Breath detection using short-time Fourier transform analysis in electrical impedance tomography

Spectral analysis based on short-time Fourier transform (STFT) using Kaiser window is proposed to examine the frequency components of neonates EIT data. In this way, a simultaneous spatial-time-frequency analysis is achieved

Co_3O_4 Nanoparticle Water-Oxidation Catalysts Made by Pulsed-Laser Ablation in Liquids

Surfactant-free, size- and composition-controlled, unsupported, <5-nm, quantum-confined cobalt oxide nanoparticles with high electrocatalytic oxygen-evolution activity were synthesized by pulsed laser ablation in liquids. These crystalline Co_3O_4 nanoparticles have a turnover frequency per cobalt surface site among the highest ever reported for Co_3O_4 nanoparticle oxygen evolution catalysts in base and overpotentials competitive with the best electrodeposited cobalt oxides, with the advantage that they are suitable for mechanical deposition on photoanode materials and incorporation in integrated solar water-splitting devices

Balancing person-centric and team-centric leadership in projects

Final Report of the PMiI Sponsored Research Gran

Dielectric anisotropy of nematic liquid crystals loaded with carbon nanotubes in microwave range

Liquid crystals are attractive materials for microwave applications as tunable dielectrics owing to low losses and high anisotropy of dielectric properties. The possibility of further enhancing their dielectric anisotropy is studied by loading with highly polarisable and anisotropic rods–carbon nanotubes at various concentrations. The studies are performed using two different methods, one in the range 1–4 GHz and the other at 30 GHz. More than two times increase of microwave dielectric anisotropy in liquid crystals is reported when loaded with 0.01%wt of carbon nanotubes, which is a metastable suspension and 28% increase in an equilibrated suspension. The stability of the LC-CNT composites is discussed

DEFICIENCY OF THE FIFTH COMPONENT OF COMPLEMENT IN MICE WITH AN INHERITED COMPLEMENT DEFECT

The inherited complement deficiency of certain inbred strains of mice was shown to be due to an isolated lack of the fifth component of complement. The protein MuB1 (or hc'), which is present in normal mouse serum but absent from the serum of complement-deficient mice, was shown to be immunochemically related to the fifth component of human complement (C'5). C'5 hemolytic activity was specifically inhibited in human serum by mouse anti-MuB1 and in normal mouse serum by mouse antiserum to human C'5. Highly purified human C'5 reconstituted the hemolytic activity of complement-deficient mouse serum. It was, therefore, concluded that he', or MuB1, constitutes the murine analogue of the fifth component of human complement. The MuB1 concentration in normal mouse serum was found to be subject to a sex-related variation. By quantitative precipitin analysis it was demonstrated that serum from male mice contains twice as much MuB1 as that of female mice. This difference in C'5 concentration was also detected by hemolytic assay. In addition, C'6 and C'7 were also found to be subject to sex-related variations

Optimized breath detection algorithm in electrical impedance tomography

This paper defines a method for optimizing the breath delineation algorithms used in Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT). In lung EIT the identification of the breath phases is central for generating tidal impedance variation images, subsequent data analysis and clinical evaluation. The optimisation of these algorithms is particularly important in neonatal care since the existing breath detectors developed for adults may give insufficient reliability in neonates due to their very irregular breathing pattern. Our approach is generic in the sense that it relies on the definition of a gold standard and the associated definition of detector sensitivity and specificity, an optimisation criterion and a set of detector parameters to be investigated. The gold standard has been defined by 11 clinicians with previous experience with EIT and the performance of our approach is described and validated using a neonatal EIT dataset acquired within the EU-funded CRADL project. Three different algorithms are proposed that are improving the breath detector performance by adding conditions on 1) maximum tidal breath rate obtained from zero-crossings of the EIT breathing signal, 2) minimum tidal impedance amplitude and 3) minimum tidal breath rate obtained from Time-Frequency (TF) analysis. As a baseline the zero crossing algorithm has been used with some default parameters based on the Swisstom EIT device. Based on the gold standard, the most crucial parameters of the proposed algorithms are optimised by using a simple exhaustive search and a weighted metric defined in connection with the Receiver Operating Characterics (ROC). This provides a practical way to achieve any desirable trade-off between the sensitivity and the specificity of the detectors. [Abstract copyright: © 2018 Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine.

A parametric model for the changes in the complex valued conductivity of a lung during tidal breathing

Classical homogenization theory based on the Hashin-Shtrikman coated ellipsoids is used to model the changes in the complex valued conductivity (or admittivity) of a lung during tidal breathing. Here, the lung is modeled as a two-phase composite material where the alveolar air-filling corresponds to the inclusion phase. The theory predicts a linear relationship between the real and the imaginary parts of the change in the complex valued conductivity of a lung during tidal breathing, and where the loss cotangent of the change is approximately the same as of the effective background conductivity and hence easy to estimate. The theory is illustrated with numerical examples, as well as by using reconstructed Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) images based on clinical data from an ongoing study within the EU-funded CRADL project. The theory may be potentially useful for improving the imaging algorithms and clinical evaluations in connection with lung EIT for respiratory management and monitoring in neonatal intensive care units

Observations of a ^3He-rich SEP Event over a Broad Range of Heliographic Longitudes: Results from STEREO and ACE

Observations of energetic ions and electrons from STEREO and ACE have been used to investigate the longitudinal extent of particle emissions from 3He ‐rich solar energetic particle (SEP) events. In the event of 3–4 Nov 2008, ions and electrons were detected 20° ahead and behind the nominal connection from the source region to 1 AU, and electrons were also detected 60° ahead. The results are consistent with those of earlier studies that correlated data from near‐Earth spacecraft with Helios data or with observations of source regions on the Sun