815 research outputs found
Increased bradykinesia in Parkinson’s disease with increased movement complexity: elbow flexion-extension movements
The present research investigates factors contributing to bradykinesia in the control of simple and complex voluntary limb movement in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients. The functional scheme of the basal ganglia (BG)–thalamocortical circuit was described by a mathematical model based on the mean firing rates of BG nuclei. PD was simulated as a reduction in dopamine levels, and a loss of functional segregation between two competing motor modules. In order to compare model simulations with performed movements, flexion and extension at the elbow joint is taken as a test case. Results indicated that loss of segregation contributed to bradykinesia due to interference between competing modules and a reduced ability to suppress unwanted movements. Additionally, excessive neurotransmitter depletion is predicted as a possible mechanism for the increased difficulty in performing complex movements. The simulation results showed that the model is in qualitative agreement with the results from movement experiments on PD patients and healthy subjects. Furthermore, based on changes in the firing rate of BG nuclei, the model demonstrated that the effective mechanism of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) in STN may result from stimulation induced inhibition of STN, partial synaptic failure of efferent projections, or excitation of inhibitory afferent axons even though the underlying methods of action may be quite different for the different mechanisms
Efficient computation of two-dimensional steady free-surface flows
We consider a family of steady free-surface flow problems in two dimensions,
concentrating on the effect of nonlinearity on the train of gravity waves that
appear downstream of a disturbance. By exploiting standard complex variable
techniques, these problems are formulated in terms of a coupled system of
Bernoulli's equation and an integral equation. When applying a numerical
collocation scheme, the Jacobian for the system is dense, as the integral
equation forces each of the algebraic equations to depend on each of the
unknowns. We present here a strategy for overcoming this challenge, which leads
to a numerical scheme that is much more efficient than what is normally
employed for these types of problems, allowing for many more grid points over
the free surface. In particular, we provide a simple recipe for constructing a
sparse approximation to the Jacobian that is used as a preconditioner in a
Jacobian-free Newton-Krylov method for solving the nonlinear system. We use
this approach to compute numerical results for a variety of prototype problems
including flows past pressure distributions, a surface-piercing object and
bottom topographies.Comment: 20 pages, 13 figures, under revie
Spectrograms of ship wakes: identifying linear and nonlinear wave signals
A spectrogram is a useful way of using short-time discrete Fourier transforms
to visualise surface height measurements taken of ship wakes in real world
conditions. For a steadily moving ship that leaves behind small-amplitude
waves, the spectrogram is known to have two clear linear components, a
sliding-frequency mode caused by the divergent waves and a constant-frequency
mode for the transverse waves. However, recent observations of high speed ferry
data have identified additional components of the spectrograms that are not yet
explained. We use computer simulations of linear and nonlinear ship wave
patterns and apply time-frequency analysis to generate spectrograms for an
idealised ship. We clarify the role of the linear dispersion relation and ship
speed on the two linear components. We use a simple weakly nonlinear theory to
identify higher order effects in a spectrogram and, while the high speed ferry
data is very noisy, we propose that certain additional features in the
experimental data are caused by nonlinearity. Finally, we provide a possible
explanation for a further discrepancy between the high speed ferry spectrograms
and linear theory by accounting for ship acceleration.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures, submitte
Numerical investigation of controlling interfacial instabilities in non-standard Hele-Shaw configurations
Viscous fingering experiments in Hele-Shaw cells lead to striking pattern
formations which have been the subject of intense focus among the physics and
applied mathematics community for many years. In recent times, much attention
has been devoted to devising strategies for controlling such patterns and
reducing the growth of the interfacial fingers. We continue this research by
reporting on numerical simulations, based on the level set method, of a
generalised Hele-Shaw model for which the geometry of the Hele-Shaw cell is
altered. First, we investigate how imposing constant and time-dependent
injection rates in a Hele-Shaw cell that is either standard, tapered or
rotating can be used to reduce the development of viscous fingering when an
inviscid fluid is injected into a viscous fluid over a finite time period. We
perform a series of numerical experiments comparing the effectiveness of each
strategy to determine how these non-standard Hele-Shaw configurations influence
the morphological features of the inviscid-viscous fluid interface. Tapering
plates in either converging or diverging directions leads to reduced metrics of
viscous fingering at the final time when compared to the standard parallel
configuration, especially with carefully chosen injection rates; for the
rotating plate case, the effect is even more dramatic, with sufficiently large
rotation rates completely stabilising the interface. Next, we illustrate how
the number of non-splitting fingers can be controlled by injecting the inviscid
fluid at a time-dependent rate while increasing the gap between the plates.
