Dependence of field-aligned electron precipitation on season, altitude and pitch angle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Berko, F. W.; Hoffman, R. A.

1973-01-01

The occurrence of field-aligned 2.3 keV electron precipitation was examined by using data from more than 7500 orbits of the polar-orbiting satellite, OGO-4. The frequency of occurrence of field aligned precipitation was highest at actual pitch angles between 7 and 10 deg, being highest in the winter months, at highest satellite altitudes. Acceleration by a localized parallel electric field established by electrostatic charge layers is proposed to explain particle observations.

Wave drag reduction due to a self-aligning aerodisk

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schnepf, Ch.; Wysocki, O.; Schülein, E.

2015-06-01

The effect of a self-aligning aerodisk on the wave drag of a blunt slender body in a pitching maneuver has been numerically investigated. The self-alignment was realized by a coupling of the flow solver and a flight mechanics tool. The slender body was pitched with high repetition rate between α = 0° and 20° at M = 1.41. Even at high α, the concept could align the aerodisk to the oncoming flow. In comparison to the reference body without a self-aligning aerodisk, a distinct drag reduction is achieved. A comparison with existing experimental data shows a qualitatively good agreement considering the shock and separation structure and the kinematics of the aerodisk.

Method of casting pitch based foam

DOEpatents

Klett, James W.

2002-01-01

A process for producing molded pitch based foam is disclosed which minimizes cracking. The process includes forming a viscous pitch foam in a container, and then transferring the viscous pitch foam from the container into a mold. The viscous pitch foam in the mold is hardened to provide a carbon foam having a relatively uniform distribution of pore sizes and a highly aligned graphic structure in the struts.

Low-energy ion distribution functions on a magnetically quiet day at geostationary altitude /L = 7/

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Singh, N.; Raitt, W. J.; Yasuhara, F.

1982-01-01

Ion energy and pitch angle distribution functions are examined for a magnetically quiet day using averaged data from ATS 6. For both field-aligned and perpendicular fluxes, the populations have a mixture of characteristic energies, and the distribution functions can be fairly well approximated by Maxwellian distributions over three different energy bands in the range 3-600 eV. Pitch angle distributions varying with local time, and energy distributions are used to compute total ion density. Pitch angle scattering mechanisms responsible for the observed transformation of pitch angle distribution are examined, and it is found that a magnetic noise of a certain power spectral density belonging to the electromagnetic ion cyclotron mode near the ion cyclotron frequency can be effective in trapping the field aligned fluxes by pitch angle scattering.

Stabilization and mobility of the head and trunk in wild monkeys during terrestrial and flat-surface walks and gallops.

PubMed

Dunbar, Donald C; Badam, Gyani L; Hallgrímsson, Benedikt; Vieilledent, Stéphane

2004-02-01

This study investigated the patterns of rotational mobility (> or =20 degrees ) and stability (< or =20 degrees ) of the head and trunk in wild Indian monkeys during natural locomotion on the ground and on the flat-topped surfaces of walls. Adult hanuman langurs (Semnopithecus entellus) and bonnet macaques (Macaca radiata) of either gender were cine filmed in lateral view. Whole-body horizontal linear displacement, head and trunk pitch displacement relative to space (earth horizontal), and vertical head displacement were measured from the cine films. Head-to-trunk pitch angle was calculated from the head-to-space and trunk-to-space measurements. Locomotor velocities, cycle durations, angular segmental velocities, mean segmental positions and mean peak frequencies of vertical and angular head displacements were then calculated from the displacement data. Yaw rotations were observed qualitatively. During quadrupedal walks by both species, the head was free to rotate in the pitch and yaw planes on a stabilized trunk. By contrast, during quadrupedal gallops by both species, the trunk pitched on a stabilized head. During both gaits in both species, head and trunk pitch rotations were symmetrical about comparable mean positions in both gaits, with mean head position aligning the horizontal semicircular canals near earth horizontal. Head pitch direction countered head vertical displacement direction to varying degrees during walks and only intermittently during gallops, providing evidence that correctional head pitch rotations are not essential for gaze stabilization. Head-to-space pitch velocities were below 350 deg. s(-1), the threshold above which, at least among humans, the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) becomes saturated. Mean peak frequencies of vertical translations and pitch rotations of the head ranged from 1 Hz to 2 Hz, a lower frequency range than that in which inertia is predicted to be the major stabilizer of the head in these species. Some variables, which were common to both walks and gallops in both species, are likely to reflect constraints in sensorimotor control. Other variables, which differed between the two gaits in both species, are likely to reflect kinematic differences, whereas variables that differed between the two species are attributed primarily to morphological and behavioural differences. It is concluded that either the head or the trunk can provide the nervous system with a reference frame for spatial orientation and that the segment providing that reference can change, depending upon the kinematic characteristics of the chosen gait.

Method and apparatus for reducing rotor blade deflections, loads, and/or peak rotational speed

DOEpatents

Moroz, Emilian Mieczyslaw; Pierce, Kirk Gee

2006-10-17

A method for reducing at least one of loads, deflections of rotor blades, or peak rotational speed of a wind turbine includes storing recent historical pitch related data, wind related data, or both. The stored recent historical data is analyzed to determine at least one of whether rapid pitching is occurring or whether wind speed decreases are occurring. A minimum pitch, a pitch rate limit, or both are imposed on pitch angle controls of the rotor blades conditioned upon results of the analysis.

Wave drag reduction with a self-aligning aerodisk on a missile configuration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schnepf, C.; Wysocki, O.; Schülein, E.

2017-06-01

A self-aligning aerodisk to reduce the wave drag on a pitching missile is numerically investigated. The motion and the Mach number were chosen to match a maneuver flight of an actual missile: pitching frequency f = 7.5 Hz, Mach number M = 2.2, and range of angle of attack 0° < < 21° . The self-alignment was realized with a coupling of the §ow solver with a 6DoF (6 degrees of freedom) tool. In the entire range of angle of attack, the drag could be reduced with the self-aligning aerodisk. A comparison with experimental data showed in parts a quite good agreement in the aerodynamic coe©cients, in the shock structure, and in the alignment of the aerodisk.

Manufacturing Methods and Technology (MANTECH) Program for a YAH-64 Composite Flexbeam Tail Rotor.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-10-01

pitch link (feathering) motion to the blade. The laminated elastomeric pitch shear support aligns the pitch case with respect to the flexbeam. The pitch...15 for more details) In addition to these doublers, a longo bundle, consisting of S-2 unidirectional glass!5216 epoxy prepreg , extends from the inside...pitch st-ttings. ,-NUB BE R Th, elastomeric snubber is a laminated metal /elastomr bearing that is stiff with respi,,c to rdiat loading, but soft in

Language-experience plasticity in neural representation of changes in pitch salience

PubMed Central

Krishnan, Ananthanarayan; Gandour, Jackson T.; Suresh, Chandan H.

2016-01-01

Neural representation of pitch-relevant information at the brainstem and cortical levels of processing is influenced by language experience. A well-known attribute of pitch is its salience. Brainstem frequency following responses and cortical pitch specific responses, recorded concurrently, were elicited by a pitch salience continuum spanning weak to strong pitch of a dynamic, iterated rippled noise pitch contour—homolog of a Mandarin tone. Our aims were to assess how language experience (Chinese, English) affects i) enhancement of neural activity associated with pitch salience at brainstem and cortical levels, ii) the presence of asymmetry in cortical pitch representation, and iii) patterns of relative changes in magnitude along the pitch salience continuum. Peak latency (Fz: Na, Pb, Nb) was shorter in the Chinese than the English group across the continuum. Peak-to-peak amplitude (Fz: Na-Pb, Pb-Nb) of the Chinese group grew larger with increasing pitch salience, but an experience-dependent advantage was limited to the Na-Pb component. At temporal sites (T7/T8), the larger amplitude of the Chinese group across the continuum was both limited to the Na-Pb component and the right temporal site. At the brainstem level, F0 magnitude gets larger as you increase pitch salience, and it too reveals Chinese superiority. A direct comparison of cortical and brainstem responses for the Chinese group reveals different patterns of relative changes in magnitude along the pitch salience continuum. Such differences may point to a transformation in pitch processing at the cortical level presumably mediated by local sensory and/or extrasensory influence overlaid on the brainstem output. PMID:26903418

Effect of EMIC Wave Normal Angle Distribution on Relativistic Electron Scattering in Outer RB

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Khazanov, G. V.; Gamayunov, K. V.

2007-01-01

We present the equatorial and bounce average pitch angle diffusion coefficients for scattering of relativistic electrons by the H+ mode of EMIC waves. Both the model (prescribed) and self consistent distributions over the wave normal angle are considered. The main results of our calculation can be summarized as follows: First, in comparison with field aligned waves, the intermediate and highly oblique waves reduce the pitch angle range subject to diffusion, and strongly suppress the scattering rate for low energy electrons (E less than 2 MeV). Second, for electron energies greater than 5 MeV, the |n| = 1 resonances operate only in a narrow region at large pitch-angles, and despite their greatest contribution in case of field aligned waves, cannot cause electron diffusion into the loss cone. For those energies, oblique waves at |n| greater than 1 resonances are more effective, extending the range of pitch angle diffusion down to the loss cone boundary, and increasing diffusion at small pitch angles by orders of magnitude.

Functional Data Analysis of Spaceflight-Induced Changes in Coordination and Phase in Head Pitch Acceleration During Treadmill Walking

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miller, Christopher; Peters, Brian; Feiveson, Alan; Bloomberg, Jacob

2011-01-01

Astronauts returning from spaceflight experience neurovestibular disturbances during head movements and attempt to mitigate them by limiting head motion. Analyses to date of the head movements made during walking have concentrated on amplitude and variability measures extracted from ensemble averages of individual gait cycles. Phase shifts within each gait cycle can be determined by functional data analysis through the computation of time-warping functions. Large, localized variations in the timing of peaks in head kinematics may indicate changes in coordination. The purpose of this study was to determine timing changes in head pitch acceleration of astronauts during treadmill walking before and after flight. Six astronauts (5M/1F; age = 43.5+/-6.4yr) participated in the study. Subjects walked at 1.8 m/sec (4 mph) on a motorized treadmill while reading optotypes displayed on a computer screen 4 m in front of their eyes. Three-dimensional motion of the subject s head was recorded with an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) device. Data were recorded twice before flight and four times after landing. The head pitch acceleration was calculated by taking the time derivative of the pitch velocity data from the IMU. Data for each session with each subject were time-normalized into gait cycles, then registered to align significant features and create a mean curve. The mean curves of each postflight session for each subject were re-registered based on their preflight mean curve to create time-warping functions. The root mean squares (RMS) of these warping functions were calculated to assess the deviation of head pitch acceleration mean curves in each postflight session from the preflight mean curve. After landing, most crewmembers exhibited localized shifts within their head pitch acceleration regimes, with the greatest deviations in RMS occurring on landing day or 1 day after landing. These results show that the alteration of head pitch coordination due to spaceflight may be assessed using an analysis of time-warping functions.

Optokinetic and vestibular stimulation determines the spatial orientation of negative optokinetic afternystagmus in the rabbit.

PubMed

Pettorossi, V E; Errico, P; Ferraresi, A; Barmack, N H

1999-02-15

Prolonged binocular optokinetic stimulation (OKS) in the rabbit induces a high-velocity negative optokinetic afternystagmus (OKAN II) that persists for several hours. We have taken advantage of this uniform nystagmus to study how changes in static head orientation in the pitch plane might influence the orientation of the nystagmus. After horizontal OKS, the rotation axis of the OKAN II remained almost constant in space as it was kept aligned with the gravity vector when the head was pitched by as much as 80 degrees up and 35 degrees down. Moreover, during reorientation, slow-phase eye velocity decreased according to the head pitch angle. Thereafter, we analyzed the space orientation of OKAN II after optokinetic stimulation during which the head and/or the OKS were pitched upward and downward. The rotation axis of OKAN II did not remain aligned with an earth vertical axis nor a head vertical axis, but it tended to be aligned with that of the OKS respace. The slow-phase eye velocity of OKAN II was also affected by the head pitch angle during OKS, because maximal OKAN II velocity occurred at the same head pitch angle as that during optokinetic stimulation. We suggest that OKAN II is coded in gravity-centered rather than in head-centered coordinates, but that this coordinate system may be influenced by optokinetic and vestibular stimulation. Moreover, the velocity attenuation of OKAN II seems to depend on the mismatch between the space-centered nystagmus rotation axis orientation and that of the "remembered" head-centered optokinetic pathway activated by OKS.

Relationship between field-aligned currents and inverted-V parallel potential drops observed at midaltitudes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sakanoi, T.; Fukunishi, H.; Mukai, T.

1995-10-01

The inverted-V field-aligned acceleration region existing in the altitude range of several thousand kilometers plays an essential role for the magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling system. The adiabatic plasma theory predicts a linear relationship between field-aligned current density (J∥) and parallel potential drop (Φ∥), that is, J∥=KΦ∥, where K is the field-aligned conductance. We examined this relationship using the charged particle and magnetic field data obtained from the Akebono (Exos D) satellite. The potential drop above the satellite was derived from the peak energy of downward electrons, while the potential drop below the satellite was derived from two different methods: the peak energy of upward ions and the energy-dependent widening of electron loss cone. On the other hand, field-aligned current densities in the inverted-V region were estimated from the Akebono magnetometer data. Using these potential drops and field-aligned current densities, we estimated the linear field-aligned conductance KJΦ. Further, we obtained the corrected field-aligned conductance KCJΦ by applying the full Knight's formula to the current-voltage relationship. We also independently estimated the field-aligned conductance KTN from the number density and the thermal temperature of magnetospheric source electrons which were obtained by fitting accelerated Maxwellian functions for precipitating electrons. The results are summarized as follows: (1) The latitudinal dependence of parallel potential drops is characterized by a narrow V-shaped structure with a width of 0.4°-1.0°. (2) Although the inverted-V potential region exactly corresponds to the upward field aligned current region, the latitudinal dependence of upward current intensity is an inverted-U shape rather than an inverted-V shape. Thus it is suggested that the field-aligned conductance KCJΦ changes with a V-shaped latitudinal dependence. In many cases, KCJΦ values at the edge of the inverted-V region are about 5-10 times larger than those at the center. (3) By comparing KCJΦ with KTN, KCJΦ is found to be about 2-20 times larger than KTN. These results suggest that low-energy electrons such as trapped electrons, secondary and back-scattered electrons, and ionospheric electrons significantly contribute to upward field-aligned currents in the inverted-V region. It is therefore inferred that non adiabatic pitch angle scattering processes play an important role in the inverted-V region. .

The visible extinction peaks of Ag nanohelixes: A periodic effective dipole model

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhang, Z.-Y.; Zhao, Y.-P.

2011-02-21

Using the discrete dipole approximation method, two visible extinction peaks are found for Ag nanohelixes. Both of them redshift periodically in an approximate half pitch with the helix height and redshift linearly with the helix diameter and pitch height. At the two absorbance peaks, an integer number of E-field maxima occur along the helix. These field maxima could be treated as results of collective electron oscillations by periodic effective dipoles within a half pitch along the helix. The wavelengths of the absorbance peaks are found to scale with the effective dipole length, which is consistent with the periodic structure ofmore » the helix.« less

Changes in pitch height elicit both language universal and language dependent changes in neural representation of pitch in the brainstem and auditory cortex

PubMed Central

Krishnan, Ananthanarayan; Suresh, Chandan H.; Gandour, Jackson T.

2017-01-01

Language experience shapes encoding of pitch-relevant information at both brainstem and cortical levels of processing. Pitch height is a salient dimension that orders pitch from low to high. Herein we investigate the effects of language experience (Chinese, English) in the brainstem and cortex on i) neural responses to variations in pitch height, ii) presence of asymmetry in cortical pitch representation, and iii) patterns of relative changes in magnitude of pitch height between these two levels of brain structure. Stimuli were three nonspeech homologs of Mandarin Tone 2 varying in pitch height only. The frequency-following response (FFR) and the cortical pitch-specific response (CPR) were recorded concurrently. At the Fz-linked T7/T8 site, peak latency of Na, Pb, and Nb decreased with increasing pitch height for both groups. Peak-to-peak amplitude of Na–Pb and Pb–Nb increased with increasing pitch height across groups. A language-dependent effect was restricted to Na-Pb; the Chinese had larger amplitude than the English group. At temporal sites (T7/T8), the Chinese group had larger amplitude, as compared to English, across stimuli, but also limited to the Na-Pb component and right temporal site. In the brainstem, F0 magnitude decreased with increasing pitch height; Chinese had larger magnitude across stimuli. A comparison of CPR and FFR responses revealed distinct patterns of relative changes in magnitude common to both groups. CPR amplitude increased and FFR amplitude decreased with increasing pitch height. Experience-dependent effects on CPR components vary as a function of neural sensitivity to pitch height within a particular temporal window (Na–Pb). Differences between the auditory brainstem and cortex imply distinct neural mechanisms for pitch extraction at both levels of brain structure. PMID:28108254

Changes in pitch height elicit both language-universal and language-dependent changes in neural representation of pitch in the brainstem and auditory cortex.

PubMed

Krishnan, Ananthanarayan; Suresh, Chandan H; Gandour, Jackson T

2017-03-27

Language experience shapes encoding of pitch-relevant information at both brainstem and cortical levels of processing. Pitch height is a salient dimension that orders pitch from low to high. Herein we investigate the effects of language experience (Chinese, English) in the brainstem and cortex on (i) neural responses to variations in pitch height, (ii) presence of asymmetry in cortical pitch representation, and (iii) patterns of relative changes in magnitude of pitch height between these two levels of brain structure. Stimuli were three nonspeech homologs of Mandarin Tone 2 varying in pitch height only. The frequency-following response (FFR) and the cortical pitch-specific response (CPR) were recorded concurrently. At the Fz-linked T7/T8 site, peak latency of Na, Pb, and Nb decreased with increasing pitch height for both groups. Peak-to-peak amplitude of Na-Pb and Pb-Nb increased with increasing pitch height across groups. A language-dependent effect was restricted to Na-Pb; the Chinese had larger amplitude than the English group. At temporal sites (T7/T8), the Chinese group had larger amplitude, as compared to English, across stimuli, but also limited to the Na-Pb component and right temporal site. In the brainstem, F0 magnitude decreased with increasing pitch height; Chinese had larger magnitude across stimuli. A comparison of CPR and FFR responses revealed distinct patterns of relative changes in magnitude common to both groups. CPR amplitude increased and FFR amplitude decreased with increasing pitch height. Experience-dependent effects on CPR components vary as a function of neural sensitivity to pitch height within a particular temporal window (Na-Pb). Differences between the auditory brainstem and cortex imply distinct neural mechanisms for pitch extraction at both levels of brain structure. Copyright © 2017 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

MO-FG-CAMPUS-JeP3-02: A Novel Setup Approach to Improve C-Spine Curvature Reproducibility for Head and Neck Radiotherapy Using Optical Surface Imaging with Two Regions of Interest

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ryan, K; Gil, M; Li, G

Purpose: To develop a novel approach to improve cervical spine (c-spine) curvature reproducibility for head and neck (HN) patients using optical surface imaging (OSI) with two regions of interests (ROIs). Methods: The OSI-guided, two-step setup procedure requires two ROIs: ROI-1 of the shoulders and ROI-2 of the face. The neck can be stretched or squeezed in superior-inferior (SI) direction using a specially-designed sliding head support. We hypothesize that when these two ROIs are aligned, the c-spine should fall into a naturally reproducible position under same setup conditions. An anthropomorphous phantom test was performed to examine neck pitch angles comparing withmore » the calculated angles. Three volunteers participated in the experiments, which start with conventional HN setup using skin markers and room lasers. An OSI image and lateral photo-picture were acquired as the references. In each of the three replicate tests, conventional setup was first applied after volunteers got on the couch. ROI-1 was aligned by moving the body, followed by ROI-2 alignment via adjusting head position and orientation under real-time OSI guidance. A final static OSI image and lateral picture were taken to evaluate both anterior and posterior surface alignments. Three degrees of freedom can be adjusted if an open-face mask was applied, including head SI shift using the sliding head support and pitch-and-roll rotations using a commercial couch extension. Surface alignment was analyzed comparing with conventional setup. Results: The neck pitch angle measured by OSI is consistent with the calculated (0.2±0.6°). Volunteer study illustrated improved c-spine setup reproducibility using OSI comparing with conventional setup. ROI alignments with 2mm/1° tolerance are achieved within 3 minutes. Identical knee support is important to achieve ROI-1 pitch alignment. Conclusion: The feasibility of this novel approach has been demonstrated for c-spine curvature setup reproducibility. Further evaluation is necessary with bony alignment variation in patient studies. This study is in part supported by the NIH (U54CA137788).« less

In-plane pitch control of cholesteric liquid crystals by formation of artificial domains via patterned photopolymerization.

PubMed

Yoshida, Hiroyuki; Miura, Yusuke; Tokuoka, Kazuki; Suzuki, Satoshi; Fujii, Akihiko; Ozaki, Masanori

2008-11-10

A controlled helix pitch modulation in the in-plane direction of a planarly aligned cholesteric liquid crystal cell is demonstrated by using photopolymerizable cholesteric liquid crystals. By fabricating artificial domains with a closed volume via two-photon excitation laser-lithography, the degree of pitch modulation could be controlled by adjusting the surface area to volume ratio of the domain. A pitch modulation of over 60 nm was realized by designing the shape of the artificial domain.

Representation and alignment of sung queries for music information retrieval

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adams, Norman H.; Wakefield, Gregory H.

2005-09-01

The pursuit of robust and rapid query-by-humming systems, which search melodic databases using sung queries, is a common theme in music information retrieval. The retrieval aspect of this database problem has received considerable attention, whereas the front-end processing of sung queries and the data structure to represent melodies has been based on musical intuition and historical momentum. The present work explores three time series representations for sung queries: a sequence of notes, a ``smooth'' pitch contour, and a sequence of pitch histograms. The performance of the three representations is compared using a collection of naturally sung queries. It is found that the most robust performance is achieved by the representation with highest dimension, the smooth pitch contour, but that this representation presents a formidable computational burden. For all three representations, it is necessary to align the query and target in order to achieve robust performance. The computational cost of the alignment is quadratic, hence it is necessary to keep the dimension small for rapid retrieval. Accordingly, iterative deepening is employed to achieve both robust performance and rapid retrieval. Finally, the conventional iterative framework is expanded to adapt the alignment constraints based on previous iterations, further expediting retrieval without degrading performance.

Self-aligned blocking integration demonstration for critical sub-40nm pitch Mx level patterning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raley, Angélique; Mohanty, Nihar; Sun, Xinghua; Farrell, Richard A.; Smith, Jeffrey T.; Ko, Akiteru; Metz, Andrew W.; Biolsi, Peter; Devilliers, Anton

2017-04-01

Multipatterning has enabled continued scaling of chip technology at the 28nm node and beyond. Selfaligned double patterning (SADP) and self-aligned quadruple patterning (SAQP) as well as Litho- Etch/Litho-Etch (LELE) iterations are widely used in the semiconductor industry to enable patterning at sub 193 immersion lithography resolutions for layers such as FIN, Gate and critical Metal lines. Multipatterning requires the use of multiple masks which is costly and increases process complexity as well as edge placement error variation driven mostly by overlay. To mitigate the strict overlay requirements for advanced technology nodes (7nm and below), a self-aligned blocking integration is desirable. This integration trades off the overlay requirement for an etch selectivity requirement and enables the cut mask overlay tolerance to be relaxed from half pitch to three times half pitch. Selfalignement has become the latest trend to enable scaling and self-aligned integrations are being pursued and investigated for various critical layers such as contact, via, metal patterning. In this paper we propose and demonstrate a low cost flexible self-aligned blocking strategy for critical metal layer patterning for 7nm and beyond from mask assembly to low -K dielectric etch. The integration is based on a 40nm pitch SADP flow with 2 cut masks compatible with either cut or block integration and employs dielectric films widely used in the back end of the line. As a consequence this approach is compatible with traditional etch, deposition and cleans tools that are optimized for dielectric etches. We will review the critical steps and selectivities required to enable this integration along with bench-marking of each integration option (cut vs. block).

Biological length scale topography enhances cell-substratum adhesion of human corneal epithelial cells

PubMed Central

Karuri, Nancy W.; Liliensiek, Sara; Teixeira, Ana I.; Abrams, George; Campbell, Sean; Nealey, Paul F.; Murphy, Christopher J.

2006-01-01

Summary The basement membrane possesses a rich 3-dimensional nanoscale topography that provides a physical stimulus, which may modulate cell-substratum adhesion. We have investigated the strength of cell-substratum adhesion on nanoscale topographic features of a similar scale to that of the native basement membrane. SV40 human corneal epithelial cells were challenged by well-defined fluid shear, and cell detachment was monitored. We created silicon substrata with uniform grooves and ridges having pitch dimensions of 400-4000 nm using X-ray lithography. F-actin labeling of cells that had been incubated for 24 hours revealed that the percentage of aligned and elongated cells on the patterned surfaces was the same regardless of pitch dimension. In contrast, at the highest fluid shear, a biphasic trend in cell adhesion was observed with cells being most adherent to the smaller features. The 400 nm pitch had the highest percentage of adherent cells at the end of the adhesion assay. The effect of substratum topography was lost for the largest features evaluated, the 4000 nm pitch. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of the cells during and after flow indicated that the aligned and elongated cells on the 400 nm pitch were more tightly adhered compared to aligned cells on the larger patterns. Selected experiments with primary cultured human corneal epithelial cells produced similar results to the SV40 human corneal epithelial cells. These findings have relevance to interpretation of cell-biomaterial interactions in tissue engineering and prosthetic design. PMID:15226393

Speech Accommodation without Priming: The Case of Pitch

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gijssels, Tom; Casasanto, Laura Staum; Jasmin, Kyle; Hagoort, Peter; Casasanto, Daniel

2016-01-01

People often accommodate to each other's speech by aligning their linguistic production with their partner's. According to an influential theory, the Interactive Alignment Model, alignment is the result of priming. When people perceive an utterance, the corresponding linguistic representations are primed and become easier to produce. Here we…

Currents and Associated Electron Scattering and Bouncing Near the Diffusion Region at Earth's Magnetopause

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lavraud, B.; Zhang, Y. C.; Vernisse, Y.; Gershman, D. J.; Dorelli, J.; Cassak, P. A.; Dargent, J.; Pollock, C.; Giles, B.; Aunai, N.;

In search of rules behind environmental framing; the case of head pitch.

PubMed

Wilson, Gwendoline Ixia; Norman, Brad; Walker, James; Williams, Hannah J; Holton, M D; Clarke, D; Wilson, Rory P

2015-01-01

Whether, and how, animals move requires them to assess their environment to determine the most appropriate action and trajectory, although the precise way the environment is scanned has been little studied. We hypothesized that head attitude, which effectively frames the environment for the eyes, and the way it changes over time, would be modulated by the environment. To test this, we used a head-mounted device (Human-Interfaced Personal Observation platform - HIPOP) on people moving through three different environments; a botanical garden ('green' space), a reef ('blue' space), and a featureless corridor, to examine if head movement in the vertical axis differed between environments. Template matching was used to identify and quantify distinct behaviours. The data on head pitch from all subjects and environments over time showed essentially continuous clear waveforms with varying amplitude and wavelength. There were three stylised behaviours consisting of smooth, regular peaks and troughs in head pitch angle and variable length fixations during which the head pitch remained constant. These three behaviours accounted for ca. 40 % of the total time, with irregular head pitch changes accounting for the rest. There were differences in rates of manifestation of behaviour according to environment as well as environmentally different head pitch values of peaks, troughs and fixations. Finally, although there was considerable variation in head pitch angles, the peak and trough values bounded most of the variation in the fixation pitch values. It is suggested that the constant waveforms in head pitch serve to inform people about their environment, providing a scanning mechanism. Particular emphasis to certain sectors is manifest within the peak and trough limits and these appear modulated by the distribution of the points where fixation, interpreted as being due to objects of interest, occurs. This behaviour explains how animals allocate processing resources to the environment and shows promise for movement studies attempting to elucidate which parts of the environment affect movement trajectories.

EUV focus sensor: design and modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goldberg, Kenneth A.; Teyssier, Maureen E.; Liddle, J. Alexander

2005-05-01

We describe performance modeling and design optimization of a prototype EUV focus sensor (FS) designed for use with existing 0.3-NA EUV projection-lithography tools. At 0.3-NA and 13.5-nm wavelength, the depth of focus shrinks to 150 nm increasing the importance of high-sensitivity focal-plane detection tools. The FS is a free-standing Ni grating structure that works in concert with a simple mask pattern of regular lines and spaces at constant pitch. The FS pitch matches that of the image-plane aerial-image intensity: it transmits the light with high efficiency when the grating is aligned with the aerial image laterally and longitudinally. Using a single-element photodetector, to detect the transmitted flux, the FS is scanned laterally and longitudinally so the plane of peak aerial-image contrast can be found. The design under consideration has a fixed image-plane pitch of 80-nm, with aperture widths of 12-40-nm (1-3 wave-lengths), and aspect ratios of 2-8. TEMPEST-3D is used to model the light transmission. Careful attention is paid to the annular, partially coherent, unpolarized illumination and to the annular pupil of the Micro-Exposure Tool (MET) optics for which the FS is designed. The system design balances the opposing needs of high sensitivity and high throughput opti-mizing the signal-to-noise ratio in the measured intensity contrast.

EUV Focus Sensor: Design and Modeling

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Goldberg, Kenneth A.; Teyssier, Maureen E.; Liddle, J. Alexander

We describe performance modeling and design optimization of a prototype EUV focus sensor (FS) designed for use with existing 0.3-NA EUV projection-lithography tools. At 0.3-NA and 13.5-nm wavelength, the depth of focus shrinks to 150 nm increasing the importance of high-sensitivity focal-plane detection tools. The FS is a free-standing Ni grating structure that works in concert with a simple mask pattern of regular lines and spaces at constant pitch. The FS pitch matches that of the image-plane aerial-image intensity: it transmits the light with high efficiency when the grating is aligned with the aerial image laterally and longitudinally. Using amore » single-element photodetector, to detect the transmitted flux, the FS is scanned laterally and longitudinally so the plane of peak aerial-image contrast can be found. The design under consideration has a fixed image-plane pitch of 80-nm, with aperture widths of 12-40-nm (1-3 wavelengths), and aspect ratios of 2-8. TEMPEST-3D is used to model the light transmission. Careful attention is paid to the annular, partially coherent, unpolarized illumination and to the annular pupil of the Micro-Exposure Tool (MET) optics for which the FS is designed. The system design balances the opposing needs of high sensitivity and high throughput optimizing the signal-to-noise ratio in the measured intensity contrast.« less

Toward a quantitative account of pitch distribution in spontaneous narrative: Method and validation

PubMed Central

Matteson, Samuel E.; Streit Olness, Gloria; Caplow, Nancy J.

2013-01-01

Pitch is well-known both to animate human discourse and to convey meaning in communication. The study of the statistical population distributions of pitch in discourse will undoubtedly benefit from methodological improvements. The current investigation examines a method that parameterizes pitch in discourse as musical pitch interval H measured in units of cents and that disaggregates the sequence of peak word-pitches using tools employed in time-series analysis and digital signal processing. The investigators test the proposed methodology by its application to distributions in pitch interval of the peak word-pitch (collectively called the discourse gamut) that occur in simulated and actual spontaneous emotive narratives obtained from 17 middle-aged African-American adults. The analysis, in rigorous tests, not only faithfully reproduced simulated distributions imbedded in realistic time series that drift and include pitch breaks, but the protocol also reveals that the empirical distributions exhibit a common hidden structure when normalized to a slowly varying mode (called the gamut root) of their respective probability density functions. Quantitative differences between narratives reveal the speakers' relative propensity for the use of pitch levels corresponding to elevated degrees of a discourse gamut (the “e-la”) superimposed upon a continuum that conforms systematically to an asymmetric Laplace distribution. PMID:23654400

DE 1 observations of type 1 counterstreaming electrons and field-aligned currents

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lin, C. S.; Burch, J. L.; Barfield, J. N.; Sugiura, M.; Nielsen, E.

1984-01-01

Dynamics Explorer 1 satellite observations of plasma and magnetic fields during type one counterstreaming electron events are presented. Counterstreaming electrons are observed at high altitudes in the region of field-aligned current. The total current density computed from the plasma data in the 18-10,000 eV energy range is generally about 1-2 micro-A/sq m. For the downward current, low-energy electrons contribute more than 40 percent of the total plasma current density integrated above 18 eV. For the upward current, such electrons contribute less than 50 percent of that current density. Electron beams in the field-aligned direction are occasionally detected. The pitch angle distributions of counterstreaming electrons are generally enhanced at both small and large pitch angles. STARE simultaneous observations for one DE 1 pass indicated that the field-aligned current was closed through Pedersen currents in the ionosphere. The directions of the ionospheric current systems are consistent with the DE 1 observations at high altitudes.

Production and perception of whispered vowels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiefte, Michael

2005-09-01

Information normally associated with pitch, such as intonation, can still be conveyed in whispered speech despite the absence of voicing. For example, it is possible to whisper the question ``You are going today?'' without any syntactic information to distinguish this sentence from a simple declarative. It has been shown that pitch change in whispered speech is correlated with the simultaneous raising or lowering of several formants [e.g., M. Kiefte, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 116, 2546 (2004)]. However, spectral peak frequencies associated with formants have been identified as important correlates to vowel identity. Spectral peak frequencies may serve two roles in the perception of whispered speech: to indicate both vowel identity and intended pitch. Data will be presented to examine the relative importance of several acoustic properties including spectral peak frequencies and spectral shape parameters in both the production and perception of whispered vowels. Speakers were asked to phonate and whisper vowels at three different pitches across a range of roughly a musical fifth. It will be shown that relative spectral change is preserved within vowels across intended pitches in whispered speech. In addition, several models of vowel identification by listeners will be presented. [Work supported by SSHRC.

A dynamic programming approach for the alignment of signal peaks in multiple gas chromatography-mass spectrometry experiments.

PubMed

Robinson, Mark D; De Souza, David P; Keen, Woon Wai; Saunders, Eleanor C; McConville, Malcolm J; Speed, Terence P; Likić, Vladimir A

2007-10-29

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is a robust platform for the profiling of certain classes of small molecules in biological samples. When multiple samples are profiled, including replicates of the same sample and/or different sample states, one needs to account for retention time drifts between experiments. This can be achieved either by the alignment of chromatographic profiles prior to peak detection, or by matching signal peaks after they have been extracted from chromatogram data matrices. Automated retention time correction is particularly important in non-targeted profiling studies. A new approach for matching signal peaks based on dynamic programming is presented. The proposed approach relies on both peak retention times and mass spectra. The alignment of more than two peak lists involves three steps: (1) all possible pairs of peak lists are aligned, and similarity of each pair of peak lists is estimated; (2) the guide tree is built based on the similarity between the peak lists; (3) peak lists are progressively aligned starting with the two most similar peak lists, following the guide tree until all peak lists are exhausted. When two or more experiments are performed on different sample states and each consisting of multiple replicates, peak lists within each set of replicate experiments are aligned first (within-state alignment), and subsequently the resulting alignments are aligned themselves (between-state alignment). When more than two sets of replicate experiments are present, the between-state alignment also employs the guide tree. We demonstrate the usefulness of this approach on GC-MS metabolic profiling experiments acquired on wild-type and mutant Leishmania mexicana parasites. We propose a progressive method to match signal peaks across multiple GC-MS experiments based on dynamic programming. A sensitive peak similarity function is proposed to balance peak retention time and peak mass spectra similarities. This approach can produce the optimal alignment between an arbitrary number of peak lists, and models explicitly within-state and between-state peak alignment. The accuracy of the proposed method was close to the accuracy of manually-curated peak matching, which required tens of man-hours for the analyzed data sets. The proposed approach may offer significant advantages for processing of high-throughput metabolomics data, especially when large numbers of experimental replicates and multiple sample states are analyzed.

Spatial representation of pitch height: the SMARC effect.

PubMed

Rusconi, Elena; Kwan, Bonnie; Giordano, Bruno L; Umiltà, Carlo; Butterworth, Brian

2006-03-01

Through the preferential pairing of response positions to pitch, here we show that the internal representation of pitch height is spatial in nature and affects performance, especially in musically trained participants, when response alternatives are either vertically or horizontally aligned. The finding that our cognitive system maps pitch height onto an internal representation of space, which in turn affects motor performance even when this perceptual attribute is irrelevant to the task, extends previous studies on auditory perception and suggests an interesting analogy between music perception and mathematical cognition. Both the basic elements of mathematical cognition (i.e. numbers) and the basic elements of musical cognition (i.e. pitches), appear to be mapped onto a mental spatial representation in a way that affects motor performance.

Perception and production of rise-fall intonation in American English.

PubMed

Steppling, Mary L; Montgomery, Allen A

2002-04-01

At the segmental level, the rate of speaking affects the degree of physical undershoot of articulatory targets and the resulting perception. Little is known regarding evidence of these effects at the suprasegmental level, particularly in intonation. In this study, the effect of rate of speaking on fundamental frequency and on perceptual judgments of peak pitch in a rise-fall intonation pattern was investigated. First, speakers produced rise-fall intonations in sentence contexts at slow, normal, and fast speaking rates. Peak fundamental frequencies (F0) of the slow productions were significantly lower than those of the normal or fast productions. The mean normal rate production of the word Miami was used as a model for the target word in a series of subsequent perceptual experiments. Altering the duration of the target word to represent slow, normal, and fast rates of speaking did not affect listener judgment of peak pitch. Finally, the pitch of the target word was measured in a sentence context. No differences between peak pitch in isolation or in sentence context were found. It was concluded that the production and perception of this form of intonation was not subject to the effects of rate that are seen at the segmental level.

The limits of metrical segmentation: intonation modulates infants' extraction of embedded trochees.

PubMed

Zahner, Katharina; Schönhuber, Muna; Braun, Bettina

2016-11-01

We tested German nine-month-olds' reliance on pitch and metrical stress for segmentation. In a headturn-preference paradigm, infants were familiarized with trisyllabic words (weak-strong-weak (WSW) stress pattern) in sentence-contexts. The words were presented in one of three naturally occurring intonation conditions: one in which high pitch was aligned with the stressed syllable and two misalignment conditions (with high pitch preceding vs. following the stressed syllable). Infants were tested on the SW unit of the WSW carriers. Experiment 1 showed recognition only when the stressed syllable was high-pitched. Intonation of test items (similar vs. dissimilar to familiarization) had no influence (Experiment 2). Thus, German nine-month-olds perceive stressed syllables as word onsets only when high-pitched, although they already generalize over different pitch contours. Different mechanisms underlying this pattern of results are discussed.

Finger forces in fastball baseball pitching.

PubMed

Kinoshita, Hiroshi; Obata, Satoshi; Nasu, Daiki; Kadota, Koji; Matsuo, Tomoyuki; Fleisig, Glenn S

2017-08-01

Forces imparted by the fingers onto a baseball are the final, critical aspects for pitching, however these forces have not been quantified previously as no biomechanical technology was available. In this study, an instrumented baseball was developed for direct measurement of ball reaction force by individual fingers and used to provide fundamental information on the forces during a fastball pitch. A tri-axial force transducer with a cable having an easily-detachable connector were installed in an official baseball. Data were collected from 11 pitchers who placed the fingertip of their index, middle, ring, or thumb on the transducer, and threw four-seam fastballs to a target cage from a flat mound. For the index and middle fingers, resultant ball reaction force exhibited a bimodal pattern with initial and second peaks at 38-39ms and 6-7ms before ball release, and their amplitudes were around 97N each. The ring finger and thumb produced single-peak forces of approximately 50 and 83N, respectively. Shear forces for the index and middle fingers formed distinct peak at 4-5ms before release, and the peaks summed to 102N; a kinetic source for backspin on the ball. An additional experiment with submaximal pitching effort showed a linear relationship of peak forces with ball velocity. The peak ball reaction force for fastballs exceeded 80% of maximum finger strength measured, suggesting that strengthening of the distal muscles is important both for enhancing performance and for avoiding injuries. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Shape of Nuclear Falls and Their Effect on the Perception of Pitch and Prominence: Peaks vs. Plateaux

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Knight, Rachael-Anne

2008-01-01

This article investigates the perceptual effect of a high plateau in the intonation contour. Plateaux are flat stretches of contour and have been observed associated with high tones in Standard Southern British (SSB) English. The hypothesis that plateaux may make the accents with which they are associated sound higher in pitch than sharp peaks of…

Radiographic-directed local coordinate systems critical in kinematic analysis of walking in diabetes-related medial column foot deformity.

PubMed

Hastings, Mary K; Woodburn, James; Mueller, Michael J; Strube, Michael J; Johnson, Jeffrey E; Beckert, Krista S; Stein, Michelle L; Sinacore, David R

2014-01-01

Diabetic foot deformity onset and progression maybe associated with abnormal foot and ankle motion. The modified Oxford multi-segmental foot model allows kinematic assessment of inter-segmental foot motion. However, there are insufficient anatomical landmarks to accurately representation the alignment of the hindfoot and forefoot segments during model construction. This is most notable for the sagittal plane which is referenced parallel to the floor, allowing comparison of inter-segmental excursion but not capturing important sagittal hind-to-forefoot deformity associated with diabetic foot disease and can potentially underestimate true kinematic differences. The purpose of the study was to compare walking kinematics using local coordinate systems derived from the modified Oxford model and the radiographic directed model which incorporated individual calcaneal and 1st metatarsal declination pitch angles for the hindfoot and forefoot. We studied twelve participants in each of the following groups: (1) diabetes mellitus, peripheral neuropathy and medial column foot deformity (DMPN+), (2) DMPN without medial column deformity (DMPN-) and (3) age- and weight-match controls. The modified Oxford model coordinate system did not identify differences between groups in the initial, peak, final, or excursion hindfoot relative to shank or forefoot relative to hindfoot dorsiflexion/plantarflexion during walking. The radiographic coordinate system identified the DMPN+ group to have an initial, peak and final position of the forefoot relative to hindfoot that was more dorsiflexed (lower arch phenotype) than the DMPN- group (p<.05). Use of radiographic alignment in kinematic modeling of those with foot deformity reveals segmental motion occurring upon alignment indicative of a lower arch. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Scatterometry-based metrology for SAQP pitch walking using virtual reference

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kagalwala, Taher; Vaid, Alok; Mahendrakar, Sridhar; Lenahan, Michael; Fang, Fang; Isbester, Paul; Shifrin, Michael; Etzioni, Yoav; Cepler, Aron; Yellai, Naren; Dasari, Prasad; Bozdog, Cornel

2016-03-01

Advanced technology nodes, 10nm and beyond, employing multi-patterning techniques for pitch reduction pose new process and metrology challenges in maintaining consistent positioning of structural features. Self-Aligned Quadruple Patterning (SAQP) process is used to create the Fins in FinFET devices with pitch values well below optical lithography limits. The SAQP process bares compounding effects from successive Reactive Ion Etch (RIE) and spacer depositions. These processes induce a shift in the pitch value from one fin compared to another neighboring fin. This is known as pitch walking. Pitch walking affects device performance as well as later processes which work on an assumption that there is consistent spacing between fins. In SAQP there are 3 pitch walking parameters of interest, each linked to specific process steps in the flow. These pitch walking parameters are difficult to discriminate at a specific process step by singular evaluation technique or even with reference metrology such as Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). In this paper we will utilize a virtual reference to generate a scatterometry model to measure pitch walk for SAQP process flow.

