MODELING, DESIGN AND CONTROL OF GLIDING ROBOTIC FISH By Feitian Zhang Autonomous underwater robots have been studied by researchers for the past half century. In particular, for the past two decades, due to the increasing demand for environmental sustainability, significant attention has been paid to aquatic environmental monitoring using autonomous underwater robots. In this dissertation, a ne...

Flying fish (Teleostei: Exocoetidae) glide at a speed considerably faster than they can travel in water. This phenomenon has been investigated and examined from taxonomic, anatomical, aerodynamic and biological standpoints through field observations. However, direct measurements of the flight performance of flying fish at the moment of leaping from the water surface have not previously been per...

Nerve and tendon gliding exercises are advocated in the conservative and postoperative management of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). However, traditionally advocated exercises elongate the nerve bedding substantially, which may induce a potentially deleterious strain in the median nerve with the risk of symptom exacerbation in some patients and reduced benefits from nerve gliding. This study aime...

Mycoplasma mobile glides on a glass surface in the direction of its tapered end by an unknown mechanism. Two large proteins, Gli349 and Gli521, were recently reported to be involved in glass binding and force generation/transmission, respectively, in M. mobile gliding. These proteins are coded tandemly with two other open reading frames (ORFs) in the order p123-gli349-gli521-p42 on the genome. ...

Nowadays the underwater gliding after the starts and the turns plays a major role in the overall swimming performance. Hence, minimizing hydrodynamic drag during the underwater phases should be a main aim during swimming. Indeed, there are several postures that swimmers can assume during the underwater gliding, although experimental results were not conclusive concerning the best body position ...

The employment of gliding in aquatic animals as a means of conserving energy has been theoretically predicted and discussed for decades. Several studies have shown that some species glide, whereas others do not. Freshwater fish species that widely inhabit both lentic and lotic environments are thought to be able to adapt to fluctuating flow conditions in terms of locomotion. In adapting to the ...

Our goal was to assess the microtubule translocating ability of individual ATPase subunits of outer arm dynein. Solubilized outer arm dynein from sea urchin sperm (Stronglocentrotus purpuratus) was dissociated into subunits by low ionic strength buffer and fractionated by zonal centrifugation. Fractions were assessed by an in vitro functional assay wherein microtubules move across a glass surfa...

We present a study about AFM imaging of living, moving or self-immobilized bacteria in their genuine physiological liquid medium. No external immobilization protocol, neither chemical nor mechanical, was needed. For the first time, the native gliding movements of Gram-negative Nostoc cyanobacteria upon the surface, at speeds up to 900 µm/h, were studied by AFM. This was possible thanks to an im...

[Purpose] To quantify the ratio of activation of the infraspinatus and posterior deltoid muscles and the anterior gliding motion of the humeral head during external rotation (ER) motions of the shoulder performed in prone position against different external resistance loads. [Subjects] Twenty healthy women between the ages of 20 and 30 years. [Methods] Activity ratio was quantified as the diffe...

Gliding motility is critical for normal development of spore-filled fruiting bodies in the soil bacterium Myxococcus xanthus. Mutations in mgl block motility and development but one mgl allele can be suppressed by a mutation in masK, the last gene in an operon adjacent to the mgl operon. Deletion of the entire 5.5 kb masABK operon crippled gliding and fruiting body development and decreased spo...