Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, March, 1986. / Title from PDF t.p.

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1991. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-82). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 1985. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 291-298). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Delaware, 2009. / Principal faculty advisor: James E. Hoffman, Dept. of Psychology. Includes bibliographical references.

Chapter One justified the need for research into methodology which can examine the upper limb stroke patients and older adults using portable kinematic recording software on the basis of the prevalence of stroke and aging and the potential importance of upper limb impairment as a predictor of recovery from stroke. Chapter Two reviewed the literature on methodologies which measured tracking in stroke patients and found that a wide range of methodologies were available but measurement metrics tended to focus on a small number of indices, mostly root mean square error, suggesting that measuring tracking using other indices might be informative. Chapter Three examined differences in tracking performance between stroke patients and older adults at a range of tracking speeds using a novel kinematic recording technology. The equipment appeared to be feasible for use in a community setting and found that older adults were less accurate, consistent and smooth compared to younger adults, and that accuracy was particularly affected by speed of trial. It was suggested that this interaction between speed and age may have been due to poorer feedback control mechanisms in older adults. Chapter Four looked at stroke patients compared to age-matched controls in tracking performance and found, contrary to the hypothesis, that stroke patients were more accurate, consistent and smooth with both the contralesional and ipsilesional hand; while there was no difference between the hands within stroke patients. Stroke patients may have outperformed controls due to qualitative differences in neural strategies for tracking control or the differences found may have related to methodological differences in collecting data. Chapter Five used the same stroke data to examine the relationship between tracking impairment, activity limitations and participation restrictions within the framework of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) (WHO, 2001). It was found that impairment of tracking consistency in the ipsilesional limb predicted participation restriction partially mediated by activity - 5 - limitation. It was argued that tracking in the “unimpaired limb” may be important for predicting participation restriction due to a potential mediating relationship with cognition. The study also suggested that the ipsilesional limb might have potential for rehabilitation of the contralesional limb. Chapter Six discussed the main findings of the thesis. Despite lack of sensitivity of tracking task to stroke impairment, the results of the thesis showed that measuring tracking in older adults and stroke patients provided important information about contralesional and ipsilesional hand function compared to age-matched controls and in relation to activity and participation after stroke. The methodology used may have the potential to examine other research questions which involve the measurement of upper limb kinematics after stroke.

No description available.

Eight male unacclimatized subjects were selected for the present investigation. The subjects were all in excellent health and ranged in age between 25 and 35 years. Subjects performed one-dimensional horizontal compensatory tracking, the Critical Instability Tracking Task (CITT), in each of eight environmental conditions for an hour. Two levels of ambient temperature were used: 22°C (72°F) and 35°C (95°F). Two levels of relative humidity were used: 45% RH and 80% RH. The resulting Wet-bulb Globe Temperatures were 18°C (64°F) WBGT, 21°C (70°F) WBGT, 29°C (85°F) WBGT, and 34°C (93°F) WBGT. Two levels of tracking difficulty were used: easy ()λlow = 1.0 and λhigh = 2.0) and moderate (λlow = 1.0 and λhigh = 5.0). Prior research has demonstrated that both ambient temperature and tracking difficulty affected significantly tracking performance (root-mean-square error) and perceived workload (SWAT rating). However, in this study, humidity did not affect either measure significantly. This might be attributable to the upper bound of humidity (80% RH) used in this research. Therefore, research needs to be done above 80% RH to examine the effects of humidity in further detail. Results also indicated that the Subjective Workload Assessment Technique (SWAT) can be used as a good indicator of the actual changes in mental workload on tracking in heat. Finally, results showed that tracking performance decrement occurred at a lower temperature (29°C (85°F) WBGT) than did the perception of significant mental workload on tracking (which occurred at 34°C (93°F) W8GT). / Master of Science