Simple Movements Research Articles

High-efficiency broad-linewidth widely-tunable mid-infrared OPO based on fan-out PPLT

We reported a high-efficiency, broad-linewidth, wide-tuning-range singly-resonated optical parametric oscillator (OPO) based on a fan-out PPLT crystal. When the PPLT crystal was operated at 120 °C and pumped by Q-switched 1064 nm laser at 14.17 W with a circular pump profile, the overall output power of OPO was 7.22 W (η = 50.4%) for both the signal and idler waves. The central wavelength and linewidth of the mid-infrared (MIR) laser were 3770 nm and ∼40 nm. A wavelength tuning range of 3538–3941 nm was accomplished by adjusting the crystal period through simple mechanical movement. Due to the larger coverage of gratings with an elliptical pump profile, the output linewidth of the MIR laser was further broadened to ∼100 nm, which is ten times more than other non-fan-out PPLT OPOs. Both pumping methods with different profiles were operated at 30 kHz, 49.2 ns for the 1064 nm laser, the power fluctuation of the obtained MIR laser was within 3.5%.

HybridCap: Inertia-Aid Monocular Capture of Challenging Human Motions

Monocular 3D motion capture (mocap) is beneficial to many applications. The use of a single camera, however, often fails to handle occlusions of different body parts and hence it is limited to capture relatively simple movements. We present a light-weight, hybrid mocap technique called HybridCap that augments the camera with only 4 Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) in a novel learning-and-optimization framework. We first employ a weakly-supervised and hierarchical motion inference module based on cooperative pure residual recurrent blocks that serve as limb, body and root trackers as well as an inverse kinematics solver. Our network effectively narrows the search space of plausible motions via coarse-to-fine pose estimation and manages to tackle challenging movements with high efficiency. We further develop a hybrid optimization scheme that combines inertial feedback and visual cues to improve tracking accuracy. Extensive experiments on various datasets demonstrate HybridCap can robustly handle challenging movements ranging from fitness actions to Latin dance. It also achieves real-time performance up to 60 fps with state-of-the-art accuracy.

Agent-Based Modeling to Simulate Aerosolized Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 inside Small Ventilated Spaces

Deterministic and stochastic models for aerosol virus spread have become aplenty in the last several years. We believe it is important to explore all avenues of models and look to expand the current repertoire of models in this domain using a simple stochastic agent-based method. The goal is to understand if this type of agent model is applicable to real-life scenarios and to discuss possible policy implications of our findings on disease spread through aerosols in small spaces with ventilation using our developed model. We apply our agent model to see how different spatial organizations of an infected individual impact infections and their distributions. We also perform some sensitivity analysis with regard to both how different vectors of infection change overall infectivity rates but also how different levels of ventilation and filtration can impact infectivity as well. Our findings show that the simple stochastic movement of particles should be explored further with regard to agent-based disease spread models, and that filtration plays a large role in determining the overall infection rate of people in small spaces with an infector. We also found that placement of the index infector with regard to other susceptible people and ventilation play an impactful role in how a disease may spread in a short time frame within small confines.

The Kinematic Investigation of the Stephenson-III Spherical Mechanism with a Spherical Slider Containing a Spherical Prismatic Pair

Multi-loop spherical mechanisms are extremely beneficial for creating versatile mechanical devices, including robotic joints and surgical tools, since multi-loop spherical mechanisms possess unique capabilities to operate in spatial situations with relatively simple movement. Nevertheless, the research on multi-loop spherical mechanisms with spherical sliders containing spherical prismatic pairs is lacking. Therefore, the main innovation of this paper is to propose the Stephenson-III two-loop spherical mechanism that possesses a spherical slider containing a spherical prismatic pair and to analyze the proposed spherical mechanism’s motion characteristics. An algebraic approach was employed to obtain the branch graphs of the proposed spherical mechanism with a spherical slider. The branch graphs were categorized into two types, according to whether branch points existed. With the algebraic approach, loop equations of the two spherical kinematic chains inside the proposed spherical mechanism were established to identify the input–output curves and singularity curves, with which the branch graphs were obtained. With the branch graphs, the joint rotation spaces (JRSs) of the proposed mechanism were recognized and so were the dead center positions, branches, sub-branches, and branch points. The results from the mathematical analysis were simulated and verified by three-dimensional (3D) models of the proposed spherical mechanism. The analytical results demonstrate that the spherical prismatic pair diversifies the motion of the proposed spherical mechanism by producing rotational sliding movement, which can cover the entire circumference of a specific greater circle on the proposed mechanism’s sphere.

