scholarly journals Head Removal Enhances Planarian Electrotaxis

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ziad Sabry ◽  
Rui Wang ◽  
Aryo Jahromi ◽  
Christina Rabeler ◽  
William B Kristan ◽  
...  

Sensing electric fields is an ability that certain animal species utilize for communication, hunting, and spatial orientation. Freshwater planarians move toward the cathode in a static electric field (cathodic electrotaxis). First described by Raymond Pearl more than a century ago, planarian electrotaxis has received little attention and the underlying mechanisms and evolutionary significance remain unknown. We developed an apparatus and scoring metrics for automated quantitative and mechanistic studies of planarian behavior upon exposure to a static electric field. Using this automated setup, we characterized electrotaxis in the planarian Dugesia japonica and found that this species responds to voltage instead of to current, in contrast to results from previous studies using other species. Because longer planarians exhibited more robust electrotaxis than shorter planarians, we hypothesized that signals from the head impede cathodic electrotaxis. To test this hypothesis, we took advantage of the regenerative abilities of planarians and compared electrotaxis in head and tail fragments of various lengths. We found that tail and trunk fragments electrotaxed while head fragments did not, regardless of size. However, we could restore cathodic electrotaxis in head fragments via decapitation, demonstrating that the presence of the head impaired cathodic electrotaxis. This result is in stark contrast to other stimulated behaviors such as phototaxis, thermotaxis or chemotaxis, which are weaker or absent in headless fragments. Thus, electrotaxis may be an important ability of headless planarian fragments to support survival prior to head regeneration.

Author(s):  
Zheyan Jin ◽  
Hui Hu

An experimental study was conducted to further our understanding about the fundamental physics of electrokinetic instability (EKI) and to explore the effectiveness to enhance fluid mixing inside a Y-shaped microchannel by manipulating convective EKI waves. The dependence of the critical voltage of applied static electric field to trig EKI to generate convective EKI waves on the conductivity ratio of the two adjacent streams was quantified at first. The effect of the strength of the applied static electric field on the evolution of the convective EKI waves and fluid mixing process were assessed in terms of scalar concentration fields, shedding frequency of the convective EKI waves and scalar mixing efficiency. The effectiveness of manipulating the convective EKI waves by introducing alternative electric perturbations to the applied static electric fields was also explored for the further enhancement of the fluid mixing process inside the Y-shaped microchannel.


1991 ◽  
Vol 05 (17) ◽  
pp. 1133-1138
Author(s):  
KAZUHITO FUJII ◽  
AKIRA SHIMIZU ◽  
JOHAN BERGQUIST ◽  
SOTOMITSU IKEDA ◽  
TAKESHI SAWADA

We have measured two-photon-absorption spectra of GaAs/Al 0.4 Ga 0.6 As quantum-well structures in a static electric field for photon energies near half the band gap energy, and found drastic field-induced-changes in the spectra. The two-photon-absorption peak at half the energy of the lowest light-hole exciton is induced by the static electric field normal to the quantum well layers, in agreement with a theory that takes account of quasi-two-dimensional exciton effects. With increasing the electric field, however, this peak grows more drastically than the theoretical prediction, and it approaches a large value predicted by another simplified theory based on a two-level model.


Insects ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 561 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshihiro Takikawa ◽  
Takeshi Takami ◽  
Koji Kakutani

In the present study, the relationship between body water loss and conductivity was examined in adult houseflies (Musca domestica). The events an insect experiences in an electric field are caused by the conductive nature of the insect body (i.e., movement of electricity within or its release from the insect). After houseflies were dehydrated, rehydrated, refrigerated, and frozen and thawed, they were placed in static and dynamic electric fields. Untreated houseflies were deprived of their free electrons to become positively charged and then attracted to the insulated negative pole in the static electric field and were exposed to corona and arc discharge from non-insulated negative pole in the dynamic electric field. There was no current in the bodies of dehydrated and frozen flies; hence, there was no attractive force or discharge exposure. In the remaining insects, the results were identical to those in the untreated control insects. These results indicated that the reduction of body water conductivity inhibited the release of electricity from the body in the static electric field and the discharge-mediated current flow through the body in the dynamic electric field. The insect was affected by the electric fields because of its conductivity mediated by body water.


2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Gousheva ◽  
D. Danov ◽  
P. Hristov ◽  
M. Matova

Abstract. To prove a direct relationship between the quasi-static electric field disturbances and seismic activity is a difficult, but actual task of the modern ionosphere physics. This paper presents new results on the processing and analysis of the quasi-static electric field in the upper ionosphere (h=800–900 km) observed from the satellite INTERCOSMOS-BULGARIA-1300 over earthquakes' source regions (seismic data of World Data Center, Denver, Colorado, USA). Present research focuses on three main areas (i) development of methodology of satellite and seismic data selecting, (ii) data processing and observations of the quasi-static electric field (iii) study and accumulation of statistics of possible connection between anomalous vertical electric fields penetrating from the earthquake zone into the ionosphere, and seismic activity. The most appropriate data (for satellite orbits above sources of forthcoming or just happened seismic events) have been selected from more than 250 investigated cases.The increase of about 5-10-15 mV/m in the vertical component of the quasi-static electric field observed by INTERCOSMOS-BULGARIA-1300 during seismic activity over Southern Ocean, Greenland Sea, South-Weat Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, Central America, South-East Pacific Ocean, Malay Archipelago regions are presented. These anomalies, as phenomena accompanying the seismogenic process, can be considered eventually as possible pre-, co- (coeval to) and post-earthquake effects in the ionosphere.


