Soccer training: an effective exercise mode to prevent and treat childhood obesity?

Exercise training has been recognized as an effective treatment for childhood obesity. Clinical experience has shown that great efforts are needed to train children around 10 years old when using traditional aerobic exercise modes, such as walking and running. To seek more attractive training methods for children, in this paper, we review the current literature to evaluate the effectiveness of soccer training on childhood obesity prevention and treatment. Future research direction and sport injury prevention are also discussed

Investigation of surface integrity of selective laser melting additively manufactured AlSi10Mg alloy under ultrasonic elliptical vibration-assisted ultra-precision cutting

Additive manufacturing technology has been widely used in aviation, aerospace, automobiles and other fields due to the fact that near-net-shaped components with unprecedented geometric freedom can be fabricated. Additively manufactured aluminum alloy has received a lot of attention, due to its excellent material properties. However, the finished surface of additively manufactured aluminum alloy with nanoscale surface roughness is quite challenging and rarely addressed. In this paper, a novel machining technology known as ultrasonic elliptical vibration-assisted cutting (UEVC) was adopted to suppress the generation of cracks, improve the surface integrity and reduce tool wear during the ultra-precision machining of selective laser melting (SLM) additively manufactured AlSi10Mg alloy. The experimental results revealed that, in the conventional cutting (CC) process, surface defects, such as particles, pores and grooves, appeared on the machined surface, and the machined surface rapidly deteriorated with the increase in cumulative cutting area. In contrast, an almost flawless machined surface was obtained in the UEVC process, and its roughness value was less than 10 nm. Moreover, the tool wear of the CC tool was remarkably greater than that of the UEVC tool, and the standard flank wear width of the CC tool was more than twice that of the UEVC tool. Therefore, the UEVC technology is considered to be a feasible method for the ultra-precision machining of SLM additively manufactured AlSi10Mg alloy

Nonlinear ion-acoustic structures in a nonextensive electron–positron–ion–dust plasma: Modulational instability and rogue waves

The nonlinear propagation of planar and nonplanar (cylindrical and spherical) ion-acoustic waves in an unmagnetized electron–positron–ion–dust plasma with two-electron temperature distributions is investigated in the context of the nonextensive statistics. Using the reductive perturbation method, a modified nonlinear Schrödinger equation is derived for the potential wave amplitude. The effects of plasma parameters on the modulational instability of ion-acoustic waves are discussed in detail for planar as well as for cylindrical and spherical geometries. In addition, for the planar case, we analyze how the plasma parameters influence the nonlinear structures of the first- and second-order ion-acoustic rogue waves within the modulational instability region. The present results may be helpful in providing a good fit between the theoretical analysis and real applications in future spatial observations and laboratory plasma experiments

Emergency logistics for wildfire suppression based on forecasted disaster evolution

This paper aims to develop a two-layer emergency logistics system with a single depot and multiple demand sites for wildfire suppression and disaster relief. For the first layer, a fire propagation model is first built using both the flame-igniting attributes of wildfires and the factors affecting wildfire propagation and patterns. Second, based on the forecasted propagation behavior, the emergency levels of fire sites in terms of demand on suppression resources are evaluated and prioritized. For the second layer, considering the prioritized fire sites, the corresponding resource allocation problem and vehicle routing problem (VRP) are investigated and addressed. The former is approached using a model that can minimize the total forest loss (from multiple sites) and suppression costs incurred accordingly. This model is constructed and solved using principles of calculus. To address the latter, a multi-objective VRP model is developed to minimize both the travel time and cost of the resource delivery vehicles. A heuristic algorithm is designed to provide the associated solutions of the VRP model. As a result, this paper provides useful insights into effective wildfire suppression by rationalizing resources regarding different fire propagation rates. The supporting models can also be generalized and tailored to tackle logistics resource optimization issues in dynamic operational environments, particularly those sharing the same feature of single supply and multiple demands in logistics planning and operations (e.g., allocation of ambulances and police forces). © 2017 The Author(s

Research and development of a self-centering clamping device for deep-water multifunctional pipeline repair machinery

When multifunctional pipeline repair machinery (MPRM) is used in the deep sea area, it is difficult to grip the pipeline and ensure concentricity between the cutter heads and the pipeline during its operation. In view of this, a new system of two-arm holding self-centering pipeline clamping device was proposed. The system is composed of two groups of parallelogram double-rocker mechanism and cranking block mechanism which are symmetrically distributed on the frame. The geometric parameter solutions of the clamping device were analyzed with motion and transmission as the constraints. A mechanical model was established to associate the friction torque of clamping points with the driving force. Clamping device and machinery were designed and manufactured for the Ø304.8–457.2 mm pipelines used in this test. ADAMS simulation experiments were conducted underwater, and the cutting and beveling tests were carried out onshore. The following results are achieved. First, the smaller the pipe diameter, the smaller the transmission angle of the oscillating slider mechanism; the longer the hydraulic cylinder stroke, the greater the transmission angle of the double rocker mechanism. Second, the driving force of the clamping device increases with the increase of the pipe diameter. When the diameter reaches 457.2 mm, the hydraulic cylinder driving force of the clamping device should be greater than 10219 N. Third, the feed rate of the cutters increases suddenly due to the slight shaking of the machinery which occurs at the beginning of the pipe cutting, so it is necessary to adopt a small feed rate. And fourth, onshore experiment results agree well with the theoretical design and simulation results, proving the rationality of the system. The research results in this paper provide technical basis for the research and development of similar engineering prototypes

A Compressed Sensing-Based Wearable Sensor Network for Quantitative Assessment of Stroke Patients

Clinical rehabilitation assessment is an important part of the therapy process because it is the premise for prescribing suitable rehabilitation interventions. However, the commonly used assessment scales have the following two drawbacks: (1) they are susceptible to subjective factors; (2) they only have several rating levels and are influenced by a ceiling effect, making it impossible to exactly detect any further improvement in the movement. Meanwhile, energy constraints are a primary design consideration in wearable sensor network systems since they are often battery-operated. Traditionally, for wearable sensor network systems that follow the Shannon/Nyquist sampling theorem, there are many data that need to be sampled and transmitted. This paper proposes a novel wearable sensor network system to monitor and quantitatively assess the upper limb motion function, based on compressed sensing technology. With the sparse representation model, less data is transmitted to the computer than with traditional systems. The experimental results show that the accelerometer signals of Bobath handshake and shoulder touch exercises can be compressed, and the length of the compressed signal is less than 1/3 of the raw signal length. More importantly, the reconstruction errors have no influence on the predictive accuracy of the Brunnstrom stage classification model. It also indicated that the proposed system can not only reduce the amount of data during the sampling and transmission processes, but also, the reconstructed accelerometer signals can be used for quantitative assessment without any loss of useful information

The effect of trapped electrons on the three-dimensional ion-acoustic shock wave in magnetized ionic-pair plasma

The effect of trapped electrons featuring vortex-like distribution on the nonlinear behavior of a three-dimensional ion-acoustic shock wave is investigated in a magnetized ionic-pair plasma. In the long-wave approximation, the dynamics of the shock wave is governed by the $(3{+}1)$ -dimensional Schamel-Zakharov-Kuznetsov-Burgers' equation due to the presence of trapped electrons and ion kinematic viscosity. By using the homogeneous balance principle and tanh function method, we obtain a novel exact shock wave solution of the equation. It is found for the first time that the trapped electrons can support a shock wave with only positive polarity