A High-Efficient Reinforcement Learning Approach for Dexterous Manipulation.

Robotic hands have the potential to perform complex tasks in unstructured environments owing to their bionic design, inspired by the most agile biological hand. However, the modeling, planning and control of dexterous hands remain unresolved, open challenges, resulting in the simple movements and relatively clumsy motions of current robotic end effectors. This paper proposed a dynamic model based on generative adversarial architecture to learn the state mode of the dexterous hand, reducing the model's prediction error in long spans. An adaptive trajectory planning kernel was also developed to generate High-Value Area Trajectory (HVAT) data according to the control task and dynamic model, with adaptive trajectory adjustment achieved by changing the Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) coefficient and the linear searching coefficient. Furthermore, an improved Soft Actor-Critic (SAC) algorithm is designed by combining maximum entropy value iteration and HVAT value iteration. An experimental platform and simulation program were built to verify the proposed method with two manipulating tasks. The experimental results indicate that the proposed dexterous hand reinforcement learning algorithm has better training efficiency and requires fewer training samples to achieve quite satisfactory learning and control performance.

Reasons for performance in athletic hammer that: the results of the studies, the structural development of the training of the hammer, the perspectives of the outer development

Ukraine has always been famous for outstanding hammer throwing coaches who trained Olympic champions, world record holders, winners of the World and European Athletics Forums, and scientists whose scientific research gave the coaching staff the opportunity to properly study and improve not only technical skills and methods of arranging training process, but also the development all types of athletes’ training.
 The hammer throw in athletics is a complex system of purposeful movements. It combines a number of simple and complex movements. Currently, most elite-class athletes throw the hammer in four turns.
 One of the main areas of the training process in hammer throw and improving technique elements is to find the optimal amount of acceleration of the movements rhythm, the number of turns, the nature of the first turn as well as the others, which are necessary to determine the most rational technique option for each athlete, which requires quite a long time for its improvement.
 The predominant focus on improving athletes’ technical actions and physical fitness should include exercises similar to the
 main elements of technical actions in hammer throwing for integral improvement of necessary qualities and elements of technique.
 The decrease of sports results in this area of athletics, in our opinion, presupposes failure of coaches to follow the sequence of necessary physical abilities and technical skills development at certain stages of long-term training (initial training, preliminary basic training, specialized basic training, preparation for high achievements), where they should achieve individual maximums of their development and meet previously developed criteria and their values.
 One of the reasons for this problem is refusal from the well-established training system of "throwing schools" during the last decades. During the Olympic Games in Tokyo, the hammer thrower from Ukraine M. Kokhan took fourth place with a rather high result of
 80.39 m, which indicates the revival of "throwing schools" in various regions of the country. The results of hammer throwing performances of Ukrainian athletes from different regions of Ukraine makes us believe that a new era in the revival of "throwing schools" is on its launch.
 A new stage of results manifestation and the appearance of a new generation of coaches in hammer throwing is approaching, which indicates the revival of "throwing schools" in different regions of Ukraine.
 The revival of women's high performance in hammer throwing can be considered by focusing attention in the training system on both female body features and the related methodologies of forming new areas of development and improving its main systems.

Simulation of simple movements of Arm-Z oblique swivel joint chain manipulator

Arm-Z is a concept of a hyper-redundant manipulator based on linearly joined sequence of congruent modules by oblique swivel joint mechanism. Each module has one degree of freedom only, namely a twist relative to the previous module in the sequence. Although the concept of this type of manipulator is relatively old and simple, its control is very difficult an nonintuitive, which results in a limited use in industrial practice. This paper presents a simple simulation of Arm-Z in Mathematica programming environment which demonstrates a few simple but potentially useful movements.

