5,871 research outputs found
Effects of different vibration frequencies, amplitudes and contraction levels on lower limb muscles during graded isometric contractions superimposed on whole body vibration stimulation
Background: Indirect vibration stimulation, i.e., whole body vibration or upper limb vibration, has been investigated increasingly as an exercise intervention for rehabilitation applications. However, there is a lack of evidence regarding the effects of graded isometric contractions superimposed on whole body vibration stimulation. Hence, the objective of this study was to quantify and analyse the effects of variations in the vibration parameters and contraction levels on the neuromuscular responses to isometric exercise superimposed on whole body vibration stimulation. Methods: In this study, we assessed the 'neuromuscular effects' of graded isometric contractions, of 20%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 100% of maximum voluntary contraction, superimposed on whole body vibration stimulation (V) and control (C), i.e., no-vibration in 12 healthy volunteers. Vibration stimuli tested were 30 Hz and 50 Hz frequencies and 0.5 mm and 1.5 mm amplitude. Surface electromyographic activity of the vastus lateralis, vastus medialis and biceps femoris were measured during V and C conditions with electromyographic root mean square and electromyographic mean frequency values used to quantify muscle activity and their fatigue levels, respectively. Results: Both the prime mover (vastus lateralis) and the antagonist (biceps femoris) displayed significantly higher (P < 0.05) electromyographic activity with the V than the C condition with varying percentage increases in EMG root-mean-square (EMGrms) values ranging from 20% to 200%. For both the vastus lateralis and biceps femoris, the increase in mean EMGrms values depended on the frequency, amplitude and muscle contraction level with 50 Hz-0.5 mm stimulation inducing the largest neuromuscular activity. Conclusions: These results show that the isometric contraction superimposed on vibration stimulation leads to higher neuromuscular activity compared to isometric contraction alone in the lower limbs. The combination of the vibration frequency with the amplitude and the muscle tension together grades the final neuromuscular output.Peer reviewe
Teleportation-based number state manipulation with number sum measurement
We examine various manipulations of photon number states which can be
implemented by teleportation technique with number sum measurement. The
preparations of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen resources as well as the number sum
measurement resulting in projection to certain Bell state may be done
conditionally with linear optical elements, i.e., beam splitters, phase
shifters and zero-one-photon detectors. Squeezed vacuum states are used as
primary entanglement resource, while single-photon sources are not required.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, Misprints are corrected. 3 figures for number sum
measurement are added. Discussion on manipulations are expanded. Calculations
for success probabilities are added. Fig.4 is adde
Component-aware Orchestration of Cloud-based Enterprise Applications, from TOSCA to Docker and Kubernetes
Enterprise IT is currently facing the challenge of coordinating the
management of complex, multi-component applications across heterogeneous cloud
platforms. Containers and container orchestrators provide a valuable solution
to deploy multi-component applications over cloud platforms, by coupling the
lifecycle of each application component to that of its hosting container. We
hereby propose a solution for going beyond such a coupling, based on the OASIS
standard TOSCA and on Docker. We indeed propose a novel approach for deploying
multi-component applications on top of existing container orchestrators, which
allows to manage each component independently from the container used to run
it. We also present prototype tools implementing our approach, and we show how
we effectively exploited them to carry out a concrete case study
Coherent Superposition States as Quantum Rulers
We explore the sensitivity of an interferometer based on a quantum circuit
for coherent states. We show that its sensitivity is at the Heisenberg limit.
Moreover we show that this arrangement can measure very small length intervals
Conditional quantum-state transformation at a beam splitter
Using conditional measurement on a beam splitter, we study the transformation
of the quantum state of the signal mode within the concept of two-port
non-unitary transformation. Allowing for arbitrary quantum states of both the
input reference mode and the output reference mode on which the measurement is
performed, we show that the non-unitary transformation operator can be given as
an -ordered operator product, where the value of is entirely determined
by the absolute value of the beam splitter reflectance (or transmittance). The
formalism generalizes previously obtained results that can be recovered by
simple specification of the non-unitary transformation operator. As an
application, we consider the generation of Schr\"odinger-cat-like states. An
extension to mixed states and imperfect detection is outlined.Comment: 7 Postscript figures, using Late
Young people and political action: who is taking responsibility for positive social change?
A human rights perspective suggests that we are all responsible for ensuring the human rights of others, which in turn ensures that our own human rights are respected and protected. A convenience sample of 108 young people (41 males and 67 females) aged between 16 and 25 completed a questionnaire which asked about (a) levels of involvement in political activity and (b) sense of personal responsibility for ensuring that the human rights of marginalised groups (e.g. ethnic minorities, immigrants, lesbians and gay men) are protected. Findings showed that most respondents supported (in principle) the notion of human rights for all, but tended to engage in low key political activity (e.g. signing petitions; donating money or goods to charity) rather than actively working towards positive social change. Qualitative data collected in the questionnaire suggested three main barriers to respondents viewing themselves as agents of positive social change: (1) "It’s not my problem", (2) "It’s not my responsibility", and (3) a sense of helplessness. Suggestions for how political action might best be mobilised among young people are also discussed.</p
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