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The compliant nature of distal limb muscle-tendon units is traditionally considered suboptimal in explosive movements when positive joint work is required. However, during accelerative running, ankle joint net mechanical work is positive. Therefore, this study aims to investigate how plantar flexor muscle-tendon behavior is modulated during fast accelerations. Eleven female sprinters performed maximum sprint accelerations from starting blocks, while gastrocnemius muscle fascicle lengths were estimated using ultrasonography. We combined motion analysis and ground reaction force measurements to assess lower limb joint kinematics and kinetics, and to estimate gastrocnemius muscle-tendon unit length during the first two acceleration steps. Outcome variables were resampled to the stance phase and averaged across three to five trials. Relevant scalars were extracted and analyzed using one-sample and two-sample t-tests, and vector trajectories were compared using statistical parametric mapping. We found that an uncoupling of muscle fascicle behavior from muscle-tendon unit behavior is effectively used to produce net positive mechanical work at the joint during maximum sprint acceleration. Muscle fascicles shortened throughout the first and second steps, while shortening occurred earlier during the first step, where negative joint work was lower compared with the second step. Elastic strain energy may be stored during dorsiflexion after touchdown since fascicles did not lengthen at the same time to dissipate energy. Thus, net positive work generation is accommodated by the reuse of elastic strain energy along with positive gastrocnemius fascicle work. Our results show a mechanism of how muscles with high in-series compliance can contribute to net positive joint work.
This study aims to quantify the kinematics, kinetics and muscular activity of all-out handcycling exercise and examine their alterations during the course of a 15-s sprint test. Twelve able-bodied competitive triathletes performed a 15-s all-out sprint test in a recumbent racing handcycle that was attached to an ergometer. During the sprint test, tangential crank kinetics, 3D joint kinematics and muscular activity of 10 muscles of the upper extremity and trunk were examined using a power metre, motion capturing and surface electromyography (sEMG), respectively. Parameters were compared between revolution one (R1), revolution two (R2), the average of revolution 3 to 13 (R3) and the average of the remaining revolutions (R4). Shoulder abduction and internal-rotation increased, whereas maximal shoulder retroversion decreased during the sprint. Except for the wrist angles, angular velocity increased for every joint of the upper extremity. Several muscles demonstrated an increase in muscular activation, an earlier onset of muscular activation in crank cycle and an increased range of activation. During the course of a 15-s all-out sprint test in handcycling, the shoulder muscles and the muscles associated to the push phase demonstrate indications for short-duration fatigue. These findings are helpful to prevent injuries and improve performance in all-out handcycling.
Rehabilitative body weight supported gait training aims at restoring walking function as a key element in activities of daily living. Studies demonstrated reductions in muscle and joint forces, while kinematic gait patterns appear to be preserved with up to 30% weight support. However, the influence of body weight support on muscle architecture, with respect to fascicle and series elastic element behavior is unknown, despite this having potential clinical implications for gait retraining. Eight males (31.9 ± 4.7 years) walked at 75% of the speed at which they typically transition to running, with 0% and 30% body weight support on a lower-body positive pressure treadmill. Gastrocnemius medialis fascicle lengths and pennation angles were measured via ultrasonography. Additionally, joint kinematics were analyzed to determine gastrocnemius medialis muscle–tendon unit lengths, consisting of the muscle's contractile and series elastic elements. Series elastic element length was assessed using a muscle–tendon unit model. Depending on whether data were normally distributed, a paired t-test or Wilcoxon signed rank test was performed to determine if body weight supported walking had any effects on joint kinematics and fascicle–series elastic element behavior. Walking with 30% body weight support had no statistically significant effect on joint kinematics and peak series elastic element length. Furthermore, at the time when peak series elastic element length was achieved, and on average across the entire stance phase, muscle–tendon unit length, fascicle length, pennation angle, and fascicle velocity were unchanged with respect to body weight support. In accordance with unchanged gait kinematics, preservation of fascicle–series elastic element behavior was observed during walking with 30% body weight support, which suggests transferability of gait patterns to subsequent unsupported walking.
