bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
NEURAL NETWORKS SURROGATE MODELS FOR SIMULATING PAYMENT RISK IN PAVEMENT CONSTRUCTION/NEURONINIŲ TINKLŲ PAKAITALO MODELIS MOKĖJIMO RIZIKAI KELIŲ STATYBOJE NUSTATYTI
Authors: Manik Anshu , Gopalakrishnan Kasthurirangan , Singh Abhishek , Yan Shengquan
Published: December 2008

A common provision in quality control/quality assurance (QC/QA) highway pavement construction contracts is the adjustment of the pay that a contractor receives on the basis of the quality of the construction. It is important to both the contractor and the contracting agency to examine the amount of pay that the contractor can expect to receive for a given level of construction quality. Previous studies have shown that computer simulations can provide a better, more detailed examination of the pay schedule than is possible by simply determining the expected pay. In particular, the simulation process can provide an indication of the variability of pay at various quality levels and can identify the factors most responsible for pay adjustments. Stochastic simulation models are very useful in estimating and analyzing payment risk in highway pavement construction. However, such models are constrained by their computational requirements, and it is often necessary to couple them with simpler models to speed up the process of decision‐making. This paper investigates the use of Neural Networks (NN) to build surrogate models for a pavement construction payment‐risk prediction model. The results show that although the average error associated with the NN predictions are acceptable; in some particular cases the errors may be unacceptably high. Santrauka Bendroji sąlyga kokybės kontrolės užtikrinimo (QC/QA) kelių tiesimo sutartyse yra užmokesčio nustatymas. Jį rangovas gauna atsižvelgdamas į statybos kokybę. Svarbu rangovui ir agentūrai išnagrinėti užmokesčio kiekį, kurio rangovas gali tikėtis gauti už tam tikrą statybų kokybę. Ankstesni tyrimai parodė, kad pasitelkiant kompiuterinį modeliavimą galima gauti geresnį, daug išsamesnį apmokėjimo vaizdą. Tai galima padaryti paprasčiausiai nustatant tikėtiną užmokestį. Modeliavimo procesas rodo užmokesčio kitimą paisant kokybės ir gali pateikti veiksnius, nuo kurių priklauso kainos nustatymas. Tikimybinis modelis yra labai naudingas apskaičiuojant ir analizuojant užmokesčio riziką tiesiant kelių dangas. Tačiau tokie modeliai yra suvaržyti kompiuterinių reikalavimų, ir dažnai juos reikia susieti su paprastesniais modeliais norint greitinti sprendimų priėmimo procesą. Šiame straipsnyje tyrinėjamas neuroninių tinklų naudojimas pakeičiantiems modeliams sukurti norint teisingai nustatyti kelių dangos tiesimo užmokestį. Rezultatai parodė, kad vidutinė paklaida, susijusi su neuroninių tinklų spėjimu, yra priimtina, tačiau kai kuriais atvejais paklaidos gali būti neleistinai didelės.
EMPIRICAL STUDIES OF CROSS-REFERENCE MAXIMUM LIKELIHOOD ESTIMATE RECONSTRUCTION FOR POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY
Authors: TU KAO-YIN , CHEN TAI-BEEN , LU HENRY HORNG-SHING , LIU REN-SHYAN , CHOU KUO-LIANG , CHEN CHUNG-MING , CHEN JYH-CHENG
Published: December 2008

Positron emission tomography (PET) can reveal subtle metabolic process, which is an important modality for diagnosis. However, spatial resolution of PET images is not as good as computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which can show precise anatomical details. Our study is to improve image quality of PET using better reconstruction methods. In this paper, we use a new and efficient method to incorporate the correlated structural information obtained from MRI. A mean estimate smoothing the maximum likelihood estimate (MLE) locally within each region of interest is derived according to the boundaries provided by the structural information. Since the boundaries may not be correct, a penalized MLE using the mean estimate is sought. The resulting reconstruction is called a cross-reference maximum likelihood estimate (CRMLE). The CRMLE is obtained through a modified expectation maximization (EM) algorithm, which is shown to be computationally efficient by our phantom and clinical studies.
ERYTHROCYTES DAMAGE BY ULTRASOUND AT DIFFERENT HYDROSTATIC PRESSURES
Authors: YANG SHIUH-KUANG , HUANG YI-CHENG
Published: December 2008

The study of the biological effect of ultrasound on tissue has become an important branch of biophysical ultrasonics. Among the important biological effects, which have been discovered, are chromosomal anomalies, cell death, destruction of cellular structures. Although heating may be important in some results, nonthermal mechanics, such as cavitation, are often suggested as being responsible for the observed effects.

