scholarly journals Selection of the intrinsic polarization properties of animal optical materials creates enhanced structural reflectivity and camouflage

2017 ◽  
Vol 372 (1724) ◽  
pp. 20160336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn D. Feller ◽  
Thomas M. Jordan ◽  
David Wilby ◽  
Nicholas W. Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Visual Information ◽  
Clupea Harengus ◽  
Visual Signals ◽  
Intrinsic Polarization ◽  
Structural Coloration ◽  
Molecular Asymmetry ◽  
Reflected Light ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Perception Function ◽  
Selection Of

Many animals use structural coloration to create bright and conspicuous visual signals. Selection of the size and shape of the optical structures animals use defines both the colour and intensity of the light reflected. The material used to create these reflectors is also important; however, animals are restricted to a limited number of materials: commonly chitin, guanine and the protein, reflectin. In this work we highlight that a particular set of material properties can also be under selection in order to increase the optical functionality of structural reflectors. Specifically, polarization properties, such as birefringence (the difference between the refractive indices of a material) and chirality (which relates to molecular asymmetry) are both under selection to create enhanced structural reflectivity. We demonstrate that the structural coloration of the gold beetle Chrysina resplendens and silvery reflective sides of the Atlantic herring, Clupea harengus are two examples of this phenomenon. Importantly, these polarization properties are not selected to control the polarization of the reflected light as a source of visual information per se. Instead, by creating higher levels of reflectivity than are otherwise possible, such internal polarization properties improve intensity-matching camouflage. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Animal coloration: production, perception, function and application’.

COMBINATORIAL POLYNOMIALLY COMPUTABLE CHARACTERISTICS OF SUBSTITUTIONS AND THEIR PROPERTIES

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 34-41
Author(s):  
VLADIMIR NIKONOV ◽  
◽  
ANTON ZOBOV ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Expectation ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Small Range ◽  
Computational Point ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Bijective Function ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Element Base ◽  
Selection Of

The construction and selection of a suitable bijective function, that is, substitution, is now becoming an important applied task, particularly for building block encryption systems. Many articles have suggested using different approaches to determining the quality of substitution, but most of them are highly computationally complex. The solution of this problem will significantly expand the range of methods for constructing and analyzing scheme in information protection systems. The purpose of research is to find easily measurable characteristics of substitutions, allowing to evaluate their quality, and also measures of the proximity of a particular substitutions to a random one, or its distance from it. For this purpose, several characteristics were proposed in this work: difference and polynomial, and their mathematical expectation was found, as well as variance for the difference characteristic. This allows us to make a conclusion about its quality by comparing the result of calculating the characteristic for a particular substitution with the calculated mathematical expectation. From a computational point of view, the thesises of the article are of exceptional interest due to the simplicity of the algorithm for quantifying the quality of bijective function substitutions. By its nature, the operation of calculating the difference characteristic carries out a simple summation of integer terms in a fixed and small range. Such an operation, both in the modern and in the prospective element base, is embedded in the logic of a wide range of functional elements, especially when implementing computational actions in the optical range, or on other carriers related to the field of nanotechnology.

scholarly journals Age-dependency in mortality of Finnish family caregivers: a nationwide register-based study

