805 research outputs found
MRI-based mechanical analysis of carotid atherosclerotic plaque using a material-property-mapping approach: A material-property-mapping method for plaque stress analysis
Background and objective
Atherosclerosis is a major underlying cause of cardiovascular conditions. In order to understand the biomechanics involved in the generation and rupture of atherosclerotic plaques, numerical analysis methods have been widely used. However, several factors limit the practical use of this information in a clinical setting. One of the key challenges in finite element analysis (FEA) is the reconstruction of the structure and the generation of a mesh. The complexity of the shapes associated with carotid plaques, including multiple components, makes the generation of meshes for biomechanical computation a difficult and in some cases, an impossible task. To address these challenges, in this study, we propose a novel material-property-mapping method for carotid atherosclerotic plaque stress analysis that aims to simplify the process.
Methods
The different carotid plaque components were identified and segmented using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). For the mapping method, this information was used in conjunction with an in-house code, which provided the coordinates for each pixel/voxel and tissue type within a predetermined region of interest. These coordinates were utilized to assign specific material properties to each element in the volume mesh which provides a region of transition. The proposed method was subsequently compared to the traditional method, which involves creating a composed mesh for the arterial wall and plaque components, based on its location and size.
Results
The comparison between the proposed material-property-mapping method and the traditional method was performed in 2D, 3D structural-only, and fluid-structure interaction (FSI) simulations in terms of stress, wall shear stress (WSS), time-averaged WSS (TAWSS), and oscillatory shear index (OSI). The stress contours from both methods were found to be similar, although the proposed method tended to produce lower local maximum stress values. The WSS contours were also in agreement between the two methods. The velocity contours generated by the proposed method were verified against phase-contrast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measurements, for a higher level of confidence.
Conclusion
This study shows that a material-property-mapping method can effectively be used for analyzing the biomechanics of carotid plaques in a patient-specific manner. This approach has the potential to streamline the process of creating volume meshes for complex biological structures, such as carotid plaques, and to provide a more efficient and less labor-intensive method
A novel approach to Isoscaling: the role of the order parameter m = (N-Z)/A
Isoscaling is derived within a recently proposed modified Fisher model where
the free energy near the critical point is described by the Landau O(m^6)
theory. In this model m = (N-Z)/A is the order parameter, a consequence of (one
of) the symmetries of the nuclear Hamiltonian. Within this framework we show
that isoscaling depends mainly on this order parameter through the 'external
(conjugate) field' H. The external field is just given by the difference in
chemical potentials of the neutrons and protons of the two sources. To
distinguish from previously employed isoscaling relationships, this approach is
dubbed: m - scaling. We discuss the relationship between this framework and the
standard isoscaling formalism and point out some substantial differences in
interpretation of experimental results which might result. These should be
investigated further both theoretically and experimentally.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure
Economic Fluctuations and Diffusion
Stock price changes occur through transactions, just as diffusion in physical
systems occurs through molecular collisions. We systematically explore this
analogy and quantify the relation between trading activity - measured by the
number of transactions - and the price change ,
for a given stock, over a time interval . To this end, we
analyze a database documenting every transaction for 1000 US stocks over the
two-year period 1994-1995. We find that price movements are equivalent to a
complex variant of diffusion, where the diffusion coefficient fluctuates
drastically in time. We relate the analog of the diffusion coefficient to two
microscopic quantities: (i) the number of transactions in
, which is the analog of the number of collisions and (ii) the local
variance of the price changes for all transactions in , which is the analog of the local mean square displacement between
collisions. We study the distributions of both and , and find that they display power-law tails. Further, we find that
displays long-range power-law correlations in time, whereas
does not. Our results are consistent with the interpretation
that the pronounced tails of the distribution of w_{\Delta t}|
G_{\Delta t} |N_{\Delta t}$.Comment: RevTex 2 column format. 6 pages, 36 references, 15 eps figure
Hot Nuclear Matter in Asymmetry Chiral Sigma Model
In the frame work of SU(2) chiral sigma model, the nuclear matter properties
at zero and finite temperature have been investigated. We have analyzed the
nuclear matter equation of state by varying different parameters, which agrees
well with the one derived from the heavy-ion collision experiment at extreme
densities and reliable realistic(DBHF) model at low density region. We have
then calculated the temperature dependent asymmetric nuclear matter, also
investigated the critical temperature of liquid gas phase transition and
compared with the experimental data. We found that the critical temperature in
our model is in the range of 14-20 MeV.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures, to be published in Nuclear Physics
On two-dimensionalization of three-dimensional turbulence in shell models
Applying a modified version of the Gledzer-Ohkitani-Yamada (GOY) shell model,
the signatures of so-called two-dimensionalization effect of three-dimensional
incompressible, homogeneous, isotropic fully developed unforced turbulence have
been studied and reproduced. Within the framework of shell models we have
obtained the following results: (i) progressive steepening of the energy
spectrum with increased strength of the rotation, and, (ii) depletion in the
energy flux of the forward forward cascade, sometimes leading to an inverse
cascade. The presence of extended self-similarity and self-similar PDFs for
longitudinal velocity differences are also presented for the rotating 3D
turbulence case
Modified Fragmentation Function in Heavy Ion Collisions at RHIC via Direct photon-Jet Measurements
The presented results are the first measurements at RHIC for direct
-charged hadron azimuthal correlations in heavy ion collisions. We use
these correlations to study the color charge density of the medium through the
medium-induced modification of high-p parton fragmentation. Azimuthal
correlations of direct photons at high transverse energy (8 p 16
GeV) with away-side charged hadrons of transverse momentum (3 p 6
GeV/c) have been measured over a broad range of centrality for
collisions and collisions at = 200 GeV in the STAR
experiment. A transverse shower shape analysis in the STAR Barrel
Electromagnetic Calorimeter Shower Maximum Detector is used to discriminate
between the direct photons and photons from the decays of high p .
