Phase-based Approach Research Articles

Ultrasound-Based Local Lung Motion Assessment Using Synthetic Lateral Phase.

Ultrasound lung surface motion measurement is valuable for the evaluation of a variety of diseases. Speckle tracking or Doppler-based techniques are limited by the loss of visualization as a tracked point moves under ribs or is dependent. We developed a synthetic lateral phase-based algorithm for tracking lung motion to overcome these limitations. To validate the technique, we generated simulated lung motion images. We also obtained lung ultrasound cines from a healthy volunteer and a mechanically ventilated COVID-19 patient. In the healthy volunteer, the respiratory pattern varied between breath-hold, regular, and rapid shallow breathing. The measured displacement was within 3% of the ground truth for simulated cines. In both the healthy volunteer and COVID-19 patients, measured displacement was greatest in the lower and lateral zones of the lung when the ipsilateral side was compared. In the healthy volunteer, when the respiratory pattern was varied, measured displacement was greater in regular breathing compared to rapid shallow breathing and compared to breath-hold patterns in both the upper and lower lung zones. Estimation of lung surface displacement using a synthetic lateral phase-based approach is feasible. Future human studies should validate this approach against a direct measurement of lung surface movement.

Adaptive decorrelation compensation approach in digital-image-correlation-assisted phase-sensitive optical coherence tomography

This work demonstrates that the phase-based decorrelation compensation method outperforms the amplitude-based approach in low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regions of phase-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PhS-OCT). Building on this finding, an adaptive decorrelation compensation approach for digital-image-correlation (DIC)-assisted PhS-OCT is introduced. This method utilizes the maximum correlation coefficient from amplitude maps to adaptively determine the need for secondary tracking of decorrelated displacement using the phase-based approach. It significantly improves decorrelation compensation quality while minimizing impacts on computational efficiency. A tensile testing experiment was conducted to validate the method, with results showing that the proposed adaptive compensation method enables previously unmeasurable low SNR regions to become measurable by adaptively retracking only 21.7% of the area.

Phase-Based and Lifetime Health System Costs of Care for Patients Diagnosed with Leukemia and Lymphoma: A Population-Based Descriptive Study.

Hematologic cancers, notably leukemias and lymphomas, pose significant challenges to healthcare systems globally, due to rising incidence rates and increasing costs. This study aimed to estimate the phase and lifetime health system total costs (not net costs) of care for patients diagnosed with leukemia and lymphoma in Ontario, Canada. We conducted a population-based study of patients diagnosed between 2005 and 2019, using data from the Ontario Cancer Registry linked with health administrative databases. Costs were estimated using a phase-based approach and stratified by care phase and cancer subtype. Acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) patients had the highest mean monthly initial (CAD 19,519) and terminal (CAD 41,901) costs among all cancer subtypes, while acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients had the highest mean monthly cost (CAD 7185) during the continuing phase. Overall lifetime costs were highest for ALL patients (CAD 778,795), followed by AML patients (CAD 478,516). Comparatively, patients diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma (CAD 268,184) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (CAD 321,834) had lower lifetime costs. Major cost drivers included inpatient care, emergency department visits, same-day surgeries, ambulatory services, and specialized cancer drugs. Since 2005, the cost structure has evolved with rising proportions of interventional drug costs. Additionally, costs were higher among males and younger age groups. Understanding these costs can help guide initiatives to control healthcare spending and improve cancer care quality.

An ultra-sensitive biosensor based on surface plasmon resonance and weak value amplification.

An ultra-sensitive phase plasmonic sensor combined with weak value amplification is proposed for the detection of IgG, as a model analyte. Phase detection is accomplished by self-interference between the p-polarization and the s-polarization of the light. With the principles of weak value amplification, a phase compensator is used to modulate the coupling strength and enhance the refractive index sensitivity of the system. On a simple Au-coated prism-coupled surface plasmon resonance (SPR) structure, the scheme, called WMSPR, achieves a refractive index sensitivity of 4.737 × 104 nm/RIU, which is about three times higher than that of the conventional phase-based approach. The proposed WMSPR biosensor gives great characteristics with a high resolution of 6.333 × 10-8 RIU and a low limit of detection (LOD) of 5.3ng/mL. The results yield a great scope to promote the optimization of other SPR biosensors for high sensitivity.