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
T M Mikkola ◽  
H Kautiainen ◽  
M Mänty ◽  
M B von Bonsdorff ◽  
T Kröger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
General Population ◽  
Family Caregivers ◽  
Family Caregiver ◽  
Causes Of Death ◽  
Lower Mortality ◽  
All Cause Mortality ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Caregiver Role ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract Purpose Mortality appears to be lower in family caregivers than in the general population. However, there is lack of knowledge whether the difference in mortality between family caregivers and the general population is dependent on age. The purpose of this study was to analyze all-cause mortality in relation to age in family caregivers and to study their cause-specific mortality using data from multiple Finnish national registers. Methods The data included all individuals, who received family caregiver's allowance in Finland in 2012 (n = 42 256, mean age 67 years, 71% women) and a control population matched for age, sex, and municipality of residence (n = 83 618). Information on dates and causes of death between 2012 and 2017 were obtained from the Finnish Causes of Death Register. Flexible parametric survival modeling and competing risk regression adjusted for socioeconomic status were used. Results The total follow-up time was 717 877 person-years. Family caregivers had lower all-cause mortality than the controls over the follow-up (8.1% vs. 11.6%) both among women (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.61-0.68) and men (HR: 0.73, 95% CI: 0.70-0.77). Younger adult caregivers had equal or only slightly lower mortality than their controls, but after age 60, the difference increased markedly resulting in over 10% lower mortality in favor of the caregivers in the oldest age groups. Caregivers had lower mortality for all the causes of death studied, namely cardiovascular, cancer, neurological, external, respiratory, gastrointestinal and dementia than the controls. Of these, the lowest was the risk for dementia (subhazard ratio=0.29, 95%CI: 0.25-0.34). Conclusions Older family caregivers have lower mortality than the age-matched controls from the general population while younger caregivers have similar mortality to their peers. This age-dependent advantage in mortality is likely to reflect selection of healthier individuals into the family caregiver role. Key messages The difference in mortality between family caregivers and the age-matched general population varies considerably with age. Advantage in mortality observed in family caregiver studies is likely to reflect the selection of healthier individuals into the caregiver role, which underestimates the adverse effects of caregiving.

scholarly journals A microfluidic device enabling drug resistance analysis of leukemia cells via coupled dielectrophoretic detection and impedimetric counting

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yağmur Demircan Yalçın ◽  
Taylan Berkin Töral ◽  
Sertan Sukas ◽  
Ender Yıldırım ◽  
Özge Zorlu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drug Resistance ◽  
K562 Cells ◽  
Leukemia Cells ◽  
Drug Resistant ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Gene Expressions ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Resistant Cells

AbstractWe report the development of a lab-on-a-chip system, that facilitates coupled dielectrophoretic detection (DEP-D) and impedimetric counting (IM-C), for investigating drug resistance in K562 and CCRF-CEM leukemia cells without (immuno) labeling. Two IM-C units were placed upstream and downstream of the DEP-D unit for enumeration, respectively, before and after the cells were treated in DEP-D unit, where the difference in cell count gave the total number of trapped cells based on their DEP characteristics. Conductivity of the running buffer was matched the conductivity of cytoplasm of wild type K562 and CCRF-CEM cells. Results showed that DEP responses of drug resistant and wild type K562 cells were statistically discriminative (at p = 0.05 level) at 200 mS/m buffer conductivity and at 8.6 MHz working frequency of DEP-D unit. For CCRF-CEM cells, conductivity and frequency values were 160 mS/m and 6.2 MHz, respectively. Our approach enabled discrimination of resistant cells in a group by setting up a threshold provided by the conductivity of running buffer. Subsequent selection of drug resistant cells can be applied to investigate variations in gene expressions and occurrence of mutations related to drug resistance.

scholarly journals Weightage Effect during Back-Calculation of Rock-Mass Quality from the Installed Tunnel Support in Rock-Mass Rating and Tunneling Quality Index System

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 2065 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonguk Kim ◽  
Hafeezur Rehman ◽  
Wahid Ali ◽  
Abdul Muntaqim Naji ◽  
Hankyu Yoo
Keyword(s):  
Rock Mass ◽  
Quality Index ◽  
Rock Bolt ◽  
Rock Mass Rating ◽  
Rock Mass Quality ◽  
Back Calculation ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Bolt Spacing ◽  
Q System ◽  
Selection Of