Comparative Analysis of Mass Spectral Similarity Measures on Peak Alignment for Comprehensive Two-Dimensional Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Peak alignment is a critical procedure in mass spectrometry-based biomarker discovery in metabolomics. One of peak alignment approaches to comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC×GC-MS) data is peak matching-based alignment. A key to the peak matching-based alignment is the calculation of mass spectral similarity scores. Various mass spectral similarity measures have been developed mainly for compound identification, but the effect of these spectral similarity measures on the performance of peak matching-based alignment still remains unknown. Therefore, we selected five mass spectral similarity measures, cosine correlation, Pearson's correlation, Spearman's correlation, partial correlation, and part correlation, and examined their effects on peak alignment using two sets of experimental GC×GC-MS data. The results show that the spectral similarity measure does not affect the alignment accuracy significantly in analysis of data from less complex samples, while the partial correlation performs much better than other spectral similarity measures when analyzing experimental data acquired from complex biological samples. PMID:24151524

Self-aligned blocking integration demonstration for critical sub-30nm pitch Mx level patterning with EUV self-aligned double patterning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raley, Angélique; Lee, Joe; Smith, Jeffrey T.; Sun, Xinghua; Farrell, Richard A.; Shearer, Jeffrey; Xu, Yongan; Ko, Akiteru; Metz, Andrew W.; Biolsi, Peter; Devilliers, Anton; Arnold, John; Felix, Nelson

2018-04-01

We report a sub-30nm pitch self-aligned double patterning (SADP) integration scheme with EUV lithography coupled with self-aligned block technology (SAB) targeting the back end of line (BEOL) metal line patterning applications for logic nodes beyond 5nm. The integration demonstration is a validation of the scalability of a previously reported flow, which used 193nm immersion SADP targeting a 40nm pitch with the same material sets (Si3N4 mandrel, SiO2 spacer, Spin on carbon, spin on glass). The multi-color integration approach is successfully demonstrated and provides a valuable method to address overlay concerns and more generally edge placement error (EPE) as a whole for advanced process nodes. Unbiased LER/LWR analysis comparison between EUV SADP and 193nm immersion SADP shows that both integrations follow the same trend throughout the process steps. While EUV SADP shows increased LER after mandrel pull, metal hardmask open and dielectric etch compared to 193nm immersion SADP, the final process performance is matched in terms of LWR (1.08nm 3 sigma unbiased) and is only 6% higher than 193nm immersion SADP for average unbiased LER. Using EUV SADP enables almost doubling the line density while keeping most of the remaining processes and films unchanged, and provides a compelling alternative to other multipatterning integrations, which present their own sets of challenges.

Customization and design of directed self-assembly using hybrid prepatterns

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, Joy; Doerk, Gregory S.; Rettner, Charles T.; Singh, Gurpreet; Tjio, Melia; Truong, Hoa; Arellano, Noel; Balakrishnan, Srinivasan; Brink, Markus; Tsai, Hsinyu; Liu, Chi-Chun; Guillorn, Michael; Sanders, Daniel P.

2015-03-01

Diminishing error tolerance renders the customization of patterns created through directed self-assembly (DSA) extremely challenging at tighter pitch. A self-aligned customization scheme can be achieved using a hybrid prepattern comprising both organic and inorganic regions that serves as a guiding prepattern to direct the self-assembly of the block copolymers as well as a cut mask pattern for the DSA arrays aligned to it. In this paper, chemoepitaxy-based self-aligned customization is demonstrated using two types of organic-inorganic prepatterns. CHEETAH prepattern for "CHemoepitaxy Etch Trim using a self-Aligned Hardmask" of preferential hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ, inorganic resist), non-preferential organic underlayer is fabricated using electron beam lithography. Customized trench or hole arrays can be achieved through co-transfer of DSA-formed arrays and CHEETAH prepattern. Herein, we also introduce a tone-reversed version called reverse-CHEETAH (or rCHEETAH) in which customized line segments can be achieved through co-transfer of DSA-formed arrays formed on a prepattern wherein the inorganic HSQ regions are nonpreferential and the organic regions are PMMA preferential. Examples of two-dimensional self-aligned customization including 25nm pitch fin structures and an 8-bar "IBM" illustrate the versatility of this customization scheme using rCHEETAH.

Center removal amount control of magnetorheological finishing process by spiral polishing way

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Yajun; He, Jianguo; Ji, Fang; Huang, Wen; Xiao, Hong; Luo, Qing; Zheng, Yongcheng

2010-10-01

Spiral polishing is a traditional process of computer-controlled optical surfacing. However, the additional polishing amount is great and the center polishing amount is difficult to control. At first, a simplified mathematics model is presented for magnetorheological finishing, which indicates that the center polishing amount and additional polishing amount are proportional to the length and peak value of magnetorheological finishing influence function, and are inversely proportional to pitch and rotation rate of spiral track, and the center polishing amount is much bigger than average polishing amount. Secondly, the relationships of "tool feed way and center polishing amount", "spiral pitch and calculation accuracy of influence matrix for dwell time function solution", "spiral pitch and center polishing amount" and "peak removal rate, dimensions of removal function and center removal amount" are studied by numerical computation by Archimedes spiral path. It shows that the center polishing amount is much bigger in feed stage than that in backhaul stage when the head of influence function is towards workpiece edge in feeding; and the bigger pitch, the bigger calculation error of influence matrix elements; and the bigger pitch, the smaller center polishing amount, and the smaller peak removal rate and dimensions of removal function, the smaller center removal amount. At last, the polishing results are given, which indicates that the center polishing amount is acceptable with a suitable polishing amount rate of feed stage and backhaul stage, and with a suitable spiral pitch during magnetorheological finishing procedure by spiral motion way.

Electron pitch angle diffusion by electrostatic electron cyclotron harmonic waves: The origin of pancake distributions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Horne, Richard B.; Thorne, Richard M.

2000-03-01

It has been suggested that highly anisotropic electron pancake distributions are the result of pitch angle diffusion by electrostatic electron cyclotron harmonic (ECH) and whistler mode waves in the equatorial region. Here we present pitch angle diffusion rates for ECH wave spectra centered at different frequencies with respect to the electron gyrofrequency Ωe corresponding to spacecraft observations. The wave spectra are carefully mapped to the correct resonant electron velocities. We show that previous diffusion calculations of ECH waves at 1.5Ωe, driven by the loss cone instability, result in large diffusion rates confined to a small range of pitch angles near the loss cone and therefore cannot account for pancake distributions. However, when the wave spectrum is centered at higher frequencies in the band (>1.6Ωe), the diffusion rates become very small inside the loss cone, peak just outside, and remain large over a wide range of pitch angles up to 60° or more. When the upper hybrid resonance frequency ωUHR is several times Ωe, ECH waves excited in higher bands also contribute significantly to pitch angle diffusion outside the loss cone up to very large pitch angles. We suggest that ECH waves driven by a loss cone could form pancake distributions as they grow if the wave spectrum extends from the middle to the upper part of the first (and higher) gyroharmonic bands. Alternatively, we suggest that pancake distributions can be formed by outward propagation in a nonhomogeneous medium, so that resonant absorption occurs at higher frequencies between(n+12) and (n+1)Ωe in regions where waves are also growing locally at <=1.5Ωe. The calculated diffusion rates suggest that ECH waves with amplitudes of the order of 1 mV m-1 can form pancake distributions from an initially isotropic distribution on a timescale of a few hours. This is consistent with recent CRRES observations of ECH wave amplitudes following substorm injections near geostationary orbit and the timescales for pancake formation. Persistent but much weaker ECH waves can further intensify and maintain pancake distributions during magnetically quiet periods.

Surface Electromyography of the Forearm Musculature During the Windmill Softball Pitch

PubMed Central

Remaley, D. Trey; Fincham, Bryce; McCullough, Bryan; Davis, Kirk; Nofsinger, Charles; Armstrong, Charles; Stausmire, Julie M.

2015-01-01

Background: Previous studies investigating the windmill softball pitch have focused primarily on shoulder musculature and function, collecting limited data on elbow and forearm musculature. Little information is available in the literature regarding the forearm. This study documents forearm muscle electromyographic (EMG) activity that has not been previously published. Purpose: Elbow and upper extremity overuse injuries are on the rise in fast-pitch softball pitchers. This study attempts to describe forearm muscle activity in softball pitchers during the windmill softball pitch. Overuse injuries can be prevented if a better understanding of mechanics is defined. Study Design: Descriptive laboratory study. Methods: Surface EMG and high-speed videography was used to study forearm muscle activation patterns during the windmill softball pitch on 10 female collegiate-level pitchers. Maximum voluntary isometric contraction of each muscle was used as a normalizing value. Each subject was tested during a single laboratory session per pitcher. Data included peak muscle activation, average muscle activation, and time to peak activation for 6 pitch types: fastball, changeup, riseball, curveball, screwball, and dropball. Results: During the first 4 phases, muscle activity (seen as signal strength on the EMG recordings) was limited and static in nature. The greatest activation occurred in phases 5 and 6, with increased signal strength, evidence of stretch-shortening cycle, and different muscle characteristics with each pitch style. These 2 phases of the windmill pitch are where the arm is placed in the 6 o’clock position and then at release of the ball. The flexor carpi ulnaris signal strength was significantly greater than the other forearm flexors. Timing of phases 1 through 5 was successively shorter for each pitch. There was a secondary pattern of activation in the flexor carpi ulnaris in phase 4 for all pitches except the fastball and riseball. Conclusion: During the 6 pitches, the greatest muscular activity was in phases 5 and 6. Flexor carpi ulnaris activity was greatest among the muscles tested. The riseball had the highest peak activity, but the curveball and dropball had the highest average signal strength. This muscle activity correlates with increasing distraction in the elbow, suggesting that flexor muscles act to counterdistract the elbow as they do for the baseball pitch. Clinical Relevance: Windmill pitchers are unique among overhead athletes as they throw, on average, more pitches per overhead athlete. Understanding the mechanics and physiology of the elbow in windmill pitchers is crucial to prevention and treatment of these increasingly common elbow injuries. This study establishes baseline data that will be useful to further prevent windmill pitch elbow injury. PMID:26535372

Chromaligner: a web server for chromatogram alignment.

PubMed

Wang, San-Yuan; Ho, Tsung-Jung; Kuo, Ching-Hua; Tseng, Yufeng J

2010-09-15

Chromaligner is a tool for chromatogram alignment to align retention time for chromatographic methods coupled to spectrophotometers such as high performance liquid chromatography and capillary electrophoresis for metabolomics works. Chromaligner resolves peak shifts by a constrained chromatogram alignment. For a collection of chromatograms and a set of defined peaks, Chromaligner aligns the chromatograms on defined peaks using correlation warping (COW). Chromaligner is faster than the original COW algorithm by k(2) times, where k is the number of defined peaks in a chromatogram. It also provides alignments based on known component peaks to reach the best results for further chemometric analysis. Chromaligner is freely accessible at http://cmdd.csie.ntu.edu.tw/~chromaligner.

Using a Neural Network Approach to Find Unusual Butterfly Pitch Angle Distribution Shapes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Medeiros, C.; Sibeck, D. G.; Souza, V. M. C. E. S.; Vieira, L.; Alves, L. R.; Da Silva, L. A.; Kanekal, S. G.; Baker, D. N.

2017-12-01

A special kind of neural network referred to as a Self-Organizing Map (SOM) was previously adopted to identify, in pitch angle-resolved relativistic electron flux data provided by the REPT instrument onboard the Van Allen Probes, three major types of electron pitch angle distributions (PADs), namely 90o-peaked, butterfly and flattop (Souza et al., 2016), following the classification scheme employed by Gannon et al. (2007). Previous studies show that butterfly distribution can be found in more than one shape. They usually exhibit an intense decrease near 90° pitch angles compared to the peaks usually around 30° and 150°. Sometimes unusual butterfly PAD shapes with peaks near 45° and 135° pitch angles can be observed. These could be correlated with different physical processes that govern the production and loss of energetic particles in the Van Allen radiation belt. A neural network approach allows the distinction of different kinds of butterfly PADs which were not analyzed in detail by Souza et al. (2016). This study uses SOM methodology to find these unusual butterfly PAD shape during the interval between January 1, 2014 and October 1, 2015, during which Van Allen Probes orbit covered all MLT. The spatial and temporal occurrence of these events were investigated as well as their solar wind and magnetospheric drivers.

Associations between timing in the baseball pitch and shoulder kinetics, elbow kinetics, and ball speed.

PubMed

Urbin, M A; Fleisig, Glenn S; Abebe, Asheber; Andrews, James R

2013-02-01

A baseball pitcher's ability to maximize ball speed while avoiding shoulder and elbow injuries is an important determinant of a successful career. Pitching injuries are attributed to microtrauma brought about by the repetitive stress of high-magnitude shoulder and elbow kinetics. Over a number of pitches, variations in timing peak angular velocities of trunk segment rotations will be significantly associated with ball speed and upper extremity kinetic parameters. Descriptive laboratory study. Kinematic and kinetic data were derived from 9 to 15 fastball pitches performed by 16 active, healthy collegiate (n = 8) and professional (n = 8) pitchers via 3-dimensional motion capture (240 Hz). Each pitch was decomposed into 4 phases corresponding to the time between peak angular velocities of sequential body segment rotations. Four mixed models were used to evaluate which phases varied significantly in relation to ball speed, peak shoulder proximal force, peak shoulder internal rotation torque, and peak elbow varus torque. Mixed-model parameter coefficient estimates were used to quantify the influence of these variations in timing on ball speed and upper extremity kinetics. All 4 mixed models were significant (P < .05). The time from stride-foot contact to peak pelvis angular velocity varied significantly in relation to all upper extremity kinetic parameters and ball speed. Increased time in this phase correlated with decreases in all parameters. Decreased ball speed also correlated with increased time between peak upper torso and elbow extension angular velocities. Decreased shoulder proximal force also correlated with increased time between peak pelvis and upper torso angular velocities. There are specific phases that vary in relation to ball speed and upper extremity kinetic parameters, reinforcing the importance of effectively and consistently timing segmental interactions. For the specific interactions that varied significantly, increased phase times were associated with decreased kinetics and ball speed. Although increased time within specific phases correlates with decreases in the magnitude of upper extremity kinetics linked to overuse injuries, it also correlates with decreased ball speed. Based on these findings, it may appear that minimizing the risk of injury (ie, decreased kinetics) and maximizing performance quality (ie, increased ball speed) are incompatible with one another. However, there may be an optimal balance in timing that is effective for satisfying both outcomes.

Human spatial orientation in the pitch dimension

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cohen, M. M.; Larson, C. A.

1974-01-01

Two experiments were conducted. In Experiment I, each of eight Ss attempted to place himself at 13 different goal orientations between prone and supine. Deviations of achieved body pitch angles from goal orientations were determined. In Experiment II, each of eight Ss attempted to align a visual target with his morphological horizon while he was placed at each of the 13 goal orientations. Changes in settings of the target were examined. Results indicate that Ss underestimate body pitch when they are tilted less than 60 deg backward or forward from the vertical, overestimate body pitch when they are nearly prone, and accurately estimate body pitch when they are nearly supine. In contrast, Ss set the visual target maximally above the morphological horizon when they are tilted 30 deg forward from the vertical. The findings are discussed in terms of common and different physiological mechanism that may underlie judgments of these types.

Unsupervised parameter optimization for automated retention time alignment of severely shifted gas chromatographic data using the piecework alignment algorithm.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pierce, Karisa M.; Wright, Bob W.; Synovec, Robert E.

2007-02-02

First, simulated chromatographic separations with declining retention time precision were used to study the performance of the piecewise retention time alignment algorithm and to demonstrate an unsupervised parameter optimization method. The average correlation coefficient between the first chromatogram and every other chromatogram in the data set was used to optimize the alignment parameters. This correlation method does not require a training set, so it is unsupervised and automated. This frees the user from needing to provide class information and makes the alignment algorithm more generally applicable to classifying completely unknown data sets. For a data set of simulated chromatograms wheremore » the average chromatographic peak was shifted past two neighboring peaks between runs, the average correlation coefficient of the raw data was 0.46 ± 0.25. After automated, optimized piecewise alignment, the average correlation coefficient was 0.93 ± 0.02. Additionally, a relative shift metric and principal component analysis (PCA) were used to independently quantify and categorize the alignment performance, respectively. The relative shift metric was defined as four times the standard deviation of a given peak’s retention time in all of the chromatograms, divided by the peak-width-at-base. The raw simulated data sets that were studied contained peaks with average relative shifts ranging between 0.3 and 3.0. Second, a “real” data set of gasoline separations was gathered using three different GC methods to induce severe retention time shifting. In these gasoline separations, retention time precision improved ~8 fold following alignment. Finally, piecewise alignment and the unsupervised correlation optimization method were applied to severely shifted GC separations of reformate distillation fractions. The effect of piecewise alignment on peak heights and peak areas is also reported. Piecewise alignment either did not change the peak height, or caused it to slightly decrease. The average relative difference in peak height after piecewise alignment was –0.20%. Piecewise alignment caused the peak areas to either stay the same, slightly increase, or slightly decrease. The average absolute relative difference in area after piecewise alignment was 0.15%.« less

Pitch-based carbon foam and composites

DOEpatents

Klett, James W.

2001-01-01

A process for producing carbon foam or a composite is disclosed which obviates the need for conventional oxidative stabilization. The process employs mesophase or isotropic pitch and a simplified process using a single mold. The foam has a relatively uniform distribution of pore sizes and a highly aligned graphic structure in the struts. The foam material can be made into a composite which is useful in high temperature sandwich panels for both thermal and structural applications.

Pitch-based carbon foam and composites

DOEpatents

Klett, James W.

2003-12-16

A process for producing carbon foam or a composite is disclosed which obviates the need for conventional oxidative stabilization. The process employs mesophase or isotropic pitch and a simplified process using a single mold. The foam has a relatively uniform distribution of pore sizes and a highly aligned graphic structure in the struts. The foam material can be made into a composite which is useful in high temperature sandwich panels for both thermal and structural applications.

Pitch-based carbon foam and composites

DOEpatents

Klett, James W.

2003-12-02

A process for producing carbon foam or a composite is disclosed which obviates the need for conventional oxidative stabilization. The process employs mesophase or isotropic pitch and a simplified process using a single mold. The foam has a relatively uniform distribution of pore sizes and a highly aligned graphic structure in the struts. The foam material can be made into a composite which is useful in high temperature sandwich panels for both thermal and structural applications.

Pitch-based carbon foam and composites

DOEpatents

Klett, James W.

2002-01-01

A process for producing carbon foam or a composite is disclosed which obviates the need for conventional oxidative stabilization. The process employs mesophase or isotropic pitch and a simplified process using a single mold. The foam has a relatively uniform distribution of pore sizes and a highly aligned graphic structure in the struts. The foam material can be made into a composite which is useful in high temperature sandwich panels for both thermal and structural applications.

Identifying Head-Trunk and Lower Limb Contributions to Gaze Stabilization During Locomotion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mulavara, Ajitkumar P.; Bloomberg, Jacob J.

2003-01-01

The goal of the present study was to determine how the multiple, interdependent full-body sensorimotor subsystems respond to a change in gaze stabilization task constraints during locomotion. Nine subjects performed two gaze stabilization tasks while walking at 6.4 km/hr on a motorized treadmill: 1) focusing on a central point target; 2) reading numeral characters; both presented at 2m in front at the level of their eyes. While subjects performed the tasks we measured: temporal parameters of gait, full body sagittal plane segmental kinematics of the head, trunk, thigh, shank and foot, accelerations along the vertical axis at the head and the shank, and the vertical forces acting on the support surface. We tested the hypothesis that with the increased demands placed on visual acuity during the number recognition task, subjects would modify full-body segmental kinematics in order to reduce perturbations to the head in order to successfully perform the task. We found that while reading numeral characters as - compared to the central point target: 1) compensatory head pitch movement was on average 22% greater despite the fact that the trunk pitch and trunk vertical translation movement control were not significantly changed; 2) coordination patterns between head and trunk as reflected by the peak cross correlation between the head pitch and trunk pitch motion as well as the peak cross correlation between the head pitch and vertical trunk translation motion were not significantly changed; 3) knee joint total movement was on average 11% greater during the period from the heel strike event to the peak knee flexion event in stance phase of the gait cycle; 4) peak acceleration measured at the head was significantly reduced by an average of 13% in four of the six subjects. This was so even when the peak acceleration at the shank and the transmissibility of the shock wave at heel strike (measured by the peak acceleration ratio of the head/shank) remained unchanged. Taken together these results provide further evidence that the full body contributes to gaze stabilization during locomotion, and that its different functional elements can be modified online to contribute to gaze stabilization for different visual task constraints.

Partial tooth gear bearings

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vranish, John M. (Inventor)

2010-01-01

A partial gear bearing including an upper half, comprising peak partial teeth, and a lower, or bottom, half, comprising valley partial teeth. The upper half also has an integrated roller section between each of the peak partial teeth with a radius equal to the gear pitch radius of the radially outwardly extending peak partial teeth. Conversely, the lower half has an integrated roller section between each of the valley half teeth with a radius also equal to the gear pitch radius of the peak partial teeth. The valley partial teeth extend radially inwardly from its roller section. The peak and valley partial teeth are exactly out of phase with each other, as are the roller sections of the upper and lower halves. Essentially, the end roller bearing of the typical gear bearing has been integrated into the normal gear tooth pattern.

Structure of the plasmapause from ISEE 1 low-energy ion and plasma wave observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nagai, T.; Horwitz, J. L.; Anderson, R. R.; Chappell, C. R.

1985-01-01

Low-energy ion pitch angle distributions are compared with plasma density profiles in the near-earth magnetosphere using ISEE 1 observations. The classical plasmapause determined by the sharp density gradient is not always observed in the dayside region, whereas there almost always exists the ion pitch angle distribution transition from cold, isotropic to warm, bidirectional, field-aligned distributions. In the nightside region the plasmapause density gradient is typically found, and it normally coincides with the ion pitch angle distribution transition. The sunward motion of the plasma is found in the outer part of the 'plasmaspheric' plasma in the dusk bulge region.

Design of Spur Gears for Improved Efficiency

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anderson, N. E.; Loewenthal, S. H.

1981-01-01

A method to calculate spur gear system loss for a wide range of gear geometries and operating conditions was used to determine design requirements for an efficient gearset. The effects of spur gear size, pitch, ratio, pitch line velocity and load on efficiency were determined. Peak efficiencies were found to be greater for large diameter and fine pitched gears and tare (no-load) losses were found to be significant.

Compensation for pitch-shifted auditory feedback during the production of Mandarin tone sequences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Yi; Larson, Charles R.; Bauer, Jay J.; Hain, Timothy C.

2004-08-01

Recent research has found that while speaking, subjects react to perturbations in pitch of voice auditory feedback by changing their voice fundamental frequency (F0) to compensate for the perceived pitch-shift. The long response latencies (150-200 ms) suggest they may be too slow to assist in on-line control of the local pitch contour patterns associated with lexical tones on a syllable-to-syllable basis. In the present study, we introduced pitch-shifted auditory feedback to native speakers of Mandarin Chinese while they produced disyllabic sequences /ma ma/ with different tonal combinations at a natural speaking rate. Voice F0 response latencies (100-150 ms) to the pitch perturbations were shorter than syllable durations reported elsewhere. Response magnitudes increased from 50 cents during static tone to 85 cents during dynamic tone productions. Response latencies and peak times decreased in phrases involving a dynamic change in F0. The larger response magnitudes and shorter latency and peak times in tasks requiring accurate, dynamic control of F0, indicate this automatic system for regulation of voice F0 may be task-dependent. These findings suggest that auditory feedback may be used to help regulate voice F0 during production of bi-tonal Mandarin phrases.

SU-E-J-165: Dosimetric Impact of Liver Rotations in Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pinnaduwage, D; Paulsson, A; Sudhyadhom, A

2015-06-15

Purpose: Often in liver stereotactic body radiotherapy a single fiducial is implanted near the tumor for image-guided treatment delivery. In such cases, rotational corrections are calculated based on the spine. This study quantifies rotational differences between the spine and liver, and investigates the corresponding dosimetric impact. Methods: Seven patients with 3 intrahepatic fiducials and 4DCT scans were identified. The planning CT was separately co-registered with 4 phases of the 4DCT (0%, 50%, 100% inhale and 50% exhale) by 1) rigid registration of the spine, and 2) point-based registration of the 3 fiducials. Rotation vectors were calculated for each registration. Translationalmore » differences in fiducial positions between the 2 registrations methods were investigated. Dosimetric impact due to liver rotations and deformations was assessed using critical structures delineated on the 4DCT phases. For dose comparisons, a single fiducial was translationally aligned following spine alignment to represent what is typically done in the clinic. Results: On average, differences between spine and liver rotations during the 0%, 50%, 100% inhale, and 50% exhale phases were 3.23°, 3.27°, 2.26° and 3.11° (pitch), 3.00°, 2.24°, 3.12° and 1.73° (roll), and 1.57°, 1.98°, 2.09° and 1.36° (yaw), respectively. The maximum difference in rotations was 12°, with differences of >3° seen in 14/28 (pitch), 10/28 (roll), and 6/28 (yaw) cases. Average fiducial displacements of 2.73 (craniocaudal), 1.04 (lateral) and 1.82 mm (vertical) were seen. Evaluating percent dose differences for 5 patients at the peaks of the respiratory cycle, the maximum dose to the duodenum, stomach, bowel and esophagus differed on average by 11.4%, 5.3%, 11.2% and 49.1% between the 2 registration methods. Conclusion: Lack of accounting for liver rotation during treatment might Result in clinically significant dose differences to critical structures. Both rotational and translational deviations should be considered in planning margins when using spine alignment for liver treatments.« less

Channel length scaling behavior in transistors based on individual versus dense arrays of carbon nanotubes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brady, Gerald J.; Jinkins, Katherine R.; Arnold, Michael S.

2017-09-01

Recent advances in the solution-phase sorting and assembly of semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) have enabled significant gains in the performance of field-effect transistors (FETs) constructed from dense arrays of aligned SWCNTs. However, the channel length (LCH) downscaling behaviors of these arrays, which contain some organizational disorder (i.e., rotational misalignment and non-uniform pitch), have not yet been studied in detail below LCH of 100 nm. This study compares the behaviors of individualized SWCNTs with arrays of aligned, solution-cast SWCNTs in FETs with LCH ranging from 30 to 240 nm. The on-state conductance of both individual and array SWCNTs rises with decreasing LCH. Nearly ballistic transport is observed for LCH < 40 nm in both cases, reaching a conductance of 0.82 Go per SWCNT in arrays, where Go = 2e2/h is the quantum conductance. In the off-state, the off-current and subthreshold swing of the individual SWCNTs remain nearly invariant with decreasing LCH whereas array SWCNT FETs suffer from increasing off-state current and deteriorating subthreshold swing for LCH below 100 nm. We analyze array disorder using atomic force microscopy, which shows that crossing SWCNTs that arise from misoriented alignment raise SWCNTs off of the substrate for large portions of the channel when LCH is small. Electrostatics modeling analysis indicates that these raised SWCNTs are a likely contributor to the deteriorating off-current and subthreshold characteristics of arrays. These results demonstrate that improved inter-SWCNT pitch uniformity and alignment with minimal inter-SWCNT interactions will be necessary in order for solution processed SWCNT arrays to reach subthreshold performance on par with isolated SWCNTs. These results are also promising because they show that arrays of solution-processed SWCNTs can nearly reach ballistic conductance in the on-state despite imperfections in pitch and alignment.

Identifying head-trunk and lower limb contributions to gaze stabilization during locomotion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mulavara, Ajitkumar P.; Bloomberg, Jacob J.

2002-01-01

The goal of the present study was to determine how the multiple, interdependent full-body sensorimotor subsystems respond to a change in gaze stabilization task constraints during locomotion. Nine subjects performed two gaze stabilization tasks while walking at 6.4 km/hr on a motorized treadmill: 1) focusing on a central point target; 2) reading numeral characters; both presented at 2 m in front at the level of their eyes. While subjects performed the tasks we measured: temporal parameters of gait, full body sagittal plane segmental kinematics of the head, trunk, thigh, tibia and foot, accelerations along the vertical axis at the head and the tibia, and the vertical forces acting on the support surface. We tested the hypothesis that with the increased demands placed on visual acuity during the number recognition task, subjects would modify full-body segmental kinematics in order to reduce perturbations to the head in order to successfully perform the task. We found that while reading numeral characters as compared to the central point target: 1) compensatory head pitch movement was on average 22% greater despite the fact that the trunk pitch and trunk vertical translation movement control were not significantly changed; 2) coordination patterns between head and trunk as reflected by the peak cross correlation between the head pitch and trunk pitch motion as well as the peak cross correlation between the head pitch and vertical trunk translation motion were not significantly changed; 3) knee joint total movement was on average 11% greater during the period from the heel strike event to the peak knee flexion event in stance phase of the gait cycle; 4) peak acceleration measured at the head was significantly reduced by an average of 13% in four of the six subjects. This was so even when the peak acceleration at the tibia and the transmission of the shock wave at heel strike (measured by the peak acceleration ratio of the head/tibia and the time lag between the tibial and head peak accelerations) remained unchanged. Taken together these results provide further evidence that the full body contributes to gaze stabilization during locomotion, and that its different functional elements can be modified online to contribute to gaze stabilization for different visual task constraints.

A versatile pitch tracking algorithm: from human speech to killer whale vocalizations.

PubMed

Shapiro, Ari Daniel; Wang, Chao

2009-07-01

In this article, a pitch tracking algorithm [named discrete logarithmic Fourier transformation-pitch detection algorithm (DLFT-PDA)], originally designed for human telephone speech, was modified for killer whale vocalizations. The multiple frequency components of some of these vocalizations demand a spectral (rather than temporal) approach to pitch tracking. The DLFT-PDA algorithm derives reliable estimations of pitch and the temporal change of pitch from the harmonic structure of the vocal signal. Scores from both estimations are combined in a dynamic programming search to find a smooth pitch track. The algorithm is capable of tracking killer whale calls that contain simultaneous low and high frequency components and compares favorably across most signal to noise ratio ranges to the peak-picking and sidewinder algorithms that have been used for tracking killer whale vocalizations previously.

Method of fabricating vertically aligned group III-V nanowires

DOEpatents

Wang, George T; Li, Qiming

2014-11-25

A top-down method of fabricating vertically aligned Group III-V micro- and nanowires uses a two-step etch process that adds a selective anisotropic wet etch after an initial plasma etch to remove the dry etch damage while enabling micro/nanowires with straight and smooth faceted sidewalls and controllable diameters independent of pitch. The method enables the fabrication of nanowire lasers, LEDs, and solar cells.

Liquid crystal dynamic flow control by bidirectional alignment surface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Y. W.; Lee, C. Y.; Kwok, H. S.

2009-02-01

We investigate the behavior of liquid crystal dynamic flow in a cell with a bidirectional alignment (BDA) surface. Numerical simulations show that with a BDA surface having a pitch comparable to the cell gap d, the liquid crystal dynamic flow direction can be controlled by the driving voltage. Such an effect can be applied to bistable twisted nematic displays without the need for anchoring breaking.

Constant lift rotor for a heavier than air craft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stroub, R. H. (Inventor)

1979-01-01

A rotor blade extended radially from a hub, characterized by an elongated spar and a plurality of axially aligned shells pivotally mounted on the spar is presented. Each has an aerodynamic center located in trailing relation with the spar and supported thereby for simultaneous axial and angular displacement as centrifugal forces are applied, a pitch controller plus a plurality of pivotal pitch limiting arms transversely related to the spar. A push-pull link interconnecting the arms is used for imparting simultaneous pivotal motion, whereby the angular relationship of the arms to the spar is varied for varying the motion of the trucks along the arms for thus limiting the pitch of the segments about the spar.

Statistical modeling of SRAM yield performance and circuit variability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, Qi; Chen, Yijian

2015-03-01

In this paper, we develop statistical models to investigate SRAM yield performance and circuit variability in the presence of self-aligned multiple patterning (SAMP) process. It is assumed that SRAM fins are fabricated by a positivetone (spacer is line) self-aligned sextuple patterning (SASP) process which accommodates two types of spacers, while gates are fabricated by a more pitch-relaxed self-aligned quadruple patterning (SAQP) process which only allows one type of spacer. A number of possible inverter and SRAM structures are identified and the related circuit multi-modality is studied using the developed failure-probability and yield models. It is shown that SRAM circuit yield is significantly impacted by the multi-modality of fins' spatial variations in a SRAM cell. The sensitivity of 6-transistor SRAM read/write failure probability to SASP process variations is calculated and the specific circuit type with the highest probability to fail in the reading/writing operation is identified. Our study suggests that the 6-transistor SRAM configuration may not be scalable to 7-nm half pitch and more robust SRAM circuit design needs to be researched.

Variability of a "force signature" during windmill softball pitching and relationship between discrete force variables and pitch velocity.

PubMed

Nimphius, Sophia; McGuigan, Michael R; Suchomel, Timothy J; Newton, Robert U

2016-06-01

This study assessed reliability of discrete ground reaction force (GRF) variables over multiple pitching trials, investigated the relationships between discrete GRF variables and pitch velocity (PV) and assessed the variability of the "force signature" or continuous force-time curve during the pitching motion of windmill softball pitchers. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for all discrete variables was high (0.86-0.99) while the coefficient of variance (CV) was low (1.4-5.2%). Two discrete variables were significantly correlated to PV; second vertical peak force (r(5)=0.81, p=0.03) and time between peak forces (r(5)=-0.79; p=0.03). High ICCs and low CVs support the reliability of discrete GRF and PV variables over multiple trials and significant correlations indicate there is a relationship between the ability to produce force and the timing of this force production with PV. The mean of all pitchers' curve-average standard deviation of their continuous force-time curves demonstrated low variability (CV=4.4%) indicating a repeatable and identifiable "force signature" pattern during this motion. As such, the continuous force-time curve in addition to discrete GRF variables should be examined in future research as a potential method to monitor or explain changes in pitching performance. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Improving the quality of biomarker candidates in untargeted metabolomics via peak table-based alignment of comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-mass spectrometry data

PubMed Central

Bean, Heather D.; Hill, Jane E.; Dimandja, Jean-Marie D.

2015-01-01

The potential of high-resolution analytical technologies like GC×GC/TOF MS in untargeted metabolomics and biomarker discovery has been limited by the development of fully automated software that can efficiently align and extract information from multiple chromatographic data sets. In this work we report the first investigation on a peak-by-peak basis of the chromatographic factors that impact GC×GC data alignment. A representative set of 16 compounds of different chromatographic characteristics were followed through the alignment of 63 GC×GC chromatograms. We found that varying the mass spectral match parameter had a significant influence on the alignment for poorly- resolved peaks, especially those at the extremes of the detector linear range, and no influence on well- chromatographed peaks. Therefore, optimized chromatography is required for proper GC×GC data alignment. Based on these observations, a workflow is presented for the conservative selection of biomarker candidates from untargeted metabolomics analyses. PMID:25857541

Solidarity and conflict: aligned and misaligned prosody as a transactional resource in intra- and intercultural communication involving power differences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roth, Wolff-Michael; Tobin, Kenneth

2010-12-01

This ethnographic study of teaching and learning in urban high school science classes investigates the ways in which teachers and students talk, gesture, and use space and time in interaction rituals. In situations where teachers coteach as a means of learning to teach in inner-city schools, successful teacher-teacher collaborations are characterized by prosodic expressions that converge over time and adapt to match the prosodic parameters of students' talk. In these situations our ethnographic data provide evidence of solidarity and positive emotions among the teachers and also between students and teachers. Unsuccessful collaborations are associated with considerable differences in pitch between consecutive speakers participating in turns-at-talk, these being related to the production of negative emotions and conflicts at longer time scales. Situational conflicts are co-expressed by increases in pitch levels, speech intensities, and speech rates; and conflict resolution is accelerated by the coordination of pitch levels. Our study therefore suggests that prosodic alignment and misalignment are resources that are pragmatically deployed to manage face-to-face interactions that have solidarity and conflict as their longer-term outcomes.

Processing and characterization of high resolution GaN/InGaN LED arrays at 10 micron pitch for micro display applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dupré, Ludovic; Marra, Marjorie; Verney, Valentin; Aventurier, Bernard; Henry, Franck; Olivier, François; Tirano, Sauveur; Daami, Anis; Templier, François

2017-02-01

We report the fabrication process and characterization of high resolution 873 x 500 pixels emissive arrays based on blue or green GaN/InGaN light emitting diodes (LEDs) at a reduced pixel pitch of 10 μm. A self-aligned process along with a combination of damascene metallization steps is presented as the key to create a common cathode which is expected to provide good thermal dissipation and prevent voltage drops between center and side of the micro LED matrix. We will discuss the challenges of a self-aligned technology related to the choice of a good P contact metal and will present our solutions for the realization of the metallic interconnections between the GaN contacts and the higher levels of metallization at such a small pixel pitch. Enhanced control of each technological step allows scalability of the process up to 4 inch LED wafers and production of high quality LED arrays. The very high brightness (up to 107 cd.m-2) and good external quantum efficiency (EQE) of the resulting device make these kind of micro displays suitable for augmented reality or head up display applications.

Influence of gravity on cat vertical vestibulo-ocular reflex

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tomko, D. L.; Wall, C., III; Robinson, F. R.; Staab, J. P.

1988-01-01

The vertical vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) was recorded in cats using electro-oculography during sinusoidal angular pitch. Peak stimulus velocity was 50 deg/s over a frequency range from 0.01 to 4.0 Hz. To test the effect of gravity on the vertical VOR, the animal was pitched while sitting upright or lying on its side. Upright pitch changed the cat's orientation relative to gravity, while on-side pitch did not. The cumulative slow component position of the eye during on-side pitch was less symmetric than during upright pitch. Over the mid-frequency range (0.1 to 1.0 Hz), the average gain of the vertical VOR was 14.5 percent higher during upright pitch than during on-side pitch. At low frequencies (less than 0.05 Hz) changing head position relative to gravity raised the vertical VOR gain and kept the reflex in phase with stimulus velocity. These results indicate that gravity-sensitive mechanisms make the vertical VOR more compensatory.

Excitation Patterns of Standard and Steered Partial Tripolar Stimuli in Cochlear Implants.

PubMed

Wu, Ching-Chih; Luo, Xin

2016-04-01

Current steering in partial tripolar (pTP) mode has been shown to improve pitch perception and spectral resolution with cochlear implants (CIs). In this mode, a fraction (σ) of the main electrode current is returned within the cochlea and steered between the basal and apical flanking electrodes (with a proportion of α and 1 - α, respectively). Pitch generally decreases when α increases from 0 to 1, although the salience of pitch change varies across CI users. This study aimed to identify the mechanism of pitch changes with pTP-mode current steering and the factors contributing to the intersubject variability in pitch-ranking sensitivity. The electrical fields were measured for steered pTP stimuli on the same main electrode with α = 0, 0.5, and 1 in five implanted ears using electrical field imaging (EFI). The related excitation patterns were also measured physiologically using evoked compound action potential (ECAP) and psychophysically using psychophysical forward masking (PFM). Consistent with the pitch-ranking results in this study, the EFI, ECAP, and PFM centroids shifted apically with increasing α. An apical shift was also observed for the PFM peak but not for the EFI or ECAP peak. The pattern width was similar with different α values within a given measure (e.g., EFI, ECAP, or PFM), but the ECAP patterns were broader than the EFI and PFM patterns, possibly because ECAP was measured with smaller σ values than EFI and PFM. The amount of pattern shift with α depended on σ (i.e., the total amount of current used for steering) but was not correlated with the pitch-ranking sensitivity across subjects. The results revealed that the pitch changes elicited by pTP-mode current steering were not only driven by the shifts of excitation centroid.

Global Images of Trapped Ring Current Ions During Main Phase of 17 March 2015 Geomagnetic Storm as Observed by TWINS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Perez, J. D.; Goldstein, J.; McComas, D. J.; Valek, P.; Fok, Mei-Ching; Hwang, Kyoung-Joo

2016-01-01

A unique view of the trapped particles in the inner magnetosphere provided by energetic neutral atom (ENA) imaging is used to observe the dynamics of the spatial structure and the pitch angle anisotropy on a global scale during the last 6 h of the main phase of a large geomagnetic storm (minimum SYM-H 230 nT) that began on 17 March 2015. Ion flux and pressure anisotropy obtained from Two Wide-angle Imaging Neutral-atom Spectrometers (TWINS) ENA images are shown. The ion flux shows two peaks, an inner one at approximately radii 34 RE in the dusk-to-midnight sector and an outer peak at radii 89 RE prior to midnight. The inner peak is relatively stationary during the entire period with some intensification during the final steep decline in SYM-H to its minimum. The outer peak shows the significant temporal variation brightening and dimming and finally disappearing at the end of the main phase. The pressure anisotropy shows the expected perpendicular pitch angles inside of L 6 but shows parallel pitch angles at greater L values. This is interpreted as consistent with pitch angle-dependent drift as modeled in the Tsy05 magnetic field and Comprehensive Inner Magnetosphere-Ionosphere simulations. The TWINS results are compared directly with Radiation Belt Storm Probes Ion Composition Experiment (RBSPICE)-A measurements. Using 15 min snapshots of flux and pressure anisotropy from TWINS along the path of RBSPICE-A during the 6 h focused upon in this study, the essential features displayed in the TWINS global images are supported.

A Computationally Efficient Method for Polyphonic Pitch Estimation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Ruohua; Reiss, Joshua D.; Mattavelli, Marco; Zoia, Giorgio

2009-12-01

This paper presents a computationally efficient method for polyphonic pitch estimation. The method employs the Fast Resonator Time-Frequency Image (RTFI) as the basic time-frequency analysis tool. The approach is composed of two main stages. First, a preliminary pitch estimation is obtained by means of a simple peak-picking procedure in the pitch energy spectrum. Such spectrum is calculated from the original RTFI energy spectrum according to harmonic grouping principles. Then the incorrect estimations are removed according to spectral irregularity and knowledge of the harmonic structures of the music notes played on commonly used music instruments. The new approach is compared with a variety of other frame-based polyphonic pitch estimation methods, and results demonstrate the high performance and computational efficiency of the approach.

Design of spur gears for improved efficiency

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anderson, N. E.; Loewenthal, S. H.

1981-01-01

A method to calculate spur gear system power loss for a wide range of gear geometries and operating conditions is used to determine design requirements for an efficient gearset. The effects of spur gear size, pitch, ratio, pitch-line-velocity and load on efficiency are shown. A design example is given to illustrate how the method is to be applied. In general, peak efficiencies were found to be greater for larger diameter and fine pitched gears and tare (no-load) losses were found to be significant.

The Phonetics and Phonology of the Polish Calling Melodies.

