Effect of back belt on inter-joint coordination and postural index value under self selected manual lifting technique

Over the past decade increasing number of US companies have been encouraging the use of abdominal support as a part of their efforts to reduce the human and economic costs due to back injuries. Back belts are assumed to prevent injuries by restricting posture, increasing intra abdominal pressure, providing psychological effect and relaxing trunk muscle to provide circumferential support around the pelvis ring. This research deals in detail with the posture restriction caused by back belt. Two-dimensional kinematic data was collected from ten subjects using nine marker positions. Angular displacement of nine body angles was compared. The kinematic relationship, posture, and interjoint coordination were studied using knee, hip, trunk and thoracic-lumbar joint. Out of the nine body joint angles, five showed decreased flexion, three increased flexion and remaining one had no change. Kinematic relationship was not found to exist between hip, knee, trunk and thoracic-lumbar joint. The behavior of postural index values supported the failure of kinematic relationship hypothesis. The back belt was found to make coordination between hip, knee, trunk and thoracic-lumbar joint less perfectly simultaneous

Modeling the risk factors associated with the neck disorders during manual material handling tasks

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) of the neck or cervical spine result in longer sick leaves, substantial levels of human suffering, and high costs for society. Epidemiological studies clearly indicate strong associations between MSD of the neck and the work activities requiring forceful arm exertions and heavy lifting. However, studies evaluating the loading of the cervical spine during forceful arm exertions and heavy lifting tasks are limited. Major neck muscles, the sternocleidomastoid and the upper trapezius, run parallel to the cervical spine and couple the shoulder to the skull. It was hypothesized that such anatomical orientation may require these muscles to play an active role in supporting the shoulder during lifting activities and thus affecting the compressive forces acting on the cervical spine. The loading of the cervical spine during a variety of manual material handling tasks was studied using electromyography (EMG) and biomechanical modeling techniques. In the EMG study, thirty healthy participants simulated isometric lifting, pushing, and pulling tasks at different heights (e.g., knuckle, elbow, shoulder, and overhead) exerting 25%, 50%, and 75% of their respective maximum static strengths in different neck postures (e.g., neutral, fully flexed, and fully extended neck postures). An increase in the weight significantly affected the activation of neck muscles (P\u3c0.001). Independent of the weight lifted, the sternocleidomastoid showed the highest activation at the extended neck posture, while the upper trapezius showed the highest activation at the flexed neck posture (P\u3c0.001). The activities of the neck muscles increased significantly with an increase in lifting height from elbow to shoulder to overhead (P\u3c0.001). A biomechanical model of the neck consisting of four bilateral pairs of muscles was formulated and a double optimization procedure was used to determine the forces generated by the neck muscles. The total compressive forces exerted by the four neck muscles at the C4-C5 level during isometric lifting task at elbow height were 72.6(19.4), 128.5(37.7), and 184.4(56.1) N, corresponding to the 25%, 50%, and 75% weight conditions. The results of this study demonstrate that the neck muscles play an active role during lifting activities and may influence MSD development due to resulting physiological changes

Age Invariant Face Recognition using Convolutional Neural Network

In the recent years, face recognition across aging has become very popular and challenging task in the area of face recognition.  Many researchers have contributed in this area, but still there is a significant gap to fill in. Selection of feature extraction and classification algorithms plays an important role in this area. Deep Learning with Convolutional Neural Networks provides us a combination of feature extraction and classification in a single structure. In this paper, we have presented a novel idea of 7-Layer CNN architecture for solving the problem of aging for recognizing facial images across aging. We have done extensive experimentations to test the performance of the proposed system using two standard datasets FGNET and MORPH(Album II). Rank-1 recognition accuracy of our proposed system is 76.6% on FGNET and 92.5% on MORPH(Album II). Experimental results show the significant improvement over available state-of- the-arts with the proposed CNN architecture and the classifier

A CRITICAL REVIEW ON ANTI-HYPERTENSIVE ACTION OF ALLIUM SATIVUM

In twenty first century we are living in an age of revolution which has significantly changed our lifestyle. Due to the rapid modernization, people are leading towards more stressful life. As a consequence, human race is suffering from various problems grouped under a common umbrella of ‘Lifestyle disorders’. Hypertension is one of the widespread lifestyle disorders. About 26.4% of the world adult population in 2000 had hypertension and 29.2% were expected to have this condition by 2025. India is considered as global capital of hypertension. Increased blood pressure i.e., hypertension has been globally acknowledged as most prevailing risk factor for life threatening cardiovascular diseases. Ayurveda is a science of life and oldest medical science as well. The principle focus of Ayurveda is on maintaining good health and adopting a healthy way of life. In spite of number of available antihypertensive drugs in modern medicine; overall percentage of patients suffering from hypertension is rising sharply. Almost 25 centuries ago, Hippocrates, the father of medicine, stated “Let food be thy medicine and let medicine be thy food”. In this article we have collected data from various researches carried out at national and International institutions on Allium sativum and its antihypertensive property. This review emphasizes on antihypertensive action of worldwide most commonly used food item with medicinal properties Allium sativum i.e., Garlic, it’s appropriate doses, contraindication, untoward effects and probable mode of action. From the above review we can say that appropriate use of Allium sativum can control hypertension up to certain extent

