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Robot-mediated rehabilitation is a rapidly advancing discipline that seeks to develop improved treatment procedures using new technologies, e.g., robotics, coupled with modern theories in neuroscience and rehabilitation. A robotic device was designed and developed for rehabilitation of upper limbs of post stroke patients. A novel force feedback bimanual working mode provided real-time dynamic sensation of the paretic hand. Results of the preliminary clinical tests revealed a quantitative evaluation of the patient's level of paresis and disability. ©2009 IEEE  

Although anxiety is one of the most prevalent psychological disorders in stroke survivors, its effect on sensory reweighting has not yet been fully studied. The aim of this work was to investigate how anticipation of collision avoidance events affects sensory reweighting in chronic stroke survivors with low and high levels of anxiety (LA-stroke and HA-stroke, respectively), as compared with healthy controls (HC), under the condition of perturbed proprioception. Eighteen LA-stroke and 18 HA-stroke survivors, as well as 18 gender- and age-matched HC, participated in this study. Postural sway variability (i.e. Root Mean Square (RMS) of the COP velocity) was measured for a duration of 180 s... 

Objectives: To investigate the effects of competitive and noncompetitive volleyball exercises on the functional performance and motor control of the upper limbs in chronic stroke survivors. Design: Randomized clinical trial. Setting: Outpatient rehabilitation center. Participants: Chronic stroke survivors (N=48). Interventions: Participants were randomly assigned to competitive (n=16) or noncompetitive (n=16) volleyball exercise groups (60min/d volleyball exercise+30min/d traditional rehabilitation, 3d/wk for 7wk) and control group (n=16). Main Outcome Measures: Reach and grasp motor control measures were evaluated through kinematic analysis. Functional outcomes were assessed via Motor... 

The pulsating flow in the exhaust gas of a SI engine causes an unsteady flow at the inlet to the turbocharger turbine. In a four cylinder four stroke engine, the pulse frequency varies between 20 and 200 Hz. Three dimensional pulsating flows in a vane-less turbocharger turbine of a 1.7 liters SI engine are simulated numerically and validated experimentally. Simulations are done for 720 degree engine cycle at three engine speeds. The results are shown the inlet pulsating flow has significant effects on several turbine parameters especially the inlet total pressure, the reduced mass flow rate and the efficiency. The results show a very good agreement between the three-dimensional unsteady... 

In this experimental study, a four stroke diesel engine was conducted to investigate the effect of adding water-based ferrofluid to diesel fuel on engine performance. To our knowledge, Magnetic nanoparticles had not been used before. To this end, emulsified diesel fuels of 0, 0.4, and 0.8 water-based ferrofluid/Diesel ratios by volume were used as fuel. The ferrofluid used in this study was a handmade water-based ferrofluid prepared by the authors. The results show that adding water-based ferrofluid to diesel fuel has a perceptible effect on engine performance, increasing the brake thermal efficiency relatively up to 12%, and decreasing the brake specific fuel consumption relatively up to... 

Background: Many studies have been conducted on the changes in the balance capabilities of stroke patients. However, results regarding the effects of dual-task activities on postural control in these patients have been variable. Objective: To evaluate the effects of a short-term memory task on the sway characteristics of stroke patients. Method: Center of pressure (COP) fluctuations were measured in three levels of postural difficulty (rigid surface with closed and open eyes and foamsurface with closed eyes), aswell as two levels of cognitive difficulty (easy and difficult). COP parameters included mean velocity, standard deviation of velocity in both medial-lateral (M.L) and... 

The robotic rehabilitation devices can undertake the difficult physical therapy tasks and provide improved treatment procedures for post stroke patients. During passive working mode, the speed of the exercise needs to be controlled continuously by the robot to avoid excessive injurious torques. We designed a fuzzy controller for a hand rehabilitation robot to adjust the exercise speed by considering the wrist angle and joint resistive torque, measured continuously, and the patient's general condition, determined by the therapist. With a set of rules based on an expert therapist experience, the fuzzy system could adapt effectively to the neuromuscular conditions of the patient's paretic hand.... 

