Researchers have reported on the importance of the rib cage in maintaining mechanical stability in the thoracic spine and on the validity of a compressive follower preload. However, dynamic mechanical testing using both the rib cage and follower load has never been studied. An in vitro biomechanical study of human cadaveric thoracic specimens with rib cage intact in lateral bending, flexion/ext...

1. Abstract A 2-dimensional lumbar spine is modeled with 64 back muscles and the static behavior of the model is predicted using an optimization technique. The goal of this study was to investigate if a follower load can be produced by the back muscles for enhancing the mechanical stability of the lumbar spine in a quiet standing posture. Recent studies demonstrated that the stability of the lu...

A computerized approach for analyzing the tolerances in disk cam mechanisms with a flatfaced follower is presented in this paper. Based on the simulated higher-pair contact analysis, the kinematic deviation of the follower motion caused by the tolerance amount of each design parameter can be determined numerically. The method is validated by means of analyzing the case of an eccentric circular ...

The leadership literature advances that vision communication is essential for because it enhances follower motivation by providing a deeper meaning one's job. However, empirical research on the relationship between visions and outcomes are mixed suggesting moderators may be at play—and indeed have been investigated in terms of characteristics environmental circumstances. Yet, one crucial aspect...

The aim of this study was to design a navigation system composed of a human-controlled leader vehicle and a follower vehicle. The follower vehicle automatically tracks the leader vehicle. With such a system, a human driver can control two vehicles efficiently in agricultural operations. The tracking system was developed for the leader and the follower vehicle, and control of the follower was pe...

In congested urban areas, it remains a pressing challenge to reduce unnecessary vehicle circling for parking while at the same time maximize parking space utilization. In observance of new information technologies that have become readily accessible to drivers and parking agencies, we develop a dynamic non-cooperative bi-level model (i.e. Stackelberg leader-follower game) to set parking prices ...

The continuous network design problem (CNDP) is known to be difficult to solve due to the property of non-convexity and nonlinearity. Such kind of CNDP can be formulated as a bi-level programme, which may be classified into Stackelberg approach and Nash one according to the relationship between the upper level and the lower level parts. This paper formulates the CNDP for road expansion based on...

Two competitors, a Leader and a Follower, are sequentially creating their hub and spoke networks to attract customers in a market where prices have fixed markups. Each competitor wants to maximize his profit, rather than a market share. Demand is split according to the logit model. The goal is to find the optimal hub and spoke topology for the Leader. We represent this Stackelberg game as a non...

The source follower circuit is used as a voltage buffer and level shifter. It is more flexible level shifter as the dc value of voltage level can be adjusted by changing aspect ratio of MOSFETs. It is desired to have low output resistance for such applications. Source follower can give minimum output resistance 1/(gm+gmb) with load resistance and channel resistance tending to infinity. The supe...