scholarly journals Insects are both Impeded and Propelled by their Legs During Walking

1983 ◽  
Vol 104 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. GRAHAM
Keyword(s):  
Motor Output ◽  
Force Platform ◽  
Insect Locomotion ◽  
Stick Insects ◽  
Kinetics Of

The kinetics of walking behaviour in stick insects differ from vertebrate walking behaviour. The differences suggest that insect locomotion consists of a hold-push-recover sequence similar to that used by a climber. This is supported by evidence from force platform measurements on free-walking insects and motor output recordings from animals walking on a treadwheel.

Load Signals Assist the Generation of Movement-Dependent Reflex Reversal in the Femur–Tibia Joint of Stick Insects

2006 ◽  
Vol 96 (6) ◽  
pp. 3532-3537 ◽  
Author(s):  
Turgay Akay ◽  
Ansgar Büschges
Keyword(s):  
Time Course ◽  
Stick Insect ◽  
Motor Output ◽  
Chordotonal Organ ◽  
Frequency Of Occurrence ◽  
Stick Insects ◽  
Extensor Motoneuron ◽  
Motoneuron Activity ◽  
First Time ◽  
Stimulation Of

Reinforcement of movement is an important mechanism by which sensory feedback contributes to motor control for walking. We investigate how sensory signals from movement and load sensors interact in controlling the motor output of the stick insect femur–tibia (FT) joint. In stick insects, flexion signals from the femoral chordotonal organ (fCO) at the FT joint and load signals from the femoral campaniform sensilla (fCS) are known to individually reinforce stance-phase motor output of the FT joint by promoting flexor and inhibiting extensor motoneuron activity. We quantitatively compared the time course of inactivation in extensor tibiae motoneurons in response to selective stimulation of fCS and fCO. Stimulation of either sensor generates extensor activity in a qualitatively similar manner but with a significantly different time course and frequency of occurrence. Inactivation of extensor motoneurons arising from fCS stimulation was more reliable but more than threefold slower compared with the extensor inactivation in response to flexion signals from the fCO. In contrast, simultaneous stimulation of both sense organs produced inactivation in motoneurons with a time course typical for fCO stimulation alone, but with a frequency of occurrence characteristic for fCS stimulation. This increase in probability of occurrence was also accompanied by a delayed reactivation of the extensor motoneurons. Our results indicate for the first time that load signals from the leg affect the processing of movement-related feedback in controlling motor output.

scholarly journals Behaviour and Motor Output for an Insect Walking on a Slippery Surface: II. Backward Walking

1985 ◽  
Vol 118 (1) ◽  
pp. 287-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. GRAHAM ◽  
S. EPSTEIN
Keyword(s):  
Motor Activity ◽  
Motor Pattern ◽  
Motor Output ◽  
Retractor Muscle ◽  
Backward Walking ◽  
Stick Insects ◽  
Weak Activity ◽  
Slippery Surface ◽  
Walking Recovery ◽  
Simple Phase

Coordination of the legs and the motor activity of four muscles in a middle leg were recorded in adult stick insects walking on a slippery glass surface. Backward walking was not achieved by a simple phase shift of levators and depressors. In all muscles examined, there was a considerable disturbance of motor activity during backward walking when compared with that found in forward walking. In backward walking, recovery was performed, in the middle leg, by strong fast unit activity in the retractor muscle and all muscles showed weak activity at inappropriate times. Fast motor output appeared to be superimposed on the forward walking motor pattern to produce the movements required for backward walking in this insect.

scholarly journals Stick Insect Locomotion on a Wheel: Patterns Of Stopping And Starting

1984 ◽  
Vol 110 (1) ◽  
pp. 203-216
Author(s):  
JEFFREY DEAN ◽  
GERNOT WENDLER
Keyword(s):  
Gait Cycle ◽  
Static Stability ◽  
Stick Insect ◽  
Insect Locomotion ◽  
Stick Insects ◽  
Leg Coordination ◽  
Left Right Asymmetry ◽  
Coordination Patterns ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Leg Position

