scholarly journals Tuning movement for sensing in an uncertain world

eLife ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen Chen ◽  
Todd D Murphey ◽  
Malcolm A MacIver

While animals track or search for targets, sensory organs make small unexplained movements on top of the primary task-related motions. While multiple theories for these movements exist—in that they support infotaxis, gain adaptation, spectral whitening, and high-pass filtering—predicted trajectories show poor fit to measured trajectories. We propose a new theory for these movements called energy-constrained proportional betting, where the probability of moving to a location is proportional to an expectation of how informative it will be balanced against the movement’s predicted energetic cost. Trajectories generated in this way show good agreement with measured trajectories of fish tracking an object using electrosense, a mammal and an insect localizing an odor source, and a moth tracking a flower using vision. Our theory unifies the metabolic cost of motion with information theory. It predicts sense organ movements in animals and can prescribe sensor motion for robots to enhance performance.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen Chen ◽  
Todd D. Murphey ◽  
Malcolm A. MacIver

AbstractWhile animals track or search for targets, sensory organs make small unexplained movements on top of the primary task-related motions. While multiple theories for these movements exist—in that they support infotaxis, gain adaptation, spectral whitening, and high-pass filtering—predicted trajectories show poor fit to measured trajectories. We propose a new theory for these movements called energy-constrained proportional betting, where the probability of moving to a location is proportional to an expectation of how informative it will be balanced against the movement’s predicted energetic cost. Trajectories generated in this way show good agreement with measured target tracking trajectories of electric fish. Similarly good agreement was found across three published datasets on visual and olfactory tracking tasks in insects and mammals. Our theory unifies the metabolic cost of motion with information theory. It predicts sense organ movements in animals and can prescribe sensor motion for robots to enhance performance.


Author(s):  
Peter Bella ◽  
Michael Goldman

We are interested in the energetic cost of a martensitic inclusion of volume V in austenite for the cubic-to-tetragonal phase transformation. In contrast with the work of Knüpfer, Kohn and Otto (Commun. Pure Appl. Math.66 (2013), 867–904), we consider a domain with a corner and obtain a better scaling law for the minimal energy (Emin ∼ min(V2/3, V7/9)). Our predictions are in good agreement with physical experiments where nucleation of martensite is usually observed near the corners of the specimen.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (11) ◽  
pp. e1009608
Author(s):  
Ryan T. Schroeder ◽  
Arthur D. Kuo

The energetic economy of running benefits from tendon and other tissues that store and return elastic energy, thus saving muscles from costly mechanical work. The classic “Spring-mass” computational model successfully explains the forces, displacements and mechanical power of running, as the outcome of dynamical interactions between the body center of mass and a purely elastic spring for the leg. However, the Spring-mass model does not include active muscles and cannot explain the metabolic energy cost of running, whether on level ground or on a slope. Here we add explicit actuation and dissipation to the Spring-mass model, and show how they explain substantial active (and thus costly) work during human running, and much of the associated energetic cost. Dissipation is modeled as modest energy losses (5% of total mechanical energy for running at 3 m s-1) from hysteresis and foot-ground collisions, that must be restored by active work each step. Even with substantial elastic energy return (59% of positive work, comparable to empirical observations), the active work could account for most of the metabolic cost of human running (about 68%, assuming human-like muscle efficiency). We also introduce a previously unappreciated energetic cost for rapid production of force, that helps explain the relatively smooth ground reaction forces of running, and why muscles might also actively perform negative work. With both work and rapid force costs, the model reproduces the energetics of human running at a range of speeds on level ground and on slopes. Although elastic return is key to energy savings, there are still losses that require restorative muscle work, which can cost substantial energy during running.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Hui Chen ◽  
Di Jiang ◽  
Ke-Song Chen ◽  
Hong-Fei Zhao

A novel and miniature high-pass filter (HPF) based on a hybrid-coupled microstrip/nonuniform coplanar waveguide (CPW) resonator is proposed in this article, in which the designed CPW has exhibited a wideband dual-mode characteristic within the desired high-pass frequency range. The implemented filter consists of the top microstrip coupled patches and the bottom modified nonuniformly short-circuited CPW resonator. Simulated results from the electromagnetic (EM) analysis software and measured results from a vector network analyzer (VNA) show a good agreement. A designed and fabricated prototype filter having a 3 dB cutoff frequency (fc) of 5.78 GHz has shown an ultrawide high-pass behavior, which exhibits the highest passband frequency exceeding 4.0fcunder the minimum insertion loss (IL) 0.75 dB. The printed circuit board (PCB) area of the filter is approximately0.062λg×0.093λg, whereλgis the guided wavelength atfc.


