Center Of Sphere Research Articles

Метод определения плановых координат и высоты рабочего репера на оползне с принудительными отклонениями вехи от отвесного положения

Determination of plan view coordinates and working benchmarks heights on a landslide by linear-angular measurements using electronic total stations by the polar notching method and trigonometric levelling involves installing a prism reflector on a tripod or a pole plumb above the observed benchmark. In order to put it in the mentioned position, round levels are used, its accuracy affects precise determining the plan view coordinates and the benchmark heights. Direct visibility from the reference benchmark to the working one may be lost due to landslide displacements, reappeared vegetation or other obstacles. These circumstances may cause incomplete or distorted interpretation of the landslide hazard forecast during cyclic multi-year observations. The authors propose a new method of determining the plan view coordinates and height of the working benchmark on a landslide by linear-angular measurements on a pole with a prism reflector with its forced inclinations from the plumb position. The required data is calculated as the said parameters of the sphere center, which is constructed by approximation of those of the prism reflector node point obtained by tilting the pole. A number of experiments were carried out to confirm the performance of the method in geodetic landslide observations and its suitability for use in cases of visibility loss to the benchmark at the plumb position of the pole

Contribution of rolling resistance to the drag coefficient of spheres freely rolling on a rough inclined surface

The drag coefficient (CD) of a sphere freely rolling without slipping on a rough plane is presented in this study. Increasing panel roughness has been found to increase CD, although lubrication theory predicts that the larger gap imposed by the rougher panel should yield a smaller drag. We propose that this increase in drag is due to the effects of rolling resistance, which increases with panel roughness. The total drag on a sphere is decomposed into fluid drag and drag due to rolling resistance, where the fluid drag is predicted using a combined analytical–numerical approach. It is shown that rolling resistance can be modeled as a resistive torque opposing the sphere motion, generated by the offset contact normal force from the sphere center plane. This coefficient of rolling resistance (μr) can be predicted using the root mean square roughness (Rq) of the panel. Additionally, μr is observed to increase with sphere down-slope velocity and an empirical relationship between μr, Rq, and non-dimensional velocity (U∗) is given. A comparison of the drag predicted by the proposed model with measured data indicates good agreement for all the four panels considered. Consistent with previous literature, a non-linear relationship between μr, Rq, and U∗ is proposed. Although increasing panel roughness leads to a smaller fluid drag due to the larger gap imposed by rougher panels, the drag due to rolling resistance increases more rapidly. This leads to an increase in total drag with increase in the panel roughness. Additionally, increasing panel roughness is observed to have a significant effect on the sphere wake, leading to irregular wake shedding and increase in the Strouhal number.

An error compensation method for on-machine measuring blade with industrial robot

To achieve the seamless integration of precision grinding blade with timely measured data, an on-machine measurement system employing industrial robot is developed. The limitation to its widespread application lies in the accuracy of measurement, prompting the proposal of an error compensation method to address the measurement error within the implemented blade on-machine measurement system. To address the pre-travel error in the measuring device of the on-machine measurement system, an analysis of the factors influencing the pre-travel error of the contact probe is conducted. Subsequently, pre-travel error data is gathered utilizing the experimental calibration method involving a standard ball, and a prediction model employing the bilinear interpolation algorithm is established to facilitate error compensation. Employing pre-travel error compensation for the analysis of the operating body error in the on-machine measurement system, a spherical center distance constraint error model is derived through closed-loop kinematic calibration of the six-degrees-of-freedom industrial robot. Kinematic parameter error identification is conducted using a hybrid algorithm combining the L-M algorithm and the adaptive factor double-variable DE algorithm. This approach diminishes the spherical center distance measurement error, reducing it from 0.081 mm to 0.016 mm. Subsequently, experiment is conducted to measure blade machining allowances using an on-machine robotic measurement system, comparing the obtained data with measurement from a blue light scanner and a coordinate measuring machine (CMM). The results reveal average absolute deviations of 0.020 mm, 0.015 mm, and 0.016 mm in the three blade cross sections for the on-machine robotic measurement system and the blue light scanner, respectively. Correspondingly, the average absolute deviations for the on-machine robotic measurement system and the CMM in the three blade sections are 0.028 mm, 0.029 mm, and 0.029 mm. Moreover, the on-machine measurement system demonstrates commendable measurement repeatability, with a standard deviation of 0.003 mm.

