Nonlinear measures of heart rate time series: influence of posture and controlled breathing

In this study, we investigated measures of nonlinear dynamics and chaos theory in regards to heart rate variability in 27 normal control subjects in supine and standing postures, and 14 subjects in spontaneous and controlled breathing conditions. We examined minimum embedding dimension (MED), largest Lyapunov exponent (LLE) and measures of nonlinearity (NL) of heart rate time series. MED quantifies the system's complexity, LLE predictability and NL, a measure of deviation from linear processes. There was a significant decrease in complexity (P<0.00001), a decrease in predictability (P<0.00001) and an increase in nonlinearity (P=0.00001) during the change from supine to standing posture. Decrease in MED, and increases in NL score and LLE in standing posture appear to be partly due to an increase in sympathetic activity of the autonomous nervous system in standing posture. An improvement in predictability during controlled breathing appears to be due to the introduction of a periodic component. (C) 2000 published by Elsevier Science B.V.

Geometry of static balancing during posture transition

The interaction between the digital human model (DHM) and environment typically occurs in two distinct modes; one, when the DHM maintains contacts with the environment using its self weight, wherein associated reaction forces at the interface due to gravity are unidirectional; two, when the DHM applies both tension and compression on the environment through anchoring. For static balancing in first mode of interaction, it is sufficient to maintain the projection of the centre of mass (COM) inside the convex region induced by the weight supporting segments of the body on a horizontal plane. In DHM, static balancing is required while performing specified tasks such as reach, manipulation and locomotion; otherwise the simulations would not be realistic. This paper establishes the geometric relationships that must be satisfied for maintaining static balance while altering the support configurations for a given posture and altering the posture for a given support condition. For a given location of the COM for a system supported by multiple point contacts, the conditions for simultaneous withdrawal of a specified set of contacts have been determined in terms of the convex hulls of the subsets of the points of contact. When the projection of COM must move beyond the existing support for performing some task, new supports must be enabled for maintaining static balance. This support seeking behavior could also manifest while planning for reduction of support stresses. Feasibility of such a support depends upon the availability of necessary features in the environment. Geometric conditions necessary for selection of new support on horizontal,inclined and vertical surfaces within the workspace of the DHM for such dynamic scenario have been derived. The concepts developed are demonstrated using the cases of sit-to-stand posture transition for manipulation of COM within the convex supporting polygon, and statically stable walking gaits for support seeking within the kinematic capabilities of the DHM. The theory developed helps in making the DHM realize appropriate behaviors in diverse scenarios autonomously.

A Comparative Assessment of Hand Preference in Captive Red Howler Monkeys, Alouatta seniculus and Yellow-Breasted Capuchin Monkeys, Sapajus xanthosternos

There are two major theories that attempt to explain hand preference in non-human primates-the `task complexity' theory and the `postural origins' theory. In the present study, we proposed a third hypothesis to explain the evolutionary origin of hand preference in non-human primates, stating that it could have evolved owing to structural and functional adaptations to feeding, which we refer to as the `niche structure' hypothesis. We attempted to explore this hypothesis by comparing hand preference across species that differ in the feeding ecology and niche structure: red howler monkeys, Alouatta seniculus and yellow-breasted capuchin monkeys, Sapajus xanthosternos. The red howler monkeys used the mouth to obtain food more frequently than the yellow-breasted capuchin monkeys. The red howler monkeys almost never reached for food presented on the opposite side of a wire mesh or inside a portable container, whereas the yellow-breasted capuchin monkeys reached for food presented in all four spatial arrangements (scattered, on the opposite side of a wire mesh, inside a suspended container, and inside a portable container). In contrast to the red howler monkeys that almost never acquired bipedal and clinging posture, the yellow-breasted capuchin monkeys acquired all five body postures (sitting, bipedal, tripedal, clinging, and hanging). Although there was no difference between the proportion of the red howler monkeys and the yellow-breasted capuchin monkeys that preferentially used one hand, the yellow-breasted capuchin monkeys exhibited an overall weaker hand preference than the red howler monkeys. Differences in hand preference diminished with the increasing complexity of the reaching-for-food tasks, i.e., the relatively more complex tasks were perceived as equally complex by both the red howler monkeys and the yellow-breasted capuchin monkeys. These findings suggest that species-specific differences in feeding ecology and niche structure can influence the perception of the complexity of the task and, consequently, hand preference.