In this paper, an approach to physical collaboration between a patient and a therapist is proposed using a bilateral impedance control strategy developed for delayed tele-robotic systems. The patient performs a tele-rehabilitation task in a resistive virtual environment with the help of online assistive forces from the therapist being provided through teleoperation. Using this strategy, the patient's involuntary hand tremors can be filtered out and the effort of severely impaired patients can be amplified in order to facilitate their early engagement in physical tasks. The response of the first desired impedance model is tracked by the master robot (interacting with the patient), and the... 

Background and aim: Gait and balance disorders are common in the elderly populations, and their prevalence increases with age. This systematic review was performed to summarize the current evidence for subthreshold vibration interventions on postural control and gait in elderly. Method: A review of intervention studies including the following words in the title/abstract: insole, foot and ankle appliances, vibration, noise and elderly related to balance and gait. Databases searched included PubMed, ISI Web of Knowledge, Ovid, Scopus, and Google Scholar. Fifteen articles were selected for final evaluation. The procedure was followed using the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews... 

Apathy is a stressor and debilitating common condition for both stroke survivors and their caregivers. However, its effects on the postural control of these patients have not yet been investigated. Improved postural stability through withdrawing attention from postural control by concurrent cognitive task (i.e. dual-task condition) has been reported previously, but the effect of apathy, as a confounding factor, remains unknown. This study aimed to examine the effects of apathy and dual-task condition on postural control of chronic stroke survivors from biomechanical and neurophysiological perspectives. Twenty non-apathetic stroke survivors, 20 apathetic stroke survivors, and 20 sex-, age-,... 

Background: Impairments of upper limb (UL) sensory-motor functions are common in Parkinson's disease (PD). Virtual reality exercises may improve sensory-motor functions in a safe environment and can be used in tele-rehabilitation. This study aimed to investigate the effects of supervised and non-supervised UL virtual reality exercises (ULVRE) on UL sensory-motor functions in patients with idiopathic PD. Methods: In this clinical trial study, 45 patients with idiopathic PD (29 male) by mean ± SD age of 58.64 ± 8.69 years were randomly allocated to either the control group (conventional rehabilitation exercises), supervised ULVRE or non-supervised ULVRE. Interventions were 24 sessions, 3... 

Background: Performance indices provide quantitative measures for the quality of motion, and therefore, assist in analyzing and monitoring patients' progress. Measurement of performance indices requires costly devices, such as motion capture systems. Recent developments of sensors for game controllers, such as Microsoft Kinect, have motivated many researchers to develop affordable systems for performance measurement applicable to home and clinical care. In this work, the capability of Kinect in finding motion performance indices was assessed by analyzing intra-session and inter-session test-retest reliability. Method: Eighteen stroke patients and twelve healthy subjects participated in this... 

Numerous advantages of application of tailor welded blanks (TWBs) in automobile industry, namely reduction of weight, fuel consumption and air pollution, have made the manufacturers eager to investigate in this field. On the other hand, while experiments generally provide valuable information in regard with mechanical behaviors, but utilization of simulation methods has extended vastly due to time and cost saving issues. One challenging issue in numerically analyzing the forming behavior of transversely welded TWBs, welded by laser welding methods, has been the presence of weld zone. While some researchers believe that during simulation, the weld zone can be neglected due to its minority and... 

Thermopneumatic micropump is one type of positive displacement micropump, which has many applications due to its relatively large stroke volume, low working voltage, and simple fabrication in microscale. In this paper, a numerical study of heat transfer and fluid flow in a valveless thermopneumatically driven micropump is presented. For rectifying the bidirectional flow, a nozzle and a diffuser are used as the inlet and outlet channels of the chamber. Since the fluid flow is induced by the motion of a diaphragm, the numerical simulation includes fluid structure interaction, which requires applying a dynamic mesh. The domain of solution is divided into two sections; the actuator unit, which...