Walking in Merri Circles

The weight of planetary problems is distressing, and the forgetting seems to have multiplied when I wasn’t looking. In late 2020, whilst a global pandemic is also multiplying with disastrous and tragic consequences, I get my mask on. I make sure my shoelaces are tied and tell my children who are studying remotely, or streaming with screens blazing unchecked, that I am disappearing for a walk along the Merri Creek. Walking for one hour and now two for exercise, as mandated by the Victorian State Government, has been an activity that propels people out of their houses. Walking has taken on new significance for Melburnians living in COVID-19 lockdown: exercise is a reason to legally leave your house and you are reminded as you put one foot in front of the other that you can walk five kilometres in any direction. Knowing that is a quiet freedom. We are enmeshed and complicit, in the way we are also entangled, unpredictable, clever, complex, stupid and amazing, just like other organisms. Every action has a consequence, no matter how big or small

Walking Away, Walking in Circles, Writing Lists

Aumiller writes lists to externalize what overwhelms her. To be in control. To master and move on. Yet, her lists circle back to her. The process of writing the same list every day or the same act of writing the list is a looping. She returns to herself, to the parts she can remember and to the parts she can’t remember, but also can’t leave behind.Rachel Aumiller, ‘Walking Away, Walking in Circles, Writing Lists’, in The Case for Reduction, ed. by Christoph F. E. Holzhey and Jakob Schillinger, Cultural Inquiry, 25 (Berlin: ICI Berlin Press, 2022), pp. 281-83 <https://doi.org/10.37050/ci-25_18

Knowing where you are walking: the benefits and hazards of using theoretical roadmaps and research to guide community consultation practice

This paper progresses the 2006 Trans-Tasman Conference theme by considering 'do you know where you are walking?' and more importantly 'do you know how to get there?'. The community psychologist’s aspirations for the 'common good' anticipate outcomes such as social justice, sense of community and empowerment, and prescribe congruent values-based praxis to accomplish it. Such concepts and visions compel us to act for social change; they also enlighten the challenging decisions and processes we encounter in our personal every day walk of life. This journey can be complex as the 'doing' of community psychology often involves an emotive personal as well as professional commitment, sometimes associated with a particular political agenda. This paper considers how mapping the psychological landscape of a community, along with its history and geography, can help guide the practitioner through difficult terrain. Some of the author’s experiences are considered from theoretical perspectives including sense of community, community consultation processes, social ecology, community readiness and capacity building. These narratives illustrate how such theoretical maps can help the community psychologist to avoid walking in circles, down dead-end streets and up one-way streets while 'walking the walk'

Evidence for a relationship between bilateral coordination during complex gait tasks and freezing of gait in Parkinson\u27s disease

BACKGROUND: Freezing of gait is a debilitating and common gait disturbance observed in individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Although the underlying mechanisms of freezing remain unclear, bilateral coordination of steps, measured as a phase coordination index, has been suggested to be related to freezing. Phase coordination index has not, however, been measured during tasks associated with freezing such as turning and backward walking. Understanding how bilateral coordination changes during tasks associated with freezing may improve our understanding of the causes of freezing. METHODS: Twelve individuals with PD who freeze (freezers), 19 individuals with PD who do not freeze (non-freezers), and 10 healthy, age-matched older adults participated. General motor disease severity and freezing severity were assessed. Phase coordination index was calculated for all subjects during forward walking, backward walking, continuous turning in small radius circles, and turning in large radius circles. RESULTS: Freezers and non-freezers had similar disease duration and general motor severity. Stepping coordination (measured as phase coordination index) was significantly worse in freezers compared to non-freezers and controls. Turning and backward walking, tasks related to freezing, resulted in worse coordination with respect to forward walking. Coordination was associated with severity of freezing scores such that worse coordination was correlated with more severe freezing. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide evidence that stepping coordination is related to freezing in people with PD. Identifying variables associated with freezing may provide insights into factors underlying this symptom, and may inform rehabilitative interventions to reduce its occurrence in PD

Relato II: wandering Tehuanita

Wearing a celebration dress that is out of place - walking in circles in the winter snow of a foreign land. Relato II is about the experience of migration through an inner struggle and determination to fit in with the outside. This work is part of Museo del Imaginario /imaginary museum, a major art project by Yosi Anaya. (Artist's statement)

