Movement In Daily Life Research Articles

Active Braking of Whole-Arm Reaching Movements Provides Single-Trial Neuromuscular Measures of Movement Cancellation.

Movement inhibition is an aspect of executive control that can be studied using the countermanding paradigm, wherein subjects try to cancel an impending movement following presentation of a stop signal. This paradigm permits estimation of the stop-signal reaction time or the time needed to respond to the stop signal. Numerous countermanding studies have examined fast, ballistic movements, such as saccades, even though many movements in daily life are not ballistic and can be stopped at any point during their trajectory. A benefit of studying the control of nonballistic movements is that antagonist muscle recruitment, which serves to actively brake a movement, presumably arises in response to the stop signal. Here, nine human participants (2 female) performed a center-out whole-arm reaching task with a countermanding component, while we recorded the activity of upper-limb muscles contributing to movement generation and braking. The data show a clear response on antagonist muscles to a stop signal, even for movements that have barely begun. As predicted, the timing of such antagonist recruitment relative to the stop signal covaried with conventional estimates of the stop-signal reaction time, both within and across subjects. The timing of antagonist muscle recruitment also attested to a rapid reprioritization of movement inhibition, with antagonist latencies decreasing across sequences consisting of repeated stop trials; such reprioritization also scaled with error magnitude. We conclude that antagonist muscle recruitment arises as a manifestation of a stopping process, providing a novel, accessible, and within-trial measure of the stop-signal reaction time.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The countermanding or stop-signal paradigm permits estimation of how quickly subjects cancel an impending movement. Traditionally, this paradigm has been studied using simple movements, such as saccadic eye movements or button presses. Here, by measuring upper limb muscle activity while human subjects countermand whole-arm reaching movements, we show that movement cancellation often involves prominent recruitment of antagonist muscles that serves to actively brake the movement, even on movements that have barely begun. The timing of antagonist muscle recruitment correlates with traditional estimates of movement cancellation. Because they can be detected on a single-trial basis, muscle-based measures may provide a new way of characterizing movement cancellation at an unprecedented within-trial resolution.

Exploration of the Historical and Cultural Aspects of “Yuanchangbu” in Chinese Classical Dance

The main purpose of this paper is to explore and analyze the unknown Chinese emotions hidden behind the movement “Yuanchangbu,” and to find out the meaning behind it from a cultural and historical viewpoint. We will rediscover some of the silences in history and restore the psychology, emotion and movement of Chinese classical dance. Therefore, this paper will, firstly, set “Yuanchangbu” as a clue through which to explore how the movement in daily life developed into the movement of Chinese classical dance.
 Furthermore, due to the impact of ancient Chinese foot binding culture on the formation of “Yuanchangbu”, this paper, based on research of the movement, will also explore the era of foot binding. We will understand the changing progress of Chinese men and women’s lifestyle from the era of the natural-foot to foot binding. And at this moment trigger further thought on the culture and style of Chinese traditional dance by the “foot-binding culture.”

Sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit assistance for paraplegic patients with CUHK-EXO exoskeleton

SUMMARYIn this paper, we introduce a lower extremity exoskeleton CUHK-EXO that is developed to help paraplegic patients, who have lost the motor and sensory functions of their lower limbs to perform basic daily life motions. Since the sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit (STS) motion is the first step for paraplegic patients toward walking, analysis of the exoskeleton's applicability to the STS motion assistance is performed. First, the human-exoskeleton system (HES) is modeled as a five-link model during the STS motion, and the center of pressure (COP) on the ground and center of gravity of the whole system are calculated. Then, a description of the CUHK-EXO hardware design is presented, including the mechatronics design and actuator selection. The COP position is an important factor indicating system balance and wearer's comfort. Based on the COP position, a trajectory online modification algorithm (TOMA) is proposed for CUHK-EXO to counteract disturbances, stabilize system balance, and improve the wearer's comfort in the STS motion. The results of STS motion tests conducted with a paraplegic patient demonstrate that CUHK-EXO can provide a normal reference pattern and proper assistive torque to support the patient's STS motion. In addition, a pilot study is conducted with a healthy subject to verify the effectiveness of the proposed TOMA under external disturbances before future clinical trials. The testing results verify that CUHK-EXO can counteract disturbances, and help the wearer perform the STS motion safely and comfortably.

