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A novel ex-core-detector–based core power reconstruction method is presented. The method uses power correlations between fuel regions and can be applied to a real-time small reactor core monitoring...

In order to solve the problem of distribution network reconstruction with distributed generation (DG) and electric vehicle (EV), a multi-objective distribution network reconstruction model with DG and EV is established in this study. Two rules for opening the loop are proposed to reduce the probability of infeasible solutions. Some measures are proposed to improve traditional gravitational algorithm (GSA). Firstly, the particle swarm algorithm (PSO) is combined to improves the update formula of speed and position. In this way, the global search capability of the GSA is enhanced, which gives the best performance with respect to jump out of the local traps. Furthermore, the processing method for agents that cross the boundary is improved, which increases the diversity of samples while generating elite particles. Hence, this method can improve the efficiency of the algorithm. Finally, the variability of load, DG and EV is considered for dynamic reconstruction. The validity of the optimization algorithm and refactoring strategy are demonstrated by case studies in the paper.

This paper summarizes almost two decades of applying the newsmaking reconstruction method for studying numerous aspects of news processes. The suggested methodology can overcome the shortcomings of...

Recently, there are few reports on three-dimensional (3D) imaging method based on radar network. Aiming at the 3D imaging problem in radar network, a reconstruction method for 3D inverse synthetic ...

The aim of the D-bar method is to solve inverse conductivity problems. For complex conductivity, Hamilton et al. presented a reconstruction method which consists of six steps. In this article, we p...

The EM algorithm is an effective reconstruction method for SPECT, because it can incorporate various physical factors into reconstruction. However, the convergence rate is very slow. One of the acc...

Skin cancer should be excised with sufficient margin to reduce recurrence rate. However, the surgeon always has to worry about the reconstruction method of skin defects after excision. In particular, defects in the plantar surface of the foot are difficult to reconstruct due to their position and structure, and various methods are applied by each surgeon. Surgeons think which methods are easier to apply to patients and less morbidity. To alleviate these concerns, we applied artificial dermal substitute to skin defects after skin cancer. Bowen's disease (squamous cell carcinoma in situ) and melanoma in situ on the plantar surface of the foot were subjected to wide excision with sufficient margin. After excision, a skin defect with exposed plantar fascia was applied with a matrix defect and vacuum. A granulation tissue (dermal matrix) was formed and a split-thickness skin graft was performed. Both patients had good functional results and no problems with skin donor sites. Thus, we report a skin graft method that is relatively easy to apply after skin cancer excision on the plantar surface of the foot.

In this paper, we study the properties of iteration OS-EM reconstruction method. We propose a speed-enhanced tomographic reconstruction algorithm that is accelerated to ordered-subset expectation-m...

The aim of this paper is to study sampling and reconstruction in a shift invariant space with multiple generators. On contrary to the classical case of a shift invariant space with a single generator, it is shown that cannot be a stable set of sampling for where when Further the problems of perturbation of a stable set of sampling and local reconstruction method are discussed along with an illustration and implementation.

In this paper, we focus on the detection of the shape and location of a discontinuous source term from the knowledge of boundary measurements. We propose a non-iterative reconstruction algo...

This paper deals with an inverse potential problem posed in two dimensional space whose forward problem is governed by a modified Helmholtz equation. The inverse problem consists in the reconstruct...

Due to the influence of sensor malfunction and poor atmospheric condition, missing information is inevitable in optical remotely sensed (RS) data, which limits the availability of RS data. To tackle the inverse problem of missing information recovery, a multiscale adaptive patch reconstruction method was proposed in this letter. Multiscale dictionaries were learned from different sizes of exemplars in the known image region, which were later utilized to infer missing information patch-by-patch via sparse representation. Structure sparsity was incorporated to encourage the filling-in of missing patch on image structures and determine the patch size for further inpainting. Neighboring information was employed to restrain the appearance of the estimated patch, to yield semantically consistent inpainting result. In view of these ideas, we formulate the optimization model of adaptive patch inpainting and reconstruct missing information through a multiscale scheme. Experiments are performed on cloud removal, gaps filling and quantitative product reconstruction, which demonstrate that our method can well preserve spatially continuous structures and consistent textures without artifacts.

