We present a speech processing strategy incorporating instantaneous frequency (IF) encoding for the enhancement of melody recognition performance of cochlear implants. For the IF extraction from incoming sound, we propose the use of a Teager energy operator (TEO), which is advantageous for its lower computational load. From time-frequency analysis, we verified that the TEO-based method provides proper IF encoding of input sound, which is crucial for melody recognition. Similar benefit could be obtained also from the use of a Hilbert transform (HT), but much higher computational cost was required. The melody recognition performance of the proposed speech processing strategy was compared with those of a conventional strategy using envelope extraction, and the HT-based IF encoding. Hearing tests on normal subjects were performed using acoustic simulation and a musical contour identification task. Insignificant difference in melody recognition performance was observed between the TEO-based and HT-based IF encodings, and both were superior to the conventional strategy. However, the TEO-based strategy was advantageous considering that it was approximately 35% faster than the HT-based strategy.

Although tracking methods are efficient and popular for vessel segmentation, they require a seed to initiate an instance of tracking. In this paper, a new method to detect new seeds for tracking of arterial segments from CT angiography (CTA) and to construct a vascular structure is proposed. The proposed algorithm is based on shape analysis of connected components in a volume of interest around a vessel segment which was already extracted by tracking. The eigenvalues of the covariance matrix are used as the shape features for detection. The experimental results on actual clinical data showed that the results totally revealed the arterial tree not hindered by bone or veins. In visual comparison to a method which combines registration and subtraction of both pre-contrast and post-contrast CT volumes, the proposed method produced comparable results to the reference method and were confirmed of its feasibility for clinical use of reducing the cost and burden of patients.

For approval of medical devices manufactured or imported, submission of technical documents as well as the application form is required. The manufacturer (or importer) should properly identify the raw materials the applied product is made of and the manufacturing processes the product undergoes before it is shipped in the application form. In the technical documents, scientific data to evaluate the efficacy, safety, and quality of the applied product that has been described in the application form should be provided. Therefore, identifying the raw materials that were used for the parts of the applied product and describing the physical and chemical characteristics of the raw materials are quite important and essential in ensuring the efficacy, safety, and quality of the applied product. To describe the physical and chemical characteristics of the raw materials correctively, the applicant is required to have broad knowledge in the scientific fields such as chemical, polymer, metal, and ceramic science and engineering. But most of the applicant are not experts in these fields, so that the description in the application form often includes wrong and improper descriptions. Thus, we developed a guideline which explains the raw materials for medical devices, show the their examples. The purpose of this description guideline is to help the applicant properly completing the "Raw materials or constituents and their volumes" part in the application form.

The social activities of the elderly have been increasing as our society progresses toward an aging society. As their activities are increased, the occurrence of falls that could lead to fractures are increased. Falls are serious health hazards to the elderly and we need more thorough understanding of falls including the progress of falls and the impact area in various fall directions. Many of the traditional methods of falls research dealt with voluntary falls by younger subject since older subject can easily get fracture from voluntary falls. So, it has been difficult to get exact data about falls of the elderly. Here, we tried to capture the characteristics of the movements of major joints using three dimensional motion capture system during falls experiments using a moving mattress that can safely induce unexpected falls. Healthy younger subjects participated in the actual falls experiment and the moving mattress was actuated by a pneumatic system. The kinematic parameters such as velocities of major segments were imported to a computer simulation environment and falls to hard surfaces were simulated in a computational environment using a realistic human model of aged persons. The simulation was able to give approximations to contact forces which can occur during actual falls. And we designed impact absorption system to reduce the impact during falls. We can adapt this system to fracture prevention system that we are going to study.

A ceramic articulating system in total hip replacement thought to be superior to metal-on-polyethylene due to its extremely low coefficient of friction and potential for high resistance to wear. But ceramic is brittle, which makes it mechanically and theoretically susceptible to fracture under certain mechanical conditions. In the current study, nine different models of ceramic ball heads were mechanically evaluated using 3D finite element(FE) analyses. It was found that the maximum stress in all ceramic models was lower than ceramic flexural strength, and it satisfied the requirements of the FDA Gaudience for artificial hip implant. Thus, ceramic ball head models introduced in the current study could be mechanically safe for clinical applications.

