... evolved ventral adhesive discs. Clingfish adhesive performance has been studied extensively, but relatively little is known about the performance of other sticky fishes. Here, we compared the peak adhesive forces and work to detachment of clingfish, lumpsuckers and snailfish on surfaces of varying...

...Richard L. Marsh ABSTRACT Previous studies of jumping in frogs have found power outputs in excess of what is possible from direct application of muscle power and concluded that jumping requires the storage and release of elastic strain energy. Of course, the muscles must produce the work required...

... substrates than more compliant ones. Stiff cups can adhere to compliant rough surfaces, when they normally fail on hard rough ones. Biomimetic Clingfish Modulus Overmolding Stress Work Seaver Institute National Science Foundation http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000001 DEB...

...James R. Usherwood ABSTRACT Considerable attention has been given to the spring-like behaviour of stretching and recoiling tendons, and how this can reduce the work demanded from muscle for a given loss–return cycling of mechanical energy during high-speed locomotion. However, even completely...

... in conjunction with musculoskeletal simulations and a recently developed functional index-based approach to characterise the role of human lower-limb muscles. We found that in muscles that generate most of the mechanical power and work during cycling, greater crank torque induced shifts towards greater muscle...

... velocity and pennation angle change were greater during aquatic takeoffs than during terrestrial takeoffs because of the differences in knee motion. Nevertheless, we observed no significant differences in LG stress or work, but did see an increase in muscle power output during aquatic takeoffs. Because...

...Carolyn M. Eng; Nicolai Konow; Chris Tijs; Natalie C. Holt; Andrew A. Biewener ABSTRACT Muscle function changes to meet the varying mechanical demands of locomotion across different gait and grade conditions. A muscle's work output is determined by time-varying patterns of neuromuscular activation...

... by a work-based control optimization model. The model captured the fundamental dynamics of the transition and therefore allowed an exploration of parameter sensitivity for success at the manoeuvre (run-up speed, foot placement, etc.). The optimal transition of both the model and the parkour athletes used...

...Anne K. Gutmann; John E. A. Bertram ABSTRACT To interpret the movement strategies employed in locomotion, it is necessary to understand the source of metabolic cost. Muscles must consume metabolic energy to do work, but also must consume energy to generate force. The energy lost during steady...

... This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided that the original work is properly attributed. Hunt Jump Owl Power...

... at their preferred speed, kinematic and kinetic data were collected and mechanical work at the main lower limb joints (hip, knee, ankle) was calculated. In a separate treadmill experiment, metabolic costs were measured. Analysis revealed that the principal differences between running and galloping are located...

... biomechanical analogs for incremental adaptive stages in the evolutionary origin of flight. A primary assumption of the hypothesis is that work and power requirements from the primary downstroke muscle, the pectoralis, incrementally increase from shallow- to steep-angled terrestrial locomotion, and between...

...Peter G. Adamczyk; Arthur D. Kuo SUMMARY Simple dynamic walking models based on the inverted pendulum predict that the human body's center of mass (COM) moves along an arc during each step,with substantial work performed to redirect the COM velocity in the step-to-step transition between arcs...

... the hypothesis that changes in distal limb muscle work would reflect changes in mechanical work requirements while goats walked or trotted on the level, 15 deg. decline and 15 deg. incline. As steep terrain-adapted animals, changes in muscle work output are expected to be particularly important for goats...

... consistent with slower, more fatigue-resistant muscles. We hypothesized that these changes may accompany enhanced efficiency of contraction, perhaps in support of the enhanced capacity for endurance running. To assess efficiency, we measured work and associated oxygen consumption from isolated soleus...

...(85–126 N m –2 ) than in the PECT (50–58 N m –2 ). The SUPRA mainly shortened relative to resting length and the PECT mainly lengthened. We estimated that elastic energy storage in the tendon of the SUPRA contributed between 28 and 60% of the net work of the SUPRA and 6–10% of the total net mechanical...

...Bret W. Tobalske SUMMARY Power output is a unifying theme for bird flight and considerable progress has been accomplished recently in measuring muscular, metabolic and aerodynamic power in birds. The primary flight muscles of birds, the pectoralis and supracoracoideus, are designed for work...

... with muscle length data, force measurements were obtained using a novel tendon buckle force transducer placed on the Achilles tendon of Xenopus laevis frogs during brief accelerating bursts of swimming. In vivo work loops revealed that the plantaris generates a variable amount of positive muscle work over...

...-dependent neural feedback. Future work will benefit from integrative biomechanical approaches that employ a combination of modeling and experimental techniques to understand how the elegant interplay of intrinsic muscle properties, body dynamics and neural control allows animals to achieve stability...

...Michelle Trinh; Douglas A. Syme SUMMARY Applying a small stretch to active muscle immediately before shortening results in an increase in force and work done during subsequent shortening. The basis of the increase is not fully understood, having important implications for work and efficiency...