1,720,996 research outputs found
Three-dimensional biomechanical analysis of fast bowling in cricket
Get PDFA three-dimensional (3-D) dynamics model of the human body has been developed to provide a mechanical basis for evaluating fast bowling technique. Thirty-four fast bowlers were selected for study and divided into four groups according to ball release speed. A five camera 240 Hz motion analysis system (Motion Analysis Corp.) was used to track markers on the bowler delivering a series of balls at a target in line with the wickets, and a Bertec force plate was used to measure ground reaction forces. The marker arrangement allowed for the 3-D motion tracking of all major body segments. The resulting kinematic and force plate data of a typical ball were fed into a computer model using Mathematica's Mechanical Systems Pack. This is a set of packages designed for the analysis of spatial rigid body mechanisms by implementing a dynamics formulation with Lagrangian multipliers. The computer model gives a 3-D representation of the human body as a system of fifteen rigid body segments with mass and inertia properties. The model can output the kinematics, inverse solution dynamics, kinetics and powers for each body segment of a bowler delivering a ball.
Bowling in cricket is a unique method of propelling a ball at high speed so that it reaches a batter 20 m away after having bounced once off the pitch. Fast bowlers reduce the time available for the batsman to execute the correct stroke, and therefore increase the chance of error. There are a number of coaching texts available that propose various hypotheses on the correct technique of fast bowling, which have been mostly based on the experiences of successful fast bowlers. However, dynamics has not played any meaningful role in the development of fast bowling technique.
In this thesis, the synthesis of a 3-D rigid body model of bowling was used to calculate the inverse solution dynamics, kinematics, kinetics and segment power flows to test certain established hypotheses on the mechanics of bowling technique. The analysis also probed for mechanical differences in technique between bowling speed groups. It was found that lower trunk, upper trunk, bowling arm, front arm, front leg, and rear leg interacted in such a way that each segmental motion was subject to a kinematic sequencing pattern and a dynamics actuation pattern determined by the calculation of muscle powers. Also, it was possible to differentiate between the consequential motion of a segment, and the actuation of a segment motion. This information provides a perspective of how the body needs to move in order to achieve correct technical form. The results show that that certain established concepts of bowling technique, such as front arm 'sweeping' and 'pull down', lower trunk flexion, and rear leg action have only been partially specified. Also, in certain technical and sequencing aspects there are differences between the bowling speed groups
Characterisation and modelling of loudspeaker cone resonance
Get PDFLoudspeaker cone resonance (“cone break-up”) is a fundamental cause of ripple in the electrical impedance and sound pressure responses of electrodynamic loudspeakers. In this thesis, the dependence of the characteristics of loudspeaker cone resonances on the material properties and thickness profile of the cone is extensively determined by creating 2D and 3D finite element models of a 6½-inch polypropylene-cone loudspeaker. Techniques for adjusting the resonant characteristics of loudspeaker cones by varying the material properties and thickness profile of the cone are explored and summarised.
The effect of cutting narrow slots through the surface of a loudspeaker cone is determined using 3D finite element modelling techniques, and cone slots are shown to have a large influence on the characteristics of the loudspeaker cone. A slotted loudspeaker cone with desirable impedance and sound pressure response characteristics is modelled and constructed. The measured response of the slotted loudspeaker is demonstrated to be a significant improvement over the characteristics of an unslotted loudspeaker
Optimizing Compton camera performance
No full textAmore realistic simulation approach is used to study the behavior of the Compton camera in
this thesis than previous studies to date. The Compton camera differs from gamma cameras
in that the collimator is replaced by a detector known as the ‘scatterer’. Gamma rays may be
Compton scattered in the scatterer and subsequently detected by an ‘absorber’ which is the
equivalent of the detector in a gamma camera. By measuring the energies and the positions
of the points on the scatterer and the absorber where the incident and scattered gamma rays
interacted with the detectors, an image of the source can be reconstructed. Because there is
no collimator present, the potential sensitivity of the Compton camera is much higher than
the gamma camera, resulting in reduced acquisition times.
Most of the work described in this thesis was done with the GEANT4 Monte Carlo
simulation software. GEANT4 has been proven to be very robust and efficient in modelling
physics problems of radiation transport and interactions with matter in complex geometries.
