29 The mechanical properties of the human arm are regulated to maintain stability across many 30 tasks. The static mechanics of the arm can be characterized by estimates of endpoint stiffness, 31 considered especially relevant for the maintenance of posture. At a fixed posture, endpoint 32 stiffness can be regulated by changes in muscle activation, but which activation-dependent 33 muscle prope...

When an elastic object is pressed, we expect it to resist by exerting a restoring force. A reversal of this force corresponds to negative stiffness. If we combine elements with positive and negative stiffness in a composite, it is possible to achieve stiffness greater than ~or less than! that of any of the constituents. This behavior violates established bounds that tacitly assume that each pha...

Increased vascular stiffness is fundamental to hypertension, and its complications, including atherosclerosis, suggest that therapy should also be directed at vascular stiffness, rather than just the regulation of peripheral vascular resistance. It is currently held that the underlying mechanisms of vascular stiffness in hypertension only involve the extracellular matrix and endothelium. We hyp...

Polyacrylamide gels with different stiffness and glass were employed as substrates to investigate how substrate stiffness affects the cellular stiffness of adherent hepatocellular carcinoma (HCCLM3) and hepatic (L02) cells. The interaction of how cell-substrate stiffness influences cell migration was also explored. An atom force microscope measured the stiffness of HCCLM3 and L02 cells on diffe...

Gear’s normal contact stiffness played an important role in the mechanical equipment. In this paper, the M-B fractal model is modified and the contact surface coefficient is put forward to set up the fractal model, considering the influence of friction, which could be used to calculate accurately the involute arc cylindrical gears’ normal contact stiffness based on the fractal theory and Hertz ...

Research effort in the field of variable stiffness actuators is steadily increasing, due to their wide range of possible applications and their advantages. In literature, various control methods have been proposed, solving particular problems in human-robot and robot-environment interaction applications, in which the mechanical compliance introduced by variable stiffness actuators has been show...

We investigate the relation between grip force and grip stiffness for the human hand with and without voluntary cocontraction. Apart from gaining biomechanical insight, this issue is particularly relevant for variable-stiffness robotic systems, which can independently control the two parameters, but for which no clear methods exist to design or efficiently exploit them. Subjects were asked in o...

Dynamic joint stiffness determines the relation between joint position and torque, and plays a vital role in the control of posture and movement. Dynamic joint stiffness can be quantified during quasi-stationary conditions using disturbance experiments, where small position perturbations are applied to the joint and the torque response is recorded. Dynamic joint stiffness is composed of intrins...