4,956 research outputs found
A Portable, Low-Cost Wheelchair Ergometer Design Based on a Mathematical Model of Pediatric Wheelchair Dynamics
Evaluation and training of wheelchair propulsion improves efficiency and prevents orthopaedic injury in pediatric manual wheelchair users. Ergometers allow static propulsion and emulate typical conditions. Currently available ergometers have deficiencies that limit their use in motion analysis. A new ergometer is developed and evaluated based on a model of wheelchair inertial dynamics that eliminates these deficiencies. This makes integrated motion analysis of wheelchair propulsion in current community, home, and international outreach efforts possible
Evaluation of Upper Extremity Movement Characteristics during Standardized Pediatric Functional Assessment with a Kinect®-based Markerless Motion Analysis System
A recently developed and evaluated upper extremity (UE) markerless motion analysis system based on the Microsoft® Kinect® has potential for improving functional assessment of patients with hemiplegic cerebral palsy. 12 typically-developing adolescents ages 12-17 were evaluated using both the Kinect-based system and the Shriners Hospitals for Children Upper Extremity Evaluation (SHUEE), a validated measure of UE motion. The study established population means of UE kinematic parameters for each activity. Statistical correlation analysis was used to identify key kinematic metrics used to develop automatic scoring algorithms. The Kinect motion analysis platform is technically sound and can be applied to standardized task-based UE evaluation while providing enhanced sensitivity in clinical analysis and automation through scoring algorithms
Performance of differenced range data types in Voyager navigation
Voyager radio navigation made use of a differenced rage data type for both Saturn encounters because of the low declination singularity of Doppler data. Nearly simultaneous two-way range from two-station baselines was explicitly differenced to produce this data type. Concurrently, a differential VLBI data type (DDOR), utilizing doubly differenced quasar-spacecraft delays, with potentially higher precision was demonstrated. Performance of these data types is investigated on the Jupiter-to-Saturn leg of Voyager 2. The statistics of performance are presented in terms of actual data noise comparisons and sample orbit estimates. Use of DDOR as a primary data type for navigation to Uranus is discussed
Towards designing robust coupled networks
Natural and technological interdependent systems have been shown to be highly
vulnerable due to cascading failures and an abrupt collapse of global
connectivity under initial failure. Mitigating the risk by partial
disconnection endangers their functionality. Here we propose a systematic
strategy of selecting a minimum number of autonomous nodes that guarantee a
smooth transition in robustness. Our method which is based on betweenness is
tested on various examples including the famous 2003 electrical blackout of
Italy. We show that, with this strategy, the necessary number of autonomous
nodes can be reduced by a factor of five compared to a random choice. We also
find that the transition to abrupt collapse follows tricritical scaling
characterized by a set of exponents which is independent on the protection
strategy
Evidence for magnetoplasmon character of the cyclotron resonance response of a two-dimensional electron gas
Experimental results on the absolute magneto-transmission of a series of high
density, high mobility GaAs quantum wells are compared with the predictions of
a recent magnetoplasmon theory for values of the filling factor above 2. We
show that the magnetoplasmon picture can explain the non-linear features
observed in the magnetic field evolution of the cyclotron resonance energies
and of the absorption oscillator strength. This provides experimental evidence
that inter Landau level excitations probed by infrared spectroscopy need to be
considered as many body excitations in terms of magnetoplasmons: this is
especially true when interpreting the oscillator strengths of the cyclotron
transitions
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