Geometrical Focus Research Articles

ゼラチン内の気泡界面での集束超音波の後方散乱により形成されるキャビテーションクラウドに対する気泡径の影響

Cavitation cloud formation by the backscattering of focused ultrasound from a bubble interface in gelatin has been studied experimentally. A laser-induced bubble which is generated near the geometrical focus of the focused ultrasound is used as a reflector of the incident wave to yield strong negative pressure which leads to the cavitation inception and following cavitation bubble cloud formation. The maximum size of the laser-induced bubble is about 2 mm in radius. After the laser-induced bubble collapses, a small bubble whose radius is about 0.3 mm remains around the laser focus. In the present experiment, this residual bubble is also used as a reflector bubble, and the effect of reflector bubble size on cavitation cloud formation has been evaluated. Cavitation inception and cavitation cloud formation near the reflector bubble has been observed with a high-speed camera. It is shown that the cavitation cloud grows along with the propagation axis of the incident wave. The larger the reflector bubble size becomes, the earlier the first cavitation inception near the reflector occurs. On the other hand, regardless of the reflector bubble size, the distance between the top interface of the cavitation cloud and the geometrical focus of the focused ultrasound at the maximum expansion of the cloud is almost constant. The results also show that when a residual bubble is used as a reflector, the growth rate of a cavitation cloud in the direction of the propagation axis becomes higher than that when a laser-induced bubble is used. This may be due to the difference of the interface shape of the tip of developing cavitation cloud.

Finite curved creases in infinite isometric sheets.

Geometric stress focusing, e.g., in a crumpled sheet, creates pointlike vertices that terminate in a characteristic local crescent shape. The observed scaling of the size of this crescent is an open question in the stress focusing of elastic thin sheets. According to experiments and simulations, this size depends on the outer dimension of the sheet, but intuition and rudimentary energy balance indicate it should only depend on the sheet thickness. We address this discrepancy by modeling the observed crescent with a more geometric approach, where we treat the crescent as a curved crease in an isometric sheet. Although curved creases have already been studied extensively, the crescent in a crumpled sheet has its own unique features: the material crescent terminates within the material, and the material extent is indefinitely larger than the extent of the crescent. These features together with the general constraints of isometry lead to constraints linking the surface profile to the crease-line geometry. We construct several examples obeying these constraints, showing finite curved creases are fully realizable. This approach has some particular advantages over previous analyses, as we are able to describe the entire material without having to exclude the region around the sharp crescent. Finally, we deduce testable relations between the crease and the surrounding sheet and discuss some of the implications of our approach with regards to the scaling of the crescent size.

Study of the propagation of an intense ion beam to the target

The results of studying the intense ion beam propagation with peak energy up to 330 keV are presented. The ion beam was injected into the metal tube made from stainless steel in the form of a hollow cone. It was found that the ion beam focused due to neutralizing the space charge and reducing the divergence of ions. Neutralization of the beam space charge was investigated by measuring its electric potential. The average energy density of a beam increased up to 2.9 J/cm2 over the beam cross-section in the focal plane. The ion beam current density in the tube rose by a factor of 3 in comparison with geometric focusing. The analysis of the surface structure of the ion beam spot obtained on the stainless steel AISI 304 plate was done.

Investigating Past and Present Carpometacarpus Morphology in Mimidae: A Multi-Methods Approach to Evidence from the Guadeloupe Islands

Past bird communities are still under-studied in several Caribbean regions, including the Lesser Antilles. In order to improve our understanding of this area’s avifauna, we explore morphometrical variations of the carpometacarpus (CMC) within West Indies Mimidae species. We combine geometric morphometric (GMM) and conventional osteology focusing on characters of the entire or distal portion of the CMC. Morphological variation related to their phylogenetic history is investigated using uni- and multi-variate statistics, and the expression of certain osteological characters. Fossil bone remains from the Guadeloupe Islands were included in the datasets to test the applicability of these results to the archaeological and paleontological record.Our results are consistent with the known phylogeny of Mimidae. The GMM analysis clearly differentiated taxa at both inter- and intra-generic levels, which when combined with osteological characters, allow fossil specimens to be determined to species. For the fossil record of Guadeloupe Islands, this concerns three taxa: the Scaly-breasted Thrasher Allenia fusca, the Gray Catbird Dumetella carolinensis, the first fossil occurrence of this bird in the Greater and Lesser Antilles, and the Brown Trembler Cinclocerthia ruficauda in Desirade and Marie-Galante, where the bird is now extirpated. These results are of particular interest for tracking the impact of environmental changes on the composition of West Indian bird communities.

