En France, les chiropracteurs sont autorisés à pratiquer des actes conservateurs, incluant la manipulation vertébrale, afin de prévenir ou de remédier à des troubles neuro-musculo-squelettiques. La profession apparaît toutefois composite, certains chiropracteurs proposant de prendre en charge également des troubles non-neuro-musculo-squelettiques, sur la base d’approches aux théories diverses.La Neurologie Fonctionnelle (NF) en constitue un exemple contemporain. Il s’agit d’une approche attractive, présentée comme scientifiquement fondée. Elle fait cependant l’objet de vives critiques, la qualifiant parfois de pseudoscience.Cette thèse a pour but de contribuer à une meilleure compréhension de ce qu’est la NF ainsi qu’à une meilleure connaissance des faits scientifiques pouvant la sous-tendre, plus particulièrement dans un contexte chiropratique. Pour ce faire, une scoping review et deux revues critiques de la littérature ont été réalisées.La scoping review a montré que la NF est une approche thérapeutique conservatrice qui compterait de nombreuses indications, notamment non-neuro-musculo-squelettiques. Les “neurologues fonctionnels” recourent à de multiples outils thérapeutiques, dont la manipulation vertébrale, dans le but de stimuler le système nerveux, particulièrement des zones du cerveau. En NF, de nombreux éléments de langage sont empruntés aux neurosciences et différentes procédures diagnostiques et différents outils thérapeutiques sont issus de la médecine conventionnnelle. L’ensemble que forme sa théorie et ses applications cliniques lui apparait cependant propre et peu plausible.A travers une revue critique d’articles obtenus via un journal spécialisé en NF, aucune évidence scientifique probante n’a été trouvée à propos du bénéfice ou effet de la NF. A l’issue d’une revue systématique critique de la littérature, aucune évidence montrant que la manipulation vertébrale a un effet clinique via un effet sur l’activité cérébrale n’a été trouvée.Ces travaux nous ont amené à conclure que la NF, utilisée dans un contexte chiropratique, relève probablement d’une pratique pseudoscientifique. / In France, chiropractors are allowed to provide conservative care, which typically includes spinal manipulation in order to manage neuro-musculoskeletal conditions. However, some chiropractors also propose to manage non-neuro-musculoskeletal conditions. This alternative proposal is justified by using various approaches based on various theories.Functional Neurology (FN) is a contemporary example of one such approach. FN is an attractive method within the chiropractic profession, presented as scientifically based. However, FN is also vividly criticized, stated by some to be pseudoscientific.The aim of this thesis is to better understand what FN is and the scientific evidence available on this approach, especially in a chiropractic context. For this, a scoping review and two critical review of the literature were conducted.According to the scoping review, FN is a conservative approach, using a multitude of therapeutic tools, including spinal manipulation, used to stimulate the nervous system, especially brain areas. Many symptoms and conditions are supposed to benefit from FN, including in the non-neuro-musculoskeletal area. While “functional neurologists” use many terms belonging to neurosciences and several diagnostic procedures and therapeutic tools from conventional medicine, the theoretical concepts and clinical applications of FN do not appear plausible in general.A critical review of articles obtained through a search of a specialized scientific journal that purported to report on the benefit or effect of FN did not bring any robust evidence on this topic. Also, through a systematic critical review of the literature, no scientific evidence was found in relation to any clinical effect of spinal manipulation via an effect on brain function.This work led us to conclude that FN, when used in a chiropractic context, is probably a pseudoscientific approach.

