60 research outputs found
Upper trapezius muscle tonicity, assessed by palpation, relates to change in tissue oxygenation and structure as measured by Time-Domain Near Infrared Spectroscopy
Palpation is a diagnostic tool widely used by manual therapists despite its disputed reliability and validity. Previous studies have usually focused on the detection of Myofascial Trigger Points (MTrPs), i.e., the points within muscles thought to have undergone molecular composition, oxygenation and structural changes, altering their tonicity. Time-domain near-infrared spectroscopy (TD-NIRS) could provide new insights into soft tissue oxygenation and structure, in order to objectively assess the validity and reliability of palpation. This pilot study aims at (1) assessing the ability of TD-NIRS to detect a difference between palpably normal and hypertonic upper trapezius (UT) muscles, and (2) to estimate the reproducibility of the TD-NIRS measurement on UT muscles. TD-NIRS measurements were performed on 4 points of the UT muscles in 18 healthy participants (10F, mean age: 27.6 yrs), after a physical examination by a student osteopath to locate these points and identify the most and least hypertonic. From TD-NIRS, the most hypertonic points had a higher concentration in deoxy- ([HHb]) (0.887 ± 0.253 μM, p<0.001) and total haemoglobin ([HbT]) (1.447 ± 0.772 μM, p<0.001), a lower tissue oxygen saturation (StO2) (-0.575 ± 0.286 %, p<0.001), and a greater scattering amplitude factor (AF) (0.2238 ± 0.1343 cm-1, p=0.001) than the least hypertonic points. Moreover, the intraclass correlation coefficient one-way random-effects model (ICC (1,1)) calculated for each TD-NIRS parameter and for each point revealed an excellent reliability of the measurement (Mean ± SD, 0.9253 ± 0.0678). These initial results, showing that changes in TD-NIRS parameters correlate with changes in muscle tonicity as assessed by palpation, are encouraging and show that TD-NIRS could help to further assess the validity of palpation as a diagnostic tool in manual therapy
Charging effects in the ac conductance of a double barrier resonant tunneling structure
There have been many studies of the linear response ac conductance of a
double barrier resonant tunneling structure (DBRTS). While these studies are
important, they fail to self-consistently include the effect of time dependent
charge density in the well. In this paper, we calculate the ac conductance by
including the effect of time dependent charge density in the well in a
self-consistent manner. The charge density in the well contributes to both the
flow of displacement currents and the time dependent potential in the well. We
find that including these effects can make a significant difference to the ac
conductance and the total ac current is not equal to the average of
non-selfconsitently calculated conduction currents in the two contacts, an
often made assumption. This is illustrated by comparing the results obtained
with and without the effect of the time dependent charge density included
properly
Microscopic theory of quantum-transport phenomena in mesoscopic systems: A Monte Carlo approach
A theoretical investigation of quantum-transport phenomena in mesoscopic
systems is presented. In particular, a generalization to ``open systems'' of
the well-known semiconductor Bloch equations is proposed. The presence of
spatial boundary conditions manifest itself through self-energy corrections and
additional source terms in the kinetic equations, whose form is suitable for a
solution via a generalized Monte Carlo simulation. The proposed approach is
applied to the study of quantum-transport phenomena in double-barrier
structures as well as in superlattices, showing a strong interplay between
phase coherence and relaxation.Comment: to appear in Phys. Rev. Let
Self-Similar Interpolation in Quantum Mechanics
An approach is developed for constructing simple analytical formulae
accurately approximating solutions to eigenvalue problems of quantum mechanics.
This approach is based on self-similar approximation theory. In order to derive
interpolation formulae valid in the whole range of parameters of considered
physical quantities, the self-similar renormalization procedure is complimented
here by boundary conditions which define control functions guaranteeing correct
asymptotic behaviour in the vicinity of boundary points. To emphasize the
generality of the approach, it is illustrated by different problems that are
typical for quantum mechanics, such as anharmonic oscillators, double-well
potentials, and quasiresonance models with quasistationary states. In addition,
the nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation is considered, for which both eigenvalues
and wave functions are constructed.Comment: 1 file, 30 pages, RevTex, no figure
Prediction of Anisotropic Single-Dirac-Cones in BiSb Thin Films
The electronic band structures of BiSb thin films can be
varied as a function of temperature, pressure, stoichiometry, film thickness
and growth orientation. We here show how different anisotropic
single-Dirac-cones can be constructed in a BiSb thin film for
different applications or research purposes. For predicting anisotropic
single-Dirac-cones, we have developed an iterative-two-dimensional-two-band
model to get a consistent inverse-effective-mass-tensor and band-gap, which can
be used in a general two-dimensional system that has a non-parabolic dispersion
relation as in a BiSb thin film system
Quantum Energy-Transport and Drift-Diffusion Models
We show that Quantum Energy-Transport and Quantum Drift-Diffusion models can be derived through diffusion limits of a collisional Wigner equation. The collision operator relaxes to an equilibrium defined through the entropy minimization principle. Both models are shown to be entropic and exhibit fluxes which are related with the state variables through spatially non-local relations. Thanks to an � expansion of these models, � 2 perturbations of the Classical Energy-Transport and Drift-Diffusion models are found. In the Drift-Diffusion case, the quantum correction is the Bohm potential and the model is still entropic. In the Energy-Transport case however, the quantum correction is a rather complex expression and the model cannot be proven entropic.
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