Technical quality assessment of an optoelectronic system for movement analysis

The Optoelectronic Systems (OS) are largely used in gait analysis to evaluate the motor performances of healthy subjects and patients. The accuracy of marker trajectories reconstruction depends on several aspects: the number of cameras, the dimension and position of the calibration volume, and the chosen calibration procedure. In this paper we propose a methodology to evaluate the eects of the mentioned sources of error on the reconstruction of marker trajectories. The novel contribution of the present work consists in the dimension of the tested calibration volumes, which is comparable with the ones normally used in gait analysis; in addition, to simulate trajectories during clinical gait analysis, we provide non-default paths for markers as inputs. Several calibration procedures are implemented and the same trial is processed with each calibration le, also considering dierent cameras congurations. The RMSEs between the measured trajectories and the optimal ones are calculated for each comparison. To investigate the signicant dierences between the computed indices, an ANOVA analysis is implemented. The RMSE is sensible to the variations of the considered calibration volume and the camera congurations and it is always inferior to 43 mm

Mass loss rate determinations of southern OB stars

A sample of OB stars (eleven Of, one O and one B supergiant) has been surveyed with the Australia Telescope Compact Array at 4.8 and 8.64 GHz with a resolution of 2'' -- 4''. Five stars were detected; three of them have negative spectral indices, consistent with non-thermal emission, and two have positive indices. The thermal radiation from HD 150135 and HD 163181 can be explained as coming from an optically thick ionized stellar wind. The non-thermal radiation from CD-47 4551, HD 124314 and HD 150136 possibly comes from strong shocks in the wind itself and/or in the wind colliding region if the stars have a massive early-type companion. The percentage of non-thermal emitters among detected O stars has increased up to ~50%. The Of star HD 124314 clearly shows flux density variations. Mass loss rates (or upper limits) were derived for all the observed stars and the results compared with non-radio measurements and theoretical predictions.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, A&A accepte

Phylogeny of the Celastreae (Celastraceae) inferred using chloroplast and nuclear loci

The phylogenetic inference presented of the Celastreae (Celastraceae) is based on four loci: matK and trnL-F from the chloroplast genome and ITS and 26S rDNA from the nuclear genome. The species sampled are combined with taxa sampled from previous studies to better test the monophyly of the genera along with the intergeneric relationships within this tribe. The main purpose is to give an overview of the laboratory procedures used and the results from the sampling. The procedures include DNA isolation, DNA amplification, DNA purification, construction of contiguous sequences, sequence alignment, and lastly phylogenetic inference.High Honors

Concurrent repeatability and reproducibility analyses of four marker placement protocols for the foot-ankle complex

Multi-segment models of the foot have been proposed in the past years to overcome limitations imposed by oversimplified traditional approaches used to describe foot kinematics, but they have been only partially validated and never compared. This paper presents a unique comparative assessment of the four most widely adopted foot kinematic models and aims to provide a guidance for the clinical interpretation of their results. Sensitivity of the models to differences between treadmill and overground walking was tested in nine young healthy adults using a 1D paired t-test. Repeatability was assessed by investigating the joint kinematics obtained when the same operator placed the markers on thirteen young healthy adults in two occasions. Reproducibility was then assessed using data from three randomly selected participants, asking three operators to repeat the marker placement three times. The analyses were performed on sagittal kinematics using curve similarity and correlation indices (Linear Fit Method) and absolute differences between selected points. Differences between treadmill and overground gait were highlighted by all the investigated models. The two most repeatable and reproducible investigated models had average correlations higher than 0.70, with the lowest values (0.56) obtained for the midfoot. Averaged correlations were always higher than 0.74 for the former and 0.70 for the latter, with the lowest obtained for the midfoot (0.64 and 0.51). For all investigated models, foot kinematics generally showed low repeatability: normative bands must be adopted with caution when used for comparison with patient data

Estudios críticos acerca de la dominación española en América.

