Numerical Simulation of Rod Jet Formed by Shaped Charge under Rigid Constraint

In order to study the forming law of rod jet formed by shaped charge under rigid boundary constraint, ANSYS/LSDYNA finite element software is used to simulate the forming process of rod jet with ALE essential boundary, and the influence of structural parameters of shaped charge on rod jet forming is studied. The results show that compared with the free boundary constraint, the head velocity of rod jet increases by 63.5 % and the tail velocity increases by 59.3 % under the rigid boundary constraint. The head velocity and length-diameter ratio of rod jet decrease with the increase of the outside curvature radius of the liner, the thickness of the liner central position and the variable ratio of wall thickness. Furthermore, the tail velocity increases with the increase of the outside curvature radius of the liner, and decreases with the increase of the thickness of the liner central position and the variable ratio of wall thickness.

Enhanced Eye Velocity in Head Impulse Testing—A Possible Indicator of Endolymphatic Hydrops

Introduction: On video head impulse testing (vHIT) of semicircular canal function, some patients reliably show enhanced eye velocity and so VOR gains >1.0. Modeling and imaging indicate this could be due to endolymphatic hydrops. Oral glycerol reduces membranous labyrinth volume and reduces cochlear symptoms of hydrops, so we tested whether oral glycerol reduced the enhanced vHIT eye velocity.Study Design: Prospective clinical study and retrospective analysis of patient data.Methods: Patients with enhanced eye velocity during horizontal vHIT were enrolled (n = 9, 17 ears) and given orally 86% glycerol, 1.5 mL/kg of body weight, dissolved 1:1 in physiological saline. Horizontal vHIT testing was performed before glycerol intake (time 0), then at intervals of 1, 2, and 3 h after the oral glycerol intake. Control patients with enhanced eye velocity (n = 4, 6 ears) received water and were tested at the same intervals. To provide an objective index of enhanced eye velocity we used a measure of VOR gain which captures the enhanced eye velocity which is so clear on inspecting the eye velocity records. We call this measure the initial VOR gain and it is defined as: (the ratio of peak eye velocity to the value of head velocity at the time of peak eye velocity). The responses of other patients who showed enhanced eye velocity during routine clinical testing were analyzed to try to identify how the enhancement occurred.Results: We found that oral glycerol caused, on average, a significant reduction in the enhanced eye velocity response, whereas water caused no systematic change. The enhanced eye velocity during the head impulses is due in some patients to a compensatory saccade-like response during the increasing head velocity.Conclusion: The significant reduction in enhanced eye velocity during head impulse testing following oral glycerol is consistent with the hypothesis that the enhanced eye velocity in vHIT may be caused by endolymphatic hydrops.

Detection of VOR dysfunction during the gaze stabilization test: Does target size matter?

BACKGROUND: The Gaze Stabilization Test (GST) identifies vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) dysfunction using a decline in target recognition with increasing head velocity, but there is no consensus on target (optotype) size above static visual acuity. OBJECTIVE: To determine the optimal initial optotype size above static visual acuity to be used during the GST in subjects with unilateral vestibular dysfunction and healthy individuals. METHODS: Eight subjects with unilateral vestibular dysfunction (UVD) and 19 age-matched, healthy control subjects were studied with the standard GST protocol using two optotype sizes, 0.2 and 0.3 logMAR above static visual acuity (ΔlogMAR). Maximal head velocity achieved while maintaining fixation on both optotypes was measured. Sensitivity, specificity and receiver-operator characteristic area under the curve (ROC AUC) analyses were performed to determine the optimal head velocity cut off point for each optotype, based on ability to identify the lesioned side of the UVD group from the control group. RESULTS: There was a significant difference in maximal head velocity between the UVD group and control group using 0.2 ΔlogMAR (p = 0.032) but not 0.3 ΔlogMAR (p = 0.061). While both targets produced similar specificities (90%) for distinguishing normal from subjects with UVD, 0.2 ΔlogMAR targets yielded higher sensitivity (75%) than 0.3 logMAR (63%) and accuracy (86% vs 80%, respectively) in detecting the lesioned side in subjects with UVD versus controls with maximal head velocities≤105 deg/s (p = 0.017). Furthermore, positive likelihood ratios were nearly twice as high when using 0.2 ΔlogMAR targets (+ LR 10) compared to 0.3 ΔlogMAR (+ LR 6.3). CONCLUSION: The 0.2 ΔlogMAR optotype demonstrated significantly superior identification of subjects with UVD, better sensitivity and positive likelihood ratios than 0.3 ΔlogMAR for detection of VOR dysfunction. Using a target size 0.2logMAR above static visual acuity (ΔlogMAR) during GST may yield better detection of VOR dysfunction to serve as a baseline for gaze stabilization rehabilitation therapy.

