Neural substrates of reliability-weighted visual-tactile multisensory integration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael S Beauchamp

2010-06-01

Full Text Available As sensory systems deteriorate in aging or disease, the brain must relearn the appropriate weights to assign each modality during multisensory integration. Using blood-oxygen level dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD fMRI of human subjects, we tested a model for the neural mechanisms of sensory weighting, termed “weighted connections”. This model holds that the connection weights between early and late areas vary depending on the reliability of the modality, independent of the level of early sensory cortex activity. When subjects detected viewed and felt touches to the hand, a network of brain areas was active, including visual areas in lateral occipital cortex, somatosensory areas in inferior parietal lobe, and multisensory areas in the intraparietal sulcus (IPS. In agreement with the weighted connection model, the connection weight measured with structural equation modeling between somatosensory cortex and IPS increased for somatosensory-reliable stimuli, and the connection weight between visual cortex and IPS increased for visual-reliable stimuli. This double dissociation of connection strengths was similar to the pattern of behavioral responses during incongruent multisensory stimulation, suggesting that weighted connections may be a neural mechanism for behavioral reliability weighting.for behavioral reliability weighting.

Selection of suitable hand gestures for reliable myoelectric human computer interface.

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Castro, Maria Claudia F; Arjunan, Sridhar P; Kumar, Dinesh K

2015-04-09

Myoelectric controlled prosthetic hand requires machine based identification of hand gestures using surface electromyogram (sEMG) recorded from the forearm muscles. This study has observed that a sub-set of the hand gestures have to be selected for an accurate automated hand gesture recognition, and reports a method to select these gestures to maximize the sensitivity and specificity. Experiments were conducted where sEMG was recorded from the muscles of the forearm while subjects performed hand gestures and then was classified off-line. The performances of ten gestures were ranked using the proposed Positive-Negative Performance Measurement Index (PNM), generated by a series of confusion matrices. When using all the ten gestures, the sensitivity and specificity was 80.0% and 97.8%. After ranking the gestures using the PNM, six gestures were selected and these gave sensitivity and specificity greater than 95% (96.5% and 99.3%); Hand open, Hand close, Little finger flexion, Ring finger flexion, Middle finger flexion and Thumb flexion. This work has shown that reliable myoelectric based human computer interface systems require careful selection of the gestures that have to be recognized and without such selection, the reliability is poor.

Integrated multi-sensory control of space robot hand

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Bejczy, A. K.; Kan, E. P.; Killion, R. R.

1985-01-01

Dexterous manipulation of a robot hand requires the use of multiple sensors integrated into the mechanical hand under distributed microcomputer control. Where space applications such as construction, assembly, servicing and repair tasks are desired of smart robot arms and robot hands, several critical drives influence the design, engineering and integration of such an electromechanical hand. This paper describes a smart robot hand developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for experimental use and evaluation with the Protoflight Manipulator Arm (PFMA) at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC).

Reliability criteria selection for integrated resource planning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ruiu, D.; Ye, C.; Billinton, R.; Lakhanpal, D.

1993-01-01

A study was conducted on the selection of a generating system reliability criterion that ensures a reasonable continuity of supply while minimizing the total costs to utility customers. The study was conducted using the Institute for Electronic and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) reliability test system as the study system. The study inputs and results for conditions and load forecast data, new supply resources data, demand-side management resource data, resource planning criterion, criterion value selection, supply side development, integrated resource development, and best criterion values, are tabulated and discussed. Preliminary conclusions are drawn as follows. In the case of integrated resource planning, the selection of the best value for a given type of reliability criterion can be done using methods similar to those used for supply side planning. The reliability criteria values previously used for supply side planning may not be economically justified when integrated resource planning is used. Utilities may have to revise and adopt new, and perhaps lower supply reliability criteria for integrated resource planning. More complex reliability criteria, such as energy related indices, which take into account the magnitude, frequency and duration of the expected interruptions are better adapted than the simpler capacity-based reliability criteria such as loss of load expectation. 7 refs., 5 figs., 10 tabs

TEST-RETEST RELIABILITY OF HAND GRIP STRENGTH MEASUREMENT USING A JAMAR HAND DYNAMOMETER IN PATIENTS WITH ACUTE AND CHRONIC CERVICAL RADICULOPATHY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ejazi G

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Background: To evaluate the test-retest reliability of Jamar hand held dynamometer for measuring handgrip strength (HGS in patients with acute and chronic cervical radiculopathy and to find out the difference in measurement of the handgrip strength between acute and chronic cervical radiculopathy. Methods: A prospective, observational and non-experimental, the comparative study design was used. A sample of 72 subjects (37 women and 35 men suffering from cervical radiculopathy were divided into two groups i.e., Group A(acute and Group B(chronic, handgrip strength was measured using Jamar hand held dynamometer on two occasions by the same rater with an interval of 7-days. Data collection was based on standard guidelines of American Society of Hand Therapists. Three gripping trials (measured in Kg with patient’s arm in standardized arm position were recorded. The data was analyzed from the mean score obtained from the sample. Result: One-way Analysis of Variance(ANOVA was used to evaluate test-retest reliability and Tukey-Kramer Multiple Comparison Test used to find the difference between handgrip strength among acute and chronic Cervical radiculopathy cases. Greater P-value (>0.05 in both testing session, as well as 95% of the confidence interval, shows the reliability of the instrument and lesser p-value (0.05 in female subjects shows no significant difference in handgrip strength between the two groups. Conclusion: Excellent test-retest reliability for hand grip strength measurement was measured in patients with acute and chronic cervical radiculopathy shows that the equipment could be used as an assessment tool for this patient and significant difference exists among male handgrip strength between acute and chronic cervical radiculopathy cases whereas no difference exists among female handgrip strength between acute and chronic cervical radiculopathy cases.

IT release management a hands-on guide

CERN Document Server

Howard, Dave

2011-01-01

When implemented correctly, release management can help ensure that quality is integrated throughout the development, implementation, and delivery of services, applications, and infrastructure. This holistic, total cost of ownership approach allows for higher levels of system availability, is more cost effective to maintain, and increases overall stability, maintainability, and reliability. Filled with practical insights, IT Release Management: A Hands-on Guide clearly illustrates the effective implementation of a release process in the real world. It examines the similarities and differences

Reliability of a Malay-translated questionnaire for use in a hand-arm vibration syndrome study in Malaysia.

Science.gov (United States)

Su, T A; Hoe, V C W

2008-12-01

Validity and reliability of the information relating to hand-transmitted vibration exposure and vibration-related health outcome are very important for case finding in hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) studies. In a local HAVS study among a group of construction workers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a questionnaire translated into Malay was created based on the Hand-transmitted Vibration Health Surveillance--Initial Questionnaire and Clinical Assessment, from Vibration Injury Network. This study was conducted to determine the reliability of standardised questions in the questionnaire used in the study. 15 subjects were selected randomly from the sampling frame of the HAVS study. Test-retest reliability was conducted on all items contained in parts 1-6 of the questionnaire and clinical assessment form, with an interval of 13-14 days between the first and second administration. Kappa coefficient and percentage agreement were calculated for all standardised questions. The kappa coefficient and percentage agreement for all standardised questions varied from -0.174 to 1.000 and 66.7 to 100.0 percent, respectively. The kappa coefficient for important questions related to current vibratory tool usage, tingling, numbness and hand grip weakness were 0.714, 0.432, -0.077 and -0.120, respectively, while the percentage agreement for current vibratory tool usage, finger colour change, tingling, numbness and hand grip weakness were 85.7 percent, 92.8 percent, 79.5 percent, 85.7 percent and 71.4 percent, respectively. Intra-rater reliability on the extent of vibration exposure was good, with the intra-class correlation coefficient (95 percent confidence interval) ranging from 0.786 (0.334-0.931) to 0.975 (0.923-0.992). Critical questions on vascular, neurological and musculoskeletal symptoms of HAVS were found to be reliable. The history on the extent of vibration exposure revealed good reliability when explored by the investigator alone. This questionnaire is considered reliable

The reliability and validity of hand-held refractometry water content measures of hydrogel lenses.

Science.gov (United States)

Nichols, Jason J; Mitchell, G Lynn; Good, Gregory W

2003-06-01

To investigate within- and between-examiner reliability and validity of hand-held refractometry water content measures of hydrogel lenses. Nineteen lenses of various nominal water contents were examined by two examiners on two occasions separated by 1 hour. An Atago N2 hand-held refractometer was used for all water content measures. Lenses were presented in a random order to each examiner by a third party, and examiners were masked to any potential lens identifiers. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), 95% limits of agreement, and Wilcoxon signed rank test were used to characterize the within- and between-examiner reliability and validity of lens water content measures. Within-examiner reliability was excellent (ICC, 0.97; 95% limits of agreement, -3.6% to +5.7%), and the inter-visit mean difference of 1.1 +/- 2.4% was not biased (p = 0.08). Between-examiner reliability was also excellent (ICC, 0.98; 95% limits of agreement, -4.1% to +3.9%). The mean difference between examiners was -0.1 +/- 2.1% (p = 0.83). The mean difference between the nominally reported water content and our water content measures was -2.1 +/- 1.7% (p refractometry and is material dependent. Therefore, investigators may need to account for bias when measuring hydrogel lens water content via hand-held refractometry.

The rubber hand illusion in complex regional pain syndrome: preserved ability to integrate a rubber hand indicates intact multisensory integration.

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Reinersmann, Annika; Landwehrt, Julia; Krumova, Elena K; Peterburs, Jutta; Ocklenburg, Sebastian; Güntürkün, Onur; Maier, Christoph

2013-09-01

In patients with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) type 1, processing of static tactile stimuli is impaired, whereas more complex sensory integration functions appear preserved. This study investigated higher order multisensory integration of body-relevant stimuli using the rubber hand illusion in CRPS patients. Subjective self-reports and skin conductance responses to watching the rubber hand being harmed were compared among CRPS patients (N=24), patients with upper limb pain of other origin (N=21, clinical control group), and healthy subjects (N=24). Additionally, the influence of body representation (body plasticity [Trinity Assessment of Body Plasticity], neglect-like severity symptoms), and clinical signs of illusion strength were investigated. For statistical analysis, 1-way analysis of variance, t test, Pearson correlation, with α=0.05 were used. CRPS patients did not differ from healthy subjects and the control group with regard to their illusion strength as assessed by subjective reports or skin conductance response values. Stronger left-sided rubber hand illusions were reported by healthy subjects and left-side-affected CRPS patients. Moreover, for this subgroup, illness duration and illusion strength were negatively correlated. Overall, severity of neglect-like symptoms and clinical signs were not related to illusion strength. However, patients with CRPS of the right hand reported significantly stronger neglect-like symptoms and significantly lower illusion strength of the affected hand than patients with CRPS of the left hand. The weaker illusion of CRPS patients with strong neglect-like symptoms on the affected hand supports the role of top-down processes modulating body ownership. Moreover, the intact ability to perceive illusory ownership confirms the notion that, despite impaired processing of proprioceptive or tactile input, higher order multisensory integration is unaffected in CRPS. Copyright © 2013 International Association for the Study

Neurophysiology underlying influence of stimulus reliability on audiovisual integration.

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Shatzer, Hannah; Shen, Stanley; Kerlin, Jess R; Pitt, Mark A; Shahin, Antoine J

2018-01-24

We tested the predictions of the dynamic reweighting model (DRM) of audiovisual (AV) speech integration, which posits that spectrotemporally reliable (informative) AV speech stimuli induce a reweighting of processing from low-level to high-level auditory networks. This reweighting decreases sensitivity to acoustic onsets and in turn increases tolerance to AV onset asynchronies (AVOA). EEG was recorded while subjects watched videos of a speaker uttering trisyllabic nonwords that varied in spectrotemporal reliability and asynchrony of the visual and auditory inputs. Subjects judged the stimuli as in-sync or out-of-sync. Results showed that subjects exhibited greater AVOA tolerance for non-blurred than blurred visual speech and for less than more degraded acoustic speech. Increased AVOA tolerance was reflected in reduced amplitude of the P1-P2 auditory evoked potentials, a neurophysiological indication of reduced sensitivity to acoustic onsets and successful AV integration. There was also sustained visual alpha band (8-14 Hz) suppression (desynchronization) following acoustic speech onsets for non-blurred vs. blurred visual speech, consistent with continuous engagement of the visual system as the speech unfolds. The current findings suggest that increased spectrotemporal reliability of acoustic and visual speech promotes robust AV integration, partly by suppressing sensitivity to acoustic onsets, in support of the DRM's reweighting mechanism. Increased visual signal reliability also sustains the engagement of the visual system with the auditory system to maintain alignment of information across modalities. © 2018 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Visual-Haptic Integration: Cue Weights are Varied Appropriately, to Account for Changes in Haptic Reliability Introduced by Using a Tool

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chie Takahashi

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Tools such as pliers systematically change the relationship between an object's size and the hand opening required to grasp it. Previous work suggests the brain takes this into account, integrating visual and haptic size information that refers to the same object, independent of the similarity of the ‘raw’ visual and haptic signals (Takahashi et al., VSS 2009. Variations in tool geometry also affect the reliability (precision of haptic size estimates, however, because they alter the change in hand opening caused by a given change in object size. Here, we examine whether the brain appropriately adjusts the weights given to visual and haptic size signals when tool geometry changes. We first estimated each cue's reliability by measuring size-discrimination thresholds in vision-alone and haptics-alone conditions. We varied haptic reliability using tools with different object-size:hand-opening ratios (1:1, 0.7:1, and 1.4:1. We then measured the weights given to vision and haptics with each tool, using a cue-conflict paradigm. The weight given to haptics varied with tool type in a manner that was well predicted by the single-cue reliabilities (MLE model; Ernst and Banks, 2002. This suggests that the process of visual-haptic integration appropriately accounts for variations in haptic reliability introduced by different tool geometries.

Validity and inter-observer reliability of subjective hand-arm vibration assessments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Coenen, P.; Formanoy, M.; Douwes, M.; Bosch, T.; Kraker, H. de

2014-01-01

Exposure to mechanical vibrations at work (e.g., due to handling powered tools) is a potential occupational risk as it may cause upper extremity complaints. However, reliable and valid assessment methods for vibration exposure at work are lacking. Measuring hand-arm vibration objectively is often

Structural reliability calculation method based on the dual neural network and direct integration method.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Haibin; He, Yun; Nie, Xiaobo

2018-01-01

Structural reliability analysis under uncertainty is paid wide attention by engineers and scholars due to reflecting the structural characteristics and the bearing actual situation. The direct integration method, started from the definition of reliability theory, is easy to be understood, but there are still mathematics difficulties in the calculation of multiple integrals. Therefore, a dual neural network method is proposed for calculating multiple integrals in this paper. Dual neural network consists of two neural networks. The neural network A is used to learn the integrand function, and the neural network B is used to simulate the original function. According to the derivative relationships between the network output and the network input, the neural network B is derived from the neural network A. On this basis, the performance function of normalization is employed in the proposed method to overcome the difficulty of multiple integrations and to improve the accuracy for reliability calculations. The comparisons between the proposed method and Monte Carlo simulation method, Hasofer-Lind method, the mean value first-order second moment method have demonstrated that the proposed method is an efficient and accurate reliability method for structural reliability problems.

Integrated reliability condition monitoring and maintenance of equipment

CERN Document Server

Osarenren, John

2015-01-01

Consider a Viable and Cost-Effective Platform for the Industries of the Future (IOF) Benefit from improved safety, performance, and product deliveries to your customers. Achieve a higher rate of equipment availability, performance, product quality, and reliability. Integrated Reliability: Condition Monitoring and Maintenance of Equipment incorporates reliable engineering and mathematical modeling to help you move toward sustainable development in reliability condition monitoring and maintenance. This text introduces a cost-effective integrated reliability growth monitor, integrated reliability degradation monitor, technological inheritance coefficient sensors, and a maintenance tool that supplies real-time information for predicting and preventing potential failures of manufacturing processes and equipment. The author highlights five key elements that are essential to any improvement program: improving overall equipment and part effectiveness, quality, and reliability; improving process performance with maint...

Perceptual attraction in tool use: evidence for a reliability-based weighting mechanism.

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Debats, Nienke B; Ernst, Marc O; Heuer, Herbert

2017-04-01

Humans are well able to operate tools whereby their hand movement is linked, via a kinematic transformation, to a spatially distant object moving in a separate plane of motion. An everyday example is controlling a cursor on a computer monitor. Despite these separate reference frames, the perceived positions of the hand and the object were found to be biased toward each other. We propose that this perceptual attraction is based on the principles by which the brain integrates redundant sensory information of single objects or events, known as optimal multisensory integration. That is, 1 ) sensory information about the hand and the tool are weighted according to their relative reliability (i.e., inverse variances), and 2 ) the unisensory reliabilities sum up in the integrated estimate. We assessed whether perceptual attraction is consistent with optimal multisensory integration model predictions. We used a cursor-control tool-use task in which we manipulated the relative reliability of the unisensory hand and cursor position estimates. The perceptual biases shifted according to these relative reliabilities, with an additional bias due to contextual factors that were present in experiment 1 but not in experiment 2 The biased position judgments' variances were, however, systematically larger than the predicted optimal variances. Our findings suggest that the perceptual attraction in tool use results from a reliability-based weighting mechanism similar to optimal multisensory integration, but that certain boundary conditions for optimality might not be satisfied. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Kinematic tool use is associated with a perceptual attraction between the spatially separated hand and the effective part of the tool. We provide a formal account for this phenomenon, thereby showing that the process behind it is similar to optimal integration of sensory information relating to single objects. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.

Cross-cultural adaptation, validation, and reliability of the Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire among Persian population.

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Ebrahimzadeh, Mohammad H; Birjandinejad, Ali; Kachooei, Amir Reza

2015-01-01

We aimed to validate a cross-culturally adapted version of the Persian Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire (MHOQ). We followed the Beaton's guideline to translate the questionnaire to Persian. We administered the final version to 223 patients among which 79 patients returned 3 days later to respond to the Persian MHOQ for the second time. In the first visit, respondents also filled the Disabilities of the Arm Shoulder and Hand (DASH) and rated the pain based on the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Cronbach's alpha for the total MHOQ was 0.79 which showed good internal consistency. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for the total MHOQ was 0.84 which demonstrated good reliability between test and retest. The absolute correlation coefficient between total MHOQ and the DASH was as high as 0.74. Persian version of the MHOQ proved to be a reliable and valid instrument to be implemented among Persian population with the hand and wrist disorders.

Human reliability analysis of performing tasks in plants based on fuzzy integral

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Washio, Takashi; Kitamura, Yutaka; Takahashi, Hideaki

1991-01-01

The effective improvement of the human working conditions in nuclear power plants might be a solution for the enhancement of the operation safety. The human reliability analysis (HRA) gives a methodological basis of the improvement based on the evaluation of human reliability under various working conditions. This study investigates some difficulties of the human reliability analysis using conventional linear models and recent fuzzy integral models, and provides some solutions to the difficulties. The following practical features of the provided methods are confirmed in comparison with the conventional methods: (1) Applicability to various types of tasks (2) Capability of evaluating complicated dependencies among working condition factors (3) A priori human reliability evaluation based on a systematic task analysis of human action processes (4) A conversion scheme to probability from indices representing human reliability. (author)

Enhanced visuo-haptic integration for the non-dominant hand.

Science.gov (United States)

Yalachkov, Yavor; Kaiser, Jochen; Doehrmann, Oliver; Naumer, Marcus J

2015-07-21

Visuo-haptic integration contributes essentially to object shape recognition. Although there has been a considerable advance in elucidating the neural underpinnings of multisensory perception, it is still unclear whether seeing an object and exploring it with the dominant hand elicits the same brain response as compared to the non-dominant hand. Using fMRI to measure brain activation in right-handed participants, we found that for both left- and right-hand stimulation the left lateral occipital complex (LOC) and anterior cerebellum (aCER) were involved in visuo-haptic integration of familiar objects. These two brain regions were then further investigated in another study, where unfamiliar, novel objects were presented to a different group of right-handers. Here the left LOC and aCER were more strongly activated by bimodal than unimodal stimuli only when the left but not the right hand was used. A direct comparison indicated that the multisensory gain of the fMRI activation was significantly higher for the left than the right hand. These findings are in line with the principle of "inverse effectiveness", implying that processing of bimodally presented stimuli is particularly enhanced when the unimodal stimuli are weak. This applies also when right-handed subjects see and simultaneously touch unfamiliar objects with their non-dominant left hand. Thus, the fMRI signal in the left LOC and aCER induced by visuo-haptic stimulation is dependent on which hand was employed for haptic exploration. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Hand synergies: Integration of robotics and neuroscience for understanding the control of biological and artificial hands

Science.gov (United States)

Santello, Marco; Bianchi, Matteo; Gabiccini, Marco; Ricciardi, Emiliano; Salvietti, Gionata; Prattichizzo, Domenico; Ernst, Marc; Moscatelli, Alessandro; Jörntell, Henrik; Kappers, Astrid M. L.; Kyriakopoulos, Kostas; Albu-Schäffer, Alin; Castellini, Claudio; Bicchi, Antonio

2016-07-01

The term 'synergy' - from the Greek synergia - means 'working together'. The concept of multiple elements working together towards a common goal has been extensively used in neuroscience to develop theoretical frameworks, experimental approaches, and analytical techniques to understand neural control of movement, and for applications for neuro-rehabilitation. In the past decade, roboticists have successfully applied the framework of synergies to create novel design and control concepts for artificial hands, i.e., robotic hands and prostheses. At the same time, robotic research on the sensorimotor integration underlying the control and sensing of artificial hands has inspired new research approaches in neuroscience, and has provided useful instruments for novel experiments. The ambitious goal of integrating expertise and research approaches in robotics and neuroscience to study the properties and applications of the concept of synergies is generating a number of multidisciplinary cooperative projects, among which the recently finished 4-year European project ;The Hand Embodied; (THE). This paper reviews the main insights provided by this framework. Specifically, we provide an overview of neuroscientific bases of hand synergies and introduce how robotics has leveraged the insights from neuroscience for innovative design in hardware and controllers for biomedical engineering applications, including myoelectric hand prostheses, devices for haptics research, and wearable sensing of human hand kinematics. The review also emphasizes how this multidisciplinary collaboration has generated new ways to conceptualize a synergy-based approach for robotics, and provides guidelines and principles for analyzing human behavior and synthesizing artificial robotic systems based on a theory of synergies.

Hand synergies: Integration of robotics and neuroscience for understanding the control of biological and artificial hands

Science.gov (United States)

Santello, Marco; Bianchi, Matteo; Gabiccini, Marco; Ricciardi, Emiliano; Salvietti, Gionata; Prattichizzo, Domenico; Ernst, Marc; Moscatelli, Alessandro; Jörntell, Henrik; Kappers, Astrid M.L.; Kyriakopoulos, Kostas; Albu-Schäffer, Alin; Castellini, Claudio; Bicchi, Antonio

2017-01-01

The term ‘synergy’ – from the Greek synergia – means ‘working together’. The concept of multiple elements working together towards a common goal has been extensively used in neuroscience to develop theoretical frameworks, experimental approaches, and analytical techniques to understand neural control of movement, and for applications for neuro-rehabilitation. In the past decade, roboticists have successfully applied the framework of synergies to create novel design and control concepts for artificial hands, i.e., robotic hands and prostheses. At the same time, robotic research on the sensorimotor integration underlying the control and sensing of artificial hands has inspired new research approaches in neuroscience, and has provided useful instruments for novel experiments. The ambitious goal of integrating expertise and research approaches in robotics and neuroscience to study the properties and applications of the concept of synergies is generating a number of multidisciplinary cooperative projects, among which the recently finished 4-year European project “The Hand Embodied” (THE). This paper reviews the main insights provided by this framework. Specifically, we provide an overview of neuroscientific bases of hand synergies and introduce how robotics has leveraged the insights from neuroscience for innovative design in hardware and controllers for biomedical engineering applications, including myoelectric hand prostheses, devices for haptics research, and wearable sensing of human hand kinematics. The review also emphasizes how this multidisciplinary collaboration has generated new ways to conceptualize a synergy-based approach for robotics, and provides guidelines and principles for analyzing human behavior and synthesizing artificial robotic systems based on a theory of synergies. PMID:26923030

Hand synergies: Integration of robotics and neuroscience for understanding the control of biological and artificial hands.

Science.gov (United States)

Santello, Marco; Bianchi, Matteo; Gabiccini, Marco; Ricciardi, Emiliano; Salvietti, Gionata; Prattichizzo, Domenico; Ernst, Marc; Moscatelli, Alessandro; Jörntell, Henrik; Kappers, Astrid M L; Kyriakopoulos, Kostas; Albu-Schäffer, Alin; Castellini, Claudio; Bicchi, Antonio

2016-07-01

The term 'synergy' - from the Greek synergia - means 'working together'. The concept of multiple elements working together towards a common goal has been extensively used in neuroscience to develop theoretical frameworks, experimental approaches, and analytical techniques to understand neural control of movement, and for applications for neuro-rehabilitation. In the past decade, roboticists have successfully applied the framework of synergies to create novel design and control concepts for artificial hands, i.e., robotic hands and prostheses. At the same time, robotic research on the sensorimotor integration underlying the control and sensing of artificial hands has inspired new research approaches in neuroscience, and has provided useful instruments for novel experiments. The ambitious goal of integrating expertise and research approaches in robotics and neuroscience to study the properties and applications of the concept of synergies is generating a number of multidisciplinary cooperative projects, among which the recently finished 4-year European project "The Hand Embodied" (THE). This paper reviews the main insights provided by this framework. Specifically, we provide an overview of neuroscientific bases of hand synergies and introduce how robotics has leveraged the insights from neuroscience for innovative design in hardware and controllers for biomedical engineering applications, including myoelectric hand prostheses, devices for haptics research, and wearable sensing of human hand kinematics. The review also emphasizes how this multidisciplinary collaboration has generated new ways to conceptualize a synergy-based approach for robotics, and provides guidelines and principles for analyzing human behavior and synthesizing artificial robotic systems based on a theory of synergies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Research on integrated managing system based on CIMS for nuclear power plant safety

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou Gang

2006-01-01

In order to improve safety, economy and reliability of operation for nuclear power plant (NPP), a novel integrated managing method was proposed based on the ideas of computer and contemporary integrated manufacturing system (CIMS). The application of CIMS to nuclear power plant safety management was researched. In order to design an integrated managing system to meet the needs of NPP safety management, all work related to nuclear safety is divided into different category according to its characters. On basis of this work, general integrated managing system was designed at first. Then subsystems were designed and every subsystem implements a category of nuclear safety management work. All subsystems are independent relatively on the one hand and are interrelated on other hand by global information system. (authors)

Management systems for high reliability organizations. Integration and effectiveness; Managementsysteme fuer Hochzuverlaessigkeitsorganisationen. Integration und Wirksamkeit

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mayer, Michael

2015-03-09

The scope of the thesis is the development of a method for improvement of efficient integrated management systems for high reliability organizations (HRO). A comprehensive analysis of severe accident prevention is performed. Severe accident management, mitigation measures and business continuity management are not included. High reliability organizations are complex and potentially dynamic organization forms that can be inherently dangerous like nuclear power plants, offshore platforms, chemical facilities, large ships or large aircrafts. A recursive generic management system model (RGM) was development based on the following factors: systemic and cybernetic Asepcts; integration of different management fields, high decision quality, integration of efficient methods of safety and risk analysis, integration of human reliability aspects, effectiveness evaluation and improvement.

Integration of robotics and neuroscience beyond the hand: What kind of synergies?. Comment on "Hand synergies: Integration of robotics and neuroscience for understanding the control of biological and artificial hands" by Marco Santello et al.

Science.gov (United States)

d'Avella, Andrea

2016-07-01

Santello et al. [1] review an impressive amount of work on the control of biological and artificial hands that demonstrates how the concept of synergies can lead to a successful integration of robotics and neuroscience. Is it possible to generalize the same approach to the control of biological and artificial limbs and bodies beyond the hand? The human hand synergies that appear most relevant for robotic hands are those defined at the kinematic level, i.e. postural synergies [2]. Postural synergies capture the geometric relations among the many joints of the hand and allow for a low dimensional characterization and synthesis of the static hand postures involved in grasping and manipulating a large set of objects. However, many other complex motor skills such as walking, reaching, throwing, and catching require controlling multi-articular time-varying trajectories rather than static postures. Dynamic control of biological and artificial limbs and bodies, especially when geometric and inertial parameters are uncertain and the joints are compliant, poses great challenges. What kind of synergies might simplify the dynamic control of motor skills involving upper and lower limbs as well as the whole body?

Visuo-Haptic Mixed Reality with Unobstructed Tool-Hand Integration.

Science.gov (United States)

Cosco, Francesco; Garre, Carlos; Bruno, Fabio; Muzzupappa, Maurizio; Otaduy, Miguel A

2013-01-01

Visuo-haptic mixed reality consists of adding to a real scene the ability to see and touch virtual objects. It requires the use of see-through display technology for visually mixing real and virtual objects, and haptic devices for adding haptic interaction with the virtual objects. Unfortunately, the use of commodity haptic devices poses obstruction and misalignment issues that complicate the correct integration of a virtual tool and the user's real hand in the mixed reality scene. In this work, we propose a novel mixed reality paradigm where it is possible to touch and see virtual objects in combination with a real scene, using commodity haptic devices, and with a visually consistent integration of the user's hand and the virtual tool. We discuss the visual obstruction and misalignment issues introduced by commodity haptic devices, and then propose a solution that relies on four simple technical steps: color-based segmentation of the hand, tracking-based segmentation of the haptic device, background repainting using image-based models, and misalignment-free compositing of the user's hand. We have developed a successful proof-of-concept implementation, where a user can touch virtual objects and interact with them in the context of a real scene, and we have evaluated the impact on user performance of obstruction and misalignment correction.

Limits of reliability for the measurement of integral count

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Erbeszkorn, L.

1979-01-01

A method is presented for exact and approximate calculation of reliability limits of measured nuclear integral count. The formulae are applicable in measuring conditions which assure the Poisson distribution of the counts. The coefficients of the approximate formulae for 90, 95, 98 and 99 per cent reliability levels are given. The exact reliability limits for 90 per cent reliability level are calculated up to 80 integral counts. (R.J.)

The longitudinal reliability and responsiveness of the OMERACT Hand Osteoarthritis Magnetic Resonance Imaging Scoring System (HOAMRIS)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Haugen, Ida K.; Eshed, Iris; Gandjbakhch, Frederique

2015-01-01

Objective. To evaluate the interreader reliability of change scores and the responsiveness of the OMERACT Hand Osteoarthritis (OA) Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI) Scoring System (HOAMRIS). Methods. Paired MRI (baseline and 5-yr followup) from 20 patients with hand OA were scored with known time se...

Robust Reliability or reliable robustness? - Integrated consideration of robustness and reliability aspects

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kemmler, S.; Eifler, Tobias; Bertsche, B.

2015-01-01

products are and vice versa. For a comprehensive understanding and to use existing synergies between both domains, this paper discusses the basic principles of Reliability- and Robust Design theory. The development of a comprehensive model will enable an integrated consideration of both domains...

Test-retest reliability of handgrip strength measurement using a hydraulic hand dynamometer in patients with cervical radiculopathy.

Science.gov (United States)

Savva, Christos; Giakas, Giannis; Efstathiou, Michalis; Karagiannis, Christos

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the test-retest reliability of handgrip strength measurement using a hydraulic hand dynamometer in patients with cervical radiculopathy (CR). A convenience sample of 19 participants (14 men and 5 women; mean ± SD age, 50.5 ± 12 years) with CR was measured using a Jamar hydraulic hand dynamometer by the same rater on 2 different testing sessions with an interval of 7 days between sessions. Data collection procedures followed standardized grip strength testing guidelines established by the American Society of Hand Therapists. During the repeated measures, patients were advised to rest their upper limb in the standardized arm position and encouraged to exert 3 maximum gripping efforts. The mean value of the 3 efforts (measured in kilogram force [Kgf]) was used for data analysis. The intraclass correlation coefficient, SEM, and the Bland-Altman plot were used to estimate test-retest reliability and measurement precision. Grip strength measurement in CR demonstrated an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.976, suggesting excellent test-retest reliability. The small SEM in both testing sessions (SEM1, 2.41 Kgf; SEM2, 2.51 Kgf) as well as the narrow width of the 95% limits of agreements (95% limits of agreement, -4.9 to 4.4 Kgf) in the Bland-Altman plot reflected precise measurements of grip strength in both occasions. Excellent test-retest reliability for grip strength measurement was measured in patients with CR, demonstrating that a hydraulic hand dynamometer could be used as an outcome measure for these patients. Copyright © 2014 National University of Health Sciences. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Testing the reliability of hands and ears as biometrics: the importance of viewpoint.

Science.gov (United States)

Stevenage, Sarah V; Walpole, Catherine; Neil, Greg J; Black, Sue M

2015-11-01

Two experiments are presented to explore the limits when matching a sample to a suspect utilising the hand as a novel biometric. The results of Experiment 1 revealed that novice participants were able to match hands at above-chance levels as viewpoint changed. Notably, a moderate change in viewpoint had no notable effect, but a more substantial change in viewpoint affected performance significantly. Importantly, the impact of viewpoint when matching hands was smaller than that when matching ears in a control condition. This was consistent with the suggestion that the flexibility of the hand may have minimised the negative impact of a sub-optimal view. The results of Experiment 2 confirmed that training via a 10-min expert video was sufficient to reduce the impact of viewpoint in the most difficult case but not to remove it entirely. The implications of these results were discussed in terms of the theoretical importance of function when considering the canonical view and in terms of the applied value of the hand as a reliable biometric across viewing conditions.

Multisensory Integration in the Virtual Hand Illusion with Active Movement.

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Woong; Li, Liang; Satoh, Satoru; Hachimura, Kozaburo

2016-01-01

Improving the sense of immersion is one of the core issues in virtual reality. Perceptual illusions of ownership can be perceived over a virtual body in a multisensory virtual reality environment. Rubber Hand and Virtual Hand Illusions showed that body ownership can be manipulated by applying suitable visual and tactile stimulation. In this study, we investigate the effects of multisensory integration in the Virtual Hand Illusion with active movement. A virtual xylophone playing system which can interactively provide synchronous visual, tactile, and auditory stimulation was constructed. We conducted two experiments regarding different movement conditions and different sensory stimulations. Our results demonstrate that multisensory integration with free active movement can improve the sense of immersion in virtual reality.

Reliability of measuring hip abductor strength following total knee arthroplasty using a hand-held dynamometer.

Science.gov (United States)

Schache, Margaret B; McClelland, Jodie A; Webster, Kate E

2016-01-01

To investigate the test-retest reliability of measuring hip abductor strength in patients with total knee arthroplasty (TKA) using a hand-held dynamometer (HHD) with two different types of resistance: belt and manual resistance. Test-retest reliability of 30 subjects (17 female, 13 male, 71.9 ± 7.4 years old), 9.2 ± 2.7 days post TKA was measured using belt and therapist resistance. Retest reliability was calculated with intra-class coefficients (ICC3,1) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for both the group average and the individual scores. A paired t-test assessed whether a difference existed between the belt and therapist methods of resistance. ICCs were 0.82 and 0.80 for the belt and therapist resisted methods, respectively. Hip abductor strength increases of 8 N (14%) for belt resisted and 14 N (17%) for therapist resisted measurements of the group average exceeded the 95% CI and may represent real change. For individuals, hip abductor strength increases of 33 N (72%) (belt resisted) and 57 N (79%) (therapist resisted) could be interpreted as real change. Hip abductor strength can be reliably measured using HHD in the clinical setting with the described protocol. Belt resistance demonstrated slightly higher test-retest reliability. Reliable measurement of hip abductor muscle strength in patients with TKA is important to ensure deficiencies are addressed in rehabilitation programs and function is maximized. Hip abductor strength can be reliably measured with a hand-held dynamometer in the clinical setting using manual or belt resistance.

Integration of nondestructive examination reliability and fracture mechanics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Doctor, S.R.; Bates, D.J.; Charlot, L.A.

1985-01-01

The primary pressure boundaries (pressure vessels and piping) of nuclear power plants are in-service inspected (ISI) according to the rules of ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Section XI. Ultrasonic techniques are normally used for these inspections, which are periodically performed on a sampling of welds. The Integration of Nondestructive Examination (NDE) Reliability and Fracture Mechanics (FM) Program at Pacific Northwest Laboratory was established to determine the reliability of current ISI techniques and to develop recommendations that will ensure a suitably high inspection reliability. The objectives of this NRC program are to: 1) determine the reliability of ultrasonic ISI performed on commercial light-water reactor primary systems; 2) using probabilistic FM analysis, determine the impact of NDE unreliability on system safety and determine the level of inspection reliability required to ensure a suitably low failure probability; 3) evaluate the degree of reliability improvement that could be achieved using improved and advanced NDE techniques; and 4) based on material properties, service conditions, and NDE uncertainties, formulate recommended revisions to ASME Code, Section XI, and Regulatory Requirements needed to ensure suitably low failure probabilities

An integrated reliability management system for nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kimura, T.; Shimokawa, H.; Matsushima, H.

1998-01-01

The responsibility in the nuclear field of the Government, utilities and manufactures has increased in the past years due to the need of stable operation and great reliability of nuclear power plants. The need to improve the reliability is not only for the new plants but also for those now running. So, several measures have been taken to improve reliability. In particular, the plant manufactures have developed a reliability management system for each phase (planning, construction, maintenance and operation) and these have been integrated as a unified system. This integrated reliability management system for nuclear power plants contains information about plant performance, failures and incidents which have occurred in the plants. (author)

Multisensory Integration in the Virtual Hand Illusion with Active Movement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Woong Choi

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Improving the sense of immersion is one of the core issues in virtual reality. Perceptual illusions of ownership can be perceived over a virtual body in a multisensory virtual reality environment. Rubber Hand and Virtual Hand Illusions showed that body ownership can be manipulated by applying suitable visual and tactile stimulation. In this study, we investigate the effects of multisensory integration in the Virtual Hand Illusion with active movement. A virtual xylophone playing system which can interactively provide synchronous visual, tactile, and auditory stimulation was constructed. We conducted two experiments regarding different movement conditions and different sensory stimulations. Our results demonstrate that multisensory integration with free active movement can improve the sense of immersion in virtual reality.

Math in Action. Hands-On, Minds-On Math.

Science.gov (United States)

Waite-Stupiansky, Sandra; Stupiansky, Nicholas G.

1998-01-01

Hands-on math must also involve students' minds in creative thinking. Math manipulatives must be used for uncovering, not just discovering. This paper presents guidelines for planning hands-on, minds-on math for elementary students. Suggestions include dialoging, questioning, integrating manipulatives and other tools, writing, and evaluating. (SM)

An integrated approach to estimate storage reliability with initial failures based on E-Bayesian estimates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Yongjin; Zhao, Ming; Zhang, Shitao; Wang, Jiamei; Zhang, Yanjun

2017-01-01

Storage reliability that measures the ability of products in a dormant state to keep their required functions is studied in this paper. For certain types of products, Storage reliability may not always be 100% at the beginning of storage, unlike the operational reliability, which exist possible initial failures that are normally neglected in the models of storage reliability. In this paper, a new integrated technique, the non-parametric measure based on the E-Bayesian estimates of current failure probabilities is combined with the parametric measure based on the exponential reliability function, is proposed to estimate and predict the storage reliability of products with possible initial failures, where the non-parametric method is used to estimate the number of failed products and the reliability at each testing time, and the parameter method is used to estimate the initial reliability and the failure rate of storage product. The proposed method has taken into consideration that, the reliability test data of storage products containing the unexamined before and during the storage process, is available for providing more accurate estimates of both the initial failure probability and the storage failure probability. When storage reliability prediction that is the main concern in this field should be made, the non-parametric estimates of failure numbers can be used into the parametric models for the failure process in storage. In the case of exponential models, the assessment and prediction method for storage reliability is presented in this paper. Finally, a numerical example is given to illustrate the method. Furthermore, a detailed comparison between the proposed and traditional method, for examining the rationality of assessment and prediction on the storage reliability, is investigated. The results should be useful for planning a storage environment, decision-making concerning the maximum length of storage, and identifying the production quality. - Highlights: �

An integrated reliability-based design optimization of offshore towers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Karadeniz, Halil; Togan, Vedat; Vrouwenvelder, Ton

2009-01-01

After recognizing the uncertainty in the parameters such as material, loading, geometry and so on in contrast with the conventional optimization, the reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) concept has become more meaningful to perform an economical design implementation, which includes a reliability analysis and an optimization algorithm. RBDO procedures include structural analysis, reliability analysis and sensitivity analysis both for optimization and for reliability. The efficiency of the RBDO system depends on the mentioned numerical algorithms. In this work, an integrated algorithms system is proposed to implement the RBDO of the offshore towers, which are subjected to the extreme wave loading. The numerical strategies interacting with each other to fulfill the RBDO of towers are as follows: (a) a structural analysis program, SAPOS, (b) an optimization program, SQP and (c) a reliability analysis program based on FORM. A demonstration of an example tripod tower under the reliability constraints based on limit states of the critical stress, buckling and the natural frequency is presented.

An integrated reliability-based design optimization of offshore towers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Karadeniz, Halil [Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, Delft (Netherlands)], E-mail: h.karadeniz@tudelft.nl; Togan, Vedat [Department of Civil Engineering, Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon (Turkey); Vrouwenvelder, Ton [Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, Delft (Netherlands)

2009-10-15

After recognizing the uncertainty in the parameters such as material, loading, geometry and so on in contrast with the conventional optimization, the reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) concept has become more meaningful to perform an economical design implementation, which includes a reliability analysis and an optimization algorithm. RBDO procedures include structural analysis, reliability analysis and sensitivity analysis both for optimization and for reliability. The efficiency of the RBDO system depends on the mentioned numerical algorithms. In this work, an integrated algorithms system is proposed to implement the RBDO of the offshore towers, which are subjected to the extreme wave loading. The numerical strategies interacting with each other to fulfill the RBDO of towers are as follows: (a) a structural analysis program, SAPOS, (b) an optimization program, SQP and (c) a reliability analysis program based on FORM. A demonstration of an example tripod tower under the reliability constraints based on limit states of the critical stress, buckling and the natural frequency is presented.

Development of a new assessment tool for cervical myelopathy using hand-tracking sensor: Part 1: validity and reliability.

Science.gov (United States)

Alagha, M Abdulhadi; Alagha, Mahmoud A; Dunstan, Eleanor; Sperwer, Olaf; Timmins, Kate A; Boszczyk, Bronek M

2017-04-01

To assess the reliability and validity of a hand motion sensor, Leap Motion Controller (LMC), in the 15-s hand grip-and-release test, as compared against human inspection of an external digital camera recording. Fifty healthy participants were asked to fully grip-and-release their dominant hand as rapidly as possible for two trials with a 10-min rest in-between, while wearing a non-metal wrist splint. Each test lasted for 15 s, and a digital camera was used to film the anterolateral side of the hand on the first test. Three assessors counted the frequency of grip-and-release (G-R) cycles independently and in a blinded fashion. The average mean of the three was compared with that measured by LMC using the Bland-Altman method. Test-retest reliability was examined by comparing the two 15-s tests. The mean number of G-R cycles recorded was: 47.8 ± 6.4 (test 1, video observer); 47.7 ± 6.5 (test 1, LMC); and 50.2 ± 6.5 (test 2, LMC). Bland-Altman indicated good agreement, with a low bias (0.15 cycles) and narrow limits of agreement. The ICC showed high inter-rater agreement and the coefficient of repeatability for the number of cycles was ±5.393, with a mean bias of 3.63. LMC appears to be valid and reliable in the 15-s grip-and-release test. This serves as a first step towards the development of an objective myelopathy assessment device and platform for the assessment of neuromotor hand function in general. Further assessment in a clinical setting and to gauge healthy benchmark values is warranted.

Efficacy of alcohol-based hand sanitizer on hands soiled with dirt and cooking oil.

Science.gov (United States)

Pickering, Amy J; Davis, Jennifer; Boehm, Alexandria B

2011-09-01

Handwashing education and promotion are well established as effective strategies to reduce diarrhea and respiratory illness in countries around the world. However, access to reliable water supplies has been identified as an important barrier to regular handwashing in low-income countries. Alcohol-based hand sanitizer (ABHS) is an effective hand hygiene method that does not require water, but its use is not currently recommended when hands are visibly soiled. This study evaluated the efficacy of ABHS on volunteers' hands artificially contaminated with Escherichia coli in the presence of dirt (soil from Tanzania) and cooking oil. ABHS reduced levels of E. coli by a mean of 2.33 log colony forming units (CFU) per clean hand, 2.32 log CFU per dirt-covered hand, and 2.13 log CFU per oil-coated hand. No significant difference in efficacy was detected between hands that were clean versus dirty or oily. ABHS may be an appropriate hand hygiene method for hands that are moderately soiled, and an attractive option for field settings in which access to water and soap is limited.

Intra- and inter-rater reliability of the Sollerman hand function test in patients with chronic stroke

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brogårdh, Christina; Persson, Ann L; Sjölund, Bengt H

2007-01-01

PURPOSE: To examine whether the Sollerman hand function test is reliable in a test-retest situation in patients with chronic stroke. METHOD: Three independent examiners observed each patient at three experimental sessions; two days in week 1 (short-term test-retest) and one day in week 4 (long...... test seems to be a reliable test in patients with chronic stroke, but we recommend that the same examiner evaluates a patient's hand function pre- and post-treatment.......-term test-retest). A total of 24 patients with chronic stroke (mean age; 59.7 years, mean time since stroke onset 29.6 months) participated. The examiners simultaneously assessed the patients' ability to perform 20 subtests. Both ordinal data (generalized kappa) and total sum scores (Spearman's rank...

Integrated approach to economical, reliable, safe nuclear power production

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1982-06-01

An Integrated Approach to Economical, Reliable, Safe Nuclear Power Production is the latest evolution of a concept which originated with the Defense-in-Depth philosophy of the nuclear industry. As Defense-in-Depth provided a framework for viewing physical barriers and equipment redundancy, the Integrated Approach gives a framework for viewing nuclear power production in terms of functions and institutions. In the Integrated Approach, four plant Goals are defined (Normal Operation, Core and Plant Protection, Containment Integrity and Emergency Preparedness) with the attendant Functional and Institutional Classifications that support them. The Integrated Approach provides a systematic perspective that combines the economic objective of reliable power production with the safety objective of consistent, controlled plant operation

Hands-On Calculus

Science.gov (United States)

Sutherland, Melissa

2006-01-01

In this paper we discuss manipulatives and hands-on investigations for Calculus involving volume, arc length, and surface area to motivate and develop formulae which can then be verified using techniques of integration. Pre-service teachers in calculus courses using these activities experience a classroom in which active learning is encouraged and…

Reliability of maximal isometric knee strength testing with modified hand-held dynamometry in patients awaiting total knee arthroplasty: useful in research and individual patient settings? A reliability study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Koblbauer Ian FH

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA often experience strength deficits both pre- and post-operatively. As these deficits may have a direct impact on functional recovery, strength assessment should be performed in this patient population. For these assessments, reliable measurements should be used. This study aimed to determine the inter- and intrarater reliability of hand-held dynamometry (HHD in measuring isometric knee strength in patients awaiting TKA. Methods To determine interrater reliability, 32 patients (81.3% female were assessed by two examiners. Patients were assessed consecutively by both examiners on the same individual test dates. To determine intrarater reliability, a subgroup (n = 13 was again assessed by the examiners within four weeks of the initial testing procedure. Maximal isometric knee flexor and extensor strength were tested using a modified Citec hand-held dynamometer. Both the affected and unaffected knee were tested. Reliability was assessed using the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC. In addition, the Standard Error of Measurement (SEM and the Smallest Detectable Difference (SDD were used to determine reliability. Results In both the affected and unaffected knee, the inter- and intrarater reliability were good for knee flexors (ICC range 0.76-0.94 and excellent for knee extensors (ICC range 0.92-0.97. However, measurement error was high, displaying SDD ranges between 21.7% and 36.2% for interrater reliability and between 19.0% and 57.5% for intrarater reliability. Overall, measurement error was higher for the knee flexors than for the knee extensors. Conclusions Modified HHD appears to be a reliable strength measure, producing good to excellent ICC values for both inter- and intrarater reliability in a group of TKA patients. High SEM and SDD values, however, indicate high measurement error for individual measures. This study demonstrates that a modified HHD is appropriate to

Test-retest reliability of Antonovsky's 13-item sense of coherence scale in patients with hand-related disorders

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Alice Ørts; Kristensen, Hanne Kaae; Cederlund, Ragnhild

2017-01-01

to be a powerful tool to measure the ICF component personal factors, which could have an impact on patients' rehabilitation outcomes. Implications for rehabilitation Antonovsky's SOC-13 scale showed test-retest reliability for patients with hand-related disorders. The SOC-13 scale could be a suitable tool to help...... measure personal factors....

