An uneven change in climate across the Northern Hemisphere might severely affect the phenology of migrating animals, and especially long-distance migrating birds relying on local climatic cues to regulate the timing of migration. We examine the forward displacement of spring in both staging areas and breeding grounds of one such ...

In this paper, we introduce a numerical simulation of a phase detecting surface plasmon resonance (SPR) scheme based on spectral interference. Based on the simulation, we propose a method to optimize various aspects of SPR sensors, which enables better performance in both measurement range (MR) and sensitivity. In the simulation, ...

BACKGROUND CONTEXT: Lumbar foraminal stenosis is a common clinical problem and a significant cause of lower extremity radiculopathy. Minimal in vivo data exists quantifying changes in foraminal area (FA) as the spine moves from flexion to extension in the lumbar spine or on the relationship between FA and lumbar segmental angular ...

Flight direction is a major component of animal's migratory success. However, few studies focused on variation in flight direction both between and within individuals, which is likely to be correlated with other traits implied in migration processes. We report patterns of intra- and inter-individual variation in flight direction in the ...

We analyze how kinematic properties of C3/C4-segments are modified after total disc arthroplasty (TDA) with PRESTIGE(®) and BRYAN(®) Cervical Discs. The measurements were focused on small ranges of axial rotation (<0.8°) in order to investigate physiologic rotations, which frequently occur in vivo. Eight human segments were stimulated by triangularly varying, ...

This study compared nanofilled and microhybrid composites polymerized by different light polymerization modes, and the effects these modes had on the mechanical properties of the composites. The following mechanical properties were measured: Vickers microhardness numbers, diametral tensile strength, flexural strength, and flexural modulus. The filler content (Wt%) present in the ...

Recent developments in minimally invasive polymer-film sensors permit the in-situ detection of mechanical vibrations in musical instruments without significantly disturbing the acoustics of the instrument. As an example, we present measurements of vibrations of a violin between the feet of the bridge and the top plate. To this end, calibrated ...

A detailed time-domain simulation is implemented to model the bowed cello string. Building on earlier simulation models, several new features have been added to make the model more realistic: in particular, both polarizations of the string motion are included, as well as the longitudinal vibrations of the bow hair. These ...

Concave curves are pleasing to the eye, but they cause a number of different acoustic anomalies. Depending on the radius of curvature, finish material, included angle, and position relative to source and receiver, one may hear a strong return echo, a noticeable coloration of the frequency balance, a dramatic shift ...

A MEMS differential microphone is described in which the diaphragm design is inspired by the mechanics of directional hearing in the fly Ormia ochracea. The 1 mm by 3 mm diaphragm is designed to rotate about a central pivot in response to sound pressure gradients. The diaphragm is designed to ...

Abstract It has been suggested that birds migrate faster in spring than in autumn because of competition for arrival order at breeding grounds and environmental factors such as increased daylight. Investigating spring and autumn migration performances is important for understanding ecological and evolutionary constraints in the timing and speed of ...

Carpet or ground-plane invisibility cloaks hide an object in reflection and inhibit transmission experiments by construction. This concept has significantly reduced the otherwise demanding material requirements and has hence enabled various experimental demonstrations. In contrast, free-space invisibility cloaks should work in both reflection and transmission. The fabrication of omnidirectional three-dimensional ...

Various superimposed chirped relief gratings, acting as diffracting holographic lenses, were photo-inscribed on azo-polymer films upon exposure to the interference pattern of a plane and a curved laser light wavefronts. Depending on the configuration used, this resulted in incident light being focused independently of polarization along the 0th or 1st ...

Near-infrared (NIR) polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs) based on a fluorene-dioctyloxyphenylene wide-gap host material copolymerized with a low-gap emitter are presented. Various loadings (1, 2.5, 10, 20 mol%) of the low-gap emitter are studied, with higher loadings leading to decreased efficiencies likely due to aggregation effects. While the 10 mol% loading ...

By detecting ultrasonically tagged diffuse light, ultrasound-modulated optical tomography images optical contrast with ultrasonic resolution deep in turbid media, such as biological tissue. However, small detection etendues and weak tagged light submerged in strong untagged background light limit the signal detection sensitivity. In this Letter, we report the use of ...

Polymers that can easily be repaired after being damaged are attractive as this characteristic can improve the reliability, functionality, and lifetime of many products. In the last decade, researchers have thus developed new approaches to create stimuli-responsive polymer systems, which have the ability to autonomously heal or can be repaired ...

By using a visible-light-excited ternary Eu(3+) complex, BHHBCB-Eu(3+)-BPT (BHHBCB: 1,2-bis[4'-(1",1",1",2",2",3",3"-heptafluoro-4″,6″-hexanedion-6″-yl)-benzyl]-4-chlorosulfobenzene; BPT: 2-(N,N-diethylanilin-4-yl)-4,6-bis(pyrazol-1-yl)-1,3,5-triazine), as a luminophore, two kinds of novel visible-light-excited europium materials, the silica-encapsulated BHHBCB-Eu(3+)-BPT (Eu@SiO2) nanoparticles and BHHBCB-Eu(3+)-BPT-conjugated bovine serum albumin (BSA-BHHBCB-Eu(3+)-BPT), were prepared for biolabeling and time-resolved luminescence cell imaging applications. The Eu@SiO2 nanoparticles, prepared by the copolymerization ...

