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Biomedical subjects

J Witters

Publications and source records attributed to J Witters.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

First report of Eotetranychus fagi in Belgium.

Eotetranychus fagi (Acari: Tetranychidae) was first recorded in Belgium on Fagus sylvatica in Kortrijk in October 2002. In the autumn of 2003 E. fagi was noticed again at several locations in Flanders. Because F. sylvatica is often used as hedge plants in private gardens, it is expected that further spread of this spider mite will occur in the next few years.

Acaridae↗

A model of the elastic take-off energy in the long jump.

A theoretical analysis of the long jump take-off is presented, with the conclusion that elastic effects are important. Measured data from the literature for groups of top athletes and average performers in the long jump confirm this conclusion and lead to an estimate of elastic energy conversion efficiency, which is very low (between 0.2 and 0.3), in contrast with much higher conversion efficiencies for the running stride.

Biomechanical Phenomena↗

The design and testing of a wire velocimeter.

The basic principles underlying the design of a velocimeter based on an unwinding wire, for use in athletics research, are discussed. It is shown by theoretical analysis that, in order to avoid runaway effects, the tension on the wire should be either high or low but not of intermediate strength. The low tension regime is shown to be theoretically the most favourable as it combines high accuracy of speed measurements in decelerated motion with insensitivity to resonance oscillations of the wire. Practical considerations concerning the ruggedness of the apparatus, however, favour the high tension regime. A modern apparatus incorporating microprocessors and working with thin nylon wire stretched by a force of the order of 1 N, i.e. in the high tension regime, has been constructed and tested. The test results show that the velocity of decelerated motions (up to decelerations of the order of 10 m s-2) can be faithfully recorded in the velocity range 0-15 m s-1. The relative error for the measurement of constant speed up to 15 m s-1 is about one in a thousand, which is very small and practically unattainable by other methods. An application to the study of the long jump is demonstrated and validated by the use of film analysis.

Humans↗