Find research datasets worth reusing

opencc-by-4.0Jan 2021View details →

Data_Appendix C_Biomechanical Basis of Human Movement

Sample Kinematic and Kinetic Data Subject: 50-kg woman Activity: Walking sampled at 120 Hz; one cycle from right foot touchdown to right foot touchdown Markers: Head, R shoulder, R elbow, R wrist, R hand, R crest (IC), R greater trochanter (GT), R knee, R ankle, R heel, R fifth metatarsal (met), and R toe Stride events: Right foot touchdown (RTD), left foot touchdown (LTD), and right foot toe-off (RTO)

opencc-zeroDec 2016View details →

Data from: Feeding capability in the extinct giant Siamogale melilutra and comparative mandibular biomechanics of living Lutrinae

At 50 kg in estimated weight, the extinct Siamogale melilutra is larger than all living otters, and ranks among the largest fossil otters. The biomechanical capability of S. melilutra jaws as related to their large size is unknown but crucial to reconstructing the species' potentially unique ecological niche. Here we compare the mandibular biomechanics of S. melilutra using engineering-based performance measures against ten extant otter biomechanical models. Despite a wide range of feeding preferences from durophagy to piscivory, living otter species exhibit a linear relationship between mandible stiffness and volume, as expected in isometric model scaling. In contrast, S. melilutra models exhibit a six-fold increase in stiffness from expected stiffness-volume relationships calculated from extant species models. Unlike stiffness, mechanical efficiency of biting is conserved among living otters and in S. melilutra. These findings indicate that although similar to living bunodont otters in morphology and biting efficiency, jaw strength in S. melilutra far surpasses molluscivores such as sea otters and Cape clawless otters, even after accounting for size. Therefore, Siamogale represents a feeding ecomorphology with no living analog, and its giant size and high mandibular strength confer shell-crushing capability matched only by other extinct molluscivores such as the marine bear Kolponomos.

opencc-zeroJan 2020View details →

How biomechanics, path-planning and sensing enable gliding flight in a natural environment

Gliding animals traverse cluttered aerial environments when performing ecologically relevant behaviours. However, it is unknown how gliders execute collision-free flight over varying distances to reach their intended target. We quantified complete glide trajectories amid obstacles in a naturally behaving population of gliding lizards inhabiting a rainforest reserve. In this cluttered habitat, the lizards used glide paths with fewer obstacles than alternatives of similar distance. Their takeoff direction oriented them away from obstacles in their path and they subsequently made mid-air turns with accelerations of up to 0.5 g to reorient towards the target tree. These manoeuvres agreed well with a vision-based steering model which maximized their bearing angle with the obstacle while minimizing it with the target tree. Nonetheless, negotiating obstacles reduced mid-glide shallowing rates, implying greater loss of altitude. Finally, the lizards initiated a pitch-up landing manoeuvre consistent with a visual trigger model, suggesting that the landing decision was based on the optical size and speed of the target. They subsequently followed a controlled-collision approach towards the target, ending with variable impact speeds. Overall, the visually guided path-planning strategy that enabled collision-free gliding required continuous changes in the gliding kinematics such that the lizards never attained theoretically ideal steady state glide dynamics.

opencc-zeroDec 2017View details →

Data from: Gliding for a free lunch: biomechanics of foraging flight in Common Swifts (Apus apus)

Although the biomechanics of animal flight have been well studied in laboratory apparatus such as wind tunnels for many years, the applicability of these data to natural flight behaviour has been examined in few instances and mostly in the context of long-distance migration. Here we use rotational stereo-videography to record the free-flight trajectories of foraging common swifts. We find that despite their exquisite manoeuvring capabilities, the swifts only rarely performed high-acceleration turns. More surprisingly, we also found that despite feeding on tiny insects likely moving with ambient flow, the birds adjust their air speed to optimize cost of transport over distance. Finally, swifts spent only 25% of their time flapping; the majority of time (71%) was spent in extended wing gliding during which the average power expended for changes in speed or elevation was 0.84 W kg-1 and not significantly different from 0. Thus, gliding swifts extracted sufficient environmental energy to pay the cost of flight during foraging.

