Effect of Walking Adaptability on an Uneven Surface by a Stepping Pattern on Walking Activity After Stroke

Real-world walking activity is important for poststroke patients because it leads to their participation in the community and physical activity. Walking activity may be related to adaptability to different surface conditions of the ground. The purpose of this study was to clarify whether walking adaptability on an uneven surface by step is related to daily walking activity in patients after stroke. We involved 14 patients who had hemiparesis after stroke (age: 59.4 ± 8.9 years; post-onset duration: 70.7 ± 53.5 months) and 12 healthy controls (age: 59.5 ± 14.2 years). The poststroke patients were categorized as least limited community ambulators or unlimited ambulators. For the uneven surface, the study used an artificial grass surface (7 m long, 2-cm leaf length). The subjects repeated even surface walking and the uneven surface walking trials at least two times at a comfortable speed. We collected spatiotemporal and kinematic gait parameters on both the even and uneven surfaces using a three-dimensional motion analysis system. After we measured gait, the subjects wore an accelerometer around the waist for at least 4 days. We measured the number of steps per day using the accelerometer to evaluate walking activity. Differences in gait parameters between the even and uneven surfaces were calculated to determine how the subjects adapted to an uneven surface while walking. We examined the association between the difference in parameter measurements between the two surface properties and walking activity (number of steps per day). Walking activity significantly and positively correlated with the difference in paretic step length under the conditions of different surface properties in the poststroke patients (r = 0.65, p = 0.012) and step width in the healthy controls (r = 0.68, p = 0.015). The strategy of increasing the paretic step length, but not step width, on an uneven surface may lead to a larger base of support, which maintains stability during gait on an uneven surface in poststroke patients, resulting in an increased walking activity. Therefore, in poststroke patients, an increase in paretic step length during gait on an uneven surface might be more essential for improving walking activity.

Evaluation of Thermoelectric Generators under Mismatching Conditions

Due to the wide usability of thermoelectric generators (TEG) in the industry and research fields, it is plausible that mismatching conditions are present on the thermal surfaces of a TEG device, which induces negative-performance effects due to uneven surface temperature distributions. For this reason, the objective of this study is to characterize numerically the open-circuit electric output voltage of a TEG device when a mismatching condition is applied to both the cold and hot sides of the selected N and P-type semiconductor material Bi0.4Sb1.6Te3. A validated numerical simulation paired with a parametric study is conducted using the Thermal-Electric module of ANSYS 2020 R1, for which different thermal boundary and mismatching conditions are applied while considering the temperature-dependent thermoelectrical properties of the N and P-type material. The results show an inverse relationship between the open-circuit voltage and the mismatching temperature difference. When a mismatching condition is applied on the hot side of the TEG device, the temperature-dependent electrical resistance has lower values, deriving in higher voltage results (linear tendency) compared to a mismatching condition applied to the cold side (non-linear tendency).

Scientific Analysis of Firing Characteristics for Walls and Rooftiles Excavated from Jeseoksa Dump-site, Iksan

In this study, the physicochemical properties of 21 wall fragments and rooftile pieces excavated from Jeseoksa Dump-site were analyzed, and the possibility of heat exposure, such as the fire reported in the literature, was investigated by estimating the firing temperature. From the results, it was estimated that the rooftiles were composed of refined materials, and the walls were composed of materials having different particle sizes depending on the layer. Unlike ordinary rooftiles and walls, they exhibited an uneven surface with traces of bloating phenomenon in the cross section. It was estimated from the blackening of some portions that firing was not performed in a controlled state in a constant firing environment. In addition, the estimated firing temperature showed that the non-overfired rooftiles had endured a firing temperature of 900°C or less, but the over-fired samples were subjected to a temperature of 1,000°C or higher and were fired at a temperature higher than the manufacturing temperature at that time. Additionally, the rooftiles probably became defective during firing or molding at the time of production, but the non-overfired rooftiles exhibited an intact shape and showed the possibility of heat exposure due to fire. Therefore, the analytical results of this study confirm that the defective architectural components damaged by the fire, as reported in the literature, were discarded in the Jeseoksa dump-site.