Four major studies are carried out to estimate and optimize the performance of this
novel equipment. The first study takes a look at the scatterer’s imaging parameters with
the aim of prescribing an optimal scatterer material and geometry. In the second study,
the contribution of the absorber to the overall Compton camera performance is evaluated,
considering detector material, interaction type and geometry. The third study explores the
limitations imposed by the detector energy threshold and dead time on the Compton camera
performance, using a simplified model of the general electronic architecture. An evaluation
of Compton camera for scintimammography was performed in the fourth study. For
this study, three dual-head Compton camera models (Si/CZT, Si/LaBr₃:Ce and Si/NaI(Tl)
Compton cameras) were simulated, and the effect of scintillation photons’ interactions with
the photomultipliers was implemented.
The results show that silicon of about 1 cm thickness would be adequate as the Compton
camera scatterer. Analyses suggest however, that the choice of silicon is not completely
flawless. Doppler broadening for this detector material contributes as much as 7.3 mm
and 2.4 mm to full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM) image resolution at 140.5 keV and
511 keV respectively. On the other hand, detector spatial resolution which accounts for
the least image degradation at 140.5 keV is found to be the dominant degrading factor
at 511 keV, suggesting that the absorber parameters play major roles in image resolution
at higher diagnostic energies. Findings further suggest that cadmium zinc telluride (CZT)
would be themost suitable detector as the absorber since thematerial demonstrated the highest efficiency and least positioning error due to multiple interactions as well as good spatial
resolution. The inclusion of the energy threshold and detector dead time at 140.5 keV, reduced
the Compton camera detection efficiency by 48% and 17% respectively, but improved
the image resolution from 10.7 mm to 9.5 mm at the source-to-scatterer distance of 5 cm.
At 511 keV, the inclusion of these parameters reduced the efficiency by 6% and 13% respectively,
but made no significant difference on the camera resolution. For a challenging
detection case in scintimammography, 5 mm breast tumours of tumour/background uptakes
of 10:1 and 6:1 at 511 keV were used. The best signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) was attained
for the Si/CZT Compton camera model, with the SNR values of 12.2 and 5.3.
It is therefore envisioned that with an optimal camera geometry, improved reconstruction
technique and adequate filter algorithm, the combination of Si and CZT as the scatterer
and the absorber of the Compton camera would make a very promising imaging system for
nuclear medicine studies at higher gamma ray energies where the collimated SPECT systems
perform very poorly due to increased septal penetration. It is equally evident from the
studies that with improved technology, new detectors such as LaBr₃:Ce could replace the
traditional NaI(Tl) detector as imaging detectors
Modelling the anaestheto-dynamic phase transition of the cerebral cortex
Get PDFThis thesis examines a stochastic model for the electrical behaviour of the cerebral cortex under the influence of a general anaesthetic agent. The modelling element is the macrocolumn, an organized assembly of ∼10⁵ cooperating neurons (85% excitatory, 15% inhibitory) within a small cylindrical volume (∼1 mm³) of the cortex. The state variables are hₑ and hᵢ, the mean-field average soma voltages for the populations of excitatory (e) and inhibitory (i) neurons comprising the macrocolumn. The random fluctuations of hₑ about its steady-state value are taken as the source of the scalp-measured EEG signal. The randomness enters by way of four independent white-noise inputs representing fluctuations in the four types (e-e, i-e, e-i, i-i) of subcortic alactivity.
Our model is a spatial and temporal simplification of the original set of eight coupled partial differential equations (PDEs) due to Liley et al. [Neurocomputing 26-27, 795 (1999)] describing the electrical rhythms of the cortex. We assume (i) spatial homogeneity (i.e., the entire cortex can be represented by a single macrocolumn), and (ii) a separation of temporal scales in which all inputs to the soma “capacitor” are treated as fast variables that settle to steady state very much more rapidly than do the soma voltages themselves: this is the “adiabatic approximation.” These simplifications permit the eight-equation Liley set to be collapsed to a single pair of first-order PDEs in hₑ and hᵢ. We incorporate the effect of general anaesthetic as a lengthening of the duration of the inhibitory post-synaptic potential (PSP) (i.e., we are modelling the GABAergic class of anaesthetics), thus the effectiveness of the inhibitory firings increases monotonically with anaesthetic concentration.
