Particle tracking techniques are often used to assess the local mechanical properties of cells and biological fluids. The extracted trajectories are exploited to compute the mean-squared displacement that characterizes the dynamics of the probe particles. Limited spatial resolution and statistical uncertainty are the limiting factors that alter the accuracy of the mean-squared displacement esti...

This paper describes the design of, and results from, a calibration system for optical linear displacement (shadow) sensors. The shadow sensors were designed to detect "Violin-Mode" (VM) resonances in the 0.4 mm diameter silica fibre suspensions of the test masses/mirrors of Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory gravitational wave interferometers. Each sensor illuminated ...

Recently, Charnov (1996) investigated the consequences of sperm competition for optimal sex allocation in simultaneous hermaphrodites. Charnov argued that the optimal sex allocation strategy can be derived on the basis of the ‘sperm displacement rule’; that is, the function describing the relationship between sperm production and sperm displacement. Based on three specific examples of such sper...

BACKGROUND The effectiveness of thermal shrinkage on the medial parapatellar capsule for treating recurrent patellar dislocation is controversial. One of reasons why it is still controversial is that the effectiveness is still qualitatively measured. The purpose of this study was to quantitatively determine the immediate effectiveness of the medial parapatellar capsule shrinkage as in clinical ...

We evaluated scapular dysplasia and malposition in 15 patients with the Sprengel deformity using three-dimensional CT (3D-CT). The shape, height-to-width ratio, the areas of both scapulae, the anterior curvature of the supraspinous portion and glenoid version were assessed on scapular posterior, medial and inferior views. The degree of rotation and superior displacement were measured on the tru...

Expiratory flow limitation is the pathophysiologic hallmark of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but dyspnea (breathlessness) is its most prominent and distressing symptom. Acute dynamic lung hyperinflation, which refers to the temporary increase in operating lung volumes above their resting value, is a key mechanistic consequence of expiratory flow limitation, and has serious mecha...

In choosing and refining any crystallographic structural model, there is tension between the desire to extract the most detailed information possible and the necessity to describe no more than what is justified by the observed data. A more complex model is not necessarily a better model. Thus, it is important to validate the choice of parameters as well as validating their refined values. One r...

High-rise buildings subjected to lateral loads such as wind and earthquake loads must be checked not to exceed the limits on the maximum lateral displacement or the maximum inter-story drift ratios. In this paper, a sensing model for deformed shapes of a building structure in motion is presented. The deformed shape sensing model based on a 2D scanner consists of five modules: (1) module for acq...

Abstract This work addresses the design of miniature compliant displacement amplifiers. The optimum mechanism is generated through topology optimization two-node frame elements with linearly varying cross sections using Ant Colony Optimization technique. First, stiffness matrices that account for change in cross-section dimensions are formulated. Then, each element assigned 5 independent ants r...