In this paper, the biological subject of this study is the red blood cells (RBC); the relationship between the threshold lesion of RBC and frequency of ultrasound was studied. It has been concerned that a suitable frequency value of ultrasound was selected, capable of driving the bubbles to an interesting reaction. The effective mass of the bubble.for the oscillating system is due to the motion of the surrounding medium. For the purposes, by using the approximate expressions for the effective stiffness and mass of a gas body, one can determine the resonance frequency of the gas body. In the closed system, three types of frequencies were employed with different pressure. The cell death threshold varies with the ultrasonic frequency of exposure, the minimum at about 10 MHz. This report is intended to provide a useful way for the study of the biological effect of ultrasound at medically relevant frequencies.
3D IMAGE RECONSTRUCTION OF OVARIAN TUMOR IN THE ULTRASONIC IMAGES
Authors: JIANG C. F.
Published: December 2008

The prevalence of ovarian tumor malignancy can be monitored by the degree of irregularity in the ovarian contour and by the septal structure inside the tumor observed in ultrasonic images. However the 2D ultrasonic images can not integrate 3D information form the ovarian tumor. In this paper, we present an algorithm that can render the 3D image of an ovarian tumor by reconstructing the 2D ultrasonic images into a 3D data set. This is based on sequentially boundary detection in a series of 2D images to form a 3D tumor contour. This contour is then used as a barrier to remove the data containing the other tissue adhering to the tumor surface. The final 3D image rendered by the isolated data provides a clear view of both the surface and inner structure of the ovarian tumor.
IMPROVE ON PERFORMANCE OF INDIRECT CALORIMETRY FOR SMALL PRETERM INFANTS
Authors: LIN SHIH-CHING , LUO CHING-HSING , YEH TSU-FUH
Published: December 2008

An indirect calorimetry system of measuring oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production has been frequently used for preterm infants. The energy consumption and metabolic measurements are based on flow-through technology. The noninvasive measurement feature of the indirect calorimeter is widely used in pediatric clinical research. However, the indirect calorimeter has several limitations for small preterm infants, particularly the ill infant weighing < 1.0 kg. In this paper, we propose some technologies and methodologies to improve the performance of the indirect calorimetry. According to these technologies and methodologies, we redesign the indirect calorimeter proposed in our pervious study. The laboratory evaluation at the different alcohol combustion rates and several exhaust flow rates is used to survey the improved performance. As the results, the accuracy and precision is enhanced by these methods and the lowest oxygen consumption rate, 4.35 ml/min, fits for baby weight of 0.66 kg. It is demonstrated that the performances of new indirect calorimetry are substantially improved. It can be applied to calculate the energy consumption and metabolic rate for low-birth-weight infants in clinical research.
RESEARCH AND APPLICATIONS OF MECHATRONICS TECHNOLOGIES IN MEDICINE
Authors: LEE MING-YIH
Published: December 2008

Following the promotion of living quality and the implementation of the national health instrumentation program in Taiwan, the demand of research and development for localized medical modalities has become critical. With corporation with Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, the Medical Automation and Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (MAREC) in Chang Gung University has been dedicated itself to the development of pivotal technologies for medical mechatronics systems / modalities and perform clinical evaluation of newly developed modalities. In this paper, part of the localized medical mechatronics systems and rehabilitative modalities developed in Chang Gung University (Taiwan) was reported.
USING A FUZZY ENGINE AND COMPLETE SET OF FEATURES FOR HEPATIC DISEASES DIAGNOSIS: INTEGRATING CONTRAST AND NON-CONTRAST CT IMAGES
Authors: CHEN E-LIANG , CHUNG YI-NUNG , CHUNG PAU-CHOO , TSAI HORNG-MING , HUANG YI-SHIUAN
Published: December 2008

In the diagnosis of hepatic diseases, “Contrast-Enhanced Computerized Tomography” (CECT) and “Non-Contrast CT” (NCT) are usually simultaneously adopted. In this paper, a system consisting of a fuzzy diagnosis engine and a feature quantizer, which extracts hepatic features from CECT and NCT images, is proposed for assisting hepatic disease diagnosis. Compared with existing methods, this paper differs in two folds. First, a more complete feature set composed of not only lesion textures, but also lesion morphological structure and lesion contrast to normal tissues is used. These features are described through mathematical models built inside the feature quantizer and served as the input of fuzzy diagnosis engine. Second, because of the use of the fuzzy diagnosis engine, the system is intrinsically with the capability of storing rules and may infer and adapt its rules according to learning data. Furthermore, uncertainty associated with disease diagnosis can be appropriately taken into considerations. The system has been tested using 131 sets of image data, which are to be classified into 4 types of diseases: liver cyst, hepatoma, cavernous hemagioma and metastatic liver tumor. Experimental results indicate that among these test data 78% of them are accurately classified as one type, while the remaining 22% of data are classified as more than one types of diseases. Even so, within these 22% of multiple-classified data, the correct type is always included in the output in each test, showing a promise of the system.
MICROCONTROLLER-BASED EGG RECORDING SYSTEM
Authors: JANG J.-K. , KUO T.-S , SHIEH M.-J
Published: December 2008

An Electrogastrography (EGG) recorder is proposed in this paper. This recorder consists of a microcontroller, an interfacing circuit for the RS-232, amplifiers and filters for signal conditioning, and a control program for EGG acquisition. An EGG signal, filtered between 0.015 and 0.5 Hz, was used to evaluate the performance of this system. The results suggest that this system is useful both in the hardware circuits and in the analyzing software. The complete system is versatile and cheap. Thus, it will be helpful for other laboratories with limited financial budget. Furthermore, circuits are described in detail for this purpose.
SYNERGISTIC WRIST DYNAMIC SPLINT FOR FLEXOR TENDON REPAIR
Authors: CHOU PEI-HSI , CHOU YOU-LI , AN KAI-NAN , LIN GAU-TYAN , SU FONG-CHIN , YANG CHING-SHOUNG , HUANG GWO-FENG
Published: December 2008

Tendons are frequently injured by direct trauma. Tendon adhesions were a common sequel of tendon repair and are one of the most challenging problems in hand surgery.