HiRel: Hybrid Automated Reliability Predictor (HARP) integrated reliability tool system, (version 7.0). Volume 1: HARP introduction and user's guide

Science.gov (United States)

Bavuso, Salvatore J.; Rothmann, Elizabeth; Dugan, Joanne Bechta; Trivedi, Kishor S.; Mittal, Nitin; Boyd, Mark A.; Geist, Robert M.; Smotherman, Mark D.

1994-01-01

The Hybrid Automated Reliability Predictor (HARP) integrated Reliability (HiRel) tool system for reliability/availability prediction offers a toolbox of integrated reliability/availability programs that can be used to customize the user's application in a workstation or nonworkstation environment. HiRel consists of interactive graphical input/output programs and four reliability/availability modeling engines that provide analytical and simulative solutions to a wide host of reliable fault-tolerant system architectures and is also applicable to electronic systems in general. The tool system was designed to be compatible with most computing platforms and operating systems, and some programs have been beta tested, within the aerospace community for over 8 years. Volume 1 provides an introduction to the HARP program. Comprehensive information on HARP mathematical models can be found in the references.

Program integration of predictive maintenance with reliability centered maintenance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Strong, D.K. Jr; Wray, D.M.

1990-01-01

This paper addresses improving the safety and reliability of power plants in a cost-effective manner by integrating the recently developed reliability centered maintenance techniques with the traditional predictive maintenance techniques of nuclear power plants. The topics of the paper include a description of reliability centered maintenance (RCM), enhancing RCM with predictive maintenance, predictive maintenance programs, condition monitoring techniques, performance test techniques, the mid-Atlantic Reliability Centered Maintenance Users Group, test guides and the benefits of shared guide development

Assessment of Lower Limb Muscle Strength and Power Using Hand-Held and Fixed Dynamometry: A Reliability and Validity Study

Science.gov (United States)

Perraton, Luke G.; Bower, Kelly J.; Adair, Brooke; Pua, Yong-Hao; Williams, Gavin P.; McGaw, Rebekah

2015-01-01

Introduction Hand-held dynamometry (HHD) has never previously been used to examine isometric muscle power. Rate of force development (RFD) is often used for muscle power assessment, however no consensus currently exists on the most appropriate method of calculation. The aim of this study was to examine the reliability of different algorithms for RFD calculation and to examine the intra-rater, inter-rater, and inter-device reliability of HHD as well as the concurrent validity of HHD for the assessment of isometric lower limb muscle strength and power. Methods 30 healthy young adults (age: 23±5yrs, male: 15) were assessed on two sessions. Isometric muscle strength and power were measured using peak force and RFD respectively using two HHDs (Lafayette Model-01165 and Hoggan microFET2) and a criterion-reference KinCom dynamometer. Statistical analysis of reliability and validity comprised intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), Pearson correlations, concordance correlations, standard error of measurement, and minimal detectable change. Results Comparison of RFD methods revealed that a peak 200ms moving window algorithm provided optimal reliability results. Intra-rater, inter-rater, and inter-device reliability analysis of peak force and RFD revealed mostly good to excellent reliability (coefficients ≥ 0.70) for all muscle groups. Concurrent validity analysis showed moderate to excellent relationships between HHD and fixed dynamometry for the hip and knee (ICCs ≥ 0.70) for both peak force and RFD, with mostly poor to good results shown for the ankle muscles (ICCs = 0.31–0.79). Conclusions Hand-held dynamometry has good to excellent reliability and validity for most measures of isometric lower limb strength and power in a healthy population, particularly for proximal muscle groups. To aid implementation we have created freely available software to extract these variables from data stored on the Lafayette device. Future research should examine the reliability

Addressing Uniqueness and Unison of Reliability and Safety for a Better Integration

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Zhaofeng; Safie, Fayssal

2016-01-01

Over time, it has been observed that Safety and Reliability have not been clearly differentiated, which leads to confusion, inefficiency, and, sometimes, counter-productive practices in executing each of these two disciplines. It is imperative to address this situation to help Reliability and Safety disciplines improve their effectiveness and efficiency. The paper poses an important question to address, "Safety and Reliability - Are they unique or unisonous?" To answer the question, the paper reviewed several most commonly used analyses from each of the disciplines, namely, FMEA, reliability allocation and prediction, reliability design involvement, system safety hazard analysis, Fault Tree Analysis, and Probabilistic Risk Assessment. The paper pointed out uniqueness and unison of Safety and Reliability in their respective roles, requirements, approaches, and tools, and presented some suggestions for enhancing and improving the individual disciplines, as well as promoting the integration of the two. The paper concludes that Safety and Reliability are unique, but compensating each other in many aspects, and need to be integrated. Particularly, the individual roles of Safety and Reliability need to be differentiated, that is, Safety is to ensure and assure the product meets safety requirements, goals, or desires, and Reliability is to ensure and assure maximum achievability of intended design functions. With the integration of Safety and Reliability, personnel can be shared, tools and analyses have to be integrated, and skill sets can be possessed by the same person with the purpose of providing the best value to a product development.

Isometric hand grip strength measured by the Nintendo Wii Balance Board - a reliable new method.

Science.gov (United States)

Blomkvist, A W; Andersen, S; de Bruin, E D; Jorgensen, M G

2016-02-03

Low hand grip strength is a strong predictor for both long-term and short-term disability and mortality. The Nintendo Wii Balance Board (WBB) is an inexpensive, portable, wide-spread instrument with the potential for multiple purposes in assessing clinically relevant measures including muscle strength. The purpose of the study was to explore intrarater reliability and concurrent validity of the WBB by comparing it to the Jamar hand dynamometer. Intra-rater test-retest cohort design with randomized validity testing on the first session. Using custom WBB software, thirty old adults (69.0 ± 4.2 years of age) were studied for reproducibility and concurrent validity compared to the Jamar hand dynamometer. Reproducibility was tested for dominant and non-dominant hands during the same time-of-day, one week apart. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and standard error of measurement (SEM) and limits of agreement (LOA) were calculated to describe relative and absolute reproducibility respectively. To describe concurrent validity, Pearson's product-moment correlation and ICC was calculated. Reproducibility was high with ICC values of >0.948 across all measures. Both SEM and LOA were low (0.2-0.5 kg and 2.7-4.2 kg, respectively) in both the dominant and non-dominant hand. For validity, Pearson correlations were high (0.80-0.88) and ICC values were fair to good (0.763-0.803). Reproducibility for WBB was high for relative measures and acceptable for absolute measures. In addition, concurrent validity between the Jamar hand dynamometer and the WBB was acceptable. Thus, the WBB may be a valid instrument to assess hand grip strength in older adults.

Achieving High Reliability Operations Through Multi-Program Integration

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Holly M. Ashley; Ronald K. Farris; Robert E. Richards

2009-04-01

Over the last 20 years the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has adopted a number of operations and safety-related programs which has each periodically taken its turn in the limelight. As new programs have come along there has been natural competition for resources, focus and commitment. In the last few years, the INL has made real progress in integrating all these programs and are starting to realize important synergies. Contributing to this integration are both collaborative individuals and an emerging shared vision and goal of the INL fully maturing in its high reliability operations. This goal is so powerful because the concept of high reliability operations (and the resulting organizations) is a masterful amalgam and orchestrator of the best of all the participating programs (i.e. conduct of operations, behavior based safety, human performance, voluntary protection, quality assurance, and integrated safety management). This paper is a brief recounting of the lessons learned, thus far, at the INL in bringing previously competing programs into harmony under the goal (umbrella) of seeking to perform regularly as a high reliability organization. In addition to a brief diagram-illustrated historical review, the authors will share the INL’s primary successes (things already effectively stopped or started) and the gaps yet to be bridged.

Safety, reliability, risk management and human factors: an integrated engineering approach applied to nuclear facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vasconcelos, Vanderley de; Silva, Eliane Magalhaes Pereira da; Costa, Antonio Carlos Lopes da; Reis, Sergio Carneiro dos

2009-01-01

Nuclear energy has an important engineering legacy to share with the conventional industry. Much of the development of the tools related to safety, reliability, risk management, and human factors are associated with nuclear plant processes, mainly because the public concern about nuclear power generation. Despite the close association between these subjects, there are some important different approaches. The reliability engineering approach uses several techniques to minimize the component failures that cause the failure of the complex systems. These techniques include, for instance, redundancy, diversity, standby sparing, safety factors, and reliability centered maintenance. On the other hand system safety is primarily concerned with hazard management, that is, the identification, evaluation and control of hazards. Rather than just look at failure rates or engineering strengths, system safety would examine the interactions among system components. The events that cause accidents may be complex combinations of component failures, faulty maintenance, design errors, human actions, or actuation of instrumentation and control. Then, system safety deals with a broader spectrum of risk management, including: ergonomics, legal requirements, quality control, public acceptance, political considerations, and many other non-technical influences. Taking care of these subjects individually can compromise the completeness of the analysis and the measures associated with both risk reduction, and safety and reliability increasing. Analyzing together the engineering systems and controls of a nuclear facility, their management systems and operational procedures, and the human factors engineering, many benefits can be realized. This paper proposes an integration of these issues based on the application of systems theory. (author)

Safety, reliability, risk management and human factors: an integrated engineering approach applied to nuclear facilities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vasconcelos, Vanderley de; Silva, Eliane Magalhaes Pereira da; Costa, Antonio Carlos Lopes da; Reis, Sergio Carneiro dos [Centro de Desenvolvimento da Tecnologia Nuclear (CDTN/CNEN-MG), Belo Horizonte, MG (Brazil)], e-mail: vasconv@cdtn.br, e-mail: silvaem@cdtn.br, e-mail: aclc@cdtn.br, e-mail: reissc@cdtn.br

2009-07-01

Nuclear energy has an important engineering legacy to share with the conventional industry. Much of the development of the tools related to safety, reliability, risk management, and human factors are associated with nuclear plant processes, mainly because the public concern about nuclear power generation. Despite the close association between these subjects, there are some important different approaches. The reliability engineering approach uses several techniques to minimize the component failures that cause the failure of the complex systems. These techniques include, for instance, redundancy, diversity, standby sparing, safety factors, and reliability centered maintenance. On the other hand system safety is primarily concerned with hazard management, that is, the identification, evaluation and control of hazards. Rather than just look at failure rates or engineering strengths, system safety would examine the interactions among system components. The events that cause accidents may be complex combinations of component failures, faulty maintenance, design errors, human actions, or actuation of instrumentation and control. Then, system safety deals with a broader spectrum of risk management, including: ergonomics, legal requirements, quality control, public acceptance, political considerations, and many other non-technical influences. Taking care of these subjects individually can compromise the completeness of the analysis and the measures associated with both risk reduction, and safety and reliability increasing. Analyzing together the engineering systems and controls of a nuclear facility, their management systems and operational procedures, and the human factors engineering, many benefits can be realized. This paper proposes an integration of these issues based on the application of systems theory. (author)

Visual-Haptic Integration: Cue Weights are Varied Appropriately, to Account for Changes in Haptic Reliability Introduced by Using a Tool

OpenAIRE

Chie Takahashi; Simon J Watt

2011-01-01

Tools such as pliers systematically change the relationship between an object's size and the hand opening required to grasp it. Previous work suggests the brain takes this into account, integrating visual and haptic size information that refers to the same object, independent of the similarity of the ‘raw’ visual and haptic signals (Takahashi et al., VSS 2009). Variations in tool geometry also affect the reliability (precision) of haptic size estimates, however, because they alter the change ...

Getting started with Oracle SOA B2B Integration a hands-on tutorial

CERN Document Server

Bhatia, Krishnaprem; Perlovsky, Alan

2013-01-01

This hands on tutorial gives you the best possible start you could hope for with Oracle B2B. Learn using real life scenarios and examples to give you a solid footing of B2B.This book is for B2B architects, consultants and developers who would like to design and develop B2B integrations using Oracle B2B. This book assumes no prior knowledge of Oracle B2B and explains all concepts from scratch using illustrations, real world examples and step-by-step instructions. The book covers enough depth and details to be useful for both beginner and advanced B2B users.

Centre-surround organization of fast sensorimotor integration in human motor hand area

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dubbioso, Raffaele; Raffin, Estelle; Karabanov, Anke

2017-01-01

Using the short-latency afferent inhibition (SAI) paradigm, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the primary motor hand area (M1HAND) can probe how sensory input from limbs modulates corticomotor output in humans. Here we applied a novel TMS mapping approach to chart the spatial representat......Using the short-latency afferent inhibition (SAI) paradigm, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the primary motor hand area (M1HAND) can probe how sensory input from limbs modulates corticomotor output in humans. Here we applied a novel TMS mapping approach to chart the spatial...... in M1HAND. Like homotopic SAI, heterotopic SAF was somatotopically expressed in M1HAND. Together, the results provide first-time evidence that fast sensorimotor integration involves centre-inhibition and surround-facilitation in human M1HAND....

Multisensory integration across exteroceptive and interoceptive domains modulates self-experience in the rubber-hand illusion.

Science.gov (United States)

Suzuki, Keisuke; Garfinkel, Sarah N; Critchley, Hugo D; Seth, Anil K

2013-11-01

Identifying with a body is central to being a conscious self. The now classic "rubber hand illusion" demonstrates that the experience of body-ownership can be modulated by manipulating the timing of exteroceptive (visual and tactile) body-related feedback. Moreover, the strength of this modulation is related to individual differences in sensitivity to internal bodily signals (interoception). However the interaction of exteroceptive and interoceptive signals in determining the experience of body-ownership within an individual remains poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that this depends on the online integration of exteroceptive and interoceptive signals by implementing an innovative "cardiac rubber hand illusion" that combined computer-generated augmented-reality with feedback of interoceptive (cardiac) information. We show that both subjective and objective measures of virtual-hand ownership are enhanced by cardio-visual feedback in-time with the actual heartbeat, as compared to asynchronous feedback. We further show that these measures correlate with individual differences in interoceptive sensitivity, and are also modulated by the integration of proprioceptive signals instantiated using real-time visual remapping of finger movements to the virtual hand. Our results demonstrate that interoceptive signals directly influence the experience of body ownership via multisensory integration, and they lend support to models of conscious selfhood based on interoceptive predictive coding. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Integrating generation and transmission networks reliability for unit commitment solution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jalilzadeh, S.; Shayeghi, H.; Hadadian, H.

2009-01-01

This paper presents a new method with integration of generation and transmission networks reliability for the solution of unit commitment (UC) problem. In fact, in order to have a more accurate assessment of system reserve requirement, in addition to unavailability of generation units, unavailability of transmission lines are also taken into account. In this way, evaluation of the required spinning reserve (SR) capacity is performed by applying reliability constraints based on loss of load probability and expected energy not supplied (EENS) indices. Calculation of the above parameters is accomplished by employing a novel procedure based on the linear programming which it also minimizes them to achieve optimum level of the SR capacity and consequently a cost-benefit reliability constrained UC schedule. In addition, a powerful solution technique called 'integer-coded genetic algorithm (ICGA)' is being used for the solution of the proposed method. Numerical results on the IEEE reliability test system show that the consideration of transmission network unavailability has an important influence on reliability indices of the UC schedules

Improved reliability in skeletal age assessment using a pediatric hand MR scanner with a 0.3T permanent magnet.

Science.gov (United States)

Terada, Yasuhiko; Kono, Saki; Uchiumi, Tomomi; Kose, Katsumi; Miyagi, Ryo; Yamabe, Eiko; Fujinaga, Yasunari; Yoshioka, Hiroshi

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to improve the reliability and validity of skeletal age assessment using an open and compact pediatric hand magnetic resonance (MR) imaging scanner. We used such a scanner with 0.3-tesla permanent magnet to image the left hands of 88 healthy children (aged 3.4 to 15.7 years, mean 8.8 years), and 3 raters (2 orthopedic specialists and a radiologist) assessed skeletal age using those images. We measured the strength of agreement in ratings by values of weighted Cohen's κ and the proportion of cases excluded from rating because of motion artifact and inappropriate positioning. We compared the current results with those of a previous study in which 93 healthy children (aged 4.1 to 16.4 years, mean 9.7 years) were examined with an adult hand scanner. The κ values between raters exceeded 0.80, which indicates almost perfect agreement, and most were higher than those of the previous study. The proportion of cases excluded from rating because of motion artifact or inappropriate positioning was also reduced. The results indicate that use of the compact pediatric hand scanner improved the reliability and validity of skeletal age assessments.

Sleep dissolves illusion: sleep withstands learning of visuo-tactile-proprioceptive integration induced by repeated days of rubber hand illusion training.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Motoyasu Honma

Full Text Available Multisensory integration is a key factor in establishing bodily self-consciousness and in adapting humans to novel environments. The rubber hand illusion paradigm, in which humans can immediately perceive illusory ownership to an artificial hand, is a traditional technique for investigating multisensory integration and the feeling of illusory ownership. However, the long-term learning properties of the rubber hand illusion have not been previously investigated. Moreover, although sleep contributes to various aspects of cognition, including learning and memory, its influence on illusory learning of the artificial hand has not yet been assessed. We determined the effects of daily repetitive training and sleep on learning visuo-tactile-proprioceptive sensory integration and illusory ownership in healthy adult participants by using the traditional rubber hand illusion paradigm. Subjective ownership of the rubber hand, proprioceptive drift, and galvanic skin response were measured to assess learning indexes. Subjective ownership was maintained and proprioceptive drift increased with daily training. Proprioceptive drift, but not subjective ownership, was significantly attenuated after sleep. A significantly greater reduction in galvanic skin response was observed after wakefulness compared to after sleep. Our results suggest that although repetitive rubber hand illusion training facilitates multisensory integration and physiological habituation of a multisensory incongruent environment, sleep corrects illusional integration and habituation based on experiences in a multisensory incongruent environment. These findings may increase our understanding of adaptive neural processes to novel environments, specifically, bodily self-consciousness and sleep-dependent neuroplasticity.

Sleep dissolves illusion: sleep withstands learning of visuo-tactile-proprioceptive integration induced by repeated days of rubber hand illusion training.

Science.gov (United States)

Honma, Motoyasu; Yoshiike, Takuya; Ikeda, Hiroki; Kim, Yoshiharu; Kuriyama, Kenichi

2014-01-01

Multisensory integration is a key factor in establishing bodily self-consciousness and in adapting humans to novel environments. The rubber hand illusion paradigm, in which humans can immediately perceive illusory ownership to an artificial hand, is a traditional technique for investigating multisensory integration and the feeling of illusory ownership. However, the long-term learning properties of the rubber hand illusion have not been previously investigated. Moreover, although sleep contributes to various aspects of cognition, including learning and memory, its influence on illusory learning of the artificial hand has not yet been assessed. We determined the effects of daily repetitive training and sleep on learning visuo-tactile-proprioceptive sensory integration and illusory ownership in healthy adult participants by using the traditional rubber hand illusion paradigm. Subjective ownership of the rubber hand, proprioceptive drift, and galvanic skin response were measured to assess learning indexes. Subjective ownership was maintained and proprioceptive drift increased with daily training. Proprioceptive drift, but not subjective ownership, was significantly attenuated after sleep. A significantly greater reduction in galvanic skin response was observed after wakefulness compared to after sleep. Our results suggest that although repetitive rubber hand illusion training facilitates multisensory integration and physiological habituation of a multisensory incongruent environment, sleep corrects illusional integration and habituation based on experiences in a multisensory incongruent environment. These findings may increase our understanding of adaptive neural processes to novel environments, specifically, bodily self-consciousness and sleep-dependent neuroplasticity.

Self-amputation of a healthy hand: a case of body integrity identity disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Sorene, E D; Heras-Palou, C; Burke, F D

2006-12-01

A case report is presented of self-amputation of a healthy hand. We have reviewed the literature and seek to broaden the scope of understanding of Body Integrity Identity Disorder. This rare condition can constitute a pitfall for the unsuspecting hand surgeon.

Hands-off and hands-on casting consistency of amputee below knee sockets using magnetic resonance imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Safari, Mohammad Reza; Rowe, Philip; McFadyen, Angus; Buis, Arjan

2013-01-01

Residual limb shape capturing (Casting) consistency has a great influence on the quality of socket fit. Magnetic Resonance Imaging was used to establish a reliable reference grid for intercast and intracast shape and volume consistency of two common casting methods, Hands-off and Hands-on. Residual limbs were cast for twelve people with a unilateral below knee amputation and scanned twice for each casting concept. Subsequently, all four volume images of each amputee were semiautomatically segmented and registered to a common coordinate system using the tibia and then the shape and volume differences were calculated. The results show that both casting methods have intra cast volume consistency and there is no significant volume difference between the two methods. Inter- and intracast mean volume differences were not clinically significant based on the volume of one sock criteria. Neither the Hands-off nor the Hands-on method resulted in a consistent residual limb shape as the coefficient of variation of shape differences was high. The resultant shape of the residual limb in the Hands-off casting was variable but the differences were not clinically significant. For the Hands-on casting, shape differences were equal to the maximum acceptable limit for a poor socket fit.

Addressing Unison and Uniqueness of Reliability and Safety for Better Integration

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Zhaofeng; Safie, Fayssal

2015-01-01

For a long time, both in theory and in practice, safety and reliability have not been clearly differentiated, which leads to confusion, inefficiency, and sometime counter-productive practices in executing each of these two disciplines. It is imperative to address the uniqueness and the unison of these two disciplines to help both disciplines become more effective and to promote a better integration of the two for enhancing safety and reliability in our products as an overall objective. There are two purposes of this paper. First, it will investigate the uniqueness and unison of each discipline and discuss the interrelationship between the two for awareness and clarification. Second, after clearly understanding the unique roles and interrelationship between the two in a product design and development life cycle, we offer suggestions to enhance the disciplines with distinguished and focused roles, to better integrate the two, and to improve unique sets of skills and tools of reliability and safety processes. From the uniqueness aspect, the paper identifies and discusses the respective uniqueness of reliability and safety from their roles, accountability, nature of requirements, technical scopes, detailed technical approaches, and analysis boundaries. It is misleading to equate unreliable to unsafe, since a safety hazard may or may not be related to the component, sub-system, or system functions, which are primarily what reliability addresses. Similarly, failing-to-function may or may not lead to hazard events. Examples will be given in the paper from aerospace, defense, and consumer products to illustrate the uniqueness and differences between reliability and safety. From the unison aspect, the paper discusses what the commonalities between reliability and safety are, and how these two disciplines are linked, integrated, and supplemented with each other to accomplish the customer requirements and product goals. In addition to understanding the uniqueness in

The reliability of integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power generation units

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Higman, C.; DellaVilla, S.; Steele, B. [Syngas Consultants Ltd. (United Kingdom)

2006-07-01

This paper presents two interlinked projects aimed at supporting the improvement of integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) reliability. The one project comprises the extension of SPS's existing ORAP (Operational Reliability Analysis Program) reliability, availability and maintainability (RAM) tracking technology from its existing base in natural gas open and combined cycle operations into IGCC. The other project is using the extended ORAP database to evaluate performance data from existing plants. The initial work has concentrated on evaluating public domain data on the performance of gasification based power and chemical plants. This is being followed up by plant interviews in some 20 plants to verify and expand the database on current performance. 23 refs., 8 figs., 2 tabs.

Review of methods for the integration of reliability and design engineering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reilly, J.T.

1978-03-01

A review of methods for the integration of reliability and design engineering was carried out to establish a reliability program philosophy, an initial set of methods, and procedures to be used by both the designer and reliability analyst. The report outlines a set of procedures which implements a philosophy that requires increased involvement by the designer in reliability analysis. Discussions of each method reviewed include examples of its application

Reliability-Weighted Integration of Audiovisual Signals Can Be Modulated by Top-down Attention

Science.gov (United States)

Noppeney, Uta

2018-01-01

Abstract Behaviorally, it is well established that human observers integrate signals near-optimally weighted in proportion to their reliabilities as predicted by maximum likelihood estimation. Yet, despite abundant behavioral evidence, it is unclear how the human brain accomplishes this feat. In a spatial ventriloquist paradigm, participants were presented with auditory, visual, and audiovisual signals and reported the location of the auditory or the visual signal. Combining psychophysics, multivariate functional MRI (fMRI) decoding, and models of maximum likelihood estimation (MLE), we characterized the computational operations underlying audiovisual integration at distinct cortical levels. We estimated observers’ behavioral weights by fitting psychometric functions to participants’ localization responses. Likewise, we estimated the neural weights by fitting neurometric functions to spatial locations decoded from regional fMRI activation patterns. Our results demonstrate that low-level auditory and visual areas encode predominantly the spatial location of the signal component of a region’s preferred auditory (or visual) modality. By contrast, intraparietal sulcus forms spatial representations by integrating auditory and visual signals weighted by their reliabilities. Critically, the neural and behavioral weights and the variance of the spatial representations depended not only on the sensory reliabilities as predicted by the MLE model but also on participants’ modality-specific attention and report (i.e., visual vs. auditory). These results suggest that audiovisual integration is not exclusively determined by bottom-up sensory reliabilities. Instead, modality-specific attention and report can flexibly modulate how intraparietal sulcus integrates sensory signals into spatial representations to guide behavioral responses (e.g., localization and orienting). PMID:29527567

Integrated Markov-neural reliability computation method: A case for multiple automated guided vehicle system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fazlollahtabar, Hamed; Saidi-Mehrabad, Mohammad; Balakrishnan, Jaydeep

2015-01-01

This paper proposes an integrated Markovian and back propagation neural network approaches to compute reliability of a system. While states of failure occurrences are significant elements for accurate reliability computation, Markovian based reliability assessment method is designed. Due to drawbacks shown by Markovian model for steady state reliability computations and neural network for initial training pattern, integration being called Markov-neural is developed and evaluated. To show efficiency of the proposed approach comparative analyses are performed. Also, for managerial implication purpose an application case for multiple automated guided vehicles (AGVs) in manufacturing networks is conducted. - Highlights: • Integrated Markovian and back propagation neural network approach to compute reliability. • Markovian based reliability assessment method. • Managerial implication is shown in an application case for multiple automated guided vehicles (AGVs) in manufacturing networks

Qualitative Evaluation of Digital Hand X-rays is Not a Reliable Method to Assess Bone Mineral Density

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

AndrewJ. Miller

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Object: The gold standard for evaluating bone mineral density is dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA.  Prior studies have shown poor reliability using analog wrist X-rays in diagnosing osteoporosis. Our goal was to investigate if there was improved diagnostic value to visual assessment of digital hand X-rays in osteoporosis screening. We hypothesized that similar to analog counterparts, digital hand X-rays have poor correlation and reliability in determining bone mineral density (BMD relative to DEXA.Methods: We prospectively evaluated female patients older than 65 years who presented to our hand clinic with digital hand and wrist X-rays as part of their evaluation over six months. Patients who had a fracture and were without DEXA scans within the past two years were excluded. Five fellowship-trained hand surgeons, blinded to DEXA T-scores, evaluated the x-rays over two assessments separated by four weeks and classified them as osteoporotic, osteopenic, or normal BMD.  Accuracy relative to DEXA T-score, interobserver and intraobserver rates were calculated.Results: Thirty four patients met the inclusion criteria and a total of 340 x-rays reviews were performed.  The assessments were correct in 169 cases (49% as compared to the DEXA T-scores. A mean weighted kappa coefficient of agreement between observers was 0.29 (range 0.02-0.41 reflecting a fair agreement. The first and second assessment for all five physicians was 0.46 (range 0.19-0.78 reflecting a moderate agreement.  Grouping osteoporosis and osteopenia together compared to normal, the accuracy, interobserver and intraobserver rates increased to 63%, 0.42 and 0.54 respectively.Conclusion: Abnormally low BMD is a common occurrence in patients treated for upper extremity disorders. There is poor accuracy relative to DEXA scan and only fair agreement in diagnosing osteoporosis using visual assessments of digital x-rays.

Plant Reliability - an Integrated System for Management (PR-ISM)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aukeman, M.C.; Leininger, E.G.; Carr, P.

1984-01-01

The Toledo Edison Company, located in Toledo, Ohio, United States of America, recently implemented a comprehensive maintenance management information system for the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station. The system is called PR-ISM, meaning Plant Reliability - An Integrated System for Management. PR-ISM provides the tools needed by station management to effectively plan and control maintenance and other plant activities. The PR-ISM system as it exists today consists of four integrated computer applications: equipment data base maintenance, maintenance work order control, administrative activity tracking, and technical specification compliance. PR-ISM is designed as an integrated on-line system and incorporates strong human factors features. PR-ISM provides each responsible person information to do his job on a daily basis and to look ahead towards future events. It goes beyond 'after the fact' reporting. In this respect, PR-ISM is an 'interactive' control system which: captures work requirements and commitments as they are identified, provides accurate and up-to-date status immediately to those who need it, simplifies paperwork and reduces the associated time delays, provides the information base for work management and reliability analysis, and improves productivity by replacing clerical tasks and consolidating maintenance activities. The functional and technical features of PR-ISM, the experience of Toledo Edison during the first year of operation, and the factors which led to the success of the development project are highlighted. (author)

HiRel: Hybrid Automated Reliability Predictor (HARP) integrated reliability tool system, (version 7.0). Volume 3: HARP Graphics Oriented (GO) input user's guide

Science.gov (United States)

Bavuso, Salvatore J.; Rothmann, Elizabeth; Mittal, Nitin; Koppen, Sandra Howell

1994-01-01

The Hybrid Automated Reliability Predictor (HARP) integrated Reliability (HiRel) tool system for reliability/availability prediction offers a toolbox of integrated reliability/availability programs that can be used to customize the user's application in a workstation or nonworkstation environment. HiRel consists of interactive graphical input/output programs and four reliability/availability modeling engines that provide analytical and simulative solutions to a wide host of highly reliable fault-tolerant system architectures and is also applicable to electronic systems in general. The tool system was designed at the outset to be compatible with most computing platforms and operating systems, and some programs have been beta tested within the aerospace community for over 8 years. This document is a user's guide for the HiRel graphical preprocessor Graphics Oriented (GO) program. GO is a graphical user interface for the HARP engine that enables the drawing of reliability/availability models on a monitor. A mouse is used to select fault tree gates or Markov graphical symbols from a menu for drawing.

Developing a method for quantification of Ascaris eggs on hands

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jeandron, Aurelie; Ensink, Jeroen J. H.; Thamsborg, Stig Milan

In transmission of soil transmitted helminths, especially with Ascaris and Trichuris infections, the importance of hands is unclear and very limited literature exists. This is partly because of the absence of a reliable method to quantify the number of helminth eggs on hands. The aim of this study...... was to develop a method to assess the number of Ascaris eggs on hands and determine the egg recovery rate of the method. Under laboratory conditions, hands were contaminated with app. 1000 Ascaris eggs, air dried and washed in a plastic bag retaining the washing water, in order to determine recovery rates...... of eggs for two different detergents (cationic [benzethonium chloride 0.1%], anionic [7X 1% - quadrafos, glycol ether, and dioctyl sulfoccinate sodium salt]) and de-ionized water used as control. The highest recovery rate (95.6%) was achieved with a hand rinse performed with 7X 1%. Washing hands...

An integrated approach to human reliability analysis -- decision analytic dynamic reliability model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holmberg, J.; Hukki, K.; Norros, L.; Pulkkinen, U.; Pyy, P.

1999-01-01

The reliability of human operators in process control is sensitive to the context. In many contemporary human reliability analysis (HRA) methods, this is not sufficiently taken into account. The aim of this article is that integration between probabilistic and psychological approaches in human reliability should be attempted. This is achieved first, by adopting such methods that adequately reflect the essential features of the process control activity, and secondly, by carrying out an interactive HRA process. Description of the activity context, probabilistic modeling, and psychological analysis form an iterative interdisciplinary sequence of analysis in which the results of one sub-task maybe input to another. The analysis of the context is carried out first with the help of a common set of conceptual tools. The resulting descriptions of the context promote the probabilistic modeling, through which new results regarding the probabilistic dynamics can be achieved. These can be incorporated in the context descriptions used as reference in the psychological analysis of actual performance. The results also provide new knowledge of the constraints of activity, by providing information of the premises of the operator's actions. Finally, the stochastic marked point process model gives a tool, by which psychological methodology may be interpreted and utilized for reliability analysis

Evaluation of aileron actuator reliability with censored data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Li Huaiyuan

2015-08-01

Full Text Available For the purpose of enhancing reliability of aileron of Airbus new-generation A350XWB, an evaluation of aileron reliability on the basis of maintenance data is presented in this paper. Practical maintenance data contains large number of censoring samples, information uncertainty of which makes it hard to evaluate reliability of aileron actuator. Considering that true lifetime of censoring sample has identical distribution with complete sample, if censoring sample is transformed into complete sample, conversion frequency of censoring sample can be estimated according to frequency of complete sample. On the one hand, standard life table estimation and product limit method are improved on the basis of such conversion frequency, enabling accurate estimation of various censoring samples. On the other hand, by taking such frequency as one of the weight factors and integrating variance of order statistics under standard distribution, weighted least square estimation is formed for accurately estimating various censoring samples. Large amounts of experiments and simulations show that reliabilities of improved life table and improved product limit method are closer to the true value and more conservative; moreover, weighted least square estimate (WLSE, with conversion frequency of censoring sample and variances of order statistics as the weights, can still estimate accurately with high proportion of censored data in samples. Algorithm in this paper has good effect and can accurately estimate the reliability of aileron actuator even with small sample and high censoring rate. This research has certain significance in theory and engineering practice.

Body schema and corporeal self-recognition in the alien hand syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Olgiati, Elena; Maravita, Angelo; Spandri, Viviana; Casati, Roberta; Ferraro, Francesco; Tedesco, Lucia; Agostoni, Elio Clemente; Bolognini, Nadia

2017-07-01

The alien hand syndrome (AHS) is a rare neuropsychological disorder characterized by involuntary, yet purposeful, hand movements. Patients with the AHS typically complain about a loss of agency associated with a feeling of estrangement for actions performed by the affected limb. The present study explores the integrity of the body representation in AHS, focusing on 2 main processes: multisensory integration and visual self-recognition of body parts. Three patients affected by AHS following a right-hemisphere stroke, with clinical symptoms akin to the posterior variant of AHS, were tested and their performance was compared with that of 18 age-matched healthy controls. AHS patients and controls underwent 2 experimental tasks: a same-different visual matching task for body postures, which assessed the ability of using your own body schema for encoding others' body postural changes (Experiment 1), and an explicit self-hand recognition task, which assessed the ability to visually recognize your own hands (Experiment 2). As compared to controls, all AHS patients were unable to access a reliable multisensory representation of their alien hand and use it for decoding others' postural changes; however, they could rely on an efficient multisensory representation of their intact (ipsilesional) hand. Two AHS patients also presented with a specific impairment in the visual self-recognition of their alien hand, but normal recognition of their intact hand. This evidence suggests that the AHS following a right-hemisphere stroke may involve a disruption of the multisensory representation of the alien limb; instead, self-hand recognition mechanisms may be spared. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Delivering on Industry Equipment Reliability Goals By Leveraging an Integration Platform and Decision Support Environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coveney, Maureen K.; Bailey, W. Henry; Parkinson, William

2004-01-01

Utilities have invested in many costly enterprise systems - computerized maintenance management systems, document management systems, enterprise grade portals, to name but a few - and often very specialized systems, like data historians, high end diagnostic systems, and other focused and point solutions. From recent industry reports, we now know that the average nuclear power utilizes on average 1900 systems to perform daily work, of which 250 might facilitate the equipment reliability decision-making process. The time has come to leverage the investment in these systems by providing a common platform for integration and decision-making that will further the collective industry aim of enhancing the reliability of our nuclear generation assets to maintain high plant availability and to deliver on plant life extension goals without requiring additional large scale investment in IT infrastructure. (authors)

Integrated, multidisciplinary care for hand eczema: design of a randomized controlled trial and cost-effectiveness study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Boot Cécile RL

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The individual and societal burden of hand eczema is high. Literature indicates that moderate to severe hand eczema is a disease with a poor prognosis. Many patients are hampered in their daily activities, including work. High costs are related to high medical consumption, productivity loss and sick leave. Usual care is suboptimal, due to a lack of optimal instruction and coordination of care, and communication with the general practitioner/occupational physician and people involved at the workplace. Therefore, an integrated, multidisciplinary intervention involving a dermatologist, a care manager, a specialized nurse and a clinical occupational physician was developed. This paper describes the design of a study to investigate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of integrated care for hand eczema by a multidisciplinary team, coordinated by a care manager, consisting of instruction on avoiding relevant contact factors, both in the occupational and in the private environment, optimal skin care and treatment, compared to usual, dermatologist-led care. Methods The study is a multicentre, randomized, controlled trial with an economic evaluation alongside. The study population consists of patients with chronic, moderate to severe hand eczema, who visit an outpatient clinic of one of the participating 5 (three university and two general hospitals. Integrated, multidisciplinary care, coordinated by a care manager, including allergo-dermatological evaluation by a dermatologist, occupational intervention by a clinical occupational physician, and counselling by a specialized nurse on optimizing topical treatment and skin care will be compared with usual care by a dermatologist. The primary outcome measure is the cumulative difference in reduction of the clinical severity score HECSI between the groups. Secondary outcome measures are the patient's global assessment, specific quality of life with regard to the hands, generic quality

A quantitative assessment method for Ascaris eggs on hands

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jeandron, Aurelie; Ensink, Jeroen H. J.; Thamsborg, Stig Milan

2014-01-01

The importance of hands in the transmission of soil transmitted helminths, especially Ascaris and Trichuris infections, is under-researched. This is partly because of the absence of a reliable method to quantify the number of eggs on hands. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a method...... to assess the number of Ascaris eggs on hands and determine the egg recovery rate of the method. Under laboratory conditions, hands were seeded with a known number of Ascaris eggs, air dried and washed in a plastic bag retaining the washing water, in order to determine recovery rates of eggs for four...... different detergents (cationic [benzethonium chloride 0.1% and cetylpyridinium chloride CPC 0.1%], anionic [7X 1% - quadrafos, glycol ether, and dioctyl sulfoccinate sodium salt] and non-ionic [Tween80 0.1% -polyethylene glycol sorbitan monooleate]) and two egg detection methods (McMaster technique...

Working hard to make a simple definition of synergies. Comment on: "Hand synergies: Integration of robotics and neuroscience for understanding the control of biological and artificial hands" by Marco Santello et al.

Science.gov (United States)

Alessandro, Cristiano; Oliveira Barroso, Filipe; Tresch, Matthew

2016-07-01

The paper ;Hand synergies: Integration of robotics and neuroscience for understanding the control of biological and artificial hands; [1] presents a comprehensive review of the work carried out as part of the EU funded project ;The Hand Embodied;. The work uses the concept of ;synergy; to study the neuromuscular control of the human hand and to design novel robotics systems. The project has been very productive and has made important contributions. We are therefore confident that it will lead to further advancements and experiments in the future.

Social Information Is Integrated into Value and Confidence Judgments According to Its Reliability.

Science.gov (United States)

De Martino, Benedetto; Bobadilla-Suarez, Sebastian; Nouguchi, Takao; Sharot, Tali; Love, Bradley C

2017-06-21

How much we like something, whether it be a bottle of wine or a new film, is affected by the opinions of others. However, the social information that we receive can be contradictory and vary in its reliability. Here, we tested whether the brain incorporates these statistics when judging value and confidence. Participants provided value judgments about consumer goods in the presence of online reviews. We found that participants updated their initial value and confidence judgments in a Bayesian fashion, taking into account both the uncertainty of their initial beliefs and the reliability of the social information. Activity in dorsomedial prefrontal cortex tracked the degree of belief update. Analogous to how lower-level perceptual information is integrated, we found that the human brain integrates social information according to its reliability when judging value and confidence. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The field of perceptual decision making has shown that the sensory system integrates different sources of information according to their respective reliability, as predicted by a Bayesian inference scheme. In this work, we hypothesized that a similar coding scheme is implemented by the human brain to process social signals and guide complex, value-based decisions. We provide experimental evidence that the human prefrontal cortex's activity is consistent with a Bayesian computation that integrates social information that differs in reliability and that this integration affects the neural representation of value and confidence. Copyright © 2017 De Martino et al.

Diagnostic imaging of the hand

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schmitt, Rainer [Hospital for Cardiovascular Diseases, Bad Neustadt an der Saale (Germany). Dept. of Radiology; Lanz, Ulrich [Perlach Hospital, Munich (Germany). Dept. of Hand Surgery

2008-07-01

With its complex anatomy and specialized biomechanics, the human hand has always presented physicians with a unique challenge when it comes to diagnosing and treating the diseases that afflict it. And while recent decades have seen a rapid increase in the number of therapeutic options, many diseases and injuries of the hand are still commonly misinterpreted. In diagnostic imaging of the hand, an interdisciplinary team, comprisingspecialists in radiology, surgery, and rheumatology, presents a comprehensive,reliable guide to this topographically intricate area. Highlights include: - More than 1000 high-quality illustrations - All state-of-the-art imaging modalities-including multidetector CT, with 2D displays and 3D reconstructions, and contrast-enhanced MRI with multi-channel, phased-array coils - An overview of all currently used methods of examination - A detailed presentation of the anatomic and functional foundations necessary for diagnosis - Full coverage of all disorders of the hand - Systematic treatment of each disease's definition, pathogenesis, and clinical symptoms, according to a graduated diagnostic plan - Easy-to-use format, featuring crisp images and line drawings seamlessly integrated with concise text, summary tables, and handy checklists - A heavily cross-referenced appendix of differential diagnosis tables - Emphasis on interdisciplinary consultation throughout designed to help both radiologists and clinicians develop the most efficient and effective strategies for evaluating and treating patients, Diagnostic imaging of the hand will leave specialists of all levels with a fresh appreciation for - and a richer understanding of - the expanding array of cutting-edge alternatives for diagnosing and treating disorders of the hand. (orig.)

Diagnostic imaging of the hand

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schmitt, Rainer; Lanz, Ulrich

2008-01-01

With its complex anatomy and specialized biomechanics, the human hand has always presented physicians with a unique challenge when it comes to diagnosing and treating the diseases that afflict it. And while recent decades have seen a rapid increase in the number of therapeutic options, many diseases and injuries of the hand are still commonly misinterpreted. In diagnostic imaging of the hand, an interdisciplinary team, comprisingspecialists in radiology, surgery, and rheumatology, presents a comprehensive,reliable guide to this topographically intricate area. Highlights include: - More than 1000 high-quality illustrations - All state-of-the-art imaging modalities-including multidetector CT, with 2D displays and 3D reconstructions, and contrast-enhanced MRI with multi-channel, phased-array coils - An overview of all currently used methods of examination - A detailed presentation of the anatomic and functional foundations necessary for diagnosis - Full coverage of all disorders of the hand - Systematic treatment of each disease's definition, pathogenesis, and clinical symptoms, according to a graduated diagnostic plan - Easy-to-use format, featuring crisp images and line drawings seamlessly integrated with concise text, summary tables, and handy checklists - A heavily cross-referenced appendix of differential diagnosis tables - Emphasis on interdisciplinary consultation throughout designed to help both radiologists and clinicians develop the most efficient and effective strategies for evaluating and treating patients, Diagnostic imaging of the hand will leave specialists of all levels with a fresh appreciation for - and a richer understanding of - the expanding array of cutting-edge alternatives for diagnosing and treating disorders of the hand. (orig.)

Model correction factor method for reliability problems involving integrals of non-Gaussian random fields

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Franchin, P.; Ditlevsen, Ove Dalager; Kiureghian, Armen Der

2002-01-01

The model correction factor method (MCFM) is used in conjunction with the first-order reliability method (FORM) to solve structural reliability problems involving integrals of non-Gaussian random fields. The approach replaces the limit-state function with an idealized one, in which the integrals ...

An Integrated Approach to Establish Validity and Reliability of Reading Tests

Science.gov (United States)

Razi, Salim

2012-01-01

This study presents the processes of developing and establishing reliability and validity of a reading test by administering an integrative approach as conventional reliability and validity measures superficially reveals the difficulty of a reading test. In this respect, analysing vocabulary frequency of the test is regarded as a more eligible way…

Reactor fuel reliability constraints on power shape control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gelhaus, F.; Hallam, J.; Sauar, T.

1977-01-01

The level of reliability of fuel rods operating in commercial nuclear power plants has been less than desired for a number of reasons. Several of these causes have been successfully minimized, but pellet-clad interaction failures persist. Since power and power change are dominant parameters in this failure mode, restrictions on operational maneuvers have been recommended by all U. S. fuel suppliers. Slower-than-design allowable maneuvers decrease the plant capacity factor, which can cost a utility up to $7 million per year per plant. To assist utility engineering and operations personnel in their day-to-day decisions in this regard, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) is initiating a project, designated RP895, to develop a fully computerized Power Shape Monitoring System (PSMS) for core-wide fuel rod reliability prediction. This paper describes the PSMS system and details some of the hardware/software requirements as they are now perceived. Salient results from a just-completed complementary EPRI-funded study, RP509, are described; this effort employed hand data acquisition and many man-machine interfaces that will be fully integrated and automated in the PSMS. The capabilities of the PSMS will derive from the use of modern minicomputer hardware and software and from accurate computational modules that enable near-real-time predictive capability

Engineering systems reliability, safety, and maintenance an integrated approach

CERN Document Server

Dhillon, B S

2017-01-01

Today, engineering systems are an important element of the world economy and each year billions of dollars are spent to develop, manufacture, operate, and maintain various types of engineering systems around the globe. Many of these systems are highly sophisticated and contain millions of parts. For example, a Boeing jumbo 747 is made up of approximately 4.5 million parts including fasteners. Needless to say, reliability, safety, and maintenance of systems such as this have become more important than ever before.　 Global competition and other factors are forcing manufacturers to produce highly reliable, safe, and maintainable engineering products. Therefore, there is a definite need for the reliability, safety, and maintenance professionals to work closely during design and other phases. Engineering Systems Reliability, Safety, and Maintenance: An Integrated Approach eliminates the need to consult many different and diverse sources in the hunt for the information required to design better engineering syste...

Reliability of electronic systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roca, Jose L.

2001-01-01

Reliability techniques have been developed subsequently as a need of the diverse engineering disciplines, nevertheless they are not few those that think they have been work a lot on reliability before the same word was used in the current context. Military, space and nuclear industries were the first ones that have been involved in this topic, however not only in these environments it is that it has been carried out this small great revolution in benefit of the increase of the reliability figures of the products of those industries, but rather it has extended to the whole industry. The fact of the massive production, characteristic of the current industries, drove four decades ago, to the fall of the reliability of its products, on one hand, because the massively itself and, for other, to the recently discovered and even not stabilized industrial techniques. Industry should be changed according to those two new requirements, creating products of medium complexity and assuring an enough reliability appropriated to production costs and controls. Reliability began to be integral part of the manufactured product. Facing this philosophy, the book describes reliability techniques applied to electronics systems and provides a coherent and rigorous framework for these diverse activities providing a unifying scientific basis for the entire subject. It consists of eight chapters plus a lot of statistical tables and an extensive annotated bibliography. Chapters embrace the following topics: 1- Introduction to Reliability; 2- Basic Mathematical Concepts; 3- Catastrophic Failure Models; 4-Parametric Failure Models; 5- Systems Reliability; 6- Reliability in Design and Project; 7- Reliability Tests; 8- Software Reliability. This book is in Spanish language and has a potentially diverse audience as a text book from academic to industrial courses. (author)

Intrarater reliability of hand held dynamometry in measuring lower extremity isometric strength using a portable stabilization device.

