Bivariate phase-rectified signal averaging

Phase-Rectified Signal Averaging (PRSA) was shown to be a powerful tool for the study of quasi-periodic oscillations and nonlinear effects in non-stationary signals. Here we present a bivariate PRSA technique for the study of the inter-relationship between two simultaneous data recordings. Its performance is compared with traditional cross-correlation analysis, which, however, does not work well for non-stationary data and cannot distinguish the coupling directions in complex nonlinear situations. We show that bivariate PRSA allows the analysis of events in one signal when the other signal is in a certain phase or state; it is stable in the presence of noise and impassible to non-stationarities.     

Age-related changes in the "complexity" of cardiovascular dynamics: A potential marker of vulnerability to disease

Healthy physiologic control of cardiovascular function is a result of complex interactions between multiple regulatory processes that operate over different time scales. These include the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems which regulate beat-to-beat heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP), as well as extravascular volume, body temperature, and sleep which influence HR and BP over the longer term. Interactions between these control systems generate highly variable fluctuations in continuous HR and BP signals. Techniques derived from nonlinear dynamics and chaos theory are now being adapted to quantify the dynamic behavior of physiologic time series and study their changes with age or disease. We have shown significant age-related changes in the 1/f(x) relationship between the log amplitude and log frequency of the heart rate power spectrum, as well as declines in approximate dimension and approximate entropy of both heart rate and blood pressure time series. These changes in the "complexity" of cardiovascular dynamics reflect the breakdown and decoupling of integrated physiologic regulatory systems with aging, and may signal an impairment in cardiovascular ability to adapt to external and internal perturbations. Studies are currently underway to determine whether the complexity of HR or BP time series can distinguish patients with fainting spells due to benign vasovagal reactions from those due to life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias. Thus, measures of the complexity of physiologic variability may provide novel methods to monitor cardiovascular aging and test the efficacy of specific interventions to improve adaptive capacity in old age. (c) 1995 American Institute of Physics.     

总体经验模态分解能量向量用于ECG能量分布的研究

总体经验模态分解(EEMD)改进了经验模态分解(EMD)存在的模态混叠问题, 依据信号自身的波动特点将信号分解, 特别适合非线性非平稳信号的分析处理. ECG信号能量分布有一定的规律, 疾病会引起能量分布的变化, 研究ECG能量分布的改变对心脏疾病的研究和临床诊断有重要意义. 本文将ECG信号通过EEMD方法分解为多个本征模态函数(IMF)分量, 观察IMF分量的波动规律, 指出了ECG信号在不同时间尺度上的波动特点和物理意义. 将IMF分量分别计算能量, 得到ECG的能量向量, 并对健康人和三种心脏疾病患者能量向量进行对比分析. 结果表明心脏疾病导致EEMD能量向量的高频分量显著降低, 尤其是p₁分量具有较好的区分度, 可以作为心脏疾病诊断的参考依据. 相比较传统的频域分析方法单纯关注频率而忽略信号自身特点和信号成分之间的相互作用, EEMD的分解结果依赖于ECG信号本身, 因此更能够反映ECG信号的真实情况, 揭示年龄和疾病对ECG能量分布的影响.     

Identification of proteases employed by dendritic cells in the processing of protein purified derivative (PPD)

Dendritic cells (DC) are known to present exogenous protein Ag effectively to T cells. In this study we sought to identify the proteases that DC employ during antigen processing. The murine epidermal-derived DC line Xs52, when pulsed with PPD, optimally activated the PPD-reactive Th1 clone LNC.2F1 as well as the Th2 clone LNC.4k1, and this activation was completely blocked by chloroquine pretreatment. These results validate the capacity of XS52 DC to digest PPD into immunogenic peptides inducing antigen specific T cell immune responses. XS52 DC, as well as splenic DC and DCs derived from bone marrow degraded standard substrates for cathepsins B, C, D/E, H, J, and L, tryptase, and chymases, indicating that DC express a variety of protease activities. Treatment of XS52 DC with pepstatin A, an inhibitor of aspartic acid proteases, completely abrogated their capacity to present native PPD, but not trypsin-digested PPD fragments to Th1 and Th2 cell clones. Pepstatin A also inhibited cathepsin D/E activity selectively among the XS52 DC-associated protease activities. On the other hand, inhibitors of serine proteases (dichloroisocoumarin, DCI) or of cystein proteases (E-64) did not impair XS52 DC presentation of PPD, nor did they inhibit cathepsin D/E activity. Finally, all tested DC populations (XS52 DC, splenic DC, and bone marrow-derived DC) constitutively expressed cathepsin D mRNA. These results suggest that DC primarily employ cathepsin D (and perhaps E) to digest PPD into antigenic peptides.     

