Motor skill acquisition in children with poor motor coordination

Physical Activity is essential for growth, development and wellbeing. Children with poor motor coordination are known to have lower levels of participation in physical activity and exercise in comparison to their typically developing peers, at least partly due to the difficulty in acquiring the motor skills they need for participation. Reduced participation in physical activity in childhood increases the risk of developing obesity, cardiovascular disease and psychosocial problems which persist throughout adolescence and adulthood. Poor motor coordination in these children has been largely attributed to their difficulty in acquiring and performing motor skills. However, motor skill acquisition is not yet well understood in this group, in particular whether these children are able to improve the quality of their movement and the pattern of motor skill acquisition. The following thesis aims to investigate the motor skill acquisition in a group of children with motor coordination difficulties and is comprised of two main studies. The first one aims at creating a simple and easy tool for screening coordination in large cohorts of children in mainstream schools in order to identify children with poor motor coordination. The second study is a pilot/feasibility study aimed at informing the implementation of a fully powered follow-up motor learning intervention trial. It involved detection of a sample of children with poor motor coordination using the designed screening tool in 3 mainstream schools and recruiting them into a physical training intervention with an embedded practice of a novel rhythmic stepping task. The characteristics of their performance throughout the training program were investigated by instrumenting the stepping ask and comparing the performance with a group of children with normal motor coordination. Applying a reduction analysis on a large set of motor screening data (which included test items from The Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency-Short Form (BOT-SF) as well as Fundamental Movement Skill), we successfully designed a test which has face validity for detection of children with poor coordination. Using this test, we screened a total of 571 students (273 females and 298 males) from 3 main stream schools in Oxfordshire and invited students who scored below the 25th percentile on our screening test (117; 53 girls and 64 boys) to an 11 week training intervention. Thirty-three students attended the intervention (21 girls and 12 boys) with a great difference in recruitment and retention rates between the schools. The learning of the novel motor skill was measured by analysis of the participants’ performance on a novel stepping task, in which they stepped rhythmically in accordance to a sequence of visual stimuli presented on a computer screen. The performance (movement time), measured using accelerometry, was significantly worse in children with coordination problems (p<.001) mean±SD= 1.193±.036. Importantly, children with poor motor coordination were able to improve their performance on the task with no significant differences between the groups. However, we observed a tendency for difference in the pattern of improvement over time (p=.06). Given the nature of the conducted studies, i.e. as feasibility studies, our findings don’t allow of a straightforward generalisation. Still, they entail important implications in clinical and school-based training interventions, directed towards children with poor motor coordination, and it is recommended that a follow-up trial take place which takes into account the suggestions mentioned in this thesis with regards to the involvement of schools, importance of applying successful recruitment strategy and the requirements of successful intervention

Smartphone Based Personalized Balance Training Platform

ME450 Capstone Design and Manufacturing Experience: Winter 2021Older adults are at high risk of falls, mainly due to the loss of balance control. It is important for them to regain balance control through balance training exercises for quality living. These exercises are conventionally done in a clinic-based setting under the supervision of a physical therapist (PT). However, this method comes with limitations such as cost, insurance reimbursement policies, and travel. Thus, there is a need for a portable balance training platform that can be used by older adults at home. Our team is developing a platform as such that can not only provide balance training to our users but can also measure kinematic data from multiple body parts and capture self-performance ratings after exercises are performed - these data are uploaded to a secure cloud account. The platform can also support a machine learning framework that generates a list of recommended exercises and simulated PT ratings for the users based on their performance during the balance training exercise sessions.Jamie Ferris, Safa Jabri, Christopher DiCesare, Xun Huan: Sienko Research Grouphttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/167652/1/Team_8-Smartphone_Based_Personalized_Balance_Training_Platform.pd

人間を模擬した知覚系を持つ2足ヒューマノイドロボットの自己位置推定機能に対する歩行動作の影響に関する研究

早大学位記番号:新8279早稲田大

Systems modelling and ethical decision algorithms for autonomous vehicle collisions

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Wolverhampton for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.There has been an increasing interest in autonomous vehicles (AVs) in recent years. Through the use of advanced safety systems (ASS), it is expected that driverless AVs will result in a reduced number of road traffic accidents (RTAs) and fatalities on the roads. However, until the technology matures, collisions involving AVs will inevitably take place. Herein lies the hub of the problem: if AVs are to be programmed to deal with a collision scenario, which set of ethically acceptable rules should be applied? The two main philosophical doctrines are the utilitarian and deontological approaches of Bentham and Kant, with the two competing societal actions being altruistic and selfish as defined by Hamilton. It is shown in simulation, that the utilitarian approach is likely to be the most favourable candidate to succeed as a serious contender for developments in the programming and decision making for control of AV technologies in the future. At the heart of the proposed approach is the development of an ethical decision-maker (EDM), with this forming part of a model-to-decision (M2D) approach. Lumped parameter models (LPMs) are developed that capture the key features of AV collisions into an immovable rigid wall (IRW) or another AV, i.e. peak deformation and peak acceleration. The peak acceleration of the AV is then related to the accelerations experienced by the occupant(s) on-board the AV, e.g. peak head acceleration. Such information allows the M2D approach to decide on the collision target depending on the selected algorithm, e.g. utilitarian or altruistic. Alongside the EDM is an active collision system (ACS) which is able to change the AV structural stiffness properties. The ACS is able to compensate for situations when AVs are predicted to experience potentially severe and fatal injury severity levels

