Simultaneous analysis of vocal fold vibration and transglottal airflow: exploring a new experimental setup

The purpose of this study was to develop an analysis system for studying the relationship between vocal fold vibration and the associated transglottal airflow. Recordings of airflow, electroglottography (EGG), oral air pressure, and acoustic signals were performed simultaneously with high-speed imaging at a rate of approximately 1900 frames/s. Inverse filtered airflow is compared with the simultaneous glottal area extracted from the high-speed image sequence. The accuracy of the synchronization between the camera images and the foot pedal synchronization pulse was examined, showing that potential synchronization errors increase with time distance to the synchronization pulse. Therefore, analysis was limited to material near the synchronization pulse. Results corroborate previous predictions that air flow lags behind area, but also they reveal that relationships between these two entities may be complex and apparently varying with phonation mode.     

On-off collective imperfect phase synchronization and bursts in wave energy in a turbulent state

A new type of synchronization, on-off collective imperfect phase synchronization, is found in a turbulent state. In the driver frame the nonlinear wave system can be transformed to a set of coupled oscillators moving in a potential related to the unstable steady wave. In "on" stages the oscillators in different spatial scales adjust themselves to collective imperfect phase synchronization, inducing strong bursts in the wave energy. The interspike intervals display a power-law distribution. In addition to the embedded saddle point, it is emphasized that the delocalization of the master mode also plays an important role in developing the on-off synchronization.     

三个不同时间尺度的电耦合模型的组合簇放电

胰岛中间隙连接的胰腺β细胞的簇放电行为对胰岛素分泌起着重要的作用. 本文利用了最小的phantom 簇放电模型, 研究两个电耦合胰腺β细胞具有簇同步的组合簇放电, 其膜电位表现出一个长簇和几个短簇组成的放电簇集和振幅先减小后增大的小振幅阈下振荡的相互转迁. 在两个慢变量和快的膜电位的三维空间中, 分别考虑了中慢变量和慢慢变量作为分岔参数的多层次的快慢动力学分析, 研究这两个时间尺度不同的慢变量如何共同或单独地控制着这种组合簇放电的复杂动力学行为. 特别地, 探讨了耦合强度引起的组合簇放电的每个簇集中短簇个数变化的内在机理. 关键词： 电耦合 具有不同时间尺度的慢变量 组合簇放电 快慢动力学分析     

Phase synchronization of instrumental music signals

Signal analysis is one of the finest scientific techniques in communication theory. Some quantitative and qualitative measures describe the pattern of a music signal, vary from one to another. Same musical recital, when played by different instrumentalists, generates different types of music patterns. The reason behind various patterns is the psycho-acoustic measures – Dynamics, Timber, Tonality and Rhythm, varies in each time. However, the psycho-acoustic study of the music signals does not reveal any idea about the similarity between the signals. For such cases, study of synchronization of long-term nonlinear dynamics may provide effective results. In this context, phase synchronization (PS) is one of the measures to show synchronization between two non-identical signals. In fact, it is very critical to investigate any other kind of synchronization for experimental condition, because those are completely non identical signals. Also, there exists equivalence between the phases and the distances of the diagonal line in Recurrence plot (RP) of the signals, which is quantifiable by the recurrence quantification measure τ-recurrence rate. This paper considers two nonlinear music signals based on same raga played by two eminent sitar instrumentalists as two non-identical sources. The psycho-acoustic study shows how the Dynamics, Timber, Tonality and Rhythm vary for the two music signals. Then, long term analysis in the form of phase space reconstruction is performed, which reveals the chaotic phase spaces for both the signals. From the RP of both the phase spaces, τ-recurrence rate is calculated. Finally by the correlation of normalized tau-recurrence rate of their 3D phase spaces and the PS of the two music signals has been established. The numerical results well support the analysis.     