The effect of respiratory oscillations in heart rate on detrended fluctuation analysis

Characterization of heart rate using detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) is impeded by respiratory oscillations. In particular, the short-term exponent measured from 15 to 30 beats is compromised in the DFA. We reconstruct respiratory signal from electrocardiograms and attenuate the respiratory oscillation in the heart rate using a frequency-dependent subtraction approach. We validate this method by applying it to an electrocardiogram signal simulated using a coupled differential equation with the respiratory oscillation modelled using a sine function. The exponent estimated using the proposed approach agreed with the exponent incorporated in the model within a narrow range. In contrast, the exponent obtained from the raw data deviated from the expected value. Furthermore, the exponents obtained for the raw heart rate are smaller than the exponents obtained for the respiration oscillation attenuated heart rate. We apply this approach to heart rate measured from 12 preterm infants that were being treated for prematurity related complications. As observed in the simulated data, we show that compared to the raw heart rate, the respiratory oscillation attenuated heart rate shows higher short-term exponent (p < 0.001).     

Chebyshev expansion approach to the AC conductivity of the Anderson model

We propose an advanced Chebyshev expansion method for the numerical calculation of linear response functions at finite temperature. Its high stability and the small required resources allow for a comprehensive study of the optical conductivity of non-interacting electrons in a random potential (Anderson model) on large three-dimensional clusters. For low frequency the data follows the analytically expected power-law behaviour with an exponent that depends on disorder and has its minimum near the metal-insulator transition, where also the extrapolated DC conductivity continuously goes to zero. In view of the general applicability of the Chebyshev approach we briefly discuss its formulation for interacting quantum systems.Received: 6 June 2004, Published online: 12 August 2004PACS: 78.20.Bh Theory, models, and numerical simulation - 72.15.Rn Localisation effects (Anderson or weak localisation) - 05.60.Gg Quantum transport     

The Influence of an Analog-to-Digital Converter on the Probability Characteristics of Gaussian Noise

We analyze the influence of an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) on the statistical characteristics of stationary Gaussian noise with allowance for two main effects. The first effect, caused by the limited magnitude of the signal at the ADC output, is the truncation of tails of the probability distribution function. The second effect is the noise quantization, i.e., transformation of the continuous probability distribution function of input noise to a set of readout probabilities at the ADC output. It seems that these effects were not analyzed in the literature earlier. The efficiency of using ADC, which is the noise standard normalized to the maximum permissible amplitude of the ADC input voltage, is chosen as the parameter characterizing the effect of truncation of the tails of the probability distribution function. In addition, we vary the ADC digit capacity, which determines the noise quantization degree. We propose recommendations on the choice of the digit capacity and the efficiency of using ADC.     

Coding and computation with neural spike trains

We study a simple model for the statistics of neural spike trains as they encode a continuously varying signal. The model is motivated with reference to several recent experiments on sensory neurons, and we show how analogies between the relevant probabilistic issues in neural coding and statistical mechanics can be exploited. Results are given for the information capacity of the code, for the optimal structure of code-reading algorithms, and for the time delays which arise in optimal processing of the coded signal. In addition, we show how simple analog computations can be expressed directly in terms of transformations of the spike train. The rules for reading the code and for optimal analog computation depend on the context for behavioral decision making-the relative weights assigned to different types of errors, the relative importance of different signals. We find that there is a conflict between minimizing this context dependence of the code and maximizing its information capacity; a compromise can be achieved by appropriate preprocessing (filtering) of the encoded signal. Experiments on auditory and visual neurons qualitatively confirm the predicted filtering. Similarly, the structure of the optimal multiplier neuron is shown to depend upon the intensity and spectral content of incoming signals, and these predictions compare favorably with experiments on a movement-sensitive cell in the fly visual system.     

