scholarly journals Inertial Tail Effects during Righting of Squirrels in unexpected Falls: From Behavior to Robotics

Author(s):  
Toshihiko Fukushima ◽  
Robert Siddall ◽  
Fabian Schwab ◽  
Séverine Toussaint ◽  
Greg Byrnes ◽  
...  

Abstract Arboreal mammals navigate a highly three dimensional and discontinuous habitat. Among arboreal mammals, squirrels demonstrate impressive agility. In a recent ‘viral’ YouTube video, unsuspecting squirrels were mechanically catapulted off of a track, inducing an initially uncontrolled rotation of the body. Interestingly, they skillfully stabilized themselves using tail motion, which ultimately allowed the squirrels to land successfully. Here we analyze the mechanism by which the squirrels recover from large body angular rates. We analyzed from the video that squirrels first use their tail to help stabilizing their head to visually fix a landing site. Then the tail starts to rotate to help stabilizing the body, preparing themselves for landing. To analyze further the mechanism of this tail use during mid-air, we built a multibody squirrel model and showed the righting strategy based on body inertia moment changes and active angular momentum transfer between axes. To validate the hypothesized strategy, we made a squirrel-like robot and demonstrated a fall-stabilizing experiment. Our results demonstrate squirrel’s long tail, despite comprising just 3% of body mass, can inertially stabilize a rapidly rotating body. This research contributes to better understanding the importance of long tails for righting mechanisms in animals living in complex environments such as trees.

Author(s):  
O. Faroon ◽  
F. Al-Bagdadi ◽  
T. G. Snider ◽  
C. Titkemeyer

The lymphatic system is very important in the immunological activities of the body. Clinicians confirm the diagnosis of infectious diseases by palpating the involved cutaneous lymph node for changes in size, heat, and consistency. Clinical pathologists diagnose systemic diseases through biopsies of superficial lymph nodes. In many parts of the world the goat is considered as an important source of milk and meat products.The lymphatic system has been studied extensively. These studies lack precise information on the natural morphology of the lymph nodes and their vascular and cellular constituent. This is due to using improper technique for such studies. A few studies used the SEM, conducted by cutting the lymph node with a blade. The morphological data collected by this method are artificial and do not reflect the normal three dimensional surface of the examined area of the lymph node. SEM has been used to study the lymph vessels and lymph nodes of different animals. No information on the cutaneous lymph nodes of the goat has ever been collected using the scanning electron microscope.


Author(s):  
J. J. Laidler

The presence of three-dimensional voids in quenched metals has long been suspected, and voids have indeed been observed directly in a number of metals. These include aluminum, platinum, and copper, silver and gold. Attempts at the production of observable quenched-in defects in nickel have been generally unsuccessful, so the present work was initiated in order to establish the conditions under which such defects may be formed.Electron beam zone-melted polycrystalline nickel foils, 99.997% pure, were quenched from 1420°C in an evacuated chamber into a bath containing a silicone diffusion pump fluid . The pressure in the chamber at the quenching temperature was less than 10-5 Torr . With an oil quench such as this, the cooling rate is approximately 5,000°C/second above 400°C; below 400°C, the cooling curve has a long tail. Therefore, the quenched specimens are aged in place for several seconds at a temperature which continuously approaches the ambient temperature of the system.


Author(s):  
Johan Roenby ◽  
Hassan Aref

The model of body–vortex interactions, where the fluid flow is planar, ideal and unbounded, and the vortex is a point vortex, is studied. The body may have a constant circulation around it. The governing equations for the general case of a freely moving body of arbitrary shape and mass density and an arbitrary number of point vortices are presented. The case of a body and a single vortex is then investigated numerically in detail. In this paper, the body is a homogeneous, elliptical cylinder. For large body–vortex separations, the system behaves much like a vortex pair regardless of body shape. The case of a circle is integrable. As the body is made slightly elliptic, a chaotic region grows from an unstable relative equilibrium of the circle-vortex case. The case of a cylindrical body of any shape moving in fluid otherwise at rest is also integrable. A second transition to chaos arises from the limit between rocking and tumbling motion of the body known in this case. In both instances, the chaos may be detected both in the body motion and in the vortex motion. The effect of increasing body mass at a fixed body shape is to damp the chaos.


