Novel swing-assist un-motorized exoskeletons for gait training

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Robotics is emerging as a promising tool for functional training of human movement. Much of the research in this area over the last decade has focused on upper extremity orthotic devices. Some recent commercial designs proposed for the lower extremity are powered and expensive – hence, these could have limited affordability by most clinics. In this paper, we present a novel un-motorized bilateral exoskeleton that can be used to assist in treadmill training of motor-impaired patients, such as with motor-incomplete spinal cord injury. The exoskeleton is designed such that the human leg will have a desirable swing motion, once it is strapped to the exoskeleton. Since this exoskeleton is un-motorized, it can potentially be produced cheaply and could reduce the physical demand on therapists during treadmill training.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A swing-assist bilateral exoskeleton was designed and fabricated at the University of Delaware having the following salient features: (i) The design uses torsional springs at the hip and the knee joints to assist the swing motion. The springs get charged by the treadmill during stance phase of the leg and provide propulsion forces to the leg during swing. (ii) The design of the exoskeleton uses simple dynamic models of sagittal plane walking, which are used to optimize the parameters of the springs so that the foot can clear the ground and have a desirable forward motion during walking. The bilateral exoskeleton was tested on a healthy subject during treadmill walking for a range of walking speeds between 1.0 mph and 4.0 mph. Joint encoders and interface force-torque sensors mounted on the exoskeleton were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the exoskeleton in terms of the hip and knee joint torques applied by the human during treadmill walking.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We compared two different cases. In case 1, we estimated the torque applied by the human joints when walking with the device using the joint kinematic data and interface force-torque sensors. In case 2, we calculated the required torque to perform a similar gait only using the kinematic data collected from joint motion sensors. On analysis, we found that at 2.0 mph, the device was effective in reducing the maximum hip torque requirement and the knee joint torque during the beginning of the swing. These behaviors were retained as the treadmill speed was changed between 1–4 mph. These results were remarkable considering the simplicity of the dynamic model, model uncertainty, non-ideal spring behavior, and friction in the joints. We believe that the results can be further improved in the future. Nevertheless, this promises to provide a useful and effective methodolgy for design of un-motorized exoskeletons to assist and train swing of motor-impaired patients.</p

Leiomyoma Of Urinary Bladder a Rare Entity: Series Of 3 Cases And Review Of Literature

Introduction: Leiomyoma of urinary bladder is a rare entity and comprises 0.43% of all bladder tumors. Here we present our series of 3 casesand the related review of literature. Methods: 3 cases of bladder leiomyoma presented over a period of 16 months in Osmania Medical Collegeand Hospital. Detailed history was taken, physical examination, routineblood, urine and radiological investigations were done. Patients weretreated by Trensurethral Resection (TUR) of the mass and histopathological analysis with Immunohistochemistry was done for all cases. Results:All 3 cases were females with mean age of 31.6 years. All cases wereendovesical type, mass near bladder neck and presented with obstructivesymptoms. Two cases presented with acute retention of urine. Radiological investigations in all patients suggested a possibility of leiomyoma andall cases had reduced urinary flow rates. Histopathology confirmed thediagnosis in all cases. No recurrence was found at one year of follow up.Conclusion: Leiomyoma of urinary bladder is a rare disorder which frequently occurs in middle aged females. Symptoms are related to its sizeand location, diagnosis is confirmed by histopathological analysis. Treatment is by surgery (mainly TUR). Prognosis of the disease is excellent

Observational constraint from the heaviest pulsar PSR J0952-0607 on the equation of state of dense matter in relativistic mean field model

In the present work, we constrain the equation of the state of dense matter in the context of heaviest observed neutron star mass M$_{max}$ = 2.35$\pm 0.17$ M$_{\odot}$ for the black widow pulsar PSR J0952-0607. We propose three interactions HPU1, HPU2 and HPU3 (named after Himachal Pradesh University)for the relativistic mean field model which include different combinations of non-linear, self and cross-couplings among isoscalar-scalar $\sigma$, isoscalar-vector $\omega$ and isovector-vector $\rho$ meson fields up to the quartic order. These interactions are in harmony with the finite nuclei and bulk nuclear matter properties. The equations of state computed by using newly generated interactions for the $\beta$-equilibrated nucleonic matter satisfy the heaviest observed neutron star mass M$_{max}$ = 2.35$\pm 0.17$ M$_{\odot}$ for the black widow pulsar PSR J0952-0607. The results for the radius ($R_{1.4}$) and dimensionless tidal deformability (${\Lambda_{1.4}}$) corresponding to the canonical mass are also presented and agree well with the GW170817 event and astrophysical observations. The radius of $2.08M_{\odot}$ neutron star mass is predicted to be in the range $R_{2.08}$ = 12.98 -13.09 Km which also satisfies the NICER observations by Miller et al. (2021) and Riley et al.(2021). A covariance analysis is also performed to assess the theoretical uncertainties of model parameters and to determine their correlations with nuclear matter observables.Comment: 19 pages, 12 Figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2305.06667, arXiv:2305.0593