These simplified equations of motion for hₑ,ᵢ are transformed into Langevin (stochastic) equations by adding small white-noise fluctuations to each of the four subcortical spike-rate averages. In order to anchor the analysis, I first identify the t → ∞ steady-state values for the soma voltages. This is done by turning off all noise sources and setting the dhₑ/dt and dhᵢ/dt time derivatives to zero, then numerically locating the steady-state coordinates as a function of anaesthetic effect λ, the scale-factor for the lengthening of the inhibitory PSP. We find that, when plotted as a function of λ, the steady-state soma voltages map out a reverse-S trajectory consisting of a pair of stable branches—the upper (active, high-firing) branch, and the lower (quiescent, low-firing) branch—joined by an unstable mid-branch. Because the two stable phases are not contiguous, the model predicts that a transit from one phase to the other must be first-order discontinuous in soma voltage, and that the downward (induction) jump from active-awareness to unconscious-quiescence will be hysteretically separated from (i.e., will occur at a larger concentration of anaesthetic than) the upward (emergence) jump for the return of consciousness.
By reenabling the noise terms, then linearizing the Langevin equations about one of the stable steady states, we obtain a two-dimensional Ornstein-Uhlenbeck (Brownian motion) system which can be analyzed using standard results from stochastic calculus. Accordingly, we calculate the covariance, time-correlation, and spectral matrices, and find the interesting predictions of vastly increased EEG fluctuation power, attended by simultaneous redistribution of spectral energy towards low frequencies with divergent increases in fluctuation correlation times (i.e., critical slowing down), as the macrocolumn transition points are approached. These predictions are qualitatively confirmed by clinical measurements reported by Kuizenga et al. [British Journal of Anaesthesia 80, 725 (1998)] of the so-called EEG biphasic effect. He used a slew-rate technique known as aperiodic analysis, and I demonstrate that this is approximately equivalent to a frequency-scaling of the power spectral density.
Changes in the frequency distribution of spectral energy can be quantified using the notion of spectral entropy, a modern measure of spectral “whiteness.” We compare the spectral entropy predicted by the model against the clinical values reported recently by Viertiӧ-Oja et al. [Journal of Clinical Monitoring 16, 60 (2000)], and find excellent qualitative agreement for the induction of anaesthesia.
To the best of my knowledge, the link between spectral entropy and correlation time has not previously been reported. For the special case of Lorentzian spectrum (arising from a 1-D OU process), I prove that spectral entropy is proportional to the negative logarithm of the correlation time, and uncover the formula which relates the discrete H₁ Shannon information to the continuous H₂ “histogram entropy,” giving an unbiased estimate of the underlying continuous spectral entropy Hω. The inverse entropy-correlation relationship suggests that, to the extent that anaesthetic induction can be modelled as a 1-D OU process, cortical state can be assessed either in the time domain via correlation time or, equivalently, in the frequency domain via spectral entropy.
In order to investigate a thermodynamic analogy for the anaesthetic-driven (“anaestheto-dynamic”) phase transition of the cortex, we use the steady-state trajectories as an effective equation of state to uncouple the macrocolumn into a pair of (apparently) independent “pseudocolumns.” The stable steady states may now be pictured as local minima in a landscape of potential hills and valleys. After identifying a plausible temperature analogy, we compute the analogous entropy and predict discontinous entropy change—with attendant “heat capacity” anomalies—at transition. The Stullken dog experiments [Stullken et al., Anesthesiology 46, 28(1977)], measuring cerebral metabolic rate changes, seem to confirm these model predictions.
The penultimate chapter examines the impact of incorporating NMDA, an important excitatory neurotransmitter, in the adiabatic model. This work predicts the existence of a new stable state for the cortex, midway between normal activity and quiescence. An induction attempt using a pure anti-NMDA anaesthetic agent (e.g., xenon or nitrous oxide) will take the patient to this mid-state, but no further. I find that for an NMDA-enabled macrocolumn, a GABA induction can produce a second biphasic power event, depending on the brain state at commencement. The latest clinical report from Kuizenga et al. [British Journal of Anaesthesia 86, 354 (2001)] provides apparent confirmation
Acoustic Vector Network Analyser
Get PDFThis research aims at increasing the accuracy and precision of characterising acoustic materials by adapting well-known techniques developed for the radio-frequency domain to the acoustic domain.