PubMed

Arvaniti, Amalia; Żygis, Marzena; Jaskuła, Marek

2016-01-01

Two calling melodies of Polish were investigated, the routine call, used to call someone for an everyday reason, and the urgent call, which conveys disapproval of the addressee's actions. A Discourse Completion Task was used to elicit the two melodies from Polish speakers using twelve names from one to four syllables long; there were three names per syllable count, and speakers produced three tokens of each name with each melody. The results, based on eleven speakers, show that the routine calling melody consists of a low F0 stretch followed by a rise-fall-rise; the urgent calling melody, on the other hand, is a simple rise-fall. Systematic differences were found in the scaling and alignment of tonal targets: the routine call showed late alignment of the accentual pitch peak, and in most instances lower scaling of targets. The accented vowel was also affected, being overall louder in the urgent call. Based on the data and comparisons with other Polish melodies, we analyze the routine call as LH* !H-H% and the urgent call as H* L-L%. We discuss the results and our analysis in light of recent findings on calling melodies in other languages, and explore their repercussions for intonational phonology and the modeling of intonation. © 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Representation of pitch chroma by multi-peak spectral tuning in human auditory cortex

PubMed Central

Moerel, Michelle; De Martino, Federico; Santoro, Roberta; Yacoub, Essa; Formisano, Elia

2015-01-01

Musical notes played at octave intervals (i.e., having the same pitch chroma) are perceived as similar. This well-known perceptual phenomenon lays at the foundation of melody recognition and music perception, yet its neural underpinnings remain largely unknown to date. Using fMRI with high sensitivity and spatial resolution, we examined the contribution of multi-peak spectral tuning to the neural representation of pitch chroma in human auditory cortex in two experiments. In experiment 1, our estimation of population spectral tuning curves from the responses to natural sounds confirmed—with new data—our recent results on the existence of cortical ensemble responses finely tuned to multiple frequencies at one octave distance (Moerel et al., 2013). In experiment 2, we fitted a mathematical model consisting of a pitch chroma and height component to explain the measured fMRI responses to piano notes. This analysis revealed that the octave-tuned populations—but not other cortical populations—harbored a neural representation of musical notes according to their pitch chroma. These results indicate that responses of auditory cortical populations selectively tuned to multiple frequencies at one octave distance predict well the perceptual similarity of musical notes with the same chroma, beyond the physical (frequency) distance of notes. PMID:25479020

Representation of pitch chroma by multi-peak spectral tuning in human auditory cortex.

PubMed

Moerel, Michelle; De Martino, Federico; Santoro, Roberta; Yacoub, Essa; Formisano, Elia

2015-02-01

Musical notes played at octave intervals (i.e., having the same pitch chroma) are perceived as similar. This well-known perceptual phenomenon lays at the foundation of melody recognition and music perception, yet its neural underpinnings remain largely unknown to date. Using fMRI with high sensitivity and spatial resolution, we examined the contribution of multi-peak spectral tuning to the neural representation of pitch chroma in human auditory cortex in two experiments. In experiment 1, our estimation of population spectral tuning curves from the responses to natural sounds confirmed--with new data--our recent results on the existence of cortical ensemble responses finely tuned to multiple frequencies at one octave distance (Moerel et al., 2013). In experiment 2, we fitted a mathematical model consisting of a pitch chroma and height component to explain the measured fMRI responses to piano notes. This analysis revealed that the octave-tuned populations-but not other cortical populations-harbored a neural representation of musical notes according to their pitch chroma. These results indicate that responses of auditory cortical populations selectively tuned to multiple frequencies at one octave distance predict well the perceptual similarity of musical notes with the same chroma, beyond the physical (frequency) distance of notes. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Neuronal Network Model for Pitch Selectivity and Representation

PubMed Central

Huang, Chengcheng; Rinzel, John

2016-01-01

Pitch is a perceptual correlate of periodicity. Sounds with distinct spectra can elicit the same pitch. Despite the importance of pitch perception, understanding the cellular mechanism of pitch perception is still a major challenge and a mechanistic model of pitch is lacking. A multi-stage neuronal network model is developed for pitch frequency estimation using biophysically-based, high-resolution coincidence detector neurons. The neuronal units respond only to highly coincident input among convergent auditory nerve fibers across frequency channels. Their selectivity for only very fast rising slopes of convergent input enables these slope-detectors to distinguish the most prominent coincidences in multi-peaked input time courses. Pitch can then be estimated from the first-order interspike intervals of the slope-detectors. The regular firing pattern of the slope-detector neurons are similar for sounds sharing the same pitch despite the distinct timbres. The decoded pitch strengths also correlate well with the salience of pitch perception as reported by human listeners. Therefore, our model can serve as a neural representation for pitch. Our model performs successfully in estimating the pitch of missing fundamental complexes and reproducing the pitch variation with respect to the frequency shift of inharmonic complexes. It also accounts for the phase sensitivity of pitch perception in the cases of Schroeder phase, alternating phase and random phase relationships. Moreover, our model can also be applied to stochastic sound stimuli, iterated-ripple-noise, and account for their multiple pitch perceptions. PMID:27378900

A Neuronal Network Model for Pitch Selectivity and Representation.

PubMed

Huang, Chengcheng; Rinzel, John

2016-01-01

Pitch is a perceptual correlate of periodicity. Sounds with distinct spectra can elicit the same pitch. Despite the importance of pitch perception, understanding the cellular mechanism of pitch perception is still a major challenge and a mechanistic model of pitch is lacking. A multi-stage neuronal network model is developed for pitch frequency estimation using biophysically-based, high-resolution coincidence detector neurons. The neuronal units respond only to highly coincident input among convergent auditory nerve fibers across frequency channels. Their selectivity for only very fast rising slopes of convergent input enables these slope-detectors to distinguish the most prominent coincidences in multi-peaked input time courses. Pitch can then be estimated from the first-order interspike intervals of the slope-detectors. The regular firing pattern of the slope-detector neurons are similar for sounds sharing the same pitch despite the distinct timbres. The decoded pitch strengths also correlate well with the salience of pitch perception as reported by human listeners. Therefore, our model can serve as a neural representation for pitch. Our model performs successfully in estimating the pitch of missing fundamental complexes and reproducing the pitch variation with respect to the frequency shift of inharmonic complexes. It also accounts for the phase sensitivity of pitch perception in the cases of Schroeder phase, alternating phase and random phase relationships. Moreover, our model can also be applied to stochastic sound stimuli, iterated-ripple-noise, and account for their multiple pitch perceptions.

Automated interferometric alignment system for paraboloidal mirrors

DOEpatents

Maxey, L.C.

1993-09-28

A method is described for a systematic method of interpreting interference fringes obtained by using a corner cube retroreflector as an alignment aid when aligning a paraboloid to a spherical wavefront. This is applicable to any general case where such alignment is required, but is specifically applicable in the case of aligning an autocollimating test using a diverging beam wavefront. In addition, the method provides information which can be systematically interpreted such that independent information about pitch, yaw and focus errors can be obtained. Thus, the system lends itself readily to automation. Finally, although the method is developed specifically for paraboloids, it can be seen to be applicable to a variety of other aspheric optics when applied in combination with a wavefront corrector that produces a wavefront which, when reflected from the correctly aligned aspheric surface will produce a collimated wavefront like that obtained from the paraboloid when it is correctly aligned to a spherical wavefront. 14 figures.

High speed radiation scanning technique for simultaneously determining the pitch and eccentricity of an encased oil

DOEpatents

Foster, Billy E.

1976-01-01

A method of determining the pitch and eccentricity of the winding of a coil unit is provided. It specifically relates to nondestructively examining completely encased heating coils used to simulate the heat generated from fuel rods in reactor studies. The method comprises (1) the use of an x-ray transmission technique through the axial centerline of the coil unit after the winding of the coil unit has been completely encased, (2) the use of a radiation detection instrument to monitor the transmitted radiation, and (3) the use of recording instrumentation calibrated as a function of the distance between windings. A change in the pitch of the winding is detected by a general increase or decrease in the distance between recorded peaks of the transmitted radiation. Eccentricity is detected by a consistent variation in distance between peaks occuring in alternate pairs.

Does foot pitch at ground contact affect parachute landing technique?

PubMed

Whitting, John W; Steele, Julie R; Jaffrey, Mark; Munro, Bridget J

2009-08-01

The Australian Defence Force Parachute Training School instructs trainees to make initial ground contact using a flat foot whereas United States paratroopers are taught to contact the ground with the ball of the foot first. This study aimed to determine whether differences in foot pitch affected parachute landing technique. Kinematic, ground reaction force and electromyographic data were analyzed for 28 parachutists who performed parachute landings (vertical descent velocity = 3.4 m x s(-1)) from a monorail apparatus. Independent t-tests were used to determine significant (p < 0.05) differences between variables characterizing foot pitch. Subjects who landed flat-footed displayed less knee and ankle flexion, sustained higher peak ground reaction forces, and took less time to reach peak force than those who landed on the balls of their feet. Although forefoot landings lowered ground reaction forces compared to landing flat-footed, further research is required to confirm whether this is a safer parachute landing strategy.

HEAD MOVEMENT DURING WALKING IN THE CAT

PubMed Central

ZUBAIR, HUMZA N.; BELOOZEROVA, IRINA N.; SUN, HAI; MARLINSKI, VLADIMIR

2016-01-01

Knowledge of how the head moves during locomotion is essential for understanding how locomotion is controlled by sensory systems of the head. We have analyzed head movements of the cat walking along a straight flat pathway in the darkness and light. We found that cats' head left-right translations, and roll and yaw rotations oscillated once per stride, while fore-aft and vertical translations, and pitch rotations oscillated twice. The head reached its highest vertical positions during second half of each forelimb swing, following maxima of the shoulder/trunk by 20–90°. Nose-up rotation followed head upward translation by another 40–90° delay. The peak-to-peak amplitude of vertical translation was ~1.5 cm and amplitude of pitch rotation was ~3°. Amplitudes of lateral translation and roll rotation were ~1 cm and 1.5–3°, respectively. Overall, cats' heads were neutral in roll and 10–30° nose-down, maintaining horizontal semicircular canals and utriculi within 10° of the earth horizontal. The head longitudinal velocity was 0.5–1 m/s, maximal upward and downward linear velocities were ~0.05 and ~0.1 m/s, respectively, and maximal lateral velocity was ~0.05 m/s. Maximal velocities of head pitch rotation were 20–50 °/s. During walking in light, cats stood 0.3–0.5 cm taller and held their head 0.5–2 cm higher than in darkness. Forward acceleration was 25–100% higher and peak-to-peak amplitude of head pitch oscillations was ~20 °/s larger. We concluded that, during walking, the head of the cat is held actively. Reflexes appear to play only a partial role in determining head movement, and vision might further diminish their role. PMID:27339731

The Relationship Between the Push Off Ground Reaction Force and Ball Speed in High School Baseball Pitchers.

PubMed

Oyama, Sakiko; Myers, Joseph B

2018-05-01

Oyama, S and Myers, JB. The relationship between the push off ground reaction force and ball speed in high school baseball pitchers. J Strength Cond Res 32(5): 1324-1328, 2018-Baseball pitching is a sequential movement that requires transfer of momentum from the lower extremity to the throwing arm. Therefore, the ground reaction force (GRF) during push off is suggested to play a role in production of ball speed. The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between GRF characteristics during push off and ball speed in high school baseball pitchers. A total of 52 pitchers performed fast pitches from an indoor pitching mound. A force plate embedded in an indoor mound was used to capture the push off GRF. The GRF characteristics (peak anterior, vertical, and resultant forces, vertical and resultant forces at the time of peak anterior GRF, and impulse produced by the anterior GRF) from the 3 fastest strike pitches from each pitcher were used for analyses. Spearman's rank correlation coefficients were used to describe the relationships between ball speed and the GRF characteristics. Ball speed was only weakly correlated with peak resultant force (ρ = 0.32, p = 0.02) and vertical (ρ = 0.45, p < 0.001) and resultant (ρ = 0.42, p = 0.002) forces at the time of peak anterior force. The ball speed was not correlated with other variables. The correlation between ball speed and push off force in high school pitchers was weak, especially when compared with what was reported for adult pitchers in other studies. Unlike for adult pitchers, higher push off force is only weakly correlated with ball velocity in high school pitchers, which suggests that training to better use body momentum may help high school pitchers improve ball speed.

Hydrodynamics of a flexible plate between pitching rigid plates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Junyoung; Kim, Daegyoum

2017-11-01

The dynamics of a flexible plate have been studied as a model problem in swimming and flying of animals and fluid-structure interaction of plants and flags. Motivated by fish schooling and an array of sea grasses, we investigate the dynamics of a flexible plate closely placed between two pitching rigid plates. In most studies on passive deformation of the flexible plate, the plate is immersed in a uniform flow or a wavy flow. However, in this study, the flexible plate experiences periodic deformation by the oscillatory flow generated by the prescribed pitching motion of the rigid plates. In our model, the pitching axes of the rigid plates and the clamping position of the flexible plate are aligned on the same line. The flexible plate shows various responses depending on length and pitching frequency of rigid plates, thickness of a flexible plate, and free-stream velocity. To find the effect of each variable on the response of the flexible plate, amplitude of a trailing edge and modal contribution of a flapping motion are compared, and flow structure around the flexible plate is examined.

Discriminating male and female voices: differentiating pitch and gender.

PubMed

Latinus, Marianne; Taylor, Margot J

2012-04-01

Gender is salient, socially critical information obtained from faces and voices, yet the brain processes underlying gender discrimination have not been well studied. We investigated neural correlates of gender processing of voices in two ERP studies. In the first, ERP differences were seen between female and male voices starting at 87 ms, in both spatial-temporal and peak analyses, particularly the fronto-central N1 and P2. As pitch differences may drive gender differences, the second study used normal, high- and low-pitch voices. The results of these studies suggested that differences in pitch produced early effects (27-63 ms). Gender effects were seen on N1 (120 ms) with implicit pitch processing (study 1), but were not seen with manipulations of pitch (study 2), demonstrating that N1 was modulated by attention. P2 (between 170 and 230 ms) discriminated male from female voices, independent of pitch. Thus, these data show that there are two stages in voice gender processing; a very early pitch or frequency discrimination and a later more accurate determination of gender at the P2 latency.

O + ion conic and plasma sheet dynamics observed by Van Allen Probe satellites during the 1 June 2013 magnetic storm: Energetic Inner Magnetosphere O + Ions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Burke, W. J.; Erickson, P. J.; Yang, J.

The Van Allen Probe satellites were near apogee in the late evening local time sector during the 1 June 2013 magnetic storm's main phase. About an hour after crossing the ring current's “nose structure” into the plasma sheet, the satellites encountered a quasiperiodic sequence of 0.08–3 keV O + ions. Pitch angle distributions of this population consistently peaked nearly antiparallel to the local magnetic field. We then interpret this population as O + conics originating in the northern ionosphere. The sequences began as fairly steady state conic fluxes with energies in the ~ 80 to 100 eV range. Over aboutmore » a half hour buildup phase, O + energies peaked near 1 keV. During subsequent release phases lasting ~ 20 min, O + energies returned to low-energy starting points. We argue these observations reflect repeated formations and dissolutions of downward, magnetically aligned electric fields (ε||) layers trapping O + conics between mirror points within heating layers below and electrostatic barriers above. Nearly identical variations were observed at the locations of both satellites during 9 of these 13 conic cycles. Phase differences between cycles were observed at both spacecraft during the remaining events. Most “buildup” to “release” phase transitions coincided with AL index minima. But, in situ magnetometer measurements indicate only weak dipolarizations of tail-like magnetic fields. The lack of field-aligned reflected O + and tail-like magnetic fields suggest that both ionospheres may be active. However, Southern Hemisphere origin conics cannot be observed since they would be isotropized and accelerated during neutral sheet crossings.« less

O + ion conic and plasma sheet dynamics observed by Van Allen Probe satellites during the 1 June 2013 magnetic storm: Energetic Inner Magnetosphere O + Ions

DOE PAGES

Burke, W. J.; Erickson, P. J.; Yang, J.; ...

2016-05-07

The Van Allen Probe satellites were near apogee in the late evening local time sector during the 1 June 2013 magnetic storm's main phase. About an hour after crossing the ring current's “nose structure” into the plasma sheet, the satellites encountered a quasiperiodic sequence of 0.08–3 keV O + ions. Pitch angle distributions of this population consistently peaked nearly antiparallel to the local magnetic field. We then interpret this population as O + conics originating in the northern ionosphere. The sequences began as fairly steady state conic fluxes with energies in the ~ 80 to 100 eV range. Over aboutmore » a half hour buildup phase, O + energies peaked near 1 keV. During subsequent release phases lasting ~ 20 min, O + energies returned to low-energy starting points. We argue these observations reflect repeated formations and dissolutions of downward, magnetically aligned electric fields (ε||) layers trapping O + conics between mirror points within heating layers below and electrostatic barriers above. Nearly identical variations were observed at the locations of both satellites during 9 of these 13 conic cycles. Phase differences between cycles were observed at both spacecraft during the remaining events. Most “buildup” to “release” phase transitions coincided with AL index minima. But, in situ magnetometer measurements indicate only weak dipolarizations of tail-like magnetic fields. The lack of field-aligned reflected O + and tail-like magnetic fields suggest that both ionospheres may be active. However, Southern Hemisphere origin conics cannot be observed since they would be isotropized and accelerated during neutral sheet crossings.« less

Application of fast Fourier transform cross-correlation and mass spectrometry data for accurate alignment of chromatograms.

PubMed

Zheng, Yi-Bao; Zhang, Zhi-Min; Liang, Yi-Zeng; Zhan, De-Jian; Huang, Jian-Hua; Yun, Yong-Huan; Xie, Hua-Lin

2013-04-19

Chromatography has been established as one of the most important analytical methods in the modern analytical laboratory. However, preprocessing of the chromatograms, especially peak alignment, is usually a time-consuming task prior to extracting useful information from the datasets because of the small unavoidable differences in the experimental conditions caused by minor changes and drift. Most of the alignment algorithms are performed on reduced datasets using only the detected peaks in the chromatograms, which means a loss of data and introduces the problem of extraction of peak data from the chromatographic profiles. These disadvantages can be overcome by using the full chromatographic information that is generated from hyphenated chromatographic instruments. A new alignment algorithm called CAMS (Chromatogram Alignment via Mass Spectra) is present here to correct the retention time shifts among chromatograms accurately and rapidly. In this report, peaks of each chromatogram were detected based on Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT) with Haar wavelet and were aligned against the reference chromatogram via the correlation of mass spectra. The aligning procedure was accelerated by Fast Fourier Transform cross correlation (FFT cross correlation). This approach has been compared with several well-known alignment methods on real chromatographic datasets, which demonstrates that CAMS can preserve the shape of peaks and achieve a high quality alignment result. Furthermore, the CAMS method was implemented in the Matlab language and available as an open source package at http://www.github.com/matchcoder/CAMS. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Design and Fabrication of the NASA Decoupler Pylon for the F-16 Aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clayton, J. D.; Haller, R. L.; Hassler, J. M., Jr.

1985-01-01

The NASA Decoupler Pylon is a passive means of suppressing wing-store flutter. The feasibility of demonstrating this concept on the F-16 aircraft was established through model wind tunnel tests and analyses. As a result of these tests and studies a ship set of Decoupler Pylons was designed and fabricated for a flight test demonstration on the F-16 aircraft. Basic design criteria were developed during the analysis study pertaining to pylon pitch stiffness, alignment system requirements, and damping requirements. A design was developed which utilized an electrical motor for the pylon alignment system. The design uses a four pin, two link pivot design which results in a remote pivot located at the center of gravity of the store when the store is in the aligned position. The pitch spring was fabricated from a tapered constant stress cantilevered beam. The pylon has the same external lines as the existing production pylon and is designed to use a MAU-12 ejection rack which is the same as the one used with the production pylon. The detailed design and fabrication was supported with a complete ground test of the pylon prior to shipment to NASA.

Data preprocessing method for liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry based metabolomics.

PubMed

Wei, Xiaoli; Shi, Xue; Kim, Seongho; Zhang, Li; Patrick, Jeffrey S; Binkley, Joe; McClain, Craig; Zhang, Xiang

2012-09-18

A set of data preprocessing algorithms for peak detection and peak list alignment are reported for analysis of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS)-based metabolomics data. For spectrum deconvolution, peak picking is achieved at the selected ion chromatogram (XIC) level. To estimate and remove the noise in XICs, each XIC is first segmented into several peak groups based on the continuity of scan number, and the noise level is estimated by all the XIC signals, except the regions potentially with presence of metabolite ion peaks. After removing noise, the peaks of molecular ions are detected using both the first and the second derivatives, followed by an efficient exponentially modified Gaussian-based peak deconvolution method for peak fitting. A two-stage alignment algorithm is also developed, where the retention times of all peaks are first transferred into the z-score domain and the peaks are aligned based on the measure of their mixture scores after retention time correction using a partial linear regression. Analysis of a set of spike-in LC-MS data from three groups of samples containing 16 metabolite standards mixed with metabolite extract from mouse livers demonstrates that the developed data preprocessing method performs better than two of the existing popular data analysis packages, MZmine2.6 and XCMS(2), for peak picking, peak list alignment, and quantification.

A Data Pre-processing Method for Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry-based Metabolomics

PubMed Central

Wei, Xiaoli; Shi, Xue; Kim, Seongho; Zhang, Li; Patrick, Jeffrey S.; Binkley, Joe; McClain, Craig; Zhang, Xiang

2012-01-01

A set of data pre-processing algorithms for peak detection and peak list alignment are reported for analysis of LC-MS based metabolomics data. For spectrum deconvolution, peak picking is achieved at selected ion chromatogram (XIC) level. To estimate and remove the noise in XICs, each XIC is first segmented into several peak groups based on the continuity of scan number, and the noise level is estimated by all the XIC signals, except the regions potentially with presence of metabolite ion peaks. After removing noise, the peaks of molecular ions are detected using both the first and the second derivatives, followed by an efficient exponentially modified Gaussian-based peak deconvolution method for peak fitting. A two-stage alignment algorithm is also developed, where the retention times of all peaks are first transferred into z-score domain and the peaks are aligned based on the measure of their mixture scores after retention time correction using a partial linear regression. Analysis of a set of spike-in LC-MS data from three groups of samples containing 16 metabolite standards mixed with metabolite extract from mouse livers, demonstrates that the developed data pre-processing methods performs better than two of the existing popular data analysis packages, MZmine2.6 and XCMS2, for peak picking, peak list alignment and quantification. PMID:22931487

SU-E-J-258: Inter- and Intra-Fraction Setup Stability and Couch Change Tolerance for Image Guided Radiation Therapy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Teboh, Forbang R; Agee, M; Rowe, L

2014-06-01

Purpose: Immobilization devices combine rigid patient fixation as well as comfort and play a key role providing the stability required for accurate radiation delivery. In the setup step, couch re-positioning needed to align the patient is derived via registration of acquired versus reference image. For subsequent fractions, replicating the initial setup should yield identical alignment errors when compared to the reference. This is not always the case and further couch re-positioning can be needed. An important quality assurance measure is to set couch tolerances beyond which additional investigations are needed. The purpose of this work was to study the inter-fractionmore » couch changes needed to re-align the patient and the intra-fraction stability of the alignment as a guide to establish the couch tolerances. Methods: Data from twelve patients treated on the Accuray CyberKnife (CK) system for fractionated intracranial radiotherapy and immobilized with Aquaplast RT, U-frame, F-Head-Support (Qfix, PA, USA) was used. Each fraction involved image acquisitions and registration with the reference to re-align the patient. The absolute couch position corresponding to the approved setup alignment was recorded per fraction. Intra-fraction set-up corrections were recorded throughout the treatment. Results: The average approved setup alignment was 0.03±0.28mm, 0.15±0.22mm, 0.06±0.31mm in the L/R, A/P, S/I directions respectively and 0.00±0.35degrees, 0.03±0.32degrees, 0.08±0.45degrees for roll, pitch and yaw respectively. The inter-fraction reproducibility of the couch position was 6.65mm, 10.55mm, and 4.77mm in the L/R, A/P and S/I directions respectively and 0.82degrees, 0.71degrees for roll and pitch respectively. Intra-fraction monitoring showed small average errors of 0.21±0.21mm, 0.00±0.08mm, 0.23±0.22mm in the L/R, A/P, S/I directions respectively and 0.03±0.12degrees, 0.04±0.25degrees, and 0.13±0.15degrees in the roll, pitch and yaw respectively. Conclusion: The inter-fraction reproducibility should serve as a guide to couch tolerances, specific to a site and immobilization. More patients need to be included to make general conclusions.« less

Automated interferometric alignment system for paraboloidal mirrors

DOEpatents

Maxey, L. Curtis

1993-01-01

A method is described for a systematic method of interpreting interference fringes obtained by using a corner cube retroreflector as an alignment aid when aigning a paraboloid to a spherical wavefront. This is applicable to any general case where such alignment is required, but is specifically applicable in the case of aligning an autocollimating test using a diverging beam wavefront. In addition, the method provides information which can be systematically interpreted such that independent information about pitch, yaw and focus errors can be obtained. Thus, the system lends itself readily to automation. Finally, although the method is developed specifically for paraboloids, it can be seen to be applicable to a variety of other aspheric optics when applied in combination with a wavefront corrector that produces a wavefront which, when reflected from the correctly aligned aspheric surface will produce a collimated wavefront like that obtained from the paraboloid when it is correctly aligned to a spherical wavefront.

Influence of gravity on the orientation of vestibular induced quick phases.

PubMed

Pettorossi, V E; Errico, P; Ferraresi, A; Draicchio, F

1995-01-01

In rabbits and cats the orientation of the quick phases (QPs) of the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) was studied varying the head position in space. At different head tilt positions, QPs induced by step vestibular stimulation disaligned with respect to the stimulus toward the orientation of the earth's horizontal axis. The rabbits' QPs were horizontal during yaw stimulation and remained horizontal in a range of head pitch of +/- 90 degrees (reorientation gain = 1). Therefore, the slow compensatory responses (CSPs) progressively disaligned compared with the QPs. QPs induced by roll stimulation also showed horizontal orientation, although these were rare in the upright position and occurred more frequently when the head was pitched. In cats only the yaw-induced QPs were coplanar with the stimulus, while QPs induced by pitching were mostly oblique. It followed that in either yawing or pitching, the QPs had their end point scattered within a horizontally elongated area of the visual field. When tilting cats in the frontal plane, the orientation of QP trajectories changed with respect to the stimulus so that the end point distribution tended to remain aligned toward the horizontal instead of being fixed in the orbit. The reorientation gain decreased from 1 to 0.5 by increasing the head tilt. On the basis of difference regarding eye implantation and motility it was suggested that the effect of gravity on the orientation of QPs could be aimed at maintaining the interocular axis aligned with the horizon in the rabbit and at orientating the visual scanning system in the horizontal plane in the cat.

Local time variations of high-energy plasmaspheric ion pitch angle distributions

DOE PAGES

Sarno-Smith, Lois K.; Liemohn, Michael W.; Skoug, Ruth M.; ...

2016-07-01

Recent observations from the Van Allen Probes Helium Oxygen Proton Electron (HOPE) instrument revealed a persistent depletion in the 1–10 eV ion population in the postmidnight sector during quiet times in the 2 < L < 3 region. This study explores the source of this ion depletion by developing an algorithm to classify 26 months of pitch angle distributions measured by the HOPE instrument. We correct the HOPE low energy fluxes for spacecraft potential using measurements from the Electric Field and Waves (EFW) instrument. A high percentage of low count pitch angle distributions is found in the postmidnight sector coupledmore » with a low percentage of ion distributions peaked perpendicular to the field line. A peak in loss cone distributions in the dusk sector is also observed. Here, these results characterize the nature of the dearth of the near 90° pitch angle 1–10 eV ion population in the near-Earth postmidnight sector. This study also shows, for the first time, low-energy HOPE differential number fluxes corrected for spacecraft potential and 1–10 eV H + fluxes at different levels of geomagnetic activity.« less

Amperometric Detection in Microchip Electrophoresis Devices: Effect of Electrode Material and Alignment on Analytical Performance

PubMed Central

Fischer, David J.; Hulvey, Matthew K.; Regel, Anne R.; Lunte, Susan M.

2012-01-01

The fabrication and evaluation of different electrode materials and electrode alignments for microchip electrophoresis with electrochemical (EC) detection is described. The influences of electrode material, both metal and carbon-based, on sensitivity and limits of detection (LOD) were examined. In addition, the effects of working electrode alignment on analytical performance (in terms of peak shape, resolution, sensitivity, and LOD) were directly compared. Using dopamine (DA), norepinephrine (NE), and catechol (CAT) as test analytes, it was found that pyrolyzed photoresist electrodes with end-channel alignment yielded the lowest limit of detection (35 nM for DA). In addition to being easier to implement, end-channel alignment also offered better analytical performance than off-channel alignment for the detection of all three analytes. In-channel electrode alignment resulted in a 3.6-fold reduction in peak skew and reduced peak tailing by a factor of 2.1 for catechol in comparison to end-channel alignment. PMID:19802847

Design and pitch scaling for affordable node transition and EUV insertion scenario

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Ryoung-han; Ryckaert, Julien; Raghavan, Praveen; Sherazi, Yasser; Debacker, Peter; Trivkovic, Darko; Gillijns, Werner; Tan, Ling Ee; Drissi, Youssef; Blanco, Victor; Bekaert, Joost; Mao, Ming; Larivière, Stephane; McIntyre, Greg

2017-04-01

imec's DTCO and EUV achievement toward imec 7nm (iN7) technology node which is industry 5nm node equivalent is reported with a focus on cost and scaling. Patterning-aware design methodology supports both iArF multiple patterning and EUV under one compliant design rule. FinFET device with contacted poly pitch of 42nm and metal pitch of 32nm with 7.5-track, 6.5-track, and 6-track standard cell library are explored. Scaling boosters are used to provide additional scaling and die cost benefit while lessening pitch shrink burden, and it makes EUV insertion more affordable. EUV pattern fidelity is optimized through OPC, SMO, M3D, mask sizing and SRAF. Processed wafers were characterized and edge-placement-error (EPE) variability is validated for EUV insertion. Scale-ability and cost of ownership of EUV patterning in aligned with iN7 standard cell design, integration and patterning specification are discussed.

Relationships between particle precipitation and auroral forms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Burch, J. L.; Winningham, J. D.

1978-01-01

The paper discusses recent measurements pertaining to the relationship between high-latitude particle (electron) precipitation and auroras. The discussion covers three topics: the large-scale relationships between auroral forms and the particle populations of the magnetosphere as determined from satellite measurements; (2) the relationship between satellite and sounding-rocket observations, particularly field-aligned pitch-angle distributions and upward field-aligned currents measured in the vicinity of auroral forms; and (3) recent results on the interaction of auroral electrons with the atmosphere.

Effects of toe-in and toe-in with wider step width on level walking knee biomechanics in varus, valgus, and neutral knee alignments.

PubMed

Bennett, Hunter J; Shen, Guangping; Cates, Harold E; Zhang, Songning

2017-12-01

Increased peak external knee adduction moments exist for individuals with knee osteoarthritis and varus knee alignments, compared to healthy and neutrally aligned counterparts. Walking with increased toe-in or increased step width have been individually utilized to successfully reduce 1st and 2nd peak knee adduction moments, respectfully, but have not previously been combined or tested among all alignment groups. The purpose of this study was to compare toe-in only and toe-in with wider step width gait modifications in individuals with neutral, valgus, and varus alignments. Thirty-eight healthy participants with confirmed varus, neutral, or valgus frontal-plane knee alignment through anteroposterior radiographs, performed level walking in normal, toe-in, and toe-in with wider step width gaits. A 3×3 (group×intervention) mixed model repeated measures ANOVA compared alignment groups and gait interventions (p<0.05). The 1st peak knee adduction moment was reduced in both toe-in and toe-in with wider step width compared to normal gait. The 2nd peak adduction moment was increased in toe-in compared to normal and toe-in with wider step width. The adduction impulse was also reduced in toe-in and toe-in with wider step width compared to normal gait. Peak knee flexion and external rotation moments were increased in toe-in and toe-in with wider step width compared to normal gait. Although the toe-in with wider step width gait seems to be a viable option to reduce peak adduction moments for varus alignments, sagittal, and transverse knee loadings should be monitored when implementing this gait modification strategy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Principal pitch of frequency-modulated tones with asymmetrical modulation waveform: a comparison of models.

PubMed

Etchemendy, Pablo E; Eguia, Manuel C; Mesz, Bruno

2014-03-01

In this work, the overall perceived pitch (principal pitch) of pure tones modulated in frequency with an asymmetric waveform is studied. The dependence of the principal pitch on the degree of asymmetric modulation was obtained from a psychophysical experiment. The modulation waveform consisted of a flat portion of constant frequency and two linear segments forming a peak. Consistent with previous results, significant pitch shifts with respect to the time-averaged geometric mean were observed. The direction of the shifts was always toward the flat portion of the modulation. The results from the psychophysical experiment, along with those obtained from previously reported studies, were compared with the predictions of six models of pitch perception proposed in the literature. Even though no single model was able to predict accurately the perceived pitch for all experiments, there were two models that give robust predictions that are within the range of acceptable tuning of modulated tones for almost all the cases. Both models point to the existence of an underlying "stability sensitive" mechanism for the computation of pitch that gives more weight to the portion of the stimuli where the frequency is changing more slowly.

Pitch-based carbon foam heat sink with phase change material

DOEpatents

Klett, James W.; Burchell, Timothy D.

2004-08-24

A process for producing a carbon foam heat sink is disclosed which obviates the need for conventional oxidative stabilization. The process employs mesophase or isotropic pitch and a simplified process using a single mold. The foam has a relatively uniform distribution of pore sizes and a highly aligned graphic structure in the struts. The foam material can be made into a composite which is useful in high temperature sandwich panels for both thermal and structural applications. The foam is encased and filled with a phase change material to provide a very efficient heat sink device.

Pitch-based carbon foam heat sink with phase change material

DOEpatents

Klett, James W.; Burchell, Timothy D.

2007-01-02

A process for producing a carbon foam heat sink is disclosed which obviates the need for conventional oxidative stabilization. The process employs mesophase or isotropic pitch and a simplified process using a single mold. The foam has a relatively uniform distribution of pore sizes and a highly aligned graphic structure in the struts. The foam material can be made into a composite which is useful in high temperature sandwich panels for both thermal and structural applications. The foam is encased and filled with a phase change material to provide a very efficient heat sink device.

Pitch-based carbon foam heat sink with phase change material

DOEpatents

Klett, James W.; Burchell, Timothy D.

2006-03-21

A process for producing a carbon foam heat sink is disclosed which obviates the need for conventional oxidative stabilization. The process employs mesophase or isotropic pitch and a simplified process using a single mold. The foam has a relatively uniform distribution of pore sizes and a highly aligned graphic structure in the struts. The foam material can be made into a composite which is useful in high temperature sandwich panels for both thermal and structural applications. The foam is encased and filled with a phase change material to provide a very efficient heat sink device.

Pitch-based carbon foam heat sink with phase change material

DOEpatents

Klett, James W.; Burchell, Timothy D.

2002-01-01

A process for producing a carbon foam heat sink is disclosed which obviates the need for conventional oxidative stabilization. The process employs mesophase or isotropic pitch and a simplified process using a single mold. The foam has a relatively uniform distribution of pore sizes and a highly aligned graphic structure in the struts. The foam material can be made into a composite which is useful in high temperature sandwich panels for both thermal and structural applications. The foam is encased and filled with a phase change material to provide a very efficient heat sink device.

Pitch-based carbon foam heat sink with phase change material

DOEpatents

Klett, James W.; Burchell, Timothy D.

2000-01-01

A process for producing a carbon foam heat sink is disclosed which obviates the need for conventional oxidative stabilization. The process employs mesophase or isotropic pitch and a simplified process using a single mold. The foam has a relatively uniform distribution of pore sizes and a highly aligned graphic structure in the struts. The foam material can be made into a composite which is useful in high temperature sandwich panels for both thermal and structural applications. The foam is encased and filled with a phase change material to provide a very efficient heat sink device.

Pitch-based carbon foam heat sink with phase change material

DOEpatents

Klett, James W.; Burchell, Timothy D.

2007-01-23

A process for producing a carbon foam heat sink is disclosed which obviates the need for conventional oxidative stabilization. The process employs mesophase or isotropic pitch and a simplified process using a single mold. The foam has a relatively uniform distribution of pore sizes and a highly aligned graphic structure in the struts. The foam material can be made into a composite which is useful in high temperature sandwich panels for both thermal and structural applications. The foam is encased and filled with a phase change material to provide a very efficient heat sink device.

Three dimensional eye movements of squirrel monkeys following postrotatory tilt

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Merfeld, D. M.; Young, L. R.; Paige, G. D.; Tomko, D. L.

1993-01-01

Three-dimensional squirrel monkey eye movements were recorded during and immediately following rotation around an earth-vertical yaw axis (160 degrees/s steady state, 100 degrees/s2 acceleration and deceleration). To study interactions between the horizontal angular vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) and head orientation, postrotatory VOR alignment was changed relative to gravity by tilting the head out of the horizontal plane (pitch or roll tilt between 15 degrees and 90 degrees) immediately after cessation of motion. Results showed that in addition to post rotatory horizontal nystagmus, vertical nystagmus followed tilts to the left or right (roll), and torsional nystagmus followed forward or backward (pitch) tilts. When the time course and spatial orientation of eye velocity were considered in three dimensions, the axis of eye rotation always shifted toward alignment with gravity, and the postrotatory horizontal VOR decay was accelerated by the tilts. These phenomena may reflect a neural process that resolves the sensory conflict induced by this postrotatory tilt paradigm.

Photo-switchable bistable twisted nematic liquid crystal optical switch.

PubMed

Wang, Chun-Ta; Wu, Yueh-Chi; Lin, Tsung-Hsien

2013-02-25

This work demonstrates a photo-switchable bistable optical switch that is based on an azo-chiral doped liquid crystal (ACDLC). The photo-induced isomerization of the azo-chiral dopant can change the chirality of twisted nematic liquid crystal and the gap/pitch ratio of an ACDLC device, enabling switching between 0° and 180° twist states in a homogeneous aligned cell. The bistable 180° and 0° twist states of the azo-chiral doped liquid crystal between crossed polarizers correspond to the ON and OFF states of a light shutter, respectively, and they can be maintained stably for tens of hours. Rapid switching between 180° and 0° twist states can be carried out using 408 and 532 nm addressing light. Such a photo-controllable optical switch requires no specific asymmetric alignment layer or precise control of the cell gap/pitch ratio, so it is easily fabricated and has the potential for use in optical systems.

Trapped Ring Current Ion Dynamics During the 17-18 March 2015 Geomagnetic Storm Obtained from TWINS ENA Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perez, J. D.; Goldstein, J.; McComas, D. J.; Valek, P. W.; Fok, M. C. H.; Hwang, K. J.

2015-12-01

On 17-18 March 2015, there was a large (minimum SYM/H < -200 nT) geomagnetic storm. The Two Wide-Angle Imaging Neutral Atom Spectrometers (TWINS) mission, the first stereoscopic ENA magnetospheric imager, provides global images of the inner magnetosphere from which global distributions of ion flux, energy spectra, and pitch angle distributions are obtained. We will show how the observed ion pressure correlates with SYM/H. Examples of multiple peaks in the ion spatial distribution which may be due to multiple injections and/or energy and pitch angle dependent drift will be illustrated. Energy spectra will be shown to be non-Maxwellian, frequently having two peaks, one in the 10 keV range and another near 40 keV. Pitch angle distributions will be shown to have generally perpendicular anisotropy and that this can be time, space and energy dependent. The results are consistent with Comprehensive Inner Magnetosphere-Ionosphere (CIMI) model simulations.

Cross-Sensory Correspondences: Heaviness is Dark and Low-Pitched.

PubMed

Walker, Peter; Scallon, Gabrielle; Francis, Brian

2017-07-01

Everyday language reveals how stimuli encoded in one sensory feature domain can possess qualities normally associated with a different domain (e.g., higher pitch sounds are bright, light in weight, sharp, and thin). Such cross-sensory associations appear to reflect crosstalk among aligned (corresponding) feature dimensions, including brightness, heaviness, and sharpness. Evidence for heaviness being one such dimension is very limited, with heaviness appearing primarily as a verbal associate of other feature contrasts (e.g., darker objects and lower pitch sounds are heavier than their opposites). Given the presumed bidirectionality of the crosstalk between corresponding dimensions, heaviness should itself induce the cross-sensory associations observed elsewhere, including with brightness and pitch. Taking care to dissociate effects arising from the size and mass of an object, this is confirmed. When hidden objects varying independently in size and mass are lifted, objects that feel heavier are judged to be darker and to make lower pitch sounds than objects feeling less heavy. These judgements track the changes in perceived heaviness induced by the size-weight illusion. The potential involvement of language, natural scene statistics, and Bayesian processes in correspondences, and the effects they induce, is considered.

Pitch Angle Scattering of Upgoing Electron Beams in Jupiter's Polar Regions by Whistler Mode Waves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elliott, S. S.; Gurnett, D. A.; Kurth, W. S.; Clark, G.; Mauk, B. H.; Bolton, S. J.; Connerney, J. E. P.; Levin, S. M.

2018-02-01

The Juno spacecraft's Jupiter Energetic-particle Detector Instrument has observed field-aligned, unidirectional (upgoing) electron beams throughout most of Jupiter's entire polar cap region. The Waves instrument detected intense broadband whistler mode emissions occurring in the same region. In this paper, we investigate the pitch angle scattering of the upgoing electron beams due to interactions with the whistler mode waves. Profiles of intensity versus pitch angle for electron beams ranging from 2.53 to 7.22 Jovian radii show inconsistencies with the expected adiabatic invariant motion of the electrons. It is believed that the observed whistler mode waves perturb the electron motion and scatter them away from the magnetic field line. The diffusion equation has been solved by using diffusion coefficients which depend on the magnetic intensity of the whistler mode waves.

Variability of surface and center position radiation dose in MDCT: Monte Carlo simulations using CTDI and anthropomorphic phantoms

PubMed Central

Zhang, Di; Savandi, Ali S.; Demarco, John J.; Cagnon, Chris H.; Angel, Erin; Turner, Adam C.; Cody, Dianna D.; Stevens, Donna M.; Primak, Andrew N.; McCollough, Cynthia H.; McNitt-Gray, Michael F.

