Integrated Smart Sensor Calibration

In many applications electronic sensors are used toimprove performance and reliability of measurement systems. Suchsensors should provide a correct transfer from the physical signalto be measured to the electrical output signal. One importantstep to achieve this, is to calibrate each sensor by applyingdifferent reference input signals and adjusting the sensor transferaccordingly. Besides expensive reference equipment the calibrationprocess takes much time and attention per individual sensor,which means a considerable increase in sensor production costs.By including at the sensor or sensor interface chip a programmablecalibration facility the calibration of such smart sensors caneasily be automated and can be executed for a batch of sensorsat a time, thus minimizing the calibration time and costs. Thispaper presents a calibration method and options for integrationin the smart sensor concept, in hardware as well as in software.An advantage of the proposed method is that it does not needa large matrix of calibration data, which needs to be storedin a look-up table or converted into a correction formula, butinstead it uses a step-by-step approach to correct the sensortransfer at each calibration measurement until the error is sufficientlysmall.     

Maternal nutrition and socio-economic status as determinants of birthweight in chronically malnourished African women

The birthweight is the most important determinant of mortality and morbidity in the neonatal period and may have an influence on health in adult life. The high rate of low birthweight in developing countries is therefore a major health problem. Maternal malnutrition is usually assumed to be a causal factor but other environmental factors are also involved. In this study we analysed maternal nutritional and socio-economic factors as determinants of birthweight in term infants from a rural African society characterised by a high rate of chronic malnutrition. Relations of maternal weight, gestational weight gain, parity, socio-economic status and infant sex with birthweight were analysed in 1,477 women and child pairs. The selected women were followed from early pregnancy and had an uncomplicated delivery at term of a living singleton child. The gestational weight gain was 5.6 (SD 6.0) kg and the mean birthweight 2.933 kg (SD 408). Maternal weight, representing the maternal long-term nutritional situation, was the most important independent determinant of birthweight, accounting for 13.0% of the variance in birthweight. The weight gain, representing the short-term nutritional situation, explained only 5.6% of the variance. Birthweight increased by 20 g (CI 18-23) for each kg maternal weight and by 15 g (CI 12-18) for each kg gestational weight gained. The socio-economic difference in birth-weight was 153 g (CI 109-196) 88 of which (CI 48-128) remained unexplained after adjustment for differences in maternal weight, parity and gender. Improved long-term nutritional situation and living conditions seems to be the most important prerequisites to counteract low birthweight in developing countries.     

Role of macrophage overactivation in the development of acute pancreatic injury in rats

PURPOSE: To report quantitative changes in the anterior chamber configuration after small-incision cataract surgery with implantation of a posterior chamber intraocular lens by means of ultrasound biomicroscopy. METHODS: We examined the anterior chamber configuration of 20 eyes of 20 patients before and 3 months after small-incision cataract surgery (phacoemulsification and aspiration plus foldable intraocular lens implantation through a 3.0- to 4.0-mm self-sealing wound) by means of ultrasound biomicroscopy. The following variables were measured: the anterior chamber depth at the center of the cornea, the angle-opening distance 250 microns from the scleral spur (AOD250), the angle-opening distance 500 microns from the scleral spur (AOD500), and the trabecular-iris angle. RESULTS: The anterior chamber depth at the center of the cornea, AOD250, AOD500, and trabecular-iris angle increased significantly after surgery. The preoperative anterior chamber depth at the center of the cornea and trabecular-iris angle were negatively correlated with the differences between the postoperative and preoperative values (P < .01). The preoperative values of all variables examined were negatively correlated with the ratios of the postoperative value to the preoperative value (P < .002). CONCLUSIONS: The present results showed that small-incision cataract surgery significantly deepened the anterior chamber and widened its angle. The more shallow the preoperative anterior chamber was, the greater the postoperative change of the chamber was; and the more narrow the preoperative angle was, the greater the postoperative change of the angle was.     