opencc-by-4.0Feb 2022View details →

[DATASET 1] - BIOMECHANICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF SELECTED CLIMBING PLANTS

In the framework of GrowBot project, Task 3.1 aims at selecting and investigating different climbing plants as models for GrowBot artefacts. The activities consist of biomechanical investigation and the analysis of plants’ functional strategies with respect to environmental complexity in terms of size, shape, density of supports, clutter and presence of voids. Task 3.3 aims at selecting and investigating different climbing plants’ attachment strategies for inspiring the design and development of artificial solutions. DS1 aims at collecting all the experimental data gathered during these activities.

opencc-by-4.0Dec 2023View details →

Understanding trophic interactions in a warming world by bridging foraging ecology and biomechanics with network science

Background Leaf-cutter ants (Atta spp. and Acromyrmex spp.) are the principal insect pest and a major ecosystem engineer throughout the Neotropics (Leal et al., 2014; Wirth et al., 2003). They harvest plant matter in the surroundings of their colonies to grow a fungus as crop, and in doing so they cut plant matter on an almost industrial scale: about 15 % of the foliar biomass in the Neotropics, or about every sixth leaf, is consumed by leaf-cutter ant colonies (Costa et al., 2008; Fowler et al., 1989; Herz et al., 2007; Wirth et al., 2003), and more than half of all woody species are attacked by them (Cherrett, 1968; Rockwood, 1976). Leaf-cutter ants are perhaps the most voracious and polyphagous herbivorous insects (Lugo et al., 1973; Wirth et al., 2003), and their foraging activity is affected by a variety of environmental conditions, including wind (Alma et al., 2016b), precipitation (Steadman et al., 2020) and barometric pressure (Sujimoto et al., 2020), all of which will be subject to variation due to climate change. Although leaf-cutter foraging is clearly a complex, multi-factorial behaviour, it has at its core a biomechanical interaction between ant consumer and plant food resource: the force the ants can apply must exceed the force required to drag the mandible through the tissue (Püffel, Roces, et al., 2023; Püffel, Walthaus, et al., 2023). The magnitude of the available bite force is determined by worker size, and the magnitude of the minimum required cutting force is determined by structural and mechanical properties of the plant leaf; consumer and resource properties interact. This mechanical competition has resulted in extraordinary adaptations in both the anatomy and physiology of the leaf-cutter ant bite apparatus: their disproportionately large heads are filled to the rim with optimally packed mandible closer muscles (Püffel et al., 2021). Both their muscle stress and size-specific bite forces are among the highest measured for any animal (Püffel, Johnston, et al., 2023; Püffel, Roces, et al., 2023), and their mandibles are close to “ideally sharp” (Püffel, Walthaus, et al., 2023). As a result, the vast majority of worker sizes can cut the majority of tropical leafs; without these adaptations, and a bite performance commensurate with their body size, only the largest workers would be able to perform this crucial mechanical task (Püffel, Roces, et al., 2023). How will a warming climate affect resource accessibility for the leaf-cutters? Temperature increases have various implications for the trophic interactions of ants, including altered search behaviour (Frizzi, 2018), and foraging site selection (Spicer et al., 2017; Traniello et al., 1984). An increase in average temperatures can also drive body size decreases in insects (Tseng et al., 2018), including ants (Molet et al., 2017)<a href="https://www.zotero.org/google-docs/?broken=QmLD4C">,</a> concomitantly reducing their available bite force (Püffel, Roces, et al., 2023; Rühr et al., 2022). Since leaf-cutter mandibles are so sharp that they already cut with a force close to the minimum dictated by cutting mechanics, the force required to cut leaves will likely be unaffected (Püffel, Walthaus, et al., 2023), and any change in body size will therefore only significantly impact bite forces. Because the relationship between bite forces and body size in the leaf-cutter is well understood mechanistically (Püffel, Roces, et al., 2023), it is possible to predict how these changes will impact trophic networks. A very rough estimate of the change in network structure serves to illustrate how network science can integrate biomechanics and foraging ecology to study the effect of climate change on trophic interactions. To demonstrate the potential of network science to integrate biomechanical and foraging data within the context of climate change, we constructed and analysed hypothetical plant-ant networks across six hypothetical temperatures.   Datasets and methods All analysis was performed in R version 4.3.1 (R Core Team, 2023), and data processed reproducibly via the ‘tidyverse’ package (Wickham et al., 2019). We compiled two datasets and some additional contextual information. Leaf-cutter ant biomass (a proxy for body size) and bite force data were taken from Püffel et al. (2023) for 248 individual ants across three colonies. Required cutting forces for 1197 individual plants representing 868 taxa available to leaf-cutter ants were taken from Onoda et al. (2011). Insect temperature-body size relationships were taken from Tseng et al. (2018); specifically, a body size decrease of 1.56 % per degree Celsius increase for museum specimens, to represent gradual long-term change. Based on these data, edgelists (i.e., pairwise lists of consumers and resources) were generated for ants and plants in which binary interaction weights were applied; where bite forces exceeded the force required to cut leaves, a weighting of 1 was given, and 0 otherwise. This edgelist was then replicated for incremental increases of 1 °C up to a 5 °C increase by adjusting bite forces based on incremental body size decreases of 1.56 %. In order to estimate the change of bite force with body mass, we used direct bite force measurements from Püffel et al. (2023), which suggest that maximum bite force in Atta vollenweideri varies with body mass m as T ~ m^0.9. Thus, if body size decreases by a factor of 0.9844 (i.e., 1.56 % decrease) with every degree Celsius temperature increase, then the maximum bite force decreases by a factor of 0.98440.9. Consequently, adjusted bite forces were calculated, and new binary edgelist weightings generated based on whether the adjusted bite force was greater than the required cutting force. Bipartite networks were constructed with consumer nodes and resource nodes representing the three ant colonies and the 868 plant taxa, respectively. All six networks were visualised using ‘ggnetwork’ (Briatte, 2021) via ‘igraph’ (Csardi & Nepusz, 2006) in a single network diagram to highlight persistence of links across temperatures using scaled red colours. Network metrics, specifically consumer degree (the number of plants ants were deemed able to interact with) and generality (the total range of plants accessible across all ants), were generated via the ‘bipartite’ package (Dormann et al., 2008) and visually compared via ‘ggplot2’ (Wickham, 2016).