Two novel methods are developed with different approaches for determining the reflectivity of materials: computationally and physically.
The first method is a advancement of the current “industry standard”, the impedance tube, by using additional microphones and error correcting methods. A vector network analyser (VNA) is used as the data acquisition component with the aim of developing a module to allow the device to measure in the acoustic domain. The multi-microphone method employs the use of a mathematical model of the acoustics with the impedance tube to computationally solve for the unknown acoustic properties. The method is found to contain multiple sources of error at each stage of the process which makes reliable calibration and measurement difficult. The advantage of using a VNA is lost due to the inclusion of non-systematic error.
The second method uses wave superposition to form directional couplers to determine the reflectivity. This method allows for a more robust calibration routine as the error is systematic and can be corrected using intelligent procedures and measurement standards. The measurement accuracy was found to be ± 1.5 dB over a frequency range from 800 to 2200 Hz . The device is used to characterise the acoustic properties of pasture in order to aid the development of pasture meters. Pasture was found to reflect a relatively small amount and absorb the majority of the incident acoustic energy
Fast Monte Carlo Simulation of ⁹⁰Y Bremsstrahlung using a Kernel-based Photon Source
No full textIn targeted radionuclide therapy using ⁹⁰Y, bremsstrahlung photons can be used for imaging and subsequently for absorbed dose estimation. Monte Carlo simulation is a reliable method to study bremsstrahlung imaging but it takes a long computation time as not all ⁹⁰Y disintegrations result in emission of a bremsstrahlung photon. Furthermore the electron transport simulation is particularly time consuming. This research proposes that bremsstrahlung photons produced from the decay of a ⁹⁰Y point source are replaced with a kernel-based photon source for faster Monte Carlo simulation.
This study is divided into three main parts. First, a ⁹⁰Y point source in a spherical water phantom is fully simulated using Monte Carlo simulation. The characteristics of the bremsstrahlung photons produced from the ⁹⁰Y decay are investigated. The full Monte Carlo simulation of ⁹⁰Y point source provides the relationships between the emission position, energy and emission angle of the bremsstrahlung photon. These are recorded as probability distribution functions (PDFs).
Then, a kernel-based photon source which comprises of an array of photon-emitting concentric spherical shells is developed. The energy spectrum and angular distributions of the emitted photons are defined for each shell using the PDFs obtained previously from the full ⁹⁰Y Monte Carlo simulation. The kernel-based photon source shows a very close approximation to the distribution of bremsstrahlung photons generated by the full Monte Carlo simulation of ⁹⁰Y point source if the shells are sufficiently closely spaced.
Finally, the accuracy and speed of the kernel-based photon source are evaluated. A simplified gamma camera model, which consists of a collimator and NaI(Tl) detector is simulated to obtain the point spread function (PSF) of the point source ‘image’. The PSF can be represented as a Gaussian function. Estimation of σ of the Gaussian function and thus the full-width half-maximum (FWHM) is used to compare the different kernel-based photon source models to represent a ‘real’ source generated by a full Monte Carlo ⁹⁰Y simulation. The results show that the FWHMs of the photon source with kernels are comparable to full Monte Carlo simulation of ⁹⁰Y point source. The FWHM determined for a photon point source with the spectrum of ⁹⁰Y bremsstrahlung underestimates the full Monte Carlo simulation of the true ⁹⁰Y point source. This demonstrates that it is important to account for the photons being emitted at a distance away from the source and all of the photons cannot be assumed to come from a single point. It is more computationally efficient to use this source model than the kernel-based photon sources as it has the shortest computation time, however it is quite inaccurate. Simplifying the kernel-based source by assuming the photon emission as isotropic reduces the accuracy of the model slightly, though the reduction in simulation time is sufficiently small that the more accurate anisotropic kernel should be preferred.