Design and Implementation of Fake Currency Detection System

In recent years, a lot of illegal counterfeiting rings manufacture and sell fake coins and at the same time fake note currency is printed as well, which have caused great loss and damage to the society. Thus it is imperative to be able to detect fake currency. We propose a new approach to detect fake Indian notes using their images. A currency image is represented in the dissimilarity space, which is a vector space constructed by comparing the image with a set of prototypes. Each dimension measures the dissimilarity between the image under consideration and a prototype. In order to obtain the dissimilarity between two images, the local key points on each image are detected and described. Based on the characteristics of the currency, the matched key points between the two images can be identified in an efficient manner. A post processing procedure is further proposed to remove mismatched key points. Due to the limited number of fake currency in real life, SVM is conducted for fake currency detection, so only genuine currency are needed to train the classifier

Physical Risk Factors Associated with the Work-Related Neck/Cervical Musculoskeletal Disorders: A Review

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) of the neck or cervical spine result in longer sick leaves, substantial levels of human suffering, and high costs for society. Epidemiological studies clearly indicate strong associations between MSD of the neck and the work activities requiring forceful arm exertions and heavy lifting. However, most of the existing studies that evaluate the neck or cervical spine disorders focus mainly on exertions demanding sustained neck postures of repetitive arm exertions. The purpose of this study is to conduct a systematic review of existing epidemiological and experimental studies that evaluates neck or cervical spine disorders and identify the gaps in the literature for future research

Machine Learning Approach for Catastrophe Risk Assessment and Management Using Remote Sensing Data

With emergency programs for disaster preparedness and warning phases for earthquakes, landslides, and floods in recent years, remote sensing and geographic information systems have played a crucial role in Catastrophe Risk assessment and management. It has also been a key focus in the field of technology. Without the right tool for organizing massive volumes of data and gathering information from many sources, such maps or measurement channels, it would not be feasible to employ sensory data. In order to identify and assess areas affected by floods, earthquakes, avalanches, landslides, and wildfires, this study employs machine learning approaches. Following the application of filters to enhance image quality, the images are segmented through thresholding technique and classified using supervised and unsupervised classification methods. Images from before and after disasters are gathered from MRSAC Nagpur and processed using Python-based tools, ArcGIS, ERDAS, and QGIS for the purpose of analyzing devastation

Design and Implementation of Fake Currency Detection System

In recent years, a lot of illegal counterfeiting rings manufacture and sell fake coins and at the same time fake note currency is printed as well, which have caused great loss and damage to the society. Thus it is imperative to be able to detect fake currency. We propose a new approach to detect fake Indian notes using their images. A currency image is represented in the dissimilarity space, which is a vector space constructed by comparing the image with a set of prototypes. Each dimension measures the dissimilarity between the image under consideration and a prototype. In order to obtain the dissimilarity between two images, the local key points on each image are detected and described. Based on the characteristics of the currency, the matched key points between the two images can be identified in an efficient manner. A post processing procedure is further proposed to remove mismatched key points. Due to the limited number of fake currency in real life, SVM is conducted for fake currency detection, so only genuine currency are needed to train the classifier

Finger joint motion generated by individual extrinsic muscles: A cadaveric study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Our understanding of finger functionality associated with the specific muscle is mostly based on the functional anatomy, and the exact motion effect associated with an individual muscle is still unknown. The purpose of this study was to examine phalangeal joints motion of the index finger generated by each extrinsic muscle.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Ten (6 female and 4 male) fresh-frozen cadaveric hands (age 55.2 ± 5.6 years) were minimally dissected to establish baseball sutures at the musculotendinous junctions of the index finger extrinsic muscles. Each tendon was loaded to 10% of its force potential and the motion generated at the metacarpophalangeal (MCP), proximal interphalangeal (PIP), and distal interphalangeal (DIP) joints was simultaneously recorded using a marker-based motion capture system.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The flexor digitorum profundus (FDP) generated average flexion of 19.7, 41.8, and 29.4 degrees at the MCP, PIP, and DIP joints, respectively. The flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS) generated average flexion of 24.8 and 47.9 degrees at the MCP and PIP joints, respectively, and no motion at the DIP joints. The extensor digitorum communis (EDC) and extensor indicis proprius (EIP) generated average extension of 18.3, 15.2, 4.0 degrees and 15.4, 13.2, 3.7 degrees at the MCP, PIP and DIP joints, respectively. The FDP generated simultaneous motion at the PIP and DIP joints. However, the motion generated by the FDP and FDS, at the MCP joint lagged the motion generated at the PIP joint. The EDC and EIP generated simultaneous motion at the MCP and PIP joints.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results of this study provide novel insights into the kinematic role of individual extrinsic muscles.</p

Evaluation of Shoulder Stability During Forceful Arm Exertions

Shoulder musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are a major cause of morbidity and pain in the modern working population. Epidemiological literature suggests that forceful arm exertions pose an increased risk for shoulder MSD development. The majority of shoulder MSDs involve the glenohumeral joint. The glenohumeral joint is characteristically unstable and stabilized by concavity compression mechanism. In this study a biomechanical model of shoulder complex was used to examine the concavity compression mechanism. Mechanical loading of the glenohumeral joint during forceful arm exertions was analyzed to quantify the angular position of the resultant muscle force vector in 3D space. The resultant muscle force vectors were almost always directed anteriorly, medially, and inferiorly, independent of the magnitude and the direction of the external force application. The knowledge gained in this study could possibly be used to quantify strain imposed on the shoulder muscles during forceful arm exertions