The ears of insects exhibit a broad functional diversity with the ability to detect sounds across a wide range of frequencies and intensities. In tympanal ears, the membrane is a crucial step in the transduction of the acoustic stimulus into a neural signal. The tropical butterfly Morpho peleides has an oval-shaped membrane at the base of the forewing with an unusual dome in the middle of the s...

Small-amplitude fast vibrations and small surface micropatterns affect properties of various systems involving wetting, such as superhydrophobic surfaces and membranes. We review a mathematical method of averaging the effect of small spatial and temporal patterns. For small fast vibrations, this method is known as the method of separation of motions. The vibrations are substituted by effective ...

Proton conduction along protein-bound "water wires" is an essential feature in membrane proteins. Here, we analyze in detail a transient water wire, which conducts protons via a hydrophobic barrier within a membrane protein to create a proton gradient. It is formed only for a millisecond out of three water molecules distributed at inactive positions in a polar environment in the ground state. T...

It is generally believed that the remarkable sensitivity and frequency selectivity of mammalian hearing depend on outer hair cell-generated force, which amplifies sound-induced vibrations inside the cochlea. This 'reverse transduction' force production has never been demonstrated experimentally, however, in the living ear. Here by directly measuring microstructure vibrations inside the cochlear...

Shell structures, especially cylindrical shells, are widely used in aerospace and naval architectural industries. Submarine hulls and aircraft bodies can be idealized as cylindrical shell structures. The study of vibrations of cylindrical shells is an important aspect in the successful applications of the cylindrical shells. The free vibration characteristics of a submarine hull have an importa...

We report the development of a novel otoscopy probe for assessing middle ear anatomy and function. Video imaging and phase-sensitive optical coherence tomography are combined within the same optical path. A sound stimuli channel is incorporated as well to study middle ear function. Thus, besides visualizing the morphology of the middle ear, the vibration amplitude and frequency of the eardrum a...

High energy consumption during harvesting is one of the main bottlenecks for sustainable microalgae production. Membranes can efficiently separate from liquids with low consumption, but membrane fouling remains an important issue. Flocculation prior to filtration increase fluxes and decrease fouling, thus offering a low-cost efficient solution harvest microalgae. Biobased cationic cellulose nan...

In the framework of a strict mathematical approach based on classical theory elasticity we present an idea deployment and stretching circular solar sail attached to inflatable toroidal shell. It is predicted that by introducing gas into shell one can deploy stretch large size membrane. The formulas for membrane stresses strains caused pressure in are derived. analytical expressions be applied w...