1.
Assistive cane
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An assistive cane is a walking stick used as a crutch or mobility aid. Canes can help redistribute weight from a leg that is weak or painful, improve stability by increasing the base of support. In the US, ten percent of older than 65 years use canes. In contrast to crutches, canes are generally lighter, but, another type of crutch is the walker, a frame held in front of the user and which the user leans on during movement. Walkers are more due to their increased area of ground contact. The basic cane has four parts and these parts vary depending on the design of the cane and the needs of the user. Handle The handle of a cane is extremely important to the user, many different styles exist, the most common traditional designs are the Tourist, or crook handle, the Fritz Handle and the Derby Handle. Collar The collar of a cane may be only an addition made for stylistic reasons. Shaft The shaft of the cane transmits the load from the handle to the ferrule and may be constructed from carbon fiber polymer, metal, composites, ferrule The tip of a cane provides traction and added support when the cane is used at an angle. Many kinds of ferrules exist, but most common is a simple, users can easily replace a ferrule with one that better suits their individual needs. Modern canes may differ from the fixed structure. All cane users who need a cane for medical reasons should consult a medical professional before choosing the style that best suits them. It is particularly important that the cane is the height for the individual user. White cane, specifically designed for assisting the visually impaired, these are longer and thinner and they also alert others, such as motorists, to know the user is blind and therefore use caution. In the UK, red banding on a white cane indicates a deaf-blind user, folding cane, has several joints, generally linked by an internal elastic cord, enabling them to be folded into a shorter length when not in use. Forearm cane, a regular or offset cane with additional support, enabling increased stability. Quad cane, has four ferrules at the base, enabling them to stand freely, tripod cane, opens in a tripod fashion. Often available with an attached seat, adjustable cane, features two or more shaft pieces for a telescoping effect that allows the user to lengthen or shorten their walking cane to fit to size
2.
Phasmatodea
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The Phasmatodea are an order of insects, whose members are variously known as stick insects, stick-bugs or walking sticks, phasmids, ghost insects and leaf insects. The groups name is derived from the Ancient Greek φάσμα phasma, meaning an apparition or phantom and their natural camouflage makes them difficult for predators to detect, but many species have a secondary line of defence in the form of startle displays, spines or toxic secretions. The genus Phobaeticus includes the worlds longest insects, members of the order are found all over the world except for the Antarctic and Patagonia, but they are most abundant in the tropics and subtropics. They are herbivorous with many species living unobtrusively in the tree canopy and they have a hemimetabolous life cycle with three stages, eggs, nymphs and adults. Many phasmids are parthenogenic, and do not require fertilised eggs for female offspring to be produced. In hotter climates, they may breed all year round, in temperate regions, the females lay eggs in the autumn before dying. Some species have wings and can disperse by flying, while others are more restricted, phasmids can be relatively large, ranging from 1.5 centimetres to over 30 centimetres in length. Females of the genus Phobaeticus are the worlds longest insects, measuring up to 56.7 centimetres in length in the case of Phobaeticus chani. The heaviest species of phasmid is likely to be Heteropteryx dilatata, some phasmids have cylindrical stick-like bodies, while others have flattened, leaflike shapes. Many species are wingless, or have reduced wings, the thorax is long in the winged species, since it houses the flight muscles, and is typically much shorter in the wingless forms. Where present, the first pair of wings is narrow and cornified, while the wings are broad, with straight veins along their length. The body is further modified to resemble vegetation, with ridges resembling leaf veins, bark-like tubercles. A few species, such as Carausius morosus, are able to change their pigmentation to match their surroundings. The mouthparts project out from the head, chewing mandibles are uniform across species. The legs are long and slender, and some species are capable of limb autotomy. Phasmids have long, slender antennae, as long as or longer than the rest of the body in some species, all phasmids possess compound eyes, but ocelli are only found in some winged males. Phasmids have a visual system that allows them to perceive significant detail even in dim conditions. They are born equipped with compound eyes with a limited number of facets
3.
