A Novel Optimization Framework to Improve the Computational Cost of Muscle Activation Prediction for a Neuromusculoskeletal System

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 574-595
Author(s):  
Seyed Mohammad Ali Rahmati ◽  
Mostafa Rostami ◽  
Alireza Karimi
Keyword(s):  
Muscle Activation ◽  
Inverse Dynamics ◽  
Computational Cost ◽  
Inequality Constraints ◽  
Lower Limbs ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Computational Errors ◽  
Muscle Activations ◽  
High Computational Cost

The high computational cost (CC) of neuromusculoskeletal modeling is usually considered a serious barrier in clinical applications. Different approaches have been developed to lessen CC and amplify the accuracy of muscle activation prediction based on forward and inverse analyses by applying different optimization algorithms. This study is aimed at proposing two novel approaches, inverse muscular dynamics with inequality constraints (IMDIC) and inverse-forward muscular dynamics with inequality constraints (IFMDIC), not only to reduce CC but also to amend the computational errors compared to the well-known approach of extended inverse dynamics (EID). To do that, the equality constraints of optimization problem, which are computationally tough to satisfy, are replaced by inequality constraints, which are easier to satisfy. To verify the practical application of the proposed approaches, the muscle activations of the lower limbs during the half of a gait cycle are quantified. The simulation results of the optimal muscle activations are then compared to the experimental ones. The results reveal that IMDIC requires less CC (87.5%) compared to EID. In addition, CC of IMDIC was about 33.3% improved by the application of IFMDIC. The findings of this study suggest that although the novel approach of IFMDIC decreases CC compared to IMDIC, the convergence of its results is very sensitive to the primary guess of the optimization variables.

scholarly journals Passive knee exoskeletons in functional tasks: Biomechanical effects of a SpringExo coil-spring on squats

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rand Hidayah ◽  
Dongbao Sui ◽  
Kennedi A. Wade ◽  
Biing-Chwen Chang ◽  
Sunil Agrawal
Keyword(s):  
Outcome Measures ◽  
Muscle Activation ◽  
Rectus Femoris ◽  
Knee Extension ◽  
Lower Limbs ◽  
Flexion Angle ◽  
Coil Spring ◽  
Foot Pressure ◽  
Low Profile ◽  
Muscle Activations

Abstract Passive wearable exoskeletons are desirable as they can provide assistance during user movements while still maintaining a simple and low-profile design. These can be useful in industrial tasks where an ergonomic device could aid in load lifting without inconveniencing them and reducing fatigue and stress in the lower limbs. The SpringExo is a coil-spring design that aids in knee extension. In this paper, we describe the muscle activation of the knee flexors and extensors from seven healthy participants during repeated squats. The outcome measures are the timings of the key events during squat, flexion angle, muscle activation of rectus femoris and bicep femoris, and foot pressure characteristics of the participants. These outcome measures assess the possible effects of the device during lifting operations where reduced effort in the muscles is desired during ascent phase of the squat, without changing the knee and foot kinematics. The results show that the SpringExo significantly decreased rectus femoris activation during ascent (−2%) without significantly affecting either the bicep femoris or rectus femoris muscle activations in descent. This implies that the user could perform a descent without added effort and ascent with reduced effort. The exoskeleton showed other effects on the biomechanics of the user, increasing average squat time (+0.02 s) and maximum squat time (+0.1 s), and decreasing average knee flexion angle (−4°). The exoskeleton has no effect on foot loading or placement, that is, the user did not have to revise their stance while using the device.

scholarly journals Caffeine-Induced Effects on Human Skeletal Muscle Contraction Time and Maximal Displacement Measured by Tensiomyography

Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 815
Author(s):  
Przemysław Domaszewski ◽  
Paweł Pakosz ◽  
Mariusz Konieczny ◽  
Dawid Bączkowicz ◽  
Ewa Sadowska-Krępa
Keyword(s):  
Skeletal Muscle ◽  
Muscle Activation ◽  
Electric Pulse ◽  
Professional Athletes ◽  
Mechanical Activity ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Contraction Time ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Skeletal Muscle Contraction ◽  
Maximal Displacement

