Sequential Motions Research Articles

Fragility Analysis of Masonry Structures Subjected to Random Sequential Ground Motions

In this study, a fragility analysis of masonry structures is conducted using a random sequential ground motion model. Initially, the relationship between a mainshock and its aftershocks is clarified based on the physical mechanism of “source-path-local site”. Building on this, the random sequential ground motion model is developed by integrating a point-source model with a homogeneous isotropic medium model. A five-story masonry structure model is then constructed in ABAQUS (6.14), and its accuracy is validated through experimental testing. Following this, 21 sets of random sequential ground motions are generated. Using the Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA) method, 1260 nonlinear response samples of the structure under varying sequential ground motions are obtained, providing an insight into the fragility of the masonry structure subjected to these ground motions.

Liquid Dynamics in the Upper Respiratory–Digestive System with Contracting Pharynx Motions and Varying Epiglottis Angles

Swallowing disorders, or dysphagia, can lead to bolus aspiration in the airway, causing serious adverse health effects. Current clinical interventions for dysphagia are mainly empirical and often based on symptoms rather than etiology, of which a thorough understanding is still lacking. However, it is challenging to study the swallowing process that involves sequential structural motions and is inaccessible to standard visualization instruments. This study proposed an in vitro method to visualize swallowing hydrodynamics and identify the fundamental mechanisms underlying overflow aspirations. An anatomically accurate pharynx–epiglottis model was developed from patient-specific CT images of 623 µm isotropic resolution. A compliant half-pharynx cast was prepared to incorporate dynamic structures and visualize the flow dynamics in the mid-sagittal plane. Three locations of frequent overflow aspiration were identified: the epiglottis base, cuneiform tubular recesses, and the interarytenoid notch. Water had a consistently higher aspiration risk than a 1% w/v methylcellulose (MC) solution. The contracting–relaxing pharynx and flapping epiglottis spread the liquid film, causing a delayed esophageal entry and increased vallecular residual, which was more pronounced with the MC solution. Dispensing the liquid too slowly resulted in water aspiration, whereas this was not observed with the MC solution. An incomplete epiglottis inversion, such as horizontal or down-tilt 45°, aggravated the aspiration risks of water. This study suggests that it is practical to use anatomically accurate respiratory–digestive models to study the swallowing process by incorporating varying physiological details.

Seismic Response of Vertical Hybrid Concrete/Steel Frames Considering Soil–Structure Interaction

The aim of this study is to investigate the seismic behavior of concrete/steel mixed structures. In engineering praxis, many buildings consist of two parts: one made of reinforced concrete and the other made of steel. There are several difficulties in the code-based seismic design of these structures due to the different dynamic responses of each discrete part. Seismic design codes, such as the IBC and Eurocode 8, do not provide instructions for structures consisting of two parts. In addition, they use a single-loading scenario, but there are many locations that are affected by more than one earthquake in a short period. Another drawback is that recent provisions do not consider soil–structure interaction effects. The specific issue addressed here is the seismic response of mixed structures, which is evaluated through inelastic time–history analysis. More specifically, the response indices involve height-wise distributions for peak interstory drift ratios, maximum floor horizontal displacements, maximum floor accelerations, and plastic hinge formations in the frame elements when they are subjected to seismic sequences of earthquakes, as well as in far fault ground motions for different soil types. The results reveal that sequential ground motions lead to increased displacement demands, and they affect the permanent displacements. This phenomenon appears in both cases of stiff and flexible soil, as well as for both regular and irregular frames. It is found that soil–structure interaction generally leads to lower values of IDR, and maximum horizontal displacement and acceleration in comparison with the case of rigid soil assumptions.

