As a result of the extensive application of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), their potential hazards, once they are released into the natural environment, are of great concern to people. Since silver is very sensitive to light, the toxicity of AgNPs released into the natural environment will be inevitably affected by light. ...

This study evaluated the effects of β-diketone antibiotics (DKAs) on the development of embryo-larval zebrafish (Danio rerio). When exposure to DKAs, developmental malformations, such as hatching delay, curved body axis, pericardial edema, uninflated swim bladder and yolk sac edema, were observed at 120 h postfertilization (hpf). The estimated 120 hpf ...

The ever increasing industrial and consumer applications of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs) raise concern over the possible risk associated with their environmental exposure. Still, the knowledge regarding nanoparticle behavior in a freshwater ecosystem is lacking. The current study focuses on the toxicity of TiO2 NPs towards Ceriodaphnia dubia (a ...

Aggregation of amyloid β (Aβ(1-42) ), causing toxicity, is a critical step in Alzheimer's disease (AD). AD studies are difficult to compare because Aβ(1-42) aggregation is poorly controllable under physiological conditions. To control aggregation and toxicity, we engineered light-switchable Aβ(1-42) analogues that enable controllable conversion of nontoxic fibrils into toxic ...

OBJECTIVE: To record and compare the frequency of organ penetration after insertion of a Veress needle (VN) in 6 different intercostal spaces (ICS) for creation of pneumoperitoneum in canine cadavers. STUDY DESIGN: Descriptive study. ANIMALS: Canine cadavers (n = 15). METHODS: In 15 cadavers positioned in dorsal recumbency, VN insertion ...

Under many aqueous conditions, metal oxide nanoparticles attract other nanoparticles and grow into fractal aggregates as the result of a balance between electrostatic and Van Der Waals interactions. Although particle coagulation has been studied for over a century, the effect of light on the state of aggregation is not well ...

Collagen cross-linking (CXL) using UVA light and riboflavin (vitamin B2) was introduced as a clinical application to stabilize the cornea by inducing cross-links within and between collagen fibers. CXL has been investigated extensively and has been shown clinically to arrest the progression of keratoconic or post-LASIK ectasia. With its minimal ...

In this work, it is proposed to evaluate the upper-limb movements through a global index of performance borrowed from the field of robotics: the manipulability. For a given posture, this index quantifies the set of velocities that can be achieved at the wrist in all the Cartesian directions. The manipulability ...

Vigabatrin (VGB) is a commonly prescribed antiepileptic drug designed to inhibit GABA-transaminase, effectively halting seizures. Unfortunately, VGB treatment is also associated with the highest frequencies of peripheral visual field constriction of any of the antiepileptic drugs and the mechanisms that lead to these visual field defects are uncertain. Recent studies ...

The aim of the present work was to study how the information on product labels influences consumer expectations and their acceptance and purchase intention of dark chocolate. Six samples of dark chocolate, varying in brand (premium and store brand) and in type of product (regular dark chocolate, single cocoa origin ...

We used two methods to address two aspects of multi-finger synergies and their changes after fatigue of the index finger. Analytical inverse optimization (ANIO) was used to identify cost functions and corresponding spaces of optimal solutions over a broad range of task parameters. Analysis within the uncontrolled manifold (UCM) hypothesis ...

To evaluate the impact of proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joint arthrodesis on the kinematics of precision pinch. Eleven healthy subjects performed index finger-thumb pinch motions under 4 conditions: unrestricted thumb and index finger (CONTROL) and fusion of the PIP joint of the index finger in flexion of 30° (PIP30), 40° (PIP40), ...

The objective of this study was to evaluate individual finger force and contribution to a gripping force, the difference between actual and expected finger forces and subjective discomfort rating at 10 different submaximal voluntary contraction (%MVC) levels (10-100% in 10 increments). Seventy-two participants randomly exerted gripping force with a multi-finger ...

Total internal reflection occurs for large angles of incidence, when light is incident from a high-refractive-index medium onto a low-index medium. We consider the situation where the low-index medium is active. By invoking causality in its most fundamental form, we argue that evanescent gain may or may not appear, depending ...

Combination sensitivity in central auditory neurons is a form of spectrotemporal integration in which excitatory responses to sounds at one frequency are facilitated by sounds within a distinctly different frequency band. Combination-sensitive neurons respond selectively to acoustic elements of sonar echoes or social vocalizations. In mustached bats, this response property ...

The aim of this study was to test the mechanical advantage (MA) hypothesis in multi-finger torque production tasks in humans: fingers with longer moment arms produce greater force magnitudes during torque production tasks. There were eight experimental conditions: two prehension types determined by different mechanical constraints (i.e., fixed- and free-object ...

