Seeing the future: predictive control in neural models of ocular accommodation

Ocular accommodation is the process of adjusting the eye's crystalline lens so as to bring the retinal image into sharp focus. The major stimulus to accommodation is therefore retinal defocus, and in essence, the job of accommodative control is to send a signal to the ciliary muscle which will minimise the magnitude of defocus. In this paper, we first provide a tutorial introduction to control theory to aid vision scientists without this background. We then present a unified model of accommodative control that explains properties of the accommodative response for a wide range of accommodative stimuli. Following previous work, we conclude that most aspects of accommodation are well explained by dual integral control, with a "fast" or "phasic" integrator enabling response to rapid changes in demand, which hands over control to a "slow" or "tonic" integrator which maintains the response to steady demand. Control is complicated by the sensorimotor latencies within the system, which delay both information about defocus and the accommodation changes made in response, and by the sluggish response of the motor plant. These can be overcome by incorporating a Smith predictor, whereby the system predicts the delayed sensory consequences of its own motor actions. For the first time, we show that critically-damped dual integral control with a Smith predictor accounts for adaptation effects as well as for the gain and phase for sinusoidal oscillations in demand. In addition, we propose a novel proportional-control signal to account for the power spectrum of accommodative microfluctuations during steady fixation, which may be important in hunting for optimal focus, and for the nonlinear resonance observed for low-amplitude, high-frequency input. Complete Matlab/Simulink code implementing the model is provided at https://doi.org/10.25405/data.ncl.14945550

Dynamics of a DC Motor-Driving Arm with a Circular Periodic Potential and DC/AC Voltage Input

In this paper, we investigate the dynamics of an electromechanical system consisting of a DC motor-driving arm within a circular periodic potential created by three permanent magnets. Two configurations of the circular potential appear when one varies the positions of the magnets and the length of the DC motor, respectively. Two different forms of input signal are used: DC and AC voltage sources. For each case, conditions under which the mechanical arm can perform a complete rotation are obtained. Under the DC voltage excitation, the arm oscillates and then is stabilized at an equilibrium position for a DC voltage lower than a critical value [Formula: see text]. When the DC voltage is higher than the critical value [Formula: see text], the arm performs large amplitude motions (complete rotation). Submitted to an AC voltage with amplitude lower than a critical value, the mechanical arm exhibits sinusoidal oscillations around the equilibrium position [Formula: see text] with amplitudes less than one turn. Angular oscillations with amplitudes greater than one turn are observed when the voltage amplitude is higher than the critical value. Bifurcation diagrams show that the simple system can enter chaotic regime with the amplitudes of angular oscillations varying erratically from small to high values.

Shape Deviation of Surface Structures Produced by WaveShape (Structuring by Laser Remelting) on Ti6Al4V and a Method for Deviation Reduction

Laser structuring by remelting (WaveShape) is a manufacturing process for metal surfaces in which structures are generated without material removal. The structuring principle is based on the controlled motion of the three-phase line in the area of the solidification front. The contour of the solidification front is imprinted into the remelting track during the continuous solidification process. Typically, harmonic surface structures in the form of sinusoidal oscillations are generated by means of WaveShape with virtually no material loss. However, a significant shape deviation is often observed over a wide range of process parameters. In this study, it was found that much of the shape deviation is concentrated at a spatial wavelength equal to half the spatial wavelength used for structuring. Therefore, an approach to reduce the shape deviations was specifically investigated by superimposing a compensation signal on the harmonic structuring signal. In this approach, a compensation signal with half the spatial wavelength was varied in phase and amplitude and superimposed on the structuring signal. Amplitude and phase shift of the compensation signal were further investigated for selected laser beam diameters and spatial wavelengths. This demonstrated that a shape deviation of harmonic surface structures on titanium alloy Ti6Al4V could be reduced by up to 91% by means of an adapted compensation signal.

Mechanical Medical Device for Generating Vibration and Stimulation of the Neuron Pathways

This article describes a medical device uses precisely generated vibrations to obtain genetic material (sperm) in injured men, tetraplegics, and paraplegics. A significant advantage is the absence of general anesthesia of the patient. The DC motor of a medical device works with a safe voltage powered by rechargeable or AA cells. The principle of generation of vibration is a crank mechanism. Rotation of the flywheel is converted to rectilinear reciprocating motion. The amplitude is set in the range between 1–4 mm and the frequency is controlled by the RPM of the DC motor. If the stimulation will be followed preciously with the methodology, the process will be completed within 12 min from the beginning of stimulation. The success rate of the device is in the range between 65–85% depending on the patient’s condition and the extent of the spinal cord lesion. The measurement of sinusoidal oscillations was performed by using a stand in which the device was mounted. The amplitude was measured with an accelerometer and then mathematically converted by software Matlab and MS-Excel to the magnitude of the deviation in mm. Measurements have shown that the proposed design meets the requirements for amplitude and frequency.

