A butterfly drinks liquid food through a long coiled proboscis with a pressure gradient induced by a cibarial pump. However, the long and coiled proboscis make it difficult to position the proboscis tip at the liquid target. In addition, the flow resistance in the slender tube is very high. To compensate for these disadvantages, the butterfly proboscis possesses line sink which makes liquid probing easy. In addition, dynamic motions of the butterfly pump exhibit large stroke volume to adapt high flow resistance in the long proboscis.   내용 보기

\\Intracellular 3D movements of chloroplasts in intact plant leaves were monitored during dark to light transitions by a TPM system. All chloroplasts did not exhibit the same motion in response to irradiation variation. Spatial heterogeneity in chloroplast motility underlines the importance of monitoring intracellular orientation and movement of individual chloroplasts across intact leaves.   내용 보기

In order to use gold nanoparticle(AuNP) with synchrotron X-ray imaging as a tool for visualize hydraulics in xylem vessel, interaction with the vascular network is verified. Effects of AuNP supply on the water refilling function of  monocot species are investigated by the refilling process in sample leaves with X-ray imaging and evaporative water loss. The function was virtually unaffected, but discrepancy in the water uptakes starts to appear at about 20 min to 40 min after the supply of AuNP solution.   내용 보기

Plant leaves have porous structures to pull water from root to the tip of leaves, and they finally release water to the air. The morphological structure of plant leaves has been optimized to efficiently transport water. Inspired by the morphological structure of mesophyll cells, analogous models were fabricated using hydrogel to study the effect of pore size on water transport. The hydrogel model with nano-/microporous hierarchical structure induced higher evaporation and greater swelling ratio, compared with the model with nanoporous unitary structure.   내용 보기

Dynamically repeated periodic patterns are abundant in natural and artificial systems, such as tides, heart beats, stock prices, and the like. The characteristic repeatability and periodicity are expected to be optimized in effective system-specific functions. In this study, such optimum periodicity is experimentally evaluated in terms of effective mass transport using one-valve and multi-valve systems working in contractile fluid flows. A set of nanoscale gating functions is utilized, operating in nanocomposite networks through which permeates selectively pass under characteristic co...   내용 보기