1993 ◽  
Vol 178 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. J. Bailey ◽  
P. C. Withers ◽  
M. Endersby ◽  
K. Gaull

1. The metabolic costs of calling for male Requena verticalis Walker (Tettigoniidae: Listroscelidinae) were measured by direct recordings of oxygen consumption. The acoustic power output was measured by sound pressure levels around the calling bushcricket. 2. The average metabolic cost of calling was 0.143 ml g-1 h-1 but depended on calling rate. The net metabolic cost of calling per unit call, the syllable, was calculated to be 4.34×10-6+/−8.3×10-7 ml O2 syllable-1 g-1 body mass (s.e.) from the slope of the relationship between total V(dot)O2 and rate of syllable production. The resting V(dot)O2, calculated as the intercept of the relationship, was 0.248 ml O2 g-1 body mass h-1. 3. The energetic cost of calling for R. verticalis (average mass 0.37 g) was estimated at 31.85×10-6 J syllable-1. 4. Sound pressure levels were measured around calling insects. The surface area of a sphere of uniform sound pressure level [83 dB SPL root mean square (RMS) acoustic power] obtained by these measurements was used to calculate acoustic power. This was 0.20 mW. 5. The metabolic efficiency of calling, based on total metabolic energy utilisation, was 6.4 %. However, we propose that the mechanical efficiency for acoustic transmission is closer to 57 %, since only about 10 % of muscle metabolic energy is apparently available for sound production. 6. R. verticalis emits chirps formed of several syllables within which are discrete sound pulses. Wing stroke rates, when the insect is calling at its maximal rate, were approximately 583 min-1. This is slow compared to the rates observed in conehead tettigoniids, the only other group of bushcrickets where metabolic costs have been measured. The thoracic temperatures of males that had been calling for 5 min were not significantly different from those of non-calling males. 7. For R. verticalis, calling with relatively slow syllable rates may reduce the total cost of calling, and this may be a compensatory mechanism for their other high energetic cost of mating (a large spermatophylax).


1970 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 611-627
Author(s):  
JAMES L. HANEGAN ◽  
JAMES EDWARD HEATH

1. The time of activity and the duration of active periods (flight) of moths of the species Hyalophora cecropia has been determined by monitoring thoracic temperature. 2. The metabolic cost of flight per day and per adult life has been determined directly by measuring O2 consumption and indirectly by analysis of cooling curves of individual moths. 3. An energy balance sheet has been derived which gives the metabolic cost of flight and maintenance (during torpor) over the insect's adult life. 4. The metabolic stores mobilized for daily activity appear to be fixed and independent of air temperature. This mobilization of fat stores may be under hormonal control. 5. It is metabolically more expensive for moths to be active at low air temperatures. The number and duration of active periods at low air temperatures is reduced, but, the metabolic expenditure for activity is equal to that of animals held at higher air temperatures. 6. Females have a smaller total energy reserve than males. The number of active periods per day is not significantly different between the sexes at any given temperature, but in females the active periods are significantly shorter in duration. 7. The flight speed has been determined, and estimates of the flight range per day and per adult life have been calculated. 8. The ecology of H. cecropia has been discussed with respect to the timing and duration of active periods, the range and speed of flight, and the energetic cost of flight and maintenance metabolism.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (158) ◽  
pp. 20190227
Author(s):  
Kirsty A. McDonald ◽  
Joseph P. Cusumano ◽  
Peter Peeling ◽  
Jonas Rubenson

