Leg Shape Research Articles

THE EFFECT OF COMPRESSION STOCKING ON LEGS’ GEOMETRY CHANGES WITHIN DIFFERENT MOVEMENT

In this study, the changes in leg size and shape as well as pressure at different sites of a lower leg were investigated using advanced tools such as the Move4D scan system and Texsens pressure measuring device. The effect of the class of compression stocking, wearing time, and movement type was analyzed for one volunteer. It is the basis for the high-accuracy ready-to-wear compression stocking development based on the concept of personalization.

Lebertia litoralis sp. nov. a new water mite described on morphological and molecular characters (Acariformes, Hydrachnidia, Lebertiidae)

An integrative taxonomic approach, combining new morphological data with the analysis of partial COI sequences (DNA-barcodes) is used to describe Lebertia litoralis Zawal & Szenejko sp. nov. from lake habitats in Poland and Norway. The obtained DNA-barcodes of Polish and Norwegian specimens differ only slightly (k = 4.142, Π = 0.006). Morphologically, the new species is most similar to Lebertia porosa Thor, 1900 and L. obscura Thor, 1900, from which it differs by a slenderer shape of the first leg and the position of the distoventral setae of p-4, inserted rather far away from the distal segment edge. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:27F6FFD0-CA98-4FAD-BC16-58FA654E36ED

A new marine tardigrade species (Heterotardigrada: Batillipedidae) from the southeast coast of India

A new marine tardigrade species, Batillipes chandrayaani sp. nov. is described from the sandy mid littoral region of the southeast coast of India. This novel species can be distinguished from all its congeners by the presence of a dorsal indentation in the anterior cephalic region, shape of primary clavae, presence of secondary clavae, segmented dorsal body due to the presence of transverse cuticle folds, shape of leg IV sensory organ with the presence of two van der Land’s organs, long hook shaped lateral body projections on the caudal segment and the presence of a semi-circular cuticular projection on the coxal region of leg II and leg III.

Investigating thin-film thermoelectric generators: Leg shape, TEG configuration, and contact resistance analysis

Thermoelectric generators (TEGs) are made of parallel p-type and n-type semiconducting legs which can directly convert temperature gradients into electricity. Theoretical studies have extensively explored the impact of the thermoelectric (TE) leg size and shape on the conversion efficiency of such bulk TEGs. However, in recent years, geometrically thin and film-shaped TEGs have gained attention for integration into wearable and flexible electronic devices, tapping into body heat as a power source. There is currently a lack of research on film-shaped TEGs, particularly regarding the performance of asymmetric TE leg shapes. This study investigates seven different TE leg shapes in thin-film TEGs, analyzing their electrical performance using COMSOL Multiphysics software. Results show that certain asymmetric TE leg shapes can yield over a 30% improvement in the produced open circuit voltage, as compared to conventional rectangular-shape TE legs. Furthermore, various configurations of thin-film TEGs were designed and analyzed, aiming to maximize device output power. Additionally, the study delves into the influence of electrical contact resistance on the performance of the optimal asymmetric TEGs. The proposed thin TE leg shapes and TEG configurations ae easily manufacturable and scalable using printing technology.

Two New Species of Elaphoidella (Copepoda, Harpacticoida) from Subterranean Waters in Northeast Thailand, with a Record of a Gynandromorphic Specimen and an Up-to-Date Key to Elaphoidella Species from Southeast Asia

