5,012 research outputs found
Low strength is related to diminished ground reaction forces and walking performance in older women
The purpose of this study was to determine how lower-limb strength in older women affected gait speed, supportive forces, spatial, and temporal aspects of walking gait. Twenty-four women between 65 – 80 yr performed maximal voluntary isometric contractions for the knee extensors (KE), knee flexors (KF), ankle plantarflexors (PF) and ankle dorsiflexors (DF) and were separated into low strength and normal strength groups using a KE torque threshold of 1.5 Nm kg−1 . They walked at both a standard speed of 0.8 m s−1 and at a self-selected maximal speed on an instrumented treadmill that recorded vertical ground reaction forces (vGRF) and spatiotemporal gait measures. Older women with low strength had 30% lower KE maximal torque, 36% lower PF maximal torque, 34% lower KE rate of torque development (RTD) and 30% lower KF RTD. Low strength women demonstrated slower maximal walking speeds (1.26 ± 0.20 vs. 1.56 ± 0.20 m s−1 ), lower vGRF during weight acceptance (1.15 ± 0.10 vs. 1.27 ± 0.13 BW), lower weight acceptance rates (11.3 ± 0.5 vs. 17.0 ± 5.5 BW s−1 ), slower stride rates, shorter stride lengths, and longer footground and double-limb support times (all P \u3c 0.05). Maximal gait speed was strongly correlated to peak vGRF and rate (r = 0.60 – 0.85, P \u3c 0.01) and moderately related to lower-limb strength (r = 0.42 – 0.60, P \u3c 0.05). In older women with low strength, diminished peak vGRFs were associated with slower walking speeds putting them at risk for mobility limitation, disability, poor health, and loss of independence
Infrared study of spin-Peierls compound alpha'-NaV2O5
Infrared reflectance of alpha'-NaV2O5 single crystals in the frequency range
from 50 cm-1 to 10000 cm-1 was studied for a, b and c-polarisations. In
addition to phonon modes identification, for the a-polarised spectrum a broad
continuum absorption in the range of 1D magnetic excitation energies was found.
The strong near-IR absorption band at 0.8 eV shows a strong anisotropy with
vanishing intensity in c-polarisation. Activation of new phonons due to the
lattice dimerisation were detected below 35K as well as pretransitional
structural fluctuations up to 65K.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, 1 table. Contributed paper for the SCES'98 (15-18
July 1998, Paris). To be published in Physica
Physiological requirements in triathlon
This article aims to present the current knowledge on physiological requirements in Olympic distance and Ironman triathlon. Showing the data available from a “traditional point of view” (aerobic power, anaerobic threshold, heart rate, running economy) and from a “contemporary” point of view (V̇ O2 kinetics), it emphasises where we are currently and the areas that remain unknown
Ground state of the Kagome-like S=1/2 antiferromagnet, Volborthite Cu3V2O7(OH)2.2H2O
Volborthite compound is one of the very few realizations of S=1/2 quantum
spins on a highly frustrated kagome-like lattice. Low-T SQUID measurements
reveal a broad magnetic transition below 2K which is further confirmed by a
peak in the 51V nuclear spin relaxation rate (1/T1) at 1.4K0.2K. Through
51V NMR, the ground state (GS) appears to be a mixture of different spin
configurations, among which 20% correspond to a well defined short range order,
possibly of the type. While the freezing involve all
the Cu spins, only 40% of the copper moment is actually frozen which
suggests that quantum fluctuations strongly renormalize the GS.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear in PR
Unusual magnetic properties of the low-dimensional quantum magnet Na2V3O7
We report the results of low-temperature measurements of the specific heat
Cp(T), ac susceptibility chi(T) and 23Na nuclear magnetic resonance NMR of
Na2V3O7. At liquid He temperatures Cp(T)/T exhibits broad field-dependent
maxima, which shift to higher temperatures upon increasing the applied magnetic
field H. Below 1.5 K the ac magnetic susceptibility chi(T) follows a
Curie-Weiss law and exhibits a cusp at 0.086 mK which indicates a phase
transition at very low temperatures. These results support the previous
conjecture that Na2V3O7 is close to a quantum critical point (QCP) at mu_{0}H =
0 T. The entire data set, including results of measurements of the NMR
spin-lattice relaxation 1/T1(T), reveals a complex magnetic behavior at low
temperatures. We argue that it is due to a distribution of singlet-triplet
energy gaps of dimerized V moments. The dimerization process evolves over a
rather broad temperature range around and below 100 K. At the lowest
temperatures the magnetic properties are dominated by the response of only a
minor fraction of the V moments.Comment: 10.5 pages, 15 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev.
An investigation of strain softening phenomenon in Al-0.1% Mg alloy during high-pressure torsion processing
An Al-0.1% Mg alloy was processed by high-pressure torsion (HPT) at room temperature. The Al-0.1% Mg alloy displays strain softening phenomenon through hardness evolution: the hardness values in the disc centre area are higher than at the disc edge area after 1/2, 1 and 3 turns, and the size of the hard region in the disc centre gradually reduces as the numbers of turns increases from 1/2 to 3 turns. The hardness values evolve towards homogeneity along the disc diameters after 5 and 10 turns. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and X-ray line profile analysis suggest that the lower hardness values at the disc edge area in the Al-0.1% Mg alloy are related to a recovery / recrystallization mechanism where the material is subjected to heavy straining
Peierls-like transition induced by frustration in a two-dimensional antiferromagnet
We show that the introduction of frustration into the spin-1/2
two-dimensional (2D) antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on a square lattice via
a next-nearest neighbor exchange interaction can lead to a Peierls-like
transition, from a tetragonal to an orthorhombic phase, when the spins are
coupled to adiabatic phonons. The two different orthorhombic ground states
define an Ising order parameter, which is expected to lead to a finite
temperature transition. Implications for , the first
realization of that model, will be discussed.Comment: 4 pages, to be published on Physical Review Letter
Low Energy Singlets in the Excitation Spectrum of the Spin Tetrahedra System Cu_2Te_2O_5Br_2
Low energy Raman scattering of the s=1/2 spin tetrahedra system
Cu_2Te_2O_5Br_2 is dominated by an excitation at 18 cm^{-1} corresponding to an
energy E_S=0.6\Delta, with \Delta the spin gap of the compound. For elevated
temperatures this mode shows a soft mode-like decrease in energy pointing to an
instability of the system. The isostructural reference system Cu_2Te_2O_5Cl_2
with a presumably larger inter-tetrahedra coupling does not show such a low
energy mode. Instead its excitation spectrum and thermodynamic properties are
compatible with long range Neel-ordering. We discuss the observed effects in
the context of quantum fluctuations and competing ground states.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, ISSP-Kashiwa 2001, Conference on Correlated
Electron
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