The concept of “controlled motion” gradually replaced “total immobilization” in the treatment of flexor tendon injuries and today represents a standard of care for all primary repaired flexor tendon injury. Use of controlled motion splints during the early stages of stages of tendon recovery in crease tendon gliding. However, how best to achieve passive motion and the effect of passive motion on tendon gliding have remained controversial subjects. Based on a series of recent experiments, the concept of “dynamic synergistic wrist motion splint” was established and evaluated. It was found that this synergistic wrist motion increases the tendon excursion due to eliminating the laxity and buckling of tendon in the regions between pulleys without introduce excessive amount of tension.

The purpose of this study is to design and fabricate a dynamic splint based on this concept and define the nature coordinated motion between the wrist and finger joints due to the passive tension of the muscles in vivo.

Parametric analysis will be conducted to achieve an optimum design with the consideration of anatomic constraints. Clinical trial of using such dynamic splint will be evaluated in the future.
IONTOPHORETIC TRANSDERMAL DELIVERY OF ANGIOTENSIN II AND ITS ANTAGONISTS
Authors: Huang Yi-You
Published: December 2008

Angiotensin II and its antagonists were used as permeant probes to investigate the mechanism of transdermal iontophoretic delivery of peptide/protein drugs and compare the effect of hydrophobic difference between the peptides drugs on the skin permeability. Transport of angiotensin II and its antagonists through excised rabbit pinna skin were enhanced with iontophoresis by monophase periodically pulsed current, amplituide=1mA, frequency=1000Hz and on/off ratio equals 50%. The delivery rate was proportional both to the current intensity and pulse duration of the stimulation. Results showed that the permeation rate of [Sar, Ile] Angiotensin II > [Sar,Ala]Angiotensin II > Angiotensin II. Iontophoretic mobility and hydrophobicity were the key factors dominating the transdermal iontophoretic delivery rate of angiotensin II and its antagonists.
A NEW DESIGN FOR A MULTIFUNCTIONAL CONTACT-PIN TYPE PULSE TRANSDUCER
Authors: LIN ALBERT CHIN-YUH , CHANG HSING-CHENG , DAI CHIA-ZHENG , YU KAE-CHYUN , CHEN TSUNG-HUNG
Published: December 2008

In this paper, a new contact-pin type pulse transducer is designed to improve reliability of the pulse-waveform acquisition. The transducer contains two pressure sensor dies with two contact pins on the top, a wire-bonded circuit board, and power driving mechanism. The designed contact-pin is firmly supported by a thin membrane on the package of the transducer. It can minimize the friction for vibration measurement and can easy adjust misalignment for long-term physical measurements that can be used to accurately extract more pulse information by measuring pulse waveforms from the wrist artery. Some special apparatus designed as fixtures have been setup for the transducer fabrication and applications. Experimental results show that the designed contact-pin transducer is robust and feasible for further applications.
DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A PC-BASED MULTIMEDIA BIOSIGNAL INTEGRATION SYSTEM
Authors: LEE JIANN-DER , WAN SHU-YEN , HUNG IN-KAI
Published: December 2008

This paper presents a novel framework to provide the useful models such as Teleconsultation and Telemonitoring for PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System). It mainly makes use of multimedia together with network-transferring technologies, etc. to integrate the various departments in the hospital, with the expectation of helping the specialists make consultation and share the resources through the network as well as reducing the management cost; so as to enhance efficiency, improve medical quality and provide the patients with better service. The whole system in this approach is based on the most popular platform of Windows and builds the medical database by PACS database programming. It combines OLE DB interface and ADO technology, etc. to provide the users with operations such as data search and access; and makes use of the network construction; data transfer and message transfer of DirectPlay object throughout the whole system to operate. Besides providing general text communication, the system also provides the video-conferencing to enhance the interaction among people. Finally, in order to benefit the network transfer, the system also provides lossless data compression service to increase data-transferring speed.

This paper also proposes the Group Data Provider Selection (GDPS) mechanism, by which the system not only can reduce the system-management workload of the database, but also can find out the best network-transferring path automatically to transfer the data to the destination. Moreover, in the experiment of the Telemonitoring module, under the condition that there are three signal channels for each biosignal extractor and the sampling frequency of each channel is set up at 500Hz, the nursing monitoring station can monitor over 12 biosignal extractors at the same time, which has reached the requirement of a practical PACS used in modern hospital. This also illustrates the effectiveness and the potential of the proposed scheme.
RECOGNITION FOR THE BOUNDARY OF PRESSURE-TOLERANT AND PRESSURE-RELIEF AREAS ON THE SCANNED POINTS OF RESIDUAL LIMB
Authors: HSU LAI-HSING , AU HON-WING , CHOU YOU-LI , HUANG GWO-FENG
Published: December 2008

An algorithm is proposed to recognize the pressure-relief area and pressure-tolerance area on the CAD (computer aided design)model of a residual limb that needs to be modified for the use of making socket. The recognition algorithm includes the basic techniques of image processing, geometric model transformation, and the characteristic distance between two adjacent scanned points. The results of the boundary points are transferred to a CAD system that is employed to modify the shape of the residual limb within these two types of areas according to the prosthetist requirements. The modified CAD model is then used to produce a better-fit socket.
SAFETY AND USEFULNESS OF COLONFIBROSCOPY IN THE VERY ELDERLY
Authors: WEI SHU-CHEN , WONG JAU-MIN , SHIEH MING-JIUM , WANG CHENG-YI
Published: December 2008