Evaluation of the efficacy of a simulation model used in oral and maxillofacial surgery education

BackgroundThe traditional teaching methods of dental education are gradually being replaced with futuristic education methods based on the usage of educational tools such as mannequin-based simulation models and virtual reality. However, the effectiveness of mannequin-based simulation models as a learning method in the field of oral surgery remains unclear. This study aims to investigate the efficacy of training on a tooth extraction model (TEM) in view of undergraduate dental students’ experience and perception of their education.MethodsA quasi-experimental trial was implemented with two consecutive year classes, totaling 136 students at the Dentistry Faculty of Altinbas University, Turkiye. Two cohorts were created from dental students in the classes of 2023 and 2022 graduates. Cohort 1 (n = 71) received 14 h of theoretical education followed by 10 h of preclinical education on TEM. Cohort 2 (n = 65) received only 14 h of theoretical education. An anonymous questionnaire was prepared with four main sections including the preferences of learning style, participants’ perceptions of the preclinical training methods, the students’ competency and free text comments. Students’ opinions were quantified with both 7-point Likert scales and thematic analysis. Anxiety levels were measured with the interval scale of anxiety response (ISAR). Descriptive statistics, inferential statistical and thematic analyses were conducted according to survey responses. Student characteristics were summarized and compared for two cohorts using a t-test. For all statistical analyses, the significance level was set atP ≤ 0.05.ResultCohort 1 was more comfortable with sequential motions performed with the forceps (P = 0.033) and felt more ready for their first clinical tooth extraction experience (P = 0.028). Cohort 2 showed a significantly higher preference for textbooks among supplementary materials (P = 0.04); however, they tended to exhibit lower self-confidence and higher anxiety levels, though without any statistical significance (P > 0.05).ConclusionIt is clear that the students who have yet to start seeing patients benefit from increased practice with training models, which adequately reflect and represent real-life situations encountered in everyday practice.

Response of embankment on liquefiable soil to sequential ground motions considering mitigation measures

The present study focused on gravel berm and stone column improvement techniques for mitigating the effects of liquefaction for an embankment resting on liquefiable ground. Three-dimensional finite element models are developed to evaluate the effectiveness of two countermeasure techniques for embankments resting on liquefiable soil. Three different embankment models are considered in this study as benchmark embankment model (BM), gravel berm embankment model (GBM), and stone column mitigation model (SCM). Foundation soil has been modeled using an elasto-plastic effective stress-based UBC3D-PLM model. Initially, the behaviour of three different embankment models (BM, GBM, and SCM) are evaluated under varying amplitude of cyclic input motion. Later, a seismic study is carried out considering 10 sequential earthquake motions to assess the effect of the aftershock following the main shock event. It can be seen that even small amplitude aftershocks can develop a high excess pore pressure ratio in the foundation soil, especially below the embankment toe. Moreover, a linear correlation has been observed between the input motion Arias intensity and the intensity at the embankment crest. In an overall observation, stone column mitigation was found to be a sound mitigation approach.

Phase-Based Quantification of Sports Performance Metrics Using a Smart IoT Sensor

Sports performance is often judged based on the results of a series of motions rather than observing and analyzing the detailed sequential motions that lead to the results. Hence, subjective feedback from the coaches is often ineffective in improving player performance. In this work, we custom-built a smart Internet-of-Things wristband motion sensor to implement data-based sports performance evaluation. A phase-based feature selection method is also proposed to assess the athletes sequential detailed motion for selected sport activities. To demonstrate the merits of this technology, we quantified the quality of the sequential motions of a specific type of volleyball-serve by analyzing 183 samples of motion data obtained from a total of 18 players. The general skill levels (i.e., elite, sub-elite, and amateur) of the players were identified by machine learning algorithms, with accuracies of up to 95%. Moreover, we adopted biomechanical principles to extract 11 motion-related performance metrics from various phases of the players serve motion. We identified the distributions of these metrics across different skill levels and found 8 key metrics that were highly correlated to the skill level of a players. We suggest that these metric distributions can be used as a reference for providing feedback to the coaches and players, to improve a players skill in the future. This phased-based analysis method can potentially be applied across many sports to increase the effectiveness of athletes training.