2009-01-01

The larger coverage afforded by wider z-axis beams in multidetector CT (MDCT) creates larger cone angles and greater beam divergence, which results in substantial surface dose variation for helical and contiguous axial scans. This study evaluates the variation of absorbed radiation dose in both cylindrical and anthropomorphic phantoms when performing helical or contiguous axial scans. The approach used here was to perform Monte Carlo simulations of a 64 slice MDCT. Simulations were performed with different radiation profiles (simulated beam widths) for a given collimation setting (nominal beam width) and for different pitch values and tube start angles. The magnitude of variation at the surface was evaluated under four different conditions: (a) a homogeneous CTDI phantom with different combinations of pitch and simulated beam widths, (b) a heterogeneous anthropomorphic phantom with one measured beam collimation and various pitch values, (c) a homogeneous CTDI phantom with fixed beam collimation and pitch, but with different tube start angles, and (d) pitch values that should minimize variations of surface dose—evaluated for both homogeneous and heterogeneous phantoms. For the CTDI phantom simulations, peripheral dose patterns showed variation with percent ripple as high as 65% when pitch is 1.5 and simulated beam width is equal to the nominal collimation. For the anterior surface dose on an anthropomorphic phantom, the percent ripple was as high as 40% when the pitch is 1.5 and simulated beam width is equal to the measured beam width. Low pitch values were shown to cause beam overlaps which created new peaks. Different x-ray tube start angles create shifts of the peripheral dose profiles. The start angle simulations showed that for a given table position, the surface dose could vary dramatically with minimum values that were 40% of the peak when all conditions are held constant except for the start angle. The last group of simulations showed that an “ideal” pitch value can be determined which reduces surface dose variations, but this pitch value must take into account the measured beam width. These results reveal the complexity of estimating surface dose and demonstrate a range of dose variability at surface positions for both homogeneous cylindrical and heterogeneous anthropomorphic phantoms. These findings have potential implications for small-sized dosimeter measurements in phantoms, such as with TLDs or small Farmer chambers. PMID:19378763

BiPACE 2D--graph-based multiple alignment for comprehensive 2D gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Hoffmann, Nils; Wilhelm, Mathias; Doebbe, Anja; Niehaus, Karsten; Stoye, Jens

2014-04-01

Comprehensive 2D gas chromatography-mass spectrometry is an established method for the analysis of complex mixtures in analytical chemistry and metabolomics. It produces large amounts of data that require semiautomatic, but preferably automatic handling. This involves the location of significant signals (peaks) and their matching and alignment across different measurements. To date, there exist only a few openly available algorithms for the retention time alignment of peaks originating from such experiments that scale well with increasing sample and peak numbers, while providing reliable alignment results. We describe BiPACE 2D, an automated algorithm for retention time alignment of peaks from 2D gas chromatography-mass spectrometry experiments and evaluate it on three previously published datasets against the mSPA, SWPA and Guineu algorithms. We also provide a fourth dataset from an experiment studying the H2 production of two different strains of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii that is available from the MetaboLights database together with the experimental protocol, peak-detection results and manually curated multiple peak alignment for future comparability with newly developed algorithms. BiPACE 2D is contained in the freely available Maltcms framework, version 1.3, hosted at http://maltcms.sf.net, under the terms of the L-GPL v3 or Eclipse Open Source licenses. The software used for the evaluation along with the underlying datasets is available at the same location. The C.reinhardtii dataset is freely available at http://www.ebi.ac.uk/metabolights/MTBLS37.

Transfer Alignment Error Compensator Design Based on Robust State Estimation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lyou, Joon; Lim, You-Chol

This paper examines the transfer alignment problem of the StrapDown Inertial Navigation System (SDINS), which is subject to the ship’s roll and pitch. Major error sources for velocity and attitude matching are lever arm effect, measurement time delay and ship-body flexure. To reduce these alignment errors, an error compensation method based on state augmentation and robust state estimation is devised. A linearized error model for the velocity and attitude matching transfer alignment system is derived first by linearizing the nonlinear measurement equation with respect to its time delay and dominant Y-axis flexure, and by augmenting the delay state and flexure state into conventional linear state equations. Then an H∞ filter is introduced to account for modeling uncertainties of time delay and the ship-body flexure. The simulation results show that this method considerably decreases azimuth alignment errors considerably.

Impulse noise: can hitting a softball harm your hearing?

PubMed

Cook, Korrine; Atcherson, Samuel R

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study is to identify whether or not different materials of softball bats (wooden, aluminum, and composite) are a potential risk harm to hearing when batting players strike a 12'' core .40 softball during slow, underhand pitch typical of recreational games. Peak sound pressure level measurements and spectral analyses were conducted for three controlled softball pitches to a batting participant using each of the different bat materials in an unused outdoor playing field with regulation distances between the pitcher's mound and batter's box. The results revealed that highest recorded peak sound pressure level was recorded from the aluminum (124.6 dBC) bat followed by the composite (121.2 dBC) and wooden (120.0 dBC) bats. Spectral analysis revealed composite and wooden bats with similar broadly distributed amplitude-frequency response. The aluminum bat also produced a broadly distributed amplitude-frequency response, but there were also two very distinct peaks at around 1700 Hz and 2260 Hz above the noise floor that produced its ringing (or ping) sound after being struck. Impulse (transient) sounds less than 140 dBC may permit multiple exposures, and softball bats used in a recreational slow pitch may pose little to no risk to hearing.

Impulse Noise: Can Hitting a Softball Harm Your Hearing?

PubMed Central

Atcherson, Samuel R.

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study is to identify whether or not different materials of softball bats (wooden, aluminum, and composite) are a potential risk harm to hearing when batting players strike a 12′′ core .40 softball during slow, underhand pitch typical of recreational games. Peak sound pressure level measurements and spectral analyses were conducted for three controlled softball pitches to a batting participant using each of the different bat materials in an unused outdoor playing field with regulation distances between the pitcher's mound and batter's box. The results revealed that highest recorded peak sound pressure level was recorded from the aluminum (124.6 dBC) bat followed by the composite (121.2 dBC) and wooden (120.0 dBC) bats. Spectral analysis revealed composite and wooden bats with similar broadly distributed amplitude-frequency response. The aluminum bat also produced a broadly distributed amplitude-frequency response, but there were also two very distinct peaks at around 1700 Hz and 2260 Hz above the noise floor that produced its ringing (or ping) sound after being struck. Impulse (transient) sounds less than 140 dBC may permit multiple exposures, and softball bats used in a recreational slow pitch may pose little to no risk to hearing. PMID:24778596

Multiple loss processes of relativistic electrons outside the heart of outer radiation belt during a storm sudden commencement

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yu, J.; Li, L. Y.; Cao, J. B.

By examining the compression-induced changes in the electron phase space density and pitch angle distribution observed by two satellites of Van Allen Probes (RBSP-A/B), we find that the relativistic electrons (>2 MeV) outside the heart of outer radiation belt (L*≥5) undergo multiple losses during a storm sudden commencement. The relativistic electron loss mainly occurs in the field-aligned direction (pitch angle α < 30° or >150°), and the flux decay of the field-aligned electrons is independent of the spatial location variations of the two satellites. However, the relativistic electrons in the pitch angle range of 30°–150° increase (decrease) with the decreasingmore » (increasing) geocentric distance (|ΔL|<0.25) of the RBSP-B (RBSP-A) location, and the electron fluxes in the quasi-perpendicular direction display energy-dispersive oscillations in the Pc5 period range (2–10 min). The relativistic electron loss is confirmed by the decrease of electron phase space density at high-L shell after the magnetospheric compressions, and their loss is associated with the intense plasmaspheric hiss, electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves, relativistic electron precipitation (observed by POES/NOAA satellites at 850 km), and magnetic field fluctuations in the Pc5 band. Finally, the intense EMIC waves and whistler mode hiss jointly cause the rapidly pitch angle scattering loss of the relativistic electrons within 10 h. Moreover, the Pc5 ULF waves also lead to the slowly outward radial diffusion of the relativistic electrons in the high-L region with a negative electron phase space density gradient.« less

Multiple loss processes of relativistic electrons outside the heart of outer radiation belt during a storm sudden commencement

DOE PAGES

Yu, J.; Li, L. Y.; Cao, J. B.; ...

2015-11-10

By examining the compression-induced changes in the electron phase space density and pitch angle distribution observed by two satellites of Van Allen Probes (RBSP-A/B), we find that the relativistic electrons (>2 MeV) outside the heart of outer radiation belt (L*≥5) undergo multiple losses during a storm sudden commencement. The relativistic electron loss mainly occurs in the field-aligned direction (pitch angle α < 30° or >150°), and the flux decay of the field-aligned electrons is independent of the spatial location variations of the two satellites. However, the relativistic electrons in the pitch angle range of 30°–150° increase (decrease) with the decreasingmore » (increasing) geocentric distance (|ΔL|<0.25) of the RBSP-B (RBSP-A) location, and the electron fluxes in the quasi-perpendicular direction display energy-dispersive oscillations in the Pc5 period range (2–10 min). The relativistic electron loss is confirmed by the decrease of electron phase space density at high-L shell after the magnetospheric compressions, and their loss is associated with the intense plasmaspheric hiss, electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves, relativistic electron precipitation (observed by POES/NOAA satellites at 850 km), and magnetic field fluctuations in the Pc5 band. Finally, the intense EMIC waves and whistler mode hiss jointly cause the rapidly pitch angle scattering loss of the relativistic electrons within 10 h. Moreover, the Pc5 ULF waves also lead to the slowly outward radial diffusion of the relativistic electrons in the high-L region with a negative electron phase space density gradient.« less

Experimental Observation of the Effects of Translational and Rotational Electrode Misalignment on a Planar Linear Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tian, Yuan; Decker, Trevor K.; McClellan, Joshua S.; Wu, Qinghao; De la Cruz, Abraham; Hawkins, Aaron R.; Austin, Daniel E.

2018-04-01

The performance of miniaturized ion trap mass analyzers is limited, in part, by the accuracy with which electrodes can be fabricated and positioned relative to each other. Alignment of plates in a two-plate planar LIT is ideal to characterize misalignment effects, as it represents the simplest possible case, having only six degrees of freedom (DOF) (three translational and three rotational). High-precision motorized actuators were used to vary the alignment between the two ion trap plates in five DOFs—x, y, z, pitch, and yaw. A comparison between the experiment and previous simulations shows reasonable agreement. Pitch, or the degree to which the plates are parallel along the axial direction, has the largest and sharpest impact to resolving power, with resolving power dropping noticeably with pitch misalignment of a fraction of a degree. Lateral displacement (x) and yaw (rotation of one plate, but plates remain parallel) both have a strong impact on ion ejection efficiency, but little effect on resolving power. The effects of plate spacing (y-displacement) on both resolving power and ion ejection efficiency are attributable to higher-order terms in the trapping field. Varying the DC (axial) trapping potential can elucidate the effects where more misalignments in more than one DOF affect performance. Implications of these results for miniaturized ion traps are discussed. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

Attitude algorithm and initial alignment method for SINS applied in short-range aircraft

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Rong-Hui; He, Zhao-Cheng; You, Feng; Chen, Bo

2017-07-01

This paper presents an attitude solution algorithm based on the Micro-Electro-Mechanical System and quaternion method. We completed the numerical calculation and engineering practice by adopting fourth-order Runge-Kutta algorithm in the digital signal processor. The state space mathematical model of initial alignment in static base was established, and the initial alignment method based on Kalman filter was proposed. Based on the hardware in the loop simulation platform, the short-range flight simulation test and the actual flight test were carried out. The results show that the error of pitch, yaw and roll angle is fast convergent, and the fitting rate between flight simulation and flight test is more than 85%.

Head movement during walking in the cat.

PubMed

Zubair, Humza N; Beloozerova, Irina N; Sun, Hai; Marlinski, Vladimir

2016-09-22

Knowledge of how the head moves during locomotion is essential for understanding how locomotion is controlled by sensory systems of the head. We have analyzed head movements of the cat walking along a straight flat pathway in the darkness and light. We found that cats' head left-right translations, and roll and yaw rotations oscillated once per stride, while fore-aft and vertical translations, and pitch rotations oscillated twice. The head reached its highest vertical positions during second half of each forelimb swing, following maxima of the shoulder/trunk by 20-90°. Nose-up rotation followed head upward translation by another 40-90° delay. The peak-to-peak amplitude of vertical translation was ∼1.5cm and amplitude of pitch rotation was ∼3°. Amplitudes of lateral translation and roll rotation were ∼1cm and 1.5-3°, respectively. Overall, cats' heads were neutral in roll and 10-30° nose-down, maintaining horizontal semicircular canals and utriculi within 10° of the earth horizontal. The head longitudinal velocity was 0.5-1m/s, maximal upward and downward linear velocities were ∼0.05 and ∼0.1m/s, respectively, and maximal lateral velocity was ∼0.05m/s. Maximal velocities of head pitch rotation were 20-50°/s. During walking in light, cats stood 0.3-0.5cm taller and held their head 0.5-2cm higher than in darkness. Forward acceleration was 25-100% higher and peak-to-peak amplitude of head pitch oscillations was ∼20°/s larger. We concluded that, during walking, the head of the cat is held actively. Reflexes appear to play only a partial role in determining head movement, and vision might further diminish their role. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Characterization of pitch prepared from pyrolysis fuel oil via electron beam irradiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Hong Gun; Park, Mira; Kim, Hak-Yong; Kwac, Lee Ku; Shin, Hye Kyoung

2017-06-01

Pitch samples were obtained from pyrolysis fuel oil by thermal treatment for 2 h at 300 °C after electron beam irradiation (EBI) treatment and by thermal treatment alone for different temperature of 250 °C, 300 °C, and 350 °C. EBI treatment was found to be an effective treatment for preparing pitch compare to the pitch obtained without EBI treatment. These results were confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance (13C NMR) analyses, which showed the increase in the intensities of peaks corresponding to aromatic compounds. In the matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) spectra, the amount of components with medium molecular weights in the pitch was found to increase with the temperature; likewise, in the case of the pitch obtained via EBI treatment, we found that the amount of components with higher molecular weight over 1000 (m/v) similarly increased. Further, the thermal stability and carbon yield at 850 °C of the pitch obtained by EBI were greater than those of samples subjected to thermal treatment at 250 and 300 °C.

Controlled Aerodynamic Loads on an Airfoil in Coupled Pitch/Plunge by Transitory Regulation of Trapped Vorticity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tan, Yuehan; Crittenden, Thomas; Glezer, Ari

2017-11-01

The aerodynamic loads on an airfoil moving in coupled, time-periodic pitch-plunge beyond the static stall margin are controlled using transitory regulation of trapped vorticity concentrations. Actuation is effected by a spanwise array of integrated miniature chemical (combustion based) impulse actuators that are triggered intermittently during the airfoil's motion and have a characteristic time scale that is an order of magnitude shorter than the airfoil's convective time scale. Each actuation pulse effects momentary interruption and suspension of the vorticity flux with sufficient control authority to alter the airfoil's global aerodynamic characteristics throughout its motion cycle. The effects of the actuation are assessed using time-dependent measurements of the lift and pitching moment coupled with time-resolved particle image velocimetry over the airfoil and in its near wake that is acquired phased-locked to its motion. It is shown that while the presence of the pitch-coupled plunge delays lift and moment stall during upstroke, it also delays flow reattachment during the downstroke and results in significant degradation of the pitch stability. These aerodynamic shortcomings are mitigated using superposition of a limited number of pulses that are staged during the pitch/plunge cycle and lead to enhancement of cycle lift and pitch stability, and reduces the cycle hysteresis and peak pitching moment.

The effect of tibiotalar alignment on coronal plane mechanics following total ankle replacement.

PubMed

Grier, A Jordan; Schmitt, Abigail C; Adams, Samuel B; Queen, Robin M

2016-07-01

Gait mechanics following total ankle replacement (TAR) have reported improved ankle motion following surgery. However, no studies have addressed the impact of preoperative radiographic tibiotalar alignment on post-TAR gait mechanics. We therefore investigated whether preoperative tibiotalar alignment (varus, valgus, or neutral) resulted in significantly different coronal plane mechanics or ground reaction forces post-TAR. We conducted a non-randomized study of 93 consecutive end-stage ankle arthritis patients. Standard weight-bearing radiographs were obtained preoperatively to categorize patients as having neutral (±4°), varus (≥5° of varus), or valgus (≥5° of valgus) coronal plane tibiotalar alignment. All patients underwent a standard walking assessment including three-dimensional lower extremity kinetics and kinematics preoperatively, 12 and 24 months postoperatively. A significant group by time interaction was observed for the propulsive vertical ground reaction force (vGRF), coronal plane hip range of motion (ROM) and the peak hip abduction moment. The valgus group demonstrated an increase in the peak knee adduction angle and knee adduction angle at heel strike when compared to the other groups. Coronal plane ankle ROM, knee and hip angles at heel strike, and the peak hip angle exhibited significant increases across time. Peak ankle inversion moment, peak knee abduction moment and the weight acceptance vGRF also exhibited significant increases across time. Neutral ankle alignment was achieved for all patients by 2 years following TAR. Restoration of neutral ankle alignment at the time of TAR in patients with preoperative varus or valgus tibiotalar alignment resulted in biomechanics similar to those of patients with neutral preoperative tibiotalar alignment by 24-month follow-up. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Computing muscle, ligament, and osseous contributions to the elbow varus moment during baseball pitching

PubMed Central

Buffi, James H.; Werner, Katie; Kepple, Tom; Murray, Wendy M.

2014-01-01

Baseball pitching imposes a dangerous valgus load on the elbow that puts the joint at severe risk for injury. The goal of this study was to develop a musculoskeletal modeling approach to enable evaluation of muscle-tendon contributions to mitigating elbow injury risk in pitching. We implemented a forward dynamic simulation framework that used a scaled biomechanical model to reproduce a pitching motion recorded from a high school pitcher. The medial elbow muscles generated substantial, protective, varus elbow moments in our simulations. For our subject, the triceps generated large varus moments at the time of peak valgus loading; varus moments generated by the flexor digitorum superficialis were larger, but occurred later in the motion. Increasing muscle-tendon force output, either by augmenting parameters associated with strength and power or by increasing activation levels, decreased the load on the ulnar collateral ligament. Published methods have not previously quantified the biomechanics of elbow muscles during pitching. This simulation study represents a critical advancement in the study of baseball pitching and highlights the utility of simulation techniques in the study of this difficult problem. PMID:25281409

Analysis and optimization of surface profile correcting mechanism of the pitch lap in large-aperture annular polishing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Huifang; Yang, Minghong; Xu, Xueke; Wu, Lunzhe; Yang, Weiguang; Shao, Jianda

2017-10-01

The surface figure control of the conventional annular polishing system is realized ordinarily by the interaction between the conditioner and the lap. The surface profile of the pitch lap corrected by the marble conditioner has been measured and analyzed as a function of kinematics, loading conditions, and polishing time. The surface profile measuring equipment of the large lap based on laser alignment was developed with the accuracy of about 1μm. The conditioning mechanism of the conditioner is simply determined by the kinematics and fully fitting principle, but the unexpected surface profile deviation of the lap emerged frequently due to numerous influencing factors including the geometrical relationship, the pressure distribution at the conditioner/lap interface. Both factors are quantitatively evaluated and described, and have been combined to develop a spatial and temporal model to simulate the surface profile evolution of pitch lap. The simulations are consistent with the experiments. This study is an important step toward deterministic full-aperture annular polishing, providing a beneficial guidance for the surface profile correction of the pitch lap.

Optical patterning and dynamics of torons and hopfions in a chiral nematic with photo-tunable equilibrium pitch

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sohn, Hayley; Ackerman, Paul; Smalyukh, Ivan

Three-dimensional (3D) topological solitons arise in field theories ranging from particle physics to condensed matter and cosmology. They are the 3D counterparts of 2D skyrmions (often called ``baby skyrmions''), which attract a great deal of interest in studies of chiral ferromagnets and enable the emerging field of skyrmionics. In chiral nematic liquid crystals, the stability of such solitons is enhanced by the chiral medium's tendency to twist the director field describing the 3D spatial patterns of molecular alignment. However, their experimental realization, control and detailed studies remain limited. We combine experimental realization and numerical modeling of such light-responsive solitonic structures, including elementary torons and hopfions, in confined chiral nematic liquid crystals with photo-tunable cholesteric pitch. We show that the optical tunability of the pitch allows for using low-intensity light to control the soliton stability, dimensions, spatial patterning and dynamics.

Fringing-field dielectrophoretic assembly of ultrahigh-density semiconducting nanotube arrays with a self-limited pitch

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, Qing; Han, Shu-Jen; Tulevski, George S.

2014-09-01

One key challenge of realizing practical high-performance electronic devices based on single-walled carbon nanotubes is to produce electronically pure nanotube arrays with both a minuscule and uniform inter-tube pitch for sufficient device-packing density and homogeneity. Here we develop a method in which the alternating voltage-fringing electric field formed between surface microelectrodes and the substrate is utilized to assemble semiconducting nanotubes into well-aligned, ultrahigh-density and submonolayered arrays, with a consistent pitch as small as 21±6 nm determined by a self-limiting mechanism, based on the unique field focusing and screening effects of the fringing field. Field-effect transistors based on such nanotube arrays exhibit record high device transconductance (>50 μS μm-1) and decent on current per nanotube (~1 μA per tube) together with high on/off ratios at a drain bias of -1 V.

The contribution of medializing calcaneal osteotomy on hindfoot alignment in the reconstruction of the stage II adult acquired flatfoot deformity.

PubMed

Chan, Jeremy Y; Williams, Benjamin R; Nair, Pallavi; Young, Elizabeth; Sofka, Carolyn; Deland, Jonathan T; Ellis, Scott J

2013-02-01

Successful correction of hindfoot alignment in adult acquired flatfoot deformity (AAFD) is likely influenced by the degree of medializing calcaneal osteotomy (MCO) performed, but it is not known if other reconstruction procedures significantly contribute as well. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the correlation between common preoperative and postoperative variables and hindfoot alignment. Thirty patients with stage II AAFD undergoing flatfoot reconstruction were followed prospectively. Preoperative and postoperative radiographs were reviewed to assess for correction in hindfoot alignment as measured by the change in hindfoot moment arm. Nineteen variables were analyzed, including age, gender, height, weight, body mass index (BMI), medial cuneiform-fifth metatarsal height, anteroposterior (AP) talonavicular coverage, AP talus-first metatarsal, lateral talus-first metatarsal and calcaneal pitch angles as well as intraoperative use of the MCO, lateral column lengthening (LCL), Cotton osteotomy, first tarsometatarsal fusion, flexor digitorum longus transfer, spring ligament reconstruction, and gastrocnemius recession or Achilles lengthening. Mean age was 57.3 years (range, 22-77). Final radiographs were obtained at a mean of 47 weeks (range, 25-78) postoperatively. Seven variables were found to significantly affect hindfoot moment arm. These were gender (P < .05), the amount of MCO performed (P < .001), LCL (P < .01), first tarsometatarsal fusion (P < .01), spring ligament reconstruction (P < .01), medial cuneiform-fifth metatarsal height (P < .001), and calcaneal pitch angle (P < .05). Multivariate regression analysis revealed that MCO was the only significant predictor of hindfoot moment arm. The final regression model for MCO showed a good fit (R(2) = .93, P < .001). Correction of hindfoot valgus alignment obtained in flatfoot reconstruction is primarily determined by the MCO procedure and can be modeled linearly. We believe that the hindfoot alignment view can serve as a valuable preoperative measurement to help surgeons adjust the proper amount of correction intraoperatively. Level IV, prospective case series.

Primary control of a Mach scale swashplateless rotor using brushless DC motor actuated trailing edge flaps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saxena, Anand

The focus of this research was to demonstrate a four blade rotor trim in forward flight using integrated trailing edge flaps instead of using a swashplate controls. A compact brushless DC motor was evaluated as an on-blade actuator, with the possibility of achieving large trailing edge flap amplitudes. A control strategy to actuate the trailing edge flap at desired frequency and amplitude was developed and large trailing edge flap amplitudes from the motor (instead of rotational motion) were obtained. Once the actuator was tested on the bench-top, a lightweight mechanism was designed to incorporate the motor in the blade and actuate the trailing edge flaps. A six feet diameter, four bladed composite rotor with motor-flap system integrated into the NACA 0012 airfoil section was fabricated. Systematic testing was carried out for a range of load conditions, first in the vacuum chamber followed by hover tests. Large trailing edge flap deflections were observed during the hover testing, and a peak to peak trailing edge flap amplitude of 18 degree was achieved at 2000 rotor RPM with hover tip Mach number of 0.628. A closed loop controller was designed to demonstrate trailing edge flap mean position and the peak to peak amplitude control. Further, a soft pitch link was designed and fabricated, to replace the stiff pitch link and thereby reduce the torsional stiffness of the blade to 2/rev. This soft pitch link allowed for blade root pitch motion in response to the trailing edge flap inputs. Blade pitch response due to both steady as well as sinusoidal flap deflections were demonstrated. Finally, tests were performed in Glenn L. Martin wind tunnel using a model rotor rig to assess the performance of motor-flap system in forward flight. A swashplateless trim using brushless DC motor actuated trailing edge flaps was achieved for a rotor operating at 1200 RPM and an advance ratio of 0.28. Also, preliminary exploration was carried out to test the scalability of the motor driven trailing edge flap concept. In conclusion, the concept of using brushless DC motors as on-blade actuators, actuating trailing edge flaps has the potential to replace the current mechanically complex swashplate with a hydraulic-free swashplateless system and thereby reduce overall weight and hub drag.

Low-Energy Charged Particles in Saturn's Magnetosphere: Results from Voyager 1.

PubMed

Krimigis, S M; Armstrong, T P; Axford, W I; Bostrom, C O; Gloeckler, G; Keath, E P; Lanzerotti, L J; Carbary, J F; Hamilton, D C; Roelof, E C

1981-04-10

The low-energy charged particle instrument on Voyager 1 measured low-energy electrons and ions (energies >/= 26 and >/= 40 kiloelectron volts, respectively) in Saturn's magnetosphere. The first-order ion anisotropies on the dayside are generally in the corotation direction with the amplitude decreasing with decreasing distance to the planet. The ion pitch-angle distributions generally peak at 90 degrees , whereas the electron distributions tend to have field-aligned bidirectional maxima outside the L shell of Rhea. A large decrease in particle fluxes is seen near the L shell of Titan, while selective particle absorption (least affecting the lowest energy ions) is observed at the L shells of Rhea, Dione, and Tethys. The phase space density of ions with values of the first invariant in the range approximately 300 to 1000 million electron volts per gauss is consistent with a source in the outer magnetosphere. The ion population at higher energies (>/= 200 kiloelectron volts per nucleon) consists primarily of protons, molecular hydrogen, and helium. Spectra of all ion species exhibit an energy cutoff at energies >/= 2 million electron volts. The proton-to-helium ratio at equal energy per nucleon is larger (up to approximately 5 x 10(3)) than seen in other magnetospheres and is consistent with a local (nonsolar wind) proton source. In contrast to the magnetospheres of Jupiter and Earth, there are no lobe regions essentially devoid of particles in Saturn's nighttime magnetosphere. Electron pitch-angle distributions are generally bidirectional andfield-aligned, indicating closed field lines at high latitudes. Ions in this region are generally moving toward Saturn, while in the magnetosheath they exhibit strong antisunward streaming which is inconsistent with purely convective flows. Fluxes of magnetospheric ions downstream from the bow shock are present over distances >/= 200 Saturn radii from the planet. Novel features identified in the Saturnian magnetosphere include a mantle of low-energy particles extending inward from the dayside magnetopause to approximately 17 Saturn radii, at least two intensity dropouts occurring approximately 11 hours apart in the nighttime magnetosphere, and a pervasive population of energetic molecular hydrogen.

Scaling effects in resonant coupling phenomena between fundamental and cladding modes in twisted microstructured optical fibers.

PubMed

Napiorkowski, Maciej; Urbanczyk, Waclaw

2018-04-30

We show that in twisted microstructured optical fibers (MOFs) the coupling between the core and cladding modes can be obtained for helix pitch much greater than previously considered. We provide an analytical model describing scaling properties of the twisted MOFs, which relates coupling conditions to dimensionless ratios between the wavelength, the lattice pitch and the helix pitch of the twisted fiber. Furthermore, we verify our model using a rigorous numerical method based on the transformation optics formalism and study its limitations. The obtained results show that for appropriately designed twisted MOFs, distinct, high loss resonance peaks can be obtained in a broad wavelength range already for the fiber with 9 mm helix pitch, thus allowing for fabrication of coupling based devices using a less demanding method involving preform spinning.

One-Sided Measurement Approach on Ultrasonic Beam Path Analysis in CFRP Composite Laminates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Im, K. H.; Hsu, D. K.; Kim, H. J.; Song, S. J.; Dayal, V.; Barnard, D.; Park, J. W.; Lee, K. S.; Yang, Y. J.; Yang, I. Y.

2008-02-01

Composite materials are attractive for a wide range of applications because of high performance engineering structures. In particular, the importance of carbon-fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) has been generally recognized in both space and civil aircraft industries; so, CFRP composite laminates are widely used. It is very important to detect defects in composite laminates because they cause the mechanical properties (stiffness, strength) of the laminate to be reduced. As well known for ultrasonic technique for evaluating the defect of CFRP composite laminates, a pitch-catch technique was found to be more practical than normal incidence backwall echo of longitudinal wave to arbitrary flaws in the composite, including fiber orientation, low level porosity, ply waviness, and cracks. The measurement depth using Rayleigh probes can be increased by increasing the separation distance of the transmitting and receiving probes. Also, with the aid of the automatic scanner, the one-sided pitch-catch probe was used to produce C-scan images for mapping out the images with beam profiles. Especially pitch-catch beam path was nondestructively characterized for the specimens when measuring a peak-to-peak amplitude and time-of-flight in order to build the beam profile modeling in the unidirectional CFRP composite laminates. Also, the pitch-catch simulation was performed to predict the beam profile trend of wave propagation in the unidirectional CF/Epoxy composite laminates. Therefore, it is found that the experimentally Rayleigh wave variation of pitch-catch ultrasonic signal was consistent with simulated results and one-side ultrasonic measurement might be very useful to detect the defects in CFRP composites.

Experience-dependent enhancement of pitch-specific responses in the auditory cortex is limited to acceleration rates in normal voice range

PubMed Central

Krishnan, Ananthanarayan; Gandour, Jackson T.; Suresh, Chandan H.

2015-01-01

The aim of this study is to determine how pitch acceleration rates within and outside the normal pitch range may influence latency and amplitude of cortical pitch-specific responses (CPR) as a function of language experience (Chinese, English). Responses were elicited from a set of four pitch stimuli chosen to represent a range of acceleration rates (two each inside and outside the normal voice range) imposed on the high rising Mandarin Tone 2. Pitch-relevant neural activity, as reflected in the latency and amplitude of scalp-recorded CPR components, varied depending on language-experience and pitch acceleration of dynamic, time-varying pitch contours. Peak latencies of CPR components were shorter in the Chinese than the English group across stimuli. Chinese participants showed greater amplitude than English for CPR components at both frontocentral and temporal electrode sites in response to pitch contours with acceleration rates inside the normal voice pitch range as compared to pitch contours with acceleration rates that exceed the normal range. As indexed by CPR amplitude at the temporal sites, a rightward asymmetry was observed for the Chinese group only. Only over the right temporal site was amplitude greater in the Chinese group relative to the English. These findings may suggest that the neural mechanism(s) underlying processing of pitch in the right auditory cortex reflect experience-dependent modulation of sensitivity to acceleration in just those rising pitch contours that fall within the bounds of one’s native language. More broadly, enhancement of native pitch stimuli and stronger rightward asymmetry of CPR components in the Chinese group is consistent with the notion that long-term experience shapes adaptive, distributed hierarchical pitch processing in the auditory cortex, and reflects an interaction with higher-order, extrasensory processes beyond the sensory memory trace. PMID:26166727

Comparison between low (3:1) and high (6:1) pitch for routine abdominal/pelvic imaging with multislice computed tomography.

PubMed

Sahani, Dushyant; Saini, Sanjay; D'Souza, Roy V; O'Neill, Mary Jane; Prasad, Srinivasa R; Kalra, Mannudeep K; Halpern, Elkan F; Mueller, Peter

2003-01-01

The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of low helical pitch acquisition (3:1) and high helical pitch acquisition (6:1) for routine abdominal/pelvic imaging with multislice computed tomography (CT). Three hundred eighty-four patients referred for abdominal/pelvic CT were examined in a breath-hold on a multislice CT scanner (LightSpeed QX/I; General Electric Medical Systems, Milwaukee, WI). Patients were randomized and scanned with pitch of 3:1 or 6:1 using a constant 140 peak kV and 280-300 mA. Images were reconstructed at a 3.75-mm slice thickness. Direct comparison between the two pitches was possible in a subset of 40 patients who had a follow-up scan performed with the second pitch used in each patient. A comparison was also performed between standard dose CT using a pitch of 6:1 and 20% reduced radiation dose CT using a pitch of 3:1. Two readers performed a blind evaluation using a three-point scale for image quality, anatomic details, and motion artifacts. Statistical analysis was performed using a rank sum test and the Wilcoxon signed rank test. Overall image quality mean scores were 2.5 and 2.3 for a pitch of 3:1 and a pitch of 6:1, respectively (P = 0.134). Likewise, mean anatomic detail and motion artifact scores were 2.5 and 2.6 for a 3:1 pitch and 2.3 and 2.5 for a 6:1 pitch, respectively (P > 0.05). In patients with a direct comparison of the two pitches (with the standard radiation dose as well as with a 20% reduction in milliamperes), no statistically significant difference in the performance of the two pitches was observed (P > 0.05). Image quality with a high pitch (6:1) is acceptable for routine abdominal/pelvic CT.

Advanced in-line metrology strategy for self-aligned quadruple patterning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chao, Robin; Breton, Mary; L'herron, Benoit; Mendoza, Brock; Muthinti, Raja; Nelson, Florence; De La Pena, Abraham; Le, Fee li; Miller, Eric; Sieg, Stuart; Demarest, James; Gin, Peter; Wormington, Matthew; Cepler, Aron; Bozdog, Cornel; Sendelbach, Matthew; Wolfling, Shay; Cardinal, Tom; Kanakasabapathy, Sivananda; Gaudiello, John; Felix, Nelson

2016-03-01

Self-Aligned Quadruple Patterning (SAQP) is a promising technique extending the 193-nm lithography to manufacture structures that are 20nm half pitch or smaller. This process adopts multiple sidewall spacer image transfers to split a rather relaxed design into a quarter of its original pitch. Due to the number of multiple process steps required for the pitch splitting in SAQP, the process error propagates through each deposition and etch, and accumulates at the final step into structure variations, such as pitch walk and poor critical dimension uniformity (CDU). They can further affect the downstream processes and lower the yield. The impact of this error propagation becomes significant for advanced technology nodes when the process specifications of device design CD requirements are at nanometer scale. Therefore, semiconductor manufacturing demands strict in-line process control to ensure a high process yield and improved performance, which must rely on precise measurements to enable corrective actions and quick decision making for process development. This work aims to provide a comprehensive metrology solution for SAQP. During SAQP process development, the challenges in conventional in-line metrology techniques start to surface. For instance, critical-dimension scanning electron microscopy (CDSEM) is commonly the first choice for CD and pitch variation control. However, it is found that the high aspect ratio at mandrel level processes and the trench variations after etch prevent the tool from extracting the true bottom edges of the structure in order to report the position shift. On the other hand, while the complex shape and variations can be captured with scatterometry, or optical CD (OCD), the asymmetric features, such as pitch walk, show low sensitivity with strong correlations in scatterometry. X-ray diffraction (XRD) is known to provide useful direct measurements of the pitch walk in crystalline arrays, yet the data analysis is influenced by the incoming geometry and must be used carefully. A successful implementation of SAQP process control for yield improvement requires the metrology issues to be addressed. By optimizing the measurement parameters and beam configurations, CDSEM measurements distinguish each of the spaces corresponding to the upstream mandrel processes and report their CDs separately to feed back to the process team for the next development cycle. We also utilize the unique capability in scatterometry to measure the structure details in-line and implement a "predictive" process control, which shows a good correlation between the "predictive" measurement and the cross-sections from our design of experiments (DOE). The ability to measure the pitch walk in scatterometry was also demonstrated. This work also explored the frontier of in-line XRD capability by enabling an automatic RSM fitting on tool to output pitch walk values. With these advances in metrology development, we are able to demonstrate the impacts of in-line monitoring in the SAQP process, to shorten the patterning development learning cycle to improve the yield.

Cortical pitch regions in humans respond primarily to resolved harmonics and are located in specific tonotopic regions of anterior auditory cortex.

PubMed

Norman-Haignere, Sam; Kanwisher, Nancy; McDermott, Josh H

2013-12-11

Pitch is a defining perceptual property of many real-world sounds, including music and speech. Classically, theories of pitch perception have differentiated between temporal and spectral cues. These cues are rendered distinct by the frequency resolution of the ear, such that some frequencies produce "resolved" peaks of excitation in the cochlea, whereas others are "unresolved," providing a pitch cue only via their temporal fluctuations. Despite longstanding interest, the neural structures that process pitch, and their relationship to these cues, have remained controversial. Here, using fMRI in humans, we report the following: (1) consistent with previous reports, all subjects exhibited pitch-sensitive cortical regions that responded substantially more to harmonic tones than frequency-matched noise; (2) the response of these regions was mainly driven by spectrally resolved harmonics, although they also exhibited a weak but consistent response to unresolved harmonics relative to noise; (3) the response of pitch-sensitive regions to a parametric manipulation of resolvability tracked psychophysical discrimination thresholds for the same stimuli; and (4) pitch-sensitive regions were localized to specific tonotopic regions of anterior auditory cortex, extending from a low-frequency region of primary auditory cortex into a more anterior and less frequency-selective region of nonprimary auditory cortex. These results demonstrate that cortical pitch responses are located in a stereotyped region of anterior auditory cortex and are predominantly driven by resolved frequency components in a way that mirrors behavior.

Cortical Pitch Regions in Humans Respond Primarily to Resolved Harmonics and Are Located in Specific Tonotopic Regions of Anterior Auditory Cortex

PubMed Central

Kanwisher, Nancy; McDermott, Josh H.

2013-01-01

Pitch is a defining perceptual property of many real-world sounds, including music and speech. Classically, theories of pitch perception have differentiated between temporal and spectral cues. These cues are rendered distinct by the frequency resolution of the ear, such that some frequencies produce “resolved” peaks of excitation in the cochlea, whereas others are “unresolved,” providing a pitch cue only via their temporal fluctuations. Despite longstanding interest, the neural structures that process pitch, and their relationship to these cues, have remained controversial. Here, using fMRI in humans, we report the following: (1) consistent with previous reports, all subjects exhibited pitch-sensitive cortical regions that responded substantially more to harmonic tones than frequency-matched noise; (2) the response of these regions was mainly driven by spectrally resolved harmonics, although they also exhibited a weak but consistent response to unresolved harmonics relative to noise; (3) the response of pitch-sensitive regions to a parametric manipulation of resolvability tracked psychophysical discrimination thresholds for the same stimuli; and (4) pitch-sensitive regions were localized to specific tonotopic regions of anterior auditory cortex, extending from a low-frequency region of primary auditory cortex into a more anterior and less frequency-selective region of nonprimary auditory cortex. These results demonstrate that cortical pitch responses are located in a stereotyped region of anterior auditory cortex and are predominantly driven by resolved frequency components in a way that mirrors behavior. PMID:24336712

The Effect of Pitching Phase on the Vortex Circulation for a Flapping Wing During Stroke Reversal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burge, Matthew; Ringuette, Matthew

2017-11-01

We study the effect of pitching-phase on the circulation behavior for the 3D flow structures produced during stroke reversal for a 2-degree-of-freedom flapping wing executing hovering kinematics. Previous research has related the choice in pitching-phase with respect to the wing rotation during stroke reversal (advanced vs. symmetric pitch-timing) to a lift peak preceding stroke reversal. However, results from experiments on the time-varying circulation contributions from the 3D vortex structures across the span produced by both rotation and pitching are lacking. The objective of this research is to quantitatively examine how the spanwise circulation of these structures is affected by the pitching-phase for several reduced pitching frequencies. We employ a scaled wing model in a glycerin-water mixture and measure the time-varying velocity using multiple planes of stereo digital particle image velocimetry. Data-plane positions along the wing span are informed by the unsteady behavior of the 3D vortex structures found in our prior flow visualization movies. Individual vortices are identified to calculate their circulation. This work is aimed at understanding how the behavior of the vortex structures created during stroke reversal vary with key motion parameters. This work is supported by the National Science Foundation, Award Number 1336548, supervised by Dr. Ronald Joslin.

When pitch Accents Encode Speaker Commitment: Evidence from French Intonation.

PubMed

Michelas, Amandine; Portes, Cristel; Champagne-Lavau, Maud

2016-06-01

Recent studies on a variety of languages have shown that a speaker's commitment to the propositional content of his or her utterance can be encoded, among other strategies, by pitch accent types. Since prior research mainly relied on lexical-stress languages, our understanding of how speakers of a non-lexical-stress language encode speaker commitment is limited. This paper explores the contribution of the last pitch accent of an intonation phrase to convey speaker commitment in French, a language that has stress at the phrasal level as well as a restricted set of pitch accents. In a production experiment, participants had to produce sentences in two pragmatic contexts: unbiased questions (the speaker had no particular belief with respect to the expected answer) and negatively biased questions (the speaker believed the proposition to be false). Results revealed that negatively biased questions consistently exhibited an additional unaccented F0 peak in the preaccentual syllable (an H+!H* pitch accent) while unbiased questions were often realized with a rising pattern across the accented syllable (an H* pitch accent). These results provide evidence that pitch accent types in French can signal the speaker's belief about the certainty of the proposition expressed in French. It also has implications for the phonological model of French intonation.

Roughness and uniformity improvements on self-aligned quadruple patterning technique for 10nm node and beyond by wafer stress engineering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Eric; Ko, Akiteru; O'Meara, David; Mohanty, Nihar; Franke, Elliott; Pillai, Karthik; Biolsi, Peter

2017-05-01

Dimension shrinkage has been a major driving force in the development of integrated circuit processing over a number of decades. The Self-Aligned Quadruple Patterning (SAQP) technique is widely adapted for sub-10nm node in order to achieve the desired feature dimensions. This technique provides theoretical feasibility of multiple pitch-halving from 193nm immersion lithography by using various pattern transferring steps. The major concept of this approach is to a create spacer defined self-aligned pattern by using single lithography print. By repeating the process steps, double, quadruple, or octuple are possible to be achieved theoretically. In these small architectures, line roughness control becomes extremely important since it may contribute to a significant portion of process and device performance variations. In addition, the complexity of SAQP in terms of processing flow makes the roughness improvement indirective and ineffective. It is necessary to discover a new approach in order to improve the roughness in the current SAQP technique. In this presentation, we demonstrate a novel method to improve line roughness performances on 30nm pitch SAQP flow. We discover that the line roughness performance is strongly related to stress management. By selecting different stress level of film to be deposited onto the substrate, we can manipulate the roughness performance in line and space patterns. In addition, the impact of curvature change by applied film stress to SAQP line roughness performance is also studied. No significant correlation is found between wafer curvature and line roughness performance. We will discuss in details the step-by-step physical performances for each processing step in terms of critical dimension (CD)/ critical dimension uniformity (CDU)/line width roughness (LWR)/line edge roughness (LER). Finally, we summarize the process needed to reach the full wafer performance targets of LWR/LER in 1.07nm/1.13nm on 30nm pitch line and space pattern.

Self-aligned block technology: a step toward further scaling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lazzarino, Frédéric; Mohanty, Nihar; Feurprier, Yannick; Huli, Lior; Luong, Vinh; Demand, Marc; Decoster, Stefan; Vega Gonzalez, Victor; Ryckaert, Julien; Kim, Ryan Ryoung Han; Mallik, Arindam; Leray, Philippe; Wilson, Chris; Boemmels, Jürgen; Kumar, Kaushik; Nafus, Kathleen; deVilliers, Anton; Smith, Jeffrey; Fonseca, Carlos; Bannister, Julie; Scheer, Steven; Tokei, Zsolt; Piumi, Daniele; Barla, Kathy

2017-04-01

In this work, we present and compare two integration approaches to enable self-alignment of the block suitable for the 5- nm technology node. The first approach is exploring the insertion of a spin-on metal-based material to memorize the first block and act as an etch stop layer in the overall integration. The second approach is evaluating the self-aligned block technology employing widely used organic materials and well-known processes. The concept and the motivation are discussed considering the effects on design and mask count as well as the impact on process complexity and EPE budget. We show the integration schemes and discuss the requirements to enable self-alignment. We present the details of materials and processes selection to allow optimal selective etches and we demonstrate the proof of concept using a 16- nm half-pitch BEOL vehicle. Finally, a study on technology insertion and cost estimation is presented.

