scholarly journals Versatile Dynamic Motion Generation Framework: Demonstration With a Crutch-Less Exoskeleton on Real-Life Obstacles at the Cybathlon 2020 With a Complete Paraplegic Person

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vaiyee Huynh ◽  
Guillaume Burger ◽  
Quoc Viet Dang ◽  
Raphaël Pelgé ◽  
Guilhem Boéris ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Assistive Technology ◽  
Lower Limb ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Smartphone Application ◽  
Evolution System ◽  
Motion Generation ◽  
Motion Direction ◽  
Dynamic Motion ◽  
Direct Collocation ◽  
The Stability

Lower-limb exoskeletons are a promising option to increase the mobility of persons with leg impairments in a near future. However, it is still challenging for them to ensure the necessary stability and agility to face obstacles, particularly the variety that makes the urban environment. That is why most of the lower-limb exoskeletons must be used with crutches: the stability and agility features are deferred to the patient. Clinical experience shows that the use of crutches not only leads to shoulder pain and exhaustion, but also fully occupies the hands for daily tasks. In November 2020, Wandercraft presented Atalante Evolution, the first self-stabilized and crutch-less exoskeleton, to the powered exoskeleton race of the Cybathlon 2020 Global Edition. The Cybathlon aims at promoting research and development in the field of powered assistive technology to the public, contrary to the Paralympics where only participants with unpowered assistive technology are allowed. The race is designed to represent the challenges that a person could face every day in their environment: climbing stairs, walking through rough terrain, or descending ramps. Atalante Evolution is a 12 degree-of-freedom exoskeleton capable of moving dynamically with a complete paraplegic person. The challenge of this competition is to generate and execute new dynamic motions in a short time, to achieve different tasks. In this paper, an overview of Atalante Evolution system and of our framework for dynamic trajectory generation based on the direct collocation method will be presented. Next, the flexibility and efficiency of the dynamic motion generation framework are demonstrated by our tools developed for generating the important variety of stable motions required by the competition. A smartphone application has been developed to allow the pilot to choose between different modes and to control the motion direction according to the real situation to reach a destination. The advanced mechatronic design and the active cooperation of the pilot with the device will also be highlighted. As a result, Atalante Evolution allowed the pilot to complete four out of six obstacles, without crutches. Our developments lead to stable dynamic movements of the exoskeleton, hands-free walking, more natural stand-up and turning moves, and consequently a better physical condition of the pilot after the race compared to the challengers. The versatility and good results of these developments give hope that exoskeletons will soon be able to evolve in challenging everyday-life environments, allowing patients to live a normal life in complete autonomy.

scholarly journals ECOCAPTURE@HOME: Protocol for the Remote Assessment of Apathy and Its Everyday-Life Consequences

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (15) ◽  
pp. 7824
Author(s):  
Valérie Godefroy ◽  
Richard Levy ◽  
Arabella Bouzigues ◽  
Armelle Rametti-Lacroux ◽  
Raffaella Migliaccio ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Smartphone Application ◽  
Measurement Model ◽  
Strong Impact ◽  
Active Data ◽  
Personalised Treatment

Apathy, a common neuropsychiatric symptom associated with dementia, has a strong impact on patients’ and caregivers’ quality of life. However, it is still poorly understood and hard to define. The main objective of the ECOCAPTURE programme is to define a behavioural signature of apathy using an ecological approach. Within this program, ECOCAPTURE@HOME is an observational study which aims to validate a method based on new technologies for the remote monitoring of apathy in real life. For this study, we plan to recruit 60 couples: 20 patient-caregiver dyads in which patients suffer from behavioral variant Fronto-Temporal Dementia, 20 patient-caregiver dyads in which patients suffer from Alzheimer Disease and 20 healthy control couples. These dyads will be followed for 28 consecutive days via multi-sensor bracelets collecting passive data (acceleration, electrodermal activity, blood volume pulse). Active data will also be collected by questionnaires on a smartphone application. Using a pool of metrics extracted from these passive and active data, we will validate a measurement model for three behavioural markers of apathy (i.e., daytime activity, quality of sleep, and emotional arousal). The final purpose is to facilitate the follow-up and precise diagnosis of apathy, towards a personalised treatment of this condition within everyday life.

scholarly journals Pre-Drawn Syringes of Comirnaty for an Efficient COVID-19 Mass Vaccination: Demonstration of Stability

