1,720,956 research outputs found
Numerical modelling and in-vitro studies of ultrasound signal loss across fractures in cortical bone mimics
No full textThe propagation of 200 kHz ultrasonic waves along cortical bone mimics and across a simulated fracture has been investigated using a Finite Difference numerical model. The first arrival signal (FAS) transit time and peak amplitude have been calculated as a function of range at 200kHz in order to help understand the factors that determine the propagation across a fracture. The variation in the amplitude of the first peak of the reradiated wave is studied as a function of the gap width and shape. The results compare well with experimental measurements made in vitro using an axial transmission technique on cortical bone mimics and bovine cortical bone samples. The effects of various stages of the healing process have also been considered by introducing different fracture geometries into the plate model. Changing the geometry to an external callus with different mechanical properties causes the signal loss across the fracture to reduce significantly. The most significant changes are observed to occur from the initial inflammatory stage to the formation of a callus and in the remodelling stage after a significant reduction in the size of the callus has taken place
Ultrasound transmission loss across transverse and oblique bone fractures: an in vitro study
No full textAn axial transmission technique has been used to investigate the changes in the first arrival time and signal amplitude of 200 kHz ultrasonic waves travelling across different fracture geometries. Results taken from intact bovine femora were compared with those produced when a transverse and an oblique fracture were simulated. The arrival time and signal amplitude displayed a different variation with receiver position for the two geometries and a given fracture gap width. A comparison between this work and a previous study suggested that the marrow does not play a significant role in the mechanisms causing the change in arrival time and signal amplitude. Numerical modelling revealed that an oblique fracture caused a reduction in the extra time delay of the propagating wave compared with the transverse case, but a decrease in the corresponding signal amplitude, i.e., greater signal loss. The angle of the oblique fracture was investigated and results suggested that decreasing the fracture angle relative to the wave propagation direction caused a decrease in the extra time delay and an increase in signal loss. These findings are important for determining the sensitivity of systems for monitoring fracture healing using ultrasound arrival time and signal amplitude. (E-mail: [email protected]
Ultrasound attenuation as a quantitative measure of fracture healing
No full textThe monitoring of fracture healing still relies upon the judgment of callus formation and on the manual assessment of the stiffness of the fracture. A diagnostic tool capable of quantitatively measuring healing progression of a fracture would allow the fine-tuning of the treatment regime. Ultrasound attenuation measurements were adopted as a possible method of assessing the healing process in human long bones. The method involves exciting ultrasonic waves at 200 kHz in the bone and measuring the reradiation along the bone and across the fracture zone. Seven cadaveric femora were tested in vitro in intact form and after creating a transverse fracture by sawing through the cortex. The effects of five different fracture types were investigated. A partial fracture, corresponding to a 50% cut through the cortex, a closed fracture, and fractures of widths varying between 1, 2, and 4 mm were investigated. The introduction of a fracture was found to produce a dramatic effect on the amplitude of the signal. Ultrasound attenuation was found to be sensitive to the presence of a fracture, even when the fracture was well reduced. It would therefore appear feasible to adopt attenuation across a fracture as a quantitative measurement of fracture healing. <br/
Ultrasonic wave propagation in cortical bone mimics
No full textUnderstanding the velocity and attenuation of ultrasonic waves in cortical bone is important for studies of osteoporosis and fractures. In particular, propagation in free- and water-loaded acrylic plates, with a thickness range of around 1–6 mm, has been widely used to mimic cortical bone behavior. A theoretical investigation of Lamb mode propagation at 200 kHz in free- and water-loaded acrylic plates revealed a marked difference in the form of their velocity and attenuation dispersion curves as a function of frequency thickness product. In experimental studies, this difference between free and loaded plates is not seen. Over short measurement distances, the results for both free and loaded plates are consistent with previous modeling and experimental studies: for thicker plates (above 3–4 mm), the velocity calculated using the first arrival signal is a lateral wave comparable with the longitudinal velocity. As the plate thickness decreases, the velocity approaches the S0 Lamb mode value. Wave2000 modeling of the experimental setup agrees with experimental data. The data are also used to test a hypothesis that for thin plates the velocity approaches the corresponding S0 Lamb mode velocity at large measurement distances or when different arrival time criteria are used
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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