A Robust Track Estimation Method for Airborne SAR Based on Weak Navigation Information and Additional Envelope Errors

As miniaturization technology has progressed, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) can now be mounted on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to carry out observational tasks. Influenced by airflow, UAVs inevitably experience deviations or vibrations during flight. In the context of cost constraints, the precision of the measurement equipment onboard UAVs may be relatively low. Nonetheless, high-resolution imaging demands more accurate track information. It is therefore of great importance to estimate high-precision tracks in the presence of both motion and measurement errors. This paper presents a robust track estimation method for airborne SAR that makes use of both envelope and phase errors. Firstly, weak navigation information is employed for motion compensation, which reduces a significant portion of the motion error. Subsequently, the track is initially estimated using additional envelope errors introduced by the Extended Omega-K (EOK) algorithm. The track is then refined using a phase-based approach. Furthermore, this paper presents the calculation method of the compensated component for each target and provides an analysis of accuracy from both theoretical and simulation perspectives. The track estimation and imaging results in the simulations and real data experiments validate the effectiveness of the proposed method, with an estimation accuracy of real data experiments within 5 cm.

Health care system costs related to potentially inappropriate medication use involving opioids in older adults in Canada

BackgroundOlder adults are at risk of potentially inappropriate medication use given polypharmacy, multimorbidity, and age-related changes, which contribute to the growing burden associated with opioid use. The objective of this study was to estimate the costs of health service utilization attributable to opioid use and potentially inappropriate medication use involving opioids in older adults in a public health care system.MethodsThe sample included 1201 older adults consulting in primary care, covered by the public drug plan, without a cancer diagnosis and opioid use in the year before interview. Secondary analyses were conducted using two data sources: health survey and provincial administrative data. Health system costs included inpatient and outpatient visits, physician billing, and medication costs. Unit costs were calculated using annual financial and activity reports from 2013–2014, adjusted to 2022 Canadian dollars. Opioid use and potentially inappropriate medication use involving opioids were identified over 3 years. Generalized linear models with gamma distribution were employed to model 3-year costs associated with opioid use and potentially inappropriate medication use involving opioids. A phase-based approach was implemented to provide descriptive results on the costs associated with each phase: i) no use, ii) opioid use, and iii) potentially inappropriate medication use involving opioids.ResultsOpioid use and potentially inappropriate medication use involving opioids were associated with adjusted 3-year costs of $2,222 (95% CI: $1,179-$3,264) and $8,987 (95% CI: $7,370-$10,605), respectively, compared to no use. In phase-based analyses, costs were the highest during inappropriate use.ConclusionsPotentially inappropriate medication use involving opioids is associated with higher costs compared to those observed with opioid use and no use. There is a need for more effective use of health care resources to reduce costs for the health care system.

The syntax of wh-questions in unaccusative and (Un)ergative structures in Mehri language: A Phase-based approach.