Economics of BN Hybrid Grass Production Bundelkhand Region of India: A Case Study

Napier grass is also called as Elephant Grass due to its tallness and vigorous vegetative growth. The plants tiller freely and a single clump may produce more than 60 tillers under favorable climatic and soil conditions. Unfortunately, the grass coarse-textured, the leaf blade sheaths as well as sharply serrated, leaf margins. Therefore, cross was made between Bajra which is more succulent, leafy, fine-textured, palatable, fast growing and drought resistant and Napier to combine these qualities with its high yielding potential. The outcome Hybrid Napier is a perennial grass which can be retained on field for 2-3 years. Hybrid napier grass are mostly grown under assured water supply but cultivating under varying agroclimatic condition is also possible. Low grass production in dry land area is mainly due to the limited availability of soil moisture and plant nutrients. Agrawal et al., (2001) reported NB hybrid is superior to guinea grass or setaria grass. However the economy of production plays an important role in introduction/ adoption of a crop in an area, village or farm. Many earlier studies have been conducted on economics of BN Hybrid production at research farm, or other government farms. But the information on economics of BN hybrid production at farmer’s field and its integration livestock feeding as well rooted slips are limited. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the object to study the economics of BN hybrid at farmer’s field in Bundelkhand

Rejuvenation of Wild Ber (\u3cem\u3eZizyphus\u3c/em\u3e Species) through Budding at Farmer’s Field

Ber is mainly cultivated for its fresh fruits, which are rich in vitamins C, A and B complex. Due to its nutritional qualities it is called poor man’s apple (Gajbhiya et al., 2003). A large number of wild ber shrubs (Zizyphus mauritiana, Z. rotundifolia and Z. nummularia) were seen growing on the neglected lands, uncultivated lands, roadsides and farm boundaries in Kadesara Kala Village in Lalitpur district of Uttar Pradesh (India). Production potential of this species is very low because of poor upkeep and inferior genetic makeup. But they have extensive root system which can withstand prolonged drought and has capability to regenerate even if the shoot system is damaged completely (Batahr, 1990). They are also responsibly resistant to common insect and pest. Therefore, these species offer an excellent production potential from the degraded lands of Bundelkhand region of India (Sharma and Tiwari, 1994; Tiwari and Sharma, 1993) after in-situ budding with improved cultivars. It also provides sufficient leaf biomass (pala) which can be utilized as fodder in lean period and also suitable for hay and silage for goat as it contains 11-13 percent crude protein (Tewatia and Khirwar, 2002). Pruned twigs/stems of ber also meet, to some extent, the fuel wood requirement in rural areas (Kumar et al., 2004)

Constraints for Grassland Development in Kadesara Kala Village, Lalitpur, Bundelkhand: A Case Study

India is maintaining a livestock population of over 500 million and has a grim situation of forage and feed deficit to the tune of 35.6% green fodder, 10.95% crop residues and 44% concentrate. In term of nutrients, the deficit is expected to the tune of 24.6 and 19.9% respectively by the year 2020. The gap is to be bridged up through development as well as extension of appropriate fodder production technologies suitable for different farming situation strategies. Fifty-eight % of the available fodder comes from grazing land and 42% from stall feeding with crop residues (30%) and leaf fodder (12%). Grasses constitute the majority (88%) of fodder available in Uttar Pradesh (GOUP, 1994). However, the role of grasslands cannot be under judged, as the large animal populations owned by small, marginal and landless farm family strive upon these. The livestock sector achieved an average growth rate of 4.8 per cent during the Eleventh Five Year Plan (Economic Survey, 2012-13) and it contributed 3.6 percent of national GDP during the Eleventh Plan. In the same tune, the contribution from this sector is expected to improve because increasing purchasing power is favoring the proportion of protein from animal source in the human diets. Further, The Indian livestock sector is becoming more competitive participant in the world market. All this largely depends, however, on improvement and sufficiency in the production of feeds and forages. Notwithstanding the above, the grasslands and pastureland in the country are continuously shrinking. The paper addresses important issues limiting the development of new grasslands in semiarid Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh particularly the Lalitpur district

Nutrient Intake and Utilization in Jalauni Lambs Fed \u3cem\u3e Azolla \u3c/em\u3e Meal Supplemented Diet

Azolla is an important aquatic fungi due to the occurrence of both photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation in the leaves and also because of its profuse growth habbit, it appears as a potential source of protein, minerals and vitamins for livestock feeding. Keeping in view of the increasing cost and heavy deficit of concentrate ingredients in the country, an attempt was made to replace mustard cake protein @ 25% and 50% levels with Azolla (Microphylla) meal protein in the ration of sheep to investigate the effect of supplementation of azolla meal on nutrient intake and utilization in growing Jalauni lambs fed green chaffed MP Chari based rations