opencc-zeroNov 2021View details →

Dataset of biomechanical effects of the addition of a precision constraint on a collective load carriage task

Team lifting is a complex and collective motor task that possesses both motor and cognitive components. We study the collective load carriage adaptation due to an additional accuracy constraint. Ten dyads performed a first condition in which they collectively transported a load (CC), and a second one in which they transported the same load while maintaining a ball in a target position on its top (PC). The recovery-rate, amplitude, and period of the center-of-mass of the whole system (dyad + table, CoMPACS) were computed. We analyzed the forces and moments exerted at each joint of the upper limbs of the subjects. We observed a decrease in the overall performance of the dyads when the Precision task was added, i.e., i) the velocity and amplitude of CoMPACS decreased by 1,7% and 5,8%, respectively, ii) inter-subject variability of the Moment-Cost-Function decreased by 95% and recovery rate decreased by 19,2% during PC. A kinetic synergy analysis showed that the subjects reorganized their coordinations in the PC. Our results demonstrate that adding a precision task affects the economy of collective load carriage. Notwithstanding, the joint moments at the upper-limbs are better balanced and co-vary more across the paired subjects during the precision task.

opencc-zeroSep 2022View details →

Discrete element models for understanding the biomechanics of fossorial animals

The morphological features of fossorial animals have continuously evolved in response to the demands of survival. However, existing methods for animal burrowing mechanics are not capable of addressing the large deformation of substrate. The discrete element method (DEM) is able to overcome this limitation. In this study, we used DEM to develop a general model to simulate the motion of an animal body part and its interaction with the substrate. The DEM also allowed us to easily change the forms of animal body parts to examine how those different forms affected the biomechanical functions. These capabilities of the DEM were presented through a case study of modelling the burrowing process of North American Badger. In the case study, the dynamics (forces, work, and soil displacements) of burrowing were predicted for different forms of badger claw and manus, using the model. Results showed that when extra digits are added to a manus, the work required for a badger to dig increases considerably, while the mass of soil dug only increases gradually. According to the proposed efficiency index (ratio of the amount of soil dug to the work required), the modern manus with 5 digits has indeed biomechanical advantage for their fossorial lifestyle, and the current claw curvature (25.3 mm in radius) is indeed optimal. The DEM is able to predict biomechanical relationships between functions and forms for any fossorial animals. Results can provide biomechanical evidences for explaining how the selective pressures for functions influence the morphological evolution in fossorial animals.