Studies on muscle activation time in sport after caffeine supplementation confirmed the effectiveness of caffeine. The novel approach was to determine whether a dose of 9 mg/kg/ body mass (b.m.) of caffeine affects the changes of contraction time and the displacement of electrically stimulated muscle (gastrocnemius medialis) in professional athletes who regularly consume products rich in caffeine and do not comply with the caffeine discontinuation period requirements. The study included 40 professional male handball players (age = 23.13 ± 3.51, b.m. = 93.51 ± 15.70 kg, height 191 ± 7.72, BMI = 25.89 ± 3.10). The analysis showed that in the experimental group the values of examined parameters were significantly reduced (p ≤ 0.001) (contraction time: before = 20.60 ± 2.58 ms/ after = 18.43 ± 3.05 ms; maximal displacement: before = 2.32 ± 0.80 mm/after = 1.69 ± 0.51 mm). No significant changes were found in the placebo group. The main achievement of this research was to demonstrate that caffeine at a dose of 9 mg/kg in professional athletes who regularly consume products rich in caffeine has a direct positive effect on the mechanical activity of skeletal muscle stimulated by an electric pulse.

scholarly journals A NOTE ON PHASING LONG GENOMIC REGIONS USING LOCAL HAPLOTYPE PREDICTIONS

2006 ◽  
Vol 04 (03) ◽  
pp. 639-647 ◽  
Author(s):  
ELEAZAR ESKIN ◽  
RODED SHARAN ◽  
ERAN HALPERIN
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Computational Cost ◽  
Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽  
Single Nucleotide ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Maximum Likelihood Criterion ◽  
The Common ◽  
Genomic Regions ◽  
High Computational Cost ◽  
Combining Information

The common approaches for haplotype inference from genotype data are targeted toward phasing short genomic regions. Longer regions are often tackled in a heuristic manner, due to the high computational cost. Here, we describe a novel approach for phasing genotypes over long regions, which is based on combining information from local predictions on short, overlapping regions. The phasing is done in a way, which maximizes a natural maximum likelihood criterion. Among other things, this criterion takes into account the physical length between neighboring single nucleotide polymorphisms. The approach is very efficient and is applied to several large scale datasets and is shown to be successful in two recent benchmarking studies (Zaitlen et al., in press; Marchini et al., in preparation). Our method is publicly available via a webserver at .

Influence of the Musculotendon Dynamics on the Muscle Force-Sharing Problem of the Shoulder—A Fully Inverse Dynamics Approach

2018 ◽  
Vol 140 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Quental Carlos ◽  
Azevedo Margarida ◽  
Ambrósio Jorge ◽  
Gonçalves S. B. ◽  
Folgado João
Keyword(s):  
Muscle Activation ◽  
Inverse Dynamics ◽  
Glenohumeral Joint ◽  
Inverse Dynamic ◽  
Force Sharing ◽  
Joint Reaction Forces ◽  
Reaction Forces ◽  
Muscle Activations ◽  
Joint Reaction

Abstract Most dynamic simulations are based on inverse dynamics, being the time-dependent physiological nature of the muscle properties rarely considered due to numerical challenges. Since the influence of muscle physiology on the consistency of inverse dynamics simulations remains unclear, the purpose of the present study is to evaluate the computational efficiency and biological validity of four musculotendon models that differ in the simulation of the muscle activation and contraction dynamics. Inverse dynamic analyses are performed using a spatial musculoskeletal model of the upper limb. The muscle force-sharing problem is solved for five repetitions of unloaded and loaded motions of shoulder abduction and shoulder flexion. The performance of the musculotendon models is evaluated by comparing muscle activation predictions with electromyography (EMG) signals, measured synchronously with motion for 11 muscles, and the glenohumeral joint reaction forces estimated numerically with those measured in vivo. The results show similar muscle activations for all muscle models. Overall, high cross-correlations are computed between muscle activations and the EMG signals measured for all movements analyzed, which provides confidence in the results. The glenohumeral joint reaction forces estimated compare well with those measured in vivo, but the influence of the muscle dynamics is found to be negligible. In conclusion, for slow-speed, standard movements of the upper limb, as those studied here, the activation and musculotendon contraction dynamics can be neglected in inverse dynamic analyses without compromising the prediction of muscle and joint reaction forces.

