In living cells, molecular motors convert chemical energy into mechanical work. Its thermodynamic energy efficiency, i.e. the ratio of output mechanical work to input chemical energy, is usually high. However, using two-state models, we found the motion of molecular motors is loosely coupled to the chemical cycle. Only part of the input energy can be converted into mechanical work. Others is di...

In this Letter we study a system consisting of two nearly degenerate mechanical modes that couple to a single mode of an optical cavity. We show that this coupling leads to nearly complete (99.5%) hybridization of the two mechanical modes into a bright mode that experiences strong optomechanical interactions and a dark mode that experiences almost no optomechanical interactions. We use this hyb...

The mechanical behaviour of monodomain nematic side-chain liquid-crystalline elastomers containing azoderivatives as pendant groups or crosslinkers has been studied under UV irradiation and in the darkness at different temperatures. From the evaluation of the opto-mechanical experiments, the mechanical efficiency, kinetic rates, activation energies and the isomerization mechanism of the azocomp...

1 Key Laboratory of High-Efficiency and Clean Mechanical Manufacture of MOE, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Mechanical Engineering Education, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, China, 2 School of Information Science and Engineering, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, China, 3 Institute of Neurology, Shandong University, Jinan, China, 4 Department of Ne...

A new concentrator receiver containing a 7 mm X 7 mm 3J concentrator solar cell with a 37.4 % peak efficiency was developed. The receiver design includes a homogenizer, heat handling (epoxy lamination) technologies and a low resistance soldered connection and can be applied to various concentrator optics, including dish systems. The outdoor efficiency with a combination of a plastic Fresnel len...

The possibility to obtain multiphase steels with considerable fractions of retained austenite, which is of key interest for the occurrence of the TRIP effect, is investigated in steels with low amounts of Si and Al. Special emphasis is dedicated to the microstructural observation of this phase, since its volume fraction, distribution and stability, related to the carbon content, will determine ...

The efficiency and mechanical power output of insect flight muscle have been estimated from a study of hovering flight. The maximum power output, calculated from the muscle properties, is adequate for the aerodynamic power requirements. However, the power output is insufficient to oscillate the wing mass as well unless there is good elastic storage of the inertial energy, and this is consistent...

The sizeof the compensating orifice in the slipper of hydrostatic units has an important influence on the volumetric, mechanical, and overall efficiencies. A simple model was derived to predict the changes in efficiencies caused byfirst reducing and then blanking the orifice. Testing in a hydrostatic unit was performed to measure the effects of the slipper orifice design on efficiency. Comparis...