Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is one of the most frequent noncommunicable diseases with pain associat... more Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is one of the most frequent noncommunicable diseases with pain associated symptoms and affects the musculoskeletal system. Various forms of treatment can be indicated, and nonpharmacological treatment is also an available option for the management of KOA individuals. For instance, auriculotherapy (AT) is one possible procedure associated with the Traditional Chinese Medicine for dealing with KOA. It is believed that the concentration of certain biomarkers could be altered in individuals with KOA after AT. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of AT on plasma concentration of biomarkers in KOA individuals. This intervention is a controlled trial. Twenty-one subjects were grouped in two groups and submitted to AT with the stimulation of the Shen Men, kidney, and knee points in the treatment group or different points in the control group, once a week for 5 weeks. Blood was collected before the beginning of protocols and a week after the last session...
Recently, a temporal "coherent&a... more Recently, a temporal "coherent" fractal structure and synchronization of rhythms were proposed as two essential indicators for efficient voiding during micturition in female rats. The former was correlated with the intensity and the latter the frequency of physiological signals embedded in random noise. Studies using both indices confirmed that synergic co-activations of bladder and external urethral sphincter (EUS) of female rats were present during the voiding of urine. Therefore, it would be interesting to investigate if these two criteria could be used in the performance evaluation of pharmacological effects on spinal cord-injured rats during micturition. In this paper, the primary goals were to (1) examine if the involved muscles in the lower urinary tract would be under similar synergic co-activations during the administration of capsaicin (CAP) and resiniferatoxin (RTX), and (2) characterize quantitatively the differences of their nervous responses simultaneously. A total of 62 micturition experiments were performed on sixteen spinal cord-injured adult female Sprague-Dawley rats, and then the electromyograms of EUS and cystometrograms of bladder were analyzed. Results based on the aforementioned criteria indicated that the synergy of bladder and EUS during micturition by using RTX was better than that of the CAP. Furthermore, the residue urine volumes for rats under the former treatment were smaller than those of the rats under the latter treatment. Consequently, we concluded that the administration of RTX was more effective than CAP in facilitating voiding in the spinal cord-injured rats.
The so-called "Needham's Grand Question" (NGQ) can be formulated as why modern science was develo... more The so-called "Needham's Grand Question" (NGQ) can be formulated as why modern science was developed in Europe despite the earlier successes of science and technology in ancient China. Numerous answers have been proposed. In this review, it will be pointed out that traditional Chinese natural philosophy (TCNP) and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) are in fact dealing with problems of highly complex dynamical systems of Nature and human beings. Due to the lack of mathematical machinery in dealing with such complex phenomena, a holistic approach was taken by ancient Chinese instead. It was very successful for the first eighteen centuries. In the recent three centuries, however, the reductionist and mechanistic viewpoints of Western natural philosophy, sciences, and medicine have been prevalent all over the world up to now. The main obstacle in preventing the advancement of TCM, TCNP and its sciences is actually the lacking of proper mathematical tools in dealing with complex dynamical systems. Fortunately, the tools are now available and a "chaotic wave theory of fractal continuum" has been proposed recently. To give the theory an operational meaning, three basic laws of TCNP are outlined. These three laws of wave/field interactions contrast readily with those of Newton's particle collisions. Via the proposed three laws, TCM, TCNP and its sciences can be unified under the same principles. Finally, an answer to NGQ can be accurately given. It is hoped that this review will help promoting a genuine understanding of natural philosophy, sciences, and medicine in an ecumenical way. Keywords chaotic wave theory of fractal continuum, mathematical principles of traditional Chinese natural philosophy, traditional Chinese medicine, Needham's Grand Question
The coordination of XO (XaC, N, O) to metal iron is important in biochemistry. In this paper, the... more The coordination of XO (XaC, N, O) to metal iron is important in biochemistry. In this paper, the properties of spin ground states for [Fe(H 2 O) 5 XO] 2C are studied via UB3LYP method. The spin ground states for [Fe(H 2 O) 5 CO] 2C , [Fe(H 2 O) 5 NO)] 2C , and Fe(H 2 O) 5 O 2 ] 2 are determined to be SZ2, 3/2, and 1, respectively. Both the Fe-CO bond in [Fe(H 2 O) 5 CO] 2C and Fe-NO bond in [Fe(H 2 O) 5 NO] 2C are linear. The Fe-O-O bond in [Fe(H 2 O) 5 O 2 ] 2C is bent. The order of the Fe-X distances is Fe-N!Fe-C!Fe-O, and that of net charge on XO ligands is O 2 !CO!NO. To determine the characteristics of the central Fe, the Fe I (H 2 O) 6 C , Fe II (H 2 O) 6 2C , and Fe III (H 2 O) 6 3C ions are employed as references. Results indicate that the [Fe(H 2 O) 5 CO] 2C (SZ2), [Fe(H 2 O) 5 NO] 2C (SZ3/2), and Fe(H 2 O) 5 O 2 ] 2C (SZ1) are best described by Fe II (SZ2) coupled to CO (SZ0), NO (SZ1/2), and O 2 (SZ1), respectively. The determined atomic net charges of Fe are robust even when the XO ligands undergo internal rotation. These results can be used as references models in understanding the bindings between XO and metal iron.