Diminished chaos of heart rate time series in patients with major depression

Background: Depression and anxiety have been linked to serious cardiovascular events in patients with preexisting cardiac illness. A decrease in cardiac vagal function as suggested by a decrease in heart rate (HR) variability has been linked to sudden death. Methods: We compared LLE and nonlinearity scores of the unfiltered (UF) and filtered time series (very low, low, and high frequency; VLF, LF and HF) of HR between patients with depression (n = 14) and healthy control subjects (n = 18). Results: We found significantly lower LLE of the unfiltered series in either posture, and HF series in patients with major depression in supine posture (p < .002). LLE (LF/UF), which may indicate relative sympathetic activity was also significantly higher in supine and standing postures in patients (p < .05); LF/HF (LLE) was also higher in patients (p < .05) in either posture. Conclusions: These findings suggest that major depression is associated with decreased cardiac vagal function and a relative increase in sympathetic function, which may be related to the higher risk of cardiovascular mortality, in this group and illustrates the usefulness of nonlinear measures of chaos such as LLE in addition to the commonly used spectral measures.

Nonlinear measures of respiration: Respiratory irregularity and increased chaos of respiration in patients with panic disorder

Background. Respiratory irregularity has been previously reported in patients with panic disorder using time domain measures. However, the respiratory signal is not entirely linear and a few previous studies used approximate entropy (APEN), a measure of regularity of time series. We have been studying APEN and other nonlinear measures including a measure of chaos, the largest Lyapunov exponent (LLE) of heart rate time series, in some detail. In this study, we used these measures of respiration to compare normal controls (n = 18) and patients with panic disorder (n = 22) in addition to the traditional time domain measures of respiratory rate and tidal volume. Methods: Respiratory signal was obtained by the Respitrace system using a thoracic and an abdominal belt, which was digitized at 500 Hz. Later, the time series were constructed at 4 Hz, as the highest frequency in this signal is limited to 0.5 Hz. We used 256 s of data (1,024 points) during supine and standing postures under normal breathing and controlled breathing at 12 breaths/min. Results: APEN was significantly higher in patients in standing posture during normal as well as controlled breathing (p = 0.002 and 0.02, respectively). LLE was also significantly higher in standing posture during normal breathing (p = 0.009). Similarly, the time domain measures of standard deviations and the coefficient of variation (COV) of tidal volume (TV) were significantly higher in the patient group (p = 0.02 and 0.004, respectively). The frequency of sighs was also higher in the patient group in standing posture (p = 0.02). In standing posture, LLE (p < 0.05) as well as APEN (p < 0.01) contributed significantly toward the separation of the two groups over and beyond the linear measure, i.e. the COV of TV. Conclusion: These findings support the previously described respiratory irregularity in patients with panic disorder and also illustrate the utility of nonlinear measures such as APEN and LLE as additional measures toward a better understanding of the abnormalities of respiratory physiology in similar patient populations as the correlation between LLE, APEN and some of the time domain measures only explained up to 50-60% of the variation. Copyright (C) 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Nonlinear measures of QT interval series: novel indices of cardiac repolarization lability: MEDqthr and LLEqthr

