ASSESSMENT OF LOWER LIMB MUSCLE STRENGTH IN ATHLETES BY USING HAND-HELD DYNAMOMETER: A RELIABILITY STUDY

Background and Aims: Muscle strength is the key area to measure the functional status of an individual. Different tools and techniques has been used to detect strength differences and deficits. Hand- held dynamometer is one of the most affordable and handy tools used for this purpose. This study was designed to determine intra-rater reliability of hand- held dynamometer to measure muscle strength in different muscle groups of lower extremity of young athletes. It will further explore the reliability of hand- held dynamometer. Methodology: In this cross- sectional study young players of squash and badminton in the age group of 18-26 years were selected. The participants were recruited by non- probability convenience sampling technique. The strength of major muscle groups of lower limb was measured by a single male tester twice with gap through isometric make test of dynamometer. The intra-class correlation coefficient was then calculated for two readings of each muscle group by using SPSS version 21. Results: The intra- class correlation coefficient showed good to excellent reliability. The hip abductors, hip adductors, hip extensors of left side, knee flexors and knee extensors showed excellent reliability. Whereas, hip flexors, ankle plantar- flexors and dorsi-flexors of both sides showed excellent reliability at 95 % confidence interval. Conclusion: The isometric make test of dynamometer is a reliable tool for the objectification of strength of lower limb in   young players participating in squash and badminton.

Modeling and Simulation for Speech Production

The objective of the current work is to model and simulate some important components of the speech production system like vocal folds and vocal tract for the better and efficient speech generation. First of all, we develop an appropriate mathematical vocal folds model that simulates the process of the vocal folds by using fulcrum point. We incorporate rotary motion of the glottis by considering the moments of the glottis about the fulcrum point which is very similar to the seesaw motion about the fulcrum point. By changing the position of the fulcrum point, we have different scenarios for the motion of the glottis. The fulcrum point position has a significant role in determining the shape of the glottal flow. This fulcrum point approach has been examined with the cases of viscous and non-viscous flows and, forced and self-oscillatory motion of the vocal folds. In case of non-viscous flow, the vibration of the vocal folds is caused by the Bernoulli equation of the flow while in the cases of viscous flow, the motion of the vocal folds together with the solution of Navier-Stokes equations, simulate the flow within an idealized human glottis. Secondly, we develop a highly efficient 2D-featured 1D waveguide model for the vocal tract that is comparable with the standard 2D waveguide model. In this model, vocal tract has been decomposed into a number of convergent and divergent ducts. The divergent duct is modelled based on splitting the volume velocity into its axial and radial components while the convergent duct is represented by a one dimensional waveguide. The present model has been found to be more efficient than the standard 2D waveguide model and in very good comparison with it in the formant frequency patterns of the vowels /ɑ/, /e/, /i/, /ɔ/ and /ʊ/. The model has two control parameters, the wall and the glottal reflection coefficients, that can be effectively employed for the bandwidth tuning. New approaches for vocal folds and vocal tract present novel contribution in the fields of speech production.