The aim of this study was to investigate if there were any effects on the electroencephalogram (E... more The aim of this study was to investigate if there were any effects on the electroencephalogram (EEG) of human brain by the manual stimulation of Neiguan (PC 6) acupuncture site. In this paper, two groups of six healthy male volunteers of ages 27.6 ± 14.2 (mean ± SD) and 28.5 ± 13.0 (mean ± SD) and no neurological disease participated in this study. A digital storage of 12-channel EEG recorder was used and spectral analyses of the data set of 18 trials were obtained before, during, and after sham/ manual acupuncture. To minimize artefacts, all data were collected with the subjects alert but eyes closed. No significant changes (P > 0.05) were obtained for the sham acupuncture group. As for the manual acupuncture group, the needle was inserted perpendicularly into the PC 6 acupuncture site and manually stimulated about 15 to 30 seconds to achieve De Qi sensation. Needles were left in place for 30 min and then removed. Analysis of the EEG data due to acupuncture was compared to the baseline data and changes were obtained. First, all trials had an increase in the amplitude and power of the alpha band during manual acupuncture (P < 0.05) when compared with the baseline data. Secondly, in the mean time, the frequency peaks in alpha band of 12-channels were all synchronized with much smaller standard deviation (P < 0.01). Thirdly, the manual acupuncture effects of higher power and synchronized frequencies persisted for at least 10 minutes after the experiment (P < 0.05) and did not disappear immediately for all 18 experiments. Finally, we hypothesized that the higher power and synchronized rhythms in brain oscillations may have to do with autonomic nervous system.
The fractal dimension (FD) and spectral frequencies of physiological signals are two important in... more The fractal dimension (FD) and spectral frequencies of physiological signals are two important indices in the study of physiological functions and dynamical diseases. The first index can be used to characterize the intensity and the second the rhythms of signals embedded in seemingly random data. Recent studies using both indices verified that synergic co-activations of bladder and external urethral sphincter (EUS) of Wistar rats were present during the voiding of urine. In this study, the primary aims were to (1) examine if the involved muscles in the lower urinary tract would be under similar coactivations during the urine storage phase, and (2) characterize quantitatively the sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve activities simultaneously. Eighteen experiments were performed on six intact adult female Wistar rats and then the electromyogram of EUS and cystometrogram of bladder were analyzed. Results indicated that the EUS did not contain any significant spectral frequencies in the storage phase. Furthermore, its FDs (1.5918 +/- 0.0157) indicated that no appreciable amount of signal intensities was observed in the EUS. On the other hand, the bladder exhibited parasympathetic frequency of 8 Hz with signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) = 19.9001 decibel (dB) for group mean, and sympathetic frequency of 19 Hz with SNR = 22.8330 dB for group mean. In addition, its FDs (1.4796 +/- 0.0092) indicated relatively persistent intensities during storage, as compared to that of EUS (1.5918 +/- 0.0157) with statistical significance (P &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; 0.01). We concluded that the EUS was not activated during the phase of storage. The bladder was under the cooperative, not antagonistic, sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve activities with discernible rhythmic frequencies and persistent intensities.
Physiological rhythms are ubiquitous and essential to our life. They usually interact with one an... more Physiological rhythms are ubiquitous and essential to our life. They usually interact with one another and also with the outside environment. Disappearance of normal rhythms and emergence of abnormal rhythms are called dynamical diseases. In this article, we will first review the current knowledge on the genesis of physiological rhythms. Then, models of rhythmic interactions among themselves and with external stimuli will be reviewed. Particular emphasis will be placed on the methods that can diagnose abnormal rhythms. Finally, treatment of dynamical diseases will be discussed. It turns out that the models of fractional Brownian motion and fractional Gaussian noise based on dynamical systems have the potential to become biomarkers in differentiating and evaluating normal from abnormal physiological rhythms in dynamical diseases. Meanwhile, in order to explain how acupuncture works, a feasible model of meridians based on communication networks is also included.
