Straight Descent Research Articles

A Computational Procedure to Derive the Curve of Carus for Childbirth Computational Modeling.

Computational modeling serves an important role in childbirth-related research. Prescribed fetal descent trajectory is a key characteristic in childbirth simulations. Two major types of fully prescribed fetal descent trajectories can be identified in the literature: straight descent trajectories and curve of Carus. The straight descent trajectory has the advantage of being simpler and can serve as a reasonable approximation for relatively small fetal movements during labor, but it cannot be used to simulate the entire childbirth process. The curve of Carus is the well-recognized fetal descent trajectory with physiological significance. However, no detailed procedure to geometrically define the curve of Carus can be found in existing computational studies. This status of curve of Carus simulation in the literature hinders the direct comparison of results across different studies and the advancement of computational techniques built upon previous research. The goals of this study are: (1) propose a universal approach to derive the curve of Carus for the second stage of labor, from the point when the fetal head engages the pelvis to the point when the fetal head is fully delivered; and (2) demonstrate its utility when considering various fetal head sizes. The current study provides a detailed formulation of the curve of Carus, considering geometries of both the mother and the fetus. The maternal geometries were obtained from MRI data, and the fetal head geometries were based on laser scanning of a replica of a real fetal head.

Recovery, body mass and buoyancy: a detailed analysis of foraging dive cycles in the European shag

Foraging dives in birds and mammals involve complex physiological and behavioural adaptations to cope with the breaks in normal respiration. Optimal dive strategies should maximize the proportion of time spent under water actively foraging versus the time spent on the surface. Oxygen loading and carbon dioxide dumping carried out on the surface could involve recovery from the consequences of the last dive and/or preparation in anticipation of the next dive depth and duration. However, few studies have properly explored the causal pattern of effects within such dive cycles, which is crucial prior to any assessment of optimal dive strategies. Using time depth recorders and global positioning system loggers, we recorded over 42 000 dives by 39 pairs of male and female European shags, Phalacrocorax aristotelis. Dives either involved a straight descent and ascent, presumably reflecting an unsuccessful search for prey, or a descent followed by horizontal movement followed by an ascent, presumably reflecting active hunting pursuit of pelagic prey. Males were larger than females, but we were unable to distinguish between sex effects and the nonlinear effects of body mass on dive behaviour. Path analysis showed that within-individual dive-to-dive variation in surface times can best be explained as recovery from the previous dive. As expected in a pelagic hunter with unpredictable dive durations, there was no evidence of anticipatory preparation of oxygen stores in predive surface durations. Among-individual variation in dives showed that body mass directly affected descent durations, but individual variation in all other dive and surface durations was driven by variation in descent duration, suggesting a critical role for dive depth in overcoming body mass-dependent effects of hydrodynamic/wave drag and buoyancy. Our analyses test for the first time certain critical assumptions for studies assessing optimal dive strategies in birds and mammals, thereby revealing new details and avenues for research concerning adaptive diving behaviour.

The role of shape-dependent flight stability in the origin of oriented meteorites.

The atmospheric ablation of meteoroids is a striking example of the reshaping of a solid object due to its motion through a fluid. Motivated by meteorite samples collected on Earth that suggest fixed orientation during flight-most notably the conical shape of so-called oriented meteorites-we hypothesize that such forms result from an aerodynamic stabilization of posture that may be achieved only by specific shapes. Here, we investigate this issue of flight stability in the parallel context of fluid mechanical erosion of clay bodies in flowing water, which yields shapes resembling oriented meteorites. We conduct laboratory experiments on conical objects freely moving through water and fixed within imposed flows to determine the dependence of orientational stability on shape. During free motion, slender cones undergo postural instabilities, such as inversion and tumbling, and broad or dull forms exhibit oscillatory modes, such as rocking and fluttering. Only intermediate shapes, including the stereotypical form carved by erosion, achieve stable orientation and straight flight with apex leading. We corroborate these findings with systematic measurements of torque and stability potentials across cones of varying apex angle, which furnish a complete map of equilibrium postures and their stability. By showing that the particular conical form carved in unidirectional flows is also posturally stable as a free body in flight, these results suggest a self-consistent picture for the origin of oriented meteorites.