Intelligent diagnostic method for developmental hip dislocation

BackgroundDevelopmental dislocation of the hip joint (DDH) is a condition that severely threatens children’s healthy growth. Without timely and correct treatment, it will lead to osteoarthritis and hip dysfunction in the evolution of children.ObjectiveIt is essential to develop an intelligent model for diagnosing hip dislocation and performing accurate quantitative analysis.MethodsIn this paper, 46 cases of computed tomography (CT) images were retrospectively collected, including 19 cases of hip dislocation and 27 cases of healthy people. The experiment first uses ITK-SNAP to sketch the ilium and femoral head in the original image. Then, it uses 3D U-Net to send the label of the background, ilium, and femoral head into three channels, respectively, to realize the three-dimensional segmentation of the ilium and femoral head. Next, the extraction of the surface of the acetabulum and femoral head is performed. Subsequently, the erroneous points are eliminated, and the spherical surfaces of the acetabulum and femoral head are fitted using the least squares method. Ultimately, the spherical center distance is calculated quantitatively to predict whether the hip joint is dislocated.ResultsUnder the independent test set, the segmentation average dice coefficients of the ilium and femoral head are 89% and 93%, respectively. The spherical center distance between the acetabulum and femoral head is calculated quantitatively. If the value exceeds 10 mm, it is considered a hip dislocation. Compared with the doctor’s diagnosis, the accuracy result is 94.4%.ConclusionThis paper successfully implements a precise and automated intelligent diagnostic system for the identification of hip dislocation. Commencing with the development of a 3D segmentation algorithm for the ilium and femoral head, we further introduce a novel method that computes the spherical distance for the prediction of hip dislocation. This approach provides robust quantitative analysis, thereby facilitating more informed clinical decision-making.

Three-dimensional assessment of subchondral arc and hip joint coverage angles in the asymptomatic young adult hip.

The primary objective of this study was to develop a custom algorithm to assess three-dimensional (3D) acetabular coverage of the femoral head based on surface models generated from computed tomography (CT) imaging. The secondary objective was to apply this algorithm to asymptomatic young adult hip joints to assess the regional 3D acetabular coverage variability and understand how these novel 3D metrics relate to traditional two-dimensional (2D) radiographic measurements of coverage. The algorithm developed automatically identifies the lateral- and medial-most edges of the acetabular lunate at one-degree intervals around the acetabular rim based on local radius of curvature. The acetabular edges and the center of a best-fit sphere to the femoral head are then used to compute the mean 3D subchondral arc angles and hip joint coverage angles in five acetabular octants. This algorithm was applied to hip models generated from pelvis/hip CT imaging or abdomen/pelvis CT angiograms of 50 patients between 17 and 25 years of age who had no history of congenital or developmental hip pathology, neuromuscular conditions, or bilateral pelvic and/or femoral fractures. Corresponding 2D acetabular coverage measures of lateral center edge angle (LCEA) and acetabular arc angle (AAA) were assessed on the patients' clinical or digitally reconstructed radiographs. The 3D subchondral arc angle in the superior region (58.0 [54.6-64.8] degrees) was significantly higher (p < 0.001) than all other acetabular subregions. The 3D hip joint coverage angle in the superior region (26.2 [20.7-28.5] degrees) was also significantly higher (p < 0.001) than all other acetabular subregions. 3D superior hip joint coverage angle demonstrated the strongest correlation with 2D LCEA (r = 0.649, p < 0.001), while 3D superior-anterior subchondral arc angle demonstrated the strongest correlation with 2D AAA (r = 0.718, p < 0.001). The 3D coverage metrics in the remaining acetabular regions did not strongly correlate with typical 2D radiographic measures. The discrepancy between standard 2D measures of radiographic acetabular coverage and actual 3D coverage identified on advanced imaging indicates potential discord between anatomic coverage and the standard clinical measures of coverage on 2D imaging. As 2D measurement of acetabular coverage is increasingly used to guide surgical decision-making to address acetabular deformities, this work would suggest that 3D measures of acetabular coverage may be important to help discriminate local coverage deficiencies, avoid inconsistencies resulting from differences in radiographic measurement techniques, and provide a better understanding of acetabular coverage in the hip joint, potentially altering surgical planning and guiding surgical technique.

Target Fitting Method for Spherical Point Clouds Based on Projection Filtering and K-Means Clustered Voxelization.