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson, Steven M; Cheng, M Samuel; Smith, A Russell; Kolber, Morey J

2017-02-01

Hand held dynamometry (HHD) is a more objective way to quantify muscle force production (MP) compared to traditional manual muscle testing. HHD reliability can be negatively impacted by both the strength of the tester and the subject particularly in the lower extremities due to larger muscle groups. The primary aim of this investigation was to assess intrarater reliability of HHD with use of a portable stabilization device for lower extremity MP in an athletic population. Isometric lower extremity strength was measured for bilateral lower extremities including hip abductors, external rotators, adductors, knee extensors, and ankle plantar flexors was measured in a sample of healthy recreational runners (8 male, 7 females, = 30 limbs) training for a marathon. These measurements were assessed using an intrasession intrarater reliability design. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were calculated using 3,1 model based on the single rater design. The standard error of measurement (SEM) for each muscle group was also calculated. ICC were excellent ranging from ICC (3,1) = 0.93-0.98 with standard error of measurements ranging from 0.58 to 17.2 N. This study establishes the use of a HHD with a portable stabilization device as demonstrating good reliability within testers for measuring lower extremity muscle performance in an active healthy population. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Derivation of centers and axes of rotation for wrist and fingers in a hand kinematic model: methods and reliability results.

Science.gov (United States)

Cerveri, P; Lopomo, N; Pedotti, A; Ferrigno, G

2005-03-01

In the field of 3D reconstruction of human motion from video, model-based techniques have been proposed to increase the estimation accuracy and the degree of automation. The feasibility of this approach is strictly connected with the adopted biomechanical model. Particularly, the representation of the kinematic chain and the assessment of the corresponding parameters play a relevant role for the success of the motion assessment. In this paper, the focus is on the determination of the kinematic parameters of a general hand skeleton model using surface measurements. A novel method that integrates nonrigid sphere fitting and evolutionary optimization is proposed to estimate the centers and the functional axes of rotation of the skeletal joints. The reliability of the technique is tested using real movement data and simulated motions with known ground truth 3D measurement noise and different ranges of motion (RoM). With respect to standard nonrigid sphere fitting techniques, the proposed method performs 10-50% better in the best condition (very low noise and wide RoM) and over 100% better with physiological artifacts and RoM. Repeatability in the range of a couple of millimeters, on the localization of the centers of rotation, and in the range of one degree, on the axis directions is obtained from real data experiments.

Reliable electricity. The effects of system integration and cooperative measures to make it work

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hagspiel, Simeon [Koeln Univ. (Germany). Energiewirtschaftliches Inst.; Koeln Univ. (Germany). Dept. of Economics

2017-12-15

We investigate the effects of system integration for reliability of supply in regional electricity systems along with cooperative measures to support it. Specifically, we set up a model to contrast the benefits from integration through statistical balancing (i.e., a positive externality) with the risk of cascading outages (a negative externality). The model is calibrated with a comprehensive dataset comprising 28 European countries on a high spatial and temporal resolution. We find that positive externalities from system integration prevail, and that cooperation is key to meet reliability targets efficiently. To enable efficient solutions in a non-marketed environment, we formulate the problem as a cooperative game and study different rules to allocate the positive and negative effects to individual countries. Strikingly, we find that without a mechanism, the integrated solution is unstable. In contrast, proper transfer payments can be found to make all countries better off in full integration, and the Nucleolus is identified as a particularly promising candidate. The rule could be used as a basis for compensation payments to support the successful integration and cooperation of electricity systems.

Reliable electricity. The effects of system integration and cooperative measures to make it work

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hagspiel, Simeon; Koeln Univ.

2017-01-01

We investigate the effects of system integration for reliability of supply in regional electricity systems along with cooperative measures to support it. Specifically, we set up a model to contrast the benefits from integration through statistical balancing (i.e., a positive externality) with the risk of cascading outages (a negative externality). The model is calibrated with a comprehensive dataset comprising 28 European countries on a high spatial and temporal resolution. We find that positive externalities from system integration prevail, and that cooperation is key to meet reliability targets efficiently. To enable efficient solutions in a non-marketed environment, we formulate the problem as a cooperative game and study different rules to allocate the positive and negative effects to individual countries. Strikingly, we find that without a mechanism, the integrated solution is unstable. In contrast, proper transfer payments can be found to make all countries better off in full integration, and the Nucleolus is identified as a particularly promising candidate. The rule could be used as a basis for compensation payments to support the successful integration and cooperation of electricity systems.

The large-scale integration of wind generation: Impacts on price, reliability and dispatchable conventional suppliers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

MacCormack, John; Hollis, Aidan; Zareipour, Hamidreza; Rosehart, William

2010-01-01

This work examines the effects of large-scale integration of wind powered electricity generation in a deregulated energy-only market on loads (in terms of electricity prices and supply reliability) and dispatchable conventional power suppliers. Hourly models of wind generation time series, load and resultant residual demand are created. From these a non-chronological residual demand duration curve is developed that is combined with a probabilistic model of dispatchable conventional generator availability, a model of an energy-only market with a price cap, and a model of generator costs and dispatch behavior. A number of simulations are performed to evaluate the effect on electricity prices, overall reliability of supply, the ability of a dominant supplier acting strategically to profitably withhold supplies, and the fixed cost recovery of dispatchable conventional power suppliers at different levels of wind generation penetration. Medium and long term responses of the market and/or regulator in the long term are discussed.

ADVANCED COMPRESSOR ENGINE CONTROLS TO ENHANCE OPERATION, RELIABILITY AND INTEGRITY

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gary D. Bourn; Jess W. Gingrich; Jack A. Smith

2004-03-01

This document is the final report for the ''Advanced Compressor Engine Controls to Enhance Operation, Reliability, and Integrity'' project. SwRI conducted this project for DOE in conjunction with Cooper Compression, under DOE contract number DE-FC26-03NT41859. This report addresses an investigation of engine controls for integral compressor engines and the development of control strategies that implement closed-loop NOX emissions feedback.

The invisible hand illusion: multisensory integration leads to the embodiment of a discrete volume of empty space.

Science.gov (United States)

Guterstam, Arvid; Gentile, Giovanni; Ehrsson, H Henrik

2013-07-01

The dynamic integration of signals from different sensory modalities plays a key role in bodily self-perception. When visual information is used in the multisensory process of localizing and identifying one's own limbs, the sight of a body part often plays a dominant role. For example, it has repeatedly been shown that a viewed object must resemble a humanoid body part to permit illusory self-attribution of that object. Here, we report a perceptual illusion that challenges these assumptions by demonstrating that healthy (nonamputated) individuals can refer somatic sensations to a discrete volume of empty space and experience having an invisible hand. In 10 behavioral and one fMRI experiment, we characterized the perceptual rules and multisensory brain mechanisms that produced this "invisible hand illusion." Our behavioral results showed that the illusion depends on visuotactile-proprioceptive integration that obeys key spatial and temporal multisensory rules confined to near-personal space. The fMRI results associate the illusion experience with increased activity in regions related to the integration of multisensory body-related signals, most notably the bilateral ventral premotor, intraparietal, and cerebellar cortices. We further showed that a stronger feeling of having an invisible hand is associated with a higher degree of effective connectivity between the intraparietal and ventral premotor cortices. These findings demonstrate that the integration of temporally and spatially congruent multisensory signals in a premotor-intraparietal circuit is sufficient to redefine the spatial boundaries of the bodily self, even when visual information directly contradicts the presence of a physical limb at the location of the perceived illusory hand.

HiRel: Hybrid Automated Reliability Predictor (HARP) integrated reliability tool system, (version 7.0). Volume 4: HARP Output (HARPO) graphics display user's guide

Science.gov (United States)

Sproles, Darrell W.; Bavuso, Salvatore J.

1994-01-01

The Hybrid Automated Reliability Predictor (HARP) integrated Reliability (HiRel) tool system for reliability/availability prediction offers a toolbox of integrated reliability/availability programs that can be used to customize the user's application in a workstation or nonworkstation environment. HiRel consists of interactive graphical input/output programs and four reliability/availability modeling engines that provide analytical and simulative solutions to a wide host of highly reliable fault-tolerant system architectures and is also applicable to electronic systems in general. The tool system was designed at the outset to be compatible with most computing platforms and operating systems and some programs have been beta tested within the aerospace community for over 8 years. This document is a user's guide for the HiRel graphical postprocessor program HARPO (HARP Output). HARPO reads ASCII files generated by HARP. It provides an interactive plotting capability that can be used to display alternate model data for trade-off analyses. File data can also be imported to other commercial software programs.

“Hand-it-on”

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dieckmann, Gerhard Peter; Graae Zeltner, Louise; Helsø, Anne-Mette

2016-01-01

Non-technical skills (NTS) are an integral part of the abilities healthcare professionals need to optimally care for patients. Integrating NTS into the already complex tasks of healthcare can be a challenge for clinicians. Integrating NTS into simulation-based training increases the demands...... and where they can apply them in their work. It complements existing approaches to teaching NTS by limiting the complexity of the game and by removing medical content, allowing learners to concentrate on NTS. Hand-it-on is relevant for groups and teams working across the range of different healthcare...... and the replication of Hand-it-on by many simulation teams support its value....

Site-specific landslide assessment in Alpine area using a reliable integrated monitoring system

Science.gov (United States)

Romeo, Saverio; Di Matteo, Lucio; Kieffer, Daniel Scott

2016-04-01

Rockfalls are one of major cause of landslide fatalities around the world. The present work discusses the reliability of integrated monitoring of displacements in a rockfall within the Alpine region (Salzburg Land - Austria), taking into account also the effect of the ongoing climate change. Due to the unpredictability of the frequency and magnitude, that threatens human lives and infrastructure, frequently it is necessary to implement an efficient monitoring system. For this reason, during the last decades, integrated monitoring systems of unstable slopes were widely developed and used (e.g., extensometers, cameras, remote sensing, etc.). In this framework, Remote Sensing techniques, such as GBInSAR technique (Groung-Based Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar), have emerged as efficient and powerful tools for deformation monitoring. GBInSAR measurements can be useful to achieve an early warning system using surface deformation parameters as ground displacement or inverse velocity (for semi-empirical forecasting methods). In order to check the reliability of GBInSAR and to monitor the evolution of landslide, it is very important to integrate different techniques. Indeed, a multi-instrumental approach is essential to investigate movements both in surface and in depth and the use of different monitoring techniques allows to perform a cross analysis of the data and to minimize errors, to check the data quality and to improve the monitoring system. During 2013, an intense and complete monitoring campaign has been conducted on the Ingelsberg landslide. By analyzing both historical temperature series (HISTALP) recorded during the last century and those from local weather stations, temperature values (Autumn-Winter, Winter and Spring) are clearly increased in Bad Hofgastein area as well as in Alpine region. As consequence, in the last decades the rockfall events have been shifted from spring to summer due to warmer winters. It is interesting to point out that

Review of Reliability-Based Design Optimization Approach and Its Integration with Bayesian Method

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Xiangnan

2018-03-01

A lot of uncertain factors lie in practical engineering, such as external load environment, material property, geometrical shape, initial condition, boundary condition, etc. Reliability method measures the structural safety condition and determine the optimal design parameter combination based on the probabilistic theory. Reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) is the most commonly used approach to minimize the structural cost or other performance under uncertainty variables which combines the reliability theory and optimization. However, it cannot handle the various incomplete information. The Bayesian approach is utilized to incorporate this kind of incomplete information in its uncertainty quantification. In this paper, the RBDO approach and its integration with Bayesian method are introduced.

Control System Design of the YWZ Multi-Fingered Dexterous Hand

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wenzhen Yang

2012-07-01

Full Text Available The manipulation abilities of a multi-fingered dexterous hand, such as motion in real-time, flexibility, grasp stability etc., are largely dependent on its control system. This paper developed a control system for the YWZ dexterous hand, which had five fingers and twenty degrees of freedom (DOFs. All of the finger joints of the YWZ dexterous handwere active joints driven by twenty micro-stepper motors respectively. The main contribution of this paper was that we were able to use stepper motor control to actuate the hand's fingers, thus, increasing the hands feasibility. Based the actuators of the YWZ dexterous hand, we firstly developed an integrated circuit board (ICB, which was the communication hardware between the personal computer (PC and the YWZ dexterous hand. The ICB included a centre controller, twenty driver chips, a USB port and other electrical parts. Then, a communication procedure between the PC and the ICB was developed to send the control commands to actuate the YWZ dexterous hand. Experiment results showed that under this control system, the motion of the YWZ dexterous hand was real-time; both the motion accuracy and the motion stability of the YWZ dexterous hand were reliable. Compared with other types of actuators related to dexterous hands, such as pneumatic servo cylinder, DC servo motor, shape memory alloy etc., experiment results verified that the stepper motors as actuators for the dexterous handswere effective, economical, controllable and stable.

Reliable Design Versus Trust

Science.gov (United States)

Berg, Melanie; LaBel, Kenneth A.

2016-01-01

This presentation focuses on reliability and trust for the users portion of the FPGA design flow. It is assumed that the manufacturer prior to hand-off to the user tests FPGA internal components. The objective is to present the challenges of creating reliable and trusted designs. The following will be addressed: What makes a design vulnerable to functional flaws (reliability) or attackers (trust)? What are the challenges for verifying a reliable design versus a trusted design?

Towards Reliable Integrated Services for Dependable Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schiøler, Henrik; Ravn, Anders Peter; Izadi-Zamanabadi, Roozbeh

Reliability issues for various technical systems are discussed and focus is directed towards distributed systems, where communication facilities are vital to maintain system functionality. Reliability in communication subsystems is considered as a resource to be shared among a number of logical c...... applications residing on alternative routes. Details are provided for the operation of RRRSVP based on reliability slack calculus. Conclusions summarize the considerations and give directions for future research....... connections and a reliability management framework is suggested. We suggest a network layer level reliability management protocol RRSVP (Reliability Resource Reservation Protocol) as a counterpart of the RSVP for bandwidth and time resource management. Active and passive standby redundancy by background...

Towards Reliable Integrated Services for Dependable Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schiøler, Henrik; Ravn, Anders Peter; Izadi-Zamanabadi, Roozbeh

2003-01-01

Reliability issues for various technical systems are discussed and focus is directed towards distributed systems, where communication facilities are vital to maintain system functionality. Reliability in communication subsystems is considered as a resource to be shared among a number of logical c...... applications residing on alternative routes. Details are provided for the operation of RRRSVP based on reliability slack calculus. Conclusions summarize the considerations and give directions for future research....... connections and a reliability management framework is suggested. We suggest a network layer level reliability management protocol RRSVP (Reliability Resource Reservation Protocol) as a counterpart of the RSVP for bandwidth and time resource management. Active and passive standby redundancy by background...

A novel integrative method for analyzing eye and hand behaviour during reaching and grasping in an MRI environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Lawrence, Jane M; Abhari, Kamyar; Prime, Steven L; Meek, Benjamin P; Desanghere, Loni; Baugh, Lee A; Marotta, Jonathan J

2011-06-01

The development of noninvasive neuroimaging techniques, such as fMRI, has rapidly advanced our understanding of the neural systems underlying the integration of visual and motor information. However, the fMRI experimental design is restricted by several environmental elements, such as the presence of the magnetic field and the restricted view of the participant, making it difficult to monitor and measure behaviour. The present article describes a novel, specialized software package developed in our laboratory called Biometric Integration Recording and Analysis (BIRA). BIRA integrates video with kinematic data derived from the hand and eye, acquired using MRI-compatible equipment. The present article demonstrates the acquisition and analysis of eye and hand data using BIRA in a mock (0 Tesla) scanner. A method for collecting and integrating gaze and kinematic data in fMRI studies on visuomotor behaviour has several advantages: Specifically, it will allow for more sophisticated, behaviourally driven analyses and eliminate potential confounds of gaze or kinematic data.

24. MPA-seminar: safety and reliability of plant technology with special emphasis on integrity and life management. Vol. 2. Papers 28-63

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1999-01-01

The second volume is dedicated to the safety and reliability of plant technology with special emphasis on the integrity and life management. The following topics are discussed: 1. Integrity of vessels, pipes and components. 2. Fracture mechanics. 3. Measures for the extension of service life, and 4. Online Monitoring. All 30 contributions are separately analyzed for this database. (orig.)

Integrated Evaluation of Reliability and Power Consumption of Wireless Sensor Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antônio Dâmaso

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Power consumption is a primary interest in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs, and a large number of strategies have been proposed to evaluate it. However, those approaches usually neither consider reliability issues nor the power consumption of applications executing in the network. A central concern is the lack of consolidated solutions that enable us to evaluate the power consumption of applications and the network stack also considering their reliabilities. To solve this problem, we introduce a fully automatic solution to design power consumption aware WSN applications and communication protocols. The solution presented in this paper comprises a methodology to evaluate the power consumption based on the integration of formal models, a set of power consumption and reliability models, a sensitivity analysis strategy to select WSN configurations and a toolbox named EDEN to fully support the proposed methodology. This solution allows accurately estimating the power consumption of WSN applications and the network stack in an automated way.

Integrated Evaluation of Reliability and Power Consumption of Wireless Sensor Networks

Science.gov (United States)

Dâmaso, Antônio; Maciel, Paulo

2017-01-01

Power consumption is a primary interest in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs), and a large number of strategies have been proposed to evaluate it. However, those approaches usually neither consider reliability issues nor the power consumption of applications executing in the network. A central concern is the lack of consolidated solutions that enable us to evaluate the power consumption of applications and the network stack also considering their reliabilities. To solve this problem, we introduce a fully automatic solution to design power consumption aware WSN applications and communication protocols. The solution presented in this paper comprises a methodology to evaluate the power consumption based on the integration of formal models, a set of power consumption and reliability models, a sensitivity analysis strategy to select WSN configurations and a toolbox named EDEN to fully support the proposed methodology. This solution allows accurately estimating the power consumption of WSN applications and the network stack in an automated way. PMID:29113078

REMARKS ON NEUROCONTROL OF THE HAND AND SIGNIFICANCE OF AFFERENT INPUT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nejc Sarabon

2004-12-01

Full Text Available This paper outlines some remarks on our understanding of motor control of the hand. It begins with current knowledge about motor behavior of prehension movements. It further highlights the distributed nature of the control system that integrates sensory information from the periphery, existing motor memory from subcortical centers, and information from diverse primary and secondary motor as well as sensory areas. It further explains the sequential nature of the processes like decision, planning, computing, and execution involved in neurocontrol of a purposeful hand motor task. In the successive part it stresses the importance of sensory input, in particular proprioceptive, for movement setting and guidance. It concludes by pointing out research concepts used to study roles of sensory information for modulating states of neurobiological systems. Finally, a novel method of whole hand electrical stimulation, which seems promising as a tool for studying sensory-motor integration mechanisms in human’s hand, is explained and recent experimental data are provided.

Predisposition to out-of-body experience (OBE) is associated with aberrations in multisensory integration: Psychophysiological support from a "rubber hand illusion" study.

Science.gov (United States)

Braithwaite, Jason J; Watson, Derrick G; Dewe, Hayley

2017-06-01

It has been argued that disorders in body-ownership and aberrant experiences in self-consciousness are due to biases in multisensory integration. Here we examine whether such biases are also associated with spontaneous out-of-body experiences (OBEs) in a nonclinical population. One-hundred and 80 participants took part in a rubber hand illusion (RHI) experiment with synchronous and asynchronous visual and tactile stimulation. A realistic threat was delivered to the rubber hand after a fixed period of stimulation. Self-report exit questionnaires measured the subjective strength of the illusion and psychophysiological measures (skin conductance responses/finger temperature) provided an objective index of fear/anxiety toward the threat. Control participants reported a stronger RHI, and revealed larger threat-related skin conductance responses during synchronous compared with asynchronous brushing. For participants predisposed to OBEs, the magnitude of the skin conductance was not influenced by brushing synchrony-fear responses were just as strong in the asynchronous condition as they were in the synchronous condition. There were also no reliable effects of finger temperature for either group. Collectively, these findings are taken as support for the presence of particular biases in multisensory integration (perhaps via predictive coding mechanisms) in which imprecise top-down tuning occurs resulting in aberrant experiences in self-consciousness even in nonclinical hallucinators. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Integrated Reliability and Risk Analysis System (IRRAS)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Russell, K.D.; McKay, M.K.; Sattison, M.B.; Skinner, N.L.; Wood, S.T.; Rasmuson, D.M.

1992-01-01

The Integrated Reliability and Risk Analysis System (IRRAS) is a state-of-the-art, microcomputer-based probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) model development and analysis tool to address key nuclear plant safety issues. IRRAS is an integrated software tool that gives the user the ability to create and analyze fault trees and accident sequences using a microcomputer. This program provides functions that range from graphical fault tree construction to cut set generation and quantification. Version 1.0 of the IRRAS program was released in February of 1987. Since that time, many user comments and enhancements have been incorporated into the program providing a much more powerful and user-friendly system. This version has been designated IRRAS 4.0 and is the subject of this Reference Manual. Version 4.0 of IRRAS provides the same capabilities as Version 1.0 and adds a relational data base facility for managing the data, improved functionality, and improved algorithm performance

Wrist and Hand Ultrasound: Reliability of Side-to-Side Comparisons of Very Small (Structures.

Science.gov (United States)

Rossi, Federica; Romano, Nicola; Muda, Alessandro; Martinoli, Carlo; Tagliafico, Alberto

2018-04-24

In ultrasound (US) examinations of clinically relevant very small structures of the wrist and hand, the healthy contralateral side can be used as a reference to identify subtle abnormalities. Intraindividual side-to-side variability must be minimal. The aim of this study was to assess the reliability of side-to-side US evaluations of very small structures of the wrist and hand. Forty-one healthy volunteers were prospectively studied. Small structures of the wrist and hand were evaluated bilaterally by 2 musculoskeletal radiologists in separate sessions. The first annular pulleys of the second finger and the thumb, sagittal band of the third finger, extensor and flexor retinacula, ulnar collateral ligament of the thumb, radial collateral ligament of the second finger, and palmar cutaneous branches of the median and ulnar nerves were considered. To assess intra- and inter-reader agreement, 10 of 41 (24%) examinations were repeated. Nonparametric statistics were used. Data were not normally distributed (P > .001). Intra-reader agreement was κ = 0.674 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.57-0.78), and inter-reader agreement was κ = 0.935 (95% CI, 0.92-0.95). The mean value ± SD for all of the structures was 0.78 ± 0.44 mm. The overall coefficient of variation was 9.8% ± 0.07%. The intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.97 (95% CI, 0.96-0.98). In clinical practice, the healthy contralateral side can be used as a reference during a real-time musculoskeletal US evaluation of small (structures. © 2018 by the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine.

Integrated system reliability analysis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gintautas, Tomas; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

Specific targets: 1) The report shall describe the state of the art of reliability and risk-based assessment of wind turbine components. 2) Development of methodology for reliability and risk-based assessment of the wind turbine at system level. 3) Describe quantitative and qualitative measures...

Reliability evaluation methodologies for ensuring container integrity of stored transuranic (TRU) waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, K.L.

1995-06-01

This report provides methodologies for providing defensible estimates of expected transuranic waste storage container lifetimes at the Radioactive Waste Management Complex. These methodologies can be used to estimate transuranic waste container reliability (for integrity and degradation) and as an analytical tool to optimize waste container integrity. Container packaging and storage configurations, which directly affect waste container integrity, are also addressed. The methodologies presented provide a means for demonstrating Resource Conservation and Recovery Act waste storage requirements

Reliability assessment of distribution system with the integration of renewable distributed generation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adefarati, T.; Bansal, R.C.

2017-01-01

Highlights: • Addresses impacts of renewable DG on the reliability of the distribution system. • Multi-objective formulation for maximizing the cost saving with integration of DG. • Uses Markov model to study the stochastic characteristics of the major components. • The investigation is done using modified RBTS bus test distribution system. • Proposed approach is useful for electric utilities to enhance the reliability. - Abstract: Recent studies have shown that renewable energy resources will contribute substantially to future energy generation owing to the rapid depletion of fossil fuels. Wind and solar energy resources are major sources of renewable energy that have the ability to reduce the energy crisis and the greenhouse gases emitted by the conventional power plants. Reliability assessment is one of the key indicators to measure the impact of the renewable distributed generation (DG) units in the distribution networks and to minimize the cost that is associated with power outage. This paper presents a comprehensive reliability assessment of the distribution system that satisfies the consumer load requirements with the penetration of wind turbine generator (WTG), electric storage system (ESS) and photovoltaic (PV). A Markov model is proposed to access the stochastic characteristics of the major components of the renewable DG resources as well as their influence on the reliability of a conventional distribution system. The results obtained from the case studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of using WTG, ESS and PV to enhance the reliability of the conventional distribution system.

A Comparison of Hand Wrist Bone Analysis with Two Different Cervical Vertebral Analysis in Measuring Skeletal Maturation

OpenAIRE

Pichai, Saravanan; Rajesh, M; Reddy, Naveen; Adusumilli, Gopinath; Reddy, Jayaprakash; Joshi, Bhavana

2014-01-01

Background: Skeletal maturation is an integral part of individual pattern of growth and development and is a continuous process. Peak growth velocity in standing height is the most valid representation of the rate of overall skeletal growth. Ossification changes of hand wrist and cervical vertebrae are the reliable indicators of growth status of individual. The objective of this study was to compare skeletal maturation as measured by hand wrist bone analysis and cervical vertebral analysis. M...

Assessment of isometric muscle strength and rate of torque development with hand-held dynamometry: Test-retest reliability and relationship with gait velocity after stroke.

Science.gov (United States)

Mentiplay, Benjamin F; Tan, Dawn; Williams, Gavin; Adair, Brooke; Pua, Yong-Hao; Bower, Kelly J; Clark, Ross A

2018-04-27

Isometric rate of torque development examines how quickly force can be exerted and may resemble everyday task demands more closely than isometric strength. Rate of torque development may provide further insight into the relationship between muscle function and gait following stroke. Aims of this study were to examine the test-retest reliability of hand-held dynamometry to measure isometric rate of torque development following stroke, to examine associations between strength and rate of torque development, and to compare the relationships of strength and rate of torque development to gait velocity. Sixty-three post-stroke adults participated (60 years, 34 male). Gait velocity was assessed using the fast-paced 10 m walk test. Isometric strength and rate of torque development of seven lower-limb muscle groups were assessed with hand-held dynamometry. Intraclass correlation coefficients were calculated for reliability and Spearman's rho correlations were calculated for associations. Regression analyses using partial F-tests were used to compare strength and rate of torque development in their relationship with gait velocity. Good to excellent reliability was shown for strength and rate of torque development (0.82-0.97). Strong associations were found between strength and rate of torque development (0.71-0.94). Despite high correlations between strength and rate of torque development, rate of torque development failed to provide significant value to regression models that already contained strength. Assessment of isometric rate of torque development with hand-held dynamometry is reliable following stroke, however isometric strength demonstrated greater relationships with gait velocity. Further research should examine the relationship between dynamic measures of muscle strength/torque and gait after stroke. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Stationary Hand Gesture Authentication Using Edit Distance on Finger Pointing Direction Interval

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alex Ming Hui Wong

2016-01-01

Full Text Available One of the latest authentication methods is by discerning human gestures. Previous research has shown that different people can develop distinct gesture behaviours even when executing the same gesture. Hand gesture is one of the most commonly used gestures in both communication and authentication research since it requires less room to perform as compared to other bodily gestures. There are different types of hand gesture and they have been researched by many researchers, but stationary hand gesture has yet to be thoroughly explored. There are a number of disadvantages and flaws in general hand gesture authentication such as reliability, usability, and computational cost. Although stationary hand gesture is not able to solve all these problems, it still provides more benefits and advantages over other hand gesture authentication methods, such as making gesture into a motion flow instead of trivial image capturing, and requires less room to perform, less vision cue needed during performance, and so forth. In this paper, we introduce stationary hand gesture authentication by implementing edit distance on finger pointing direction interval (ED-FPDI from hand gesture to model behaviour-based authentication system. The accuracy rate of the proposed ED-FPDI shows promising results.

Design for High Performance, Low Power, and Reliable 3D Integrated Circuits

CERN Document Server

Lim, Sung Kyu

2013-01-01

This book describes the design of through-silicon-via (TSV) based three-dimensional integrated circuits.  It includes details of numerous “manufacturing-ready” GDSII-level layouts of TSV-based 3D ICs, developed with tools covered in the book. Readers will benefit from the sign-off level analysis of timing, power, signal integrity, and thermo-mechanical reliability for 3D IC designs.  Coverage also includes various design-for-manufacturability (DFM), design-for-reliability (DFR), and design-for-testability (DFT) techniques that are considered critical to the 3D IC design process. Describes design issues and solutions for high performance and low power 3D ICs, such as the pros/cons of regular and irregular placement of TSVs, Steiner routing, buffer insertion, low power 3D clock routing, power delivery network design and clock design for pre-bond testability. Discusses topics in design-for-electrical-reliability for 3D ICs, such as TSV-to-TSV coupling, current crowding at the wire-to-TSV junction and the e...

Interventions to improve the compliance of health care professionals to hand washing: an integrative review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adriana Cristina de Oliveira

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The objective of this study was to identify the main strategies used to improve the compliance of health care professionals to hand washing. This is an integrative literature review, which search included journals in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Twenty—three articles were included. An electronic tool was developed on Microsoft Office Excel and the main results were submitted to descriptive analysis. Of the total studies, 87.1% had before and after designs and several methods were used to monitor compliance rate (direct observation, supply use and self-reported rates. Multimodal interventions were used in 87.0%, and the most often employed were: education, feedback, alcohol being available and posters. The largest challenge identified was not only improving the compliance rates to hand washing, but, most of all, keeping them high. It was observed there is a need to use multimodal strategies that contribute to behavior change considering the local setting. Descriptors: Hand Disinfection; Health Personnel; Cross Infection; Nursing.

The Effect of Antibacterial Formula Hand Cleaners on the Elimination of Microbes on Hands

Science.gov (United States)

Coleman, J. R.

2002-05-01

: The purpose of this project is to find out which one of the antibacterial hand cleanser (antibacterial bar soap, antibacterial liquid hand soap, and liquid hand sanitizer) is more effective in eliminating microbes. If antibacterial- formula liquid hand soap is used on soiled hands, then it will be more effective in eliminating microbes. Germs are microorganisms that cause disease and can spread from person-to-person. Bacteria are a kind of microbe, an example of which is Transient Flora that is often found on hands. Hand washing prevents germs from spreading to others. During the procedure, swabs were used to take samples before and after the soiled hands had been washed with one of the antibacterial hand cleansers. Nutrient Easygel was poured into petri dishes to harden for 1 day, and then samples were swabbed on the gel. The Petri dishes were placed in an incubator for 24 hours, and then data was recorded accordingly. The antibacterial liquid hand soap was sufficient in eliminating the majority of bacteria. The hands had 65% of the bacteria on them, and after the liquid hand soap was used only 37% of the bacteria remained.

Faculty Workshops for Teaching Information Assurance through Hands-On Exercises and Case Studies

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, Xiaohong; Williams, Kenneth; Yu, Huiming; Rorrer, Audrey; Chu, Bei-Tseng; Yang, Li; Winters, Kathy; Kizza, Joseph

2017-01-01

Though many Information Assurance (IA) educators agree that hands-on exercises and case studies improve student learning, hands-on exercises and case studies are not widely adopted due to the time needed to develop them and integrate them into curricula. Under the support of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Scholarship for Service program, we…

Integration of external estimated breeding values and associated reliabilities using correlations among traits and effects

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vandenplas, J.; Colinet, F.G.; Glorieux, G.; Bertozzi, C.; Gengler, N.

2015-01-01

Based on a Bayesian view of linear mixed models, several studies showed the possibilities to integrate estimated breeding values (EBV) and associated reliabilities (REL) provided by genetic evaluations performed outside a given evaluation system into this genetic evaluation. Hereafter, the term

Building and integrating reliability models in a Reliability-Centered-Maintenance approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Verite, B.; Villain, B.; Venturini, V.; Hugonnard, S.; Bryla, P.

1998-03-01

Electricite de France (EDF) has recently developed its OMF-Structures method, designed to optimize preventive maintenance of passive structures such as pipes and support, based on risk. In particular, reliability performances of components need to be determined; it is a two-step process, consisting of a qualitative sort followed by a quantitative evaluation, involving two types of models. Initially, degradation models are widely used to exclude some components from the field of preventive maintenance. The reliability of the remaining components is then evaluated by means of quantitative reliability models. The results are then included in a risk indicator that is used to directly optimize preventive maintenance tasks. (author)

Reliability modelling - PETROBRAS 2010 integrated gas supply chain

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Faertes, Denise; Heil, Luciana; Saker, Leonardo; Vieira, Flavia; Risi, Francisco; Domingues, Joaquim; Alvarenga, Tobias; Carvalho, Eduardo; Mussel, Patricia

2010-09-15

The purpose of this paper is to present the innovative reliability modeling of Petrobras 2010 integrated gas supply chain. The model represents a challenge in terms of complexity and software robustness. It was jointly developed by PETROBRAS Gas and Power Department and Det Norske Veritas. It was carried out with the objective of evaluating security of supply of 2010 gas network design that was conceived to connect Brazilian Northeast and Southeast regions. To provide best in class analysis, state of the art software was used to quantify the availability and the efficiency of the overall network and its individual components.

Fundamentals of endoscopic surgery: creation and validation of the hands-on test.

Science.gov (United States)

Vassiliou, Melina C; Dunkin, Brian J; Fried, Gerald M; Mellinger, John D; Trus, Thadeus; Kaneva, Pepa; Lyons, Calvin; Korndorffer, James R; Ujiki, Michael; Velanovich, Vic; Kochman, Michael L; Tsuda, Shawn; Martinez, Jose; Scott, Daniel J; Korus, Gary; Park, Adrian; Marks, Jeffrey M

2014-03-01

The Fundamentals of Endoscopic Surgery™ (FES) program consists of online materials and didactic and skills-based tests. All components were designed to measure the skills and knowledge required to perform safe flexible endoscopy. The purpose of this multicenter study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the hands-on component of the FES examination, and to establish the pass score. Expert endoscopists identified the critical skill set required for flexible endoscopy. They were then modeled in a virtual reality simulator (GI Mentor™ II, Simbionix™ Ltd., Airport City, Israel) to create five tasks and metrics. Scores were designed to measure both speed and precision. Validity evidence was assessed by correlating performance with self-reported endoscopic experience (surgeons and gastroenterologists [GIs]). Internal consistency of each test task was assessed using Cronbach's alpha. Test-retest reliability was determined by having the same participant perform the test a second time and comparing their scores. Passing scores were determined by a contrasting groups methodology and use of receiver operating characteristic curves. A total of 160 participants (17 % GIs) performed the simulator test. Scores on the five tasks showed good internal consistency reliability and all had significant correlations with endoscopic experience. Total FES scores correlated 0.73, with participants' level of endoscopic experience providing evidence of their validity, and their internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's alpha) was 0.82. Test-retest reliability was assessed in 11 participants, and the intraclass correlation was 0.85. The passing score was determined and is estimated to have a sensitivity (true positive rate) of 0.81 and a 1-specificity (false positive rate) of 0.21. The FES hands-on skills test examines the basic procedural components required to perform safe flexible endoscopy. It meets rigorous standards of reliability and validity required for high

Optimal integrated sizing and planning of hubs with midsize/large CHP units considering reliability of supply

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moradi, Saeed; Ghaffarpour, Reza; Ranjbar, Ali Mohammad; Mozaffari, Babak

2017-01-01

Highlights: • New hub planning formulation is proposed to exploit assets of midsize/large CHPs. • Linearization approaches are proposed for two-variable nonlinear CHP fuel function. • Efficient operation of addressed CHPs & hub devices at contingencies are considered. • Reliability-embedded integrated planning & sizing is formulated as one single MILP. • Noticeable results for costs & reliability-embedded planning due to mid/large CHPs. - Abstract: Use of multi-carrier energy systems and the energy hub concept has recently been a widespread trend worldwide. However, most of the related researches specialize in CHP systems with constant electricity/heat ratios and linear operating characteristics. In this paper, integrated energy hub planning and sizing is developed for the energy systems with mid-scale and large-scale CHP units, by taking their wide operating range into consideration. The proposed formulation is aimed at taking the best use of the beneficial degrees of freedom associated with these units for decreasing total costs and increasing reliability. High-accuracy piecewise linearization techniques with approximation errors of about 1% are introduced for the nonlinear two-dimensional CHP input-output function, making it possible to successfully integrate the CHP sizing. Efficient operation of CHP and the hub at contingencies is extracted via a new formulation, which is developed to be incorporated to the planning and sizing problem. Optimal operation, planning, sizing and contingency operation of hub components are integrated and formulated as a single comprehensive MILP problem. Results on a case study with midsize CHPs reveal a 33% reduction in total costs, and it is demonstrated that the proposed formulation ceases the need for additional components/capacities for increasing reliability of supply.

An integrated model for reliability estimation of digital nuclear protection system based on fault tree and software control flow methodologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Man Cheol; Seong, Poong Hyun

2000-01-01

In the nuclear industry, the difficulty of proving the reliabilities of digital systems prohibits the widespread use of digital systems in various nuclear application such as plant protection system. Even though there exist a few models which are used to estimate the reliabilities of digital systems, we develop a new integrated model which is more realistic than the existing models. We divide the process of estimating the reliability of a digital system into two phases, a high-level phase and a low-level phase, and the boundary of two phases is the reliabilities of subsystems. We apply software control flow method to the low-level phase and fault tree analysis to the high-level phase. The application of the model to Dynamic Safety System(DDS) shows that the estimated reliability of the system is quite reasonable and realistic

An integrated model for reliability estimation of digital nuclear protection system based on fault tree and software control flow methodologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Man Cheol; Seong, Poong Hyun

2000-01-01

In nuclear industry, the difficulty of proving the reliabilities of digital systems prohibits the widespread use of digital systems in various nuclear application such as plant protection system. Even though there exist a few models which are used to estimate the reliabilities of digital systems, we develop a new integrated model which is more realistic than the existing models. We divide the process of estimating the reliability of a digital system into two phases, a high-level phase and a low-level phase, and the boundary of two phases is the reliabilities of subsystems. We apply software control flow method to the low-level phase and fault tree analysis to the high-level phase. The application of the model of dynamic safety system (DSS) shows that the estimated reliability of the system is quite reasonable and realistic. (author)

Inter-Tester Reliability and Precision of Manual Muscle Testing and Hand-Held Dynamometry in Lower Limb Muscles of Children with Spina Bifida

Science.gov (United States)

Mahony, Kate; Hunt, Adrienne; Daley, Deborah; Sims, Susan; Adams, Roger

2009-01-01

Reliability and measurement precision of manual muscle testing (MMT) and hand-held dynamometry (HHD) were compared for children with spina bifida. Strength measures were obtained of the hip flexors, hip abductors, and knee extensors of 20 children (10 males, 10 females; mean age 9 years 10 months; range: 5 to 15 years) by two experienced physical…

Cross-cultural adaptation, reliability, internal consistency and validation of the Hand Function Sort (HFS©) for French speaking patients with upper limb complaints.

Science.gov (United States)

Konzelmann, M; Burrus, C; Hilfiker, R; Rivier, G; Deriaz, O; Luthi, F

2015-03-01

Functional evaluation of upper limb is not only based on clinical findings but requires self-administered questionnaires to address patients' perspective. The Hand Function Sort (HFS©) was only validated in English. The aim of this study was the French cross cultural adaptation and validation of the HFS© (HFS-F). 150 patients with various upper limbs impairments were recruited in a rehabilitation center. Translation and cross-cultural adaptation were made according to international guidelines. Construct validity was estimated through correlations with Disabilities Arm Shoulder and Hand (DASH) questionnaire, SF-36 mental component summary (MCS),SF-36 physical component summary (PCS) and pain intensity. Internal consistency was assessed by Cronbach's α and test-retest reliability by intraclass correlation. Cronbach's α was 0.98, test-retest reliability was excellent at 0.921 (95 % CI 0.871-0.971) same as original HFS©. Correlations with DASH were-0.779 (95 % CI -0.847 to -0.685); with SF 36 PCS 0.452 (95 % CI 0.276-0.599); with pain -0.247 (95 % CI -0.429 to -0.041); with SF 36 MCS 0.242 (95 % CI 0.042-0.422). There were no floor or ceiling effects. The HFS-F has the same good psychometric properties as the original HFS© (internal consistency, test retest reliability, convergent validity with DASH, divergent validity with SF-36 MCS, and no floor or ceiling effects). The convergent validity with SF-36 PCS was poor; we found no correlation with pain. The HFS-F could be used with confidence in a population of working patients. Other studies are necessary to study its psychometric properties in other populations.

Study on seismic reliability for foundation grounds and surrounding slopes of nuclear power plants. Proposal of evaluation methodology and integration of seismic reliability evaluation system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ohtori, Yasuki; Kanatani, Mamoru

2006-01-01

This paper proposes an evaluation methodology of annual probability of failure for soil structures subjected to earthquakes and integrates the analysis system for seismic reliability of soil structures. The method is based on margin analysis, that evaluates the ground motion level at which structure is damaged. First, ground motion index that is strongly correlated with damage or response of the specific structure, is selected. The ultimate strength in terms of selected ground motion index is then evaluated. Next, variation of soil properties is taken into account for the evaluation of seismic stability of structures. The variation of the safety factor (SF) is evaluated and then the variation is converted into the variation of the specific ground motion index. Finally, the fragility curve is developed and then the annual probability of failure is evaluated combined with seismic hazard curve. The system facilitates the assessment of seismic reliability. A generator of random numbers, dynamic analysis program and stability analysis program are incorporated into one package. Once we define a structural model, distribution of the soil properties, input ground motions and so forth, list of safety factors for each sliding line is obtained. Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS), Latin Hypercube Sampling (LHS), point estimation method (PEM) and first order second moment (FOSM) implemented in this system are also introduced. As numerical examples, a ground foundation and a surrounding slope are assessed using the proposed method and the integrated system. (author)

Memorial Hermann: high reliability from board to bedside.

Science.gov (United States)

Shabot, M Michael; Monroe, Douglas; Inurria, Juan; Garbade, Debbi; France, Anne-Claire

2013-06-01

In 2006 the Memorial Hermann Health System (MHHS), which includes 12 hospitals, began applying principles embraced by high reliability organizations (HROs). Three factors support its HRO journey: (1) aligned organizational structure with transparent management systems and compressed reporting processes; (2) Robust Process Improvement (RPI) with high-reliability interventions; and (3) cultural establishment, sustainment, and evolution. The Quality and Safety strategic plan contains three domains, each with a specific set of measures that provide goals for performance: (1) "Clinical Excellence;" (2) "Do No Harm;" and (3) "Saving Lives," as measured by the Serious Safety Event rate. MHHS uses a uniform approach to performance improvement--RPI, which includes Six Sigma, Lean, and change management, to solve difficult safety and quality problems. The 9 acute care hospitals provide multiple opportunities to integrate high-reliability interventions and best practices across MHHS. For example, MHHS partnered with the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare in its inaugural project to establish reliable hand hygiene behaviors, which improved MHHS's average hand hygiene compliance rate from 44% to 92% currently. Soon after compliance exceeded 85% at all 12 hospitals, the average rate of central line-associated bloodstream and ventilator-associated pneumonias decreased to essentially zero. MHHS's size and diversity require a disciplined approach to performance improvement and systemwide achievement of measurable success. The most significant cultural change at MHHS has been the expectation for 100% compliance with evidence-based quality measures and 0% incidence of patient harm.

METHOD OF PHYSIOTHERAPY MEDICAL PROCEDURES FOR THERMAL IMPACT ON SELECTED AREAS WITH HUMAN HANDS THERMOELECTRIC DEVICES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. B. Sulin

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The device for thermal impact on separate zones of a hand of the person executed on the basis of thermoelectric converters of energy is considered. The advantages consisting in high environmental friendliness, noiselessness, reliability, functionality, universality are noted it. The technique of carrying out medical (preventive physiotherapeutic procedures, the hands of the person consisting in contrast thermal impact on a site with various level of heating and cooling, and also lasting expositions is described.

Reliability of hand-held dynamometry for measurement of lower limb muscle strength in children with Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wei SHI

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Objective To determine the reliability of hand-held dynamometry (HHD for lower limb isometric muscle strength measurement in children with Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy (DMD/BMD.  Methods A total of 21 children [20 males and one female; mean age was (7.88 ± 2.87 years, ranging between 3.96-14.09 years; mean age at diagnosis was (5.88 ± 2.88 years, ranging between 1.35-12.89 years; mean height was (120.64 ± 16.30 cm, ranging between 97-153 cm; mean body weight was (24.62 ± 9.05 kg, ranging between 14-50 kg] with DMD (19/21 and BMD (2/21 were involved from Rehabilitation Center of Children's Hospital of Fudan University. The muscle strength of hip, knee and ankle was measured by HHD under standardized test methods. The test-retest results were compared to determine the inter-test reliability, and the results among testers were compared to determine the inter-tester reliability.  Results HHD showed fine inter-tester reliability (ICC = 0.762-0.978 and inter-test reliability (ICC = 0.690-0.938 in measuring lower limb muscle strength of children with DMD/BMD. Results also showed relatively poor reliability in distal muscle groups (foot plantar flexion and dorsiflexion.  Conclusions HHD, showing fine inter-tester and inter-test reliability in measuring the lower limb muscle strength of children with DMD/BMD, can be used in monitoring muscle strength changing and assessing effects of clinical interventions. DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1672-6731.2015.05.009

Hand Grasping Synergies As Biometrics.

Science.gov (United States)

Patel, Vrajeshri; Thukral, Poojita; Burns, Martin K; Florescu, Ionut; Chandramouli, Rajarathnam; Vinjamuri, Ramana

2017-01-01

Recently, the need for more secure identity verification systems has driven researchers to explore other sources of biometrics. This includes iris patterns, palm print, hand geometry, facial recognition, and movement patterns (hand motion, gait, and eye movements). Identity verification systems may benefit from the complexity of human movement that integrates multiple levels of control (neural, muscular, and kinematic). Using principal component analysis, we extracted spatiotemporal hand synergies (movement synergies) from an object grasping dataset to explore their use as a potential biometric. These movement synergies are in the form of joint angular velocity profiles of 10 joints. We explored the effect of joint type, digit, number of objects, and grasp type. In its best configuration, movement synergies achieved an equal error rate of 8.19%. While movement synergies can be integrated into an identity verification system with motion capture ability, we also explored a camera-ready version of hand synergies-postural synergies. In this proof of concept system, postural synergies performed well, but only when specific postures were chosen. Based on these results, hand synergies show promise as a potential biometric that can be combined with other hand-based biometrics for improved security.

Hand Grasping Synergies As Biometrics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ramana Vinjamuri

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Recently, the need for more secure identity verification systems has driven researchers to explore other sources of biometrics. This includes iris patterns, palm print, hand geometry, facial recognition, and movement patterns (hand motion, gait, and eye movements. Identity verification systems may benefit from the complexity of human movement that integrates multiple levels of control (neural, muscular, and kinematic. Using principal component analysis, we extracted spatiotemporal hand synergies (movement synergies from an object grasping dataset to explore their use as a potential biometric. These movement synergies are in the form of joint angular velocity profiles of 10 joints. We explored the effect of joint type, digit, number of objects, and grasp type. In its best configuration, movement synergies achieved an equal error rate of 8.19%. While movement synergies can be integrated into an identity verification system with motion capture ability, we also explored a camera-ready version of hand synergies—postural synergies. In this proof of concept system, postural synergies performed well, but only when specific postures were chosen. Based on these results, hand synergies show promise as a potential biometric that can be combined with other hand-based biometrics for improved security.