Taiwanese journal of obstetrics & gynecology, 2012
In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), acupuncture has been used to heal various diseases and phy... more In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), acupuncture has been used to heal various diseases and physiologic malfunctions in clinical practice for more than 2500 years. Due to its efficacy, acupuncture has been recommended by the World Health Organization in 1980 as an effective alternative therapy for 43 different disorders. Over the past few decades, various theories of the meridian system and mechanisms have been proposed to explain how acupuncture might work. Most of these mechanisms, however, cannot yet explain conclusively why acupuncture is efficacious in treating so many different diseases. A plausible mechanism has been unavailable until recently. This is the first of a three-part series that aims to provide a comparative review of the aforementioned topics. Part 1 reviews the current indications for acupuncture, basic concepts of TCM, and the essence of the meridian system. To establish a mathematically rigorous framework of TCM, the chaotic wave theory of fractal continuum i...
In reflex and volitional actions, co-activations of agonist and antagonist muscles are believed t... more In reflex and volitional actions, co-activations of agonist and antagonist muscles are believed to be present. Recent studies indicate that such co-activations can be either synergic or dyssynergic. The aim of this paper is to investigate if the co-activations of biceps brachii, brachialis, and triceps brachii during volitional elbow flexion are in the synergic or dyssynergic state. In this study, two groups with each containing six healthy male volunteers participated. Each person of the first group performed 30 trials of volitional elbow flexion while each of the second group performed 30 trials of passive elbow flexion as control experiments. Based on the model of fractional Brownian motion, the intensity and frequency information of the surface electromyograms (EMGs) could be extracted simultaneously. No statistically significant changes were found in the control group. As to the other group, results indicated that the surface EMGs of all five muscle groups were temporally synch...
The aims of this study were to investigate (i) if and when the blood pressure would rise or fall ... more The aims of this study were to investigate (i) if and when the blood pressure would rise or fall and (ii) the associated changes of human heart rate variability (HRV) by manual stimulation of the Neiguan (PC 6) acupuncture site. In this paper, two groups of six healthy male volunteers with ranges of ages 20-56 and 20-55 and with no neurological diseases participated in this study. In order to minimize artefacts, the electrocardiogram (ECG) and radial arterial pulse pressure wave were collected with the subjects alert but eyes closed before, during, and after sham/manual acupuncture. No statistically significant changes (P > 0.05) were found in the sham acupuncture group. As for the manual acupuncture group, the needle was inserted into the PC 6 acupoint and manually stimulated about 15 to 30 seconds to achieve De Qi sensation. Needles were left in place for 30 min and then removed. Analysis of the data due to acupuncture was then compared with the baseline values. Results indicat...
Journal of the Chinese Institute of Engineers, 1988
Abstract A new variable structure control algorithm is developed for a certain class of nonlinear... more Abstract A new variable structure control algorithm is developed for a certain class of nonlinear systems. We have shown that the serious problem of chattering about the switching surfaces of variable structure systems can be alleviated by this algorithm. To illustrate its design procedures, simulation of a two‐link nonlinear robotic manipulator is considered. The simulation results indicate that benefit is not obtained at the expense of time required to reach steady‐state.
On the basis of the density-functional theory, the properties of the reaction product [Fe(H 2 O) ... more On the basis of the density-functional theory, the properties of the reaction product [Fe(H 2 O) 5 (NO)] 2+ of the classical "brown-ring" reaction are studied via the B3LYP hybrid method. Here we have found that the Fe-NO bond in the optimized structure of [Fe(H 2 O) 5 (NO)] 2+ is linear. In addition, the vibrational frequency, atomic net charges, and spin density are analyzed and then the solvent effects are incorporated via the polarized continuum model self-consistent reaction field. Furthermore, the excitation energies are evaluated using the CIS method. Results when compared with experimental data indicate that the spin-quartet ground state of [Fe(H 2 O) 5 (NO)] 2+ is best described by the presence of Fe II (S) 2) antiferromagnetically coupled to NO (S) 1 / 2), yielding [Fe II (H 2 O) 5 (NO)] 2+. This is clearly different from either [Fe III (H 2 O) 5 (NO-)] 2+ or conventional textbook [Fe I (H 2 O) 5 (NO +)] 2+ assignment.