Single-Actuated Camshaft Robot With Multiple Sequential Motions

Abstract Pipeline inspection in unknown environments is challenging for robots, and various in-pipe crawling robots have been developed in recent years to perform pipeline inspection. Most of these robots comprise multiple parts and require multiple actuators to realize the pipeline locomotion, resulting in complicated system composition and large energy consumption. In this paper, inspired by the crawling principles of earthworm locomotion, we propose a single-actuated camshaft robot that can realize multiple sequential motions for pipeline crawling. The proposed single-actuated camshaft robot contains one actuator and three parts: head anchoring, body elongation, and rear anchoring part. The multiple sequential motions of these three parts are realized based on the cam mechanisms. Umbrella-shaped elastic rubbers are circumferentially around the head and rear anchoring parts. Each part contains a cam bracket. The camshaft’s rotatory motion pushes the cam brackets to generate the axial translational motion, resulting in the umbrella-shaped elastic rubbers being expanded or contracted. The proposed camshaft robot’s expansion and contraction motion are sequentially realized by the phase deviation of the camshafts. First, the structures of the proposed robot are designed. Then, the cam curves are modeled, the expansion/contraction ratio of the rear/head anchoring part is calculated, the phase deviation of the camshafts is determined, and multiple sequential motions of the proposed robot are simulated. Finally, we fabricate the proposed camshaft robot and carry out crawling experiments in pipelines with different shapes and diameters.

Responses of a cantilever retaining wall under multiple earthquake sequences

The seismic behaviors of retaining walls were evaluated considering only a single earthquake. However, aftershock or foreshock ground motions can occasionally be as strong as mainshock ground motions and can aggravate damage to structures. This study investigated the seismic responses of a cantilever retaining wall under earthquake sequences by performing a series of finite-difference-based numerical simulations. We collected a suite of mainshock-aftershock and foreshock-mainshock sequential ground motions, which were used as the input ground motions in the numerical simulations. This study focused on revealing the differences in wall responses under a single earthquake and multiple earthquake sequences, considering a wide range of ground motion intensities. The relative wall movements caused by mainshock-aftershock and foreshock-mainshock sequential ground motions can be much larger than those caused by a single mainshock motion. In addition, the sequence itself had the effect of increasing the relative wall movements under strong sequential ground motions. However, the effects of the aftershock and foreshock motions on the wall responses were insignificant under weak sequential ground motions.

Earthquake-Induced Failure Analysis of High-Rise Steel Buildings under Sequential Long-Duration Ground Motions

This paper investigates the earthquake-induced failure of high-rise steel moment-resistant frame buildings subjected to sequential long-duration ground motions. A fiber-element model was developed with considering the strength and stiffness deterioration caused by local buckling and low-cycle fatigue fracture. The modeling method taking account of strength and stiffness deterioration was validated by component test results of both column bases and beam-column joints. At the structural level, simulation results including both global and local behavior were compared with the shaking table test results of a high-rise steel building in Japan, which showed a reasonable prediction of its seismic failure up to collapse.

Proximal to distal sequencing impacts on maximum shoulder joint angles and the risk of impingement in baseball pitching involving a scapular independent thoracohumeral model.