A control-oriented dynamic model for sit-to-stand motion with fixed support

Establishing a validated dynamic model for human daily life movements is a crucial step in designing assistive devices for people with disabilities. Sit-to-stand motion with fixed support is a freq...

Three-Dimensional Continuous Conductive Nanostructure for Highly Sensitive and Stretchable Strain Sensor.

The demand for wearable strain gauges that can detect dynamic human motions is growing in the area of healthcare technology. However, the realization of efficient sensing materials for effective detection of human motions in daily life is technically challenging due to the absence of the optimally designed electrode. Here, we propose a novel concept for overcoming the intrinsic limits of conventional strain sensors based on planar electrodes by developing highly periodic and three-dimensional (3D) bicontinuous nanoporous electrodes. We create a 3D bicontinuous nanoporous electrode by constructing conductive percolation networks along the surface of porous 3D nanostructured poly(dimethylsiloxane) with single-walled carbon nanotubes. The 3D structural platform allows fabrication of a strain sensor with robust properties such as a gauge factor of up to 134 at a tensile strain of 40%, a widened detection range of up to 160%, and a cyclic property of over 1000 cycles. Collectively, this study provides new design opportunities for a highly efficient sensing system that finely captures human motions, including phonations and joint movements.

Ecological relations are affective relations: the Xinguan Kaiabi and the proximity with the Teles Pires River (southeastern Amazonia, Brazil)

ABSTRACTThis article reflects mainly on the attachment relationships construed by the Kaiabi indigenous people from Xingu Park (southeastern Amazonia, Brazil) with the particular environment of the Teles Pires River valley, a region in which they used to dwell in the past. Even 50 years after they were forced to relocate to a new environment – Xingu Park – the Kaiabi have found creative and powerful strategies – that go beyond material subsistence – to renew and preserve their affective connection of practical engagement with their old sacred places, despite being physically distant to them. Based on interviews with the Elders, and the experience of participating in the daily life movements of the young Kaiabi, and observing the importance of the paths traced by their ancestors, I propose to analyze how new generations of Kaiabi give meaning to their lives by using elements that connect mind and body to affirm their ethnic identity in close association with the environment of the Teles Pires River valley.

Study of the Relationship Between Sit-to-Stand Activity and Seat Orientation

Sit-to-stand (STS) activity from a chair is an important motion in daily life. Some commercial products assist with STS activity in toilet use. These products control seat orientation by changing three parameters, i.e., seat height, tilt, and shift in a forward-backward direction. The reason for selection of these three parameters for seat orientation control has not been reported. Moreover, there are no reports on the best combination of these parameters. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the relationship between ease of STS activity and seat orientation during STS activity. We found that seat tilting provided good support for STS activity when the seat was in a high position (0.55 m), and shifting the seat forward provided good support for STS activity when the seat was higher than 0.45–0.55 m.

Development, Validity and Reliability of the Londrina Activities of Daily Living Protocol for Subjects With COPD.

To avoid symptoms, patients with COPD may reduce the amount of activities of daily living (ADL). Therefore, the aim of the present study was to develop a standardized protocol to evaluate ADL performance in subjects with COPD (Londrina ADL protocol) and to assess the validity and reliability of the protocol in this population. The Londrina ADL protocol was created based on activities included in previous studies aimed at investigating outcomes from ADL. Activities were included in the protocol because they could represent other activities of similar patterns and because they could be actually performed, not simulated. Twenty subjects with COPD (12 men, 70 ± 7 y old, FEV1 = 54 ± 15% predicted) wore 2 motion sensors while performing the protocol 4 times, 2 of them wearing a portable gas analyzer. Subjects were also submitted to assessments of lung function, functional exercise capacity, functional status, impact on health status, and physical activity in daily life. The Londrina ADL protocol comprised of 5 activities representing ADL, involving upper limbs, lower limbs, and trunk movements. Londrina ADL protocol duration presented high values of intraclass correlation coefficient, even using a mask for gas analysis (intraclass correlation coefficient >0.90, P < .001). Intensity of movement during the protocol performance was highly correlated to intensity of movement in daily life (r = 0.71). The protocol duration was correlated with functional status and impact on health status variables from questionnaires (0.36 ≤ r ≤ 0.59). There was also correlation between functional exercise capacity and the protocol duration (r = -0.64). The Londrina ADL protocol was a valid and reliable protocol to evaluate ADL performance in subjects with COPD. It is a protocol that can be used in clinical practice and in future studies to investigate ADL outcomes, including those studies that require gas analysis and the wearing of a mask.