Effects of handedness on brain oscillatory activity during imagery and execution of upper limb movements.

Brain activation during left- and right-hand motor imagery is a popular feature used for brain-computer interfaces. However, most studies so far have only considered right-handed participants in their experiments. This study aimed to investigate how handedness influences brain activation during the processes of imagining and executing simple hand movements. EEG signals were recorded using 32 channels while participants repeatedly squeezed or imagined squeezing a ball using their left, right, or both hands. The data of 14 left-handed and 14 right-handed persons were analyzed with a focus on event-related desynchronization/synchronization patterns (ERD/S). Both handedness groups showed activation over sensorimotor areas; however, the right-handed group tended to display more bilateral patterns than the left-handed group, which is in contrast to earlier research results. Furthermore, a stronger activation during motor imagery than during motor execution could be found in both groups.

Non-Specific Low Back Pain: An Inductive Exploratory Analysis through Factor Analysis and Deep Learning for Better Clustering.

Non-specific low back pain (NSLBP) is a significant and pervasive public health issue in contemporary society. Despite the widespread prevalence of NSLBP, our understanding of its underlying causes, as well as our capacity to provide effective treatments, remains limited due to the high diversity in the population that does not respond to generic treatments. Clustering the NSLBP population based on shared characteristics offers a potential solution for developing personalized interventions. However, the complexity of NSLBP and the reliance on subjective categorical data in previous attempts present challenges in achieving reliable and clinically meaningful clusters. This study aims to explore the influence and importance of objective, continuous variables related to NSLBP and how to use these variables effectively to facilitate the clustering of NSLBP patients into meaningful subgroups. Data were acquired from 46 subjects who performed six simple movement tasks (back extension, back flexion, lateral trunk flexion right, lateral trunk flexion left, trunk rotation right, and trunk rotation left) at two different speeds (maximum and preferred). High-density electromyography (HD EMG) data from the lower back region were acquired, jointly with motion capture data, using passive reflective markers on the subject's body and clusters of markers on the subject's spine. An exploratory analysis was conducted using a deep neural network and factor analysis. Based on selected variables, various models were trained to classify individuals as healthy or having NSLBP in order to assess the importance of different variables. The models were trained using different subsets of data, including all variables, only anthropometric data (e.g., age, BMI, height, weight, and sex), only biomechanical data (e.g., shoulder and lower back movement), only neuromuscular data (e.g., HD EMG activity), or only balance-related data. The models achieved high accuracy in categorizing individuals as healthy or having NSLBP (full model: 93.30%, anthropometric model: 94.40%, biomechanical model: 84.47%, neuromuscular model: 88.07%, and balance model: 74.73%). Factor analysis revealed that individuals with NSLBP exhibited different movement patterns to healthy individuals, characterized by slower and more rigid movements. Anthropometric variables (age, sex, and BMI) were significantly correlated with NSLBP components. In conclusion, different data types, such as body measurements, movement patterns, and neuromuscular activity, can provide valuable information for identifying individuals with NSLBP. To gain a comprehensive understanding of NSLBP, it is crucial to investigate the main domains influencing its prognosis as a cohesive unit rather than studying them in isolation. Simplifying the conditions for acquiring dynamic data is recommended to reduce data complexity, and using back flexion and trunk rotation as effective options should be further explored.

Extensive complex neocortical movement topography devolves to simple output following experimental stroke in mice.

The neocortex encodes complex and simple motor outputs in all mammalian species that have been tested. Given that changes in neocortical reorganization (and corresponding corticospinal output) have been implicated in long term motor recovery after stroke injury, there remains a need to understand this biology in order to expedite and optimize clinical care. Here, changes in the neocortical topography of complex and simple movement outputs were evaluated in mice following experimental middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAo). Neocortical motor output was defined using long-duration parameters of intracortical microstimulation (LD-ICMS) based on area and spatial coordinates of separate motor output types to build upon our recent report in uninjured mice. LD-ICMS test sites that elicited complex (multi-joint) movement, simple (single skeletal joint) movement, as well as co-elicited FORELIMB + HINDLIMB responses were detected and recorded. Forelimb reaching behavior was assessed using the single pellet reaching (SPR) task. At 6 weeks post-surgery, behavioral deficits persisted and neocortical territories for separate movements exhibited differences in neocortical area, and spatial location, and differed between MCAo-Injured animals (i.e., the MCAo group) and Sham-Injured animals (i.e., the Control group). MCAo-Injury reduced neocortical area of complex movements while increasing area of simple movements. Limited effects of injury were detected for spatial coordinates of neocortical movements. Significant positive correlations were detected between final SPR performance and either area of complex retract or area of co-occurring FORELIMB + HINDLIMB sites.