Hyperangulation of the scapulohumeral joint due to poor coordination of the scapula during throwing motion is claimed to be a major cause of internal impingement in baseball pitchers. However, evidence of injurious scapular kinematics is lacking, particularly regarding how hyperangularion actually occurs in full-effort pitching. The purpose of this study was to describe sequential scapular motions involved in attaining maximum joint angles during pitching and the implications for internal impingement in elite baseball pitchers. An electromagnetic goniometer system computed kinematics for pelvis, thorax, scapulae, arms, and forearms during baseball pitching in 72 pitchers. Internal impingement risk was assessed based on kinematic characteristics of internal impingement quantified in a cadaveric study. The pelvis, thorax, and scapula rotated in the proximal-to-distal sequence. Large forearm layback observed near the end of the cocking phase (182 ± 27°) was achieved with a submaximal scapulohumeral external rotation (98 ± 14°). In the next 0.027 ± 0.007 s, forward thoracic rotation and then scapular rotation caused increased scapulohumeral external rotation to a maximum of 113 ± 14°. Here, humeral horizontal adduction and scapula protraction occurred simultaneously preventing the humerus from lagging further behind the scapula. Only one participant reached critical hyperangulation beyond which internal impingement was reported to occur. Most elite pitchers safely attained the fully cocked position, yet off-timed recoiling of scapular protraction caused hyperangulation in full-effort pitching. Therefore, proximal-distal sequencing between the scapula and humerus should be evaluated to lessen the risk of internal impingement in baseball pitchers.

Oligo[2]catenane That Is Robust at Both the Microscopic and Macroscopic Scales

Polycatenanes are extremely attractive topological architectures on account of their high degrees of conformational freedom and multiple motion patterns of the mechanically interlocked macrocycles. However, exploitation of these peculiar structural and dynamic characteristics to develop robust catenane materials is still a challenging goal. Herein, we synthesize an oligo[2]catenane that showcases mechanically robust properties at both the microscopic and macroscopic scales. The key feature of the structural design is controlling the force-bearing points on the metal-coordinated core of the [2]catenane moiety that is able to maximize the energy dissipation of the oligo[2]catenane via dissociation of metal-coordination bonds and then activation of sequential intramolecular motions of circumrotation, translation, and elongation under an external force. As such, at the microscopic level, the single-molecule force spectroscopy measurement exhibits that the force to rupture dynamic bonds in the oligo[2]catenane reaches a record high of 588 ± 233 pN. At the macroscopic level, our oligo[2]catenane manifests itself as the toughest catenane material ever reported (15.2 vs 2.43 MJ/m3). These fundamental findings not only deepen the understanding of the structure-property relationship of poly[2]catenanes with a full set of dynamic features but also provide a guiding principle to fabricate high-performance mechanically interlocked catenane materials.

Seismic evaluation of vertically irregular RC frames subjected to mainshock-aftershock sequences of near-fault and far-fault ground motions

Sequential ground motions can significantly affect the seismic demands of reinforced concrete (RC) frames with irregularity along the height. In this paper, the effect of sequential near-fault and far-fault ground motion records with strong and weak aftershocks on the seismic demands of vertically irregular 10-story RC building frames is investigated. The vertically irregular frames with stiffness and mass irregularities were created by applying a modification factor of MF = 2 in three different locations along the height of the reference regular frame. Eigenvalue analysis was performed to evaluate the dynamic characteristics of the structures (i.e. the period and the effective modal participating mass ratio for different modes of vibration). In order to study the seismic demands of these structures, the non-linear response history analysis (NL-RHA), which is the most accurate method of seismic evaluation of structures, was carried out. The floor displacements, story drifts, plastic hinge rotations and residual story drifts obtained from the NL-RHAs were exhaustively studied, and the effect of seismic sequences on the seismic responses was investigated. Furthermore, the enhanced pushover analyses, including the modal pushover analysis (MPA), consecutive modal pushover (CMP) procedure, extended N2 (EN2) method, single-run multi-mode pushover (SMP) method and non-adaptive displacement-based pushover (NADP) procedure were implemented to consider the effect of higher modes in computing the seismic demands of the structures subjected to sequential near-fault and far-fault records as well as mainshocks. The results accentuate that the maximum seismic demands and damage of the structure for sequential near-fault and far-fault records with strong aftershocks are much greater than those for the corresponding mainshocks. Moreover, the enhanced pushover analyses in the case of sequential records have usually less accuracy in estimating the seismic demands in comparison with mainshocks only.

