A sensor has been developed which allows measurement of the force exerted by the bow on the string (bow force) during violin performance. The bow force is deduced from measurement of the transversal force at the termination of the bow hair at the frog. The principle is illustrated with an experiment that demonstrates how the bending of the stick and variations in bow hair tension influence the ...

Bow-tie or hourglass structure is a common architectural feature found in many biological systems. A bow-tie in a multi-layered structure occurs when intermediate layers have much fewer components than the input and output layers. Examples include metabolism where a handful of building blocks mediate between multiple input nutrients and multiple output biomass components, and signaling networks...

OBJECTIVE To compare the influence of outer bow length difference and unilateral outer bow expansion on the 'asymmetric effect' of the headgear. METHODS Twelve 3D finite element models of a headgear with two tubes were designed, which were similar except for the outer bow length or the degree of unilateral expansion in Solid-Works 2011. A 3N force was applied to the outer bow ends in ANSYS Wo...

The modal frequencies and bending mode shapes of a freely supported tapered violin bow are investigated by finite element analysis and direct measurement, with and without tensioned bow hair. Such computations are used with analytic models to model the admittance presented to the stretched bow hairs at the ends of the bow and to the string at the point of contact with the bow. Finite element co...

Experienced bow makers empirically know the influence of wood, tapering, and camber on the playing and tonal qualities of a bow. However, the way each parameter affects the bow mechanical behavior is not clearly established. An in-plane finite element model is developed to highlight the link between the adjustable design parameters and the mechanical behavior of a bow. This model takes into acc...

Some of the dynamic properties of violin bows have been studied. The normal modes of the bow stick and assembled bow, respectively, have been explored by modal analysis. Modefiequencies and damping ratios have been compared for a set of bows which had ratings rangzng fiom poor to excellent, assigned to them by professional players, and an attempt has been made to connect the modal properties wi...

The human visual system is assumed to transform low level visual features to object and scene representations via features of intermediate complexity. How the brain computationally represents intermediate features is still unclear. To further elucidate this, we compared the biologically plausible HMAX model and Bag of Words (BoW) model from computer vision. Both these computational models use v...

A cost-effective method was developed for the estimation of the bow velocity in violin playing, using an accelerometer on the bow in combination with point tracking using a standard video camera. The video data are used to detect the moments of bow direction changes. This information is used for piece-wise integration of the accelerometer signal, resulting in a drift-free reconstructed velocity...

One of the points made against nailing in radius and ulna shaft fractures has been the loss of radial bow and its impact on function. The aims of the study were to assess the change in magnitude and location of the radial bow in radius and ulna shaft fractures treated with intramedullary square nails and to assess the impact of this change on functional outcome, patient reported disability and ...