3,079 research outputs found
A new view of the spin echo diffusive diffraction on porous structures
Analysis with the characteristic functional of stochastic motion is used for
the gradient spin echo measurement of restricted motion to clarify details of
the diffraction-like effect in a porous structure. It gives the diffusive
diffraction as an interference of spin phase shifts due to the back-flow of
spins bouncing at the boundaries, when mean displacement of scattered spins is
equal to the spin phase grating prepared by applied magnetic field gradients.
The diffraction patterns convey information about morphology of the surrounding
media at times long enough that opposite boundaries are restricting
displacements. The method explains the dependence of diffraction on the time
and width of gradient pulses, as observed at the experiments and the
simulations. It also enlightens the analysis of transport properties by the
spin echo, particularly in systems, where the motion is restricted by structure
or configuration
Effect of obesity on knee joint biomechanics during gait in young adults
This article is MacLean, K. F. E., Callaghan, J. P., & Maly, M. R. (2016). Effect of obesity on knee joint biomechanics during gait in young adults. Cogent Medicine, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/2331205X.2016.1173778While there are many comorbidities associated with obesity, one of the more poorly understood is knee osteoarthritis through obesity. The purpose of this study was to compare the kinematics and kinetics of gait and cumulative knee adductor load, which represents the sum of repetitive exposures to medial knee loading during daily activity, between young obese adults with young, healthy-weight adults. Eight obese and eight healthy-weight young adults participated. Data from a three-dimensional motion capture system and a synchronized floor-mounted force plate were collected during gait trials. Participants wore accelerometers to determine step counts for seven consecutive days. Dependent t-tests were used to identify differences in gait kinematics, kinetics and cumulative knee adductor load between groups. Compared to the healthy-weight participants, obese young adults demonstrated a slower walking speed, greater stance duration, less knee flexion at heel contact, greater knee adduction in early stance and less knee abduction at terminal stance (p < 0.05). The obese young adults had a greater external knee extension moment (p < 0.05) and external rotation moment (p < 0.05) in early stance. The obese group had a greater cumulative knee adductor load. These results provide insight into a potential pathway by which obesity predisposes a healthy young adult for knee osteoarthritis.This research is supported by Canada Research Chairs, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canad
Dynamics of Air-Fluidized Granular System Measured by the Modulated Gradient Spin-echo
The power spectrum of displacement fluctuation of beads in the air-fluidized
granular system is measured by a novel NMR technique of modulated gradient
spin-echo. The results of measurement together with the related spectrum of the
velocity fluctuation autocorrelation function fit well to an empiric formula
based on to the model of bead caging between nearest neighbours; the cage
breaks up after a few collisions \cite{Menon1}. The fit yields the
characteristic collision time, the size of bead caging and the diffusion-like
constant for different degrees of system fluidization. The resulting mean
squared displacement increases proportionally to the second power of time in
the short-time ballistic regime and increases linearly with time in the
long-time diffusion regime as already confirmed by other experiments and
simulations.Comment: 4 figures. Submited to Physical Review Letters, April 200
Measuring surface-area-to-volume ratios in soft porous materials using laser-polarized xenon interphase exchange NMR
We demonstrate a minimally invasive nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)
technique that enables determination of the surface-area-to-volume ratio (S/V)
of soft porous materials from measurements of the diffusive exchange of
laser-polarized 129Xe between gas in the pore space and 129Xe dissolved in the
solid phase. We apply this NMR technique to porous polymer samples and find
approximate agreement with destructive stereological measurements of S/V
obtained with optical confocal microscopy. Potential applications of
laser-polarized xenon interphase exchange NMR include measurements of in vivo
lung function in humans and characterization of gas chromatography columns.Comment: 14 pages of text, 4 figure
A network-based dynamical ranking system for competitive sports
From the viewpoint of networks, a ranking system for players or teams in
sports is equivalent to a centrality measure for sports networks, whereby a
directed link represents the result of a single game. Previously proposed
network-based ranking systems are derived from static networks, i.e.,
aggregation of the results of games over time. However, the score of a player
(or team) fluctuates over time. Defeating a renowned player in the peak
performance is intuitively more rewarding than defeating the same player in
other periods. To account for this factor, we propose a dynamic variant of such
a network-based ranking system and apply it to professional men's tennis data.
We derive a set of linear online update equations for the score of each player.
