Professor Robert Mcneill Alexander, CBE, FRS. Publications
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Biomechanics of Terrestrial Locomotion: Asymmetric Octopedal and Quadrupedal Gaits
SCUOLA DI DOTTORATO IN SCIENZE MORFOLOGICHE, FISIOLOGICHE E DELLO SPORT DIPARTIMENTO DI FISIOLOGIA UMANA DOTTORATO DI RICERCA IN FISIOLOGIA CICLO XXIV Biomechanics of terrestrial locomotion: asymmetric octopedal and quadrupedal gaits SETTORE SCIENTIFICO DISCIPLINARE BIO-09 PhD Student: Dott. Carlo M. Biancardi Matricola: R08161 Tutor: Prof. Alberto E. Minetti Coordinatore: Prof. Paolo Cavallari Anno Accademico 2010-2011 Table of Contents Abstract...................................................................................................... 5 Introduction ...............................................................................................8 Foreword.................................................................................................................. 8 Objectives .................................................................................................................8 Thesis structure........................................................................................................ 8 Terrestrial legged locomotion ..................................................................9 Introduction .............................................................................................................9 Energetics and mechanics of terrestrial legged locomotion ................................10 Limbs mechanics ..........................................................................................................10 Size differences .............................................................................................................14 -
Professor Robert Mcneill Alexander CBE FRS (1934–2016) Robert F
© 2016. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd | Journal of Experimental Biology (2016) 219, 1939-1940 doi:10.1242/jeb.143560 OBITUARY Professor Robert McNeill Alexander CBE FRS (1934–2016) Robert F. Ker* Robert McNeill Alexander, known to friends and colleagues as ‘Neill’, was a zoologist with an engineer’s eye for how animals work. He used mathematical models to show how evolution has produced optimal designs. His skill was to choose appropriate models: realistic enough to contain the essence of a problem and yet simple enough to be tractable. He wrote fluently and easily: 23 books, 280 papers and a CD-ROM entitled How Animals Move. Neill was born in Northern Ireland on 7 July 1934. At his first school, in Lisburn, his closest friend was Michael Bennington, with whom he shared an enthusiasm for bird-watching. Michael’s father, Arnold Bennington, taught biology at the school and was a BBC radio naturalist for Northern Ireland. Arnold included Neill in the Northern Ireland team for inter-regional nature quizzes on BBC Children’s Hour. Neill’s parents decided to send him to secondary school in England. He gained a scholarship to Tonbridge School, where his uncle, James McNeill, was a housemaster. In 1948, during the Easter holidays, a pair of robins built a nest in a cardboard box in his bedroom – the window was always sufficiently open. He sent his observations to David Lack, author of Life of the Robin, who encouraged him to submit them for publication in British Birds. The paper came out in 1951 while he Once the pattern of his teaching was established, Neill was able to was still at school. -
Biomecanique De La Locomotion Humaine Et De La Performance Apprehendee Par Des Modeles, Methodes Et Outils Innovants
Ecole Doctorale « Sciences, Ingénierie, Santé » (ED-SIS 488) Section CNU 74 – Sciences et Techniques des Activités Physiques et Sportives Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches BIOMECANIQUE DE LA LOCOMOTION HUMAINE ET DE LA PERFORMANCE APPREHENDEE PAR DES MODELES, METHODES ET OUTILS INNOVANTS TOME I : Synthèse des travaux Présentée le 17 novembre 2011 Jean-Benoît Morin Maître de Conférences Laboratoire de Physiologie de l’Exercice – EA 4338 Jury : - Eric Berton (Professeur, Université de la Méditerranée) Rapporteur - Alain Belli (Professeur, Université de Saint-Etienne) Directeur - Georges Dalleau (Professeur, Université de la Réunion) Rapporteur - Pietro Enrico diPrampero (Professeur, Université d’Udine, Italie) - Guillaume Millet (Professeur, Université de Saint-Etienne) Rapporteur - Caroline Nicol (MCU-HDR, Université de la Méditerranée) - Abderrahmane Rahmani (MCU-HDR, Université du Mans) Année 2011 REMERCIEMENTS Cette Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches, ainsi que les travaux réalisés en vue de son obtention et avant cela dans le cadre de mon Doctorat, ont été dirigés par le Pr. Alain Belli. Dans ses rôles de directeur de recherche et de directeur de notre Equipe d’Accueil « Laboratoire de Physiologie de l’Exercice », je le remercie pour les impulsions scientifiques et le goût de l’approche « simple » et innovante de l’étude du mouvement qu’il a su apporter et suivre avec bienveillance. Merci Alain. Ces travaux ont été également réalisés en partie au sein du service de Médecine du Sport et Myologie du CHU de Saint-Etienne, dont je remercie les responsables successifs, et particulièrement les Prs. André Geyssant, Christian Denis, et le Dr Roger Oullion. L’environnement de travail stéphanois mêlant « H » et « U » a beaucoup compté dans nos productions, et je souhaite fort qu’il perdure. -
