PURPOSE To develop rapid image processing techniques for the objective analysis of corneal in vivo confocal micrographs. METHODS Perpendicular central corneal volume scans from healthy volunteers were obtained via laser in vivo confocal microscopy. The layer in each volume scan that contained the nerve plexus was detected by applying software operators to analyze image features on the basis o...

A growing body of evidence indicates that a majority of insects experience some degree of wing deformation during flight. With no musculature distal to the wing base, the instantaneous shape of an insect wing is dictated by the interaction of aerodynamic forces with the inertial and elastic forces that arise from periodic accelerations of the wing. Passive wing deformation is an unavoidable fea...

Insect wings are flexible. For rigid wings lift enhancing unsteady aerodynamics mechanisms, such as delayed stall via leading-edge vortices (LEVs), wake-capture, and rotational forces, characterize the lift generation of a hovering insect. We have uncovered a novel mechanism that fruit fly size insects can utilize to further increase the lift by adjusting its wing shape passively: A pair of a L...

Birds appear to use their tails during flight, but until recently the aerodynamic role that tails fulfil was largely unknown. In recent years delta-wing theory, devised to predict the aerodynamics of high-performance aircraft, has been applied to the tails of birds and has been successful in providing a model for the aerodynamics of a bird's tail. This theory now provides the conventional expla...

Tissue patterning must be translated into morphogenesis through cell shape changes mediated by remodeling of the actin cytoskeleton. We have found that Capping protein alpha (Cpa) and Capping protein beta (Cpb), which prevent extension of the barbed ends of actin filaments, are specifically required in the wing blade primordium of the Drosophila wing disc. cpa or cpb mutant cells in this region...

This project focuses on developing a flapping-wing hovering insect using 3D-printed wings and mechanical parts. The use of 3D printing technology has greatly expanded the possibilities for wing design, allowing wing shapes to replicate those of real insects or virtually any other shape. It has also reduced the time of a wing design cycle to a matter of minutes. An ornithopter with a mass of 3.8...

Abstract: An inflatable cell model of paragrlider’s wing canopy has been investigated in wind tunnel experiments, which is designed to represent the dynamic behaviors of each cell comprising the canopy. Effects of air-intake of paraglider canopy have also been investigated in this study. The improvement of the shape of air intake and pressure distribution from the standpoints of aerodynamics wi...