opencc-by-4.0Dec 2022View details →

Does mechanical loading restore ligament biomechanics after injury? A systematic review of studies using animal models

This RevMan file accompanies our manuscript entitled "Does mechanical loading restore ligament biomechanics after injury? A systematic review of studies using animal models" published in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders. The file hosts all outcomes (i.e., including tertiary outcomes) under "Data and analyses", as well as more detailed forest plots under "Figures".

opencc-by-4.0Apr 2024View details →

Membrane Fluctuation Model to Understand the Effect of the Receptor Nanoclustering on the Activation of Natural Killer Cells through Biomechanical Feedback

Data for all the plots from original paper "Membrane Fluctuation Model to Understand the Effect of the Receptor Nanoclustering on the Activation of Natural Killer Cells through Biomechanical Feedback".

opencc-zeroJul 2024View details →

A new biomechanical approach on cranial sutures function: The role of contact elements in linear and non-linear models

Understanding cranial sutures and how they relieve and dissipate stress is essential to assess their role in cranial biomechanics and to develop highly accurate predictive models. This involves examining how ontogeny affects cranial sutures, as well as their morphology and function, and how these changes through time may impact essential biomechanical loadings such as chewing or direct biting. In this work we study the cranial sutures of Crocodylus niloticus in detail using contact elements under finite element analysis. Contact elements permit the creation of a physical relationship between two bones that are in contact and even to configure these relationships, e.g. in terms of movement or flexibility. The definition of bone contacts may require linear and/or non-linear computational solutions to attain higher accuracy. Herein, skull geometry is tested to determine how they may be altered by different types of contacts under various conditions. As predicted, the absence of sutures or cranial kinesis leads to a reduction in stress distribution across the skull, whereas sutures and cranial kinesis help the skull relieve stress and prevent certain bones from sustaining high stress levels. The type of contact used in individual sutures has a significant effect on the models' outcome. Additionally, feeding behaviors significantly impact cranial biomechanics, reflecting the influence of other variables that may be applied to the models. As highlighted by the results, in order to obtain accurate results when analyzing fossil taxa, the nature of the cranial sutures should be taken into account. Therefore, developing predictive models based on living taxa is invaluable because it facilitates the study of extinct taxa for which there is a lack of information on the fibrous joints due to poor (or non-) preservation in the fossil record.

opencc-zeroSep 2021View details →

SI dataset S1 - knuckle-walking biomechanical strategies

African apes engage in a distinct form of locomotion called knuckle-walking, but there is much ambiguity as to when and how this locomotor behaviour evolved. This study aims to elucidate potential differences in knuckle-walking elbow posture and loading in African apes through the study of trabecular bone. Using a whole-epiphysis approach, we quantified variation in trabecular structure of the distal humerus of chimpanzees, western lowland gorillas, and mountain gorillas in comparison to orang-utans, siamangs and a sample of Old and New World monkeys. Results demonstrate differences in the distribution of trabecular bone within the distal humerus that are consistent across taxa that habitually use a flexed-elbow posture in comparison to those that use an extended-elbow during locomotion. Western lowland gorillas show an extended-elbow pattern consistent with the straight forelimb position during knuckle-walking, whereas chimpanzees show a flexed-elbow pattern. Unexpectedly, mountain gorillas show an intermediate pattern between their western counterparts and chimpanzees. The differences found in elbow joint posture between chimpanzees and gorillas, and between gorilla species, point to diversification in the knuckle-walking biomechanical strategies among African apes, which has implications in the debate regarding the locomotor behaviour from which human bipedalism arose.

opencc-by-4.0Aug 2022View details →

Experimental and computational approach to biomechanical human head modelling: advanced Head models for safety Enhancement And medical Development (aHEAD)