The population of elderly people has increased in recent years. The importance of endoscopy as a diagnostic tool is indisputable. The feasibility and safety of upper gastrointestinal tract panendoscopy and sigmoidoscopy in elderly patients has been reported previously. However, there are still no reports about colonfibroscopy in the elderly, especially for the very elder patients (aged 80 years or above). This retrospective study reviewed the chart and endoscopic records of patients aged 80 or more who underwent colonfibroscopy examination at our hospital from January 1992 to December 1997. The basic clinical information, indications of endoscopy, the diagnostic results, and the followup conditions were all recorded and analyzed. A total of 240 colonfibroscopy examinations were performed in 189 patients. All the patients tolerated the procedure well. No complications were noted during and after the colonfibroscopy studies. The most frequent indication of colonfibroscopy was bloody stool and/or positive stool occult blood test. In considering the final diagnosis, adenoma and/or polyp, hemorrhoids, and colorectal cancer were the three most frequent etiologies in these patients. Only 17 examinations could not be properly completed due to poor colon preparation. Colonfibroscopy was a safe and useful diagnostic tool for the very elder patients. These very elderly patients had a high incidence of colorectal cancer, especially for those who had a past history of colorectal cancer (metachronous cancer). Those who had bloody stool and/or positive stool occult blood test, bowel habit change or anemia, and who have a history of colorectal cancer should undergo the colonfibroscopy.
BIOMECHANICAL ANALYSES FOR THE EFFECTS OF ELBOW INITIAL FLEXION ANGLES ON UPPER EXTREMITY DURING A FALL
Authors: CHOU PEI-HSI , CHEN SHEN-KAI , CHOU YOU-LI , SU FONG-CHIN , SHI YUNG-CHIN , HUANG GWO-FENG , WU TUN-CHIN
Published: December 2008

Elbow joint loading was evaluated during a forward fall at various elbow initial flexion angles, in order to determine which is the best elbow initial flexion angles to prevent the elbow injury during a fall. Subjects were asked to perform a forward fall and followed by a push-up motion in different elbow initial flexion angles: 0°, 20°, 40° and unrestricted group. Fall on the outstretched hand is the leading cause of upper extremity injury. There are far more extension type of supra-condylar fracture of the elbow than flexion type. Flexion of the elbow may represent the effects of damper and spring. Using the motion analysis system, the kinematics and kinetics of the elbow joint were investigated under various elbow initial flexion angles. The loading biomechanics of the elbow joint differed with various elbow initial flexion angles. The ground reaction forces decrease with increase of elbow flexion upon impact. Different initial elbow flexion angles would affect the biomechanics of upper extremities during falls. Forward fall with elbow in extension is more dangerous. Knowledge of elbow kinematics and kinetics may be helpful in preventing injuries by reducing the ground reaction force with changes of the elbow initial flexion angles during a fall.
THERMAL MODELS OF BIOHEAT TRANSFER EQUATIONS IN LIVING TISSUE AND THERMAL DOSE EQUIVALENCE DUE TO HYPERTHERMIA
Authors: SHIH TZU-CHING , KOU HONG-SEN , LIAUH CHIHNG-TSUNG , LIN WIN-LI
Published: December 2008

This review focuses both on the basic formulations of bioheat equation in the living tissue and on the determination of thermal dose during thermal therapy. The temperature distributions inside the heated tissues, generally controlled by heating modalities, are obtained by solving the bioheat transfer equation. However, the major criticism for the Pennes' model focused on the assumption that the heat transfer by blood flow occurs in a non-directional, heat sink- or source-like term. Several bioheat transfer models have been introduced to compare their convective and perfusive effects in vascular tissues. The present review also elucidates thermal dose equivalence that represents the extent of thermal damage or destruction of tissue in the clinical treatment of tumor with local hyperthermia. In addition, this study uses the porous medium concept to describe the heat transfer in the living tissue with the directional effect of blood flow, and the polynomial expression of thermal dose in terms of the curve fitting of the experimental isosurvival curve data by Dewey et al. Results show that the values of factor R is a function of the heating temperature instead of the two different constants suggested by Sapareto and Dewey.
DNA PREPARATION FROM PLANT TISSUES WITH THE MAGNA PURE LC SYSTEM
Authors: HAHNEN SILKE , HOFFMANN KONSTANZE , RÜGER BARBARA , PETERHÄNSEL CHRISTOPH
Published: December 2008

Automated preparation of DNA from plants is difficult because of the rigid leaf structure and the high amount of nucleolytic activities in vacuoles. We established a protocol for DNA preparation from dried leaf samples of maize, tobacco, and periwinkle using the MagNA Pure LC system. The isolated templates can be used for PCR analysis with the Light Cycler instrument.
A SHORT MESSAGE SERVICE BASED DESIGN FOR A PORTABLE TELEALARM DEVICE
Authors: LEE REN-GUEY , CHANG KUANG-CHIUNG
Published: December 2008

This paper presents an SMS based design in the GSM system for a portable, light weighted, and small sized TeleAlarm device. The device is composed of a transmitter and a controller. When an emergent situation such as a stroke or a fall occurs, the user only needs to push a button to trigger the controller. The controller automatically sends text messages stored in its database through the transmitter to specified mobile phone numbers for help. The SMS uses only the control channels in the GSM system to transfer the message, which enables the receiving-end user to receive it even during a call. An experimental test shows that a complete message transmission only needs 2.949 seconds in average. The design is convenient to elderly people who may live alone.
DYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF THE HUMAN KNEE
Authors: TARLOCHAN R. , RAMESH S. , HILLBERRY B. M.
Published: December 2008