Numerical methods are proposed for the efficient evaluation of the g-functions of geothermal bore fields using the finite line source solution. The presented methods reduce the calculation time for the calculation of g-functions by reducing the number of numerical evaluations of the analytical finite line source solution. A similarity identification method is presented to identify pairs of boreholes for which the finite line source solution takes the same value. A load history reconstruction method is presented to evaluate the g-function at non-uniform time-steps. Using the proposed numerical methods, the calculation time for the g-function of a rectangular field of 12 × 12 boreholes is reduced by a factor 308. The numerical methods allow the evaluation of g-functions of bore fields with large amounts of boreholes in irregular configurations. The g-function of a field of 512 randomly positioned boreholes is calculated in 27 minutes.

In this paper, we focus on the problem of joint DOA and DOD estimation in Bistatic MIMO Radar using sparse reconstruction method. In traditional ways, we usually convert the 2D parameter estimation...

In this paper, we modify a synthetic reconstruction (SR) method without samples. The synthetic reconstruction method is a method to generate attributes of population such as age, sex and kinship wi...

Despite post-crisis reforms in over-the-counter derivatives markets, regulators are left with incomplete, but still improved, data-sets. This means that methods for reconstructing networks of bilateral exposures from incomplete data are still necessary to conduct a proper assessment of systemic risk. In this paper, we propose a modification of the network reconstruction method developed by Cont and Moussa that includes additional information which is now available to regulators through post-crisis reforms. By making use of a data-set containing all transactions on UK single name CDS contracts, we assess the suitability of the proposed methodology by examining the characteristics of reconstructed and real networks. We find that the proposed methodology allows us to reconstruct networks that both comply with the newly available information, and are as heterogeneous and sparse with fat tailed in- and out- degree distributions as the real ones.

Several methods have been proposed to solve the one-class classification problem for vectors. Three methods are mainly used: density estimation, boundary methods, and reconstruction methods. The fo...

The reconstruction of populations by stochastic optimization solves the nontrivial problem of finding demographic flows from population registers or vital statistics and censuses, if available. These flows allow the reconstruction of stocks (age pyramids and vital statistics). After a review of reconstruction methods, the sensitivity analysis shows the robustness of the method by stochastic optimization to flawed or missing values, to the length of the reconstruction period, and to variations in the actual demographic flows.

Perhaps unlike other social roles that people may hold, caring for children offers opportunities for both immense joy and incredible frustration. Yet what predicts how parents will feel during caregiving experiences? In the current study, we examined parents' (N = 152) positive emotion, negative emotion, and felt meaning during caregiving using the Day Reconstruction Method. In addition, we tested attachment anxiety and avoidance as predictors of parents' emotion during caregiving relative to their other daily experiences. We found that attachment avoidance was associated with elevated negative emotion and reduced positive emotion and meaning in life across the entire day, whereas attachment anxiety was associated with elevated negative emotion and marginally greater meaning in life, but not positive emotion, across the entire day. Furthermore, caregiving was associated with greater positive emotion and meaning, but not negative emotion, compared to parents' other daily activities. Finally, attachment avoidance, but not anxiety, was associated with lower levels of positive emotion, negative emotion, and felt meaning during caregiving compared to other daily activities. These findings are consistent with other evidence that attachment avoidance is associated with deactivation of emotion in close relationships and suggest that attachment avoidance minimizes the joys of parenting.

Background Currently, there is no optimal digestive tract reconstruction technique well recognized by scholars after total gastrectomy. In this study, a new reconstruction method, which is modified from the classic Roux-en-Y procedure, an uncut jejunal esophageal anastomosis with double jejunal pouch (UJEA-DJP) was established, and its advantages for improving the quality of life of patients who undergo total gastrectomy were analyzed. Methods Altogether 160 patients with gastric cancer enrolled in our center from September 2009 to March 2012 received radical D2 total gastrectomy. According to the reconstruction methods used, these patients were divided into three groups: UJEA-DJP (n = 63), Roux-en-Y (n = 45), and P-loop with Roux-en-Y esophagojejunostomy (P-RY; n = 52). The operation time for reconstruction, complications, prognostic nutritional index (PNI), and the Visick classification among the three groups were analyzed. Results We found that UJEA-DJP has advantages over Roux-en-Y and P-RY regarding the time of digestive tract reconstruction, incidence rates for long-term complications, postoperative nutritional index, body weight recovery, and the Visick classification for subjective feelings (p Conclusions The UJEA-DJP surgical procedure has the advantages of intestinal continuity and double-pouch construction, which can significantly reduce long-term complications and improve the long-term quality of life of patients after surgical procedure.