Altered gastrocnemius contractile behavior in former achilles tendon rupture patients during walking
(2022)
Achilles tendon rupture (ATR) remains associated with functional limitations years after injury. Architectural remodeling of the gastrocnemius medialis (GM) muscle is typically observed in the affected leg and may compensate force deficits caused by a longer tendon. Yet patients seem to retain functional limitations during—low-force—walking gait. To explore the potential limits imposed by the remodeled GM muscle-tendon unit (MTU) on walking gait, we examined the contractile behavior of muscle fascicles during the stance phase. In a cross-sectional design, we studied nine former patients (males; age: 45 ± 9 years; height: 180 ± 7 cm; weight: 83 ± 6 kg) with a history of complete unilateral ATR, approximately 4 years post-surgery. Using ultrasonography, GM tendon morphology, muscle architecture at rest, and fascicular behavior were assessed during walking at 1.5 m⋅s–1 on a treadmill. Walking patterns were recorded with a motion capture system. The unaffected leg served as control. Lower limbs kinematics were largely similar between legs during walking. Typical features of ATR-related MTU remodeling were observed during the stance sub-phases corresponding to series elastic element (SEE) lengthening (energy storage) and SEE shortening (energy release), with shorter GM fascicles (36 and 36%, respectively) and greater pennation angles (8° and 12°, respectively). However, relative to the optimal fascicle length for force production, fascicles operated at comparable length in both legs. Similarly, when expressed relative to optimal fascicle length, fascicle contraction velocity was not different between sides, except at the time-point of peak series elastic element (SEE) length, where it was 39 ± 49% lower in the affected leg. Concomitantly, fascicles rotation during contraction was greater in the affected leg during the whole stance-phase, and architectural gear ratios (AGR) was larger during SEE lengthening. Under the present testing conditions, former ATR patients had recovered a relatively symmetrical walking gait pattern. Differences in seen AGR seem to accommodate the profound changes in MTU architecture, limiting the required fascicle shortening velocity. Overall, the contractile behavior of the GM fascicles does not restrict length- or velocity-dependent force potentials during this locomotor task.
Market abstraction of energy markets and policies - application in an agent-based modeling toolbox
(2023)
In light of emerging challenges in energy systems, markets are prone to changing dynamics and market design. Simulation models are commonly used to understand the changing dynamics of future electricity markets. However, existing market models were often created with specific use cases in mind, which limits their flexibility and usability. This can impose challenges for using a single model to compare different market designs. This paper introduces a new method of defining market designs for energy market simulations. The proposed concept makes it easy to incorporate different market designs into electricity market models by using relevant parameters derived from analyzing existing simulation tools, morphological categorization and ontologies. These parameters are then used to derive a market abstraction and integrate it into an agent-based simulation framework, allowing for a unified analysis of diverse market designs. Furthermore, we showcase the usability of integrating new types of long-term contracts and over-the-counter trading. To validate this approach, two case studies are demonstrated: a pay-as-clear market and a pay-as-bid long-term market. These examples demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed framework.
Antibias training is increasingly demanded and practiced in academia and industry to increase employees’ sensitivity to discrimination, racism, and diversity. Under the heading of “Diversity Management,” antibias trainings are mainly offered as one-off workshops intending to raise awareness of unconscious biases, create a diversity-affirming corporate culture, promote awareness of the potential of
diversity, and ultimately enable the reflection of diversity in development processes. However, coming from childhood education, research and scientific articles on the sustainable effectiveness of antibias in adulthood, especially in academia, are very scarce. In order to fill this research gap, the article aims to explore how sustainable the effects of individual antibias trainings on participants’ behavior are. In order to investigate this, participant observation in a qualitative pre–post setting was conducted, analyzing antibias training in an academic context. Two observers actively participated in the training sessions and documented the activities and reflection processes of the participants. Overall, the results question the effectiveness of single antibias trainings and show that a target-group adaptive approach is mandatory owing to the background of the approach in early childhood education. Therefore, antibias work needs to be adapted to the target group’s needs and realities of life. Furthermore, the study reveals that single antibias trainings must be embedded in a holistic diversity management approach to stimulate sustainable reflection processes among the target group. This article is one of the first to scientifically evaluate antibias training effectiveness, especially in engineering sciences and the university context.
