Vision substitution by electro-stimulation has been studied since the 60s beginning with P. Bach-y-Rita. Camera pictures or movies encoded in gray levels are displayed using an electro-stimulation display device on the surface of a body part, such as the skin or the tongue. Medical-technical devices have been developed on this ...

Ecological valence theory (EVT; Palmer & Schloss, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107:8877-8882, 2010) proposes that color preferences are due to affective responses to color-associated objects: That is, people generally like colors to the degree that they like the objects associated with those colors. Palmer and Schloss found ...

Herein, we report a simple method to fabricate patterned organic/inorganic hybrid 1DPCs by top-down assisted photolithography. Versatile colorful pattern with different size and shape can be produced by selectively exposing the 1DPCs under UV light with predesigned photomask directly. The period change, especially the thickness variation of the top polymer ...

A smart luminescent material whose emission color and emission intensity can be separately modulated by external force is demonstrated. The rational manipulation of rich noncovalent interactions and fluorophore packing style promotes an in-depth understanding between supramolecular structure and photophysical property and offers an effective strategy to modulate the light-emitting property ...

The spectrum of modern illumination can be computationally tailored considering the visual effects of lighting. We investigated the spectral profiles of the white illumination maximizing the theoretical limits of the perceivable object colors. A large number of metamers with various degrees of smoothness were generated on and around the Planckian ...

Thermoresponsive microgels have been shown to be an excellent platform for designing sensor materials. Recently, poly (N-isopropylacrylamide)-co-acrylic acid (pNIPAm-co-AAc) microgel based etalon materials have been described as direct sensing materials that can be designed to have a single, unique color. These color tunable materials show immense promise for sensing due ...

In the right light: UV light triggers bond breaking, liberates a caged carboxylic acid, and generates the central CC double bond in the photoresponsive hexatriene molecule of a dithienylethene molecular switch. Light of the same wavelength converts the colorless isomer to its colored counterpart in a visually convenient method to ...

Relative to other metazoans, the mammalian integument is thought to be limited in colour. In particular, while iridescence is widespread among birds and arthropods, it has only rarely been reported in mammals. Here, we examine the colour, morphology and optical mechanisms in hairs from four species of golden mole (Mammalia: ...

The white light emission of Tm³⁺/Yb³⁺/Ho³⁺-doped GdVO₄ nanocrystals, following excitation with near-infrared light (λ_exc = 980 nm), via a multiphoton upconversion process is presented. Upconverted blue emission from the Tm³⁺ ions as well as green/red emissions from the Ho³⁺ ions contributes to the observed white light. The calculated Commission internationale ...

There has been much controversy as to whether there are sex-related differences in human color vision. While previous work has concentrated on testing the central visual field, this study compares male versus female color vision in the near peripheral retina. Male (n = 19) and female (n = 19) color ...

For a color constant observer, the color appearance of a surface is independent of the spectral composition of the light illuminating it. We ask how rapidly color appearance judgments are updated following a change in illumination. We obtained repeated binary color classifications for a set of stimuli defined by their ...

Multiple studies have addressed the mechanisms maintaining polymorphism within a population. However, several examples exist where species inhabiting diverse habitats exhibit local population-specific polymorphism. Numerous explanations have been proposed for the maintenance of geographic variation in color patterns. For example, spatial variation in patterns of selection or limited gene flow ...

Lacconotus LeConte, the sole Nearctic representative of the eurypine Mycteridae, is revised, based on morphological features of adults. The following syn. n. is proposed: Lacconotus pallidus Van Dyke, 1928 = Lacconotus pinicola Horn, 1879. The former is a light-colored form with a southern California distribution. A subgen. n.,Alcconotus, is described ...

A better understanding of the visual attraction of house flies to colors and patterns is needed to improve fly trap performance. This study combined physiological responses measured with electroretinogram studies of the house fly's compound eyes and ocelli with behavioral attraction of flies to reflective colors and patterns in light ...

The importance of eye care in the industry is a first level topic, due to most of the assembly and manufacturing aimed companies of various products that require direct health care of their employees, specially eye care. The lighting system, the lamp features and job tasks are factors that impact ...

PURPOSE: Fatigue is one of the most disturbing complaints of cancer patients and is often the reason for discontinuing treatment. This randomized controlled study tested the hypothesis that increased morning bright light, compared to dim light, would result in less fatigue in women with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy. METHODS: Thirty-nine ...

Heart sound is a valuable biosignal for diagnosis of a large set of cardiac diseases. Ambient and physiological noise interference is one of the most usual and highly probable incidents during heart sound acquisition. It tends to change the morphological characteristics of heart sound that may carry important information for ...