The Indian Ocean and Atlantic bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus and Tursiops truncatus) are among the best studied echolocating toothed whales. However, almost all echolocation studies on bottlenose dolphins have been made with captive animals, and the echolocation signals of free-ranging animals have not been quantified. Here, biosonar source parameters from ...

Would a rose sound as sweet? In this presentation, we will explore perception of individual microphones. The same vocalist will be recorded with five different microphones. Volunteers will be presented with two sets of tracks to evaluate. The first set of tracks will be labeled only with letters, microphone A, ...

A bias to allocate attention to the left hemispace, similar to the well-known pseudoneglect phenomenon shown by humans, has been recently reported in domestic chicks and other species of birds. Asymmetrical light exposure of the embryo of the domestic chick in a critical period before hatching is known to be ...

The dim light melatonin onset (DLMO) is the most reliable circadian phase marker in humans, but the cost of assaying samples is relatively high. Therefore, the authors examined differences between DLMOs calculated from hourly versus half-hourly sampling and differences between DLMOs calculated with two recommended thresholds (a fixed threshold of ...

We developed a high-index-contrast photonic structure for improving the light extraction efficiency of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) by a self-assembly approach. In this approach, a two-dimensional grating can be non-lithographically integrated on the top of virtually any types of LEDs with controlled structural parameters and material indices. As a proof of ...

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between subjective measures of discomfort and objective measures related to the assessment of postural stresses based on literature survey. Objective measures included posture holding time, maximum holding time (MHT), torque at joints, lifting index (LI) and compressive force (CF) at ...

This study investigated the effects of stimulus modality, standard duration, sex, and laterality in duration discrimination by musicians and nonmusicians. Seventeen musicians (M age = 24.1 yr.) and 22 nonmusicians (M age = 26.8 yr.) participated. Auditory (1,000 Hz) and tactile (250 Hz) sinusoidal suprathreshold stimuli with varying durations were ...

We report an invisibility carpet cloak device, which is capable of making an object undetectable by visible light. The cloak is designed using quasi conformal mapping and is fabricated in a silicon nitride waveguide on a specially developed nanoporous silicon oxide substrate with a very low refractive index (n<1.25). The ...

This paper evaluates depth of anaesthesia (DoA) monitoring using a new index. The proposed method preconditions raw EEG data using an adaptive threshold technique to remove spikes and low frequency noise. We also propose an adaptive window length technique to adjust the length of the sliding window. The information pertinent ...

Several measures have been developed to quantify swimming performance to understand various aspects of ecology and behaviour, as well as to help design functional applications for fishways and aquaculture. One of those measures, the optimal swimming speed, is the speed at which the cost of transport (COT) is minimal, where ...

Mantra is a free and open-source software package for object tracking. It is specifically designed to be used as a tool for response collection in psychological experiments and requires only a computer and a camera (a webcam is sufficient). Mantra is compatible with widely used software for creating psychological experiments. ...

The contact areas of the articular surfaces in the proximal radioulnar joint (PRUJ) change, depending on the rotational position of the forearm. We investigated the in vivo congruency index of the PRUJ and translational motion of the radial head relative to the lesser sigmoid notch with forearm rotation. Computed tomography ...

The resurgence of temporal patterns of key pecking by pigeons was investigated in two experiments. In Experiment 1, positively accelerated and linear patterns of responding were established on one key under a discrete-trial multiple fixed-interval variable-interval schedule. Subsequently, only responses on a second key produced reinforcers according to a variable-interval ...

The parameter, "Strength of Sound G" is closely related to loudness. Its magnitude is dependent, inversely, on the total sound absorption in a room. By comparison, the reverberation time (RT) is both inversely related to the total sound absorption in a hall and directly related to its cubic volume. Hence, ...

Hansen, KT, Cronin, JB, and Newton, MJ. The reliability of linear position transducer and force plate measurement of explosive force-time variables during a loaded jump squat in elite athletes. J Strength Cond Res 25(5): 1447-1456, 2011-The best method of assessing muscular force qualities during isoinertial stretch shorten cycle lower body ...

To study relationships between glaucoma-sensitive components identified with frequency-domain analysis of global-flash multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG), regional retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFLT), and local visual field sensitivity (VS). Eleven macaque monkeys, including four controls and seven with unilateral laser-induced trabecular meshwork scarification and ocular hypertension, were observed with optical coherence ...

Acute ambient ozone (O(3)) exposure is associated with the increased mortality and morbidity of cardiovascular diseases. The dysfunction of cardiac autonomic nervous system (ANS), indicated by the disturbed heart rate variability (HRV), may be the most important underlying mechanism. Previous studies reported the heterogeneous associations between O(3) within several hours' ...

