Alona Ben-Tal

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Alona Ben-Tal
Alma mater Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, University of Auckland
Known forMathematical modeling of human and bird breathing, electrical power systems
AwardsFellow of the New Zealand Mathematical Society (2016)
Scientific career
FieldsApplied Mathematics
Institutions Massey University
Doctoral advisor Vivien Kirk, Graeme Wake, Geoff Nicholls

Alona Ben-Tal is an Israeli and New Zealand applied mathematician who works as an associate professor and deputy head of school in the School of Natural and Computational Sciences at Massey University. Her research concerns dynamical systems and the mathematical modeling of human and bird breathing [1] [2] and of electrical power systems.

Contents

Education and career

Ben-Tal originally studied mechanical engineering [2] [3] at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, earning a bachelor's degree there in 1991 and a master's degree in 1994. [2] [4] After working in industry for three years, she moved with her family to New Zealand and returned to graduate study in mathematics, [2] [3] completing a Ph.D. in 2001 at the University of Auckland with the dissertation A Study of Symmetric Forced Oscillators supervised by Vivien Kirk, Graeme Wake and Geoff Nicholls. [5] [6] [7]

After she completed her doctorate, she held positions at the University of Auckland as a fixed-term lecturer in mathematics, and then as a NZ Science & Technology Post-doctoral Fellow in the Bioengineering Institute, before moving to Massey University as a lecturer in 2005. [2]

Contributions

In her work on human breathing, Ben-Tal has studied respiratory sinus arrhythmia, the phenomenon that the heart rate speeds up while inhaling and slows down while exhaling. Initially hypothesising that this variability would improve the rate of gas exchange in the lungs, her research found that instead it saves effort by the heart while maintaining even levels of blood oxygenation. [1] [2]

In birds, Ben-Tal has studied the one-way nature of certain air passages in bird lungs, and the ability of birds to change the speed of airflow through these passages. Her research found that, in some circumstances, birds spend less time inhaling than they do exhaling. [1] [2]

Recognition

Ben-Tal was named a fellow of the New Zealand Mathematical Society in 2016. [4] [8]

Related Research Articles

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Exhalation is the flow of the breath out of an organism. In animals, it is the movement of air from the lungs out of the airways, to the external environment during breathing. This happens due to elastic properties of the lungs, as well as the internal intercostal muscles which lower the rib cage and decrease thoracic volume. As the thoracic diaphragm relaxes during exhalation it causes the tissue it has depressed to rise superiorly and put pressure on the lungs to expel the air. During forced exhalation, as when blowing out a candle, expiratory muscles including the abdominal muscles and internal intercostal muscles generate abdominal and thoracic pressure, which forces air out of the lungs.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Rankine, Jenny (June 2016), "Models for breathing", NZ Images, no. 14, p. 8
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 McKibbin, Robert (April 2019), "Profile" (PDF), Newsletter of the New Zealand Mathematical Society, no. 135, pp. 10–11
  3. 1 2 "Alona Ben-Tal", About The Author, SIAM News, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics , retrieved 2020-12-17
  4. 1 2 "Associate Professor Alona Ben-Tal", School of Natural and Computational Sciences staff, Massey University, retrieved 2020-12-17
  5. Alona Ben-Tal at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  6. Ben-Tal, Alona (2001), A Study of Symmetric Forced Oscillators, ResearchSpace@Auckland, hdl:2292/2323, Wikidata   Q111964159
  7. Ben-Tal, Alona (2001). A Study of Symmetric Forced Oscillators (Doctoral thesis). ResearchSpace@Auckland.
  8. NZMS Accreditation, New Zealand Mathematical Society, retrieved 2020-12-17