In extensively used empirical rock-mass classification systems, the rock-mass rating (RMR) and tunneling quality index (Q) system, rock-mass quality, and tunnel span are used for the selection of rock bolt length and spacing and shotcrete thickness. In both systems, the rock bolt spacing and shotcrete thickness selection are based on the same principle, which is used for the back-calculation of the rock-mass quality. For back-calculation, there is no criterion for the selection of rock-bolt-spacing-based rock-mass quality weightage and shotcrete thickness along with tunnel-span-based rock-mass quality weightage. To determine this weightage effect during the back-calculation, five weightage cases are selected, explained through example, and applied using published data. In the RMR system, the weightage effect is expressed in terms of the difference between the calculated and back-calculated rock-mass quality in the two versions of RMR. In the Q system, the weightage effect is presented in plots of stress reduction factor versus relative block size. The results show that the weightage effect during back-calculation not only depends on the difference in rock-bolt-spacing-based rock-mass quality and shotcrete along with tunnel-span-based rock-mass quality, but also on their corresponding values.

scholarly journals A Robust Rerank Approach for Feature Selection and Its Application to Pooling-Based GWA Studies

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jia-Rou Liu ◽  
Po-Hsiu Kuo ◽  
Hung Hung
Keyword(s):  
Characteristic Curve ◽  
Real Data ◽  
Tuning Parameter ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
Tuning Parameters ◽  
Genome Wide ◽  
Feature Based ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Gwa Studies ◽  
Selection Of

Large-p-small-ndatasets are commonly encountered in modern biomedical studies. To detect the difference between two groups, conventional methods would fail to apply due to the instability in estimating variances int-test and a high proportion of tied values in AUC (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve) estimates. The significance analysis of microarrays (SAM) may also not be satisfactory, since its performance is sensitive to the tuning parameter, and its selection is not straightforward. In this work, we propose a robust rerank approach to overcome the above-mentioned diffculties. In particular, we obtain a rank-based statistic for each feature based on the concept of “rank-over-variable.” Techniques of “random subset” and “rerank” are then iteratively applied to rank features, and the leading features will be selected for further studies. The proposed re-rank approach is especially applicable for large-p-small-ndatasets. Moreover, it is insensitive to the selection of tuning parameters, which is an appealing property for practical implementation. Simulation studies and real data analysis of pooling-based genome wide association (GWA) studies demonstrate the usefulness of our method.

scholarly journals Selection of visual information for lightness judgements by eye movements

2013 ◽  
Vol 368 (1628) ◽  
pp. 20130056 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matteo Toscani ◽  
Matteo Valsecchi ◽  
Karl R. Gegenfurtner
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Visual System ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Selection Process ◽  
Sampling Strategy ◽  
Selection Strategy ◽  
Eye Fixations ◽  
Target Layer ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Selection Of

When judging the lightness of objects, the visual system has to take into account many factors such as shading, scene geometry, occlusions or transparency. The problem then is to estimate global lightness based on a number of local samples that differ in luminance. Here, we show that eye fixations play a prominent role in this selection process. We explored a special case of transparency for which the visual system separates surface reflectance from interfering conditions to generate a layered image representation. Eye movements were recorded while the observers matched the lightness of the layered stimulus. We found that observers did focus their fixations on the target layer, and this sampling strategy affected their lightness perception. The effect of image segmentation on perceived lightness was highly correlated with the fixation strategy and was strongly affected when we manipulated it using a gaze-contingent display. Finally, we disrupted the segmentation process showing that it causally drives the selection strategy. Selection through eye fixations can so serve as a simple heuristic to estimate the target reflectance.

scholarly journals Do experienced physiotherapists apply equal magnitude of force during a grade I central pa on the cervical spine?