In order to locate the moving target efficiently, a Hadamard transform locator is proposed. The a... more In order to locate the moving target efficiently, a Hadamard transform locator is proposed. The accuracy of the target location is usually influenced by noise, hence an effective morphological noise filter is invoked to remove it. Moreover, the recursive least square adaptive predictor (RLSAP) is adopted to predict robustly the future location of the target. After successful integration of the aforementioned subsystems, the moving target is always kept in the center of the observing window. Experimental results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of this proposed system.
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the discrete-time fractional Gaussian noise (DFG... more The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the discrete-time fractional Gaussian noise (DFGN) is a regular process. Based on this property, a fast algorithm with low computational cost is proposed to estimate the Hurst parameter , which is an important parameter in fractional Brownian motion (FBM). This algorithm is robust under amplitude shift, invariant to time shift, and unaffected by a scaling factor in power spectral density (PSD). Finally, the computational complexity is also investigated. Index Terms-Discrete-time fractional Brownian motion, discrete-time fractional Gaussian noise, fractional Brownian motion, fractional Gaussian noise, Hurst parameter, regular process.
In this correspondence, a new white noise test based on a so-called minimum discrepancy measure (... more In this correspondence, a new white noise test based on a so-called minimum discrepancy measure (MDM) is proposed. The corresponding MDM testing rule is consistent in the sense that it will determine the correct statistics of the observed time series as the number of data samples tends to infinity. Simulation results are also given to illustrate the effectiveness of the testing algorithm.
IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 1992
... A Generalized Depth Estimation Algorithm with a Single Image Shang-Hong Lai, Chang-Wu Fu, Stu... more ... A Generalized Depth Estimation Algorithm with a Single Image Shang-Hong Lai, Chang-Wu Fu, Student Member, IEEE, and Shyang Chang, Member, IEEE 405 ... Vision, pp. 532-543, 1988. T. Darrell and K. Wohn, Pyramid based depth from focus, in IEEE Int. Conf Comput. ...
Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is one of the most frequent noncommunicable diseases with pain associat... more Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is one of the most frequent noncommunicable diseases with pain associated symptoms and affects the musculoskeletal system. Various forms of treatment can be indicated, and nonpharmacological treatment is also an available option for the management of KOA individuals. For instance, auriculotherapy (AT) is one possible procedure associated with the Traditional Chinese Medicine for dealing with KOA. It is believed that the concentration of certain biomarkers could be altered in individuals with KOA after AT. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of AT on plasma concentration of biomarkers in KOA individuals. This intervention is a controlled trial. Twenty-one subjects were grouped in two groups and submitted to AT with the stimulation of the Shen Men, kidney, and knee points in the treatment group or different points in the control group, once a week for 5 weeks. Blood was collected before the beginning of protocols and a week after the last session...
Recently, a temporal &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;coherent&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;a... more Recently, a temporal &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;coherent&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot; fractal structure and synchronization of rhythms were proposed as two essential indicators for efficient voiding during micturition in female rats. The former was correlated with the intensity and the latter the frequency of physiological signals embedded in random noise. Studies using both indices confirmed that synergic co-activations of bladder and external urethral sphincter (EUS) of female rats were present during the voiding of urine. Therefore, it would be interesting to investigate if these two criteria could be used in the performance evaluation of pharmacological effects on spinal cord-injured rats during micturition. In this paper, the primary goals were to (1) examine if the involved muscles in the lower urinary tract would be under similar synergic co-activations during the administration of capsaicin (CAP) and resiniferatoxin (RTX), and (2) characterize quantitatively the differences of their nervous responses simultaneously. A total of 62 micturition experiments were performed on sixteen spinal cord-injured adult female Sprague-Dawley rats, and then the electromyograms of EUS and cystometrograms of bladder were analyzed. Results based on the aforementioned criteria indicated that the synergy of bladder and EUS during micturition by using RTX was better than that of the CAP. Furthermore, the residue urine volumes for rats under the former treatment were smaller than those of the rats under the latter treatment. Consequently, we concluded that the administration of RTX was more effective than CAP in facilitating voiding in the spinal cord-injured rats.