Influence of an oblique path of staircase descent on toe placement and foot clearance

During their commute, pedestrians encounter a variety of staircase designs. One such design is the oblique staircase that allows pedestrians to descend at an angle. The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of an oblique path of descent on heel and toe clearance, and toe placement on a step. Sixteen participants descended a staircase on an angled path at three angles: 0° (perpendicular), 25°, and 45°. Toe placement and foot clearances were compared between the descent angles and feet. An increase in descent angle demonstrated increased clearance of the heel apex compared with straight descent; however, the aspect of the foot closest to the stair changes in angled descent, moving from the apex to the side of the heel. A greater portion of the foot was placed on the stair tread during angled descent. Future work should address the influence of angled descent on fall risk.

Kinking of the upper ureter in CT urography: anatomic and clinical significance

Although the course of the ureter is described as a straight descent in the retroperitoneum, kinking of the upper ureter is often seen at imaging. The aim of this study was to investigate kinking of the ureter and its underlying anatomico-clinical significance. We evaluated 176 computed tomography (CT) images and classified kinking into three grades: no/mild kinking as Grade 1, moderate as Grade 2, and severe as Grade 3. We defined the "crossing point" (CP) as where the ureter crosses over the gonadal vein and assessed its relation to the kinking. Fourteen halves from seven cadavers were used for examination. Approaching anteriorly, we macroscopically observed the ureter and surrounding structures. On CT, the rate of the radiologically "significant" kinking classified into either Grade 2 or 3 was 18.4% on the right and 21.8% on the left. All kinking was either at or above the level of the CP. In cadavers, the ureter was relatively mobile in the perirenal fat and then beginning at approximately the level of the CP became firmly fixed to the anteromedial aspect of the psoas major muscle. Kinking of the upper ureter is not a clinically significant finding and arises from the ureter having a relatively mobile portion in the perirenal space compared to its caudal portion. The fixation boundary can be identified by observing the CP.

Gait adaptations to different paths of stair descent

Gait characteristics during stair descent have been characterized for a straight descent path; however, pedestrians are likely to encounter a variety of staircase designs that allow one to descend at an angle (i.e. an oblique or monumental staircase). The purpose of this study was to determine the temporospatial lower limb joint kinematics differences between descending a staircase on straight versus oblique descent paths. Sixteen subjects (8 males, 8 females) descended a staircase under three different conditions: straight descent and at a 25° and 45° angle compare to the straight path. Cycle time, cadence, speed, step width, and step length were significantly affected by descent angle, while the proportion of the cycle dedicated to the stance and swing phases remained constant over the descent paths. Peak knee flexion angle increased by approximately 2.5° in the 45° condition compared to the 0° condition (p=0.0044); however, the remainder of the time series was unchanged. A decreased step width and increased step length occurred to allow the foot to sufficiently clear the steps. Changes in the temporospatial variables, hip joint angle and a constant stance/swing proportion demonstrates that these adaptations may be made to maintain characteristics of the gait cycle and prevent subjects from adopting an unfamiliar gait pattern.

A Low-cost Vision Based Navigation System for Small Size Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Applications