scholarly journals Changes in Lower-Limb Biomechanics, Soft Tissue Vibrations, and Muscle Activation During Unanticipated Bipedal Landings

2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-35
Author(s):  
Shen Zhang ◽  
Weijie Fu ◽  
Yu Liu
Keyword(s):  
Soft Tissue ◽  
Muscle Activation ◽  
Impact Force ◽  
Rectus Femoris ◽  
Biceps Femoris ◽  
Lower Limbs ◽  
Drop Jump ◽  
Basketball Players ◽  
Drop Landing ◽  
Muscle Activations

AbstractWe aimed to explore the biomechanical differences between the anticipated drop jump and unanticipated drop landing. Twelve male collegiate basketball players completed an anticipated drop jump and unanticipated drop landing with double legs from a height of 30 cm. Kinematics, impact force, soft tissue vibrations, and electromyographic (EMG) amplitudes of the dominant leg were collected simultaneously. The anticipated drop jump showed more flexed lower limbs during landing and increased range of motion compared to the unanticipated drop landing. The anticipated drop jump also had lower impact force, lesser soft tissue vibration, and a greater damp coefficient at the thigh muscles compared with the unanticipated drop landing. Significant increases in the EMG amplitudes of the tibialis anterior, lateral gastrocnemius, rectus femoris, and biceps femoris were observed in the anticipated drop jump during the pre/post-activation and downward phases. The anticipated drop jump presented more optimized landing posture control with more joint flexion, lower impact force, less soft tissue vibrations, and full preparation of muscle activations compared with the unanticipated drop landing.

scholarly journals Preliminary Design of Debris Removal Missions by Means of Simplified Models for Low-Thrust, Many-Revolution Transfers

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federico Zuiani ◽  
Massimiliano Vasile
Keyword(s):  
Ion Beam ◽  
Computational Cost ◽  
Preliminary Design ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Low Thrust ◽  
Mission Duration ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Computational Speed ◽  
Switching Structure ◽  
Propellant Consumption

This paper presents a novel approach for the preliminary design of Low-Thrust, many-revolution transfers. The main feature of the novel approach is a considerable reduction in the control parameters and a consequent gain in computational speed. Each spiral is built by using a predefined pattern for thrust direction and switching structure. The pattern is then optimised to minimise propellant consumption and transfer time. The variation of the orbital elements due to the thrust is computed analytically from a first-order solution of the perturbed Keplerian motion. The proposed approach allows for a realistic estimation ofVand time of flight required to transfer a spacecraft between two arbitrary orbits. Eccentricity and plane changes are both accounted for. The novel approach is applied here to the design of missions for the removal of space debris by means of an Ion Beam Shepherd Spacecraft. In particular, two slightly different variants of the proposed low-thrust control model are used for the different phases of the mission. Thanks to their low computational cost they can be included in a multiobjective optimisation problem in which the sequence and timing of the removal of five pieces of debris are optimised to minimise propellant consumption and mission duration.

EMG-Assisted Neuromusculoskeletal Models Can Estimate Physiological Muscle Activations and Joint Moments Across the Neck Before Impacts

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pavlos Silvestros ◽  
Claudio Pizzolato ◽  
David G. Lloyd ◽  
Ezio Preatoni ◽  
Harinderjit S. Gill ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cervical Spine ◽  
Muscle Activation ◽  
Inverse Dynamics ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Neck Muscle ◽  
Joint Moments ◽  
Activation Patterns ◽  
Muscle Activation Patterns ◽  
Flexion Extension ◽  
Muscle Activations