Self-Alignment MEMS IMU Method Based on the Rotation Modulation Technique on a Swing Base

PubMed Central

Chen, Zhiyong; Yang, Haotian; Wang, Chengbin; Lin, Zhihui; Guo, Meifeng

2018-01-01

The micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) inertial measurement unit (IMU) has been widely used in the field of inertial navigation due to its small size, low cost, and light weight, but aligning MEMS IMUs remains a challenge for researchers. MEMS IMUs have been conventionally aligned on a static base, requiring other sensors, such as magnetometers or satellites, to provide auxiliary information, which limits its application range to some extent. Therefore, improving the alignment accuracy of MEMS IMU as much as possible under swing conditions is of considerable value. This paper proposes an alignment method based on the rotation modulation technique (RMT), which is completely self-aligned, unlike the existing alignment techniques. The effect of the inertial sensor errors is mitigated by rotating the IMU. Then, inertial frame-based alignment using the rotation modulation technique (RMT-IFBA) achieved coarse alignment on the swing base. The strong tracking filter (STF) further improved the alignment accuracy. The performance of the proposed method was validated with a physical experiment, and the results of the alignment showed that the standard deviations of pitch, roll, and heading angle were 0.0140°, 0.0097°, and 0.91°, respectively, which verified the practicality and efficacy of the proposed method for the self-alignment of the MEMS IMU on a swing base. PMID:29649150

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhao, G. Q.; Feng, H. Q.; Liu, Q.

Energetic electrons with power-law spectra are commonly observed in astrophysics. This paper investigates electron cyclotron maser emission (ECME) from the power-law electrons, in which strong pitch-angle anisotropy is emphasized. The electron distribution function proposed in this paper can describe various types of pitch-angle anisotropy. Results show that the emission properties of ECME, including radiation growth, propagation, and frequency properties, depend considerably on the types of electron pitch-angle anisotropy, and different wave modes show different dependences on the pitch angle of electrons. In particular, the maximum growth rate of the X2 mode rapidly decreases with respect to the electron pitch-angle cosinemore » μ {sub 0} at which the electron distribution peaks, while the growth rates for other modes (X1, O1, O2) initially increase before decreasing as μ {sub 0} increases. Moreover, the O mode, as well as the X mode, can be the fastest growth mode, in terms of not only the plasma parameter but also the type of electron pitch-angle distribution. This result presents a significant extension of the recent researches on ECME driven by the lower energy cutoff of power-law electrons, in which the X mode is generally the fastest growth mode.« less

Energy and pitch angle-dispersed auroral electrons suggesting a time-variable, inverted-V potential structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arnoldy, R. L.; Lynch, K. A.; Austin, J. B.; Kintner, P. M.

1999-10-01

High temporal resolution electron detectors aboard the PHAZE II rocket flight have shown that the energy-dispersed, field-aligned bursts (FABs) are time coincident with pitch angle-dispersed electrons having energies at the maximum voltage of the inverted-V potential. This modulation of the energetic inverted-V electrons is superimposed upon an energy-diffused background resulting in a peak-to-valley ratio of ~2 for the pitch angle-dispersed electrons. Since the characteristic energy of the FABs, the order of an eV, is considerably less than that of the plasma sheet electrons (the order of a keV) presumably falling through the inverted-V potential to create the discrete aurora, the modulation mechanism has to be independent of the electron temperature. The mechanism must accelerate the cold electrons over a range of energies from the inverted-V energy down to a few tens of eV. It must do this at the same time it is creating a population of hot, pitch angle-dispersed electrons at the inverted-V energy. Both the energy dispersion of the FABs and the pitch angle dispersion of the inverted-V electrons can be used to determine a source height assuming both populations start from the same source region at the same time. These calculations give source heights between 3500 and 5300 km for various events and disagreement between the two methods the order of 20%, which is within the rather substantial error limits of both calculations. A simple mechanism of providing a common start time for both populations of electrons would be a turning on/off of a spatially limited (vertically), inverted-V potential. The energy-dispersed FABs can be reconstructed at rocket altitudes if one assumes that cold electrons are accelerated to an energy determined by how much of the inverted-V potential they fall through when it is turned on. Similarly, the pitch angle-dispersed, inverted-V electrons can be modeled at rocket altitudes if one assumes that the plasma sheet electrons falling through the entire potential drop all start to do so at the same time when the potential is turned on. The FABs seem to fluctuate at either ~10 Hz or near 100 Hz. An important constraint of the on/off mechanism is whether cold electrons (1 eV) can fill the inverted-V volume during the off cycle. The maximum vertical height of the 10 kV potential region for the 10 Hz events would be the order of 100 and 10 km for the 100 Hz events. To get 10 kV, these heights require parallel electric fields of 0.1 and 1 V/m respectively for the 10 and 100 Hz events assuming that the filling is along B from below the inverted-V potential. Alternative mechanisms are also discussed in the light of the data presented.

Models of primary runaway electron distribution in the runaway vortex regime

DOE PAGES

Guo, Zehua; Tang, Xian-Zhu; McDevitt, Christopher J.

2017-11-01

Generation of runaway electrons (RE) beams can possibly induce the most deleterious effect of tokamak disruptions. A number of recent numerical calculations have confirmed the formation of a RE bump in their energy distribution by taking into account Synchrontron radiational damping force due to RE’s gyromotions. Here, we present a detailed examination on how the bump location changes at different pitch-angle and the characteristics of the RE pitch-angle distribution. Although REs moving along the magnetic field are preferably accelerated and then populate the phase-space of larger pitch-angle mainly through diffusions, an off-axis peak can still form due to the presencemore » of the vortex structure which causes accumulation of REs at low pitch-angle. A simplified Fokker- Planck model and its semi-analytical solutions based on local expansions around the O point is used to illustrate the characteristics of RE distribution around the O point of the runaway vortex in phase-space. The calculated energy location of the O point together with the local energy and pitch-angle distributions agree with the full numerical solution.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Guo, Zehua; Tang, Xian-Zhu; McDevitt, Christopher J.

Generation of runaway electrons (RE) beams can possibly induce the most deleterious effect of tokamak disruptions. A number of recent numerical calculations have confirmed the formation of a RE bump in their energy distribution by taking into account Synchrontron radiational damping force due to RE’s gyromotions. Here, we present a detailed examination on how the bump location changes at different pitch-angle and the characteristics of the RE pitch-angle distribution. Although REs moving along the magnetic field are preferably accelerated and then populate the phase-space of larger pitch-angle mainly through diffusions, an off-axis peak can still form due to the presencemore » of the vortex structure which causes accumulation of REs at low pitch-angle. A simplified Fokker- Planck model and its semi-analytical solutions based on local expansions around the O point is used to illustrate the characteristics of RE distribution around the O point of the runaway vortex in phase-space. The calculated energy location of the O point together with the local energy and pitch-angle distributions agree with the full numerical solution.« less

Brief report: atypical neuromagnetic responses to illusory auditory pitch in children with autism spectrum disorders.

PubMed

Brock, Jon; Bzishvili, Samantha; Reid, Melanie; Hautus, Michael; Johnson, Blake W

2013-11-01

Atypical auditory perception is a widely recognised but poorly understood feature of autism. In the current study, we used magnetoencephalography to measure the brain responses of 10 autistic children as they listened passively to dichotic pitch stimuli, in which an illusory tone is generated by sub-millisecond inter-aural timing differences in white noise. Relative to control stimuli that contain no inter-aural timing differences, dichotic pitch stimuli typically elicit an object related negativity (ORN) response, associated with the perceptual segregation of the tone and the carrier noise into distinct auditory objects. Autistic children failed to demonstrate an ORN, suggesting a failure of segregation; however, comparison with the ORNs of age-matched typically developing controls narrowly failed to attain significance. More striking, the autistic children demonstrated a significant differential response to the pitch stimulus, peaking at around 50 ms. This was not present in the control group, nor has it been found in other groups tested using similar stimuli. This response may be a neural signature of atypical processing of pitch in at least some autistic individuals.

Comparison of Full-Scale Propellers Having R.A.F.-6 and Clark Y Airfoil Sections

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Freeman, Hugh B

1932-01-01

In this report the efficiencies of two series of propellers having two types of blade sections are compared. Six full-scale propellers were used, three having R. A. F.-6 and three Clark Y airfoil sections with thickness/chord ratios of 0.06, 0.08, and 0.10. The propellers were tested at five pitch setting, which covered the range ordinarily used in practice. The propellers having the Clark Y sections gave the highest peak efficiency at the low pitch settings. At the high pitch settings, the propellers with R. A. F.-6 sections gave about the same maximum efficiency as the Clark Y propellers and were more efficient for the conditions of climb and take-off.

Performance and Loads Correlation of a UH-60A Slowed Rotor at High Advance Ratios

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kottapalli, Sesi B.

2012-01-01

Measured data from the slowed rotor part of the 2010 UH-60A Airloads Rotor test in the NASA Ames 40- by 80- Foot Wind Tunnel are compared with CAMRAD II calculations. The emphasis in this initial study is to correlate overall trends. This analytical effort considers advance ratios from 0.3 to 1.0, with the rotor rotational speed at 40%NR. The rotor performance parameters considered are the thrust coefficient, power coefficient, L/DE, torque, and H-force. The blade loads considered are the half peak-to-peak, mid-span and outboard torsion, flatwise, and chordwise moments, and the pitch link load. For advance ratios . 0.7, the overall trends for the performance and loads (excluding the pitch link load) could be captured, but with substantial overprediction or underprediction. The correlation gradually deteriorates as the advance ratio is increased and for advance ratios . 0.8 there is no correlation. The pitch link load correlation is not good. There is considerable scope for improvement in the prediction of the blade loads. Considering the modeling complexity associated with the unconventional operating condition under consideration, the current predictive ability to capture overall trends is encouraging.

High-speed peak matching algorithm for retention time alignment of gas chromatographic data for chemometric analysis.

PubMed

Johnson, Kevin J; Wright, Bob W; Jarman, Kristin H; Synovec, Robert E

2003-05-09

A rapid retention time alignment algorithm was developed as a preprocessing utility to be used prior to chemometric analysis of large datasets of diesel fuel profiles obtained using gas chromatography (GC). Retention time variation from chromatogram-to-chromatogram has been a significant impediment against the use of chemometric techniques in the analysis of chromatographic data due to the inability of current chemometric techniques to correctly model information that shifts from variable to variable within a dataset. The alignment algorithm developed is shown to increase the efficacy of pattern recognition methods applied to diesel fuel chromatograms by retaining chemical selectivity while reducing chromatogram-to-chromatogram retention time variations and to do so on a time scale that makes analysis of large sets of chromatographic data practical. Two sets of diesel fuel gas chromatograms were studied using the novel alignment algorithm followed by principal component analysis (PCA). In the first study, retention times for corresponding chromatographic peaks in 60 chromatograms varied by as much as 300 ms between chromatograms before alignment. In the second study of 42 chromatograms, the retention time shifting exhibited was on the order of 10 s between corresponding chromatographic peaks, and required a coarse retention time correction prior to alignment with the algorithm. In both cases, an increase in retention time precision afforded by the algorithm was clearly visible in plots of overlaid chromatograms before and then after applying the retention time alignment algorithm. Using the alignment algorithm, the standard deviation for corresponding peak retention times following alignment was 17 ms throughout a given chromatogram, corresponding to a relative standard deviation of 0.003% at an average retention time of 8 min. This level of retention time precision is a 5-fold improvement over the retention time precision initially provided by a state-of-the-art GC instrument equipped with electronic pressure control and was critical to the performance of the chemometric analysis. This increase in retention time precision does not come at the expense of chemical selectivity, since the PCA results suggest that essentially all of the chemical selectivity is preserved. Cluster resolution between dissimilar groups of diesel fuel chromatograms in a two-dimensional scores space generated with PCA is shown to substantially increase after alignment. The alignment method is robust against missing or extra peaks relative to a target chromatogram used in the alignment, and operates at high speed, requiring roughly 1 s of computation time per GC chromatogram.

MetAlign: interface-driven, versatile metabolomics tool for hyphenated full-scan mass spectrometry data preprocessing.

PubMed

Lommen, Arjen

2009-04-15

Hyphenated full-scan MS technology creates large amounts of data. A versatile easy to handle automation tool aiding in the data analysis is very important in handling such a data stream. MetAlign softwareas described in this manuscripthandles a broad range of accurate mass and nominal mass GC/MS and LC/MS data. It is capable of automatic format conversions, accurate mass calculations, baseline corrections, peak-picking, saturation and mass-peak artifact filtering, as well as alignment of up to 1000 data sets. A 100 to 1000-fold data reduction is achieved. MetAlign software output is compatible with most multivariate statistics programs.

Combining peak- and chromatogram-based retention time alignment algorithms for multiple chromatography-mass spectrometry datasets.

PubMed

Hoffmann, Nils; Keck, Matthias; Neuweger, Heiko; Wilhelm, Mathias; Högy, Petra; Niehaus, Karsten; Stoye, Jens

2012-08-27

Modern analytical methods in biology and chemistry use separation techniques coupled to sensitive detectors, such as gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). These hyphenated methods provide high-dimensional data. Comparing such data manually to find corresponding signals is a laborious task, as each experiment usually consists of thousands of individual scans, each containing hundreds or even thousands of distinct signals. In order to allow for successful identification of metabolites or proteins within such data, especially in the context of metabolomics and proteomics, an accurate alignment and matching of corresponding features between two or more experiments is required. Such a matching algorithm should capture fluctuations in the chromatographic system which lead to non-linear distortions on the time axis, as well as systematic changes in recorded intensities. Many different algorithms for the retention time alignment of GC-MS and LC-MS data have been proposed and published, but all of them focus either on aligning previously extracted peak features or on aligning and comparing the complete raw data containing all available features. In this paper we introduce two algorithms for retention time alignment of multiple GC-MS datasets: multiple alignment by bidirectional best hits peak assignment and cluster extension (BIPACE) and center-star multiple alignment by pairwise partitioned dynamic time warping (CeMAPP-DTW). We show how the similarity-based peak group matching method BIPACE may be used for multiple alignment calculation individually and how it can be used as a preprocessing step for the pairwise alignments performed by CeMAPP-DTW. We evaluate the algorithms individually and in combination on a previously published small GC-MS dataset studying the Leishmania parasite and on a larger GC-MS dataset studying grains of wheat (Triticum aestivum). We have shown that BIPACE achieves very high precision and recall and a very low number of false positive peak assignments on both evaluation datasets. CeMAPP-DTW finds a high number of true positives when executed on its own, but achieves even better results when BIPACE is used to constrain its search space. The source code of both algorithms is included in the OpenSource software framework Maltcms, which is available from http://maltcms.sf.net. The evaluation scripts of the present study are available from the same source.

Combining peak- and chromatogram-based retention time alignment algorithms for multiple chromatography-mass spectrometry datasets

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Modern analytical methods in biology and chemistry use separation techniques coupled to sensitive detectors, such as gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). These hyphenated methods provide high-dimensional data. Comparing such data manually to find corresponding signals is a laborious task, as each experiment usually consists of thousands of individual scans, each containing hundreds or even thousands of distinct signals. In order to allow for successful identification of metabolites or proteins within such data, especially in the context of metabolomics and proteomics, an accurate alignment and matching of corresponding features between two or more experiments is required. Such a matching algorithm should capture fluctuations in the chromatographic system which lead to non-linear distortions on the time axis, as well as systematic changes in recorded intensities. Many different algorithms for the retention time alignment of GC-MS and LC-MS data have been proposed and published, but all of them focus either on aligning previously extracted peak features or on aligning and comparing the complete raw data containing all available features. Results In this paper we introduce two algorithms for retention time alignment of multiple GC-MS datasets: multiple alignment by bidirectional best hits peak assignment and cluster extension (BIPACE) and center-star multiple alignment by pairwise partitioned dynamic time warping (CeMAPP-DTW). We show how the similarity-based peak group matching method BIPACE may be used for multiple alignment calculation individually and how it can be used as a preprocessing step for the pairwise alignments performed by CeMAPP-DTW. We evaluate the algorithms individually and in combination on a previously published small GC-MS dataset studying the Leishmania parasite and on a larger GC-MS dataset studying grains of wheat (Triticum aestivum). Conclusions We have shown that BIPACE achieves very high precision and recall and a very low number of false positive peak assignments on both evaluation datasets. CeMAPP-DTW finds a high number of true positives when executed on its own, but achieves even better results when BIPACE is used to constrain its search space. The source code of both algorithms is included in the OpenSource software framework Maltcms, which is available from http://maltcms.sf.net. The evaluation scripts of the present study are available from the same source. PMID:22920415

DISCO: Distance and Spectrum Correlation Optimization Alignment for Two Dimensional Gas Chromatography Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry-based Metabolomics

PubMed Central

Wang, Bing; Fang, Aiqin; Heim, John; Bogdanov, Bogdan; Pugh, Scott; Libardoni, Mark; Zhang, Xiang

2010-01-01

A novel peak alignment algorithm using a distance and spectrum correlation optimization (DISCO) method has been developed for two-dimensional gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC×GC/TOF-MS) based metabolomics. This algorithm uses the output of the instrument control software, ChromaTOF, as its input data. It detects and merges multiple peak entries of the same metabolite into one peak entry in each input peak list. After a z-score transformation of metabolite retention times, DISCO selects landmark peaks from all samples based on both two-dimensional retention times and mass spectrum similarity of fragment ions measured by Pearson’s correlation coefficient. A local linear fitting method is employed in the original two-dimensional retention time space to correct retention time shifts. A progressive retention time map searching method is used to align metabolite peaks in all samples together based on optimization of the Euclidean distance and mass spectrum similarity. The effectiveness of the DISCO algorithm is demonstrated using data sets acquired under different experiment conditions and a spiked-in experiment. PMID:20476746

Development of a Mirror Pointing Mechanism for an Atmospheric Gas Measurement Instrument

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Graham, Michael; Belous, Adel; Brown, Jeffrey; Podolske, James

1998-01-01

Development of the Open Path Tunable Infrared Monitor of the Atmosphere (OPTIMA) instrument involved designing a pair of motion systems that could maintain a precise alignment and spatial distance between two mirrors installed on the NASA DC-8 research laboratory aircraft. This is the first airborne optical instrument that allows direct measurement of the gases in the freestream airflow on the exterior of the aircraft. One mirror is mounted within a specially constructed open port cavity in the cabin of the aircraft and the second is mounted 6 meters away on top of the inboard port side (number 2) engine pylon. Three co-aligned laser beams are reflected between the two mirrors 64 times in a Herriott pattern. The resulting sample path length of 384 meters is used to perform a spectral absorption analysis of the airflow between the mirrors. To compensate for normal wing movement and engine oscillations both mirrors were designed as continuously driven mechanisms to maintain alignment within allowable limits. The motion systems of the two mirror assemblies provide five degrees of freedom and are designed to maintain a pointing accuracy within seven arc-sec with a response frequency in 6xcess of 10 Hz. The pylon motion system incorporates controlled pitch and yaw movement. The fuselage motion system compensates for pitch variation as well as linear translation for focal length and vertical aiming of the laser beam via a controlled beam guidance mechanism.

The Magsat three axis arc second precision attitude transfer system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schenkel, F. W.; Heins, R. J.

1981-01-01

The Magsat Attitude Transfer System (ATS), which provides attitude alteration in pitch, yaw, and roll is described. A remote vector magnetometer extends from Magsat on a 20 ft boom, requiring vector orientation by reference to coordinate axes determined by a set of star mapping cameras. The ATS was designed to perform in a solar illuminated environment by using an optically narrow bandwidth with synchronous demodulation at 9300 A. The pitch/yaw optical design, the electrooptics, and signal and switching diagrams are provided. Simple mirrors with no moving parts are placed on the magnetometer to reflect a collimated beam from the ATS for attitude indication, which is accurate to one part in 96. Alignment was completed within 24 hr after launch.

Dielectrophoretic alignment of metal and metal oxide nanowires and nanotubes: a universal set of parameters for bridging prepatterned microelectrodes.

PubMed

Maijenburg, A W; Maas, M G; Rodijk, E J B; Ahmed, W; Kooij, E S; Carlen, E T; Blank, D H A; ten Elshof, J E

2011-03-15

Nanowires and nanotubes were synthesized from metals and metal oxides using templated cathodic electrodeposition. With templated electrodeposition, small structures are electrodeposited using a template that is the inverse of the final desired shape. Dielectrophoresis was used for the alignment of the as-formed nanowires and nanotubes between prepatterned electrodes. For reproducible nanowire alignment, a universal set of dielectrophoresis parameters to align any arbitrary nanowire material was determined. The parameters include peak-to-peak potential and frequency, thickness of the silicon oxide layer, grounding of the silicon substrate, and nature of the solvent medium used. It involves applying a field with a frequency >10(5) Hz, an insulating silicon oxide layer with a thickness of 2.5 μm or more, grounding of the underlying silicon substrate, and the use of a solvent medium with a low dielectric constant. In our experiments, we obtained good results by using a peak-to-peak potential of 2.1 V at a frequency of 1.2 × 10(5) Hz. Furthermore, an indirect alignment technique is proposed that prevents short circuiting of nanowires after contacting both electrodes. After alignment, a considerably lower resistivity was found for ZnO nanowires made by templated electrodeposition (2.2-3.4 × 10(-3) Ωm) compared to ZnO nanorods synthesized by electrodeposition (10 Ωm) or molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) (500 Ωm). Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Process for making carbon foam

DOEpatents

Klett, James W.

2000-01-01

The process obviates the need for conventional oxidative stabilization. The process employs mesophase or isotropic pitch and a simplified process using a single mold. The foam has a relatively uniform distribution of pore sizes and a highly aligned graphic structure in the struts. The foam material can be made into a composite which is useful in high temperature sandwich panels for both thermal and structural applications.

Pitch bending and glissandi on the clarinet: roles of the vocal tract and partial tone hole closure.

PubMed

Chen, Jer-Ming; Smith, John; Wolfe, Joe

2009-09-01

Clarinettists combine non-standard fingerings with particular vocal tract configurations to achieve pitch bending, i.e., sounding pitches that can deviate substantially from those of standard fingerings. Impedance spectra were measured in the mouth of expert clarinettists while they played normally and during pitch bending, using a measurement head incorporated within a functioning clarinet mouthpiece. These were compared with the input impedance spectra of the clarinet for the fingerings used. Partially uncovering a tone hole by sliding a finger raises the frequency of clarinet impedance peaks, thereby allowing smooth increases in sounding pitch over some of the range. To bend notes in the second register and higher, however, clarinettists produce vocal tract resonances whose impedance maxima have magnitudes comparable with those of the bore resonance, which then may influence or determine the sounding frequency. It is much easier to bend notes down than up because of the phase relations of the bore and tract resonances, and the compliance of the reed. Expert clarinettists performed the glissando opening of Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue'. Here, players coordinate the two effects: They slide their fingers gradually over open tone holes, while simultaneously adjusting a strong vocal tract resonance to the desired pitch.

Field-aligned electrostatic potential differences on the Martian night side

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lillis, Rob; Collinson, Glyn; Mitchell, David

2017-04-01

Field-aligned electrostatic potential differences on the Martian night side above 170 km can be inferred with the aid of a kinetic electron transport model and in a statistical sense, by energy-dependent angular shifts in electron loss cones measured in Mars orbit. Potentials between 170 km and 400 km derived from pitch angle distributions measured by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Magnetometer/ Electron Reflectometer experiment (MAG/ER) at 2 a.m. local time are typically small (-10 V to 10 V) but can reach magnitudes of >100 V. Geographically, the strongest negative potential differences (with mean values up to -50 V) are preferentially observed at the boundaries between open and closed strong magnetic field regions, while positive potential differences are preferentially observed further from open field lines. These characteristics may reflect current systems closing at high altitude through cross-tail currents and at low altitude in the conducting night side ionosphere. We will present a synthesis of potentials derived from pitch angle distributions measured by both MGS MAG/ER as mentioned above, and by the MAVEN Solar Wind Electron Analyzer (SWEA) collected at a range of local times and altitudes.

Crying Baby: What to Do When Your Newborn Cries

MedlinePlus

... might be a sudden, long, high-pitched shriek. Picking up on any patterns can help you better ... baby. Remember that it's temporary. Crying spells often peak at about six to eight weeks and then ...

Focus: a robust workflow for one-dimensional NMR spectral analysis.

PubMed

Alonso, Arnald; Rodríguez, Miguel A; Vinaixa, Maria; Tortosa, Raül; Correig, Xavier; Julià, Antonio; Marsal, Sara

2014-01-21

One-dimensional (1)H NMR represents one of the most commonly used analytical techniques in metabolomic studies. The increase in the number of samples analyzed as well as the technical improvements involving instrumentation and spectral acquisition demand increasingly accurate and efficient high-throughput data processing workflows. We present FOCUS, an integrated and innovative methodology that provides a complete data analysis workflow for one-dimensional NMR-based metabolomics. This tool will allow users to easily obtain a NMR peak feature matrix ready for chemometric analysis as well as metabolite identification scores for each peak that greatly simplify the biological interpretation of the results. The algorithm development has been focused on solving the critical difficulties that appear at each data processing step and that can dramatically affect the quality of the results. As well as method integration, simplicity has been one of the main objectives in FOCUS development, requiring very little user input to perform accurate peak alignment, peak picking, and metabolite identification. The new spectral alignment algorithm, RUNAS, allows peak alignment with no need of a reference spectrum, and therefore, it reduces the bias introduced by other alignment approaches. Spectral alignment has been tested against previous methodologies obtaining substantial improvements in the case of moderate or highly unaligned spectra. Metabolite identification has also been significantly improved, using the positional and correlation peak patterns in contrast to a reference metabolite panel. Furthermore, the complete workflow has been tested using NMR data sets from 60 human urine samples and 120 aqueous liver extracts, reaching a successful identification of 42 metabolites from the two data sets. The open-source software implementation of this methodology is available at http://www.urr.cat/FOCUS.

Field Aligned Currents Derived from Pressure Profiles Obtained from TWINS ENA Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wood, K.; Perez, J. D.; McComas, D. J.; Goldstein, J.; Valek, P. W.

2015-12-01

Field aligned currents (FACs) that flow from the Earth's magnetosphere into the ionosphere are an important coupling mechanism in the interaction of the solar wind with the Earth's magnetosphere. Assuming pressure balance along with charge conservation yields an expression for the FACs in terms of plasma pressure gradients and pressure anisotropy. The Two Wide-Angle Imaging Neutral Atom Spectrometers (TWINS) mission, the first stereoscopic ENA magnetospheric imager, provides global images of the inner magnetosphere from which ion pressure distributions and pressure anisotropies can be obtained. Following the formulations in Heineman [1990] and using results from TWINS observations, we calculate the distribution of field aligned currents for the 17-18 March 2015 geomagnetic storm in which extended ionospheric precipitation was observed. Initial results for the field aligned currents will be generated assuming an isotropic pitch angle distribution. Global maps of field aligned currents during the main and recovery phase of the storm will be presented. Heinemann, H. (1990), Representations of Currents and Magnetic Fields in Anisotropic Magnetohydrostatic Plasma, J. Geophys. Res., 95, 7789.

Influence of orbital eye position on vertical saccades in progressive supranuclear palsy

PubMed Central

Schneider, Rosalyn; Chen, Athena L.; King, Susan A.; Riley, David E.; Gunzler, Steven A.; Devereaux, Michael. W.; Leigh, R. John

2011-01-01

Disturbance of vertical saccadesis a cardinal feature of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). We investigated whether the amplitude and peak velocity of saccades is affected by the orbital position fromwhich movements start in PSP patients and age-matched control subjects. Subjects made vertical saccades in response to ± 5 degree vertical target jumps with their heads in one of three positions: head “center,” head pitched forward ~15 degrees, and head pitched back ~ 15 degrees.All patients showed some effect of starting eye position, whether beginning in the upward or downward field of gaze, on saccade amplitude, peak velocity (PV), and net range of movement. Generally, reduction of amplitude and PV were commensurate and bidirectional in the affected hemifield of gaze. Such findings are unlikelyto be due to orbital factors and could be explained by varying degrees of involvement of rostral midbrain nucleiin the pathological process. PMID:21950977

Motion Perception and Manual Control Performance During Passive Tilt and Translation Following Space Flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Clement, Gilles; Wood, Scott J.

2010-01-01

This joint ESA-NASA study is examining changes in motion perception following Space Shuttle flights and the operational implications of post-flight tilt-translation ambiguity for manual control performance. Vibrotactile feedback of tilt orientation is also being evaluated as a countermeasure to improve performance during a closed-loop nulling task. METHODS. Data has been collected on 5 astronaut subjects during 3 preflight sessions and during the first 8 days after Shuttle landings. Variable radius centrifugation (216 deg/s) combined with body translation (12-22 cm, peak-to-peak) is utilized to elicit roll-tilt perception (equivalent to 20 deg, peak-to-peak). A forward-backward moving sled (24-390 cm, peak-to-peak) with or without chair tilting in pitch is utilized to elicit pitch tilt perception (equivalent to 20 deg, peak-to-peak). These combinations are elicited at 0.15, 0.3, and 0.6 Hz for evaluating the effect of motion frequency on tilt-translation ambiguity. In both devices, a closed-loop nulling task is also performed during pseudorandom motion with and without vibrotactile feedback of tilt. All tests are performed in complete darkness. PRELIMINARY RESULTS. Data collection is currently ongoing. Results to date suggest there is a trend for translation motion perception to be increased at the low and medium frequencies on landing day compared to pre-flight. Manual control performance is improved with vibrotactile feedback. DISCUSSION. The results of this study indicate that post-flight recovery of motion perception and manual control performance is complete within 8 days following short-duration space missions. Vibrotactile feedback of tilt improves manual control performance both before and after flight.

Conditional associative memory for musical stimuli in nonmusicians: implications for absolute pitch.

PubMed

Bermudez, Patrick; Zatorre, Robert J

2005-08-24

A previous positron emission tomography (PET) study of musicians with and without absolute pitch put forth the hypothesis that the posterior dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is involved in the conditional associative aspect of the identification of a pitch. In the work presented here, we tested this hypothesis by training eight nonmusicians to associate each of four different complex musical sounds (triad chords) with an arbitrary number in a task designed to have limited analogy to absolute-pitch identification. Each subject under-went a functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning procedure both before and after training. Active condition (identification of chords)-control condition (amplitude-matched noise bursts) comparisons for the pretraining scan showed no significant activation maxima. The same comparison for the posttraining scan revealed significant peaks of activation in posterior dorsolateral prefrontal, ventrolateral prefrontal, and parietal areas. A conjunction analysis was performed to show that the posterior dorsolateral prefrontal activity in this study is similar to that observed in the aforementioned PET study. We conclude that the posterior dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is selectively involved in the conditional association aspect of our task, as it is in the attribution of a verbal label to a note by absolute-pitch musicians.

Dynamic Stability Derivatives

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-06-01

kinematic viscocity , and speed-of-sound; wing geometric characteristics (area, mean aerodynamic chord and taper ratio); and its motion (free-stream...computed by integrating the vehicle’s velocity components expressed in a "trajectory" coordinate system which is fixed in space and aligned with the system...yawing motion is superfluous . The pitching motion results presented in Table 3-5 are interesting, though. Recall that the rotation rates are body

A lover or a fighter? Opposing sexual selection pressures on men’s vocal pitch and facial hair

PubMed Central

Mackey, Lauren L.; McCarty, Kristofor; Neave, Nick

2016-01-01

The traditional assumption within the research literature on human sexually dimorphic traits has been that many sex differences have arisen from intersexual selection. More recently, however, there has been a shift toward the idea that many male features, including male lower-pitched voices and male beard growth, might have arisen predominantly through intrasexual selection: that is, to serve the purpose of male–male competition instead of mate attraction. In this study, using a unique set of video stimuli, we measured people’s perceptions of the dominance and attractiveness of men who differ both in terms of voice pitch (4 levels from lower to higher pitched) and beard growth (4 levels from clean shaven to a month’s hair growth). We found a nonlinear relationship between lower pitch and increased attractiveness; men’s vocal attractiveness peaked at around 96 Hz. Beard growth had equivocal effects on attractiveness judgments. In contrast, perceptions of men’s dominance simply increased with increasing masculinity (i.e., with lower-pitched voices and greater beard growth). Together, these results suggest that the optimal level of physical masculinity might differ depending on whether the outcome is social dominance or mate attraction. These dual selection pressures might maintain some of the documented variability in male physical and behavioral masculinity that we see today. PMID:27004013

How we hear what is not there: A neural mechanism for the missing fundamental illusion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chialvo, Dante R.

2003-12-01

How the brain estimates the pitch of a complex sound remains unsolved. Complex sounds are composed of more than one tone. When two tones occur together, a third lower pitched tone is often heard. This is referred to as the "missing fundamental illusion" because the perceived pitch is a frequency (fundamental) for which there is no actual source vibration. This phenomenon exemplifies a larger variety of problems related to how pitch is extracted from complex tones, music and speech, and thus has been extensively used to test theories of pitch perception. A noisy nonlinear process is presented here as a candidate neural mechanism to explain the majority of reported phenomenology and provide specific quantitative predictions. The two basic premises of this model are as follows: (I) The individual tones composing the complex tones add linearly producing peaks of constructive interference whose amplitude is always insufficient to fire the neuron (II): The spike threshold is reached only with noise, which naturally selects the maximum constructive interferences. The spacing of these maxima, and consequently the spikes, occurs at a rate identical to the perceived pitch for the complex tone. Comparison with psychophysical and physiological data reveals a remarkable quantitative agreement not dependent on adjustable parameters. In addition, results from numerical simulations across different models are consistent, suggesting relevance to other sensory modalities.

Neck and shoulder muscle activity and thorax movement in singing and speaking tasks with variation in vocal loudness and pitch.

PubMed

Pettersen, Viggo; Bjørkøy, Kåre; Torp, Hans; Westgaard, Rolf Harald

2005-12-01

The aim of this study was to examine respiratory phasing and loading levels of sternocleidomastoideus (STM), scalenus (SC), and upper trapezius (TR) muscles in vocalization tasks with variation in vocal loudness and pitch. Eight advanced singing students, aged 22 to 28 years, participated. Surface electromyographic (EMG) activity was recorded from STM, SC, and TR. Thorax movement was detected by two strain gauge sensors placed around the upper (upper TX) and lower (lower TX) thorax. A glissando and simplified singing and speaking tasks were performed. Sustained vowels /a:-i-ae-o:/ were sung in a glissando from lowest to highest pitch (mixed voice/falsetto) back to lowest pitch and in short singing sequences at comfortable, low, and high pitches. The same vowels were spoken softly and loudly for about the same length. The subjects inhaled between the vowels. It was concluded that the inspiratory phased STM and SC muscles produced a counterforce to compression of upper TX at high pitches in glissando. STM and SC were activated to higher levels during phonation than in inhalation. As breathing demands were reduced, STM and SC activity was lowered and the respiratory phasing of peak amplitude changed to inhalation. TR contributed to exhalation in demanding singing with long breathing cycles, but it was less active in singing tasks with short breathing cycles and was essentially inactive in simplified speaking tasks.

An integrated workflow for robust alignment and simplified quantitative analysis of NMR spectrometry data.

PubMed

Vu, Trung N; Valkenborg, Dirk; Smets, Koen; Verwaest, Kim A; Dommisse, Roger; Lemière, Filip; Verschoren, Alain; Goethals, Bart; Laukens, Kris

2011-10-20

Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) is a powerful technique to reveal and compare quantitative metabolic profiles of biological tissues. However, chemical and physical sample variations make the analysis of the data challenging, and typically require the application of a number of preprocessing steps prior to data interpretation. For example, noise reduction, normalization, baseline correction, peak picking, spectrum alignment and statistical analysis are indispensable components in any NMR analysis pipeline. We introduce a novel suite of informatics tools for the quantitative analysis of NMR metabolomic profile data. The core of the processing cascade is a novel peak alignment algorithm, called hierarchical Cluster-based Peak Alignment (CluPA). The algorithm aligns a target spectrum to the reference spectrum in a top-down fashion by building a hierarchical cluster tree from peak lists of reference and target spectra and then dividing the spectra into smaller segments based on the most distant clusters of the tree. To reduce the computational time to estimate the spectral misalignment, the method makes use of Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT) cross-correlation. Since the method returns a high-quality alignment, we can propose a simple methodology to study the variability of the NMR spectra. For each aligned NMR data point the ratio of the between-group and within-group sum of squares (BW-ratio) is calculated to quantify the difference in variability between and within predefined groups of NMR spectra. This differential analysis is related to the calculation of the F-statistic or a one-way ANOVA, but without distributional assumptions. Statistical inference based on the BW-ratio is achieved by bootstrapping the null distribution from the experimental data. The workflow performance was evaluated using a previously published dataset. Correlation maps, spectral and grey scale plots show clear improvements in comparison to other methods, and the down-to-earth quantitative analysis works well for the CluPA-aligned spectra. The whole workflow is embedded into a modular and statistically sound framework that is implemented as an R package called "speaq" ("spectrum alignment and quantitation"), which is freely available from http://code.google.com/p/speaq/.

Time behavior of solar flare particles to 5 AU

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Haffner, J. W.

1972-01-01

A simple model of solar flare radiation event particle transport is developed to permit the calculation of fluxes and related quantities as a function of distance from the sun (R). This model assumes the particles spiral around the solar magnetic field lines with a constant pitch angle. The particle angular distributions and onset plus arrival times as functions of energy at 1 AU agree with observations if the pitch angle distribution peaks near 90 deg. As a consequence the time dependence factor is essentially proportional to R/1.7, (R in AU), and the event flux is proportional to R/2.

Improper trunk rotation sequence is associated with increased maximal shoulder external rotation angle and shoulder joint force in high school baseball pitchers.

PubMed

Oyama, Sakiko; Yu, Bing; Blackburn, J Troy; Padua, Darin A; Li, Li; Myers, Joseph B

2014-09-01

In a properly coordinated throwing motion, peak pelvic rotation velocity is reached before peak upper torso rotation velocity, so that angular momentum can be transferred effectively from the proximal (pelvis) to distal (upper torso) segment. However, the effects of trunk rotation sequence on pitching biomechanics and performance have not been investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of trunk rotation sequence on ball speed and on upper extremity biomechanics that are linked to injuries in high school baseball pitchers. The hypothesis was that pitchers with improper trunk rotation sequence would demonstrate lower ball velocity and greater stress to the joint. Descriptive laboratory study. Three-dimensional pitching kinematics data were captured from 72 high school pitchers. Subjects were considered to have proper or improper trunk rotation sequences when the peak pelvic rotation velocity was reached either before or after the peak upper torso rotation velocity beyond the margin of error (±3.7% of the time from stride-foot contact to ball release). Maximal shoulder external rotation angle, elbow extension angle at ball release, peak shoulder proximal force, shoulder internal rotation moment, and elbow varus moment were compared between groups using independent t tests (α < 0.05). Pitchers with improper trunk rotation sequences (n = 33) demonstrated greater maximal shoulder external rotation angle (mean difference, 7.2° ± 2.9°, P = .016) and greater shoulder proximal force (mean difference, 9.2% ± 3.9% body weight, P = .021) compared with those with proper trunk rotation sequences (n = 22). No other variables differed significantly different between groups. High school baseball pitchers who demonstrated improper trunk rotation sequences demonstrated greater maximal shoulder external rotation angle and shoulder proximal force compared with pitchers with proper trunk rotation sequences. Improper sequencing of the trunk and torso alter upper extremity joint loading in ways that may influence injury risk. As such, exercises that reinforce the use of a proper trunk rotation sequence during the pitching motion may reduce the stress placed on the structures around the shoulder joint and lead to the prevention of injuries. © 2014 The Author(s).

Ion velocity distributions in dipolarization events: Distributions in the central plasma sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Birn, J.; Runov, A.; Zhou, X.-Z.

2017-08-01

Using combined MHD/test particle simulations, we further explore characteristic ion velocity distributions in the central plasma sheet (CPS) in relation to dipolarization events. Distributions in the CPS within the dipolarized flux bundle (DFB) that follows the passage of a dipolarization front typically show two opposing low subthermal-energy beams with a ring-like component perpendicular to the magnetic field at about twice the thermal energy. The dominance of the perpendicular anisotropy and a field-aligned peak at lower energy agree qualitatively with ion distribution functions derived from "Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms" observations. At locations somewhat off the equatorial plane the field-aligned peaks are shifted by a field-aligned component of the bulk flow, such that one peak becomes centered near zero net velocity, which makes it less likely to be observed. The origins of the field-aligned peaks are low-energy lobe (or near plasma sheet boundary layer) regions, while the ring distribution originates mostly from thermal plasma sheet particles on extended field lines. The acceleration mechanisms are also quite different: the beam ions are accelerated first by the E × B drift motion of the DFB and then by a slingshot effect of the earthward convecting DFB (akin to first-order Fermi, type B, acceleration), which causes an increase in field-aligned speed. In contrast, the ring particles are accelerated by successive, betatron-like acceleration after entering the high electric field region of an earthward propagating DFB.

Directed self-assembly of poly(styrene)-block-poly(acrylic acid) copolymers for sub-20nm pitch patterning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, Jing; Lawson, Richard A.; Yeh, Wei-Ming; Jarnagin, Nathan D.; Peters, Andrew; Tolbert, Laren M.; Henderson, Clifford L.

2012-03-01

Directed self-assembly (DSA) of block copolymers is a promising technology for extending the patterning capability of current lithographic exposure tools. For example, production of sub-40 nm pitch features using 193nm exposure technologies is conceivably possible using DSA methods without relying on time consuming, challenging, and expensive multiple patterning schemes. Significant recent work has focused on demonstration of the ability to produce large areas of regular grating structures with low numbers of defects using self-assembly of poly(styrene)-b-poly(methyl methacrylate) copolymers (PS-b-PMMA). While these recent results are promising and have shown the ability to print pitches approaching 20 nm using DSA, the ability to advance to even smaller pitches will be dependent upon the ability to develop new block copolymers with higher χ values and the associated alignment and block removal processes required to achieve successful DSA with these new materials. This paper reports on work focused on identifying higher χ block copolymers and their associated DSA processes for sub-20 nm pitch patterning. In this work, DSA using polystyrene-b-polyacid materials has been explored. Specifically, it is shown that poly(styrene)-b-poly(acrylic acid) copolymers (PS-b-PAA) is one promising material for achieving substantially smaller pitch patterns than those possible with PS-b-PMMA while still utilizing simple hydrocarbon polymers. In fact, it is anticipated that much of the learning that has been done with the PS-b-PMMA system, such as development of highly selective plasma etch block removal procedures, can be directly leveraged or transferred to the PS-b-PAA system. Acetone vapor annealing of PS-b-PAA (Mw=16,000 g/mol with 50:50 mole ratio of PS:PAA) and its self-assembly into a lamellar morphology is demonstrated to generate a pattern pitch size (L0) of 21 nm. The χ value for PS-b-PAA was estimated from fingerprint pattern pitch data to be approximately 0.18 which is roughly 4.5 times greater than the χ for PS-b-PMMA (χPS-b-PMMA ~ 0.04).