Throughout the last decade, and particularly in 2022, water scarcity has become a critical concern in Morocco and other Mediterranean countries. The lack of rainfall during spring was worsened by a succession of heat waves during the summer. To address this drought, innovative solutions, including the use of new technologies such as hydrogels, will be essential to transform agriculture. This paper presents the findings of a study that evaluated the impact of hydrogel application on onion (Allium cepa) cultivation in Meknes, Morocco. The treatments investigated in this study comprised two different types of hydrogel-based soil additives (Arbovit® polyacrylate and Huminsorb® polyacrylate), applied at two rates (30 and 20 kg/ha), and irrigated at two levels of water supply (100% and 50% of daily crop evapotranspiration; ETc). Two control treatments were included, without hydrogel application and with both water amounts. The experiment was conducted in an open field using a completely randomized design. The results indicated a significant impact of both hydrogel-type dose and water dose on onion plant growth, as evidenced by various vegetation parameters. Among the hydrogels tested, Huminsorb® Polyacrylate produced the most favorable outcomes, with treatment T9 (100%, HP, 30 kg/ha) yielding 70.55 t/ha; this represented an increase of 11 t/ha as compared to the 100% ETc treatment without hydrogel application. Moreover, the combination of hydrogel application with 50% ETc water stress showed promising results, with treatment T4 (HP, 30 kg, 50%) producing almost the same yield as the 100% ETc treatment without hydrogel while saving 208 mm of water.
In times of short product life cycles, additive manufacturing and rapid tooling are important methods to make tool development and manufacturing more efficient. High-performance polymers are the key to mold production for prototypes and small series. However, the high temperatures during vulcanization injection molding cause thermal aging and can impair service life. The extent to which the thermal stress over the entire process chain stresses the material and whether it leads to irreversible material aging is evaluated. To this end, a mold made of PEEK is fabricated using fused filament fabrication and examined for its potential application. The mold is heated to 200 ◦C, filled with rubber, and cured. A differential scanning calorimetry analysis of each process step illustrates the crystallization behavior and first indicates the material resistance. It shows distinct cold crystallization regions at a build chamber temperature of 90 ◦C. At an ambient temperature above Tg, crystallization of 30% is achieved, and cold crystallization no longer occurs. Additional tensile tests show a decrease in tensile strength after ten days of thermal aging. The steady decrease in recrystallization temperature indicates degradation of the additives. However, the tensile tests reveal steady embrittlement of the material due to increasing crosslinking.
In addition to the technical content, modern courses at university should also teach professional skills to enhance the competencies of students towards their future work. The competency driven approach including technical as well as professional skills makes it necessary to find a suitable way for the integration into the corresponding module in a scalable and flexible manner. Agile development, for example, is essential for the development of modern systems and applications and makes use of dedicated professional skills of the team members, like structured group dynamics and communication, to enable the fast and reliable development. This paper presents an easy to integrate and flexible approach to integrate Scrum, an agile development method, into the lab of an existing module. Due to the different role models of Scrum the students have an individual learning success, gain valuable insight into modern system development and strengthen their communication and organization skills. The approach is implemented and evaluated in the module Vehicle Systems, but it can be transferred easily to other technical courses as well. The evaluation of the implementation considers feedback of all stakeholders, students, supervisor and lecturers, and monitors the observations during project lifetime.
Cell spraying has become a feasible application method for cell therapy and tissue engineering approaches. Different devices have been used with varying success. Often, twin-fluid atomizers are used, which require a high gas velocity for optimal aerosolization characteristics. To decrease the amount and velocity of required air, a custom-made atomizer was designed based on the effervescent principle. Different designs were evaluated regarding spray characteristics and their influence on human adipose-derived mesenchymal stromal cells. The arithmetic mean diameters of the droplets were 15.4–33.5 µm with decreasing diameters for increasing gas-to-liquid ratios. The survival rate was >90% of the control for the lowest gas-to-liquid ratio. For higher ratios, cell survival decreased to approximately 50%. Further experiments were performed with the design, which had shown the highest survival rates. After seven days, no significant differences in metabolic activity were observed. The apoptosis rates were not influenced by aerosolization, while high gas-to-liquid ratios caused increased necrosis levels. Tri-lineage differentiation potential into adipocytes, chondrocytes, and osteoblasts was not negatively influenced by aerosolization. Thus, the effervescent aerosolization principle was proven suitable for cell applications requiring reduced amounts of supplied air. This is the first time an effervescent atomizer was used for cell processing.