The relationship between standing and steady walking was investigated for stick insects walking on a wheel. Normal hexapod coordination patterns ensure that each point in the gait cycle has static stability. Nevertheless, stick insects show preferred stopping sequences: the final protraction in ipsilateral metachronal sequences is most often by a front leg and least often by a rear leg (Fig. 1, Table 1). The associated preferred stance is one in which front, middle, and rear legs are spread apart (Fig. 2). This preferred stance does not conform precisely to those of steady walking, necessitating small adjustments to the walk in the final steps. First, the final leg protraction often occurs in the absence of strong retraction by the supporting legs. Second, the insect often takes advantage of the left/right asymmetry, letting rear and middle legs on the leading side retract beyond their normal endpoints while completing the metachronal sequence on the trailing side. Walking typically resumes with an initial retraction by all legs. Stances are close enough to leg configurations of steady walking that metachronal rhythms are often continuous across pauses, a feature which suggests that leg coordination is affected by peripheral parameters, such as leg position.

scholarly journals Behaviour and Motor Output of Stick Insects Walking on a Slippery Surface: I. Forward Walking

1983 ◽  
Vol 105 (1) ◽  
pp. 215-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. EPSTEIN ◽  
D. GRAHAM
Keyword(s):  
Glass Surface ◽  
Silicone Oil ◽  
Swing Phase ◽  
Motor Output ◽  
Mechanical Coupling ◽  
Stick Insects ◽  
Weak Activity ◽  
Slippery Surface ◽  
Coordination Patterns

The walking coordination and motor output of intact adult stick insects was examined when they were supported above an oiled glass surface. The viscosity of the silicone oil was adjusted so that the animal walked with either tripod or slow-walk coordination. In the absence of mechanical coupling through the substrate, the legs typically moved at different speeds in retraction. If these differences were not too large the walks were well-coordinated in the transitions from stance to swing phase. Motor output was variable and sometimes showed periods of very weak activity in depressors and retractors. Under these conditions an individual leg moved much more slowly than its neighbours, producing 2:1 coordination patterns.

Effects of Afference Sign Reversal on Motor Activity in Walking Stick Insects (Carausius Morosus)

1981 ◽  
Vol 91 (1) ◽  
pp. 179-193
Author(s):  
D. GRAHAM ◽  
U. BÄSSLER
Keyword(s):  
Sensory Input ◽  
Flexor Tendon ◽  
Sense Organ ◽  
Extensor Tendon ◽  
Motor Output ◽  
Chordotonal Organ ◽  
Internal Oscillation ◽  
Stick Insects ◽  
Peripheral Sensory ◽  
Walking Stick

The apodeme of the femoral chordotonal organ of a middle leg can be moved from its normal position close to the extensor tendon and inserted into a clot cut in the flexor tendon. This inverts the output of the sense organ and produces a ‘wrong’ afference. During walking on a pair of light wheels the operated leg either makes walking steps or is raised and extended in a ‘salute’ posture. The coordination is similar to that for an intact animal if the operated leg walks but changes to the middle leg amputee timing when the operated leg ‘salutes’. The transitions between saluting and the normal walking behaviour of the operated leg can be explained if it is assumed that the animal depends heavily upon the C.O. for determining the tibia position during both walking and the saluting behaviour. Motor output to the levators and depressors of the femur and the protractors and retractors of the coxa shows bursting activity during the salute at the frequency of 3–4 Hz. The depressor bursts are also modulated at a frequency of 1 Hz and produce strong regular depressions of the femur which are co-ordinated with the movements of the other legs. The maintenance of regular depressor contractions during the salute shows that an important part of the motor output to the saluting leg (depressor activity) arises from an internal oscillation or rhythmic command which maintains its co-ordinated activity when the normal peripheral sensory input to the leg it is attempting to operate is absent. Retractor activity wanes during the salute suggesting that propulsion is much more dependent upon peripheral input than is the support musculature (depressors), The creation of a ‘wrong’ afference can be used to map the importance of the operated organ in different sub-units of behaviour.