Purpose: This study will identify that patients with chronic neck pain have an altered autonomic functioning compared to a control group, and that manipulation might directly influence the autonomic nervous system as measured by using a fully automated pupillometry system. Subjects: 100 chronic pain patients and 50 control subjects participated in this study to achieve a power of 0.80, effect size of 0.5, and a type I error rate of 0.05 for two-tailed hypothesis testing. Method: A quasi-experimental design was be used. The ANOVA and Chi square test were used to establish homogeneity of baseline characteristics. The Mann-Whitney U test was performed to compare the pre-intervention pupil diameter amongst the groups. The Friedman's test was used to determine the pupil diameter change during the three measurements. The Wilcoxen Signed-ranks test was used to analyze the difference in pupil size between the pre- and post-intervention measures and to determine if there was a difference in pupil diameter between the two groups undergoing the thoracic manipulation. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare the pupil diameter change to the presence of joint sounds. And the Fisher's Exact test was used to determine the relationship between the number of pops and the VAS change score > 13mm. Results: This study demonstrated that the chronic pain group had a statistically significant smaller pupil diameter than the healthy control group (P=0.022). Manipulation resulted in a relative increase in pupil diameter following the manipulation, however this was not statistical significant. There was a statistical significant decrease in pupil diameter in the placebo group (pConclusions: It appears that a T3-T4 manipulation results in a relative non-specific increase in sympathetic activity. Recommendations: Manipulation may be used by physical therapists to affect the autonomic nervous system. Visual pupil assessment may become part of the evaluation process to identify patients that might present with autonomic dysfunction and to determine the effect of treatment modalities.

No description available.

Object manipulation is a complex task for robots. It often implies a compromise between the degrees-of-freedom of hand and its fingers have (dexterity) and its cost and complexity in terms of control. One strategy to increase the dexterity of robotic hands with low dexterity is called extrinsic manipulation and its principle is to exploit additional accelerations on the object caused by the effect of external forces. We propose a force control based method for performing extrinsic in-hand object manipulation, with force-torque feedback. For this purpose, we use a prehensile pushing action, which consists of pushing the object against an external surface, under quasistatic assumptions. By using a control strategy, we also achieve robustness to parameter uncertainty (such as friction) and perturbations, that are not completely captured by mathematical models of the system. The force control strategy is performed in two different ways: the contact force generated by the interaction between the object and the external surface is controlled using an admittance controller, while an additional control of gripping force applied by the gripper on the object is done through a PI controller. A Kalman filter is used for the estimation of the state of the object, based on force-torque measurements of a sensor at the wrist of the robot. We validate our approach by conducting experiments on a PR2 robot, available at the Robotics, Perception, and Learning lab at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. / Att greppa och manipulera objekt är en komplex uppgift för robotar. Det innebär ofta en kompromiss mellan hand och fingrars frihetsgrader (fingerfärdighet) mot reglersystemets kostnad och komplexitet. Extrinsic manipulation är en strategi för att öka fingerfärdigheten hos robothänder, och dess princip är att utnyttja accelerationer på objektet som orsakas av yttre krafter. Vi föreslår en metod baserad på att reglerakraft för hantering av objekt i handen, genom en återkoppling av kraftmomentet. För detta ändamål använder vi en prehensile pushing action, där objektet puttas mot en yta, under kvasistiska antaganden. Genom att använda en reglerstrategi får vi en robusthet mot parametrars osäkerhet (som friktion) och störningar, vilka inte beskrivs av systemets model. Kraftkontrollstrategin utförs på två olika sätt: kraften mellan objektet och den yttre ytan styrs med en admittance controller medan en ytterligare styrning av applicerad gripkraft på objektet görs med en PI-reglerare. Ett Kalman filter används för att estimera objektets tillstånd, baserat på mätningar av kraftmoment via en sensor vid robotens handled. Vi utvärderar vårt tillvägagångssätt genom att utföraexperiment på en PR2-robot vid KTHs Robotics, Perception och Learning Lab.

Dissertation submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for a Masters Degree in Technology: Chiropractic, Durban University of Technology, 2011. / The relationship between TMD and dysfunction in the cervical spine has been reported in the literature and there are many case studies which have shown favourable results when treatment was aimed at the TMJ, cervical spine relationship. However, the numerous TMD treatment protocols described in the literature concerning this relationship, and the effectiveness of these treatments have not been well established. In spite of this many chiropractors treat TMD. TMD is a multifactoral condition and conservative treatment options need to be further investigated in order to determine if manual interventions directed at the cercival spine in the treatment of TMD are beneficial. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare myofascial trigger point therapy and manipulative therapy of either the TMJ, cervical spine or a combination of the two in order to determine their effectiveness for the TMD. Method: Thirty participants with TMD were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups. Participants in each group received two treatments per week for two weeks with a follow up consultation in the third week. Data were collected before the commencement of the first, second, and fourth treatments and at the follow up consultation. Outcome measures included algometer readings, CROM, Mouth opening readings, NRS and a disability questionnaire. SPSS version 15.0 was used for analysis of the data. A p value <0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Multivariate testing was used for intra- and inter-group comparisons. Profile plots were generated to assess the direction and trend of the effect and to visually compare the trends in the different treatment groups. Results: Inter-group comparisons did not reveal any statistically significant different improvements between the three treatment groups. Conclusion: All groups responded favourably to treatment and showed trends towards improvement. However, statistically analysis revealed that no one treatment protocol was superior to the other. Although no definitive inferences may be drawn regarding the effectiveness of each treatment approach, within group trends indicated that the combination of the two treatment approaches may be preferred.