A major goal in epilepsy research is to understand the cellular basis of pathological forms of network oscillations, particularly those classified as high-frequency activity. What are the underlying mechanisms, and how do they arise? The topic of this review is the pattern of high-frequency oscillations that have been recorded in ...

INTRODUCTION: The diagnosis of cardiogenic pleural effusion (PE) is often difficult to make. The objective of our study was to evaluate the diagnostic usefulness of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels in PE patients with heart failure, in pleural fluid (PF) and blood (B), and to compare the cholesterol in ...

This paper describes a new design concept of automatically diagnosing and compensating LED degradations in distributed solid state lighting (SSL) systems. A failed LED may significantly reduce the overall illumination level, and destroy the uniform illumination distribution achieved by a nominal system. To our knowledge, an automatic scheme to compensate ...

Tremor, an involuntary, rhythmic, oscillatory movement of a body part, is the most common movement disorder encountered in clinical practice. Rest tremors occur in a body part that is relaxed and completely supported against gravity. Action tremors occur with voluntary contraction of a muscle and can be further subdivided into ...

Regarding orofacial motor assessment in facial paralysis, quantitative measurements of the face are being used to establish diagnosis, prognosis and treatment planning. To assess the prevalence of changes in mandibular range of motion in individuals with peripheral facial paralysis. Prospective study. We had 56 volunteers, divided in two groups: G1 ...

Motility is one of the most important characteristics associated with the fertilizing ability of spermatozoa and is an expression of their viability and structural integrity. Computer-assisted semen analyser (CASA) provides precise and accurate information on different sperm motion characteristics. This article reviews various aspects of computer-aided motility analysis of bull ...

Background: Sensory hearing loss is predominantly caused by the destruction of cochlear outer hair cells (OHCs), inner hair cells (IHCs), or spiral ganglion cells (SGCs). There have been a number of attempts to differentiate between these etiologies of hearing loss, using various psychoacoustic and physiologic paradigms. Purpose: Here we investigate ...

Reasons for performing study: To determine the association between owner-reported noise and findings during dynamic respiratory endoscopy (DRE) in a large case series. Hypothesis: The sensitivity of owner-reported noise for dynamic upper respiratory tract obstructions in horses is low, and the specificity is high. Methods: One hundred horses underwent DRE ...

After the development of a reliable method to detect free light chains in serum, several investigations have been conducted to explore their importance in plasma cell dyscrasias (PCD). Detection of monoclonal proteins is very important in the diagnosis and management of PCD, which include a broad spectrum of diseases such ...

BACKGROUND: Alterations in scapular motion frequently are seen in association with various shoulder disorders. It is common clinically to compare the pathological shoulder with the contralateral shoulder, in spite of arm dominance, to characterize the disorder. However, there have been few articles that test the underlying assumption that dominant and ...

A biorobotic pectoral fin was developed and used to study how the flexural rigidities of fin rays within a highly deformable fish fin affect the fin's propulsive forces. The design of the biorobotic fin was based on a detailed analysis of the pectoral fin of the bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus). ...

In the face of the physical and physiological challenges of performing breath-hold deep dives, marine vertebrates have evolved different strategies. Although behavioural strategies in marine mammals and seabirds have been investigated in detail, little is known about the deepest-diving reptile - the leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea). Here, we deployed tri-axial ...

The hip intracyclic velocity variability and the index of coordination in front crawl swimming were examined in relation to performance level. 22 swimmers were assigned to either an elite or a recreational swimming group and performed 4 swim trials at different paces relative to their individual maximum velocity. A velocity ...

Antennules have been reported to influence localization of distant food odors, sex discrimination, and agonistic and social behaviors of decapod crustaceans. Although olfaction by the antennules is largely recognized, information on the sensitivity of antennules to hydrodynamic stimuli has been scant. In red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii antennules, mechanosensory setae ...

The mystacial vibrissae of pinnipeds constitute a sensory system for active touch and detection of hydrodynamic events. Harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) and California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) can both detect hydrodynamic stimuli caused by a small sphere vibrating in the water (hydrodynamic dipole stimuli). Hydrodynamic trail following has only been ...

Flagellar propulsion of swimming Escherichia coli produces circling clockwise motions near planar solid surfaces. Counterclockwise motion was first reported near air-TN medium interfaces, showing that slip at the interface is a key parameter of bacterial swimming.

Bacteria are capable of sensing and responding to changes in their environment. One of the ways they do this is via chemotaxis, regulating swimming behaviour. The chemotaxis pathway senses chemoattractant gradients and uses a feedback loop to change the bacterial swimming pattern; this feedback loop differs in detail between species. ...