Walking
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Walking is one of the main gaits of locomotion among legged animals, and is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined by an inverted pendulum gait in which the vaults over the stiff limb or limbs with each step. This applies regardless of the number of limbs - even arthropods, with six, eight or more limbs, the word walk is descended from the Old English wealcan to roll. In humans and other bipeds, walking is generally distinguished from running in only one foot at a time leaves contact with the ground. In contrast, running begins when both feet are off the ground with each step and this distinction has the status of a formal requirement in competitive walking events. The most effective method to walking from running is to measure the height of a persons centre of mass using motion capture or a force plate at midstance. During walking, the centre of mass reaches a height at midstance, while during running. This distinction, however, only true for locomotion over level or approximately level ground. For walking up grades above 9%, this no longer holds for some individuals. Running humans and animals may have contact periods greater than 50% of a cycle when rounding corners. Speed is another factor that distinguishes walking from running, champion racewalkers can average more than 14 kilometres per hour over a distance of 20 kilometres. An average human child achieves independent walking ability at around 11 months old, regular, brisk exercise of any kind can improve confidence, stamina, energy, weight control and life expectancy and reduce stress. It can also reduce the risk of heart disease, strokes, diabetes, high blood pressure, bowel cancer. Life expectancy is also increased even for individuals suffering from obesity or high blood pressure, Walking also improves bone health, especially strengthening the hip bone, and lowering the harmful low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and raising the useful high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Studies have found that walking may also help prevent dementia and Alzheimers, the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions fact sheet on the Relationship of Walking to Mortality Among U. S. Adults with Diabetes states that those with diabetes who walked for 2 or more hours a week lowered their mortality rate from all causes by 39 per cent. Walking lengthened the life of people with diabetes regardless of age, sex, race, body mass index, length of time since diagnosis, and presence of complications or functional limitations. It has been suggested there is a relationship between the speed of walking and health, and that the best results are obtained with a speed of more than 2.5 mph
4.
Weapon
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A weapon, arm, or armament is any device used with intent to inflict damage or harm to living beings, structures, or systems. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of such as hunting, crime, law enforcement, self-defense. In a broader context, weapons may be construed to include anything used to gain a strategic, something that has been re-purposed, converted, or enhanced to become a weapon of war is termed weaponized, such as a weaponized virus or weaponized lasers. The use of objects as weapons has been observed among chimpanzees, however, this can not be confirmed using physical evidence because wooden clubs, spears, and unshaped stones would not have left an unambiguous record. The earliest unambiguous weapons to be found are the Schöninger Speere, the first defensive structures and fortifications appeared in the Bronze Age, indicating an increased need for security. Weapons designed to breach fortifications followed soon after, for example the battering ram was in use by 2500 BC, although early Iron Age swords were not superior to their bronze predecessors, once iron-working developed, around 1300 BC in Greece Alex Webb, Metalworking in Ancient Greece. Domestication of the horse and widespread use of spoked wheels by ca.2000 BC, led to the light, the mobility provided by chariots were important during this era. Spoke-wheeled chariot usage peaked around 1300 BC and then declined, ceasing to be militarily relevant by the 4th century BC. Cavalry developed once horses were bred to support the weight of a man, the horse extended the range and increased the speed of attacks. Ships built as weapons or warships such as the trireme were in use by the 7th century BC and these ships were eventually replaced by larger ships by the 4th century BC. European warfare during the Post-classical history was dominated by groups of knights supported by massed infantry. They were involved in combat and sieges which involved various siege weapons. Knights on horseback developed tactics for charging with lances providing an impact on the enemy formations, whereas infantry, in the age before structured formations, relied on cheap, sturdy weapons such as spears and billhooks in close combat and bows from a distance. As armies became more professional, their equipment was standardized and infantry transitioned to pikes, pikes are normally seven to eight feet in length, in conjunction with smaller side-arms. In Eastern and Middle Eastern warfare, similar tactics were developed independent of European influences, the introduction of gunpowder from the Far East at the end of this period revolutionized warfare. Formations of musketeers, protected by pikemen came to dominate open battles, the European Renaissance marked the beginning of the implementation of firearms in western warfare. Guns and rockets were introduced to the battlefield, firearms are qualitatively different from earlier weapons because they release energy from combustible propellants such as gunpowder, rather than from a counter-weight or spring. This energy is released very rapidly and can be replicated without much effort by the user, therefore even early firearms such as the arquebus were much more powerful than human-powered weapons. During the U. S. Civil War various technologies including the gun and ironclad warship emerged that would be recognizable and useful military weapons today
5.