Industrial computed tomography (CT) is widely used in the measurement field owing to its advantages such as non-contact and high precision. To obtain accurate size parameters, fitting parameters can be obtained rapidly by processing volume data in the form of point clouds. However, due to factors such as artifacts in the CT reconstruction process, many abnormal interference points exist in the point clouds obtained after segmentation. The classic least squares algorithm is easily affected by these points, resulting in significant deviation of the solution of linear equations from the normal value and poor robustness, while the random sample consensus (RANSAC) approach has insufficient fitting accuracy within a limited timeframe and the number of iterations. To address these shortcomings, we propose a spherical point cloud fitting algorithm based on projection filtering and K-Means clustering (PK-RANSAC), which strategically integrates and enhances these two methods to achieve excellent accuracy and robustness. The proposed method first uses RANSAC for rough parameter estimation, then corrects the deviation of the spherical center coordinates through two-dimensional projection, and finally obtains the spherical center point set by sampling and performing K-Means clustering. The largest cluster is weighted to obtain accurate fitting parameters. We conducted a comparative experiment using a three-dimensional ball-plate standard. The sphere center fitting deviation of PK-RANSAC was 1.91 μm, which is significantly better than RANSAC's value of 25.41 μm. The experimental results demonstrate that PK-RANSAC has higher accuracy and stronger robustness for fitting geometric parameters.

Stiffener and staggered-square honeycomb structure design for lobster eye x ray micro pore optics.

Lobster eye x ray micro pore optics (MPO) is a novel bionic optical technology with a unique microchannel structure. All square microchannels point to the same spherical center position, providing a wide field of view and high focusing and imaging capabilities. Enhancing the optical performance of MPO has been a significant challenge. This study introduces what we believe is a novel approach using a stiffener and staggered-square honeycomb structure design to enhance the optical properties of the MPO devices. The x ray test results show that the multifiber stiffener design enhances optical quality by approximately 20% during the melt pressing stage. The staggered-square honeycomb structure design reduces channel errors by nearly 67% in the thermal forming and coating stage. Consequently, the angular resolution of the MPO has been significantly enhanced, reducing from 4.25 to 2.68 arc min. This innovative structure design shows promise for enhancing lobster eye optics performance and has potential applications in the related field.

INNOVATIONS IN THE LEXICOGRAPHICAL PROCESSING OF ONYM LEXICON

The aim of the article is to analyze the innovativeness of the lexicographical interpretation of the corpus of proper names used in literary texts on Hutsul themes, in the appendix to the two-volume dictionary "Hutsul Dialect Lexicon and Phraseology in Ukrainian Literary Language" — "Onym Lexicon". The object of the study is the appendix "Onym Lexicon" to the two-volume dictionary "Hutsul Dialect Lexicon and Phraseology in Ukrainian Literary Language". The subject of the research is the innovativeness of the aforementioned appendix "Onym Lexicon". The main method of the research was the analytical-descriptive method. The result of the study is the identification and substantiation of the innovativeness of the lexicographical interpretation of the corpus of onyms in the format of the "Onym Lexicon" dictionary, created as an appendix to the two-volume dictionary "Hutsul Dialect Lexicon and Phraseology in Ukrainian Literary Language". This approach to the study of proper names through the prism of literary language has proven to be quite effective. It complements the methodology of dictionary interpretation of proper names with new theoretical and practical developments. A formula for the interpretation of each type of onym has been developed, taking into account the nominative-significative nature of each. At the same time, the results of this approach contain valuable information that is important for modeling and analyzing the regional-dialectal worldview through the prism of literary language. For example, oikonyms, and their prevalence in literary texts, indicate the significance and priority of certain settlements in the life of the Hutsuls. They record key centers of economic, historical-political, cultural-artistic, and religious spheres of the highlanders. Anthroponyms contain information about the connections of the Hutsuls with other peoples. Oronyms, from an informative point of view, are linguistic units that convey the harsh living and farming conditions of mountain dwellers and their love for their native land. Hagionyms and eortonyms contain information about the religiosity and piety of the Hutsuls. Other onyms also carry important information about the regional-dialectal worldview of the Hutsuls. The Hutsul linguistic worldview in its literary version would be impoverished and incomplete without the knowledge and information expressed by proper names. We see the prospects for further research on this topic in deepening the study of the possibilities of the "Onym Lexicon" dictionary-appendix for scientific understanding of the literary onomasticon and for modeling the regional-dialectal worldview of the Hutsuls.