Motile cilia mediate the flow of mucus and other fluids across the surface of specialized epithelia in metazoans. Efficient clearance of peri-ciliary fluids depends on the precise coordination of ciliary beating to produce metachronal waves. The role of individual dynein motors and the mechanical feedback mechanisms required for this process ...

Rheophilic fish commonly experience unsteady flows and hydrodynamic perturbations. Instead of avoiding turbulent zones though, rheophilic fish often seek out these zones for station holding. A behaviour associated with station holding in running water is called entraining. We investigated the entraining behaviour of rainbow trout swimming in the wake of ...

Haloarcula marismortui has been described to be nonmotile prior to the recent identification of flagellar filaments, suggesting the motile nature of H. marismortui. Here we observed the locomotion of freshly cultured H. marismortui cells and tracked the swimming trajectories via ImageJ. Trajectories of H. marismortui are intrinsically noisy, posing difficulties in motion analysis ...

Along the evolutionary path from single cells to multicellular organisms with a central nervous system are species of intermediate complexity that move in ways suggesting high-level coordination, yet have none. Instead, organisms of this type possess many autonomous cells endowed with programs that have evolved to achieve concerted responses to ...

This study compared the components of the 15-m swimming start for 20 international male Olympic and Paralympic swimmers. The time, distance, and velocity components for freestyle swimming were measured. There were significantly (p < .05) different absolute and relative swim start measures among the swimming groups. Using stepwise regression three ...

The effects of skill level on index of arm coordination (IdC), mechanical power output (P(d)), and swim efficiency were studied in front crawlers swimming at different speeds. Seven national and seven regional swimmers performed an arms-only intermittent graded speed test on the MAD-system and in a free condition. The MAD-system ...

Krill are aquatic crustaceans that engage in long distance migrations, either vertically in the water column or horizontally for 10 km (over 200,000 body lengths) per day. Hence efficient locomotory performance is crucial for their survival. We study the swimming kinematics of krill using a combination of experiment and analysis. ...

The aim of the present study was to assess the kinematical changes when swimming maximal bouts in Front Crawl and Breaststroke with the AquaTrainer snorkel. Thirteen male swimmers (7 at Breaststroke and 6 at Front Crawl) of national level performed randomly two maximal bouts of 100-m swims: one bout using ...

The study tried to reveal the differences between physiological and pathological tremor appearing during maintenance of isometric force in healthy individual and parkinsonian patients with tremor. Six-level wavelet expansion was used presenting the tremor as a sum of smoothed (slow) component and high-frequency detailed components of 6 expansion levels. The ...

The lateral line system detects water flow, which allows fish to orient their swimming with respect to hydrodynamic cues. However, it is unclear whether this sense plays a role in the control of propulsion. Hydrodynamic theory suggests that fish could reduce drag by coordinating the motion of the head relative ...

In mammals, motile cilia cover many organs, such as fallopian tubes, respiratory tracts and brain ventricles. The development and function of these organs critically depend on efficient directional fluid flow ensured by the alignment of ciliary beating. To identify the mechanisms involved in this process, we analysed motile cilia of ...

As described by Mohl et al. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 114, 1143-1154 (2003)], the acoustic properties of the received clicks of a turning sperm whale change as the whale rotates. These changing properties (the time signal, the discrete Fourier transform, and the discrete wavelet transform are studied here) confound cluster ...

Sperm whales have been depredating black cod (Anoplopoma fimbria) from demersal longlines in the Gulf of Alaska for decades, but the behavior has now become pervasive enough that it is starting to affect government estimates of the sustainable catch, motivating further studies of this behavior. In July 2007 and June ...

When two sounds of nearly the same frequency get together they will alternately add up or cancel out. If they start out together, after a while they will no longer be together, and the peak of the one will meet a trough of the other and they will cancel. The ...

The sand-dwelling octopus Macrotritopus defilippi was filmed or photographed in five Caribbean locations mimicking the swimming behavior (posture, style, speed, duration) and coloration of the common, sand-dwelling flounder Bothus lunatus. Each species was exceptionally well camouflaged when stationary, and details of camouflaging techniques are described for M. defilippi. Octopuses implemented ...

The purpose of this study was to compare cortical brain responses evoked by amplitude modulated acoustic beats of 3 and 6 Hz in tones of 250 and 1000 Hz with those evoked by their binaural beats counterparts in unmodulated tones to indicate whether the cortical processes involved differ. Event-related potentials ...