There is enormous clinical potential in exploiting the spatial and temporal resolution of optical techniques to modulate pathophysiological neuronal activity, especially intractable focal epilepsy. We have recently utilized a new ruthenium-based caged compound, ruthenium-bipyridine-triphenylphosphine-γ-aminobutyric acid (RuBi-GABA), which releases GABA when exposed to blue light, to rapidly terminate paroxysmal activity in ...

Recent studies indicate some odontocetes may produce echolocation beams with a dual-lobed vertical structure. The shape of the odontocete echolocation beam was further investigated in a false killer whale performing an echolocation discrimination task. Clicks were recorded with an array of 16 hydrophones and frequency-dependent amplitude plots were constructed to ...

Plants have substantially invested in RNA silencing as the central defense mechanism to combat nucleotide 'invaders' such as viruses, trasposable elements and transgenes. The quantity and quality of light perceived by a plant is a constant environmental stimulus refining cell homeostasis and RNA silencing mechanism seems not to be an ...

We have recently proposed a new procedural noise function, Gabor noise, which offers a combination of properties not found in the existing noise functions. In this paper, we present three significant improvements to Gabor noise: 1) an isotropic kernel for Gabor noise, which speeds up isotropic Gabor noise with a ...

: To determine whether a sound-activated light-alarm device could reduce the noise in the central area of our pediatric intensive care unit and to determine whether this reduction was significant enough to decrease the noise that could be perceived by a patient located in a nearby room. The secondary objective ...

N-fused carbazole-zinc porphyrin-free-base porphyrin triad featuring an ethynyl-linkage was synthesized; efficient sensitization as long as 900 nm was demonstrated and an overall light-to-electricity conversion effciency of 5.21% was achieved under AM 1.5 G one sun illumination.

Perception-in-noise deficits have been demonstrated across many populations and listening conditions. Many factors contribute to successful perception of auditory stimuli in noise, including neural encoding in the central auditory system. Physiological measures such as cortical auditory-evoked potentials (CAEPs) can provide a view of neural encoding at the level of the ...

The effects of carbon fullerenes (C(60)) on the environment is a growing concern as the use of nanotechnology continues to increase. Previous studies have reported alteration in Daphnia magna behavior including increased hopping frequency, heart rate, and appendage movement in response to tetrahydrofuran (THF)-solubilized C(60) and increased hopping rate and ...

The literature demonstrates that most NICUs exceed the standard recommendations for noise levels and that high noise levels have a negative impact on patients and staff. The objective of this research was to measure baseline noise level in an NICU, compare it to recommendations of international bodies, and evaluate the ...

Noise pollution from human traffic networks and industrial activity impacts vast areas of our planet. While anthropogenic noise effects on animal communication are well documented, we have very limited understanding of noise impact on more complex ecosystem processes, such as predator-prey interactions, albeit urgently needed to devise mitigation measures. Here, ...

in adults, noninvasive ventilation via a helmet is associated with significantly greater noise than nasal and facial masks. We hypothesized that noise exposure could be increased with neonatal helmet continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) in comparison with conventional nasal CPAP (nCPAP). Our primary objective was to compare the noise intensity ...

Acceptable noise level (ANL) test materials were digitally modified to create five reverberant conditions by applying different values of reverberation time (RT) to a non-reverberant condition (RT = 0, 0.4, 0.7, 1.2, and 2 s). Two groups of 12 subjects participated: younger individuals (22–29 years, M = 24.3) and older ...

Resting state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) of the brain has the potential to elicit networks of functional connectivity and to reveal changes thereof in animal models of neurological disorders. In the present study, we investigate the contribution of physiological noise and its impact on assessment of functional connectivity in rs-fMRI of ...

We demonstrate the parametric amplification and noise squeezing of nanomechanical motion utilizing dispersive coupling to a Cooper-pair box qubit. By modulating the qubit bias and resulting mechanical resonance shift, we achieve gain of 30 dB and noise squeezing of 4 dB. This qubit-mediated effect is 3000 times more effective than ...

It is generally accepted that, while speech is processed bilaterally in auditory cortical areas, complementary analyses of the speech signal are carried out across the hemispheres. However, the Asymmetric Sampling in Time (AST) model (Poeppel, 2003) suggests that there is functional asymmetry due to different time scales of temporal integration ...

