Contractile Rate of Muscle Displacement Estimated from the Slope of the Displacement-Time Curve using Tensiomyography

Tensiomyography (TMG) can estimate the intrinsic contractile potential of a muscle using data between 10 and 90% of the displacement-time curve. However, it is yet to be determined whether this data represents the greatest rate of displacement i.e. the most valid estimate of the maximal shortening velocity of a muscle. The aim of this secondary analysis of data gathered from 10 participants who had maximal displacement (Dm) of the rectus femoris assessed using TMG, was to compare the rate of displacement using data from 0 – 100% of Dm; 10 – 90% of Dm and the most linear phase of the displacement-time curve. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated that rate of displacement increased as data bands narrowed towards the most linear phase of the displacement-time curve (P<0.001). Rate of displacement explained the greatest proportion of variance in total Tc when estimated from the linear phase (R2=0.601; P=0.008). Rate of displacement estimated from data points between 10 – 90% of Dm had a strong association with rate of displacement estimated from the linear phase (r=0.996; P<0.001). The most valid estimate of maximal rate of displacement comes from the linear phase of the displacement-time curve

Color camera computed tomography imaging spectrometer for improved spatial-spectral image accuracy

Computed tomography imaging spectrometers ("CTIS"s) having color focal plane array detectors are provided. The color FPA detector may comprise a digital color camera including a digital image sensor, such as a Foveon X3.RTM. digital image sensor or a Bayer color filter mosaic. In another embodiment, the CTIS includes a pattern imposed either directly on the object scene being imaged or at the field stop aperture. The use of a color FPA detector and the pattern improves the accuracy of the captured spatial and spectral information

Spatial image modulation to improve performance of computed tomography imaging spectrometer

Computed tomography imaging spectrometers ("CTIS"s) having patterns for imposing spatial structure are provided. The pattern may be imposed either directly on the object scene being imaged or at the field stop aperture. The use of the pattern improves the accuracy of the captured spatial and spectral information

Single-lens computed tomography imaging spectrometer and method of capturing spatial and spectral information

Computed tomography imaging spectrometers ("CTISs") employing a single lens are provided. The CTISs may be either transmissive or reflective, and the single lens is either configured to transmit and receive uncollimated light (in transmissive systems), or is configured to reflect and receive uncollimated light (in reflective systems). An exemplary transmissive CTIS includes a focal plane array detector, a single lens configured to transmit and receive uncollimated light, a two-dimensional grating, and a field stop aperture. An exemplary reflective CTIS includes a focal plane array detector, a single mirror configured to reflect and receive uncollimated light, a two-dimensional grating, and a field stop aperture

Racial Epithets in the Criminal Process

The evidence of modern bias is often difficult to document and, even when documented, still capable of racially neutral interpretations. In contrast, the use of racial epithets is neither subtle nor ambiguous. Prior to the research that generated this article and our representation of two clients whose cases involved racial epithets, we would have assumed that the use of a racial epithet by a decision-maker in a criminal trial would be rare, but that assumption turns out to be wrong. We also would have assumed that the use of an epithet by any of the decision makers would lead to reversal, but that assumption also turns out to be largely wrong. Examination of modern racial epithet cases reveals the persistence of race-based animosity and the absence, in most jurisdictions, of any significant efforts to ameliorate its influence on criminal cases. We collect the cases and review courts’s reasons for denying relief. Then we consider how a judicial system committed to racial equality would respond to racial epithets in criminal cases. Ultimately, we propose, explain, and defend the following rule: When a (1) decision maker in a (2) criminal case uses a (3) racial epithet to address, describe, or refer to (4) the defendant, or in the case of a lawyer, other defendants he or she contemporaneously represented or prosecuted, and the defendant raises the resulting claim at (5) the first opportunity after he discovers the use of the epithet, the defendant’s (6) conviction should be reversed. A nation that has made some progress toward the goal of racial justice should both acknowledge that progress and admit that the goal has not yet been achieved. Rooting out the influence of racial epithets, whenever discovered, is a necessary, albeit modest, step toward that goal