Knife
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A knife is a tool with a cutting edge or blade, hand-held or otherwise, with most having a handle. Some types of knives are used as utensils, including knives used at the dining table, many types of knives are used as tools, such as the utility knife carried by soldiers, the pocket knife carried by hikers and the hunting knife used by hunters. Knives are also used as a traditional or religious implement, such as the kirpan, some types of knives are used as weapons, such as daggers or switchblades. Some types of knives are used as sports equipment, Knives are also used in agriculture, food harvesting etc. the sickle, the scythe and even the combine harvester are knives. Knife-like tools were used at least two-and-a-half million years ago, as evidenced by the Oldowan tools. Originally made of rock, bone, flint, and obsidian, knives have evolved in construction as technology has, with blades being made from bronze, copper, iron, steel, ceramics, many cultures have their unique version of the knife. Due to its role as humankinds first tool, certain cultures have attached spiritual, most modern-day knives follow either a fixed-blade or a folding construction style, with blade patterns and styles as varied as their makers and countries of origin. The word knife possibly descends from an old Norse word knifr for blade, single-edged knives may have a reverse edge or false edge occupying a section of the spine. These edges are serrated and are used to further enhance function. The handle, used to grip and manipulate the blade safely, may include a tang, Knives are made with partial tangs or full tangs. The handle may include a bolster, a piece of heavy material situated at the front or rear of the handle, the bolster, as its name suggests, is used to mechanically strengthen the knife. Knife blades can be manufactured from a variety of materials, each of which has advantages and disadvantages, carbon steel, an alloy of iron and carbon, can be very sharp. It holds its edge well, and remains easy to sharpen, stainless steel is an alloy of iron, chromium, possibly nickel, and molybdenum, with only a small amount of carbon. It is not able to quite as sharp an edge as carbon steel. High carbon stainless steel is steel with a higher amount of carbon, intended to incorporate the better attributes of carbon steel. High carbon stainless steel blades do not discolor or stain, laminate blades use multiple metals to create a layered sandwich, combining the attributes of both. For example, a harder, more brittle steel may be sandwiched between a layer of softer, tougher, stainless steel to reduce vulnerability to corrosion. In this case, however, the part most affected by corrosion, pattern-welding is similar to laminate construction
6.
Sword
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A sword is a long bladed weapon intended for slashing or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the epoch or the geographical region under consideration. A sword consists of a blade attached to a hilt. The blade can be straight or curved, thrusting swords have a pointed tip on the blade, and tend to be straighter, slashing swords have sharpened cutting edge on one or both sides of the blade, and are more likely to be curved. Many swords are designed for thrusting and slashing. Historically, the sword developed in the Bronze Age, evolving from the dagger, the later Iron Age sword remained fairly short and without a crossguard. The word sword continues the Old English, sweord, the use of a sword is known as swordsmanship or as fencing. In the Early Modern period, western sword design diverged into two forms, the thrusting swords and the sabers. The thrusting swords such as the rapier and eventually the smallsword were designed to impale their targets quickly and their long and straight yet light and well balanced design made them highly maneuverable and deadly in a duel but fairly ineffective when used in a slashing or chopping motion. A well aimed lunge and thrust could end a fight in seconds with just the swords point, the saber and similar blades such as the cutlass were built more heavily and were more typically used in warfare. Built for slashing and chopping at multiple enemies, often from horseback, most sabers also had sharp points and double edged blades, making them capable of piercing soldier after soldier in a cavalry charge. Sabers continued to see use until the early 20th century. The US Navy kept tens of thousands of sturdy cutlasses in their armory well into World War II, non-European weapons called sword include single-edged weapons such as the Middle Eastern scimitar, the Chinese dao and the related Japanese katana. The Chinese jian is an example of a non-European double-edged sword, the first weapons that can be described as swords date to around 3300 BC. They have been found in Arslantepe, Turkey, are made from arsenical bronze, some of them are inlaid with silver. The sword developed from the dagger when the construction of longer blades became possible, from the late 3rd millennium BC in the Middle East, first in arsenic copper, then in tin-bronze. Blades longer than 60 cm were rare and not practical until the late Bronze Age because the strength of bronze is relatively low. These are the type A swords of the Aegean Bronze Age, one of the most important, and longest-lasting, types swords of the European Bronze Age was the Naue II type, also known as Griffzungenschwert
7.