Pupil dilation scales with movement distance of real but not of imagined reaching movements.

Pupillary responses have been reliably identified for cognitive and motor tasks, but less is known about their relation to mentally simulated movements (known as motor imagery). Previous work found pupil dilations during the execution of simple finger movements, where peak pupillary dilation scaled with the complexity of the finger movement and force required. Recently, pupillary dilations were reported during imagery of grasping and piano playing. Here, we examined whether pupillary responses are sensitive to the dynamics of the underlying motor task for both executed and imagined reach movements. Participants reached or imagined reaching to one of three targets placed at different distances from a start position. Both executed and imagined movement times scaled with target distance, and they were highly correlated, confirming previous work and suggesting that participants did imagine the respective movement. Increased pupillary dilation was evident during motor execution compared with rest, with stronger dilations for larger movements. Pupil dilations also occurred during motor imagery, however, they were generally weaker than those during motor execution and they were not influenced by imagined movement distance. Instead, dilations during motor imagery resembled pupil responses obtained during a nonmotor imagery task (imagining a previously viewed painting). Our results demonstrate that pupillary responses can reliably capture the dynamics of an executed goal-directed reaching movement, but suggest that pupillary responses during imagined reaching movements reflect general cognitive processes, rather than motor-specific components related to the simulated dynamics of the sensorimotor system.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Pupil size is influenced by the performance of cognitive and motor tasks. Here, we demonstrate that pupil size increases not only during execution but also during mental simulation of goal-directed reaching movements. However, pupil dilations scale with movement amplitude of executed but not of imagined movement, whereas they are similar during motor imagery and a nonmotor imagery task.

Prototype of MyoWare (Electromyography Muscle Sensor) for Measuring People’s Muscle Strengths

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) becomes a solution to help humans connect with computers. Research and tools related to HCI have been developed by many researchers. HCI is able to help humans connect between humans and computers and humans with humans at a considerable distance. One of HCI model is applied to the MyoWare tool that can capture hand muscle movements using an electromyograph (EMG) sensor. This article describes how to assemble and identify the raw data generated from the MyoWare tool. Using MyoWare on the hand could produce EMG data output. MyoWare only used the EMG sensor and generated data in the form of Envelope EMG and Raw EMG which differed in scale and size. This required a extraction features process to make the data uniform. This study uses the Moment Invariant method to extract features and min-max to normalize each data generated on the MyoWare sensor. Testing was done by doing simple hand movements. The test results showed that the differences in gestures were recognized well even though they were performed in different positions.

Methodological and organizational features of teaching swimming to children of younger school age

The article examines the peculiarities of teaching swimming skills to children of primary school age. An important condition for successfully teaching children to swim is the sequence of learning movements: from simple movement on the bottom to learning certain swimming movements (sliding, swimming with a board in hands or in an easy way, etc.), because this is the key to mastering more complex swimming techniques from diving up to the waist to full execution exercises at a greater depth. Purpose: determination of methodical and organizational features of swimming training for children of primary school age. Methods of work: theoretical research methods were used in the work: analysis, comparison, induction, deduction, systematization, and generalization of scientific and methodical literature. Results: because of the conducted research, the general didactic and organizational principles of building classes during initial swimming training were clarified. It has been established that the conscious and active attitude of children to exercises and games in the water is of good importance for achieving positive results in learning to swim, because understanding the meaning of the tasks stimulates interested and active performance of them, contributes to the gradual assimilation and awareness of the exercises. The basis for mastering swimming skills by children aged 7-9 is the formation of stable neuro-coordinative connections that arise as a result of repeated exercises for sliding in a horizontal streamlined body position with further coordination of technical elements and breathing. Conclusions: Despite the availability of publications on the methods of teaching swimming, questions regarding the regulation of physical load during the use of the game method in the pool are practically not disclosed, which complicates its application in classes and requires further study.

DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A PERSONAL COMPUTER-CONTROLLED PICK AND PLACE ROBOT WITH MATLAB SIMULATION

As the industrial sector faces great pressure due to the high demand for goods and services, most industries have switched their operations from manned operations to full-scale Automation and Control Engineering, and the heart of this automation is the Robot. The Robot’s arm will be controlled by a human operator using a GUI designed with Matlab and running on a PC. The operator will have the ability to input the exact coordinates of the object to be handled by the arm or to use sliding bars on the GUI to control the extent of movement of the arm. The robotic arm was simulated using a GUI designed with Matlab. The simulation was such that the arm could be rotated to any direction within its allowable range of operation by sliding the bars provided for each servomotor at each joint. This study explains how to design and construct a robotic arm to simulate simple movements like pick and place operations. Research can be made on other available faster Microcontrollers that can be used straight away without the need for conversion or step down of signal. A breakthrough in this area would greatly increase the speed of movement of the robot. KEYWORDS: Robotic Arm, Matlab GUI, Microcontrollers, Sliding Bars, Movement Co-Ordinates.

Activation of Cerebellum, Basal Ganglia and Thalamus During Observation and Execution of Mouth, hand, and foot Actions

Humans and monkey studies showed that specific sectors of cerebellum and basal ganglia activate not only during execution but also during observation of hand actions. However, it is unknown whether, and how, these structures are engaged during the observation of actions performed by effectors different from the hand. To address this issue, in the present fMRI study, healthy human participants were required to execute or to observe grasping acts performed with different effectors, namely mouth, hand, and foot. As control, participants executed and observed simple movements performed with the same effectors. The results show that: (1) execution of goal-directed actions elicited somatotopically organized activations not only in the cerebral cortex but also in the cerebellum, basal ganglia, and thalamus; (2) action observation evoked cortical, cerebellar and subcortical activations, lacking a clear somatotopic organization; (3) in the territories displaying shared activations between execution and observation, a rough somatotopy could be revealed in both cortical, cerebellar and subcortical structures. The present study confirms previous findings that action observation, beyond the cerebral cortex, also activates specific sectors of cerebellum and subcortical structures and it shows, for the first time, that these latter are engaged not only during hand actions observation but also during the observation of mouth and foot actions. We suggest that each of the activated structures processes specific aspects of the observed action, such as performing internal simulation (cerebellum) or recruiting/inhibiting the overt execution of the observed action (basal ganglia and sensory-motor thalamus).

THE INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL THERAPY ON INDICATORS OF THE LOCOMOTIVE SYNDROME IN ELDERLY PERSONS WITH THE CONSEQUENCES OF TOTAL KNEE ARTHROPLASTY

