Full-field pulsed magneto-photoelasticity – Experimental Implementation

This paper contains a description of the experimental procedure employed when using a pulsed-magneto-polariscope (PMP) and some initial full-field through-thickness measurements of the stress distribution present in samples containing 3D stresses. The instrument uses the theory of magneto-photoelasticity (MPE), which is an experimental stress analysis technique that involves the application of a magnetic field to a birefringent model within a polariscope. MPE was developed for through-thickness stress measurement where the integrated through-thickness birefringent measurement disguises the actual stress distribution. MPE is mainly used in toughened glass where the through-thickness distribution can reduce its overall strength and so its determination is important. To date MPE has been a single-point 2D through-thickness measurement and the analysis time is prohibitive for the investigation of an area which may contain high localised stresses. The pulsed-magneto-polariscope (PMP) has been designed to enable the application of full-field 3D MPE [ ]. Using a proof-of concept PMP several experimental measurements were made, these were promising and demonstrate the potential of the new instrument. Further development of this technique presents several exciting possibilities including a tool for the measurement of the distribution of principal stress difference seen in a general 3D model

Development of Parallel Auditory Thalamocortical Pathways for Two Different Behaviors

Auditory thalamocortical connections are organized as parallel pathways that originate in different divisions of the medial geniculate body (MGB). These pathways may be involved in different functions. Surprisingly little is known about the development of these connections. Here we review studies of the organization and development of auditory thalamocortical pathways in the pallid bat. The pallid bat depends primarily on passive hearing of prey-generated noise for localizing prey, while reserving echolocation for general orientation and obstacle avoidance. In the inferior colliculus (IC) and the auditory cortex, physiological studies show that noise and echolocation calls are processed in segregated regions. Injection of retrograde tracers in physiologically characterized cortical sites show that the ventral division of the MGB (MGBv) projects to the cortical region selective for noise. The cortical region selective for echolocation calls receives input from the suprageniculate (SG) nucleus in the dorsal MGB, but not from the MGBv. Taken together, these studies reveal parallel IC–MGB–cortex pathways involved in echolocation and passive listening. There is overlap of thalamocortical pathways during development. At 2-weeks postnatal, when the bat begins to exhibit adult-like hearing thresholds, the SG projects to both noise- and echolocation call-selective regions. The MGBv, as in adults, projects only to the noise-selective region. The connections become adult-like only after 2-months postnatal. These data suggest that parallel auditory thalamocortical pathways may segregate in an experience-dependent fashion, a hypothesis that remains to be tested in any species

Value of Combination of Standard Axial and Thin-Section Coronal Diffusion-weighted Imaging in Diagnosis of Acute Brainstem Infarction

AIM: To determine the value of the combination of thin-section 3 mm ‎coronal and standard ‎axial DWI and their impact in facilitating the diagnosis of ‎‎acute brainstem infarction. METHODS: A cross-sectional study conducted from the 1st of April 2017 to the end of February 2018 on 100 consecutive patients (66% were male, and 34% were female) with isolated acute ischemic infarction in the ‎brainstem. The abnormal MRI findings concerning the ischemic lesions were interpreted on standard axial 5 mm and thin-section coronal 3mm DWI. RESULTS: The mean age of the studied group was 69.2 ± 4.3 for male and 72.3 ± 2.5 years. The standard axial DWI can diagnose 20%, 6.7% and 6.7% of the infarctions in midbrain, pons and medulla oblongata respectively, while both axial and thin coronal sections together can diagnose 80% of midbrain infarctions, 93.3% of pons infarctions and 93.3% of medulla oblongata infarctions. Furthermore, the thin section coronal 3 mm section can diagnose very smaller ischemic lesion volume in comparison to the standard axial 5mm section (3.4 ± 0.45 / cm3 versus 4.6 ± 0.23 / cm3, P < 0.001) CONCLUSION: The addition of thin-section coronal DWI can facilitate the detection of brainstem ischemic lesions. We suggest its inclusion in the stroke MRI protocol

Troubles with Reality and Order through the Imagination in a World of Disbelief and Disorder: Wallace Stevens and Supreme Fiction

The voice of the intellect is a soft one but it does not rest until it has gained a hearing - Sigmu nd Freud There have been a lot of writers throughout history who praised or criticized the world s beauty and ways They all had their ideas and advice for humanity But America s most celebrated twentiethcentury poet Wallace Stevens did not just rain down his ideas in his writings but took them as his motto for life And he called the sum of his ideas Supreme Fiction This Supreme Fiction according to Stevens is a supreme level of poetry that cleanses the mind and soul of its readers and reduces the hardships they have to face in real life In other words Supreme Fiction is Stevens replacement for the idea of God Deeply influenced by the Nietzschean idea of the Death of God Stevens wants to create a replacement for God for people to find comfort in a world of disbelief and disorder in the twentieth centur

Design and Analysis of a Wide Stopband Microstrip Dual-band Bandpass Filter

A novel configuration of a dual-band bandpass filter (BPF) working as a harmonic attenuator is introduced and fabricated. The proposed filter operates at 3 GHz, for UHF and SHF applications, and 6.3 GHz, for wireless applications. The presented layout has a symmetric structure, which consists of coupled resonators. The designing of the proposed resonator is performed by introducing a new LC equivalent model of coupled lines. To verify the LC model of the coupled lines, the lumped elements are calculated. The introduced filter has a wide stopband up to 85 GHz with 28th harmonic suppression, for the first channel, and 13th harmonic suppression, for the second channel. The harmonics are attenuated using a novel structure. Also, the proposed BPF has a compact size of 0.056 λg2. Having several transmission zeros (TZs) that improve the performance of the presented BPF is another feature. The proposed dual-band BPF is fabricated and measured to verify the design method, where the measurement results confirm the simulations