Minimization of metabolic energy is considered a fundamental principle of human locomotion, as demonstrated by an alignment between the preferred walking speed (PWS) and the speed incurring the lowest metabolic cost of transport. We aimed to (i) simultaneously disrupt metabolic cost and an alternate acute task requirement, namely speed error regulation, and (ii) assess whether the PWS could be explained on the basis of either optimality criterion in this new performance and energetic landscape. Healthy adults ( N = 21) walked on an instrumented treadmill under normal conditions and, while negotiating a continuous gait perturbation, imposed leg-length asymmetry. Oxygen consumption, motion capture data and ground reaction forces were continuously recorded for each condition at speeds ranging from 0.6 to 1.8 m s −1 , including the PWS. Both metabolic and speed regulation measures were disrupted by the perturbation ( p < 0.05). Perturbed PWS selection did not exhibit energetic prioritization (although we find some indication of energy minimization after motor adaptation). Similarly, PWS selection did not support prioritization of speed error regulation, which was found to be independent of speed in both conditions. It appears that, during acute exposure to a mechanical gait perturbation of imposed leg-length asymmetry, humans minimize neither energetic cost nor speed regulation errors. Despite the abundance of evidence pointing to energy minimization during normal, steady-state gait, this may not extend acutely to perturbed gait. Understanding how the nervous system acutely controls gait perturbations requires further research that embraces multi-objective control paradigms.


2001 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas P Hurst ◽  
David O Conover

The importance of activity to overwintering fishes has received little attention. Activity imposes two constraints: maximum swimming speed limits habitats that can be occupied for short periods of time, while the metabolic cost of swimming limits the habitats that are suitable for long-term residence. We measured the energetic consequences of activity and maximum swimming speeds of young-of-the-year striped bass (Morone saxatilis), a species that overwinters in tidal estuaries. The energetic cost of swimming was determined from energy changes in unfed fish forced to swim at various speeds, while energy changes in fed fish provided a measure of their ability to offset swimming costs through feeding. In high-velocity treatments, mortality was size-dependent and appeared to be related to fatigue rather than to depletion of energy reserves. The energetic cost of swimming increased with swimming velocity, but fish increased food consumption and thereby met their metabolic needs. In a second experiment the thermal dependence of swimming capacity in winter-acclimated striped bass was measured. Swimming speeds increased with temperature, from 2.7 body lengths (BL)/s at 2°C to 4.8 BL/s at 8 and 11°C, but were considerably below observed flow velocities in the Hudson River, suggesting a need for behavioral or physical refuge from tidal currents. These results indicate the flexibility of energy budgets of overwintering fishes, allowing energetic stress to be minimized by reducing activity or elevating food-consumption rates when sufficient prey are available.


2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 266-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew M. Hein ◽  
Katrina J. Keirsted

Understanding the effects of water temperature on the swimming performance of fishes is central in understanding how fish species will respond to global climate change. Metabolic cost of transport (COT)—a measure of the energy required to swim a given distance—is a key performance parameter linked to many aspects of fish life history. We develop a quantitative model to predict the effect of water temperature on COT. The model facilitates comparisons among species that differ in body size by incorporating the body mass-dependence of COT. Data from 22 fish species support the temperature and mass dependencies of COT predicted by our model, and demonstrate that modest differences in water temperature can result in substantial differences in the energetic cost of swimming.


2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 327-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynnette M. Jones ◽  
Debra L. Waters ◽  
Michael Legge

Background:Walking is usually undertaken at a speed that coincides with the lowest metabolic cost. Aging however, alters the speed–cost relationship, as preferred walking speeds decrease and energy costs increase. It is unclear to what extent this relationship is affected when older women undertake walking as an exercise modality. The aim of this study was to compare the energetic cost of walking at a self-selected exercise pace for 30 min in older and younger women.Methods:The energetic cost of walking was assessed using the energy equivalent of oxygen consumption measured in 18 young (25 to 49 y) and 20 older (50 to 79 y) women who were asked to walk at their “normal” exercise pace on a motorized treadmill for 30 min.Results:The mass-specific net cost of walking (Cw) was 15% higher and self-selected walking speed was 23% lower in the older women than in the younger group. When speed was held constant, the Cw was 0.30 (J · .kg−1 · m−1) higher in the older women.Conclusions:Preferred exercise pace incurs a higher metabolic cost in older women and needs be taken into consideration when recommending walking as an exercise modality.


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