Objectives: This study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a modified floor reaction ankle foot orthosis (FRAFO) design on gait performance in children with cerebral palsy. Methods: Eight children with cerebral palsy wore a modified FRAFO bilaterally for six weeks. Motion analysis was used to assess the immediate effectiveness of the orthosis on improving gait and also following si...

In order to find out the work load of matrons under shift work in a special nursing home for the elderly (SNH), six healthy female matrons volunteered to participate in the present study. For each subject, care working time, heart rate, walking steps, estimated energy expenditure and working time in different postures were determined during day shift work (540 min) and night shift work (960 min...

The present study examined the occurrence of sleepiness in various shift combinations ending with a night or morning shift. Three weeks' sleep/work shift diary data, collected from 126 randomly selected train drivers and 104 traffic controllers, were used in statistical analyses. The occurrence of sleepiness at work (i.e., Karolinska Sleepiness Scale 7 or higher) was tested with a generalised l...

Based on a non classical plate theory, an analytical model is proposed for the first time to analyze free vibration problem of partially cracked thin isotropic submerged plate in the presence of thermal environment. The governing equation for the cracked plate is derived using the Kirchhoff’s thin plate theory and the modified couple stress theory. The crack terms are formulated using simplifie...

The Magneto-Electro-Elastic (MEE) material exhibits pyroelectric and pyromagnetic effects under thermal environment. The effects of such pyroelectric and pyromagnetic behavior on vibration, buckling and deflection analysis of partially cracked thin MEE plate is presented and discussed in this paper. The aim of the study is to develop an analytical model for the vibration and geometrically linea...

A shift register of N bit length can be conngured (for most N) with a single exclusive-OR gate to generate periodically 2 N ? 1 diierent states. As each state is directly related to the number of clock pulses received, such a circuit can be used as a counter. The sequential readout of the bit pattern requires nearly no additional logic and many 'shift counters' can easily be daisy chained durin...

Background & Aims: Shift work is programmed in various schedules, each has its own advantages and disadvantages. The main purposes of this study were: a) to determine common shift schedules used in petrochemical industries, b) to compare shift work health-related problems among employees working in different shift schedules and c) to recommend appropriate shift schedule. Methods: This cross...

A speaker adaptation method for continuous density HMMs, which performs well for any amount of data for adaptation, is proposed. This method estimates shift parameters for the means of Gaussian mixture components in the HMM. Each shift parameter is shared by more than one Gaussian components. Many sets of shift parameters with various degree of sharing are prepared, and the set with the appropr...