The kernel-based photon source proposed in this study can be used to accurately represent the bremsstrahlung photons produced from the beta decay of a ⁹⁰Y point source. This approach greatly improves the simulation speed by almost 30 times
Analysis on Supercapacitor Assisted Low Dropout (SCALDO) Regulators
No full textState-of-the-art electronic systems employ three fundamental techniques for DC-DC converters: (a) switch-mode power supplies (SMPS); (b) linear power supplies; (c) switched capacitor (charge pump) converters. In practical systems, these three techniques are mixed to provide a complex, but elegant, overall solution, with energy efficiency, effective PCB footprint, noise and transient performance to suit different electronic circuit blocks. Switching regulators have relatively high end-to-end efficiency, in the range of 70 to 93%, but can have issues with output noise and EMI/RFI emissions. Switched capacitor converters use a set of capacitors for energy storage and conversion.
In general, linear regulators have low efficiencies in the range 30 to 60%. However, they have outstanding output characteristics such as low noise, excellent transient response to load current fluctuations, design simplicity and low cost design which are far superior to SMPS. Given the complex situation in switch-mode converters, low dropout (LDO) regulators were introduced to address the equirements of noise-sensitive and fast transient loads in portable devices. A typical commercial off-the-shelf LDO has its input voltage slightly higher than the desired regulated output for optimal efficiency.
The approximate efficiency of a linear regulator, if the power consumed by the control circuits is negligible, can be expressed by the ratio of Vo/Vin. A very low frequency supercapacitor circulation technique can be combined with commercial low dropout regulator ICs to significantly increase the end-to-end efficiency by a multiplication factor in the range of 1.33 to 3, compared to the efficiency of a linear regulator circuit with the same input-output voltages. In this patented supercapacitor-assisted low dropout (SCALDO) regulator technique developed by a research team at the University of Waikato, supercapacitors are used as lossless voltage droppers, and the energy reuse occurs at very low frequencies in the range of less than ten hertz, eliminating RFI/EMI concerns.
This SCALDO technique opens up a new approach to design step-down, DC-DC converters suitable for processor power supplies with very high end-to-end efficiency which is closer to the efficiencies of practical switching regulators, while maintaining the superior output specifications of a linear design. Furthermore, it is important to emphasize that the SCALDO technique is not a variation of well-known switched capacitor DC-DC converters.
In this thesis, the basic SCALDO concept is further developed to achieve generalised topologies, with the relevant theory that can be applied to a converter with any input-output step-down voltage combination. For these generalised topologies, some important design parameters, such as the number of supercapacitors, switching matrix details and efficiency improvement factors, are derived to form the basis of designing SCALDO regulators. With the availability of commercial LDO ICs with output current ratings up to 10 A, and thin-prole supercapacitors with DC voltage ratings from 2.3 to 5.5 V, several practically useful, medium-current SCALDO prototypes: 12V-to-5V, 5V-to-2V, 5.5V-to-3.3V have been developed. Experimental studies were carried out on these SCALDO prototypes to quantify performance in terms of line regulation, load regulation, efficiency and transient response.
In order to accurately predict the performance and associated waveforms of the individual phases (charge, discharge and transition) of the SCALDO regulator, Laplace transform-based theory for supercapacitor circulation is developed, and analytical predictions are compared with experimental measurements for a 12V-to-5V prototype. The analytical results tallied well with the practical waveforms observed in a 12V-to-5V converter, indicating that the SCALDO technique can be generalized to other versatile configurations, and confirming that the simplified assumptions used to describe the circuit elements are reasonable and justifiable.
After analysing the performance of several SCALDO prototypes, some practical issues in designing SCALDO regulators have been identified. These relate to power losses and implications for future development of the SCALDO design
Supecapacitor-assisted Temperature Modification Apparatus (SCATMA) and Fast Supercapacitor Charger
No full textThis thesis presents the design and development of the supercapacitor-assisted "instant" water heating system as well as a new power converter topology to fast charge a supercapacitor bank.
Delayed delivery of hot water in domestic water heating systems wastes over 15 million cubic metres of treated water per annum in New Zealand. The patent pending supercapacitor assisted temperature modication apparatus (SCATMA), solves this problem by using pre-stored supercapacitor energy. These supercapacitors deliver short-term high-power bursts into heater coils placed in the final half meter of pipe connecting the faucet. During a period of less than a minute, 100-200 Wh of energy is released to the heater coil at a rate between 10-20 kW.