Assembly Modulated by Particle Position and Shape: A New Concept in Self-Assembly.

PubMed

Tavacoli, Joe W; Heuvingh, Julien; Du Roure, Olivia

2017-11-10

In this communication we outline how the bespoke arrangements and design of micron-sized superparamagnetic shapes provide levers to modulate their assembly under homogeneous magnetic fields. We label this new approach, 'assembly modulated by particle position and shape' (APPS). Specifically, using rectangular lattices of superparamagnetic micron-sized cuboids, we construct distinct microstructures by adjusting lattice pitch and angle of array with respect to a magnetic field. Broadly, we find two modes of assembly: (1) immediate 2D jamming of the cuboids as they rotate to align with the applied field (rotation-induced jamming) and (2) aggregation via translation after their full alignment (dipole-dipole assembly). The boundary between these two assembly pathways is independent on field strength being solely a function of the cuboid's dimensions, lattice pitch, and array angle with respect to field-a relationship which we capture, along with other features of the assembly process, in a 'phase diagram'. In doing so, we set out initial design rules to build custom made assemblies. Moreover, these assemblies can be made flexible thanks to the hinged contacts of their particle building blocks. This flexibility, combined with the superparamagnetic nature of the architectures, renders our assembly method particularly appropriate for the construction of complex actuators at a scale hitherto not possible.

Electrical comparison of iN7 EUV hybrid and EUV single patterning BEOL metal layers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Larivière, Stéphane; Wilson, Christopher J.; Kutrzeba Kotowska, Bogumila; Versluijs, Janko; Decoster, Stefan; Mao, Ming; van der Veen, Marleen H.; Jourdan, Nicolas; El-Mekki, Zaid; Heylen, Nancy; Kesters, Els; Verdonck, Patrick; Béral, Christophe; Van den Heuvel, Dieter; De Bisschop, Peter; Bekaert, Joost; Blanco, Victor; Ciofi, Ivan; Wan, Danny; Briggs, Basoene; Mallik, Arindam; Hendrickx, Eric; Kim, Ryoung-han; McIntyre, Greg; Ronse, Kurt; Bömmels, Jürgen; Tőkei, Zsolt; Mocuta, Dan

2018-03-01

The semiconductor scaling roadmap shows the continuous node to node scaling to push Moore's law down to the next generations. In that context, the foundry N5 node requires 32nm metal pitch interconnects for the advanced logic Back- End of Line (BEoL). 193immersion usage now requires self-aligned and/or multiple patterning technique combinations to enable such critical dimension. On the other hand, EUV insertion investigation shows that 32nm metal pitch is still a challenge but, related to process flow complexity, presents some clear motivations. Imec has already evaluated on test chip vehicles with different patterning approaches: 193i SAQP (Self-Aligned Quadruple Patterning), LE3 (triple patterning Litho Etch), tone inversion, EUV SE (Single Exposure) with SMO (Source-mask optimization). Following the run path in the technology development for EUV insertion, imec N7 platform (iN7, corresponding node to the foundry N5) is developed for those BEoL layers. In this paper, following technical motivation and development learning, a comparison between the iArF SAQP/EUV block hybrid integration scheme and a single patterning EUV flow is proposed. These two integration patterning options will be finally compared from current morphological and electrical criteria.

Evaluation of peak picking quality in LC-MS metabolomics data.

PubMed

Brodsky, Leonid; Moussaieff, Arieh; Shahaf, Nir; Aharoni, Asaph; Rogachev, Ilana

2010-11-15

The output of LC-MS metabolomics experiments consists of mass-peak intensities identified through a peak-picking/alignment procedure. Besides imperfections in biological samples and instrumentation, data accuracy is highly dependent on the applied algorithms and their parameters. Consequently, quality control (QC) is essential for further data analysis. Here, we present a QC approach that is based on discrepancies between replicate samples. First, the quantile normalization of per-sample log-signal distributions is applied to each group of biologically homogeneous samples. Next, the overall quality of each replicate group is characterized by the Z-transformed correlation coefficients between samples. This general QC allows a tuning of the procedure's parameters which minimizes the inter-replicate discrepancies in the generated output. Subsequently, an in-depth QC measure detects local neighborhoods on a template of aligned chromatograms that are enriched by divergences between intensity profiles of replicate samples. These neighborhoods are determined through a segmentation algorithm. The retention time (RT)-m/z positions of the neighborhoods with local divergences are indicative of either: incorrect alignment of chromatographic features, technical problems in the chromatograms, or to a true biological discrepancy between replicates for particular metabolites. We expect this method to aid in the accurate analysis of metabolomics data and in the development of new peak-picking/alignment procedures.

Response analysis of TLD-300 dosimeters in heavy-particle beams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Loncol, Th; Hamal, M.; Denis, J. M.; Vynckier, S.; Wambersie, A.; Scalliet, P.

1996-09-01

In vivo dosimetry is recommended as part of the quality control procedure for treatment verification in radiation therapy. Using thermoluminescence, such controls are planned in the p(65)+Be neutron and 85 MeV proton beams produced at the cyclotron at Louvain-La-Neuve and dedicated to therapy applications. A preliminary study of the peak 3 (C) and peak 5 (C) response of :Tm (TLD-300) to neutron and proton beams aimed to analyse the effect of different radiation qualities on the dosimetric behaviour of the detector irradiated in phantom. To broaden the range of investigation, the study was extended to an experimental C-12 heavy ion beam (95 MeV/nucleon). The peak 3 and 5 sensitivities in the neutron beam, compared to Co-60, varied little with depth. A major change of peak 5 sensitivity was observed for samples positioned under five leaves of the multi-leaf collimator. While peak 3 sensitivity was constant with depth in the unmodulated proton beam, peak 5 sensitivity increased by 15%. Near the Bragg peak, peak 3 showed the highest decrease of sensitivity. In the modulated proton beam, the sensitivity values were not significantly smaller than those measured in the unmodulated beam far from the Bragg peak region. The ratio of the heights of peak 3 and peak 5 decreased by 70% from the Co-60 reference radiation to the C-12 heavy-ion beam. This parameter was strongly correlated with the change of radiation quality.

Characteristics of pitch angle distributions of relativistic electrons under the interaction with Pc5 waves in the inner magnetosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kamiya, K.; Seki, K.; Saito, S.; Amano, T.; Yoshizumi, M.

2017-12-01

Radial transport of relativistic electrons in the inner magnetosphere has been considered as one of acceleration mechanisms of the outer radiation belt electrons and can be driven by the drift resonance with ULF waves in the Pc5 frequency range. The maximum changes of the electron in the radial distance (L) due to the drift resonance depend on the electron energy, pitch angle, and Pc5 wave structure. Those dependences are expected to form the characteristic pitch angle distributions (PADs) as a function of L and electron energy. In this study, we investigate PADs of relativistic electrons due to the drift resonance with a monochromatic Pc5 wave by using two simulation models of the inner magnetosphere: GEMSIS-Ring Current (RC) and GEMSIS-Radiation Belt (RB) models. The GEMSIS-RB simulations calculate guiding center trajectories of relativistic electrons in electric and magnetic fields obtained from the GEMSIS-RC model, which simulates a monochromatic Pc5 wave propagation in the inner magnetosphere. The results show the characteristic PADs depending on the energy and L, which is explicable with the pitch angle dependence of resonance conditions. At a fixed location, those PADs can change from pancake (90°peaked) to butterfly (two peaks in oblique PAs) distributions as the transport by the monochromatic Pc5 wave progresses. These butterfly distributions are seen in the L range where electrons with lower PAs satisfy the resonance condition. It is also found that the lower PA electron with a fixed magnetic moment can be transported deeper inside because of the PA changes to larger values through the adiabatic transport, which enables them to satisfy the efficient resonance condition in wider L range compared to the 90 degrees PA electrons.

Characteristics of pitch angle distributions of hundreds of keV electrons in the slot region and inner radiation belt

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, H.; Li, X.; Blake, J. B.; Fennell, J. F.; Claudepierre, S. G.; Baker, D. N.; Jaynes, A. N.; Malaspina, D. M.

2014-12-01

The pitch angle distribution (PAD) of energetic electrons in the slot region and inner radiation belt received little attention in the past decades due to the lack of quality measurements. Using the state-of-the-art pitch angle-resolved data from the Magnetic Electron Ion Spectrometer instrument onboard the Van Allen Probes, a detailed analysis of hundreds of keV electron PADs below L = 4 is performed, in which the PADs are categorized into three types: normal (flux peaking at 90°), cap (exceedingly peaking narrowly around 90°), and 90° minimum (lower flux at 90°) PADs. By examining the characteristics of the PADs of ˜460 keV electrons for over a year, we find that the 90° minimum PADs are generally present in the inner belt (L<2), while normal PADs dominate at L˜3.5-4. In the region between, 90° minimum PADs dominate during injection times and normal PADs dominate during quiet times. Cap PADs appear mostly at the decay phase of storms in the slot region and are likely caused by the pitch angle scattering of hiss waves. Fitting the normal PADs into sinnα form, the parameter n is much higher below L = 3 than that in the outer belt and relatively constant in the inner belt but changes significantly in the slot region (2 < L < 3) during injection times. As for the 90° minimum PADs, by performing a detailed case study, we find in the slot region this type of PAD is likely caused by chorus wave heating, but this mechanism can hardly explain the formation of 90° minimum PADs at the center of inner belt.

Sequencing the Cortical Processing of Pitch-Evoking Stimuli using EEG Analysis and Source Estimation

PubMed Central

Butler, Blake E.; Trainor, Laurel J.

2012-01-01

Cues to pitch include spectral cues that arise from tonotopic organization and temporal cues that arise from firing patterns of auditory neurons. fMRI studies suggest a common pitch center is located just beyond primary auditory cortex along the lateral aspect of Heschl’s gyrus, but little work has examined the stages of processing for the integration of pitch cues. Using electroencephalography, we recorded cortical responses to high-pass filtered iterated rippled noise (IRN) and high-pass filtered complex harmonic stimuli, which differ in temporal and spectral content. The two stimulus types were matched for pitch saliency, and a mismatch negativity (MMN) response was elicited by infrequent pitch changes. The P1 and N1 components of event-related potentials (ERPs) are thought to arise from primary and secondary auditory areas, respectively, and to result from simple feature extraction. MMN is generated in secondary auditory cortex and is thought to act on feature-integrated auditory objects. We found that peak latencies of both P1 and N1 occur later in response to IRN stimuli than to complex harmonic stimuli, but found no latency differences between stimulus types for MMN. The location of each ERP component was estimated based on iterative fitting of regional sources in the auditory cortices. The sources of both the P1 and N1 components elicited by IRN stimuli were located dorsal to those elicited by complex harmonic stimuli, whereas no differences were observed for MMN sources across stimuli. Furthermore, the MMN component was located between the P1 and N1 components, consistent with fMRI studies indicating a common pitch region in lateral Heschl’s gyrus. These results suggest that while the spectral and temporal processing of different pitch-evoking stimuli involves different cortical areas during early processing, by the time the object-related MMN response is formed, these cues have been integrated into a common representation of pitch. PMID:22740836

Investigation of Periodic Pitching through the Static Stall Angle of Attack.

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-03-01

been completed to characterize and predict the dynamic stall process. In 1968 Ham (Ref 11) completed a study to explain the torsional oscillation of...peak values of l.:t and moment could be predicted accurately, but the model did not predict when the peaks would occur. Another problem with the...model was that it required input from experimental results to tell when leading edge vortex separation occurred. The prediction of when vortex shedding

Magnetic field pitch angle and perpendicular velocity measurements from multi-point time-delay estimation of poloidal correlation reflectometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prisiazhniuk, D.; Krämer-Flecken, A.; Conway, G. D.; Happel, T.; Lebschy, A.; Manz, P.; Nikolaeva, V.; Stroth, U.; the ASDEX Upgrade Team

2017-02-01

In fusion machines, turbulent eddies are expected to be aligned with the direction of the magnetic field lines and to propagate in the perpendicular direction. Time delay measurements of density fluctuations can be used to calculate the magnetic field pitch angle α and perpendicular velocity {{v}\\bot} profiles. The method is applied to poloidal correlation reflectometry installed at ASDEX Upgrade and TEXTOR, which measure density fluctuations from poloidally and toroidally separated antennas. Validation of the method is achieved by comparing the perpendicular velocity (composed of the E× B drift and the phase velocity of turbulence {{v}\\bot}={{v}E× B}+{{v}\\text{ph}} ) with Doppler reflectometry measurements and with neoclassical {{v}E× B} calculations. An important condition for the application of the method is the presence of turbulence with a sufficiently long decorrelation time. It is shown that at the shear layer the decorrelation time is reduced, limiting the application of the method. The magnetic field pitch angle measured by this method shows the expected dependence on the magnetic field, plasma current and radial position. The profile of the pitch angle reproduces the expected shape and values. However, comparison with the equilibrium reconstruction code cliste suggests an additional inclination of turbulent eddies at the pedestal position (2-3°). This additional angle decreases towards the core and at the edge.

A wearable multichannel tactile display of voice fundamental frequency.

PubMed

Yeung, E; Boothroyd, A; Redmond, C

1988-12-01

This paper describes a wearable sensory aid that provides the deaf with tactually encoded information about intonation. Fundamental frequency is represented as both place and rate of vibration in a linear array of solenoids. Pitch extraction is accomplished through low-pass filtering and peak detection. A microcomputer is used to measure pitch period, which in turn determines which of the solenoids is actuated. By comparing consecutive periods, the system discriminates against random, noise-related inputs. The device is switchable between 1-, 8-, and 16-channel operation. The electronics package is contained in a case that may be worn on a belt. The solenoid array is worn on the forearm. The system is powered by five, rechargeable lithium cells and runs for at least 6 hours between charges. Proposed developments include the incorporation of digital pitch extraction methods and the option to use the spatial output dimension to encode speech parameters other than fundamental frequency.

Defect modes in a stacked structure of chiral photonic crystals.

PubMed

Chen, Jiun-Yeu; Chen, Lien-Wen

2005-06-01

An optical propagation simulation is carried out for the study of photonic defect modes in a stacked structure of cholesteric liquid crystal films with spatially varying pitch. The defects are introduced by a pitch jump and a phase jump in the cholesteric helix. The effect of a finite sample thickness on transmission of the defect mode and on the required polarization of incident light to create the defect mode is discussed. For normal and near-normal incidence of circularly polarized light with the same handedness as structure, the defect caused by a pitch jump results in discrete peaks within a forbidden band in the transmission. The particular spectrum is similar to the feature of a Fabry-Pérot interferometer. By introducing an additional phase jump, linear blueshifts of the defect modes in transmission spectra are correlated with an increase in the twist angle.

Helicopter Non-Unique Trim Strategies for Blade-Vortex Interaction (BVI) Noise Reduction

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Malpica, Carlos; Greenwood, Eric; Sim, Ben W.

2016-01-01

An acoustics parametric analysis of the effect of fuselage drag and pitching moment on the Blade-Vortex Interaction (BVI) noise radiated by a medium lift helicopter (S-70UH-60) in a descending flight condition was conducted. The comprehensive analysis CAMRAD II was used for the calculation of vehicle trim, wake geometry and integrated air loads on the blade. The acoustics prediction code PSU-WOPWOP was used for calculating acoustic pressure signatures for a hemispherical grid centered at the hub. This paper revisits the concept of the X-force controller for BVI noise reduction, and investigates its effectiveness on an S-70 helicopter. The analysis showed that further BVI noise reductions were achievable by controlling the fuselage pitching moment. Reductions in excess of 6 dB of the peak BVI noise radiated towards the ground were demonstrated by compounding the effect of airframe drag and pitching moment simultaneously.

An approximate closed-form solution for lead lag damping of rotor blades in hover

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Peters, D. A.

1975-01-01

Simple stability methods are used to derive an approximate, closed-form expression for the lead-lag damping of rotor blades in hover. Destabilizing terms are shown to be a result of two dynamic mechanisms. First, the destabilizing aerodynamic forces that can occur when blade lift is higher than a critical value are maximized when the blade motion is in a straight line equidistant from the blade chord and the average direction of the air flow velocity. This condition occurs when the Coriolis terms vanish and when the elastic coupling terms align the blade motion with this least stable direction. Second, the nonconservative stiffness terms that result from pitch-flap or pitch-lag coupling can add or subtract energy from the system depending upon whether the motion of the blade tip is clockwise or counterclockwise.

Low track height standard cell design in iN7 using scaling boosters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sherazi, S. M. Y.; Jha, C.; Rodopoulos, D.; Debacker, P.; Chava, B.; Matti, L.; Bardon, M. G.; Schuddinck, P.; Raghavan, P.; Gerousis, V.; Spessot, A.; Verkest, D.; Mocuta, A.; Kim, R. H.; Ryckaert, J.

2017-04-01

In this paper, standard cell design for iN7 CMOS platform technology targeting the tightest contacted poly pitch (CPP) of 42 nm and a metal pitch of 32 nm in the FinFET technology is presented. Three standard cell architectures for iN7, a 7.5-Track library, 6.5-Track library, and 6-Track library have been designed. Scaling boosters are introduced for the libraries progressively: first an extra MOL layer to enable an efficient layout of the three libraries starting with 7.5-Track library; second, fully self aligned gate contact is introduced for 6.5 and 6-Track library and third, 6-Track cell design includes a buried rail track for supply. The 6-Track cells are on average 5% and 45% smaller than the 6.5 and 7.5-Track cells, respectively.

Retention time alignment of LC/MS data by a divide-and-conquer algorithm.

PubMed

Zhang, Zhongqi

2012-04-01

Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC/MS) has become the method of choice for characterizing complex mixtures. These analyses often involve quantitative comparison of components in multiple samples. To achieve automated sample comparison, the components of interest must be detected and identified, and their retention times aligned and peak areas calculated. This article describes a simple pairwise iterative retention time alignment algorithm, based on the divide-and-conquer approach, for alignment of ion features detected in LC/MS experiments. In this iterative algorithm, ion features in the sample run are first aligned with features in the reference run by applying a single constant shift of retention time. The sample chromatogram is then divided into two shorter chromatograms, which are aligned to the reference chromatogram the same way. Each shorter chromatogram is further divided into even shorter chromatograms. This process continues until each chromatogram is sufficiently narrow so that ion features within it have a similar retention time shift. In six pairwise LC/MS alignment examples containing a total of 6507 confirmed true corresponding feature pairs with retention time shifts up to five peak widths, the algorithm successfully aligned these features with an error rate of 0.2%. The alignment algorithm is demonstrated to be fast, robust, fully automatic, and superior to other algorithms. After alignment and gap-filling of detected ion features, their abundances can be tabulated for direct comparison between samples.

Using Evoked Potentials to Match Interaural Electrode Pairs with Bilateral Cochlear Implants

PubMed Central

Delgutte, Bertrand

2007-01-01

Bilateral cochlear implantation seeks to restore the advantages of binaural hearing to the profoundly deaf by providing binaural cues normally important for accurate sound localization and speech reception in noise. Psychophysical observations suggest that a key issue for the implementation of a successful binaural prosthesis is the ability to match the cochlear positions of stimulation channels in each ear. We used a cat model of bilateral cochlear implants with eight-electrode arrays implanted in each cochlea to develop and test a noninvasive method based on evoked potentials for matching interaural electrodes. The arrays allowed the cochlear location of stimulation to be independently varied in each ear. The binaural interaction component (BIC) of the electrically evoked auditory brainstem response (EABR) was used as an assay of binaural processing. BIC amplitude peaked for interaural electrode pairs at the same relative cochlear position and dropped with increasing cochlear separation in either direction. To test the hypothesis that BIC amplitude peaks when electrodes from the two sides activate maximally overlapping neural populations, we measured multiunit neural activity along the tonotopic gradient of the inferior colliculus (IC) with 16-channel recording probes and determined the spatial pattern of IC activation for each stimulating electrode. We found that the interaural electrode pairings that produced the best aligned IC activation patterns were also those that yielded maximum BIC amplitude. These results suggest that EABR measurements may provide a method for assigning frequency–channel mappings in bilateral implant recipients, such as pediatric patients, for which psychophysical measures of pitch ranking or binaural fusion are unavailable. PMID:17225976

Using evoked potentials to match interaural electrode pairs with bilateral cochlear implants.

PubMed

Smith, Zachary M; Delgutte, Bertrand

2007-03-01

Bilateral cochlear implantation seeks to restore the advantages of binaural hearing to the profoundly deaf by providing binaural cues normally important for accurate sound localization and speech reception in noise. Psychophysical observations suggest that a key issue for the implementation of a successful binaural prosthesis is the ability to match the cochlear positions of stimulation channels in each ear. We used a cat model of bilateral cochlear implants with eight-electrode arrays implanted in each cochlea to develop and test a noninvasive method based on evoked potentials for matching interaural electrodes. The arrays allowed the cochlear location of stimulation to be independently varied in each ear. The binaural interaction component (BIC) of the electrically evoked auditory brainstem response (EABR) was used as an assay of binaural processing. BIC amplitude peaked for interaural electrode pairs at the same relative cochlear position and dropped with increasing cochlear separation in either direction. To test the hypothesis that BIC amplitude peaks when electrodes from the two sides activate maximally overlapping neural populations, we measured multiunit neural activity along the tonotopic gradient of the inferior colliculus (IC) with 16-channel recording probes and determined the spatial pattern of IC activation for each stimulating electrode. We found that the interaural electrode pairings that produced the best aligned IC activation patterns were also those that yielded maximum BIC amplitude. These results suggest that EABR measurements may provide a method for assigning frequency-channel mappings in bilateral implant recipients, such as pediatric patients, for which psychophysical measures of pitch ranking or binaural fusion are unavailable.

Lower-extremity ground reaction forces in collegiate baseball pitchers.

PubMed

Guido, John A; Werner, Sherry L

2012-07-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate ground reaction forces (GRF) in collegiate baseball pitchers and their relationship to pitching mechanics. Fourteen healthy collegiate baseball pitchers participated in this study. High-speed video and force plate data were collected for fastballs from each pitcher. The average ball speed was 35 ± 3 m/sec (78 ± 7 mph). Peak GRFs of 245 ± 20% body weight (BW) were generated in an anterior or braking direction to control descent. Horizontal GRFs tended to occur in a laterally directed fashion, reaching a peak of 45 ± 63% BW. The maximum vertical GRF averaged 202 ± 43% BW approximately 45 milliseconds after stride foot contact. A correlation between braking force and ball velocity was evident. Because of the downward inclination and rotation of the pitching motion, in addition to volume, shear forces may occur in the musculoskeletal tissues of the stride limb leading to many of the lower-extremity injuries seen in this athletic population.

Alignment and Polarization Sensitivity Study for the Cassini-Composite InfraRed Spectrometer (CIRS) Far InfraRed (FIR) Interferometer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Crooke, Julie A.; Hagopian, John G.

1998-01-01

The Composite InfraRed Spectrometer (CIRS) instrument flying on the Cassini spacecraft to Saturn is a cryogenic spectrometer with far-infrared (FIR) and mid-infrared (MIR) channels. The CIRS FIR channel is a polarizing interferometer that contains three polarizing grid components. These components are an input polarizer, a polarizing beamsplitter, and an output polarizer/analyzer. They consist of a 1.5 micron thick mylar substrate with 2 gm wide copper wires, with 2 gm spacing (4 micron pitch) photolithographically deposited on the substrate. This paper details the polarization sensitivity studies performed on the output polarizer/analyzer, and the alignment sensitivity studies performed on the input polarizer and beamsplitter components in the FIR interferometer.

Structure of an energetic narrow discrete arc

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcfadden, J. P.; Carlson, C. W.; Boehm, M. H.

1990-01-01

Particle distributions, waves, dc electric fields, and magnetic fields were measured by two sounding rockets at altitudes of 950 and 430 km through an energetic (greater than 5 keV) narrow (about 10 km) stable discrete arc. Although the payloads' magnetic footprints were separated by only 50 km, differences in the arc's structure were observed including the spatial width, peak energy, and characteristic spectra. The energetic electron precipitation included both slowly varying isotropic fluxes that formed an inverted-V energy-time signature and rapidly varying field-aligned fluxes at or below the isotropic spectral peak. The isotropic precipitation had a flux discontinuity inside the arc indicating the arc was present on a boundary between two different magnetospheric plasmas. Dispersive and nondispersive bursts of field-aligned electrons were measured throughout the arc, appearing over broad energy ranges or as monoenergetic beams. Dispersive bursts gave variable source distances less than 8000 km. Plateauing of some of the most intense bursts suggests that waves stabilized these electrons. During the lower altitude arc crossing, the field-aligned component formed a separate inverted-V energy-time signature whose peak energy was half the isotropic peak energy.

Artificial stimulation of auroral electron acceleration by intense field aligned currents

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Holmgren, G.; Bostrom, R.; Kelley, M. C.; Kintner, P. M.; Lundin, R.; Bering, E. A.; Sheldon, W. R.; Fahleson, U. V.

1979-01-01

A cesium-doped high explosion was detonated at 165 km altitude in the auroral ionosphere during quiet conditions. An Alfven wave pulse with a 200-mV/m electric field was observed, with the peak occurring 135 ms after the explosion at a distance of about 1 km. The count rate of fixed energy 2-keV electron detectors abruptly increased at 140 ms, peaked at 415 ms, and indicated a downward field-aligned beam of accelerated electrons. An anomalously high-field aligned beam of backscattered electrons was also detected. The acceleration is interpreted as due to production of an electrostatic shock or double layer between 300 and 800 km altitude. The structure was probably formed by an instability of the intense field-aligned currents in the Alfven wave launched by the charge-separation electric field due to the explosion.

Effect of Oblique Electromagnetic Ion Cyclotron Waves on Relativistic Electron Scattering: CRRES Based Calculation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gamayunov, K. V.; Khazanov, G. V.

2007-01-01

We consider the effect of oblique EMIC waves on relativistic electron scattering in the outer radiation belt using simultaneous observations of plasma and wave parameters from CRRES. The main findings can be s ummarized as follows: 1. In 1comparison with field-aligned waves, int ermediate and highly oblique distributions decrease the range of pitc h-angles subject to diffusion, and reduce the local scattering rate b y an order of magnitude at pitch-angles where the principle absolute value of n = 1 resonances operate. Oblique waves allow the absolute va lue of n > 1 resonances to operate, extending the range of local pitc h-angle diffusion down to the loss cone, and increasing the diffusion at lower pitch angles by orders of magnitude; 2. The local diffusion coefficients derived from CRRES data are qualitatively similar to the local results obtained for prescribed plasma/wave parameters. Conseq uently, it is likely that the bounce-averaged diffusion coefficients, if estimated from concurrent data, will exhibit the dependencies similar to those we found for model calculations; 3. In comparison with f ield-aligned waves, intermediate and highly oblique waves decrease th e bounce-averaged scattering rate near the edge of the equatorial lo ss cone by orders of magnitude if the electron energy does not excee d a threshold (approximately equal to 2 - 5 MeV) depending on specified plasma and/or wave parameters; 4. For greater electron energies_ ob lique waves operating the absolute value of n > 1 resonances are more effective and provide the same bounce_averaged diffusion rate near the loss cone as fiel_aligned waves do.

Advancements of ultra-high peak power laser diode arrays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crawford, D.; Thiagarajan, P.; Goings, J.; Caliva, B.; Smith, S.; Walker, R.

2018-02-01

Enhancements of laser diode epitaxy in conjunction with process and packaging improvements have led to the availability of 1cm bars capable of over 500W peak power at near-infrared wavelengths (770nm to 1100nm). Advances in cooler design allow for multi-bar stacks with bar-to-bar pitches as low as 350μm and a scalable package architecture enabled a single diode assembly with total peak powers of over 1MegaWatt of peak power. With the addition of micro-optics, overall array brightness greater than 10kW/cm2 was achieved. Performance metrics of barbased diode lasers specifically engineered for high peak power and high brightness at wavelengths and pulse conditions commonly used to pump a variety of fiber and solid-state materials are presented.

Computational study of the effect of Reynolds number and motion trajectory asymmetry on the aerodynamics of a pitching airfoil at low Reynolds number

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hammer, Patrick R.

It is well established that natural flyers flap their wings to sustain flight due to poor performance of steady wing aerodynamics at low Reynolds number. Natural flyers also benefit from the propulsive force generated by flapping. Unsteady airfoils allow for simplified study of flapping wing aerodynamics. Limited previous work has suggested that both the Reynolds number and motion trajectory asymmetry play a non-negligible role in the resulting forces and wake structure of an oscillating airfoil. In this work, computations are performed to on this topic for a NACA 0012 airfoil purely pitching about its quarter-chord point. Two-dimensional computations are undertaken using the high-order, extensively validated FDL3DI Navier-Strokes solver developed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The Reynolds number range of this study is 2,000-22,000, reduced frequencies as high as 16 are considered, and the pitching amplitude varies from 2° to 10°. In order to simulate the incompressible limit with the current compressible solver, freestream Mach numbers as low as 0.005 are used. The wake structure is accurately resolved using an overset grid approach. The results show that the streamwise force depends on Reynolds number such that the drag-to-thrust crossover reduced frequency decreases with increasing Reynolds number at a given amplitude. As the amplitude increases, the crossover reduced frequency decreases at a given Reynolds number. The crossover frequency data show good collapse for all pitching amplitudes considered when expressed as the Strouhal number based on trailing edge-amplitude for different Reynolds numbers. Appropriate scaling causes the thrust data to become nearly independent of Reynolds number and amplitude. An increase in propulsive efficiency is observed as the Reynolds number increases while less dependence is seen in the peak-to-peak lift and drag amplitudes. Reynolds number dependence is also seen for the wake structure. The crossover reduced frequency to produce a switch in the wake vortex configuration from von Karman (drag) to reverse von Karman (thrust) patterns decreases as the Reynolds number increases. As the pitching amplitude increases, more complex structures form in the wake, particularly at the higher Reynolds numbers considered. Although both the transverse and streamwise spacing depend on amplitude, the vortex array aspect ratio is nearly amplitude independent for each Reynolds number. Motion trajectory asymmetry produces a non-zero average lift and a decrease in average drag. Decomposition of the lift demonstrates that the majority of the average lift is a result of the component from average vortex (circulatory) lift. The average lift is positive at low reduced frequency, but as the reduced frequency increases at a given motion asymmetry, an increasing amount of negative lift occurs over a greater portion of the oscillation cycle, and eventually causes a switch in the sign of the lift. The maximum value, minimum value, and peak-to-peak amplitude of the lift and drag increase with increasing reduced frequency and asymmetry. The wake structure becomes complex with an asymmetric motion trajectory. A faster pitch-up produces a single positive vortex and one or more negative vortices, the number of which depends on the reduced frequency and asymmetry. When the airfoil motion trajectory is asymmetric, the vortex trajectories and properties in the wake exhibit asymmetric behavior.

The Association Between Visual Assessment of Quality of Movement and Three-Dimensional Analysis of Pelvis, Hip, and Knee Kinematics During a Lateral Step Down Test.

PubMed

Rabin, Alon; Portnoy, Sigal; Kozol, Zvi

2016-11-01

Rabin, A, Portnoy, S, and Kozol, Z. The association between visual assessment of quality of movement and three-dimensional analysis of pelvis, hip, and knee kinematics during a lateral step down test. J Strength Cond Res 30(11): 3204-3211, 2016-Altered movement patterns including contralateral pelvic drop, increased hip adduction, knee abduction, and external rotation have been previously implicated in several lower extremity pathologies. Although various methods exist for assessing movement patterns, real-time visual observation is the most readily available method. The purpose of this study was to determine whether differing visual ratings of trunk, pelvis, and knee alignment, as well as overall quality of movement, are associated with differences in 3-dimensional trunk, pelvis, hip, or knee kinematics during a lateral step down test. Trunk, pelvis, and knee alignment of 30 healthy participants performing the lateral step down were visually rated as "good" or "faulty" based on previously established criteria. An additional categorization of overall quality of movement as either good or moderate was performed based on the aggregate score of each individual rating criterion. Three-dimensional motion analysis of trunk, pelvis, hip, and knee kinematics was simultaneously performed. A faulty pelvis alignment displayed a greater peak contralateral pelvic drop (effect size [ES], 1.65; p < 0.01) and a greater peak hip adduction (ES: 1.04, p = 0.01) compared with participants with a good pelvis alignment. Participants with a faulty knee alignment displayed greater peak knee external rotation compared with participants with a good knee alignment (ES, 0.78; p = 0.02). Participants with an overall moderate quality of movement displayed increased peak contralateral pelvic drop (ES, 1.07; p = 0.01) and peak knee external rotation (ES, 0.72; p = 0.04) compared with those with an overall good quality of movement. Visual rating of quality of movement during a lateral step down test, as performed by an experienced physical therapist, is associated with differences in several kinematics previously implicated in various pathologies.

A modified multiscale peak alignment method combined with trilinear decomposition to study the volatile/heat-labile components in Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort - Cyperus rotundus rhizomes by HS-SPME-GC/MS.

PubMed

He, Min; Yan, Pan; Yang, Zhi-Yu; Zhang, Zhi-Min; Yang, Tian-Biao; Hong, Liang

2018-03-15

Head Space/Solid Phase Micro-Extraction (HS-SPME) coupled with Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometer (GC/MS) was used to determine the volatile/heat-labile components in Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort - Cyperus rotundus rhizomes. Facing co-eluting peaks in k samples, a trilinear structure was reconstructed to obtain the second-order advantage. The retention time (RT) shift with multi-channel detection signals for different samples has been vital in maintaining the trilinear structure, thus a modified multiscale peak alignment (mMSPA) method was proposed in this paper. The peak position and peak width of representative ion profile were firstly detected by mMSPA using Continuous Wavelet Transform with Haar wavelet as the mother wavelet (Haar CWT). Then, the raw shift was confirmed by Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) cross correlation calculation. To obtain the optimal shift, Haar CWT was again used to detect the subtle deviations and be amalgamated in calculation. Here, to ensure there is no peaks shape alternation, the alignment was performed in local domains of data matrices, and all data points in the peak zone were moved via linear interpolation in non-peak parts. Finally, chemical components of interest in Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort - Cyperus rotundus rhizomes were analyzed by HS-SPME-GCMS and mMSPA-alternating trilinear decomposition (ATLD) resolution. As a result, the concentration variation between herbs and their pharmaceutical products can provide a scientific basic for the quality standard establishment of traditional Chinese medicines. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Electron Pitch Angle Distributions Along Field Lines Connected to the Auroral Region from 25 to 1.2 RJ Measured by the Jovian Auroral Distributions Experiment-Electrons (JADE-E) on Juno

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allegrini, F.; Bagenal, F.; Bolton, S. J.; Bonfond, B.; Chae, K.; Clark, G. B.; Connerney, J. E. P.; Ebert, R. W.; Gladstone, R.; Hue, V.; Hospodarsky, G. B.; Kim, T. K. H.; Kurth, W. S.; Levin, S.; Louarn, P.; Mauk, B.; McComas, D. J.; Pollock, C. J.; Ranquist, D. A.; Reno, M. L.; Saur, J.; Szalay, J.; Thomsen, M. F.; Valek, P. W.; Wilson, R. J.

2017-12-01

The Jovian Auroral Distributions Experiment (JADE) on Juno provides critical in situ measurements of electrons and ions needed to understand the plasma distributions and processes that fill the Jovian magnetosphere and ultimately produce Jupiter's bright and dynamic aurora. JADE is an instrument suite that includes two essentially identical electron sensors (JADE-Es) and a single ion sensor (JADE-I). JADE-E measures electron energy distributions from 0.1 to 100 keV and provides detailed electron pitch angle distributions (PAD) at 7.5° resolution. Juno's trajectories in the northern hemisphere have allowed JADE to sample electron energy and pitch angle distributions on field lines connected to the auroral regions from as close as 1.2 RJ all the way to distances greater than 25 RJ. Here, we report on the evolution of these distributions. Specifically, the PADs change from mostly uniform at distances greater than 20 RJ, to butterfly from 18 to 12 RJ, to field aligned or pancake, depending on the energy, closer to Jupiter. Below 1.5 RJ, electron beams and loss cones are observed.

Parametric Investigation of the Effect of Hub Pitching Moment on Blade Vortex Interaction (BVI) Noise of an Isolated Rotor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Malpica, Carlos; Greenwood, Eric; Sim, Ben

2016-01-01

At the most fundamental level, main rotor loading noise is caused by the harmonically-varying aerodynamic loads (acoustic pressures) exerted by the rotating blades on the air. Rotorcraft main rotor noise is therefore, in principle, a function of rotor control inputs, and thus the forces and moments required to achieve steady, or "trim", flight equilibrium. In certain flight conditions, the ensuing aerodynamic loading on the rotor(s) can result in highly obtrusive harmonic noise. The effect of the propulsive force, or X-force, on Blade-Vortex Interaction (BVI) noise is well documented. This paper presents an acoustics parametric sensitivity analysis of the effect of varying rotor aerodynamic pitch hub trim moments on BVI noise radiated by an S-70 helicopter main rotor. Results show that changing the hub pitching moment for an isolated rotor, trimmed in nominal 80 knot, 6 and 12 deg descent, flight conditions, alters the miss distance between the blades and the vortex in ways that have varied and noticeable effects on the BVI radiated-noise directionality. Peak BVI noise level is however not significantly altered. The application of hub pitching moment allows the attitude of the fuselage to be controlled; for example, to compensate for the uncomfortable change in fuselage pitch attitude introduced by a fuselage-mounted X-force controller.

Stabilization and mobility of the head, neck and trunk in horses during overground locomotion: comparisons with humans and other primates

PubMed Central

Dunbar, Donald C.; Macpherson, Jane M.; Simmons, Roger W.; Zarcades, Athina

2009-01-01

SUMMARY Segmental kinematics were investigated in horses during overground locomotion and compared with published reports on humans and other primates to determine the impact of a large neck on rotational mobility (>20deg.) and stability (≤20deg.) of the head and trunk. Three adult horses (Equus caballus) performing walks, trots and canters were videotaped in lateral view. Data analysis included locomotor velocity, segmental positions, pitch and linear displacements and velocities, and head displacement frequencies. Equine, human and monkey skulls and cervical spines were measured to estimate eye and vestibular arc length during head pitch displacements. Horses stabilized all three segments in all planes during all three gaits, unlike monkeys and humans who make large head pitch and yaw rotations during walks, and monkeys that make large trunk pitch rotations during gallops. Equine head angular displacements and velocities, with some exceptions during walks, were smaller than in humans and other primates. Nevertheless, owing to greater off-axis distances, orbital and vestibular arc lengths remained larger in horses, with the exception of head–neck axial pitch during trots, in which equine arc lengths were smaller than in running humans. Unlike monkeys and humans, equine head peak-frequency ranges fell within the estimated range in which inertia has a compensatory stabilizing effect. This inertial effect was typically over-ridden, however, by muscular or ligamentous intervention. Thus, equine head pitch was not consistently compensatory, as reported in humans. The equine neck isolated the head from the trunk enabling both segments to provide a spatial reference frame. PMID:19043061

Are lexical tones musical? Native language's influence on neural response to pitch in different domains.

PubMed

Chen, Ao; Peter, Varghese; Wijnen, Frank; Schnack, Hugo; Burnham, Denis

2018-04-21

Language experience shapes musical and speech pitch processing. We investigated whether speaking a lexical tone language natively modulates neural processing of pitch in language and music as well as their correlation. We tested tone language (Mandarin Chinese), and non-tone language (Dutch) listeners in a passive oddball paradigm measuring mismatch negativity (MMN) for (i) Chinese lexical tones and (ii) three-note musical melodies with similar pitch contours. For lexical tones, Chinese listeners showed a later MMN peak than the non-tone language listeners, whereas for MMN amplitude there were no significant differences between groups. Dutch participants also showed a late discriminative negativity (LDN). In the music condition two MMNs, corresponding to the two notes that differed between the standard and the deviant were found for both groups, and an LDN were found for both the Dutch and the Chinese listeners. The music MMNs were significantly right lateralized. Importantly, significant correlations were found between the lexical tone and the music MMNs for the Dutch but not the Chinese participants. The results suggest that speaking a tone language natively does not necessarily enhance neural responses to pitch either in language or in music, but that it does change the nature of neural pitch processing: non-tone language speakers appear to perceive lexical tones as musical, whereas for tone language speakers, lexical tones and music may activate different neural networks. Neural resources seem to be assigned differently for the lexical tones and for musical melodies, presumably depending on the presence or absence of long-term phonological memory traces. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Stabilization and mobility of the head, neck and trunk in horses during overground locomotion: comparisons with humans and other primates.

PubMed

Dunbar, Donald C; Macpherson, Jane M; Simmons, Roger W; Zarcades, Athina

2008-12-01

Segmental kinematics were investigated in horses during overground locomotion and compared with published reports on humans and other primates to determine the impact of a large neck on rotational mobility (> 20 deg.) and stability (< or = 20 deg.) of the head and trunk. Three adult horses (Equus caballus) performing walks, trots and canters were videotaped in lateral view. Data analysis included locomotor velocity, segmental positions, pitch and linear displacements and velocities, and head displacement frequencies. Equine, human and monkey skulls and cervical spines were measured to estimate eye and vestibular arc length during head pitch displacements. Horses stabilized all three segments in all planes during all three gaits, unlike monkeys and humans who make large head pitch and yaw rotations during walks, and monkeys that make large trunk pitch rotations during gallops. Equine head angular displacements and velocities, with some exceptions during walks, were smaller than in humans and other primates. Nevertheless, owing to greater off-axis distances, orbital and vestibular arc lengths remained larger in horses, with the exception of head-neck axial pitch during trots, in which equine arc lengths were smaller than in running humans. Unlike monkeys and humans, equine head peak-frequency ranges fell within the estimated range in which inertia has a compensatory stabilizing effect. This inertial effect was typically over-ridden, however, by muscular or ligamentous intervention. Thus, equine head pitch was not consistently compensatory, as reported in humans. The equine neck isolated the head from the trunk enabling both segments to provide a spatial reference frame.

Reduced oxygen cost of running is related to alignment of the resultant GRF and leg axis vector: A pilot study.

PubMed

Moore, I S; Jones, A M; Dixon, S J

2016-07-01

This pilot study investigated whether a 10-week running program (10wkRP), which reduced the oxygen cost of running, affected resultant ground reaction force (GRF), leg axis alignment, joint moment characteristics, and gear ratios. Ten novice, female runners completed a 10wkRP. Running kinematics and kinetics, in addition to oxygen consumption ( V ˙ O 2 ) during steady-state running, were recorded pre- and post-10wkRP. V ˙ O 2 decreased (8%) from pre-10wkRP to post-10wkRP. There was a better alignment of the resultant GRF and leg axis at peak propulsion post-10wkRP compared with pre-10wkRP (10.8 ± 4.9 vs 1.6 ± 1.2°), as the resultant GRF vector was applied 7 ± 0.6° (P = 0.008) more horizontally. There were shorter external ankle moment arms (24%) and smaller knee extensor moments (23%) at peak braking post-10wkRP. The change in V ˙ O 2 was associated with the change in alignment of the resultant GRF and leg axis (rs  = 0.88, P = 0.003). As runners became more economical, they exhibited a more aligned resultant GRF vector and leg axis at peak propulsion. This appears to be a self-optimization strategy that may improve performance. Additionally, changes to external ankle moment arms indicated beneficial low gear ratios were achieved at the time of peak braking force. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

How tibiofemoral alignment and contact locations affect predictions of medial and lateral tibiofemoral contact forces.