Generalized Models for the Classification of Abnormal Movements in Daily Life and its Applicability to Epilepsy Convulsion Recognition.

The identification and the modeling of epilepsy convulsions during everyday life using wearable devices would enhance patient anamnesis and monitoring. The psychology of the epilepsy patient penalizes the use of user-driven modeling, which means that the probability of identifying convulsions is driven through generalized models. Focusing on clonic convulsions, this pre-clinical study proposes a method for generating a type of model that can evaluate the generalization capabilities. A realistic experimentation with healthy participants is performed, each with a single 3D accelerometer placed on the most affected wrist. Unlike similar studies reported in the literature, this proposal makes use of [Formula: see text] cross-validation scheme, in order to evaluate the generalization capabilities of the models. Event-based error measurements are proposed instead of classification-error measurements, to evaluate the generalization capabilities of the model, and Fuzzy Systems are proposed as the generalization modeling technique. Using this method, the experimentation compares the most common solutions in the literature, such as Support Vector Machines, [Formula: see text]-Nearest Neighbors, Decision Trees and Fuzzy Systems. The event-based error measurement system records the results, penalizing those models that raise false alarms. The results showed the good generalization capabilities of Fuzzy Systems.

Continuous Aerobic Training in Individualized Intensity Avoids Spontaneous Physical Activity Decline and Improves MCT1 Expression in Oxidative Muscle of Swimming Rats.

Although aerobic training has been shown to affect the lactate transport of skeletal muscle, there is no information concerning the effect of continuous aerobic training on spontaneous physical activity (SPA). Because every movement in daily life (i.e., SPA) is generated by skeletal muscle, we think that it is possible that an improvement of SPA could affect the physiological properties of muscle with regard to lactate transport. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of 12 weeks of continuous aerobic training in individualized intensity on SPA of rats and their gene expressions of monocarboxylate transporters (MCT) 1 and 4 in soleus (oxidative) and white gastrocnemius (glycolytic) muscles. We also analyzed the effect of continuous aerobic training on aerobic and anaerobic parameters using the lactate minimum test (LMT). Sixty-day-old rats were randomly divided into three groups: a baseline group in which rats were evaluated prior to initiation of the study; a control group (Co) in which rats were kept without any treatment during 12 weeks; and a chronic exercise group (Tr) in which rats swam for 40 min/day, 5 days/week at 80% of anaerobic threshold during 12 weeks. After the experimental period, SPA of rats was measured using a gravimetric method. Rats had their expression of MCTs determined by RT-PCR analysis. In essence, aerobic training is effective in maintaining SPA, but did not prevent the decline of aerobic capacity and anaerobic performance, leading us to propose that the decline of SPA is not fully attributed to a deterioration of physical properties. Changes in SPA were concomitant with changes in MCT1 expression in the soleus muscle of trained rats, suggestive of an additional adaptive response toward increased lactate clearance. This result is in line with our observation showing a better equilibrium on lactate production-remotion during the continuous exercise (LMT). We propose an approach to combat the decline of SPA of rats in their home cages. This new finding is worth for scientists who work with animal models to study the protective effects of exercise.

Objective Evaluation of the Quality of Movement in Daily Life after Stroke.