R. Mcneill Alexander (1934–2016) Zoologist Who Pioneered Comparative Animal Biomechanics
COMMENT OBITUARY R. McNeill Alexander (1934–2016) Zoologist who pioneered comparative animal biomechanics. obert McNeill Alexander defined dinosaurs’ (Nature 261, 129–130; 1976). many fundamental properties of how Alexander’s work fuelled the emerging animals move. He combined elegant field of biorobotics. He participated in a Rmechanical and mathematical analyses to European effort to build a robot dinosaur, reduce problems in flight, swimming, walk- advising on the probable gait and a simpli- ing, running and anatomy to their simplest fied arrangement of joints for the creature. level. He explained the importance of iner- His findings also contributed to improved tial forces versus gravitational ones in deter- gait rehabilitation and prosthetic devices for mining which gaits land animals use to move people. His coffee-table book Bones (Prentice at different speeds, and he predicted the pace Hall, 1994) reveals the beauty inherent in at which dinosaurs probably moved. the biomechanics of animals. His 1995 edu- His work showed why animals of different cational CD How Animals Move was widely sizes move in similar ways, as well as the used in schools and universities; it remains JOHN ARNISON/NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, LONDON PORTRAIT GALLERY, JOHN ARNISON/NATIONAL importance of the elastic energy stored in ten- the best teaching aid of its kind. dons in reducing the metabolic cost of jump- Neill was devoted to comparative biome- ing and running. Alexander wrote 20 books, chanics and its wider appreciation. He served including his classic text Animal Mechanics as secretary to the Zoological Society of Lon- (Sidgwick and Jackson, 1968). He published don from 1992 to 1999 (after the reversed more than 280 scientific papers. -
Applying an Ecomorphological Framework to the Study of Orangutan
APPLYING AN ECOMORPHOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK TO THE STUDY OF ORANGUTAN POSITIONAL BEHAVIOUR AND THE MORPHOLOGICAL VARIATION WITHIN NON-HUMAN APES. Julia Patricia Myatt A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham For the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY School of Biosciences College of Life and Environmental Sciences The University of Birmingham January 2011 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT Establishing relationships between morphology and behaviour in response to environmental selection pressures are crucial to understand the evolution of diversity within groups such as the hominoids. Muscle architecture (fascicle length and physiological cross-sectional area) from the fore and hindlimbs in the non-human apes were compared, with the result that it did not differ substantially, likely reflecting their characteristic use of orthograde behaviours. At the micro- architecture level, significant differences in the proportions of fast and slow muscle fibres of the triceps surae were found between orangutans and chimpanzees, reflecting subtle differences in locomotion and habitat use. As the largest, predominantly arboreal ape, orangutans were expected to have specific behavioural adaptations to the complex arboreal habitat. -
Encyclopedia of Extinct Animals.Pdf
EXTINCT ANIMALS This page intentionally left blank EXTINCT ANIMALS An Encyclopedia of Species That Have Disappeared during Human History Ross Piper Illustrations by Renata Cunha and Phil Miller GREENWOOD PRESS Westport, Connecticut • London Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Piper, Ross. Extinct animals : an encyclopedia of species that have disappeared during human history / Ross Piper ; illustrations by Renata Cunha and Phil Miller. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978–0–313–34987–4 (alk. paper) 1. Extinct animals—Encyclopedias. I. Title. QL83.P57 2009 591.6803—dc22 2008050409 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available. Copyright © 2009 by Ross Piper All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, by any process or technique, without the express written consent of the publisher. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2008050409 ISBN: 978–0–313–34987–4 First published in 2009 Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881 An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. www.greenwood.com Printed in the United States of America Th e paper used in this book complies with the Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984). 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 We live in a zoologically impoverished world, from which all the hugest, and fi ercest, and strangest forms have recently disappeared. —Alfred Russel Wallace (1876) This page intentionally left blank To my Mum, Gloria This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS Preface -
