A Force Sensing Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization Device

Instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization (IASTM) is a form of massage using rigid manufactured or cast devices. The delivered force, which is a critical parameter in massage during IASTM, has not been measured or standardized for most clinical practices. There is a strong need to characterize the delivered force to a patient. This paper proposes a novel mechatronic design for a specific instrument to apply localized pressure which is a frequently used tool to clinically deliver localize pressure to treat soft tissue. The design is based on 1-D compression load cells, where 4-load cells are used to measure the force components in three-dimensional space. Here the proposed design of the mechatronic IASTM tool is modeled, analyzed, and simulated as a mechanical structure with simplifying assumptions on the elastic behavior of the skin under a certain amount of force conditions. A finite element model of a human arm is simulated to show the relationship between the applied forces, stress and strain on the skin, and force measurements to improve the design. The relation between device’s tip and the modeled arm was assumed to be frictional contact similar to the real IASTM practice

Positive-unlabeled learning for open set domain adaptation

Open Set Domain Adaptation (OSDA) focuses on bridging the domain gap between a labeled source domain and an unlabeled target domain, while also rejecting target classes that are not present in the source as unknown. The challenges of this task are closely related to those of Positive-Unlabeled (PU) learning where it is essential to discriminate between positive (known) and negative (unknown) class samples in the unlabeled target data. With this newly discovered connection, we leverage the theoretical framework of PU learning for OSDA and, at the same time, we extend PU learning to tackle uneven data distributions. Our method combines domain adversarial learning with a new non-negative risk estimator for PU learning based on self-supervised sample reconstruction. With experiments on digit recognition and object classification, we validate our risk estimator and demonstrate that our approach allows reducing the domain gap without suffering from negative transfer

Effect of preparation temperature and ions doping on size, morphology and catalytic activity of Co-B amorphous nano catalyst

Binary and quaternary amorphous nano powders are prepared by wet reduction method. Cobalt boride nano catalyst is synthesized at 10 and 60 ºC. Effect of preparation temperature on size and morphology was studied. Co-M-Zr-B (M: Cr, Mo and W) as quaternary catalysts are also prepared in order to studying ions doping on chemical and physical properties. Indeed, the obtained materials are characterized by XRD, FE-SEM, TEM, BET and ICP techniques. No distinct peak could be observed in XRD patterns indicating that the all catalysts possessed amorphous. The catalytic activity of the synthesized catalysts is investigated for the reduction reaction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol in the presence of excess NaBH4 in aqueous medium at room temperature (298 K). It is found that our catalysts are highly active for high concentrations of 4-NP, 25-200 ppm. KEY WORDS: Amorphous, Nano catalyst, Metal boride, Reduction, Nitrophenol Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2015, 29(1), 105-116DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v29i1.

Effectiveness Of Council Operations And Particiaption Of Inhabitants In Council Activities In Rural Mirabad, Isfahan Province Of Iran

This paper discusses council operation, public expectations of people from councils, public participation and coordination of people with councils also factors which affect this kind of participation. Public participation and coordination has been studied in Mirabad village of Tiran and Krun, 2 cities of Esfahan from Iran. This village is located 43 kilometers far from the west of Isfahan, Iran. Its population is more than 70 thousand persons and its climate is cold. The major occupation of its people is agriculture and animal husbandry in this region. The village\'s council members belong to the average class of community their educational range varies between having elementary school certificate to having licentiate\'s degree. Data gathered via questionnaire, interview and observation. 30 questionnaires were distributed among Mirabad\'s people and filled out. Most of the time, along with filling out the questionnaire, an interview was also accomplished and some observation were also made, The results show that council operations such as communicating with people, unanimity, sympathy and getting public trust were effective in receiving public participation and cooperation and also help the councils to do their tasks well. People have good participation in many fields like security maintenance, providing environmental hygiene and maintenance of public installations. The council\'s members also have good participation in agricultural affairs, providing security and hygiene and pursuing constructional plans. Keywords: participation, participation factors, councils operationJournal of Agriculture and Social Research Vol. 8 (1) 2008: pp. 106-11