The objective of this paper is to present a dynamic analysis of the human knee for various activities such as walking and stair ascending/descending. The results of this work is significant as it can used as inputs to joint simulators for artificial joint study, for rehabilitation purposes and to some extend applied to sports biomechanics. In the present work an experimental study consisting of a motion sensor and a force plate was used to capture the motion of subjects and to provide ground force reactions data that will serve as inputs to the model. Subjects in the 50-65 years old bracket performed activities such as walking, stairs ascending and descending. This age bracket was chosen because most of patients with knee-related problems are found in this age group. Some of the results from the present work correlated with that of published literature. However, the present analysis was based on a more comprehensive model of the knee, which makes the results more realistic to the actual mechanical behavior of the lower limb.
A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON WEAR BEHAVIOR OF HIP PROSTHESIS BY FINITE ELEMENT SIMULATION
Authors: HUNG JUI-PIN , WU JAMES SHIH-SHYN
Published: December 2008

A numerical approach was proposed to investigate the wear behavior occurred in the artificial hip joints in this paper. In the numerical simulations, the wear coefficients taken from pin-on-disk tests were introduced into the wear analysis model to assess the wear rates of polyethylene acetabular cups against metallic or ceramic femoral heads. For the established material combinations, different values of polyethylene wear rates were obtained respectively, which were not necessarily the realistic one as expected in vivo but could be confirmed after further discussion on the wear mechanism involved in wear tests. Current results indicated that the polyethylene/ceramic couples represented better wear performances than the polyethylene/metal couples. Furthermore, the ratio of wear rates for polyethylene cups against alumina and the metallic femoral heads was 0.5, which agreed well with that deduced from clinical studies or laboratory hip simulators. It is obvious that these comparable wear behaviors observed from clinics or laboratory studies also can be found by means of the numerical simulation.
ANALYSIS OF LUMBOSACRAL LORDOSIS USING STANDING LATERAL RADIOGRAPHS THROUGH CURVE RECONSTRUCTION
Authors: LIN RUEY-MO , LEE RONG-SHEAN , HUANG YING-MING , CHEN SHOU-I , YU CHIN-YIN
Published: December 2008

The consensus of the normal magnitude of lumbosacral curve has not been achieved. The Cobb's angle cannot depict the whole contour of this curve. For practical applications, a clearer image of these curves and their aging changes should be further investigated. This study aimed to provide a more consolidate concept of normal lumbosacral curves for clinician through a computerized reconstruction method.

Standing lateral radiographs of lumbosacral spine in 82 normal adults were used for reconstructing the sagittal lumbosacral curves. The geometric characteristics of these curves according to the gender and age groups were studied. Using standing lateral radiographs, reconstruction of the lumbosacral curves was performed through digitization, programming and computation. These curves and related parameters were normalized and averaged for analyzing the differences of gender and age.

The most anteriorward and horizontal vertebrae usually occurred on the L4 and L3 in any gender and age groups. The sacral inclination angle did not change obviously with the increasing ages. A tendency of L1 shifting backward was noted in the age groups of 40 to 60 and above 60 years old. The sagittal lumbosacral curves can be easily reconstructed by digitizing lateral radiographs, The aging changes of lumbosacral curves could be qualitatively described as the flattening of lower lumbar curve and the rearward inclination of upper lumbar curve. The changes occurred obviously above 40 years old. Although individual variations existed, the aging changes and the geometric characteristics such as the most anteriorward or horizontal vertebrae could be used as an important guideline during therapy or surgical correction.
IMPROVED MEASUREMENT OF GRIP STRENGTH THROUGH USE OF A PRESSURE SENSITIVE HAND DYNAMOMETER
Authors: YANG CHENG-HONG , LUO CHING-HSING , YANG CHENG-HUEI
Published: December 2008

Computers play an increasingly important role in daily lives due to rapid developments in information and computer technology. Computers as instruments for physical rehabilitation are becoming more and more prominent. This paper introduces an improved measurement of grip strength through use of a pressure sensitive hand dynamometer. This system can reliably assess a user's grip strength through recording sudden changes in load cell sensors using a circuit and A/D adapter. The analyzed data is directly displayed on an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or is transformed and saved in a data record file via a PC interface. The compiled data can be combined with a patient's case history and stored in a database as future reference for clinical use. The system is more efficient, cheaper to operate and more convenient to use than comparable systems currently used by doctors to monitor and analyze the progress of a patient's individually designed rehabilitation program.
NUMERICAL EVALUATION OF CURVATURE EFFECTS ON SHEAR STRESSES ACROSS ARTERIAL STENOSES
Authors: NIU YANG-YAO , CHU WEI-KUANG , LEE LUNG-CHENG , YU HSI-YU
Published: December 2008

In this study, Newtonian flows passing through three-dimensional curved and straight axissymmetrical stenotic tubes are investigated. The geometry effects and Reynolds numbers of 100, 200, 400, and 600 on the formation of the shear rate over arterial walls are studied. It is noted that geometric effects on flow features such as velocity profiles, pressure and wall shear stress distributions in the post-stenotic region are significant. The location of maximum wall shear stress is found to relate to the geometric effect much than the Reynolds number effect.
MEASUREMENT AND FITTING ON 3-D ARTICULAR SURFACES OF THE HUMAN KNEE JOINT
Authors: WANG XISHI , ZHANG LI-QUN
Published: December 2008