Design and implementation of an S‐band near‐field focused array with high E‐field strength

AbstractAn S‐band near‐field focused array is designed and implemented. Consisting of 4 × 4 metallic Vivaldi elements, the array is designed for focusing the E‐field of several kilovolts per metre within its near‐field region. To minimise the power loss and enhance the synthesis effectiveness, elements are arranged on a sphere surface and oriented towards the sphere centre. When exciting the elements, the waves will be focused to a specific area on the observation plane. By adjusting the excitation phase, the focus position can be tuned. A systematic analysis has been carried out to illustrate the focus scanning process across the entire observation plane. Near‐field two‐dimensional scanning is performed to measure the E‐field distribution of the array. While scanning the focus, the diameter of 3 dB focal area is about 0.3 m, and the maximum field strength in the focus ranges from 1184 to 2129 V/m, which can be used for the radiated susceptibility testing.

Position dependence of recovery coefficients in 177Lu-SPECT/CT reconstructions – phantom simulations and measurements

BackgroundAlthough the importance of quantitative SPECT has increased tremendously due to newly developed therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals, there are still no accreditation programs to harmonize SPECT imaging. Work is currently underway to develop an accreditation for quantitative 177Lu SPECT/CT. The aim of this study is to verify whether the positioning of the spheres within the phantom has an influence on the recovery and thus needs to be considered in SPECT harmonization. In addition, the effects of these recovery coefficients on a potential partial volume correction as well as absorbed-dose estimates are investigated.MethodsUsing a low-dose CT of a SPECT/CT acquisition, a computerized version of the NEMA body phantom was created using a semi-automatic threshold-based method. Based on the mass-density map, the detector orbit, and the sphere centers, realistic SPECT acquisitions of all possible 720 sphere configurations of both the PET and the SPECT versions of the NEMA Body Phantom were generated using Monte Carlo simulations. SPECT reconstructions with different numbers of updates were performed without (CASToR) and with resolution modeling (STIR). Recovery coefficients were calculated for all permutations, reconstruction methods, and phantoms, and their dependence on the sphere positioning was investigated. Finally, the simulation-based findings were validated using SPECT/CT acquisitions of six different sphere configurations.ResultsOur analysis shows that sphere positioning has a significant impact on the recovery for both of the reconstruction methods and the phantom type. Although resolution modeling resulted in significantly higher recovery, the relative variation in recovery within the 720 permutations was even larger. When examining the extreme values of the recovery, reconstructions without resolution modeling were influenced primarily by the sphere position, while with resolution modeling the volume of the two adjacent spheres had a larger influence. The SPECT measurements confirmed these observations, and the recovery curves showed good overall agreement with the simulated data.ConclusionOur study shows that sphere positioning has a significant impact on the recovery obtained in NEMA sphere phantom measurements and should therefore be considered in a future SPECT accreditation. Furthermore, the single-measurement method normally performed for PVC should be reconsidered to account for the position dependency.

Simulation study of compressive mechanical properties of spheroidal cytosolic lattice structures

Ultra-lightweight metallic lattice structures are lightweight functional materials, and the design of their cell elements is a focus of research. Based on the idea of hollow sphere and lattice structure, this paper designs a kind of spherical cytosolic lattice structure, investigates its mechanical properties when compressed by numerical simulation, analyzes its deformation law, derives the nominal stress-strain curve, and investigates the effects of the rod diameter and the cytosolic sphere center distance on the structure’s properties of the effective modulus of elasticity, yield limit, plateau stress, energy absorption and specific energy absorption. The results of the study show that the compressive deformation of the structure exhibits three types depending on the spherical center distance. The mechanical properties of the structure, such as effective modulus of elasticity, yield limit, and plateau stress, show a pattern of decreasing and then increasing with the increase of the spherical center distance, and the minimum value is reached when the spherical center distance is 9.0, but the specific energy absorption of the structure shows a pattern of increasing and then decreasing, and it reaches the maximum value when the spherical center distance is 9.6 mm. The validity of the numerical analog simulation analysis was experimentally verified by 3D printing specimens.

A closed-loop calibration method for serial robots based on position constraints and local area measurement

This paper presents a cost-effective and efficient closed-loop calibration method to enhance the absolute positioning accuracy of industrial robots. The method utilizes an economical and highly accurate set of simple measurement devices, including a device mounted on the robot's end effector and a spherical constraint device positioned within the robot's workspace. A novel local area measurement method is employed for the spherical constraint device, effectively converting position errors into the errors in the sphere center position of the constraint device. Furthermore, the error model considers both kinematic parameter deviations of the robot itself as well as those of the measurement device, along with non-kinematic errors caused by link self-weight. The closed-loop calibration model relies on position constraints, enabling identification and compensation of all error parameters using Levenberg Marquardt method after substituting measured data. The effectiveness of this proposed method is demonstrated through simulation and experimentation. In simulations, average position error reduces from 8.249 mm to 0.8384 mm, while absolute mean difference in sphere center positions obtained using our measurement equipment decreases from 1.206 mm to 0.1027 mm. Significant reductions in both position error and difference in sphere center position are indicated after calibration. This proves that the absolute mean value of the sphere center position difference can be used as the basis for judging the size of the robot's end position error. Experimental results show that absolute mean difference in sphere center position decreases from 0.4319 mm to 0.02869 mm, leading to substantial improvement in overall positioning accuracy.