2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (44) ◽  
pp. 30177-30187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jérôme Lasne ◽  
Alexander Rosu-Finsen ◽  
Andrew Cassidy ◽  
Martin R. S. McCoustra ◽  
David Field

Reflection–absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS) is shown to provide a means of observing the spontelectric phase of matter, the defining characteristic of which is the occurrence of a spontaneous and powerful static electric field within a film of material.


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (38) ◽  
pp. 21236-21248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debkumar Rana ◽  
Patrice Donfack ◽  
Vladislav Jovanov ◽  
Veit Wagner ◽  
Arnulf Materny

Photogenerated polaron-pair ultrafast dynamics in poly(3-hexylthiophene)-based devices are found to be influenced by external electric fields via delayed field-induced singlet exciton dissociation, yielding a bimolecular decay contribution.


2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Gousheva ◽  
D. Danov ◽  
P. Hristov ◽  
M. Matova

Abstract. The paper proposes new results, analyses and information for the plate tectonic situation in the processing of INTERCOSMOS-BULGARIA-1300 satellite data about anomalies of the quasi-static electric field in the upper ionosphere over activated earthquake source regions at different latitudes. The earthquake catalogue is made on the basis of information from the United State Geological Survey (USGS) website. The disturbances in ionospheric quasi-static electric fields are recorded by IESP-1 instrument aboard the INTERCOSMOS-BULGARIA-1300 satellite and they are compared with significant seismic events from the period 14 August–20 September 1981 in magnetically very quiet, quiet and medium quiet days. The main tectonic characteristics of the seismically activated territories are also taken in account. The main goal of the above research work is to enlarge the research of possible connections between anomalous vertical electric field penetrations into the ionosphere and the earthquake manifestations, also to propose tectonic arguments for the observed phenomena. The studies are represented in four main blocks: (i) previous studies of similar problems, (ii) selection of satellite, seismic and plate tectonic data, (iii) data processing with new specialized software and observations of the quasi-static electric field and (iiii) summary, comparison of new with previous results in our studies and conclusion. We establish the high informativity of the vertical component Ez of the quasi-static electric field in the upper ionosphere according observations by INTERCOSMOS-BULGARIA-1300 that are placed above considerably activated earthquake sources. This component shows an increase of about 2–10 mV/m above sources, situated on mobile structures of the plates. The paper discusses the observed effects. It is represented also a statistical study of ionospheric effects 5–15 days before and 5–15 days after the earthquakes with magnitude M 4.8–7.9.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes P. Dürholt ◽  
Babak Farhadi Jahromi ◽  
Rochus Schmid

Recently the possibility of using electric fields as a further stimulus to trigger structural changes in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) has been investigated. In general, rotatable groups or other types of mechanical motion can be driven by electric fields. In this study we demonstrate how the electric response of MOFs can be tuned by adding rotatable dipolar linkers, generating a material that exhibits paralectric behavior in two dimensions and dielectric behavior in one dimension. The suitability of four different methods to compute the relative permittivity κ by means of molecular dynamics simulations was validated. The dependency of the permittivity on temperature T and dipole strength μ was determined. It was found that the herein investigated systems exhibit a high degree of tunability and substantially larger dielectric constants as expected for MOFs in general. The temperature dependency of κ obeys the Curie-Weiss law. In addition, the influence of dipolar linkers on the electric field induced breathing behavior was investigated. With increasing dipole moment, lower field strength are required to trigger the contraction. These investigations set the stage for an application of such systems as dielectric sensors, order-disorder ferroelectrics or any scenario where movable dipolar fragments respond to external electric fields.


Photonics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 107
Author(s):  
Haichao Yu ◽  
Feng Tang ◽  
Jingjun Wu ◽  
Zao Yi ◽  
Xin Ye ◽  
...  

In intense-light systems, the traditional discrete optical components lead to high complexity and high cost. Metasurfaces, which have received increasing attention due to the ability to locally manipulate the amplitude, phase, and polarization of light, are promising for addressing this issue. In the study, a metasurface-based reflective deflector is investigated which is composed of silicon nanohole arrays that confine the strongest electric field in the air zone. Subsequently, the in-air electric field does not interact with the silicon material directly, attenuating the optothermal effect that causes laser damage. The highest reflectance of nanoholes can be above 99% while the strongest electric fields are tuned into the air zone. One presentative deflector is designed based on these nanoholes with in-air-hole field confinement and anti-damage potential. The 1st order of the meta-deflector has the highest reflectance of 55.74%, and the reflectance sum of all the orders of the meta-deflector is 92.38%. The optothermal simulations show that the meta-deflector can theoretically handle a maximum laser density of 0.24 W/µm2. The study provides an approach to improving the anti-damage property of the reflective phase-control metasurfaces for intense-light systems, which can be exploited in many applications, such as laser scalpels, laser cutting devices, etc.


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