Pharmaceutics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1029
Author(s):  
Francesca Selmin ◽  
Umberto M. Musazzi ◽  
Silvia Franzè ◽  
Edoardo Scarpa ◽  
Loris Rizzello ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Stress ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Storage Conditions ◽  
Lipid Nanoparticles ◽  
Mass Vaccination ◽  
Hydrodynamic Diameter ◽  
The Us ◽  
Real Mass ◽  
The Stability ◽  
And Storage

Moving towards a real mass vaccination in the context of COVID-19, healthcare professionals are required to face some criticisms due to limited data on the stability of a mRNA-based vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine in the US or Comirnaty in EU) as a dose in a 1 mL-syringe. The stability of the lipid nanoparticles and the encapsulated mRNA was evaluated in a “real-life” scenario. Specifically, we investigated the effects of different storing materials (e.g., syringes vs. glass vials), as well as of temperature and mechanical stress on nucleic acid integrity, number, and particle size distribution of lipid nanoparticles. After 5 h in the syringe, lipid nanoparticles maintained the regular round shape, and the hydrodynamic diameter ranged between 80 and 100 nm with a relatively narrow polydispersity (<0.2). Samples were stable independently of syringe materials and storage conditions. Only strong mechanical stress (e.g., shaking) caused massive aggregation of lipid nanoparticles and mRNA degradation. These proof-of-concept experiments support the hypothesis that vaccine doses can be safely prepared in a dedicated area using an aseptic technique and transferred without affecting their stability.

Observance gap between users: Lessons from a trial of a smartphone application for parental empowerment in Autism Spectrum Disorders (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivier Bonnot ◽  
Vladimir Adrien ◽  
Veronique Venelle ◽  
Dominique Bonneau ◽  
Fanny Gollier-Briant ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Secondary Analysis ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Smartphone Application ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Filling Rate ◽  
Actual Use ◽  
Intent To Use ◽  
Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Prospective Longitudinal

BACKGROUND Conflicting data emerge from literature regarding actual use of smartphone application in medicine, some authors considering it as a breakthrough while other suggesting that real-life use is disappointing. However, digital tools are everyday more present in medicine. We developed SMARTAUTISM, a smartphone application focused on empowerment in a day to day-based help for parents having a child with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) asking questions and providing a feed-back screen with simple curves. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the qualitative and quantitative usage of a smartphone application by caregivers of ASD individuals. METHODS This is a prospective, longitudinal, exploratory, open study with a 6-month follow-up period of family having one child with ASD. Data are recorded longitudinally, and outcome criteria were: (i) overall filling rate, (ii) filling rate by degree of completion and by interest of users for our feed-back screen and qualitative questionnaire based on attrition. RESULTS Participants have a very high intent to use our app during the six months period (95%). However, secondary analysis shows that only 46 of subjects had constant filling rate over 50%. Interestingly, those high-profile users are characterized by higher use and satisfaction with the feed-back screen when compared to low (p<0.001) and moderate (p=0.007) users. CONCLUSIONS Real or perceived utility is an important incentive in the use of empowerment smartphone apps. CLINICALTRIAL Clinical Trial : NCT03020277 INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT RR2-10.1136/bmjopen-2016-012135

Open-Label Study of the Stability of Sublingual Nitroglycerin Tablets in Simulated Real-Life Conditions

2018 ◽  
Vol 122 (12) ◽  
pp. 2151-2156 ◽  
Author(s):  
James J. Nawarskas ◽  
Jason Koury ◽  
David A. Lauber ◽  
Linda A. Felton
Keyword(s):  
Real Life ◽  
Sublingual Nitroglycerin ◽  
Open Label ◽  
Open Label Study ◽  
Label Study ◽  
Life Conditions ◽  
The Stability

Stability Analysis of Supply Chain Cooperation Contract under Asymmetric Information

2010 ◽  
Vol 44-47 ◽  
pp. 794-798 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Ma
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
Repeated Games ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Transition Period ◽  
Information Economics ◽  
Real Life ◽  
The Other ◽  
Game Equilibrium ◽  
The Stability