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of expertise on motion anticipation. We conducted 2 experiments in which novices and expert pilots viewed simulated aircraft landing scenes. The scenes were interrupted by the display of a black screen and then started again after a forward or backward ...

A sudden change applied to a single component can cause its segregation from an ongoing complex tone as a pure-tone-like percept. Three experiments examined whether such pure-tone-like percepts are organized into streams by extending the research of Bregman and Rudnicky (1975). Those authors found that listeners struggled to identify the ...

The aim of the present study was to show the effect of orientation on producing ellipses of various eccentricities. Ten right-handed adults were required to reproduce eight series of 84 ellipses on a graphic tablet at spontaneous speed. The ellipses displayed seven eccentricities, corresponding to the Lissajous plot produced by ...

Over the past years there has been increasing evidence that the CIE color rendering index R_a fails to correspond to the perceived color quality of many light sources, especially some Light-Emitting-Diodes. Several proposals to update, complement or even replace the CIE R_a have therefore been made. The performance of thirteen ...

We examined multiunit responses to tones and to 1/3 and 2/3 octave band-pass noise (BPN) in the marmoset primary auditory cortex (A1) and the caudomedial belt (CM). In both areas, BPN was more effective than tones, evoking multiunit responses at lower intensity and across a wider frequency range. Typically, the ...

The grasp orientation when grasping an object is frequently aligned in anticipation of the intended rotation of the object (end-state comfort effect). We analyzed grasp orientation selection in a continuous task to determine the mechanisms underlying the end-state comfort effect. Participants had to grasp a box by a circular handle-which ...

The nociceptive flexion reflex (NFR) is a physiological tool to study spinal nociception. However, NFR assessment can take several minutes and expose participants to repeated suprathreshold stimulations. The 4 studies reported here assessed the reliability and validity of a brief method to assess NFR threshold that uses a single ascending ...

PURPOSE.: Macular pigment (MP) acts as a prereceptoral filter which selectively absorbs short wavelengths. It has the potential to alter color vision but the literature is conflicting on whether it does and, if so, to what extent, possibly reflecting differences between color mechanisms and color tests. This study was designed ...

The present study briefly examined how the perceived size of a leading flash would be modulated by trailing motion signals. Observers were presented with two vertical green bars that were followed by white bars with different lengths, which were presented at different locations from the green bars. The task of ...

BACKGROUND: Public opposition to aerial application of sex pheromone for mating disruption of light-brown apple moth (LBAM), Epiphyas postvittana (Walk.), in California stopped its further use in the ca $ 74 million eradication programme in 2008, underscoring the need for other eradication tactics. It is demonstrated that pheromone-treated sterile Mediterranean ...

The ontogeny of swimming speed, schooling behaviour and jellyfish avoidance was studied in hatchery-reared Japanese anchovy Engraulis japonicus to compare its life-history strategy with two other common pelagic fishes, jack mackerel Trachurus japonicus and chub mackerel Scomber japonicus. Cruise swimming speed of E. japonicus increased allometrically from 1·4 to 3·9 ...

This study compares the hearing status and behaviors of Australian farmers from 1994-2001 with those from 2002-2008. Over this period the authors found (1) there was a 12.5% overall improvement in the proportion of farmers with normal hearing in left ears, with the likelihood of a screening participant having normal ...

Space motion sickness (SMS) still remains a problematic nuisance for a majority of fliers during their first 1 to 3 days in space and is an enigma to all concerned after almost half a century of spaceflight and extensive ground and in-flight studies. There is no known etiology consistent with ...

Key features of the voice-fundamental frequency (F(0)) and formant frequencies (Fn)-can vary extensively among individuals. Some of this variation might cue fitness-related, biosocial dimensions of speakers. Three experiments tested the independent, joint and relative effects of F(0) and Fn on listeners' assessments of the body size, masculinity (or femininity), and ...

Experiment 1 examined comodulation masking release (CMR) for a 700-Hz tonal signal under conditions of N(o)S(o) (noise and signal interaurally in phase) and N(o)S(π) (noise in phase, signal out of phase) stimulation. The baseline stimulus for CMR was either a single 24-Hz wide narrowband noise centered on the signal frequency ...

The courtship behavior of Drosophilid flies has served as a long-standing model for studying the bases of animal communication [1]. During courtship, male flies flap their wings to send a complex pattern of airborne vibrations to the antennal ears of the females. These "courtship songs" differ in their spectrotemporal composition ...

The analysis of epileptic seizures is typically performed by visual inspection, limited by interrater variation. Our aim was to differentiate seizures characterized by automatisms with an objective, quantitative movement analysis. In part 1 of this study we found parameters (extent and speed of movement of the wrist and trunk) separating ...