Integration Head Mounted Display Device and Hand Motion Gesture Device for Virtual Reality Laboratory

Science.gov (United States)

Rengganis, Y. A.; Safrodin, M.; Sukaridhoto, S.

2018-01-01

Virtual Reality Laboratory (VR Lab) is an innovation for conventional learning media which show us whole learning process in laboratory. There are many tools and materials are needed by user for doing practical in it, so user could feel new learning atmosphere by using this innovation. Nowadays, technologies more sophisticated than before. So it would carry in education and it will be more effective, efficient. The Supported technologies are needed us for making VR Lab such as head mounted display device and hand motion gesture device. The integration among them will be used us for making this research. Head mounted display device for viewing 3D environment of virtual reality laboratory. Hand motion gesture device for catching user real hand and it will be visualized in virtual reality laboratory. Virtual Reality will show us, if using the newest technologies in learning process it could make more interesting and easy to understand.

Hand and goods judgment algorithm based on depth information

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Mingzhu; Zhang, Jinsong; Yan, Dan; Wang, Qin; Zhang, Ruiqi; Han, Jing

2016-03-01

A tablet computer with a depth camera and a color camera is loaded on a traditional shopping cart. The inside information of the shopping cart is obtained by two cameras. In the shopping cart monitoring field, it is very important for us to determine whether the customer with goods in or out of the shopping cart. This paper establishes a basic framework for judging empty hand, it includes the hand extraction process based on the depth information, process of skin color model building based on WPCA (Weighted Principal Component Analysis), an algorithm for judging handheld products based on motion and skin color information, statistical process. Through this framework, the first step can ensure the integrity of the hand information, and effectively avoids the influence of sleeve and other debris, the second step can accurately extract skin color and eliminate the similar color interference, light has little effect on its results, it has the advantages of fast computation speed and high efficiency, and the third step has the advantage of greatly reducing the noise interference and improving the accuracy.

Reliability of CRBR primary piping: critique of stress-strength overlap method for cold-leg inlet downcomer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bari, R.A.; Buslik, A.J.; Papazoglou, I.A.

1976-04-01

A critique is presented of the strength-stress overlap method for the reliability of the CRBR primary heat transport system piping. The report addresses, in particular, the reliability assessment of WARD-D-0127 (Piping Integrity Status Report), which is part of the CRBR PSAR docket. It was found that the reliability assessment is extremely sensitive to the assumed shape for the probability density function for the strength (regarded as a random variable) of the cold-leg inlet downcomer section of the primary piping. Based on the rigorous Chebyschev inequality, it is shown that the piping failure probability is less than 10 -2 . On the other hand, it is shown that the failure probability can be much larger than approximately 10 -13 , the typical value put forth in WARD-D-0127

Reliability and validity of a smartphone-based assessment of gait parameters across walking speed and smartphone locations: Body, bag, belt, hand, and pocket.

Science.gov (United States)

Silsupadol, Patima; Teja, Kunlanan; Lugade, Vipul

2017-10-01

The assessment of spatiotemporal gait parameters is a useful clinical indicator of health status. Unfortunately, most assessment tools require controlled laboratory environments which can be expensive and time consuming. As smartphones with embedded sensors are becoming ubiquitous, this technology can provide a cost-effective, easily deployable method for assessing gait. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the reliability and validity of a smartphone-based accelerometer in quantifying spatiotemporal gait parameters when attached to the body or in a bag, belt, hand, and pocket. Thirty-four healthy adults were asked to walk at self-selected comfortable, slow, and fast speeds over a 10-m walkway while carrying a smartphone. Step length, step time, gait velocity, and cadence were computed from smartphone-based accelerometers and validated with GAITRite. Across all walking speeds, smartphone data had excellent reliability (ICC 2,1 ≥0.90) for the body and belt locations, with bag, hand, and pocket locations having good to excellent reliability (ICC 2,1 ≥0.69). Correlations between the smartphone-based and GAITRite-based systems were very high for the body (r=0.89, 0.98, 0.96, and 0.87 for step length, step time, gait velocity, and cadence, respectively). Similarly, Bland-Altman analysis demonstrated that the bias approached zero, particularly in the body, bag, and belt conditions under comfortable and fast speeds. Thus, smartphone-based assessments of gait are most valid when placed on the body, in a bag, or on a belt. The use of a smartphone to assess gait can provide relevant data to clinicians without encumbering the user and allow for data collection in the free-living environment. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Integrating reliability analysis and design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rasmuson, D.M.

1980-10-01

This report describes the Interactive Reliability Analysis Project and demonstrates the advantages of using computer-aided design systems (CADS) in reliability analysis. Common cause failure problems require presentations of systems, analysis of fault trees, and evaluation of solutions to these. Results have to be communicated between the reliability analyst and the system designer. Using a computer-aided design system saves time and money in the analysis of design. Computer-aided design systems lend themselves to cable routing, valve and switch lists, pipe routing, and other component studies. At EG and G Idaho, Inc., the Applicon CADS is being applied to the study of water reactor safety systems

Reliability versus reproducibility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lautzenheiser, C.E.

1976-01-01

Defect detection and reproducibility of results are two separate but closely related subjects. It is axiomatic that a defect must be detected from examination to examination or reproducibility of results is very poor. On the other hand, a defect can be detected on each of subsequent examinations for higher reliability and still have poor reproducibility of results

Integration of FMIPv6 in HMIPv6 to Improve Hand-over Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Patil, Dipali P.; Patil, G. A.

2010-11-01

Mobile users move frequently between networks, as they stay connected to the Internet. Thus, as mobility increases across networks, handovers will significantly impact the quality of the connection and user application. Handover performance is very important when evaluating IP mobility protocols. Since handover request are driven by several needs such as cost reduction criteria, network resource optimization and service related requirements. Current works to support seamless mobility in IPv6 network are classified into HMIPv6 and FMIPv6. These two approaches have pros and cons respectively and are being standardized independently in IETF. If one can integrate properly these two approaches, it is expected that the one can get more effective protocols that can provide better handover performance. This paper integrates FHMIPv6 in HMIPv6 (F-HMIPv6) so as to provide effectively fast handover on the hierarchical Mobile IPv6. The simulation performed using Ns-2 extensions to show that a performance of proposed system is better in terms of packet loss and hand-over delay.

Epidural electrocorticography of phantom hand movement following long-term upper-limb amputation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alireza eGharabaghi

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Prostheses for upper-limb amputees are currently controlled by either myoelectric or peripheral neural signals. Performance and dexterity of these devices is still limited, particularly when it comes to controlling hand function. Movement-related brain activity might serve as a complementary bio-signal for motor control of hand prosthesis. Methods: We introduced a methodology to implant a cortical interface without direct exposure of the brain surface in an upper-limb amputee. This bi-directional interface enabled us to explore the cortical physiology following long-term transhumeral amputation. In addition, we investigated neurofeedback of electrocorticographic brain activity related to the patient’s motor imagery to open his missing hand, i.e. phantom hand movement, for real-time control of a virtual hand prosthesis.Results: Both event-related brain potentials and cortical stimulation revealed mutually overlapping cortical representations of the phantom hand. Phantom hand movements could be robustly classified and the patient required only three training sessions to gain reliable control of the virtual hand prosthesis in an online closed-loop paradigm that discriminated between hand opening and rest. Conclusion: Epidural implants may constitute a powerful and safe alternative communication pathway between the brain and external devices for upper-limb amputees, thereby facilitating the integrated use of different signal sources for more intuitive and specific control of multi-functional devices in clinical use.

EDF/EPRI collaborative program on operator reliability experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Villemeur, A.; Meslin, T.; Mosneron, F.; Worledge, D.H.; Joksimovich, V.; Spurgin, A.J.

1988-01-01

Electricite de France (EDF) and Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) have been involved in human reliability studies over the last few years, in the context of improvements in human reliability assessment (HRA) methodologies, and have been following a systematic process since 1982 which consists of addressing the following five ingredients: - First, classify human interactions into a limited number of classes. - Second, introduce an acceptable framework to organize the application of HRA to PRA studies. - Third, select approach(es) to quantification. - Fourth, test promising models. - Fifth, establish an appropriate data base for tested model(s) with regard to specific applications. EPRI has just recently completed Phase I of the fourth topic. This primarily focused on testing the fundamental hypotheses behing the human cognitive reliability (HCR) correlation, using power plant simulators. EDF has been carrying out simulator studies since 1980, both for man-machine interface validation and HRA data collection. This background of experience provided a stepping stone for the EPRI project. On the other hand, before 1986, EDF had mainly been concentrating on getting qualitative insights from the tests and lacked experience in quantitative analysis and modeling, while EPRI had made advances in this latter area. Before the EPRI Operator Reliability Experiments (ORE) project was initiated, it was abundantly clear to EPRI and EDF that cooperation between the two could be useful and that both parties could gain from the cooperation

Effect of hand sanitizer location on hand hygiene compliance.

Science.gov (United States)

Cure, Laila; Van Enk, Richard

2015-09-01

Hand hygiene is the most important intervention to prevent infection in hospitals. Health care workers should clean their hands at least before and after contact with patients. Hand sanitizer dispensers are important to support hand hygiene because they can be made available throughout hospital units. The aim of this study was to determine whether the usability of sanitizer dispensers correlates with compliance of staff in using the sanitizer in a hospital. This study took place in a Midwest, 404-bed, private, nonprofit community hospital with 15 inpatient care units in addition to several ambulatory units. The usability and standardization of sanitizers in 12 participating inpatient units were evaluated. The hospital measured compliance of staff with hand hygiene as part of their quality improvement program. Data from 2010-2012 were analyzed to measure the relationship between compliance and usability using mixed-effects logistic regression models. The total usability score (P = .0046), visibility (P = .003), and accessibility of the sanitizer on entrance to the patient room (P = .00055) were statistically associated with higher observed compliance rates. Standardization alone showed no significant impact on observed compliance (P = .37). Hand hygiene compliance can be influenced by visibility and accessibility of dispensers. The sanitizer location should be part of multifaceted interventions to improve hand hygiene. Copyright © 2015 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Integration of NDE Reliability and Fracture Mechanics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Becker, F. L.; Doctor, S. R.; Heas!er, P. G.; Morris, C. J.; Pitman, S. G.; Selby, G. P.; Simonen, F. A.

1981-03-01

The Pacific Northwest Laboratory is conducting a four-phase program for measuring and evaluating the effectiveness and reliability of in-service inspection (lSI} performed on the primary system piping welds of commercial light water reactors (LWRs). Phase I of the program is complete. A survey was made of the state of practice for ultrasonic rsr of LWR primary system piping welds. Fracture mechanics calculations were made to establish required nondestrutive testing sensitivities. In general, it was found that fatigue flaws less than 25% of wall thickness would not grow to failure within an inspection interval of 10 years. However, in some cases failure could occur considerably faster. Statistical methods for predicting and measuring the effectiveness and reliability of lSI were developed and will be applied in the "Round Robin Inspections" of Phase II. Methods were also developed for the production of flaws typical of those found in service. Samples fabricated by these methods wilI be used in Phase II to test inspection effectiveness and reliability. Measurements were made of the influence of flaw characteristics {i.e., roughness, tightness, and orientation) on inspection reliability. These measurernents, as well as the predictions of a statistical model for inspection reliability, indicate that current reporting and recording sensitivities are inadequate.

The Rubber Hand Illusion Revisited: Visuotactile Integration and Self-Attribution

Science.gov (United States)

Tsakiris, Manos; Haggard, Patrick

2005-01-01

Watching a rubber hand being stroked, while one's own unseen hand is synchronously stroked, may cause the rubber hand to be attributed to one's own body, to "feel like it's my hand." A behavioral measure of the rubber hand illusion (RHI) is a drift of the perceived position of one's own hand toward the rubber hand. The authors investigated (a) the…

Pipeline integrity model-a formative approach towards reliability and life assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sayed, A.M.; Jaffery, M.A.

2005-01-01

Pipe forms an integral part of transmission medium in oil and gas industry. This holds true for both upstream and downstream segments of this global energy business. With the aging of this asset base, emphasis on its operational aspects has been under immense considerations from the operators and regulators sides. Moreover, the milieu of information area and enhancement in global trade has lifted the barriers on means to forge forward towards better utilization of resources. This has resulted in optimized solutions as priority for business and technical manager's world over. There is a paradigm shift from mere development of 'smart materials' to 'low life cycle cost material'. The force inducing this change is a rationale one: the recovery of development costs is no more a problem in a global community; rather it is the pay-off time which matters most to the materials end users. This means that decision makers are not evaluating just the price offered but are keen to judge the entire life cycle cost of a product. The integrity of pipe are affected by factors such as corrosion, fatigue-crack growth, stress-corrosion cracking, and mechanical damage. Extensive research in the area of reliability and life assessment has been carried out. A number of models concerning with the reliability issues of pipes have been developed and are being used by a number of pipeline operators worldwide. Yet, it is emphasised that there are no substitute for sound engineering judgment and allowance for factors of safety. The ability of a laid down pipe network to transport the intended fluid under pre-defined conditions for the entire project envisaged life, is referred to the reliability of system. The reliability is built into the product through extensive benchmarking against industry standard codes. The process of pipes construction for oil and gas service is regulated through American Petroleum Institute's Specification for Line Pipe. Subsequently, specific programs have been

24. MPA-seminar: safety and reliability of plant technology with special emphasis on integrity and life management. Vol. 1. Papers 1-27

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1999-01-01

The first volume is dedicated to the safety and reliability of plant technology with special emphasis on the integrity and life management. The main topic in the volume is the contribution of nondestructive testing to the reactor safety from an international point of view. All 20 papers are separately analyzed for this database. (orig.)

A simple reliability block diagram method for safety integrity verification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guo Haitao; Yang Xianhui

2007-01-01

IEC 61508 requires safety integrity verification for safety related systems to be a necessary procedure in safety life cycle. PFD avg must be calculated to verify the safety integrity level (SIL). Since IEC 61508-6 does not give detailed explanations of the definitions and PFD avg calculations for its examples, it is difficult for common reliability or safety engineers to understand when they use the standard as guidance in practice. A method using reliability block diagram is investigated in this study in order to provide a clear and feasible way of PFD avg calculation and help those who take IEC 61508-6 as their guidance. The method finds mean down times (MDTs) of both channel and voted group first and then PFD avg . The calculated results of various voted groups are compared with those in IEC61508 part 6 and Ref. [Zhang T, Long W, Sato Y. Availability of systems with self-diagnostic components-applying Markov model to IEC 61508-6. Reliab Eng System Saf 2003;80(2):133-41]. An interesting outcome can be realized from the comparison. Furthermore, although differences in MDT of voted groups exist between IEC 61508-6 and this paper, PFD avg of voted groups are comparatively close. With detailed description, the method of RBD presented can be applied to the quantitative SIL verification, showing a similarity of the method in IEC 61508-6

Manual muscle testing and hand-held dynamometry in people with inflammatory myopathy: An intra- and interrater reliability and validity study.

Science.gov (United States)

Baschung Pfister, Pierrette; de Bruin, Eling D; Sterkele, Iris; Maurer, Britta; de Bie, Rob A; Knols, Ruud H

2018-01-01

Manual muscle testing (MMT) and hand-held dynamometry (HHD) are commonly used in people with inflammatory myopathy (IM), but their clinimetric properties have not yet been sufficiently studied. To evaluate the reliability and validity of MMT and HHD, maximum isometric strength was measured in eight muscle groups across three measurement events. To evaluate reliability of HHD, intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC), the standard error of measurements (SEM) and smallest detectable changes (SDC) were calculated. To measure reliability of MMT linear Cohen`s Kappa was computed for single muscle groups and ICC for total score. Additionally, correlations between MMT8 and HHD were evaluated with Spearman Correlation Coefficients. Fifty people with myositis (56±14 years, 76% female) were included in the study. Intra-and interrater reliability of HHD yielded excellent ICCs (0.75-0.97) for all muscle groups, except for interrater reliability of ankle extension (0.61). The corresponding SEMs% ranged from 8 to 28% and the SDCs% from 23 to 65%. MMT8 total score revealed excellent intra-and interrater reliability (ICC>0.9). Intrarater reliability of single muscle groups was substantial for shoulder and hip abduction, elbow and neck flexion, and hip extension (0.64-0.69); moderate for wrist (0.53) and knee extension (0.49) and fair for ankle extension (0.35). Interrater reliability was moderate for neck flexion (0.54) and hip abduction (0.44); fair for shoulder abduction, elbow flexion, wrist and ankle extension (0.20-0.33); and slight for knee extension (0.08). Correlations between the two tests were low for wrist, knee, ankle, and hip extension; moderate for elbow flexion, neck flexion and hip abduction; and good for shoulder abduction. In conclusion, the MMT8 total score is a reliable assessment to consider general muscle weakness in people with myositis but not for single muscle groups. In contrast, our results confirm that HHD can be recommended to evaluate strength of

Supply reliability in context to quality regulation. Forecast model for the supply reliability; Versorgungszuverlaessigkeit im Kontext der Qualitaetsregulierung. Prognosemodell fuer die Versorgungszuverlaessigkeit

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Quadflieg, Dieter [VDE, Berlin (Germany). FNN-Projektgruppe ' ' Einflussgroessen auf die Versorgungszuverlaessigkeit' '

2011-11-14

The forum network technology / network operations in VDE (FNN) has published a technical note on supply reliability in the context of quality regulation. In the underlying investigations, on the one hand the influencing variables on the supply reliability are analyzed on the basis of FNN fault and availability statistics. On the other stochastic methods are developed that allow a prediction of the stochastic reliability characteristics of each network operator.

Reliability considerations of a fuel cell backup power system for telecom applications

Science.gov (United States)

Serincan, Mustafa Fazil

2016-03-01

A commercial fuel cell backup power unit is tested in real life operating conditions at a base station of a Turkish telecom operator. The fuel cell system responds to 256 of 260 electric power outages successfully, providing the required power to the base station. Reliability of the fuel cell backup power unit is found to be 98.5% at the system level. On the other hand, a qualitative reliability analysis at the component level is carried out. Implications of the power management algorithm on reliability is discussed. Moreover, integration of the backup power unit to the base station ecosystem is reviewed in the context of reliability. Impact of inverter design on the stability of the output power is outlined. Significant current harmonics are encountered when a generic inverter is used. However, ripples are attenuated significantly when a custom design inverter is used. Further, fault conditions are considered for real world case studies such as running out of hydrogen, a malfunction in the system, or an unprecedented operating scheme. Some design guidelines are suggested for hybridization of the backup power unit for an uninterrupted operation.

Design reliability engineering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buden, D.; Hunt, R.N.M.

1989-01-01

Improved design techniques are needed to achieve high reliability at minimum cost. This is especially true of space systems where lifetimes of many years without maintenance are needed and severe mass limitations exist. Reliability must be designed into these systems from the start. Techniques are now being explored to structure a formal design process that will be more complete and less expensive. The intent is to integrate the best features of design, reliability analysis, and expert systems to design highly reliable systems to meet stressing needs. Taken into account are the large uncertainties that exist in materials, design models, and fabrication techniques. Expert systems are a convenient method to integrate into the design process a complete definition of all elements that should be considered and an opportunity to integrate the design process with reliability, safety, test engineering, maintenance and operator training. 1 fig

Hand biometric recognition based on fused hand geometry and vascular patterns.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, GiTae; Kim, Soowon

2013-02-28

A hand biometric authentication method based on measurements of the user's hand geometry and vascular pattern is proposed. To acquire the hand geometry, the thickness of the side view of the hand, the K-curvature with a hand-shaped chain code, the lengths and angles of the finger valleys, and the lengths and profiles of the fingers were used, and for the vascular pattern, the direction-based vascular-pattern extraction method was used, and thus, a new multimodal biometric approach is proposed. The proposed multimodal biometric system uses only one image to extract the feature points. This system can be configured for low-cost devices. Our multimodal biometric-approach hand-geometry (the side view of the hand and the back of hand) and vascular-pattern recognition method performs at the score level. The results of our study showed that the equal error rate of the proposed system was 0.06%.

A novel evaluation method for building construction project based on integrated information entropy with reliability theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Bai, Xiao-ping; Zhang, Xi-wei

2013-01-01

Selecting construction schemes of the building engineering project is a complex multiobjective optimization decision process, in which many indexes need to be selected to find the optimum scheme. Aiming at this problem, this paper selects cost, progress, quality, and safety as the four first-order evaluation indexes, uses the quantitative method for the cost index, uses integrated qualitative and quantitative methodologies for progress, quality, and safety indexes, and integrates engineering economics, reliability theories, and information entropy theory to present a new evaluation method for building construction project. Combined with a practical case, this paper also presents detailed computing processes and steps, including selecting all order indexes, establishing the index matrix, computing score values of all order indexes, computing the synthesis score, sorting all selected schemes, and making analysis and decision. Presented method can offer valuable references for risk computing of building construction projects.

Hand-to-Hand Model for Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis to Estimate Fat Free Mass in a Healthy Population

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hsueh-Kuan Lu

2016-10-01

Full Text Available This study aimed to establish a hand-to-hand (HH model for bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA fat free mass (FFM estimation by comparing with a standing position hand-to-foot (HF BIA model and dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA; we also verified the reliability of the newly developed model. A total of 704 healthy Chinese individuals (403 men and 301 women participated. FFM (FFMDXA reference variables were measured using DXA and segmental BIA. Further, regression analysis, Bland–Altman plots, and cross-validation (2/3 participants as the modeling group, 1/3 as the validation group; three turns were repeated for validation grouping were conducted to compare tests of agreement with FFMDXA reference variables. In male participants, the hand-to-hand BIA model estimation equation was calculated as follows: FFMmHH = 0.537 h2/ZHH − 0.126 year + 0.217 weight + 18.235 (r2 = 0.919, standard estimate of error (SEE = 2.164 kg, n = 269. The mean validated correlation coefficients and limits of agreement (LOAs of the Bland–Altman analysis of the calculated values for FFMmHH and FFMDXA were 0.958 and −4.369–4.343 kg, respectively, for hand-to-foot BIA model measurements for men; the FFM (FFMmHF and FFMDXA were 0.958 and −4.356–4.375 kg, respectively. The hand-to-hand BIA model estimating equation for female participants was FFMFHH = 0.615 h2/ZHH − 0.144 year + 0.132 weight + 16.507 (r2 = 0.870, SEE = 1.884 kg, n = 201; the three mean validated correlation coefficient and LOA for the hand-to-foot BIA model measurements for female participants (FFMFHH and FFMDXA were 0.929 and −3.880–3.886 kg, respectively. The FFMHF and FFMDXA were 0.942 and −3.511–3.489 kg, respectively. The results of both hand-to-hand and hand-to-foot BIA models demonstrated similar reliability, and the hand-to-hand BIA models are practical for assessing FFM.

Hand-to-Hand Model for Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis to Estimate Fat Free Mass in a Healthy Population.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Hsueh-Kuan; Chiang, Li-Ming; Chen, Yu-Yawn; Chuang, Chih-Lin; Chen, Kuen-Tsann; Dwyer, Gregory B; Hsu, Ying-Lin; Chen, Chun-Hao; Hsieh, Kuen-Chang

2016-10-21

This study aimed to establish a hand-to-hand (HH) model for bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) fat free mass (FFM) estimation by comparing with a standing position hand-to-foot (HF) BIA model and dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA); we also verified the reliability of the newly developed model. A total of 704 healthy Chinese individuals (403 men and 301 women) participated. FFM (FFM DXA ) reference variables were measured using DXA and segmental BIA. Further, regression analysis, Bland-Altman plots, and cross-validation (2/3 participants as the modeling group, 1/3 as the validation group; three turns were repeated for validation grouping) were conducted to compare tests of agreement with FFM DXA reference variables. In male participants, the hand-to-hand BIA model estimation equation was calculated as follows: FFM m HH = 0.537 h²/Z HH - 0.126 year + 0.217 weight + 18.235 ( r ² = 0.919, standard estimate of error (SEE) = 2.164 kg, n = 269). The mean validated correlation coefficients and limits of agreement (LOAs) of the Bland-Altman analysis of the calculated values for FFM m HH and FFM DXA were 0.958 and -4.369-4.343 kg, respectively, for hand-to-foot BIA model measurements for men; the FFM (FFM m HF ) and FFM DXA were 0.958 and -4.356-4.375 kg, respectively. The hand-to-hand BIA model estimating equation for female participants was FFM F HH = 0.615 h²/Z HH - 0.144 year + 0.132 weight + 16.507 ( r ² = 0.870, SEE = 1.884 kg, n = 201); the three mean validated correlation coefficient and LOA for the hand-to-foot BIA model measurements for female participants (FFM F HH and FFM DXA ) were 0.929 and -3.880-3.886 kg, respectively. The FFM HF and FFM DXA were 0.942 and -3.511-3.489 kg, respectively. The results of both hand-to-hand and hand-to-foot BIA models demonstrated similar reliability, and the hand-to-hand BIA models are practical for assessing FFM.

On the reliability of seasonal climate forecasts

Science.gov (United States)

Weisheimer, A.; Palmer, T. N.

2014-01-01

Seasonal climate forecasts are being used increasingly across a range of application sectors. A recent UK governmental report asked: how good are seasonal forecasts on a scale of 1–5 (where 5 is very good), and how good can we expect them to be in 30 years time? Seasonal forecasts are made from ensembles of integrations of numerical models of climate. We argue that ‘goodness’ should be assessed first and foremost in terms of the probabilistic reliability of these ensemble-based forecasts; reliable inputs are essential for any forecast-based decision-making. We propose that a ‘5’ should be reserved for systems that are not only reliable overall, but where, in particular, small ensemble spread is a reliable indicator of low ensemble forecast error. We study the reliability of regional temperature and precipitation forecasts of the current operational seasonal forecast system of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, universally regarded as one of the world-leading operational institutes producing seasonal climate forecasts. A wide range of ‘goodness’ rankings, depending on region and variable (with summer forecasts of rainfall over Northern Europe performing exceptionally poorly) is found. Finally, we discuss the prospects of reaching ‘5’ across all regions and variables in 30 years time. PMID:24789559

Hands-On Math and Art Exhibition Promoting Science Attitudes and Educational Plans

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Helena Thuneberg

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The current science, technology, engineering, art, math education (STEAM approach emphasizes integration of abstract science and mathematical ideas for concrete solutions by art. The main aim was to find out how experience of learning mathematics differed between the contexts of school and an informal Math and Art Exhibition. The study participants (N=256 were 12-13 years old from Finland. Several valid questionnaires and tests were applied (e.g., SRQ-A, RAVEN in pre- and postdesign showing a good reliability. The results based on General Linear Modeling and Structural Equation Path Modeling underline the motivational effects. The experience of the effectiveness of hands-on learning at school and at the exhibition was not consistent across the subgroups. The lowest achieving group appreciated the exhibition alternative for math learning compared to learning math at school. The boys considered the exhibition to be more useful than the girls as it fostered their science and technology attitudes. However, for the girls, the attractiveness of the exhibition, the experienced situation motivation, was much more strongly connected to the attitudes on science and technology and the worthiness of mathematics. Interestingly, the pupils experienced that even this short informal learning intervention affected their science and technology attitudes and educational plans.

Standard high-reliability integrated circuit logic packaging. [for deep space tracking stations

Science.gov (United States)

Slaughter, D. W.

1977-01-01

A family of standard, high-reliability hardware used for packaging digital integrated circuits is described. The design transition from early prototypes to production hardware is covered and future plans are discussed. Interconnections techniques are described as well as connectors and related hardware available at both the microcircuit packaging and main-frame level. General applications information is also provided.

Hand Biometric Recognition Based on Fused Hand Geometry and Vascular Patterns

Science.gov (United States)

Park, GiTae; Kim, Soowon

2013-01-01

A hand biometric authentication method based on measurements of the user's hand geometry and vascular pattern is proposed. To acquire the hand geometry, the thickness of the side view of the hand, the K-curvature with a hand-shaped chain code, the lengths and angles of the finger valleys, and the lengths and profiles of the fingers were used, and for the vascular pattern, the direction-based vascular-pattern extraction method was used, and thus, a new multimodal biometric approach is proposed. The proposed multimodal biometric system uses only one image to extract the feature points. This system can be configured for low-cost devices. Our multimodal biometric-approach hand-geometry (the side view of the hand and the back of hand) and vascular-pattern recognition method performs at the score level. The results of our study showed that the equal error rate of the proposed system was 0.06%. PMID:23449119

ERP application of real-time vdc-enabled last planner system for planning reliability improvement

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cho, S.; Sørensen, Kristian Birch; Fischer, M.

2009-01-01

The Last Planner System (LPS) has since its introduction in 1994 become a widely used method of AEC practitioners for improvement of planning reliability and tracking and monitoring of project progress. However, the observations presented in this paper indicate that the last planners...... and coordinators are in need of a new system that integrates the existing LPS with Virtual Design and Construction (VDC), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, and automatic object identification by means of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. This is because current practice of the LPS...... implementations is guesswork-driven, textual report-generated, hand-updated, and even interpersonal trust-oriented, resulting in less accurate and reliable plans. This research introduces a prototype development of the VREL (VDC + RFID + ERP + LPS) integration to generate a real-time updated cost + physical...

Analysis of Information Remaining on Hand Held Devices Offered for Sale on the Second Hand Market

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andy Jones

2008-06-01

resellers.The study was carried out by the security research team at the BT IT Futures Centre in conjunction with Edith Cowan University in Australia and the University of Glamorgan in the UK. The basis of the research was to acquire a number of second hand held devices from a diverse range of sources and then determine whether they still contained information relating to a previous owner or whether the information had been effectively removed. The devices that were obtained for the research were supplied blind to the researchers through a third party. The ‘blind’ supply of the devices meant that the people undertaking the research were provided with no information about the device and that the source of the devices and any external markings were hidden from them. This process was put in place to ensure that any findings of the research were based solely on the information that could be recovered from the digital storage media that was contained within the device.The underlying methodology that was used in the research was based on the forensic imaging of the devices. A forensic image of a device is a copy of the digital media that has been created in a scientifically sound manner to a standard that is acceptable to the courts. This procedure was implemented to ensure that the evidential integrity of the devices was maintained, with the devices also then being stored in a secure manner.  All subsequent research was then conducted on the image of the device. This was considered to be a sensible precaution against the possibility that information discovered on a device might indicate criminal activity and require the involvement of law enforcement.  Following the forensic imaging of the devices, the images that were created were then analyzed to determine whether any information remained and whether it could be easily recovered using commonly available tools and techniques that anyone who had purchased the device could acquire.

Embedding Hands-On Mini Laboratory Experiences in a Core Undergraduate Fluid Mechanics Course: A Pilot Study

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Duanduan; Ugaz, Victor

2017-01-01

Three self-contained mini-labs were integrated into a core undergraduate fluid mechanics course, with the goal of delivering hands-on content in a manner scalable to large class sizes. These mini-labs supported learning objectives involving friction loss in pipes, flow measurement, and centrifugal pump analysis. The hands-on experiments were…

A Bayesian reliability evaluation method with integrated accelerated degradation testing and field information

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Lizhi; Pan, Rong; Li, Xiaoyang; Jiang, Tongmin

2013-01-01

Accelerated degradation testing (ADT) is a common approach in reliability prediction, especially for products with high reliability. However, oftentimes the laboratory condition of ADT is different from the field condition; thus, to predict field failure, one need to calibrate the prediction made by using ADT data. In this paper a Bayesian evaluation method is proposed to integrate the ADT data from laboratory with the failure data from field. Calibration factors are introduced to calibrate the difference between the lab and the field conditions so as to predict a product's actual field reliability more accurately. The information fusion and statistical inference procedure are carried out through a Bayesian approach and Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. The proposed method is demonstrated by two examples and the sensitivity analysis to prior distribution assumption

Effects of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Performing Eye-Hand Integration Tasks: Four Preliminary Studies with Children Showing Low-Functioning Autism

Science.gov (United States)

Panerai, Simonetta; Tasca, Domenica; Lanuzza, Bartolo; Trubia, Grazia; Ferri, Raffaele; Musso, Sabrina; Alagona, Giovanna; Di Guardo, Giuseppe; Barone, Concetta; Gaglione, Maria P.; Elia, Maurizio

2014-01-01

This report, based on four studies with children with low-functioning autism, aimed at evaluating the effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation delivered on the left and right premotor cortices on eye-hand integration tasks; defining the long-lasting effects of high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation; and…

Objective evaluation of cervical vertebral bone age' its reliability in comparison with hand-wrist bone age: by TW3 method.

Science.gov (United States)

Prasad, Cms Krishna; Reddy, Vamsi Nilay; Sreedevi, Gojja; Ponnada, Swaroopa Rani; Priya, K Padma; Naik, B Raveendra

2013-09-01

The aim of this study was to establish the validity of a new method for evaluating skeletal maturation by assessing the 3rd and 4th cervical vertebrae seen in the cephalometric radiograph. This study consisted of a sample of 50 patients in the age group of 8 to 14 years of age. Chronologically, they were divided into six groups, based on the age consisting of a minimum of six to a maximum of 10 subjects. All the patients included in the study were females. The selected subjects were clinically examined and then age and date of birth of the patient in years and months was noted. Then lateral cephalograms and hand-wrist radiographs of the patient were taken on the same day with good clarity and contrast. The results suggested that cervical vertebral bone age on cephalometric radiographs calculated with this method is as reliable at estimating bone age as is the Tanner-Whitehouse 3 (TW3) method on hand-wrist radiographs. By determining the cervical vertebral bone age, skeletal maturity can be evaluated in a detailed and objective manner with cephalometric radiographs. The ability to accurately appraise skeletal maturity from cervical vertebral maturation, without the need for additional radiographs, has the potential to improve orthodontic diagnostic and therapeutic decisions. The technique's simplicity and ease of use should encourage this method as a frst level diagnostic tool to assess skeletal maturation. Clinical signifcance: This study revealed that the timing and sequence of ossifcation of the bones in hand and wrist and cervical vertebrae were able to relate the skeletal development of the various skeletal maturity indicators to a child's development. This method provided a mean with which one can determine the skeletal maturity of a person and thereby determine whether the possibility of potential growth existed.

Reliability and Probabilistic Risk Assessment - How They Play Together

Science.gov (United States)

Safie, Fayssal M.; Stutts, Richard G.; Zhaofeng, Huang

2015-01-01

PRA methodology is one of the probabilistic analysis methods that NASA brought from the nuclear industry to assess the risk of LOM, LOV and LOC for launch vehicles. PRA is a system scenario based risk assessment that uses a combination of fault trees, event trees, event sequence diagrams, and probability and statistical data to analyze the risk of a system, a process, or an activity. It is a process designed to answer three basic questions: What can go wrong? How likely is it? What is the severity of the degradation? Since 1986, NASA, along with industry partners, has conducted a number of PRA studies to predict the overall launch vehicles risks. Planning Research Corporation conducted the first of these studies in 1988. In 1995, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) conducted a comprehensive PRA study. In July 1996, NASA conducted a two-year study (October 1996 - September 1998) to develop a model that provided the overall Space Shuttle risk and estimates of risk changes due to proposed Space Shuttle upgrades. After the Columbia accident, NASA conducted a PRA on the Shuttle External Tank (ET) foam. This study was the most focused and extensive risk assessment that NASA has conducted in recent years. It used a dynamic, physics-based, integrated system analysis approach to understand the integrated system risk due to ET foam loss in flight. Most recently, a PRA for Ares I launch vehicle has been performed in support of the Constellation program. Reliability, on the other hand, addresses the loss of functions. In a broader sense, reliability engineering is a discipline that involves the application of engineering principles to the design and processing of products, both hardware and software, for meeting product reliability requirements or goals. It is a very broad design-support discipline. It has important interfaces with many other engineering disciplines. Reliability as a figure of merit (i.e. the metric) is the probability that an item will

Kinematic cross-correlation induces sensory integration across separate objects.

Science.gov (United States)

Debats, Nienke B; Ernst, Marc O; Heuer, Herbert

2017-12-01

In a basic cursor-control task, the perceived positions of the hand and the cursor are biased towards each other. We recently found that this phenomenon conforms to the reliability-based weighting mechanism of optimal multisensory integration. This indicates that optimal integration is not restricted to sensory signals originating from a single source, as is the prevailing view, but that it also applies to separate objects that are connected by a kinematic relation (i.e. hand and cursor). In the current study, we examined which aspects of the kinematic relation are crucial for eliciting the sensory integration: (i) the cross-correlation between kinematic variables of the hand and cursor trajectories, and/or (ii) an internal model of the hand-cursor kinematic transformation. Participants made out-and-back movements from the centre of a semicircular workspace to its boundary, after which they judged the position where either their hand or the cursor hit the boundary. We analysed the position biases and found that the integration was strong in a condition with high kinematic correlations (a straight hand trajectory was mapped to a straight cursor trajectory), that it was significantly reduced for reduced kinematic correlations (a straight hand trajectory was transformed into a curved cursor trajectory) and that it was not affected by the inability to acquire an internal model of the kinematic transformation (i.e. by the trial-to-trial variability of the cursor curvature). These findings support the idea that correlations play a crucial role in multisensory integration irrespective of the number of sensory sources involved. © 2017 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A Novel Evaluation Method for Building Construction Project Based on Integrated Information Entropy with Reliability Theory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiao-ping Bai

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Selecting construction schemes of the building engineering project is a complex multiobjective optimization decision process, in which many indexes need to be selected to find the optimum scheme. Aiming at this problem, this paper selects cost, progress, quality, and safety as the four first-order evaluation indexes, uses the quantitative method for the cost index, uses integrated qualitative and quantitative methodologies for progress, quality, and safety indexes, and integrates engineering economics, reliability theories, and information entropy theory to present a new evaluation method for building construction project. Combined with a practical case, this paper also presents detailed computing processes and steps, including selecting all order indexes, establishing the index matrix, computing score values of all order indexes, computing the synthesis score, sorting all selected schemes, and making analysis and decision. Presented method can offer valuable references for risk computing of building construction projects.

Mechanical Integrity Issues at MCM-Cs for High Reliability Applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morgenstern, H.A.; Tarbutton, T.J.; Becka, G.A.; Uribe, F.; Monroe, S.; Burchett, S.

1998-01-01

During the qualification of a new high reliability low-temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC) multichip module (MCM), two issues relating to the electrical and mechanical integrity of the LTCC network were encountered while performing qualification testing. One was electrical opens after aging tests that were caused by cracks in the solder joints. The other was fracturing of the LTCC networks during mechanical testing. Through failure analysis, computer modeling, bend testing, and test samples, changes were identified. Upon implementation of all these changes, the modules passed testing, and the MCM was placed into production

Post-operative rotator cuff integrity, based on Sugaya's classification, can reflect abduction muscle strength of the shoulder.

Science.gov (United States)

Yoshida, Masahito; Collin, Phillipe; Josseaume, Thierry; Lädermann, Alexandre; Goto, Hideyuki; Sugimoto, Katumasa; Otsuka, Takanobu

2018-01-01

Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is common in structural and qualitative assessment of the rotator cuff post-operatively. Rotator cuff integrity has been thought to be associated with clinical outcome. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the inter-observer reliability of cuff integrity (Sugaya's classification) and assess the correlation between Sugaya's classification and the clinical outcome. It was hypothesized that Sugaya's classification would show good reliability and good correlation with the clinical outcome. Post-operative MR images were taken two years post-operatively, following arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. For assessment of inter-rater reliability, all radiographic evaluations for the supraspinatus muscle were done by two orthopaedic surgeons and one radiologist. Rotator cuff integrity was classified into five categories, according to Sugaya's classification. Fatty infiltration was graded into four categories, based on the Fuchs' classification grading system. Muscle hypotrophy was graded as four grades, according to the scale proposed by Warner. The clinical outcome was assessed according to the constant scoring system pre-operatively and 2 years post-operatively. Of the sixty-two consecutive patients with full-thickness rotator cuff tears, fifty-two patients were reviewed in this study. These subjects included twenty-three men and twenty-nine women, with an average age of fifty-seven years. In terms of the inter-rater reliability between orthopaedic surgeons, Sugaya's classification showed the highest agreement [ICC (2.1) = 0.82] for rotator cuff integrity. The grade of fatty infiltration and muscle atrophy demonstrated good agreement, respectively (0.722 and 0.758). With regard to the inter-rater reliability between orthopaedic surgeon and radiologist, Sugaya's classification showed good reliability [ICC (2.1) = 0.70]. On the other hand, fatty infiltration and muscle hypotrophy classifications demonstrated fair and moderate agreement

Optimised and balanced structural and system reliability of offshore wind turbines. An account

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tarp-Johansen, N.J.; Kozine, I. (Risoe National Lab., DTU, Roskilde, (DK)); Rademarkers, L. (Netherlands Energy Research Foundation (NL)); Dalsgaard Soerensen, J. (Aalborg Univ. (DK)) Ronold, K. (Det Norske Veritas (DK))

2005-04-15

This report gives the results of the research project 'Optimised and Uniform Safety and Reliability of Offshore Wind Turbines (an account)'. The main subject of the project has been the account of the state-of-the art of knowledge about, and/or attempts to, harmonisation of the structural reliability of wind turbines, on the one hand, and the reliability of the wind turbine's control/safety system, on the other hand. Within the project some research pointing ahead has also been conducted. (au)

[Hand fine motor skills and use of both hand and arm in subjects after a stroke: a systematic review].

Science.gov (United States)

Ostolaza, M; Abudarham, J; Dilascio, S; Drault-Boedo, E; Gallo, S; Garcete, A; Kramer, M; Maiaru, M; Mendelevich, A; Modica, M; Peralta, F; Sanchez-Correa, C

2017-04-01

In clinical practice it is important to be able to assess the function of the upper limb of the patient who has suffered a stroke. There is currently no systemic review that could identify assessment tools for the 'fine use of the hand' and 'use of both hand and arm'. Primary, to identify observational tools which can assess the fine use of the hand and the use of both hand and arm in patients with stroke sequels. Secondary, to analyze the bias risk in the included articles, describing and categorizing the clinical utility, validity and reliability. A search was carried in Medline, LILACS, SciELO and Open Grey, which included articles published until October 2015. Studies that validate assessing tools of the upper limb in subjects with a stroke sequel which evaluate the fine use of the hand and the use of both hand and arm were included. Eleven tools in evaluate observational haven been selected, which assess the fine use of the hand and the use of hand and arm. In every case both validity and reliability have been reported, but clinical utility has been less considered for assessment. The studies that researched these tools showed a high risk of bias in their development. ARAT-19 showed a lower bias risk, but when it has to do with applicability and the reference trial is taken into account, the level of concern is high.

Ensuring Structural Integrity through Reliable Residual Stress Measurement: From Crystals to Crankshafts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Edwards, Lyndon

2005-01-01

Full text: The determination of accurate, reliable stresses is critical to many fields of engineering and, in particular, the structural integrity and hence, safety, of many systems. Neutron stress measurement is a non-destructive technique that uniquely provides insights into stress fields deep within components and structures. As such, it has become an increasingly important tool within the engineering community leading to improved manufacturing processes to reduce stress and distortion as well as to the definition of more precise structural integrity lifting procedures. This talk describes the current state of the art and identifies the key opportunities for improved structural integrity provided by the 2nd generation dedicated engineering stress diffractometers currently being designed and commissioned world-wide. Examples are provided covering a range of industrially relevant problems from the fields. (author)

The Influence of a Padded Hand Wrap on Punching Force in Elite and Untrained Punchers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew J. Galpin

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Punching is integral to success in combat sports, making it a frequent activity during practice/training. Improving safety of this activity benefits both the athlete and training partners. This study was designed to 1 test the precision and reliability of a commercially available striking device and 2 assess the influence of a novel padded hand wrap on punching force in elite and untrained punchers. Fourteen male professional boxers and mixed martial artists (PRO; age=29.2±5.6y; height=180.3±9.0cm; mass=87.1±17.9kg, winning %=73.8±13.8%, number of victories via knockout/technical knockout=35.6± 21.9% and 24 untrained male punchers (UNT; 27.6±6.9y, 177.6±18.3cm, 84.3±16.9kg wore a standardized boxing glove and performed 20 maximal punches (4 sets of 5 into a device designed to measure punching force. All participants performed, in a counterbalanced order, 2 sets of 5 with a standardized hand wrap and 2 sets of 5 with the same wrap plus an additional 1.2cm thick cylinder 4g foam-like pad (WRAP placed over the knuckles. PRO produced significantly more punching force than UNT, regardless of condition. Punching force was lower by 12.6% (p<0.05 for PRO and 8.9% (p<0.05 for UNT with WRAP (compared to no WRAP. These findings suggest WRAP significantly reduces punching force, which may be important for long-term safety of the puncher’s hand and/or the person receiving the strike. Keywords: safety, punching, striking, hitting, combat, pad

Proposed reliability cost model

Science.gov (United States)

Delionback, L. M.

1973-01-01

The research investigations which were involved in the study include: cost analysis/allocation, reliability and product assurance, forecasting methodology, systems analysis, and model-building. This is a classic example of an interdisciplinary problem, since the model-building requirements include the need for understanding and communication between technical disciplines on one hand, and the financial/accounting skill categories on the other. The systems approach is utilized within this context to establish a clearer and more objective relationship between reliability assurance and the subcategories (or subelements) that provide, or reenforce, the reliability assurance for a system. Subcategories are further subdivided as illustrated by a tree diagram. The reliability assurance elements can be seen to be potential alternative strategies, or approaches, depending on the specific goals/objectives of the trade studies. The scope was limited to the establishment of a proposed reliability cost-model format. The model format/approach is dependent upon the use of a series of subsystem-oriented CER's and sometimes possible CTR's, in devising a suitable cost-effective policy.

How stable are quantitative sensory testing measurements over time? Report on 10-week reliability and agreement of results in healthy volunteers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nothnagel H

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Helen Nothnagel,1,2,* Christian Puta,1,3,* Thomas Lehmann,4 Philipp Baumbach,5 Martha B Menard,6,7 Brunhild Gabriel,1 Holger H W Gabriel,1 Thomas Weiss,8 Frauke Musial2 1Department of Sports Medicine and Health Promotion, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany; 2Department of Community Medicine, National Research Center in Complementary and Alternative Medicine, UiT, The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway; 3Center for Interdisciplinary Prevention of Diseases Related to Professional Activities, 4Department of Medical Statistics, Computer Sciences and Documentation, Friedrich Schiller University, 5Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital Jena, Germany; 6Crocker Institute, Kiawah Island, SC, 7School of Integrative Medicine and Health Sciences, Saybrook University, Oakland, CA, USA; 8Department of Biological and Clinical Psychology, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany *These authors contributed equally to this work Background: Quantitative sensory testing (QST is a diagnostic tool for the assessment of the somatosensory system. To establish QST as an outcome measure for clinical trials, the question of how similar the measurements are over time is crucial. Therefore, long-term reliability and limits of agreement of the standardized QST protocol of the German Research Network on Neuropathic Pain were tested. Methods: QST on the lower back and hand dorsum (dominant hand were assessed twice in 22 healthy volunteers (10 males and 12 females; mean age: 46.6±13.0 years, with sessions separated by 10.0±2.9 weeks. All measurements were performed by one investigator. To investigate long-term reliability and agreement of QST, differences between the two measurements, correlation coefficients, intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs, Bland–Altman plots (limits of agreement, and standard error of measurement were used. Results: Most parameters of the QST were reliable over 10 weeks in

Approach for an integral power transformer reliability model

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schijndel, van A.; Wouters, P.A.A.F.; Steennis, E.F.; Wetzer, J.M.