A novel method using infrared thermography for hot fluid leakage detection on surfaces with uneven emissivities

Uneven surface emissivity will cause illusory temperature variation in infrared surface temperature mapping. For this reason, most of the detailed reviews on the use of infrared thermography (IRT) for leakage detection have mainly focused on surfaces with homogeneous emissivity or the recognition of negative temperature gradients, while reports on sensing hot fluid leakage for uneven surface emissivity are very rare. In this study, a hypothesis is put forward and a new leakage detection method is proposed that uses a transient heating-cooling-heating process in association with a subtraction method of infrared images to eliminate the disturbance of inhomogeneous valve surface emissivities. A theoretical analysis is established that is experimentally tested as a case study. The results shows that the hypothesis is clear and the effect of the uneven emissivity is suppressed for the recognition of positive temperature gradients (hot fluid leakage) on a metal valve sample. The current work provides new insights on the modification of the surface emissivity under certain conditions, which has been a major limitation of passive IRT in the past.

Frequency and Reoccurrence of Ankle Sprain in Young Male Athletes of University of Lahore

Nowadays, ankle sprain is a common injury among athlete which may cause disabilities, functional limitations and limited participation in sports related events. Objective: To find out the frequency and reoccurrence of ankle sprain among young male athletes of the University of Lahore. Methodology: A cross sectional survey was conducted by using self-made questionnaire validated by pilot study to check the frequency and reoccurrence of ankle sprain in 80 young male athletes of University of Lahore. Collected data was statistically calculated by SPSS version 21.0. Results: The study showed that among 80 participants only 38 (47.5%) suffered ankle sprain and 42 (52.5%) never experienced ankle sprain. Among 38 athletes who had the injury, 20(52.6%) s u f f e r e d i n j u r y i n 2 0 1 6 . T h e o n e - t i m e reoccurrence of ankle sprain among participants was 36.8%, twice reoccurrences was present among 36.8%, three times among 21.1%, four times among 2.6% and five times in 2.6% in population. Conclusions: This study concluded that frequency of ankle sprain in athletes of university of Lahore was moderate and reoccurrence rate of ankle sprainwas high among athletes. Ankle sprain was associated with uneven surface and type of footwear. It is recommended to conduct this study by considering these factors. Another recommendation is to conduct study in other institution as well

Textile Electrodes: Influence of Knitting Construction and Pressure on the Contact Impedance

Textile electrodes, also called textrodes, for biosignal monitoring as well as electrostimulation are central for the emerging research field of smart textiles. However, so far, only the general suitability of textrodes for those areas was investigated, while the influencing parameters on the contact impedance related to the electrode construction and external factors remain rather unknown. Therefore, in this work, six different knitted electrodes, applied both wet and dry, were compared regarding the influence of specific knitting construction parameters on the three-electrode contact impedance measured on a human forearm. Additionally, the influence of applying pressure was investigated in a two-electrode setup using a water-based agar dummy. Further, simulation of an equivalent circuit was used for quantitative evaluation. Indications were found that the preferred electrode construction to achieve the lowest contact impedance includes a square shaped electrode, knitted with a high yarn density and, in the case of dry electrodes, an uneven surface topography consisting of loops, while in wet condition a smooth surface is favorable. Wet electrodes are showing a greatly reduced contact impedance and are therefore to be preferred over dry ones; however, opportunities are seen for improving the electrode performance of dry electrodes by applying pressure to the system, thereby avoiding disadvantages of wet electrodes with fluid administration, drying-out of the electrolyte, and discomfort arising from a “wet feeling”.

Low-reflective wire-grid polariser sheet in the visible region fabricated by a nanoprinting process

For the construction of next-generation optical products and systems, the evolution of polariser sheets is a necessary requirement. To this end, a low-reflective wire-grid polariser (WGP) sheet for the visible light region is demonstrated, the nanowires of which consist of a sintered body of silver nanoparticle ink. The nanowires are formed by a nanoprinting process using a thermal nanoimprint method and ink filling. This process makes it easier to achieve multiple wafer-scale productions without using sophisticated equipment compared to conventional WGP nanofabrication techniques, which typically employ lithography and elaborate etching processes. The optical characteristics are controlled by the shape of the printed nanowires. A WGP sheet with a luminous degree of polarisation of 99.0%, a total luminous transmittance of 13.6%, and a luminous reflectance of 3.6% is produced. Its low reflectance is achieved through the uneven surface derived from the sintered body of the nanoparticle ink, and the shape of the bottom of the nanowire is derived from the tip shape of the mould structure. Furthermore, the printed WGP sheet has the durability required for the manufacturing of curved products, including sunglasses. The optical structures made of nanoparticle ink using this nanoprinting process have the potential to significantly contribute to the development of fine-structured optical elements with unprecedented functionality.