In this study, the OptoTrak system was employed to collect the articulating surface measurements of the human knee for the femur, tibia and patella in three experimented specimens. Furthermore, a rigorous mathematical reconstruction procedure that estimates reconstruction error was completed by employed the relative analysis tools. The results show, the measurements for each session were able to reconstruct the three-dimensional calibration to a precision of 0.02mm. On the other word, the OptoTrak can be used to obtain the precise measurements of analytical surface of the human knee joint.
AUTOMATIC SPINAL FRACTURE DIAGNOSIS AND SURGICAL MANAGEMENT BASED ON 3D IMAGE ANALYSIS AND RECONSTRUCTION OF CT TRANSVERSE SECTIONS
Authors: HSIEH MING-SHIUM , TSAI MING-DAR , YEH YI-DER , JOU SHYAN-BIN
Published: December 2008

This paper describes an image analysis method that uses automatic algorithms for the evaluation of 3D geometry of vertebral bones and spinal anatomic curve in the diagnosis of compression and burst fractures. The method uses a radial B-spline curve to approximate the ellipse-like vertebral body on a transverse section with a concave feature to evaluate the compression of the canal, and infers the anatomic curve of a vertebral body by linearly regressing the centers of B-spline approximate ellipse-like boundaries of the transversal sections passing the vertebral body. This method, then, calculates the reduced angle and height for recovering the compression fracture by comparing the regressed centerlines of neighboring bodies of the fracture body with the normal spinal anatomic curve. The prototype system can be used as a qualitative and quantitative tool for the diagnosis of compression and burst fractures using transverse sections, and for the instruction to plan accurate surgical procedures. An example demonstrates the fractured spine can be accurately diagnosed and instructed to operate by our method that achieved anatomic stability, released the syndrome of nerve compression and bone pain.
ASSESSMENT OF PARASYMPATHETIC CONTROL OF BLOOD VESSEL BY PULSATION SPECTRUM AND COMPARISON WITH SPECTRAL METHOD OF RR INTERVALS
Authors: HSIEH CHANG-WEI , MAO CHI-WU , YOUNG MING-SHING , YEH TZUNG-LIEH
Published: December 2008

A new pulse spectrum method of assessing autonomic function was examined in a pharmacological experiment on eight healthy volunteers. The pulse pressure data is obtained under control condition and in parasympathetic blocked by atropine. Compared with the spectral method of heart rate variability (HRV), which is wide-spreading in laboratory studies and clinical diagnosis nowadays, the method of pulsation spectrum provides a new and direct view to assess parasympathetic control. As can be seen from the results, the high frequency of pulsation harmonics are reduced by the parasympathetic blocked, and on the contrary, low frequency component increased. By the analysis of linear regression, the pulsation spectrum method indicates more correlations with atropine doses. We anticipate that the non-invasive assessment of short-term autonomic function will come to be performed more reliably and conveniently by using this method.
A NEW MEASURING FIXATOR DESIGN FOR HUMERAL SUPRACONDYLAR CORRECTIVE OSTEOTOMIES IN CHILDREN
Authors: HUNG SHUO-SUEI , LEE MING-YIH , HSU CHIN-HSIUNG , TZAI WEN-DA , LEE ZHON-LIAO
Published: December 2008

Treatment for bone deformities secondary to malunited fractures usually require corrective osteotomies, and high incidence of surgical failure rates have been reported. Inaccurate corrections and loss of reductions are among the most common causes, and these technical errors ought to be improved[1-2]. A new measuring fixator for humeral supracondylar corrective osteotomies in children was designed and used in clinical application. Several surgical trials were performed in vitro using rapid prototype models to simulate different bony deformities. Two boys who had sustained cubitus varus following malunited humeral supracondylar fracture were performed using proposed measuring fixator. The results of the clinical trial show that the angle of correction was accurate, and the procedure could be carried out by the surgeon himself without additional help, with an average of 1.3 penetration of the physis per each fixating Kirschner wire (8 times in 6 K-wires). The surgical time was reduced, as well as the radiation exposure.
A HYBRID COMPRESSION MODEL FOR CLUSTERS OF SIMILAR MEDICAL IMAGES
Authors: LEE JIANN-DER , WAN SHU-YEN , WU RUI-FENG
Published: December 2008

In this paper, a new compression scheme called hybrid compression model (HCM) is proposed for compressing clusters of similar images. The HCM exploits region growing to segment the median image that created by a cluster of similar images; and further, it uses centroid method to predict the values of original images data. The difference between the predict values and original data is stored for later use of progressive transmission. The experimental results obtained on various images show that our method provides significant improvement in compression efficiency while compared to the traditional centroid method.
FREQUENCY COHERENCE MAPPING OF CANINE ATRIAL FIBRILLATION: IMPLICATION FOR ANTI-ARRHYTHMIC DRUG-INDUCED TERMINATION
Authors: TSO HAN-WEN , KAO TSAIR , CHEN SHIH-ANN , TAI CHING-TAI , HU WEI-CHIH
Published: December 2008