2012-01-01

In electrical power transmission and distribution networks power transformers represent a crucial group of assets both in terms of reliability and investments. In order to safeguard the required quality at acceptable costs, decisions must be based on a reliable forecast of future behaviour. The aim

Measuring Integrated Socioemotional Guidance at School: Factor Structure and Reliability of the Socioemotional Guidance Questionnaire (SEG-Q)

Science.gov (United States)

Jacobs, Karen; Struyf, Elke

2013-01-01

Socioemotional guidance of students has recently become an integral part of education, however no instrument exists to measure integrated socioemotional guidance. This study therefore examines the factor structure and reliability of the Socioemotional Guidance Questionnaire. Psychometric properties of the Socioemotional Guidance Questionnaire and…

Wafer-level testing and test during burn-in for integrated circuits

CERN Document Server

Bahukudumbi, Sudarshan

2010-01-01

Wafer-level testing refers to a critical process of subjecting integrated circuits and semiconductor devices to electrical testing while they are still in wafer form. Burn-in is a temperature/bias reliability stress test used in detecting and screening out potential early life device failures. This hands-on resource provides a comprehensive analysis of these methods, showing how wafer-level testing during burn-in (WLTBI) helps lower product cost in semiconductor manufacturing.Engineers learn how to implement the testing of integrated circuits at the wafer-level under various resource constrain

Viewpoint Integration for Hand-Based Recognition of Social Interactions from a First-Person View.

Science.gov (United States)

Bambach, Sven; Crandall, David J; Yu, Chen

2015-11-01

Wearable devices are becoming part of everyday life, from first-person cameras (GoPro, Google Glass), to smart watches (Apple Watch), to activity trackers (FitBit). These devices are often equipped with advanced sensors that gather data about the wearer and the environment. These sensors enable new ways of recognizing and analyzing the wearer's everyday personal activities, which could be used for intelligent human-computer interfaces and other applications. We explore one possible application by investigating how egocentric video data collected from head-mounted cameras can be used to recognize social activities between two interacting partners (e.g. playing chess or cards). In particular, we demonstrate that just the positions and poses of hands within the first-person view are highly informative for activity recognition, and present a computer vision approach that detects hands to automatically estimate activities. While hand pose detection is imperfect, we show that combining evidence across first-person views from the two social partners significantly improves activity recognition accuracy. This result highlights how integrating weak but complimentary sources of evidence from social partners engaged in the same task can help to recognize the nature of their interaction.

Humans can integrate feedback of discrete events in their sensorimotor control of a robotic hand.

Science.gov (United States)

Cipriani, Christian; Segil, Jacob L; Clemente, Francesco; ff Weir, Richard F; Edin, Benoni

2014-11-01

Providing functionally effective sensory feedback to users of prosthetics is a largely unsolved challenge. Traditional solutions require high band-widths for providing feedback for the control of manipulation and yet have been largely unsuccessful. In this study, we have explored a strategy that relies on temporally discrete sensory feedback that is technically simple to provide. According to the Discrete Event-driven Sensory feedback Control (DESC) policy, motor tasks in humans are organized in phases delimited by means of sensory encoded discrete mechanical events. To explore the applicability of DESC for control, we designed a paradigm in which healthy humans operated an artificial robot hand to lift and replace an instrumented object, a task that can readily be learned and mastered under visual control. Assuming that the central nervous system of humans naturally organizes motor tasks based on a strategy akin to DESC, we delivered short-lasting vibrotactile feedback related to events that are known to forcefully affect progression of the grasp-lift-and-hold task. After training, we determined whether the artificial feedback had been integrated with the sensorimotor control by introducing short delays and we indeed observed that the participants significantly delayed subsequent phases of the task. This study thus gives support to the DESC policy hypothesis. Moreover, it demonstrates that humans can integrate temporally discrete sensory feedback while controlling an artificial hand and invites further studies in which inexpensive, noninvasive technology could be used in clever ways to provide physiologically appropriate sensory feedback in upper limb prosthetics with much lower band-width requirements than with traditional solutions.

A heuristic-based approach for reliability importance assessment of energy producers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Akhavein, A.; Fotuhi Firuzabad, M.

2011-01-01

Reliability of energy supply is one of the most important issues of service quality. On one hand, customers usually have different expectations for service reliability and price. On the other hand, providing different level of reliability at load points is a challenge for system operators. In order to take reasonable decisions and obviate reliability implementation difficulties, market players need to know impacts of their assets on system and load-point reliabilities. One tool to specify reliability impacts of assets is the criticality or reliability importance measure by which system components can be ranked based on their effect on reliability. Conventional methods for determination of reliability importance are essentially on the basis of risk sensitivity analysis and hence, impose prohibitive calculation burden in large power systems. An approach is proposed in this paper to determine reliability importance of energy producers from perspective of consumers or distribution companies in a composite generation and transmission system. In the presented method, while avoiding immense computational burden, the energy producers are ranked based on their rating, unavailability and impact on power flows in the lines connecting to the considered load points. Study results on the IEEE reliability test system show successful application of the proposed method. - Research highlights: → Required reliability level at load points is a concern in modern power systems. → It is important to assess reliability importance of energy producers or generators. → Generators can be ranked based on their impacts on power flow to a selected area. → Ranking of generators is an efficient tool to assess their reliability importance.

Inter comparison of REPAS and APSRA methodologies for passive system reliability analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Solanki, R.B.; Krishnamurthy, P.R.; Singh, Suneet; Varde, P.V.; Verma, A.K.

2014-01-01

The increasing use of passive systems in the innovative nuclear reactors puts demand on the estimation of the reliability assessment of these passive systems. The passive systems operate on the driving forces such as natural circulation, gravity, internal stored energy etc. which are moderately weaker than that of active components. Hence, phenomenological failures (virtual components) are equally important as that of equipment failures (real components) in the evaluation of passive systems reliability. The contribution of the mechanical components to the passive system reliability can be evaluated in a classical way using the available component reliability database and well known methods. On the other hand, different methods are required to evaluate the reliability of processes like thermohydraulics due to lack of adequate failure data. The research is ongoing worldwide on the reliability assessment of the passive systems and their integration into PSA, however consensus is not reached. Two of the most widely used methods are Reliability Evaluation of Passive Systems (REPAS) and Assessment of Passive System Reliability (APSRA). Both these methods characterize the uncertainties involved in the design and process parameters governing the function of the passive system. However, these methods differ in the quantification of passive system reliability. Inter comparison among different available methods provides useful insights into the strength and weakness of different methods. This paper highlights the results of the thermal hydraulic analysis of a typical passive isolation condenser system carried out using RELAP mode 3.2 computer code applying REPAS and APSRA methodologies. The failure surface is established for the passive system under consideration and system reliability has also been evaluated using these methods. Challenges involved in passive system reliabilities are identified, which require further attention in order to overcome the shortcomings of these

Financial reporting reliability concept and impact factors in its determination

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vygivska I.М.

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The article sets the goal to assess the reliability of financial reporting essence and summarize the factors that affect it. The article grounds the reliability of financial reporting urgency and characterizes its dual nature (on one hand, it is accounting containing reliable, reasonable data, characterized by the absence of errors and can be correctly perceived by users, on the other hand, reliable financial statements are considered to be formed according to the rules regulated by normative documents. It is proved that making decisions by interested users based on financial statements is closely related to information risk that arises because of the restrictions affect the flow of information on which management decisions are taken (accounting information that is difficult to understand by unskilled users, the impact of human factor, the level of information importance. The author establishes that the reliability of financial reporting is affected by many factors whose influence can be seen both outside, and within an enterprise. The main factors include: informational, political, legal, human, organizational and financial and they should be taken into account while making management decisions.

About water chemistry influence on equipment reliability of NPP with RBMK-1000

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berezina, I.G.; Styazhkin, P.S.; Kritskij, V.G.

2001-01-01

In the paper the experience of a quantitative valuation of coolant quality influence on a reliability of some equipment elements of NPP with RBMK-1000 is offered. The choice is made of coolant quality integral parameter. The connection between indices values of coolant quality and reliability of major elements of circulation circuit equipment (including fuel claddings) is established. The reliability improvement of equipment elements operation is supported by high water chemistry quality. (orig.)

Effects of electromyography-driven robot-aided hand training with neuromuscular electrical stimulation on hand control performance after chronic stroke.

Science.gov (United States)

Rong, Wei; Tong, Kai Yu; Hu, Xiao Ling; Ho, Sze Kit

2015-03-01

An electromyography-driven robot system integrated with neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) was developed to investigate its effectiveness on post-stroke rehabilitation. The performance of this system in assisting finger flexion/extension with different assistance combinations was evaluated in five stroke subjects. Then, a pilot study with 20-sessions training was conducted to evaluate the training's effectiveness. The results showed that combined assistance from the NMES-robot could improve finger movement accuracy, encourage muscle activation of the finger muscles and suppress excessive muscular activities in the elbow joint. When assistances from both NMES and the robot were 50% of their maximum assistances, finger-tracking performance had the best results, with the lowest root mean square error, greater range of motion, higher voluntary muscle activations of the finger joints and lower muscle co-contraction in the finger and elbow joints. Upper limb function improved after the 20-session training, indicated by the increased clinical scores of Fugl-Meyer Assessment, Action Research Arm Test and Wolf Motor Function Test. Muscle co-contraction was reduced in the finger and elbow joints reflected by the Modified Ashworth Scale. The findings demonstrated that an electromyography-driven NMES-robot used for chronic stroke improved hand function and tracking performance. Further research is warranted to validate the method on a larger scale. Implications for Rehabilitation The hand robotics and neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) techniques are still separate systems in current post-stroke hand rehabilitation. This is the first study to investigate the combined effects of the NMES and robot on hand rehabilitation. The finger tracking performance was improved with the combined assistance from the EMG-driven NMES-robot hand system. The assistance from the robot could improve the finger movement accuracy and the assistance from the NMES could reduce the

Reliability assessment using Bayesian networks. Case study on quantative reliability estimation of a software-based motor protection relay

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Helminen, A.; Pulkkinen, U.

2003-06-01

In this report a quantitative reliability assessment of motor protection relay SPAM 150 C has been carried out. The assessment focuses to the methodological analysis of the quantitative reliability assessment using the software-based motor protection relay as a case study. The assessment method is based on Bayesian networks and tries to take the full advantage of the previous work done in a project called Programmable Automation System Safety Integrity assessment (PASSI). From the results and experiences achieved during the work it is justified to claim that the assessment method presented in the work enables a flexible use of qualitative and quantitative elements of reliability related evidence in a single reliability assessment. At the same time the assessment method is a concurrent way of reasoning one's beliefs and references about the reliability of the system. Full advantage of the assessment method is taken when using the method as a way to cultivate the information related to the reliability of software-based systems. The method can also be used as a communicational instrument in a licensing process of software-based systems. (orig.)

Reducing Reliability Uncertainties for Marine Renewable Energy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sam D. Weller

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs are a widely used metric of technology maturity and risk for marine renewable energy (MRE devices. To-date, a large number of device concepts have been proposed which have reached the early validation stages of development (TRLs 1–3. Only a handful of mature designs have attained pre-commercial development status following prototype sea trials (TRLs 7–8. In order to navigate through the aptly named “valley of death” (TRLs 4–6 towards commercial realisation, it is necessary for new technologies to be de-risked in terms of component durability and reliability. In this paper the scope of the reliability assessment module of the DTOcean Design Tool is outlined including aspects of Tool integration, data provision and how prediction uncertainties are accounted for. In addition, two case studies are reported of mooring component fatigue testing providing insight into long-term component use and system design for MRE devices. The case studies are used to highlight how test data could be utilised to improve the prediction capabilities of statistical reliability assessment approaches, such as the bottom–up statistical method.

Verification on reliability of heat exchanger for primary cooling system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koike, Sumio; Gorai, Shigeru; Onoue, Ryuji; Ohtsuka, Kaoru

2010-07-01

Prior to the JMTR refurbishment, verification on reliability of the heat exchangers for primary cooling system was carried out to investigate an integrity of continuously use component. From a result of the significant corrosion, decrease of tube thickness, crack were not observed on the heat exchangers, and integrity of heat exchangers were confirmed. In the long terms usage of the heat exchangers, the maintenance based on periodical inspection and a long-term maintenance plan is scheduled. (author)

Hand hygiene in reducing transient flora on the hands of healthcare workers: an educational intervention.

Science.gov (United States)

Kapil, R; Bhavsar, H K; Madan, M

2015-01-01

Hand hygiene has now been recognised as one of the most effective intervention to control the transmission of infections in a hospital and education is an important tool to ensure its implementation. In order to convince the users and as a part of education, it is important to generate evidence on the role of hand hygiene in reducing the bacterial flora on their hands. The present study was undertaken in a tertiary care hospital to demonstrate the presence of bacterial flora on the hands of healthcare workers (HCW) in different categories, to teach them proper hand hygiene technique using alcohol-based hand rub and determine the outcome for reduction of bacteria. A total sample size of 60 subjects including resident doctors, medical students, nurses and hospital attendants were included in the study after obtaining informed consent. Each person was educated on the technique of hand hygiene with alcohol-based hand rub and hand impressions were cultured before and after hand hygiene. All the subjects were also given a questionnaire to assess their perception on hand hygiene. The WHO posters on proper hand hygiene were displayed in the appropriate areas of the hospital in addition, as an educational tool. Majority (42 out of 60) of the HCWs had bacterial count up to 100 colonies or more on both hands before the application of hand rub while working in the hospital. After use of alcohol hand rub with a proper hand hygiene technique, it was found that the percentage reduction was 95-99% among doctors and nurses, 70% among hospital attendants and 50% among sanitary attendants. Staphylococcus aureus was present on the hands of eight persons of which three were methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. The study demonstrates that transient bacteria are present on the hands of HCWs but majority could be removed by proper hand hygiene, which needs continuous education to be effective. It also shows that active education by demonstrating the proper hand hygiene technique

Technology success: Integration of power plant reliability and effective maintenance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ferguson, K.

2008-01-01

The nuclear power generation sector has a tradition of utilizing technology as a key attribute for advancement. Companies that own, manage, and operate nuclear power plants can be expected to continue to rely on technology as a vital element of success. Inherent with the operations of the nuclear power industry in many parts of the world is the close connection between efficiency of power plant operations and successful business survival. The relationship among power plant availability, reliability of systems and components, and viability of the enterprise is more evident than ever. Technology decisions need to be accomplished that reflect business strategies, work processes, as well as needs of stakeholders and authorities. Such rigor is needed to address overarching concerns such as power plant life extension and license renewal, new plant orders, outage management, plant safety, inventory management etc. Particular to power plant reliability, the prudent leveraging of technology as a key to future success is vital. A dominant concern is effective asset management as physical plant assets age. Many plants are in, or are entering in, a situation in which systems and component design life and margins are converging such that failure threats can come into play with increasing frequency. Wisely selected technologies can be vital to the identification of emerging threats to reliable performance of key plant features and initiating effective maintenance actions and investments that can sustain or enhance current reliability in a cost effective manner. This attention to detail is vital to investment in new plants as well This paper and presentation will address (1) specific technology success in place at power plants, including nuclear, that integrates attention to attaining high plant reliability and effective maintenance actions as well as (2) complimentary actions that maximize technology success. In addition, the range of benefits that accrue as a result of

The effect of loss functions on empirical Bayes reliability analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Camara Vincent A. R.

1998-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of the present study is to investigate the sensitivity of empirical Bayes estimates of the reliability function with respect to changing of the loss function. In addition to applying some of the basic analytical results on empirical Bayes reliability obtained with the use of the “popular” squared error loss function, we shall derive some expressions corresponding to empirical Bayes reliability estimates obtained with the Higgins–Tsokos, the Harris and our proposed logarithmic loss functions. The concept of efficiency, along with the notion of integrated mean square error, will be used as a criterion to numerically compare our results. It is shown that empirical Bayes reliability functions are in general sensitive to the choice of the loss function, and that the squared error loss does not always yield the best empirical Bayes reliability estimate.

Ability of Hand Hygiene Interventions Using Alcohol-Based Hand Sanitizers and Soap To Reduce Microbial Load on Farmworker Hands Soiled during Harvest.

Science.gov (United States)

de Aceituno, Anna Fabiszewski; Bartz, Faith E; Hodge, Domonique Watson; Shumaker, David J; Grubb, James E; Arbogast, James W; Dávila-Aviña, Jorgé; Venegas, Fabiola; Heredia, Norma; García, Santos; Leon, Juan S

2015-11-01

Effective hand hygiene is essential to prevent the spread of pathogens on produce farms and reduce foodborne illness. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Food Safety Modernization Act Proposed Rule for Produce Safety recommends the use of soap and running water for hand hygiene of produce handlers. The use of alcohol-based hand sanitizer (ABHS) may be an effective alternative hygiene intervention where access to water is limited. There are no published data on the efficacy of either soap or ABHS-based interventions to reduce microbial contamination in agricultural settings. The goal of this study was to assess the ability of two soap-based (traditional or pumice) and two ABHS-based (label-use or two-step) hygiene interventions to reduce microbes (coliforms, Escherichia coli, and Enterococcus spp.) and soil (absorbance of hand rinsate at 600 nm [A600]) on farmworker hands after harvesting produce, compared with the results for a no-hand-hygiene control. With no hand hygiene, farmworker hands were soiled (median A600, 0.48) and had high concentrations of coliforms (geometric mean, 3.4 log CFU per hand) and Enterococcus spp. (geometric mean, 5.3 log CFU per hand) after 1 to 2 h of harvesting tomatoes. Differences in microbial loads in comparison to the loads in the control group varied by indicator organism and hygiene intervention (0 to 2.3 log CFU per hand). All interventions yielded lower concentrations of Enterococcus spp. and E. coli (P hands (P hand washing with soap at reducing indicator organisms on farmworker hands. Based on these results, ABHS is an efficacious hand hygiene solution for produce handlers, even on soiled hands.

An integrated methodology for the dynamic performance and reliability evaluation of fault-tolerant systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dominguez-Garcia, Alejandro D.; Kassakian, John G.; Schindall, Joel E.; Zinchuk, Jeffrey J.

2008-01-01

We propose an integrated methodology for the reliability and dynamic performance analysis of fault-tolerant systems. This methodology uses a behavioral model of the system dynamics, similar to the ones used by control engineers to design the control system, but also incorporates artifacts to model the failure behavior of each component. These artifacts include component failure modes (and associated failure rates) and how those failure modes affect the dynamic behavior of the component. The methodology bases the system evaluation on the analysis of the dynamics of the different configurations the system can reach after component failures occur. For each of the possible system configurations, a performance evaluation of its dynamic behavior is carried out to check whether its properties, e.g., accuracy, overshoot, or settling time, which are called performance metrics, meet system requirements. Markov chains are used to model the stochastic process associated with the different configurations that a system can adopt when failures occur. This methodology not only enables an integrated framework for evaluating dynamic performance and reliability of fault-tolerant systems, but also enables a method for guiding the system design process, and further optimization. To illustrate the methodology, we present a case-study of a lateral-directional flight control system for a fighter aircraft

The effect of loss functions on empirical Bayes reliability analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vincent A. R. Camara

1999-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of the present study is to investigate the sensitivity of empirical Bayes estimates of the reliability function with respect to changing of the loss function. In addition to applying some of the basic analytical results on empirical Bayes reliability obtained with the use of the “popular” squared error loss function, we shall derive some expressions corresponding to empirical Bayes reliability estimates obtained with the Higgins–Tsokos, the Harris and our proposed logarithmic loss functions. The concept of efficiency, along with the notion of integrated mean square error, will be used as a criterion to numerically compare our results.

Reliability of the Handgrip Strength Test in Elderly Subjects With Parkinson Disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Villafañe, Jorge H; Valdes, Kristin; Buraschi, Riccardo; Martinelli, Marco; Bissolotti, Luciano; Negrini, Stefano

2016-03-01

The handgrip strength test is widely used by clinicians; however, little has been investigated about its reliability when used in subjects with Parkinson disease (PD). The purpose of this study was to investigate the test-retest reliability of the handgrip strength test for subjects with PD. The PD group consisted of 15 patients, and the control group consisted of 15 healthy subjects. Each patient performed 3 pain-free maximal isometric contractions on each hand on 2 occasions, 1 week apart. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), standard error of measurement (SEM), and 95% limits of agreement (LOA) were calculated. The 2-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to determine the differences between sides and groups. Test-retest reliability of measurements of grip strength was excellent for dominant (ICC = 0.97; P = .001) and non-dominant (ICC = 0.98; P = .001) hand of participant with PD and (ICC = 0.99; P = .001) and (ICC = 0.99; P = .001) respectively, of healthy group. The Jamar hand dynamometer had fair to excellent test-retest reliability to test grip strength in participants with PD.

Reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the Community Integration Measure for community-dwelling people with schizophrenia

OpenAIRE

Shioda, Ai; Tadaka, Etsuko; Okochi, Ayako

2017-01-01

Background Community integration is an essential right for people with schizophrenia that affects their well-being and quality of life, but no valid instrument exists to measure it in Japan. The aim of the present study is to develop and evaluate the reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the Community Integration Measure (CIM) for people with schizophrenia. Methods The Japanese version of the CIM was developed as a self-administered questionnaire based on the original version of...

Hand Society and Matching Program Web Sites Provide Poor Access to Information Regarding Hand Surgery Fellowship.

Science.gov (United States)

Hinds, Richard M; Klifto, Christopher S; Naik, Amish A; Sapienza, Anthony; Capo, John T

2016-08-01

The Internet is a common resource for applicants of hand surgery fellowships, however, the quality and accessibility of fellowship online information is unknown. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the accessibility of hand surgery fellowship Web sites and to assess the quality of information provided via program Web sites. Hand fellowship Web site accessibility was evaluated by reviewing the American Society for Surgery of the Hand (ASSH) on November 16, 2014 and the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) fellowship directories on February 12, 2015, and performing an independent Google search on November 25, 2014. Accessible Web sites were then assessed for quality of the presented information. A total of 81 programs were identified with the ASSH directory featuring direct links to 32% of program Web sites and the NRMP directory directly linking to 0%. A Google search yielded direct links to 86% of program Web sites. The quality of presented information varied greatly among the 72 accessible Web sites. Program description (100%), fellowship application requirements (97%), program contact email address (85%), and research requirements (75%) were the most commonly presented components of fellowship information. Hand fellowship program Web sites can be accessed from the ASSH directory and, to a lesser extent, the NRMP directory. However, a Google search is the most reliable method to access online fellowship information. Of assessable programs, all featured a program description though the quality of the remaining information was variable. Hand surgery fellowship applicants may face some difficulties when attempting to gather program information online. Future efforts should focus on improving the accessibility and content quality on hand surgery fellowship program Web sites.

Structural Integration and Control of Peerless Human-like Prosthetic Hand

Science.gov (United States)

Dave, Ankit; Muthu, P.; Karthikraj, V.; Latha, S.

2018-04-01

Limb damage can create severe disturbance in movement and operative abilities wherein the prosthetic rehabilitation has the potential to replace function and enhance the quality of life. This paper presents a humanlike prosthetic hand using such unique design concept of hand model using artificial bones, ligaments, and tendons controlled using Arduino. Amongst various platforms available, Arduino is known for its adaptability, adoration and low cost. The design of prosthetic hand has a unique structure with all carpal, metacarpal, and phalanges which are bones of the hand. These bones are attached to each other following the pattern of human hand using the polymeric rubber as a functioning ligament. Furthermore, this structure of finger is driven by tendons attached to all fingers and passes through the ligaments working as pulley resulting in more degrees of freedom. The motor can twitch the tendons to achieve the action of fingers. Thus the servos, controlled by an Arduino, are used to regulate the movement mechanism of the prosthetic hand.

Assessing the Impact of Imperfect Diagnosis on Service Reliability

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grønbæk, Lars Jesper; Schwefel, Hans-Peter; Kjærgaard, Jens Kristian

2010-01-01

, representative diagnosis performance metrics have been defined and their closed-form solutions obtained for the Markov model. These equations enable model parameterization from traces of implemented diagnosis components. The diagnosis model has been integrated in a reliability model assessing the impact...... of the diagnosis functions for the studied reliability problem. In a simulation study we finally analyze trade-off properties of diagnosis heuristics from literature, map them to the analytic Markov model, and investigate its suitability for service reliability optimization....

System ergonomics as an approach to improve human reliability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bubb, H.

1988-01-01

The application of system technics on ergonomical problems is called system ergonomics. This enables improvements of human reliability by design measures. The precondition for this is the knowledge of how information processing is performed by man and machine. By a separate consideration of sensory processing, cognitive processing, and motory processing it is possible to have a more exact idea of the system element 'man'. The system element 'machine' is well described by differential equations which allow an ergonomical assessment of the manouverability. The knowledge of information processing of man and machine enables a task analysis. This makes appear on one hand the human boundaries depending on the different properties of the task and on the other hand suitable ergonomical solution proposals which improve the reliability of the total system. It is a disadvantage, however, that the change of human reliability by such measures may not be quoted numerically at the moment. (orig.)

Programming of left hand exploits task set but that of right hand depends on recent history.

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Rixin; Zhu, Hong

2017-07-01

There are many differences between the left hand and the right hand. But it is not clear if there is a difference in programming between left hand and right hand when the hands perform the same movement. In current study, we carried out two experiments to investigate whether the programming of two hands was equivalent or they exploited different strategies. In the first experiment, participants were required to use one hand to grasp an object with visual feedback or to point to the center of one object without visual feedback on alternate trials, or to grasp an object without visual feedback and to point the center of one object with visual feedback on alternating trials. They then performed the tasks with the other hand. The result was that previous pointing task affected current grasping when it was performed by the left hand, but not the right hand. In experiment 2, we studied if the programming of the left (or right) hand would be affected by the pointing task performed on the previous trial not only by the same hand, but also by the right (or left) hand. Participants pointed and grasped the objects alternately with two hands. The result was similar with Experiment 1, i.e., left-hand grasping was affected by right-hand pointing, whereas right-hand grasping was immune from the interference from left hand. Taken together, the results suggest that when open- and closed-loop trials are interleaved, motor programming of grasping with the right hand was affected by the nature of the online feedback on the previous trial only if it was a grasping trial, suggesting that the trial-to-trial transfer depends on sensorimotor memory and not on task set. In contrast, motor programming of grasping with the left hand can use information about the nature of the online feedback on the previous trial to specify the parameters of the movement, even when the type of movement that occurred was quite different (i.e., pointing) and was performed with the right hand. This suggests that

iHand: an interactive bare-hand-based augmented reality interface on commercial mobile phones

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Junyeong; Park, Jungsik; Park, Hanhoon; Park, Jong-Il

2013-02-01

The performance of mobile phones has rapidly improved, and they are emerging as a powerful platform. In many vision-based applications, human hands play a key role in natural interaction. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the interaction between human hands and the mobile phone. Thus, we propose a vision- and hand gesture-based interface in which the user holds a mobile phone in one hand but sees the other hand's palm through a built-in camera. The virtual contents are faithfully rendered on the user's palm through palm pose estimation, and reaction with hand and finger movements is achieved that is recognized by hand shape recognition. Since the proposed interface is based on hand gestures familiar to humans and does not require any additional sensors or markers, the user can freely interact with virtual contents anytime and anywhere without any training. We demonstrate that the proposed interface works at over 15 fps on a commercial mobile phone with a 1.2-GHz dual core processor and 1 GB RAM.

Visual-haptic integration with pliers and tongs: signal ‘weights’ take account of changes in haptic sensitivity caused by different tools

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chie eTakahashi

2014-02-01

Full Text Available When we hold an object while looking at it, estimates from visual and haptic cues to size are combined in a statistically optimal fashion, whereby the ‘weight’ given to each signal reflects their relative reliabilities. This allows object properties to be estimated more precisely than would otherwise be possible. Tools such as pliers and tongs systematically perturb the mapping between object size and the hand opening. This could complicate visual-haptic integration because it may alter the reliability of the haptic signal, thereby disrupting the determination of appropriate signal weights. To investigate this we first measured the reliability of haptic size estimates made with virtual pliers-like tools (created using a stereoscopic display and force-feedback robots with different ‘gains’ between hand opening and object size. Haptic reliability in tool use was straightforwardly determined by a combination of sensitivity to changes in hand opening and the effects of tool geometry. The precise pattern of sensitivity to hand opening, which violated Weber’s law, meant that haptic reliability changed with tool gain. We then examined whether the visuo-motor system accounts for these reliability changes. We measured the weight given to visual and haptic stimuli when both were available, again with different tool gains, by measuring the perceived size of stimuli in which visual and haptic sizes were varied independently. The weight given to each sensory cue changed with tool gain in a manner that closely resembled the predictions of optimal sensory integration. The results are consistent with the idea that different tool geometries are modelled by the brain, allowing it to calculate not only the distal properties of objects felt with tools, but also the certainty with which those properties are known. These findings highlight the flexibility of human sensory integration and tool-use, and potentially provide an approach for optimising the

Alexithymia Modulates the Experience of the Rubber Hand Illusion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Delphine eGrynberg

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Alexithymia is associated with lower awareness of emotional and non-emotional internal bodily signals. However, evidence suggesting that alexithymia modulates body awareness at an external level is scarce. This study aimed to investigate whether alexithymia is associated with disrupted multisensory integration by using the rubber hand illusion task.Fifty healthy individuals completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale and underwent the rubber hand illusion measure. In this measure, one watches a rubber hand being stroked synchronously or asynchronously with one’s own hand, which is hidden from view. Compared to the asynchronous stimulation, the synchronous stimulation results in the illusion that the rubber hand and the participant’s hand are closer together than they really are and that the rubber hand belongs to them. Results revealed that higher levels of alexithymia are associated with a lower ownership illusion. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate that high alexithymia scorers integrate two simultaneous sensory and proprioceptive events into a single experience (lower multisensory integration to a lesser extent than low alexithymia scorers. Higher susceptibility to the illusion in high alexithymia scorers may -indicate that alexithymia is associated with impaired multisensory integration and that this association results from an abnormal focus of one's own body.

Hand Rehabilitation Robotics on Poststroke Motor Recovery

Science.gov (United States)

2017-01-01

The recovery of hand function is one of the most challenging topics in stroke rehabilitation. Although the robot-assisted therapy has got some good results in the latest decades, the development of hand rehabilitation robotics is left behind. Existing reviews of hand rehabilitation robotics focus either on the mechanical design on designers' view or on the training paradigms on the clinicians' view, while these two parts are interconnected and both important for designers and clinicians. In this review, we explore the current literature surrounding hand rehabilitation robots, to help designers make better choices among varied components and thus promoting the application of hand rehabilitation robots. An overview of hand rehabilitation robotics is provided in this paper firstly, to give a general view of the relationship between subjects, rehabilitation theories, hand rehabilitation robots, and its evaluation. Secondly, the state of the art hand rehabilitation robotics is introduced in detail according to the classification of the hardware system and the training paradigm. As a result, the discussion gives available arguments behind the classification and comprehensive overview of hand rehabilitation robotics. PMID:29230081

Integrating Hands-On Undergraduate Research in an Applied Spatial Science Senior Level Capstone Course

Science.gov (United States)

Kulhavy, David L.; Unger, Daniel R.; Hung, I-Kuai; Douglass, David

2015-01-01

A senior within a spatial science Ecological Planning capstone course designed an undergraduate research project to increase his spatial science expertise and to assess the hands-on instruction methodology employed within the Bachelor of Science in Spatial Science program at Stephen F Austin State University. The height of 30 building features…

Reliability and integrity management program for PBMR helium pressure boundary components - HTR2008-58036

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fleming, K. N.; Gamble, R.; Gosselin, S.; Fletcher, J.; Broom, N.

2008-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a study to establish strategies for the reliability and integrity management (RIM) of passive metallic components for the PBMR. The RIM strategies investigated include design elements, leak detection and testing approaches, and non-destructive examinations. Specific combinations of strategies are determined to be necessary and sufficient to achieve target reliability goals for passive components. This study recommends a basis for the RIM program for the PBMR Demonstration Power Plant (DPP) and provides guidance for the development by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) of RIM requirements for Modular High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors (MHRs). (authors)

Proving Test on the Reliability for Reactor Containment Vessel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takumi, K.; Nonaka, A.

1988-01-01

NUPEC (Nuclear Power Engineering Test Center) has started an eight-year project of Proving Test on the Reliability for Reactor Containment Vessel since June 1987. The objective of this project is to confirm the integrity of containment vessels under severe accident conditions. This paper shows the outline of this project. The test Items are (1) Hydrogen mixing and distribution test, (2) Hydrogen burning test, (3) Iodine trapping characteristics test, and (4) Structural behavior test. Based on the test results, computer codes are verified and as the results of analysis and evaluation by the computer codes, containment integrity is to be confirmed

On the Other Hand : Nondominant Hand Use Increases Sense of Agency

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Damen, Tom G. E.; Dijksterhuis, Ap; van Baaren, Rick B.

In two studies, we investigated the influence of hand dominance on the sense of self-causation or agency. Participants alternately used their dominant or nondominant hand to cause the occurrence of an effect (a tone) in a task in which agency was made ambiguous. Participants were subsequently asked

ICAROUS - Integrated Configurable Algorithms for Reliable Operations Of Unmanned Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Consiglio, María; Muñoz, César; Hagen, George; Narkawicz, Anthony; Balachandran, Swee

2016-01-01

NASA's Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) project aims at enabling near-term, safe operations of small UAS vehicles in uncontrolled airspace, i.e., Class G airspace. A far-term goal of UTM research and development is to accommodate the expected rise in small UAS traffic density throughout the National Airspace System (NAS) at low altitudes for beyond visual line-of-sight operations. This paper describes a new capability referred to as ICAROUS (Integrated Configurable Algorithms for Reliable Operations of Unmanned Systems), which is being developed under the UTM project. ICAROUS is a software architecture comprised of highly assured algorithms for building safety-centric, autonomous, unmanned aircraft applications. Central to the development of the ICAROUS algorithms is the use of well-established formal methods to guarantee higher levels of safety assurance by monitoring and bounding the behavior of autonomous systems. The core autonomy-enabling capabilities in ICAROUS include constraint conformance monitoring and contingency control functions. ICAROUS also provides a highly configurable user interface that enables the modular integration of mission-specific software components.

Ethical, financial, and policy considerations in hand transplantation.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Jeff; Mathes, David W

2011-11-01

Currently, more than 65 hand transplants have been performed with studies demonstrating favorable cosmetic and functional outcomes and cortical reintegration of the transplanted hand. Due to such favorable outcomes, many view hand transplant as a potential gold standard for treatment of a double amputee. However, ethical debate continues regarding risks and benefits of this nonlifesaving procedure. Clinicians, patients, and society must agree on whether hand transplantation is ethical and affordable. If a decision is made to transplant a hand, this must be performed in a dedicated center that facilitates integration of multiple specialists, ethicists, pharmacists, and rehabilitationists. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Hand therapy and ergonomics: integration of approaches in vocational rehabilitation and promotion of decent work in Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Tosetto, Thaís; Orsi, Flávia Giuntini

2012-01-01

Among the indicators of Decent Work in Brazil, the one referring to the "Safe Working Environment" was the only which had no improvement in the time series analyzed by the International Labor Organisation. There is an increased number of accidents with significant economic and social impacts. Given that many of these accidents involve the hands and cause functional sequels, this paper presents an integration between the approaches of Hand Therapy and Ergonomics in order to facilitate the process of rehabilitation and reintegration, as well as acting to prevent further accidents, thus contributing to the promotion of Decent Work in the country, particularly with regard to safety and health at work and equal opportunities.

Integration of a hand-reared chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) infant into a social group of conspecifics.

Science.gov (United States)

Thunström, Maria; Persson, Tomas; Björklund, Mats

2013-01-01

Rejections of infants among non-human primates occasionally occur in the wild as well as in captive settings. Controlled adoptions of orphans and introductions of individuals into new groups are therefore sometimes necessary in captivity. Consequently, behavioral research on integration procedures and on the acceptance of infants by adoptive mothers is much needed. In this study, the introduction and subsequent adoption were examined in an 18-month-old hand-reared chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes). The infant was introduced into an age/sex-diversified social group of conspecifics at Furuvik Zoo, Gävle, Sweden, and continuous focal data was collected during the final stage of integration, including infant care exhibited by the group members and the infant's secure base behavior. The infant was successfully integrated into the group and engaged in positive social interactions with all group members. An adult primiparous female chimpanzee formed a bond resembling a mother-infant relationship with the infant, which continues to be maintained at publication. However, the female initially showed very limited interest in the infant. It was, in fact, two other younger female group members that exhibited most infant care. The infant's secure base behavior patterns indicate that she adapted well to the new circumstances in the chimpanzee group as the integration progressed. This provides evidence that a final adopter does not necessarily initially show maternal interest and that there can be flexibility in maternal behavior in adult chimpanzee females. Moreover, the methods applied employing gradual familiarization with all the group members and the use of an integration enclosure, may have contributed to a successful result. These findings extend our knowledge of introduction procedures in captivity as well as provide information on foster mother-infant attachment in chimpanzees.

Personal hand gel for improved hand hygiene compliance on the regional anesthesia team.

Science.gov (United States)

Parks, Colby L; Schroeder, Kristopher M; Galgon, Richard E

2015-12-01

Hand hygiene reduces healthcare-associated infections, and several recent publications have examined hand hygiene in the perioperative period. Our institution's policy is to perform hand hygiene before and after patient contact. However, observation suggests poor compliance. This is a retrospective review of a quality improvement database showing the effect of personal gel dispensers on perioperative hand hygiene compliance on a regional anesthesia team. Healthcare providers assigned to the Acute Pain Service were observed for compliance with hand hygiene policy during a quality improvement initiative. Provider type and compliance were prospectively recorded in a database. Team members were then given a personal gel dispensing device and again observed for compliance. We have retrospectively reviewed this database to determine the effects of this intervention. Of the 307 encounters observed, 146 were prior to implementing personal gel dispensers. Compliance was 34%. Pre- and post-patient contact compliances were 23 and 43%, respectively. For 161 encounters after individual gel dispensers were provided, compliance was 63%. Pre- and post-patient contact compliances were 53 and 72%, respectively. Improvement in overall compliance from 34 to 63% was significant. On the Acute Pain Service, compliance with hand hygiene policy improves when individual sanitation gel dispensing devices are worn on the person.

Inter- and intrarater reliability of goniometry and hand held dynamometry for patients with subacromial impingement syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Fieseler, Georg; Laudner, Kevin G; Irlenbusch, Lars; Meyer, Henrike; Schulze, Stephan; Delank, Karl-Stefan; Hermassi, Souhail; Bartels, Thomas; Schwesig, René

2017-12-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the intra- and interrater reliability of measuring shoulder range of motion (ROM) and strength among patients diagnosed with subacromial impingement syndrome (SAIS). Twenty-five patients (14 female patients; mean age, 60.4± 7.84 years) diagnosed with SAIS were assessed to determine the intrarater reliability for glenohumeral ROM. Twenty-five patients (16 female patients; mean age, 60.4± 7.80 years) and 76 asymptomatic volunteers (52 female volunteers; mean age, 29.4± 14.1 years) were assessed for interrater reliability. Dependent variables were active shoulder ROM and isometric strength. Intrarater reliability was fair-to-excellent for the SAIS patients (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC], 0.52-0.97; standard error of measurement [SEM], 4.4°-9.9° N; coefficient of variation [CV], 7.1%-44.9%). Based on the ICC, 11 of 12 parameters (92%) displayed an excellent reliability (ICC> 0.75). The interrater reliability showed fair-to-excellent results (SAIS patients: ICC, 0.13-0.98; SEM, 2.3°-8.8°; CV, 3.6%-37.0%; controls: ICC, 0.11-0.96; SEM, 3.0°-35.4°; CV, 5.6%-26.4%). In accordance with the intrarater reliability, glenohumeral adduction ROM was the only parameter with an ICC below 0.75 for both samples. Painful shoulder ROM in the SAIS patients showed no influence on the quality of reliability for measurement. Therefore, these protocols should be considered reliable assessment techniques in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of painful shoulder conditions such as SAIS.

System reliability of corroding pipelines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou Wenxing

2010-01-01

A methodology is presented in this paper to evaluate the time-dependent system reliability of a pipeline segment that contains multiple active corrosion defects and is subjected to stochastic internal pressure loading. The pipeline segment is modeled as a series system with three distinctive failure modes due to corrosion, namely small leak, large leak and rupture. The internal pressure is characterized as a simple discrete stochastic process that consists of a sequence of independent and identically distributed random variables each acting over a period of one year. The magnitude of a given sequence follows the annual maximum pressure distribution. The methodology is illustrated through a hypothetical example. Furthermore, the impact of the spatial variability of the pressure loading and pipe resistances associated with different defects on the system reliability is investigated. The analysis results suggest that the spatial variability of pipe properties has a negligible impact on the system reliability. On the other hand, the spatial variability of the internal pressure, initial defect sizes and defect growth rates can have a significant impact on the system reliability.

Impacts of Contingency Reserve on Nodal Price and Nodal Reliability Risk in Deregulated Power Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhao, Qian; Wang, Peng; Goel, Lalit

2013-01-01

The deregulation of power systems allows customers to participate in power market operation. In deregulated power systems, nodal price and nodal reliability are adopted to represent locational operation cost and reliability performance. Since contingency reserve (CR) plays an important role...... in reliable operation, the CR commitment should be considered in operational reliability analysis. In this paper, a CR model based on customer reliability requirements has been formulated and integrated into power market settlement. A two-step market clearing process has been proposed to determine generation...

Hands-on Humidity.

Science.gov (United States)

Pankiewicz, Philip R.

1992-01-01

Presents five hands-on activities that allow students to detect, measure, reduce, and eliminate moisture. Students make a humidity detector and a hygrometer, examine the effects of moisture on different substances, calculate the percent of water in a given food, and examine the absorption potential of different desiccants. (MDH)

Integrated Reliability and Risk Analysis System (IRRAS) Version 2.0 user's guide

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Russell, K.D.; Sattison, M.B.; Rasmuson, D.M.

1990-06-01

The Integrated Reliability and Risk Analysis System (IRRAS) is a state-of-the-art, microcomputer-based probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) model development and analysis tool to address key nuclear plant safety issues. IRRAS is an integrated software tool that gives the user the ability to create and analyze fault trees and accident sequences using a microcomputer. This program provides functions that range from graphical fault tree construction to cut set generation and quantification. Also provided in the system is an integrated full-screen editor for use when interfacing with remote mainframe computer systems. Version 1.0 of the IRRAS program was released in February of 1987. Since that time, many user comments and enhancements have been incorporated into the program providing a much more powerful and user-friendly system. This version has been designated IRRAS 2.0 and is the subject of this user's guide. Version 2.0 of IRRAS provides all of the same capabilities as Version 1.0 and adds a relational data base facility for managing the data, improved functionality, and improved algorithm performance. 9 refs., 292 figs., 4 tabs

Strategy for establishing integrated l and c reliability of operating nuclear power plants in korea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kang, H. T.; Chung, H. Y.; Lee, Y. H.

2008-01-01

Korea hydro and nuclear power co. (KHNP) are in progress of developing a integrated I and C reliability establishing strategy for managing l and C obsolescence and phasing in new technology that both meets the needs of the fleet and captures the benefits of applying proven solutions to multiple plants, with reduced incremental costs. In view of this, we are developing I and C component management which covers major failure mode, symptom of performance degradation, condition-based or time-based preventive management (PM), monitoring, and failure finding and correction based on equipment reliability (ER). Furthermore, for the l and C system replacement management, we are in progress of 3-year-long I and C systems upgrade fundamental designing in developing the long-term major l and C systems implementation plan to improve plant operations, eliminate operator challenges, reduce maintenance costs, and cope with the challenges of component obsolescence. For accomplishing I and C digital upgrade in near future, we chose demonstration plant, Younggwang (YGN) unit 3 and 4 which are Korean Standard Nuclear Power Plant (KSNP). In this paper, we established the long term reliability strategy of I and C system based on ER in component replacement and furthermore I and C systems digital upgrade in system replacement. (authors)

The Anconeus Muscle Free Flap: Clinical Application to Lesions on the Hand

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Byung-Joon Jeon

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Background It can be difficult to select an appropriate flap for various defects on the hand. Although defects of the hand usually must be covered with a skin flap, some defects require a flap with rich blood supply and adequate additive soft tissue volume. The authors present their experience with the anconeus muscle free flap in the reconstruction of various defects and the release of scar contractures of the hand. Methods Ten patients underwent reconstruction of the finger or release of the first web space using the anconeus muscle free flap from May 1998 to October 2013. Adequate bed preparations with thorough debridement or contracture release were performed. The entire anconeus muscle, located at the elbow superficially, was harvested, with the posterior recurrent interosseous artery as a pedicle. The defects were covered with a uniformly trimmed anconeus muscle free flap. Additional debulking of the flap and skin coverage using a split-thickness skin graft were performed 3 weeks after the first operation. Results The average flap size was 18.7 cm2 (range, 13.5–30 cm2. All flaps survived without significant complications. Vein grafts for overcoming a short pedicle were necessary in 4 cases. Conclusions The anconeus muscle free flap can be considered a reliable reconstructive option for small defects on the hand or contracture release of the web space, because it has relatively consistent anatomy, provides robust blood supply within the same operative field, and leads to no functional loss at the donor site.

The evaluation of equipment and Instrumentation Reliability Factors on Power Reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Supriatna, Piping; Karlina, Itjeu; Widagdo, Suharyo; Santosa, Kussigit; Darlis; Sudiyono, Bambang; Yuniyanta, Sasongko; Sudarmin

1999-01-01

Equipment and instrumentation reliability on type power reactor control room was determined by its pattern and design. the principle of ergonomy applied on equipment and instrumentation layout in this ABWR type reactor are geometric pattern appropriate with economic body motion, average anthropometry data of operator especially operator hand-reach, range of vision, angle of vision, lighting, color arrangement and harmony as will as operator case in operating the equipment system. Limitation criteria of the parameter mentioned above are based on EPRI NP-3659, NURG 0700, and NUREG/CR-3331 documents. Besides that, the (working) physical environment parameter factor of the control room must be designed in order to fulfil the standard criteria of ergonomic condition based on NUREG-0800. The reliability evaluation of equipment and instrumentation system also occurs observed from man machine interaction side which happen between operator and equipment and instrumentation in the ABWR type power reactor control room. From the MMI analysis can be known the working failure possibility which is caused by the operator. The evaluation result of equipment and instrumentation reliability on ABWR type power reactor control room showed that the design of this ABWR control room is good and fulfils the ergonomy standard criteria have been determined

The development of a preliminary ultrasonographic scoring system for features of hand osteoarthritis.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Keen, H I

2008-05-01

Painful osteoarthritis (OA) of the hand is common and a validated ultrasound (US) scoring system would be valuable for epidemiological and therapeutic outcome studies. US is increasingly used to assess peripheral joints, though most of the US focus in rheumatic diseases has been on rheumatoid arthritis. We aimed to develop a preliminary US hand OA scoring system, initially focusing on relevant pathological features with potentially high reliability.

Personal authentication through dorsal hand vein patterns

Science.gov (United States)

Hsu, Chih-Bin; Hao, Shu-Sheng; Lee, Jen-Chun

2011-08-01

Biometric identification is an emerging technology that can solve security problems in our networked society. A reliable and robust personal verification approach using dorsal hand vein patterns is proposed in this paper. The characteristic of the approach needs less computational and memory requirements and has a higher recognition accuracy. In our work, the near-infrared charge-coupled device (CCD) camera is adopted as an input device for capturing dorsal hand vein images, it has the advantages of the low-cost and noncontact imaging. In the proposed approach, two finger-peaks are automatically selected as the datum points to define the region of interest (ROI) in the dorsal hand vein images. The modified two-directional two-dimensional principal component analysis, which performs an alternate two-dimensional PCA (2DPCA) in the column direction of images in the 2DPCA subspace, is proposed to exploit the correlation of vein features inside the ROI between images. The major advantage of the proposed method is that it requires fewer coefficients for efficient dorsal hand vein image representation and recognition. The experimental results on our large dorsal hand vein database show that the presented schema achieves promising performance (false reject rate: 0.97% and false acceptance rate: 0.05%) and is feasible for dorsal hand vein recognition.