WHAT IS KNOWN AND OBJECTIVE: Admixtures of levobupivacaine, fentanyl and epinephrine are increasingly used in epidural pain management. Neither the compatibility nor the stability of levobupivacaine with fentanyl and epinephrine is known and therefore we examined the chemical, physical and microbiological stability of levobupivacaine-fentanyl-epinephrine and levobupivacaine-fentanyl admixtures prepared in the ...

In a recent paper, Park et al. [Opt. Express 20(9), 10218 (2012)] demonstrated that large micro-size cube phosphors are an outstanding potential candidate for scatter-free phosphors in white phosphor-converted light-emitting diodes (pc-LEDs). They found that large micro-size cube phosphors can lead to higher luminous efficiency (LE), higher packaging efficiency (PE), ...

Each fall, eastern North American monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) migrate from their northern range to their overwintering grounds in central Mexico [1-3]. Fall migrants are in reproductive diapause, and they use a time-compensated sun compass to navigate during the long journey south [4-6]. Eye-sensed directional cues from the daylight sky ...

As manifested in the similarity relation of diffuse light transport, it is difficult to assess single scattering characteristics from multiply scattered light. We take advantage of the limited validity of the diffusion approximation of light transport and demonstrate, experimentally and numerically, that even deep into the multiple scattering regime, time-resolved ...

Cerebellar long-term depression (LTD) and cortical spike-timing-dependent synaptic plasticity (STDP) are two well-known and well-characterized types of synaptic plasticity. Induction of both types of synaptic plasticity depends on the spike timing, pairing frequency, and pairing numbers of two different sources of spiking. This implies that the induction of synaptic plasticity ...

Purpose: Difficult impression removal has been linked to high rigidity and hardness of elastomeric impression materials. In response to this concern, manufacturers have reformulated their materials to reduce rigidity and hardness to decrease removal difficulty; however, the relationship between impression removal and rigidity or hardness has not been evaluated. The ...

Perpendicularly magnetized materials have attracted significant interest owing to their high anisotropy, which gives rise to extremely narrow, nanosized domain walls. As a result, the recently studied current-induced domain wall motion (CIDWM) in these materials promises to enable a new class of data, memory and logic devices. Here we propose ...

Stilp and Kluender [(2010). Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 107(27), 12387-12392] reported measures of sensory change over time (cochlea-scaled spectral entropy, CSE) reliably predicted sentence intelligibility for normal-hearing listeners. Here, implications for listeners with atypical hearing were explored using noise-vocoded speech. CSE was parameterized as Euclidean distances between biologically scaled ...

Displacement (D) vs. force (F) profiles obtained during compaction of powders have been reported by several researchers. These profiles are usually used to obtain mechanical energies associated with the compaction of powders. In this work, we obtained displacement-force data associated with the compression of six powders; Avicel PH101, Avicel PH301, ...

To achieve a high transmittance and extinction ratio for the polarized white light-emitting diodes (WLEDs), the package structures of polarized WLEDs that are pumped by blue LEDs are studied. A WLED is implemented using a nano-wire grid polarizer (NWGP) and forms a pumping cavity. Combining the reflection and transmission characteristics ...

The development of backside reflectors (BSRs) is crucial for the efficiency of future low cost thin-film silicon solar cells. In this work, the scattering efficiency of bare aluminum BSRs with different pore sizes and ordering of surface microstructures are investigated. The BSRs were fabricated by utilizing the process of self-ordering ...

A wing-type imbedded electrodes was introduced into the lateral light emitting diode configuration (WTIE-LEDs) to reduce the effect of light shading of electrode in conventional sapphire-based LEDs (CSB-LEDs). The WTIE-LEDs with double-side roughened surface structures not only can eliminate the light shading of electrode and bonding wire, but also increase ...

Coupling of light into a thin layer of high refractive index material by plasmonic nanoparticles has been widely studied for application in photovoltaic devices, such as thin-film solar cells. In numerous studies this coupling has been investigated through measurement of e.g. quantum efficiency or photocurrent enhancement. Here we present a ...

PURPOSE: This study compared the status of suture knots immediately after repair and after shoulder motion to evaluate the possibility of movement-induced knot migration to a location nearer the glenoid. METHODS: We included 10 shoulders from 5 cadavers in the study. After posterior capsulotomy, a Bankart lesion was created. A ...

Developing new strategies for controlling polymer conformations through precise molecular recognition can potentially generate a machine-like motion that is dependent on molecular information-an important process for the preparation of new intelligent nanomaterials (e.g., polymer-based nanomachines) in the field bordering between polymer chemistry and conventional supramolecular sciences. Herein, we propose a ...

Migratory insects adapt to and exploit the atmospheric environment to complete their migration and maintain their population. However, little is known about the mechanism of insect migration under the influence of extreme weather conditions such as typhoons. A case study was conducted to investigate the effect of typhoon Khanun, which ...