The coherence mapping was used in frequency analysis of atrial fibrillation (AF). Unipolar electrograms were recorded at AF and during infusion of antiarrhythmic drug, using a 120-electrode array (electrode spacing is 3 mm) placed on the right atrial free wall of canine. We used magnitude-squared coherence in frequency (MSCF) maps to show the frequency distribution during AF. The spectra were limited to 2-15 Hz for AF signals. We chose each site as a reference and established its MSC spectra with other sites in the array. Dominant frequency (DF) was defined by maximum power of spectrum from reference. MSC spectrum was calculated for every point in the array relative to the reference site. If the MSC value of DF is greater than or equal to 0.5, the frequency at this site is set to DF, otherwise it is set to zero. The majority of these values was assigned as the DF of that position. The spatial distribution of DFs was presented as a map, MSCF map. The dominant area (DA) was chosen from the isochronal maps. We developed the MSCF maps for four episodes: (1) normal sinus rhythm: (2) AF without drug infusion: (3) just before AF termination by drug infusion: (4) sinus rhythm following termination. The results show that MSCF map in DA just before AF termination has a uniform pattern. The signals in DA have lower frequencies and longer cycle lengths compared with those in other areas (P < 0.05). In conclusion, this mapping study of the epicardial surface during induced atrial fibrillation in canine right atrial wall has demonstrated that a dominant area near SA node may have an important role for drug-induced AF termination.
A HIGHLY ACCURATE ULTRASONIC MEASUREMENT SYSTEM FOR TREMOR USING BINARY AMPLITUDE-SHIFT-KEYING AND PHASE-SHIFT METHOD
Authors: YANG MENG-HSIANG , HUANG K. N. , HUANG C. F. , HUANG S. S. , YOUNG M. S.
Published: December 2008

A highly accurate Binary Amplitude-Shift-Keyed (BASK) ultrasonic tremor measurement system for use in isothermal air is developed. In this paper, we present a simple but efficient algorithm based upon phase shifts generated by three ultrasonic waves of different frequencies. By the proposed method, we can conduct larger range measurement than the phase-shift method and also get higher accuracy compared with the time-of-flight (TOF) method. Our microcomputer-based system includes two important parts. One of which is BASK modulation signal generator. The other is a phase meter designed to record and compute the phase shifts of the three different frequencies and the result motion is then sent to either an LCD for display or a PC for calibration. Experiments are done in the laboratory using BASK modulation for the frequencies of 200 Hz and 1 kHz with a 40 kHz carrier. The measurement accuracy of this measurement system in the reported experiments is within +/- 0.98 mm. The main advantages of this ultrasonic tremor measurement system are high resolution, narrow bandwidth requirement, low cost, and easy to be implemented.
COMPUTATIONS OF PULSATILE AORTIC BLOOD FLOW PROBLEMS ON PARALLEL COMPUTERS
Authors: NIU YANG-YAO , TCHENG SHOU-CHENG
Published: December 2008

In this study, a parallel computing technology is applied on the simulation of aortic blood flow problems. A third-order upwind flux extrapolation with a dual-time integration method based on artificial compressibility solver is used to solve the Navier-Stokes equations. The original FORTRAN code is converted to the MPI code and tested on a 64-CPU IBM SP2 parallel computer and a 32-node PC Cluster. The test results show that a significant reduction of computing time in running the model and a super-linear speed up rate is achieved up to 32 CPUs at PC cluster. The speed up rate is as high as 49 for using IBM SP2 64 processors. The test shows very promising potential of parallel processing to provide prompt simulation of the current aortic flow problems.
DIGITAL CUSTOM DENTURE DESIGN WITH NEW ABRASIVE COMPUTER TOMOGRAPHY AND RAPID PROTOTYPING TECHNOLOGIES
Authors: CHANG C. C. , LEE M. Y. , KU Y. C.
Published: December 2008

The fixed partial denture produced by conventional method is greatly relied on the skill and experience of dental technician. Its quality and accuracy depends mostly on the technician's subjective judgment. In addition, the manual process involves many procedures that require a long time to complete. Most important, it does not preserve any quantitative information for future retrieval.

In this article, a new device for scanning denture images and reconstructing 3D digital information of dental model by abrasive computer tomography (ACT) was designed in-house and proposed. The fixed partial denture was then produced by the rapid prototyping (RP) and computer numerical control (CNC) machining methods based on ACT scanned digital information. A force feedback sculptor (FreeForm system, Sensible Technologies Inc., USA) accompany with 3D Touch technology was applied to modify the morphology design of denture. It enables the dentist to perform digital manipulation of denture profile with real-time and user-friendly human interactive operation without relying on CAD/CAM technician or dental technician. In this article, the comparison of conventional manual operation and digital manufacture using both RP and CNC machining technologies for denture production was presented. In addition, a digital custom denture manufacturing protocol integrating proposed computer abrasive teeth profile scanning, computer-aided denture design, 3D touchable force feedback feature modification and advanced denture manufacturing techniques were suggested. These proposed methods provide solid evidence that digital design and manufacturing technologies may become a new avenue for custom-made denture design, analysis, and production in 21th century.
MODELING PULL-OUT TEST OF DENTAL IMPLANTS
Authors: DOLLAR ANNA , MEADE KEVIN P.
Published: December 2008

