The 2D projection of a rotating Necker cube yields an ambiguous 3D interpretation based on both 2D shape and kinetic depth information. The present study shows that the alternation rate of the two 3D interpretations is constant with the rotation speed up to some critical value (around 25 turns/min for a cube whose sides subtend 2.5 deg) and increases monotonically thereafter. It is proposed tha...

This paper presents work on the development of a microfluidic device using super-paramagnetic beads for sampling and mixing. The beads are manipulated via an external rotating permanent magnet in a microfluidic channel. Efficient mixing is achieved in a short distance with this method. Modeling shows the variables which influence the mixing are flow rate, bead rotation speed and the bead number...

We demonstrate how the speed of mixing under laminar conditions can be appreciably enhanced in concurrent centrifugal flows through straight, low-aspect-ratio microchannels pointing in radial direction in the plane of rotation. The convective mixing is driven by the inhomogeneous distribution of the velocity-dependent Coriolis pseudo force and the interaction of the soinduced transverse current...

Actin-based motility of the Grampositive bacterium Listeria monocytogenes is an analog of eukaryotic cell motility and has long been the subject of biochemical and biophysical investigations (reviewed in [1]). Only one bacterial factor—ActA—is required for the movement of L. monocytogenes [2–4]. Biophysical mechanisms have been proposed to explain the conversion of actin polymerization into pro...

Properties of starburst-driven outflows in dwarf galaxies are compared to those in more massive galaxies. Over a factor of ∼ 10 in galactic rotation speed, supershells are shown to lift warm ionized gas out of the disk at rates up to several times the star formation rate. The amount of mass escaping the galactic potential, in contrast to the disk, does depend on the galactic mass. The temperatu...

When humans grasp objects, the grasps foreshadow the intended object manipulation. It has been suggested that grasps are selected that lead to medial arm postures, which facilitate movement speed and precision, during critical phases of the object manipulation. In Experiment 1, it has been tested whether grasp selections lead to medial postures during rotations of a dial. Participants twisted t...

We investigate the figure rotation of dark matter halos identified in ΛCDM simulations. We find that when strict criteria are used to select suitable halos for study, 5 of the 222 halos identified in our z=0 simulation output undergo coherent figure rotation over a 5 h Gyr period. We discuss the effects of varying the selection criteria and find that pattern speeds for a much larger fraction of...

This study investigated how the human CNS organizes complex three-dimensional (3D) ball-throwing movements that require both speed and accuracy. Skilled baseball players threw a baseball to a target at three different speeds. Kinematic analysis revealed that the fingertip speed at ball release was mainly produced by trunk leftward rotation, shoulder internal rotation, elbow extension, and wrist...

We show theoretically and demonstrate experimentally that highly absorbing particles can be trapped and manipulated in a single highly focused Gaussian beam. Our studies of the effects of polarized light on such particles show that they can be set into rotation by elliptically polarized light and that both the sense and the speed of their rotation can be smoothly controlled.

We report a theoretical study on the effect of mechanical rotation of nanomagnet about a fixed axis due to its interaction with an electromagnetic wave with a frequency approaching that of ferromagnetic resonance. A stationary mode of rotation is investigated. We show that the rotation speed magnitude is proportional to the squared amplitude of the wave’s magnetic field, being maximum for a cir...