The Mehri Language is an endangered language spoken in eastern Yemen, a sub-group of the Semitic language family, and a Southern Arabic language. The syntax of Mehri wh-questions has not been explored within minimalism; hence, there is a morpho-syntactic need to provide a modern analysis of wh-questions in order to show how the interrogative structures can be derived. This study aims to examine the syntax of the wh-question movement in Mehri's unaccusative/ergative and unergative structures and answer the following questions within Chomsky's (2000 and 2008) Phase-based Theory: (i) Does the Mehri language allow fronting of wh-phrases to [Spec-CP]? And (ii) how can wh-movement in Mehri unaccusative and (un)ergative structures be accounted for? This work presents a novel analysis of wh-question movement in unaccusative/ergative and unergative structures in Mehri; it demonstrates that the source head C triggers the movement of wh-adjunct and wh-subject phrases. In wh-adjunct extraction, two strategies are employed: overt wh-fronting and wh-in-situ; when the head Foc inherits an edge feature from C, wh-adjunct overtly undergoes movement from its original position within v*P to the left peripheries of [Spec-FocP] and subsequently to [Spec-CP]. When the lexical wh-adjunct remains within v*P, its question features covertly move to [Spec-CP], because the head Foc does not inherit an edge feature from C. In wh-subject extraction, the wh-subject overly undergoes movement to [Spec-CP] because C obligatorily inherits the edge feature to the head Top, which triggers movement of the illogical subject in unaccusative/ergative structures and the logical external specifier in unergative structures to [Spec-CP]. Moreover, Mehri obeys the Phase Impenetrability Condition of Chomsky, where wh-subject and wh-adjunct phrases must pass through certain phases until [Spec-CP].

Case Conflict in Arabic Relative Clauses: A Phase-Based Approach

Case conflict in relative clauses is observed when a relative pronoun carries Case different from the one associated with its base position. Instead, it appears with Case that is identical to Case of its antecedent that is external to the relative clause. This phenomenon - commonly referred to as Case Attraction - is attested in languages such as Ancient Greek, Latin, and German. It is also easily observed in Modern Standard Arabic where the relative pronoun shows agreement in Case, gender and number with the noun modified by the relative clause. The original position of the relative pronoun is normally filled with a resumptive pronoun that represents the features of the relative pronoun. This study adopts the most recent assumptions of the Minimalist Program to account for the behavior of Arabic relative pronouns. It assumes that the relative clause is right adjoined to the noun it modifies and the relative pronoun moves to a left peripheral position within the structure of the relative clause leaving behind a copy. At a later stage of the derivation, Case of the relative pronoun is unified with Case of its antecedent. The unified Case feature is then valued under Agree with a higher head.

Outage and DMT Analysis of Partition-Based Schemes for RIS-Aided MIMO Fading Channels

In this paper, we investigate the performance of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) fading channels assisted by a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS), through the employment of partition-based RIS schemes. The proposed schemes are implemented without requiring any channel state information knowledge at the transmitter side; this characteristic makes them attractive for practical applications. In particular, the RIS elements are partitioned into sub-surfaces, which are periodically modified in an efficient way to assist the communication. Under this framework, we propose two low-complexity partition-based schemes, where each sub-surface is adjusted by following an amplitude-based or a phase-based approach. Specifically, the <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">activate-reflect</i> (AR) scheme activates each sub-surface consecutively, by changing the reflection amplitude of the corresponding elements. On the other hand, the <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">flip-reflect</i> (FR) scheme adjusts periodically the phase shift of the elements at each sub-surface. Through the sequential reconfiguration of each sub-surface, an equivalent parallel channel in the time domain is produced. We analyze the performance of each scheme in terms of outage probability and provide expressions for the achieved diversity-multiplexing tradeoff. Our results show that the asymptotic performance of the considered network under the partition-based schemes can be significantly enhanced in terms of diversity gain compared to the conventional case, where a single partition is considered. Moreover, the FR scheme always achieves the maximum multiplexing gain, while for the AR scheme this maximum gain can be achieved only under certain conditions with respect to the number of elements in each sub-surface.

Extracting high-precision full-field displacement from videos via pixel matching and optical flow

