Reviving Direct Observation Methods for Physical Activity Behavior

Purpose:Current Direct Observation(DO)methods are burdensome to the observer and relevant limitations can be identified on the outcome information.This study aims to characterize DO from the observers’point of view and to analyze the feasibility and usefulness of visual information in the form of video.Method:data collection was done with ten adult males,observed while performing different physical activities in an indoor court.Sessions were video recorded by two cameras.Three observers performed systematic observation,using SOPLAY,with different sampling rates.Inter observer’s agreement and with reference data was analyzed by Cohen’s Kappa statistic.Results:SOPLAY highest agreement between observers was 0.611 on vigorous category and walking category had the lowest 0.188.It doubles the time needed to annotate the video with pauses,but half of player’s behavior is preserved.Conclusion(s):using video to support DO permits to collect more accurate data and a more detailed behavior categorization is warranted.Developments in computer vision are expected to reduce the human efforts in DO methods.

Corrosion Behavior of Rusted 550 MPa Grade Offshore Platform Steel

The corrosion behavior of a rusted 550 MPa grade offshore platform steel in Clcontaining environment was investigated.The results revealed that the corrosion process can be divided into initial stage in which corrosion rate increased with accumulation of corrosion products and later stage in which homogeneous and compact rust layer started to protect steel substrate out of corrosion mediums.On the contrary,structural analysis of rust layers by X-ray diffraction showed that α-FeOOH increased from 1.3% to 3.6% and the Fe3O4 increased from 1.0% to 1.5% while γ-FeOOH reduced slightly according to corrosion time increased from 30 cycles to 73 cycles.The results of electron probe microanalysis indicated that Cr concentrated mainly in the inner region of the rust,inner/outer interface especially,whereas Ni and Cu were uniformly distributed all over the rust after 73 corrosion cycles.According to electrochemical measurements,it was found that the corrosion rate of rusted steel reduced from 0.61 mm/a after 45 cycles to 0.34 mm/a after 85 cycles,44.3% reduction approximately,and Rrust values increased with increment of corrosion time.Therefore,formation of compact inner rust layer and enrichment of Cr are important to improve corrosion resistance of offshore platform steel.

Micro-scale behavior of granular materials during cyclic loading

This study presents the micro-scale behavior of granular materials under biaxial cyclic loading for differ- ent confining pressures using the two-dimensional （2D） discrete element method （DEM）. Initially, 8450 ovals were generated in a rectangular frame without any overlap. Four dense samples having confining pressures of 15, 25, 50, and 100 kPa were prepared from the initially generated sparse sample. Numeri- cal simulations were performed under biaxial cyclic loading using these isotropically compressed dense samples. The numerical results depict stress-strain-dilatancy behavior that was similar to that observed in experimental studies. The relationship between the stress ratio and dilatancy rate is almost indepen- dent of confining pressures during loading but significantly dependent on the confining pressures during unloading. The evolution of the coordination number, effective coordination number and slip coordina- tion number depends on both the confining pressures and cyclic loading. The cyclic loading significantly affects the microtopology of the granular assembly. The contact fabric and the fabric-related anisotropy are reported, as well. A strong correlation between the stress ratio and the fabric related to contact normals is observed during cyclic loading, irrespective of confining pressures.

Spontaneous pain as a challenge of research and management in chronic pain

Spontaneous pain occurring without apparent external stimuli,is a significant complaint of individuals with chronic pain whose mechanisms,somewhat surprisingly,remain poorly understood.Over the past decades,neuroimaging studies start to reveal brain activities accompanying spontaneous pain.Meanwhile,a variety of animal models and behavioral tests have been established,including non-reflexive tests and free-choice tests,which have been shown to be effective in assessing spontaneous pain.For the spontaneous pain mechanisms,multiple lines of research mainly focus on three aspects:(1)sensitization of peripheral nociceptor receptors and ion channels,(2)spontaneous neuronal firing and abnormal activity patterns at the dorsal root ganglion and spinal cord level,(3)functional and structural alterations in the brain,particularly the limbic system and the medial pain pathway.Despite accumulating evidence revealing distinct neuronal mechanisms from evoked pain,we are still far from full understanding of spontaneous pain,leaving a big gap between bench and bedside for chronic pain treatment.A better understanding of the neural processes in chronic pain,with specific linkage as to which anatomical structures and molecules related to spontaneous pain perception and comorbidities,will greatly improve our ability to develop novel therapeutics.