CityGML model generation using parametric interpolations

With an upsurge in energy demand throughout the globe, efficient energy simulations and smart energy-management solutions are imperative. Often a lack of substantial three-dimensional geometrical data restricts simulation scientists and urban planners to analyse energy demand patterns on a city scale. Therefore, in this paper, the authors describe the open-source City Geographical Markup Language (CityGML) Building Interpolation Tool (CityBIT) for the creation of user-defined and interpolated CityGML LoD2 building models for planned and/or existing buildings. CityBIT can be used to generate CityGML models with different roof types, orientations and elevations. A brief explanation of the functionalities of the tool and the methodologies adapted to develop the tool is provided in this paper. CityBIT aims to facilitate CityGML geometric model development focusing on urban energy performance simulations.

Covariation of proximal finger and toe phalanges in Homo sapiens: A novel approach to assess covariation of serially corresponding structures.

As hands and feet are serially repeated corresponding structures in tetrapods, the morphology of fingers and toes is expected to covary due to a shared developmental origin. The present study focuses on the covariation of the shape of proximal finger and toe phalanges of adult Homo sapiens to determine whether covariation is different in the first ray relative to the others, as its morphology is also different. Proximal phalanges of 76 individuals of unknown sex (Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris, and the Natural History Museum, London) were digitized using a surface scanner. Landmarks were positioned on 3D surface models of the phalanges. Generalized Procrustes analysis and two-block partial least squares (PLS) analyses were conducted. A novel landmark-based geometric morphometric approach focusing on covariation is based on a PCoA of the angles between PLS axes in morphospace. The results can be statistically evaluated. The difference in PCo scores between the first and the other rays indicates that the integration between the thumb and the big toe is different from that between the lateral rays of the hand and foot. We speculate that the results are possibly the evolutionary consequence of differential selection pressure on the big toe relative to the other toes related to the rise of bipedalism, which is proposed to have emerged very early in the hominin clade. In contrast, thumb morphology and its precision grip never ceased undergoing changes, suggesting less acute selection pressures related to the evolution of the precision grip.

Information Geometry, Fluctuations, Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics, and Geodesics in Complex Systems.

Information theory provides an interdisciplinary method to understand important phenomena in many research fields ranging from astrophysical and laboratory fluids/plasmas to biological systems. In particular, information geometric theory enables us to envision the evolution of non-equilibrium processes in terms of a (dimensionless) distance by quantifying how information unfolds over time as a probability density function (PDF) evolves in time. Here, we discuss some recent developments in information geometric theory focusing on time-dependent dynamic aspects of non-equilibrium processes (e.g., time-varying mean value, time-varying variance, or temperature, etc.) and their thermodynamic and physical/biological implications. We compare different distances between two given PDFs and highlight the importance of a path-dependent distance for a time-dependent PDF. We then discuss the role of the information rate and relative entropy in non-equilibrium thermodynamic relations (entropy production rate, heat flux, dissipated work, non-equilibrium free energy, etc.), and various inequalities among them. Here, is the information length representing the total number of statistically distinguishable states a PDF evolves through over time. We explore the implications of a geodesic solution in information geometry for self-organization and control.

High frequency focal transducer with a Fresnel zone plate for intravascular ultrasound

The diameter of an intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) catheter is always less than 1 mm, because it must be inserted into a blood vessel to obtain ultrasound images. Owing to this requisite small size, it is difficult to perform geometric focusing on the surface of an IVUS transducer to improve the spatial resolution of the image. This study proposes a high frequency transducer with a Fresnel zone plate (FZP) for intravascular ultrasound imaging. Through theoretical calculations, the parameters and structure of the transducer are optimized for high-frequency ultrasound. The acoustic beam is simulated using COMSOL software. The aperture size of the ultrasound element is 0.778 × 0.9 mm2. Transducers with or without the FZP layer are designed and fabricated in this study. The center frequency and –6 dB bandwidth of the FZP transducer are 52.5 MHz and 42%, respectively. Meanwhile, the center frequency and –6 dB bandwidth of the plane-shape transducer are 51.3 MHz and 58%, respectively. Wire phantom and porcine artery imaging experiments were performed to evaluate the performance of the designed transducers. The spatial resolution of the FZP transducer is 46.8 μm axially and 183.6 μm laterally, and the resolution of the plane-shape transducer is 44.3 μm axially and 313.5 μm laterally. The results demonstrate that the FZP transducer provides superior lateral imaging resolution for IVUS applications.

