Quality control in resting-state fMRI: the benefits of visual inspection

Background: A variety of quality control (QC) approaches are employed in resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) to determine data quality and ultimately inclusion or exclusion of a fMRI data set in group analysis. Reliability of rs-fMRI data can be improved by censoring or “scrubbing” volumes affected by motion. While censoring preserves the integrity of participant-level data, including excessively censored data sets in group analyses may add noise. Quantitative motion-related metrics are frequently reported in the literature; however, qualitative visual inspection can sometimes catch errors or other issues that may be missed by quantitative metrics alone. In this paper, we describe our methods for performing QC of rs-fMRI data using software-generated quantitative and qualitative output and trained visual inspection. Results: The data provided for this QC paper had relatively low motion-censoring, thus quantitative QC resulted in no exclusions. Qualitative checks of the data resulted in limited exclusions due to potential incidental findings and failed pre-processing scripts. Conclusion: Visual inspection in addition to the review of quantitative QC metrics is an important component to ensure high quality and accuracy in rs-fMRI data analysis

Going ballistic in the plankton: anisotropic swimming behavior of marine protists

Diel vertical migrations (DVMs) of many plankton species, including single-celled protists, are well documented in the field and form a core component of many large-scale numerical models of plankton transport and ecology. However, the sparse quantitative data available describing motility behaviors of individual protists have frequently indicated that motility exhibits only short-term correlation on the order of a few seconds or hundreds of micrometers, resembling diffusive transport at larger scales—a result incompatible with DVM, which requires ballistic (straight-line) motion. We interrogated an extensive set of three-dimensional protistan movement trajectories in an effort to identify spatial and temporal correlation scales. Whereas the horizontal components of movement were diffusive, the vertical component remained highly correlated (i.e., nonrandom) for nearly all species for the duration of observation (up to 120 s and 6.1 mm) and in the absence of any environmental cues besides gravity. These persistent motility patterns may have been obscured in some previous studies due to the use of restrictive containers, dimensionally lumped, isotropic analyses, and/or an observation bias, inherent to observing free-swimming organisms with stationary cameras, which we accounted for in this study. Extrapolated over a 12-h period, conservative estimates of vertical travel ranges for the protists observed here would be 3–10 m, while diffusive horizontal motion would result in about 10 cm of travel at most. Hence, these extended observations of phylogenetically diverse swimming protists, coupled with a quantitative analysis that accounts for anisotropy in the data, illustrate the small-scale mechanistic underpinnings of DVM

Benford's distribution in extrasolar world: Do the exoplanets follow Benford's distribution?

In many real life situations, it is observed that the first digits (i.e., $1,2,\ldots,9$) of a numerical data-set, which is expressed using decimal system, do not follow a random distribution. Instead, smaller numbers are favoured by nature in accordance with a logarithmic distribution law, which is referred to as Benford's law. The existence and applicability of this empirical law have been extensively studied by physicists, accountants, computer scientists, mathematicians, statisticians, etc., and it has been observed that a large number of data-sets related to diverse problems follow this distribution. However, applicability of Benford's law has been hardly tested for extrasolar objects. Motivated by this fact, this paper investigates the existence of Benford's distribution in the extrasolar world using Kepler data for exoplanets. The investigation has revealed the presence of Benford's distribution in various physical properties of these exoplanets. Further, Benford goodness parameters are computed to provide a quantitative measure of coincidence of real data with the ideal values obtained from Benford's distribution. The quantitative analysis and the plots have revealed that several physical parameters associated with the exoplanets (e.g., mass, volume, density, orbital semi-major axis, orbital period, and radial velocity) nicely follow Benford's distribution, whereas some physical parameters (e.g., total proper motion, stellar age and stellar distance) moderately follow the distribution, and some others (e.g., longitude, radius, and effective temperature) do not follow Benford's distribution. Further, some specific comments have been made on the possible generalizations of the obtained result, its potential applications in analyzing data-set of candidate exoplanets, and how interested readers can perform similar investigations on other interesting data-sets.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures and one potrai

