Resting muscle length affects both maximum force production and force maintenance. The strength and force maintenance characteristics of the genioglossus as a function of resting muscle length have not been described. We hypothesized that genioglossus optimum length (L(o)) could be defined in vivo and that the ability of the genioglossus to sustain a given workload would decrease as resting len...

This paper describes a requirement of task skill in a service field, and a few task skill studies using our task skill transfer method. In a previous research, we have proposed a task skill transfer method using a bilateral teleoperation. In this method, it is assumed that a robot arm is implemented by the hybrid impedance/force control, and is able to execute a task by a suitable trajectory of...

Haptic feedback is an important element that needs to be carefully designed in computer music interfaces. This paper presents an evaluation of several force renderings for target acquisition in space when used to support a music related task. The study presented here addresses only one musical aspect: the need to repeat elements accurately in time and in content. Several force scenarios will be...

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the capacity of an expanded set of force steadiness tasks to explain the variance in the time it takes young men and women to complete the grooved pegboard test. In a single experimental session, 30 participants (mean ± SD) (24.2 ± 4.0 yr; 15 women) performed the grooved pegboard test, two tests of hand speed, measurements of muscle strength, and a set o...

STUDY DESIGN Descriptive study. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to describe the segmental motion of the lumbar spine during a posterior-to-anterior (PA) mobilization procedure using dynamic magnetic resonance imaging and to propose a mechanism of the lumbar spine's motion as a result of a PA force to a lumbar spinous process. BACKGROUND Studies reporting kinematic descriptions of PA...

Active muscle shortening reduces the isometric force potential of muscle. This observation indicates that the isometric length-force characteristics are altered during muscle shortening. Post-shortening decrease in isometric force depends on starting length, shortening amplitude and shortening velocity. In the present study, post-shortening decrease in isometric force was determined after isoki...

This paper presents a micrograting-based force sensor integrated with a surface micromachined silicon-nitride probe suitable for characterizing microsurgery force on a single cell or embryo. The probe is supported by springs of a known spring constant, and the surgical penetration force is determined from displacement measurements. The opticalencoder force sensor exhibits conŽgurable sensitivit...