Dynamic focusing in low-coherence quantitative phase imaging with decoupling of spatio-temporal coherence gating and geometric focusing

We describe an approach for arbitrarily adjusting the focal positions in quantitative phase imaging (QPI) based on a Linnik interferometer. Our setup employs a unique sample configuration in which transparent objects are imaged by a Linnik interferometer. By introducing a focus-tunable lens on top of the Linnik interferometer, we successfully decoupled the spatio-temporal coherence gating from the focal positioning and achieved dynamic focusing without disturbing the optical path length. Depth-sectioned quantitative phase images of polystyrene beads and live cultured cells were obtained without mechanical scanning.

Measuring viscoelastic parameters in Magnetic Resonance Elastography: a comparison at high and low magnetic field intensity

Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE) is a non-invasive imaging technique which involves motion-encoding MRI for the estimation of the shear viscoelastic properties of soft tissues through the study of shear wave propagation. The technique has been found informative for disease diagnosis, as well as for monitoring of the effects of therapies. The development of MRE and its validation have been supported by the use of tissue-mimicking phantoms. In this paper we present our new MRE protocol using a low magnetic field tabletop MRI device at 0.5 T and sinusoidal uniaxial excitation in a geometrical focusing condition. Results obtained for gelatin are compared to those previously obtained using high magnetic field MRE at 11.7 T. A multi-frequency investigation is also provided via a comparison of commonly used rheological models: Maxwell, Springpot, Voigt, Zener, Jeffrey, fractional Voigt and fractional Zener. Complex shear modulus values were comparable when processed from images acquired with the tabletop low field scanner and the high field scanner. This study serves as a validation of the presented tabletop MRE protocol and paves the way for MRE experiments on ex-vivo tissue samples in both normal and pathological conditions.

Enhancements in laser-generated hot-electron production via focusing cone targets at short pulse and high contrast.

We report on the increase in the accelerated electron number and energy using compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) targets from a short-pulse (∼150 fs), high-intensity (>10^{18} W/cm^{2}), and high-contrast (∼10^{8}) laser-solid interaction. We report on experimental measurements using CPC targets where the hot-electron temperature is enhanced up to ∼9 times when compared to planar targets. The temperature measured from the CPC target is 〈T_{e}〉=4.4±1.3 MeV. Using hydrodynamic and particle in cell simulations, we identify the primary source of this temperature enhancement is the intensity increase caused by the CPC geometry that focuses the laser, reducing the focal spot and therefore increasing the intensity of the laser-solid interaction, which is also consistent with analytic expectations for the geometrical focusing.

Comparative analysis of exact and approximate solutions of the plane electromagnetic wave scattering from a discrete parabolic reflector made of parallel circular PEC wires

Numerical analysis of the scattering of a plane monochromatic electromagnetic wave from a discrete parabolic reflector made of parallel cylinders (wires) with perfect electric conductivity is carried out in the exact and approximate formulations, the latter neglecting all interactions between the wires. Both the TE and the TM polarizations of the incident field are considered. It is shown that the difference between the exact and approximate solutions strongly depends on the frequency of the incident wave and that the TM-polarized plane wave is focused better by the discrete reflector than the TE-polarized wave. The field in the vicinity of the geometrical focus is investigated. It is found that the focusing ability, oscillating, gradually decreases with frequency. This behavior is in stark contrast to a solid perfectly electrically conducting parabolic reflector.

Experimental evidence of internal wave attractor signatures hidden in large-amplitude multi-frequency wave fields

Abstract

Population-based, three-dimensional analysis of age- and sex-related femur shaft geometry differences.

