EFFECTS OF BASE OF SUPPORT AND VISUAL FEEDBACK ON STANDING BALANCE IN SUBJECTS WITH ANKLE SPRAIN

INTRODUCTION: Ankle sprain is arguably one of the most common injures in sport and can lead to significant impairment characterized by functional instability of the ankle. Base of support and visual feedback are two of the most important factors influencing the standing balance. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of base of support and visual feedback on standing balance in subjects with and without ankle sprain

Cogging torque and torque ripple reduction of a novel exterior-rotor geared motor

The reduction of cogging torque and torque ripple in permanent-magnet motors to suppress the vibration and acoustic noise is a major concern for motor designers. This study presents a novel exterior-rotor geared motor which integrates a brushless permanent-magnet (BLPM) motor with an epicyclic-type gear reducer to form a compact structural assembly without extra transmitting elements. One of the special features of the geared motor lies in the gear-teeth of the epicyclic-type gear reducer merged with the stator of the BLPM motor. The gear-teeth serve as the interfacial medium to connect the BLPM motor with the epicyclic-type gear reducer, which provides functions not only for transmission to achieve a desired speed ratio, but also effectively reduce the cogging torque and torque ripple of the geared motor. Five shape models of pole shoes with different values of the shoe depth and the shoe ramp are presented to effectively reduce the cogging torque and the torque ripple. With the aid of the finite-element analysis, shape model III of the geared motor performs better than the existing BLPM motor on the cogging torque with 87 % decreasing and the torque ripple with 23 % decreasing. Such a unique characteristic of the geared motor is of benefit to the widely applications on accurate motion and position control systems

Modeling the pulse signal by wave-shape function and analyzing by synchrosqueezing transform

We apply the recently developed adaptive non-harmonic model based on the wave-shape function, as well as the time-frequency analysis tool called synchrosqueezing transform (SST) to model and analyze oscillatory physiological signals. To demonstrate how the model and algorithm work, we apply them to study the pulse wave signal. By extracting features called the spectral pulse signature, {and} based on functional regression, we characterize the hemodynamics from the radial pulse wave signals recorded by the sphygmomanometer. Analysis results suggest the potential of the proposed signal processing approach to extract health-related hemodynamics features

Separation, characterization and leaching behaviors of heavy metals in contaminated river sediments

In this research, the sequential extraction test was conducted to understand the characteristic of heavy metals in the sediment. Subsequently, the pH-dependent leaching test, percolation test were subjected to explore the possible leaching of heavy metals and stabilizing mechanism. Finally, based on the resuts of pH dependent test,the acid/chemical washing were applied to predict long-term, leaching characteristics. The results from the sediment characteristic analyses showed that the concentrations of heavy metals (such as Cu, Pb, Zn, Ni, and Cr) in river sediments exceeded the upper limit of Sediment Quality Standard of Taiwan, implying further decontamination works should be addressed. Results from the chemical washing (extraction) showed that the heavy metal removal efficiency was good when washed with 2N HCl for 120 minutes; the order of removal efficiency was Ni 90% > Zn 87% > Pb 85% > Cu 83% > Cr 70%. For chelation extraction, the suitable operating condition was achieved with 0.5M Citric Acid after 120 minutes contact; the order of heavy metal ion capturing efficiency was Zn 61% > Ni 54% > Pb 40% > Cu 36% > Cr 24%. Comparing the heavy metal bonding types before and after chemical washing (extraction) showed that some metal ions exist in residual forms in the sediments (Ni, Zn, Cu); however, after the washing process, the heavy metal ions became more exchangeable forms with higher bioavailability. Keywords: sediment, heavy metal, leaching test, chemical washing