The so-called "Needham's Grand Question" (NGQ) can be formulated as why modern science was develo... more The so-called "Needham's Grand Question" (NGQ) can be formulated as why modern science was developed in Europe despite the earlier successes of science and technology in ancient China. Numerous answers have been proposed. In this review, it will be pointed out that traditional Chinese natural philosophy (TCNP) and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) are in fact dealing with problems of highly complex dynamical systems of Nature and human beings. Due to the lack of mathematical machinery in dealing with such complex phenomena, a holistic approach was taken by ancient Chinese instead. It was very successful for the first eighteen centuries. In the recent three centuries, however, the reductionist and mechanistic viewpoints of Western natural philosophy, sciences, and medicine have been prevalent all over the world up to now. The main obstacle in preventing the advancement of TCM, TCNP and its sciences is actually the lacking of proper mathematical tools in dealing with complex dynamical systems. Fortunately, the tools are now available and a "chaotic wave theory of fractal continuum" has been proposed recently. To give the theory an operational meaning, three basic laws of TCNP are outlined. These three laws of wave/field interactions contrast readily with those of Newton's particle collisions. Via the proposed three laws, TCM, TCNP and its sciences can be unified under the same principles. Finally, an answer to NGQ can be accurately given. It is hoped that this review will help promoting a genuine understanding of natural philosophy, sciences, and medicine in an ecumenical way. Keywords chaotic wave theory of fractal continuum, mathematical principles of traditional Chinese natural philosophy, traditional Chinese medicine, Needham's Grand Question
The coordination of XO (XaC, N, O) to metal iron is important in biochemistry. In this paper, the... more The coordination of XO (XaC, N, O) to metal iron is important in biochemistry. In this paper, the properties of spin ground states for [Fe(H 2 O) 5 XO] 2C are studied via UB3LYP method. The spin ground states for [Fe(H 2 O) 5 CO] 2C , [Fe(H 2 O) 5 NO)] 2C , and Fe(H 2 O) 5 O 2 ] 2 are determined to be SZ2, 3/2, and 1, respectively. Both the Fe-CO bond in [Fe(H 2 O) 5 CO] 2C and Fe-NO bond in [Fe(H 2 O) 5 NO] 2C are linear. The Fe-O-O bond in [Fe(H 2 O) 5 O 2 ] 2C is bent. The order of the Fe-X distances is Fe-N!Fe-C!Fe-O, and that of net charge on XO ligands is O 2 !CO!NO. To determine the characteristics of the central Fe, the Fe I (H 2 O) 6 C , Fe II (H 2 O) 6 2C , and Fe III (H 2 O) 6 3C ions are employed as references. Results indicate that the [Fe(H 2 O) 5 CO] 2C (SZ2), [Fe(H 2 O) 5 NO] 2C (SZ3/2), and Fe(H 2 O) 5 O 2 ] 2C (SZ1) are best described by Fe II (SZ2) coupled to CO (SZ0), NO (SZ1/2), and O 2 (SZ1), respectively. The determined atomic net charges of Fe are robust even when the XO ligands undergo internal rotation. These results can be used as references models in understanding the bindings between XO and metal iron.
The aim of this study was to investigate if there were any effects on the electroencephalogram (E... more The aim of this study was to investigate if there were any effects on the electroencephalogram (EEG) of human brain by the manual stimulation of Neiguan (PC 6) acupuncture site. In this paper, two groups of six healthy male volunteers of ages 27.6 ± 14.2 (mean ± SD) and 28.5 ± 13.0 (mean ± SD) and no neurological disease participated in this study. A digital storage of 12-channel EEG recorder was used and spectral analyses of the data set of 18 trials were obtained before, during, and after sham/ manual acupuncture. To minimize artefacts, all data were collected with the subjects alert but eyes closed. No significant changes (P > 0.05) were obtained for the sham acupuncture group. As for the manual acupuncture group, the needle was inserted perpendicularly into the PC 6 acupuncture site and manually stimulated about 15 to 30 seconds to achieve De Qi sensation. Needles were left in place for 30 min and then removed. Analysis of the EEG data due to acupuncture was compared to the baseline data and changes were obtained. First, all trials had an increase in the amplitude and power of the alpha band during manual acupuncture (P < 0.05) when compared with the baseline data. Secondly, in the mean time, the frequency peaks in alpha band of 12-channels were all synchronized with much smaller standard deviation (P < 0.01). Thirdly, the manual acupuncture effects of higher power and synchronized frequencies persisted for at least 10 minutes after the experiment (P < 0.05) and did not disappear immediately for all 18 experiments. Finally, we hypothesized that the higher power and synchronized rhythms in brain oscillations may have to do with autonomic nervous system.