The retrosplenial cortex combines internal and external cues to encode head velocity during navigation

The extent to which we successfully navigate the environment depends on our ability to continuously track our heading direction. Neurons that encode the speed and the direction of head turns during navigation, known as angular head velocity (AHV) cells, are fundamental to this process, but the sensory computations underlying their activity remain unknown. By performing chronic single-unit recordings in the retrosplenial cortex (RSP) of the mouse and tracking the activity of individual AHV neurons between freely moving and head-restrained conditions, we find that vestibular inputs dominate AHV signalling. In addition, we discover that self-generated optic flow input onto these neurons increases the gain and signal-to-noise ratio of angular velocity coding during navigation. Psychophysical experiments and neural decoding further reveal that vestibular-visual integration increases the perceptual accuracy of egocentric angular velocity and the fidelity of its representation by RSP ensembles. We propose that while AHV coding is dependent on vestibular cues, it also utilises vision to maximise navigation accuracy in nocturnal and diurnal environments.

Quantifying a Learning Curve for Video Head Impulse Test: Pitfalls and Pearls

Objective: The video head impulse test (vHIT) is nowadays a fast and objective method to measure vestibular function. However, its usability is controversial and often considered as a test performed by experts only. We sought to study the learning curve of novices and to document all possible mistakes and pitfalls in the process of learning.Methods: In a prospective cohort observational study, we included 10 novices. We tested their ability to perform correctly horizontal head impulses recorded with vHIT. We assessed vHITs in 10 sessions with 20 impulses per session giving a video instruction after the first session (S1) and individual feedback from an expert for session 2 (S2) up to session 10 (S10). We compared VOR gain, the HIT acceptance rate by the device algorithm, mean head velocity, acceleration, excursion, and overshoot between sessions.Results: A satisfying number of accepted HITs (80%) was reached after an experience of 160 vHITs. Mean head velocity between sessions was always in accepted limits. Head acceleration was too low at the beginning (S1) but improved significantly after the video instruction (p = 0.001). Mean head excursion and overshoot showed a significant improvement after 200 head impulses (p < 0.001 each).Conclusions: We showed that novices can learn to perform head impulses invHIT very fast provided that they receive instructions and feedback from an experienced examiner. Video instructions alone were not sufficient. The most common pitfall was a low head acceleration.

Absence of a vergence-mediated vestibulo-ocular reflex gain increase does not preclude adaptation

BACKGROUND: The gain (eye-velocity/head-velocity) of the angular vestibuloocular reflex (aVOR) during head impulses can be increased while viewing near-targets and when exposed to unilateral, incremental retinal image velocity error signals. It is not clear however, whether the tonic or phasic vestibular pathways mediate these gain increases. OBJECTIVE: Determine whether a shared pathway is responsible for gain enhancement between vergence and adaptation of aVOR gain in patients with unilateral vestibular hypofunction (UVH). MATERIAL AND METHODS: 20 patients with UVH were examined for change in aVOR gain during a vergence task and after 15-minutes of ipsilesional incremental VOR adaptation (uIVA) using StableEyes (a device that controls a laser target as a function of head velocity) during horizontal passive head impulses.A 5 % aVOR gain increase was defined as the threshold for significant change. RESULTS: 11/20 patients had >5% vergence-mediated gain increase during ipsi-lesional impulses. For uIVA, 10/20 patients had >5% ipsi-lesional gain increase. There was no correlation between the vergence-mediated gain increase and gain increase after uIVA training. CONCLUSION: Vergence-enhanced and uIVA training gain increases are mediated by separate mechanisms and/or vestibular pathways (tonic/phasic).The ability to increase the aVOR gain during vergence is not prognostic for successful adaptation training.

RADIO-ULNAR PRONATION VS FOREARM EXTENSION: WHICH THE BEST TO REACH THE MAXIMAL BADMINTON RACKET VELOCITY?

Aim. Forearm extension and radio-ulnar pronation are two common components of the final movement during each badminton smash stroke. By coordinating the forearm to produce both extension and pronation at the same time, racket head velocity can be increased. Thus, this study examined maximal velocity and racket deflection during both movements in regard with skill level. Materials and methods. Twenty-two players (8 experts and 14 novices) participated in this study. Wrist, handle and racket head velocity were recorded using high speed cameras (Vicon V8i at a frequency of 250 Hz). Results. The racket head velocity with radio-ulnar pronation was 16 % higher than with forearm extension. This higher velocity resulted from an 8 % higher acceleration and a 70 % higher maximal angular velocity of the end points of the forearm segments during radio-ulnar pronation. In each movement, experts’ maximal velocity was higher than that of novices (p < .001).The maximal velocity of the racket for novices was obtained with elbow extension (20.9 ± 4.8 m/s), with a gain of 47 %, whereas for experts, it was obtained with radio-ulnar pronation (33.9 ± 5.8 m/s), with a gain of 53 %. Conclusion. The difference between the best velocities in both samples is 39 %, obtained respectively by radio-ulnar pronation for experts and an elbow extension for novices. Forearm extension and radio-ulnar pronation acceleration on the handle led to an increase in racket head velocity.