The changes in femur geometry that occur with aging and lead to fragility or insufficiency fracture remain unclear. The role of the lower limb geometry, including the femur and femoral bowing, has become a point of discussion, especially in atypical femur fracture. This study aimed to analyze femur shaft geometry using three-dimensional skeletonization. We acquired computed tomography images of both femurs obtained. A total of 1400 age- and sex-stratified participants were enrolled and were divided into subgroups according to age (by decade) and sex. The computed tomography images were used to produce 3-dimensional samplings of anatomical elements of the human femur using reconstruction and parametrization from these datasets. The process of skeletonization was conducted to obtain compact representation of the femur. With the skeletonization, we were able to compare all parameters according to age and sex. The femur length was 424.4 ± 28.6mm and was longer in men (P < 0.001). The minimum diameter of the medullary canal was 8.9 ± 2.0mm. The radius of curvature (ROC) was 906.9 ± 193.3mm. Men had a larger femur length, femur outer diameter, and the narrowest medullary diameter (P < 0.001, respectively). Women had significantly smaller ROC (P < 0.001). ROC decreased by 19.4% in men and 23.6% in women between the ages of 20 to 89years. Femur width increased over life by 11.4% in men and 24.5% in women. Between the ages of 50 and 89years, the medullary canal appears to have increased by 32.7% in women. This geometry analysis demonstrated that femoral bowing and femoral width increased related to aging, and that the medullary canal widened after the age of 50years in women. This cross-sectional study revealed important age- and sex-related differences in femur shaft geometry that occur with aging.

A High-Frequency Phased Array System for Transcranial Ultrasound Delivery in Small Animals.

Existing systems for applying transcranial focused ultrasound (FUS) in small animals produce large focal volumes relative to the size of cerebral structures available for interrogation. The use of high ultrasonic frequencies can improve targeting specificity; however, the aberrations induced by rodent calvaria at megahertz frequencies severely distort the acoustic fields produced by single-element focused transducers. Here, we present the design, fabrication, and characterization of a high-frequency phased array system for transcranial FUS delivery in small animals. A transducer array was constructed by micromachining a spherically curved PZT-5H bowl (diameter = 25 mm, radius of curvature = 20 mm, fundamental frequency = 3.3 MHz) into 64 independent elements of equal surface area. The acoustic field generated by the phased array was measured at various target locations using a calibrated fiber-optic hydrophone, both in free-field conditions as well as through ex vivo rat skullcaps with and without hydrophone-assisted phase aberration corrections. Large field-of-view acoustic field simulations were carried out to investigate potential grating lobe formation. The focal beam size obtained when targeting the array's geometric focus was [Formula: see text] mm in water. The array can steer the FUS beam electronically over cylindrical volumes of 4.5 mm in diameter and 6 mm in height without introducing grating lobes. Insertion of a rat skullcap resulted in substantial distortion of the acoustic field ( [Formula: see text]% [Formula: see text]); however, phase corrections restored partial focal quality ( [Formula: see text]% [Formula: see text]). Using phase corrections, the array is capable of generating a trans-rat skull peak negative focal pressure of up to ~2.0 MPa, which is sufficient for microbubble-mediated blood-brain barrier permeabilization at this frequency.

Apsidal Precession Effects on the Lunar-Based Synthetic Aperture Radar Imaging Performance

There have been considerable interests in the lunar-based synthetic aperture radar (LBSAR) for monitoring large-scale geoscience phenomena. However, the signal distortions given rise by lunar orbital perturbations, especially the apsidal precession, are particularly severe in the LBSAR. The apsidal precession effects can induce a coordinate drift of the LBSAR, which can further lead to the variation in the range history of the LBSAR. As a result, LBSAR’s image performance might be affected. In this letter, we thoroughly investigate whether the apsidal precession effects cause the phase decorrelation in the signal of the LBSAR, and how such effects impact the LBSAR imaging. The theoretical result shows that the impact of the lunar apsidal precession mainly results in the first-order and second-order Doppler errors, which further influence the geometric location and focusing quality along the azimuth direction. Numerical simulations using the point target response show good consistency with the theoretical analysis. To this end, the lunar apsidal precession effects deserve special care in the LBSAR for high imaging quality.

Influence of thermal blooming on the beam quality of an array of Hermite-Gaussian beams propagating in the atmosphere.

