Stroke is the main cause of long term disability worldwide. Of those surviving, more than half will fail to regain functional usage of their impaired upper limb. Typically stroke upper limb rehabilitation exercises consist of repeated movements, which when tracked can form the basis of inputs to games. This paper discusses two systems utilizing…

A positive association between interest and learning from texts has been well noted in the literature. However, the cause of the positive association between interest and learning from text is uncertain. The primary purpose of this dissertation was to examine a potential cause, inference generation, of the positive association between interest and…

The recently released document "A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas" emphasizes the importance of engaging students in practices of science and engineering to help them understand how scientific knowledge about the natural world develops. The document identifies eight essential…

Interest in computer-based learning, especially in the use of virtual reality simulations is increasing rapidly. While there are good reasons to believe that technologies have the potential to improve teaching and learning, how to utilize the technology effectively in teaching specific content difficulties is challenging. To help students develop…

Everyday experience suggests that drivers are less susceptible to motion sickness than passengers. In the context of inertial motion (i.e., physical displacement), this effect has been confirmed in laboratory research using whole body motion devices. We asked whether a similar effect would occur in the context of simulated vehicles in a visual…

During the century from the publication of the work by Einstein (1905 "Ann. Phys." 17 549) Brownian motion has become an important paradigm in many fields of modern science. An essential impulse for the development of Brownian motion theory was given by the work of Langevin (1908 "C. R. Acad. Sci.", Paris 146 530), in which he proposed an…

Adults vary their haptic exploratory behavior reliably with variation both in the sensory input and in the task goals. Little is known about the development of these connections between perceptual goals and exploratory behaviors. A total of 36 children ages 3, 4, and 5 years and 20 adults completed a haptic intramodal match-to-sample task.…

We propose an analytic solution to the problem of the mechanical paradox consisting of a sphere rolling upwards on two diverging inclined guides as devised by Gardner. The presence of an unstable equilibrium point is highlighted and the analytic solution is found by means of elementary calculus concepts. (Contains 4 figures and 3 footnotes.)

Animation has become enormously popular in feature films, television, and video games. Art departments and film schools at universities as well as animation programs at high schools have expanded in recent years to meet the growing demands for animation artists. Professional animators identify the technological facet as the most rapidly advancing…

Using Faraday's law, one can illustrate how an electromotive force generator, directly utilizing seawater motion, works. The conceptual device proposed is rather simple in its components and can be built in any high school or college laboratory. The description of the way in which the device generates an electromotive force can be instructive not…

We investigate the electromagnetic induction phenomenon for a "falling," "oscillating" and "swinging" magnet and a coil, with the help of a datalogger. For each situation, we discuss the salient aspects of the phenomenon, with the aid of diagrams, and relate the motion of the magnet to its mathematical and graphical representations. Using various…

This study investigated the effect of temporal frequency and modulation depth on reaction times for discriminating the direction of first-order (luminance-defined) and second-order (contrast-defined) motion, equated for visibility using equal multiples of direction-discrimination threshold. Results showed that reaction times were heavily…

Since its inception in the mid-80s, the computer mouse has undergone several design changes. As the mouse has evolved, physicists have found new ways to utilize it as a motion sensor. For example, the rollers in a mechanical mouse have been used as pulleys to study the motion of a magnet moving through a copper tube as a quantitative demonstration…

We present a nontrigonometric graphical method for predicting the trajectory of a projectile when the angle and initial velocity are known. Students enrolled in a general education conceptual physics course typically have weak backgrounds in trigonometry, making inaccessible the standard analytical calculation of projectile range. Furthermore,…

The author compares current employment status after spinal cord injury between participants who were independent in ambulation (required no assistance from others) and those who were dependent in ambulation (required assistance from at least one other person to ambulate). Those who were independent of assistance from others in ambulation were…