Author(s):  
So Young Joo ◽  
Seung Yeol Lee ◽  
Yoon Soo Cho ◽  
Sangho Yi ◽  
Cheong Hoon Seo

Abstract Hands are the part of the body that are most commonly involved in burns, and the main complications are finger joint contractures and nerve injuries. Hypertrophic scarring cannot be avoided despite early management of acute hand burn injuries, and some patients may need application of an exoskeleton robot to restore hand function. To do this, it is essential to individualize the customization of the robot for each patient. Three-dimensional (3D) technology, which is widely used in the field of implants, anatomical models, and tissue fabrication, makes this goal achievable. Therefore, this report is a study on the usefulness of an exoskeleton robot using 3D technology for patients who lost bilateral hand function due to burn injury. Our subject was a 45-year-old man with upper limb dysfunction of 560 days after a flame and chemical burn injury, with resultant impairment of manual physical abilities. After wearing an exoskeleton robot made using 3D printing technology, he could handle objects effectively and satisfactorily. This innovative approach provided considerable advantages in terms of customization of size and reduction in manufacturing time and costs, thereby showing great potential for use in patients with hand dysfunction after burn injury.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (10) ◽  
pp. 3493
Author(s):  
Gahyeon Lim ◽  
Nakju Doh

Remarkable progress in the development of modeling methods for indoor spaces has been made in recent years with a focus on the reconstruction of complex environments, such as multi-room and multi-level buildings. Existing methods represent indoor structure models as a combination of several sub-spaces, which are constructed by room segmentation or horizontal slicing approach that divide the multi-room or multi-level building environments into several segments. In this study, we propose an automatic reconstruction method of multi-level indoor spaces with unique models, including inter-room and inter-floor connections from point cloud and trajectory. We construct structural points from registered point cloud and extract piece-wise planar segments from the structural points. Then, a three-dimensional space decomposition is conducted and water-tight meshes are generated with energy minimization using graph cut algorithm. The data term of the energy function is expressed as a difference in visibility between each decomposed space and trajectory. The proposed method allows modeling of indoor spaces in complex environments, such as multi-room, room-less, and multi-level buildings. The performance of the proposed approach is evaluated for seven indoor space datasets.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 540-555
Author(s):  
Hayley L. Mickleburgh ◽  
Liv Nilsson Stutz ◽  
Harry Fokkens

Abstract The reconstruction of past mortuary rituals and practices increasingly incorporates analysis of the taphonomic history of the grave and buried body, using the framework provided by archaeothanatology. Archaeothanatological analysis relies on interpretation of the three-dimensional (3D) relationship of bones within the grave and traditionally depends on elaborate written descriptions and two-dimensional (2D) images of the remains during excavation to capture this spatial information. With the rapid development of inexpensive 3D tools, digital replicas (3D models) are now commonly available to preserve 3D information on human burials during excavation. A procedure developed using a test case to enhance archaeothanatological analysis and improve post-excavation analysis of human burials is described. Beyond preservation of static spatial information, 3D visualization techniques can be used in archaeothanatology to reconstruct the spatial displacement of bones over time, from deposition of the body to excavation of the skeletonized remains. The purpose of the procedure is to produce 3D simulations to visualize and test archaeothanatological hypotheses, thereby augmenting traditional archaeothanatological analysis. We illustrate our approach with the reconstruction of mortuary practices and burial taphonomy of a Bell Beaker burial from the site of Oostwoud-Tuithoorn, West-Frisia, the Netherlands. This case study was selected as the test case because of its relatively complete context information. The test case shows the potential for application of the procedure to older 2D field documentation, even when the amount and detail of documentation is less than ideal.


Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 774
Author(s):  
Max Langer ◽  
Thomas Speck ◽  
Olga Speck

Although both the petiole and lamina of foliage leaves have been thoroughly studied, the transition zone between them has often been overlooked. We aimed to identify objectively measurable morphological and anatomical criteria for a generally valid definition of the petiole–lamina transition zone by comparing foliage leaves with various body plans (monocotyledons vs. dicotyledons) and spatial arrangements of petiole and lamina (two-dimensional vs. three-dimensional configurations). Cross-sectional geometry and tissue arrangement of petioles and transition zones were investigated via serial thin-sections and µCT. The changes in the cross-sectional geometries from the petiole to the transition zone and the course of the vascular bundles in the transition zone apparently depend on the spatial arrangement, while the arrangement of the vascular bundles in the petioles depends on the body plan. We found an exponential acropetal increase in the cross-sectional area and axial and polar second moments of area to be the defining characteristic of all transition zones studied, regardless of body plan or spatial arrangement. In conclusion, a variety of terms is used in the literature for describing the region between petiole and lamina. We prefer the term “petiole–lamina transition zone” to underline its three-dimensional nature and the integration of multiple gradients of geometry, shape, and size.