The authors defined optimal experience as a functional state of a relatively high level of concentration, time distortion, satisfaction, and enjoyment (Csikszentmihalyi, 1992) and collected data through the Day Reconstruction Method. In three random days, 147 fifth-grade students answered questionnaires for each school event in the previous day resulting repeated data from 2,288 episodes. Several hierarchical linear models were conducted. The authors found that elementary students perceived better quality of optimal experience during break time versus classes taught by activity, seatwork or lecture methods. Unexpectedly, more optimal experience was reported in the events when students perceived themselves as having high skill but low challenge, contradictory to the original expectation of skill–challenge balance. Four additional flow conditions were more effective than primary flow condition and instructional methods in predicting optimal experience. Finally, optimal experience varied much more ac...

Headcut erosion has been recognized as one of the main processes involved in gully development in the dry-hot valley region of southwest China. To examine the effect of initial step height on headcut erosion processes, three headcuts were constructed ranging in height from 0.75 to 1.25m on an active bank gully head, and a series of scouring experiments were conducted under a flow discharge of 120Lmin(-1). The morphological evolutions of the plunge pools and soil loss volume were estimated by three-dimensional photo-reconstruction methods (3D-PR). As the step height increased, the experimental results showed that: (1) the transformed potential energy and shear stress would increase by approximately 4.89Js(-1) and 26.4Pa on average when the step height increased 0.25m; (2) the mean depth and width of the plunge pool exhibited obvious growth, and the morphology of the cross-section developed from approximately V-shaped to U-shaped; and (3) soil loss volume increased logarithmically, with total soil loss volumes of 0.076, 0.105 and 0.116m(3), respectively. Although the significant effects of the initial step height on headcut erosion were verified, further quantitative studies are required to quantify the mechanism of headcut erosion, especially for plunge pool erosion.

Recently, compressive sensing CS has offered a new framework whereby a signal can be recovered from a small number of noisy non-adaptive samples. This is now an active area of research in many image-processing applications, especially super-resolution. CS algorithms are widely known to be computationally expensive. This paper studies a real time super-resolution reconstruction method based on the compressive sampling matching pursuit CoSaMP algorithm for hyperspectral images. CoSaMP is an iterative compressive sensing method based on the orthogonal matching pursuit OMP. Multi-spectral images record enormous volumes of data that are required in practical modern remote-sensing applications. A proposed implementation based on the graphical processing unit GPU has been developed for CoSaMP using computed unified device architecture CUDA and the cuBLAS library. The CoSaMP algorithm is divided into interdependent parts with respect to complexity and potential for parallelization. The proposed implementation is evaluated in terms of reconstruction error for different state-of-the-art super-resolution methods. Various experiments were conducted using real hyperspectral images collected by Earth Observing-1 EO-1, and experimental results demonstrate the speeding up of the proposed GPU implementation and compare it to the sequential CPU implementation and state-of-the-art techniques. The speeding up of the GPU-based implementation is up to approximately 70 times faster than the corresponding optimized CPU.

A current reconstruction method, for determining currents in a set of parallel infinitely long conductors located above the ground from measured magnetic field, is developed. The method is designed ...

The present work poses a method for the measurement of geometric parameters of rail wheels in a dynamic condition, by reconstructing the profilogram from a portion of the wheel surface wear with artificial vision. The suggested procedure can work with a two-dimensional laser displacement transducer or by processing a sole image from a single camera with a structured light source. These two procedures require fewer devices and simpler implementation processes and allow the use of mathematical algorithms that demand less information processing, thus generating more accurate results. Railway operators may implement this method to perform predictive maintenance to their rolling stock at a fraction of the regular cost; thus achieving better precision, availability, maintenance performance and improving safety. Results were compared to those given by commercial equipment, showing similar precision but a better cost–benefit relation.

