Influence of ankle functional instability on the ankle electromyography during landing after volleyball blocking

The purpose of this study was to describe, interpret and compare the EMG activation patterns of ankle muscles - tibialis anterior (TA), peroneus longus (PL) and gastrocnemius lateralis (GL) - in volleyball players with and without ankle functional instability (FI) during landing after the blocking movement. Twenty-one players with FI (IG) and 19 controls (CG) were studied. The cycle of movement analyzed was the time period between 200 ms before and 200 ms after the time of impact determined by ground reaction forces. The variables were analyzed for two different phases: pre-landing (200 ms before impact) and post-landing (200 ms after impact). The RMS values and the timing of onset activity were calculated for the three studied muscles, in both periods and for both groups. The co-activation index for TA and PL, TA and GL were also calculated. Individuals with FI presented a lower RMS value pre-landing for PL (CG = 43.0 perpendicular to 22.0; IG = 26.2 perpendicular to 8.4, p < 0.05) and higher RMS value post-landing (CG = 47.5 perpendicular to 13.3; IG = 55.8 perpendicular to 21.6, p < 0.10). Besides that, in control group PL and GL activated first and simultaneously, and TA presented a later activation, while in subjects with FI all the three muscles activated simultaneously. There were no significant differences between groups for co-activation index. Thus, the rate of contraction between agonist and antagonist muscles is similar for subjects with and without FI but the activation individually was different. Volleyball players with functional instability of the ankle showed altered patterns of the muscles that play an important role in the stabilization of the foot-ankle complex during the performance of the blocking movement, to the detriment of the ligament complex, and this fact could explain the usual complaints in these subjects. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hydrothermal surface-wave instability and the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation

We consider a system formed by an infinite viscous liquid layer with a constant horizontal temperature gradient and a basic nonlinear bulk velocity profile. In the limit of long wavelength and large nondimensional surface tension we show that hydrothermal surface-wave instabilities may give rise to disturbances governed by the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation. A possible connection to hot-wire experiments is also discussed. © 1994.

Modulational instability analysis of surface-waves in the Bénard-Marangoni phenomenon

By using the long-wave approximation, a system of coupled evolutions equations for the bulk velocity and the surface perturbations of a Bénard-Marangoni system is obtained. It includes nonlinearity, dispersion and dissipation, and it is interpreted as a dissipative generalization of the usual Boussinesq system of equations. Then, by considering that the Marangoni number is near the critical value M = -12, we show that the modulation of the Boussinesq waves is described by a perturbed Nonlinear Schrödinger Equation, and we study the conditions under which a Benjamin-Feir instability could eventually set in. The results give sufficient conditions for stability, but are inconclusive about the existence or not of a Benjamin-Feir instability in the long-wave limit. © 1995.

Dissipative three-wave structures in stimulated backscattering. I. A subluminous solitary attractor

We present a solitary solution of the three-wave nonlinear partial differential equation (PDE) model - governing resonant space-time stimulated Brillouin or Raman backscattering - in the presence of a cw pump and dissipative material and Stokes waves. The study is motivated by pulse formation in optical fiber experiments. As a result of the instability any initial bounded Stokes signal is amplified and evolves to a subluminous backscattered Stokes pulse whose shape and velocity are uniquely determined by the damping coefficients and the cw-pump level. This asymptotically stable solitary three-wave structure is an attractor for any initial conditions in a compact support, in contrast to the known superluminous dissipative soliton solution which calls for an unbounded support. The linear asymptotic theory based on the Kolmogorov-Petrovskii-Piskunov assertion allows us to determine analytically the wave-front slope and the subluminous velocity, which are in remarkable agreement with the numerical computation of the nonlinear PDE model when the dynamics attains the asymptotic steady regime. © 1997 The American Physical Society.

Thermally activated dynamics of the tilts of the CuO6 octahedra, hopping of interstitial O, and possible instability towards the LTT phase in La2CuO4+δ

The anelastic spectrum (dynamic Young's modulus and elastic energy absorption) of La2CuO4+δ has been measured between 1 and 700 K with 0<δ<0.02. The spectrum of stoichiometric La2CuO4 in the low-temperature orthorhombic (LTO) phase is dominated by two intense relaxation processes which cause softenings of 16% around 150 K and 9% below 30 K at f∼1 kHz. The relaxation at 150 K is attributed to the presence of a fraction of the CuO6 octahedra which are able to change their tilted configuration by thermal activation between orientations which are nearly energetically equivalent, possibly within the twin boundaries. The relaxation below 30 K is governed by tunneling, and involves a considerable fraction of the lattice atoms. It is proposed that the double-well potentials for the low-temperature relaxation are created by the tendency of the LTO phase to form low-temperature tetragonal (LTT) domains, which however are not stabilized like when La is partially substituted with Ba. On doping with excess O, the relaxation rates of these processes are initially enhanced by hole doping, while their intensities are depressed by lattice disorder; an explanation of this behavior is provided. Excess O also causes two additional relaxation processes. The one appearing at lower values of δ is attributed to the hopping of single interstitial O2- ions, with a hopping rate equal to τ-1=2×10-14exp(-5600/T) s. The second process is slower and can be due to O pairs or other complexes containing excess O.

