In this paper, an algorithm for autonomous stair climbing with a tracked vehicle is presented. The proposed method achieves robust performance under real-world conditions, without assuming prior knowledge of the stair geometry, the dynamics of the vehicle’s interaction with the stair surface, or lighting conditions. The approach relies on fast and accurate estimation of the robot’s heading and ...

BACKGROUND Stair climbing is an accessible activity with proven health benefits. This article summarizes the effectiveness of mall-based stair-climbing interventions, while controlling for, and examining, potential moderators of stair/escalator choice. METHODS Six comparable studies were identified, which used poster/ banner prompts to promote stair choice. Original data were combined and ana...

Recently, new approach called Stair-Diagonal used for solving a tridiagonal system by Jawad[A. J. Jawad and et.al., Solving a Tri-Diagonal System of Size N Equations by Stair-Diagonal Approach, Adv. Sci. Eng. Med. , 4(2012) 171-175]. In this paper, we developed a Stair-Diagonal Approach in order to remove the cases where the Stair-Diagonal Approach fails. Also, we describe a symbolic computatio...

OBJECTIVE There is growing evidence to support the association of gluteal muscle strength deficits in individuals with patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS) and the effectiveness of gluteal strengthening when treating PFPS. In additiona, an impressive body of work evaluating gluteal electromyography (EMG) has recently emerged, further supporting the importance of gluteal muscle function in PFPS. ...

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...

Total variation regularization and anisotropic filtering have been established as standard methods for image denoising because of their ability to detect and keep prominent edges in the data. Both methods, however, introduce artifacts: In the case of anisotropic filtering, the preservation of edges comes at the cost of the creation of additional structures out of noise; total variation regulari...

Previous interventions have successfully increased levels of stair climbing in publicaccess settings (e.g. malls). This study used robust methods to establish the magnitude of intervention effects amongst a specific target group – the overweight. Ascending stair/escalator users (N=20,807) were observed in a mall. A two-week baseline was followed by a five-week intervention in which message bann...

OBJECTIVES To examine specific behaviors used by older adults while ascending and descending stairs and to assess the relationships between confidence and stair performance. DESIGN Cross-sectional. SETTING Center for Locomotion Studies, The Pennsylvania State University. PARTICIPANTS Sixteen male (mean age=82.7, range= 77-89) and 16 female (mean age=82.2, range=77-87) community-dwelling a...

OBJECTIVE Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to childhood abuse is associated with features of affect regulation and interpersonal disturbances that substantially contribute to impairment. Existing treatments do not address these problems or the difficulties they may pose in the exploration of trauma memories, an efficacious and frequently recommended approach to resolving PTSD. The a...