In this paper, we concern with determining the shape of a perfectly conducting cavity from the Cauchy data on a curve inside the cavity. The near-field linear sampling method (LSM), i.e. the reciprocity gap (RG) functional method, is employed to reconstruct the shape of the cavity. The equivalence of the RG method and the linear sampling method with mere the scattered field is established. But from the examples, we can see that the reconstructions are as satisfactory as the exterior scattering problems. I think this behavior is due to our reconstruction method since this method is due to the Cauchy data, but the LSM with mere the scattered field is used. Numerical tests show that the methods can provide qualitative information on the cavity. The numerical influence of the proposed method with respect to the wave numbers, the curve for the Cauchy data on which are measured, and the curve which is used to construct the single-layer potential function, respectively, are also analyzed with some examples. In p...

This diary study builds on the effort-recovery and broaden-and-build theories to examine whether the subjective experience of off-job activities (work-related, household, social, physical, low-effort) matters for an individual's daily recovery from work. It was hypothesized that momentary happiness experienced during off-job activities stops the prolongation of load reactions from work-related effort, and builds personal resources that benefit daily recovery from work. Using a day reconstruction method, 384 participants recruited via a Dutch website reconstructed their time spent on, and happiness during, off-job activities, and their daily recovery on workdays over a two-week period. Results of hierarchical linear modelling showed that work-related and household activities during off-job time were negatively associated with recovery at bedtime when happiness during such activities was low, but not when happiness was high. Social and physical activities were associated positively with recovery when happiness during such activities was high, but negatively when happiness was low, indicating that such activities only aid recovery when they are enjoyed. The findings expand knowledge on recovery by showing that it is not just the time spent on off-work activities but the subjective experience of such activities that plays a pivotal role in the way they are linked to recovery.

Molecular reconstruction methods allow creating mixtures of molecules from partial analysis data. Suitable properties estimation equations for hydrocarbons are selected through verification. Then virtual molecules of crude oil are obtained through Monte Carlo random sampling method. With the mixing rules of hydrocarbon properties, objective function is obtained by comparing with analytical properties. Appropriate optimization algorithm is selected to minimize the objective function, and the content of virtual molecules is further adjusted according to the actual fraction distribution of crude oil. Verification results showed the reliability of this method and further application on other crude oils proved its practicality.

The reconstruction method of homogenized cross sections in the direct response matrix method has been developed. In this reconstruction method, homogenized cross sections, which take into consideration the influences of neighboring fuel assemblies, can be reconstructed with the response relationship of incoming neutron partial currents and neutron production rates. Calculations for heterogeneous multi fuel assembly systems were done to verify the developed method. The thermal energy group fuel assembly cell-averaged homogenized cross sections reconstructed by this method agreed with those evaluated by the direct calculation of the whole system using the Monte Carlo method within 0.2%. The effect using the reconstructed fuel assembly cell-averaged homogenized cross sections in a conventional core analysis code using cross sections homogenized in a fuel assembly cell was also investigated. The results obtained showed that the analysis accuracy of k-infinity can be improved by using the cross sections recons...

Habitual sniffing affects the pathogenicity and recurrence of cholesteatoma. Postoperative instructions requesting patients to cease sniffing may reduce the retraction and recurrence of cholesteatoma.To examine the relationship between tympanic membrane retraction and habitual sniffing in patients with cholesteatoma.We recruited 98 patients (102 ears) who were surgically treated for cholesteatoma by canal wall-down tympanoplasty (22 ears) or canal wall-down tympanoplasty with reconstruction methods (80 ears). We classified these patients into two groups on the basis of their preoperative habitual sniffing: habitual and non-habitual sniffers. The findings of the contralateral tympanic membrane were examined in each group and were classified according to the Tos classifications. Next, we evaluated the incidence of 1-year postoperative tympanic membrane retraction treated by the canal-down tympanoplasty with reconstruction method in the following three groups: non-habitual sniffing group, sniffing cessation group, and continual sniffing group.In habitual sniffers, the Tos classifications of contralateral tympanic membrane were normal in 7% (3/41). In contrast, for non-habitual sniffers, the findings were normal in 39% (21/54). These results indicate that sniffing causes tympanic membrane retraction. The tympanic membranes of patients in the sniffing cessation group were largely normal after surgery. However, more than 50% of the patients who continued to sniff after surgery showed retraction or recurrent cholesteatoma.

