CAREER: Biomechanics of Swimming: Understanding the Physics of Biology

约旦9734393 该提案涉及将游泳力学的研究计划与生物力学的教学计划相结合，以产生一种氛围，使本科生能够团队了解生物学的物理学和科学的过程。这项建议的研究方面集中在水生动物的形态和生理变化的游泳性能的后果。争论的焦点是这样一种观点，即产生力的肌肉以一种取决于它们缩短的速度的方式这样做，而缩短的速度又决定了肌肉产生的流体动力。因此，一个完整的游泳分析将解决，同时，肌肉和流体动力的力-速度关系。拟议的工作将攻击这种“力的平衡”与实验和理论方法分析无尾类蝌蚪游泳。 蝌蚪是研究尺度效应对游泳能力影响的理想模型。这些动物推动自己的尾巴上的逆行弯曲波，显示出显着的个体发育的大小变化，和一个有趣的捕食者引起的形态变化，这似乎赋予了游泳性能的优势，非诱导形式。这项研究计划将通过将生物力学的实验技术引入课堂来整合到教学计划中。 通过演示，实验室练习和独立的研究项目，学生将能够应用他们在生物力学课程以及其他生物学和工程课程中学到的知识，以了解游泳性能的物理限制和决定因素。

Jordan 9734393 This proposal is concerned with integrating a research program in the mechanics of swimming with a teaching program in biomechanics to generate an atmosphere where undergraduate students can team about the physics of biology and the processes of science. The research aspect of this proposal focuses on the swimming performance consequences of morphological and physiological variation in aquatic animals. At issue is the idea that the muscles which generate force do so in a way that depends upon their speed of shortening which in turn determines the hydrodynamic force produced by the muscle. Thus, a complete analysis of swimming would solve, simultaneously, the force-velocity relationships for both muscle and fluid-dynamic forces. The proposed work will attack this "force balance" with both experimental and theoretical approaches for analyses of swimming in anuran tadpoles. As a model system, tadpoles are ideal for studies of scale effects on swimming performance. These animals propel themselves by an retrograde bending wave on the tail, show a dramatic ontogenetic size variation, and an intriguing predator-induced morphological variation which appears to confer a swimming performance advantage over non-induced forms. This research program will be integrated into a teaching program by bringing the experimental techniques of biomechanics into the classroom. Through demonstrations, laboratory exercises and independent research projects, students will be able to apply what they have learned in their biomechanics coursework, as well as other biology and engineering courses, in an effort to understand the physical constraints and determinants of swimming performance.