The stability of cooperation contract is the result of abandon opportunistic behavior in the process of repeated games among the enterprise and the other subjects in the supply chain from long-term interests, and is also the foundation of healthy development for the whole supply chain. But in real life cooperation contract instability everywhere for a variety of reasons, such as ethical considerations, institutional factors, cultural factors and special reasons during the transition period and so on. From the perspective of information economics and game theory, the main game process of cooperation between enterprise and the other subjects in supply chain is not only the game of information, but also the game of interests. Information structure and the interesting structure are the important factors for the subjects of the game of the implementation of decisions and the basic contractual constraints for cooperative game equilibrium. Cooperation behaviors among the enterprise and the other subjects in the supply chain were studied on the basis of game theory, and the stability of cooperation contract is also being discussed in this paper.

scholarly journals Managing cost uncertainties in transportation and assignment problems

1998 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Adlakha ◽  
H. Arsham
Keyword(s):  
Time Lag ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Optimal Solution ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Solution Algorithm ◽  
Assignment Problems ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Order Assignment ◽  
Cost Parameters ◽  
The Cost

In a fast changing global market, a manager is concerned with cost uncertainties of the cost matrix in transportation problems (TP) and assignment problems (AP).A time lag between the development and application of the model could cause cost parameters to assume different values when an optimal assignment is implemented. The manager might wish to determine the responsiveness of the current optimal solution to such uncertainties. A desirable tool is to construct a perturbation set (PS) of cost coeffcients which ensures the stability of an optimal solution under such uncertainties.The widely-used methods of solving the TP and AP are the stepping-stone (SS) method and the Hungarian method, respectively. Both methods fail to provide direct information to construct the needed PS. An added difficulty is that these problems might be highly pivotal degenerate. Therefore, the sensitivity results obtained via the available linear programming (LP) software might be misleading.We propose a unified pivotal solution algorithm for both TP and AP. The algorithm is free of pivotal degeneracy, which may cause cycling, and does not require any extra variables such as slack, surplus, or artificial variables used in dual and primal simplex. The algorithm permits higher-order assignment problems and side-constraints. Computational results comparing the proposed algorithm to the closely-related pivotal solution algorithm, the simplex, via the widely-used pack-age Lindo, are provided. The proposed algorithm has the advantage of being computationally practical, being easy to understand, and providing useful information for managers. The results empower the manager to assess and monitor various types of cost uncertainties encountered in real-life situations. Some illustrative numerical examples are also presented.

scholarly journals Assessing the Impacts of Competition and Dispersal on a Multiple Interactions Type Model

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Murtala Bello Aliyu ◽  
Mohd Hafiz Mohd ◽  
Mohd Salmi Md. Noorani
Keyword(s):  
Bifurcation Analysis ◽  
Species Coexistence ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Period Doubling ◽  
Type Model ◽  
Coexistence Mechanisms ◽  
Multiple Species ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Transcritical Bifurcations ◽  
Multiple Interactions

Multiple interactions (e.g., mutualist-resource-competitor-exploiter interactions) type models are known to exhibit oscillatory behaviour as a result of their complexity. This large-amplitude oscillation often de-stabilises multispecies communities and increases the chances of species extinction. What mechanisms help species in a complex ecological system to persist? Some studies show that dispersal can stabilise an ecological community and permit multi-species coexistence. However, previous empirical and theoretical studies often focused on one- or two-species systems, and in real life, we have more than two-species coexisting together in nature. Here, we employ a (four-species) multiple interactions type model to investigate how competition interacts with other biotic factors and dispersal to shape multi-species communities. Our results reveal that dispersal has (de-)stabilising effects on the formation of multi-species communities, and this phenomenon shapes coexistence mechanisms of interacting species. These contrasting effects of dispersal can best be illustrated through its combined influences with the competition. To do this, we employ numerical simulation and bifurcation analysis techniques to track the stable and unstable attractors of the system. Results show the presence of Hopf bifurcations, transcritical bifurcations, period-doubling bifurcations and limit point bifurcations of cycles as we vary the competitive strength in the system. Furthermore, our bifurcation analysis findings show that stable coexistence of multiple species is possible for some threshold values of ecologically-relevant parameters in this complex system. Overall, we discover that the stability and coexistence mechanisms of multiple species depend greatly on the interplay between competition, other biotic components and dispersal in multi-species ecological systems.

scholarly journals RgCop-A regularized copula based method for gene selection in single cell rna-seq data