Porosity represents amount of pore, but the distribution of these pores is more important to percolation. The authors get core images from a computed tomography experiment of real rock core and use multiple point geological statistics to simulate 12 samples of digital core. Then they propose a new reconstruction method of pore network model and calculate the distribution of radius of pore body and pore throat. The authors study the relationship between model parameters and permeability. From the experiment they discover the number of throat whose width is more than 20 μm is the main factor of the permeability.

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) comprises 2 distinct bands or bundles-the anteromedial bundle, which is tighter in flexion, and the posterolateral bundle, which is tighter in extension. Traditional ACL reconstruction uses 1 graft. A new technique, known as the double-bundle technique, uses 2 tendon grafts to more closely approximate normal anatomy. Because the medical literature does not provide a definitive answer as to which reconstruction method is better, we surveyed 500 experts in sports medicine in a previous study to determine whether they agreed with the statement "ACL reconstruction is optimally performed with the double-bundle technique." Respondents were inclined to answer "This statement is probably false." Our article interprets the expert responses by reviewing the basic and clinical sciences implicit in the question and reviewing the literature regarding outcomes. We found that double-bundle ACL reconstruction is theoretically appealing, but evidence proving that it improves clinical outcomes is unavailable. High-quality studies are under way on the topic, which may provide a definitive answer. However, until such data are available, the expert consensus from our survey was that the double-bundle technique is not necessarily the optimal approach.

The problem of reconstruction of the past failure times in the left-censored set-up is considered. Various reconstructors of time to failure of units censored in a left-censored sample from the proportional reversed hazard rate models are demonstrated. The maximum-likelihood, best unbiased and conditional median reconstructors are obtained. We also present two methods, non-Bayesian and Bayesian, for obtaining reconstruction intervals for the past failure times. Numerical example and a Monte Carlo simulation study are given to illustrate all the reconstruction methods discussed in this paper.

To demonstrate with a visual model the movement of potential tumour recurrence margins with different random flap reconstruction methods.A porcine skin model was marked using a skin marker with a tumour and four quadrant margins. Each quadrant was marked in a different color around the tumour. The lesion was excised and repaired using different random flap reconstruction methods; finger, rotation, rhomboid and O-Z flaps.A clear visual demonstration of the relative movement of the edges is seen using the pig-skin model; this is shown with sequence photography. The finger, rotation, and rhomboid flap all create a double margin alignment and an edge free of tumour margins; the O-Z repair produces a linear repair with margins opposing each other.The study clearly illustrates the movement of margins when repairing a defect with a random flap. The different flap reconstruction methods are shown to produce areas of the final scar in which double tumour margins exist. Knowledge of the movement of margins is clinically important when re-excision of tumour scars is considered or when following up patients clinically.

In this paper, the extended SMASH algorithm in the Fourier domain is presented as a reconstruction method equivalent to the generalized SENSE (GenSENSE) reconstruction in the spatial domain mathematically. Both algorithms reconstruct full resolution images for the parallel magnetic resonance imaging (pMRI). The equivalent relationship between the two algorithms is reinterpreted in the functional expansion form as linear combinations where the reconstruction coefficients are decided by the coil sensitivity maps. As a result, the previously developed SMASH-based algorithms can be recast as approximations of the GenSENSE. In addition, the role that the auto-calibration signal (ACS) lines played in the SMASH-based reconstruction is further enlightened by revealing the advantages and limitations of the ACS lines in reconstructing high quality sensitivity-invariant MRI images.

Reconstruction of intermediate view from arbitrary view plays an important role in the three-dimensional display system and the multi-view video compression. In this paper, we propose a new algorithm to create intermediate views from multiple views. First, a new centralized phase-based support-weights approach was proposed for disparity estimation, then the estimated disparity is refined by the multi-view information and the inpainting technique was employed to repair the remaining occluded regions. Our proposed algorithm could reconstruct the intermediate view with favourite quality, and the rectified images from the Middlebury database which contains the original intermediate images are used to test our algorithm. Experimental results show that our method can achieve a high image quality compared to stream-centric dense stereo method without introducing obvious artefacts.

