B = signed Boolean matrix C = damping matrix f = vector of external forces G = matrix of associated modes g = vector of connecting forces K = stiffness matrix L = Boolean localization matrix M = mass matrix q = vector of unique degrees of freedom R = reduction matrix r = vector of residual forces t = time u = vector of degrees of freedom Y = receptance matrix Z = dynamic stiffness matrix = vect...

We measured fracture stiffness in 212 patients with tibial fractures treated by external fixation. In the first 117 patients (group 1) the decision to remove the fixator and allow independent weight-bearing was made on clinical grounds. In the other 95 patients (group 2) the frames were removed when the fracture stiffness had reached 15 Nm/degree. In group 1 there were eight refractures and in ...

Variable elastic actuators are very promising for applications in physical human–robot interaction. Besides enabling human safety, such actuators can support energy efficiency, especially if the natural behavior of the system is exploited. In this paper, the power and energy consumption of variable stiffness actuators with serial elasticity is investigated analytically and experimentally. Besid...

Two solution schemes are proposed and compared for large 3D soil consolidation problems with nonassociated plasticity. One solution scheme results in the nonsymmetric linear equations due to the Newton iteration, while the other leads to the symmetric linear systems due to the symmetrized stiffness strategies. To solve the resulting linear systems, the QMR and SQMR solver are employed in conjun...

In this paper piezo actuated micromanipulators are considered with serial-parallel structure including elastic joints. Such structure allows a preliminary tension of the mechanical system in order to eliminate backlashes and to improve the performance of the piezo-actuators. A kinematics model of a serial-parallel structure for local micro manipulators is build here. A pseudo rigid body approac...

Improved methods for prostate guided-biopsy are required to effectively guide needle biopsy to the suspected site. In addition, tissue stiffness measurement would help identifying a suspected site to perform biopsy because stiffness has been shown to correlate with pathology. More importantly, early detection of prostate cancer may guide therapy and eliminate invasive procedures. Vibro-acoustog...

Tuning the stiffness balance is crucial to full-band common-mode rejection for a superconducting gravity gradiometer (SGG). A reliable method to do so has been proposed and experimentally tested. In the tuning scheme, the frequency response functions of the displacement of individual test mass upon common-mode accelerations were measured and thus determined a characteristic frequency for each t...

juvenile idiopathic arthritis, Kikuchi's disease and haemophagocytic lym-phohistiocytosis—is there a link? Case report and literature review. SIR, Haigh et al. [1] state that measurement of objective joint stiffness does not relate to that experienced by the patient in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This premise underlies their paper on phantom limb stiffness in amputees who have RA. However, more ...

  Congenital dislocation of the knee (CDK) is a rare disorder. We report the case of a 7-year-old girl with bilateral knee stiffness, marked anterior bowing of both legs, and inability to walk without aid. Radiologic investigation revealed bilateral knee joint dislocation accompanied by severe anterior bowing of both tibia proximally and posterior bowing of both femur distally, demonstrating ...

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES Vascular damage contributes to the high cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Increased aortic stiffness measured by carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cf-PWV) is a strong and independent predictor of the cardiovascular risk in ESRD patients. Recently, there has been considerable interest in developing strategies to lessen the progress...