activities. © 2008, SAGE Publications. All rights reserved.

Purpose: This study tests the hypothesis that toddlers with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) will show differences from contrast groups in preferences for attending to speech. Method: This study examined auditory preferences in toddlers with ASD and matched groups of (a) typical age-mates, (b) age-mates with nonautistic developmental disabilities, and (c) younger children matched for language age. The experimental procedure measured time spent oriented to auditory stimuli that were created to exemplify language patterns that had been studied in typically developing infants. Results: Findings suggest that toddlers with ASD show a reduced preference for child-directed speech, compared with typical age-mates, but few differences from children with nonautistic developmental disorders. Correlational analysis revealed that time spent listening to child-directed speech by children with ASD was related to their concurrent receptive language ability as well as to receptive language abilities 1 year later. This relationship did not hold for the other groups. Conclusion: The present study supports the hypothesis that children with ASD perform differently from typical peers in auditory preference paradigms and that performance in these tasks is related to concurrent and later language development.

Rehabilitation programs strive to help patients become more independent in all aspects of daily living. Therefore, management of a patient's healthcare requirements should be an integral part of the rehabilitation program, including management of medications. Some rehabilitation programs implement self-medication programs (SMP); however, patients with cognitive deficits are often excluded. This study explored whether patients with cognitive deficits due to stroke could successfully complete an SMP using an interdisciplinary cognitive rehabilitation approach. Twenty-seven stroke patients and 36 debilitated patients with cognitive deficits participated in an SMP. A nurse and a pharmacist educated patients on their medications, and a speech-language pathologist provided cognitive rehabilitation to the stroke patients, which incorporated information from the SMP. Eighty-one percent of the stroke patients successfully completed the SMP, compared to 36% of the debilitated patients. Thus, an interdisciplinary approach to medication management for cognitively impaired stroke patients holds promise.

This study surveyed 25 siblings of persons with Down Syndrome to gain an ecological perspective about important communication competence indicators. Siblings favorably described persons with Down Syndrome as “effective” and “good” communicators who “communicate to potential. “ Siblings regarded social communication skills as especially important, i.e., being able to communicate without fear, being able to express wants, needs, opinions, and feelings, being able to ask questions, and alerting partners to communication breakdowns. Siblings also regarded language comprehension as an important skill. Favorable descriptive labels were often applied to adult-aged persons with mild ID and normal hearing. Clinical implications are discussed focused on functional communication planning and implementation that takes into account the perspectives of family members, teachers, and rehabilitation personnel.

Objectives: Increasing numbers of young children referred for a differential diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) necessitates better understanding of the early syndrome expression and the utility of the existing state-of-the art diagnostic methods in this population. Method: Out of 31 infants under the age of 2 years referred for a differential diagnosis, 19 were diagnosed with autism, and 9 with pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD- NOS) when reassessed at 3 years. We examined 1) the symptoms of ASD in the second year and changes in the syndrome expression by the age of three; 2) relationship between expert-assigned clinical diagnosis and diagnostic classification based on Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-Generic (ADOS-G) and Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) in the second year; 3) the relationship between direct observation and parental report of ASD symptoms. Results: Symptoms of autism and PDD- NOS in the second year were pronounced and stability of the clinical diagnosis was high. The agreement between clinician-assigned autism but not PDD- NOS diagnosis and the ADOS-G was high. However, sensitivity of the ADI-R diagnostic classification of autism was poor. Comparison of concurrent parental report and direct observation revealed discrepancies in severity ratings of key dyadic social behaviors. Changes in communication reflected acquisition of language accompanied by the emergence of unusual language characteristics. Symptoms of social dysfunction were relatively stable over time, and so was the severity of stereotyped behaviors. Conclusions: The study provides support for stability of clinical diagnosis and syndrome expression in the second year and highlights advantages and limitations of the ADI-R and ADOS-G for diagnosing and documenting symptoms of ASD in infants.