The present research explores how older adults experience daily activities through an application of the Day Reconstruction Method (Kahneman, Kreuger, Schakade, Schwartz, & Stone, 2004). Over the course of the day, individuals (N = 192, M = 72 years) spent an average of 14.50 hours engaged in a variety of activities. Individual differences in activity patterns could be partly explained by age and educational attainment. The oldest individuals (81-92 years) perceived lower levels of competence when engaging in daily activities. Regardless of age, however, individuals with greater educational attainment allocated more time and felt more intellectually challenged in their daily experiences.

In this study, the kinetic information reconstruction method is applied to measure the degradation of a dye in an ozonation gas-liquid reactor. The application of this method combined with the study of the ozone gas phase concentration has made possible a deeper study of the fast reaction between ozone and blue indigo trisulfonate. For this kinetic study different rigorous mathematical models based on Film Layer Theory, Surface Renewal Model and Penetration Theory have been used.

Three-dimensional mechanical modelling of muscles is essential for various biomechanical applications and clinical evaluation, but it requires a tedious manual processing of numerous images. A muscle reconstruction method is presented based on a reduced set of images to generate an approximate parametric object from basic dimensions of muscle contours. A regular volumic mesh is constructed based on this parametric object. The approximate object and the corresponding mesh are deformed to fit the exact muscles contours yielding patient-specific geometry. Evaluation was performed by comparison of geometry to that obtained by contouring all computed tomography (CT) slices, and by quantification of the mesh quality criteria. Muscle fatty infiltration was estimated using a threshold between fat and muscle. Volumic fat index (VFI) of a muscle was computed using first all the complete CT scan slices containing the muscle (VFI(ref)) and a second time only the slices used for reconstruction (VFI(recons)). Mean volume error estimation was 2.6% and hexahedron meshes fulfilled quality criteria. VFI(recons) respect the individual variation of fat content.

Purpose. To review research from the behavioral sciences that demonstrates how predictions of future events – and memories of past events – are often systematically biased.Method. Description of how these biases present challenges for subjective outcome measurement in rehabilitation settings, and for measuring health utility.Results. Two new techniques for outcome measurement that have been specifically designed to resist these biases – Ecological Momentary Assessment and the Day Reconstruction Method are successful.Conclusion. We propose that these techniques could be adopted for measuring rehabilitation outcomes.

In the decoupled reconstruction method, using an improved Tikhonov regularization method, the temperature distribution in a participating medium is reconstructed from the boundary temperature image, and the radiative properties (absorption and scattering coefficients) are updated from the measured radiative intensity image. These two steps are taken alternately until convergence is reached. The distributions of temperature and radiative properties for two one-dimensional cases are reconstructed by the method from the boundary temperature and intensity images disturbed by measuremental errors with standard deviations up to 0.05, and the method shows good accuracy and robustness.

A 3-dimensional (3D) reconstruction method based on layered-homogenous-tissue model to obtain dielectric properties of superficial tissues of human body by noninvasive measurement is presented in this paper. First a circle patch probe fed by coaxial line is optimized by using micro genetic algorithm (MGA) to measure reflection coefficient at a wide frequency range from 1 GHz to 7 GHz. Then reconstruction method based on MGA is discussed and verified by some experiments. Finally, the dielectric properties of skin, fat and muscle, as well as thickness of skin and fat, on the human back are reconstructed. The reconstructed results agree to the published data.

The aim is to consider the problem of the gradient reconstruction in a subregion located in the boundary of the evolution domain of a parabolic system. A reconstruction method is then presented, which is based on internal regional gradient observability techniques. The performance of the developed approach is successfully tested through computer simulations.