Dissertation submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for a Masters Degree in Technology: Chiropractic, Durban University of Technology, 2011. / The relationship between TMD and dysfunction in the cervical spine has been reported in the literature and there are many case studies which have shown favourable results when treatment was aimed at the TMJ, cervical spine relationship. However, the numerous TMD treatment protocols described in the literature concerning this relationship, and the effectiveness of these treatments have not been well established. In spite of this many chiropractors treat TMD. TMD is a multifactoral condition and conservative treatment options need to be further investigated in order to determine if manual interventions directed at the cercival spine in the treatment of TMD are beneficial. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare myofascial trigger point therapy and manipulative therapy of either the TMJ, cervical spine or a combination of the two in order to determine their effectiveness for the TMD. Method: Thirty participants with TMD were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups. Participants in each group received two treatments per week for two weeks with a follow up consultation in the third week. Data were collected before the commencement of the first, second, and fourth treatments and at the follow up consultation. Outcome measures included algometer readings, CROM, Mouth opening readings, NRS and a disability questionnaire. SPSS version 15.0 was used for analysis of the data. A p value <0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Multivariate testing was used for intra- and inter-group comparisons. Profile plots were generated to assess the direction and trend of the effect and to visually compare the trends in the different treatment groups. Results: Inter-group comparisons did not reveal any statistically significant different improvements between the three treatment groups. Conclusion: All groups responded favourably to treatment and showed trends towards improvement. However, statistically analysis revealed that no one treatment protocol was superior to the other. Although no definitive inferences may be drawn regarding the effectiveness of each treatment approach, within group trends indicated that the combination of the two treatment approaches may be preferred. / M

Market Manipulation Abstract The thesis is structured in two main topics and four chapters. The aim of the first topic is a proposal of new theoretical division of market manipulation types and the follow-up analysis of the most common and the most serious types of market manipulation (from the author's perspective). A graph or a scheme is enclosed to almost every type of the market manipulation for better illustration and representation. The aim is not to provide an exhausting list, but rather to provide an outline of the fundamental theory. Every existing type of market manipulation should fall under one of these two categories - classic type of market manipulation (front running, squeezing, cornering, wash trading, bear raiding, pump and dump) or modern type of market manipulation (spoofing, layering, momentum ignition, pinging, fake news). The aim of the second topic is to map, analyze and explain the historical background of market manipulation regulation, its genesis and evolution in the European context. The main focus of the subchapter regarding historical background is the United Kingdom which always has been the pioneer of financial markets in the continental Europe. The subchapter is focused on the evolution from the end of the 17th century until the European integration regulation. In another...