Accurate sensing of full-field displacements plays a significant role in dynamic testing for structural health monitoring (SHM). Recently, video camera has become a more promising tool in displacement sensing due to advantages such as low price, agility, simultaneous measurement, and high spatial sensing resolution. Traditional target tracking approaches (e.g., digital image correlation, template matching, etc.) typically require clear targets on the structure surface and thus only provide sparse displacement. Phase-based motion extraction enables full-field displacement measurement at subpixel precision without the need of markers as tracking targets, which has achieved great success in structural modal identification among many other SHM applications. However, the phase-based approach in a Eulerian framework fails to deal with large motions. To tackle these challenges, an enhanced phase-based method, that synergistically combines the developed local amplitude supplemented pixel matching algorithm and optical flow processing, is proposed for full-field displacement sensing with subpixel precision meanwhile capable of dealing with large motions. In particular, the pixel matching estimates the integer-pixel motion vectors of pixels which have sufficient texture contrast determined by local amplitude. The optical flow, represented by the first order Taylor series, is then employed to approximate the rest subpixel motion associated with the integer-pixel motion vectors. The proposed technique is validated by processing a field-test videos with LVDT reference and then applied to other several lab/field recorded videos of different vibrational objects for displacement extraction and modal identification.

On the Advantages of Microwave Photonic Interrogation of Fiber-Based Sensors: A Noise Analysis

Although microwave photonic approaches have been used for fiber sensing applications before, most contributions in the past dealt with evaluating the sensor signal's amplitude. Carrying this topic on, the authors previously presented a scheme for the interrogation of fiber sensors that was based on a fiber Bragg grating's phase response for the electrical signal. However, neither has the measurement setup been analyzed nor have the amplitude and phase-based approaches been compared in detail before. Hence, this paper picks up the previously proposed setup, which relies on an amplitude modulation of the optical signal and investigates for sources of signal degradation, an aspect that has not been considered before. Following the incorporation of the microwave signal, the setup is suitable not only for an amplitude-based evaluation of fiber Bragg gratings but also for a phase-based evaluation. In this context, the signal-to-noise ratios are studied for the conventional amplitude-based evaluation approach and for the recently developed phase-based approach. The findings indicate a strong advantage for the signal-to-noise ratio of the phase response evaluation; an 11 dB improvement at the least has been found for the examined setup. Further studies may investigate the consequences and additional benefits of this approach for radio-over-fiber sensing systems or general performance aspects such as achievable sensitivity and sampling rates.

Expert international trauma clinicians’ views on the definition, composition and delivery of reintegration interventions for complex PTSD

ABSTRACT Background: Research has previously distinguished between complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) and PTSD, with the former including a range of disturbances in self-regulatory capacities in addition to difficulties associated with PTSD. Clinical guidelines have previously recommended a phase-based approach for the treatment of CPTSD, yet the final ‘reintegration’ phase of treatment has been overlooked in research, with limited evidence into its value and effectiveness, and inconsistencies in its definitions and understanding. Objective: We set out to define and determine the key principles of ‘reintegration’ and to specify the components and method of delivery of treatment. Method: Leading national and international clinical and academic experts in CPTSD were interviewed and asked about their views of how ‘reintegration’ should be defined, its role in the treatment of CPTSD, what it should be composed of, the key principles of its delivery, and how it should be evaluated. We analysed transcripts of the interviews following the principles of Codebook Thematic Analysis. Results: We conducted 16 interviews with leading national and international experts with at least 10 years’ experience of treating people with CPTSD. Themes derived from our analysis demonstrated that while the definition and composition of reintegration varied greatly between experts, the key principles in its delivery were consistent across all experts. Conclusions: The results of this study lay the foundation for a framework of what reintegration is and how it can be used in, but also highlight the need for more research to be conducted on the role of reintegration in the treatment of CPTSD. Consensus for the definition and composition of reintegration is still yet to be reached. Possible measures for evaluating reintegration should also be explored in the future.

Phasehood and embedded gapping in Spanish

This paper argues that the phasehood of the embedded CP determines the possibility of embedded gapping and accounts for the difference between English and Spanish in this regard. I argue that phasehood inheritance plays a central role in licensing embedded gapping along the lines of Wurmbrand’s (2017) phase-based approach to embedded stripping and provides a principled account of how languages differ in this respect. Assuming that ellipsis targets the complement of a phase head (Van Craenenbroeck 2004; 2010; Gengel 2009; Rouveret 2012), I argue that Spanish allows embedded gapping in which FocP is a phase, and the ellipsis site is the complement of Foc (i.e., TP). In contrast, English does not allow gapping in embedded clauses with overt complementizers, in which case CP is a phase, and the node targeted by ellipsis is FocP rather than TP. However, the absence of the complementizer renders embedded gapping acceptable; if CP loses its phasehood by deleting the complementizer, FocP becomes a derived phase, and the ellipsis site is TP. In this view, the crosslinguistic variation with respect to embedded gapping is attributed to the phasehood of the embedded CP, which sheds new light on the No Embedding Constraint on gapping.