基于外触发和软件控制的多摄像机同步采集处理系统

从硬件和软件两方面对摄像机同步的原理和方法进行了研究,设计并实现了基于外触发和软件控制的多摄像机同步采集和处理系统.提出了通过编程控制将一种通用的数字输出模块作为同步触发信号发生器,并利用Visual C++平台开发了控制程序,能够通过触发信号的周期和波形来调整图像采集频率和摄像机触发电平.设计了软件同步策略,保证多台摄像机之间的图像同步曝光之后能够同步处理.经过验证,所设计的同步采集系统同步精度较高,同步误差小于10 μs,具有设备简单、使用方便、成本低等优点,并且能够消除丢帧、错帧等现象,提供了一种通用的多摄像机同步解决方案.     

数字锁相弹道相机旋转快门相位控制器的优化设计

分析了弹道相机系统的构成,并对弹道相机的最主要部分——旋转快门相位控制器工作原理进行剖析.鉴于闭环锁相控制捕获速度及同步准确对目标的摄取及后续交汇处理准确均有较显著影响,在具体分析弹道相机各种工作状态和控制信号关系的基础上,设计了一种基于数字锁相技术的弹道相机旋转快门相位控制器,并对驱动频率及相位差调整等关键技术难点进行建模分析,论证了该设计方案的可行性及优越性.实验结果表明,采用该设计方案可显著提高相机旋转快门的同步准确,使得相机交汇处理数据具有更好的平滑性和一致性.     

Synchronization and propagation of bursts in networks of coupled map neurons

The present paper studies regular and complex spatiotemporal behaviors in networks of coupled map-based bursting oscillators. In-phase and antiphase synchronization of bursts are studied, explaining their underlying mechanisms in order to determine how network parameters separate them. Conditions for emergent bursting in the coupled system are derived from our analysis. In the region of emergence, patterns of chaotic transitions between synchronization and propagation of bursts are found. We show that they consist of transient standing and rotating waves induced by symmetry-breaking bifurcations, and can be viewed as a manifestation of the phenomenon of chaotic itinerancy.     

Intense acoustic bursts as a signal-enhancement mechanism in ultrasound-modulated optical tomography

Biophotonic imaging with ultrasound-modulated optical tomography (UOT) promises ultrasonically resolved imaging in biological tissues. A key challenge in this imaging technique is a low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). We show significant UOT signal enhancement by using intense time-gated acoustic bursts. A CCD camera captured the speckle pattern from a laser-illuminated tissue phantom. Differences in speckle contrast were observed when ultrasonic bursts were applied, compared with when no ultrasound was applied. When CCD triggering was synchronized with burst initiation, acoustic-radiation-force-induced displacements were detected. To avoid mechanical contrast in UOT images, the CCD camera acquisition was delayed several milliseconds until transient effects of acoustic radiation force attenuated to a satisfactory level. The SNR of our system was sufficiently high to provide an image pixel per acoustic burst without signal averaging. Because of the substantially improved SNR, the use of intense acoustic bursts is a promising signal enhancement strategy for UOT.     

用于条纹相机的计算机图象读出系统

针对条纹相机的使用要求研制了一套计算机图象读出系统,其特点是采用了积分时间可变的单次外同步CCD,保证了对瞬时结果的准确读出,从而可进行绝对测量;软件上采用WINDOWS编程,界面规范清晰易操作,数据处理充分考虑了条纹相机的使用特点,开放性的数据结构使得处理功能的扩展十分容易。     

强流电子束二极管等离子体光学诊断

通过处理强流电子束加速器主开关导通之后所形成的高压电脉冲,得到了二极管等离子体光学诊断的同步时间基准。采用高压电脉冲延时结合二极管等离子体光信号延时的方案,实现了相机曝光过程与等离子体发光过程的ns级精度同步。综合采取屏蔽、滤波等措施,实现了整个系统的电磁兼容,最终稳定地拍摄到了ns时间分辨的二极管等离子体发光过程。     