2021 ◽  
pp. 152808372110326
Author(s):  
Queenie Fok ◽  
Joanne Yip ◽  
Kit-lun Yick ◽  
Sun-pui Ng

This study focuses on the fabrication of an anisotropic textile brace that exerts corrective forces based on the three-point pressure system to treat scoliosis, which is a medical condition that involves deformity of the spine. The design and material properties of the proposed anisotropic textile brace are discussed in detail here. A case series study with 5 scoliosis patients has been conducted to investigate the immediate in-brace effect and biomechanics of the proposed brace. Radiographic examination, three-dimensional scanning of the body and interface pressure measurements have been used to evaluate the immediate effect of the proposed brace on reducing the spinal curvature and asymmetry of the body contours and its biomechanics. The results show that the proposed brace on average reduces the spinal curvature by 11.7° and also increases the symmetry of the posterior trunk by 14.1% to 43.2%. The interface pressure at the corrective pad ranges from 6.0 to 24.4 kPa. The measured interface pressure shows that a sufficient amount of pressure has been exerted and a three-point pressure distribution is realized to reduce the spinal curvature. The obtained results indicate the effectiveness of this new approach which uses elastic textile material and a hinged artificial backbone to correct spinal deformity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xing Wang ◽  
Yi Zhang ◽  
Yufeng Zhang ◽  
Mingming Kang ◽  
Yuanbo Li ◽  
...  

AbstractEarthworms (Annelida: Crassiclitellata) are widely distributed around the world due to their ancient origination as well as adaptation and invasion after introduction into new habitats over the past few centuries. Herein, we report a 1.2 Gb complete genome assembly of the earthworm Amynthas corticis based on a strategy combining third-generation long-read sequencing and Hi-C mapping. A total of 29,256 protein-coding genes are annotated in this genome. Analysis of resequencing data indicates that this earthworm is a triploid species. Furthermore, gene family evolution analysis shows that comprehensive expansion of gene families in the Amynthas corticis genome has produced more defensive functions compared with other species in Annelida. Quantitative proteomic iTRAQ analysis shows that expression of 147 proteins changed in the body of Amynthas corticis and 16 S rDNA sequencing shows that abundance of 28 microorganisms changed in the gut of Amynthas corticis when the earthworm was incubated with pathogenic Escherichia coli O157:H7. Our genome assembly provides abundant and valuable resources for the earthworm research community, serving as a first step toward uncovering the mysteries of this species, and may provide molecular level indicators of its powerful defensive functions, adaptation to complex environments and invasion ability.


Author(s):  
Kuengmi Choi ◽  
Jungil Jun ◽  
Youngshil Ryoo ◽  
Sunmi Park

A bra use can reduce physiological and physical functions because of clothing pressure, which can be a problem for new senior women starting to lose physical function. The present study presents a bra top design development method for promoting new senior women’s physical activity by identifying problems related to bras’ effects on women’s health and minimizing clothing pressure. The analysis utilized the 3D scan data of 42 adult women (age range: 50s) from the 5th Size Korea Project. Bra top design elements were extracted based on new senior consumers’ needs. We developed an average wireframe reflecting the new senior’s physical characteristics, and a standard body form was developed through surface modeling. To produce a consumer-oriented bra with a body shaping effect and reduced clothing pressure that would not affect physical activities, a three-dimensional pattern was developed applying an optimal reduction rate of 80%. To verify the bra’s adequacy for the body form of new senior women, two market-available bras were selected and fit-compared to the developed product. The developed bra received higher expert appearance evaluation and 3D virtual clothing evaluation scores. This study is significant because by using virtual fitting technology, it provides foundational data to quantify the quality of fashion products.


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