Based on the cost constraints of a commercial system and the regulatory authority requirements, a supercapacitor-only solution becomes prohibitively expensive. A review of current state-of-the-art energy storage systems show that no battery chemistry can withstand the associated charge-discharge cycles to reach the expected service life of 5-10 years. While developing the unique two-stage fast supercapacitor charger, a battery-supercapacitor hybrid system was developed for SCATMA as a commercially viable solution for rapid water heating.
Dividing a supercapacitor bank into three parts and circulating them through a `charge-idle-discharge' sequence was already investigated for the surge resistant uninterrupted power supply. The effectiveness of this technique mandates fast supercapacitor charging. The proposed new charger achieves fast charging by using a high voltage source to overcome the five time constant charging time and a series coupled inductor to charge the capacitor bank by dividing it into two parts. One part is charged using an overvoltaged dc source with capacitor bank terminal voltage monitoring and the other part is charged by the coupled-inductor using the energy stored in the inductor.
This topology is specifically developed for applications with limited energy requirements. Design procedure and results for a 600 W, 2 Wh charger is presented to illustrate the fast charging ability, the inherent power factor correction capability and the scalability of the topology
Quantification of respiratory sinus arrhythmia by use of low order ARX models
Get PDFRespiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA) is a change in the heart rate that corresponds to the frequency of respiration, but its causative mechanisms in humans remain only partially determined. In this thesis, models of the human cardiovascular system have been developed to give physiologically reasonable explanations of RSA. In a normally intact system, the cardiovascular system has respiration as input and heart rate as the output, which can be used to evaluate the cardiovascular system dynamics. It is proposed that respiration oscillations play a major role in the generation of RSA in healthy humans through the action of medullary respiratory neurons, which have been shown to both control respiration itself and via a coupling to autonomic centers to modulate heart rate by varying parasympathetic and sympathetic inputs to the sinoatrial node. The Baroreflex does not play an important role in modifying the RSA response in normal conditions but does maintain arterial blood pressure within a fairly narrow range through feedback control. Based on the neural network autoregressive with exogenous input (ARX) model, sensitivity analysis has been employed to demonstrate that instantaneous lung volume (ILV) has a much higher percentage of contribution to heart rate variability (HRV) than systolic blood pressure (SBP) (typically 11.6%, 4.6%), which agrees well with our cardiovascular system model.
System identification of RSA in random, regular and spontaneous breathing patterns performed well when using an ARX model of low order, typically [4, 2, x]. In order to get a tradeoff between the accuracy of the model and an excessive number of parameters associated with that model, both the false nearest neighbors (FNN) algorithm and visual inspection of the loss function were used for model order determination. Good model qualities were proved by model validations and agreed well with the results of previous research. Studying transfer characteristics from fluctuations of ILV to HRV, the impulse response was obtained from the ARX model and it was then decomposed algebraically into two combinations of exponential decays, i.e., the fast and slow response components. The low order ARX model was tested on data acquired from a range of healthy subjects and patients.
Analysis of the data indicated that the fast response component of the impulse response corresponds to the high frequency power (HF) (0.3-0.5 Hz) of HRV fluctuations, and the slow response component corresponds to the low frequency power (LF) (0.08-0.15 Hz) of HRV fluctuation. The fast component reflects the change of HRV due to parasympathetic input and the slow component is attributed to both sympathetic and parasympathetic input.
Analysis of the model parameters, the amplitude and time constant of impulse response components, showed these can identify differences in the system response due to the shifts in autonomic balance produced by changing posture and in patients with large sympathetic inputs. Compared with HF:LF power ratio, our slow components of impulse response are more informative in quantifying the balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic response due to respiration.
To our knowledge, this is first attempt to use an ARX model to quantify RSA for patients in uncontrolled situations where the spontaneous breathing pattern can take on a variety of forms. Our study shows that the results of this system identification to patients are reliable quantitative indexes of RSA after the data has been examined to ensure that cardiorespiratory interaction is linear and stationary
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