Three-dimensional measurement based on equal spacing binary fringe coding

Abstract Binary fringe projection technology can effectively avoid the measurement error caused by nonlinearity in structured light three-dimensional measurement system. In this paper, a binary fringe projection coding based on equal spacing is proposed firstly, the image sequence projected by binary fringes with equal spacing is corresponding to the sinusoidal intensity values in the same period one by one, and then the sinusoidal fringes are generated by weighted superposition. The experimental results show that, compared with the traditional four-step and 12-step phase shifting methods, the mean square error of the synthesized sinusoidal pattern is reduced by 36.74% and 18.24% respectively, and the mean square error of the distance between the obtained spherical point cloud of the standard sphere and the center of the fitting standard sphere is reduced by 89.36% and 77.27% respectively.

Расчеты сжатия сферической слоистой системы ударными волнами с учетом переноса тепла излучением в различных приближениях

Numerical modeling is one of the basic tools to investigate physical phenomena that occur in materials compressed by shock waves. A study of the behavior of shock waves using simplified models is helpful in the analysis of more complex systems, for instance, in the problems of inertial thermonuclear fusion on laser facilities. Mathematical simulation of the nonstationary radiative heat transfer in a spectral kinetic statement is rather complicated because the system of equations is nonlinear and large in size. Generally, the kinetic transport equation is solved in 7D phase space, which requires huge computational resources. The initial system is often approximated under certain assumptions but this immediately causes questions as to whether the simplified model is applicable to particular calculations. In this study, several economic radiative heat transfer models were implemented in a 2D hydrodynamic code. Based on these models, test calculations were performed to simulate the compression of a layered spherical system by shock waves, taking into account radiative heat transfer. When the shock wave reaches the center of the sphere, it is focused and reflected. In the neighborhood of the focal point of a converging wave, temperature gradients increase; therefore, thermal conduction and radiation become the main mechanisms of energy dissipation to be considered when taking into account heat transfer. Maximum densities and temperatures at the center of the sphere and their average values in its regions were calculated. In addition, the time when shock and heat waves cross the sphere center was determined, and their behavior before and after focusing at the sphere center was estimated. It is shown that solutions to such problems can be found much faster and with adequate accuracy when applying simplified models.

Hand-eye calibration of line structured-light sensor based on double-sphere constraints

Aiming at the complex problem of solving the positional relationship between the line laser sensor at the end of the robot wrist and the coordinate system of the end flange, a line laser hand-eye calibration method based on a double ball fixed target is proposed. Firstly, a double standard ball with known radius and center distance is used as a reference tool, and the point cloud data of a single contour line is collected several times, and the coordinates of the two ball centers under the camera coordinate system can be obtained according to the center coordinates of the circle obtained from the fitted circle combined with the Pythagoras theorem. Then, according to the principle that the two spherical centers are fixed under the robot base coordinate system, the rigid transformation matrix between the line laser sensor and the robot is successively solved. When solving the rotation matrix, the constraint of the distance between the spherical centers of the two balls is introduced to obtain a solution with better accuracy. Experimental results show that the method has better overall performance compared with the traditional single-ball hand-eye calibration method.

On smoothness conditions and selection of the edge of a scattering surface in one class of 3D time-optimal problems

A class of time-optimal problems in three-dimensional space with a spherical velocity vectogram is considered. The target set is a parametrically defined smooth curve. Numerical and analytical approaches to constructing the bisector of the target set — the scattering surface — in the time-optimal problem are proposed. The algorithms are based on formulas for the edge points of the scattering surface, written in terms of curve invariants. It is shown that these points form the edge of the bisector and lie at the centers of the touching spheres to the curve. A theorem on sufficient conditions for the smoothness of a scattering surface is proven. The equations of the tangent plane to the bisector are found for those points from which exactly two optimal trajectories emerge. An example of solving a time-optimal problem in the form of a set of level surfaces of the optimal result function is given, highlighting the surface of their non-smoothness.

