An EMG & Motion Analysis Study of the Elliptical Trainer

Background and Purpose The purpose of this study is to describe lower extremity muscle activity and joint range of motion while moving both forward and backward on an elliptical trainer at minimum and maximum inclines. Subjects Ten healthy subjects (7 female and 3 male) gave informed consent to voluntarily participate in this study. Methods A single group experimental design was used. A maximum contraction was performed for comparison measure and electromyographic (EMG) data was collected while the subjects performed the stride at the specified variables. Results The vastus lateralis was the most active of all the muscles throughout the entire experiment. The gluteus maxim us had, on average, the least amount of muscle activity. The biceps femoris was more active during forward stride than backward stride while the rectus femoris was more active during the backward stride. Conclusion and Discussion The results of this study are inconsistent with the manufacturer\u27s claims

Romantic ideals, mate preferences, and anticipation of future difficulties in marital life: a comparative study of young adults in India and America

This article has been made available through open access by the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Previous studies have established that Indians tend to be greater in collectivism and gender role traditionalism than Americans. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether these differences explained further cultural differences in romantic beliefs, traditional mate preferences, and anticipation of future difficulties in marital life. Results revealed that Indians reported greater collectivism than Americans and, in turn, held stronger romantic beliefs. Additionally, Indians’ greater collectivism and endorsement of more traditional gender roles in part predicted their preferences for a marital partner possessing traditional characteristics, and fully accounted for their heightened concerns about encountering future difficulties in marital life. These results shed light on the processes underlying cultural differences in relationship attitudes and preferences, and point to culture-specific therapies to enhance marital functioning

Vernacular Soliloquy, Theatrical Gesture, and Embodied Consciousness in The Marrow of Tradition

Charles Chesnutt’s Marrow of Tradition (1901) is overwhelmingly understood as an historical novel. Critics have again and again focused on its journalistic historicity; its ambivalent racial politics; its attitudes towards assimilation, separatism, vengeance, and resistance; and Chesnutt’s alleged biographical identification with various characters. This generalized preoccupation with the explicitly political or historical contours of the novel frequently precludes closer scrutiny of Chesnutt’s formal literary strategies. This paper shirks that tendency by considering The Marrow of Tradition not just as an historical novel, but also as a novel of consciousness. Viewing the novel from the perspective of its representation of consciousness both reframes its historiographical bearing and opens up new ways to understand Chesnutt’s fiction and nineteenth-century African American literature. It argues that the location of black consciousness in the novel is the soliloquy, and demonstrates that the soliloquy should be understood as a form of “embodied consciousness”: a narrative mode endowed with the expressivity of theatrical gesture. It further examines these performative gestures in relation to additional patterns in the novel: first, the destructive circulation of written, material texts; and second, recurring images of corporeality and physical breakdown wherein one’s capacity for speech is endangered. As they are invulnerable to such formal compromise and breakdown, Chesnutt’s soliloquies together produce a counter-archive of vernacular memory and reveal how dramatic form functions in the novel more broadly

Religiosity, materialism, consumer environmental predisposition. Some insights on vegan purchasing intentions in Italy

This paper explores the effects of environmental predisposition on purchasing intentions. The proposed model considers religiosity as a determinant of consumer environmental predisposition, adopting a multidimensional view entailing both intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity. Further, the effects of materialism are investigated, as it has been recognized as one of the most relevant hampering factors in determining consumer environmental predispositions and behaviors. Such factors appear intimately related, as materialism has been indicated as largely antithetical with respect to religion. Literature has suggested religiosity to be a key determinant of consumer environmental predispositions and behaviors. This might be even more important for specific, environmentally relevant consumer lifestyles. This work is hence set within vegan consumption. Veganism has been mostly related to specific religious beliefs (like Buddhism), according to which it represents a core component of larger worldviews. A structural equation model is proposed, based on a sample of 842 Italian consumers. Results show that religiosity exerts some effect on consumer environmental predisposition, and that, in turn, such predisposition determines vegan purchasing intentions. A split model is then proposed considering Christian and Buddhist consumers. Results of multigroup analysis show that religious influxes on consumer environmental predispositions might vary according to different religious faiths. Given the lack of previous empirical research, results of this study require further validation; still, they might provide some insights for managers, as markets related to environmentally relevant products and services are exhibiting a sustained growth