Objective: to evaluate the effectiveness of the developed physical therapy program on the parameters of the locomotive syndrome in elderly people with the motor consequences of total knee arthroplasty against the background of the geriatric syndrome of sarcopenia, in the remote period after the operation.
 Methods. 80 elderly people were examined. The control group consisted of 24 people without joint endoprostheses, with no signs of sarcopenia. The comparison group consisted of individuals with knee arthroplasty and sarcopenia with low rehabilitation compliance with regard to active rehabilitation intervention. Representatives of the main group with knee endoprosthesis and sarcopenia practiced according to a developed program of physical therapy, created taking into account the specifics of each comorbid condition. The program lasted 6 months; contained the following elements: therapeutic exercises, functional training, massage, kinesiotaping; dietary recommendations; patient education. Its purpose was: correction of the phenomena of motor stereotype violation as a consequence of total knee arthroplasty, in particular, phenomena of the locomotive syndrome, leveling of the phenomena of sarcopenia both at the level of its motor manifestations and at the level of etiopathogenesis of this geriatric condition; facilitation of activities of daily life, improvement of psycho-emotional state, and – as a result – improvement of quality of life. In the process of physical therapy, individual short- and long-term goals defined in the SMART format were consistently achieved within the framework of the patient-centered rehabilitation model. The effectiveness of the program was evaluated according to the dynamics of The Short Physical Performance Battery, Functional Gait Assessment, Fall efficacy scale, 25-question Geriatric Locomotive Function Scale.
 Results. In elderly patients with knee arthroplasty and sarcopenia, signs of locomotor syndrome were found in the form of impaired balance when performing simple movements (according to The Short Physical Performance Battery), violation of the normal gait stereotype and the resulting risk of falling (according to the Functional Gait Assessment), which led to awareness of the fear of falling (according to the Fall efficacy scale). The hall level of movement disorders corresponded to locomotive syndrome of the II degree (according to the 25-question Geriatric Locomotive Function Scale). The developed physical therapy program revealed a statistical improvement in the condition of patients due to the effect on the components of the locomotive syndrome due to the improvement of balance and gait parameters, reduction of the risk of falling and fear of falling compared to the initial indicators for all the studied parameters (р<0.05); however, the indicators of the control group were not reached (p>0.05). Low rehabilitation compliance in patients with knee arthroplasty and sarcopenia, despite awareness of the risks of this comorbidity, was associated with a lack of improvement over a similar follow-up period.
 Conclusions. Elderly patients with the consequences of total knee arthroplasty and sarcopenia require the development of physical therapy programs taking into account and correcting the specifics of each condition, the presence of physical status disorders and the risk of falling, which will increase the overall effectiveness of rehabilitation measures.

Effects of short-term motor training on accuracy and precision of simple jaw and finger movements after orthodontic treatment and orthognathic surgery: A case-control study.

Orthognathic surgery has been performed with increasing frequency for the treatment of severe malocclusion, yet the postsurgical neuromuscular recovery of patients has been inadequately studied. To investigate the effect of short-term and simple jaw motor training on accuracy and precision of jaw motor control in patients following orthodontic treatment and orthognathic surgery. Twenty patients who had completed preoperative orthodontics, 20 patients who had undergone bimaxillary orthognathic surgery and 20 age-and-gender-matched healthy controls participated in the study. Participants were asked to perform 10 continuous jaw opening and finger lifting movements before and after a 30-min motor training session. The variability in the amplitude of these simple movements was expressed as percentage in relation to the target position (accuracy - Daccu ) and as coefficient of variation (precision - CVprec ) to describe the motor performance. Furthermore, the changes in amplitude before and after training were measured in percentage. Daccu and CVprec of simple jaw and finger movements significantly decreased after motor training (p ≤ .018) in all groups. The relative changes in finger movements were higher than jaw movements (p < .001) but with no differences among the groups (p ≥ .247). Both accuracy and precision of simple jaw and finger movements improved after short-term motor training in all three groups, demonstrating the inherent potential for optimization of novel motor tasks. Finger movements improved more than jaw movements but with no differences between groups, suggesting that changes in occlusion and craniofacial morphology are not associated with impaired neuroplasticity or physiological adaptability of jaw motor function.

Clinical significance of the elbow forward translation motion in patients with rotator cuff tears

