We show experimentally that properly selected chord-wise flexibility can have a significant effect on the propulsive efficiency of two-dimensional flapping (heaving and pithing) foils, up to a 36% increase, compared to the efficiency of a rigid foil, with small loss in thrust. Two different foil kinematics are employed in the experiments: the first using simple harmonic heave and pitch motions;...

We discuss a piecewise-conserved constant of motion for a simple dissipative oscillatory mechanical system. The system is a harmonic oscillator with sliding (dry) friction. The piecewise-conserved constant of motion corresponds to the time average of the energy of the system during one halfperiod of the motion, and changes abruptly at the turning points of the motion. At late times the piecewis...

The perception of motion-in-depth is important for avoiding collisions and for the control of vergence eye-movements and other motor actions. Previous psychophysical studies have suggested that sensitivity to motion-in-depth has a lower temporal processing limit than the perception of lateral motion. The present study used functional MRI-informed EEG source-imaging to study the spatiotemporal p...

Structured patterns of global visual motion called optic flow provide crucial information about an observer's speed and direction of self-motion and about the geometry of the environment. Brain and behavioral responses to optic flow undergo considerable postnatal maturation, but relatively little brain imaging evidence describes the time course of development in motion processing systems in ear...

We expand the anecdotic report by Johansson that back-and-forth linear harmonic motions appear uniform. Six experiments explore the role of shape and spatial orientation of the trajectory of a point-light target in the perceptual judgment of uniform motion. In Experiment 1, the target oscillated back-and-forth along a circular arc around an invisible pivot. The imaginary segment from the pivot ...

This paper presents a new method for exponential Radon transform inversion based on the harmonic analysis of the Euclidean motion group of the plane. The proposed inversion method is based on the observation that the exponential Radon transform can be modified to obtain a new transform, defined as the modified exponential Radon transform, that can be expressed as a convolution on the Euclidean ...

For a one-dimensional motion, a constant of motion for non autonomous an linear system (position and velocity) is given from the constant of motion associated to its autonomous system. This approach is used in the study of the harmonic oscillator with an additional time depending force.

We generate coherent ultraviolet radiation at 313 nm as the third harmonic of an external-cavity diode laser. We use this radiation for laser cooling of trapped beryllium atomic ions and sympathetic cooling of co-trapped beryllium-hydride molecular ions. An LBO crystal in an enhancement cavity generates the second harmonic, and a BBO crystal in a doubly resonant enhancement cavity mixes this se...