5,853 research outputs found

    Undergraduate Catalog of Studies, 2023-2024

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    Muscle-controlled physics simulations of the emu (a large running bird) resolve grounded running paradox

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    AbstractHumans and birds utilize very different running styles. Unlike humans, birds adopt ā€œgrounded runningā€ at intermediate speeds ā€“ a running gait where at least one foot is always in contact with the ground. Avian grounded running is paradoxical: animals tend to minimize locomotor energy expenditure, but birds prefer grounded running despite incurring higher energy costs. Using predictive gait simulations of the emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae), we resolve this paradox by demonstrating that grounded running represents an energetic optimum for birds. Our virtual experiments decoupled biomechanically relevant anatomical features that cannot be isolated in a real bird. The avian body plan prevents (near) vertical leg postures while running, making the running style used by humans impossible. Under this anatomical constraint, grounded running is optimal if the muscles produce the highest forces in crouched postures, as is true in most birds. Anatomical similarities between birds and non-avian dinosaurs suggest that, as a behavior, avian grounded running first evolved within non-avian theropods.</jats:p

    Design and Evaluation of a Smooth-Locking-Based Customizable Prosthetic Knee Joint

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    Limb loss affects many people from a variety of backgrounds around the world. The most advanced commercially available prostheses for transfemoral amputees are fully active (powered) designs but remain very expensive and unavailable in the developing world. Consequently, improvements of low-cost, passive prostheses have been made to provide high-quality rehabilitation to amputees of any background. This study explores the design and evaluation of a smooth-locking-based bionic knee joint to replicate the swing phase of the human gait cycle. The two-part design was based on the condyle geometry of the interface between the femur and tibia obtained from magnetic resonance (MR) images of the human subject, while springs were used to replace the anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments. A flexible four-bar linkage mechanism was successfully achieved to provide not only rotation along a variable instantaneous axis but also slight translation in the sagittal plane, similar to the anatomical knee. We systematically evaluated the effects of different spring configurations in terms of stiffness, position, and relaxion length on knee flexion angles during walking. A good replication of the swing phase was achieved by relatively high stiffness and increased relaxation length of springs. The stance phase of the gait cycle was improved compared to some models but remained relatively flat, where further verification should be conducted. In addition, 3D printing technique provides a convenient design and manufacturing process, making the prosthesis customizable for different individuals based on subject-specific modeling of the amputeeā€™s knee

    Southern Adventist University Undergraduate Catalog 2023-2024

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    Southern Adventist University\u27s undergraduate catalog for the academic year 2023-2024.https://knowledge.e.southern.edu/undergrad_catalog/1123/thumbnail.jp

    Evaluation of Data Processing and Artifact Removal Approaches Used for Physiological Signals Captured Using Wearable Sensing Devices during Construction Tasks

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    Wearable sensing devices (WSDs) have enormous promise for monitoring construction worker safety. They can track workers and send safety-related information in real time, allowing for more effective and preventative decision making. WSDs are particularly useful on construction sites since they can track workersā€™ health, safety, and activity levels, among other metrics that could help optimize their daily tasks. WSDs may also assist workers in recognizing health-related safety risks (such as physical fatigue) and taking appropriate action to mitigate them. The data produced by these WSDs, however, is highly noisy and contaminated with artifacts that could have been introduced by the surroundings, the experimental apparatus, or the subjectā€™s physiological state. These artifacts are very strong and frequently found during field experiments. So, when there is a lot of artifacts, the signal quality drops. Recently, artifacts removal has been greatly enhanced by developments in signal processing, which has vastly enhanced the performance. Thus, the proposed review aimed to provide an in-depth analysis of the approaches currently used to analyze data and remove artifacts from physiological signals obtained via WSDs during construction-related tasks. First, this study provides an overview of the physiological signals that are likely to be recorded from construction workers to monitor their health and safety. Second, this review identifies the most prevalent artifacts that have the most detrimental effect on the utility of the signals. Third, a comprehensive review of existing artifact-removal approaches were presented. Fourth, each identified artifact detection and removal approach was analyzed for its strengths and weaknesses. Finally, in conclusion, this review provides a few suggestions for future research for improving the quality of captured physiological signals for monitoring the health and safety of construction workers using artifact removal approaches

    What is Task-Oriented Training? A Scoping Review

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    Task-Oriented Training (TOT) is an proven stroke rehabilitation intervention with significant evidence-based research that supports its effectiveness. The absence of a clear definition has led to variability in research reporting and subsequent confusion with practical implementation. A consistent definition seeks to remedy this ambiguity to facilitate knowledge translation. The objective of this study was to determine a comprehensive definition of TOT that encapsulates previous definitions and descriptions in the literature. In order to derive this definition, a two stage scoping review process was conducted across four databases searching for articles on the use of TOT in adult stroke rehabilitation therapy. The analysis of this scoping review included 174 articles. Commonly found words used to define TOT included: repetitive, functional, task practice, task specific, task oriented, intensity, and client-centered. Other salient words that aligned with the principles of neuroplasticity and key components of TOT were meaningful, progressive, graded, variable, and feedback. Based on these findings, a comprehensive proposed definition is as follows: Task-oriented training is an effective stroke rehabilitation intervention that focuses on the use of client-centered, repetitive practice of activities that are of high intensity and meaningful to the client. In conclusion, although similar principles were described in the TOT literature, there was no consistent and comprehensive definition of TOT. This scoping review identified key concepts from TOT methodology, and discussion sections in rehabilitation literature to generate a proposed comprehensive definition of TOT to guide research and practice

    Australian Physical Activity Clinical Practice Guideline for people with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury: Technical Report