La manipulation du comportement de l'hôte est une stratégie couramment utilisée chez les organismes parasites, et ce afin de favoriser leur transmission et/ou leur survie. La compréhension d'une telle stratégie est au cœur de plusieurs disciplines appliquées de la parasitologie, telles que l'épidémiologie et la médecine, mais est aussi d'une grande importance d'un point de vue écologique et évolutif. Dans le cadre de cette thèse, notre objectif était d'améliorer l'état des connaissances sur un type de manipulation encore très peu connu : la manipulation garde du corps, une stratégie initialement décrite chez les insectes parasitoïdes. À la suite de leur développement larvaire, certaines guêpes parasitoïdes (Braconidae) ont la capacité d'usurper le comportement de leur hôte et l'obligent ainsi à se comporter comme un véritable garde du corps pour protéger leur cocon des ennemis naturels. Basé sur le système associant la guêpe parasitoïde Dinocampus coccinellae et un de ses hôtes la coccinelle maculée Coleomegilla maculata, le présent travail aborde cinq aspects particuliers de la manipulation parasitaire : i) Efficacité de la protection par un garde du corps et coûts liés à une telle stratégie, ii) Contraintes énergétiques pour les parasites manipulateurs, iii) Diversité et l'évolution de la manipulation garde du corps, iv) Survie des hôtes à la manipulation par un parasitoïde et v) Effets de la nutrition de l'hôte sur une association hôte–parasitoïde manipulateur. Nos résultats apportent plusieurs éléments de réponse quant à l'écologie et l'évolution de la manipulation garde du corps, et notamment en ce qui a trait aux coûts énergétiques associés à une telle stratégie ainsi qu'au rôle de la ressource dans cette étroite association. De nouvelles perspectives de recherche y sont proposées afin d'encourager d'autres travaux dans cette voie. / Host behavioral manipulation, a widespread strategy among parasitic organisms, has evolved to favor the transmission and/or survival of parasites. Understanding such a strategy is at the heart of applied aspects of parasitology, such as epidemiology and medicine, but is also important for evolutionary and ecological reasons. The aim of this study was to improve our knowledge on a category of manipulation that remains poorly documented: the bodyguard manipulation, initially described on parasitoid insects. Following their larval development, certain parasitic wasps (Braconidae) are able to usurp the behavior of their host and force them to serve as bodyguards to protect parasitoid cocoon against natural enemies. Studying the association between the parasitic wasp Dinocampus coccinellae and one of its host the spotted lady beetle Coleomegilla maculata, this work is structured in five axes: i) Efficiency of the bodyguard protection and associated costs, ii) Energetic constraints for manipulative parasites, iii) Diversity and evolution of bodyguard manipulation, iv) Host survival from parasitism and v) Host nutrition effects on a host–manipulative parasitoid association. Our results provide original findings about the ecology and evolution of the bodyguard manipulation, for instance the energetic costs associated with host manipulation or the role of host nutrition in this type of association. New perspectives are identified in order to stimulate future research in this area.

Les dernières années ont vu le développement de recherches portant sur l'interaction physique entre les robots aériens et leur environnement, accompagné de l'apparition de nombreux nouveaux systèmes mécaniques et approches de régulation. La communauté centrée autour de la robotique aérienne observe actuellement un déplacement de paradigmes des approches classiques de guidage, de navigation et de régulation vers des tâches moins triviales, telle le développement de l'interaction physique entre robots aériens et leur environnement. Ceci correspond à une extension des tâches dites de manipulation, du sol vers les airs. Cette thèse contribue au domaine de la manipulation aérienne en proposant un nouveau concept appelé MAGMaS, pour " Multiple Aerial Ground Manipulator System ". Les motivations qui ont conduites à l'association de manipulateurs terrestres et aériens pour effectuer des tâches de manipulation coopérative, résident dans une volonté d'exploiter leurs particularités respectives. Les manipulateurs terrestres apportant leur importante force et les manipulateurs aériens apportant leur vaste espace de travail. La première contribution de cette thèse présente une modélisation rigoureuse des MAGMaS. Les propriétés du système ainsi que ses possibles extensions sont discutées. Les méthodes de planning, d'estimation et de régulation nécessaire à l'exploitation des MAGMaS pour des tâches de manipulation collaborative sont dérivées. Ce travail propose d'exploiter les redondances des MAGMaS grâce à un algorithme optimal d'allocation de forces entre les manipulateurs. De plus, une méthode générale d'estimation de forces pour robots aériens est introduite. Toutes les techniques et les algorithmes présentés dans cette thèse sont intégrés dans une architecture globale, utilisée à la fois pour la simulation et la validation expérimentale. Cette architecture est en outre augmentée par l'addition d'une structure de télé-présence, afin de permettre l'opération à distances des MAGMaS. L'architecture générale est validée par une démonstration de levage de barre, qui est une application représentative des potentiels usages des MAGMaS. Une autre contribution relative au développement des MAGMaS consiste en une étude exploratoire de la flexibilité dans les objets manipulés par un MAGMaS. Un modèle du phénomène vibratoire est dérivé afin de mettre en exergue ses propriétés en termes de contrôle. La dernière contribution de cette thèse consiste en une étude exploratoire sur l'usage des actionneurs à raideur variable dans les robots aériens, dotant ces systèmes d'une compliance mécanique intrinsèque et de capacité de stockage d'énergie. Les fondements théoriques sont associés à la synthèse d'un contrôleur non-linéaire. L'approche proposée est validée par le biais d'expériences reposant sur l'intégration d'un actionneur à raideur variable léger sur un robot aérien. / In recent years, the subject of physical interaction for aerial robots has been a popular research area with many new mechanical designs and control approaches being proposed. The aerial robotics community is currently observing a paradigm shift from classic guidance, navigation, and control tasks towards more unusual tasks, for example requesting aerial robots to physically interact with the environment, thus extending the manipulation task from the ground into the air. This thesis contributes to the field of aerial manipulation by proposing a novel concept known has Multiple Aerial-Ground Manipulator System or MAGMaS, including what appears to be the first experimental demonstration of a MAGMaS and opening a new route of research. The motivation behind associating ground and aerial robots for cooperative manipulation is to leverage their respective particularities, ground robots bring strength while aerial robots widen the workspace of the system. The first contribution of this work introduces a meticulous system model for MAGMaS. The system model's properties and potential extensions are discussed in this work. The planning, estimation and control methods which are necessary to exploit MAGMaS in a cooperative manipulation tasks are derived. This works proposes an optimal control allocation scheme to exploit the MAGMaS redundancies and a general model-based force estimation method is presented. All of the proposed techniques reported in this thesis are integrated in a global architecture used for simulations and experimental validation. This architecture is extended by the addition of a tele-presence framework to allow remote operations of MAGMaS. The global architecture is validated by robust demonstrations of bar lifting, an application that gives an outlook of the prospective use of the proposed concept of MAGMaS. Another contribution in the development of MAGMaS consists of an exploratory study on the flexibility of manipulated loads. A vibration model is derived and exploited to showcase vibration properties in terms of control. The last contribution of this thesis consists of an exploratory study on the use of elastic joints in aerial robots, endowing these systems with mechanical compliance and energy storage capabilities. Theoretical groundings are associated with a nonlinear controller synthesis. The proposed approach is validated by experimental work which relies on the integration of a lightweight variable stiffness actuator on an aerial robot.