Macrauchenia Patachonica Owen (Mammalia; Litopterna)
AMEGHINIANA (Rev. Asoc. Paleontol. Argent.) - 42 (4): 751-760. Buenos Aires, 30-12-2005 ISSN 0002-7014 Swerving as the escape strategy of Macrauchenia patachonica Owen (Mammalia; Litopterna) Richard A. FARIÑA1, R. Ernesto BLANCO2 and Per CHRISTIANSEN3 Abstract. The Lujanian megamammals (late Pleistocene of South America) show many palaeoautecologi- cal peculiarities. The present paper studies one of them, the locomotor habits of Macrauchenia patachonica Owen, through those morphological features related with its possible antipredation strategy. To avoid predation (especially by the sabre-tooth Smilodon Lund), this large litoptern seems to have been particu- larly adapted to swerving behaviour. This is suggested by the fact that its limb bones have indicators of higher transverse than anteroposterior strength (significantly so in the case of the femur), a feature which is also observed in modern swervers, and not so clearly in other fast running herbivores that do not use swerving so much. Resumen. EL ESQUIVE COMO LA ESTRATEGIA DE ESCAPE DE MACRAUCHENIA PATACHONICA OWEN (MAMMALIA; LITOPTERNA). La megafauna lujanense (Pleistoceno tardío de Sudamérica) muestra muchas peculiaridades paleoautecológicas. El presente trabajo estudia una de ellas, los hábitos locomotores de Macrauchenia pa- tachonica, a través de aquellas características morfológicas relacionadas con su posible estrategia contra los depredadores. Para evitar la depredación (especialmente por el félido de dientes de sable Smilodon Lund), este gran litopterno parece haber estado particularmente adaptado para el comportamiento de esquive, como lo sugiere el hecho de que sus huesos largos de las extremidades son más fuertes en el sentido trans- verso que en el anteroposterior (y muy significativamente en el caso del fémur). -
Morphological Variation and Ichnotaxonomy of Dinosaur Tracks: Linking Footprint Shapes to Substrate And
ADVERTIMENT. Lʼaccés als continguts dʼaquesta tesi queda condicionat a lʼacceptació de les condicions dʼús establertes per la següent llicència Creative Commons: http://cat.creativecommons.org/?page_id=184 ADVERTENCIA. El acceso a los contenidos de esta tesis queda condicionado a la aceptación de las condiciones de uso establecidas por la siguiente licencia Creative Commons: http://es.creativecommons.org/blog/licencias/ WARNING. The access to the contents of this doctoral thesis it is limited to the acceptance of the use conditions set by the following Creative Commons license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/?lang=en Morphological variation and ichnotaxonomy of dinosaur tracks: linking footprint shapes to substrate and trackmaker's anatomy and locomotion Novella Razzolini PhD Thesis Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Facultat de Ciències Departament de Geologia 2016 Front cover illustration by Dr. Oriol Oms: reconstruction of Megalosaurids crossing tidal flats Morphological variation and ichnotaxonomy of dinosaur tracks: linking footprint shapes to substrate and trackmaker's anatomy and locomotion Memoir presented by Novella Razzolini in order to apply for the degree of Doctor in Geology by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Departament de Geologia, complemented under the tutelage of Dr. Oriol Oms and the supervision of: - Dr. Àngel Galobart Lorente, Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont - Dr. Bernat Vila i Ginestí, Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont Dr. Àngel Galobart Lorente Dr. Bernat Vila i Ginestí Novella Razzolini WORK FUNDED BY: - FPI grant BES-2012-051847 associated to the project CGL2011-30069-C02-01 (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain) - Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (Spain) who funded abroad interniships at: - EEBB-I-14-09084: Royal Veterinary College of London (UK) - EEBB-I-15-09494: Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência (Portugal) - EEBB-I-16-11441: Naturhistorisches Museum (Basel, Switzerland) - Research developed in CERCA program.