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Environmental Effects On Fish Escape Responses: Impact Of Flow On The Escape Performance Of The Hawaiian Stream Goby, Sicyopterus Stimpsoni, Kelly Diamond
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The ability of fish to escape from predators is a critical behavior for their survival. Experimental measurements of escape performance in fishes have typically been based on trials conducted in still water; however, such environmental conditions are rare in nature due to waves and currents that expose fishes to unsteady and/or directional flow. I examined the effects of water flow and predator attack direction on the escape behavior of fish, using juveniles of the amphidromous Hawaiian goby Sicyopterus stimpsoni as a model system. In nature, these fish must escape ambush predation by the Hawaiian sleeper, Eleotris sandwicensis, while exposed …
Biomechanical Characterization And Modeling Of Human Tmj Disc, Gregory Wright
Biomechanical Characterization And Modeling Of Human Tmj Disc, Gregory Wright
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Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder affects over 10 million people in the US each year. The signs and symptoms of temporomandibular joint disorders (TMDs) include limited mouth opening, clicking and locking of the jaw, and significant pain in the craniofacial region. In patients who seek treatment for TMDs, over 70% have TMJ disc displacement related to disc degeneration. The TMJ disc is interposed between the mandible condyle and the glenoid fossa of the temporal bone. The disc reduces contact stresses within the joint and provides lubrication to the joint. It is generally believed that pathological mechanical loadings, such as sustained jaw …
Evaluation Of The Functional Capabilities Of Fins And Limbs For Moving On Land: Insights Into The Invasion Of Land By Tetrapods, Sandy Kawano
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Transitions to novel habitats present different adaptive challenges, producing captivating examples of how functional innovations of the musculoskeletal system influence phenotypic divergence and adaptive radiations. One intriguing example is the transition from aquatic fishes to tetrapods. Recent technological advances and discoveries of critical fossils have catapulted our understanding on how fishes gave rise to terrestrial vertebrates. Considerable attention has been paid to legged locomotion on land, but given that the first tetrapods were aquatic, limbs did not evolve primarily for terrestriality. How, then, is the locomotor function of limbs different from fins? Extant amphibious fishes demonstrate that fins can be …
Integrating Biomechanics And Cell Physiology To Understanding Ivd Nutrition And Cell Homeostasis, Yongren Wu
Integrating Biomechanics And Cell Physiology To Understanding Ivd Nutrition And Cell Homeostasis, Yongren Wu
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Back pain associated with degeneration of the intervertebral disc (IVD) is a major public health problem in Western industrialized societies. Degeneration of the IVD changes the osmotic and nutrient environment in the extracellular matrix (ECM) which affects cell behaviors, including: cell proliferation, cell energy metabolism, and matrix synthesis. In addition, a thin layer of hyaline cartilaginous end-plate (CEP) at the superior/inferior disc-vertebral interface was found to play an important role in nutrient supply as well as load distribution in the IVD. Therefore, our general hypothesis is that the CEP regulates the ECM osmotic and nutrient environment which further affects IVD …
Biomechanical Testing Of Salter-Harris Fractures Type I And Ii In The Distal Femur And Proximal Tibia, Margeaux Rogers
Biomechanical Testing Of Salter-Harris Fractures Type I And Ii In The Distal Femur And Proximal Tibia, Margeaux Rogers
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Salter-Harris fractures of the proximal tibia and distal femur are common in pediatric patients that present to orthopedic surgeons. Salter-Harris type I fractures are characterized by breaks that extend only through the physis while Salter-Harris II fractures are the most common, accounting for 85% of Salter-Harris fractures, and extend past the growth plate, exiting through the metaphyseal bone1. Fixation of these fracture types can be accomplished using a variety of methods including the use of Kirschner wires, cannulated screws, and a combination of both materials. Stability of fracture fixation is of utmost importance as persistent motion at the fracture margin …
Performance And Scaling Of A Novel Locomotor Structure: Adhesive Capacity Of Climbing Gobiid Fishes, Richard W. Blob, Takashi Maie, Heiko L. Schoenfuss
Performance And Scaling Of A Novel Locomotor Structure: Adhesive Capacity Of Climbing Gobiid Fishes, Richard W. Blob, Takashi Maie, Heiko L. Schoenfuss
Publications
Many species of gobiid fishes adhere to surfaces using a sucker formed from fusion of the pelvic fins. Juveniles of many amphidromous species use this pelvic sucker to scale waterfalls during migrations to upstream habitats after an oceanic larval phase. However, adults may still use suckers to re-scale waterfalls if displaced. If attachment force is proportional to sucker area and if growth of the sucker is isometric, then increases in the forces that climbing fish must resist might outpace adhesive capacity, causing climbing performance to decline through ontogeny. To test for such trends, we measured pressure differentials and adhesive suction …
Femoral Loading Mechanics In Virginia Opossums (Didelphis Virginiana): Torsion And Mediolateral Bending In Mammalian Parasagittal Locomotion, William Gosnell
Femoral Loading Mechanics In Virginia Opossums (Didelphis Virginiana): Torsion And Mediolateral Bending In Mammalian Parasagittal Locomotion, William Gosnell
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Studies of limb bone loading in terrestrial mammals have typically found anteroposterior bending to be the primary loading regime, with torsion contributing minimally. However, previous studies have focused on large, cursorial eutherian species in which the limbs are held essentially upright. Recent in vivo strain data from the Virginia opossum Didelphis virginiana, a marsupial that uses a crouched rather than upright limb posture, have indicated that its femur experiences moderate torsion during locomotion as well as strong mediolateral bending. The elevated femoral torsion and strong mediolateral bending observed in opossums (compared to other mammals) might result from external forces such …
Hydrodynamics Of Freshwater Turtles: Maneuverability, Stability, And Effects Of Shell Shape, Gabriel Rivera
Hydrodynamics Of Freshwater Turtles: Maneuverability, Stability, And Effects Of Shell Shape, Gabriel Rivera
All Dissertations
Aquatic organisms exhibit tremendous diversity in body design and modes of propulsion that can strongly influence locomotor performance. Understanding how such differences affect locomotor performance is a major focus of research in integrative organismal biology and can provide insight into the evolutionary origins of such variation. Turtles are unique among extant tetrapods (i.e., amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals) in that they possess rigid bodies. In turtles, the vertebrae are fused dorsally with a bony carapace, precluding movement of the axial skeleton between the base of the neck and the tail. As a result of their immobilized axial skeleton and reduced …