PubMed

Lerner, Zachary F; DeMers, Matthew S; Delp, Scott L; Browning, Raymond C

2015-02-26

Understanding degeneration of biological and prosthetic knee joints requires knowledge of the in-vivo loading environment during activities of daily living. Musculoskeletal models can estimate medial/lateral tibiofemoral compartment contact forces, yet anthropometric differences between individuals make accurate predictions challenging. We developed a full-body OpenSim musculoskeletal model with a knee joint that incorporates subject-specific tibiofemoral alignment (i.e. knee varus-valgus) and geometry (i.e. contact locations). We tested the accuracy of our model and determined the importance of these subject-specific parameters by comparing estimated to measured medial and lateral contact forces during walking in an individual with an instrumented knee replacement and post-operative genu valgum (6°). The errors in the predictions of the first peak medial and lateral contact force were 12.4% and 11.9%, respectively, for a model with subject-specific tibiofemoral alignment and contact locations determined through radiographic analysis, vs. 63.1% and 42.0%, respectively, for a model with generic parameters. We found that each degree of tibiofemoral alignment deviation altered the first peak medial compartment contact force by 51N (r(2)=0.99), while each millimeter of medial-lateral translation of the compartment contact point locations altered the first peak medial compartment contact force by 41N (r(2)=0.99). The model, available at www.simtk.org/home/med-lat-knee/, enables the specification of subject-specific joint alignment and compartment contact locations to more accurately estimate medial and lateral tibiofemoral contact forces in individuals with non-neutral alignment. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

How Tibiofemoral Alignment and Contact Locations Affect Predictions of Medial and Lateral Tibiofemoral Contact Forces

PubMed Central

Lerner, Zachary F.; DeMers, Matthew S.; Delp, Scott L.; Browning, Raymond C.

2015-01-01

Understanding degeneration of biological and prosthetic knee joints requires knowledge of the in-vivo loading environment during activities of daily living. Musculoskeletal models can estimate medial/lateral tibiofemoral compartment contact forces, yet anthropometric differences between individuals make accurate predictions challenging. We developed a full-body OpenSim musculoskeletal model with a knee joint that incorporates subject-specific tibiofemoral alignment (i.e. knee varus-valgus) and geometry (i.e. contact locations). We tested the accuracy of our model and determined the importance of these subject-specific parameters by comparing estimated to measured medial and lateral contact forces during walking in an individual with an instrumented knee replacement and post-operative genu valgum (6°). The errors in the predictions of the first peak medial and lateral contact force were 12.4% and 11.9%, respectively, for a model with subject-specific tibiofemoral alignment and contact locations determined via radiographic analysis, vs. 63.1% and 42.0%, respectively, for a model with generic parameters. We found that each degree of tibiofemoral alignment deviation altered the first peak medial compartment contact force by 51N (r2=0.99), while each millimeter of medial-lateral translation of the compartment contact point locations altered the first peak medial compartment contact force by 41N (r2=0.99). The model, available at www.simtk.org/home/med-lat-knee/, enables the specification of subject-specific joint alignment and compartment contact locations to more accurately estimate medial and lateral tibiofemoral contact forces in individuals with non-neutral alignment. PMID:25595425

Comparative Evaluation of Preprocessing Freeware on Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry Data for Signature Discovery

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Coble, Jamie B.; Fraga, Carlos G.

2014-07-07

Preprocessing software is crucial for the discovery of chemical signatures in metabolomics, chemical forensics, and other signature-focused disciplines that involve analyzing large data sets from chemical instruments. Here, four freely available and published preprocessing tools known as metAlign, MZmine, SpectConnect, and XCMS were evaluated for impurity profiling using nominal mass GC/MS data and accurate mass LC/MS data. Both data sets were previously collected from the analysis of replicate samples from multiple stocks of a nerve-agent precursor. Each of the four tools had their parameters set for the untargeted detection of chromatographic peaks from impurities present in the stocks. The peakmore » table generated by each preprocessing tool was analyzed to determine the number of impurity components detected in all replicate samples per stock. A cumulative set of impurity components was then generated using all available peak tables and used as a reference to calculate the percent of component detections for each tool, in which 100% indicated the detection of every component. For the nominal mass GC/MS data, metAlign performed the best followed by MZmine, SpectConnect, and XCMS with detection percentages of 83, 60, 47, and 42%, respectively. For the accurate mass LC/MS data, the order was metAlign, XCMS, and MZmine with detection percentages of 80, 45, and 35%, respectively. SpectConnect did not function for the accurate mass LC/MS data. Larger detection percentages were obtained by combining the top performer with at least one of the other tools such as 96% by combining metAlign with MZmine for the GC/MS data and 93% by combining metAlign with XCMS for the LC/MS data. In terms of quantitative performance, the reported peak intensities had average absolute biases of 41, 4.4, 1.3 and 1.3% for SpectConnect, metAlign, XCMS, and MZmine, respectively, for the GC/MS data. For the LC/MS data, the average absolute biases were 22, 4.5, and 3.1% for metAlign, MZmine, and XCMS, respectively. In summary, metAlign performed the best in terms of peak discovery; however, more than one preprocessing tool should be considered to avoid missing potential chemical signatures.« less

Chemometric Analysis of Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry Data using Fast Retention Time Alignment via a Total Ion Current Shift Function

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nadeau, Jeremy S.; Wright, Bob W.; Synovec, Robert E.

2010-04-15

A critical comparison of methods for correcting severely retention time shifted gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) data is presented. The method reported herein is an adaptation to the Piecewise Alignment Algorithm to quickly align severely shifted one-dimensional (1D) total ion current (TIC) data, then applying these shifts to broadly align all mass channels throughout the separation, referred to as a TIC shift function (SF). The maximum shift varied from (-) 5 s in the beginning of the chromatographic separation to (+) 20 s toward the end of the separation, equivalent to a maximum shift of over 5 peak widths. Implementing themore » TIC shift function (TIC SF) prior to Fisher Ratio (F-Ratio) feature selection and then principal component analysis (PCA) was found to be a viable approach to classify complex chromatograms, that in this study were obtained from GC-MS separations of three gasoline samples serving as complex test mixtures, referred to as types C, M and S. The reported alignment algorithm via the TIC SF approach corrects for large dynamic shifting in the data as well as subtle peak-to-peak shifts. The benefits of the overall TIC SF alignment and feature selection approach were quantified using the degree-of-class separation (DCS) metric of the PCA scores plots using the type C and M samples, since they were the most similar, and thus the most challenging samples to properly classify. The DCS values showed an increase from an initial value of essentially zero for the unaligned GC-TIC data to a value of 7.9 following alignment; however, the DCS was unchanged by feature selection using F-Ratios for the GC-TIC data. The full mass spectral data provided an increase to a final DCS of 13.7 after alignment and two-dimensional (2D) F-Ratio feature selection.« less

QWIPs at IRnova, a status update

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martijn, Henk; Gamfeldt, Anders; Asplund, Carl; Smuk, Sergiy; Kataria, Himanshu; Costard, Eric

2016-05-01

IRnova has a long history of producing QWIPs for the LWIR band. In this paper we give an overview of the current products (FPAs with 640x480 and 384x288 pixels respectively, and 25 μm pitch) and their performance. Their superior stability and uniformity inherent to detectors based on III/V material system will be demonstrated. Furthermore, an IDCA specifically designed for hand-held systems used for the detection of SF6 gas using a 0.5 W cooler will be presented. The detector format is 320x256 pixels with 30 μm pitch using the ISC9705 read out circuit. The peak wavelength is at 10.55 μm and the NETD is 22 mK.

Effect of geometry and operating conditions on spur gear system power loss

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anderson, N. E.; Loewenthal, S. H.

1980-01-01

The results of an analysis of the effects of spur gear size, pitch, width, and ratio on total mesh power loss for a wide range of speeds, torques, and oil viscosities are presented. The analysis uses simple algebraic expressions to determine gear sliding, rolling, and windage losses and also incorporates an approximate ball bearing power loss expression. The analysis shows good agreement with published data. Large diameter and fine pitched gears had higher peak efficiencies but low part load efficiency. Gear efficiencies were generally greater than 98 percent except at very low torque levels. Tare (no-load) losses are generally a significant percentage of the full load loss except at low speeds.

Effect of geometry and operating conditions on spur gear system power loss

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anderson, N. E.; Loewenthal, S. H.

1980-01-01

The results of an analysis of the effects of spur gear size, pitch, width and ratio on total mesh power loss for a wide range of speeds, torques and oil viscosities are presented. The analysis uses simple algebraic expressions to determine gear sliding, rolling and windage losses and also incorporates an approximate ball bearing power loss expression. The analysis shows good agreement with published data. Large diameter and fine-pitched gears had higher peak efficiencies but lower part-load efficiency. Gear efficiencies were generally greater than 98 percent except at very low torque levels. Tare (no-load) losses are generally a significant percentage of the full-load loss except at low speeds.

Characteristics of train noise in above-ground and underground stations with side and island platforms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shimokura, Ryota; Soeta, Yoshiharu

2011-04-01

Railway stations can be principally classified by their locations, i.e., above-ground or underground stations, and by their platform styles, i.e., side or island platforms. However, the effect of the architectural elements on the train noise in stations is not well understood. The aim of the present study is to determine the different acoustical characteristics of the train noise for each station style. The train noise was evaluated by (1) the A-weighted equivalent continuous sound pressure level ( LAeq), (2) the amplitude of the maximum peak of the interaural cross-correlation function (IACC), (3) the delay time ( τ1) and amplitude ( ϕ1) of the first maximum peak of the autocorrelation function. The IACC, τ1 and ϕ1 are related to the subjective diffuseness, pitch and pitch strength, respectively. Regarding the locations, the LAeq in the underground stations was 6.4 dB higher than that in the above-ground stations, and the pitch in the underground stations was higher and stronger. Regarding the platform styles, the LAeq on the side platforms was 3.3 dB higher than on the island platforms of the above-ground stations. For the underground stations, the LAeq on the island platforms was 3.3 dB higher than that on the side platforms when a train entered the station. The IACC on the island platforms of the above-ground stations was higher than that in the other stations.

Compressibility effects on dynamic stall of airfoils undergoing rapid transient pitching motion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chandrasekhara, M. S.; Platzer, M. F.

1992-01-01

The research was carried out in the Compressible Dynamic Stall Facility, CDSF, at the Fluid Mechanics Laboratory (FML) of NASA Ames Research Center. The facility can produce realistic nondimensional pitch rates experienced by fighter aircraft, which on model scale could be as high as 3600/sec. Nonintrusive optical techniques were used for the measurements. The highlight of the effort was the development of a new real time interferometry method known as Point Diffraction Interferometry - PDI, for use in unsteady separated flows. This can yield instantaneous flow density information (and hence pressure distributions in isentropic flows) over the airfoil. A key finding is that the dynamic stall vortex forms just as the airfoil leading edge separation bubble opens-up. A major result is the observation and quantification of multiple shocks over the airfoil near the leading edge. A quantitative analysis of the PDI images shows that pitching airfoils produce larger suction peaks than steady airfoils at the same Mach number prior to stall. The peak suction level reached just before stall develops is the same at all unsteady rates and decreases with increase in Mach number. The suction is lost once the dynamic stall vortex or vortical structure begins to convect. Based on the knowledge gained from this preliminary analysis of the data, efforts to control dynamic stall were initiated. The focus of this work was to arrive at a dynamically changing leading edge shape that produces only 'acceptable' airfoil pressure distributions over a large angle of attack range.

Mechanical Design and Analysis of a Unilateral Cervical Spinal Cord Contusion Injury Model in Non-Human Primates.

PubMed

Sparrey, Carolyn J; Salegio, Ernesto A; Camisa, William; Tam, Horace; Beattie, Michael S; Bresnahan, Jacqueline C

2016-06-15

Non-human primate (NHP) models of spinal cord injury better reflect human injury and provide a better foundation to evaluate potential treatments and functional outcomes. We combined finite element (FE) and surrogate models with impact data derived from in vivo experiments to define the impact mechanics needed to generate a moderate severity unilateral cervical contusion injury in NHPs (Macaca mulatta). Three independent variables (impactor displacement, alignment, and pre-load) were examined to determine their effects on tissue level stresses and strains. Mechanical measures of peak force, peak displacement, peak energy, and tissue stiffness were analyzed as potential determinants of injury severity. Data generated from FE simulations predicted a lateral shift of the spinal cord at high levels of compression (>64%) during impact. Submillimeter changes in mediolateral impactor position over the midline increased peak impact forces (>50%). Surrogate cords established a 0.5 N pre-load protocol for positioning the impactor tip onto the dural surface to define a consistent dorsoventral baseline position before impact, which corresponded with cerebrospinal fluid displacement and entrapment of the spinal cord against the vertebral canal. Based on our simulations, impactor alignment and pre-load were strong contributors to the variable mechanical and functional outcomes observed in in vivo experiments. Peak displacement of 4 mm after a 0.5N pre-load aligned 0.5-1.0 mm over the midline should result in a moderate severity injury; however, the observed peak force and calculated peak energy and tissue stiffness are required to properly characterize the severity and variability of in vivo NHP contusion injuries.

A novel optical detector concept for dedicated and multi-modality in vivo small animal imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peter, Jörg; Schulz, Ralf B.; Unholtz, Daniel; Semmler, Wolfhard

2007-07-01

An optical detector suitable for inclusion in tomographic arrangements for non-contact in vivo bioluminescence and fluorescence imaging applications is proposed. It consists of a microlens array (MLA) intended for field-of-view definition, a large-field complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) chip for light detection, a septum mask for cross-talk suppression, and an exchangeable filter to block excitation light. Prototype detector units with sensitive areas of 2.5 cm x 5 cm each were assembled. The CMOS sensor constitutes a 512 x 1024 photodiode matrix at 48 μm pixel pitch. Refractive MLAs with plano-convex lenses of 480 μm in diameter and pitch were selected resulting in a 55 x 105 lens matrix. The CMOS sensor is aligned on the focal plane of the MLA at 2.15mm distance. To separate individual microlens images an opaque multi-bore septum mask of 2.1mm in thickness and bore diameters of 400 μm at 480 μm pitch, aligned with the lens pattern, is placed between MLA and CMOS. Intrinsic spatial detector resolution and sensitivity was evaluated experimentally as a function of detector-object distance. Due to its small overall dimensions such detectors can be favorably packed for tomographic imaging (optical diffusion tomography, ODT) yielding complete 2 π field-of-view coverage. We also present a design study of a device intended to simultaneously image positron labeled substrates (positron emission tomography, PET) and optical molecular probes in small animals such as mice and rats. It consists of a cylindrical allocation of optical detector units which form an inner detector ring while PET detector blocks are mounted in radial extension, those gaining complementary information in a single, intrinsically coregistered experimental data acquisition study. Finally, in a second design study we propose a method for integrated optical and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) which yields in vivo functional/molecular information that is intrinsically registered with the anatomy of the image object.

Infant-Mother Acoustic-Prosodic Alignment and Developmental Risk.

PubMed

Seidl, Amanda; Cristia, Alejandrina; Soderstrom, Melanie; Ko, Eon-Suk; Abel, Emily A; Kellerman, Ashleigh; Schwichtenberg, A J

2018-06-19

One promising early marker for autism and other communicative and language disorders is early infant speech production. Here we used daylong recordings of high- and low-risk infant-mother dyads to examine whether acoustic-prosodic alignment as well as two automated measures of infant vocalization are related to developmental risk status indexed via familial risk and developmental progress at 36 months of age. Automated analyses of the acoustics of daylong real-world interactions were used to examine whether pitch characteristics of one vocalization by the mother or the child predicted those of the vocalization response by the other speaker and whether other features of infants' speech in daylong recordings were associated with developmental risk status or outcomes. Low-risk and high-risk dyads did not differ in the level of acoustic-prosodic alignment, which was overall not significant. Further analyses revealed that acoustic-prosodic alignment did not predict infants' later developmental progress, which was, however, associated with two automated measures of infant vocalizations (daily vocalizations and conversational turns). Although further research is needed, these findings suggest that automated measures of vocalizations drawn from daylong recordings are a possible early identification tool for later developmental progress/concerns. https://osf.io/cdn3v/.

Dipole Alignment at the Carbon Nanotube and Methyl Ammonium Lead Trihalide Perovskite Interface - Oral Presentation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Przepioski, Joshua

2015-08-25

This work correlates resonant peaks from first principles calculation on ammonia (NH 3) Nitrogen 1s x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) within the methyl ammonium lead iodide perovskite (CH 3NH 3PbI 3), and proposes a curve to determine the alignment of the methyl ammonium dipole if there exists angular dependence. The Nitrogen 1s XAS was performed at varying incident angles on the perovskite with and without a carbon nanotube (CNT) interface produced from an ultrasonic spray deposition. We investigated the peak contribution from PbI2 and the poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene-2,7-diyl) with bipyridine (PFO-BPy) wrapped around the CNT, and used normalization techniques to better identify themore » dipole alignment. There was angular dependence on samples containing the CNT interface suggesting an existing dipole alignment, but there was no angular dependence on the perovskite samples alone; however, more normalization techniques and experimental work must be performed in order to ensure its validity and to better describe its alignment, and possible controlling factors.« less

Dipole Alignment at the Carbon Nanotube and Methyl Ammonium Lead Iodide Perovskite Interface

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Przepioski, Joshua

2015-08-28

This work correlates resonant peaks from first principles calculation on ammonia (NH 3) Nitrogen 1s x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) within the methyl ammonium lead iodide perovskite (CH 3NH 3PbI 3), and proposes a curve to determine the alignment of the methyl ammonium dipole if there exists angular dependence. The Nitrogen 1s XAS was performed at varying incident angles on the perovskite with and without a carbon nanotube (CNT) interface produced from an ultrasonic spray deposition. We investigated the peak contribution from PbI 2 and the poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene- 2,7-diyl) with bipyridine (PFO-BPy) wrapped around the CNT, and used normalization techniques to bettermore » identify the dipole alignment. There was angular dependence on samples containing the CNT interface suggesting an existing dipole alignment, but there was no angular dependence on the perovskite samples alone; however, more normalization techniques and experimental work must be performed in order to ensure its validity and to better describe its alignment, and possible controlling factors.« less

Characteristics of Pitch Angle Distributions of 100s Kev Electrons in the Slot Region and Inner Radiation Belt­­­­­­­­

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, H.; Li, X.; Blake, J. B.; Fennell, J.; Claudepierre, S. G.; Baker, D. N.; Jaynes, A. N.; Malaspina, D.

2014-12-01

The pitch angle distribution (PAD) of energetic electrons in the slot region and inner radiation belt received little attention in the past decades due to the lack of quality measurements. Using the state-of-art pitch-angle-resolved data from the Magnetic Electron Ion Spectrometer (MagEIS) instrument onboard the Van Allen Probes, a detailed analysis of 100s keV electron PADs below L =4 is performed, in which the PADs is categorized into three types: normal (flux peaking at 90°), cap (exceedingly peaking narrowly around 90°) and 90°-minimum (lower flux at 90°) PADs. By examining the characteristics of the PADs of 460 keV electrons for over a year, we find that the 90°-minimum PADs are generally present in the inner belt (L<2), while normal PADs dominate at L~3.5-4. In the region between, 90°-minimum PADs dominate during injection times and normal PADs dominate during quiet times. Cap PADs appear mostly at the decay phase of storms in the slot region and are likely caused by the pitch angle scattering of hiss waves. Fitting the normal PADs into sinnα form, the parameter n is much higher below L=3 than that in the outer belt and relatively constant in the inner belt but changes significantly in the slot region (2

1D design style implications for mask making and CEBL

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smayling, Michael C.

2013-09-01

At advanced nodes, CMOS logic is being designed in a highly regular design style because of the resolution limitations of optical lithography equipment. Logic and memory layouts using 1D Gridded Design Rules (GDR) have been demonstrated to nodes beyond 12nm.[1-4] Smaller nodes will require the same regular layout style but with multiple patterning for critical layers. One of the significant advantages of 1D GDR is the ease of splitting layouts into lines and cuts. A lines and cuts approach has been used to achieve good pattern fidelity and process margin to below 12nm.[4] Line scaling with excellent line-edge roughness (LER) has been demonstrated with self-aligned spacer processing.[5] This change in design style has important implications for mask making: • The complexity of the masks will be greatly reduced from what would be required for 2D designs with very complex OPC or inverse lithography corrections. • The number of masks will initially increase, as for conventional multiple patterning. But in the case of 1D design, there are future options for mask count reduction. • The line masks will remain simple, with little or no OPC, at pitches (1x) above 80nm. This provides an excellent opportunity for continual improvement of line CD and LER. The line pattern will be processed through a self-aligned pitch division sequence to divide pitch by 2 or by 4. • The cut masks can be done with "simple OPC" as demonstrated to beyond 12nm.[6] Multiple simple cut masks may be required at advanced nodes. "Coloring" has been demonstrated to below 12nm for two colors and to 8nm for three colors. • Cut/hole masks will eventually be replaced by e-beam direct write using complementary e-beam lithography (CEBL).[7-11] This transition is gated by the availability of multiple column e-beam systems with throughput adequate for high- volume manufacturing. A brief description of 1D and 2D design styles will be presented, followed by examples of 1D layouts. Mask complexity for 1D layouts patterned directly will be compared to mask complexity for lines and cuts at nodes larger than 20nm. No such comparison is possible below 20nm since single-patterning does not work below ~80nm pitch using optical exposure tools. Also discussed will be recently published wafer results for line patterns with pitch division by-2 and by-4 at sub-12nm nodes, plus examples of post-etch results for 1D patterns done with cut masks and compared to cuts exposed by a single-column e-beam direct write system.

Aligned silica nanowires on the inner wall of bubble-like silica film: the growth mechanism and photoluminescence.

PubMed

Chen, Yiqing; Zhou, Qingtao; Jiang, Haifeng; Su, Yong; Xiao, Haihua; Zhu, Li-Ang; Xu, Liang

2006-02-28

Large area, aligned amorphous silica nanowires grow on the inner wall of bubble-like silica film, which is prepared by thermal evaporation of a molten gallium-silicon alloy in a flow of ammonia. These nanowires are 10-20 nm in diameter and 0.5-1.5 µm in length. The bubble-like silica film functions as a substrate, guiding the growth of silica nanowires by a vapour-solid process. This work helps us to clearly elucidate the growth mechanism of aligned amorphous silica nanowires, ruling out the possibility of liquid gallium acting as a nucleation substrate for the growth of the aligned silica nanowires. A broad emission band from 290 to 600 nm is observed in the photoluminescence (PL) spectrum of these nanowires. There are seven PL peaks: two blue emission peaks at 430 nm (2.88 eV) and 475 nm (2.61 eV); and five ultraviolet emission peaks at 325 nm (3.82 eV), 350 nm (3.54 eV), 365 nm (3.40 eV), 385 nm (3.22 eV) and 390 nm (3.18 eV), which may be related to various oxygen defects.

Audio-vocal system regulation in children with autism spectrum disorders.

PubMed

Russo, Nicole; Larson, Charles; Kraus, Nina

2008-06-01

Do children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) respond similarly to perturbations in auditory feedback as typically developing (TD) children? Presentation of pitch-shifted voice auditory feedback to vocalizing participants reveals a close coupling between the processing of auditory feedback and vocal motor control. This paradigm was used to test the hypothesis that abnormalities in the audio-vocal system would negatively impact ASD compensatory responses to perturbed auditory feedback. Voice fundamental frequency (F(0)) was measured while children produced an /a/ sound into a microphone. The voice signal was fed back to the subjects in real time through headphones. During production, the feedback was pitch shifted (-100 cents, 200 ms) at random intervals for 80 trials. Averaged voice F(0) responses to pitch-shifted stimuli were calculated and correlated with both mental and language abilities as tested via standardized tests. A subset of children with ASD produced larger responses to perturbed auditory feedback than TD children, while the other children with ASD produced significantly lower response magnitudes. Furthermore, robust relationships between language ability, response magnitude and time of peak magnitude were identified. Because auditory feedback helps to stabilize voice F(0) (a major acoustic cue of prosody) and individuals with ASD have problems with prosody, this study identified potential mechanisms of dysfunction in the audio-vocal system for voice pitch regulation in some children with ASD. Objectively quantifying this deficit may inform both the assessment of a subgroup of ASD children with prosody deficits, as well as remediation strategies that incorporate pitch training.

Modelling resonances of the standing body exposed to vertical whole-body vibration: Effects of posture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Subashi, G. H. M. J.; Matsumoto, Y.; Griffin, M. J.

2008-10-01

Lumped parameter mathematical models representing anatomical parts of the human body have been developed to represent body motions associated with resonances of the vertical apparent mass and the fore-and-aft cross-axis apparent mass of the human body standing in five different postures: 'upright', 'lordotic', 'anterior lean', 'knees bent', and 'knees more bent'. The inertial and geometric parameters of the models were determined from published anthropometric data. Stiffness and damping parameters were obtained by comparing model responses with experimental data obtained previously. The principal resonance of the vertical apparent mass, and the first peak in the fore-and-aft cross-axis apparent mass, of the standing body in an upright posture (at 5-6 Hz) corresponded to vertical motion of the viscera in phase with the vertical motion of the entire body due to deformation of the tissues at the soles of the feet, with pitch motion of the pelvis out of phase with pitch motion of the upper body above the pelvis. Upward motion of the body was in phase with the forward pitch motion of the pelvis. Changing the posture of the upper body had minor effects on the mode associated with the principal resonances of the apparent mass and cross-axis apparent mass, but the mode changed significantly with bending of the legs. In legs-bent postures, the principal resonance (at about 3 Hz) was attributed to bending of the legs coupled with pitch motion of the pelvis in phase with pitch motion of the upper body. In this mode, extension of the legs was in phase with the forward pitch motion of the upper body and the upward vertical motion of the viscera.

Pitch processing of dynamic lexical tones in the auditory cortex is influenced by sensory and extrasensory processes

PubMed Central

Krishnan, Ananthanarayan; Gandour, Jackson T.; Suresh, Chandan H.

2015-01-01

The aim is to evaluate how language experience (Chinese, English) shapes processing of pitch contours as reflected in the amplitude of cortical pitch response components. Responses were elicited from three dynamic, curvilinear, nonspeech stimuli varying in pitch direction and location of peak acceleration: Mandarin lexical Tone2 (rising) and Tone4 (falling); and a flipped variant of Tone2, Tone2′ (nonnative). At temporal sites (T7/T8), Chinese Na-Pb response amplitude to Tones 2 & 4 was greater than English in the right hemisphere only; a rightward asymmetry for Tones 2 & 4 was restricted to the Chinese group. In common to both Fz-to-linked T7/T8 and T7/T8 electrode sites, the stimulus pattern (Tones 2 & 4 > Tone2′) was found in the Chinese group only. As reflected by Pb-Nb at Fz, Chinese amplitude was larger than English in response to Tones 2 & 4; and Tones 2 & 4 were larger than Tone2′; whereas for English, Tone2 was larger than Tone2′ and Tone4. At frontal electrode sites (F3/F4), regardless of component or hemisphere, Chinese responses were larger in amplitude than English across stimuli. For either group, responses to Tones 2 & 4 were larger than Tone2′. No hemispheric asymmetry was observed at the frontal electrode sites. These findings highlight that cortical pitch response components are differentially modulated by experience-dependent, temporally distinct but functionally overlapping weighting of sensory and extrasensory effects on pitch processing of lexical tones in the right temporal lobe and, more broadly, are consistent with a distributed hierarchical predictive coding process. PMID:25943576

Lithographic process window optimization for mask aligner proximity lithography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Voelkel, Reinhard; Vogler, Uwe; Bramati, Arianna; Erdmann, Andreas; Ünal, Nezih; Hofmann, Ulrich; Hennemeyer, Marc; Zoberbier, Ralph; Nguyen, David; Brugger, Juergen

2014-03-01

We introduce a complete methodology for process window optimization in proximity mask aligner lithography. The commercially available lithography simulation software LAB from GenISys GmbH was used for simulation of light propagation and 3D resist development. The methodology was tested for the practical example of lines and spaces, 5 micron half-pitch, printed in a 1 micron thick layer of AZ® 1512HS1 positive photoresist on a silicon wafer. A SUSS MicroTec MA8 mask aligner, equipped with MO Exposure Optics® was used in simulation and experiment. MO Exposure Optics® is the latest generation of illumination systems for mask aligners. MO Exposure Optics® provides telecentric illumination and excellent light uniformity over the full mask field. MO Exposure Optics® allows the lithography engineer to freely shape the angular spectrum of the illumination light (customized illumination), which is a mandatory requirement for process window optimization. Three different illumination settings have been tested for 0 to 100 micron proximity gap. The results obtained prove, that the introduced process window methodology is a major step forward to obtain more robust processes in mask aligner lithography. The most remarkable outcome of the presented study is that a smaller exposure gap does not automatically lead to better print results in proximity lithography - what the "good instinct" of a lithographer would expect. With more than 5'000 mask aligners installed in research and industry worldwide, the proposed process window methodology might have significant impact on yield improvement and cost saving in industry.

[Three-dimensional vertically aligned CNTs coated by Ag nanoparticles for surface-enhanced Raman scattering].

PubMed

Zhang, Xiao-Lei; Zhang, Jie; Fan, Tuo; Ren, Wen-Jie; Lai, Chun-Hong

2014-09-01

In order to make surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates contained more "hot spots" in a three-dimensional (3D) focal volume, and can be adsorbed more probe molecules and metal nanoparticles, to obtain stronger Raman spectral signal, a new structure based on vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs) coated by Ag nanoparticles for surface Raman enhancement is presented. The vertically aligned CNTs are synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). A silver film is first deposited on the vertically aligned CNTs by magnetron sputtering. The samples are then annealed at different temperature to cause the different size silver nanoparticles to coat on the surface and sidewalls of vertically aligned CNTs. The result of scanning electron microscopy(SEM) shows that Ag nanoparticles are attached onto the sidewalls and tips of the vertically aligned CNTs, as the annealing temperature is different , pitch size, morphology and space between the silver nanoparticles is vary. Rhodamine 6G is served as the probe analyte. Raman spectrum measurement indicates that: the higher the concentration of R6G, the stronger the Raman intensity, but R6G concentration increase with the enhanced Raman intensity varies nonlinearly; when annealing temperature is 450 °C, the average size of silver nanoparticles is about 100 to 120 nm, while annealing temperature is 400 °C, the average size is about 70 nm, and the Raman intensity of 450 °C is superior to the annealing temperature that of 400 °C and 350 °C.

Evolution of electron pitch angle distributions across Saturn's middle magnetospheric region from MIMI/LEMMS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clark, G.; Paranicas, C.; Santos-Costa, D.; Livi, S.; Krupp, N.; Mitchell, D. G.; Roussos, E.; Tseng, W.-L.

2014-12-01

We provide a global view of ~20 to 800 keV electron pitch angle distributions (PADs) close to Saturn's current sheet using observations from the Cassini MIMI/LEMMS instrument. Previous work indicated that the nature of pitch angle distributions in Saturn's inner to middle magnetosphere changes near the radial distance of 10RS. This work confirms the existence of a PAD transition region. Here we go further and develop a new technique to statistically quantify the spatial profile of butterfly PADs as well as present new spatial trends on the isotropic PAD. Additionally, we perform a case study analysis and show the PADs exhibit strong energy dependent features throughout this transition region. We also present a diffusion theory model based on adiabatic transport, Coulomb interactions with Saturn's neutral gas torus, and an energy dependent radial diffusion coefficient. A data-model comparison reveals that adiabatic transport is the dominant transport mechanism between ~8 to 12RS, however interactions with Saturn's neutral gas torus become dominant inside ~7RS and govern the flux level of ~20 to 800 keV electrons. We have also found that field-aligned fluxes were not well reproduced by our modeling approach. We suggest that wave-particle interactions and/or a polar source of the energetic particles needs further investigation.

Mesh-based phase contrast Fourier transform imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tahir, Sajjad; Bashir, Sajid; MacDonald, C. A.; Petruccelli, Jonathan C.

2017-04-01

Traditional x-ray radiography is limited by low attenuation contrast in materials of low electron density. Phase contrast imaging offers the potential to improve the contrast between such materials, but due to the requirements on the spatial coherence of the x-ray beam, practical implementation of such systems with tabletop (i.e. non-synchrotron) sources has been limited. One phase imaging technique employs multiple fine-pitched gratings. However, the strict manufacturing tolerances and precise alignment requirements have limited the widespread adoption of grating-based techniques. In this work, we have investigated a recently developed technique that utilizes a single grid of much coarser pitch. Our system consisted of a low power 100 μm spot Mo source, a CCD with 22 μm pixel pitch, and either a focused mammography linear grid or a stainless steel woven mesh. Phase is extracted from a single image by windowing and comparing data localized about harmonics of the mesh in the Fourier domain. The effects on the diffraction phase contrast and scattering amplitude images of varying grid types and periods, and of varying the width of the window function used to separate the harmonics were investigated. Using the wire mesh, derivatives of the phase along two orthogonal directions were obtained and combined to form improved phase contrast images.

Multi-profile Bayesian alignment model for LC-MS data analysis with integration of internal standards

PubMed Central

Tsai, Tsung-Heng; Tadesse, Mahlet G.; Di Poto, Cristina; Pannell, Lewis K.; Mechref, Yehia; Wang, Yue; Ressom, Habtom W.

2013-01-01

Motivation: Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) has been widely used for profiling expression levels of biomolecules in various ‘-omic’ studies including proteomics, metabolomics and glycomics. Appropriate LC-MS data preprocessing steps are needed to detect true differences between biological groups. Retention time (RT) alignment, which is required to ensure that ion intensity measurements among multiple LC-MS runs are comparable, is one of the most important yet challenging preprocessing steps. Current alignment approaches estimate RT variability using either single chromatograms or detected peaks, but do not simultaneously take into account the complementary information embedded in the entire LC-MS data. Results: We propose a Bayesian alignment model for LC-MS data analysis. The alignment model provides estimates of the RT variability along with uncertainty measures. The model enables integration of multiple sources of information including internal standards and clustered chromatograms in a mathematically rigorous framework. We apply the model to LC-MS metabolomic, proteomic and glycomic data. The performance of the model is evaluated based on ground-truth data, by measuring correlation of variation, RT difference across runs and peak-matching performance. We demonstrate that Bayesian alignment model improves significantly the RT alignment performance through appropriate integration of relevant information. Availability and implementation: MATLAB code, raw and preprocessed LC-MS data are available at http://omics.georgetown.edu/alignLCMS.html Contact: hwr@georgetown.edu Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. PMID:24013927

Promoting helix pitch and trichome length to improve biomass harvesting efficiency and carbon dioxide fixation rate by Spirulina sp. in 660 m2 raceway ponds under purified carbon dioxide from a coal chemical flue gas.

PubMed

Cheng, Jun; Guo, Wangbiao; Ameer Ali, Kubar; Ye, Qing; Jin, Guiyong; Qiao, Zhanshan

2018-08-01

The helix pitch and trichome length of Spirulina sp. were promoted to improve the biomass harvesting efficiency and CO 2 fixation rate in 660 m 2 raceway ponds aerated with food-grade CO 2 purified from a coal chemical flue gas. The CO 2 fixation rate was improved with increased trichome length of the Spirulina sp. in a raceway pond with double paddlewheels, baffles, and CO 2 aerators (DBA raceway pond). The trichome length has increased by 33.3 μm, and CO 2 fixation rate has increased by 42.3% and peaked to 51.3 g/m 2 /d in a DBA raceway pond. Biomass harvesting efficiency was increased with increased helix pitch. When the day-average greenhouse temperature was 33 °C and day-average sunlight intensity was 72,100 lu×, the helix pitch of Spirulina sp. was increased to 56.2 μm. Hence the biomass harvesting efficiency was maximized to 75.6% and biomass actual yield was increased to 35.9 kg in a DBA raceway pond. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Acoustic and perceptual effects of overall F0 range in a lexical pitch accent distinction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wade, Travis

2002-05-01

A speaker's overall fundamental frequency range is generally considered a variable, nonlinguistic element of intonation. This study examined the precision with which overall F0 is predictable based on previous intonational context and the extent to which it may be perceptually significant. Speakers of Tokyo Japanese produced pairs of sentences differing lexically only in the presence or absence of a single pitch accent as responses to visual and prerecorded speech cues presented in an interactive manner. F0 placement of high tones (previously observed to be relatively variable in pitch contours) was found to be consistent across speakers and uniformly dependent on the intonation of the different sentences used as cues. In a subsequent perception experiment, continuous manipulation of these same sentences between typical accented and typical non-accent-containing versions were presented to Japanese listeners for lexical identification. Results showed that listeners' perception was not significantly altered in compensation for artificial manipulation of preceding intonation. Implications are discussed within an autosegmental analysis of tone. The current results are consistent with the notion that pitch range (i.e., specific vertical locations of tonal peaks) does not simply vary gradiently across speakers and situations but constitutes a predictable part of the phonetic specification of tones.

Grouping and the pitch of a mistuned fundamental component: Effects of applying simultaneous multiple mistunings to the other harmonics.

PubMed

Roberts, Brian; Holmes, Stephen D

2006-12-01

Mistuning a harmonic produces an exaggerated change in its pitch. This occurs because the component becomes inconsistent with the regular pattern that causes the other harmonics (constituting the spectral frame) to integrate perceptually. These pitch shifts were measured when the fundamental (F0) component of a complex tone (nominal F0 frequency = 200 Hz) was mistuned by +8% and -8%. The pitch-shift gradient was defined as the difference between these values and its magnitude was used as a measure of frame integration. An independent and random perturbation (spectral jitter) was applied simultaneously to most or all of the frame components. The gradient magnitude declined gradually as the degree of jitter increased from 0% to +/-40% of F0. The component adjacent to the mistuned target made the largest contribution to the gradient, but more distant components also contributed. The stimuli were passed through an auditory model, and the exponential height of the F0-period peak in the averaged summary autocorrelation function correlated well with the gradient magnitude. The fit improved when the weighting on more distant channels was attenuated by a factor of three per octave. The results are consistent with a grouping mechanism that computes a weighted average of periodicity strength across several components.

Vertical and pitching resonance of train cars moving over a series of simple beams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Y. B.; Yau, J. D.

2015-02-01

The resonant response, including both vertical and pitching motions, of an undamped sprung mass unit moving over a series of simple beams is studied by a semi-analytical approach. For a sprung mass that is very small compared with the beam, we first simplify the sprung mass as a constant moving force and obtain the response of the beam in closed form. With this, we then solve for the response of the sprung mass passing over a series of simple beams, and validate the solution by an independent finite element analysis. To evaluate the pitching resonance, we consider the cases of a two-axle model and a coach model traveling over rough rails supported by a series of simple beams. The resonance of a train car is characterized by the fact that its response continues to build up, as it travels over more and more beams. For train cars with long axle intervals, the vertical acceleration induced by pitching resonance dominates the peak response of the train traveling over a series of simple beams. The present semi-analytical study allows us to grasp the key parameters involved in the primary/sub-resonant responses. Other phenomena of resonance are also discussed in the exemplar study.

Mechanical Design and Analysis of a Unilateral Cervical Spinal Cord Contusion Injury Model in Non-Human Primates

PubMed Central

Salegio, Ernesto A.; Camisa, William; Tam, Horace; Beattie, Michael S.; Bresnahan, Jacqueline C.

2016-01-01

Abstract Non-human primate (NHP) models of spinal cord injury better reflect human injury and provide a better foundation to evaluate potential treatments and functional outcomes. We combined finite element (FE) and surrogate models with impact data derived from in vivo experiments to define the impact mechanics needed to generate a moderate severity unilateral cervical contusion injury in NHPs (Macaca mulatta). Three independent variables (impactor displacement, alignment, and pre-load) were examined to determine their effects on tissue level stresses and strains. Mechanical measures of peak force, peak displacement, peak energy, and tissue stiffness were analyzed as potential determinants of injury severity. Data generated from FE simulations predicted a lateral shift of the spinal cord at high levels of compression (>64%) during impact. Submillimeter changes in mediolateral impactor position over the midline increased peak impact forces (>50%). Surrogate cords established a 0.5 N pre-load protocol for positioning the impactor tip onto the dural surface to define a consistent dorsoventral baseline position before impact, which corresponded with cerebrospinal fluid displacement and entrapment of the spinal cord against the vertebral canal. Based on our simulations, impactor alignment and pre-load were strong contributors to the variable mechanical and functional outcomes observed in in vivo experiments. Peak displacement of 4 mm after a 0.5N pre-load aligned 0.5–1.0 mm over the midline should result in a moderate severity injury; however, the observed peak force and calculated peak energy and tissue stiffness are required to properly characterize the severity and variability of in vivo NHP contusion injuries. PMID:26670940

TRIC: an automated alignment strategy for reproducible protein quantification in targeted proteomics.

PubMed

Röst, Hannes L; Liu, Yansheng; D'Agostino, Giuseppe; Zanella, Matteo; Navarro, Pedro; Rosenberger, George; Collins, Ben C; Gillet, Ludovic; Testa, Giuseppe; Malmström, Lars; Aebersold, Ruedi

2016-09-01

Next-generation mass spectrometric (MS) techniques such as SWATH-MS have substantially increased the throughput and reproducibility of proteomic analysis, but ensuring consistent quantification of thousands of peptide analytes across multiple liquid chromatography-tandem MS (LC-MS/MS) runs remains a challenging and laborious manual process. To produce highly consistent and quantitatively accurate proteomics data matrices in an automated fashion, we developed TRIC (http://proteomics.ethz.ch/tric/), a software tool that utilizes fragment-ion data to perform cross-run alignment, consistent peak-picking and quantification for high-throughput targeted proteomics. TRIC reduced the identification error compared to a state-of-the-art SWATH-MS analysis without alignment by more than threefold at constant recall while correcting for highly nonlinear chromatographic effects. On a pulsed-SILAC experiment performed on human induced pluripotent stem cells, TRIC was able to automatically align and quantify thousands of light and heavy isotopic peak groups. Thus, TRIC fills a gap in the pipeline for automated analysis of massively parallel targeted proteomics data sets.

Hydromagnetic vortices. I - The 11 December 1977 event

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Saunders, M. A.; Southwood, D. J.; Fritz, T. A.; Hones, E. W., Jr.

1983-01-01

Through a synthesis of magnetometer, plasma, energetic particle and electric field data from the ISEE satellite pair, the characteristics of the initial (11 December 1977) magnetotail plasma vortex event reported by Hones et al. (1978), are described. The event is associated with a hot (beta is approximately unity) compressional hydromagnetic wave and apparent vortical motion is seen because at two points in the flow cycle the flow is field-aligned. The behavior of the energetic ions receives special study: when combined with the thermal flow measurements energy dispersion is evident in the field-aligned flow, while the large pitch angle energetic ions reveal the presence of gradients. It is argued that these gradients are wave-induced, and the data are used to determine the perpendicular wave wavelength together with the speed and direction of transverse wave propagation.