A physics-constrained neural network for multiphase flows

The present study develops a physics-constrained neural network (PCNN) to predict sequential patterns and motions of multiphase flows (MPFs), which includes strong interactions among various fluid phases. To predict the order parameters, which locate individual phases in the future time, a neural network (NN) is applied to quickly infer the dynamics of the phases by encoding observations. The multiphase consistent and conservative boundedness mapping algorithm (MCBOM) is next implemented to correct the predicted order parameters. This enforces the predicted order parameters to strictly satisfy the mass conservation, the summation of the volume fractions of the phases to be unity, the consistency of reduction, and the boundedness of the order parameters. Then, the density of the fluid mixture is updated from the corrected order parameters. Finally, the velocity in the future time is predicted by another NN with the same network structure, but the conservation of momentum is included in the loss function to shrink the parameter space. The proposed PCNN for MPFs sequentially performs (NN)-(MCBOM)-(NN), which avoids nonphysical behaviors of the order parameters, accelerates the convergence, and requires fewer data to make predictions. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the proposed PCNN is capable of predicting MPFs effectively.

Vulnerability assessment and collapse simulation of unreinforced masonry structures subjected to sequential ground motions

Vulnerability assessment and collapse simulation of unreinforced masonry structures subjected to sequential ground motions

Sequential symmetric periodic motions in a symmetric discontinuous dynamical system

Sequential symmetric periodic motions in a symmetric discontinuous dynamical system

Reciprocating and flapping motions of unstart shock in a scramjet isolator

Unstable movement of the unstart shock may pose a threat to the safety of a scramjet. The perturbation induced by the unstable movement can also influence the shock structure and the downstream flow, possibly causing a dynamic load on the wall or affecting downstream combustion. Without a thorough analysis of the isolator flow or by ignoring its properties, it is not possible to understand some of the phenomena prevalent in downstream combustion. In this study, two types of instabilities were observed in the unstart shock system. It is shown that if the flow distortion is not severe, the instability in the streamwise direction plays a dominant role. Sequential displacement of the downstream shock was observed in this mode. The time delay between sequential shock motions indicates their response to the movement of the first separation shock. With a highly distorted flow, a flapping mode that resulted in instability in the vertical direction with an asymmetrical effect on the pressures at the walls was observed. In this situation, the shock structure is successively attached to the wall from the head to the tail. By conducting a dynamic mode decomposition analysis, several oscillatory modes, characterized by low-frequency periodicity in the streamwise and vertical directions, were revealed in the shock system. Subsequently, the feasibility of considering the periodical deflection of the incoming flow induced by the significantly unequal amplitudes of shock movements at the two walls as the underlying mechanism for the flapping mode is explored.

Age-Dependent Mobility Decline Analysis Through Sequential Foot Motion Reproduction

Most elderly people are experiencing mobility declines due to aging, which often causes falls and injuries. The timed-up and go is a widely used clinical test for mobility evaluation and analysis that consists of sequential motions of gait and U-turn, in addition to standup and sit from a chair. Compared to such a clinical evaluation tool, smart insoles, when integrating with sensors and data processing techniques, as an inexpensive daily assessment alternative, can help the elderly monitor their mobility at home. In this letter, we use accelerometer-based monitoring insoles (MONI) developed in our lab to collect and process sequential foot motion, i.e., gait and U-turn, which is a simple setup without the need for a chair. By integrating with the label model framework (LMF), MONI can monitor and detect age-dependent mobility changes of elderlies with high accuracy (96.13% for 22 subjects). The results are generated by collecting sequential motion data from six elderly people and 16 young adults using MONI during a round trip 10-ft walking with one U-turn. The LMF with weak supervision can robustly reproduce the sequential motions and then extract 21 temporal motion features from the reproduction results. By ranking these features, we can identify their relevance in representing age-dependent mobility decline and the importance of sequential effects for mobility analysis. Errors associated with sequential motion reproduction are analyzed, and the applicability of our proposed method is proven.