相位调制激光多普勒频移测量方法的改进

本文对现有相位调制激光多普勒频移测量方法进行了改进,通过定义新的鉴频参量来同时利用相位调制信号直流和交流分量中的有用信息进行多普勒频移测量.由于相位调制信号直流分量中包含着调制信号光的Fabry-Perot干涉仪光强透过率,所以这一改进本质上是将基于Fabry-Perot干涉仪的边缘技术激光多普勒频移测量方法的优势引入到相位调制测量方法中,以提高其自身的性能.理论上证明改进后的相位调制激光多普勒频移测量方法无需对信号光的光强进行测量,所以可以进一步简化探测系统的结构和较少噪声混入的通道.另外,通过对改进前后鉴频和测量灵敏度曲线进行对比,还证明了其具有更高的测量灵敏度和动态范围.实验上对硬目标反射的频移可控信号光进行测量,不但证明了理论的正确性,而且证明了改进后的相位调制激光多普勒频移测量方法,测量动态范围提高约1倍,测量标准偏差降低约35%.     

Controllable coupling and quantum correlation dynamics of two double quantum dots coupled via a transmission line resonator

We propose a theoretical scheme to generate a controllable and switchable coupling between two double-quantum-dot (DQD) spin qubits by using a transmission line resonator (TLR) as a bus system. We study dynamical behaviors of quantum correlations described by entanglement correlation (EC) and discord correlation (DC) between two DQD spin qubits when the two spin qubits and the TLR are initially prepared in X-type quantum states and a coherent state, respectively. We demonstrate that in the EC death regions there exist DC stationary states in which the stable DC amplification or degradation can be generated during the dynamical evolution. It is shown that these DC stationary states can be controlled by initial-state parameters, the coupling, and detuning between qubits and the TLR. We reveal the full synchronization and anti-synchronization phenomena in the EC and DC time evolution, and show that the EC and DC synchronization and anti-synchronization depends on the initial-state parameters of the two DQD spin qubits. It is shown that the initial quantum correlation may be suppressed completely when the evolution time approaches to the infinity in the presence of dissipation. These results shed new light on dynamics of quantum correlations.     

克服光纤Mach-Zehnder干涉仪信号衰落的新方法及分析

为了克服光纤Mach-Zehnder干涉仪易受环境因素影响而引起偏置相位漂移从而导致输出信号衰落(波动)的问题,提出一种新的简单方法,即:将干涉仪输出信号分为直流和交流两个分量,通过直流分量的大小来计算交流信号的补偿因子,以达到克服交流信号衰落、稳定检测传感信号的目的在小信号测量情况下,该方法在很大范围内能有效抑制随机温度涨落等因素引起的信号衰落的问题文中对补偿方法的误差和局限性也做了分析和讨论.     

Study of diffusion creep accompanying superplastic deformation of the alloy ZhS6KP

The development of diffusion creep (DC) accompanying superplastic deformation (SPD) of the highly doped nickel alloy ZhS6KP is studied based on an investigation of the redistribution of dispersed intragrain deposits of the phase of Ni₃(Al, Ti). Deposit-free zones (DFZ) are formed in the alloy, held at the temperature of SPD and accompanying deformation at the grain boundaries. The contribution of DC to the deformation was determined from a comparative analysis of the width of the DFZ in the deformed and undeformed parts of the samples for different grain sizes and rates of DC taking into account diffusion accommodation. It was established that for the optimum rate of SPD the upper limit of the contribution of DC to deformation for 2-m grains does not exceed 11%. It is concluded, based on the distribution of DFZ, that the effect of DC accompanying SPD is determined by diffusion fluxes, associated with the local concentration of stress accompanying the development of grain-boundary slipping.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 6, pp. 40–45, June, 1986.In conclusion, we thank Yu. M. Mishin for a useful discussion of the results.     

Spatial filtering in the detection of thermal transverse phase modulation of laser beams

We study the application of spatial filtering to the far field detection of a probe beam with transverse phase modulation induced by the refractive index distribution generated in an optically thin film by the steady state absorption of a pump beam. To this end we introduce a mathematical model able to describe the phenomenon and we study the dependence of the detected signal on the radius and the position of a circular stop operating as a spatial filter. We show, by computer calculations, that spatial filtering allows enhancement of signal/background ratio as has already been shown for the case of pulsed thermal lens spectroscopy. We give an explicit expression of the detected signal as a function of sample properties that can be used for the interpretation of measurements.     

