Explosive-type strength training may alter kinetics and neuromuscular activity during stair ascent in elderly women. This may improve functional ability. Nineteen women (69.7 ± 3.4 yr) were randomly allocated to strength training (TG; twice per wk, 12 wk) or a control group (CG). Stair ascent was assessed at self-chosen (AFV), standardized (ASV), and maximal velocity (AMV) pre- and posttraining...

In this paper we examine whether a common perceptual parameter is available for guiding old adults, young adults and children in climbing the highest stair mountable in a bipedal fashion. Previous works have shown that the ratio between the height of the stair and the hip height was the body-scaled invariance adopted as information for selecting the highest stair by young adults [Journal of Exp...

A stacked type stair-case patch antenna with dielectric substrate (εr= 2.33) has been conceived and is theoretically demonstrated. Unlike conventional microstrip antenna it shows remarkable improvement in bandwidth (around 20%) as well as gain (around 10.5 dBi). The proposed structure is designed with two identical stair-case patches. Thorough investigations of the proposed antenna along with t...

BACKGROUND Stair climbing is a vigorous activity and can lead to several health benefits. Studies seeking to increase stair climbing in various public locations have shown positive effects, while results from similar studies conducted in the workplace are inconclusive. This study examined stair climbing in the workplace, and monitored effects from a single- and a combined intervention. Interven...

Unintentional injury due to falls is one of the main reasons for hospitalization among children 0-4 years of age. The goal of this study was to assess the psychosocial correlates of parental safety behaviours to prevent falls from a staircase due to the lack of or the lack of adequate use of a stair gate. Data were collected from a cross-sectional survey using self-administered questionnaires m...

Mineralized biological materials such as nacre or bone achieve remarkable combinations of stiffness and toughness by way of staggered arrangements of stiff components (nanoscale or microscale fibers or tablets) bonded by softer materials. Under applied stress these components slide on one another, generating inelastic deformations and toughness on the macroscale. This mechanism is prominent in ...

The generation of whole-body angular momentum is essential in many locomotor tasks and must be regulated in order to maintain dynamic balance. However, angular momentum has not been investigated during stair walking, which is an activity that presents a biomechanical challenge for balance-impaired populations. We investigated three-dimensional whole-body angular momentum during stair ascent and...

OBJECTIVE We performed a literature review with the main aims to propose an updated overview of the effectiveness of stair-use interventions and to determine the most effective type of intervention. METHODS We systematically searched stair-use interventions performed in worksites or public settings, published up to mid 2013. We used a harvest plot approach to visualize the findings in additio...

4 Lightweight wheelchair stair-climbing attachments. Step stair-climbing mechanism targeted for wheelchair application is presented in Section 3. Finally a.This paper focuses on presenting the development of a stair-climbing wheelchair mechanism with high single-step capability. The mechanism is based on front.A stair climbing mechanism is a semi-automated vehicle, which has the. One is for mak...

In this paper a special type of nonlinear marking specifications called stair generalized mutual exclusion constraints (stair-GMECs) is defined. A stair-GMEC can be represented by an inequality whose left-hand is a linear combination of floor functions. Stair-GMECs have a higher modeling power than classical GMECs and can model legal marking sets that cannot be defined by OR-AND GMECs. We propo...