Abstract Knowledge of neck muscle activation strategies prior to sporting impacts is crucial for investigating mechanisms of severe spinal injuries. However, measurement of muscle activations during impacts is experimentally challenging and computational estimations are not often guided by experimental measurements. We investigated neck muscle activations prior to impacts with the use of electromyography (EMG)-assisted neuromusculoskeletal models. Kinematics and EMG recordings from four major neck muscles of a rugby player were experimentally measured during rugby activities. A subject-specific musculoskeletal model was created with muscle parameters informed from MRI measurements. The model was used in the Calibrated EMG-Informed Neuromusculoskeletal Modelling toolbox and three neural solutions were compared: i) static optimisation (SO), ii) EMG-assisted (EMGa) and iii) MRI-informed EMG-assisted (EMGaMRI). EMGaMRI and EMGa significantly (p¡0.01) outperformed SO when tracking cervical spine net joint moments from inverse dynamics in flexion/extension (RMSE = 0.95, 1.14 and 2.32 Nm) but not in lateral bending (RMSE = 1.07, 2.07 and 0.84 Nm). EMG-assisted solutions generated physiological muscle activation patterns and maintained experimental co-contractions significantly (p¡0.01) outperforming SO, which was characterised by saturation and non-physiological "on-off" patterns. This study showed for the first time that physiological neck muscle activations and cervical spine net joint moments can be estimated without assumed a priori objective criteria prior to impacts. Future studies could use this technique to provide detailed initial loading conditions for theoretical simulations of neck injury during impacts.

scholarly journals Orthogonal and Nonnegative Graph Reconstruction for Large Scale Clustering

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junwei Han ◽  
Kai Xiong ◽  
Feiping Nie
Keyword(s):  
Spectral Clustering ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Computational Cost ◽  
Post Processing ◽  
Normalized Cut ◽  
Clustering Problem ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Graph Reconstruction ◽  
Final Cluster ◽  
High Computational Cost

Spectral clustering has been widely used due to its simplicity for solving graph clustering problem in recent years. However, it suffers from the high computational cost as data grow in scale, and is limited by the performance of post-processing. To address these two problems simultaneously, in this paper, we propose a novel approach denoted by orthogonal and nonnegative graph reconstruction (ONGR) that scales linearly with the data size. For the relaxation of Normalized Cut, we add nonnegative constraint to the objective. Due to the nonnegativity, ONGR offers interpretability that the final cluster labels can be directly obtained without post-processing. Extensive experiments on clustering tasks demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

An Alternate Algorithm for (3x3) Median Filtering of Digital Images

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satinderjit Singh
Keyword(s):  
Median Filter ◽  
Computational Cost ◽  
Spatial Coherence ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Median Filtering ◽  
Basic Algorithm ◽  
Temporal Complexity ◽  
Filter Kernel ◽  
One Step ◽  
High Computational Cost

Median filtering is a commonly used technique in image processing. The main problem of the median filter is its high computational cost (for sorting N pixels, the temporal complexity is O(N·log N), even with the most efficient sorting algorithms). When the median filter must be carried out in real time, the software implementation in general-purpose processorsdoes not usually give good results. This Paper presents an efficient algorithm for median filtering with a 3x3 filter kernel with only about 9 comparisons per pixel using spatial coherence between neighboring filter computations. The basic algorithm calculates two medians in one step and reuses sorted slices of three vertical neighboring pixels. An extension of this algorithm for 2D spatial coherence is also examined, which calculates four medians per step.

Exploring normative perceptions and misperceptions of private, environmentally impactful behaviours

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine Gallagher ◽  
Bas Verplanken ◽  
Ian Walker
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Behaviour Change ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Normative Influence ◽  
Change Mechanism ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Classical Studies ◽  
Referent Group

Social norms have been shown to be an effective behaviour change mechanism across diverse behaviours, demonstrated from classical studies to more recent behaviour change research. Much of this research has focused on environmentally impactful actions. Social norms are typically utilised for behaviour change in social contexts, which facilitates the important element of the behaviour being visible to the referent group. This ensures that behaviours can be learned through observation and that deviations from the acceptable behaviour can be easily sanctioned or approved by the referent group. There has been little focus on how effective social norms are in private or non-social contexts, despite a multitude of environmentally impactful behaviours occurring in the home, for example. The current study took the novel approach to explore if private behaviours are important in the context of normative influence, and if the lack of a referent groups results in inaccurate normative perceptions and misguided behaviours. Findings demonstrated variance in normative perceptions of private behaviours, and that these misperceptions may influence behaviour. These behaviours are deemed to be more environmentally harmful, and respondents are less comfortable with these behaviours being visible to others, than non-private behaviours. The research reveals the importance of focusing on private behaviours, which have been largely overlooked in the normative influence literature.

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