Visualization of the rolling motion of spheres connected with a rubber band using an image processing technique

The traditional physics laboratory has adopted a photogate and polarized light to measure rotation motion in a fixed system, but they are not applicable to rolling objects. Computer vision has played an increasingly important role in image analysis. The popularization of mobile phones, cameras and computers makes it possible to measure the rotation of an object in a simple but nonintrusive way in a physics laboratory. A ‘tracker’ has been used to analyze the rotation motion of large objects, such as vehicle wheels, by recognizing the position of a marker. However, it is still challenging to precisely recognize the marker in a small object via simple algorithms in a physics laboratory. In this paper, we introduce a facile image processing technique to visualize the rotation and spin motion of spheres by marking it with two red and green semi-spheres. A basic formula of projection was derived to analyze the expression of spin angles with the projection area of the semi-sphere. The precision and suitability of the image processing technique was proven to be effective through comparison with the photogate measurement technique. The image processing technique has also been used to analyze the rotation and spin motion of two spheres bonded with a rubber band. It provides not only the trajectory of sphere centers, but the evolution of spin angles, orbit diameter and orbit angles of spheres. By analyzing the relationship between spin angles and orbit diameter, it is clear that the rubber band experienced typical transformations between three different phases (twist, coil and supercoil) until the energy was exhausted. The method offers valuable insights into rotational dynamics, showcasing its potential for practical applications in the physics laboratory and in educational contexts.

Estimating the stress distribution within MERO joint using (FEM-ANN) hybrid technique

A three-dimensional roofing structure known as a space truss comprises steel pipes joined together by spherical joints known as MERO joints, typically behave as hinged nodes. Only a few studies have examined the integrity and stresses within the spherical joint; most literature on specs trusses focuses on member arrangement and design. As a result, this study examines the stress distribution within the sphere, and how they is affected by the joint dimensions (sphere and bolts diameters, threading length and inclination angle of diagonals), in addition, the study aims to develop practical (AI) based predictive model to estimate the stress values at the critical points of the sphere. A numerical parametric study utilizing a FEM model calibrated by literature experimental was used to accomplish these goals. Thirty-four spherical steel bolted joints were developed using ANSYS workbench software to determine the stress values at center, top surface, bottom surface and at thread contact area. The outcomes of the parametric study were used to train and validate the developed ANN predictive model. The research results indicated that the average accuracy of the ANN productive model is about 85%, the maximum stresses are always located at the threading area, then at the sphere surface, while it is minimum at the sphere center. Finally, the diagonal inclination angle has almost no impact on the stress distribution.

Exact computation of projected sphere centres in cone beam x-ray projections

A method is presented for fitting the projected centres of spheres in cone beam x-ray imaging. By using a suitable coordinate system, the method allows direct and exact calculation of the sphere centre without fitting the projection shape with an ellipse and correcting from the ellipse centre to the sphere centre. Advantages in numerical implementation result from the number of unknown variables being reduced compared to ellipse fits. Additionally, the orientation of the detector relative to the x-ray source can be obtained from fitting the shapes of projections of multiple spheres without knowledge of the positions or dimensions of the spheres. The accuracy of the method is compared to other techniques using simulated x-ray projections.

Network Analysis of Sexual Well-Being in Women with Heart Failure: The Psychocardiological Perspective.

Sexuality is an important sphere of every person's life. Sexual dysfunctions and sexual dissatisfaction may also be present in cardiac diseases. Individuals affected by heart failure (HF) deserve special attention since it can be the final stage of many cardiac diseases. Therefore, it is important to verify potential correlates of sexual well-being in individuals with HF. This study was conducted online between 2019 and 2023, and 262 Polish women aged between 18 and 59 years (M = 45.48; SD = 7.65) participated in it. The Short Sexual Well-Being Scale, Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale, Fatigue Assessment Scale, and authors' questionnaire were used. Relationships between tested variables were verified with the use of network analysis performed with the EBICglasso estimator. Centrality assessment showed that sexual well-being had the highest values of betweenness, closeness and degree, followed by fatigue and depression measures. Sexual well-being was negatively related to the number of declared sexual dysfunctions, fatigue, stress and depression levels. Participants' age and HF duration were not related to the sexual well-being of tested women. Multiple additional partial correlations were detected. The obtained results show that sexuality may be a central sphere of life in women with HF and that one's sexuality should not be negated when working with cardiac patients.