Caterpillars can increase their body mass 10,000-fold in 2 weeks. It is therefore remarkable that most caterpillars appear to maintain the same locomotion kinematics throughout their entire larval stage. This study examined how the body properties of a caterpillar might change to accommodate such dramatic changes in body load. Using Manduca sexta as a model system, we measured changes in body v...

We performed numerical simulations of blood flow in arteries with a variable stiffness and cross-section at rest using a finite volume method coupled with a hydrostatic reconstruction of the variables at the interface of each mesh cell. The method was then validated on examples taken from the literature. Asymptotic solutions were computed to highlight the effect of the viscous and viscoelastic ...

The composition and principle of an electrohydraulic servo oil film stiffness control system of hydrostatic center frame will be introduced, and the system model identification as well as the verification will be carried out based on semi-physical simulation environment of Real-time Workshop (RTW) and system identification toolbox in MATLAB. A control strategy of fuzzy sliding model variable st...

The objective of this study was to examine the interplay between matrix stiffness and hydrostatic pressure (HP) in regulating chondrogenesis of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and to further elucidate the mechanotransductive roles of integrins and the cytoskeleton. MSCs were seeded into 1 %, 2 % or 4 % agarose hydrogels and exposed to cyclic hydrostatic pressure. In a permissive media, the stiffe...

The reflection and transmission of thermoelastic plane waves at an imperfect boundary of two dissimilar fibre-reinforced transversely isotropic thermoelastic solid half-spaces under hydrostatic initial stress has been investigated. The appropriate boundary conditions are applied at the interface to obtain the reflection and transmission coefficients of various reflected and transmitted waves wi...

Tensile properties of the larval cuticle of Manduca sexta were measured during the fifth instar. It was found that as the larvae grew and the cuticle thickened, the tangent modulus (intrinsic stiffness) for the cuticle declined rapidly. The extensibility of the cuticle during the growth period remained relatively high and fairly constant, while the flexural stiffness remained low. Subsequently,...

Atomistic simulations show that organosilicates, used as low permittivity dielectric materials in advanced integrated circuits, can be made substantially stiffer than amorphous silica, while maintaining a lower mass density. The enhanced stiffness is achieved by incorporating organic cross-links to replace bridging oxygen atoms in the silica network. To elucidate the mechanism responsible for t...

A remarkably diverse group of organisms rely on a hydrostatic skeleton for support, movement, muscular antagonism and the amplification of the force and displacement of muscle contraction. In hydrostatic skeletons, force is transmitted not through rigid skeletal elements but instead by internal pressure. Functioning of these systems depends on the fact that they are essentially constant in volu...