In this new method for studying the shape recovery of deformed red blood cells, three optical traps ("optical tweezers") induce a parachute-shaped red cell deformation, which is comparable to the deformation in small capillaries. The shape recovery is recorded, and a relaxation time is obtained for each individual red blood cell. The sensitivity of this technique for the detection of difference...

This paper introduces a new optimization technique called hyperplane annealing. It is similar to the mean field annealing approach to combinatorial optimization. Both annealing techniques rely on a parallel relaxation dynamic. A connection is shown to a formal model of selforganized pattern formation, the activator-inhibitormodel. The unifying principle of all these relaxation models is a mecha...

The damped oscillations of liquid-immersed ferrofluid sessile droplets were studied with high-speed imaging experiments and analytical modeling to develop a novel microrheology technique. Droplet oscillations were induced with an external magnetic field, thereby avoiding transients in the resulting vibrational response of the droplet. By following the droplet relaxation with a high-speed camera...

We prove the equivalence of first-order local consistency relaxations and the MAX SAT relaxation of Goemans and Williamson (1994) for a class of MRFs we refer to as logical MRFs. This allows us to combine the advantages of each into a single MAP inference technique: solving the local consistency relaxation with any of a number of highly scalable message-passing algorithms, and then obtaining a ...

The performance of rollers for charging, development, and transfer processes in electrophotography depends critically on dielectric relaxation of the semi-insulating dielectric layers in these devices. In these layers, the progress of dielectric relaxation is controlled by the charge injection from bias and the charge mobility, rather than by the bulk resistance. Based on the physical principle...

Introduction: In recent years, substantial interests in quantitative assessment of myelin content in white matter (WM) have emerged for the study on the myelin-related diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS). One commonly used approach for in vivo myelin quantification is based on the analysis of T2 relaxation time. It has been reported that the T2 spectrum of WM and several myelinated tissue ...

In six healthy volunteers, the size of the motor unit action potential (MUAP) was related to its contractile behaviour. Electrical activity was determined by measuring amplitude and area of the potential, using the macro electromyography (EMG) technique. The mechanical response was characterised by contraction time, twitch force and relaxation time, recorded with the spike triggered averaging t...

We explore experimentally quantum nondemolition measurements of atomic spin in a hot potassium vapor in the presence of spin-exchange relaxation. We demonstrate a new technique for backaction evasion by stroboscopic modulation of the probe light. With this technique we study spin noise as a function of polarization for atoms with spin greater than 1/2 and obtain good agreement with a simple the...

Over the years many techniques have been devised for the measurement of tissue oxygenation (oximetry). Oximetry using polarographic needle electrodes has long been considered a gold standard. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) based oximetry uses exogenously administered reporter molecules such as perfluorocarbons to quantitatively interrogate oxygen tension (pO2). This technique has been success...

Reducing test data size is one of the major challenges in testing systems-on-a-chip. This can be achieved by test compaction and/or compression techniques. Having a partially specified or relaxed test set increases the effectiveness of compaction and compression techniques. In this paper, we propose a novel and efficient test relaxation technique for combinational circuits. It is based on criti...