Pitch processing in the human brain is influenced by language experience

Positron emission tomography (PET) was used in a cross-linguistic study to compare pitch processing in native speakers of English, a nontone language, with those of Thai, a tone language. When discriminating pitch patterns in Thai words, only the Thai subjects showed activation in the left frontal operculum. Activation of this region near the classically defined Broca's area suggests that the brain recognizes functional properties, rather than simply acoustic properties, of complex auditory cues in accessing language-specific mechanisms in pitch perception.     

Optical appearance of alpha particle tracks in CR-39 SSNTD

A ray tracing method based on geometrical optics was used to study the tracks from alpha particles with different energies and with an incident angle of 50°. The transmission operation mode of the microscope is simulated. Considering the distribution of light intensities from the tracks, the mean and the 80% percentile gray levels from real experiments are proposed as quantitative variables to differentiate among tracks. The gray level properties for the same track for different exposures can vary to large extents. We introduce three variables, κ, λ and ε, to make empirical corrections. It is interesting to see that these coefficients are very consistent for the same alpha particle track despite the very different gray level properties. Gray level results have been obtained for tracks from alpha particles with 50° incident angle and different incident energies. However, the track depths cannot be predicted by any one of the coefficients κ, λ and ε. Multivariate analyses can help separate the tracks corresponding to different alpha energies. By using discriminant analysis with κ, λ and ε as independents, effectively all alpha energies can be determined with an accuracy of ±0.5 MeV.     

Efficient encoding of IEEE 802.11n LDPC codes

Addressed is the issue of LDPC coding for the emerging IEEE 802.11n standard. An efficient encoding algorithm is proposed. The algorithm is simple and easy to implement. The memory requirement is trivial     

Cardiovascular, renal, and neurohumoral responses to single large-volume paracentesis in patients with cirrhosis and diuretic-resistant ascites

OBJECTIVE: Large volume paracentesis is an effective treatment for refractory ascites, but the need for routine infusion of albumin or other volume expanders remains controversial. The aim of this study was to assess the short term effects of a single 5-L paracentesis without albumin replacement on total central blood volume, systemic and renal hemodynamics, sodium homeostasis, and neurohumoral factors. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Twelve patients with biopsy-proven cirrhosis and tense, diuretic-resistant ascites were studied before and 48 h after a single 5-L paracentesis without albumin infusion. Systemic hemodynamics and total central blood volume were assessed using radionuclide angiography. Glomerular filtration rate and effective renal plasma flow were measured by inulin and para-aminohippurate clearances, respectively. Lithium clearance was used as an index of proximal tubular reabsorption of sodium. In addition, plasma concentrations of neurohumoral factors were determined. RESULTS: Total central blood volume was 2.41 +/- 0.33 L/m2 (mean +/- SEM) before and 2.34 +/- 0.18 L/m2 48 h after large volume paracentesis (p = 0.76). Similarly, no differences were detected in the cardiac index, glomerular filtration rate, effective renal plasma flow, urinary sodium excretion, hematocrit, plasma renin activity, or concentrations of plasma aldosterone, norepinephrine, or atrial natriuretic factor. CONCLUSIONS: A single large volume paracentesis without albumin replacement causes no disturbances in systemic and renal hemodynamics 48 h after the procedure. These results suggest that a single 5-L paracentesis without albumin infusion is a safe and satisfactory short term option for the management of patients with cirrhosis and tense, diuretic-resistant ascites.     

CMOS scaling into the nanometer regime

Starting with a brief review on 0.1-μm (100 nm) CMOS status, this paper addresses the key challenges in further scaling of CMOS technology into the nanometer (sub-100 nm) regime in light of fundamental physical effects and practical considerations. Among the issues discussed are: lithography, power supply and threshold voltage, short-channel effect, gate oxide, high-field effects, dopant number fluctuations and interconnect delays. The last part of the paper discusses several alternative or unconventional device structures, including silicon-on-insulator (SOI), SiGe MOSFET's, low-temperature CMOS, and double-gate MOSFET's, which may lead to the outermost limits of silicon scaling     

Total variation blind deconvolution

We present a blind deconvolution algorithm based on the total variational (TV) minimization method proposed by Acar and Vogel (1994). The motivation for regularizing with the TV norm is that it is extremely effective for recovering edges of images as well as some blurring functions, e.g., motion blur and out-of-focus blur. An alternating minimization (AM) implicit iterative scheme is devised to recover the image and simultaneously identify the point spread function (PSF). Numerical results indicate that the iterative scheme is quite robust, converges very fast (especially for discontinuous blur), and both the image and the PSF can be recovered under the presence of high noise level. Finally, we remark that PSFs without sharp edges, e.g., Gaussian blur, can also be identified through the TV approach.     

Correction for photon attenuation in SPECT: analytical framework, average attenuation factors, and a new hybrid approach

We provide a unified framework for the investigation of convergence properties of the iterative algorithms for photon attenuation correction in SPECT, including the iterative Chang method--a commonly used approach in which an average attenuation factor calculated over all projection angles is employed in a pointwise correction scheme. A new average attenuation factor calculated along the projection line is introduced, which can compensate exactly for the attenuation effect in the case of a uniform activity distribution. We propose a new hybrid approach in which we use this new average attenuation factor initially and then shift to the iterative Chang method in later iterations. This hybrid approach was evaluated in a simulation study by use of a computer-generated phantom with both non-uniform activity and non-uniform attenuation distributions. The results demonstrate that this hybrid approach improves the convergence speed of the iterative Chang method and produces reconstructed images of high quality.     

Synergistic interaction of D1 and D2 dopamine receptors in the modulation of the reinforcing effect of brain stimulation.

Rats were trained to press a bar for hypothalamic stimulation, and a frequency-response function was plotted. Quinpirole (a selective D2 agonist) facilitated self-stimulation when injected alone but failed to show the facilitatory effect when injected either 1 hr before or 1 hr after injection of SCH 23390 (a D1 antagonist). Injection of reserpine followed by α-methyl-p-tyrosine virtually eliminated self-stimulation. Subsequent injection of either SKF 38393 (a D1 agonist) alone or quinpirole alone did not restore self-stimulation, but a combination of quinpirole and SKF 38393 did. Results suggest that a D2 dopamine agonist facilitates the reinforcing effect of brain stimulation only if D1 receptors are activated by endogenous dopamine or by an exogenous agonist. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Proposed modification to the CIECAM02 colour appearance model to include the simultaneous contrast effects

A modified CIECAM02 colour appearance model, named CIECAM02‐m2, is proposed to enable CIECAM02 to predict the simultaneous contrast effect. The structure of the CIECAM02‐m2 is a development from CIECAM02, and contains two different procedures for modifying the reference white; one is for lightness and the other is for hue. The model was tested using a data set accumulated in this study and the LUTCHI data. The CV values for three colour attributes between predictions and experimental data were used to evaluate the accuracy of the model. The low CV values obtained show the performance of the CIECAM02‐m2 model to predict the simultaneous contrast effect satisfactorily. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 32, 121 – 129, 2007     

A new model for transformer saturation characteristics by includinghysteresis loops

A simplified analytical expression in polynomial form to determine the transformer saturation and hysteresis characteristics without field test data is presented. Higher-order approximations are simulated for comparison with transformers of various capacities. The results are compared with experiments and simulations and show very good agreement. It is possible to determine accurate transformer saturation and hysteresis characteristics with this simplified procedure