Large Deviations and a Fluctuation Symmetry for Chaotic Homeomorphisms

 We consider expansive homeomorphisms with the specification property. We give a new simple proof of a large deviation principle for Gibbs measures corresponding to a regular potential and we establish a general symmetry of the rate function for the large deviations of the antisymmetric part, under time-reversal, of the potential. This generalizes the Gallavotti-Cohen fluctuation theorem to a larger class of chaotic systems. Received: 6 March 2002 / Accepted: 16 September 2002 Published online: 8 January 2003     

Analysis of the charge pumping technique and its application forthe evaluation of MOSFET degradation

It is shown that the charge pumping technique is able not only to determine the degradation mechanisms in MOS transistors under all kinds of aging conditions (e.g., irradiation, hot-carrier, Fowler-Nordheim stress), but also in several cases to evaluate and to quantify the degradation. It is further shown that the technique can be applied to separate the presence of fixed oxide changes due to charge trapping and the generation of interface traps. It can be used to analyze degradations that occur uniformly over the transistor channel, as well as strongly localized transistor degradations (e.g., for the case of hot-carrier degradations). All possible cases of uniform and nonuniform degradations, for p-channel as well as for n-channel transistors, are described, and for most of them experimental examples are given     

The effect of externally imposed mechanical stress on thehot-carrier-induced degradation of deep-sub micron nMOSFET's

The influence of externally imposed mechanical stress (MS) on the hot-carrier-induced degradation of MOSFET's is studied. For nMOSFET's, tensile (compressive) stress increases (decreases) degradation. This effect is ascribed to the piezoresistance effect which causes a change of the hot-carrier generation. It is demonstrated that, in contradiction with earlier reports in literature, externally imposed mechanical stress has no influence on carrier trapping, nor on interface trap creation. Also, since the piezoresistance coefficient is reduced in deep-sub micron transistors, the effect of mechanical stress on hot-carrier degradation becomes negligible for 0.35-μm transistors     

A Markov Model for Kinesin

We investigate the validity of a Markov approach for the motility of kinesin. We show in detail how the various mechanochemical states and reaction rates that are experimentally measured, can be used to create a Markov-chain model. We compare the performance of this model to motility data and we find global similarities in the load and ATP-concentration dependency of speed and mean run length. We also discuss the relation between the experimentally found stalling behavior and thermodynamic expectations. Finally, the Markov chain modelling provides a way to calculate the mean entropy production and the (power) efficiency.     

The EASI project-improving the effectiveness and quality ofimage-guided surgery

In recent years, advances in computer technology and a significant increase in the accuracy of medical imaging have made it possible to develop systems that can assist the clinician in diagnosis, planning, and treatment. This paper deals with an area that is generally referred to as computer-assisted surgery, image-directed surgery, or image-guided surgery. We report the research, development, and clinical validation performed since January 1996 in the European Applications in Surgical Interventions (EASI) project, which is funded by the European Commission in their “4th Framework Telematics Applications for Health” program. The goal of this project is the improvement of the effectiveness and quality of image-guided neurosurgery of the brain and image-guided vascular surgery of abdominal aortic aneurysms, while at the same time reducing patient risks and overall cost. We have developed advanced prototype systems for preoperative surgical planning and intraoperative surgical navigation, and we have extensively clinically validated these systems. The prototype systems and the clinical validation results are described in this paper     

Multimodality image registration by maximization of mutualinformation

A new approach to the problem of multimodality medical image registration is proposed, using a basic concept from information theory, mutual information (MI), or relative entropy, as a new matching criterion. The method presented in this paper applies MI to measure the statistical dependence or information redundancy between the image intensities of corresponding voxels in both images, which is assumed to be maximal if the images are geometrically aligned. Maximization of MI is a very general and powerful criterion, because no assumptions are made regarding the nature of this dependence and no limiting constraints are imposed on the image content of the modalities involved. The accuracy of the MI criterion is validated for rigid body registration of computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance (MR), and photon emission tomography (PET) images by comparison with the stereotactic registration solution, while robustness is evaluated with respect to implementation issues, such as interpolation and optimization, and image content, including partial overlap and image degradation. Our results demonstrate that subvoxel accuracy with respect to the stereotactic reference solution can be achieved completely automatically and without any prior segmentation, feature extraction, or other preprocessing steps which makes this method very well suited for clinical applications     

"One-pot" synthesis and antimalarial activity of formamidine derivatives of 4-anilinoquinoline

Amodiaquine (AQ) is an antimalarial which is effective against chloroquino-resistant strains of Plasmodium falciparum but whose clinical use is severely restricted because of associated hepatotoxicity and agranulocytosis. "One-pot" synthesis of formamidines likely to be transformed into AQ derivatives is reported. Compared with AQ, the new compounds were devoid of in vitro cytotoxicity upon human embryonic lung cells and mouse peritoneal macrophages. One showed a potent in vivo activity in mice infected with P berghei. Transformation of this compound by reductive amination led to a new type of AQ derivatives that displayed an in vitro activity similar to that of AQ but did not lead to toxic quinone-imines.