Use of induced acceleration to quantify the (de)stabilization effect of external and internal forces on postural responses

Due to the mechanical coupling between the body segments, it is impossible to see with the naked eye the causes of body movements and understand the interaction between movements of different body parts. The goal of this paper is to investigate the use of induced acceleration analysis to reveal the causes of body movements. We derive the analytical equations to calculate induced accelerations and evaluate its potential to study human postural responses to support-surface translations. We measured the kinematic and kinetic responses of a subject to sudden forward and backward translations of a moving platform. The kinematic and kinetics served as input to the induced acceleration analyses. The induced accelerations showed explicitly that the platform acceleration and deceleration contributed to the destabilization and restabilization of standing balance, respectively. Furthermore, the joint torques, coriolis and centrifugal forces caused by swinging of the arms, contributed positively to stabilization of the center of mass. It is concluded that induced acceleration analyses is a valuable tool in understanding balance responses to different kinds of perturbations and may help to identify the causes of movement in different pathologies

Birthing practices of traditional birth attendants in South Asia in the context of training programmes

Traditional Birth Attendants (TBA) training has been an important component of public health policy interventions to improve maternal and child health in developing countries since the 1970s. More recently, since the 1990s, the TBA training strategy has been increasingly seen as irrelevant, ineffective or, on the whole, a failure due to evidence that the maternal mortality rate (MMR) in developing countries had not reduced. Although, worldwide data show that, by choice or out of necessity, 47 percent of births in the developing world are assisted by TBAs and/or family members, funding for TBA training has been reduced and moved to providing skilled birth attendants for all births. Any shift in policy needs to be supported by appropriate evidence on TBA roles in providing maternal and infant health care service and effectiveness of the training programmes. This article reviews literature on the characteristics and role of TBAs in South Asia with an emphasis on India. The aim was to assess the contribution of TBAs in providing maternal and infant health care service at different stages of pregnancy and after-delivery and birthing practices adopted in home births. The review of role revealed that apart from TBAs, there are various other people in the community also involved in making decisions about the welfare and health of the birthing mother and new born baby. However, TBAs have changing, localised but nonetheless significant roles in delivery, postnatal and infant care in India. Certain traditional birthing practices such as bathing babies immediately after birth, not weighing babies after birth and not feeding with colostrum are adopted in home births as well as health institutions in India. There is therefore a thin precarious balance between the application of biomedical and traditional knowledge. Customary rituals and perceptions essentially affect practices in home and institutional births and hence training of TBAs need to be implemented in conjunction with community awareness programmes

Phase transitions above the yrast line in 154Dy

Spectra of the E2 quasicontinuum γ rays feeding different spin regions of the 154Dy yrast line have been extracted. These are compared with corresponding theoretical spectra obtained by numerical simulations based on temperature-dependent Hartree-Fock theory, with thermal shape fluctuations. In this manner, different regions of the spin-energy plane can be examined. The results support the predictions of a smeared-out phase transition at high spin above the yrast line

Few particle excitations of NA = 83 isotones 134Sb and 135Te from 248Cm fission

Gamma-ray cascades in the two- and three-valence-particle nuclei 134Sb and 135Te have been studied with Gammasphere using a 248Cm spontaneous fission source. Isotopic assignments were based in part on coincidences with γ rays from complementary Rh and Ru fission partners. The 134Sb and 135Te level schemes have been considerably extended, with placement of many new high-energy g rays; delayed γ-ray coincidences observed across a 0.51-μs yrast isomer in135Te were especially fruitful. The yrast level spectra of both nuclei are interpreted using empirical nucleon-nucleon interactions and compared with the known yrast excitations of their counterparts 210Bi and 211Po

Magic Nucleus 132Sn and Its One-Neutron-Hole Neighbor 131Sn

Prompt and delayed γ-ray cascades in doubly magic 132Sn and its neighbor 131Sn have been studied at Gammasphere using a 248Cm fission source. Isotopic assignments of unknown γ rays were based on coincidences with known transitions in A=112-116Pd fission partners. The yrast level spectra of both tin nuclei are interpreted using empirical nucleon-nucleon interactions from the 132Sn and 208Pb regions. Results include identification of the (νf7/2h11/2-1)9+ aligned state in 132Sn and of extensive (νf7/2h11/2-2), (νf7/2d3/2-1h11/2-1) and (νh11/2-1×3-2) multiplets in 131Sn. The previously reported β- decay of an unusual 131In high-spin isomer to levels in 131Sn is also elucidated

Superdeformed band in Dy154

A superdeformed band has been found in the Dy154 (N=88) nucleus. The dynamic moment of inertia is identical to that of the yrast superdeformed band of Dy152 and the transition energies are similar to those of an excited superdeformed band in Dy153. It is proposed that the two valence neutrons above the N=86 shell gap occupy the deformation-driving [514]9/2 orbital

Excitations of two- and three-valence-proton nuclei 134Te and 135I

Analyses of 248Cm fission product γ -ray coincidence data recorded at Gammasphere have yielded additional information about γ-ray cascades in N=82 isotones 134Te and 135I. New-yrast and near-yrast states in both nuclei have been identified, and they are interpreted as specific shell model excitations

Yrast excitations in N = 81 nuclei 132Sb and 133Te from 248Cm fission

Gamma rays in the 132Sb and 133Te N = 81 isotones near doubly magic 132Sn have been studied at Gamma-sphere using a 248Cm fission source. Previously unknown yrast cascades in the two nuclei were identified in cross coincidence with known γ rays from complementary Rh and Ru fission fragments. The 132Sb levels are explained as proton-neutron hole states as well as core excited states of 2p-2h character, while the interpretation of the 133Te level scheme is mainly based on results of shell model calculations using empirical proton-proton interaction energies from 134Te together with estimated proton-neutron hole interactions

Conversion electron spectroscopy at the fragment mass analyzer focal plane: Studies of isomeric decays near the proton drip line

The decays of seniority isomers in the N=82 nuclei Er150 and Yb152 and in their respective N=81 isotopes Er149 and Yb151 were studied following mass separation by the Argonne Fragment Mass Analyzer. Conversion electrons were detected with Si p-i-n diodes operated at room temperature. The low-energy isomeric transitions in Yb151,152 have been observed for the first time in the electron spectra. Multipolarity assignments were made for many of the decay rays of the four nuclei