The paper presents a new electromechanical amplifying device i.e., an electromechanical biological transistor. This device is located in the outer hair cell (OHC), and constitutes a part of the Cochlear amplifier. The physical principle of operation of this new amplifying device is based on the phenomenon of forward mechanoelectrical transduction that occurs in the OHC's stereocilia. Operation of this device is similar to that of classical electronic Field Effect Transistor (FET). In the considered electromechanical transistor the input signal is a mechanical (acoustic) signal. Whereas the output signal is an electric signal. It has been shown that the proposed electromechanical transistor can play a role of the active electromechanical controlled element that has the ability to amplify the power of input AC signals. The power required to amplify the input signals is extracted from a battery of DC voltage. In the considered electromechanical transistor, that operates in the amplifier circuit, mechanical input signal controls the flow of electric energy in the output circuit, from a battery of DC voltage to the load resistance. Small signal equivalent electrical circuit of the electromechanical transistor is developed. Numerical values of the electrical parameters of the equivalent circuit were evaluated. The range, which covers the levels of input signals (force and velocity) and output signals (voltage, current) was determined. The obtained data are consistent with physiological data. Exemplary numerical values of currents, voltages, forces, vibrational velocities and power gain (for the assumed input power levels below 1 picowatt (10-12 W)), were given. This new electromechanical active device (transistor) can be responsible for power amplification in the cochlear amplifier in the inner ear.

In this paper, the authors analyse the propagation of surface Love waves in an elastic layered waveguide (elastic guiding layer deposited on an elastic substrate) covered on its surface with a Newtonian liquid layer of finite thickness. By solving the equations of motion in the constituent regions (elastic substrate, elastic surface layer and Newtonian liquid) and imposing the appropriate boundary conditions, the authors established an analytical form of the complex dispersion equation for Love surface waves. Further, decomposition of the complex dispersion equation into its real and imaginary part, enabled for evaluation of the phase velocity and attenuation dispersion curves of the Love wave. Subsequently, the influence of the finite thickness of a Newtonian liquid on the dispersion curves was evaluated. Theoretical (numerical) analysis shows that when the thickness of the Newtonian liquid layer exceeds approximately four penetration depths 4δ of the wave in a Newtonian liquid, then this Newtonian liquid layer can be regarded as a semi-infinite half-space. The results obtained in this paper can be important in the design and optimization of ultrasonic Love wave sensors such as: biosensors, chemosensors and viscosity sensors. Love wave viscosity sensors can be used to assess the viscosity of various liquids, e.g. liquid polymers.

An emerging ultrasonic technology aims to control high-pressure industrial processes that use liquids at pressures up to 800 MPa. To control these processes it is necessary to know precisely physicochemical properties of the processed liquid (e.g., Camelina sativa oil) in the high-pressure range. In recent years, Camelina sativa oil gained a significant interest in food and biofuel industries. Unfortunately, only a very few data characterizing the high-pressure behavior of Camelina sativa oil is available. The aim of this paper is to investigate high pressure physicochemical properties of liquids on the example of Camelina sativa oil, using efficient ultrasonic techniques, i.e., speed of sound measurements supported by parallel measurements of density. It is worth noting that conventional low-pressure methods of measuring physicochemical properties of liquids fail at high pressures. The time of flight (TOF) between the two selected ultrasonic impulses was evaluated with a cross-correlation method. TOF measurements enabled for determination of the speed of sound with very high precision (of the order of picoseconds). Ultrasonic velocity and density measurements were performed for pressures 0.1–660 MPa, and temperatures 3–30XC. Isotherms of acoustic impedance Za, surface tension σ and thermal conductivity k were subsequently evaluated. These physicochemical parameters of Camelina sativa oil are mainly influenced by changes in the pressure p, i.e., they increase about two times when the pressure increases from atmospheric pressure (0.1 MPa) to 660 MPa at 30XC. The results obtained in this study are novel and can be applied in food, and chemical industries.