Kinematics and Robot Design IV, KaRD2021

This volume collects the papers published on the special issue “Kinematics and Robot Design IV, KaRD2021” (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/robotics/special_issues/KaRD2021), which is the forth edition of the KaRD special-issue series, hosted by the open-access journal “MDPI Robotics”. KaRD series is an open environment where researchers can present their works and discuss all the topics focused on the many aspects that involve kinematics in the design of robotic/automatic systems. Kinematics is so intimately related to the design of robotic/automatic systems that the admitted topics of the KaRD series practically cover all the subjects normally present in well-established international conferences on “mechanisms and robotics”. KaRD2021, after the peer-review process, accepted 12 papers. The accepted papers cover some theoretical and many design/applicative aspects

The Goldstone solar system radar: A science instrument for planetary research

The Goldstone Solar System Radar (GSSR) station at NASA's Deep Space Communications Complex in California's Mojave Desert is described. A short chronological account of the GSSR's technical development and scientific discoveries is given. This is followed by a basic discussion of how information is derived from the radar echo and how the raw information can be used to increase understanding of the solar system. A moderately detailed description of the radar system is given, and the engineering performance of the radar is discussed. The operating characteristics of the Arcibo Observatory in Puerto Rico are briefly described and compared with those of the GSSR. Planned and in-process improvements to the existing radar, as well as the performance of a hypothetical 128-m diameter antenna radar station, are described. A comprehensive bibliography of referred scientific and engineering articles presenting results that depended on data gathered by the instrument is provided

Exploring the relationship between white and grey matter damage in primary progressive multiple sclerosis with structural magnetic resonance imaging

In the first part of this thesis, an introduction of the main characteristics of the primary-progressive form of multiple sclerosis (PPMS) (Chapter I), and of the acquisition and post-processing of the conventional and quantitative magnetic resonance imaging techniques employed in the studies presented in this thesis (Chapter II), will be presented. In the second part of this thesis, several advanced imaging techniques will be employed to answer the following two key questions on PPMS: 1) Is there is a spatial and temporal link between the pathological processes occurring in the normal appearing white matter (WM) and in the grey matter (GM) of patients with PPMS?; 2) Which regions of WM and GM abnormalities significantly contribute to clinical progression and cognitive dysfunction over time in patients with PPMS? To answer the first question, I first used tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) and voxel-based morphometry (VBM), to explore the spatial relationship between the damage occurring in the normal-appearing WM and GM in patients with early PPMS (Chapter III). Then, I moved onto exploring the temporal relationship linking the pathological changes affecting the two compartments, employing magnetization transfer imaging (MTI) and diffusion-based tractography (Chapter IV). To answer the second question, I first looked at the prognostic role of WM lesion location in a study conducted on a large population of patients with well- established PPMS who were followed-up for ten years in five different European centres (Chapter V). Then, using a novel approach which combines MTI and TBSS, I explored the regions of short-term accrual of microstructural damage in patients with early PPMS (Chapter VI). Finally, I moved onto examining the relative contribution of WM and GM damage to long-term motor and cognitive disability in PPMS (Chapter VII). In the final Chapter, I will summarise the results of the studies presented in this thesis, provide an answer to the two key questions on PPMS, and propose future directions for research

Study protocol: Insight 46 - a neuroscience sub-study of the MRC National Survey of Health and Development

BACKGROUND: Increasing age is the biggest risk factor for dementia, of which Alzheimer's disease is the commonest cause. The pathological changes underpinning Alzheimer's disease are thought to develop at least a decade prior to the onset of symptoms. Molecular positron emission tomography and multi-modal magnetic resonance imaging allow key pathological processes underpinning cognitive impairment - including β-amyloid depostion, vascular disease, network breakdown and atrophy - to be assessed repeatedly and non-invasively. This enables potential determinants of dementia to be delineated earlier, and therefore opens a pre-symptomatic window where intervention may prevent the onset of cognitive symptoms. METHODS/DESIGN: This paper outlines the clinical, cognitive and imaging protocol of "Insight 46", a neuroscience sub-study of the MRC National Survey of Health and Development. This is one of the oldest British birth cohort studies and has followed 5362 individuals since their birth in England, Scotland and Wales during one week in March 1946. These individuals have been tracked in 24 waves of data collection incorporating a wide range of health and functional measures, including repeat measures of cognitive function. Now aged 71 years, a small fraction have overt dementia, but estimates suggest that ~1/3 of individuals in this age group may be in the preclinical stages of Alzheimer's disease. Insight 46 is recruiting 500 study members selected at random from those who attended a clinical visit at 60-64 years and on whom relevant lifecourse data are available. We describe the sub-study design and protocol which involves a prospective two time-point (0, 24 month) data collection covering clinical, neuropsychological, β-amyloid positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, biomarker and genetic information. Data collection started in 2015 (age 69) and aims to be completed in 2019 (age 73). DISCUSSION: Through the integration of data on the socioeconomic environment and on physical, psychological and cognitive function from 0 to 69 years, coupled with genetics, structural and molecular imaging, and intensive cognitive and neurological phenotyping, Insight 46 aims to identify lifetime factors which influence brain health and cognitive ageing, with particular focus on Alzheimer's disease and cerebrovascular disease. This will provide an evidence base for the rational design of disease-modifying trials