Noah's Sons

Genesis 5–10 gives Noah’s three sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth great significance by presenting them as the three ancestors of postdiluvian humanity. Within this section two literary units focus on them: the story of Noah’s vineyard and drunkenness in Gen 9:18–27 and the Table of Nations in Gen 10. Whereas the first account describes a hierarchical relationship between the three ancestors (and their respective descendants), the second one, in the form of a segmented genealogy, shows the ancestors’ equal dispersion over the world and their inner differentiation into nations, tribes, and languages. Noah’s sons are furthermore mentioned at the end of the genealogy in Gen 5 and in the flood narrative

The effects of electromyography-assisted modelling in estimating musculotendon forces during gait in children with cerebral palsy

Neuro-musculoskeletal modelling can provide insight into the aberrant muscle function during walking in those suffering cerebral palsy (CP). However, such modelling employs optimization to estimate muscle activation that may not account for disturbed motor control and muscle weakness in CP. This study evaluated different forms of neuro-musculoskeletal model personalization and optimization to estimate musculotendon forces during gait of nine children with CP (GMFCS I-II)and nine typically developing (TD)children. Data collection included 3D-kinematics, ground reaction forces, and electromyography (EMG)of eight lower limb muscles. Four different optimization methods estimated muscle activation and musculotendon forces of a scaled-generic musculoskeletal model for each child walking, i.e. (i)static optimization that minimized summed-excitation squared; (ii)static optimization with maximum isometric muscle forces scaled to body mass; (iii)an EMG-assisted approach using optimization to minimize summed-excitation squared while reducing tracking errors of experimental EMG-linear envelopes and joint moments; and (iv)EMG-assisted with musculotendon model parameters first personalized by calibration. Both static optimization approaches showed a relatively low model performance compared to EMG envelopes. EMG-assisted approaches performed much better, especially in CP, with only a minor mismatch in joint moments. Calibration did not affect model performance significantly, however it did affect musculotendon forces, especially in CP. A model more consistent with experimental measures is more likely to yield more physiologically representative results. Therefore, this study highlights the importance of calibrated EMG-assisted modelling when estimating musculotendon forces in TD children and even more so in children with CP.</p

Comments on Harkness-Armstrong et al. (2021) ‘In vivo operating lengths of the gastrocnemius muscle during gait in children who idiopathically toe-walk’

Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Biomechatronics & Human-Machine Contro

'Securing Space': Mapping and fencing in transfrontier conservation in Southern Africa

This article provides a brief history of the use of maps and fences in wildlife conservation. Analysis of the promotional materials of one of the main promoters of Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) in southern Africa, the Peace Parks Foundation, reveals the importance of mapping as a planning and promotion tool. These maps, however, appear to be quite silent about the communities that are supposed to benefit from the TFCAs. The fences around wildlife areas are resented by local communities because they prevent them from harvesting natural resources "on the other side." Local communities also object to the fences because of their symbolic meaning and instrumentality, shown in warfare and policies "to control and divide." Conservation organizations nowadays use the symbol of the fence to communicate their change in policy toward local communities: stressing the need to move "beyond the fences" by involving local communities in the management of protected areas and using these to promote economic development. ©2006 Sage Publications