the natural frequency and pull-in instability of clamped-clamped nano-actuators in the presence of a dielectric layer are analyzed. the influence of the presence of casimir force, electrostatic force, fringing field effect, axial force, stretching effects and the size effect are taken into account. the governing equation of the dynamic response of the actuator is transformed in a non-dimensiona...

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of an acute static stretching bout of the biceps brachii on torque, electromyography (EMG), and mechanomyography (MMG) during concentric isokinetic muscle actions. Eighteen (men, n = 10; women, n = 8) adult subjects (M +/- SD age = 22.7 +/- 2.8 years; weight = 78.0 +/- 17.0 kg; height = 177.9 +/- 11.0 cm) performed maximal isokinetic (30 and...

The purpose of this study was to compare the acute effects of different modes of stretching on vertical jump performance. Eighteen male university students (age, 24.3 +/- 3.2 years; height, 181.5 +/- 11.4 cm; body mass, 78.1 +/- 6.4 kg; mean +/- SD) completed 4 different conditions in a randomized order, on different days, interspersed by a minimum of 72 hours of rest. Each session consisted of...

CONTEXT Exercise-associated muscle cramps (EAMC) are a common condition experienced by recreational and competitive athletes. Despite their commonality and prevalence, their cause remains unknown. Theories for the cause of EAMC are primarily based on anecdotal and observational studies rather than sound experimental evidence. Without a clear cause, treatments and prevention strategies for EAMC ...

Mechanical forces play a crucial role in controlling the integrity and functionality of cells and tissues. External forces are sensed by cells and translated into signals that induce various responses. To increase the detailed understanding of these processes, we investigated cell migration and dynamic cellular reorganisation of focal adhesions and cytoskeleton upon application of cyclic stretc...

The alignment of noisy and uniformly scaled time series is an important but difficult task. Given two time series, one of which is a uniformly stretched subsequence of the other, we want to determine the stretching factor and the offset of the second time series within the first one. We adapted and enhanced different methods to address this problem: classical FFT-based approaches to determine t...

The inelastic x-ray scattering spectrum for phonons of Δ(1) symmetry, including the CuO bond-stretching phonon dispersion, is analyzed by means of Lorentz fitting for HgBa(2)CuO(4) and Bi(2)Sr(2)CuO(6), using recently calculated phonon frequencies as input parameters. The resulting mode frequencies of the fit are almost all in good agreement with the calculated data. An exception is the case fo...

OBJECTIVES To ascertain the dynamic stretch effects of flexibility of the hamstrings on lumbar spine and pelvic kinematics. BACKGROUND Tight hamstrings are positively correlated with low back pain. However, it is unclear how flexibility of the hamstrings affects spino-pelvic rhythm. METHODS Twelve healthy men participated in the study. The straight leg raising (SLR) angle, finger floor dist...

BACKGROUND Static stretching (SS) is a recovery intervention used for the reduction of muscle soreness postexercise. The effects of SS on elite young footballers have received little attention, and therefore the aim of this study was to assess the effects of SS on muscle recovery following competitive soccer matches in elite young footballers. METHODS Ten male participants (16±1 years) were r...