Humans employ various control strategies to initiate and maintain bodily movement. In case that the normal gait function is impaired, exoskeleton robots provide motor assistance during therapy. While the robotic control system builds on kinematic gait functions, the patient's voluntary efforts to initiate motion also contribute to the effectiveness of the therapy process. However, it is current...

We investigated the activation of lower limb motor pools by supraspinal and spinal networks after human spinal cord injury (SCI). We compared electromyographic (EMG) activity from six muscles during voluntarily attempted non-weight-bearing single-joint movements, multijoint movements approximating stepping in a supine position, and weight-bearing stepping on a treadmill with body weight support...

This study investigated transmission of corticospinal output through motoneurons over a wide range of voluntary contraction strengths in humans. During voluntary contraction of biceps brachii, motor evoked potentials (MEPs) to transcranial magnetic stimulation of the motor cortex grow up to about 50% maximal force and then decrease. To determine whether the decrease reflects events at a cortica...

This paper addresses the determinants of the implementation rate of the Environmental Management and Auditing System (EMAS): one European Union wide standard certifying firms’ voluntary behavior within European Union countries,. Using a negative binomial two-way effect regression model on the number of EMAS registrations, this paper focuses on the differences between countries’ environmental re...

Introduction: Developing countries face significant challenges in collecting sufficient blood to meet the demands from patients. Southern African countries have implemented many initiatives to recruit and retain sufficient voluntary blood donors and the success has been varied in different countries. Objective: To analyse blood donor patterns and challenges in the 14 Southern African countries ...

OBJECTIVE Individuals with serious mental illness have a relatively high risk of criminal justice involvement. Assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) is a legal mechanism that mandates treatment for individuals with serious mental illness who are unlikely to live safely in the community without supervision and who are also unlikely to voluntarily participate in treatment. Under an alternative arra...

This article discusses issues relevant to recent efforts to increase veterinary reporting of cases of animal mistreatment in the USA. These issues include mandatory vs. voluntary reporting, client confidentiality obligations, the legal definitions of animal cruelty, abuse, and neglect in state laws, ethical conflicts between a veterinarian's obligations to animals and clients, perceived vs. rea...

The purpose of this statement is to recommend implementation of a mandatory influenza immunization policy for all health care personnel. Immunization of health care personnel is a critically important step to substantially reduce health care-associated influenza infections. Despite the efforts of many organizations to improve influenza immunization rates with the use of voluntary campaigns, inf...

The Problem: How does human neural circuitry control posture and voluntary movements? Humans are equipped with an amazing repertoire of motor skills. Despite being outfitted with what by many engineering criterion are noisy signals, slow computation times, devastating transmission delays and marginal actuators, the human system exhibits motor control and, more impressively, motor learning that ...

The cerebellum has traditionally been seen primarily to coordinate voluntary movement, but evidence is accumulating that it may play a role in cognition and behavior as well. This is a selective review of studies assessing potential cognitive deficits and personality changes associated with cerebellar disease. Preliminary studies of the role of the cerebellum in schizophrenia, dementia, and oth...