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Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emissions (DPOAE) offer great potential for hearing diagnosis, but are complicated by the interaction of components generated by different mechanisms. Separation of these components from DPOAE measurements may allow conclusions to be drawn about the functionality of these separate mechanisms of a cochlear. However, the signal processing methods for performing this separation are imperfect. Existing methods are based on time windowing of DPOAE generated from frequency sweep stimuli. This paper presents a method in which the entire spectra of both distortion (D) and reflection (R) components are simultaneously estimated. This approach has several advantages. Firstly, the method removes the need for a compromise between frequency precision and signal to noise ratio. Secondly, the method can be made to include models of the stimulus signals, so that the stimulus does not strongly interfere with the estimation process. Thirdly, the method can be arranged to make efficient use of data that has been corrupted by measurement artefacts. Fourthly, the method can be easily adapted to track DPOAEs that are changing in response to chemical or acoustic treatments. The basic modelling assumptions made are that the sum of R and D measurements can be represented as the sum of convolutions with the stimulus signal, the frequency representation of the D component is more smooth than the R component, and that a reasonable estimate of the noise level in the signal is available. These assumptions are combined into a linear convex problem. In this paper we compare the proposed approach with three other methods. While it is not superior to the earlier methods at every frequency, it does offer some improvement, particularly with regards reducing the contamination of D by R.

Two hydrodynamic effects are introduced in the standard transmission-line formalism, the focusing of the pressure and fluid velocity fields near the basilar membrane and the viscous damping at the fluid-basilar membrane interface, which significantly affect the cochlear response in the short-wave region. In this region, in which the wavelength is shorter than the cochlear duct height, only a layer of fluid of order of the wavelength is effectively involved in the traveling wave. This has been interpreted [8] as a reduced fluid contribution to the system inertia in the peak region, which is a viewpoint common to the 3-D FEM solutions. In this paper we propose an alternative approach, from a slightly different physical viewpoint. Invoking the fluid flux conservation along the traveling wave propagation direction, we can derive a rigorous propagation equation for the pressure integrated along the vertical axis. Consequently, the relation between the average pressure and the local pressure [4] at the fluid-BM interface can be written. The local pressure is amplified by a factor dependent on the local wavenumber with respect to the average pressure, a phenomenon we refer to as "fluid focusing", which plays a relevant role in the BM total amplification gain. This interpretation of the hydrodynamic boost to the pressure provides a physical justification to the strategy [10] of fitting the BM admittance with a polynomial containing both a conjugated pole and a zero. In the short-wave region, the sharp gradients of the velocity field yield a second important effect, a damping force on the BM motion, proportional to the local wavenumber, which stabilizes active models and shifts the peak of the response towards the base, with respect to the resonant place. This way, the peaked BM response is not that of a proper resonance, corresponding to a sharp maximum of the admittance, but rather a focusing-driven growth toward the resonant place, which is "aborted" before reaching it by the sharply increasing viscous losses. The large values of the wavenumber that ensure strong focusing are ultimately fueled, against viscosity, by the nonlinear OHC mechanism, hence the otherwise puzzling observation of a wide nonlinear gain dynamics with almost level-independent admittance.

Intermittent high intensity ultrasound pulses with circulating contrast agent microbubbles can induce scattered microlesions of potential value for myocardial reduction therapy. This paper presents an in vitro setup imitating the treatment for monitoring development. A preclinical imaging system with a single element transducer, synchronization and receive-only imaging transducer array has been implemented on a research platform. Contrast agent microbubbles pumped in a dialysis tubing setup were exposed to high intensity focused ultrasound at 1.0/3.5 MHz center frequencies. Polystyrene spheres were employed as linear scatterers compared to contrast agents for system transfer function equalization. A cavitation mapping technique was employed to spatially locate and depict microbubble activity during treatment. For high acoustic pressure amplitudes a 5 dB difference between contrast agent and solid spheres was observed and spatially mapped. The in-plane resolution was 4.5 mm for axial and 1.5 mm laterally. In the future, this cavitation detection scheme will be applied to monitor in vivo microlesioning in real-time.

Acoustic radiation force is a nonlinear acoustic effect caused by the transfer of wave momentum to absorbing or scattering objects. This phenomenon is exploited in modern ultrasound metrology for measurement of the acoustic power radiated by a source and is used for both therapeutic and diagnostic sources in medical applications. To calculate radiation force an acoustic hologram can be used in conjunction with analytical expressions based on the angular spectrum of the measured field. The results of an experimental investigation of radiation forces in two different cases are presented in this paper. In one case, the radiation force of an obliquely incident ultrasound beam on a large absorber (which completely absorbs the beam) is considered. The second case concerns measurement of the radiation force on a spherical target that is small compared to the beam diameter.

Human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is pandemic. It has affected nearly 60 million people since the detection of the disease in 1981 to date. In this paper basic deterministic HIV/AIDS model with mass action incidence function are developed. Stability analysis is carried out. And the disease free equilibrium of the basic model was found to be locally asymptotically stable whenever the threshold parameter (RO) value is less than one, and unstable otherwise. The model is extended by introducing two optimal control strategies namely, CD4 counts and treatment for the infective using optimal control theory. Numerical simulation was carried out in order to illustrate the analytic results.

Recent basilar-membrane (BM) vibration experiments show that the phase slope of the distortion product (DP) in the cochlear region in which a backward-traveling wave is expected is negative, which is typical of a forward-traveling wave, according to the predictions of quasi-linear approximate solutions of classical 1-D transmission-line cochlear models. This phase behavior has been interpreted as suggesting a strong deviation from the "classical" models of the otoacoustic emission (OAE) generation and transmission. In this paper, the DP phase inversion phenomenon is approached from a conservative point of view. The DP phase is calculated in a classical cochlear model. The main conclusion is that deviations from the classical model are not necessary to account for the observed phase behavior.

This paper considers a mathematical model of infectious disease of SIS type. We will analyze the problem of minimizing the cost of diseases trough medical treatment. Mathematical modeling of this process leads to an optimal control problem with a finite horizon. The necessary conditions for optimality are given. Using the optimality conditions we prove the existence, uniqueness and stability of the steady state for a differential equations system.

This paper reviews the history and principles of Monte Carlo simulation, emphasizing techniques commonly used in the simulation of medical imaging.

An introduction to Monte Carlo simulation of emission tomography. This paper reviews the history and principles of Monte Carlo simulation, then applies these principles to emission tomography using the public domain simulation package SimSET (a Simulation System for Emission Tomography) as an example. Finally, the paper discusses how the methods are modified for X-ray computed tomography and radiotherapy simulations.