What does it mean to do the disco? Or perform a cheerleading routine? Or move in a style appropriate for a given mode of human interaction? Answering these questions requires an interpretation of what differentiates two distinct movement styles and a method for parsing this difference into quantitative parameters. Furthermore, such an understanding of principles of style has applications in control, robotics, and dance theory. This thesis present a definition for “style of motion” that is rooted in dance theory, a framework for stylistic motion generation that separates basic movement ordering from its precise trajectory, and an inverse optimal control method for extracting these stylistic parameters from real data. On the part of generation, the processes of sequencing and scaling are modulated by the stylistic parameters enumerated: an automation that lists basic primary movements, sets which determine the final structure of the state machine that encodes allowable sequences, and weights in an optimal control problem that generates motions of the desired quality. This generation framework is demonstrated on a humanoid robotic platform for two distinct case studies – disco dancing and cheerleading. In order to extract the parameters that comprise the stylistic definition put forth, two inverse optimal control problems are posed and solved -- one to classify individual movements and one to segment longer movement sequences into smaller motion primitives. The motion of a real human leg (recorded via motion capture) is classified in an example. Thus, the contents of the thesis comprise a tool to produce and understand stylistic motion.

The purpose of the study was to determine the affect of SkyFlex training would have on jumping ability. The SkyFlex is a shoe constructed with a forefoot platform elevating the heel. The design purports enhancement of the stretch reflex in the Gastrocnemius and Soleus muscles. The SkyFlex includes an Airlon Flexfit sock liner designed to keep the ankle warm during training, minimizing tightness and flexibility reductions. Division I varsity male volleyball players (n= 17) were tested for the following: standing vertical jump, approach jump, court sprint, shuttle run, and anthropometry. Two-way AN OVA found no statistical significance (p<0.05) on any of the variables except for the differences between sessions of reaction forces. SkyFlex test group Ankle flexibility decreased with dorsiflexion while the control group increased both dorsal and plantar flexion. Based on the results of this study, training in the SkyFlex does not provide training advantages over training in a regular athletic shoe. / School of Physical Education

The purpose of this study was to determine the jump landing impact absorption kinematic and kinetic characteristics of the four subject groups: a) male high school athletes, b) female high school seasonal athletes, c) female high school year-round athletes, and d) female college athletes who train year-round. Subjects dropped onto a force platform from a height of 40 centimeters. Variables analyzed were flexibility, strength, Fz, Fy, and Fx force, free moment, range of motion, contact and maximum angles, time to maximum angle, contact and maximum angular velocities, and time to maximum angular velocity. Significant differences among subject groups were determined through use of a factorial analysis of variance and Scheffe' post hoc test.A difference was noted in the landing patterns of males and females. Male subjects exhibited a significantly longer time to first vertical peak force. This longer time may allow for greater initial force attenuation; however, the male athletes had a significantfy greater second peak force. Males also differed significantly from females in anteroposterior and mediolateral force.The differences in method of force attenuation may be due to significantly greater ankle eversion shown by the males and greater knee flexion used by the females. Additionally, the males had significantly greater leg strength, which may have allowed them to increase the time to first peak.The year round female high school athletes were found to use the best biomechanical landing method. They had a greater range of motion in the knee and ankle, and subsequently produced the lowest amount of vertical and anterio-posterior force. / School of Physical Education

The musculoskeletal structure of the human and animal body provides multiple solutions for performing any single motor behavior. The long-term goal of the work presented here is to determine the neuromechanical strategies used by the nervous system to appropriately coordinate muscles in order to achieve the performance of daily motor tasks. The overall hypothesis is that the nervous system simplifies muscle coordination by the flexible activation of muscle synergies, defined as a group of muscles activated as a unit, that perform task-level biomechanical functions. To test this hypothesis we investigated whether muscle synergies can be robustly used as building blocks for constructing the spatiotemporal muscle coordination patterns in human and feline postural control under a variety of biomechanical contexts. We demonstrated the generality and robustness of muscle synergies as a simplification strategy for both human and animal postural control. A few robust muscle synergies were able to reproduce the spatial and temporal variability in human and cat postural responses, regardless of stance configuration and perturbation type. In addition inter-trial variability in human postural responses was also accounted for by these muscle synergies. Finally, the activation of each muscle synergy in cat produced a specific stabilizing force vector, suggesting that muscle synergies control task-level variables. The identified muscle synergies may represent general modules of motor output underlying muscle coordination in posture that can be activated in different sensory contexts to achieve different postural goals. Therefore muscle synergies represents a simplifying mechanism for muscle coordination in natural behaviors not only because it is a strategy for reducing the number of variables to be controlled, but because it represents a mechanism for simply controlling multi-segmental task-level variables.

TThis thesis looks at the development of a Hand and Wrist Strength Gauge. The gauge was developed by the author at the Flinders Medical Centre Occupational Therapy Department in 1997. / thesis (MApSc(OccupationalTherapy))--University of South Australia, 2003.

The hypothesis underlying this research is that hand activity produces changes in the tissues of the hand which are reflected in the various functions of those tissues. Understanding the effect of hand activity upon hand function would allow occupational therapists to assess the efficacy of therapeutic interventions upon a clients ability to perform hand activity without damage to the tissues of the hand. Such information could assist in the design of safe and sustainable work tasks. The first step towards understanding how activity affects the hand is to measure its effects. The aim of this research is to determine which instruments can measure the effects of activity upon the hand.

Triathlon has had a rapid evolution from its origins 25 years ago in the United States to becoming a full summer Olympic sport in Sydney 2000. It is a sport that combines the three disciplines of swimming, cycling and running linked together with two transitions. It is this combination of events that gives triathlon its uniqueness in the area of exercise science. As a very young sport, the body of knowledge is somewhat limited, but is steadily growing. The following document aims to shed some new light on a range of aspects within the sport of triathlon and highlight triathlon as a sport in its own right with very specific demands when compared with each of the three individual sub-disciplines

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2007. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Thesis (M.App.Sc.) - Carleton University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 117-124). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science, Department of Bioengineering, Biomedical Engineering, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.