基于转镜同步跟踪系统的研究

为了研究高速飞行弹丸的运动姿态问题,提出转镜同步跟踪技术。在高速CCD相机主光轴方向放置一面转镜,将弹道线位置上飞行弹丸的运动姿态反射到高速CCD相机内实现同步跟踪。设计了基于高速CCD相机视场中点的转镜跟踪系统,建立了弹丸和转镜的运动模型,并利用MATLAB软件得到了其随时间变化的曲线,分析了相机和转镜空间位置对成像质量的影响。针对参数H=200 m,V=100 m/s,对系统存在的误差进行了分析,结果表明该系统可以实现对高速弹丸的同步跟踪。     

Similarity, uncertainty, and masking in the identification of nonspeech auditory patterns

This study examined whether increasing the similarity between informational maskers and signals would increase the amount of masking obtained in a nonspeech pattern identification task. The signals were contiguous sequences of pure-tone bursts arranged in six narrow-band spectro-temporal patterns. The informational maskers were sequences of multitone bursts played synchronously with the signal tones. The listener's task was to identify the patterns in a 1-interval 6-alternative forced-choice procedure. Three types of multitone maskers were generated according to different randomization rules. For the least signal-like informational masker, the components in each multitone burst were chosen at random within the frequency range of 200-6500 Hz, excluding a "protected region" around the signal frequencies. For the intermediate masker, the frequency components in the first burst were chosen quasirandomly, but the components in successive bursts were constrained to fall in narrow frequency bands around the frequencies of the components in the initial burst. Within the narrow bands the frequencies were randomized. This masker was considered to be more similar to the signal patterns because it consisted of a set of narrow-band sequences any one of which might be mistaken for a signal pattern. The most signal-like masker was similar to the intermediate masker in that it consisted of a set of synchronously played narrow-band sequences, but the variation in frequency within each sequence was sinusoidal, completing roughly one period in a sequence. This masker consisted of discernible patterns but not patterns that were part of the set of signals. In addition, masking produced by Gaussian noise bursts--thought to produce primarily peripherally based "energetic masking"--was measured and compared to the informational masking results. For the three informational maskers, more masking was produced by the maskers comprised of narrow-band sequences than for the masker in which the frequencies were not constrained to narrow bands. Also, the slopes of the performance-level functions for the three informational maskers were much shallower than for the Gaussian noise masker or for no masker. The findings provided qualified support for the hypothesis that increasing the similarity between signals and maskers, or parts of the maskers, causes greater informational masking. However, it is also possible that the greater masking was a consequence of increasing the number of perceptual "streams" that had to be evaluated by the listener.     

Interoccurrence times in the Bak-Tang-Wiesenfeld sandpile model: a comparison with the observed statistics of solar flares

A sequence of bursts observed in an intermittent time series may be caused by a single avalanche, even though these bursts appear as distinct events when noise and/or instrument resolution impose a detection threshold. In the Bak-Tang-Wiesenfeld sandpile, the statistics of quiet times between bursts switches from Poissonian to scale invariant on raising the threshold for detecting instantaneous activity, since each zero-threshold avalanche breaks into a hierarchy of correlated bursts. Calibrating the model with the time resolution of GOES data, qualitative agreement with the interoccurrence time statistics of solar flares at different intensity thresholds is found.     

Synchronization of noise-induced bursts in noncoupled sensory neurons

We report experimental observation of phase synchronization in an array of nonidentical noncoupled noisy neuronal oscillators, due to stimulation with external noise. The synchronization derives from a noise-induced qualitative change in the firing pattern of single neurons, which changes from a quasiperiodic to a bursting mode. We show that at a certain noise intensity the onsets of bursts in different neurons become synchronized, even though the number of spikes inside the bursts may vary for different neurons. We demonstrate this effect both experimentally for the electroreceptor afferents of paddlefish, and numerically for a canonical phase model, and characterize it in terms of stochastic synchronization.     

An effective configuration for interferometric measurement of pulsed laser-induced plasma densities

Pulsed laser-induced plasmas evolve in nanoseconds, so instruments to observe that evolution must be very high speed. We have used a Wollaston prism to create interference fringes, and set up a electronic system to obtain synchronization between the main laser and probing laser. By adjusting the delay unit to make the pulse output of probing laser lag behind the pulse output of main laser for different times, the situation of the plasma at different stages can be recorded. The individual interferometric image is captured by a camera frame grabber that is triggered by the incidence of a probing laser signal on a CCD camera; so the induced phase shift pattern is easy to be photographed and analyzed in terms of plasma density. A demonstration of pulsed laser induce plasma from a graphite target is provided.     