2004 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Conradie ◽  
E. Smit ◽  
M. Louw ◽  
M. Prinsloo ◽  
L. Loubser ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cervical Spine ◽  
Spinal Disorders ◽  
Joint Mobilization ◽  
Treatment Techniques ◽  
Average Maximum ◽  
Manual Examination ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Posterior Anterior ◽  
Selection Of

Background and purpose: Physiotherapists frequently use central posterior-anterior (PA) joint mobilization techniques for assessing and managing spinal disorders. Manual examination findings provide the basis for the selection of treatment techniques. From the literature it is evident that the level of reliability varies when physiotherapists perform different mobilization techniques. Repeatability of mobilization techniques is important for better physiotherapy management. The aim of the study was to determine whether experienced physiotherapists apply equal magnitude of force during a grade I central PA mobilisation technique on the cervical spine. Another aim was to determine the variation in the magnitude of forceapplied by each individual physiotherapist. Subjects: Sample of convenience, consisting of sixteen (n=16) selected qualified physiotherapists with experience inOrthopaedic Manual Therapy.Methods: A grade I central PA was performed on the Flexiforce TM sensors positioned on C6 of the same asymptomatic model to measure the applied magnitude of force. Two separate measurements, each lasting 30-seconds, were obtained.Results: The average maximum peak force applied by the majority of physiotherapists (87.5%) was between 10.95gand 72g. The difference in the forces applied for the two measurements ranged between 0.64g and 24.4g. The BlandAltman scatterplot determined the mean of the difference between measurement one and two, calculated for the group, was zero. When comparing the two measurements, little variation was noted in the forces applied, as well as the coefficient of variation for each physiotherapist.Conclusion and Discussion: Current results demonstrated good intra-therapist and moderate to good inter-therapist repeatability. Further research is required to generalize results.

Response Latency with Constant and Variable Interval Schedules

1965 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 969-972 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Bevan ◽  
Donald L. Hardesty ◽  
Lloyd L. Avant
Keyword(s):  
Response Latency ◽  
Average Duration ◽  
Variable Interval ◽  
Visual Signals ◽  
Interval Duration ◽  
Response Latencies ◽  
Interval Group ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Constant Interval

12 independent groups were used to examine the relationship between response latency and regularity of signal occurrence. In each of 6 groups 20 simple visual signals were presented sequentially at one of 6 constant intervals. Interval durations were 10, 20, 40, 80, 160, or 320 sec. For each constant-interval group tested, there was also a variable-interval group with intervals of the same average duration. For all intervals except one (40 sec.), the variable-interval groups had longer response latencies than the constant-interval groups, the difference in response latency between the constant- and variable-interval groups increasing as a function of the duration of the interval, up to intervals of 160 sec. For both constant- and variable-interval groups, response latency varied directly with interval duration.

Potential of Eimeria sardinae (Apicomplexa: Eimeridae) Oocysts for Distinguishing between Spawning Groups and between First- and Repeat-Spawning Atlantic Herring (Clupea harengus harengus)

1987 ◽  
Vol 44 (7) ◽  
pp. 1379-1385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon E. McGladdery
Keyword(s):  
Clupea Harengus ◽  
Maturity Stage ◽  
Atlantic Herring ◽  
Spawning Grounds ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Mature Fish ◽  
Clupea Harengus Harengus ◽  
Surrounding Areas ◽  
Immature Fish ◽  
Northeastern Atlantic

Prevalence of Eimeria sardinae oocysts was closely correlated with the maturity stage of the testes of Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus harengus). Prevalence was low in testes of immature fish, increased in ripe and spawning fish, and decreased in postspawning fish. No correlation was found between prevalence and age of spawning herring. The uniformly high prevalences in mature fish indicated the efficiency of transmission on the spawning grounds, where infective oocysts are released. Infection of first-spawning herring (approximately age 3) indicated that the oocysts may be dispersed to surrounding areas or immature fish may associate with spawning aggregations. Therefore, this parasite could not be used to distinguish first from repeat spawners. Prevalence oF E. sardinae peaked in May and September, and possibly in June and early July, thereby distinguishing two, and possibly three, spawning groups. A previous study indicated no correlation between maturity stage and infections by E. sardinae in northeastern Atlantic herring. The difference between the two sides of the Atlantic is attributed to greater mixing of immature and adult herring around spawning grounds and/or greater dispersal of infective oocysts from spawning grounds in the northeastern Atlantic, compared with those in the northwest.

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