In the present study, we proposed a new subspace scanning algorithm to enhance the spatial resolution of electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography(MEG) source localization. Subspace scanning algorithms, represented by the multiple signal classification (MUSIC) algorithm and the first principal vector (FINE) algorithm, have been widely used to localize asynchronous multiple dipolar sources in human cerebral cortex. The conventional MUSIC algorithm used principal component analysis (PCA) to extract the noise vector subspace, thereby having difficulty in discriminating two or more closely-spaced cortical sources. The FINE algorithm addressed the problem by using only a part of the noise vector subspace, but there was no golden rule to determine the number of noise vectors. In the present work, we estimated a non-orthogonal signal vector set using independent component analysis (ICA) instead of using PCA and performed the source scanning process in the signal vector subspace, not in the noise vector subspace. Realistic 2D and 3D computer simulations, which compared the spatial resolutions of various algorithms under different noise levels, showed that the proposed ICA-MUSIC algorithm has the highest spatial resolution, suggesting that it can be a useful tool for practical EEG/MEG source localization.

Compressed sensing can be used to reduce scan time or to enhance spatial resolution in MRI. It is now recognized that compressed sensing works well in reconstructing magnitude images if the sampling mask and the sparsifying transform are well chosen. Phase images also play important roles in MRI particularly in chemical shift imaging and magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography (MREIT). We reconstruct MRI phase images using the compressed sensing technique. Through computer simulation and real MRI experiments, we reconstructed phase images using the compressed sensing technique and we compared them with the ones reconstructed by conventional Fourier reconstruction technique. As compared to conventional Fourier reconstruction with the same number of phase encoding steps, compressed sensing shows better performance in terms of mean squared phase error and edge preservation. We expect compressed sensing can be used to reduce the scan time or to enhance spatial resolution of MREIT.

Mechanically deformed cartilage undergoes a temperature dependent phase transformation resulting in reshaping of cartilage. Laser-assisted cartilage reshaping (LCR) is recently introduced to recreate the underlying cartilage framework in structures such as ear, larynx, trachea, and nose. However, this procedure has not been fully supported by confirmed efficacy because of the lack of scientific research and its safety issues. The purpose of this study is to evaluate current laser sources to determine optimal laser wavelength for LCR using mathematical simulations and investigate optical, thermo-mechanical, and backscattering properties of cartilage after laser irradiation. The results showed that 1444 nm wavelength was effective for reshaping of cartilage with minimal thermal damage in the surrounded tissues by monte carlo simulations. Analysis of bend angle changes, thermo-mechanical characteristics, and backscattered properties may be useful to better identify the biophysical transformation responsible for stress relaxation in cartilage and develop an optical feedback control methodologies.

In this paper, we suggest an advanced algorithm, to recognize pedestrian/non-pedestrian using differential haar-like feature, which applies Adaboost algorithm to make a strong classification from weak classifications. First, we extract two feature vectors: horizontal haar-like feature and vertical haar-like feature. For the next, we calculate the proposed feature vector using differential haar-like method. And then, a strong classification needs to be obtained from weak classifications for composite recognition method using the differential area of horizontal and vertical haar-like. In the proposed method, we use one feature vector and one strong classification for the first stage of recognition. Based on our experiment, the proposed algorithm shows higher recognition rate compared to the traditional method for the pedestrian and non-pedestrian.

In this study, the circular friction massage technique was performed on the trapezius, the levator scapulae, and the deltoid muscles to collect the information on massage pressures and positions, and thus to utilize it in professional massage system design. Massage motion was measured with the 3-D motion capture system and finger pressures were simultaneously obtained with grip sensors. Massage motions, pressure patterns, and pressure times were different on each muscle, and the motion trajectory was similar to the ellipsoidal shape. The trapezius had higher pressure, longer massage time, and larger impulse than other muscles. These results could be useful to design a massage system based on biomechanical analysis. In order to improve massage effect, it is also strongly recommended that the tip of the system be similar with that of a human thumb in shape and material.