Development of a 3D workspace Shoulder Assessment Tool Incorporating Electromyography and an Inertial Measurement Unit - A preliminary study

Traditional shoulder Range of Movement (ROM) measurement tools suffer from inaccuracy or from long experimental set-up times. Recently, it has been demonstrated that relatively low-cost wearable inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensors can overcome many of the limitations of traditional motion tracking systems. The aim of this study is to develop and evaluate a single IMU combined with an Electromyography (EMG) sensor to monitor the 3D reachable workspace with simultaneous measurement of deltoid muscle activity across the shoulder ROM. Six volunteer subjects with healthy shoulders and one participant with a ‘frozen’ shoulder were recruited to the study. Arm movement in 3D space was plotted in spherical coordinates while the relative EMG intensity of any arm position is presented graphically. The results showed that there was an average ROM surface area of 27291±538 deg2 among all six healthy individuals and a ROM surface area of 13571±308 deg2 for the subject with frozen shoulder. All three sections of the deltoid show greater EMG activity at higher elevation angles. Using such tools enables individuals, surgeons and physiotherapists to measure the maximum envelope of motion in conjunction with muscle activity in order to provide an objective assessment of shoulder performance in the voluntary 3D workspace

The multiple faces of self-assembled lipidic systems

Lipids, the building blocks of cells, common to every living organisms, have the propensity to self-assemble into well-defined structures over short and long-range spatial scales. The driving forces have their roots mainly in the hydrophobic effect and electrostatic interactions. Membranes in lamellar phase are ubiquitous in cellular compartments and can phase-separate upon mixing lipids in different liquid-crystalline states. Hexagonal phases and especially cubic phases can be synthesized and observed in vivo as well. Membrane often closes up into a vesicle whose shape is determined by the interplay of curvature, area difference elasticity and line tension energies, and can adopt the form of a sphere, a tube, a prolate, a starfish and many more. Complexes made of lipids and polyelectrolytes or inorganic materials exhibit a rich diversity of structural morphologies due to additional interactions which become increasingly hard to track without the aid of suitable computer models. From the plasma membrane of archaebacteria to gene delivery, self-assembled lipidic systems have left their mark in cell biology and nanobiotechnology; however, the underlying physics is yet to be fully unraveled

Social media conflicts during the financial crisis: Managerial implications for retail banks

Social media can be used proactively to disseminate accurate corporate information and address undesirable consumer behaviors online in order to help counteract negativity in the business environment in the wake of a financial crisis. Social media thus has become a popular open forum for financial institutions such as retail banks to engage in corporate dialogue with consumers. We recommend that financial services firms preemptively use their social media‐based online communities in order to disseminate accurate corporate information in times of a financial crisis. Particularly, firms can choose between a range of reactive and proactive strategies to manage social conflict in the wake of a financial crisis

Zakłopotanie w komunikacji menedżerskiej

The study is circumscribed Management Science. It aims to investigate for the first time embarrassments of managerial communication. After an overview of evolution of the managerial communication is revealed that the problem of embarrassments of managerial communication was not ever studied. Using meta-analytic and observational procedures and methods are highlighted that the main generators of embarrassments are communicators, as basic elements of communication, those who initiate, perform, maintain and/or interrupt communication. There are recorded three kinds of embarrassments to communication: easily gotten over difficulties, difficult gotten over and barriers almost insurmountable. It is observed that intervene of some endogenous factors of the communication process and/or exogenous factors in the communication process. The first category factors are subjective and are manifested in misunderstandings, lack of consensus, differences of opinion, disagreements and conflicts; they are partly due to the asymmetric nature of the communication situation manager vs. subordinate. The second category factors are objective (physical) and are related to environment in which communication performs (context, situation, setting), the channels of communication, media and noise.Niniejsze badanie odnosi się do Nauk o Zarządzaniu. Ma ono na celu zbadanie po raz pierwszy zakłopotania w komunikacji menedżerskiej. Po dokonaniu przeglądu kształtowania się komunikacji menedżerskiej wykazano, że problem zakłopotania w komunikacji menedżerskiej nie był nigdy badany. Wykorzystane meta-analityczne i obserwacyjne procedury oraz metody naświetlają, że głównymi generatorami zakłopotania są komunikatory, jako podstawowe elementy komunikacji, które inicjują, wykonują, utrzymują i / lub przerywają komunikację. Istnieją trzy zarejestrowane rodzaje zakłopotania w komunikacji: trudności łatwe do przezwyciężenia, trudne do przezwyciężenia i bariery niemal nie do pokonania. Obserwuje się interwencję niektórych czynników endogennych i / lub czynników egzogennych w procesie komunikacji. Czynniki pierwszej kategorii są subiektywne i objawiają się nieporozumieniami, brakiem porozumienia, różnicami zdań, sporami i konfliktami; wynikają one częściowo z powodu asymetrycznego charakteru sytuacji komunikacyjnej kierownika wobec podwładnego. Czynniki drugiej kategorii są obiektywne (fizyczne) i związane są z otoczeniem, w którym przeprowadzana jest komunikacja (kontekst, sytuacja, ustawienie), kanałami komunikacji, mediami i hałasem

Nlrp3 inflammasome biomarker—could be the new tool for improved cardiometabolic syndrome outcome

Metabolomics, the research area studying chemical processes involving metabolites, finds its utility in inflammasome biomarker discovery, thus representing a novel approach for cardiometabolic syndrome pathogeny acknowledgements. Metabolite biomarkers discovery is expected to improve the disease evolution and outcome. The activation of abundantly expressed NLRP3 inflammasome represents the background process of the diabetes mellitus disturbances like hyperglycemia and insulin resistance, as well as for myocardial cell death and fibrosis, all of them being features characteristic for cardiometabolic syndrome. Many molecules like troponins, brain natriuretic protein (BNP), ST2/IL-33, C-reactive protein (CRP), TNF, IL-1β, and IL-18 cytokines have been already examined as molecular markers for diagnosing or predicting different cardiac disturbances like myocardial infarction, heart failure, or myocarditis. In addition, metabolomics research comes with new findings arguing that NLRP3 inflammasome becomes a promising molecular tool to use for clinical and therapeutical management providing new targets for therapies in cardiometabolic syndrome. Inflammasome markers analyses, along with other molecular or genetic biomarkers, will result in a better understanding of cardiometabolic syndrome pathogenesis and therapeutic targets. Screening, diagnostic, and prognostic biomarkers resulted from inflammasome biomarker research will become standard of care in cardiometabolic syndrome management, their utility becoming the first magnitude

Education and Research Projects for Preparing Young Researchers for Future Career in Earth Observation

The InnEO'Space PhD program addresses the growing demand for skilled individuals in Earth Observation (EO) data management. It offers modern and transferable courses to enhance researchers' innovation-oriented skills. The program includes InnEO Startech, focusing on entrepreneurship and leadership, and the Machine Learning for Earth Observation InnEO Summer school, emphasizing open science and technical skills. Small Private Online Courses (SPOCs) provide blended learning through a user-friendly platform. The InnEO PRO section facilitates interaction among PhD students and professionals, offering various resources and self-assessment tests. The program's success has led to collaborations with UNIVERSEH and FabSpace, while AI4AGRI aims to utilize its resources for AI in EO research