Signal and backgrounds for the single production of scalar and vector leptoquarks at the CERN LHC

We perform a detailed analysis of the potentiality of the CERN Large Hadron Collider to study the single production of leptoquarks via pp→e±q→ leptoquark →e± q, with e± generated by the splitting of photons radiated by the protons. Working with the most general SU(2)L⊗U( 1 )Y invariant effective Lagrangian for scalar and vector leptoquarks, we analyze in detail the leptoquark signals and backgrounds that lead to a final state containing an e± and a hard jet with approximately balanced transverse momenta. Our results indicate that the LHC will be able to discover leptoquarks with masses up to 2-3 TeV, depending on their type, for Yukawa couplings of the order of the electromagnetic one.

Single top quark at future hadron colliders: Complete signal and background study

We perform a detailed theoretical study including decays and jet fragmentation of all the important modes of single top quark production and all the basic background processes at the upgraded Fermilab Tevatron and CERN LHC colliders. Special attention is paid to the complete tree level calculation of the QCD fake background which was not considered in previous studies. An analysis of the various kinematical distributions for the signal and backgrounds allow us to work out a set of cuts for an efficient background suppression and extraction of the signal. It is shown that the signal to background ratio after optimized cuts could reach about 0.4 at the Tevatron and 1 at the LHC. The remaining after cuts signal rate at the LHC for the lepton+jets signature is expected to be about 6.1 pb and will be enough to study single top quark physics even during LHC operation at a low luminosity. ©1999 The American Physical Society.

Signal and backgrounds for leptoquarks at the CERN LHC. II. Vector leptoquarks

We perform a detailed analyses of the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) capability to discover first generation vector leptoquarks through their pair production. We study the leptoquark signals and backgrounds that give rise to final states containing a pair e+e- and jets. Our results show that the LHC will be able to discover vector leptoquarks with masses up to 1.8-2.3 TeV depending on their couplings to fermions and gluons. ©1999 The American Physical Society.

Noise reduction in speech signals using a TMS320C31 digital signal processor

This paper describes a speech enhancement system (SES) based on a TMS320C31 digital signal processor (DSP) for real-time application. The SES algorithm is based on a modified spectral subtraction method and a new speech activity detector (SAD) is used. The system presents a medium computational load and a sampling rate up to 18 kHz can be used. The goal is load and a sampling rate up to 18 kHz can be used. The goal is to use it to reduce noise in an analog telephone line.

N-methyl-D-aspartate channel and consciousness: From signal coincidence detection to quantum computing

Research on Blindsight, Neglect/Extinction and Phantom limb syndromes, as well as electrical measurements of mammalian brain activity, have suggested the dependence of vivid perception on both incoming sensory information at primary sensory cortex and reentrant information from associative cortex. Coherence between incoming and reentrant signals seems to be a necessary condition for (conscious) perception. General reticular activating system and local electrical synchronization are some of the tools used by the brain to establish coarse coherence at the sensory cortex, upon which biochemical processes are coordinated. Besides electrical synchrony and chemical modulation at the synapse, a central mechanism supporting such a coherence is the N-methyl-D-aspartate channel, working as a 'coincidence detector' for an incoming signal causing the depolarization necessary to remove Mg 2+, and reentrant information releasing the glutamate that finally prompts Ca 2+ entry. We propose that a signal transduction pathway activated by Ca 2+ entry into cortical neurons is in charge of triggering a quantum computational process that accelerates inter-neuronal communication, thus solving systemic conflict and supporting the unity of consciousness. © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd.