Trekking pole
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Trekking poles are a common hiking accessory used to assist walkers with their rhythm and provide stability on rough terrain. When in use, trekking poles resemble ski poles as they have features in common, such as baskets at the bottom, rubber-padded handles. When fully retracted it may be possible to them to a backpack. Some poles come with spring-loaded sections to aid walking under normal conditions and to reduce wrist strain and they are usually made from lightweight aluminum or carbon fiber. Descendants of the walking stick, trekking poles are usually used by hikers for the same reasons — to provide some rhythm to their walking pace. On flat, smooth terrain they really arent necessary although using them can increase the exercise a hiker gets from the trip, but on less certain terrain, or steep slopes, they provide useful lateral stability, and many turn to them for help with knee pain. They can also be used as aids when climbing rocks or boulders, to probe the depth of mud or water and facilitate a crossing. When traversing steep slopes for long distances, some hikers make one pole shorter than the other to make those trips feel more as if they were taking place on level ground, some backpacking tents are designed to use trekking poles as tent poles. Along the same lines, trekking poles can be used to set up a Bivouac shelter, hikers who take to snowshoes in winter find trekking poles especially useful. They can also be used in Nordic walking in a rural or urban environment, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy estimates that pole usage rates on the Appalachian Trail vary from 90% among thru-hikers to 10–15% among day hikers. Some hikers have complained that pole use can leave an impact on the surrounding trail, for instance poking visible holes in the ground. In particular the most common complaint is that the carbide tips leave visible white scratches on rock, all these can detract from the wilderness experience. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy recommends several measures to mitigate the impact of trekking poles in accordance with Leave No Trace principles of low-impact backcountry recreation. Hikers, it says, should not only be aware of what they put their poles into, they should remove the pole baskets unless hiking in snow and use rubber tips to avoid scratch marks on rocks. On level sections, or in areas where the potential for adverse impact is high, Hiking equipment Hiking Nordic walking Walking stick
8.
Hiking
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Hiking is the preferred term, in Canada and the United States, for a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails, in the countryside, while the word walking is used for shorter, particularly urban walks. On the other hand, in the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland, the word hiking is also often used in the UK, along with rambling, hillwalking, and fell walking. The term bushwalking is endemic to Australia, having been adopted by the Sydney Bush Walkers club in 1927, in New Zealand a long, vigorous walk or hike is called tramping. It is an activity with numerous hiking organizations worldwide. In the United States, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, a day hike refers to a hike that can be completed in a single day. However, in the United Kingdom, the walking is also used, as well as rambling. In Northern England, Including the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales, fellwalking describes hill or mountain walks, hiking sometimes involves bushwhacking and is sometimes referred to as such. This specifically refers to walking through dense forest, undergrowth, or bushes. In extreme cases of bushwhacking, where the vegetation is so dense that human passage is impeded, the Australian term bushwalking refers to both on and off-trail hiking. Common terms for hiking used by New Zealanders are tramping, walking or bushwalking, trekking is the preferred word used to describe multi-day hiking in the mountainous regions of India, Pakistan, Nepal, North America, South America, Iran and in the highlands of East Africa. Hiking a long-distance trail from end-to-end is also referred to as trekking, in North America, multi-day hikes, usually with camping, are referred to as backpacking. The idea of taking a walk in the countryside for pleasure developed in the 18th-century, in earlier times walking generally indicated poverty and was also associated with vagrancy. Thomas West, an English priest, popularized the idea of walking for pleasure in his guide to the Lake District of 1778. To this end he included various stations or viewpoints around the lakes, published in 1778 the book was a major success. Another famous early exponent of walking for pleasure, was the English poet William Wordsworth, in 1790 he embarked on an extended tour of France, Switzerland, and Germany, a journey subsequently recorded in his long autobiographical poem The Prelude. His famous poem Tintern Abbey was inspired by a visit to the Wye Valley made during a tour of Wales in 1798 with his sister Dorothy Wordsworth. Wordsworths friend Coleridge was another keen walker and in the autumn of 1799, he and Wordsworth undertook a three weeks tour of the Lake District. John Keats, who belonged to the generation of Romantic poets began, in June 1818, a walking tour of Scotland, Ireland
9.