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (10) ◽  
pp. e1009464
Author(s):  
Snehalika Lall ◽  
Sumanta Ray ◽  
Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay
Keyword(s):  
Single Cell ◽  
Gene Selection ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Classification Performance ◽  
Rna Seq ◽  
Scale Invariant ◽  
Dependence Measure ◽  
Highly Expressed Genes ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Downstream Analysis

Gene selection in unannotated large single cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data is important and crucial step in the preliminary step of downstream analysis. The existing approaches are primarily based on high variation (highly variable genes) or significant high expression (highly expressed genes) failed to provide stable and predictive feature set due to technical noise present in the data. Here, we propose RgCop, a novel regularized copula based method for gene selection from large single cell RNA-seq data. RgCop utilizes copula correlation (Ccor), a robust equitable dependence measure that captures multivariate dependency among a set of genes in single cell expression data. We raise an objective function by adding a l1 regularization term with Ccor to penalizes the redundant co-efficient of features/genes, resulting non-redundant effective features/genes set. Results show a significant improvement in the clustering/classification performance of real life scRNA-seq data over the other state-of-the-art. RgCop performs extremely well in capturing dependence among the features of noisy data due to the scale invariant property of copula, thereby improving the stability of the method. Moreover, the differentially expressed (DE) genes identified from the clusters of scRNA-seq data are found to provide an accurate annotation of cells. Finally, the features/genes obtained from RgCop can able to annotate the unknown cells with high accuracy.

Supervoxel Plane Segmentation and Multi-Contact Motion Generation for Humanoid Stair Climbing

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (01) ◽  
pp. 1650022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tianwei Zhang ◽  
Stéphane Caron ◽  
Yoshihiko Nakamura
Keyword(s):  
Motion Planning ◽  
Humanoid Robot ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Estimation Method ◽  
Humanoid Robots ◽  
Stair Climbing ◽  
Lidar Data ◽  
Motion Generation ◽  
Prior Models ◽  
Motion Generator

Stair climbing is still a challenging task for humanoid robots, especially in unknown environments. In this paper, we address this problem from perception to execution. Our first contribution is a real-time plane-segment estimation method using Lidar data without prior models of the staircase. We then integrate this solution with humanoid motion planning. Our second contribution is a stair-climbing motion generator where estimated plane segments are used to compute footholds and stability polygons. We evaluate our method on various staircases. We also demonstrate the feasibility of the generated trajectories in a real-life experiment with the humanoid robot HRP-4.

scholarly journals Video-based smartphone app (‘VIDEA bewegt’) for physical activity support in German adults: a study protocol for a single-armed observational study

BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. e034027
Author(s):  
Tillmann Fischer ◽  
Paul Stumpf ◽  
Gesine Reinhardt ◽  
Peter E H Schwarz ◽  
Patrick Timpel
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Scientific Journal ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Smartphone Application ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Insufficient Physical Activity ◽  
Related Quality ◽  
Registration Number

IntroductionInsufficient physical activity is one of the most important risk factors for non-communicable diseases. Physical activity should therefore be intensively promoted in all age groups. Several trials suggest that it can be effectively increased through smartphone interventions.However, few of the smartphone-interventions available on the market have been scientifically evaluated. Therefore, the described study aims to assess the short-term and long-term effects of the smartphone intervention ‘VIDEA bewegt’ to increase physical activity. The trial is designed as a single-armed observational trial to assess effects under real-life conditions.Methods and analysisThe intervention consists of the smartphone-application ‘VIDEA bewegt’, which is a video-based preventative programme to improve physical activity in everyday life. The application contains several features and components including educational videos, documentation of activity and motivational exercises. A sample size of at least 106 participants is aimed for.The primary objective of this study is to determine the effect of the application on physical activity in German adults. Secondary objectives are to evaluate the self-efficacy, health-related quality of life and usability of ‘VIDEA bewegt’.Data collection is based on online questionnaires, as well as system-internal recorded data.Changes of outcomes from baseline to programme completion and follow-up will be calculated.Ethics and disseminationThe Ethics Committee of the Technical University Dresden approved the study on 25 May 2019 (EK 272062019). All data are processed anonymously and stored on servers only accessible by authorised personnel. The results of the study and the results of the usability test are aimed to be published in a scientific journal.Trial registration numberGerman Clinical Trials Registry (DRKS00017392).

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