The fractal dimension (FD) and spectral frequencies of physiological signals are two important in... more The fractal dimension (FD) and spectral frequencies of physiological signals are two important indices in the study of physiological functions and dynamical diseases. The first index can be used to characterize the intensity and the second the rhythms of signals embedded in seemingly random data. Recent studies using both indices verified that synergic co-activations of bladder and external urethral sphincter (EUS) of Wistar rats were present during the voiding of urine. In this study, the primary aims were to (1) examine if the involved muscles in the lower urinary tract would be under similar coactivations during the urine storage phase, and (2) characterize quantitatively the sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve activities simultaneously. Eighteen experiments were performed on six intact adult female Wistar rats and then the electromyogram of EUS and cystometrogram of bladder were analyzed. Results indicated that the EUS did not contain any significant spectral frequencies in the storage phase. Furthermore, its FDs (1.5918 +/- 0.0157) indicated that no appreciable amount of signal intensities was observed in the EUS. On the other hand, the bladder exhibited parasympathetic frequency of 8 Hz with signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) = 19.9001 decibel (dB) for group mean, and sympathetic frequency of 19 Hz with SNR = 22.8330 dB for group mean. In addition, its FDs (1.4796 +/- 0.0092) indicated relatively persistent intensities during storage, as compared to that of EUS (1.5918 +/- 0.0157) with statistical significance (P &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; 0.01). We concluded that the EUS was not activated during the phase of storage. The bladder was under the cooperative, not antagonistic, sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve activities with discernible rhythmic frequencies and persistent intensities.
Physiological rhythms are ubiquitous and essential to our life. They usually interact with one an... more Physiological rhythms are ubiquitous and essential to our life. They usually interact with one another and also with the outside environment. Disappearance of normal rhythms and emergence of abnormal rhythms are called dynamical diseases. In this article, we will first review the current knowledge on the genesis of physiological rhythms. Then, models of rhythmic interactions among themselves and with external stimuli will be reviewed. Particular emphasis will be placed on the methods that can diagnose abnormal rhythms. Finally, treatment of dynamical diseases will be discussed. It turns out that the models of fractional Brownian motion and fractional Gaussian noise based on dynamical systems have the potential to become biomarkers in differentiating and evaluating normal from abnormal physiological rhythms in dynamical diseases. Meanwhile, in order to explain how acupuncture works, a feasible model of meridians based on communication networks is also included.
Taiwanese journal of obstetrics & gynecology, 2012
In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), acupuncture has been used to heal various diseases and phy... more In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), acupuncture has been used to heal various diseases and physiologic malfunctions in clinical practice for more than 2500 years. Due to its efficacy, acupuncture has been recommended by the World Health Organization in 1980 as an effective alternative therapy for 43 different disorders. Over the past few decades, various theories of the meridian system and mechanisms have been proposed to explain how acupuncture might work. Most of these mechanisms, however, cannot yet explain conclusively why acupuncture is efficacious in treating so many different diseases. A plausible mechanism has been unavailable until recently. This is the first of a three-part series that aims to provide a comparative review of the aforementioned topics. Part 1 reviews the current indications for acupuncture, basic concepts of TCM, and the essence of the meridian system. To establish a mathematically rigorous framework of TCM, the chaotic wave theory of fractal continuum i...
In reflex and volitional actions, co-activations of agonist and antagonist muscles are believed t... more In reflex and volitional actions, co-activations of agonist and antagonist muscles are believed to be present. Recent studies indicate that such co-activations can be either synergic or dyssynergic. The aim of this paper is to investigate if the co-activations of biceps brachii, brachialis, and triceps brachii during volitional elbow flexion are in the synergic or dyssynergic state. In this study, two groups with each containing six healthy male volunteers participated. Each person of the first group performed 30 trials of volitional elbow flexion while each of the second group performed 30 trials of passive elbow flexion as control experiments. Based on the model of fractional Brownian motion, the intensity and frequency information of the surface electromyograms (EMGs) could be extracted simultaneously. No statistically significant changes were found in the control group. As to the other group, results indicated that the surface EMGs of all five muscle groups were temporally synch...