Learning in robotic manipulation: The role of dimensionality reduction in policy search methods. Comment on "Hand synergies: Integration of robotics and neuroscience for understanding the control of biological and artificial hands" by Marco Santello et al.

Science.gov (United States)

Ficuciello, Fanny; Siciliano, Bruno

2016-07-01

A question that often arises, among researchers working on artificial hands and robotic manipulation, concerns the real meaning of synergies. Namely, are they a realistic representation of the central nervous system control of manipulation activities at different levels and of the sensory-motor manipulation apparatus of the human being, or do they constitute just a theoretical framework exploiting analytical methods to simplify the representation of grasping and manipulation activities? Apparently, this is not a simple question to answer and, in this regard, many minds from the field of neuroscience and robotics are addressing the issue [1]. The interest of robotics is definitely oriented towards the adoption of synergies to tackle the control problem of devices with high number of degrees of freedom (DoFs) which are required to achieve motor and learning skills comparable to those of humans. The synergy concept is useful for innovative underactuated design of anthropomorphic hands [2], while the resulting dimensionality reduction simplifies the control of biomedical devices such as myoelectric hand prostheses [3]. Synergies might also be useful in conjunction with the learning process [4]. This aspect is less explored since few works on synergy-based learning have been realized in robotics. In learning new tasks through trial-and-error, physical interaction is important. On the other hand, advanced mechanical designs such as tendon-driven actuation, underactuated compliant mechanisms and hyper-redundant/continuum robots might exhibit enhanced capabilities of adapting to changing environments and learning from exploration. In particular, high DoFs and compliance increase the complexity of modelling and control of these devices. An analytical approach to manipulation planning requires a precise model of the object, an accurate description of the task, and an evaluation of the object affordance, which all make the process rather time consuming. The integration of

Research on the Reliability Analysis of the Integrated Modular Avionics System Based on the AADL Error Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peng Wang

2018-01-01

Full Text Available In recent years, the integrated modular avionics (IMA concept has been introduced to replace the traditional federated avionics. Different avionics functions are hosted in a shared IMA platform, and IMA adopts partition technologies to provide a logical isolation among different functions. The IMA architecture can provide more sophisticated and powerful avionics functionality; meanwhile, the failure propagation patterns in IMA are more complex. The feature of resource sharing introduces some unintended interconnections among different functions, which makes the failure propagation modes more complex. Therefore, this paper proposes an architecture analysis and design language- (AADL- based method to establish the reliability model of IMA platform. The single software and hardware error behavior in IMA system is modeled. The corresponding AADL error model of failure propagation among components, between software and hardware, is given. Finally, the display function of IMA platform is taken as an example to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

A comparison of hand wrist bone analysis with two different cervical vertebral analysis in measuring skeletal maturation.

Science.gov (United States)

Pichai, Saravanan; Rajesh, M; Reddy, Naveen; Adusumilli, Gopinath; Reddy, Jayaprakash; Joshi, Bhavana

2014-09-01

Skeletal maturation is an integral part of individual pattern of growth and development and is a continuous process. Peak growth velocity in standing height is the most valid representation of the rate of overall skeletal growth. Ossification changes of hand wrist and cervical vertebrae are the reliable indicators of growth status of individual. The objective of this study was to compare skeletal maturation as measured by hand wrist bone analysis and cervical vertebral analysis. Hand wrist radiographs and lateral cephalograms of 72 subjects aged between 7 and 16 years both male and female from the patients visiting Department of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, R.V. Dental College and Hospital. The 9 stages were reduced to 5 stages to compare with cervical vertebral maturation stage by Baccetti et al. The Bjork, Grave and Brown stages were reduced to six intervals to compare with cervical vertebral maturational index (CVMI) staging by Hassel and Farman. These measurements were then compared with the hand wrist bone analysis, and the results were statistically analyzed using the Mann-Whitney test. There was no significant difference between the hand wrist analysis and the two different cervical vertebral analyses for assessing skeletal maturation. There was no significant difference between the two cervical vertebral analyses, but the CVMI method, which is visual method is less time consuming. Vertebral analysis on a lateral cephalogram is as valid as the hand wrist bone analysis with the advantage of reducing the radiation exposure of growing subjects.

A Method to Increase Drivers' Trust in Collision Warning Systems Based on Reliability Information of Sensor

Science.gov (United States)

Tsutsumi, Shigeyoshi; Wada, Takahiro; Akita, Tokihiko; Doi, Shun'ichi

Driver's workload tends to be increased during driving under complicated traffic environments like a lane change. In such cases, rear collision warning is effective for reduction of cognitive workload. On the other hand, it is pointed out that false alarm or missing alarm caused by sensor errors leads to decrease of driver' s trust in the warning system and it can result in low efficiency of the system. Suppose that reliability information of the sensor is provided in real-time. In this paper, we propose a new warning method to increase driver' s trust in the system even with low sensor reliability utilizing the sensor reliability information. The effectiveness of the warning methods is shown by driving simulator experiments.

5{sup th} European-American workshop on reliability of NDE. Proceedings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2013-07-01

This proceeding contains 37 lectures and 26 posters relating to the following main topics: 1. New nondestructive evaluation methods and reliability; 2. Human factors; 3. Applications in industry; 4. Reliability of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM); and 5. Integrated solutions. 8 papers are separately analyzed for the INIS database.

Design for reliability: NASA reliability preferred practices for design and test

Science.gov (United States)

Lalli, Vincent R.

1994-01-01

This tutorial summarizes reliability experience from both NASA and industry and reflects engineering practices that support current and future civil space programs. These practices were collected from various NASA field centers and were reviewed by a committee of senior technical representatives from the participating centers (members are listed at the end). The material for this tutorial was taken from the publication issued by the NASA Reliability and Maintainability Steering Committee (NASA Reliability Preferred Practices for Design and Test. NASA TM-4322, 1991). Reliability must be an integral part of the systems engineering process. Although both disciplines must be weighed equally with other technical and programmatic demands, the application of sound reliability principles will be the key to the effectiveness and affordability of America's space program. Our space programs have shown that reliability efforts must focus on the design characteristics that affect the frequency of failure. Herein, we emphasize that these identified design characteristics must be controlled by applying conservative engineering principles.

ASSESSING AND COMBINING RELIABILITY OF PROTEIN INTERACTION SOURCES

Science.gov (United States)

LEACH, SONIA; GABOW, AARON; HUNTER, LAWRENCE; GOLDBERG, DEBRA S.

2008-01-01

Integrating diverse sources of interaction information to create protein networks requires strategies sensitive to differences in accuracy and coverage of each source. Previous integration approaches calculate reliabilities of protein interaction information sources based on congruity to a designated ‘gold standard.’ In this paper, we provide a comparison of the two most popular existing approaches and propose a novel alternative for assessing reliabilities which does not require a gold standard. We identify a new method for combining the resultant reliabilities and compare it against an existing method. Further, we propose an extrinsic approach to evaluation of reliability estimates, considering their influence on the downstream tasks of inferring protein function and learning regulatory networks from expression data. Results using this evaluation method show 1) our method for reliability estimation is an attractive alternative to those requiring a gold standard and 2) the new method for combining reliabilities is less sensitive to noise in reliability assignments than the similar existing technique. PMID:17990508

Cultural adaptation of the Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire in patients with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: A Turkish version study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ilker Ilhanli

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Objective: Cultural adaptations of the questionnaires are important for easy use. We aimed to assess the reliability and validity of the Turkish Version of the Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire in patients with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Methods: To assess test-retest reliability, the Turkish “Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire” and “Disabilities of Arm, Shoulder and Hand” questionnaires were answered by patients and controls and were repeated a week later. For testing internal consistency, the Cronbach's alpha test was used. For testing validity, correlations between the subscales of the “Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire” and “Disabilities of Arm, Shoulder and Hand” questionnaire were measured in patient groups. One hundred patients with idiopathic Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and 50 healthy participants were included in the study. Results: In test-retest reliability, intraclass correlations of the subscales of the “Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire” were high. Cronbach's alphas were found to be high in all subscales. There was no significant correlation between asthetics and pain scales. We found significant differences between patients and controls regarding all subscales of the “Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire”. Correlations between subscales of the “Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire” and “Disabilities of Arm, Shoulder and Hand” questionnaire were significant. We found no difference between one-hand effected and two-hand effected patients, in terms of the “Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire”, “Disabilities of Arm, Shoulder and Hand” questionnaire Function/Symptom and Work average scores. Conclusion: This study showed that the Turkish version of the “Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire” is reliable and valid and can be used in Turkish patients with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome because it is comprehensible and practicable

On the reliability evaluation of communication equipment for SMART using FMEA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, D. H.; Suh, Y. S.; Koo, I. S.; Song, Ki Sang; Han, Byung Rae

2000-07-01

This report describes the reliability analysis method for communication equipment using FMEA and FTA. The major equipments to be applicable for SMART communication networks are repeater, bridge, router and gateway and we can apply the FMEA or FTA technique. In the FMEA process, analysis of tagged system, decision of the level of analysis of the target system, drawing reliability block diagram according to the function, decision of failure mode, writing the fault reasons, writing on the FMEA sheet and FMEA level decision are included. Also, the FTA, it is possible to figure out top event reasons and system reliability. We have considered these in mind and we did the FMEA and FTA for NIC, hub, client server and router. Also, we suggested and integrated network model for nuclear power plant and we have shown the reliability analysis procedure according to FTA. If any proprietary communication device is developed, the reliability can be easily determined with proposed procedures

On the reliability evaluation of communication equipment for SMART using FMEA

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, D. H.; Suh, Y. S.; Koo, I. S.; Song, Ki Sang; Han, Byung Rae

2000-07-01

This report describes the reliability analysis method for communication equipment using FMEA and FTA. The major equipments to be applicable for SMART communication networks are repeater, bridge, router and gateway and we can apply the FMEA or FTA technique. In the FMEA process, analysis of tagged system, decision of the level of analysis of the target system, drawing reliability block diagram according to the function, decision of failure mode, writing the fault reasons, writing on the FMEA sheet and FMEA level decision are included. Also, the FTA, it is possible to figure out top event reasons and system reliability. We have considered these in mind and we did the FMEA and FTA for NIC, hub, client server and router. Also, we suggested and integrated network model for nuclear power plant and we have shown the reliability analysis procedure according to FTA. If any proprietary communication device is developed, the reliability can be easily determined with proposed procedures.

Sensitivity analysis in a structural reliability context

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lemaitre, Paul

2014-01-01

This thesis' subject is sensitivity analysis in a structural reliability context. The general framework is the study of a deterministic numerical model that allows to reproduce a complex physical phenomenon. The aim of a reliability study is to estimate the failure probability of the system from the numerical model and the uncertainties of the inputs. In this context, the quantification of the impact of the uncertainty of each input parameter on the output might be of interest. This step is called sensitivity analysis. Many scientific works deal with this topic but not in the reliability scope. This thesis' aim is to test existing sensitivity analysis methods, and to propose more efficient original methods. A bibliographical step on sensitivity analysis on one hand and on the estimation of small failure probabilities on the other hand is first proposed. This step raises the need to develop appropriate techniques. Two variables ranking methods are then explored. The first one proposes to make use of binary classifiers (random forests). The second one measures the departure, at each step of a subset method, between each input original density and the density given the subset reached. A more general and original methodology reflecting the impact of the input density modification on the failure probability is then explored. The proposed methods are then applied on the CWNR case, which motivates this thesis. (author)

Pocket Handbook on Reliability

Science.gov (United States)

1975-09-01

exponencial distributions Weibull distribution, -xtimating reliability, confidence intervals, relia- bility growth, 0. P- curves, Bayesian analysis. 20 A S...introduction for those not familiar with reliability and a good refresher for those who are currently working in the area. LEWIS NERI, CHIEF...includes one or both of the following objectives: a) prediction of the current system reliability, b) projection on the system reliability for someI future

The Marble-Hand Illusion.

Science.gov (United States)

Senna, Irene; Maravita, Angelo; Bolognini, Nadia; Parise, Cesare V

2014-01-01

Our body is made of flesh and bones. We know it, and in our daily lives all the senses constantly provide converging information about this simple, factual truth. But is this always the case? Here we report a surprising bodily illusion demonstrating that humans rapidly update their assumptions about the material qualities of their body, based on their recent multisensory perceptual experience. To induce a misperception of the material properties of the hand, we repeatedly gently hit participants' hand with a small hammer, while progressively replacing the natural sound of the hammer against the skin with the sound of a hammer hitting a piece of marble. After five minutes, the hand started feeling stiffer, heavier, harder, less sensitive, unnatural, and showed enhanced Galvanic skin response (GSR) to threatening stimuli. Notably, such a change in skin conductivity positively correlated with changes in perceived hand stiffness. Conversely, when hammer hits and impact sounds were temporally uncorrelated, participants did not spontaneously report any changes in the perceived properties of the hand, nor did they show any modulation in GSR. In two further experiments, we ruled out that mere audio-tactile synchrony is the causal factor triggering the illusion, further demonstrating the key role of material information conveyed by impact sounds in modulating the perceived material properties of the hand. This novel bodily illusion, the 'Marble-Hand Illusion', demonstrates that the perceived material of our body, surely the most stable attribute of our bodily self, can be quickly updated through multisensory integration.

An integral equation approach to the interval reliability of systems modelled by finite semi-Markov processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Csenki, A.

1995-01-01

The interval reliability for a repairable system which alternates between working and repair periods is defined as the probability of the system being functional throughout a given time interval. In this paper, a set of integral equations is derived for this dependability measure, under the assumption that the system is modelled by an irreducible finite semi-Markov process. The result is applied to the semi-Markov model of a two-unit system with sequential preventive maintenance. The method used for the numerical solution of the resulting system of integral equations is a two-point trapezoidal rule. The system of implementation is the matrix computation package MATLAB on the Apple Macintosh SE/30. The numerical results are discussed and compared with those from simulation

Hands-On Hydrology

Science.gov (United States)

Mathews, Catherine E.; Monroe, Louise Nelson

2004-01-01

A professional school and university collaboration enables elementary students and their teachers to explore hydrology concepts and realize the beneficial functions of wetlands. Hands-on experiences involve young students in determining water quality at field sites after laying the groundwork with activities related to the hydrologic cycle,…

An integrated portable hand-held analyser for real-time isothermal nucleic acid amplification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, Matthew C.; Steimle, George; Ivanov, Stan; Holly, Mark; Fries, David P.

2007-01-01

A compact hand-held heated fluorometric instrument for performing real-time isothermal nucleic acid amplification and detection is described. The optoelectronic instrument combines a Printed Circuit Board/Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (PCB/MEMS) reaction detection/chamber containing an integrated resistive heater with attached miniature LED light source and photo-detector and a disposable glass waveguide capillary to enable a mini-fluorometer. The fluorometer is fabricated and assembled in planar geometry, rolled into a tubular format and packaged with custom control electronics to form the hand-held reactor. Positive or negative results for each reaction are displayed to the user using an LED interface. Reaction data is stored in FLASH memory for retrieval via an in-built USB connection. Operating on one disposable 3 V lithium battery >12, 60 min reactions can be performed. Maximum dimensions of the system are 150 mm (h) x 48 mm (d) x 40 mm (w), the total instrument weight (with battery) is 140 g. The system produces comparable results to laboratory instrumentation when performing a real-time nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA) reaction, and also displayed comparable precision, accuracy and resolution to laboratory-based real-time nucleic acid amplification instrumentation. A good linear response (R 2 = 0.948) to fluorescein gradients ranging from 0.5 to 10 μM was also obtained from the instrument indicating that it may be utilized for other fluorometric assays. This instrument enables an inexpensive, compact approach to in-field genetic screening, providing results comparable to laboratory equipment with rapid user feedback as to the status of the reaction

An integrated portable hand-held analyser for real-time isothermal nucleic acid amplification

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Smith, Matthew C. [College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, St Petersburg, FL (United States)], E-mail: msmith@marine.usf.edu; Steimle, George; Ivanov, Stan; Holly, Mark; Fries, David P. [College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, St Petersburg, FL (United States)

2007-08-29

A compact hand-held heated fluorometric instrument for performing real-time isothermal nucleic acid amplification and detection is described. The optoelectronic instrument combines a Printed Circuit Board/Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (PCB/MEMS) reaction detection/chamber containing an integrated resistive heater with attached miniature LED light source and photo-detector and a disposable glass waveguide capillary to enable a mini-fluorometer. The fluorometer is fabricated and assembled in planar geometry, rolled into a tubular format and packaged with custom control electronics to form the hand-held reactor. Positive or negative results for each reaction are displayed to the user using an LED interface. Reaction data is stored in FLASH memory for retrieval via an in-built USB connection. Operating on one disposable 3 V lithium battery >12, 60 min reactions can be performed. Maximum dimensions of the system are 150 mm (h) x 48 mm (d) x 40 mm (w), the total instrument weight (with battery) is 140 g. The system produces comparable results to laboratory instrumentation when performing a real-time nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA) reaction, and also displayed comparable precision, accuracy and resolution to laboratory-based real-time nucleic acid amplification instrumentation. A good linear response (R{sup 2} = 0.948) to fluorescein gradients ranging from 0.5 to 10 {mu}M was also obtained from the instrument indicating that it may be utilized for other fluorometric assays. This instrument enables an inexpensive, compact approach to in-field genetic screening, providing results comparable to laboratory equipment with rapid user feedback as to the status of the reaction.

Reliability Calculations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Kurt Erling

1986-01-01

Risk and reliability analysis is increasingly being used in evaluations of plant safety and plant reliability. The analysis can be performed either during the design process or during the operation time, with the purpose to improve the safety or the reliability. Due to plant complexity and safety...... and availability requirements, sophisticated tools, which are flexible and efficient, are needed. Such tools have been developed in the last 20 years and they have to be continuously refined to meet the growing requirements. Two different areas of application were analysed. In structural reliability probabilistic...... approaches have been introduced in some cases for the calculation of the reliability of structures or components. A new computer program has been developed based upon numerical integration in several variables. In systems reliability Monte Carlo simulation programs are used especially in analysis of very...

Human reliability analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dougherty, E.M.; Fragola, J.R.

1988-01-01

The authors present a treatment of human reliability analysis incorporating an introduction to probabilistic risk assessment for nuclear power generating stations. They treat the subject according to the framework established for general systems theory. Draws upon reliability analysis, psychology, human factors engineering, and statistics, integrating elements of these fields within a systems framework. Provides a history of human reliability analysis, and includes examples of the application of the systems approach

Integration of human reliability analysis into the probabilistic risk assessment process: Phase 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bell, B.J.; Vickroy, S.C.

1984-10-01

A research program was initiated to develop a testable set of analytical procedures for integrating human reliability analysis (HRA) into the probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) process to more adequately assess the overall impact of human performance on risk. In this three-phase program, stand-alone HRA/PRA analytic procedures will be developed and field evaluated to provide improved methods, techniques, and models for applying quantitative and qualitative human error data which systematically integrate HRA principles, techniques, and analyses throughout the entire PRA process. Phase 1 of the program involved analysis of state-of-the-art PRAs to define the structures and processes currently in use in the industry. Phase 2 research will involve developing a new or revised PRA methodology which will enable more efficient regulation of the industry using quantitative or qualitative results of the PRA. Finally, Phase 3 will be to field test those procedures to assure that the results generated by the new methodologies will be usable and acceptable to the NRC. This paper briefly describes the first phase of the program and outlines the second

Variation-Aware Design of Custom Integrated Circuits A Hands-on Field Guide A Hands-on Field Guide

CERN Document Server

McConaghy, Trent; Dyck, Jeffrey; Gupta, Amit

2013-01-01

This book targets custom IC designers who are encountering variation issues in their designs, especially for modern process nodes at 45nm and below, such as statistical process variations, environmental variations, and layout effects.  The authors have created a field guide to show how to handle variation proactively, and to understand the benefits of doing so. Readers facing variation challenges in their memory, standard cell, analog/RF, and custom digital designs will find easy-to-read, pragmatic solutions.   Reviews the most important concepts in variation-aware design, including types of variables and variation, useful variation-aware design terminology, and an overview and comparison of high-level design flows. Describes and compares a suite of approaches and flows for PVT corner-driven design and verification. Presents Fast PVT, a novel, confidence-driven global optimization technique for PVT corner extraction and verification that is both rapid and reliable. Presents a visually-oriented overview of ...

THE VISIBLE HAND? THE ECONOMICS OF ALFRED CHANDLER

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Don Matthews

2000-01-01

Full Text Available In his great work The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business, Alfred Chandler argues that the modern managerial enterprise replaced the invisible hand of the market in coordinating the activities and allocating the resources of the U.S. economy. But Chandler’s view of the invisible hand of the market is much too narrow. The modern managerial enterprise is not a substitute for the invisible hand of the market but an integral part of it. The Visible Hand is actually a history of the invisible hand of the market.

Tactile Working Memory Outside our Hands

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Takako Yoshida

2011-10-01

Full Text Available The haptic perception of 2D images is believed to make heavy demands on working memory. During active exploration, we need to store not only the current sensory information, but also to integrate this with kinesthetic information of the hand and fingers in order to generate a coherent percept. The question that arises is how much tactile memory we have for tactile stimuli that are no longer in contact with the skin during active touch? We examined working memory using a tactile change detection task with active exploration. Each trial contained two stimulation arrays. Participants engaged in unconstrained active tactile exploration of an array of vibrotactile stimulators. In half of the trials, one of the vibrating tactors that was active in the first stimulation turned off and another started vibrating in the second stimulation. Participants had to report whether the arrays were the same or different. Performance was near-perfect when up to two tactors were used and dropped linearly as the number of the vibrating tactors increased. These results suggest that the tactile working memory off the hand is limited and there is little or no memory integration across hand movements.

Robot hand tackles jobs in hazardous areas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Simms, Mark; Crowder, Richard.

1989-01-01

A robot hand and arm designed to mimic the operation of its human counterpart, developed at the University of Southampton for use in a standard industrial glovebox, is described. It was specifically designed for use in a radioactive environment moving high dosage components around. As dosage limits go down, there is a legal requirement to remove people from that environment. The nine-axis arm is for use in a glove designed for a human hand. Drive for the motors used to power the hand is from three-phase MOSFET inventor cards, the switching pattern controlled by the Hall effect communication sensors integral to each motor. The computer software for the arm allows the hand to be positioned using a joystick on a control box, with three levels of command for grip, pinch and touch. (author)

Integrated Reliability-Based Optimal Design of Structures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, John Dalsgaard; Thoft-Christensen, Palle

1987-01-01

In conventional optimal design of structural systems the weight or the initial cost of the structure is usually used as objective function. Further, the constraints require that the stresses and/or strains at some critical points have to be less than some given values. Finally, all variables......-based optimal design is discussed. Next, an optimal inspection and repair strategy for existing structural systems is presented. An optimization problem is formulated , where the objective is to minimize the expected total future cost of inspection and repair subject to the constraint that the reliability...... value. The reliability can be measured from an element and/or a systems point of view. A number of methods to solve reliability-based optimization problems has been suggested, see e.g. Frangopol [I]. Murotsu et al. (2], Thoft-Christensen & Sørensen (3] and Sørensen (4). For structures where...

On-chip multi-wavelength laser sources fabricated using generic photonic integration technology

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Latkowski, S.; Williams, K.A.; Bente, E.A.J.M.

Generic photonic integration technology platforms allow for design and fabrication of large complexity application specific photonic integrated circuits. Monolithic active-passive integration on indium phosphide substrate naturally enables a reliable co-integration of optical gain elements and

Grasp specific and user friendly interface design for myoelectric hand prostheses.

Science.gov (United States)

Mohammadi, Alireza; Lavranos, Jim; Howe, Rob; Choong, Peter; Oetomo, Denny

2017-07-01

This paper presents the design and characterisation of a hand prosthesis and its user interface, focusing on performing the most commonly used grasps in activities of daily living (ADLs). Since the operation of a multi-articulated powered hand prosthesis is difficult to learn and master, there is a significant rate of abandonment by amputees in preference for simpler devices. In choosing so, amputees chose to live with fewer features in their prosthesis that would more reliably perform the basic operations. In this paper, we look simultaneously at a hand prosthesis design method that aims for a small number of grasps, a low complexity user interface and an alternative method to the current use of EMG as a preshape selection method through the use of a simple button; to enable amputees to get to and execute the intended hand movements intuitively, quickly and reliably. An experiment is reported at the end of the paper comparing the speed and accuracy with which able-bodied naive subjects are able to select the intended preshapes through the use of a simplified EMG method and a simple button. It is shown that the button was significantly superior in the speed of successful task completion and marginally superior in accuracy (success of first attempt).

Integrated Reliability and Risk Analysis System (IRRAS), Version 2.5: Reference manual

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Russell, K.D.; McKay, M.K.; Sattison, M.B.; Skinner, N.L.; Wood, S.T.; Rasmuson, D.M.

1991-03-01

The Integrated Reliability and Risk Analysis System (IRRAS) is a state-of-the-art, microcomputer-based probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) model development and analysis tool to address key nuclear plant safety issues. IRRAS is an integrated software tool that gives the user the ability to create and analyze fault trees and accident sequences using a microcomputer. This program provides functions that range from graphical fault tree construction to cut set generation and quantification. Version 1.0 of the IRRAS program was released in February of 1987. Since that time, many user comments and enhancements have been incorporated into the program providing a much more powerful and user-friendly system. This version has been designated IRRAS 2.5 and is the subject of this Reference Manual. Version 2.5 of IRRAS provides the same capabilities as Version 1.0 and adds a relational data base facility for managing the data, improved functionality, and improved algorithm performance. 7 refs., 348 figs

ADAPTATION OF DASH OUTCOME MEASURES TO SLOVENIAN POPULATION - FUNCTIONALITY OF ARM, SHOULDER AND HAND

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katja Semprimožnik

2015-04-01

Full Text Available  ABSTRACT BackgroundIn Slovenia, there is no test for upper limb function, which would be uniform for all institutions and would allow comparison of results of the therapy and upper limb rehabilitation with medical centers. MethodsAfter reviewing the existing hand function tests and current literature we decided to translate the DASH test - Disabilities of arm, shoulder and hand. Adaptation was tested on patient population in outpatient hand clinic, General hospital Celje and showed good validity, reliability and responsiveness. Results and discussionAdaptation of DASH test to Slovene population is a procedure, where language and cultural differences must be considered. Testing the adapted DASH in the general population shows good validity, reliability and responsiveness of adapted test. ConclusionTranslations DASH test, QuickDASH test and instructions for scoring the DASH outcome measures are approved by the Institute for Work and Health. Translations are published on their site and available for use.

Hand-Geometry Recognition Based on Contour Parameters

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Veldhuis, Raymond N.J.; Bazen, A.M.; Booij, W.D.T.; Hendrikse, A.J.; Jain, A.K.; Ratha, N.K.

This paper demonstrates the feasibility of a new method of hand-geometry recognition based on parameters derived from the contour of the hand. The contour is completely determined by the black-and-white image of the hand and can be derived from it by means of simple image-processing techniques. It

The gate oxide integrity of CVD tungsten polycide

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, N.W.; Su, W.D.; Chang, S.W.; Tseng, M.F.

1988-01-01

CVD tungsten polycide has been demonstrated as a good gate material in recent very large scale integration (VLSI) technology. CVD tungsten silicide offers advantages of low resistivity, high temperature stability and good step coverage. On the other hand, the polysilicon underlayer preserves most characteristics of the polysilicon gate and acts as a stress buffer layer to absorb part of the thermal stress origin from the large thermal expansion coefficient of tungsten silicide. Nevertheless, the gate oxide of CVD tungsten polycide is less stable or reliable than that of polysilicon gate. In this paper, the gate oxide integrity of CVD tungsten polycide with various thickness combinations and different thermal processes have been analyzed by several electrical measurements including breakdown yield, breakdown fluence, room temperature TDDB, I-V characteristics, electron traps and interface state density

Human Reliability Program Overview

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bodin, Michael

2012-09-25

This presentation covers the high points of the Human Reliability Program, including certification/decertification, critical positions, due process, organizational structure, program components, personnel security, an overview of the US DOE reliability program, retirees and academia, and security program integration.

Recognizing the Operating Hand and the Hand-Changing Process for User Interface Adjustment on Smartphones.

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Hansong; Huang, He; Huang, Liusheng; Sun, Yu-E

2016-08-20

As the size of smartphone touchscreens has become larger and larger in recent years, operability with a single hand is getting worse, especially for female users. We envision that user experience can be significantly improved if smartphones are able to recognize the current operating hand, detect the hand-changing process and then adjust the user interfaces subsequently. In this paper, we proposed, implemented and evaluated two novel systems. The first one leverages the user-generated touchscreen traces to recognize the current operating hand, and the second one utilizes the accelerometer and gyroscope data of all kinds of activities in the user's daily life to detect the hand-changing process. These two systems are based on two supervised classifiers constructed from a series of refined touchscreen trace, accelerometer and gyroscope features. As opposed to existing solutions that all require users to select the current operating hand or confirm the hand-changing process manually, our systems follow much more convenient and practical methods and allow users to change the operating hand frequently without any harm to the user experience. We conduct extensive experiments on Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphones, and the evaluation results demonstrate that our proposed systems can recognize the current operating hand and detect the hand-changing process with 94.1% and 93.9% precision and 94.1% and 93.7% True Positive Rates (TPR) respectively, when deciding with a single touchscreen trace or accelerometer-gyroscope data segment, and the False Positive Rates (FPR) are as low as 2.6% and 0.7% accordingly. These two systems can either work completely independently and achieve pretty high accuracies or work jointly to further improve the recognition accuracy.

A Comparison of Hand Wrist Bone Analysis with Two Different Cervical Vertebral Analysis in Measuring Skeletal Maturation

Science.gov (United States)

Pichai, Saravanan; Rajesh, M; Reddy, Naveen; Adusumilli, Gopinath; Reddy, Jayaprakash; Joshi, Bhavana

2014-01-01

Background: Skeletal maturation is an integral part of individual pattern of growth and development and is a continuous process. Peak growth velocity in standing height is the most valid representation of the rate of overall skeletal growth. Ossification changes of hand wrist and cervical vertebrae are the reliable indicators of growth status of individual. The objective of this study was to compare skeletal maturation as measured by hand wrist bone analysis and cervical vertebral analysis. Materials and Methods: Hand wrist radiographs and lateral cephalograms of 72 subjects aged between 7 and 16 years both male and female from the patients visiting Department of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, R.V. Dental College and Hospital. The 9 stages were reduced to 5 stages to compare with cervical vertebral maturation stage by Baccetti et al. The Bjork, Grave and Brown stages were reduced to six intervals to compare with cervical vertebral maturational index (CVMI) staging by Hassel and Farman. These measurements were then compared with the hand wrist bone analysis, and the results were statistically analyzed using the Mann–Whitney test. Results: There was no significant difference between the hand wrist analysis and the two different cervical vertebral analyses for assessing skeletal maturation. There was no significant difference between the two cervical vertebral analyses, but the CVMI method, which is visual method is less time consuming. Conclusion: Vertebral analysis on a lateral cephalogram is as valid as the hand wrist bone analysis with the advantage of reducing the radiation exposure of growing subjects. PMID:25395791

Approximation of reliability of direct genomic breeding values

Science.gov (United States)

Two methods to efficiently approximate theoretical genomic reliabilities are presented. The first method is based on the direct inverse of the left hand side (LHS) of mixed model equations. It uses the genomic relationship matrix for a small subset of individuals with the highest genomic relationshi...

Energy Systems Integration Facility Videos | Energy Systems Integration

Science.gov (United States)

Facility | NREL Energy Systems Integration Facility Videos Energy Systems Integration Facility Integration Facility NREL + SolarCity: Maximizing Solar Power on Electrical Grids Redefining What's Possible for Renewable Energy: Grid Integration Robot-Powered Reliability Testing at NREL's ESIF Microgrid

Enhanced Motor Imagery-Based BCI Performance via Tactile Stimulation on Unilateral Hand

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaokang Shu

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Brain-computer interface (BCI has attracted great interests for its effectiveness in assisting disabled people. However, due to the poor BCI performance, this technique is still far from daily-life applications. One of critical issues confronting BCI research is how to enhance BCI performance. This study aimed at improving the motor imagery (MI based BCI accuracy by integrating MI tasks with unilateral tactile stimulation (Uni-TS. The effects were tested on both healthy subjects and stroke patients in a controlled study. Twenty-two healthy subjects and four stroke patients were recruited and randomly divided into a control-group and an enhanced-group. In the control-group, subjects performed two blocks of conventional MI tasks (left hand vs. right hand, with 80 trials in each block. In the enhanced-group, subjects also performed two blocks of MI tasks, but constant tactile stimulation was applied on the non-dominant/paretic hand during MI tasks in the second block. We found the Uni-TS significantly enhanced the contralateral cortical activations during MI of the stimulated hand, whereas it had no influence on activation patterns during MI of the non-stimulated hand. The two-class BCI decoding accuracy was significantly increased from 72.5% (MI without Uni-TS to 84.7% (MI with Uni-TS in the enhanced-group (p < 0.001, paired t-test. Moreover, stroke patients in the enhanced-group achieved an accuracy >80% during MI with Uni-TS. This novel approach complements the conventional methods for BCI enhancement without increasing source information or complexity of signal processing. This enhancement via Uni-TS may facilitate clinical applications of MI-BCI.

Improved structural integrity through advances in reliable residual stress measurement: the impact of ENGIN-X

Science.gov (United States)

Edwards, L.; Santisteban, J. R.

The determination of accurate reliable residual stresses is critical to many fields of structural integrity. Neutron stress measurement is a non-destructive technique that uniquely provides insights into stress fields deep within engineering components and structures. As such, it has become an increasingly important tool within engineering, leading to improved manufacturing processes to reduce stress and distortion as well as to the definition of more precise lifing procedures. This paper describes the likely impact of the next generation of dedicated engineering stress diffractometers currently being constructed and the utility of the technique using examples of residual stresses both beneficial and detrimental to structural integrity.

A natural approach to convey numerical digits using hand activity recognition based on hand shape features

Science.gov (United States)

Chidananda, H.; Reddy, T. Hanumantha

2017-06-01

This paper presents a natural representation of numerical digit(s) using hand activity analysis based on number of fingers out stretched for each numerical digit in sequence extracted from a video. The analysis is based on determining a set of six features from a hand image. The most important features used from each frame in a video are the first fingertip from top, palm-line, palm-center, valley points between the fingers exists above the palm-line. Using this work user can convey any number of numerical digits using right or left or both the hands naturally in a video. Each numerical digit ranges from 0 to9. Hands (right/left/both) used to convey digits can be recognized accurately using the valley points and with this recognition whether the user is a right / left handed person in practice can be analyzed. In this work, first the hand(s) and face parts are detected by using YCbCr color space and face part is removed by using ellipse based method. Then, the hand(s) are analyzed to recognize the activity that represents a series of numerical digits in a video. This work uses pixel continuity algorithm using 2D coordinate geometry system and does not use regular use of calculus, contours, convex hull and datasets.

1st Hands-on Science Science Fair

OpenAIRE

Costa, Manuel F. M.; Esteves. Z.

2017-01-01

In school learning of science through investigative hands-on experiments is in the core of the Hands-on Science Network vision. However informal and non-formal contexts may also provide valuable paths for implementing this strategy aiming a better e!ective science education. In May 2011, a "rst country wide “Hands-on Science’ Science Fair” was organized in Portugal with the participation of 131 students that presented 38 projects in all "elds of Science. In this communication we will pr...

The Effects of Industrial Protective Gloves and Hand Skin Temperatures on Hand Grip Strength and Discomfort Rating.

Science.gov (United States)

Ramadan, Mohamed Z

2017-12-04

Daily working activities and functions require a high contribution of hand and forearm muscles in executing grip force. To study the effects of wearing different gloves on grip strength, under a variety of hand skin temperatures, an assessment of the maximum grip strength was performed with 32 healthy male workers with a mean age (standard deviation) of 30.44 (5.35) years wearing five industrial gloves at three hand skin temperatures. Their ages and anthropometric characteristics including body mass index (BMI), hand length, hand width, hand depth, hand palm, and wrist circumference were measured. The hand was exposed to different bath temperatures (5 °C, 25 °C, and 45 °C) and hand grip strength was measured using a Jamar hydraulic hand dynamometer with and without wearing the gloves (chemical protection glove, rubber insulating glove, anti-vibration impact glove, cotton yarn knitted glove, and RY-WG002 working glove). The data were analyzed using the Shapiro-Wilk test, Pearson correlation coefficient, Tukey test, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the within-subject design analysis. The results showed that wearing gloves significantly affected the maximum grip strength. Wearing the RY-WG002 working glove produced a greater reduction on the maximum grip when compared with the bare hand, while low temperatures (5 °C) had a significant influence on grip when compared to medium (25 °C) and high (45 °C) hand skin temperatures. In addition, participants felt more discomfort in both environmental extreme conditions. Furthermore, they reported more discomfort while wearing neoprene, rubber, and RY-WG002 working gloves.

Rubber hand illusion under delayed visual feedback.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sotaro Shimada

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Rubber hand illusion (RHI is a subject's illusion of the self-ownership of a rubber hand that was touched synchronously with their own hand. Although previous studies have confirmed that this illusion disappears when the rubber hand was touched asynchronously with the subject's hand, the minimum temporal discrepancy of these two events for attenuation of RHI has not been examined. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this study, various temporal discrepancies between visual and tactile stimulations were introduced by using a visual feedback delay experimental setup, and RHI effects in each temporal discrepancy condition were systematically tested. The results showed that subjects felt significantly greater RHI effects with temporal discrepancies of less than 300 ms compared with longer temporal discrepancies. The RHI effects on reaching performance (proprioceptive drift showed similar conditional differences. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our results first demonstrated that a temporal discrepancy of less than 300 ms between visual stimulation of the rubber hand and tactile stimulation to the subject's own hand is preferable to induce strong sensation of RHI. We suggest that the time window of less than 300 ms is critical for multi-sensory integration processes constituting the self-body image.

Ultrasound of soft tissue masses of the hand

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

James Teh

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Most soft tissue mass lesions of the hand are benign. Ganglia are the commonest lesions encountered, followed by giant cell tumors of the tendon sheath. Malignant tumors are rare. Often a specific diagnosis can be achieved on imaging by considering the location and anatomical relations of the lesion within the hand or wrist, and assessing its morphology. Magnetic resonance imaging is an excellent modality for evaluating soft tissue tumors with its multiplanar capability and ability to characterize tissue. Ultrasound plays a complementary role to MRI. It is often the initial modality used for assessing masses as it is cheap and available, and allows reliable differentiation of cystic from solid lesions, along with a real time assessment of vascularity. This review describes the US appearances of the most frequently encountered soft tissue masses of the wrist and hand, correlating the findings with MRI where appropriate.

Recognizing the Operating Hand and the Hand-Changing Process for User Interface Adjustment on Smartphones

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hansong Guo

2016-08-01

Full Text Available As the size of smartphone touchscreens has become larger and larger in recent years, operability with a single hand is getting worse, especially for female users. We envision that user experience can be significantly improved if smartphones are able to recognize the current operating hand, detect the hand-changing process and then adjust the user interfaces subsequently. In this paper, we proposed, implemented and evaluated two novel systems. The first one leverages the user-generated touchscreen traces to recognize the current operating hand, and the second one utilizes the accelerometer and gyroscope data of all kinds of activities in the user’s daily life to detect the hand-changing process. These two systems are based on two supervised classifiers constructed from a series of refined touchscreen trace, accelerometer and gyroscope features. As opposed to existing solutions that all require users to select the current operating hand or confirm the hand-changing process manually, our systems follow much more convenient and practical methods and allow users to change the operating hand frequently without any harm to the user experience. We conduct extensive experiments on Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphones, and the evaluation results demonstrate that our proposed systems can recognize the current operating hand and detect the hand-changing process with 94.1% and 93.9% precision and 94.1% and 93.7% True Positive Rates (TPR respectively, when deciding with a single touchscreen trace or accelerometer-gyroscope data segment, and the False Positive Rates (FPR are as low as 2.6% and 0.7% accordingly. These two systems can either work completely independently and achieve pretty high accuracies or work jointly to further improve the recognition accuracy.

Shock and vibration effects on performance reliability and mechanical integrity of proton exchange membrane fuel cells: A critical review and discussion

Science.gov (United States)

Haji Hosseinloo, Ashkan; Ehteshami, Mohsen Mousavi

2017-10-01

Performance reliability and mechanical integrity are the main bottlenecks in mass commercialization of PEMFCs for applications with inherent harsh environment such as automotive and aerospace applications. Imparted shock and vibration to the fuel cell in such applications could bring about numerous issues including clamping torque loosening, gas leakage, increased electrical resistance, and structural damage and breakage. Here, we provide a comprehensive review and critique of the literature focusing on the effects of mechanically harsh environment on PEMFCs, and at the end, we suggest two main future directions in FC technology research that need immediate attention: (i) developing a generic and adequately accurate dynamic model of PEMFCs to assess the dynamic response of FC devices, and (ii) designing effective and robust shock and vibration protection systems based on the developed models in (i).

Verification, validation, and reliability of predictions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pigford, T.H.; Chambre, P.L.

1987-04-01

The objective of predicting long-term performance should be to make reliable determinations of whether the prediction falls within the criteria for acceptable performance. Establishing reliable predictions of long-term performance of a waste repository requires emphasis on valid theories to predict performance. The validation process must establish the validity of the theory, the parameters used in applying the theory, the arithmetic of calculations, and the interpretation of results; but validation of such performance predictions is not possible unless there are clear criteria for acceptable performance. Validation programs should emphasize identification of the substantive issues of prediction that need to be resolved. Examples relevant to waste package performance are predicting the life of waste containers and the time distribution of container failures, establishing the criteria for defining container failure, validating theories for time-dependent waste dissolution that depend on details of the repository environment, and determining the extent of congruent dissolution of radionuclides in the UO 2 matrix of spent fuel. Prediction and validation should go hand in hand and should be done and reviewed frequently, as essential tools for the programs to design and develop repositories. 29 refs

Grip Strength Survey Based on Hand Tool Usage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erman ÇAKIT

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Hand grip strength is broadly used for performing tasks involving equipment in production and processing activities. Most professionals in this field rely on grip strength to perform their tasks. There were three main aims of this study: i determining various hand grip strength measurements for the group of hand tool users, ii investigating the effects of height, weight, age, hand dominance, body mass index, previous Cumulative Trauma Disorder (CTD diagnosis, and hand tool usage experience on hand grip strength, and iii comparing the obtained results with existing data for other populations. The study groups comprised 71 healthy male facility workers. The values of subjects’ ages was observed between 26 and 74 years. The data were statistically analyzed to assess the normality of data and the percentile values of grip strength. The results of this study demonstrate that there were no significance differences noted between dominant and non-dominant hands. However, there were highly significant differences between the CTD group and the other group. Hand grip strength for the dominant hand was positively correlated to height, weight, and body mass index, and negatively correlated to age and tool usage experience. Hand dominance, height, weight, body mass index, age and tool usage experience should be considered when establishing normal values for grip strength.

Reliability of the Bulb Dynamometer for Assessing Grip Strength

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Colleen Maher

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Background: Hand function is an overall indicator of health and is often measured using grip strength. Handheld dynamometry is the most common method of measuring grip strength. The purpose of this study was to determine the inter-rater and test-retest reliability, the reliability of one trial versus three trials, and the preliminary norms for a young adult population using the Baseline® Pneumatic Squeeze Bulb Dynamometer (30 psi. Methods: This study used a one-group methodological design. One hundred and three healthy adults (30 males and 73 females were recruited. Six measurements were collected for each hand per participant. The data was analyzed using Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC two-way effects model (2,2 and paired-samples t-tests. Results: The ICC for inter-rater reliability ranged from 0.955 to 0.977. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that the bulb dynamometer is a reliable tool to measure grip strength and should be further explored for reliable and valid use in diverse populations and as an alternative to the Jamar dynamometer.

Reliability analysis of reactor pressure vessel intensity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zheng Liangang; Lu Yongbo

2012-01-01

This paper performs the reliability analysis of reactor pressure vessel (RPV) with ANSYS. The analysis method include direct Monte Carlo Simulation method, Latin Hypercube Sampling, central composite design and Box-Behnken Matrix design. The RPV integrity reliability under given input condition is proposed. The result shows that the effects on the RPV base material reliability are internal press, allowable basic stress and elasticity modulus of base material in descending order, and the effects on the bolt reliability are allowable basic stress of bolt material, preload of bolt and internal press in descending order. (authors)

[Disinfection efficacy of hand hygiene based on chlorhexidine gluconate content and usage of alcohol-based hand-rubbing solution].

Science.gov (United States)

Tanaka, Ippei; Watanabe, Kiyoshi; Nakaminami, Hidemasa; Azuma, Chihiro; Noguchi, Norihisa

2014-01-01

Recently, the procedure for surgical hand hygiene has been switching to a two-stage method and hand-rubbing method from the traditional hand-scrubbing method. Both the two-stage and hand-rubbing methods use alcohol-based hand-rubbing after hand washing. The former requires 5 min of antiseptic hand washing, and the latter 1 min of nonantiseptic hand washing. For a prolonged bactericidal effect in terms of surgical hand hygiene, chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) has been noted due to its residual activity. However, no detailed study comparing the disinfection efficacy and prolonged effects according to different contents of CHG and the usage of alcohol-based hand-rubbing has been conducted. The glove juice method is able to evaluate disinfection efficacy and prolonged effects of the disinfectants more accurately because it can collect not only transitory bacteria but also normal inhabitants on hands. In the present study, we examined the disinfection efficacy and prolonged effects on alcohol-based hand-rubbing containing CHG by six hand-rubbing methods and three two-stage methods using the glove juice method. In both methods, 3 mL (one pump dispenser push volume) alcohol-based hand-rubbing solution containing 1% (w/v) CHG showed the highest disinfection efficacy and prolonged effects, and no significant difference was found between the hand-rubbing and two-stage methods. In the two methods of hand hygiene, the hand-rubbing method was able to save time and cost. Therefore, the data strongly suggest that the hand-rubbing method using a one pump dispenser push volume of alcohol-based hand-rubbing solution containing 1% (w/v) CHG is suitable for surgical hand hygiene.

Predicting protein-protein interactions in Arabidopsis thaliana through integration of orthology, gene ontology and co-expression

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vandepoele Klaas

2009-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Large-scale identification of the interrelationships between different components of the cell, such as the interactions between proteins, has recently gained great interest. However, unraveling large-scale protein-protein interaction maps is laborious and expensive. Moreover, assessing the reliability of the interactions can be cumbersome. Results In this study, we have developed a computational method that exploits the existing knowledge on protein-protein interactions in diverse species through orthologous relations on the one hand, and functional association data on the other hand to predict and filter protein-protein interactions in Arabidopsis thaliana. A highly reliable set of protein-protein interactions is predicted through this integrative approach making use of existing protein-protein interaction data from yeast, human, C. elegans and D. melanogaster. Localization, biological process, and co-expression data are used as powerful indicators for protein-protein interactions. The functional repertoire of the identified interactome reveals interactions between proteins functioning in well-conserved as well as plant-specific biological processes. We observe that although common mechanisms (e.g. actin polymerization and components (e.g. ARPs, actin-related proteins exist between different lineages, they are active in specific processes such as growth, cancer metastasis and trichome development in yeast, human and Arabidopsis, respectively. Conclusion We conclude that the integration of orthology with functional association data is adequate to predict protein-protein interactions. Through this approach, a high number of novel protein-protein interactions with diverse biological roles is discovered. Overall, we have predicted a reliable set of protein-protein interactions suitable for further computational as well as experimental analyses.

Integration of human reliability analysis into the probabilistic risk assessment process: phase 1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bell, B.J.; Vickroy, S.C.