Contiene: t. I.: Colon y los españoles. t. V.: Industria agrícola - pecuaria llevada a América por los españoles. t. VI.: (Continuación t. V.) t. VII.: Industria fabril. t. VIII.: Industrias mecánicas. t. IX.: Industrias mecánicas. t. X.: Industria Naval. t. XI.: Industria Naval. t. XII.: Industria Naval. t. XIII.: Bellas Artes. t. XIV.: Bellas Artes. t. XV.: El Viejo y el Nuevo Mundo. t. XVI.: El Viejo y el Nuevo Mundo. t. XVII.: El Viejo y el Nuevo Mundo. t. XVIII.: Artistas españoles del siglo XV. t. XIX.: Riqueza de España en el Siglo XV. t. XXVI.: La riqueza conocida desde los tiempos antiguos hasta el Nacimiento del SeñorHay 2 duplicados del VII y uno del IX.Copia digital. Madrid : Ministerio de Cultura. Subdirección General de Coordinación Bibliotecaria, 201

reach to grasp interjoint coordination for moving objects in children with hemiplegia

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Stabilization of fault slip by fluid injection in the laboratory and in situ

Faults can slip seismically or aseismically depending on their hydromechanical properties, which can be measured in the laboratory. Here, we demonstrate that fault slip induced by fluid injection in a natural fault at the decametric scale is quantitatively consistent with fault slip and frictional properties measured in the laboratory. The increase in fluid pressure first induces accelerating aseismic creep and fault opening. As the fluid pressure increases further, friction becomes mainly rate strengthening, favoring aseismic slip. Our study reveals how coupling between fault slip and fluid flow promotes stable fault creep during fluid injection. Seismicity is most probably triggered indirectly by the fluid injection due to loading of nonpressurized fault patches by aseismic creep

Choosing a similarity index to quantify gait data variability

Repeatability and reproducibility of joint kinematics can be assessed through Similarity Indices (SI) quantifying their pattern variability. These include: Coefficient of Multiple Correlation (CMC) [1]; Mean Absolute Variability (MAV) [2]; and Linear Fit Method (LFM) [3], which accounts for scaling (a1), offset (a0) and truthfulness of the linear model between the curves (R2). Among gait cycles, the intra-subject variability for a given joint is due to physiological fluctuations of the range of motion (ROM) and time shift. SIs might be differently affected for each joint, due to their different ROMs, and by marker positioning, leading to offsets among gait curves. This paper aims to investigate the effects that each of these sources of curve variability has on the SIs, in order to provide indications on which is the most suitable for the assessment of gait similarity

ROBOT-MEDIATED AND CLINICAL SCALES EVALUATION AFTER UPPER LIMB BOTULINUM TOXIN TYPE A INJECTION IN CHILDREN WITH HEMIPLEGIA

Objective: The aim of this pilot study was to examine changes in different aspects of impairment, including spasticity in the upper limbs, of hemiplegic children following botulinum toxin type A intervention. Progress was assessed using standard clinical measurements and a robotic device. Design: Pre-post multiple baseline. Subjects: Six children with hemiplegia. Methods: Botulinium toxin type A injections were administered into the affected upper limb muscles. Outcomes were evaluated before and one month after the injection. Outcome assessments included: Melbourne Scale, Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) and Passive Range of Motion. Furthermore, a robotic device was employed as an evaluation tool. Results: Patients treated with botulinum toxin type A had significantly greater reduction in spasticity (MAS, p < 0.01), which explains an improvement in upper limb function and quality movement measured with the Melbourne Scale (p < 0.01). These improvements are consistent with robot-based evaluation results that showed statistically significant changes (p < 0.01) following botulinum toxin type A injections. Conclusion: The upper limb performs a wide variety of movements. The multi-joint nature of the task during the robotmediated evaluation required active control of joint interaction forces. There was good correlation between clinical scales and robotic evaluation. Hence the robot-mediated assessment may be used as an additional tool to quantify the degree of motor improvement after botulinum toxin type A injections

A Very Large Array 3.6cm continuum survey of Galactic Wolf-Rayet stars

We report the results of a survey of radio continuum emission of Galactic Wolf-Rayet stars north of declination -46 degrees. The observations were obtained at 8.46 GHz (3.6cm) using the Very Large Array (VLA), with an angular resolution of about 6 x 9 arcsec and typical rms noise of 0.04 mJy/beam. Our survey of 34 WR stars resulted in 15 definite and 5 probable detections, 13 of these for the first time at radio wavelengths. All detections are unresolved. Time variations in flux are confirmed in the cases of WR98a, WR104, WR105 and WR125. WR79a and WR89 are also variable in flux and we suspect they are also non-thermal emitters. Thus, of our sample 20-30% of the detected stars are non-thermal emiters. Average mass loss rates determinations obtained excluding definite and suspected non-thermal cases give similar values for WN (all subtypes) and WC5-7 stars, while a lower value was obtained for WC8-9 stars. Uncertainties in stellar distances largely contribute to the observed scatter in mass loss rates. Upper limits to the mass loss rates were obtained in cases of undetected sources or for sources which probably show additional non-thermal emission.Comment: 21 pages, Latex, 21 postscript figures, to be published in The Astronomical Journal, May 200