The purpose of this study was to establish a motion pattern by characterizing the kinetics and kinematics associated with the hip, knee and ankle joint of a group of healthy yoga teachers when performing three yoga postures and comparing them to three activities of daily living (ADL). A group of experienced female yoga practitioners (n = 13), with a minimum of 5 years teaching experience, between the ages of 20 to 45, performed the Lunge, Warrior II, and Triangle poses starting from Downward Dog. The kinetic and kinematic data of the yoga practitioners was collected when performing yoga postures. The step length, joint angles, range of motion (ROM), joint moments, and angular impulse in sagittal and frontal plane were studied for the hip, knee and ankle during performance. The data were averaged, descriptive statistics of the measures were obtained, and results for each posture as well as for the average yoga practice were presented in tables and figures with standard deviation. The percentages of change and effect sizes were calculated to compare yoga movements to ADL. The stride lengths were similar in the Lunge (1.98m), Warrior II (1.51m), and Triangle (1.43m). The motion patterns of the Lunge and the Warrior II poses follow similar joint angle and joint moment, and angular impulse patterns, whereas the Triangle pose creates distinctly different patterns in most joints and planes. In the Lunge and Warrior II poses, the knee joint reaches a maximal flexion angle of 73.76° and 67.69° respectively, 18% to 32% less than what is classically instructed in a yoga class. The knee reached 9.5° of extension while in Triangle pose. The hip contributed 50-70% of the angular impulse in the lower limb in all three yoga movements. When comparing to ADL, ROM was only greater in the hip in of sagittal plane motion and in the knee if frontal plane motion, and most of the joint moments of the lower extremity were notably smaller in ADL for the minimal values and notably larger for the maximal values in yoga. In conclusion, this is first time to establish the kinematics and kinetics motion patterns of three yoga movement which become a basis for further studying yoga biomechanics and its application. Moreover the motion pattern data suggests that yoga experts do not yoga as practice the Lunge and Warrior poses as classically described in yoga book for the knee and Triangle pose may place the knee in a precarious alignment. Yoga has high demanding to hip strength and ROM, which may help to improve hip strength and subsequently benefit to dynamic stability in gait.

The present Thesis explored spatial reorientation behaviour of three species of fish (the zebrafish Danio rerio, the redtail splitfin fish Xenotoca eiseni, the goldfish Carassius auratus) and one species of reptiles (the Hermann tortoise Testudo hermanni) to widely assess three issues: 1) the use of environmental geometry with and without landmarks; 2) the role of two geometric tasks, one driven by spontaneous behaviour (“social-cued memory task”) and the other by learning processes (“rewarded exit task”); 3) the involvement of extra-visual sensory channels in visual transparency conditions, and motion patterns. The present Thesis applied behavioural assessments and analyses to pursue a line of comparison, across species, methodologies, and sensory systems. As regards environmental geometry and landmarks in fish and tortoises (Chapter 2), the studies were carried out within several apparatuses, that is, a rectangular opaque arena or two different sized square opaque arenas or a transparent square arena, with conspicuous or local landmarks: Study 1, Conspicuous landmark (blue wall) in zebrafish; Study 2: Local landmarks (corner panels) in zebrafish; Study 3, Environmental geometry in tortoises; Study 4, Conspicuous landmark (blue wall) in tortoises. As regards spontaneous vs. acquired geometric spatial reorientation in fishes (Chapter 3), the studies were carried out within a rectangular or square transparent arena, with or without geometric cues or a 3D landmark: Study 5, Nonvisual environmental geometry in zebrafish, redtail splitfin fish, and goldfish; Study 6, Isolated environmental geometric cues in zebrafish; Study 7, 3D outside landmark (blue cylinder) in zebrafish. As regards extra-visual sensory systems and motion patterns in fish (Chapter 4), one study was carried out within a rectangular transparent arena: Study 8, Lateral line pharmacological ablation in zebrafish. In respect of comparisons among species, overall results suggested that zebrafish, redtail splitfin fish, and goldfish reoriented similarly through transparent surfaces, which defined a distinctive global shape, supporting spatial reorientation under undefined situations (e.g., seek out food within a visually lacking and unenriched environment) as a shared skill among teleosts, despite ecological specificities. Likewise, the Hermann tortoise reoriented within a geometric environment with precision to meet a survival need, suggesting that even non-nomadic species that hibernate for long can benefit from orientation by extended terrain surfaces. In respect of memory tests (“working” vs. “reference”, spontaneous vs. acquired), overall results indicated that the rewarded exit task designed to train fish and tortoise to reorient required learning processes allowing them to overcome natural predispositions to improve other related abilities, such as landmark-use. The dissociation between working and reference memory in spatial domain must be considered highly dependent on task’s demands where attentional factors determine short-term memories and motivational states long-term ones. In respect of sensory channels and motion patterns, overall results revealed that fish and tortoises used modalities driven by touch, in synch with sight, to determine geometric parameters during spatial reorientation. Therefore, a promising link between other vertebrates and humans takes place, in consideration of orientation mechanisms used to face situations of visual deprivation or impairments. The present Thesis may even contribute to a general understanding of reorientation behaviour in phylogenetically remote vertebrate species, thus supporting the widespread use of geometry-grounded tools in everyday activities. This also provides comparative support among species that inhabit on Earth and share cognitive adaptations to deal with similar requests.

Title: Spontaneous activity of lower limbs in a vertical position in the aquatic environment Objectives: The aim of this study was to determinate whether spontaneous activity of lower limb in the aquatic environment enable to determinate preferred swimming stroke of an individual. Also, whether identified asymmetry of the lower limbs during treading water depend on passive range of hip joints. Methods: Spontaneous activity of lower limbs in a vertical position with a hands and head out of water was recorded on video. Passive intra/extrarotion, flexion, extension, abduction in hip joints were measured using mechanical two-arm goniometer. Qualitative analysis of spontaneous activity of lower limbs recorded on video was conducted using Kinovea 0.8.15. Results: According to the results of our work, it can not be said that the preferred swimming stroke can be determined on the basis of the spontaneous activity of the lower limbs in a vertical position in the aquatic environment. We can assume that the individual chose the pattern of treading water according to an energetically economical way while minimizing resistive forces and not in pursuance of preferred swimming stroke. Bilateral asymmetry (left-right) during the water treading movement was detected in the whole group. The most significant...