CYCLOIDAL GAIT WITH DOUBLE SUPPORT PHASE FOR THE NAO HUMANOID ROBOT

The commercial Nao humanoid robot has 11 DOF in legs. Even if these legs include 12 revolute joints, only 11 actuators are employed to control the walking of the robot. Under such conditions, the mobility of the pelvis and that of the oscillating foot are mutually constrained at each step. Besides, the original gait provided by the manufacturer company of the Nao employs only single support phases during the walking. Because of both issues, the reduced mobility in legs and the use of only single support phases, the stability of the walking is affected. To contribute to improving such stability, in this paper an approach is proposed that incorporates a double support phase and a gait based on cycloidal time functions for motions of the pelvis and those of the oscillating foot. To assess the stability of the walking an index is applied, which is based on the notion of zero-moment point (ZMP) of the static foot at each step. Results of experimental tests show that the proposed gait enhances the stability of the robot during the walking

CYCLOIDAL GAIT WITH DOUBLE SUPPORT PHASE FOR THE NAO HUMANOID ROBOT

The commercial Nao humanoid robot has 11 DOF in legs. Even if these legs include 12 revolute joints, only 11 actuators are employed to control the walking of the robot. Under such conditions, the mobility of the pelvis and that of the oscillating foot are mutually constrained at each step. Besides, the original gait provided by the manufacturer company of the Nao employs only single support phases during the walking. Because of both issues, the reduced mobility in legs and the use of only single support phases, the stability of the walking is affected. To contribute to improving such stability, in this paper an approach is proposed that incorporates a double support phase and a gait based on cycloidal time functions for motions of the pelvis and those of the oscillating foot. To assess the stability of the walking an index is applied, which is based on the notion of zero-moment point (ZMP) of the static foot at each step. Results of experimental tests show that the proposed gait enhances the stability of the robot during the walking

A systematic review on psychological interventions for sexual health in older age

ObjectivesThe present review aims to identify the existing evidence on outcome-treatment studies of psychological sexual health interventions in older age.MethodsA systematic search was conducted for studies published until October 2022. Data search was conducted on EBSCO, MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases.ResultsFrom 30,840 screened records, 12 reports were selected. Results were grouped into four categories according to the intervention that was implemented.ConclusionsDespite results presenting some bias concerns, this review suggests that educational and cognitive-behavioral approaches seem to be effective for promoting sexual health in older age

The Role of Gender Inequality and Health Expenditure on the Coverage of Demand for Family Planning Satisfied by Modern Contraceptives: A Multilevel Analysis of Cross-Sectional Studies in 14 LAC Countries

BACKGROUND: Despite international efforts to improve reproductive health indicators, little attention is paid to the contributions of contextual factors to modern contraceptive coverage, especially in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region. This study aimed to identify the association between country-level Gender Inequality and Health Expenditure with demand for family planning satisfied by modern contraceptive methods (DFPSm) in Latin American sexually active women. METHODS: Our analyses included data from the most recent (post-2010) Demographic and Health Survey or Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey from 14 LAC countries. Descriptive analyses and multilevel logistic regressions were performed. Six individual-level factors were included. The effect of the country-level factors Gender Inequality Index (GII) and Current Health Expenditure on DFPSm was investigated. FINDINGS: DFPSm ranged from 41.8% (95% CI: 40.2-43.5) in Haiti to 85.6% (95% CI: 84.9-86.3) in Colombia, with an overall median coverage of 77.8%. A direct association between the odds of DFPSm and woman\u27s education, wealth index, and the number of children was identified. Women from countries in the highest GII tertile were less likely (OR: 0.32, 95% CI: 0.13-0.76) to have DFPSm than those living in countries in the lowest tertile. INTERPRETATION: Understanding the contribution of country-level factors to modern contraception may allow macro-level actions focused on the population\u27s reproductive needs. In this sense, country-level gender inequalities play an important role, as well as individual factors such as wealth and education. FUNDING: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Associação Brasileira de Saúde Coletiva (ABRASCO)

The impact of poor adult health on labor supply in the Russian Federation

We examine the labor supply consequences of poor health in the Russian Federation, a country with exceptionally adverse adult health outcomes. In both baseline OLS models and in models with individual fixed effects, more serious ill-health events, somewhat surprisingly, generally have only weak effects on hours worked. At the same time, their effect on the extensive margin of labor supply is substantial. Moreover, when combining the effects on both the intensive and extensive margins, the effect of illness on hours worked increases considerably for a range of conditions. In addition, for most part of the age distribution, people with poor self-assessed health living in rural areas are less likely to stop working, compared to people living in cities. While there is no conclusive explanation for this finding, it could be related to the existence of certain barriers that prevent people with poor health from withdrawing from the labor force in order to take care of their health

Does Forced Voting Result in Political Polarization?

This paper estimates the effects of the compulsory voting laws on individuals´ political orientations though a regression discontinuity framework. The identification comes from Brazil´s dual voting system – voluntary and compulsory – whose exposure is determined based on citizens’ dates of birth. Using self-collected data, we find that compulsory voting has sizable effects on individuals´ political preferences, making them more likely to identify with a political party and to become oriented towards ideological extremes

Measurement of the Generalized Forward Spin Polarizabilities of the Neutron

The generalized forward spin polarizabilities $\gamma_0$ and $\delta_{LT}$ of the neutron have been extracted for the first time in a $Q^2$ range from 0.1 to 0.9 GeV$^2$. Since $\gamma_0$ is sensitive to nucleon resonances and $\delta_{LT}$ is insensitive to the $\Delta$ resonance, it is expected that the pair of forward spin polarizabilities should provide benchmark tests of the current understanding of the chiral dynamics of QCD. The new results on $\delta_{LT}$ show significant disagreement with Chiral Perturbation Theory calculations, while the data for $\gamma_0$ at low $Q^2$ are in good agreement with a next-to-lead order Relativistic Baryon Chiral Perturbation theory calculation. The data show good agreement with the phenomenological MAID model.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, corrected typo in author name, published in PR

Perturbative instabilities in Horava gravity

We investigate the scalar and tensor perturbations in Horava gravity, with and without detailed balance, around a flat background. Once both types of perturbations are taken into account, it is revealed that the theory is plagued by ghost-like scalar instabilities in the range of parameters which would render it power-counting renormalizable, that cannot be overcome by simple tricks such as analytic continuation. Implementing a consistent flow between the UV and IR limits seems thus more challenging than initially presumed, regardless of whether the theory approaches General Relativity at low energies or not. Even in the phenomenologically viable parameter space, the tensor sector leads to additional potential problems, such as fine-tunings and super-luminal propagation.Comment: 21 pages, version published at Class. Quant. Gra