The objective of this paper is to investigate bone-implant interface failure using analytical techniques of fracture mechanics. The implant usually is anchored to the surrounding bone by growth of bony tissue into the surface of the implant. A mechanical interlock is formed between the implant and the bone. Plane strain conditions are imposed. By using a continuous distribution of edge dislocations to represent interfacial debonding, the problem reduced to a system of singular integral equations that was solved numerically using standard collocation techniques. Quantities of interest are the extent of the debonded zone, the relative displacement between the implant and the bone and the stresses at the bone-implant interfaces, all of which depend on the load in a nonlinear fashion.
BIOMECHANICAL ANALYSIS OF CHAIR RISING IN THE PREGNANT WOMEN
Authors: CHOU PEI-HSI , YAO PO-LIN , CHOU YOU-LI , HONE JEAN-NNA , LIN TING-SHENG
Published: December 2008

There were so many changes in physiological and psychological aspects during pregnancy. Rising from a chair was an important functional activity of daily life. These changes impose postural demands and limit the performance of activities of daily living. The overall goals of this study were to quantify the effects of physiological change due to pregnancy on the performance of chair-rise and to analyze why some pregnant female have more difficulty with these tasks. Twenty-four pregnant women were included in this study to investigate the performance and possible related biomechanical factors of chair-rise. Body movements of these subjects were recorded using video-based motion analysis system. Three force plates were applied to obtain the ground reaction forces of foot, seat and armrest. Kinematics and kinetics data were analyzed to evaluate the angles and moments of the hip, knee and ankle joints. The result indicated that the maximum moment of the three joints occurred nearly in the beginning of extension phase. As the chair height increased, the maximum flexion angles decreased significantly at the hip, knee, and ankle joints. The chair height had great influence on knee joint and hip joint moments, but less on ankle joint. In the third stage (chair height: 65% KH), the maximum hip moment significantly decreased because of a remarkable increase in abdominal depth. In contrast to the hip moment, the maximum knee moment greatly increased. This result revealed the reason why pregnant female have more difficulty on the performance of chair-rise. Additionally, rising with the armrest for pregnant female would significantly decreased the maximum knee moment. This study suggested that pregnant female should select armrest or higher chair to decrease the joint loading during chair-rise.
AN INVESTIGATION OF GRADIENT-BASED RECONSTRUCTION ALGORITHMS FOR STATISTICAL PET TRANSMISSION IMAGING
Authors: CHANG MING-YUE , HSU CHING-HAN
Published: December 2008

For PET transmission imaging, the conventional iterative algorithms based on expectation maximization type algorithms, could not effectively converge to optimal image solution. In this study, we suggest a statistical model PET transmission data, and then investigate a class of gradient-based optimization algorithms for transmission image reconstruction including steepest ascent, conjugate gradient, and preconditioned conjugate gradient. From phantom studies, the preconditioned conjugate algorithms can converge to good image results within limited number of iteration. Combined with the suggested statistical model of transmission data, the preconditioned conjugate algorithms can also produce attenuation maps with accurate linear attenuation coefficients for clinical data.
ENERGY ANALYSIS OF DIFFERENT TRUNK TILTING ANGLES ON JOINT LOADING DURING FALL ON AN OUTSTRETCHED HAND
Authors: TSAI MING-CHANG , CHOU PEI-HSI , CHOU YOU-LI , LIN TING-SHENG
Published: December 2008

From previous researches, studies on the forward fall had focused on the relationship between the joint loading and position of the forearm and elbow. Previous studies also stressed the importance of energy absorption by the shoulder and elbow during the forward fall. However, the effects of different tilting angles on joint loading of the upper extremity had not been presented. This study investigated the effects of different tilting angles on joint loading of the upper extremity during fall on an outstretched hand. The absorbed energy at Ts, T1, T2 and Te were analyzed. Ten healthy young males were selected in this study. Subjects were adjusted to different trunk tilting angles of 0°, 10°, 20° and 30°with a custom-made suspension system with an outstretched hand of 5 cm height above the ground. The expert vision motion system with 6 CCD cameras and one force plate were used to collect kinetics and kinematics data. The results showed that shoulder would absorb the most impact energy and followed by wrist and elbow. The time period at T2 to Te absorbed more energy in every joint.
A COMPARISON AND REVIEW FOR MATHEMATICAL REPRESENTING OR FITTING TECHNIQUES TO ARTICULATING SURFACES AT THE HUMAN KNEE JOINT
Authors: WANG XI-SHI , BAI RUI-PU
Published: December 2008

The mathematical representing or fitting articular surface of the human knee joint based on the experimental measurements is very important for biomechanical studies and clinic rehabilitation engineering. But, so far this work still maintains a challenge due to the human knee joint exhibits a complicated surface geometry. In this paper, based on the literatures [1-17], a review and comparison on the techniques of the articular surface representing or fitting at the human knee joint are presented.
THE STUDY OF THERMAL COMFORT FOR BELOW-KNEE PROSTHESIS
Authors: FANG CHENG-HAN , HUANG MING-JER , CHOU YOU-LI , HUANG GWO-FENG
Published: December 2008

This field research was always aimed at clarifying the cosmesis of prosthesis or swing phase of human gait. It is not particularly concerned about the medical problems due to temperature and moisture increase. The generation of heat by metabolic reactions in the enclosed socket is not easily taken away by natural convection and radiation. It would cause medical problems like eczema, dermatitis, etc. In order to prefabricate a comfortable prosthesis for patients, this research is to analyze the air conditioner of socket and determine the adequate air velocity in the socket by a general heat balance equation. In addition, an experiment is being conducted to prove the value of air velocity. It is found that the experimental result is similar with the result of computation.