Internal and external rotation of the shoulder is often challenging to quantify in the clinic. Existing technologies, such as motion capture, can be expensive or require significant time to setup, collect data, and process and analyze the data. Other methods may rely on surveys or analog tools, which are subject to interpretation. The current study evaluates a novel, engineered, wearable sensor system for improved internal and external shoulder rotation monitoring, and applies it in healthy individuals. Using the design principles of the Japanese art of kirigami (folding and cutting of paper to design 3D shapes), the sensor platform conforms to the shape of the shoulder with four on-board strain gauges to measure movement. Our objective was to examine how well this kirigami-inspired shoulder patch could identify differences in shoulder kinematics between internal and external rotation as individuals moved their humerus through movement patterns defined by Codman’s paradox. Seventeen participants donned the sensor while the strain gauges measured skin deformation patterns during the participants’ movement. One-dimensional statistical parametric mapping explored differences in strain voltage between the rotations. The sensor detected distinct differences between the internal and external shoulder rotation movements. Three of the four strain gauges detected significant temporal differences between internal and external rotation (all p < .047), particularly for the strain gauges placed distal or posterior to the acromion. These results are clinically significant, as they suggest a new class of wearable sensors conforming to the shoulder can measure differences in skin surface deformation corresponding to the underlying humerus rotation.

A new fossil site in a previously unexplored part of western Madagascar (the Beanka Protected Area) has yielded remains of many recently extinct vertebrates, including giant lemurs (Babakotia radofilai, Palaeopropithecus kelyus, Pachylemur sp., and Archaeolemur edwardsi), carnivores (Cryptoprocta spelea), the aardvark-like Plesiorycteropus sp., and giant ground cuckoos (Coua). Many of these represent considerable range extensions. Extant species that were extirpated from the region (e.g., Prolemur simus) are also present. Calibrated radiocarbon ages for 10 bones from extinct primates span the last three millennia. The largely undisturbed taphonomy of bone deposits supports the interpretation that many specimens fell in from a rock ledge above the entrance. Some primates and other mammals may have been prey items of avian predators, but human predation is also evident. Strontium isotope ratios (87Sr/86Sr) suggest that fossils were local to the area. Pottery sherds and bones of extinct and extant vertebrates with cut and chop marks indicate human activity in previous centuries. Scarcity of charcoal and human artifacts suggests only occasional visitation to the site by humans. The fossil assemblage from this site is unusual in that, while it contains many sloth lemurs, it lacks ratites, hippopotami, and crocodiles typical of nearly all other Holocene subfossil sites on Madagascar.

Objective: Concussion in children and adolescents is a prevalent problem with implications for subsequent physical, cognitive, behavioral, and psychological functioning, as well as quality of life. While these consequences warrant attention, most concussed children recover well. This study aimed to determine what pre-injury, demographic, and injury-related factors are associated with optimal outcome (“wellness”) after pediatric concussion. Method: A total of 311 children 6–18 years of age with concussion participated in a longitudinal, prospective cohort study. Pre-morbid conditions and acute injury variables, including post-concussive symptoms (PCS) and cognitive screening (Standardized Assessment of Concussion, SAC), were collected in the emergency department, and a neuropsychological assessment was performed at 4 and 12 weeks post-injury. Wellness, defined by the absence of PCS and cognitive inefficiency and the presence of good quality of life, was the main outcome. Stepwise logistic regression was performed using 19 predictor variables. Results: 41.5% and 52.2% of participants were classified as being well at 4 and 12 weeks post-injury, respectively. The final model indicated that children who were younger, who sustained sports/recreational injuries (vs. other types), who did not have a history of developmental problems, and who had better acute working memory (SAC concentration score) were significantly more likely to be well. Conclusions: Determining the variables associated with wellness after pediatric concussion has the potential to clarify which children are likely to show optimal recovery. Future work focusing on wellness and concussion should include appropriate control groups and document more extensively pre-injury and injury-related factors that could additionally contribute to wellness. (JINS, 2019, 25, 375–389)

In this paper, we examine triad resonances in a rotating shallow water system when there are two free interfaces. This allows for an examination in a relatively simple model of the interplay between baroclinic and barotropic dynamics in a context where there is also a geostrophic mode. In contrast to the much-studied one-layer rotating shallow water system, we find that as well as the usual slow geostrophic mode, there are now two fast waves, a barotropic mode and a baroclinic mode. This feature permits triad resonances to occur between three fast waves, with a mixture of barotropic and baroclinic modes, an aspect that cannot occur in the one-layer system. There are now also two branches of the slow geostrophic mode, with a repeated branch of the dispersion relation. The consequences are explored in a derivation of the full set of triad interaction equations, using a multiscale asymptotic expansion based on a small-amplitude parameter. The derived nonlinear interaction coefficients are confirmed using energy and enstrophy conservation. These triad interaction equations are explored, with an emphasis on the parameter regime with small Rossby and Froude numbers.

Understanding abundance and distribution of weed species within the landscape of an agroecosystem is an important goal for weed science. Abundance is a measure of the number or frequency of individuals in an area. Distribution is a measure of the geographical range of a weed species. The study of weed population's abundance and distribution is helpful in determining how a population changes over time in response to selective pressures applied by our agronomic practices. Accurate estimates, however, of these two key variables are very important if we are to manage agricultural land both for productivity and for biodiversity.

The gist of what I want to say by way of introduction was suggested to me during my recent visit to Hong Kong and China. Reading about the events which led up to the establishment of the British presence on the South China coast in the 1830s and 1840s, I was struck, once again, by two things. The first is the way in which the 1838 Anglo-Turkish Convention was so obviously part of a world-wide movement of European self-assertion, spearheaded by a coalition of merchants, military men and politicians. The second concerns the essentially dramatic nature of the confrontation between European might and the declining power of the states and empires whose commercial practices it sought to control—the kind of drama which doesn't always get properly represented in history textbooks, let alone works of political economy.

The Arab world has experienced a large number of military presidencies since General Bakr Sidki's brief rule in Iraq in 1936. The phenomenon became of great significance beginning with Colonel Jamal ʿAbd al-Nasir's presidency in Egypt in the early 1950s, which established a model for similar regimes in Sudan, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and, at least initially, Libya under the self-promoted Colonel Muʿammar al-Qadhafi. The president who exchanged his uniform for a suit; an authoritarian style of political management in the name of a revolution against an old, foreign-dominated order; and the legitimacy obtained from laudable achievements in the international and economic sphere: these were all part of al-Nasir's influence and legacy.

Background: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is not primarily conceptualized as operating via affective processes. However, there is growing recognition that emotional processing plays an important role during the course of therapy. Aims: The Emotional Processing Scale was developed as a clinical and research tool to measure emotional processing deficits and the process of emotional change during therapy. Method: Fifty-five patients receiving CBT were given measures of emotional functioning (Toronto Alexithymia Scale [TAS-20]; Emotional Processing Scale [EPS-38]) and psychological symptoms (Brief Symptom Inventory [BSI]) pre- and post-therapy. In addition, the EPS-38 was administered to a sample of 173 healthy individuals. Results: Initially, the patient group exhibited elevated emotional processing scores compared to the healthy group, but after therapy, these scores decreased and approached those of the healthy group. Conclusions: This suggests that therapy ostensibly designed to reduce psychiatric symptoms via cognitive processes may also facilitate emotional processing. The Emotional Processing Scale demonstrated sensitivity to changes in alexithymia and psychiatric symptom severity, and may provide a valid and reliable means of assessing change during therapy.