The Effect on Gifted Students’ 21st-Century Skills of Supporting Science Teaching with LEGO® Education® BricQ Motion Essential and Student Opinions on this Instruction

In many countries, individuals have started to gain 21st-century skills from an early age. In Turkey, the education of gifted students is supported with activities enriched in parallel with these skills in science and art centres. The LEGO® Education® BricQ Motion Essential Set reinforces achievements with hands-on activities in science subjects, while also improving 21st-century skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration. At this point, this study aims to examine the effect of the LEGO® Education® BricQ Motion Essential Set on the 21st-century skills of gifted students in the teaching of the ‘Force and Motion’ unit and to determine the students’ views on the teaching process. The study was carried out in a science and art centre in Konya in the spring term of the 2021–2022 academic year. The sample of the study consisted of 21 gifted students studying in Support-2 programmes (4th grade). An explanatory sequential design was preferred in the study. In the quantitative data collection phase of the study, a one-group pre-test/post-test experimental design was used. Interviews were used for the qualitative data collection phase. The quantitative data of the research were analysed with the SPSS 26 statistical package program. Qualitative data were categorised according to themes and codes in accordance with content analysis. The results of the research showed that the LEGO® Education® BricQ Motion Essential Set was effective for 21st-century learning and the renewal of the skills of the gifted students participating in the research and that the students developed positive opinions about this education set. It is recommended to use LEGO® training sets to develop the 21st-century skills of gifted students

Range of Motion Evaluation of a Final Frontier Design IVA Spacesuit using Motion Capture

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Spacesuit Utilization of Innovative Technology Laboratory (S.U.I.T. Lab) is focused on improving human performance in spaceflight by concentrating on spacesuit research for intravehicular activities (IVA) and extravehicular activities (EVA). The S.U.I.T. Lab worked with Final Frontier Design (FFD) to provide a quantitative analysis protocol for seated arm mobility of their NASA Flight Opportunities Program (FOP) IVA spacesuit. The lab used reflective tracking markers on three test subjects and recorded a set of arm motions using OptiTrack’s infrared motion capture system. All motions were recorded in three spacesuit conditions including: unsuited; suited unpressurized; and suited pressurized (2.5 psid). Programs were developed in MATLAB to analyze and plot angular metrics as well as three-dimensional reach envelopes. These programs allow the spacesuit manufacturer to visualize the mobility of their spacesuit design and associate qualitative mobility characteristics with quantitative results in the form of angular and volumetric data. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Spacesuit Utilization of Innovative Technology Laboratory (S.U.I.T. Lab) is focused on improving human performance in spaceflight by concentrating on spacesuit research for intravehicular activities (IVA) and extravehicular activities (EVA). The design and execution of range of motion (ROM) protocols in an experimental setting will provide insight on the functions and restrictions of spacesuits, aiding in current and future designs or modification. The S.U.I.T. Lab worked with Final Frontier Design (FFD) to provide a quantitative analysis protocol for seated arm mobility of their NASA Flight Opportunities Program (FOP) IVA spacesuit. The lab used reflective tracking markers on three test subjects and recorded a set of arm ROMs using OptiTrack’s infrared motion capture system including: shoulder abduction/adduction; vertical and horizontal shoulder flexion/extension; and vertical and horizontal full-arm carveouts. All motions were recorded in three spacesuit conditions including: unsuited; suited unpressurized; and suited pressurized (2.5psid). Motion capture data was edited and filtered for mobility analysis calculations. Programs were developed in MATLAB to analyze and plot angular metrics as well asthree-dimensionalreach envelopes. These programs allow the spacesuit manufacturer to visualize the mobility of their spacesuit design and associate qualitative mobility characteristics with quantitative results in the form of angular and volumetric data.The percentages of mobility retained between all spacesuit conditionsreveal a quantifiable reduction in mobilitygoing from unsuited to suited unpressurized to suited pressurized.Based off the performance of this investigation, FFD gathered preliminary data regarding the mobility of their NASA FOP spacesuit. Improvements to the equipment and protocol used by the lab for motion capture and analysis have been implemented since this study. Expanding from four to nine motion capture cameras, the lab has been able to capture spacesuit mobility data with far greater accuracy and completeness.Updated prescribed motion protocols instruct subjects to maintain straight arms reaching as far as comfortable and across their body in some cases, which is done to characterize shoulder mobility and is not reflective of the spacesuit’s maximum mobility