Simulations compare well with previous experimental results for various
injection rates and geometric configurations. Further, we demonstrate how the
fully nonlinear dynamics of the problem affect the number of fingers that
emerge and how well this number agrees with predictions from linear stability
analysis
Improving communication in patient visits requiring medical interpreters
Handout for effectively using medical interpreting services.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/fmclerk/1764/thumbnail.jp
Saffman-Taylor fingers with kinetic undercooling
The mathematical model of a steadily propagating Saffman-Taylor finger in a
Hele-Shaw channel has applications to two-dimensional interacting streamer
discharges which are aligned in a periodic array. In the streamer context, the
relevant regularisation on the interface is not provided by surface tension,
but instead has been postulated to involve a mechanism equivalent to kinetic
undercooling, which acts to penalise high velocities and prevent blow-up of the
unregularised solution. Previous asymptotic results for the Hele-Shaw finger
problem with kinetic undercooling suggest that for a given value of the kinetic
undercooling parameter, there is a discrete set of possible finger shapes, each
analytic at the nose and occupying a different fraction of the channel width.
In the limit in which the kinetic undercooling parameter vanishes, the fraction
for each family approaches 1/2, suggesting that this 'selection' of 1/2 by
kinetic undercooling is qualitatively similar to the well-known analogue with
surface tension. We treat the numerical problem of computing these
Saffman-Taylor fingers with kinetic undercooling, which turns out to be more
subtle than the analogue with surface tension, since kinetic undercooling
permits finger shapes which are corner-free but not analytic. We provide
numerical evidence for the selection mechanism by setting up a problem with
both kinetic undercooling and surface tension, and numerically taking the limit
that the surface tension vanishes.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication by Physical Review
Time-frequency analysis of ship wave patterns in shallow water: modelling and experiments
A spectrogram of a ship wake is a heat map that visualises the time-dependent
frequency spectrum of surface height measurements taken at a single point as
the ship travels by. Spectrograms are easy to compute and, if properly
interpreted, have the potential to provide crucial information about various
properties of the ship in question. Here we use geometrical arguments and
analysis of an idealised mathematical model to identify features of
spectrograms, concentrating on the effects of a finite-depth channel. Our
results depend heavily on whether the flow regime is subcritical or
supercritical. To support our theoretical predictions, we compare with data
taken from experiments we conducted in a model test basin using a variety of
realistic ship hulls. Finally, we note that vessels with a high aspect ratio
appear to produce spectrogram data that contains periodic patterns. We can
reproduce this behaviour in our mathematical model by using a so-called
two-point wavemaker. These results highlight the role of wave interference
effects in spectrograms of ship wakes.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure
MISR stereoscopic image matchers: techniques and results
The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument, launched in December 1999 on the NASA EOS Terra satellite, produces images in the red band at 275-m resolution, over a swath width of 360 km, for the nine camera angles 70.5/spl deg/, 60/spl deg/, 45.6/spl deg/, and 26.1/spl deg/ forward, nadir, and 26.1/spl deg/, 45.6/spl deg/, 60/spl deg/, and 70.5/spl deg/ aft. A set of accurate and fast algorithms was developed for automated stereo matching of cloud features to obtain cloud-top height and motion over the nominal six-year lifetime of the mission. Accuracy and speed requirements necessitated the use of a combination of area-based and feature-based stereo-matchers with only pixel-level acuity. Feature-based techniques are used for cloud motion retrieval with the off-nadir MISR camera views, and the motion is then used to provide a correction to the disparities used to measure cloud-top heights which are derived from the innermost three cameras. Intercomparison with a previously developed "superstereo" matcher shows that the results are very comparable in accuracy with much greater coverage and at ten times the speed. Intercomparison of feature-based and area-based techniques shows that the feature-based techniques are comparable in accuracy at a factor of eight times the speed. An assessment of the accuracy of the area-based matcher for cloud-free scenes demonstrates the accuracy and completeness of the stereo-matcher. This trade-off has resulted in the loss of a reliable quality metric to predict accuracy and a slightly high blunder rate. Examples are shown of the application of the MISR stereo-matchers on several difficult scenes which demonstrate the efficacy of the matching approach
ARM AUGMENTATION OF VERTICAL JUMP PERFORMANCE IN YOUNG GIRLS AND ADULT FEMALES
The development of vertical jumping ability is not fully understood with respect to the contribution that the arm action provides to performance. This study examined the role of the arm actions on the performance of countermovement vertical jumps. Two groups comprising ten adults females and ten six-year old girls. Ground reaction forces were obtained while subjects performed countermovement vertical jumps with and without arm actions. Jump performance was measured by determining the duration of the airborne phase. The results indicated that the arm action significantly improved
performance in both adults and children and adults jumped significantly higher than children irrespective of whether arm action was used. It was concluded that children appear to be equally effective to adults in using arms to improve jumping performance
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