The identification of migration routes, wintering grounds and stopover sites are crucial issues for the understanding of the Palearctic-African bird migration system as well as for the development of relevant conservation strategies for trans-Saharan migrants. Using miniaturized light-level geolocators we report a comprehensive and detailed year round track of a ...

We investigate Ga0.33In0.67P quantum dot structures appropriate for special lighting applications in terms of structural and optical behaviors. The Ga0.33In0.67P materials form from 2-dimentional to 3-dimensional dots as the nominal growth thickness increases from 0.5 nm to 6.0 nm, indicating a Stranski-Krastanov growth mode. As the ambient temperature is increased ...

The objective of this study was to compare the conversion degree of six different composite materials (Filtek Z 250, Filtek P60, Spectrum TPH, Pertac II, Clearfil AP-X, and Clearfil Photo Posterior) using three different light sources (blue light-emitting diode [LED], plasma arc curing [PAC], and conventional halogen lamp [QTH]). Composites ...

Using computational modeling, we show that self-oscillating Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) gels can both emit and sense a chemical signal and thus drive neighboring gel pieces to spontaneously self-aggregate, so that the system exhibits autochemotaxis. To the best of our knowledge, this is the closest system to the ultimate self-recombining material, which ...

In this work, a flash light sintering process using silver nano-inks is investigated. A silver nano-ink pattern was printed on a flexible PET (polyethylene terephthalate) substrate using a gravure-offset printing system. The printed silver nano-ink was sintered at room temperature and under ambient conditions using a flash of light from ...

On account of their intrinsic chemical and spectroscopic properties, luminescent lanthanide molecular materials find potential applications in lighting, optical communications, photonics and biomedical devices. This perspective article summarizes some recent seminal research work on luminescent properties and structural aspects of a series of lanthanide benzoate complexes featuring Eu(3+) and Tb(3+) ...

A method to measure thin-film thickness, refractive index, and dispersion constants based on white-light interferometry is described. The thin-film property is retrieved from the Fourier amplitude of the white-light correlogram. The sources of errors in Fourier amplitude, which include the accuracy of wave number, light source variation in time, and ...

Photoremovable protecting groups (PRPGs) are applied to organic surfaces, thin polymer films, and hydrogels to achieve light-based remote control of their (bio)chemical and physical properties. These can be localized (i.e. patterned), tunable by exposure dose, and generated on-demand. Using PRPGs with independent response to different wavelengths, multifunctional materials with a ...

In the present study, a visible-light responsive plasmonic photocatalytic composite material is designed by rationally selecting Au nanocrystals and assembling them with the TiO2 based photonic crystal substrate. The selection of the Au nanocrystals is so that their surface plasmonic resonance (SPR) wavelength matches the photonic band gap of the ...

The behavior of a limited bandwidth light wave reflected from a material interface is studied theoretically. It is shown that near the anomalous dispersion zone, if the incident center wavelength is shifted by a small amount, this shift can be amplified by about three times in the reflected light.

We studied peculiarities of the structural reconstruction within holographically recorded gratings on the surface of several different amorphous azobenzene-containing polymers. Under illumination with a light interference pattern, two processes take place in this type of polymer. The first process is the light-induced orientation of azobenzene units perpendicular to the polarization ...

Localized dark and bright materials, often with extremely different albedos, were recently found on Vesta's surface. The range of albedos is among the largest observed on Solar System rocky bodies. These dark materials, often associated with craters, appear in ejecta and crater walls, and their pyroxene absorption strengths are correlated ...

Bar-headed geese are renowned for migratory flights at extremely high altitudes over the world's tallest mountains, the Himalayas, where partial pressure of oxygen is dramatically reduced while flight costs, in terms of rate of oxygen consumption, are greatly increased. Such a mismatch is paradoxical, and it is not clear why ...

Numerical simulation method was used in this paper to study the effects of partial ossicular replacement prostheses (PORPs) with different materials on hearing restoration, from the biomechanical point of view. According to the CT scan imagery of the right ear from a normal human body, the CT data was digitalized ...

In this study, we analyzed the photoelectric current generated by bacteriorhodopsin adsorbed on a polymer film, "Lumirror" (Muneyuki et al. in FEBS Lett 427:109-114, 1998). We could examine the photoelectric current over a wide range of light intensity and pH values using the same membrane owing to the mechanical and ...

We report for the first time on a hole conductor-free mesocopic lead iodide CH3NH3PbI3(perovskite)/TiO2 heterojunction solar cell, produced by deposition of perovskite nanoparticles from a solution of CH3NH3I and PbI2 in γ-butyrolactone on a 400nm thick film of TiO2 (anatase) nanosheets exposing (001) facets. An Au film was evaporated a ...

Elaborating reliable and versatile strategies for efficient light coupling between free space and thin films is of crucial importance for new technologies in energy efficiency. Nanostructured materials have opened unprecedented opportunities for light management, notably in thin-film solar cells. Efficient coherent light trapping has been accomplished through the careful design ...