Kiai and Mechanical Characteristics of Some Karate Punches

In the studies from the aspect of biomechanics the essential data can be found in the field of the punches -motions which are characterized as precise, fast and maximally forced. In the study of Yoshihuku (1984) it was found that the duration of the force was concentrated between 16 and 19 ms regardless of the kind of the techniques, implying that the human body that was not rigid took the above time to transmit its momentum to the target. In the research about the flow of the energy from trunk to arm in Tsuki movement (Yoshihuku, Ikegami, Sakurai, 1984) it is pointed out that the main source of energy in Tsuki movement is not in the upper arm itself, but in the other parts of the body. It is interesting that in each trial the first hit the target with its maximum velocity, just or nearly at the moment when both the energy flow and the kinetic energy reached their maximum velocity. In the study about the central regulation problems of the human motion abilities in the biomechanical structures (Chaidze, 1966) it is pointed out that the reduction of the velocity in the arm extension is necessary before the collision, with purpose to fix the joints and to increase the mass included in the punch. Thc value of the collision impulse depends on the movement velocity in the moment of the collision (vc), and the mass of the body included in the punch (the equivalent mass -em). Because of this and some other conditions characteristical for karate combats, this parameters should be improved during the training sessions. It might be that Kiai is one of the factors which enables better demonstration of these values. That is why the subject of this study is Kiai, the phenomenon which is relatively unexplored up to now, or in other words, its influence on mechanical characteristics of karate punches Gyaku Tsuki and Tettsui Uchi. The need for such of study originated from the importance which is given to Kiai in the rules of sports karate combats. It is well known that Kiai is also an unavoidable companion in Tameshi Wari breaking techniques. The purpose of the present study is to establish possible differences between mechanical characteristics of the chosen punches

Influenza A virus acquires enhanced pathogenicity and transmissibility after serial passages in swine

Genetic and phylogenetic analyses suggest that the pandemic H1N1/2009 virus was derived from well-established swine influenza lineages; however, there is no convincing evidence that the pandemic virus was generated from a direct precursor in pigs. Furthermore, the evolutionary dynamics of influenza virus in pigs have not been well documented. Here, we subjected a recombinant virus (rH1N1) with the same constellation makeup as the pandemic H1N1/2009 virus to nine serial passages in pigs. The severity of infection sequentially increased with each passage. Deep sequencing of viral quasispecies from the ninth passage found five consensus amino acid mutations: PB1 A469T, PA 1129T, NA N329D, NS1 N205K, and NEP T48N. Mutations in the hemagglutinin (HA) protein, however, differed greatly between the upper and lower respiratory tracts. Three representative viral clones with the five consensus mutations were selected for functional evaluation. Relative to the parental virus, the three viral clones showed enhanced replication and polymerase activity in vitro and enhanced replication, pathogenicity, and transmissibility in pigs, guinea pigs, and ferrets in vivo. Specifically, two mutants of rH1N1 (PB1 A469T and a combination of NS1 N205K and NEP T48N) were identified as determinants of transmissibility in guinea pigs. Crucially, one mutant viral clone with the five consensus mutations, which also carried D187E, K211E, and S289N mutations in its HA, additionally was able to infect ferrets by airborne transmission as effectively as the pandemic virus. Our findings demonstrate that influenza virus can acquire viral characteristics that are similar to those of the pandemic virus after limited serial passages in pigs

Upravljanje otporno na kvarove modularnim prekidačko-reluktantnim strojem nadahnuto prirodom