Conclusions: Our reconstruction method using a V-Y island flap was minimally invasive and yielded a satisfactory esthetic result without impairing the patient's postoperative quality of life (QOL). Objective: Malignant skin tumors of the head and neck often affect the patient's appearance and QOL. Therefore, surgery for terminally staged patients with malignant skin tumors may be a treatment of choice for surgeons in a palliative care team to improve and sustain the patient's QOL. Methods: We describe our experience of surgical treatment of a large primary malignant skin tumor in the head performed as part of palliative care in a 38-year-old woman in the terminal stage. We developed a V-Y island flap that did not result in postoperative alopecia. Results: After surgery, the patient did not have alopecia and her hair hid the scar. The patient and her family were greatly satisfied with the result. Although the surgery did not extend her life, it alleviated her depressed condition caused by the unco...

Nowadays, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) methods play an important part in the production process of the automotive industry. Progress in recent years has made possible highly sophisticated airflow-simulation models that are used in engineering for optimization and verification of aerodynamics. The key purpose of the Simulation Tool for Airflow in the human Nose (STAN), developed at the Darmstadt University of Technology in cooperation with the University Hospital in Greifswald, is to use these techniques to support the rhinosurgeon in diagnosis and planning of therapy (Friihauf T, Mlynski G. Simulation and visualization of the air flow in the human nose. Proceedings of the First World Congress on Computational Medicine, Austin, Texas, 1994). A system has been developed that realizes a three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of the endonasal cavities based on computer tomography (CT) scans. This semiautomatic reconstruction method requires minimal manual intervention. The surface model is used to create...

The postnatal development of the Eustachian tube (ET) and its surrounding structures was investigated by means of computer-aided three-dimensional (3-D) reconstruction methods in 13 normal human temporal bones, obtained from individuals 3 months to 71 years old. The cross-sectional area, width and height of the lumen in most of the cartilaginous portion of the ET were significantly smaller in children than in adults. In particular, there was a marked, age-associated difference in the shape of the lumen in the cartilaginous portion of the ET. In adults, the cross-sectional area of the lumen declined monotonically between a large opening at the pharyngeal orifice and the narrowest portion of the ET (near the border of the cartilaginous and junctional regions). In children, by contrast, the ET lumen was uniformly smaller over the first 80% of its length from the pharyngeal orifice. It is suggested that this immature morphology of the ET lumen may confer increased risk of developing otitis media during childhood.

We analyse analytically the coding of information by a spiking neuron. The emphasis is on the question of how many spikes are necessary for the reliable discrimination of two different input signals. The discrimination ability is measured by the second-order Rényi mutual information between the random variable describing the name of the signal and a sequence of n output spikes. Analysing this measure as a function of n, we study the coding strategy of a single spiking neuron, with the following main results. A small number of output spikes is required for efficient discrimination of input signals, i.e. for encoding them, if the separation is easy; a large number of output spikes is required in the difficult case of separation of very similar input signals. Three different versions of the spike response model of a single neuron are studied. The approach presented can be regarded as a non-parametric version of the reconstruction method of Bialek.

This study tests a methodology for obtaining data regarding difficult to access communication — joint conversation reconstruction. Students participated in brief conversations with a friend and later reconstructed that conversation either alone or with their conversation partner. Results indicate that conversations reconstructed by participants jointly, rather than individually, resulted in significantly more complete and accurate recall for conversations. Results also indicate a synergistic effect where the memories of individuals recalling together represented significantly more complete recall than simply the sum of individual memories.

Preliminary to implementing a pin power reconstruction scheme in the nodal core calculations of the ELCOS system, the “main stream” methods and elements thereof were tested against fine-mesh calcul...

In an earlier paper, we showed that a high-fidelity tomographic imaging reconstruction method for photopyroelectric thermal wave detection equipment could be achieved through a high signal-to-noise ratio detection technique and through a new calculation algorithm. However, reproducibility of the experiments was inadequate, resulting in reconstructed tomographic imagings that were often significantly deteriorated. Several subsequent investigations revealed that the adhesion method used to attach pyroelectric film to test samples influences tomographic imaging fidelity and reproducibility. This paper describes the effects of two experimental conditions: 1) adhesion methods of test samples; and, 2) humidity conditions on tomographic imaging fidelity and reproducibility. PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) and LiTaO3 were used as the pyroelectric films. Silver powdered paste as well as silicon grease were chosen for the investigations as the adhesives. Investigations, demonstrated that: 1) in the case of PVDF film...