The Indiana University Student Outreach Clinic as a Substrate for Interprofessional Education: A Physical Therapy Perspective

poster abstractPurpose The World Health Organization defines Inter-Professional Education (IPE) as “two or more professions learning about, from and with each other to enable effective collaboration &improve health outcomes.” IPE is being stressed in education to prepare students for Inter-Professional Care (IPC). IPC occurs when multiple health workers from different professional backgrounds provide comprehensive health services. Our purpose is to discuss the Indiana University Student Outreach Clinic (IU-SOC) as an exemplar in IPE/IPC in preparing PT students for clinical practice. Description The IU-SOC has implemented IPE/IPC by collaborating with partners from the schools of medicine, pharmacy, law, social work, dentistry, and most recently, physical therapy. Student leaders collaborate to provide comprehensive patient care. Different committees are in place to facilitate communication between disciplines. One PT student is designated in the IPE role to assist other partners in determining if a patient is appropriate for PT. This model has allowed PT to communicate reciprocally with medicine to ensure best patient care. Summary of Use IU-SOC is unique because it is a student-run pro bono clinic where teaching IPE/IPC is a primary purpose. Students benefit from this model by learning the importance of communication between disciplines early in their education to better prepare for IPC; making them more likely to utilize it during clinical practice. The community has increased access to services and is utilizing healthcare resources more efficiently, with less reliance on emergency services. Occupational Therapy is anticipated to join rehab services in the near future. Importance to Members IPC helps to sustain the health care system, improve outcomes, enhance organizational efficiency, and provide more comprehensive care. IPC is the future of health care; the foundation of which must be established in education. Multi-disciplinary, student-led outreach clinics, such as IU-SOC, can serve as an IPE/IPC substrate to prepare PT students for practice

ULTRASOUND IMAGING AS A DIAGNOSTIC TOOL FOR MUSCLE, TENDON AND FASCIA PATHOLOGIES: AN EMERGING PHYSICAL THERAPY PRACTICE

poster abstractObjective: Ultrasonography (US) is a front-runner for diagnostic imaging in musculoskeletal pathologies associated with muscle, tendon and fascia. The objective of this review was to systematically identify and summarize the literature on current trends of diagnostic ultrasonography in physical therapy. In addition, we expect to establish the merit, validity, and reliabil-ity of diagnostic ultrasonography. Method: A literature search was conducted using: PubMed, ProQuest, Science Direct, Thompson, EMBASE, OVID, CINAHL, and MEDLINE data-bases. Keywords that were used: diagnostic ultrasound, musculoskeletal conditions, rehabilitation, physical therapy. Findings: The current applications for US involving muscle, includes identifying superficial muscles, such as transversus abdominis and multifidus, to provide biofeedback for muscle re-education and measuring cross-sectional area to predict force generation. For tendons, US provides high-resolution images of inflammation, blood flow, and tendon width that assists in diagnosing pathologies such as Achilles tendonitis. US yields clear visualization of fascial thickness and is used to help determine potential eti-ology, confirm clinical diagnosis, and gauge the efficacy of intervention in plantar fasciitis. Research shows that the overall accuracy of US in musculoskeletal medi-cine is significantly similar to the gold standard of diagnostic imaging- MRI. Compared to MRI, US is safer, more convenient, less expensive, non-invasive, and dynamic. Limiting aspects of US include being restricted to su-perficial structures and a lack of minimum clinically important difference val-ues (MCID). Conclusion: Overall, there is a convincing body of evidence supporting the use of US in diagnosis and assessment of muscle, tendon and fascia conditions. Taking into consideration the surplus of clinical applications and advantages over other imaging tools, US is becoming a promising primary instrument for diagnosing and assessing musculoskeletal disorders in physi-cal rehabilitation. The results from this literature review will be used to sup-port the design of clinical trials investigating the effectiveness of manual therapy techniques

A numerical study for off-centered stagnation flow towards a rotating disc

AbstractIn this investigation, a semi-numerical method based on Bernstein polynomials for solving off-centered stagnation flow towards a rotating disc is introduced. This method expands the desired solutions in terms of a set of Bernstein polynomials over a closed interval and then makes use of the tau method to determine the expansion coefficients to construct approximate solutions. This method can satisfy boundary conditions at infinity. The properties of Bernstein polynomials are presented and are utilized to reduce the solution of governing nonlinear equations and their associated boundary conditions to the solution of algebraic equations. Graphical results are presented to investigate the influence of the rotation ratio α on the radial velocity, azimuthal velocity and the induced velocities. A comparative study with the previous results of viscous fluid flow in the literature is made