A phase and frequency alignment protocol for 1H MRSI data of the prostate.

PubMed

Wright, Alan J; Buydens, Lutgarde M C; Heerschap, Arend

2012-05-01

(1)H MRSI of the prostate reveals relative metabolite levels that vary according to the presence or absence of tumour, providing a sensitive method for the identification of patients with cancer. Current interpretations of prostate data rely on quantification algorithms that fit model metabolite resonances to individual voxel spectra and calculate relative levels of metabolites, such as choline, creatine, citrate and polyamines. Statistical pattern recognition techniques can potentially improve the detection of prostate cancer, but these analyses are hampered by artefacts and sources of noise in the data, such as variations in phase and frequency of resonances. Phase and frequency variations may arise as a result of spatial field gradients or local physiological conditions affecting the frequency of resonances, in particular those of citrate. Thus, there are unique challenges in developing a peak alignment algorithm for these data. We have developed a frequency and phase correction algorithm for automatic alignment of the resonances in prostate MRSI spectra. We demonstrate, with a simulated dataset, that alignment can be achieved to a phase standard deviation of 0.095  rad and a frequency standard deviation of 0.68  Hz for the citrate resonances. Three parameters were used to assess the improvement in peak alignment in the MRSI data of five patients: the percentage of variance in all MRSI spectra explained by their first principal component; the signal-to-noise ratio of a spectrum formed by taking the median value of the entire set at each spectral point; and the mean cross-correlation between all pairs of spectra. These parameters showed a greater similarity between spectra in all five datasets and the simulated data, demonstrating improved alignment for phase and frequency in these spectra. This peak alignment program is expected to improve pattern recognition significantly, enabling accurate detection and localisation of prostate cancer with MRSI. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Binocular Coordination of the Human Vestibulo-Ocular Reflex during Off-axis Pitch Rotation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wood, S. J.; Reschke, M. F.; Kaufman, G. D.; Black, F. O.; Paloski, W. H.

2006-01-01

Head movements in the sagittal pitch plane typically involve off-axis rotation requiring both vertical and horizontal vergence ocular reflexes to compensate for angular and translational motion relative to visual targets of interest. The purpose of this study was to compare passive pitch VOR responses during rotation about an Earth-vertical axis (canal only cues) with off-axis rotation (canal and otolith cues). Methods. Eleven human subjects were oscillated sinusoidally at 0.13, 0.3 and 0.56 Hz while lying left-side down with the interaural axis either aligned with the axis of rotation or offset by 50 cm. In a second set of measurements, twelve subjects were also tested during sinusoidally varying centrifugation over the same frequency range. The modulation of vertical and horizontal vergence ocular responses was measured with a binocular videography system. Results. Off-axis pitch rotation enhanced the vertical VOR at lower frequencies and enhanced the vergence VOR at higher frequencies. During sinusoidally varying centrifugation, the opposite trend was observed for vergence, with both vertical and vergence vestibulo-ocular reflexes being suppressed at the highest frequency. Discussion. These differential effects of off-axis rotation over the 0.13 to 0.56 Hz range are consistent with the hypothesis that otolith-ocular reflexes are segregated in part on the basis of stimulus frequency. At the lower frequencies, tilt otolith-ocular responses compensate for declining canal input. At higher frequencies, translational otolith-ocular reflexes compensate for declining visual contributions to the kinematic demands required for fixating near targets.

Investigating the Effect of IMF Path Length on Pitch-angle Scattering of Strahl within 1 au

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Graham, G. A.; Rae, I. J.; Owen, C. J.; Walsh, A. P.

2018-03-01

Strahl is the strongly field-aligned, beam-like population of electrons in the solar wind. Strahl width is observed to increase with distance from the Sun, and hence strahl electrons must be subject to in-transit scattering effects. Different energy relations have been both observed and modeled for both strahl width and the width increase with radial distance. Thus, there is much debate regarding what mechanism(s) scatter strahl. In this study, we use a novel method to investigate strahl evolution within 1 au by estimating the distance traveled by the strahl along the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). We do this by implementing methods developed in previous studies, which make use of the onset of solar energetic particles at ∼1 au. Thus, we are able to obtain average strahl broadening in relation to electron energy and distance, while also taking into account the general effect of IMF topology and adiabatic focusing experienced by strahl. We find that average strahl width broadens with distance traveled along the IMF, which suggests that strahl width is related to the path length taken by the strahl from the Sun to 1 au. We also find that strahl pitch-angle width broadening per au along the IMF length increased with strahl energy, which suggests that the dominant strahl pitch-angle scattering mechanism likely has an inherent energy relation. Our pitch-angle broadening results provide a testable energy relation for the upcoming Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter missions, which are both set to provide unprecedented new observations within 1 au.

High-Altitude Closed Magnetic Loops at Mars Observed by MAVEN

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Shaosui; Mitchell, David; Luhmann, Janet; Ma, Yingjuan; Fang, Xiaohua; Harada, Yuki; Hara, Takuya; Brain, David; Weber, Tristan; Mazelle, Christian; DiBraccio, Gina A.

2017-11-01

With electron and magnetic field data obtained by the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft, we have identified closed magnetic field lines, with both foot points embedded in the dayside ionosphere, extending up to 6,200 km altitude into the Martian tail. This topology is deduced from photoelectrons produced in the dayside ionosphere being observed traveling both parallel and antiparallel to the magnetic field. At trapped-zone pitch angles (within a range centered on 90° where electrons magnetically reflect before interacting with the atmosphere), cases with either solar wind electrons or photoelectrons have been found, indicating different formation mechanisms for these closed loops. These large closed loops are present in MHD simulations. The case with field-aligned photoelectrons mixed with solar wind electrons having trapped-zone pitch angles is likely to be associated with reconnection, while the case with photoelectrons at all pitch angles is probably due to closed field lines being pulled tailward by the surrounding plasma flow. By utilizing an algorithm for distinguishing photoelectrons from solar wind electrons in pitch angle-resolved energy spectra, we systematically map the spatial distribution and occurrence rate of these closed magnetic loops over the region sampled by the MAVEN orbit. We find that the occurrence rate ranges from a few percent to a few tens of percent outside of the optical shadow and less than one percent within the shadow. These observations can be used to investigate the general magnetic topology in the tail, which is relevant to cold ion escape, reconnection, and flux ropes.

Computation of transonic flow past projectiles at angle of attack

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reklis, R. P.; Sturek, W. B.; Bailey, F. R.

1978-01-01

Aerodynamic properties of artillery shell such as normal force and pitching moment reach peak values in a narrow transonic Mach number range. In order to compute these quantities, numerical techniques have been developed to obtain solutions to the three-dimensional transonic small disturbance equation about slender bodies at angle of attack. The computation is based on a plane relaxation technique involving Fourier transforms to partially decouple the three-dimensional difference equations. Particular care is taken to assure accurate solutions near corners found in shell designs. Computed surface pressures are compared to experimental measurements for circular arc and cone cylinder bodies which have been selected as test cases. Computed pitching moments are compared to range measurements for a typical projectile shape.

ISE structural dynamic experiments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lock, Malcolm H.; Clark, S. Y.

1988-01-01

The topics are presented in viewgraph form and include the following: directed energy systems - vibration issue; Neutral Particle Beam Integrated Space Experiment (NPB-ISE) opportunity/study objective; vibration sources/study plan; NPB-ISE spacecraft configuration; baseline slew analysis and results; modal contributions; fundamental pitch mode; vibration reduction approaches; peak residual vibration; NPB-ISE spacecraft slew experiment; goodbye ISE - hello Zenith Star Program.

A Comparison of Selected Kinematic Factors in Male Baseball and Female Fast Pitch Softball Batting.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spragg, Carolyn; Noble, Larry

Six female intercollegiate varsity softball players and six male intercollegiate varsity baseball players were filmed from overhead while batting a wiffle ball off a batting tee at hip height. Movements of the hips, trunk, upper body segments, and bat were analyzed. Group comparisons indicated that males had higher peak linear and, angular…

The Interaction of Surface Hydration and Vocal Loading on Voice Measures.

PubMed

Fujiki, Robert Brinton; Chapleau, Abigail; Sundarrajan, Anusha; McKenna, Victoria; Sivasankar, M Preeti

2017-03-01

Vocal loading tasks provide insight regarding the mechanisms underlying healthy laryngeal function. Determining the manner in which the larynx can most efficiently be loaded is a complex task. The goal of this study was to determine if vocal loading could be achieved in 30 minutes by altering phonatory mode. Owing to the fact that surface hydration facilitates efficient vocal fold oscillation, the effects of environmental humidity on vocal loading were also examined. This study also investigated whether the detrimental effects of vocal loading could be attenuated by increasing environmental humidity. Sixteen vocally healthy adults (8 men, 8 women) completed a 30-minute vocal loading task in low and moderate humidity. The order of humidities was counterbalanced across subjects. The vocal loading task consisted of reading with elevated pitch and pressed vocal quality and low pitch and pressed and/or raspy vocal quality in the presence of 65 dB ambient, multi-talker babble noise. Significant effects were observed for (1) cepstral peak prominence on soft sustained phonation at 10th and 80th pitches, (2) perceived phonatory effort, and (3) perceived tiredness ratings. No loading effects were observed for cepstral peak prominence on the rainbow passage, although fundamental frequency on the rainbow passage increased post loading. No main effect was observed for humidity. Following a 30-minute vocal loading task involving altering laryngeal vibratory mode in combination with increased volume. Also, moderate environmental humidity did not significantly attenuate the negative effects of loading. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Diagnostic System for Decomposition Studies of Energetic Materials

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-10-03

transition states and reaction pathways are sought. The overall objective for these combined experimental studies and quantum mechanics investigations...peak-to-peak 1 min: 50,000:1 ( 8.6×10-6 AU noise) peak-to-peak Interferometer UltraScan linear air bearing scanner with True -Alignment Aperture... True 24 bit dynamic range for all scan velocities, dual channel data acquisition Validation Internal validation unit, 6 positions, certified

Alignment and position visualization methods for the biomedical imaging and therapy (BMIT) MRT lift

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bree, Michael, E-mail: michael.bree@lightsource.ca; Miller, Denise; Kerr, Graham

The Microbeam Radiation Therapy (MRT) Lift is an eight stage positioning and scanning system at the Canadian Light Source’s BMIT Facility. Alignment of the sample with the beam using the MRT Lift is a time consuming and challenging task. The BMIT Group has developed a Python-based MRT Lift positioning and control program that uses a combination of computational and iterative methods to independently adjust the sample’s X, Y, Z, pitch and roll positions. The program offers “1-Click” alignment of the sample to the beam. Use of a wireframe visualization technique enables even minute movements to be illustrated. Proposed movements andmore » the resulting MRT Lift position can be manually verified before being applied. Optional integration with the SolidWorks modelling platform allows high quality renderings of the MRT Lift in its current or proposed position to be displayed in real time. Human factors principles are incorporated into the program with the objective of delivering easy to use controls for this complex device.« less

Effect of cranial cruciate ligament deficiency, tibial plateau leveling osteotomy, and tibial tuberosity advancement on contact mechanics and alignment of the stifle in flexion.

PubMed

Kim, Stanley E; Pozzi, Antonio; Banks, Scott A; Conrad, Bryan P; Lewis, Daniel D

2010-04-01

To assess contact mechanics and 3-dimensional (3-D) joint alignment in cranial cruciate ligament (CCL)-deficient stifles before and after tibial plateau leveling osteotomy (TPLO) and tibial tuberosity advancement (TTA) with the stifle in 90 degrees of flexion. In vitro biomechanical study. Cadaveric pelvic limb pairs (n=8) from dogs weighing 28-35 kg. Contralateral limbs were assigned to receive TPLO or TTA. Digital pressure sensors were used to measure femorotibial contact area, peak and mean contact pressure, and peak pressure location with the limb under a load of 30% body weight and stifle flexion angle of 90 degrees . 3-D poses were obtained using a Microscribe digitizer. Specimens were tested under normal, CCL deficient, and treatment conditions. Significant disturbances in alignment were not observed after CCL transection, although medial contact area was 10% smaller than normal (P=.003). There were no significant differences in contact mechanics or alignment between normal and TTA conditions; TPLO induced 6 degrees varus angulation (P<.001), 26% decrease in lateral peak pressure (P=.027), and 18% increase in medial mean pressure (P=.008) when compared with normal. Cranial tibial subluxation is nominal in CCL-deficient stifles loaded in flexion. Stifle alignment and contact mechanics are not altered by TTA, whereas TPLO causes mild varus and a subsequent increase in medial compartment loading. Cranial tibial subluxation of CCL-deficient stifles may not occur during postures that load the stifle in flexion. The significance of minor changes in loading patterns after TPLO is unknown.

Relative impact of uniaxial alignment vs. form-induced stress on differentiation of human adipose derived stem cells

PubMed Central

Huang, Samuel; Li, Julie Yi-Shuan; Chien, Shu; Zhang, Kang; Chen, Shaochen

2013-01-01

ADSCs are a great cell source for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. However, the development of methods to appropriately manipulate these cells in vitro remains a challenge. Here the proliferation and differentiation of ADSCs on microfabricated surfaces with varying geometries were investigated. To create the patterned substrates, a maskless biofabrication method was developed based on dynamic optical projection stereolithography. Proliferation and early differentiation of ADSCs were compared across three distinct multicellular patterns, namely stripes (ST), symmetric fork (SF), and asymmetric fork (AF). The ST pattern was designed for uniaxial cell alignment while the SF and AF pattern were designed with altered cell directionality to different extents. The SF and AF patterns generated similar levels of regional peak stress, which were both significantly higher than those within the ST pattern. No significant difference in ADSC proliferation was observed among the three patterns. In comparison to the ST pattern, higher peak stress levels of the SF and AF patterns were associated with up-regulation of the chondrogenic and osteogenic markers SOX9 and RUNX2. Interestingly, uniaxial cell alignment in the ST pattern seemed to increase the expression of SM22α and smooth muscle α-actin, suggesting an early smooth muscle lineage progression. These results indicate that geometric cues that promote uniaxial alignment might be more potent for myogenesis than those with increased peak stress. Overall, the use of these patterned geometric cues for modulating cell alignment and form-induced stress can serve as a powerful and versatile technique towards controlling differentiation in ADSCs. PMID:24060419

Diagnostic system for measuring temperature, pressure, CO2 concentration and H2O concentration in a fluid stream

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Partridge, Jr., William P.; Jatana, Gurneesh Singh; Yoo, Ji-Hyung

A diagnostic system for measuring temperature, pressure, CO.sub.2 concentration and H.sub.2O concentration in a fluid stream is described. The system may include one or more probes that sample the fluid stream spatially, temporally and over ranges of pressure and temperature. Laser light sources are directed down pitch optical cables, through a lens and to a mirror, where the light sources are reflected back, through the lens to catch optical cables. The light travels through the catch optical cables to detectors, which provide electrical signals to a processer. The processer utilizes the signals to calculate CO.sub.2 concentration based on the temperaturesmore » derived from H.sub.2O vapor concentration. A probe for sampling CO.sub.2 and H.sub.2O vapor concentrations is also disclosed. Various mechanical features interact together to ensure the pitch and catch optical cables are properly aligned with the lens during assembly and use.« less

Diagnostic system for measuring temperature, pressure, CO.sub.2 concentration and H.sub.2O concentration in a fluid stream

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Partridge, Jr., William P.; Jatana, Gurneesh Singh; Yoo, Ji Hyung

A diagnostic system for measuring temperature, pressure, CO.sub.2 concentration and H.sub.2O concentration in a fluid stream is described. The system may include one or more probes that sample the fluid stream spatially, temporally and over ranges of pressure and temperature. Laser light sources are directed down pitch optical cables, through a lens and to a mirror, where the light sources are reflected back, through the lens to catch optical cables. The light travels through the catch optical cables to detectors, which provide electrical signals to a processer. The processer utilizes the signals to calculate CO.sub.2 concentration based on the temperaturesmore » derived from H.sub.2O vapor concentration. A probe for sampling CO.sub.2 and H.sub.2O vapor concentrations is also disclosed. Various mechanical features interact together to ensure the pitch and catch optical cables are properly aligned with the lens during assembly and use.« less

Entrainment and motor emulation approaches to joint action: Alternatives or complementary approaches?

PubMed

Colling, Lincoln J; Williamson, Kellie

2014-01-01

Joint actions, such as music and dance, rely crucially on the ability of two, or more, agents to align their actions with great temporal precision. Within the literature that seeks to explain how this action alignment is possible, two broad approaches have appeared. The first, what we term the entrainment approach, has sought to explain these alignment phenomena in terms of the behavioral dynamics of the system of two agents. The second, what we term the emulator approach, has sought to explain these alignment phenomena in terms of mechanisms, such as forward and inverse models, that are implemented in the brain. They have often been pitched as alternative explanations of the same phenomena; however, we argue that this view is mistaken, because, as we show, these two approaches are engaged in distinct, and not mutually exclusive, explanatory tasks. While the entrainment approach seeks to uncover the general laws that govern behavior the emulator approach seeks to uncover mechanisms. We argue that is possible to do both and that the entrainment approach must pay greater attention to the mechanisms that support the behavioral dynamics of interest. In short, the entrainment approach must be transformed into a neuroentrainment approach by adopting a mechanistic view of explanation and by seeking mechanisms that are implemented in the brain.

Physical mechanism causing rapid changes in ultrarelativistic electron pitch angle distributions right after a shock arrival: Evaluation of an electron dropout event

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, X.-J.; Li, W.; Thorne, R. M.; Angelopoulos, V.; Ma, Q.; Li, J.; Bortnik, J.; Nishimura, Y.; Chen, L.; Baker, D. N.; Reeves, G. D.; Spence, H. E.; Kletzing, C. A.; Kurth, W. S.; Hospodarsky, G. B.; Blake, J. B.; Fennell, J. F.

2016-09-01

Three mechanisms have been proposed to explain relativistic electron flux depletions (dropouts) in the Earth's outer radiation belt during storm times: adiabatic expansion of electron drift shells due to a decrease in magnetic field strength, magnetopause shadowing and subsequent outward radial diffusion, and precipitation into the atmosphere (driven by EMIC wave scattering). Which mechanism predominates in causing electron dropouts commonly observed in the outer radiation belt is still debatable. In the present study, we evaluate the physical mechanism that may be primarily responsible for causing the sudden change in relativistic electron pitch angle distributions during a dropout event observed by Van Allen Probes during the main phase of the 27 February 2014 storm. During this event, the phase space density of ultrarelativistic (>1 MeV) electrons was depleted by more than 1 order of magnitude over the entire radial extent of the outer radiation belt (3 < L* < 5) in less than 6 h after the passage of an interplanetary shock. We model the electron pitch angle distribution under a compressed magnetic field topology based on actual solar wind conditions. Although these ultrarelativistic electrons exhibit highly anisotropic (peaked in 90°), energy-dependent pitch angle distributions, which appear to be associated with the typical EMIC wave scattering, comparison of the modeled electron distribution to electron measurements indicates that drift shell splitting is responsible for this rapid change in electron pitch angle distributions. This further indicates that magnetopause loss is the predominant cause of the electron dropout right after the shock arrival.

Diffusive transport of several hundred keV electrons in the Earth's slot region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Q.; Li, W.; Thorne, R. M.; Bortnik, J.

2017-12-01

We investigate the gradual diffusion of energetic electrons from the inner edge of the outer radiation belt into the slot region. The Van Allen Probes observed slow inward diffusion and decay of 200-600 keV electrons following the intense geomagnetic storm that occurred on 17 March 2013. During the 10-day non-disturbed period following the storm, the peak of electron fluxes gradually moved from L 2.7 to L 2.4, and the flux levels decreased by a factor of 2-4 depending on the electron energy. We simulated the radial intrusion and decay of electrons using a 3-dimentional diffusion code, which reproduced the energy-dependent transport of electrons from 100 keV to 1 MeV in the slot region. At energies of 100-200 keV, the electrons experience fast transport across the slot region due to the dominance of radial diffusion; at energies of 200-600 keV, the electrons gradually diffuse and decay in the slot region due to the comparable radial diffusion rate and pitch angle scattering rate by plasmaspheric hiss; at energies of E > 700 keV, the electrons stopped diffusing near the inner edge of outer radiation belt due to the dominant pitch angle scattering loss. In addition to plasmaspheric hiss, magnetosonic waves and VLF waves can cause the loss of high pitch angle electrons, relaxing the sharp `top-hat' shaped pitch angle distributions created by plasmaspheric hiss. Our simulation indicates the importance of radial diffusion and pitch angle scattering in forming the diffusive intrusion of energetic electrons across the slot region.

Diffusive Transport of Several Hundred keV Electrons in the Earth's Slot Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Q.; Li, W.; Thorne, R. M.; Bortnik, J.; Reeves, G. D.; Spence, H. E.; Turner, D. L.; Blake, J. B.; Fennell, J. F.; Claudepierre, S. G.; Kletzing, C. A.; Kurth, W. S.; Hospodarsky, G. B.; Baker, D. N.

2017-10-01

We investigate the gradual diffusion of energetic electrons from the inner edge of the outer radiation belt into the slot region. The Van Allen Probes observed slow inward diffusion and decay of 200-600 keV electrons following the intense geomagnetic storm that occurred on 17 March 2013. During the 10 day nondisturbed period following the storm, the peak of electron fluxes gradually moved from L 2.7 to L 2.4, and the flux levels decreased by a factor of 2-4 depending on the electron energy. We simulated the radial intrusion and decay of electrons using a three-dimensional diffusion code, which reproduced the energy-dependent transport of electrons from 100 keV to 1 MeV in the slot region. At energies of 100-200 keV, the electrons experience fast transport across the slot region due to the dominance of radial diffusion; at energies of 200-600 keV, the electrons gradually diffuse and decay in the slot region due to the comparable rate of radial diffusion and pitch angle scattering by plasmaspheric hiss; at energies of E > 700 keV, the electrons stopped diffusing near the inner edge of outer radiation belt due to the dominant pitch angle scattering loss. In addition to plasmaspheric hiss, magnetosonic waves and VLF transmitters can cause the loss of high pitch angle electrons, relaxing the sharp "top-hat" shaped pitch angle distributions created by plasmaspheric hiss. Our simulation indicates the importance of balance between radial diffusion and loss through pitch angle scattering in forming the diffusive intrusion of energetic electrons across the slot region.

Feature Based Retention Time Alignment for Improved HDX MS Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Venable, John D.; Scuba, William; Brock, Ansgar

2013-04-01

An algorithm for retention time alignment of mass shifted hydrogen-deuterium exchange (HDX) data based on an iterative distance minimization procedure is described. The algorithm performs pairwise comparisons in an iterative fashion between a list of features from a reference file and a file to be time aligned to calculate a retention time mapping function. Features are characterized by their charge, retention time and mass of the monoisotopic peak. The algorithm is able to align datasets with mass shifted features, which is a prerequisite for aligning hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry datasets. Confidence assignments from the fully automated processing of a commercial HDX software package are shown to benefit significantly from retention time alignment prior to extraction of deuterium incorporation values.

The Locations of Ring Current Pressure Peaks: Comparison of TWINS Measurements and CIMI Simulations for the 7-10 September 2015 CIR Storm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hill, S. C.; Edmond, J. A.; Xu, H.; Perez, J. D.; Fok, M. C. H.; Goldstein, J.; McComas, D. J.; Valek, P. W.

2017-12-01

The characteristics of a four day 7-10 September 2015 co-rotating interaction region (CIR) storm (min. SYM/H ≤ -110 nT) are categorized by storm phase. Ion distributions of trapped particles in the ring current as measured by the Two Wide-Angle Imaging Neutral Atom Spectrometers (TWINS) are compared with the simulated ion distributions of the Comprehensive Inner Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Model (CIMI). The energetic neutral atom (ENA) images obtained by TWINS are deconvolved to extract equatorial pitch angle, energy spectra, ion pressure intensity, and ion pressure anisotropy distributions in the inner magnetosphere. CIMI, using either a self-consistent electric field or a semi-empirical electric field, simulates comparable distributions. There is good agreement between the data measured by TWINS and the different distributions produced by the self-consistent electric field and the semi-empirical electric field of CIMI. Throughout the storm the pitch angle distribution (PAD) is mostly perpendicular in both CIMI and TWINS and there is agreement between the anisotropy distributions. The locations of the ion pressure peaks seen by TWINS and by the self-consistent and semi empirical electric field parameters in CIMI are usually between dusk and midnight. On average, the self-consistent electric field in CIMI reveals ion pressure peaks closer to Earth than its semi empirical counterpart, while TWINS reports somewhat larger radial values for the ion pressure peak locations. There are also notable events throughout the storm during which the simulated observations show some characteristics that differ from those measured by TWINS. At times, there are ion pressure peaks with magnetic local time on the dayside and in the midnight to dawn region. We discuss these events in light of substorm injections indicated by fluctuating peaks in the AE index and a positive By component in the solar wind. There are also times in which there are multiple ion pressure peaks. This may imply that there are time dependent and spatially dependent injection events that are influenced by local reconnection regions in the tail of the magnetosphere. Using CIMI simulations, we present paths of particles with various energies to assist in interpreting these notable events.

BATMAN--an R package for the automated quantification of metabolites from nuclear magnetic resonance spectra using a Bayesian model.

PubMed

Hao, Jie; Astle, William; De Iorio, Maria; Ebbels, Timothy M D

2012-08-01

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectra are widely used in metabolomics to obtain metabolite profiles in complex biological mixtures. Common methods used to assign and estimate concentrations of metabolites involve either an expert manual peak fitting or extra pre-processing steps, such as peak alignment and binning. Peak fitting is very time consuming and is subject to human error. Conversely, alignment and binning can introduce artefacts and limit immediate biological interpretation of models. We present the Bayesian automated metabolite analyser for NMR spectra (BATMAN), an R package that deconvolutes peaks from one-dimensional NMR spectra, automatically assigns them to specific metabolites from a target list and obtains concentration estimates. The Bayesian model incorporates information on characteristic peak patterns of metabolites and is able to account for shifts in the position of peaks commonly seen in NMR spectra of biological samples. It applies a Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm to sample from a joint posterior distribution of the model parameters and obtains concentration estimates with reduced error compared with conventional numerical integration and comparable to manual deconvolution by experienced spectroscopists. http://www1.imperial.ac.uk/medicine/people/t.ebbels/ t.ebbels@imperial.ac.uk.

Cross-Linguistic Perception and Learning of Japanese Lexical Prosody by English Listeners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shport, Irina A.

2011-01-01

The focus of this dissertation is on how language experience shapes perception of a non-native prosodic contrast. In Tokyo Japanese, fundamental frequency (F0) peak and fall are acoustic cues to lexically contrastive pitch patterns, in which a word may be accented on a particular syllable or unaccented (e.g., "tsuru" "a crane", "tsuru" "a vine",…

Aerodynamics for the Mars Phoenix Entry Capsule

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Edquist, Karl T.; Desai, Prasun N.; Schoenenberger, Mark

2008-01-01

Pre-flight aerodynamics data for the Mars Phoenix entry capsule are presented. The aerodynamic coefficients were generated as a function of total angle-of-attack and either Knudsen number, velocity, or Mach number, depending on the flight regime. The database was constructed using continuum flowfield computations and data from the Mars Exploration Rover and Viking programs. Hypersonic and supersonic static coefficients were derived from Navier-Stokes solutions on a pre-flight design trajectory. High-altitude data (free-molecular and transitional regimes) and dynamic pitch damping characteristics were taken from Mars Exploration Rover analysis and testing. Transonic static coefficients from Viking wind tunnel tests were used for capsule aerodynamics under the parachute. Static instabilities were predicted at two points along the reference trajectory and were verified by reconstructed flight data. During the hypersonic instability, the capsule was predicted to trim at angles as high as 2.5 deg with an on-axis center-of-gravity. Trim angles were predicted for off-nominal pitching moment (4.2 deg peak) and a 5 mm off-axis center-ofgravity (4.8 deg peak). Finally, hypersonic static coefficient sensitivities to atmospheric density were predicted to be within uncertainty bounds.

Design and fabrication of resonator-quantum well infrared photodetector for SF6 gas sensor application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Jason; Choi, Kwong-Kit; DeCuir, Eric; Olver, Kimberley; Fu, Richard

2017-07-01

The infrared absorption of SF6 gas is narrowband and peaks at 10.6 μm. This narrowband absorption posts a stringent requirement on the corresponding sensors as they need to collect enough signal from this limited spectral bandwidth to maintain a high sensitivity. Resonator-quantum well infrared photodetectors (R-QWIPs) are the next generation of QWIP detectors that use resonances to increase the quantum efficiency for more efficient signal collection. Since the resonant approach is applicable to narrowband as well as broadband, it is particularly suitable for this application. We designed and fabricated R-QWIPs for SF6 gas detection. To achieve the expected performance, the detector geometry must be produced according to precise specifications. In particular, the height of the diffractive elements and the thickness of the active resonator must be uniform, and accurately realized to within 0.05 μm. Additionally, the substrates of the detectors must be completely removed to prevent the escape of unabsorbed light in the detectors. To achieve these specifications, two optimized inductively coupled plasma etching processes were developed. Due to submicron detector feature sizes and overlay tolerance, we used an advanced semiconductor material lithography stepper instead of a contact mask aligner to pattern wafers. Using these etching techniques and tool, we have fabricated focal plane arrays with 30-μm pixel pitch and 320×256 format. The initial test revealed promising results.

Direct Observations of ULF and Whistler-Mode Chorus Modulation of 500eV EDI Electrons by MMS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paulson, K. W.; Argall, M. R.; Ahmadi, N.; Torbert, R. B.; Le Contel, O.; Ergun, R.; Khotyaintsev, Y. V.; Strangeway, R. J.; Magnes, W.; Russell, C. T.

2016-12-01

We present here direct observations of chorus-wave modulated field-aligned 500 eV electrons using the Electron Drift Instrument (EDI) on board the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission. These periods of wave activity were additionally observed to be modulated by Pc5-frequency magnetic perturbations, some of which have been identified as drifting mirror-mode structures. The spacecraft encountered these mirror-mode structures just inside of the duskside magnetopause. Using the high sampling rate provided by EDI in burst sampling mode, we are able to observe the individual count fluctuations of field-aligned electrons in this region up to 512 Hz. We use the multiple look directions of EDI to generate both pitch angle and gyrophase plots of the fluctuating counts. Our observations often show unidirectional flow of these modulated electrons along the background field, and in some cases demonstrate gyrophase bunching in the wave region.

Alternative generation of well-aligned uniform lying helix texture in a cholesteric liquid crystal cell

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Chia-Hua; Wu, Po-Chang; Lee, Wei

2017-10-01

This work demonstrates a simple approach for obtaining a well-aligned uniform lying helix (ULH) texture and a tri-bistable feature at ambient temperature in a typical 90°-twisted cell filled with a short-pitch cholesteric liquid crystal. This ULH texture is obtained at room temperature from initially field-induced helix-free homeotropic state by gradually decreasing the applied voltage. Depending on the way and rate of reducing the voltage, three stable states (i.e., Grandjean planar, focal conic, and ULH) are generated and switching between any two of them is realized. Moreover, the electrical operation of the cell in the ULH state enables the tunability in phase retardation via the deformation of the ULH. The observations made in this work may be useful for applications such as tunable phase modulators and energy-efficient photonic devices.

Electron precipitation in the post midnight sector of the auroral zones. [on the Explorer 40 satellite

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Frank, L. A.; Saflekos, N. A.; Ackerson, K. L.

1975-01-01

Comprehensive measurements of the angular distributions and energy spectra of electron intensities with electrostatic analyzer arrays on board the low-altitude satellite Injun 5 are reported. These are for the post-midnight sector of the auroral zones during the high-intensity events accompanying magnetic substorms. Precipitation features on closed terrestrial field lines well equatorward of the trapping boundary for energetic electrons with E greater than 45 keV were examined. No evidences of maxima in the differential energy spectra or of strongly field-aligned currents which are indicative of quasi-static electric fields aligned parallel to the geomagnetic field were found. Precipitation of low-energy electron intensities fluctuated on time scales greater than 2 seconds as viewed at the satellite position. This precipitation was characterized by isotropy for all pitch angles outside the atmospheric backscatter cone.

Longwall Guidance and Control Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1982-01-01

The longwall guidance and control (G&C) system was evaluated to determine which systems and subsystems lent themselves to automatic control in the mining of coal. The upper coal/shale interface was identified as the reference for a vertical G&C system, with two sensors (the natural backgound and the sensitized pick) being used to locate and track this boundary. In order to insure a relatively smooth recession surface (roof and floor of the excavated seam), a last and present cut measuring instrument (acoustic sensor) was used. Potentiometers were used to measure elevations of the shearer arms. The intergration of these components comprised the vertical control system (pitch control). Yaw and roll control were incorporated into a face alignment system which was designed to keep the coal face normal to its external boundaries. Numerous tests, in the laboratory and in the field, have confirmed the feasibility of automatic horizon control, as well as determining the face alignment.

Oculomotor biofeedback therapy for exotropia.

PubMed

Goldrich, S G

1982-04-01

Twelve exotropes of various types received oculomotor biofeedback therapy at State College of New York (SUNY) University Optometric Center. Feedback of a variable pitch tone which reflected changes in ocular vergence reinforced motor control of eye posture. Patients were trained to achieve and sustain alignment in a variety of viewing situations. The six intermittent exotropes in the study who did not have amblyopia or prior history of unsuccessful surgical or orthoptic therapy achieved the highest recovery rating after training. The amblyope and those who had orthoptic training learned to voluntarily correct their eye position, although they did not achieve as acute a sensitivity to loss of alignment as did the others. Therapy restored eye control at near in a young constant exotrope whose condition resulted from severe neurological dysfunction. A constant postsurgical exotrope who had no ability for sensory fusion made little progress. Advantages of oculomotor biofeedback therapy are shorter treatment time, elimination of lengthy home training exercises, and enhanced patient motivation.

High Thermal Conductivity of Copper Matrix Composite Coatings with Highly-Aligned Graphite Nanoplatelets

PubMed Central

Tagliaferri, Vincenzo; Ucciardello, Nadia

2017-01-01

Nanocomposite coatings with highly-aligned graphite nanoplatelets in a copper matrix were successfully fabricated by electrodeposition. For the first time, the disposition and thermal conductivity of the nanofiller has been evaluated. The degree of alignment and inclination of the filling materials has been quantitatively evaluated by polarized micro-Raman spectroscopy. The room temperature values of the thermal conductivity were extracted for the graphite nanoplatelets by the dependence of the Raman G-peak frequency on the laser power excitation. Temperature dependency of the G-peak shift has been also measured. Most remarkable is the global thermal conductivity of 640 ± 20 W·m−1·K−1 (+57% of copper) obtained for the composite coating by the flash method. Our experimental results are accounted for by an effective medium approximation (EMA) model that considers the influence of filler geometry, orientation, and thermal conductivity inside a copper matrix. PMID:29068424

Multispectra CWT-based algorithm (MCWT) in mass spectra for peak extraction.

PubMed

Hsueh, Huey-Miin; Kuo, Hsun-Chih; Tsai, Chen-An

2008-01-01

An important objective in mass spectrometry (MS) is to identify a set of biomarkers that can be used to potentially distinguish patients between distinct treatments (or conditions) from tens or hundreds of spectra. A common two-step approach involving peak extraction and quantification is employed to identify the features of scientific interest. The selected features are then used for further investigation to understand underlying biological mechanism of individual protein or for development of genomic biomarkers to early diagnosis. However, the use of inadequate or ineffective peak detection and peak alignment algorithms in peak extraction step may lead to a high rate of false positives. Also, it is crucial to reduce the false positive rate in detecting biomarkers from ten or hundreds of spectra. Here a new procedure is introduced for feature extraction in mass spectrometry data that extends the continuous wavelet transform-based (CWT-based) algorithm to multiple spectra. The proposed multispectra CWT-based algorithm (MCWT) not only can perform peak detection for multiple spectra but also carry out peak alignment at the same time. The author' MCWT algorithm constructs a reference, which integrates information of multiple raw spectra, for feature extraction. The algorithm is applied to a SELDI-TOF mass spectra data set provided by CAMDA 2006 with known polypeptide m/z positions. This new approach is easy to implement and it outperforms the existing peak extraction method from the Bioconductor PROcess package.

Functional Outcomes Following Anterior Transfer of the Tibialis Posterior Tendon for Foot Drop Secondary to Peroneal Nerve Palsy.

PubMed

Cho, Byung-Ki; Park, Kyoung-Jin; Choi, Seung-Myung; Im, Se-Hyuk; SooHoo, Nelson F

2017-06-01

This retrospective comparative study reports the practical function in daily and sports activities after tibialis posterior tendon transfer for foot drop secondary to peroneal nerve palsy. Seventeen patients were followed for a minimum of 3 years after tibialis posterior tendon transfer for foot drop secondary to peroneal nerve palsy. Matched controls were used to evaluate the level of functional restoration. Functional evaluations included American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society (AOFAS) scores, Foot and Ankle Outcome Score (FAOS), Foot and Ankle Ability Measure (FAAM) scores, and isokinetic muscle strength test. Radiographic evaluation for the changes of postoperative foot alignment included Meary angle, calcaneal pitch angle, hindfoot alignment angle, and navicular height. Mean AOFAS, FAOS, and FAAM scores significantly improved from 65.1 to 86.2, 55.6 to 87.8, and 45.7 to 84.4 points at final follow-up, respectively. However, all functional evaluation scores were significantly lower as compared to the control group ( P < .001). Mean peak torque (60 degrees/sec) of ankle dorsiflexors, plantarflexors, invertors, and evertors at final follow-up were 7.1 (deficit ratio of 65.4%), 39.2, 9.8, and 7.3 Nm, respectively. These muscle strengths were significantly lower compared to the control group ( P < .001). No significant differences in radiographic measurements were found, and no patients presented with a postoperative flat foot deformity. One patient (5.9%) needed an ankle-foot orthosis for occupational activity. Anterior transfer of the tibialis posterior tendon appears to be an effective surgical option for paralytic foot drop secondary to peroneal nerve palsy. Although restoration of dorsiflexion strength postoperatively was about 33% of the normal ankle, function in daily activities and gait ability were satisfactorily improved. In addition, tibialis posterior tendon transfer demonstrated no definitive radiographic or clinical progression to postoperative flat foot deformity at intermediate-term follow-up. Level IV, retrospective case series.

Tuning selective reflection of light by surface anchoring in cholesteric cells with oblique helicoidal structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iadlovska, Olena S.; Maxwell, Graham R.; Babakhanova, Greta; Mehl, Georg H.; Welch, Christopher; Shiyanovskii, Sergij V.; Lavrentovich, Oleg D.

2018-04-01

Selective reflection of light by oblique helicoidal cholesteric (ChOH) can be tuned in a very broad spectral range by an applied electric field. In this work, we demonstrate that the peak wavelength of the selective reflection can be controlled by surface alignment of the director in sandwich cells. The peak wavelength is blue-shifted when the surface alignment is perpendicular to the bounding plates and red-shifted when it is planar. The effect is explained by the electric field redistribution within the cell caused by spatially varying heliconical ChOH structure. The observed phenomenon can be used in sensing applications.

Selective alignment of brain responses by task demands during semantic processing.

PubMed

Baggio, Giosuè

2012-04-01

The way the brain binds together words to form sentences may depend on whether and how the arising cognitive representation is to be used in behavior. The amplitude of the N400 effect in event-related brain potentials is inversely correlated with the degree of fit of a word's meaning into a semantic representation of the preceding discourse. This study reports a double dissociation in the latency characteristics of the N400 effect depending on task demands. When participants silently read words in a sentence context, without issuing a relevant overt response, greater temporal alignment over recording sites occurs for N400 onsets than peaks. If however a behavior is produced - here pressing a button in a binary probe selection task - exactly the opposite pattern is observed, with stronger alignment of N400 peaks than onsets. The peak amplitude of the N400 effect correlates best with the latency characteristic showing less temporal dispersion. These findings suggest that meaning construction in the brain is subtly affected by task demands, and that there is complex functional integration between semantic combinatorics and control systems handling behavioral goals. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Gravito-Inertial Force Resolution in Perception of Synchronized Tilt and Translation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wood, Scott J.; Holly, Jan; Zhang, Guen-Lu

2011-01-01

Natural movements in the sagittal plane involve pitch tilt relative to gravity combined with translation motion. The Gravito-Inertial Force (GIF) resolution hypothesis states that the resultant force on the body is perceptually resolved into tilt and translation consistently with the laws of physics. The purpose of this study was to test this hypothesis for human perception during combined tilt and translation motion. EXPERIMENTAL METHODS: Twelve subjects provided verbal reports during 0.3 Hz motion in the dark with 4 types of tilt and/or translation motion: 1) pitch tilt about an interaural axis at +/-10deg or +/-20deg, 2) fore-aft translation with acceleration equivalent to +/-10deg or +/-20deg, 3) combined "in phase" tilt and translation motion resulting in acceleration equivalent to +/-20deg, and 4) "out of phase" tilt and translation motion that maintained the resultant gravito-inertial force aligned with the longitudinal body axis. The amplitude of perceived pitch tilt and translation at the head were obtained during separate trials. MODELING METHODS: Three-dimensional mathematical modeling was performed to test the GIF-resolution hypothesis using a dynamical model. The model encoded GIF-resolution using the standard vector equation, and used an internal model of motion parameters, including gravity. Differential equations conveyed time-varying predictions. The six motion profiles were tested, resulting in predicted perceived amplitude of tilt and translation for each. RESULTS: The modeling results exhibited the same pattern as the experimental results. Most importantly, both modeling and experimental results showed greater perceived tilt during the "in phase" profile than the "out of phase" profile, and greater perceived tilt during combined "in phase" motion than during pure tilt of the same amplitude. However, the model did not predict as much perceived translation as reported by subjects during pure tilt. CONCLUSION: Human perception is consistent with the GIF-resolution hypothesis even when the gravito-inertial force vector remains aligned with the body during periodic motion. Perception is also consistent with GIF-resolution in the opposite condition, when the gravito-inertial force vector angle is enhanced by synchronized tilt and translation.

Energy-banded ions in Saturn's magnetosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thomsen, M. F.; Badman, S. V.; Jackman, C. M.; Jia, X.; Kivelson, M. G.; Kurth, W. S.

2017-05-01

Using data from the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer ion mass spectrometer, we report the first observation of energy-banded ions at Saturn. Observed near midnight at relatively high magnetic latitudes, the banded ions are dominantly H+, and they occupy the range of energies typically associated with the thermal pickup distribution in the inner magnetosphere (L < 10), but their energies decline monotonically with increasing radial distance (or time or decreasing latitude). Their pitch angle distribution suggests a source at low (or slightly southern) latitudes. The band energies, including their pitch angle dependence, are consistent with a bounce-resonant interaction between thermal H+ ions and the standing wave structure of a field line resonance. There is additional evidence in the pitch angle dependence of the band energies that the particles in each band may have a common time of flight from their most recent interaction with the wave, which may have been at slightly southern latitudes. Thus, while the particles are basically bounce resonant, their energization may be dominated by their most recent encounter with the standing wave.