Two new species of copepods of the genus Elaphoidella Chappuis, 1929 were discovered in a cave and a spring in northeastern Thailand. The first species, E. phuphamanensis sp. nov., belongs to species-group VII sensu Lang. It is most similar to E. turgisetosa Petkovski, 1980 in the armament of the male third exopod of the fourth swimming leg and the shape and armament of the fifth swimming leg in both sexes. However, it is easily distinguished from other congeners by the segmentation of the first swimming leg, the endopod of the fourth swimming leg, and the armature of the third exopod of swimming legs 2–4 in both sexes. The second species, E. propecabezasi sp. nov., is located in species-group I sensu Lang, where the male does not have a transformed seta on the third exopod of the fourth swimming leg and the female fifth swimming leg has four baseoendopodal robust setae, unequal in length. It is most similar to E. cabezasi Petkovski, 1982 and E. paraaffinis Watiroyram, Sanoamuang and Brancelj, 2017 in having the same armature formula as endopods 1–2 of female swimming legs 1–4. However, the ornamentation of the anal operculum, the shape of the caudal ramus, and the armature of the fifth swimming leg in both sexes distinguish them from each other. A rare gynandromorphic specimen of E. propecabezasi sp. nov. was recorded, and a revised key to Elaphoidella species in Southeast Asia is provided.

High species diversity of Phintella and Phintella-like spiders (Araneae: Salticidae) in Vietnam revealed by DNA-based species delimitation analyses.

Salticidae (jumping spiders) usually exhibit pronounced sexual dimorphism in adult morphology, particularly body coloration and size and shape of the first legs. Consequently, the male and female from the same species might be erroneously assigned to different species or even different genera, which could generate synonymies in classification if only morphological data were used. Phintella is a species-rich genus of Salticidae, which currently exhibits 76 named species. However, the male-female counterpart is unknown for nearly half of the species. In this study, we used a molecular approach to delineate the species boundaries for Phintella and Phintella-like specimens collected in Vietnam, using morphological information as supporting data. We used three gene fragments (mitochondrial COI, 16S-ND1, and nuclear 28S) and biogeographical considerations for species delimitation. A total of 22 putative species were recognized: 18 species of the genus Phintella, one species of the genus Lechia (L. squamata), and three species of the genus Phinteloides. Eleven undescribed species were discovered, of which seven have a male-female combination, two species have only males, and two species have only females. The crown age of Phintella was estimated at the Serravallian stage of the Miocene after the increase of species number around 16 MYA. The crown ages of most putative species recognized in this study were estimated in the Pleistocene, and the divergence among sister species likely occurred from the mid-Miocene to the Pliocene. Our ancestral range reconstruction results showed that the diversification of our ingroup was governed by progressive dispersal events, i.e., Phintella and their related species in Vietnam diversified while expanding their range on the continent. Our results provide fundamental biodiversity data for a high-diversity genus in Vietnamese Phintella spiders.

Flexible Capacitive Pressure Sensor with High Sensitivity and Wide Range Based on a Cheetah Leg Structure via 3D Printing.

Flexible pressure sensors can be used in human-computer interaction and wearable electronic devices, but one main challenge is to fabricate capacitive sensors with a wide pressure range and high sensitivity. Here, we designed a capacitive pressure sensor based on a bionic cheetah leg microstructure, validated the benefits of the bionic microstructure design, and optimized the structural feature parameters using 3D printing technology. The pressure sensor inspired by the cheetah leg shape has a high sensitivity (0.75 kPa-1), a wide linear sensing range (0-280 kPa), a fast response time of roughly 80 ms, and outstanding durability (24,000 cycles). Furthermore, the sensor can recognize a finger-operated mouse, monitor human motion, and transmit Morse code information. This work demonstrates that bionic capacitive pressure sensors hold considerable promise for use in wearable devices.

A new species of Batillipes (Arthrotardigrada: Batillipedidae) from the mid littoral zone of the southeast coast of India.

Studies of marine tardigrades from Indian waters is very limited and relatively obscure. A new species of marine tardigrade is described from the southeast coast of India as part of an effort to better understand the marine tardigrade biodiversity of the Indian subcontinent. Batillipes kalami sp. nov. described from the sandy sediments of the mid littoral zone can be differentiated from all its congeners by the presence of unconstricted primary clavae, two pairs of lateral body projections between leg II and leg III, long and blunt ended lateral body projections between leg III and leg IV, shape of leg IV sensory organs and the presence of dorsal indentations in its head.

