Acquirers can use company-specifi c synergies as a competitive advantage, particularly when they bid against private equity fi rms. Previously, private equity fi rms outbid strategic buyers by utilizing fi nancial leverage to achieve return goals. The current economic environment doesn’t enable that strategy; private equity fi rms can only embed synergies in their bid price when they merge the ...

One theory for how humans control movement is that muscles are activated in weighted groups or synergies. Studies have shown that electromyography (EMG) from a variety of tasks can be described by a low-dimensional space thought to reflect synergies. These studies use algorithms, such as nonnegative matrix factorization, to identify synergies from EMG. Due to experimental constraints, EMG can r...

BACKGROUND Recent experimental evidence has indicated that the motor system coordinates muscle activations through a linear combination of muscle synergies that are specified at the spinal or brainstem networks level. After stroke upper limb impairment is characterized by abnormal patterns of muscle activations or synergies. OBJECTIVE This study aimed at characterizing the muscle synergies in...

We have previously described a modular organization of the locomotor step cycle in the cat in which a number of sparse synergies are activated sequentially during the swing phase of the step cycle (Krouchev et al., 2006). Here, we address how these synergies are modified during voluntary gait modifications. Data were analysed from 27 bursts of muscle activity (recorded from 18 muscles) recorded...

It is well known that humans run with a fore-foot strike (FFS), a mid-foot strike (MFS) or a rear-foot strike (RFS). A modular neural control mechanism of human walking and running has been discussed in terms of muscle synergies. However, the neural control mechanisms for different foot strike patterns during running have been overlooked even though kinetic and kinematic differences between dif...

Title of thesis: EFFECT OF KINETIC DEGREES OF FREEDOM ON MULTI-FINGER FORCE AND MOMENT STABILIZING SYNERGIES Sohit Karol, Master of Arts, 2008 Thesis directed by: Dr Jae Kun Shim, PhD. Department of Kinesiology, Bioengineering and Neuro and Cognitive Science (NACS) The purpose of the present study was to test the principle of motor abundance as compared to motor redundance, by investigating the...

This paper presents a new model-based method to define muscle synergies. Unlike the conventional factorization approach, which extracts synergies from electromyographic data, the proposed method employs a biomechanical model and formally defines the synergies as the solution of an optimal control problem. As a result, the number of required synergies is directly related to the dimensions of the...

Our aim was to determine whether muscle synergies are similar across trained cyclists (and thus whether the same locomotor strategies for pedaling are used), despite interindividual variability of individual EMG patterns. Nine trained cyclists were tested during a constant-load pedaling exercise performed at 80% of maximal power. Surface EMG signals were measured in 10 lower limb muscles. A dec...

Postural control is a natural behavior that requires the spatial and temporal coordination of multiple muscles. Complex muscle activation patterns characterizing postural responses suggest the need for independent muscle control. However, our previous work shows that postural responses in cats can be robustly reproduced by the activation of a few muscle synergies. We now investigate whether a s...

Synergies are thought to be the building blocks of vertebrate movements. The inability to execute synergies in properly timed and graded fashion precludes adequate functional motor performance. In humans with stroke, abnormal synergies are a sign of persistent neurological deficit and result in loss of independent joint control, which disrupts the kinematics of voluntary movements. This study a...