LES Study of the Effects of Oscillations in the Main Flow on Film Cooling

The effects of sinusoidal oscillations in the main flow on film cooling in the gas turbine were investigated by Large Eddy Simulation (LES). The film cooling flow fields for the sinusoidal oscillation of 32 Hz in the mainstream from a cylindrical hole inclined by 35° to a flat plate at average blowing ratio of M = 0.5 were numerically simulated. The LES results were compared to the experimental data from Seo, Lee and Ligrani (1998), Jung, Lee and Ligrani (2001) and Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) results. The experimental results showed that if the oscillation frequency in the main flow was increased, the adiabatic film cooling effectiveness was decreased. The credibility of the LES results relative to the experimental data was demonstrated by the comparison of time-averaged adiabatic film cooling effectiveness, time and phase-averaged temperature contours, contours of Q-criterion, time-averaged velocity profiles, and time and phase-averaged Urms profiles with the RANS results. The adiabatic film cooling effectiveness by LES model showed a good match to the experimental data, while RANS results highly over-predict the centerline effectiveness. Also, the LES results showed more consistent with the experimental data for the time-averaged and phase-averaged temperature contours, time-averaged velocity profiles and time and phase-averaged Urms profiles than the RANS results. RANS did not predict the peak generated by the jet penetration exactly and Urms profiles obtained by RANS approach was much smaller compared to the experimental results. Paper will discuss these results in detail.

Design and construction of a single-axis, low-frequency magnetic probe (B-dot probe) calibrated with a LCvar Helmholtz resonant circuit

Magnetic probes (also known as B-dot coil) are electromagnetic devices used to measure magneticeld variations in many frequency ranges. The measured magnetic eld frequency directly relates tothe elected method to make the B-dot coil calibration. This work presents a B-dot coil calibration ina frequency range from 6.16 kHz to 36.63 kHz. An inductor L (Helmholtz coil) connects in parallelwith a variable capacitor bank Cvar to form a coupled LCvar resonant circuit. The LCvar circuit isfed with a half bridge oscillator. The capacitance Cvar is varied until the circuit is in resonant stateat dierent frequencies. The resonant circuit produces sinusoidal oscillations in the aforementionfrequency band. The sensitivity is calculated by using voltage Vout of the B-dot coil and voltageVH measured from Helmholtz terminals.

Controlling the Q-Point in Distributed Feedback Lasers Using a Numerical Optimization Methodology

In this paper, a new methodology for controlling the Q-point in the distributed feedback (DFB) lasers is proposed. The method based on reducing the DFB transient period (TP) by optimizing laser’s model parameters numerically. The analysis has taken into account investigated the effects of the laser injection current (Iinj), the dc-bias level (Ibias), the temperature (T) variation, and the gain compression factor (ε). Results showed that by optimizing the value of Iinj, Ibias, T and ε; the Q-point could be controlled effectively. Where increasing the current ratio (i.e., Iinj/Ith) leads to reduce the TP value. In addition, by increasing Iinj and/or Ibias, the relaxation oscillation period (TRO) and the laser delay time (TDelay) are reduced significantly. From the other hand, the temperature varying may push the DFB laser to operate in an improper region through increasing the TP value; which may lead it to operate in the off-mode. Moreover, as ε is increased, the sinusoidal oscillations are dramatically damped results in a reduction in the TRO value and larger period of stabilized.

Spatial neuronal synchronization and the waveform of oscillations: implications for EEG and MEG

Neuronal oscillations are ubiquitous in the human brain and are implicated in virtually all brain functions. Often they are referred to by their frequency content, i.e., α-, β-, γ-oscillations. Although they indeed can be described by a prominent peak in the power spectrum, their waveform is not necessarily sinusoidal and shows a rather complex morphology which needs to be captured with multiple spectral harmonics. Both frequency and temporal descriptions of such non-sinusoidal neuronal oscillations can be utilized. However, in non-invasive EEG/MEG recordings the waveform of oscillations often takes a sinusoidal shape which in turn leads to a rather oversimplified view on oscillatory processes.In this study, we show in simulations how spatial synchronization can mask non-sinusoidal features of the underlying rhythmic neuronal processes. Consequently, the degree of non-sinusoidality can serve as a measure of spatial synchronization. To confirm this empirically, we show that a mixture of EEG components is indeed associated with more sinusoidal oscillations compared to the waveform of oscillations in each constituent component. Using simulations, we also show that the spatial mixing of the non-sinusoidal neuronal signals strongly affects the amplitude ratio of the spectral harmonics constituting the waveform. This in turn has high relevance for the interpretation of the relative strength of spectral peaks, which is commonly used for inferring neuronal signatures corresponding to specific behavioral states.Moreover, our simulations show how spatial mixing can affect the strength and even the direction of the amplitude coupling between constituent neuronal harmonics. Consistently with these simulations, we also demonstrate these effects in real EEG recordings. Our findings have far reaching implications for the neu-rophysiological interpretation of neuronal oscillations and cross-frequency interactions, as well as for the unequivocal determination of oscillatory phase.