Stroke survivors are commonly left with disabilities that impair activities of daily living. The main objective of their rehabilitation program is to maximize the functional performance at home. However, the actual performance of patients in their home environment is unknown. Therefore, objective evaluation of daily life activities of stroke survivors in their physical interaction with the environment is essential for optimal guidance of rehabilitation therapy. Monitoring daily life movements could be very challenging, as it may result in large amounts of data, without any context. Therefore, suitable metrics are necessary to quantify relevant aspects of movement performance during daily life. The objective of this study is to develop data processing methods, which can be used to process movement data into relevant metrics for the evaluation of intra-patient differences in quality of movements in a daily life setting. Based on an iterative requirement process, functional and technical requirements were formulated. These were prioritized resulting in a coherent set of metrics. An activity monitor was developed to give context to captured movement data at home. Finally, the metrics will be demonstrated in two stroke participants during and after their rehabilitation phases. By using the final set of metrics, quality of movement can be evaluated in a daily life setting. As example to demonstrate potential of presented methods, data of two stroke patients were successfully analyzed. Differences between in-clinic measurements and measurements during daily life are observed by applying the presented metrics and visualization methods. Heel height profiles show intra-patient differences in height, distance, stride profile, and variability between strides during a 10-m walk test in the clinic and walking at home. Differences in distance and stride profile between both feet were larger at home, than in clinic. For the upper extremities, the participant was able to reach further away from the pelvis and cover a larger area. Presented methods can be used for the objective evaluation of intra-patient differences in movement quality between in-clinic and daily life measurements. Any observed progression or deterioration of movement quality could be used to decide on continuing, stopping, or adjusting rehabilitation programs.

振動刺激を用いた認知アシスト時の動作補正に関する基礎研究

In order to assist the daily life motion of physically weak parson, such as elderly parsons, many kinds of power-assist robot has been developed. Because not only physical ability but also perception ability to surrounding environment is sometimes deteriorated in the case of elderly persons, the power-assist robot which has perception-assist function has been proposed. This robot can automatically modify the user's motion when the robot detects a possibility of accident such as collision between the user and some obstacles. In this study, a new perception-assist method is investigated. It is known that kinesthetic illusion is generated and subject feel as if his antagonist muscle is elongated when a vibration stimulation is added to tendon of the antagonist muscle. This feeling makes a misinterpretation of subject's vibrated body parts. Therefore, there is a possibility to change the user's motion by using this misinterpretation. In this study, vibration stimulation is added to biceps brachii with various vibration stimulation. The experimental results of these experiments suggest that it is possible to control human motion by using vibration stimulation.

Multisegmental fusion of the lumbar spine a curse or a blessing?

Abstract Excessive mechanical load of the spinal structures during unfavorable movements in daily life can lead to degenerative damages especially of the lumbar spine. If the affected structures are damaged in such a way that conventional therapy does not improve the situation, often a surgery is unavoidable. One surgical method is the fusion of the affected spinal segments. In particularly difficult cases, the fusion may even extend over more than one functional spinal unit. An appropriate method for the estimation of the biomechanical effects of such interventions to adjacent vertebral segments is the computer simulation. This paper presents a 3D-MultiBodySimulation(MBS-) model of the lumbar spine with realistic surfaces and included intersegmental discs as well as ligamental structures. For these elements the physical behavior like force-deformation relations and characteristic curves for the torque-angle relations are formulated. The facet joints are modeled as cartilage, in order to simulate the contact between the corresponding articular surfaces. With this simulation, the effects of mono- and multisegmental fusions to the lumbar structures can be analyzed. The comparison of the simulations shows a redistribution of loads within the intervertebral discs. In the simulation case of monosegmental spinal fusion, the intervertebral disc below the fused segment are more loaded than in the simulated healthy state. The validation of the model was carried out by comparing the results with FE-simulations, various of vitro experiments and experimental data from biomedical literature.

Generalization and transfer of contextual cues in motor learning.

We continuously adapt our movements in daily life, forming new internal models whenever necessary and updating existing ones. Recent work has suggested that this flexibility is enabled via sensorimotor cues, serving to access the correct internal model whenever necessary and keeping new models apart from previous ones. While research to date has mainly focused on identifying the nature of such cue representations, here we investigated whether and how these cue representations generalize, interfere, and transfer within and across effector systems. Subjects were trained to make two-stage reaching movements: a premovement that served as a cue, followed by a targeted movement that was perturbed by one of two opposite curl force fields. The direction of the premovement was uniquely coupled to the direction of the ensuing force field, enabling simultaneous learning of the two respective internal models. After training, generalization of the two premovement cues' representations was tested at untrained premovement directions, within both the trained and untrained hand. We show that the individual premovement representations generalize in a Gaussian-like pattern around the trained premovement direction. When the force fields are of unequal strengths, the cue-dependent generalization skews toward the strongest field. Furthermore, generalization patterns transfer to the nontrained hand, in an extrinsic reference frame. We conclude that contextual cues do not serve as discrete switches between multiple internal models. Instead, their generalization suggests a weighted contribution of the associated internal models based on the angular separation from the trained cues to the net motor output.

