A tabletop waterwheel, designed and built by Prof. Willem Malkus (Math. Dept., MIT), is used to demonstrate chaos in a mechanical analog of the Lorenz equations. The waterwheel’s rotational damping rate can be adjusted by tightening or loosening a brake. When the brake is not too tight, the wheel settles into a steady rotation. Either direction of rotation is possible. When the brake was tighte...

CONTEXT Walking speed is a fundamental parameter of human motion and is increasingly considered as an important indicator of individuals' health status. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the relationship of gait parameters, and demographic and physical characteristics in healthy men and women. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Recruitment of a subsample (n = 358) of male and female blood donors taking ...

[Purpose] The aim of this study is to find out the association between anterior pelvic tilt and gait and balance in chronic stroke. [Subjects and Methods] Fourteen chronic stroke patients were included in this study. A palpation meter was employed to measure the anterior inclination of the pelvis. A GAITRite system automates measuring temporal and spatial gait parameters. A 10-Meter Walk test w...

Interest in very small-scale hydropower generation has increased over the past few years. These pico-hydro systems range from a watts to several kW. The exploitation of low head sites does not require expensive civil works and is environmentally sustainable. Pico-hydro are attractive only for remote areas where grid available, but also connection. This especially relevant existing infrastructur...

For targeted prevention of falls, it is necessary to identify individuals with balance impairments. To test the sensitivity of measures of variability, local stability and orbital stability of trunk kinematics to balance impairments during gait, we used galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) to impair balance in 12 young adults while walking on a treadmill at different speeds. Inertial sensors w...

It has recently been shown that gait speed has an effect on multi-segment foot kinematics. To increase our understanding of these effects, it is critical to compare and develop a database of walking speed ranges. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the effects of walking speed on multi-segment foot kinematics. A 12-camera Vicon motion capture system was used to collect kinemat...