Fault tolerance is an obligatory feature in safety critical applications (aeronautical, aerospace, medical and military applications, power plants, etc.), where loss of life, environmental disasters, equipment destructions or unplanned downtimes must be avoided. For such applications, a novel bio-inspired motion control system is proposed. All its three components (the switched reluctance machine, the power converter and the control system) are designed to be as fault tolerant as possible. This paper describes all these three fault tolerant components: the bio-inspired control system having self-healing capabilities, the power converter with an extra leg and the fault tolerant modular machine. The theoretical expectations and simulation results are validated by means of laboratory experiments.Otpornost na kvarove je nužnost u sigurnosno kritičnim aplikacijama (aeronautičke, zrakoplovne, medicinske i vojne aplikacije, elektrane itd.), gdje je potrebno izbjeći smrtne slučajeve, prirodne nepogode, uništenje opreme ili neplanirane prekide u radu. Za takve aplikacije, predložen je novi slijedni sustav nadahnut prirodom. Sve tri komponente (prekidačko-reluktantni stroj, pretvarač i sustav upravljanja) su projektirani da budu što je više moguće otporni na kvarove. Ovaj rad opisuje sve tri komponente: sustav upravljanja nadahnut prirodom sa samoliječećim svojstvima, pretvarač s dodatnom granom i modularni stroj otporan na kvarove. Teoretska očekivanja i simulacijski rezultati su provjereni laboratorijskim eksperimentima

The LHCb upgrade I

The LHCb upgrade represents a major change of the experiment. The detectors have been almost completely renewed to allow running at an instantaneous luminosity five times larger than that of the previous running periods. Readout of all detectors into an all-software trigger is central to the new design, facilitating the reconstruction of events at the maximum LHC interaction rate, and their selection in real time. The experiment's tracking system has been completely upgraded with a new pixel vertex detector, a silicon tracker upstream of the dipole magnet and three scintillating fibre tracking stations downstream of the magnet. The whole photon detection system of the RICH detectors has been renewed and the readout electronics of the calorimeter and muon systems have been fully overhauled. The first stage of the all-software trigger is implemented on a GPU farm. The output of the trigger provides a combination of totally reconstructed physics objects, such as tracks and vertices, ready for final analysis, and of entire events which need further offline reprocessing. This scheme required a complete revision of the computing model and rewriting of the experiment's software

Characterization of the writing media of the Dead Sea Scrolls

Our study is dedicated to the development of the methodology for an accurate characterization of the support and the inks of the Dead Sea Scrolls. To that aim we use optical and electron microscopy, micro-XRF, 3D-SY-XRF, different IR methods including synchrotron radiation based reflectance spectroscopy. Simulation experiments to identify different water sources and binding agents in the carbon inks are presented

Differences in the interaction between aryl propionic acid derivatives and poly(vinylpyrrolidone) K30: A multi-methodological approach

none8The present work aims at the application of several methods to explain differences in the physical interaction of some aryl propionic acid derivatives (ibuprofen [IBP], ketoprofen [KET], flurbiprofen [FLU], naproxen [NAP], fenbufen [FEN]) with poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) K30, stored together at 298 ± 0.5 K and 22% RH. X-ray powder diffractometry and 13C-solid state NMR demonstrated that IBP was able to strongly interact with the polymer, while weak interaction was observed for KET, FLU, NAP, and the least for FEN. The interaction of comelted drug and PVP was studied by differential scanning calorimetry by applying the Gordon-Taylor equation, which revealed that small molar drug volumes may favour the drug diffusion through the PVP amorphous chains increasing the polymer free volume and decreasing the mixture T g. The molecular docking study revealed that intermolecular energy is mainly due to the contribution of van der Waals energy component, causing the differences among the drugs, and is related to the drug-PVP surface contact area in the complex formed. Solid-state kinetic study demonstrated that IBP molecules are involved in a three-dimensional diffusion mechanism within the polymer favoured by its low molar volume that reduces molecular hindrance, and by the weakness of its crystal lattice, which facilitates crystallinity loss and stabilisation of the amorphous phase. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. and the American Pharmacists Association.noneGashi Z.; Censi R.; Malaj L.; Gobetto R.; Mozzicafreddo M.; Angeletti M.; Masic A.; Di Martino P.Gashi, Z.; Censi, R.; Malaj, L.; Gobetto, R.; Mozzicafreddo, M.; Angeletti, M.; Masic, A.; Di Martino, P