Stumping and Stunts: Walking in Circles in the “Go-As-You-Please” Race

New York City, 1884: 14 contestants set out to walk round and round a track for six days in the “go-as-you-please” race, taking as little rest as possible. What does this durational act tell us about a type of performance just beginning to be named in New York slang as a “stunt”? Anticipating early-20th-century dance marathons and later durational performance art, the race enacted and troubled circulation, revealing fault lines of valorization: between work and leisure, work and life, and sporting and theatrical performance

Human walking behavior: the effect of pedestrian flow and personal space invasions on walking speed and direction

Humans have a natural desire to keep a certain spatial distance to other humans, called personal space (Hall, 1966). If personal space is invaded without consent physiological reactions such as increased heart rate, sweating, and increased blood pressure are triggered (Middlemist et al., 1976). Using a newly developed system called CCB Analyser the walking pa!erns of pedestrians in an Austrian shopping center were recorded. Data included number of people, average speed, speed changes, direction changes, and two different measures for personal space, one being personal space in circles around stationary #ames and the other being personal space for pedestrians integrating the paths ahead. Results show that people walk faster when personal space is invaded, and walking speed and direction are changed to a higher degree at high pedestrian $ow. %ese results show how crowded situations require behavioral changes and offer an important insight into the relationship of human walking behavior and personal space

Unidirectional and bidirectional flow in a narrow corridor with body rotation

In this paper, we developed a new pedestrian model, where pedestrians are represented with three circles and rotate their body to avoid others. In most pedestrian models, the body posture of pedestrians is statically connected with the walking direction; however, they may become different in our model, in other words, pedestrians can walk sideways. We conducted simulation on bidirectional flow in a narrow corridor where body rotation is necessary to avoid collisions and succeeded to reproduce realistic fundamental diagram

Pilot study of locomotor asymmetry in horses walking in circles with and without a rider

Background: Horses commonly show asymmetries that manifest as left (L)-right (R) differences in vertical excursion of axial body segments. Moving on a circle confounds inherent individual asymmetries. Our goals were to evaluate individual and group asymmetry patterns and compare objective data with subjective impressions of side preference/laterality in horses walking on L and R circles. Methods: Fifteen horses walked on L and R circles unridden and ridden on long and short reins. Optical motion capture (150 Hz) tracked skin -fixed markers. Variables were trunk horizontal angle; neck-to-trunk angle; vertical range of motion (ROM) for the head, withers and sacrum; ROM for pelvic roll, pitch, and yaw; mean pelvic pitch; and ROM for hip, stifle and tarsal joints. Differences between inside and outside hind steps were determined for vertical minima and maxima of the head (HMinDiff/ HMaxDiff), withers (WMinDiff/WMaxDiff) and sacrum (PMinDiff/PMaxDiff). Subjective laterality was provided by owners. Data analysis used mixed models, first without and then with subjective laterality. Iterative k-means cluster analysis was used to associate biomechanical variables with subjective laterality. Results: PMaxDiff, PMinDiff and WMaxDiff indicated R limb asymmetry in both directions. WMinDiff indicated L (inside) fore asymmetry for L direction but was close to zero for R direction. Hip ROM was significantly smaller for the inside limb in both directions (L inside/outside: 16.7 degrees vs. 20.6 degrees; R: 17.8 degrees vs. 19.4 degrees). Stifle ROM was significantly larger for the inside limb in both directions (L: 43.1 degrees vs. 39.0 degrees; R: 41.9 degrees vs. 40.4 degrees). Taking the general direction effect into account the R hip and L stifle had larger ROM. Adding laterality to the models (seven horses L-vs. six horses R -hollow), PMaxDiff R hind asymmetry was more obvious for L-hollow horses than for R-hollow horses. L-hollow horses had greater pelvic roll ROM moving in L vs. R direction. L-hollow horses had smaller inside and greater outside hip joint ROM in L vs. R direction. R-hollow horses had a significant difference in HMinDiff between L (0 mm) and R (-14 mm) directions, indicating less head lowering at outside forelimb midstance in R direction, and larger outside tarsal ROM in R (38.6 degrees) vs. L (37.4 degrees) direction (p <= 0.05). The variables that agreed most frequently with subjective laterality in cluster analysis were pelvic roll ROM, followed by HMinDiff and PMaxDiff. Conclusion: Differences between horses walking in L and R directions were found both at group and individual levels, as well as evidence of associations with subjective laterality. Horses maintained more symmetric hip and stifle ROM and withers vertical motion when walking on the R circle. Findings suggest that left and right lateralised horses may not be perfect mirror images. Pelvic roll ROM emerged as a promising variable to determine laterality in walk as perceived by the rider, especially when considered together with other variables