The advent of information services introduces many advantages, for example, in trade, production and services. While making important descisons today, people increasingly rely on the information gleaned from such services. Presumably, as such, information from these services has become a target of manipulation. During the past decade, we have already observed many forms of information manipulation that misrepresents or alters reality. Some popular manipulation -- we have ever witnessed on the Internet -- include using black hat SEO techniques to drive up the ranking of a disreputable business, creating disinformative campaigns to conceal political dissidence, and employing less-than-honest product assessments to paint a rosy picture for inferior wares. Today, emerging web services and technologies greatly facilitated and enhanced people's lives. However, these innovations also enrich the arsenal of manipulators. The sheer amount of online information available today can threaten to overwhelm any user. To help ensure that users do not drown in the flood of information, modern web services are increasing relying upon personalization to improve the quality of their customers' experience. At the same time, personalization also represents new ammunition for all manipulators seeking to steer user eyeballs, regardless of their intents. In this thesis, I demonstrate a new unforeseen manipulation that exploits the mechanisms and algorithms underlying personalization. To undermine the effect of such manipulation, this thesis also introduces two effective, efficient mitigation strategies that can be applied to a number of personalization services. In addition to aforementioned personalization, increasingly prevalent browser extensions augment the ability to distort online information. In this thesis, I unveil an overlooked but widespread manipulation phenomenon in which miscreants abuse the privilege of browser extensions to tamper with the online advertisement presented to users. Considering that online advertising business is one of the primary approaches used to monetize free online services and applications available to users, and reckless ad manipulation may significantly roil advertising ecosystem, this thesis scrutinizes the potential effect of ad manipulation, and develops a technical approach to detect those browser extensions that falsify the ads presented to end users. Although the thesis merely discusses several manipulation examples in the context of the Internet, the findings and technologies presented in this thesis introduce broad impacts. First, my research findings raise Internet users' awareness about pervasive information manipulation. Second, the proposed technologies help users alleviate the pernicious effects of existing information manipulation. Finally, accompanying the findings and technologies is publicly available open-source software and tools that will help an increasing number of users battle against the growing threat of information manipulation.