DC artifact correction for arbitrary phase-cycling sequence

In magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a non-zero offset in the receiver baseline signal during acquisition results in a bright spot or a line artifact in the center of the image known as a direct current (DC) artifact. Several methods have been suggested in the past for the removal or correction of DC artifacts in MR images, however, these methods cannot be applied directly when a specific phase-cycling technique is used in the imaging sequence. In this work, we proposed a new, simple technique that enables correction of DC artifacts for any arbitrary phase-cycling imaging sequences. The technique is composed of phase unification, DC offset estimation and correction, and phase restoration. The feasibility of the proposed method was demonstrated via phantom and in vivo experiments with a multiple phase-cycling balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) imaging sequence. Results showed successful removal of the DC artifacts in images acquired using bSSFP with phase-cycling angles of 0°, 90°, 180°, and 270°, indicating potential feasibility of the proposed method to any imaging sequence with arbitrary phase-cycling angles.     

A simple tandel electrometer circuit part II

The properties of a simple electrometer circuit using a tandel are described in detail. The influence of changes in the external conditions (frequency and amplitude of heating voltage and ambient temperature) and in some important parameters of the circuit (load resistance and series capacity) on the properties of the circuit is shown as well as the influence of feedback which was introduced to decrease the input capacity of the circuit. It is shown how to form a bridge connection from two basic simple circuits and the advantages of such a connection are pointed out.The circuit described has a d-c input resistance of about 10¹³ for an input capacity of approx. 250 F. It can work with a symmetrical or asymmetrical input signal while the output may also be symmetrical or asymmetrical.     

忆阻器混沌电路产生的共存吸引子与Hopf分岔

利用荷控忆阻器和一个电感串联设计一种新型浮地忆阻混沌电路.用常规动力学分析方法研究该系统的基本动力学特性,发现系统可以产生一对关于原点对称的"心"型吸引子.将观察混沌吸引子时关注的电压、电流推广到功率和能量信号,观察到蝴蝶结型奇怪吸引子的产生.理论分析Hopf分岔行为并通过数值仿真进行验证,结果表明系统随电路参数变化能产生Hopf分岔、反倍周期分岔两种分岔行为.相对于其它忆阻混沌电路该电路采用的是一个浮地型忆阻器,并且在初始状态改变时,能产生共存吸引子和混沌吸引子与周期极限环共存现象.     

可调谐半导体激光器的瞬时光谱测量方法研究

可调谐半导体激光器在调谐过程中的瞬时光谱特性,如瞬时的波长、调谐率、功率、线型和线宽等参数影响着以激光器为光源的光学测量和光相干通信系统的精度。然而,能够同时测量这些瞬变参数的技术至今未见报道。提出了一个基于时频分析的测量半导体激光器在调谐过程中瞬时光谱参数的方法,利用一个短时延外差测量系统,利用激光器瞬时光谱参数与差拍信号瞬时参数的关系,最终获得了半导体激光器在连续电流调谐过程中的瞬时光谱。测量系统采用了10 cm光程差的Mach-Zehnder干涉仪,调谐电流是幅度为20~120 mA、频率是1 kHz的锯齿波,差拍信号可视为直流信号、载波信号与噪声的叠加,按照短时延相干光测量原理,差拍信号中的直流分量幅度的大小反映了激光器输出光信号的功率;载波信号是一种多项式相位信号,由其频率可以推算激光器输出光谱的中心频率或波长;噪声信号则与激光器输出光谱的线型和线宽相关,通过对噪声信号进行时频分析,可以获知激光器在连续电流调谐过程中每一时刻或每个电流下的瞬时线型、线宽。采用了趋势局部均值分解方法对差拍信号进行了准确分离,并对分离信号分别进行处理,同时获知了半导体激光器在调谐过程中的瞬时输出光功率、光波长、调谐率及线型、线宽。在去掉弛豫部分后截取的整周期差拍信号对应的调谐电流60~115 mA变化范围内,半导体激光器(FRL15DDR0A31-18950, Furukawa)瞬时输出光功率变化范围是5.16~10.6 mW,瞬时光波长变化范围为1 579.2~1 579.6 nm;激光器的瞬时调谐率在0.004 8~0.011 5 nm·mA-1范围内单调变化;线宽是852.55~954.95 kHz,呈非线性随机分布。基于短时延、局部均值分解和时频分析方法的瞬时光谱参数测量系统可以准确得到各瞬时光谱参数,测量结果与激光器的静特性相符,且测量系统结构简单,使我们更深入地理解激光器的工作原理,具有广阔的应用前景。     