High speed analogue autocorrelation for PIV transparency analysis using a ferroelectric liquid crystal spatial light modulator

This paper describes a novel automated high-speed optical autocorrelation system for particle image velocimetry (PIV) analysis. In this system, a bistable ferroelectric optically addressed spatial light modulator (BOASLM) is used for real time optical autocorrelation. Input data from a PIV transparency is scanned into the system by utilising two scanning mirrors and the output autocorrelation signals are detected with a two-dimensional scanning tracking system implemented by two acousto-optic modulators. This data extraction system is equivalent to a random access camera, which is used to track the autocorrelation signals from region to region in order to retrieve velocity data at the full frame rate of the BOASLM. The factors that influence the processing capacity of the optical system are discussed in detail and a critical comparison is made with digital analysis systems. A working prototype of an optical PIV analysis system is described and the measurement of 1296 velocity vectors from a PIV transparency in approximately five seconds is demonstrated.     

Recurrence-Based Synchronization Analysis of Weakly Coupled Bursting Neurons under External ELF Fields

We investigate the response characteristics of a two-dimensional neuron model exposed to an externally applied extremely low frequency (ELF) sinusoidal electric field and the synchronization of neurons weakly coupled with gap junction. We find, by numerical simulations, that neurons can exhibit different spiking patterns, which are well observed in the structure of the recurrence plot (RP). We further study the synchronization between weakly coupled neurons in chaotic regimes under the influence of a weak ELF electric field. In general, detecting the phases of chaotic spiky signals is not easy by using standard methods. Recurrence analysis provides a reliable tool for defining phases even for noncoherent regimes or spiky signals. Recurrence-based synchronization analysis reveals that, even in the range of weak coupling, phase synchronization of the coupled neurons occurs and, by adding an ELF electric field, this synchronization increases depending on the amplitude of the externally applied ELF electric field. We further suggest a novel measure for RP-based phase synchronization analysis, which better takes into account the probabilities of recurrences.     

Synchronization of reconstructed dynamical systems

The problem of constructing synchronizing systems to observed signals is approached from a data driven perspective, in which it is assumed that neither the drive nor the response systems are known explicitly but have to be derived from the observations. The response systems are modeled by utilizing standard methods of nonlinear time series analysis applied to sections of the driving signals. As a result, synchronization is more robust than what might be expected, given that the reconstructed systems are only approximations of the unknown true systems. Successful synchronization also may be accomplished in cases where the driving signals result from nonlinearly transformed chaotic states. The method is readily extended and applied to limited real-time predictions of chaotic signals.     

Public channel cryptography: chaos synchronization and Hilbert's tenth problem

The synchronization process of two mutually delayed coupled deterministic chaotic maps is demonstrated both analytically and numerically. The synchronization is preserved when the mutually transmitted signals are concealed by two commutative private filters, a convolution of the truncated time-delayed output signals or some powers of the delayed output signals. The task of a passive attacker is mapped onto Hilbert's tenth problem, solving a set of nonlinear Diophantine equations, which was proven to be in the class of NP-complete problems [problems that are both NP (verifiable in nondeterministic polynomial time) and NP-hard (any NP problem can be translated into this problem)]. This bridge between nonlinear dynamics and NP-complete problems opens a horizon for new types of secure public-channel protocols.     

Synchronized Firing in Coupled Inhomogeneous Excitable Neurons

We study the firing synchronization behavior of the inhomogeneous excitable media. Phase synchronization of neuron firings is observed with increasing the coupling, while the phases of neurons are different (out-of-phase synchronization). We found the synchronization of bursts can be greatly enhanced by applying an external forcing (in-phase synchronization). The external forcing can be either a periodic or just homogeneous thermal noise. The mechanism responsible for this enhancement is discussed.