A low cost navigation system based on Vision Based Navigation (VBN) and other avionics sensors is presented, which is designed for small size Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) applications. The main objective of our research is to design a compact, lightweight and relatively inexpensive system capable of providing the required navigation performance in all phases of flight of a small UAV, with a special focus on precision approach and landing, where Vision Based Navigation (VBN) techniques can be fully exploited in a multisensory integrated architecture. Various existing techniques for VBN are compared and the Appearance-based Navigation (ABN) approach is selected for implementation. Feature extraction and optical flow techniques are employed to estimate flight parameters such as roll angle, pitch angle, deviation from the runway and body rates. Additionally, we address the possible synergies between VBN, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and MEMS-IMU (Micro-Electromechanical System Inertial Measurement Unit) sensors and also the use of Aircraft Dynamics Models (ADMs) to provide additional information suitable to compensate for the shortcomings of VBN and MEMS-IMU sensors in high-dynamics attitude determination tasks. An Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) is developed to fuse the information provided by the different sensors and to provide estimates of position, velocity and attitude of the UAV platform in real-time. Two different integrated navigation system architectures are implemented. The first uses VBN at 20 Hz and GPS at 1 Hz to augment the MEMS-IMU running at 100 Hz. The second mode also includes the ADM (computations performed at 100 Hz) to provide augmentation of the attitude channel. Simulation of these two modes is performed in a significant portion of the AEROSONDE UAV operational flight envelope and performing a variety of representative manoeuvres (i.e., straight climb, level turning, turning descent and climb, straight descent, etc.). Simulation of the first integrated navigation system architecture (VBN/IMU/GPS) shows that the integrated system can reach position, velocity and attitude accuracies compatible with CAT-II precision approach requirements. Simulation of the second system architecture (VBN/IMU/GPS/ADM) also shows promising results since the achieved attitude accuracy is higher using the ADM/VBS/IMU than using VBS/IMU only. However, due to rapid divergence of the ADM virtual sensor, there is a need for frequent re-initialisation of the ADM data module, which is strongly dependent on the UAV flight dynamics and the specific manoeuvring transitions performed.

Low-Cost Navigation and Guidance Systems for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles — Part 1: Vision-Based and Integrated Sensors

Abstract In this paper we present a new low-cost navigation system designed for small size Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) based on Vision-Based Navigation (VBN) and other avionics sensors. The main objective of our research was to design a compact, light and relatively inexpensive system capable of providing the Required Navigation Performance (RNP) in all phases of flight of a small UAV, with a special focus on precision approach and landing, where Vision Based Navigation (VBN) techniques can be fully exploited in a multisensor integrated architecture. Various existing techniques for VBN were compared and the Appearance-Based Approach (ABA) was selected for implementation. Feature extraction and optical flow techniques were employed to estimate flight parameters such as roll angle, pitch angle, deviation from the runway and body rates. Additionally, we addressed the possible synergies between VBN, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and MEMS-IMU (Micro-Electromechanical System Inertial Measurement Unit) sensors, as well as the aiding from Aircraft Dynamics Models (ADMs). In particular, by employing these sensors/models, we aimed to compensate for the shortcomings of VBN and MEMS-IMU sensors in high-dynamics attitude determination tasks. An Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) was developed to fuse the information provided by the different sensors and to provide estimates of position, velocity and attitude of the UAV platform in real-time. Two different integrated navigation system architectures were implemented. The first used VBN at 20 Hz and GPS at 1 Hz to augment the MEMS-IMU running at 100 Hz. The second mode also included the ADM (computations performed at 100 Hz) to provide augmentation of the attitude channel. Simulation of these two modes was accomplished in a significant portion of the AEROSONDE UAV operational flight envelope and performing a variety of representative manoeuvres (i.e., straight climb, level turning, turning descent and climb, straight descent, etc.). Simulation of the first integrated navigation system architecture (VBN/IMU/GPS) showed that the integrated system can reach position, velocity and attitude accuracies compatible with CAT-II precision approach requirements. Simulation of the second system architecture (VBN/IMU/GPS/ADM) also showed promising results since the achieved attitude accuracy was higher using the ADM/VBS/IMU than using VBS/IMU only. However, due to rapid divergence of the ADM virtual sensor, there was a need for frequent re-initialisation of the ADM data module, which was strongly dependent on the UAV flight dynamics and the specific manoeuvring transitions performed