Control of thermal damage in grinding by digital signal processing of raw acoustic emission

Grinding process is usually the last finishing process of a precision component in the manufacturing industries. This process is utilized for manufacturing parts of different materials, so it demands results such as low roughness, dimensional and shape error control, optimum tool-life, with minimum cost and time. Damages on the parts are very expensive since the previous processes and the grinding itself are useless when the part is damaged in this stage. This work aims to investigate the efficiency of digital signal processing tools of acoustic emission signals in order to detect thermal damages in grinding process. To accomplish such a goal, an experimental work was carried out for 15 runs in a surface grinding machine operating with an aluminum oxide grinding wheel and ABNT 1045 e VC131 steels. The acoustic emission signals were acquired from a fixed sensor placed on the workpiece holder. A high sampling rate acquisition system at 2.5 MHz was used to collect the raw acoustic emission instead of root mean square value usually employed. In each test AE data was analyzed off-line, with results compared to inspection of each workpiece for burn and other metallurgical anomaly. A number of statistical signal processing tools have been evaluated.

The effect of glycerol on signal supression during electrospray ionization analysis of proteins

The effect of salts, detergents and chaotropic agents on mass spectrometric analysis are relatively well understood, mainly due to their actions decreasing the performance of ESI interface in mass spectrometric analysis. However, there are few studies in the literature characterizing the effect of protein stabilization by glycerol, followed in some circumstances by the suppression of protein signal when ESI interface is used. The aim of the present research was to investigate in details the mass spectrometric behavior of some proteins in presence of high levels of glycerol during ESI-MS analysis. Thus, horse heart myoglobin and chicken ovalbumin were used as standard proteins. It was demonstrated that the presence of 1% (v/v) glycerol suppressed the signal of these proteins during the ESI-MS analysis, even when the sample nozzle potential was scanned from 28 to 80 V. However, when the glycerol concentration was decreased to 0.5% (v/v) and the sample cone voltage adjusted to 50 V, a perfect envelope of peaks was observed, allowing the spectrum deconvolution and the molecular mass determination with mass accuracy lower than 0.01% in each situation. A molecular explanation for this suppressive effect and for the analytical overcoming of this difficult is proposed.

Dynamic and isometric protocols of knee extension: Effect of fatigue on the EMG signal

The objective of this study was to analyze the electromyographic (EMG) signal behavior of rectus femoris (RF), vastus medialis (VM), vastus lateralis (VL) and biceps femoris (caput longum) (BFCL) from nine women during fatiguing dynamic and isometric knee extensions tests and to determine their EMGFT (Electromyographic Fatigue Threshold). Surface electrodes, biological signal acquisition module, analogical-digital converter board and specific software were used. The RMS (Root Mean Square) values obtained from concentric phase (80 to 30 degrees) of the dynamic knee extension andfrom isometric contraction were correlated with time on each load by linear regression analysis. The respective slopes were correlated with the correspondent load to determine the EMGFT. Force (Kgf) and median frequency - MF (Hz) obtained during MIVC (Maximal Isometric Voluntary Contraction) performed before and after the fatiguing tests were calculated in Matlab environment. The results demonstrated that the endurance time decreases with higher loads the EMG amplitude increase with time and was greater at higher loads, between muscles in dynamic exercise the RF and VL showed higher slopes, and in isometric exercise the VL showed the same behavior The EMGFT values were similar in both exercises; the force values predominantly decreased after fatiguing tests; however the MF only decreased after some loads. The protocols proposed allowed standardizing protocols at least to induce the fatigue process and to determine the EMGFT as an endurance indicative, which may be used to evaluate the effectiveness of rehabilitative or training interventions indicated to reduce muscle weakness and fatigue.

Discrete wavelet transform signal analyzer

This paper addresses the problem of processing biological data, such as cardiac beats in the audio and ultrasonic range, and on calculating wavelet coefficients in real time, with the processor clock running at a frequency of present application-specified integrated circuits and field programmable gate array. The parallel filter architecture for discrete wavelet transform (DWT) has been improved, calculating the wavelet coefficients in real time with hardware reduced up to 60%. The new architecture, which also processes inverse DWT, is implemented with the Radix-2 or the Booth-Wallace constant multipliers. One integrated circuit signal analyzer in the ultrasonic range, including series memory register banks, is presented. © 2007 IEEE.

A methodology and a tool to design of mixed-signal technology

This paper presents a tool box developed to read files describing a SIMULINK® model and translates it into a structural VHDL-AMS description. In translation process, all files and directory structures to simulate the translated model on SystemVision™ environment is generate. The tool box named MS2SV was tested by three models of commercially available digital-to-analogue converters. All models use the R2R ladder network to conversion, but the functionality of these three components is different. The methodology of conversion of the model is presents together with sort theory about R-2R ladder network. In the evaluation of the translated models, we used a sine waveform input signal and the waveform generated by D/A conversion process was compared by FFT analysis. The results show the viability of this type of approach. This work considers some of challenges set by the electronic industry for the further development of simulation methodologies and tools in the field of mixed-signal technology. © 2007 IEEE.