1985-01-01

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Pacific Northwest Laboratory initiated a research program in 1984 to develop a testable set of analytical procedures for integrating human reliability analysis (HRA) into the probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) process to more adequately assess the overall impact of human performance on risk. In this three phase program, stand-alone HRA/PRA analytic procedures will be developed and field evaluated to provide improved methods, techniques, and models for applying quantitative and qualitative human error data which systematically integrate HRA principles, techniques, and analyses throughout the entire PRA process. Phase 1 of the program involved analysis of state-of-the-art PRAs to define the structures and processes currently in use in the industry. Phase 2 research will involve developing a new or revised PRA methodology which will enable more efficient regulation of the industry using quantitative or qualitative results of the PRA. Finally, Phase 3 will be to field test those procedures to assure that the results generated by the new methodologies will be usable and acceptable to the NRC. This paper briefly describes the first phase of the program and outlines the second

The Effects of Industrial Protective Gloves and Hand Skin Temperatures on Hand Grip Strength and Discomfort Rating

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohamed Z. Ramadan

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Daily working activities and functions require a high contribution of hand and forearm muscles in executing grip force. To study the effects of wearing different gloves on grip strength, under a variety of hand skin temperatures, an assessment of the maximum grip strength was performed with 32 healthy male workers with a mean age (standard deviation of 30.44 (5.35 years wearing five industrial gloves at three hand skin temperatures. Their ages and anthropometric characteristics including body mass index (BMI, hand length, hand width, hand depth, hand palm, and wrist circumference were measured. The hand was exposed to different bath temperatures (5 °C, 25 °C, and 45 °C and hand grip strength was measured using a Jamar hydraulic hand dynamometer with and without wearing the gloves (chemical protection glove, rubber insulating glove, anti-vibration impact glove, cotton yarn knitted glove, and RY-WG002 working glove. The data were analyzed using the Shapiro–Wilk test, Pearson correlation coefficient, Tukey test, and analysis of variance (ANOVA of the within-subject design analysis. The results showed that wearing gloves significantly affected the maximum grip strength. Wearing the RY-WG002 working glove produced a greater reduction on the maximum grip when compared with the bare hand, while low temperatures (5 °C had a significant influence on grip when compared to medium (25 °C and high (45 °C hand skin temperatures. In addition, participants felt more discomfort in both environmental extreme conditions. Furthermore, they reported more discomfort while wearing neoprene, rubber, and RY-WG002 working gloves.

Development of an integrative algorithm for the treatment of various stages of full-thickness burns of the first commissure of the hand.

Science.gov (United States)

Yuste, Valentin; Delgado, Julio; Agullo, Alberto; Sampietro, Jose Mauel

2017-06-01

Burns of the first commissure of the hand can evolve into an adduction contracture of the thumb. We decided to conduct a review of the existing literature on the treatment of full-thickness burns of the first commissure in order to develop a treatment algorithm that integrates the various currently available procedures. A search of the existing literature was conducted, focusing on the treatment of a burn of the first commissure in its chronic and acute phases. A total of 29 relevant articles were selected; 24 focused exclusively on the chronic contracture stage, while 3 focused exclusively on the acute burn stage, and 2 articles studied both stages. A therapeutic algorithm for full-thickness burns of the first commissure of the hand was developed. With this algorithm we sought to relate each degree and stage of the burn with a treatment. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.

Of Iron or Wax? The Effect of Economic Integration on the Reliability of Military Alliances***

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vobolevičius Vincentas

2015-12-01

Full Text Available In this paper we analyze what determines if a military alliance represents a credible commitment. More precisely, we verify if economic integration of military allies increases the deterrent capability of an alliance, and its effectiveness in the case of third-party aggression. We propose that growing intra-alliance trade creates audience costs and sunk costs for political leaders who venture to violate conditions of an alliance treaty. Therefore, intensive trade can be regarded as a signal of allies’ determination to aid one another in the case of third party aggression, and a deterrent of such aggression. Regression analysis of bilateral fixed-term mutual defense agreements concluded between 1945 and 2003 reveals that large trade volumes among military allies indeed reduce the likelihood that their political leaders will breach alliance commitments. Intra-alliance trade also displays a number of interesting interaction effects with the other common predictors of military alliance reliability such as shared allies’ interests and values, symmetry of their military capabilities, their geographic location and domestic political institutions.

[Study on an Exoskeleton Hand Function Training Device].

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Xin; Zhang, Ying; Li, Jicai; Yi, Jinhua; Yu, Hongliu; He, Rongrong

2016-02-01

Based on the structure and motion bionic principle of the normal adult fingers, biological characteristics of human hands were analyzed, and a wearable exoskeleton hand function training device for the rehabilitation of stroke patients or patients with hand trauma was designed. This device includes the exoskeleton mechanical structure and the electromyography (EMG) control system. With adjustable mechanism, the device was capable to fit different finger lengths, and by capturing the EMG of the users' contralateral limb, the motion state of the exoskeleton hand was controlled. Then driven by the device, the user's fingers conducting adduction/abduction rehabilitation training was carried out. Finally, the mechanical properties and training effect of the exoskeleton hand were verified through mechanism simulation and the experiments on the experimental prototype of the wearable exoskeleton hand function training device.

Hands On Earth Science.

Science.gov (United States)

Weisgarber, Sherry L.; Van Doren, Lisa; Hackathorn, Merrianne; Hannibal, Joseph T.; Hansgen, Richard

This publication is a collection of 13 hands-on activities that focus on earth science-related activities and involve students in learning about growing crystals, tectonics, fossils, rock and minerals, modeling Ohio geology, geologic time, determining true north, and constructing scale-models of the Earth-moon system. Each activity contains…

A biometric authentication model using hand gesture images.

Science.gov (United States)

Fong, Simon; Zhuang, Yan; Fister, Iztok; Fister, Iztok

2013-10-30

A novel hand biometric authentication method based on measurements of the user's stationary hand gesture of hand sign language is proposed. The measurement of hand gestures could be sequentially acquired by a low-cost video camera. There could possibly be another level of contextual information, associated with these hand signs to be used in biometric authentication. As an analogue, instead of typing a password 'iloveu' in text which is relatively vulnerable over a communication network, a signer can encode a biometric password using a sequence of hand signs, 'i' , 'l' , 'o' , 'v' , 'e' , and 'u'. Subsequently the features from the hand gesture images are extracted which are integrally fuzzy in nature, to be recognized by a classification model for telling if this signer is who he claimed himself to be, by examining over his hand shape and the postures in doing those signs. It is believed that everybody has certain slight but unique behavioral characteristics in sign language, so are the different hand shape compositions. Simple and efficient image processing algorithms are used in hand sign recognition, including intensity profiling, color histogram and dimensionality analysis, coupled with several popular machine learning algorithms. Computer simulation is conducted for investigating the efficacy of this novel biometric authentication model which shows up to 93.75% recognition accuracy.

Hawaii Electric System Reliability

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Loose, Verne William [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Silva Monroy, Cesar Augusto [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2012-08-01

This report addresses Hawaii electric system reliability issues; greater emphasis is placed on short-term reliability but resource adequacy is reviewed in reference to electric consumers’ views of reliability “worth” and the reserve capacity required to deliver that value. The report begins with a description of the Hawaii electric system to the extent permitted by publicly available data. Electrical engineering literature in the area of electric reliability is researched and briefly reviewed. North American Electric Reliability Corporation standards and measures for generation and transmission are reviewed and identified as to their appropriateness for various portions of the electric grid and for application in Hawaii. Analysis of frequency data supplied by the State of Hawaii Public Utilities Commission is presented together with comparison and contrast of performance of each of the systems for two years, 2010 and 2011. Literature tracing the development of reliability economics is reviewed and referenced. A method is explained for integrating system cost with outage cost to determine the optimal resource adequacy given customers’ views of the value contributed by reliable electric supply. The report concludes with findings and recommendations for reliability in the State of Hawaii.

Forecasting systems reliability based on support vector regression with genetic algorithms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, K.-Y.

2007-01-01

This study applies a novel neural-network technique, support vector regression (SVR), to forecast reliability in engine systems. The aim of this study is to examine the feasibility of SVR in systems reliability prediction by comparing it with the existing neural-network approaches and the autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model. To build an effective SVR model, SVR's parameters must be set carefully. This study proposes a novel approach, known as GA-SVR, which searches for SVR's optimal parameters using real-value genetic algorithms, and then adopts the optimal parameters to construct the SVR models. A real reliability data for 40 suits of turbochargers were employed as the data set. The experimental results demonstrate that SVR outperforms the existing neural-network approaches and the traditional ARIMA models based on the normalized root mean square error and mean absolute percentage error

'Robot' Hand Illusion under Delayed Visual Feedback: Relationship between the Senses of Ownership and Agency.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohamad Arif Fahmi Ismail

Full Text Available The rubber hand illusion (RHI is an illusion of the self-ownership of a rubber hand that is touched synchronously with one's own hand. While the RHI relates to visual and tactile integration, we can also consider a similar illusion with visual and motor integration on a fake hand. We call this a "robot hand illusion" (RoHI, which relates to both the senses of ownership and agency. Here we investigate the effect of delayed visual feedback on the RoHI. Participants viewed a virtual computer graphic hand controlled by their hand movement recorded using a data glove device. We inserted delays of various lengths between the participant's hand and the virtual hand movements (90-590 ms, and the RoHI effects for each delay condition were systematically tested using a questionnaire. The results showed that the participants felt significantly greater RoHI effects with temporal discrepancies of less than 190 ms compared with longer temporal discrepancies, both in the senses of ownership and agency. Additionally, participants felt significant, but weaker, RoHI effects with temporal discrepancies of 290-490 ms in the sense of agency, but not in the sense of ownership. The participants did not feel a RoHI with temporal discrepancies of 590 ms in either the senses of agency or ownership. Our results suggest that a time window of less than 200 ms is critical for multi-sensory integration processes constituting self-body image.

'Robot' Hand Illusion under Delayed Visual Feedback: Relationship between the Senses of Ownership and Agency.

Science.gov (United States)

Ismail, Mohamad Arif Fahmi; Shimada, Sotaro

2016-01-01

The rubber hand illusion (RHI) is an illusion of the self-ownership of a rubber hand that is touched synchronously with one's own hand. While the RHI relates to visual and tactile integration, we can also consider a similar illusion with visual and motor integration on a fake hand. We call this a "robot hand illusion" (RoHI), which relates to both the senses of ownership and agency. Here we investigate the effect of delayed visual feedback on the RoHI. Participants viewed a virtual computer graphic hand controlled by their hand movement recorded using a data glove device. We inserted delays of various lengths between the participant's hand and the virtual hand movements (90-590 ms), and the RoHI effects for each delay condition were systematically tested using a questionnaire. The results showed that the participants felt significantly greater RoHI effects with temporal discrepancies of less than 190 ms compared with longer temporal discrepancies, both in the senses of ownership and agency. Additionally, participants felt significant, but weaker, RoHI effects with temporal discrepancies of 290-490 ms in the sense of agency, but not in the sense of ownership. The participants did not feel a RoHI with temporal discrepancies of 590 ms in either the senses of agency or ownership. Our results suggest that a time window of less than 200 ms is critical for multi-sensory integration processes constituting self-body image.

Recognizing the Operating Hand and the Hand-Changing Process for User Interface Adjustment on Smartphones †

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Hansong; Huang, He; Huang, Liusheng; Sun, Yu-E

2016-01-01

As the size of smartphone touchscreens has become larger and larger in recent years, operability with a single hand is getting worse, especially for female users. We envision that user experience can be significantly improved if smartphones are able to recognize the current operating hand, detect the hand-changing process and then adjust the user interfaces subsequently. In this paper, we proposed, implemented and evaluated two novel systems. The first one leverages the user-generated touchscreen traces to recognize the current operating hand, and the second one utilizes the accelerometer and gyroscope data of all kinds of activities in the user’s daily life to detect the hand-changing process. These two systems are based on two supervised classifiers constructed from a series of refined touchscreen trace, accelerometer and gyroscope features. As opposed to existing solutions that all require users to select the current operating hand or confirm the hand-changing process manually, our systems follow much more convenient and practical methods and allow users to change the operating hand frequently without any harm to the user experience. We conduct extensive experiments on Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphones, and the evaluation results demonstrate that our proposed systems can recognize the current operating hand and detect the hand-changing process with 94.1% and 93.9% precision and 94.1% and 93.7% True Positive Rates (TPR) respectively, when deciding with a single touchscreen trace or accelerometer-gyroscope data segment, and the False Positive Rates (FPR) are as low as 2.6% and 0.7% accordingly. These two systems can either work completely independently and achieve pretty high accuracies or work jointly to further improve the recognition accuracy. PMID:27556461

Electronics reliability calculation and design

CERN Document Server

Dummer, Geoffrey W A; Hiller, N

1966-01-01

Electronics Reliability-Calculation and Design provides an introduction to the fundamental concepts of reliability. The increasing complexity of electronic equipment has made problems in designing and manufacturing a reliable product more and more difficult. Specific techniques have been developed that enable designers to integrate reliability into their products, and reliability has become a science in its own right. The book begins with a discussion of basic mathematical and statistical concepts, including arithmetic mean, frequency distribution, median and mode, scatter or dispersion of mea

Development of a methodology for conducting an integrated HRA/PRA --. Task 1, An assessment of human reliability influences during LP&S conditions PWRs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Luckas, W.J.; Barriere, M.T.; Brown, W.S. [Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States); Wreathall, J. [Wreathall (John) and Co., Dublin, OH (United States); Cooper, S.E. [Science Applications International Corp., McLean, VA (United States)

1993-06-01

During Low Power and Shutdown (LP&S) conditions in a nuclear power plant (i.e., when the reactor is subcritical or at less than 10--15% power), human interactions with the plant`s systems will be more frequent and more direct. Control is typically not mediated by automation, and there are fewer protective systems available. Therefore, an assessment of LP&S related risk should include a greater emphasis on human reliability than such an assessment made for power operation conditions. In order to properly account for the increase in human interaction and thus be able to perform a probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) applicable to operations during LP&S, it is important that a comprehensive human reliability assessment (HRA) methodology be developed and integrated into the LP&S PRA. The tasks comprising the comprehensive HRA methodology development are as follows: (1) identification of the human reliability related influences and associated human actions during LP&S, (2) identification of potentially important LP&S related human actions and appropriate HRA framework and quantification methods, and (3) incorporation and coordination of methodology development with other integrated PRA/HRA efforts. This paper describes the first task, i.e., the assessment of human reliability influences and any associated human actions during LP&S conditions for a pressurized water reactor (PWR).

Reliability calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Petersen, K.E.

1986-03-01

Risk and reliability analysis is increasingly being used in evaluations of plant safety and plant reliability. The analysis can be performed either during the design process or during the operation time, with the purpose to improve the safety or the reliability. Due to plant complexity and safety and availability requirements, sophisticated tools, which are flexible and efficient, are needed. Such tools have been developed in the last 20 years and they have to be continuously refined to meet the growing requirements. Two different areas of application were analysed. In structural reliability probabilistic approaches have been introduced in some cases for the calculation of the reliability of structures or components. A new computer program has been developed based upon numerical integration in several variables. In systems reliability Monte Carlo simulation programs are used especially in analysis of very complex systems. In order to increase the applicability of the programs variance reduction techniques can be applied to speed up the calculation process. Variance reduction techniques have been studied and procedures for implementation of importance sampling are suggested. (author)

Reliability research on nuclear I and C system at KAIST NIC laboratory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seong, Poong-Hyun

1996-01-01

As the use of computer systems becomes popular in nuclear industry, reliability assurance of digitized nuclear instrumentation and control systems is becoming one of hot issues. Some issues on this are S/W verification and validation, reliability estimation of digital systems, development strategy of high integrity knowledge base for expert systems, and so on. In order to address these issues, the Nuclear Instrumentation and Control (NIC) laboratory at KAIST is conducting some research projects. This paper describes some highlights of these research activities. The final goal of these research activities is to develop some useful methodologies and tools for development of dependable digital nuclear instrument and control systems. (author)

Evaluation of skeletal maturity in North Indian subjects using an objective method based on cervical vertebral bone age and assessment of its reliability as compared to hand wrist radiographic method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sandeep Kumar

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Aim: To evaluate the skeletal maturity objectively and assess the reliability and validity of this method in North Indian subjects. Materials and Methods: Sixty subjects (8-16 years were taken and divided into two groups of 30 males and 30 females. For each subject, cervical vertebral bone age (VA was evaluated by the objective method described by Mito et al., and bone age (BA was estimated by Grave and Brown method of hand wrist radiograph. Correlations and average differences between various ages were determined. An analysis of variance and Tukey′s post-hoc tests were used to compare various ages at 5% significance level. Results: The correlations between cervical VAs and BAs were higher than other ages and also more in females than males. The analysis of female data showed no statistically significant difference (P > 0.05 whereas analysis of male data showed statistically significant difference (P < 0.05 between various ages. Conclusion: The findings of the present study suggest that this method of objectively evaluating skeletal maturation is reliable and can be applied to North Indian females only. The development of a new method to objectively evaluate cervical VA in males is needed.

CADRIGS--computer aided design reliability interactive graphics system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kwik, R.J.; Polizzi, L.M.; Sticco, S.; Gerrard, P.B.; Yeater, M.L.; Hockenbury, R.W.; Phillips, M.A.

1982-01-01

An integrated reliability analysis program combining graphic representation of fault trees, automated data base loadings and reference, and automated construction of reliability code input files was developed. The functional specifications for CADRIGS, the computer aided design reliability interactive graphics system, are presented. Previously developed fault tree segments used in auxiliary feedwater system safety analysis were constructed on CADRIGS and, when combined, yielded results identical to those resulting from manual input to the same reliability codes

Influence of rub-in technique on required application time and hand coverage in hygienic hand disinfection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Feil Yvonne

2008-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Recent data indicate that full efficacy of a hand rub preparation for hygienic hand disinfection can be achieved within 15 seconds (s. However, the efficacy test used for the European Norm (EN 1500 samples only the fingertips. Therefore, we investigated hand coverage using sixteen different application variations. The hand rub was supplemented with a fluorescent dye, and hands were assessed under UV light by a blind test, before and after application. Fifteen non-healthcare workers were used as subjects for each application variation apart from one test which was done with a group of twenty healthcare workers. All tests apart from the reference procedure were performed using 3 mL of hand rub. The EN 1500 reference procedure, which consists of 6 specific rub-in steps performed twice with an aliquot of 3 ml each time, served as a control. In one part of this study, each of the six steps was performed from one to five times before proceeding to the next step. In another part of the study, the entire sequence of six steps was performed from one to five times. Finally, all subjects were instructed to cover both hands completely, irrespective of any specific steps ("responsible application". Each rub-in technique was evaluated for untreated skin areas. Results The reference procedure lasted on average 75 s and resulted in 53% of subjects with at least one untreated area on the hands. Five repetitions of the rub-in steps lasted on average 37 s with 67% of subjects having incompletely treated hands. One repetition lasted on average 17 s, and all subjects had at least one untreated area. Repeating the sequence of steps lasted longer, but did not yield a better result. "Responsible application" was quite fast, lasting 25 s among non-healthcare worker subjects and 28 s among healthcare workers. It was also effective, with 53% and 55% of hands being incompletely treated. New techniques were as fast and effective as "responsible

Multidisciplinary System Reliability Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Mahadevan, Sankaran; Han, Song; Chamis, Christos C. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

The objective of this study is to develop a new methodology for estimating the reliability of engineering systems that encompass multiple disciplines. The methodology is formulated in the context of the NESSUS probabilistic structural analysis code, developed under the leadership of NASA Glenn Research Center. The NESSUS code has been successfully applied to the reliability estimation of a variety of structural engineering systems. This study examines whether the features of NESSUS could be used to investigate the reliability of systems in other disciplines such as heat transfer, fluid mechanics, electrical circuits etc., without considerable programming effort specific to each discipline. In this study, the mechanical equivalence between system behavior models in different disciplines are investigated to achieve this objective. A new methodology is presented for the analysis of heat transfer, fluid flow, and electrical circuit problems using the structural analysis routines within NESSUS, by utilizing the equivalence between the computational quantities in different disciplines. This technique is integrated with the fast probability integration and system reliability techniques within the NESSUS code, to successfully compute the system reliability of multidisciplinary systems. Traditional as well as progressive failure analysis methods for system reliability estimation are demonstrated, through a numerical example of a heat exchanger system involving failure modes in structural, heat transfer and fluid flow disciplines.

Studies on the Estimation of Stature from Hand and Foot Length of an Individual

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

O. S. Saka

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Background: Studies on the estimation of stature from hand and foot length of an individual are essential study in personal identification. Aim and Objectives: This study is to find out correlation between statures with hand and foot dimensions in both sexes and gender comparison from an individual in Lautech Staff College in Ogbomoso and College ogbomoso and College of Health Sciences, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Material and Methods: A sample of 140 students and staff; 70 male and 70 female Students and staff of Lautech Staff College in Ogbomoso and College ogbomoso and College of Health Sciences, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, between 16-35years were considered and measurements were taken for each of the parameters. Gender differences for the two parameters were determined using Student t-test. Pearson's correlation coefficient (r was used to examine the relationship between two anthropometric parameters and standing height (stature. All these measurements were done by using standard anthropometric instruments and standard anthropometric techniques. Results: The findings of the study indicated that the males mean values are not significantly difference when compared with females mean values in all measured parameters. The study showed significant (p<0.001 positive correlation between the stature with hand lengths and foot lengths. The hand and foot length provide accurate and reliable means in establishing the height of an individual. Conclusion: This study will be useful for forensic scientists and anthropologists as well as anatomists in ascertain medico-legal cases

Cortical Asymmetries during Hand Laterality Task Vary with Hand Laterality: A fMRI Study in 295 Participants

Science.gov (United States)

Mellet, Emmanuel; Mazoyer, Bernard; Leroux, Gaelle; Joliot, Marc; Tzourio-Mazoyer, Nathalie

2016-01-01

The aim of this study was to characterize, using fMRI, the functional asymmetries of hand laterality task (HLT) in a sample of 295 participants balanced for handedness. During HLT, participants have to decide whether the displayed picture of a hand represent a right or a left hand. Pictures of hands’ back view were presented for 150 ms in the right or left hemifield. At the whole hemisphere level, we evidenced that the laterality of the hand and of the hemifield in which the picture was displayed combined their effects on the hemispheric asymmetry in an additive way. We then identified a set of 17 functional homotopic regions of interest (hROIs) including premotor, motor, somatosensory and parietal regions, whose activity and asymmetry varied with the laterality of the presented hands. When the laterality of a right hand had to be evaluated, these areas showed stronger leftward asymmetry, the hROI located in the primary motor area showing a significant larger effect than all other hROIs. In addition a subset of six parietal regions involved in visuo-motor integration together with two postcentral areas showed a variation in asymmetry with hemifield of presentation. Finally, while handedness had no effect at the hemispheric level, two regions located in the parietal operculum and intraparietal sulcus exhibited larger leftward asymmetry with right handedness independently of the hand of presentation. The present results extend those of previous works in showing a shift of asymmetries during HLT according to the hand presented in sensorimotor areas including primary motor cortex. This shift was not affected by manual preference. They also demonstrate that the coordination of visual information and handedness identification of hands relied on the coexistence of contralateral motor and visual representations in the superior parietal lobe and the postcentral gyrus. PMID:27999536

Reliability Evaluation for the Surface to Air Missile Weapon Based on Cloud Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Deng Jianjun

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The fuzziness and randomness is integrated by using digital characteristics, such as Expected value, Entropy and Hyper entropy. The cloud model adapted to reliability evaluation is put forward based on the concept of the surface to air missile weapon. The cloud scale of the qualitative evaluation is constructed, and the quantitative variable and the qualitative variable in the system reliability evaluation are corresponded. The practical calculation result shows that it is more effective to analyze the reliability of the surface to air missile weapon by this way. The practical calculation result also reflects the model expressed by cloud theory is more consistent with the human thinking style of uncertainty.

Integration of external estimated breeding values and associated reliabilities using correlations among traits and effects.

Science.gov (United States)

Vandenplas, J; Colinet, F G; Glorieux, G; Bertozzi, C; Gengler, N

2015-12-01

Based on a Bayesian view of linear mixed models, several studies showed the possibilities to integrate estimated breeding values (EBV) and associated reliabilities (REL) provided by genetic evaluations performed outside a given evaluation system into this genetic evaluation. Hereafter, the term "internal" refers to this given genetic evaluation system, and the term "external" refers to all other genetic evaluations performed outside the internal evaluation system. Bayesian approaches integrate external information (i.e., external EBV and associated REL) by altering both the mean and (co)variance of the prior distributions of the additive genetic effects based on the knowledge of this external information. Extensions of the Bayesian approaches to multivariate settings are interesting because external information expressed on other scales, measurement units, or trait definitions, or associated with different heritabilities and genetic parameters than the internal traits, could be integrated into a multivariate genetic evaluation without the need to convert external information to the internal traits. Therefore, the aim of this study was to test the integration of external EBV and associated REL, expressed on a 305-d basis and genetically correlated with a trait of interest, into a multivariate genetic evaluation using a random regression test-day model for the trait of interest. The approach we used was a multivariate Bayesian approach. Results showed that the integration of external information led to a genetic evaluation for the trait of interest for, at least, animals associated with external information, as accurate as a bivariate evaluation including all available phenotypic information. In conclusion, the multivariate Bayesian approaches have the potential to integrate external information correlated with the internal phenotypic traits, and potentially to the different random regressions, into a multivariate genetic evaluation. This allows the use of different

La confiabilidad integral del activo. // The reliability of a physical asset.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. F. Sexto Cabrera

2008-01-01

Full Text Available En el presente artículo se discute sobre algunos aspectos que influyen sobre la confiabilidad de un activo físico. En él seproponen diferentes clasificaciones de fallos. Se presentan algunos elementos sobre el análisis de la confiabilidad humana ylos tipos de errores. De manera introductoria se comenta acerca de los defectos crónicos tolerados y el modelo de la trilogíade Juran. Se presentan reflexiones acerca de los procesos de deterioro gradual que puede sufrir un activo cualquiera.Finalmente, se discute sobre los costos de la confiabilidad.Palabras claves: Confiabilidad, fallo, modo de fallo, defectos crónicos, confiabilidad humana, costos de laconfiabilidad.____________________________________________________________________________Abstract.This paper discusses some aspects that influence about the reliability of a physical asset. Is presented differentclassifications of failures. Some elements are proposed about the analysis of the human reliability and the types of errors, aswell as, an introduction about the tolerated chronic defects and the Juran trilogy. Reflections are presented about theprocesses of gradual deterioration. Finally, is discusses on the reliability costs.Key words; Reliability, failure, failure mode, chronic defects, human reliability, reliability costs.

The World Health Organization's Clean Hands Save Lives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Verwilghen, D.

2018-01-01

health and integrity as the first principle of good hand hygiene, using decontamination methods and products that are the least harmful to the skin is mandatory. This is why the currently accepted presurgical hand preparation methods do not involve aggressive brushing and disinfecting soaps anymore....... Rather, hands should be washed with a neutral pH friendly soap first before a hydroalcoholic solution is applied. Although the principles and benefits of proper hand hygiene have been recognised in the healthcare world, one of the major drawbacks remains the lack of compliance with established protocols...

Enhancing the Connection to Undergraduate Engineering Students: A Hands-On and Team-Based Approach to Fluid Mechanics

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Tie; Ford, Julie

2015-01-01

This article provides information about the integration of innovative hands-on activities within a sophomore-level Fluid Mechanics course at New Mexico Tech. The course introduces students to the fundamentals of fluid mechanics with emphasis on teaching key equations and methods of analysis for solving real-world problems. Strategies and examples…

Photovoltaic and Wind Turbine Integration Applying Cuckoo Search for Probabilistic Reliable Optimal Placement

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. A. Swief

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an efficient Cuckoo Search Optimization technique to improve the reliability of electrical power systems. Various reliability objective indices such as Energy Not Supplied, System Average Interruption Frequency Index, System Average Interruption, and Duration Index are the main indices indicating reliability. The Cuckoo Search Optimization (CSO technique is applied to optimally place the protection devices, install the distributed generators, and to determine the size of distributed generators in radial feeders for reliability improvement. Distributed generator affects reliability and system power losses and voltage profile. The volatility behaviour for both photovoltaic cells and the wind turbine farms affect the values and the selection of protection devices and distributed generators allocation. To improve reliability, the reconfiguration will take place before installing both protection devices and distributed generators. Assessment of consumer power system reliability is a vital part of distribution system behaviour and development. Distribution system reliability calculation will be relayed on probabilistic reliability indices, which can expect the disruption profile of a distribution system based on the volatility behaviour of added generators and load behaviour. The validity of the anticipated algorithm has been tested using a standard IEEE 69 bus system.

The reliability assessment of the electromagnetic valve of high-speed electric multiple units braking system based on two-parameter exponential distribution

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jianwei Yang

2016-06-01

Full Text Available In order to solve the reliability assessment of braking system component of high-speed electric multiple units, this article, based on two-parameter exponential distribution, provides the maximum likelihood estimation and Bayes estimation under a type-I life test. First of all, we evaluate the failure probability value according to the classical estimation method and then obtain the maximum likelihood estimation of parameters of two-parameter exponential distribution by performing and using the modified likelihood function. On the other hand, based on Bayesian theory, this article also selects the beta and gamma distributions as the prior distribution, combines with the modified maximum likelihood function, and innovatively applies a Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm to parameters assessment based on Bayes estimation method for two-parameter exponential distribution, so that two reliability mathematical models of the electromagnetic valve are obtained. Finally, through type-I life test, the failure rates according to maximum likelihood estimation and Bayes estimation method based on Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm are, respectively, 2.650 × 10−5 and 3.037 × 10−5. Compared with the failure rate of a electromagnetic valve 3.005 × 10−5, it proves that the Bayes method can use a Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm to estimate reliability for two-parameter exponential distribution and Bayes estimation is more closer to the value of electromagnetic valve. So, by fully integrating multi-source, Bayes estimation method can preferably modify and precisely estimate the parameters, which can provide a certain theoretical basis for the safety operation of high-speed electric multiple units.

The SmartHand transradial prosthesis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carrozza Maria Chiara

2011-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Prosthetic components and control interfaces for upper limb amputees have barely changed in the past 40 years. Many transradial prostheses have been developed in the past, nonetheless most of them would be inappropriate if/when a large bandwidth human-machine interface for control and perception would be available, due to either their limited (or inexistent sensorization or limited dexterity. SmartHand tackles this issue as is meant to be clinically experimented in amputees employing different neuro-interfaces, in order to investigate their effectiveness. This paper presents the design and on bench evaluation of the SmartHand. Methods SmartHand design was bio-inspired in terms of its physical appearance, kinematics, sensorization, and its multilevel control system. Underactuated fingers and differential mechanisms were designed and exploited in order to fit all mechatronic components in the size and weight of a natural human hand. Its sensory system was designed with the aim of delivering significant afferent information to the user through adequate interfaces. Results SmartHand is a five fingered self-contained robotic hand, with 16 degrees of freedom, actuated by 4 motors. It integrates a bio-inspired sensory system composed of 40 proprioceptive and exteroceptive sensors and a customized embedded controller both employed for implementing automatic grasp control and for potentially delivering sensory feedback to the amputee. It is able to perform everyday grasps, count and independently point the index. The weight (530 g and speed (closing time: 1.5 seconds are comparable to actual commercial prostheses. It is able to lift a 10 kg suitcase; slippage tests showed that within particular friction and geometric conditions the hand is able to stably grasp up to 3.6 kg cylindrical objects. Conclusions Due to its unique embedded features and human-size, the SmartHand holds the promise to be experimentally fitted on transradial

On the feasibility of interoperable schemes in hand biometrics.

Science.gov (United States)

Morales, Aythami; González, Ester; Ferrer, Miguel A

2012-01-01

Personal recognition through hand-based biometrics has attracted the interest of many researchers in the last twenty years. A significant number of proposals based on different procedures and acquisition devices have been published in the literature. However, comparisons between devices and their interoperability have not been thoroughly studied. This paper tries to fill this gap by proposing procedures to improve the interoperability among different hand biometric schemes. The experiments were conducted on a database made up of 8,320 hand images acquired from six different hand biometric schemes, including a flat scanner, webcams at different wavelengths, high quality cameras, and contactless devices. Acquisitions on both sides of the hand were included. Our experiment includes four feature extraction methods which determine the best performance among the different scenarios for two of the most popular hand biometrics: hand shape and palm print. We propose smoothing techniques at the image and feature levels to reduce interdevice variability. Results suggest that comparative hand shape offers better performance in terms of interoperability than palm prints, but palm prints can be more effective when using similar sensors.

On the Feasibility of Interoperable Schemes in Hand Biometrics

Science.gov (United States)

Morales, Aythami; González, Ester; Ferrer, Miguel A.

2012-01-01

Personal recognition through hand-based biometrics has attracted the interest of many researchers in the last twenty years. A significant number of proposals based on different procedures and acquisition devices have been published in the literature. However, comparisons between devices and their interoperability have not been thoroughly studied. This paper tries to fill this gap by proposing procedures to improve the interoperability among different hand biometric schemes. The experiments were conducted on a database made up of 8,320 hand images acquired from six different hand biometric schemes, including a flat scanner, webcams at different wavelengths, high quality cameras, and contactless devices. Acquisitions on both sides of the hand were included. Our experiment includes four feature extraction methods which determine the best performance among the different scenarios for two of the most popular hand biometrics: hand shape and palm print. We propose smoothing techniques at the image and feature levels to reduce interdevice variability. Results suggest that comparative hand shape offers better performance in terms of interoperability than palm prints, but palm prints can be more effective when using similar sensors. PMID:22438714

Getting Their Hands Dirty: Qualitative Study on Hands-on Learning for Architectural Students in Design-build Course

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zunaibi B. Abdullah

2011-06-01

Full Text Available This qualitative study provides an in-depth perspective of hands-on learning through the observation and analysis of architectural students' views in a design-build program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln during the fall semester of 2008. Qualitative data was gathered from 14 participants involved in the construction of a low energy double-storey house in the city of Lincoln, Nebraska. The study inventoried the requisite characteristics of a design-build course. Participants' views and activities were studied to ascribe the qualitative benefits of hands-on learning. In addition, students' motivation towards hands-on activities were evaluated in reference to student confidence and independence levels towards their future career as architects, designers or other design-build professionals. The findings showed the design-build course could offer a specific knowledge that link between theoretical subjects and the practical expect of building contractions.

Integrated Reliability Estimation of a Nuclear Maintenance Robot including a Software

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eom, Heung Seop; Kim, Jae Hee; Jeong, Kyung Min [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2011-10-15

Conventional reliability estimation techniques such as Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), Reliability Block Diagram (RBD), Markov Model, and Event Tree Analysis (ETA) have been used widely and approved in some industries. Then there are some limitations when we use them for a complicate robot systems including software such as intelligent reactor inspection robots. Therefore an expert's judgment plays an important role in estimating the reliability of a complicate system in practice, because experts can deal with diverse evidence related to the reliability and then perform an inference based on them. The proposed method in this paper combines qualitative and quantitative evidences and performs an inference like experts. Furthermore, it does the work in a formal and in a quantitative way unlike human experts, by the benefits of Bayesian Nets (BNs)

Stochastic quasi-gradient based optimization algorithms for dynamic reliability applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bourgeois, F.; Labeau, P.E.

2001-01-01

On one hand, PSA results are increasingly used in decision making, system management and optimization of system design. On the other hand, when severe accidental transients are considered, dynamic reliability appears appropriate to account for the complex interaction between the transitions between hardware configurations, the operator behavior and the dynamic evolution of the system. This paper presents an exploratory work in which the estimation of the system unreliability in a dynamic context is coupled with an optimization algorithm to determine the 'best' safety policy. Because some reliability parameters are likely to be distributed, the cost function to be minimized turns out to be a random variable. Stochastic programming techniques are therefore envisioned to determine an optimal strategy. Monte Carlo simulation is used at all stages of the computations, from the estimation of the system unreliability to that of the stochastic quasi-gradient. The optimization algorithm is illustrated on a HNO 3 supply system

Reliability 'H' scheme of HV/MV substations

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Perić Dragoslav M.

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Substations (HV/MV connect transmission and distribution systems with consumers of electric energy. The selective search method was used for calculation of substation reliability, where all arrangement elements were grouped into blocks. Subject of the analysis was H-arrangements comprising air-insulated switchgears on the high voltage side of HV/MV substations with different number of feeder and transformer bays and diverse scope of the installed switching equipment. Failure rate and duration were used as main HV/MV substation equipment reliability indices. A large number of arrangements were classified into groups, and within a group the arrangements were ranked with the use of multiple criteria. It is shown that the reliability of the electricity transit depends on the equipment of field for the transit of electricity, which favors poorly equipped field. On the other hand, the reliability of transformation of the full power depends mostly on the equipment in coupling field. It is essential that in the coupling field, there are at least two disconnectors. Installation of the switch in the coupling field is meaningful only with appropriate protection, because it further improves reliability. Conclusions are drawn for phased construction and expansion of the single pole diagram with an additional field for the transmission line.

Ground Robotic Hand Applications for the Space Program study (GRASP)

Science.gov (United States)

Grissom, William A.; Rafla, Nader I. (Editor)

1992-01-01

This document reports on a NASA-STDP effort to address research interests of the NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) through a study entitled, Ground Robotic-Hand Applications for the Space Program (GRASP). The primary objective of the GRASP study was to identify beneficial applications of specialized end-effectors and robotic hand devices for automating any ground operations which are performed at the Kennedy Space Center. Thus, operations for expendable vehicles, the Space Shuttle and its components, and all payloads were included in the study. Typical benefits of automating operations, or augmenting human operators performing physical tasks, include: reduced costs; enhanced safety and reliability; and reduced processing turnaround time.

Hawaii electric system reliability.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Silva Monroy, Cesar Augusto; Loose, Verne William

2012-09-01

This report addresses Hawaii electric system reliability issues; greater emphasis is placed on short-term reliability but resource adequacy is reviewed in reference to electric consumers' views of reliability %E2%80%9Cworth%E2%80%9D and the reserve capacity required to deliver that value. The report begins with a description of the Hawaii electric system to the extent permitted by publicly available data. Electrical engineering literature in the area of electric reliability is researched and briefly reviewed. North American Electric Reliability Corporation standards and measures for generation and transmission are reviewed and identified as to their appropriateness for various portions of the electric grid and for application in Hawaii. Analysis of frequency data supplied by the State of Hawaii Public Utilities Commission is presented together with comparison and contrast of performance of each of the systems for two years, 2010 and 2011. Literature tracing the development of reliability economics is reviewed and referenced. A method is explained for integrating system cost with outage cost to determine the optimal resource adequacy given customers' views of the value contributed by reliable electric supply. The report concludes with findings and recommendations for reliability in the State of Hawaii.

Quantifying the effect of hand wash duration, soap use, ground beef debris, and drying methods on the removal of Enterobacter aerogenes on hands.

Science.gov (United States)

Jensen, Dane A; Danyluk, Michelle D; Harris, Linda J; Schaffner, Donald W

2015-04-01

Hand washing is recognized as a crucial step in preventing foodborne disease transmission by mitigating crosscontamination among hands, surfaces, and foods. This research was undertaken to establish the importance of several keys factors (soap, soil, time, and drying method) in reducing microorganisms during hand washing. A nonpathogenic nalidixic acid-resistant Enterobacter aerogenes surrogate for Salmonella was used to assess the efficacy of using soap or no soap for 5 or 20 s on hands with or without ground beef debris and drying with paper towel or air. Each experiment consisted of 20 replicates, each from a different individual with ∼ 6 log CFU/ml E. aerogenes on their hands. A reduction of 1.0 ± 0.4 and 1.7 ± 0.8 log CFU of E. aerogenes was observed for a 5-s wash with no soap and a 20-s wash with soap, respectively. When there was no debris on the hands, there was no significant difference between washing with and without soap for 20 s (P > 0.05). Likewise, there was no significant difference in the reductions achieved when washing without soap, whether or not debris was on the hands (P > 0.05). A significantly greater reduction (P soap when there was ground beef debris on the hands. The greatest difference (1.1 log CFU greater average reduction) in effectiveness occurred when ground beef debris was on the hands and a 20-s wash with water was compared with a 20-s wash with soap. Significantly greater (P 4.0 log CFU per towel) when hands are highly contaminated. Our results support future quantitative microbial risk assessments needed to effectively manage risks of foodborne illness in which food workers' hands are a primary cause.

Study on Distribution Reliability with Parallel and On-site Distributed Generation Considering Protection Miscoordination and Tie Line

Science.gov (United States)

Chaitusaney, Surachai; Yokoyama, Akihiko

In distribution system, Distributed Generation (DG) is expected to improve the system reliability as its backup generation. However, DG contribution in fault current may cause the loss of the existing protection coordination, e.g. recloser-fuse coordination and breaker-breaker coordination. This problem can drastically deteriorate the system reliability, and it is more serious and complicated when there are several DG sources in the system. Hence, the above conflict in reliability aspect unavoidably needs a detailed investigation before the installation or enhancement of DG is done. The model of composite DG fault current is proposed to find the threshold beyond which existing protection coordination is lost. Cases of protection miscoordination are described, together with their consequences. Since a distribution system may be tied with another system, the issues of tie line and on-site DG are integrated into this study. Reliability indices are evaluated and compared in the distribution reliability test system RBTS Bus 2.

Evaluation of structural reliability using simulation methods

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Baballëku Markel

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Eurocode describes the 'index of reliability' as a measure of structural reliability, related to the 'probability of failure'. This paper is focused on the assessment of this index for a reinforced concrete bridge pier. It is rare to explicitly use reliability concepts for design of structures, but the problems of structural engineering are better known through them. Some of the main methods for the estimation of the probability of failure are the exact analytical integration, numerical integration, approximate analytical methods and simulation methods. Monte Carlo Simulation is used in this paper, because it offers a very good tool for the estimation of probability in multivariate functions. Complicated probability and statistics problems are solved through computer aided simulations of a large number of tests. The procedures of structural reliability assessment for the bridge pier and the comparison with the partial factor method of the Eurocodes have been demonstrated in this paper.

Sunscreen Use on the Dorsal Hands at the Beach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Warren, D. B.; Hobbs, J. B.; Jr, R. F. W.; Riahi, R. R.

2013-01-01

Since skin of the dorsal hands is a known site for the development of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, an epidemiologic investigation was needed to determine if beachgoers apply sunscreen to the dorsal aspect of their hands as frequently as they apply it to other skin sites. Aim. The aim of the current study was to compare the use of sunscreen on the dorsal hands to other areas of the body during subtropical late spring and summer sunlight exposure at the beach. Materials and Methods. A cross-sectional survey from a convenience sample of beachgoers was designed to evaluate responded understanding and protective measures concerning skin cancer on the dorsal hands in an environment with high natural UVR exposure. Results. A total of 214 surveys were completed and analyzed. Less than half of subjects (105, 49%) applied sunscreen to their dorsal hands. Women applied sunscreen to the dorsal hands more than men (55% women versus 40% men, ρ=0.04 ). Higher Fitzpatrick Skin Type respondents were less likely to protect their dorsal hands from ultraviolet radiation (ρ=0.001 ). Conclusions. More public education focused on dorsal hand protection from ultraviolet radiation damage is necessary to reduce the risk for squamous cell carcinomas of the hands.

Is that graspable? Let your right hand be the judge.

Science.gov (United States)

Netelenbos, Nicole; Gonzalez, Claudia L R

2015-02-01

A right-hand preference for visually-guided grasping has been shown on numerous accounts. Grasping an object requires the integration of both visual and motor components of visuomotor processing. It has been suggested that the left hemisphere plays an integral role in visuomotor functions. The present study serves to investigate whether the visual processing of graspable objects, without any actual reaching or grasping movements, yields a right-hand (left-hemisphere) advantage. Further, we aim to address whether such an advantage is automatically evoked by motor affordances. Two groups of right-handed participants were asked to categorize objects presented on a computer monitor by responding on a keypad. The first group was asked to categorize visual stimuli as graspable (e.g. apple) or non-graspable (e.g. car). A second group categorized the same stimuli but as nature-made (e.g. apple) or man-made (e.g. car). Reaction times were measured in response to the visually presented stimuli. Results showed a right-hand advantage for graspable objects only when participants were asked to respond to the graspable/non-graspable categorization. When participants were asked to categorize objects as nature-made or man-made, a right-hand advantage for graspable objects did not emerge. The results suggest that motor affordances may not always be automatic and might require conscious representations that are appropriate for object interaction. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Mirrored Hand Illusion: I Control, So I Possess?

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Aibao; Zhang, Yanchi; Yin, Yulong; Yang, Yang

2015-01-01

Certain situations may not only cause people to misjudge external information but also distort people's perception of themselves. The present study is the first to report the mirrored hand illusion which could be generated when the experimenter imitated the fist-clenching movements of the subject synchronously. The subjects formed the illusion that the experimenter's hand was "something I can control" when being imitated synchronously. In addition, a sense of ownership over the alien hand was established by integrating multisensory signals and comparing these signals with preexisting body presentations. This method might represent a new avenue for research on the formation of self-consciousness. © The Author(s) 2015.

Application of high efficiency and reliable 3D-designed integral shrouded blades to nuclear turbines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Watanabe, Eiichiro; Ohyama, Hiroharu; Tashiro, Hikaru; Sugitani, Toshiro; Kurosawa, Masaru

1998-01-01

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. has recently developed new blades for nuclear turbines, in order to achieve higher efficiency and higher reliability. The 3D aerodynamic design for 41 inch and 46 inch blades, their one piece structural design (integral-shrouded blades: ISB), and the verification test results using a model steam turbine are described in this paper. The predicted efficiency and lower vibratory stress have been verified. Based on these 60Hz ISB, 50Hz ISB series are under development using 'the law of similarity' without changing their thermodynamic performance and mechanical stress levels. Our 3D-designed reaction blades which are used for the high pressure and low pressure upstream stages, are also briefly mentioned. (author)

Integrating Photovoltaic Systems in Power System: Power Quality Impacts and Optimal Planning Challenges

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aida Fazliana Abdul Kadir

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper is an overview of some of the main issues in photovoltaic based distributed generation (PVDG. A discussion of the harmonic distortion produced by PVDG units is presented. The maximum permissible penetration level of PVDG in distribution system is also considered. The general procedures of optimal planning for PVDG placement and sizing are also explained in this paper. The result of this review shows that there are different challenges for integrating PVDG in the power systems. One of these challenges is integrated system reliability whereas the amount of power produced by renewable energy source is consistent. Thus, the high penetration of PVDG into grid can decrease the reliability of the power system network. On the other hand, power quality is considered one of the challenges of PVDG whereas the high penetration of PVDGs can lead to more harmonic propagation into the power system network. In addition to that, voltage fluctuation of the integrated PVDG and reverse power flow are two important challenges to this technology. Finally, protection of power system with integrated PVDG is one of the most critical challenges to this technology as the current protection schemes are designed for unidirectional not bidirectional power flow pattern.

Reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the Community Integration Measure for community-dwelling people with schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Shioda, Ai; Tadaka, Etsuko; Okochi, Ayako

2017-01-01

Community integration is an essential right for people with schizophrenia that affects their well-being and quality of life, but no valid instrument exists to measure it in Japan. The aim of the present study is to develop and evaluate the reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the Community Integration Measure (CIM) for people with schizophrenia. The Japanese version of the CIM was developed as a self-administered questionnaire based on the original version of the CIM, which was developed by McColl et al. This study of the Japanese CIM had a cross-sectional design. Construct validity was determined using a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and data from 291 community-dwelling people with schizophrenia in Japan. Internal consistency was calculated using Cronbach's alpha. The Lubben Social Network Scale (LSNS-6), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE) and the UCLA Loneliness Scale, version 3 (UCLALS) were administered to assess the criterion-related validity of the Japanese version of the CIM. The participants were 263 people with schizophrenia who provided valid responses. The Cronbach's alpha was 0.87, and CFA identified one domain with ten items that demonstrated the following values: goodness of fit index = 0.924, adjusted goodness of fit index = 0.881, comparative fit index = 0.925, and root mean square error of approximation = 0.085. The correlation coefficients were 0.43 (p reliability and validity for assessing community integration for people with schizophrenia in Japan.