Varroa Destructor Classification Using Legendre-Fourier Moments with Different Color Spaces.

Bees play a critical role in pollination and food production, so their preservation is essential, particularly highlighting the importance of detecting diseases in bees early. The Varroa destructor mite is the primary factor contributing to increased viral infections that can lead to hive mortality. This study presents an innovative method for identifying Varroa destructors in honey bees using multichannel Legendre-Fourier moments. The descriptors derived from this approach possess distinctive characteristics, such as rotation and scale invariance, and noise resistance, allowing the representation of digital images with minimal descriptors. This characteristic is advantageous when analyzing images of living organisms that are not in a static posture. The proposal evaluates the algorithm's efficiency using different color models, and to enhance its capacity, a subdivision of the VarroaDataset is used. This enhancement allows the algorithm to process additional information about the color and shape of the bee's legs, wings, eyes, and mouth. To demonstrate the advantages of our approach, we compare it with other deep learning methods, in semantic segmentation techniques, such as DeepLabV3, and object detection techniques, such as YOLOv5. The results suggest that our proposal offers a promising means for the early detection of the Varroa destructor mite, which could be an essential pillar in the preservation of bees and, therefore, in food production.

A Review on Thermoelectric Generators: Structural Optimization and Economic Analysis

The interest in recovering waste heat has resurged in recent years due to growing concerns about the energy crisis and global warming. A thermoelectric generator (TEG) is regarded as an environmentally-friendly technology for capturing and recovering waste heat by directly converting heat to electrical energy via the Seebeck effect. The critical challenge in improving this technology is the low conversion efficiency of the TEG device, thus limiting its application to a niche area. The structural optimization of TEG has been the subject of extensive research over the past few years. Nonetheless, there is currently a lack of review studies focusing on TEG structural optimization, and to the best of our knowledge, only one review paper associated with this key area is available in the literature. This work presents an analysis of the ongoing research progress of TEG structural optimization with a focus on the thermoelectric leg length, leg cross-sectional area, angle of the legs, and leg shape. In addition, the economic analysis of the application of TEG in recovering waste heat is also presented to rationalize the economic feasibility of this technology compared to other existing technologies.

Geometry Optimization for Miniaturized Thermoelectric Generators.

Thermoelectric materials capable of converting heat into electrical energy are used in sustainable electric generators, whose efficiency has been normally increased with incorporation of new materials with high figure of merit (ZT) values. Because the performance of these thermoelectric generators (TEGs) also depends on device geometry, in this study we employ the finite element method to determine optimized geometries for highly efficient miniaturized TEGs. We investigated devices with similar fill factors but with different thermoelectric leg geometries (filled and hollow). Our results show that devices with legs of hollow geometry are more efficient than those with filled geometry for the same length and cross-sectional area of thermoelectric legs. This behavior was observed for thermoelectric leg lengths smaller than 0.1 mm, where the leg shape causes a significant difference in temperature distribution along the device. It was found that for reaching highly efficient miniaturized TEGs, one has to consider the leg geometry in addition to the thermal conductivity.

Sensor Fusion using Model Predictive Control for Differential Dual Wheeled Robot

Every mobile robot mission starts with the robot being moved to the task site. From there, the robot executes its tasks. A control system is required to move the mobile robot's actuator (which may be in the shape of wheels or legs) and comprehend the environment around the robot to perform these movements (perception). This research aims to develop a technique to control a robot’s movement while detecting obstacles and distances toward an object. The robot is equipped with LIDAR and a camera to perform these tasks. The control is divided into two major parts, low-level and high-level controller. As part of a low-level controller robot, the Model Predictive Control (MPC) method is proposed to help with the control of the wheel while the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) approach to use in this study to identify obstacles and the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) method for detecting objects, both ANN and CNN as a control for high-level part of the robot. The results of this study can prove that CNN can help detect existing objects with a value of 45% for detecting some objects. The obtained result from the MPC method, which has been combined with an ANN as an obstacle detector, is that the smaller the horizon value, the shorter the time needed to reach the desired coordinates with the result being 45 seconds.

