Knee extension dynamometer: a new device for dynamic isokinetic magnetic resonance spectroscopy experiments

In the present study we introduce a new device for exercise magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). It operates in a standard whole-body scanner. Mechanical exertion unit allows maximal 10° to 15° short-arc knee extensions. The device operates hydraulically and is based on isokinetic movement. The force and work conducted are automatically controlled by the electronic control and computer unit. A small surface coil placed on the vastus medialis muscle allows the collection of spectra without interfering spectra from nearby resting muscles. The force used for the extensions can be followed simultaneously as a curve on the screen in the operator's room and the data is transferred to a personal computer for later analysis. Total work and fatigue percentage are also calculated by the device. It also allows the use of different isokinetic exercise protocols. The measurements of force proved reliable in repeat measurements using an isokinetic test device as a control.This device has been used clinically for over a year, is easy to operate, and offers reliable measurements. It is well suited to trials where muscle energy states versus time are followed since it allows noninvasive simultaneous quantification of muscle performance and collecting MRS spectra at rest, during exercise, and in the recovery phase.     

Multiply charged droplets in helium vapor

A model is introduced for the structure of multiply charged droplets occurring in low-temperature helium vapor. The regime of stability for the droplets is investigated. We find that only saturated droplets are stable with respect to angular oscillations. Experiments are suggested to probe this system.     

Context‐based compression of binary images in parallel

Binary images can be compressed efficiently using context‐based statistical modeling and arithmetic coding. However, this approach is fully sequential and therefore additional computing power from parallel computers cannot be utilized. We attack this problem and show how to implement the context‐based compression in parallel. Our approach is to segment the image into non‐overlapping blocks, which are compressed independently by the processors. We give two alternative solutions about how to construct, distribute and utilize the model in parallel, and study the effect on the compression performance and execution time. We show by experiments that the proposed approach achieves speedup that is proportional to the number of processors. The work efficiency exceeds 50% with any reasonable number of processors. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Second-harmonic reflectors on 128 degrees LiNbO3

In this work, we study theoretically the operation of long surface acoustic wave reflectors, comprising a large number of electrodes, at the fundamental and second harmonic frequencies on the 128/spl deg/ LiNbO/sub 3/ substrate for various electrode thicknesses and metallization ratios. Numerical simulations utilizing tailored test structures and time gating indicate that the reflectivity of the second-harmonic reflectors can be very high for certain geometries. Furthermore, our simulations suggest that inside the stopband the total losses for the second harmonic are of the same order as those for operation at the fundamental harmonic.     

Solutions to electromagnetic interference problems between cochlear implants and GSM phones.

For persons using cochlear implants, electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) problems may sometimes be an obstacle to using digital cellular telephones. This study aimed at exploring the benefit of three new assistive listening device prototypes that eliminate or diminish EMC problems. Ten experienced cochlear implant users listened in quiet to running speech samples and a sentence test on a landline phone, a digital cellular phone with and without three prototypes. The subjects' performance was assessed using a sentence test, a subjective visual analog scale, and by ranking the best and the poorest listening condition. Compared to the other test conditions, listening to a digital cellular phone alone revealed, on average, the poorest sentence recognition scores (29%) and the poorest results in four different subjective judgments (the amount of disturbances, the clarity of the message, the quality of the sound, overall judgment) with all three implant systems tested. The prototypes generally helped the implantees to recognize speech better on the cellular telephone (by 10-21 percent units, on average). Use of assistive listening devices and further development of EMC of both cochlear implant systems and digital cellular phones needs to take place to enable smooth use of digital cellular phones for all implantees.     

On derivation languages corresponding to context-free grammars

Summary A derivation language associated with a context-free grammar is the set of all terminating derivations. Hierarchy and closure properties of these languages are considered. In addition to the formerly known solvability of the emptiness and finiteness problems the equivalence problem is shown to be solvable for derivation languages.     

Local field asymmetry drives second-harmonic generation in non-centrosymmetric nanodimers

We demonstrate that second-harmonic generation (SHG) from arrays of non-centrosymmetric T-shaped gold nanodimers with a nanogap arises from asymmetry in the local fundamental field distribution and is not related strictly to nanogap size. Calculations show that the local field contains orthogonal polarization components not present in the exciting field, which yield the dominant SHG response. The strongest SHG responses occur through the local surface susceptibility of the particles for a fundamental field distributed asymmetrically at the particle perimeters. Weak responses result from more symmetric distributions despite high field enhancement in the nanogap. Nearly constant field enhancement persists for relatively large nanogap sizes.     

An efficient piecewise‐linear DC analysis method for general non‐linear circuits

The convergence problems of conventional DC analysis can be partly avoided by using piecewise‐linear analysis. This paper proposes a piecewise‐linear DC analysis method that can efficiently handle arbitrary couplings between non‐linear circuit elements. Piecewise‐linear modelling of the non‐linear circuit elements is automatically performed during simulation, using simplicial subdivisions. The number of linear regions, and thereby iterations, is considerably reduced by combining the common parts of separate simplicial subdivisions. Due to these reasons and since the method is formulated with the commonly used modified nodal approach, it has been possible to implement the method in the general‐purpose circuit simulator APLAC. The correct operation of the method is demonstrated with three examples. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new rule for MESFET gate charge division based on the energy conservation principle

The energy conservation problem in the MESFET gate charge model is presented. The energy conservation requirement leads to symmetrical transcapacitances in contradiction to the commonly accepted approaches. The transcapacitance symmetry is completely independent of device symmetry. The resulting small‐signal capacitances are reciprocal. Reciprocal capacitances are often considered charge non‐conservative because they do not contain transcapacitances, but in this approach reciprocity is the result of transcapacitance symmetry and the charge conservation problem is avoided since the charge‐based model includes the transcapacitances. A method for dividing the MESFET gate charge into gate‐drain and gate‐source portions based on the energy conservation rule is developed, and the method is applied to the well‐known Statz gate charge as an example. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.