Catalyzing New International Collaborations: 3D Morphometric and Biomechanical Analyses of the Human Lower Limb

该奖项提供资金，以启动宾夕法尼亚州立大学和三所欧洲大学-维也纳大学、剑桥大学和博洛尼亚大学-之间的新的国际合作。该项目的目标是开发新的方法来分析人类四肢骨骼的三维(3D)结构和相关功能。该项目将汇集维也纳大学和博洛尼亚大学的骨骼形态和形态计量学分析专家，以及宾夕法尼亚州立大学和剑桥大学的骨骼生物力学专家。主要目标是开发新的方法来综合分析人类腿部的骨骼。这些方法将在与人体下肢形态有关的几个具体问题的背景下开发，并将使用现有的3D高分辨率计算机断层扫描(HRCT)数据和在宾夕法尼亚州立大学和维也纳收集的新的HRCT数据来解决。该奖项将支持计划访问、新数据收集和美国研究生培训。产生的数据将对广泛的人类学、古生物学和考古学研究具有重要意义。这项研究的期望是对整个骨干皮质骨结构和整体骨形状变异的意义有一个新的理解。在这样做的过程中，这项合作将阐明骨功能适应在塑造人类下肢要素方面的相对重要性和有效性。同时分析骨骼形状和机械适应有望成为更广泛地理解骨骼功能适应的有力工具。这项研究通过融合形态分析中的方法论方法来加强体质人类学的研究基础，以了解骨骼变异和功能适应，以便用于古生物学和生物考古学的行为重建。该项目将促进来自美国、奥地利、意大利和英国的研究人员之间的合作，他们每个人都在2D和3D形态测量和生物力学技术方面拥有特定的专业知识。该项目将加强几名美国研究生和本科生的教育经验，其中包括宾夕法尼亚州立大学的一名少数族裔女研究生。数据、方法和理论概念也将被纳入目前由宾夕法尼亚州立大学PI教授的本科课程。

This award provides funding to initiate a new international collaboration between researchers at Pennsylvania State University and three European Universities - the University of Vienna, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Bologna. The goal of the project is to develop new methods for analyzing the three-dimensional (3D) structure and associated functions of human limb bones. The project will bring together experts in analyses of skeletal form and morphometrics from the Universities of Vienna and Bologna and experts in skeletal biomechanics from Penn State and the University of Cambridge. The primary goal is to develop new methods for integrative analyses of the bones of the lower limb in humans. These methods will be developed within the context of several specific questions relating to the morphology of the human lower limb and will be addressed using existing 3D high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) data and new HRCT data collected at Penn State and Vienna. The award will support planning visits, new data collection, and US graduate student training. The data produced will be of significant importance to a broad range of anthropological, paleontological, and archaeological studies.Intellectual Merit. The expectations of this study are to develop a new understanding of the significance of variation in whole diaphysis cortical bone structure and whole bone shape. In so doing, this collaboration will illuminate the relative importance and usefulness of bone functional adaptation in shaping the elements of the human lower limb. The simultaneous analysis of bone shape and mechanical adaptation is expected to be a powerful tool to produce a broader understanding of skeletal functional adaptation.Broader Impacts. This study enhances the infrastructure of research in physical anthropology by merging methodological approaches in morphological analysis to gain an understanding of skeletal variation and functional adaptation for use in paleontological and bioarchaeological behavioral reconstructions. This project will catalyze collaboration among researchers from the United States, Austria, Italy, and England, each of whom has specific expertise in 2D and 3D morphometric and biomechanical techniques. This project will enhance the educational experience of several U.S. students at both the graduate and undergraduate levels including one female minority graduate student at Penn State. Data, methods, and theoretical concepts will also be incorporated into current undergraduate courses taught by the PI at Penn State.