Nipple Day

Nipple Day

Optimizing and designing a leg shape to increase robustness of a running robot on rough terrain

The superior ability of dynamic legged locomotion in traversing rough terrain relative to wheeled or tracked mechanisms comes with the cost of fragile stability. Simple control methods that use only a few basic detection sensors and apply a single controller help robots keep their balance when traversing unforeseen rough terrain. Exploiting multiple controllers simultaneously, such as the free leg length and stiffness in our hopping monopod, can further improve robustness but is often mechanically hard to implement. This work demonstrates that a curved leg shape can improve the robustness of a robot to perturbations in both terrain levels and initial horizontal velocity without complicating the control scheme. Our work develops spring loaded inverted pendulum (SLIP) based models that manifest the coupling of the leg’s parameters and capture the rolling motion. We use these models to find an optimal combination of parameters that maximizes a measure for long-term stability−reaching a desired relative height above terrain. We demonstrate that when traversing unknown rough terrain, such optimal coupling can increase robustness to perturbations in the initial horizontal velocity by 93% relative to the optimal conventional SLIP model. We further demonstrate our results in experiments.

“You Gotta Accentuate the Positive”: Japanese American Affirmation and Resilience in The Camp Dance: The Music and the Memories

“You Gotta Accentuate the Positive”: Japanese American Affirmation and Resilience in <i>The Camp Dance: The Music and the Memories</i>

Effect of subsoiler plow leg shape, tillage depth, and tractor speed on some of field Performance Indicators and yield of oats

A field experiment was carried out in the College of the Agriculture / University of Basra to study the effect of four types of subsoiler leg shapes, three tillage depths, and three tractor speeds in draft force, slip percentage, fuel consumption, and mean weight diameter (MWD). A randomized complete block design was used in a factorial experiment for data analysis. The results showed that the serrated edge of 45-degree angle surpassed on straight, serrated edge, 70-degree angle serrated edge, and curved in oat yield by a percentage of 2.4,18 and,21% respectively. However, serrated edge of 45-degree angle recorded less draft force, lower slip percentage, fuel consumption, and main weight mean diameter while the highest values of the previous characteristics were for the straight edge. The results showed that increasing tillage depth led to increasing slip percentage, fuel consumption, and draft force, also the previous characteristic increased with increasing forward speed. It was concluded that the best combination was obtained when using a 45-degree angle serrated edge and the speed of 2.34 km / h which gave the lowest fuel consumption of 8.11 liters/ha. Also, the 45-degree angle serrated edge at 10 cm tillage depth gave the lower fuel consumption of 8.78 liters/ha. Keywords: Subsoiler legs, draft force, fuel consumption, slip percentage, mean weight diameter, oat.

Study of the Physical and Physiological Response of the Madura as a Breeding Source (Case Study in Waru Sub-District, Pamekasan District)