The influence of thermal blooming on the quality of an array of Hermite-Gaussian (H-G) beams propagating in the atmosphere is studied, where the incoherent combination is considered. An analytical expression of the equivalent distortion parameter of such an array is derived and validated. As the mode order or the inverse radial fill factor of an array of H-G beams increases, the thermal blooming effect weakens, requiring more time to reach steady-state thermal blooming. The focal shift of an array of H-G beams in the atmosphere is also investigated. Owing to the thermal blooming effect in the atmosphere, the actual focus moves away from the geometric focus as the mode order decreases, which is different from the behavior in free space. Additionally, for an array of multimode beams, the actual focus moves away from the target as the weighting factor of TEM00 increases.

Evaluation of Pseudorandom Sonications for Reducing Cavitation With a Clinical Neurosurgery HIFU Device.

Transcranial high-intensity focused ultrasound is used in clinics for treating essential tremor (ET) and proposed for many other brain disorders. This promising treatment modality requires high energy resulting eventually in undesired cavitation and potential side effects. The goals of the present work were: 1) to evaluate the potential increase of the cavitation threshold using pseudorandom gated sonications and 2) to assess the heating capabilities with such sonications. The experiments were performed with the transcranial magnetic resonance (MR)-compatible ExAblate Neuro system (InSightec, Haifa, Israel) operating at a frequency of 670 kHz, either in continuous wave (CW) or with pseudorandom gated sonications of 50% duty cycle. Cavitation activity with the two types of sonications was compared using chemical dosimetry of hydroxyl radical production at the focus of the transducer, after propagation in water or through a human skull. Heating trials were performed in a hydrogel tissue-mimicking material embedded in a human skull to mimic a clinical situation. The temperature was measured by MR-thermometry when focusing at the geometrical focus and steering off focus up to 15 mm. Compared with CW sonications, the use of gated sonication did not affect the efficiency (60%) nor the steering abilities of the transducer. After propagation through a human skull, gated sonication required a higher pressure level (10 MPa) to initiate cavitation as compared with CW (5.8 MPa). Moreover, at equivalent acoustic power above the cavitation threshold, the level of cavitation activity initiated with gated sonications was much lower with gated sonication than with continuous sonications, almost half after propagation through water and one-third after propagation through a skull. This lowered cavitation activity may be attributed to a breaking of the dynamic of the bubbles moving from monochromatic to more broadband sonications and to the removal of residual cavitation nuclei between pulses with gated sonications. The heating capability was not affected by the gated sonications, and similar temperature increases were reached at focus with both types of sonications when sonicating at equivalent acoustic power, both in water or after propagation through a human skull (+15 °C at 325 W for 10 s). These data, acquired with a clinical system, suggest that gated sonication could be an alternative to continuous sonications when cavitation onset is an issue.

Ultracompact Lens‐Less “Spectrometer in Fiber” Based on Chirped Filament‐Array Gratings

Femtosecond laser irradiation is applied to a single‐mode optical fiber to embed a filament array through the silica cladding and guiding core and form chirped Bragg gratings. Unlike a planar‐shaped refractive index modification, the long and uniform filament facilitates efficient optical scattering into azimuthally narrowed radiation modes, external and transverse to the fiber cladding. Chirping of the grating period further provides spectral focusing. The combined spectral and azimuthal focusing permits lens‐less recording of bright and high‐resolution spectra spanning across most of the visible band with a low‐cost charged coupled device camera. The flexible point‐by‐point writing enables fiber tapping of light with engineered spectral and geometric focusing properties, permitting the design of new compact photonic devices based on the all‐fiber spectrometer.

Phase transformations initiated by optical breakdown in bulk of fused silica

Optical breakdown inside a transparent dielectric triggered by a tightly focused laser beam has a character of microexplosion. As a result, extreme thermodynamic conditions are generated in the material. Both high pressure and high temperature combine in causing major structural transformations (phase transitions). This work presents mapping of such structural changes initiated by microexplosion in bulk of fused silica. The high-resolution cross-sectional imaging with high-resolution electron microscopy (HRTEM) revealed transition area between the amorphous and crystalline phases of the material affected by high pressure and temperature. It was found that the crystalline phase is created in the form of nano-crystals (crystallites) embedded in an amorphous matrix and is located mainly in the vicinity of the geometrical focus. The range of this finding was extended by the spectral analysis indicating redistribution, spatial segregation, and glass network reorganization paths leading to material densification. Closer inspection of the densified area with help of micro-photoluminescence (PL) confirmed appearance of the crystalline structure. Physical mechanisms included in such a transformation process and the main features of the created glass ceramic are also discussed.