Direct observations of radiation-enhanced transformations in glass

1983 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 354-355
Author(s):  
J. F. DeNatale ◽  
D. G. Howitt
Keyword(s):  
Glass Matrix ◽  
Diffusion Mechanism ◽  
Bubble Formation ◽  
Silicate Glasses ◽  
Phase Decomposition ◽  
Direct Observations ◽  
Thin Foils ◽  
Oxygen Bubble ◽  
Electron Energy Loss ◽  
Kinetics Of

The electron irradiation of silicate glasses containing metal cations produces various types of phase separation and decomposition which includes oxygen bubble formation at intermediate temperatures figure I. The kinetics of bubble formation are too rapid to be accounted for by oxygen diffusion but the behavior is consistent with a cation diffusion mechanism if the amount of oxygen in the bubble is not significantly different from that in the same volume of silicate glass. The formation of oxygen bubbles is often accompanied by precipitation of crystalline phases and/or amorphous phase decomposition in the regions between the bubbles and the detection of differences in oxygen concentration between the bubble and matrix by electron energy loss spectroscopy cannot be discerned (figure 2) even when the bubble occupies the majority of the foil depth.The oxygen bubbles are stable, even in the thin foils, months after irradiation and if van der Waals behavior of the interior gas is assumed an oxygen pressure of about 4000 atmospheres must be sustained for a 100 bubble if the surface tension with the glass matrix is to balance against it at intermediate temperatures.

Irradiation behavior of pyrolytic silicon carbide

1983 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 72-73
Author(s):  
R. J. Lauf
Keyword(s):  
Silicon Carbide ◽  
Fission Products ◽  
Thermodynamics And Kinetics ◽  
Neutron Fluences ◽  
Fuel Particles ◽  
Sic Coatings ◽  
Irradiation Behavior ◽  
Kinetics Of ◽  
Htgr Fuel

Fuel particles for the High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTGR) contain a layer of pyrolytic silicon carbide to act as a miniature pressure vessel and primary fission product barrier. Optimization of the SiC with respect to fuel performance involves four areas of study: (a) characterization of as-deposited SiC coatings; (b) thermodynamics and kinetics of chemical reactions between SiC and fission products; (c) irradiation behavior of SiC in the absence of fission products; and (d) combined effects of irradiation and fission products. This paper reports the behavior of SiC deposited on inert microspheres and irradiated to fast neutron fluences typical of HTGR fuel at end-of-life.

The Ordered Phase Formation in Ti-Al-Ga Alloys

1970 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 440-441
Author(s):  
Shiro Fujishiro ◽  
Harold L. Gegel
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Stability ◽  
High Temperature ◽  
Titanium Alloys ◽  
Growth Kinetics ◽  
Stoichiometric Composition ◽  
Good Potential ◽  
Alpha Titanium ◽  
Cold Rolled ◽  
Kinetics Of ◽  
Thermal Stability Of

Ordered-alpha titanium alloys having a DO19 type structure have good potential for high temperature (600°C) applications, due to the thermal stability of the ordered phase and the inherent resistance to recrystallization of these alloys. Five different Ti-Al-Ga alloys consisting of equal atomic percents of aluminum and gallium solute additions up to the stoichiometric composition, Ti3(Al, Ga), were used to study the growth kinetics of the ordered phase and the nature of its interface.The alloys were homogenized in the beta region in a vacuum of about 5×10-7 torr, furnace cooled; reheated in air to 50°C below the alpha transus for hot working. The alloys were subsequently acid cleaned, annealed in vacuo, and cold rolled to about. 050 inch prior to additional homogenization

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