We have assessed the potential of an alternative probe tuning strategy based on the spin-noise response for application in common high-resolution multi-dimensional biomolecular NMR experiments with water signal suppression on aqueous and salty samples. The method requires the adjustment of the optimal tuning condition, which may be offset by several ...

The auditory abilities of the round goby Neogobius melanostomus were quantified using auditory evoked potential recordings, using tone bursts and conspecific call stimuli. Fish were tested over a range of sizes to assess effects of growth on hearing ability. Tests were also run with and without background noise to assess ...

In cities with intense low-frequency traffic noise, birds have been observed to sing louder and at a higher pitch. Several studies argue that higher song pitch is an adaptation to reduce masking from noise, and it has even been suggested that the song divergence between urban and nonurban songs might ...

The literature contains several allusions to the idea that detection of (mirror) symmetry in the presence of noise follows the Weber-Fechner law. This law usually applies to first-order structures, such as length, weight, or pitch, and it holds that just-noticeable differences in a signal vary in proportion to the strength ...

This paper presents a review of research carried out in the past 40 years into various aspects of noise in open plan classrooms. The emergence of open plan classroom design in response to progressive educational reforms is discussed. A limited amount of evidence of the effects of noise in open ...

The use of a silicone tube and a microphone enables peroperative noise recordings in cadavers and should be safe to apply in vivo. Our preliminary data indicate that noise levels during inner ear surgery reach levels that can cause noise-induced hearing loss. Our method is easily performed and enables future ...

The levels of noise necessary to effectively mask the stimuli commonly used in auditory brainstem response (ABR) tests were determined. The relative masking level (RLM) of twenty normally-hearing volunteers was measured behaviourally using ipsilaterally presented unfiltered noise in the presence of ABR stimuli. The upper limit for RLM was found ...

We studied the spatial and temporal patterns of noise exposure due to road traffic in Karachi City, Pakistan, and found that levels of noise were generally higher during mornings and evenings because of the commuting pattern of Karachi residents. This study found the average value of noise levels to be ...

Animals often communicate in environments with high levels of biotic noise that arises from the signals of other individuals. Although effects of background biotic noise on mate recognition and discrimination have been widely studied in air-born sound communication, little is known about incidental interference between signallers that use substrate-borne vibrational ...

In this work, the potential of using peripheral autonomic (PA) responses as control signals for body-machine interfaces that require no physical movement was investigated. Electrodermal activity, skin temperature, heart rate and respiration rate were collected from six participants and hidden Markov models (HMMs) were used to automatically detect when a ...

Scattering mechanisms in graphene are critical to understanding the limits of signal-to-noise ratios of unsuspended graphene devices. Here we present the four-probe low-frequency noise (1/f) characteristics in back-gated single layer graphene (SLG) and bilayer graphene (BLG) samples. Contrary to the expected noise increase with the resistance, the noise for SLG ...

Background noise poses a significant obstacle for auditory perception, especially among individuals with hearing loss. To better understand the physiological basis of this perceptual impediment, the present study evaluated the effects of background noise on the auditory nerve representation of head-related transfer functions (HRTFs). These complex spectral shapes describe the ...

The harmful effects of noise exposure during leisure-time activities are beginning to receive some scrutiny. We conducted a preliminary study to investigate the noise levels during the showings of 25 different films. During each screening, various sound measurements were made with a dosimeter. The movies were classified on the basis ...

Various platforms for measuring microRNAs can provide different answers.

In the study of noises generated by industrial sources, one issue is the variety of industrial noise sources and consequently the complexity of noises generated. Therefore, characterizing the environmental impact of an industrial plant requires better understanding of the noise annoyance caused by industrial noise sources. To deal with the ...

One strategy for coping with the constraints on acoustic signal reception posed by ambient noise is to signal louder as noise levels increase. Termed the 'Lombard effect', this reflexive behaviour is widespread among birds and mammals and occurs with a diversity of signal types, leading to the hypothesis that voice ...

The present paper explores the influence of the physical environmental qualities of "quiet". courtyards (degree of naturalness and utilization) on residents' noise responses. A questionnaire study was conducted in urban residential areas with road-traffic noise exposure between L(Aeq,24h) 58 to 68 dB at the most exposed façade. The dwellings had ...

The signal transduction and amplification in a Neurospora circadian clock system is studied by using the mechanism of internal signal stochastic resonance (ISSR). Two cases have been investigated: the case of no correlations between multiplicative and additive colored noises and the case of correlations between two noises. The results show ...