Spider web
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A spider web, spiderweb, spiders web, or cobweb is a device created by a spider out of proteinaceous spider silk extruded from its spinnerets, generally meant to catch its prey. Spider webs have existed for at least 100 million years, as witnessed in a find of Early Cretaceous amber from Sussex. Insects can get trapped in spider webs, providing nutrition to the spider, however, not all spiders build webs to catch prey, spider web is typically used to refer to a web that is apparently still in use, whereas cobweb refers to abandoned webs. However, cobweb is used to describe the tangled web of some spiders of the theridiidae family. While this large family is known as the tangle-web spiders, cobweb spiders and comb-footed spiders. When spiders moved from the water to the land in the Early Devonian period, they started making silk to protect their bodies and their eggs. Spiders gradually started using silk for hunting purposes, first as guide lines and signal lines, then as ground or bush webs, spiders produce silk from their spinneret glands located at the tip of their abdomen. Each gland produces a thread for a special purpose – for example a trailed safety line, spiders use different gland types to produce different silks, and some spiders are capable of producing up to 8 different silks during their lifetime. Most spiders have three pairs of spinnerets, each having its own function – there are also spiders with just one pair, webs allow a spider to catch prey without having to expend energy by running it down. Thus it is an efficient method of gathering food, however, constructing the web is in itself an energetically costly process because of the large amount of protein required, in the form of silk. In addition, after a time the silk will lose its stickiness and it is common for spiders to eat their own web daily to recoup some of the energy used in spinning. The silk proteins are thus recycled, the tensile strength of spider silk is greater than the same weight of steel and has much greater elasticity. Its microstructure is under investigation for applications in industry, including bullet-proof vests. Researchers have used genetically modified mammals to produce the proteins needed to make this material, there are a few types of spider webs found in the wild, and many spiders are classified by the webs they weave. Webs may be in a plane, a horizontal plane. It is hypothesized that these types of aerial webs co-evolved with the evolution of winged insects, as insects are spiders main prey, it is likely that they would impose strong selectional forces on the foraging behavior of spiders. Most commonly found in the sheet-web spider families, some webs will have loose and these tangled obstacle courses serve to disorient and knock down flying insects, making them more vulnerable to being trapped on the web below. They may also help to protect the spider from predators such as birds, during the process of making an orb web, the spider will use its own body for measurements
10.