Correction to: Generation of amplitude- and phase-modulated signal beam with a phase-only spatial light modulator and its detection by the transport of intensity equation method for holographic data storage

This study evaluates a novel holographic data storage (HDS) that uses a phase-only spatial light modulator (SLM) for the multilevel complex amplitude modulation of a signal beam and the transport of intensity equation (TIE) method to detect the signal beam without interferometry, to increase the capacity of the HDS, simplifying its optical system, and improving the stability of the signal beam modulation and detection. Both the amplitude and phase of the signal beam were modulated by a computer-generated hologram displayed in a phase-only SLM, a 4-f optical system, and a pinhole placed in the Fourier plane. The complex amplitude-modulated signal beam generated by this scheme does not always perfectly match the target complex amplitude, and deviations from the amplitude and phase of the target complex amplitude may exist. It is unclear whether the TIE method, which is sensitive to the state of the beam intensity and the phase distributions to be detected (such as zero-intensity points and phase discontinuities), can accurately detect a signal beam whose complex amplitude is modulated by the modulation scheme with a phase-only SLM. Here, we demonstrate via numerical simulations and experiments that several methods of complex amplitude generation using a phase-only SLM can achieve multilevel modulation of the amplitude and phase of a signal beam and are suitable for detection by the TIE method in HDS.

     

Application of 1H and 23Na magic angle spinning NMR spectroscopy to define the HRBC up-taking of MRI contrast agents

The up-take of Gd(III) complexes of BOPTA, DTPA, DOTA, EDTP, HPDO3A, and DOTP in HRBC has been evaluated by measuring the lanthanide induced shift (LIS) produced by the corresponding dysprosium complexes (DC) on the MAS-NMR resonances of water protons and free sodium ions. These complexes are important in their use as MRI contrast agents (MRI-CA) in diagnostics. 1H and 23Na MAS-NMR spectra of HRBC suspension, collected at 9.395T, show only one signal due to extra- and intra-cellular water (or sodium). In MAS spectra, the presence of DC in a cellular compartment produces the LIS of only the nuclei (water proton or sodium) in that cellular compartment and this LIS can be related to the DC concentrations (by the experimental curves of LIS vs. DC concentrations) collected in the physiological solution. To obtain correct results about LIS, the use of MAS technique is mandatory, because it guarantees the only the nuclei staying in the same cellular compartment where the LC is present show the LIS. In all the cases considered, the addition of the DC to HRBC (100% hematocrit) produced a shift of only the extra-cellular water (or sodium) signal and the gradient of concentration (GC) between extra- and intra-cellular compartments resulted greater than 100:1, when calculated by means of sodium signals. These high values of GC are direct proofs that none of the tested dysprosium complexes crosses the HRBC membrane. Since the DC are iso-structural to the gadolinium complexes the corresponding gadolinium ones (MRI-CA) do not cross the HRBC membrane and, consequently, they are not up-taken in HRBC. The GC values calculated by means of water proton signals resulted much lower than those obtained by sodium signals. This proves that the choice of the isotope is a crucial step in order to use this method in the best way. In fact, GC value depends on the lowest detectable LIS which, in turn, depends on the nature of the LC (lanthanide complex) and the observed isotopes.     

Spectral hole burning for pulse repetition frequency analysis

We demonstrate an optical processor based on spectral hole burning (SHB) that maps the carrier frequency into the time domain and the pulse repetition frequency (PRF) into the spatial domain by illuminating an SHB crystal with a signal beam that is scanned by a tilting mirror across a slice of the crystal. This time-to-space mapping makes it possible to measure signal envelopes with a resolution of . A signal with a pulsed envelope engraves a vertical absorption grating with a spatial periodicity given by the product of the PRF and the scan velocity. Reading the grating, which the crystal stores for up to T₁, with a collimated beam yields orders diffracted at angles proportional to the PRF, which are Fourier-transformed to produce spots displaced from the DC position by distances proportional to the PRF. Increasing the PRF increases the grating periodicity, causing the diffracted spots to move away from the DC position.