Noise pollution is a common health problem for developing countries. Especially highways and airports lead to noise pollution in different levels and in many frequencies. In this study, we focused on the effect of noise pollution in airports. This work aimed measurements of noise pollution levels in Van Ferit Melen ...

The main purpose of this study was to determine which body part is the best position to apply noise at so that balance control can be improved most. Twelve young healthy participants were recruited in this study. Balance control was assessed by center of pressure (COP) measures, which were collected ...

The presence of irrelevant auditory information (other talkers, environmental noises) presents a major challenge to listening to speech. The fundamental frequency (F(0)) of the target speaker is thought to provide an important cue for the extraction of the speaker's voice from background noise, but little is known about the relationship ...

OBJECTIVE: Develop dose-response relations for two groups of industrial workers exposed to Gaussian or non-Gaussian (complex) types of continuous noises and to investigate what role, if any, the kurtosis statistic can play in the evaluation of industrial noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). DESIGN: Audiometric and noise exposure data were acquired on ...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate effects of recreational noise exposure on olivocochlear efferent function. METHODS: efferent suppression of DPOAEs and acoustic reflexes were tested in 32 young personal listening device users with normal hearing and compared with that of healthy, non-noise-exposed young adults. RESULTS: The results showed that the efferent suppression of ...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether drivers of convertible cars are exposed to excessive noise levels. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective. SETTING: Data were collected along a main United Kingdom highway. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Seven cars were included within the study, encompassing a range in cost, power, and comfort. A calibrated, integrating noise meter ...

The home advantage is one of the best established phenomena in sports (Courneya & Carron, 1992), and crowd noise has been suggested as one of its determinants (Nevill & Holder, 1999). However, the psychological processes that mediate crowd noise influence and its contribution to the home advantage are still unclear. ...

Sound plays an important role in the life of many animals, including many bird species. Typically, male birds sing to defend a territory and to attract mates. Ambient noise may negatively affect the signal efficiency of their songs, which may be critical to reproductive success. Consequently, anthropogenic noise may be ...

In this paper we consider the restoration of images corrupted by both uniform motion blur and Poissonian noise. We formulate an image formation model that explicitly takes into account the length of the blur point-spread function and the noise level as functions of the exposure time. Further, we present an ...

The aims of this study are to 1) experimentally validate for the first time the nonlinear current-potential characteristics of bulk doped polycrystalline silicon in the small amplitude voltage regimes (0-200 μV) and 2) test if noise amplitudes ( 0-15 μV ) from single neuronal electrical recordings get selectively attenuated in ...

We consider the response of the classical Hodgkin-Huxley (HH) spatial system in the weak to intermediate noise regime near the bifurcation to repetitive spiking. The deterministic component of the input (signal) is restricted to a small segment near the origin whereas noise, with parameter σ, occurs either only in the ...

The noise power spectrum (NPS) measurement is important for assessing noise properties of digital radiography systems, and its measurement method was standardized in International Electrotechnical Commission 62220-1 (IEC). However, improvement of its accuracy is not easy due to random data analysis. In this study, regarding error factors in the NPS ...

Annoyance has been identified as the most important psychological impact arisen from noise. Besides socioeconomic status, residing neighborhood characteristics such as greenery has been shown to be able to reduce noise annoyance. To study the effects of these potential annoyance modifiers, nine hundred and ninety-two responses were collected through face-to-face ...

The purpose of this study was to define the quantitative relationship between the temporal characteristics of additive luminance noise and the properties of the spatial contrast sensitivity function (CSF). CSFs were obtained from two observers using Gabor patch targets of short duration that were added to white luminance noise with ...

We study noise transfer from pump to signal in silicon Raman amplifiers, with particular emphasis on the regimes of strong cumulative free-carrier absorption and heavy pump depletion. We calculate the relative intensity noise (RIN) transfers in copumped and counterpumped amplifiers and provide intuitive explanations for RIN peculiarities. We show that ...

Research has shown that bird songs are modified in different ways to deal with urban noise and promote signal transmission through noisy environments. Urban noise is composed of low frequencies, thus the observation that songs have a higher minimum frequency in noisy places suggests this is a way of avoiding ...

The ability to modify vocalizations to compensate for environmental noise is critical for successful communication in a dynamic acoustic environment. Many marine species rely on sound for vital life functions including communication, navigation and feeding. The impacts of significant increases in ocean noise levels from human activities are a current ...