The biased hand. Mouse-tracking metrics to examine the conflict processing in a race-implicit association test.

In this study, we adapted a race-Implicit Association Test (race-IAT) to mouse-tracking (MT) technique to identify the more representative target observed MT-metrics and explore the temporal unfolding of the cognitive conflict emerging during the categorisation task. Participants of Western European descent performed a standard keyboard-response race-IAT (RT-race-IAT) and an MT-race-IAT with the same structure. From a behavioural point of view, our sample showed a typical Congruency Effect, thus a pro-White implicit bias, in the RT-race-IAT. In addition, in the MT-race-IAT, the MT-metrics showed a similar Congruency Effect mirroring the higher attraction of the averaged-trajectories towards the incorrect response button in incongruent than congruent trials. Moreover, these MT-metrics were positively associated with RT-race-IAT scores, strengthening the MT approach's validity in characterising the implicit bias. Furthermore, the distributional analyses showed that mouse trajectories displayed a smooth profile both in congruent and incongruent trials to indicate that the unfolding of the decision process and the raised conflict is guided by dynamical cognitive processing. This latter continuous competition process was studied using a novel phase-based approach which allowed to temporally dissect an Early, a Mid and a Late phase, each of which may differently reflect the decision conflict between automatic and controlled responses in the evolution of the mouse movement towards the target response. Our results show that the MT approach provides an accurate and finer-grained characterisation of the implicit racial attitude than classical RT-IAT. Finally, our novel phase-based approach can be an effective tool to shed light on the implicit conflict processing emerging in a categorisation task with a promising transferable value in different cognitive and neuropsychological fields.

Pre-existing anxiety and depression disorders and return to work after musculoskeletal strain or sprain: a phased-based approach.

To examine the impact of pre-existing anxiety and depression disorders on return to work (RTW) using a phase-based approach. Accepted lost-time workers' compensation claims for upper limb or spine strain or sprain from 2009 to 2013 were extracted for workers in the Canadian province of British Columbia (n = 78,186). Pre-existing anxiety and depression disorders were identified using health claims data. Probability of RTW following a first or second work lost-time episode was analyzed using Prentice, Williams and Peterson models for recurrent events (common hazards ratios (cHR)). Probability of a first lost-time recurrence was analyzed using Cox models (HR). All models included two years of follow up and were stratified by gender. For men, anxiety alone (cHR = 0.90, 95% CI: 0.85 to 0.94) or comorbid with depression (cHR = 0.95, 95% CI: 0.92 to 0.99) was significantly associated with a lower probability of RTW, and comorbid anxiety and depression with a higher probability of recurrence (HR = 1.29, 95% CI: 1.13 to 1.48). In women, comorbid anxiety and depression was significantly associated with a lower probability of RTW (cHR = 0.96, 95% CI: 0.93 to 0.99) and a higher probability of recurrence (HR = 1.15, 95% CI: 1.04 to 1.28); and anxiety alone with a higher probability of recurrence (HR = 1.25, 95% CI: 1.09 to 1.43). There was little evidence that depression alone was associated with RTW or recurrence. Workers with a pre-existing anxiety disorder may require additional supports both during lost-time and after initial RTW.