Motion control of bicycle-riding exoskeleton robot with interactive force analysis

Exoskeleton robots are used to augment human power to perform difficult tasks. These robots can generate eternal load on human muscles as training devices. In this paper, a lower-limb training device using exoskeleton is developed for muscle power augmentation during cyclic motion. A control system determines augmenting power on the human leg during pedaling motion based on the calculation of muscle activity timing. The resulting power of the exoskeleton assists cycling motion as a rehabilitation system or applies mechanical load on the leg muscles as a training system. Measurement of interaction force by the load cell on each pedal determines admittance control signal. Experiments to assist bicycle riding motion using the developed exoskeleton were conducted. From the interaction force analysis, the sources of errors in the motion control are found, and the application-specific problems are discussed. Given that the exoskeleton robot can control hip and knee joint independently, the proposed system can be extended for assisting various motions in daily life, including walking rehabilitation.

Development of an elbow-supporting device to assist standing-up motion

In modern-day Japanese society, which is an aging society, an important issue is how to maintain the physical strength of elderly people. There are many studies to develop devices assisting with standing-up motion, because standing-up motion is a most important motion in daily life. Most of these studies suggested the devices to be placed in front of user’s body or be used on the premise that a user balances between the right body and left body. And, they can assist standing-up motion effectively but their sizes are too large. One of the reasons why they cannot have been put into practical use seems to be that they are used with limiting a mounting location and interfere in the other motions of users. Therefore, we suggest an elbow-supporting device to assist standing-up motion, because we noticed that posture where an elbow is leaned on is generally comfortable and make user’s upper body stable with supporting weight. And we developed a support device consisting of an armrest with two degrees of freedom. Using this device, a user can apply a load not to lower limbs but to the armrest with user’s one elbow. This device on handrails is space-saving and doesn’t interfere in the other motion of users. In this paper, we measured the surface electromyography (EMG) of three subjects’ rectus under two conditions: not using any device and using the developed device. As the result, there is significant difference in the reduction in rectus femoris muscle activity when using the device. And we examined the suitable initial posture using this device and found that bending forward and tilting to an armrest are suitable initial posture. As a consequence, it was found that the suggested device can reduce the activity of lower limbs of a subject in that specific initial condition. Finally, in spite of a compact size of device, we showed a certain effect to assist standing-up motion in use an elbow-supporting device.

Implementation Of Project Based Learning Through Making A Video As The Alternative Assignment and Its Effect Toward Motivation and Comprehension of Students in SMA MADANIA BOGOR

This research originated from the interviewing between the researcher as a physics teacher to some students about Physics assignments. Based on the interview, student felt so bored in doing their assignment and have no motivation in finishing it. Because there is no motivation in doing the assignment therefore the understanding of the students could not be increasing. Based on Curtis (2009:1) that motivation of the students could be increased by implementing Project Based learning (PBL). This research tried to see the influence of PBL toward the motivation and the understanding of the students. In this assignment students are asked to making a video about the application of Newton’s law of Motion in daily Life. From this video students analyzing why do the video can categorize as the application of Newton’s Law of Motion in daily Life. In making the video as the project, students are guided by the rubric, the timeline and also the goal of the project. Students have to finish their project in fifteen days, and teacher scored their project based on two criteria: the contents and presentation. Ten best video would be shown in front of the whole students in an event in the school. To see the understanding and the motivation of the students after finishing the project, the teacher gave the test and also the questionnaire about the project and their comprehension of Newton’s Law of Motion. According to the questionnaire we can see that more than 60% of the students agree that the project can increase their motivation and also their understanding. The increasing of students comprehension can be seen from the test that given to students. From this research we can inferred that project base learning can stimulus student’s motivation and also the understanding.