In this study, we investigated nonlinear measures of chaos of QT interval time series in 28 normal control subjects, 36 patients with panic disorder and 18 patients with major depression in supine and standing postures. We obtained the minimum embedding dimension (MED) and the largest Lyapunov exponent (LLE) of instantaneous heart rate (HR) and QT interval series. MED quantifies the system's complexity and LLE predictability. There was a significantly lower MED and a significantly increased LLE of QT interval time series in patients. Most importantly, nonlinear indices of QT/HR time series, MEDqthr (MED of QT/HR) and LLEqthr (LLE of QT/HR), were highly significantly different between controls and both patient groups in either posture. Results remained the same even after adjusting for age. The increased LLE of QT interval time, series in patients with anxiety and depression is in line with our previous findings of higher QTvi (QT variability index, a log ratio of QT variability corrected for mean QT squared divided by heart rate variability corrected for mean heart rate squared) in these patients, using linear techniques. Increased LLEqthr (LLE of QT/HR) may be a more sensitive tool to study cardiac repolarization and a valuable addition to the time domain measures such as QTvi. This is especially important in light of the finding that LLEqthr correlated poorly and nonsignificantly with QTvi. These findings suggest an increase in relative cardiac sympathetic activity and a decrease in certain aspects of cardiac vagal function in patients with anxiety as well as depression. The lack of correlation between QTvi and LLEqthr suggests that this nonlinear index is a valuable addition to the linear measures. These findings may also help to explain the higher incidence of cardiovascular mortality in patients with anxiety and depressive disorders. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Onset of sphalerite to wurtzite transformation in ZnS nanoparticles

In this work, the incubation period for the onset of sphalerite to wurtzite transformation in isolated ZnS nanoparticles 2 to 7 nm in size was determined via the in situ isothermal annealing of as-synthesized sphalerite nanoparticles in a transmission electron microscope (TEM). Nanoparticles sitting on the TEM grid were well separated from each other in order to minimize particle sintering during the annealing operation. The phase transformation onset was observed at 300 degrees C, 350 degrees C, and 400 degrees C after 90, 10, and 4 min, respectively. These time-temperature data for the phase transformation onset were then used to calculate the activation energy for the nucleation of the wurtzite phase in 2 to 7 nm sphalerite particles. The activation energy determined was 24 Kcal/mol. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3622625]

Describing Hand Postures: Inspirations from Classical Mudras

The objective of this work is to develop a systematic methodology for describing hand postures and grasps which is independent of the kinematics and geometry of the hand model which in turn can be used for developing a universal referencing scheme. It is therefore necessary that the scheme be general enough to describe the continuum of hand poses. Indian traditional classical dance form, “Bharathanatyam”, uses 28 single handed gestures, called “mudras”. A Mudra can be perceived as a hand posture with a specific pattern of finger configurations. Using modifiers, complex mudras could be constructed from relatively simple mudras. An adjacency matrix is constructed to describe the relationship among mudras. Various mudra transitions can be obtained from the graph associated with this matrix. Using this matrix, a hierarchy of the mudras is formed. A set of base mudras and modifiers are used for describing how one simple posture of hand can be transformed into another relatively complex one. A canonical set of predefined hand postures and modifiers can be used in digital human modeling to develop standard hand posture libraries.

Simulating grasping behavior of people using the relational description scheme

This paper presents an enhanced relational description for the prescription of the grasp requirement and evolution of the posture of a digital human hand towards satisfaction of this requirement. Precise relational description needs anatomical segmentation of the hand geometry into palmar, dorsal and lateral patches using the palm-plane and joint locations information, and operational segmentation of the object geometry into pull,push and lateral patches with due consideration to the effect of friction. Relational description identifies appropriate patches for a desired grasp condition. Satisfaction of this requirement occurs in two discrete stages,namely,contact establishment and post-contact force exertion for object capturing. Contact establishment occurs in four potentially overlapping phases,namely,re-orientation,transfer,pre- shaping,and closing-in. The novel h and re-orientation phase,enables the palm to face the object in a task sequence scenario, transfer takes the wrist to the ball park ; pre-shaping and close-in finally achieves the contact. In this paper, an anatomically pertinent closed-form formulation is presented for the closing-in phase for identification of the point of contact on the patches ,prescribed by the relational description. Since mere contact does not ensure grasp and slip phenomenon at the point of contact on application of force is a common occurrence, the effect of slip in presence of friction has been studied for 2D and 3D object grasping endeavours and a computational generation of the slip locus is presented.A general slip locus is found to be a non-linear curve even on planar faces.Two varieties of slip phenomena,namely,stabilizing and non-stabilizing slips, and their local characteristics have been identified.Study of the evolution of this slip characteristic over the slip locus exhibited diverse grasping behaviour possibilities. Thus, the relational description paradigm not only makes the requirement specification easy and meaningful but also enables high fidelity hand object interaction studies possible.