The study aimed to determine the physical and physiological response of the Madura bull as a breeding source. This study used 30 Madura bulls aged &gt;12-24 months at Waru Sub District, Pamekasan District. The physical evaluation was performed including qualitative and quantitative characteristics. Physiological response was evaluated based on rectal temperature, respiration rate, and pulse rate. Physiological status measurements were carried out in the morning, day, and afternoon. This study used descriptive methods and direct observation. The results showed that qualitative characteristics of Madura bulls including color, ear shape, horn, tail tip warrants, back shape, leg shape and muzzle color already followed the SNI standards for the Madura beef cattle. According to quantitative characteristics, Madura bulls have 157 cm ± 12,6 chest circumference, 121 cm ± 10,8 body length, and 118,83 cm ± 7,21 height on average. These measurements were above the minimum standards set by SNI for the Madura beef cattle. The average temperature rectal of Madura Bull in the morning, day and afternoon were 37.5⁰ C ± 0,46, 38.6⁰ C ± 0,49 and 38.2⁰C ± 0,42 respectively. The average pulse rate of Madura Bull in the morning, day and afternoon were 60.8 ± 0,37, 68.6 ± 4,01, and 65.6 ± 0,67 times per minute respectively. Respiration rate of Madura Bull in the morning, day and afternoon were 19 ± 0,25, 35.6 ± 2,11 and 25.7 ± 0,67 times per minute. Generally, the physiological status of Madura Bull including temperature rectal, pulse rate, and respiration rate were in normal conditions.&#x0D; Keywords: Madura Cattle, Bull, Physical, Physiological Response

Geometric optimization for the thermoelectric generator with variable cross-section legs by coupling finite element method and optimization algorithm

Recently, several kinds of variable cross-section legs have been reported to improve the performance of thermoelectric generators (TEGs). This work further proposes an optimization study to maximize the output power of variable cross-section TEGs for solar energy utilization by coupling finite element method (FEM) and optimization algorithm. Six geometric variables along with the external load resistance are optimized by genetic algorithm (GA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO). Besides, Joule heating, Peltier effect, and Thomson effect are considered in the numerical model to improve the simulation accuracy. Optimization results show that distributions of the thermal resistance and the electrical resistance are significantly changed when the volumes of thermoelectric material remain constant. The optimized leg shape increases the temperature gradient in the high figure of merit (ZT) region by reducing the cross-section area. Although internal resistances of optimal TEGs are greater than those of rectangular TEGs, the improvement in electromotive force results in the enhancement of electrical performance. At heat flux of 35000 W m−2, 40000 W m−2, 45000 W m−2, and 50000 W m−2, temperature differences of optimal TEGs are increased by 12.77%, 18.36%, 41.93%, and 73.14%, while output powers are improved by 1.45%, 2.13%, 9.33%, and 20.13%, respectively.

Performance improvement of variable-angle annular thermoelectric generators considering different boundary conditions

Practical applications of thermoelectric generators are impeded by their low thermoelectric conversion efficiency, and improving the efficiency is vital for the advancements of thermoelectric technology. In this paper, a novel method is proposed for the performance analysis and improvement of the annular thermoelectric generators with variable-angle PN legs (VATEGs). The influence of the PN leg angle on the output performance of the VATEG is investigated by introducing an angle function. Given the volume of the PN legs, the relationship of output performance between the VATEG and traditional constant-angle ATEG (CATEG) is established under different boundary conditions based on a proposed generic model of VATEG. The results are verified numerically using the finite element method. Using the model, it is shown that the output performance of the VATEG is significantly affected by the shape of the PN leg. Finally, the thermal stress on the PN leg is next investigated using a high-fidelity 3D model of the variable-angle PN legs implemented in COMSOL, and it is found that the shape difference has a considerable influence on the thermal stability of VATEG. Under the condition of constant heat flux on the hot side and constant temperature on the cold side of the thermoelectric modules, it shows that when the radius factor is 2, the output performance can be improved by 35% with the designed VATEG, at the expense of 30% higher maximum thermal stress on the PN legs.

The art design of industrialised manufacturing furniture products based on the simulation of mathematical curves

Abstract After a lot of literature reading and practical research, the paper uses the parametric modelling method of curve simulation characteristic line to establish the mathematical model of the furniture product leg shape. This article first uses the surface construction method to analyse the composition of the leg size of the industrialised production and manufacture of furniture products, and makes the solid modelling according to the construction method of non-uniform rational spline mathematical curve and surface simulation. At the same time, the parameter function of furniture leg type is set on SolidWorks, and the research results obtained in the paper are found by simulation, which opens up a new research path for the application of mathematical curve model in furniture design.