Racial Epithets in the Criminal Process

The evidence of modern bias is often difficult to document and, even when documented, still capable of racially neutral interpretations. In contrast, the use of racial epithets is neither subtle nor ambiguous. Prior to the research that generated this article and our representation of two clients whose cases involved racial epithets, we would have assumed that the use of a racial epithet by a decision-maker in a criminal trial would be rare, but that assumption turns out to be wrong. We also would have assumed that the use of an epithet by any of the decision makers would lead to reversal, but that assumption also turns out to be largely wrong. Examination of modern racial epithet cases reveals the persistence of race-based animosity and the absence, in most jurisdictions, of any significant efforts to ameliorate its influence on criminal cases. We collect the cases and review courts’s reasons for denying relief. Then we consider how a judicial system committed to racial equality would respond to racial epithets in criminal cases. Ultimately, we propose, explain, and defend the following rule: When a (1) decision maker in a (2) criminal case uses a (3) racial epithet to address, describe, or refer to (4) the defendant, or in the case of a lawyer, other defendants he or she contemporaneously represented or prosecuted, and the defendant raises the resulting claim at (5) the first opportunity after he discovers the use of the epithet, the defendant’s (6) conviction should be reversed. A nation that has made some progress toward the goal of racial justice should both acknowledge that progress and admit that the goal has not yet been achieved. Rooting out the influence of racial epithets, whenever discovered, is a necessary, albeit modest, step toward that goal

A standardised protocol for the assessment of lower limb muscle contractile properties in football players using Tensiomyography

Tensiomyography is used to measure skeletal muscle contractile properties, most notably muscle displacement (Dm) and contraction time (Tc). Professional football medical departments are currently using the equipment to profile the muscle function of their squad and subsequently evaluate change due to injury or intervention. However, at present there are no published standardised operating procedures for identifying probe position for muscle assessment. In this technical report we propose standardised operating procedures for the identification of precise probe position as part of an on-going study in male professional footballers

Spatial Modulation Improves Performance in CTIS

Suitably formulated spatial modulation of a scene imaged by a computed-tomography imaging spectrometer (CTIS) has been found to be useful as a means of improving the imaging performance of the CTIS. As used here, "spatial modulation" signifies the imposition of additional, artificial structure on a scene from within the CTIS optics. The basic principles of a CTIS were described in "Improvements in Computed- Tomography Imaging Spectrometry" (NPO-20561) NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 24, No. 12 (December 2000), page 38 and "All-Reflective Computed-Tomography Imaging Spectrometers" (NPO-20836), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 26, No. 11 (November 2002), page 7a. To recapitulate: A CTIS offers capabilities for imaging a scene with spatial, spectral, and temporal resolution. The spectral disperser in a CTIS is a two-dimensional diffraction grating. It is positioned between two relay lenses (or on one of two relay mirrors) in a video imaging system. If the disperser were removed, the system would produce ordinary images of the scene in its field of view. In the presence of the grating, the image on the focal plane of the system contains both spectral and spatial information because the multiple diffraction orders of the grating give rise to multiple, spectrally dispersed images of the scene. By use of algorithms adapted from computed tomography, the image on the focal plane can be processed into an image cube a three-dimensional collection of data on the image intensity as a function of the two spatial dimensions (x and y) in the scene and of wavelength (lambda). Thus, both spectrally and spatially resolved information on the scene at a given instant of time can be obtained, without scanning, from a single snapshot; this is what makes the CTIS such a potentially powerful tool for spatially, spectrally, and temporally resolved imaging. A CTIS performs poorly in imaging some types of scenes in particular, scenes that contain little spatial or spectral variation. The computed spectra of such scenes tend to approximate correct values to within acceptably small errors near the edges of the field of view but to be poor approximations away from the edges. The additional structure imposed on a scene according to the present method enables the CTIS algorithms to reconstruct acceptable approximations of the spectral data throughout the scene

Microscopic analytical theory of a correlated, two-dimensional N-electron gas in a magnetic field

We present a microscopic, analytical theory describing a confined N-electron gas in two dimensions subject to an external magnetic field. The number of electrons N and strength of the electron-electron interaction can be arbitrarily large, and all Landau levels are included implicitly. A possible connection with the Integer and Fractional Quantum Hall Effects is proposed.Comment: The revised version contains minor changes to text. To be published in J. Phys: Condens. Mat

Ultrahigh Vacuum Cryostat System for Extended Low Temperature Space Environment Testing

The range of temperature measurements have been significantly extended for an existing space environment simulation test chamber used in the study of electron emission, sample charging and discharge, electrostatic discharge and arcing, electron transport, and luminescence of spacecraft materials. This was accomplished by incorporating a new two- stage, closed-cycle helium cryostat which has an extended sample temperature range from450 K, with long-term controlled stability o