Photonic Demodulator With Sensitivity Control

A current assisted photonic demodulator for use as a pixel in a 3-D time-of-flight imager shows nearly 100% static demodulator contrast and is operable beyond 30 MHz. An integrated tunable sensitivity control is also presented for increasing the distance measurement range and avoiding unwanted saturation during integration periods. This is achieved by application of a voltage on a dedicated drain tap showing a quenching of sensor sensitivity to below 1%     

Influence of body segment dynamics on loads at the lumbar spine during lifting.

Flexion-extension moments acting at the L5/S1 level and hip joints were calculated using three different techniques; a pure static analysis, a static analysis including the inertial force of the load, and a dynamic analysis. Ten subjects participated in the study and were asked to lift a box weighing either 50 N or 150 N, using a freestyle technique. The lifts were performed at normal and fast speed. The intra-subject lifting techniques were consistent when lifting the same loads. The moments predicted by the dynamic analysis and the static analysis were the same when holding weights in static postures. When performing the lifts, differences in the peak moments occurred between static and dynamic analyses. These differences were influenced by external load and by lifting speed. Taking the effect of the inertia of load into account in the static analysis resulted in an increase in the moment magnitude, but the predicted moment was still much less than in the dynamic analysis which yielded the largest moment magnitudes. The difference between dynamic and static analysis was greatest when lifting 50 N at fast speed; an 87% increase in L5/S1 moment and a 95% increase in hip moment was observed when replacing the pure static with a dynamic analysis.     

Food intake after gastrectomy for gastric carcinoma: the role of a gastric reservoir

Patients with carcinoma of the stomach who underwent curative resection were randomized to total gastrectomy (n = 49), total gastrectomy and an S-shaped gastric substitute (n = 28) or subtotal gastrectomy (n = 12); all had a Roux-en-Y reconstruction. The gastric substitute and gastric remnant allowed a volume of 400-500 ml to be installed without increments in basal pressures. The corresponding volume in the Roux limb was 100 ml. Energy intake was approximately 120 kJ/kg preoperative weight per day 3 months after operation, and then remained constant. Patients who had subtotal gastrectomy ate less (91.7 kJ/kg preoperative weight) 3 months after operation, but thereafter increased their intake. Patients allocated to have a gastric pouch or subtotal gastrectomy complained more frequently of adverse postprandial symptoms (P < 0.03) as a major cause of reduced calorie intake. The construction of a gastric reservoir did not improve nutritional adaptation after surgery for gastric carcinoma.     

Silicon bipolar chipset for SONET/SDH 10 Gb/s fiber-opticcommunication links

High-speed multiplexers, demultiplexers, frequency dividers, mixers, and amplifiers are key electronic components in high-speed fiber-optic communications systems such as SONET/SDH. In this paper, we present several important digital and analog integrated circuits (IC) which have been developed for use in SONET/SDH 10 Gb/s optical communication links. The circuits have been fabricated in MOSAIC 5E, an advanced silicon bipolar technology (f_T=26 GHz). The resulting chipset which amounts to a total of 10 IC's consists of multiplexers, demultiplexers, a regenerative frequency divider (2:1), a dual output limiting amplifier, and two different types of mixers for clock extraction. Specifically, the design and performance of these IC's and a hybrid clock recovery module are discussed. The high performance and potential low cost of this research chipset show that advanced silicon bipolar circuit technology can play an important role in future multigigabit fiber-optic communication systems     

Achievement of specificational information usage with true and false feedback in learning a visual relative-mass discrimination task.

Participants' usage of informational variables in learning visual relative-mass discrimination in collisions was tracked by means of PROBIT correlations. Four groups received feedback that was true or accorded with either of three nonspecificational cue variables. A majority in each group adopted the feedback, but several participants defied the false feedback. Unlike in previous research, the fit to data of the relative-mass invariant could not be bettered by post hoc linear combinations of the cues. Discriminability was lower in the use of the invariant. Analytic complexity was rejected as an explanation for discriminability differences. A "smart mechanism" for pickup of the relative-mass invariant was developed as an extension of G. Johansson's (1950/1994) vector model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)