Are the patient-rated wrist evaluation (PRWE) and the disabilities of the arm, shoulder and hand (DASH) questionnaire used in distal radial fractures truly valid and reliable?

Science.gov (United States)

Krol, R. G.; Bhandari, M.; Goslings, J. C.; Poolman, R. W.; Scholtes, V. A. B.

2018-01-01

Objectives The patient-rated wrist evaluation (PRWE) and the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) questionnaire are patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) used for clinical and research purposes. Methodological high-quality clinimetric studies that determine the measurement properties of these PROMs when used in patients with a distal radial fracture are lacking. This study aimed to validate the PRWE and DASH in Dutch patients with a displaced distal radial fracture (DRF). Methods The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used for test-retest reliability, between PROMs completed twice with a two-week interval at six to eight months after DRF. Internal consistency was determined using Cronbach’s α for the dimensions found in the factor analysis. The measurement error was expressed by the smallest detectable change (SDC). A semi-structured interview was conducted between eight and 12 weeks after DRF to assess the content validity. Results A total of 119 patients (mean age 58 years (sd 15)), 74% female, completed PROMs at a mean time of six months (sd 1) post-fracture. One overall meaningful dimension was found for the PRWE and the DASH. Internal consistency was excellent for both PROMs (Cronbach’s α 0.96 (PRWE) and 0.97 (DASH)). Test-retest reliability was good for the PRWE (ICC 0.87) and excellent for the DASH (ICC 0.91). The SDC was 20 for the PRWE and 14 for the DASH. No floor or ceiling effects were found. The content validity was good for both questionnaires. Conclusion The PRWE and DASH are valid and reliable PROMs in assessing function and disability in Dutch patients with a displaced DRF. However, due to the high SDC, the PRWE and DASH are less useful for individual patients with a distal radial fracture in clinical practice. Cite this article: Y. V. Kleinlugtenbelt, R. G. Krol, M. Bhandari, J. C. Goslings, R. W. Poolman, V. A. B. Scholtes. Are the patient-rated wrist evaluation (PRWE) and the disabilities of the arm, shoulder and

Solar Energy Grid Integration Systems (SEGIS): adding functionality while maintaining reliability and economics

Science.gov (United States)

Bower, Ward

2011-09-01

An overview of the activities and progress made during the US DOE Solar Energy Grid Integration Systems (SEGIS) solicitation, while maintaining reliability and economics is provided. The SEGIS R&D opened pathways for interconnecting PV systems to intelligent utility grids and micro-grids of the future. In addition to new capabilities are "value added" features. The new hardware designs resulted in smaller, less material-intensive products that are being viewed by utilities as enabling dispatchable generation and not just unpredictable negative loads. The technical solutions enable "advanced integrated system" concepts and "smart grid" processes to move forward in a faster and focused manner. The advanced integrated inverters/controllers can now incorporate energy management functionality, intelligent electrical grid support features and a multiplicity of communication technologies. Portals for energy flow and two-way communications have been implemented. SEGIS hardware was developed for the utility grid of today, which was designed for one-way power flow, for intermediate grid scenarios, AND for the grid of tomorrow, which will seamlessly accommodate managed two-way power flows as required by large-scale deployment of solar and other distributed generation. The SEGIS hardware and control developed for today meets existing standards and codes AND provides for future connections to a "smart grid" mode that enables utility control and optimized performance.

On the Feasibility of Interoperable Schemes in Hand Biometrics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miguel A. Ferrer

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Personal recognition through hand-based biometrics has attracted the interest of many researchers in the last twenty years. A significant number of proposals based on different procedures and acquisition devices have been published in the literature. However, comparisons between devices and their interoperability have not been thoroughly studied. This paper tries to fill this gap by proposing procedures to improve the interoperability among different hand biometric schemes. The experiments were conducted on a database made up of 8,320 hand images acquired from six different hand biometric schemes, including a flat scanner, webcams at different wavelengths, high quality cameras, and contactless devices. Acquisitions on both sides of the hand were included. Our experiment includes four feature extraction methods which determine the best performance among the different scenarios for two of the most popular hand biometrics: hand shape and palm print. We propose smoothing techniques at the image and feature levels to reduce interdevice variability. Results suggest that comparative hand shape offers better performance in terms of interoperability than palm prints, but palm prints can be more effective when using similar sensors.

Use of reliability in the LMFBR industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Penland, J.R.; Smith, A.M.; Goeser, D.K.

1977-01-01

This mission of a Reliability Program for an LMFBR should be to enhance the design and operational characteristics relative to safety and to plant availability. Successful accomplishment of this mission requires proper integration of several reliability engineering tasks--analysis, testing, parts controls and program controls. Such integration requires, in turn, that the program be structured, planned and managed. This paper describes the technical integration necessary and the management activities required to achieve mission success for LMFBR's

Hands-On Nuclear Physics

Science.gov (United States)

Whittaker, Jeff

2013-01-01

Nuclear science is an important topic in terms of its application to power generation, medical diagnostics and treatment, and national defense. Unfortunately, the subatomic domain is far removed from daily experience, and few learning aids are available to teachers. What follows describes a low-tech, hands-on method to teach important concepts in…

The Influence of Hand Immersion Duration on Manual Performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Ray, Matthew; Sanli, Elizabeth; Brown, Robert; Ennis, Kerri Ann; Carnahan, Heather

2017-08-01

To investigate the effect of hand immersion duration on manipulative ability and tactile sensitivity. Individuals in maritime settings often work with hands that have been immersed in water. Although research has shown that hand immersion duration differentially impacts skin adhesion and tactile sensitivity, the effect of hand immersion on manipulative ability has not been directly tested. Given how critical manipulative ability is for the safety and performance of those working at sea, the effect of hand immersion duration on manual performance was investigated. Tests of manipulative ability (Purdue Pegboard, Grooved Pegboard, reef knot untying) and tactile sensitivity (Touch-Test) were completed following no-exposure, short-exposure, and long-exposure hand immersions in thermoneutral water. Compared to the no immersion condition, the Purdue Pegboard performance was reduced in both immersion conditions (short exposure, -11%; long exposure, -8%). A performance decrement was only observed in the short exposure condition (+15% in time to complete task) for the reef knot untying task. There were no statistical differences in the Grooved Pegboard or Touch-Test scores between exposure conditions. Immersing the hands in water decreases manipulative ability except for when object properties reduce the slipperiness between the hand and object. Manual performance in a wet environment may be conserved by designing tools and objects with edges and textures that can offset the slipperiness of wet hands. To maintain safety, the time requirements for working with wet hands needs to be considered.

Integrated optical detection of autonomous capillary microfluidic immunoassays:a hand-held point-of-care prototype.

Science.gov (United States)

Novo, P; Chu, V; Conde, J P

2014-07-15

The miniaturization of biosensors using microfluidics has potential in enabling the development of point-of-care devices, with the added advantages of reduced time and cost of analysis with limits-of-detection comparable to those obtained through traditional laboratory techniques. Interfacing microfluidic devices with the external world can be difficult especially in aspects involving fluid handling and the need for simple sample insertion that avoids special equipment or trained personnel. In this work we present a point-of-care prototype system by integrating capillary microfluidics with a microfabricated photodiode array and electronic instrumentation into a hand-held unit. The capillary microfluidic device is capable of autonomous and sequential fluid flow, including control of the average fluid velocity at any given point of the analysis. To demonstrate the functionality of the prototype, a model chemiluminescence ELISA was performed. The performance of the integrated optical detection in the point-of-care prototype is equal to that obtained with traditional bench-top instrumentation. The photodiode signals were acquired, displayed and processed by a simple graphical user interface using a computer connected to the microcontroller through USB. The prototype performed integrated chemiluminescence ELISA detection in about 15 min with a limit-of-detection of ≈2 nM with an antibody-antigen affinity constant of ≈2×10(7) M(-1). Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The use of a hands-on model in learning the regulation of an inducible operon and the development of a gene regulation concept inventory

Science.gov (United States)

Stefanski, Katherine M.

A central concept in genetics is the regulation of gene expression. Inducible gene expression is often taught in undergraduate biology courses using the lac operon of Escherichia coli (E. coli ). With national calls for reform in undergraduate biology education and a body of literature that supports the use of active learning techniques including hands-on learning and analogies we were motivated to develop a hands-on analogous model of the lac operon. The model was developed over two iterations and was administered to genetics students. To determine the model's worth as a learning tool a concept inventory (CI) was developed using rigorous protocols. Concept inventories are valuable tools which can be used to assess students' understanding of a topic and pinpoint commonly held misconceptions as well as the value of educational tools. Through in-class testing (n =115) the lac operon concept inventory (LOCI) was demonstrated to be valid, predictive, and reliable (? coefficient = 0.994). LOCI scores for students who participated in the hands-on activity (n = 67) were 7.5% higher (t = -2.281, P operon. We were able to determine the efficacy of the activity and identify misconceptions held by students about the lac operon because of the use of a valid and reliable CI.

OARSI Clinical Trials Recommendations: Hand imaging in clinical trials in osteoarthritis.

Science.gov (United States)

Hunter, D J; Arden, N; Cicuttini, F; Crema, M D; Dardzinski, B; Duryea, J; Guermazi, A; Haugen, I K; Kloppenburg, M; Maheu, E; Miller, C G; Martel-Pelletier, J; Ochoa-Albíztegui, R E; Pelletier, J-P; Peterfy, C; Roemer, F; Gold, G E

2015-05-01

Tremendous advances have occurred in our understanding of the pathogenesis of hand osteoarthritis (OA) and these are beginning to be applied to trials targeted at modification of the disease course. The purpose of this expert opinion, consensus driven exercise is to provide detail on how one might use and apply hand imaging assessments in disease modifying clinical trials. It includes information on acquisition methods/techniques (including guidance on positioning for radiography, sequence/protocol recommendations/hardware for MRI); commonly encountered problems (including positioning, hardware and coil failures, sequences artifacts); quality assurance/control procedures; measurement methods; measurement performance (reliability, responsiveness, validity); recommendations for trials; and research recommendations. Copyright © 2015 Osteoarthritis Research Society International. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cytomegalovirus survival and transferability and the effectiveness of common hand-washing agents against cytomegalovirus on live human hands.

Science.gov (United States)

Stowell, Jennifer D; Forlin-Passoni, Daniela; Radford, Kay; Bate, Sheri L; Dollard, Sheila C; Bialek, Stephanie R; Cannon, Michael J; Schmid, D Scott

2014-01-01

Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) transmission can occur when women acquire CMV while pregnant. Infection control guidelines may reduce risk for transmission. We studied the duration of CMV survival after application of bacteria to the hands and after transfer from the hands to surfaces and the effectiveness of cleansing with water, regular and antibacterial soaps, sanitizer, and diaper wipes. Experiments used CMV AD169 in saliva at initial titers of 1 × 10(5) infectious particles/ml. Samples from hands or surfaces (points between 0 and 15 min) were placed in culture and observed for at least 2 weeks. Samples were also tested using CMV real-time PCR. After application of bacteria to the hands, viable CMV was recovered from 17/20 swabs at 0 min, 18/20 swabs at 1 min, 5/20 swabs at 5 min, and 4/20 swabs at 15 min. After transfer, duration of survival was at least 15 min on plastic (1/2 swabs), 5 min on crackers and glass (3/4 swabs), and 1 min or less on metal and cloth (3/4 swabs); no viable virus was collected from wood, rubber, or hands. After cleansing, no viable virus was recovered using water (0/22), plain soap (0/20), antibacterial soap (0/20), or sanitizer (0/22). Viable CMV was recovered from 4/20 hands 10 min after diaper wipe cleansing. CMV remains viable on hands for sufficient times to allow transmission. CMV may be transferred to surfaces with reduced viability. Hand-cleansing methods were effective at eliminating viable CMV from hands.

Bayesian Inference for NASA Probabilistic Risk and Reliability Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Dezfuli, Homayoon; Kelly, Dana; Smith, Curtis; Vedros, Kurt; Galyean, William

2009-01-01

This document, Bayesian Inference for NASA Probabilistic Risk and Reliability Analysis, is intended to provide guidelines for the collection and evaluation of risk and reliability-related data. It is aimed at scientists and engineers familiar with risk and reliability methods and provides a hands-on approach to the investigation and application of a variety of risk and reliability data assessment methods, tools, and techniques. This document provides both: A broad perspective on data analysis collection and evaluation issues. A narrow focus on the methods to implement a comprehensive information repository. The topics addressed herein cover the fundamentals of how data and information are to be used in risk and reliability analysis models and their potential role in decision making. Understanding these topics is essential to attaining a risk informed decision making environment that is being sought by NASA requirements and procedures such as 8000.4 (Agency Risk Management Procedural Requirements), NPR 8705.05 (Probabilistic Risk Assessment Procedures for NASA Programs and Projects), and the System Safety requirements of NPR 8715.3 (NASA General Safety Program Requirements).

Reliability Assessment of Wind Farm Electrical System Based on a Probability Transfer Technique

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hejun Yang

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The electrical system of a wind farm has a significant influence on the wind farm reliability and electrical energy yield. The disconnect switch installed in an electrical system cannot only improve the operating flexibility, but also enhance the reliability for a wind farm. Therefore, this paper develops a probabilistic transfer technique for integrating the electrical topology structure, the isolation operation of disconnect switch, and stochastic failure of electrical equipment into the reliability assessment of wind farm electrical system. Firstly, as the traditional two-state reliability model of electrical equipment cannot consider the isolation operation, so the paper develops a three-state reliability model to replace the two-state model for incorporating the isolation operation. In addition, a proportion apportion technique is presented to evaluate the state probability. Secondly, this paper develops a probabilistic transfer technique based on the thoughts that through transfer the unreliability of electrical system to the energy transmission interruption of wind turbine generators (WTGs. Finally, some novel indices for describing the reliability of wind farm electrical system are designed, and the variance coefficient of the designed indices is used as a convergence criterion to determine the termination of the assessment process. The proposed technique is applied to the reliability assessment of a wind farm with the different topologies. The simulation results show that the proposed techniques are effective in practical applications.

Hand-held medical robots.

Science.gov (United States)

Payne, Christopher J; Yang, Guang-Zhong

2014-08-01

Medical robots have evolved from autonomous systems to tele-operated platforms and mechanically-grounded, cooperatively-controlled robots. Whilst these approaches have seen both commercial and clinical success, uptake of these robots remains moderate because of their high cost, large physical footprint and long setup times. More recently, researchers have moved toward developing hand-held robots that are completely ungrounded and manipulated by surgeons in free space, in a similar manner to how conventional instruments are handled. These devices provide specific functions that assist the surgeon in accomplishing tasks that are otherwise challenging with manual manipulation. Hand-held robots have the advantages of being compact and easily integrated into the normal surgical workflow since there is typically little or no setup time. Hand-held devices can also have a significantly reduced cost to healthcare providers as they do not necessitate the complex, multi degree-of-freedom linkages that grounded robots require. However, the development of such devices is faced with many technical challenges, including miniaturization, cost and sterility, control stability, inertial and gravity compensation and robust instrument tracking. This review presents the emerging technical trends in hand-held medical robots and future development opportunities for promoting their wider clinical uptake.

Train integrity detection risk analysis based on PRISM

Science.gov (United States)

Wen, Yuan

2018-04-01

GNSS based Train Integrity Monitoring System (TIMS) is an effective and low-cost detection scheme for train integrity detection. However, as an external auxiliary system of CTCS, GNSS may be influenced by external environments, such as uncertainty of wireless communication channels, which may lead to the failure of communication and positioning. In order to guarantee the reliability and safety of train operation, a risk analysis method of train integrity detection based on PRISM is proposed in this article. First, we analyze the risk factors (in GNSS communication process and the on-board communication process) and model them. Then, we evaluate the performance of the model in PRISM based on the field data. Finally, we discuss how these risk factors influence the train integrity detection process.

Hands-on-Science: Using Education Research to Construct Learner-Centered Classes

Science.gov (United States)

Ludwig, R. R.; Chimonidou, A.; Kopp, S.

2014-07-01

Research into the process of learning, and learning astronomy, can be informative for the development of a course. Students are better able to incorporate and make sense of new ideas when they are aware of their own prior knowledge (Resnick et al. 1989; Confrey 1990), have the opportunity to develop explanations from their own experience in their own words (McDermott 1991; Prather et al. 2004), and benefit from peer instruction (Mazur 1997; Green 2003). Students in astronomy courses often have difficulty understanding many different concepts as a result of difficulties with spatial reasoning and a sense of scale. The Hands-on-Science program at UT Austin incorporates these research-based results into four guided-inquiry, integrated science courses (50 students each). They are aimed at pre-service K-5 teachers but are open to other majors as well. We find that Hands-on-Science students not only attain more favorable changes in attitude towards science, but they also outperform students in traditional lecture courses in content gains. Workshop Outcomes: Participants experienced a research-based, guided-inquiry lesson about the motion of objects in the sky and discussed the research methodology for assessing students in such a course.

Comparison of Model Reliabilities from Single-Step and Bivariate Blending Methods

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Taskinen, Matti; Mäntysaari, Esa; Lidauer, Martin

2013-01-01

Model based reliabilities in genetic evaluation are compared between three methods: animal model BLUP, single-step BLUP, and bivariate blending after genomic BLUP. The original bivariate blending is revised in this work to better account animal models. The study data is extracted from...... be calculated. Model reliabilities by the single-step and the bivariate blending methods were higher than by animal model due to genomic information. Compared to the single-step method, the bivariate blending method reliability estimates were, in general, lower. Computationally bivariate blending method was......, on the other hand, lighter than the single-step method....

Hand-eye coordinative remote maintenance in a tokamak vessel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Qiu, Qiang, E-mail: qiu6401@sjtu.edu.cn; Gu, Kai, E-mail: gukai0707@sjtu.edu.cn; Wang, Pengfei, E-mail: wpf790714@163.com; Bai, Weibang, E-mail: 654253204@qq.com; Cao, Qixin, E-mail: qxcao@sjtu.edu.cn

2016-03-15

Highlights: • If there is not rotation between the visual coordinate frame (O{sub e}X{sub e}Y{sub e}) and hand coordinate frame (O{sub h}X{sub h}Y{sub h}), a person can coordinate the movement between hand and eye easily. • We establish an alignment between the movement of the operator's hand and the visual scene of the end-effector as displayed on the monitor. • A potential function is set up in a simplified vacuum vessel model to provide a fast collision checking, and the alignment between repulsive force and Omega 7 feedback force is accomplished. • We carry out an experiment to evaluate its performance in a remote handling task. - Abstract: The reliability is vitally important for the remote maintenance in a tokamak vessel. In order to establish a more accurate and safer remote handling system, a hand-eye coordination method and an artificial potential function based collision avoidance method were proposed in this paper. At the end of this paper, these methods were implemented to a bolts tightening maintenance task, which was carried out in our 1/10 scale tokamak model. Experiment results have verified the value of the hand-eye coordination method and the collision avoidance method.

Hand-eye coordinative remote maintenance in a tokamak vessel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qiu, Qiang; Gu, Kai; Wang, Pengfei; Bai, Weibang; Cao, Qixin

2016-01-01

Highlights: • If there is not rotation between the visual coordinate frame (O_eX_eY_e) and hand coordinate frame (O_hX_hY_h), a person can coordinate the movement between hand and eye easily. • We establish an alignment between the movement of the operator's hand and the visual scene of the end-effector as displayed on the monitor. • A potential function is set up in a simplified vacuum vessel model to provide a fast collision checking, and the alignment between repulsive force and Omega 7 feedback force is accomplished. • We carry out an experiment to evaluate its performance in a remote handling task. - Abstract: The reliability is vitally important for the remote maintenance in a tokamak vessel. In order to establish a more accurate and safer remote handling system, a hand-eye coordination method and an artificial potential function based collision avoidance method were proposed in this paper. At the end of this paper, these methods were implemented to a bolts tightening maintenance task, which was carried out in our 1/10 scale tokamak model. Experiment results have verified the value of the hand-eye coordination method and the collision avoidance method.

Hands-On Skills for Caregivers

Science.gov (United States)

... A + A You are here Home Hands-On Skills for Caregivers Printer-friendly version When you’re ... therapist who can help you develop your transferring skills. Allow for their reality Remember to accept your ...

Impaired hand size estimation in CRPS.

Science.gov (United States)

Peltz, Elena; Seifert, Frank; Lanz, Stefan; Müller, Rüdiger; Maihöfner, Christian

2011-10-01

A triad of clinical symptoms, ie, autonomic, motor and sensory dysfunctions, characterizes complex regional pain syndromes (CRPS). Sensory dysfunction comprises sensory loss or spontaneous and stimulus-evoked pain. Furthermore, a disturbance in the body schema may occur. In the present study, patients with CRPS of the upper extremity and healthy controls estimated their hand sizes on the basis of expanded or compressed schematic drawings of hands. In patients with CRPS we found an impairment in accurate hand size estimation; patients estimated their own CRPS-affected hand to be larger than it actually was when measured objectively. Moreover, overestimation correlated significantly with disease duration, neglect score, and increase of two-point-discrimination-thresholds (TPDT) compared to the unaffected hand and to control subjects' estimations. In line with previous functional imaging studies in CRPS patients demonstrating changes in central somatotopic maps, we suggest an involvement of the central nervous system in this disruption of the body schema. Potential cortical areas may be the primary somatosensory and posterior parietal cortices, which have been proposed to play a critical role in integrating visuospatial information. CRPS patients perceive their affected hand to be bigger than it is. The magnitude of this overestimation correlates with disease duration, decreased tactile thresholds, and neglect-score. Suggesting a disrupted body schema as the source of this impairment, our findings corroborate the current assumption of a CNS involvement in CRPS. Copyright © 2011 American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Interpretive reliability of two common MMPI-2 profiles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mark A. Deskovitz

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Users of multi-scale tests like the MMPI-2 tend not to interpret scales one at a time in a way that would correspond to standard scale-level reliability information. Instead, clinicians integrate inferences from a multitude of scales simultaneously, producing a descriptive narrative that is thought to characterize the examinee. This study was an attempt to measure the reliability of such integrated interpretations using a q-sort research methodology. Participants were 20 MMPI-2 users who responded to E-mail solicitations on professional listservs and in personal emails. Each participant interpreted one of two common MMPI-2 profiles using a q-set of 100 statements designed for MMPI-2 interpretation. To measure the “interpretive reliability” of the MMPI-2 profile interpretations, q-sort descriptions were intercorrelated. Mean pairwise interpretive reliability was .39, lower than expected, and there was no significant difference in reliability between profiles. There was also not a significant difference between within-profile and cross-profile correlations. Q-set item analysis was conducted to determine which individual statements had the most impact on interpretive reliability. Although sampling in this study was limited, implications for the field reliability of MMPI-2 interpretation are sobering.

Reliability on the move: safety and reliability in transportation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guy, G.B.

1989-01-01

The development of transportation has been a significant factor in the development of civilisation as a whole. Our technical ability to move people and goods now seems virtually limitless when one considers for example the achievements of the various space programmes. Yet our current achievements rely heavily on high standards of safety and reliability from equipment and the human component of transportation systems. Recent failures have highlighted our dependence on equipment and human reliability. This book represents the proceedings of the 1989 Safety and Reliability Society symposium held at Bath on 11-12 October 1989. The structure of the book follows the structure of the symposium itself and the papers selected represent current thinking the the wide field of transportation, and the areas of rail (6 papers, three on railway signalling), air including space (two papers), road (one paper), road and rail (two papers) and sea (three papers) are covered. There are four papers concerned with general transport issues. Three papers concerned with the transport of radioactive materials are indexed separately. (author)

National conference on integrated resource planning: Proceedings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1991-12-31

Until recently, state regulators have focused most of their attention on the development of least-cost or integrated resource planning (IRP) processes for electric utilities. A number of commissions are beginning to scrutinize the planning processes of local gas distribution companies (LDCs) because of the increased control that LDCs have over their purchased gas costs (as well as the associated risks) and because of questions surrounding the role and potential of gas end-use efficiency options. Traditionally, resource planning (LDCs) has concentrated on options for purchasing and storing gas. Integrated resource planning involves the creation of a process in which supply-side and demand-side options are integrated to create a resource mix that reliably satisfies customers` short-term and long-term energy service needs at the lowest cost. As applied to gas utilities, an integrated resource plan seeks to balance cost and reliability, and should not be interpreted simply as the search for lowest commodity costs. The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners` (NARUC) Energy Conservation committee asked Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL) to survey state PUCs to determine the extent to which they have undertaken least cost planning for gas utilities. The survey included the following topics: status of state PUC least-cost planning regulations and practices for gas utilities; type and scope of natural gas DSM programs in effect, including fuel substitution; economic tests and analysis methods used to evaluate DSM programs; relationship between prudency reviews of gas utility purchasing practices and integrated resource planning; key regulatory issued facing gas utilities during the next five years.

National conference on integrated resource planning: Proceedings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1991-01-01

Until recently, state regulators have focused most of their attention on the development of least-cost or integrated resource planning (IRP) processes for electric utilities. A number of commissions are beginning to scrutinize the planning processes of local gas distribution companies (LDCs) because of the increased control that LDCs have over their purchased gas costs (as well as the associated risks) and because of questions surrounding the role and potential of gas end-use efficiency options. Traditionally, resource planning (LDCs) has concentrated on options for purchasing and storing gas. Integrated resource planning involves the creation of a process in which supply-side and demand-side options are integrated to create a resource mix that reliably satisfies customers' short-term and long-term energy service needs at the lowest cost. As applied to gas utilities, an integrated resource plan seeks to balance cost and reliability, and should not be interpreted simply as the search for lowest commodity costs. The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners' (NARUC) Energy Conservation committee asked Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL) to survey state PUCs to determine the extent to which they have undertaken least cost planning for gas utilities. The survey included the following topics: status of state PUC least-cost planning regulations and practices for gas utilities; type and scope of natural gas DSM programs in effect, including fuel substitution; economic tests and analysis methods used to evaluate DSM programs; relationship between prudency reviews of gas utility purchasing practices and integrated resource planning; key regulatory issued facing gas utilities during the next five years.

Monitoring Travel Time Reliability on Freeways

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tu, Huizhao

2008-01-01

Travel time and travel time reliability are important attributes of a trip. The current measures of reliability have in common that in general they all relate to the variability of travel times. However, travel time reliability does not only rely on variability but also on the stability of travel

Measuring reliability under epistemic uncertainty: Review on non-probabilistic reliability metrics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kang Rui

2016-06-01

Full Text Available In this paper, a systematic review of non-probabilistic reliability metrics is conducted to assist the selection of appropriate reliability metrics to model the influence of epistemic uncertainty. Five frequently used non-probabilistic reliability metrics are critically reviewed, i.e., evidence-theory-based reliability metrics, interval-analysis-based reliability metrics, fuzzy-interval-analysis-based reliability metrics, possibility-theory-based reliability metrics (posbist reliability and uncertainty-theory-based reliability metrics (belief reliability. It is pointed out that a qualified reliability metric that is able to consider the effect of epistemic uncertainty needs to (1 compensate the conservatism in the estimations of the component-level reliability metrics caused by epistemic uncertainty, and (2 satisfy the duality axiom, otherwise it might lead to paradoxical and confusing results in engineering applications. The five commonly used non-probabilistic reliability metrics are compared in terms of these two properties, and the comparison can serve as a basis for the selection of the appropriate reliability metrics.

EthoHand: A dexterous robotic hand with ball-joint thumb enables complex in-hand object manipulation

OpenAIRE

Konnaris, C; Gavriel, C; Thomik, AAC; Aldo Faisal, A

2016-01-01

Our dexterous hand is a fundmanetal human feature that distinguishes us from other animals by enabling us to go beyond grasping to support sophisticated in-hand object manipulation. Our aim was the design of a dexterous anthropomorphic robotic hand that matches the human hand's 24 degrees of freedom, under-actuated by seven motors. With the ability to replicate human hand movements in a naturalistic manner including in-hand object manipulation. Therefore, we focused on the development of a no...

Extrapolation Method for System Reliability Assessment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Qin, Jianjun; Nishijima, Kazuyoshi; Faber, Michael Havbro

2012-01-01

of integrals with scaled domains. The performance of this class of approximation depends on the approach applied for the scaling and the functional form utilized for the extrapolation. A scheme for this task is derived here taking basis in the theory of asymptotic solutions to multinormal probability integrals......The present paper presents a new scheme for probability integral solution for system reliability analysis, which takes basis in the approaches by Naess et al. (2009) and Bucher (2009). The idea is to evaluate the probability integral by extrapolation, based on a sequence of MC approximations...... that the proposed scheme is efficient and adds to generality for this class of approximations for probability integrals....

Quality and reliability management and its applications

CERN Document Server

2016-01-01

Integrating development processes, policies, and reliability predictions from the beginning of the product development lifecycle to ensure high levels of product performance and safety, this book helps companies overcome the challenges posed by increasingly complex systems in today’s competitive marketplace.   Examining both research on and practical aspects of product quality and reliability management with an emphasis on applications, the book features contributions written by active researchers and/or experienced practitioners in the field, so as to effectively bridge the gap between theory and practice and address new research challenges in reliability and quality management in practice.    Postgraduates, researchers and practitioners in the areas of reliability engineering and management, amongst others, will find the book to offer a state-of-the-art survey of quality and reliability management and practices.

Pilot evaluation of a ward-based automated hand hygiene training system.

Science.gov (United States)

Ghosh, Anarta; Ameling, Stefan; Zhou, Jiang; Lacey, Gerard; Creamer, Eilish; Dolan, Anthony; Sherlock, Orla; Humphreys, Hilary

2013-04-01

A novel artificial intelligence (AI) system (SureWash; GLANTA, Dublin, Ireland) was placed on a ward with 45 staff members for two 6-day periods to automatically assess hand hygiene technique and the potential effectiveness of the automated training system. Two human reviewers assessed videos from 50 hand hygiene events with an interrater reliability (IIR) of 88% (44/50). The IIR was 88% (44/50) for the human reviewers and 80% (40/50) for the software. This study also investigated the poses missed and the impact of feedback on participation (+113%), duration (+11%), and technique (+2.23%). Our findings showed significant correlation between the human raters and the computer, demonstrating for the first time in a clinical setting the potential use of this type of AI technology in hand hygiene training. Copyright © 2013 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Proof tests on reliability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mishima, Yoshitsugu

1983-01-01

In order to obtain public understanding on nuclear power plants, tests should be carried out to prove the reliability and safety of present LWR plants. For example, the aseismicity of nuclear power plants must be verified by using a large scale earthquake simulator. Reliability test began in fiscal 1975, and the proof tests on steam generators and on PWR support and flexure pins against stress corrosion cracking have already been completed, and the results have been internationally highly appreciated. The capacity factor of the nuclear power plant operation in Japan rose to 80% in the summer of 1983, and considering the period of regular inspection, it means the operation of almost full capacity. Japanese LWR technology has now risen to the top place in the world after having overcome the defects. The significance of the reliability test is to secure the functioning till the age limit is reached, to confirm the correct forecast of deteriorating process, to confirm the effectiveness of the remedy to defects and to confirm the accuracy of predicting the behavior of facilities. The reliability of nuclear valves, fuel assemblies, the heat affected zones in welding, reactor cooling pumps and electric instruments has been tested or is being tested. (Kako, I.)

Multi-Disciplinary System Reliability Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Mahadevan, Sankaran; Han, Song

1997-01-01

The objective of this study is to develop a new methodology for estimating the reliability of engineering systems that encompass multiple disciplines. The methodology is formulated in the context of the NESSUS probabilistic structural analysis code developed under the leadership of NASA Lewis Research Center. The NESSUS code has been successfully applied to the reliability estimation of a variety of structural engineering systems. This study examines whether the features of NESSUS could be used to investigate the reliability of systems in other disciplines such as heat transfer, fluid mechanics, electrical circuits etc., without considerable programming effort specific to each discipline. In this study, the mechanical equivalence between system behavior models in different disciplines are investigated to achieve this objective. A new methodology is presented for the analysis of heat transfer, fluid flow, and electrical circuit problems using the structural analysis routines within NESSUS, by utilizing the equivalence between the computational quantities in different disciplines. This technique is integrated with the fast probability integration and system reliability techniques within the NESSUS code, to successfully compute the system reliability of multi-disciplinary systems. Traditional as well as progressive failure analysis methods for system reliability estimation are demonstrated, through a numerical example of a heat exchanger system involving failure modes in structural, heat transfer and fluid flow disciplines.

A Prosthetic Hand Body Area Controller Based on Efficient Pattern Recognition Control Strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Benatti, Simone; Milosevic, Bojan; Farella, Elisabetta; Gruppioni, Emanuele; Benini, Luca

2017-04-15

Poliarticulated prosthetic hands represent a powerful tool to restore functionality and improve quality of life for upper limb amputees. Such devices offer, on the same wearable node, sensing and actuation capabilities, which are not equally supported by natural interaction and control strategies. The control in state-of-the-art solutions is still performed mainly through complex encoding of gestures in bursts of contractions of the residual forearm muscles, resulting in a non-intuitive Human-Machine Interface (HMI). Recent research efforts explore the use of myoelectric gesture recognition for innovative interaction solutions, however there persists a considerable gap between research evaluation and implementation into successful complete systems. In this paper, we present the design of a wearable prosthetic hand controller, based on intuitive gesture recognition and a custom control strategy. The wearable node directly actuates a poliarticulated hand and wirelessly interacts with a personal gateway (i.e., a smartphone) for the training and personalization of the recognition algorithm. Through the whole system development, we address the challenge of integrating an efficient embedded gesture classifier with a control strategy tailored for an intuitive interaction between the user and the prosthesis. We demonstrate that this combined approach outperforms systems based on mere pattern recognition, since they target the accuracy of a classification algorithm rather than the control of a gesture. The system was fully implemented, tested on healthy and amputee subjects and compared against benchmark repositories. The proposed approach achieves an error rate of 1.6% in the end-to-end real time control of commonly used hand gestures, while complying with the power and performance budget of a low-cost microcontroller.

Nurses’ Knowledge Regarding Hand Hygiene and Its Individual and Organizational Predictors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Malihe Asadollahi

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Based on recommendations from World Health Organization, hand hygiene is the most important way to control the hospital infections. Due to the critical role of nurses in patient care, they should have essential and updated information regarding hand hygiene. So this study aims at determining the knowledge of hand hygiene and its individual and organizational predictors among nurses in neonatal units. Methods: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted in neonatal units in the hospitals affiliated to Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. The participants surveyed in this study were 150 nurses who were invited by census sampling method. A researcher prepared questionnaire that investigated the knowledge of participants about hand hygiene and was used after approving its validity and reliability. The quantitative analysis of this study used Statistical Package for Social Sciences SPSS version 13 by descriptive statistics and pearson correlation test, independent samples t-test, One-way ANOVA. For multivariable explanation of nurses’ knowledge based on independent variables multiple linear regressions was used. Results: Most of participants have an acceptable level of knowledge regarding hand hygiene. The highest score was for infection control domain and the lowest score was for definition of hand hygiene domain. Multivariable analysis showed that work experience and history of previous training were the most important predictors of participants’ knowledge about hand hygiene. Conclusion: It is recommended that infection control committees should revise their educational methods and give more emphasis on update guidelines regarding hand hygiene. Also, more experienced nurses should be employed in neonatal units.

Evidence-based practices to increase hand hygiene compliance in health care facilities: An integrated review.

Science.gov (United States)

Neo, Jun Rong Jeffrey; Sagha-Zadeh, Rana; Vielemeyer, Ole; Franklin, Ella

2016-06-01

Hand hygiene (HH) in health care facilities is a key component to reduce pathogen transmission and nosocomial infections. However, most HH interventions (HHI) have not been sustainable. This review aims to provide a comprehensive summary of recently published evidence-based HHI designed to improve HH compliance (HHC) that will enable health care providers to make informed choices when allocating limited resources to improve HHC and patient safety. The Medline electronic database (using PubMed) was used to identify relevant studies. English language articles that included hand hygiene interventions and related terms combined with health care environments or related terms were included. Seventy-three studies that met the inclusion criteria were summarized. Interventions were categorized as improving awareness with education, facility design, and planning, unit-level protocols and procedures, hospital-wide programs, and multimodal interventions. Past successful HHIs may not be as effective when applied to other health care environments. HH education should be interactive and engaging. Electronic monitoring and reminders should be implemented in phases to ensure cost-effectiveness. To create hospitalwide programs that engage end users, policy makers should draw expertise from interdisciplinary fields. Before implementing the various components of multimodal interventions, health care practitioners should identify and examine HH difficulties unique to their organizations. Future research should seek to achieve the following: replicate successful HHI in other health care environments, develop reliable HHC monitoring tools, understand caregiver-patient-family interactions, examine ways (eg, hospital leadership, financial support, and strategies from public health and infection prevention initiatives) to sustain HHC, and use simulated lab environments to refine study designs. Copyright © 2016 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc

Application to nuclear turbines of high-efficiency and reliable 3D-designed integral shrouded blades

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Watanabe, Eiichiro; Ohyama, Hiroharu; Tashiro, Hikaru; Sugitani, Toshio; Kurosawa, Masaru

1999-01-01

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has recently developed new blades for nuclear turbines, in order to achieve higher efficiency and higher reliability. The three-dimensional aerodynamic design for 41-inch and 46-inch blades, their one piece structural design (integral shrouded blades: ISB), and the verification test results using a model steam turbine are described in this paper. The predicted efficiency and lower vibratory stress have been verified. On the basis of these 60 Hz ISB, 50 Hz ISB series are under development using 'the law of similarity' without changing their thermodynamic performance and mechanical stress levels. Our 3D-designed reaction blades which are used for the high pressure and low pressure upstream stages, are also briefly mentioned. (author)

25. MPA-seminar: safety and reliability of plant technology with special emphasis on safety and reliability - integrity proofs, qualification of components, damage prevention. Vol. 1. Papers 1-29

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1999-01-01

The proceedings of the 25th MPA Seminar on 'Safety and Reliability of Plant Technology' were issued in two volumes. The main topics of the first volume are: 1. Structural and safety analysis, 2. Reliability analysis, 3. Fracture mechanics, and 4. Nondestructive Testing. s

Pain-related psychological issues in hand therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Hamasaki, Tokiko; Pelletier, René; Bourbonnais, Daniel; Harris, Patrick; Choinière, Manon

Literature review. Pain is a subjective experience that results from the modulation of nociception conveyed to the brain via the nervous system. Perception of pain takes place when potential or actual noxious stimuli are appraised as threats of injury. This appraisal is influenced by one's cognitions and emotions based on her/his pain-related experiences, which are processed in the forebrain and limbic areas of the brain. Unarguably, patients' psychological factors such as cognitions (eg, pain catastrophizing), emotions (eg, depression), and pain-related behaviors (eg, avoidance) can influence perceived pain intensity, disability, and treatment outcomes. Therefore, hand therapists should address the patient pain experience using a biopsychosocial approach. However, in hand therapy, a biomedical perspective predominates in pain management by focusing solely on tissue healing. This review aims to raise awareness among hand therapists of the impact of pain-related psychological factors. This literature review allowed to describe (1) how the neurophysiological mechanisms of pain can be influenced by various psychological factors, (2) several evidence-based interventions that can be integrated into hand therapy to address these psychological issues, and (3) some approaches of psychotherapy for patients with maladaptive pain experiences. Restoration of sensory and motor functions as well as alleviating pain is at the core of hand therapy. Numerous psychological factors including patients' beliefs, cognitions, and emotions alter their pain experience and may impact on their outcomes. Decoding the biopsychosocial components of the patients' pain is thus essential for hand therapists. Copyright © 2018 Hanley & Belfus. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effect of hand paddles and parachute on butterfly coordination.

Science.gov (United States)

Telles, Thiago; Barroso, Renato; Barbosa, Augusto Carvalho; Salgueiro, Diego Fortes de Souza; Colantonio, Emilson; Andries Júnior, Orival

2015-01-01

This study investigated the effects of hand paddles, parachute and hand paddles plus parachute on the inter-limb coordination of butterfly swimming. Thirteen male swimmers were evaluated in four random maximal intensity conditions: without equipment, with hand paddles, with parachute and with hand paddles + parachute. Arm and leg stroke phases were identified by 2D video analysis to calculate the total time gap (T1: time between hands' entry in the water and high break-even point of the first undulation; T2: time between the beginning of the hand's backward movement and low break-even point of the first undulation; T3: time between the hand's arrival in a vertical plane to the shoulders and high break-even point of the second undulation; T4: time between the hand's release from the water and low break-even point of the second undulation). The swimming velocity was reduced and T1, T2 and T3 increased in parachute and hand paddles + parachute. No changes were observed in T4. Total time gap decreased in parachute and hand paddles + parachute. It is concluded that hand paddles do not influence the arm-to-leg coordination in butterfly, while parachute and hand paddles + parachute do change it, providing a greater propulsive continuity.

Reliability and protection against failure in computer systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Daniels, B.K.

1979-01-01

Computers are being increasingly integrated into the control and safety systems of large and potentially hazardous industrial processes. This development introduces problems which are particular to computer systems and opens the way to new techniques of solving conventional reliability and availability problems. References to the developing fields of software reliability, human factors and software design are given, and these subjects are related, where possible, to the quantified assessment of reliability. Original material is presented in the areas of reliability growth and computer hardware failure data. The report draws on the experience of the National Centre of Systems Reliability in assessing the capability and reliability of computer systems both within the nuclear industry, and from the work carried out in other industries by the Systems Reliability Service. (author)

Use of a Hands Free, Instantaneous, Closed-Loop Communication Device Improves Perception of Communication and Workflow Integration in an Academic Teaching Hospital: A Pilot Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Fang, Daniel Z; Patil, Teja; Belitskaya-Levy, Ilana; Yeung, Marianne; Posley, Keith; Allaudeen, Nazima

2017-11-17

Efficient and effective communication between providers is critical to quality patient care within a hospital system. Hands free communication devices (HFCD) allow instantaneous, closed-loop communication between physicians and other members of a multidisciplinary team, providing a communication advantage over traditional pager systems. HFCD have been shown to decrease emergency room interruptions, improve nursing communication, improve speed of information flow, and eliminate health care waste. We evaluated the integration of an HFCD with an existing alphanumeric paging system on an acute inpatient medicine service. We conducted a prospective, observational, survey-based study over twenty-four weeks in an academic tertiary care center with attending physicians and residents. Our intervention involved the implementation of an HFCD alongside the existing paging system. Fifty-six pre and post surveys evaluated the perception of improvement in communication and the integration of the HFCD into existing workflow. We saw significant improvements in the ability of an HFCD to help physicians communicate thoughts clearly, communicate thoughts effectively, reach team members, reach ancillary staff, and stay informed about patients. Physicians also reported better workflow integration during admissions, rounds, discharge, and teaching sessions. Qualitative data from post surveys demonstrated that the greatest strengths of the HFCD included the ability to reach colleagues and staff quickly, provide instant access to individuals of the care team, and improve overall communication. Integration of an instantaneous, hands free, closed loop communication system alongside the existing pager system can provide improvements in the perceptions of communication and workflow integration in an academic medicine service. Future studies are needed to correlate these subjective findings with objective measures of quality and safety.

A critical review of frameworks used for evaluating reliability and relevance of (eco)toxicity data: Perspectives for an integrated eco-human decision-making framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Roth, N; Ciffroy, P

2016-10-01

Considerable efforts have been invested so far to evaluate and rank the quality and relevance of (eco)toxicity data for their use in regulatory risk assessment to assess chemical hazards. Many frameworks have been developed to improve robustness and transparency in the evaluation of reliability and relevance of individual tests, but these frameworks typically focus on either environmental risk assessment (ERA) or human health risk assessment (HHRA), and there is little cross talk between them. There is a need to develop a common approach that would support a more consistent, transparent and robust evaluation and weighting of the evidence across ERA and HHRA. This paper explores the applicability of existing Data Quality Assessment (DQA) frameworks for integrating environmental toxicity hazard data into human health assessments and vice versa. We performed a comparative analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of eleven frameworks for evaluating reliability and/or relevance of toxicity and ecotoxicity hazard data. We found that a frequent shortcoming is the lack of a clear separation between reliability and relevance criteria. A further gaps and needs analysis revealed that none of the reviewed frameworks satisfy the needs of a common eco-human DQA system. Based on our analysis, some key characteristics, perspectives and recommendations are identified and discussed for building a common DQA system as part of a future integrated eco-human decision-making framework. This work lays the basis for developing a common DQA system to support the further development and promotion of Integrated Risk Assessment. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Attention affects visual perceptual processing near the hand.

Science.gov (United States)

Cosman, Joshua D; Vecera, Shaun P

2010-09-01

Specialized, bimodal neural systems integrate visual and tactile information in the space near the hand. Here, we show that visuo-tactile representations allow attention to influence early perceptual processing, namely, figure-ground assignment. Regions that were reached toward were more likely than other regions to be assigned as foreground figures, and hand position competed with image-based information to bias figure-ground assignment. Our findings suggest that hand position allows attention to influence visual perceptual processing and that visual processes typically viewed as unimodal can be influenced by bimodal visuo-tactile representations.

Integration of Information Technologies in Enterprise Application Development

OpenAIRE

Iulia SURUGIU

2012-01-01

Healthcare enterprises are disconnected. In the era of integrated information systems and Internet explosion, the necessity of information systems integration reside from business process evolution, on the one hand, and from information technology tendencies, on the other hand. In order to become more efficient and adaptive to change, healthcare organizations are tremendously preoccupied of business process automation, flexibility and complexity. The need of information systems integration ar...

Hand functioning in children with cerebral palsy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carlyne eArnould

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Brain lesions may disturb hand functioning in children with cerebral palsy (CP, making it difficult or even impossible for them to perform several manual activities. Most conventional treatments for hand dysfunction in CP assume that reducing the hand dysfunctions will improve the capacity to manage activities (i.e., manual ability, MA. The aim of this study was to investigate the directional relationships (direct and indirect pathways through which hand skills influence MA in children with CP. A total of 136 children with CP (mean age: 10 years; range: 6–16 years; 35 quadriplegics, 24 diplegics, 77 hemiplegics were assessed. Six hand skills were measured on both hands: touch-pressure detection (Semmes-Weinstein aesthesiometer, stereognosis (Manual Form Perception Test, proprioception (passive mobilization of the metacarpophalangeal joints, grip strength (Jamar dynamometer, gross manual dexterity (Box and Block Test, and fine finger dexterity (Purdue Pegboard Test. MA was measured with the ABILHAND-Kids questionnaire. Correlation coefficients were used to determine the linear associations between observed variables. A path analysis of structural equation modeling was applied to test different models of causal relationships among the observed variables. Purely sensory impairments did seem not to play a significant role in the capacity to perform manual activities. According to path analysis, gross manual dexterity in both hands and stereognosis in the dominant hand were directly related to MA, whereas grip strength was indirectly related to MA through its relationship with gross manual dexterity. However, one-third of the variance in MA measures could not be explained by hand skills. It can be concluded that MA is not simply the integration of hand skills in daily activities and should be treated per se, supporting activity-based interventions.

Hand-related physical function in rheumatic hand conditions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Klokker, Louise; Terwee, Caroline B; Wæhrens, Eva Ejlersen

2016-01-01

as well as those items from the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Physical Function (PF) item bank that are relevant to patients with rheumatic hand conditions. Selection will be based on consensus among reviewers. Content validity of selected items will be established......INTRODUCTION: There is no consensus about what constitutes the most appropriate patient-reported outcome measurement (PROM) instrument for measuring physical function in patients with rheumatic hand conditions. Existing instruments lack psychometric testing and vary in feasibility...... and their psychometric qualities. We aim to develop a PROM instrument to assess hand-related physical function in rheumatic hand conditions. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We will perform a systematic search to identify existing PROMs to rheumatic hand conditions, and select items relevant for hand-related physical function...

Hand-related physical function in rheumatic hand conditions