Ensuring Trustworthiness in IoIT/AIoT: A Phase-Based Approach

Ensuring Trustworthiness in IoIT/AIoT: A Phase-Based Approach

Information structure and OV word order in Old and Middle English: a phase-based approach

This article re-examines the evidence for OV and VO variation and the loss of OV order in historical English, and presents a novel and unified analysis of Old and Middle English word order based on a uniform VO grammar, with leftward scrambling of specific types of objects. This analysis provides an insightful framework for a precise analysis of how OV word orders differ from VO word orders. We show in detail that OV with referential objects involves discourse-given objects. We then present a phase-based analysis from a VO base in which objects undergo feature-driven movement to spec,vP triggered by the information structure of the object. We propose that this analysis also yields a syntactic framework for analysing the derivation of preverbal quantified and negated objects, as well as a natural explanation for the stepwise loss of OV word order.

A Phase-Based Approach for ENF Signal Extraction From Rolling Shutter Videos

Electric Network Frequency (ENF) analysis has been an intriguing tool for multimedia forensics as former studies have paved the way for estimating ENF signals from digital audio, video, or even image files. However, for ENF signals to be widely used in extensive applications, supplementary research is needed so that ENF signals can be stably extracted without restrictions. In this letter, we propose a new phase-based approach for extracting ENF signals from CMOS sensor recordings. It uses phase differences between row signals from two consecutive frames, such that problems due to missing sample points during the idle periods are circumvented. The proposed method has substantial advantages in that it is applicable without a predefined read-out time and when the length of given videos is too short. Extensive experiments conducted with numerous devices demonstrate that the proposed method can take precedence over state-of-the-art methods because it robustly produces accurate ENF estimates in terms of alias frequency on the frame-level. The coding framework used for this letter is available at: <uri>https://github.com/hyekyunghan/Phase-based-ENF-extraction-method</uri>.

Verb-second and the verb-stranding verb phrase ellipsis debate

Verb-stranding ellipsis, when a verb is stranded outside of the ellipsis site in which it originated, has been identified in a number of languages (Irish, McCloskey 1991; Hebrew, Doron 1999, Goldberg 2005; Greek, Merchant 2018; Uzbek, Gribanova, 2020; i.a.), and has been invoked productively in analyses investigating the position to which verbs move and the timing of verb movement in the grammar. Recently, Landau (2018; 2020a;b) has proposed a phase-based negative licensing condition which restricts head-stranding ellipsis and precludes verb-stranding verb phrase ellipsis (VPE) altogether. He claims that apparent verb-stranding VPE must be reanalyzed either as argument ellipsis (Oku 1998; Kim 1999; Takahashi 2008), or a clause-sized ellipsis that strands main verbs (Gribanova 2018). This article approaches this debate through an analysis of head movement and head-stranding ellipsis in the Indic verb-second (V2) language Kashmiri. We show that Landau’s phase-based approach encounters empirical challenges in accounting for ellipsis in V2 languages and requires an unworkable approach to V2 itself, at odds with accounts of V2 in Kashmiri and crosslinguistically (Holmberg 1986; Travis 1991; Vikner 1995; Zwart 1997; Bhatt 1999; Munshi and Bhatt 2009; Manetta 2011). While the present article argues in favor of the standard account of ellipsis (Merchant 2001; 2008), we affirm the important contribution of Landau’s work in identifying challenges that remain for any complete account of head-stranding ellipsis licensing.

Quantifying the composite microhardness and fracture toughness of iron ore sinter – a phase-based approach

ABSTRACT Microindentation testing was undertaken on sinter phases in iron ore sinter to determine the range and mean of phase/morphology microhardness. The mean fracture toughness of each sinter phase/texture was calculated from indent-associated radial cracks. A value for the composite microhardness (CH) and composite fracture toughness (CFT) was calculated for each sinter sample, based upon the modal proportion of constituent sinter phases. The CH and CFT of sinter phases and each sinter sample was compared to a range of metallurgical indices and major element chemistry to determine the extent of any correlation. Moderate to strong negative correlations were observed between sinter CH and sinter Tumble Index, Reduction Degradation Index and Reducibility Index and between sinter CFT and Tumble Index, Reduction Degradation Index and Reducibility Index. The microindentation technique has the potential to be further developed to routinely characterise and predict the metallurgical performance of sinter.