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    Background In 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) released updated physical activity and sedentary behaviour guidelines, which for the first-time included a guideline for people living with disability. The disability guideline is based on evidence from the general population and eight common health conditions causing disability, but did not include people with traumatic brain injury (TBI), nor did it consider the rehabilitation phase of recovery from injury. In 2019, the Australian federal government launched the Traumatic Brain Injury Mission. The Mission was tasked with providing $50 million over 10 years under the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) to support research. The goal of the Mission is to better predict recovery outcomes after a TBI, identify the most effective care and treatments, and reduce barriers to support people to live their best possible life after TBI. In 2021, our team was funded through the MRFF TBI Mission to develop an Australian Physical Activity Clinical Practice Guideline for people living with moderate to severe TBI (msTBI). The overarching project to guide the development of the guideline was called BRIDGES (BRain Injury: Developing GuidElineS for physical activities). Objective To develop an Australian clinical practice guideline to support the clinical decision-making of health professionals working with people with msTBI and increase uptake of safe and beneficial physical activity by people living with msTBI. Methods The overarching BRIDGES project was guided by the Exploration Preparation Implementation Sustainment (EPIS) framework. We used a Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) ADOLOPMENT approach to determine whether to ā€˜adaptā€™ or ā€˜adoptā€™ the WHO guideline or develop de novo recommendations. We established guideline leadership and development groups, conducted a rapid systematic review to identify direct evidence in TBI, and reviewed guidelines in other relevant health conditions (i.e., stroke, cerebral palsy) to identify indirect evidence. To further inform guideline development and implementation considerations, we conducted an audit of brain injury services in Australia and qualitative consultations with key stakeholders, including people with msTBI. Results Direct evidence for the prescription of physical activity for people with msTBI is limited. The clinical practice guideline developed incorporates 10 de novo evidence-based recommendations with additional good practice points and precautionary practice points to guide clinical decision-making. The physical activity recommended is aerobic exercise, strength training, mobility training, sport and physical recreation, and promotion of physical activity. The physical activity is recommended for children, adolescents, adults, and older adults across the continuum of rehabilitation. Conclusion While there remain evidence gaps that require further research, and further work on how the guideline can be implemented into clinical practice is needed, physical activity interventions tailored to the individualā€™s goals and needs should be standard clinical practice for health professionals working with people with msTBI in Australian rehabilitation, community, home, and school (for children and adolescents) settings

    Development of the Design and Control of a Hexapod Robot for Uneven Terrain

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    In the Indonesian Search and Rescue Robot Contest in 2021 and 2022, the robot still cannot work well when passing through uneven obstacles. The change in uneven terrain from the previous year was a difficulty for the robot in passing it. This research was conducted to develop mechanical design and movement control design for the robot, so that the robot can be more optimal when moving through uneven terrain. The design of the hexapod robot is done by reducing the dimensions of the existing robot and determining the Center of Gravity point. The movement of the robot is also designed by determining the angular position of the AX-18A servo with respect to the terrain the robot travels through. The movement algorithm applied to the robot is the tripod gait algorithm. The robot control on the debris field and irregular floor is done by applying a proximity sensor to minimise the robot from hitting the wall on the field. The robot also has an IMU sensor that will work in measuring the slope on the up-and-down floor terrain (slope), so that the movement of the robot can be adjusted when passing through the terrain with the slope read by the sensor. The results of the research conducted show that the robot can be redesigned through 3D design through solidworks by determining the Center of Gravity (CoG) point. The robot has been able to pass through 3 objects tested, namely debris terrain, irregular floor terrain, and up and down floor terrain. The success rate of the robot when passing through debris terrain and irregular floor terrain is 100% with an average time of 9.7 seconds and 10.1 seconds. The success rate of the robot when passing through the up-and-down floor terrain is 80% with an average time of 22.9 seconds

    Unleashing the Potential of Acquisition Functions in High-Dimensional Bayesian Optimization

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    Bayesian optimization (BO) is widely used to optimize expensive-to-evaluate black-box functions. It first builds a surrogate for the objective and quantifies its uncertainty. It then decides where to sample by maximizing an acquisition function (AF) defined by the surrogate model. However, when dealing with high-dimensional problems, finding the global maximum of the AF becomes increasingly challenging. In such cases, the manner in which the AF maximizer is initialized plays a pivotal role. An inappropriate initialization can severely limit the potential of AF. This paper investigates a largely understudied problem concerning the impact of AF maximizer initialization on exploiting AFs' capability. Our large-scale empirical study shows that the widely used random initialization strategy may fail to harness the potential of an AF. Based on this observation, we propose a better initialization approach by employing multiple heuristic optimizers to leverage the historical data of black-box optimization to generate initial points for an AF maximizer. We evaluate our approach with a variety of heavily studied synthetic test functions and real-world applications. Experimental results show that our techniques, while simple, can significantly enhance the standard BO and outperform state-of-the-art methods by a large margin in most test cases

    Running to Your Own Beat:An Embodied Approach to Auditory Display Design

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    Personal fitness trackers represent a multi-billion-dollar industry, predicated on devices for assisting users in achieving their health goals. However, most current products only offer activity tracking and measurement of performance metrics, which do not ultimately address the need for technique related assistive feedback in a cost-effective way. Addressing this gap in the design space for assistive run training interfaces is also crucial in combating the negative effects of Forward Head Position, a condition resulting from mobile device use, with a rapid growth of incidence in the population. As such, Auditory Displays (AD) offer an innovative set of tools for creating such a device for runners. ADs present the opportunity to design interfaces which allow natural unencumbered motion, detached from the mobile or smartwatch screen, thus making them ideal for providing real-time assistive feedback for correcting head posture during running. However, issues with AD design have centred around overall usability and user-experience, therefore, in this thesis an ecological and embodied approach to AD design is presented as a vehicle for designing an assistive auditory interface for runners, which integrates seamlessly into their everyday environments
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