Measurement, determinants, barriers, and interventions for exercise adherence: a scoping review

Background: Adherence to exercise interventions is the cornerstone of a successful rehabilitation program. However, there is limited evidence on multifaceted components of exercise adherence. Therefore, we aimed to summarize the existing literature on measurement, determinants, barriers, theoretical frameworks, and evidence-based interventions that support exercise adherence. Methods: We conducted a scoping review based on the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews guidelines and searched the literature in PubMed, Cochrane Databases of Systematic Reviews, ScienceDirect, and Web of Science. Two reviewers independently screened articles. The included articles were subjected to data extraction and qualitative synthesis. Results: A total of 72 articles were included for this review. Data synthesis showed that there are no gold standard methods of measuring exercise adherence; however, questionnaires and daily logs are commonly used tools. The determinants of adherence are personal, disease-related, therapy-related, provider-related, and health system-related. The common barriers to adherence are the absence of a caregiver, low health literacy, poor communication by healthcare providers, cost, and lack of access to health facilities. Few evidence-based interventions used for supporting adherence are behavioral strategies, improving self-efficacy, motivational therapy, and mHealth or multimedia. Conclusion: Non-adherence to exercises is a challenge for healthcare providers. There are no standard guidelines for the evaluation and management of non-adherence to exercises. Future studies should aim at developing objective measures of exercise adherence and investigate the long-term effects of adherence strategies in different disease populations. It is an under-researched area and requires multipronged strategies to improve adherence levels among patients

Anharmonicity in Raman-active phonon modes in atomically thin MoS2_2

Phonon-phonon anharmonic effects have a strong influence on the phonon spectrum; most prominent manifestation of these effects are the softening (shift in frequency) and broadening (change in FWHM) of the phonon modes at finite temperature. Using Raman spectroscopy, we studied the temperature dependence of the FWHM and Raman shift of $\mathrm{E_{2g}^1}$ and $\mathrm{A_{1g}}$ modes for single-layer and natural bilayer MoS$_2$ over a broad range of temperatures ($8 <$T$< 300$ K). Both the Raman shift and FWHM of these modes show linear temperature dependence for $T>100$ K, whereas they become independent of temperature for $T<100$ K. Using first-principles calculations, we show that three-phonon anharmonic effects intrinsic to the material can account for the observed temperature-dependence of the line-width of both the modes. It also plays an important role in determining the temperature-dependence of the frequency of the Raman modes. The observed evolution of the line-width of the A$_{1g}$ mode suggests that electron-phonon processes are additionally involved. From the analysis of the temperature-dependent Raman spectra of MoS$_2$ on two different substrates -- SiO$_2$ and hexagonal boron nitride, we disentangle the contributions of external stress and internal impurities to these phonon-related processes. We find that the renormalization of the phonon mode frequencies on different substrates is governed by strain and intrinsic doping. Our work establishes the role of intrinsic phonon anharmonic effects in deciding the Raman shift in MoS$_2$ irrespective of substrate and layer number

Simulation of Landsman Converter with Npc-Multilevel Inverter for Water Pump Applications

This study explains the operation and design of Landsman DC-DC converter employing maximum power point tracking (MPPT) controller for maximum power conversion in a solar Photovoltaic (PV) array. The output DC voltage of converter through inverter is fed to the induction motor based water pump. The above system is proposed by using a neutral point clamped (NPC) multilevel inverter for the DC to AC conversion. Incremental conductance algorithm is chosen to operate the PV array close to optimum operating point. The input voltage and current is sensed to achieve MPP. Output voltage is sensed to get required regulated output voltage. The controller is designed to obtain the regulated output at different load and irradiance conditions. The overall proposed system is simulated and the THD analysis is done for the output voltage of the inverter

Effectiveness of balance training on pain and functional outcomes in knee osteoarthritis: A systematic review and meta-analysis [version 2; peer review: 2 approved, 1 approved with reservations]

Background: Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a musculoskeletal disorder that causes pain and increasing loss of function, resulting in reduced proprioceptive accuracy and balance. Therefore, the goal of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to evaluate the effectiveness of balance training on pain and functional outcomes in knee OA. Methods: “PubMed”, “Scopus”, “Web of Science”, “Cochrane”, and “Physiotherapy Evidence Database” were searched for studies conducted between January 2000 and December 2021. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that investigated the effectiveness of balance training in knee OA, as well as its effects on pain and functional outcome measures, were included. Conference abstracts, case reports, observational studies, and clinical commentaries were not included. Meta-analysis was conducted for the common outcomes, i.e., Visual Analog Scale (VAS), The Timed Up and Go (TUG), Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index (WOMAC). The PEDro scale was used to determine the quality of the included studies. Results: This review includes 22 RCTs of which 17 articles were included for meta-analysis. The included articles had 1456 participants. The meta-analysis showed improvement in the VAS scores in the experimental group compared to the control group [I 2= 92%; mean difference= -0.79; 95% CI= -1.59 to 0.01; p<0.05] and for the WOMAC scores the heterogeneity (I 2) was 81% with a mean difference of -0.02 [95% CI= -0.44 to 0.40; p<0.0001]. The TUG score was analyzed, the I 2 was 95% with a mean difference of -1.71 [95% CI= -3.09 to -0.33; p<0.0001] for the intervention against the control group. Conclusions: Balance training significantly reduced knee pain and improved functional outcomes measured with TUG. However, there was no difference observed in WOMAC. Although due to the heterogeneity of the included articles the treatment impact may be overestimated. Registration: The current systematic review was registered in PROSPERO on 7th October 2021 (registration number CRD42021276674)

Evolution of inter-layer coupling in artificially stacked bilayer MoS 2

International audienceIn this paper, we show experimentally that for van der Waals heterostructures (vdWh) of atomically-thin materials, the hybridization of bands of adjacent layers is possible only for ultra-clean interfaces. This we achieve through a detailed experimental study of the effect of interfacial separation and adsorbate content on the photoluminescence emission and Raman spectra of ultra-thin vdWh. For vdWh with atomically-clean interfaces, we find the emergence of novel vibrational Raman-active modes whose optical signatures differ significantly from that of the constituent layers. Additionally, we find for such systems a significant modification of the photoluminescence emission spectra with the appearance of peaks whose strength and intensity directly correlate with the inter-layer coupling strength. Our ability to control the intensity of the photoluminescence emission led to the observation of detailed optical features like indirect-band peaks. Our study establishes that it is possible to engineer atomically-thin van der Waals heterostructures with desired optical properties by controlling the inter-layer spacing, and consequently the inter-layer coupling between the constituent layers