Closed-form solutions were developed to optimize kinematics design of a 2-degree-of-freedom (2DOF) planar parallel manipulator. The optimum design based on the workspace was presented. Meanwhile, a global, comprehensive conditioning index was introduced to evaluate the kinematic designs. The optimal parallel manipulator is incorporated into a 5-DOF hybrid machine tool which includes a 2-DOF rot...

BACKGROUND Assessing the clinical effectiveness of measuring grip strength as a prognostic tool in recovering ambulation in bed-confined frail elderly patients. METHODS A prospective study was carried out with 50 elderly inpatients (mean age: 81.6 years old). Manual muscle test was used for checking strength of hip flexor muscles, hip abductor muscles and knee extensor muscles. Grip strength ...

This paper examines the origins, spread and practices of professional forestry in Southeast Asia, focusing on key sites in colonial and post-colonial Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Part 1, in an earlier issue of this journal, challenged popular and scholarly accounts of colonial forestry as a set of simplifying practices exported from Europe and applied in the European colonies. We showed th...

The goal of this special issue is to connect work done in colonial and post-colonial history European through a focus on imperial post-imperial healthcare. To date, histories healthcare have focused overwhelmingly developments empires. Europe’s land empires, such as those Central Eastern Europe consolidated by Austria-Hungary Prussia, received comparatively less attention English-language schol...

Charter schools, vouchers, and contracts with private agencies providing educational services all reflect the belief that a substantial part of educational budgeting, decision making, and accountability should be based at the level of individual schools, rather than at the school district level. Though states are moving quickly to set up charter schools, and some states and districts are debati...

Our analysis begins with the puzzle: how did Botswana develop a legalrational state? We suggest that three key interlinked factors were important. First, during the pre-colonial period the Tswana developed local states with relatively limited kingship or chiefship and with a political structure that was able to integrate people of other ethnic groups such as Kalanga. Second, facing the onslaugh...