인터스키 부정지 숏턴 동작의 운동학적 분석

본 연구는 인터스키 부정지 숏턴 동작에서 우수 집단과 비우수 집단 간 운동학적 변인의 차이를 3차원 영상 분석을 통해 보다 효과적인 부정지 숏턴 동작을 모색하고자 하였다. 연구 대상은 2007년 전국스키기술선수권대회 부정지 숏턴 경기에 참가한 선수 10명을 대상으로 DLT 방법을 이용한 3차원 영상분석을 통해 운동학적 변인을 분석하였으며, 그 결과 다음과 같은 결론을 얻었다. 총 소요시간 및 국면별 소요시간은 우수 집단이 비우수 집단보다 짧게 나타났다. 신체중심은 우수 집단이 비우수 집단보다 작은 좌우이동 폭과 큰 상하이동 폭을 나타내며, 직진성을 강화하는 활주를 하였으며, 그로 인하여 좌우속도를 제어하면서 빠른 전후속도를 나타냈다. 상하속도는 드롭 인 구간에서는 느리게 하면서 범프 업 구간에서 속도를 증가시킨 것으로 나타났다. 고관절각과 슬관절각은 우수 집단이 비우수집단보다 전체 이벤트에서 모두 작게 나타났으며, 동체 전경갈 신체 기울기각은 우수 집단이 비우수 집단보다 모두 크게 나타났다. 하퇴 전경각은 우수 집단이 비우수 집단보다 모글 중앙에서 크게 나타났으며, 동체 비틀기각은 우수 집단이 비우수 집단보다 드롭 인 구간에서 오른쪽 턴 방향으로, 범프 업 구간에서 왼쪽 턴 방향으로 크게 나타났다. The purpose of this study was to analyze differences in kinematic variables for mogul short turn motion between superior and inferior group, so that it can explore more effective mogul short turn motions. To meet the goals, this study selected total 10 ski players who would participate in mogul short turn event of the National Technical Ski Championship 2007, so that it could analyze kinematic variables by way of 3D motion analysis using DLT method. As a result, this study came to the following conclusions; For total and phase-specific duration, it was found that superior group took shorter time than inferior group. Superior group's Center of Mass was stands for more high value in up-down movement skill than inferior group. However right-left movement scale was less than them. In this reason, superior group was made a straight descent at the same time made a fast front-rear velocity. In the part of up-down movement velocity show that move slowly in the drop-in phase while increased in the bump-up phase. It is show that superior group was less tinny than inferior group include joint angle and knee joint angle. However leaning angle of trunk and the body inclination angle were more high figured than inferior group. Leaning angle of lower limbs also showed high figure at the center mogul. Lastly, In the part of body torsion angle show that superior group was high figure direction of right turn in the drop-in phase while in bump-up phase, made a high figure direction of left turn.

Experimental Study of the Mechanism of Skiing Turns. III. Measurement of Edging Angles of Skis on Snow Surface

By observing the track of a sliding ski during a parallel turn on a snow plane, we clarified the relationship between the direction of the ski turn and the edging angle. The relationship was the same as that observed in the experiment using a model ski sliding on a sand plane. Namely, when the angle formed between the horizontal plane and the ski, β0, is 0°, the motion of the ski is a straight descent; when β0 \ eqq0°, it is a turning descent. If we define the edging angle as β0, it is understood that the turning of the skis is determined only by the edging angle. The skier's sense of making a ski turn using his muscular strength can be explained as a matter of the perception of the skier.

Experimental Study of the Mechanism of Skiing Turns. II. Measurement of Edging Angles

In the previous paper, we showed that the edging angle of the ski is one of the basic factors contributing to skiing turns. In this paper, we conducted a quantitative evaluation of edging angles and measured the geometrical parameters of a sliding ski. We found that when a line perpendicular to the direction of movement of the ski within the bottom of the ski (on the plane of the trace) was horizontal, the ski made a straight descent, while when the line had a positive or negative angle from the horizontal plane, it showed a right or left turn, respectively.