The proposed ranking system predicts the outcome of the future games with a
higher accuracy than the static counterparts.Comment: 6 figure
Structural properties of crumpled cream layers
The cream layer is a complex heterogeneous material of biological origin
which forms spontaneously at the air-milk interface. Here, it is studied the
crumpling of a single cream layer packing under its own weight at room
temperature in three-dimensional space. The structure obtained in these
circumstances has low volume fraction and anomalous fractal dimensions. Direct
means and noninvasive NMR imaging technique are used to investigate the
internal and external structure of these systems.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, accepted in J. Phys. D: Appl. Phy
Antiferromagnetic Order in Disorder-Induced Insulating Phase of SrRu_{1-x}Mn_xO_3 (0.4<x<0.6)
We have performed the powder neutron diffraction measurements on the solid
solutions of SrRu_{1-x}Mn_xO_3, and found that the itinerant ferromagnetic
order observed in pure SrRuO_3 changes into the C-type antiferromagnetic (AF)
order with nearly localized d electrons in the intermediate Mn concentration
between x=0.4 and 0.6. With increasing x, the AF moment is strongly enhanced
from 1.1 mB (x=0.4) to 2.6 mB (x=0.6), which is accompanied by the elongation
of the tetragonal c/a ratio. These results suggest that the substitution of Mn
for Ru suppresses the itinerant character of the d electrons, and induces the
superexchange interaction through the compression in the c plane. We have also
found that the magnetic and transport properties observed in our tetragonal
samples are quite similar to those of recently reported orthorhombic ones.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Glaucoma Home Monitoring Using a Tablet- Based Visual Field Test (Eyecatcher): An Assessment of Accuracy and Adherence Over 6 Months
PURPOSE: To assess accuracy and adherence of visual field (VF) home monitoring in a pilot sample of patients with glaucoma. DESIGN: Prospective longitudinal feasibility and reliability study. METHODS: Twenty adults (median 71 years) with an established diagnosis of glaucoma were issued a tablet perimeter (Eyecatcher) and were asked to perform 1 VF home assessment per eye, per month, for 6 months (12 tests total). Before and after home monitoring, 2 VF assessments were performed in clinic using standard automated perimetry (4 tests total, per eye). RESULTS: All 20 participants could perform monthly home monitoring, though 1 participant stopped after 4 months (adherence: 98% of tests). There was good concordance between VFs measured at home and in the clinic (r = 0.94, P < .001). In 21 of 236 tests (9%), mean deviation deviated by more than ±3 dB from the median. Many of these anomalous tests could be identified by applying machine learning techniques to recordings from the tablets' front-facing camera (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve = 0.78). Adding home-monitoring data to 2 standard automated perimetry tests made 6 months apart reduced measurement error (between-test measurement variability) in 97% of eyes, with mean absolute error more than halving in 90% of eyes. Median test duration was 4.5 minutes (quartiles: 3.9-5.2 minutes). Substantial variations in ambient illumination had no observable effect on VF measurements (r = 0.07, P = .320). CONCLUSIONS: Home monitoring of VFs is viable for some patients and may provide clinically useful data
How to Choose a Champion
League competition is investigated using random processes and scaling
techniques. In our model, a weak team can upset a strong team with a fixed
probability. Teams play an equal number of head-to-head matches and the team
with the largest number of wins is declared to be the champion. The total
number of games needed for the best team to win the championship with high
certainty, T, grows as the cube of the number of teams, N, i.e., T ~ N^3. This
number can be substantially reduced using preliminary rounds where teams play a
small number of games and subsequently, only the top teams advance to the next
round. When there are k rounds, the total number of games needed for the best
team to emerge as champion, T_k, scales as follows, T_k ~N^(\gamma_k) with
gamma_k=1/[1-(2/3)^(k+1)]. For example, gamma_k=9/5,27/19,81/65 for k=1,2,3.
These results suggest an algorithm for how to infer the best team using a
schedule that is linear in N. We conclude that league format is an ineffective
method of determining the best team, and that sequential elimination from the
bottom up is fair and efficient.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure
Simultaneous Measurement of Rock Permeability and Effective Porosity using Laser-Polarized Noble Gas NMR
We report simultaneous measurements of the permeability and effective
porosity of oil-reservoir rock cores using one-dimensional NMR imaging of the
penetrating flow of laser-polarized xenon gas. The permeability result agrees
well with industry standard techniques, whereas effective porosity is not
easily determined by other methods. This novel NMR technique may have
applications to the characterization of fluid flow in a wide variety of porous
and granular media.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, pdf format onl
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