A benchmark comparison between reconfigurable, intelligent and autonomous wireless inertial measurement and photonic technologies in rehabilitation

Advanced sensory systems address a number of major obstacles towards the provision for cost effective and proactive rehabilitation. Many of these systems employ technologies such as high-speed video or motion capture to generate quantitative measurements. However these solutions are accompanied by some major limitations including extensive set-up and calibration, restriction to indoor use, high cost and time consuming data analysis. Additionally many do not quantify improvement in a rigorous manner for example gait analysis for 5 minutes as opposed to 24 hour ambulatory monitoring. This work addresses these limitations using low cost, wearable wireless inertial measurement as a mobile and minimal infrastructure alternative. In cooperation with healthcare professionals the goal is to design and implement a reconfigurable and intelligent movement capture system. A key component of this work is an extensive benchmark comparison with the 'gold standard' VICON motion capture system

Range of Motion Evaluation of a Final Frontier Design IVA Spacesuit using Motion Capture

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Spacesuit Utilization of Innovative Technology Laboratory (S.U.I.T. Lab) is focused on improving human performance in spaceflight by concentrating on spacesuit research for intravehicular activities (IVA) and extravehicular activities (EVA). The design and execution of range of motion (ROM) protocols in an experimental setting will provide insight on the functions and restrictions of spacesuits, aiding in current and future designs or modification. The S.U.I.T. Lab worked with Final Frontier Design (FFD) to provide a quantitative analysis protocol for seated arm mobility of their NASA Flight Opportunities Program (FOP) IVA spacesuit. The lab used reflective tracking markers on three test subjects and recorded a set of arm ROMs using OptiTrack’s infrared motion capture system including: shoulder abduction/adduction; vertical and horizontal shoulder flexion/extension; and vertical and horizontal full-arm carveouts. All motions were recorded in three spacesuit conditions including: unsuited; suited unpressurized; and suited pressurized (2.5 psid). Motion capture data was edited and filtered for mobility analysis calculations. Programs were developed in MATLAB to analyze and plot angular metrics as well as three-dimensional reach envelopes. These programs allow the spacesuit manufacturer to visualize the mobility of their spacesuit design and associate qualitative mobility characteristics with quantitative results in the form of angular and volumetric data. The percentages of mobility retained between all spacesuit conditions reveal a quantifiable reduction in mobility going from unsuited to suited unpressurized to suited pressurized. Based off the performance of this investigation, FFD gathered preliminary data regarding the mobility of their NASA FOP spacesuit. Improvements to the equipment and protocol used by the lab for motion capture and analysis have been implemented since this study. Expanding from four to nine motion capture cameras, the lab has been able to capture spacesuit mobility data with far greater accuracy and completeness. Updated prescribed motion protocols instruct subjects to maintain straight arms reaching as far as comfortable and across their body in some cases, which is done to characterize shoulder mobility and is not reflective of the spacesuit’s maximum mobility

Helicopter roll control effectiveness criteria program summary

A study of helicopter roll control effectiveness is summarized for the purpose of defining military helicopter handling qualities requirements. The study is based on an analysis of pilot-in-the-loop task performance of several basic maneuvers. This is extended by a series of piloted simulations using the NASA Ames Vertical Motion Simulator and selected flight data. The main results cover roll control power and short-term response characteristics. In general the handling qualities requirements recommended are set in conjunction with desired levels of flight task and maneuver response which can be directly observed in actual flight. An important aspect of this, however, is that vehicle handling qualities need to be set with regard to some quantitative aspect of mission performance. Specific examples of how this can be accomplished include a lateral unmask/remask maneuver in the presence of a threat and an air tracking maneuver which recognizes the kill probability enhancement connected with decreasing the range to the target. Conclusions and recommendations address not only the handling qualities recommendations, but also the general use of flight simulators and the dependence of mission performance on handling qualities