An integrated model for computer assisted diagnosis, treatment and design of insoles for the diabetic foot

The incidence of diabetes has increased significantly in recent decades. In Germany, there is an estimate of three million diabetics and this number is growing at a rate of about 2 percent per year. In the U.S.A., the American Diabetes Association estimates that thirteen million people suffer from this condition, representing 5.2 percent of the entire population and every year, some 35 thousand patients have a lower limb amputated. In Latin America, it has been reported that the prevalence of diabetes is of the order of 14 to 20 percent, according to a research conducted by the WHO's Ad Hoc Diabetes Reporting Group. In Colombia, a study by Ashner et al concludes that the prevalence is 7 percent in both sexes

Temperature dependence of the nitrogen-vacancy magnetic resonance in diamond

The temperature dependence of the magnetic resonance spectra of nitrogen-vacancy (NV-) ensembles in the range of 280-330 K was studied. Four samples prepared under different conditions were studied with NV- concentrations ranging from 10 ppb to 15 ppm. For all of these samples, the axial zero-field splitting (ZFS) parameter, D, was found to vary significantly with temperature, T, as dD/dT = -74.2(7) kHz/K. The transverse ZFS parameter, E, was non-zero (between 4 and 11 MHz) in all samples, and exhibited a temperature dependence of dE/(EdT) = -1.4(3) x 10^(-4) K^(-1). The results might be accounted for by considering local thermal expansion. The observation of the temperature dependence of the ZFS parameters presents a significant challenge for room-temperature diamond magnetometers and may ultimately limit their bandwidth and sensitivity.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, 1 tabl

A 3-D Track-Finding Processor for the CMS Level-1 Muon Trigger

We report on the design and test results of a prototype processor for the CMS Level-1 trigger that performs 3-D track reconstruction and measurement from data recorded by the cathode strip chambers of the endcap muon system. The tracking algorithms are written in C++ using a class library we developed that facilitates automatic conversion to Verilog. The code is synthesized into firmware for field-programmable gate-arrays from the Xilinx Virtex-II series. A second-generation prototype has been developed and is currently under test. It performs regional track-finding in a 60 degree azimuthal sector and accepts 3 GB/s of input data synchronously with the 40 MHz beam crossing frequency. The latency of the track-finding algorithms is expected to be 250 ns, including geometrical alignment correction of incoming track segments and a final momentum assignment based on the muon trajectory in the non-uniform magnetic field in the CMS endcaps.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, proceedings for the conference on Computing in High Energy and Nuclear Physics, March 24-28 2003, La Jolla, Californi