Effect of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Movement Variability in Repetitive - Simple Tapping Task

Purpose: Accuracy and variability of movement in daily life require synchronization of muscular activities through a specific chronological order of motor performance, which is controlled by higher neural substrates and/or lower motor centers. We attempted to investigate whether transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over primary sensorimotor areas (SM1) could influence movement variability in healthy subjects, using a tapping task. Methods: Twenty six right-handed healthy subjects with no neurological or psychiatric disorders participated in this study. They were randomly and equally assigned to the real tDCS group or sham control group. Direct current with intensity of 1 mA was delivered over their right SM1 for 15 minutes. For estimation of movement variability before and after tDCS, tapping task was measured, and variability was calculated as standard deviation of the inter-tap interval (SD-ITI). Results: At the baseline test, there was no significant difference in SD-ITI between the two groups. In two-way ANOVA with repeated measurement no significant differences were found in a large main effect of group and interaction effect between two main factors (i.e., group factor and time factor (pre-post test)). However, significant findings were observed in a large main effect of the pre-post test. Conclusion: Our findings showed that the anodal tDCS over SM1 for 15 minutes with intensity of 1 mA could enhance consistency of motor execution in a repetitive-simple tapping task. We suggest that tDCS has potential as an adjuvant brain facilitator for improving rhythm and consistency of movement in healthy individuals.

Decoding of human hand actions to handle missing limbs in neuroprosthetics.

The only way we can interact with the world is through movements, and our primary interactions are via the hands, thus any loss of hand function has immediate impact on our quality of life. However, to date it has not been systematically assessed how coordination in the hand's joints affects every day actions. This is important for two fundamental reasons. Firstly, to understand the representations and computations underlying motor control “in-the-wild” situations, and secondly to develop smarter controllers for prosthetic hands that have the same functionality as natural limbs. In this work we exploit the correlation structure of our hand and finger movements in daily-life. The novelty of our idea is that instead of averaging variability out, we take the view that the structure of variability may contain valuable information about the task being performed. We asked seven subjects to interact in 17 daily-life situations, and quantified behavior in a principled manner using CyberGlove body sensor networks that, after accurate calibration, track all major joints of the hand. Our key findings are: (1) We confirmed that hand control in daily-life tasks is very low-dimensional, with four to five dimensions being sufficient to explain 80–90% of the variability in the natural movement data. (2) We established a universally applicable measure of manipulative complexity that allowed us to measure and compare limb movements across tasks. We used Bayesian latent variable models to model the low-dimensional structure of finger joint angles in natural actions. (3) This allowed us to build a naïve classifier that within the first 1000 ms of action initiation (from a flat hand start configuration) predicted which of the 17 actions was going to be executed—enabling us to reliably predict the action intention from very short-time-scale initial data, further revealing the foreseeable nature of hand movements for control of neuroprosthetics and tele operation purposes. (4) Using the Expectation-Maximization algorithm on our latent variable model permitted us to reconstruct with high accuracy (<5–6° MAE) the movement trajectory of missing fingers by simply tracking the remaining fingers. Overall, our results suggest the hypothesis that specific hand actions are orchestrated by the brain in such a way that in the natural tasks of daily-life there is sufficient redundancy and predictability to be directly exploitable for neuroprosthetics.

Proposition of a protocol to evaluate upper-extremity functional deficits and compensation mechanisms: application to elbow contracture

ObjectiveInstrumented gait analysis is widely acceptedas an objective assessment of lower-extremity function. Conversely, upper-extremity function suffers from lack of objective evaluation. The present paper aims at proposing a protocol to be used to clinically and objectively evaluate upper-extremity function whatever the pathological joint. Secondly, it aims at better understanding the consequences on upper-extremity function and the compensation mechanisms induced by elbow contracture. Elbow contracture was simulated in this study by using a brace. DesignTwelve healthy subjects followed an instrumented3D movement analysis while performing 11 daily life movements. The movements were performed with 3 differentelbow contracture conditions, simulated by wearing an adjustable elbow brace. ResultsThe proposed protocol was successful in creatinga wide range of motion at all the upper-extremity joints. The activity-related range of motion and the mean range of motion computed on the whole set of daily life movements were effective in evaluating the severity of elbow contracture. The lack of elbow flexion was compensated by trunk flexion, hand flexion and radial deviation, and combined movement of shoulder flexion, abduction, and humeral internal rotation. Deficit in elbow extension was mainly compensated by the use of trunk flexion. ConclusionsA protocol could be proposed for the objectiveevaluation of upper-extremity function. Its application to elbow contracture suggests that loss of elbow flexion affects more movements than loss of elbow extension.