The aims of this study were to investigate (i) if and when the blood pressure would rise or fall ... more The aims of this study were to investigate (i) if and when the blood pressure would rise or fall and (ii) the associated changes of human heart rate variability (HRV) by manual stimulation of the Neiguan (PC 6) acupuncture site. In this paper, two groups of six healthy male volunteers with ranges of ages 20-56 and 20-55 and with no neurological diseases participated in this study. In order to minimize artefacts, the electrocardiogram (ECG) and radial arterial pulse pressure wave were collected with the subjects alert but eyes closed before, during, and after sham/manual acupuncture. No statistically significant changes (P > 0.05) were found in the sham acupuncture group. As for the manual acupuncture group, the needle was inserted into the PC 6 acupoint and manually stimulated about 15 to 30 seconds to achieve De Qi sensation. Needles were left in place for 30 min and then removed. Analysis of the data due to acupuncture was then compared with the baseline values. Results indicat...
Journal of the Chinese Institute of Engineers, 1988
Abstract A new variable structure control algorithm is developed for a certain class of nonlinear... more Abstract A new variable structure control algorithm is developed for a certain class of nonlinear systems. We have shown that the serious problem of chattering about the switching surfaces of variable structure systems can be alleviated by this algorithm. To illustrate its design procedures, simulation of a two‐link nonlinear robotic manipulator is considered. The simulation results indicate that benefit is not obtained at the expense of time required to reach steady‐state.
On the basis of the density-functional theory, the properties of the reaction product [Fe(H 2 O) ... more On the basis of the density-functional theory, the properties of the reaction product [Fe(H 2 O) 5 (NO)] 2+ of the classical "brown-ring" reaction are studied via the B3LYP hybrid method. Here we have found that the Fe-NO bond in the optimized structure of [Fe(H 2 O) 5 (NO)] 2+ is linear. In addition, the vibrational frequency, atomic net charges, and spin density are analyzed and then the solvent effects are incorporated via the polarized continuum model self-consistent reaction field. Furthermore, the excitation energies are evaluated using the CIS method. Results when compared with experimental data indicate that the spin-quartet ground state of [Fe(H 2 O) 5 (NO)] 2+ is best described by the presence of Fe II (S) 2) antiferromagnetically coupled to NO (S) 1 / 2), yielding [Fe II (H 2 O) 5 (NO)] 2+. This is clearly different from either [Fe III (H 2 O) 5 (NO-)] 2+ or conventional textbook [Fe I (H 2 O) 5 (NO +)] 2+ assignment.
In order to locate the moving target efficiently, a Hadamard transform locator is proposed. The a... more In order to locate the moving target efficiently, a Hadamard transform locator is proposed. The accuracy of the target location is usually influenced by noise, hence an effective morphological noise filter is invoked to remove it. Moreover, the recursive least square adaptive predictor (RLSAP) is adopted to predict robustly the future location of the target. After successful integration of the aforementioned subsystems, the moving target is always kept in the center of the observing window. Experimental results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of this proposed system.
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the discrete-time fractional Gaussian noise (DFG... more The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the discrete-time fractional Gaussian noise (DFGN) is a regular process. Based on this property, a fast algorithm with low computational cost is proposed to estimate the Hurst parameter , which is an important parameter in fractional Brownian motion (FBM). This algorithm is robust under amplitude shift, invariant to time shift, and unaffected by a scaling factor in power spectral density (PSD). Finally, the computational complexity is also investigated. Index Terms-Discrete-time fractional Brownian motion, discrete-time fractional Gaussian noise, fractional Brownian motion, fractional Gaussian noise, Hurst parameter, regular process.
In this correspondence, a new white noise test based on a so-called minimum discrepancy measure (... more In this correspondence, a new white noise test based on a so-called minimum discrepancy measure (MDM) is proposed. The corresponding MDM testing rule is consistent in the sense that it will determine the correct statistics of the observed time series as the number of data samples tends to infinity. Simulation results are also given to illustrate the effectiveness of the testing algorithm.
IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 1992
... A Generalized Depth Estimation Algorithm with a Single Image Shang-Hong Lai, Chang-Wu Fu, Stu... more ... A Generalized Depth Estimation Algorithm with a Single Image Shang-Hong Lai, Chang-Wu Fu, Student Member, IEEE, and Shyang Chang, Member, IEEE 405 ... Vision, pp. 532-543, 1988. T. Darrell and K. Wohn, Pyramid based depth from focus, in IEEE Int. Conf Comput. ...
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