The per-trigger away-side yield of direct is smaller than from
trigger at the same centrality class. Within the current uncertainty
the I of direct and are similar.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 3rd International Conference on Hard and Electro-
Magnetic Probes of High-Energy Nuclear Collision
Global Search for New Physics with 2.0/fb at CDF
Data collected in Run II of the Fermilab Tevatron are searched for
indications of new electroweak-scale physics. Rather than focusing on
particular new physics scenarios, CDF data are analyzed for discrepancies with
the standard model prediction. A model-independent approach (Vista) considers
gross features of the data, and is sensitive to new large cross-section
physics. Further sensitivity to new physics is provided by two additional
algorithms: a Bump Hunter searches invariant mass distributions for "bumps"
that could indicate resonant production of new particles; and the Sleuth
procedure scans for data excesses at large summed transverse momentum. This
combined global search for new physics in 2.0/fb of ppbar collisions at
sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV reveals no indication of physics beyond the standard model.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures. Final version which appeared in Physical Review D
Rapid Communication
Observation of Orbitally Excited B_s Mesons
We report the first observation of two narrow resonances consistent with
states of orbitally excited (L=1) B_s mesons using 1 fb^{-1} of ppbar
collisions at sqrt{s} = 1.96 TeV collected with the CDF II detector at the
Fermilab Tevatron. We use two-body decays into K^- and B^+ mesons reconstructed
as B^+ \to J/\psi K^+, J/\psi \to \mu^+ \mu^- or B^+ \to \bar{D}^0 \pi^+,
\bar{D}^0 \to K^+ \pi^-. We deduce the masses of the two states to be m(B_{s1})
= 5829.4 +- 0.7 MeV/c^2 and m(B_{s2}^*) = 5839.7 +- 0.7 MeV/c^2.Comment: Version accepted and published by Phys. Rev. Let
Measurement of the Bottom-Strange Meson Mixing Phase in the Full CDF Data Set
We report a measurement of the bottom-strange meson mixing phase \beta_s
using the time evolution of B0_s -> J/\psi (->\mu+\mu-) \phi (-> K+ K-) decays
in which the quark-flavor content of the bottom-strange meson is identified at
production. This measurement uses the full data set of proton-antiproton
collisions at sqrt(s)= 1.96 TeV collected by the Collider Detector experiment
at the Fermilab Tevatron, corresponding to 9.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity.
We report confidence regions in the two-dimensional space of \beta_s and the
B0_s decay-width difference \Delta\Gamma_s, and measure \beta_s in [-\pi/2,
-1.51] U [-0.06, 0.30] U [1.26, \pi/2] at the 68% confidence level, in
agreement with the standard model expectation. Assuming the standard model
value of \beta_s, we also determine \Delta\Gamma_s = 0.068 +- 0.026 (stat) +-
0.009 (syst) ps-1 and the mean B0_s lifetime, \tau_s = 1.528 +- 0.019 (stat) +-
0.009 (syst) ps, which are consistent and competitive with determinations by
other experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett 109, 171802 (2012
Observation of a new chi_b state in radiative transitions to Upsilon(1S) and Upsilon(2S) at ATLAS
The chi_b(nP) quarkonium states are produced in proton-proton collisions at
the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV and recorded by the ATLAS
detector. Using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.4
fb^-1, these states are reconstructed through their radiative decays to
Upsilon(1S,2S) with Upsilon->mu+mu-. In addition to the mass peaks
corresponding to the decay modes chi_b(1P,2P)->Upsilon(1S)gamma, a new
structure centered at a mass of 10.530+/-0.005 (stat.)+/-0.009 (syst.) GeV is
also observed, in both the Upsilon(1S)gamma and Upsilon(2S)gamma decay modes.
This is interpreted as the chi_b(3P) system.Comment: 5 pages plus author list (18 pages total), 2 figures, 1 table,
corrected author list, matches final version in Physical Review Letter
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