Data regarding Experimental and computational approach to biomechanical human head modelling: advanced Head models for safety Enhancement And medical Development (aHEAD)

opencc-by-4.0Feb 2023View details →

Biomechanics of the Finger Pad in Response to Torsion

This dataset was used in the paper "Biomechanics of the Finger Pad in Response to Torsion".  The paper was not published at the time of dataset upload and no DOI was attributed to it yet. A preprint is available on bioRxiv, https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.11.07.515186. We refer the reader to this publication for detailed methods. In brief, we have made public : - The raw forces and platform kinematics files. - 1DxTime variables extracted from the videos such as displayed in our Fig. 2A. - 1D summary variables over trials (for example the angle at full slip for each trial).

opencc-by-4.0Jul 2023View details →

Context expectation influences the gait pattern biomechanics

This dataset is related to 32 healthy, Italian native speaker young adults that walked over a self-paced treadmill (GRAIL, Motek) in different conditions. Particularly two experimental conditions were set: “Motor Interference” condition (MI), and “Motor Expectation” condition (ME). MI aimed to explore putative gait pattern modifications due to auditory stimulation (i.e., audio risky and audio safe) provided simultaneously to the gait pattern recording.  ME condition provided the audios (i.e., audio risky and audio safe) before the starting of gait pattern recording, when participants were not requested to walk (participants were simply requested to listen attentively the audios). Before starting each condition (MI or ME), a 1-min walking period of baseline (B) was recorded.  Gait data were acquired with a Vicon system and gait parameters were extracted in Matlab. The dataset includes two sheets related to baseline (ME_B, MI_B), two sheets related to safe auditory stimulation (ME_S, MI_S) and two related to risky stimulation (ME_R, MI_R). The details about auditory stimulations, data collection and analysis are reported in the following manuscript, that we kindly ask you to cite if you use this dataset: Ciceri T, Malerba G, Gatti A, Diella E, Peruzzo D, Biffi E, Casartelli L. Context expectation influences the gait pattern biomechanics. Sci Rep. 2023 Apr 6;13(1):5644. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-32665-7

opencc-zeroJul 2023View details →

Data from: Behavioral diversity and biomechanical determinants of the outcome of a fish predator-prey interaction

Predator-prey interactions are ubiquitous and under strong selection because of the consequences experienced by both predator and prey if they lose the interaction. Biomechanics and behavior play important roles in the outcome of these interactions, but many studies focus on the prey, restrict the range of behaviors considered, and the role of prey boldness in the outcome is not understood. We used high-speed video to test for effects of multiple measures of performance and kinematics of both the predator and prey, and boldness of prey on the outcome of interactions between Pike Cichlids (Crenicichla) and Guppies (Poecilia reticulata). We found high variation in the behaviors employed during the predator-prey interactions, including in suction versus raptorial feeding, strike accuracy, and guppy responsiveness. We also found that predators moving relatively slower and prey moving relatively faster were more successful at consuming the prey and evading the predator, respectively. Prey that reacted farther from the predator were more likely to escape predation, but boldness of the prey did not affect the interaction. Our work suggests that a high level of variation in predator-prey interactions is widespread, even when strike and escape behaviors are stereotyped. We also showed that what both the predator and the prey do during an interaction are important in determining the outcome.

restrictedIPD-UNDECIDEDFeb 2026View details →

Effect of Footwear on the Clinical, Functional, and Biomechanical Aspects in Elderly Women With Knee Osteoarthritis (OA)

ClinicalTrials.gov study NCT01342458. IPD Sharing: Not stated. Countries: 1. Publications: 3.

controlledIPD-YESFeb 2026View details →

The Oral Biomechanical Functions of Hong Kong Healthy Adults

ClinicalTrials.gov study NCT05549648. IPD Sharing: YES. Countries: 1. Publications: 4.

restrictedIPD-UNDECIDEDFeb 2026View details →

Chairless Chair Exoskeleton. Work-physiological-biomechanical Analysis of the Lower Extremities

ClinicalTrials.gov study NCT03134144. IPD Sharing: Not stated. Countries: 1. Publications: 1.