Range of motion (ROM) limitations can result in restricted activities of daily living (ADL) due to shoulder dysfunction, suggesting that evaluation of complex shoulder movements is necessary in clinical practice. Here, we present a new physical examination, the elbow forward translation motion (T-motion) test for measuring the position of the elbow when both dorsal hands are placed on the iliac crest in a sitting position and the elbow is moving forward. We examined the relationships between T-motion and shoulder function to identify the significance of this test in clinical practice. Preoperative patients with rotator cuff tears (RCTs) were eligible for this cross-sectional study. Active ROM and Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) scores were measured as shoulder function. The degree of internal rotation was based on the Constant-Murley Score. We defined a positive T-motion test result as an elbow positioned posterior to the body on the sagittal plane. Group comparisons and logistic regression analyses were conducted to investigate the relationships between the availability of T-motion and shoulder function. Sixty-six patients with RCTs participated in this cross-sectional study. The values of the JOA total score (P<.001), subscale of function and ADL (P<.001), active range of forward flexion (P=.006), abduction (P<.001), and external rotation (P<.001) were lower in the positive group than in the negative group. In addition, a significant correlation was found between the availability of T-motion and internal rotation by the chi-square test (P<.001). Logistic regression analyses showed that internal rotation (odds ratio 2.69; 95% confidence interval 1.47-4.93; P<.01) and external rotation (odds ratio 1.07; 95% confidence interval 1.00-1.14; P=.04) were related to the availability of T-motion after adjustments for covariates, and the cutoff points were 4 points for internal rotation (area under the curve 0.833, sensitivity 53.3%, specificity 86.1%, P<.001) and 35° for external rotation (area under the curve 0.788, sensitivity 60.0%, specificity 88.9%, P<.001). The positive T-motion group exhibited low shoulder function, including a less active ROM and JOA shoulder score. T-motion, which is a quick and simple movement, may be a new indicator for a complex shoulder motion and contribute to evaluating the decreased ADL and limited shoulder motion in patients with RCTs.

Optimal day-ahead energy planning of multi-energy microgrids considering energy storage and demand response

Due to the environmental and economic advantages of combined heat and power (CHP) units, their use in power grids has expanded. The entry of CHP into power systems increases the complexity of the economic power flow problem. This complexity is due to the introduction of multiple constraints into problem. A mere electricity supply is not optimal in today's networks, and energies such as heat, power and gas must be planned and managed simultaneously as an energy hub. Therefore, in this paper, an intelligent multi-energy microgrid (MG) consisting of power generation units, CHP units and gas units is modeled for day-ahead energy management (DAEM). The economic distribution problem focuses on the amount of power generation, heat and gas of the units in the system. In contrast, the total generation cost of the system is minimized, and all the equality and inequality constraints of the problem are observed. The proposed microgrid includes various energy-dependent equipment such as CHP units, gas boilers, electricity-to-gas units, power and heat storage units and electric heat pumps. Also, price-based load management was included to reduce costs due to the transfer of information between the consumer and the generator in the context of smartization. Since the above problem is difficult to solve due to various constraints and decision parameters, a newly developed optimization method based on water flows was proposed. The simple movement of water flows on the ground is efficient and optimal and always follows the shortest and fastest path to reach the deepest point. In the proposed algorithm, simple movements of water in routing, a change of direction and even the creation of rapids and vortices were simulated as various mathematical operators. Finally, the proposed model and method were examined in different scenarios. The numerical outcomes demonstrated that, the proposed modeling framework is superior to hub-based multi-carrier microgrid models in terms of power system security. The sensitivity of operational expenses to changes in initial values of energy storage systems (ESS) and thermal storage system (TSS) is proved that the cost of operation reduces as the baseline values of ESS and TSS are reduced to 0.2% of the maximum capacity. Because DAEM performance is less flexible when the primary values are reduced by 0.2% of the maximum value, the system running expenses increase marginally.

Modeling bee movement shows how a perceptual masking effect can influence flower discovery.

Understanding how pollinators move across space is key to understanding plant mating patterns. Bees are typically assumed to search for flowers randomly or using simple movement rules, so that the probability of discovering a flower should primarily depend on its distance to the nest. However, experimental work shows this is not always the case. Here, we explored the influence of flower size and density on their probability of being discovered by bees by developing a movement model of central place foraging bees, based on experimental data collected on bumblebees. Our model produces realistic bee trajectories by taking into account the autocorrelation of the bee's angular speed, the attraction to the nest (homing), and a gaussian noise. Simulations revealed a « masking effect » that reduces the detection of flowers close to another, with potential far reaching consequences on plant-pollinator interactions. At the plant level, flowers distant to the nest were more often discovered by bees in low density environments. At the bee colony level, foragers found more flowers when they were small and at medium densities. Our results indicate that the processes of search and discovery of resources are potentially more complex than usually assumed, and question the importance of resource distribution and abundance on bee foraging success and plant pollination.