Poaceae
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Poaceae or Gramineae is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants known as grasses. Poaceae includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and cultivated lawns, Grasses have stems that are hollow except at the nodes and narrow alternate leaves borne in two ranks. The lower part of each leaf encloses the stem, forming a leaf-sheath, with ca 780 genera and around 12,000 species, Poaceae are the fifth-largest plant family, following the Asteraceae, Orchidaceae, Fabaceae and Rubiaceae. Grasslands such as savannah and prairie grasses are dominant are estimated to constitute 40. 5% of the land area of the Earth, excluding Greenland. Grasses are also an important part of the vegetation in many habitats, including wetlands, forests. Though commonly called grasses, seagrasses, rushes, and sedges fall outside this family, the rushes and sedges are related to the Poaceae, being members of the order Poales, but the seagrasses are members of order Alismatales. The name Poaceae was given by John Hendley Barnhart in 1895, based on the tribe Poeae described in 1814 by Robert Brown, the term is derived from the Ancient Greek πόα. Grasses include some of the most versatile plant life-forms, a cladogram shows subfamilies and approximate species numbers in brackets, Before 2005, fossil findings indicated that grasses evolved around 55 million years ago. Recent findings of grass-like phytoliths in Cretaceous dinosaur coprolites have pushed this back to 66 million years ago. In 2011, revised dating of the origins of the rice tribe Oryzeae suggested a date as early as 107 to 129 Mya, a multituberculate mammal with grass-eating adaptations seems to suggest that grasses were already around at 120 mya. This separation occurred within the short time span of about 4 million years. Grass leaves are always alternate and distichous, and have parallel veins. Each leaf is differentiated into a lower sheath hugging the stem, the leaf blades of many grasses are hardened with silica phytoliths, which discourage grazing animals, some, such as sword grass, are sharp enough to cut human skin. A membranous appendage or fringe of hairs called the ligule lies at the junction between sheath and blade, preventing water or insects from penetrating into the sheath, flowers of Poaceae are characteristically arranged in spikelets, each having one or more florets. The spikelets are further grouped into panicles or spikes, the part of the spikelet that bears the florets is called the rachilla. A spikelet consists of two bracts at the base, called glumes, followed by one or more florets, a floret consists of the flower surrounded by two bracts, one external—the lemma—and one internal—the palea. The flowers are usually hermaphroditic—maize being an important exception—and anemophilous or wind-pollinated, the perianth is reduced to two scales, called lodicules, that expand and contract to spread the lemma and palea, these are generally interpreted to be modified sepals. This complex structure can be seen in the image on the right, the fruit of grasses is a caryopsis, in which the seed coat is fused to the fruit wall
11.
Puddle
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A puddle is a small accumulation of liquid, usually water, on a surface. It can form either by pooling in a depression on the surface, a puddle is generally shallow enough to walk through, and too small to support a boat or raft. Puddles can be a source of fascination for children, small wildlife may be attracted to puddles. Puddles in natural landscapes and habitats, when not resulting from precipitation and they can provide essential moisture for small wildlife, such as birds and insects. Many butterfly species need puddles for mud-puddling to obtain nutrients such as salts, swallows use the damp loam which gathers in puddles as a form of cement to help to build their nests. The reduction in the number of puddles in the due to intensive farming, urban sprawl. Small seasonal riparian plants, grasses, and wildflowers germinate with the head start of moisture. Wildlife can use puddles as a source, for bathing, or in the case of some smaller forms such as tadpoles or mosquito larvae. Raised constructed puddles, bird baths, are a part of domestic and wildlife gardens as a garden ornament and micro-habitat restoration. In a behaviour known as puddling, butterflies and some other insects, puddles commonly form during rain, and can cause problems for transport. Due to the angle of the road, puddles tend to be forced by gravity to gather on the edges of the road and this can cause splashing as cars drive through the puddles, which causes water to be sprayed onto pedestrians on the pavement. Irresponsible drivers may do this deliberately, which, in some countries, puddles commonly form in potholes in a dirt road, or in any other space with a shallow depression and dirt. In such cases, these are referred to as mud puddles, because mud tends to form in the bottoms. In addition, some surfaces are made to be porous, allowing the water to drain through the surface to the aquifer below, due to the action of surface tension, small puddles can also form if a liquid is spilt on a level surface. Puddles like this are common on kitchen floors, puddles tend to evaporate quickly due to the high surface-area-to-volume ratio and tend to be short lived. In cold conditions puddles can form patches of ice which are slippery and difficult to see and can be a hazard to road vehicles, puddles are a source of recreation for children, who often like jumping in puddles as an up-side to rain. A childrens nursery rhyme records the story of Doctor Foster and his encounter with a puddle in Gloucester, muddy puddles, and the pleasures of splashing mud in them, are a repeated theme in the childrens animation Peppa Pig, to the extent of selling character-branded wellington boots. It has been fashionable for millennia, and continues to be fashionable in some circles, some critics of this view reject it as hubris or anthropocentrism and argue instead that through the process of evolution it is humans that have adapted to or been shaped by the Universe