A Park-Ang damage index-based framework for post-mainshock structural safety assessment

Following an earthquake event, the safety of continued occupancy in terms of whether a mainshock-damaged building could withstand upcoming strong aftershocks is a key question for stakeholders. To answer this question, the residual collapse capacity of mainshock-damaged buildings should be evaluated, and in this way, an accurate assessment of the structural damage inflicted during a mainshock-aftershock sequence is of great importance. Recent studies have shown that energy-based damage measures, which calculate the dissipated energy due to cyclic-plastic deformations, can more accurately reflect the secondary damage induced by aftershocks than deformation-based damage measures. Park-Ang damage index is a combined seismic damage measure that integrates the damage caused by excessive deformations with the damage caused by the cumulative hysteretic energy dissipation. This study presents a framework for assessing the post-mainshock structural safety, in which the quantification of the damage accumulated during a mainshock and the determination of the remaining capacity to sustain strong aftershocks are made based on the Park-Ang damage index. First, residual collapse capacity diagrams are produced by performing incremental dynamic analysis under a suite of selected sequential ground motions. Next, an average diagram is made to find the maximum safe damage index, so that values above this threshold would represent the buildings that are deemed to be unsafe. The proposed framework is applied to a reference four-story steel moment-frame building to investigate its collapse potential and evaluates its structural safety in a hypothetical earthquake scenario. The results of the case study indicate that the proposed framework can effectively help structural engineers to decide on whether a mainshock-damaged building is safe to reoccupy and communicate the final decision in a simple diagram to stakeholders.

Action detection using a neural network elucidates the genetics of mouse grooming behavior.

Automated detection of complex animal behaviors remains a challenging problem in neuroscience, particularly for behaviors that consist of disparate sequential motions. Grooming is a prototypical stereotyped behavior that is often used as an endophenotype in psychiatric genetics. Here, we used mouse grooming behavior as an example and developed a general purpose neural network architecture capable of dynamic action detection at human observer-level performance and operating across dozens of mouse strains with high visual diversity. We provide insights into the amount of human annotated training data that are needed to achieve such performance. We surveyed grooming behavior in the open field in 2457 mice across 62 strains, determined its heritable components, conducted GWAS to outline its genetic architecture, and performed PheWAS to link human psychiatric traits through shared underlying genetics. Our general machine learning solution that automatically classifies complex behaviors in large datasets will facilitate systematic studies of behavioral mechanisms.

Effect of sequential earthquakes on evaluation of non-linear response of 3D RC MRFs

Most of the existing seismic codes for RC buildings consider only a scenario earthquake for analysis, often characterized by the response spectrum at the specified location. However, any real earthquake event often involves occurrences of multiple earthquakes within a few hours or days, possessing similar or even higher energy than the first earthquake. This critically impairs the rehabilitation measures thereby resulting in the accumulation of structural damages for subsequent earthquakes after the first earthquake. Also, the existing seismic provisions account for the non-linear response of an RC building frame implicitly by specifying a constant response modification factor (R) in a linear elastic design. However, the 'R' specified does not address the changes in structural configurations of RC moment-resisting frames (RC MRFs) viz., building height, number of bays present, bay width, irregularities arising out of mass and stiffness changes, etc. resulting in changed dynamic characteristics of the structural system. Hence, there is an imperative need to assess the seismic performance under sequential earthquake ground motions, considering the adequacy of code-specified 'R' in the representation of dynamic characteristics of RC buildings. Therefore, the present research is focused on the evaluation of the non-linear response of medium-rise 3D RC MRFs with and without vertical irregularities under bi-directional sequential earthquake ground motions using non-linear dynamic analysis. It is evident from the results that collapse probability increases, and 'R' reduces significantly for various RC MRFs subjected to sequential earthquakes, pronouncing the vulnerability and inadequacy of estimation of design base shear by code-specified 'R' under sequential earthquakes.