Background stimulus delays detection of target stimulus in a familiar odor–odor combination

Familiarity of odor–odor combinations is enhanced through food intake in daily life. As familiarity increases, the perceptual boundary between two odors may become ambiguous; therefore, we hypothesized that exposure to one odor would delay detection of the other in a high-familiarity combination but not in a low-familiarity combination. To test this hypothesis, we measured the speed of odor detection using two types of background stimuli (black tea odor and odorless air) and two types of target stimuli (lemon odor and almond odor). For Japanese participants, the combination of black tea and lemon odor has high familiarity, whereas the combination of black tea and almond odors has low familiarity. Reaction time for detection of target stimulus was measured by inserting a pulsed target stimulus into the flow of the background stimulus (i.e., replacing the background stimulus with the target stimulus for a short time). Reaction time for detection of lemon odor was significantly longer under the black tea odor condition than under the odorless air condition. Reaction time for detection of almond odor was similar between the black tea odor and odorless air conditions. These results are in line with the hypothesis that familiarity of an odor–odor combination affects odor detection speed. Further investigations are required to reach more robust conclusions.

Forced Changes in the Arctic Freshwater Budget Emerge in the Early 21st Century

<p>Arctic liquid freshwater (FW) storage has shown a large increase over the past decades, posing the question: Is the Arctic FW budget already showing clear signs of anthropogenic climate change, or are the observed changes the result of multi-decadal variability? Using large ensemble simulations from the Community Earth System model (CESM), we show that the observed change in liquid and solid Arctic FW storage is likely already driven by the changing climate. Generally, the emergence of forced changes in Arctic FW fluxes occurs earlier for oceanic fluxes than for atmospheric or land fluxes. Nares Strait liquid FW flux is the first to show emergence outside the range of background variability in the model, with this change potentially already occurring, followed by Davis Strait. Other FW fluxes have likely started to shift but have not   yet emerged into a completely different regime. By re-sampling the model simulations, we find that the already changing nature of many FW budget terms over the short (~maximum 25 years) observational period can delay detection of shift and emergence from observations. Future emissions reductions have the potential to avoid the emergence of some FW fluxes beyond the background variability, in particular for runoff and Fram Strait solid FW export. However, under both low and high warming scenarios, all FW fluxes show changes, just not always completely outside the background variability as simulated by the CESM. Overall, this study provides an example of how large ensembles can be used to diagnose forced changes in short observational timeseries.</p>

Egyptian Developmental Screening Test For Infants From Birth Up To 30 Months

Background: Detecting developmental delays in infants is an ongoing world commitment, especially for those below three years old. it provides appropriate services to them, early inspection enhances the communal quality of resolving difficult issues of this critical period of age. Thus, our main objective lies in developing a sufficient screening test for early evaluation of mental and motor development for infants.Methods: 54 items of motor and mental developmental milestones were adopted from the Baroda Screening Test. Then, researchers enrolled 1600 subjects based on certain inclusion and exclusion criteria. 97 pass level of developmental achievements resembles the threshold of which infants below which, infants are considered delayed.Results: The designed Egyptian Developmental Screening Tool (“EDST”) from birth up to 30 monthswith 50% and 97% pass level curves proves efficacy, reliability, cultural adaptability, and simplicity to use when compared with other peer screening tools. Results revealed a statistically significant difference between Egyptian and Baroda chart at 50% and 97% pass level. A z-score chart for motor and mental development follow up designed by calculating each age group.Conclusions: Developmental screening tests from birth up to 30 months proved consistent reliability and versatility to use in Egypt for early development delay detection. The wide variation of Egyptian infants 'developmental ages on both Egyptian and Baroda charts underpins the Egyptian chart to the Egyptian public. The z-score chart is a rapid and easy follow-up chart for Egyptian infants' development.

A Shapiro delay detection in the pulsar binary system PSR J1811–2405

ABSTRACT This paper presents the first detection of Shapiro delay from the binary millisecond pulsar PSR J1811–2405. We report a 11σ measurement of the orthometric amplitude, h3 = 6.8(6) × 10−7, and a 16σ measurement of the orthometric ratio, ς = 0.81(5). Given the relatively high orbital inclination, i = 79(2)°, of this binary system, we obtain constraints on the companion mass of $m_{\rm {c}}=0.31^{+0.08 }_{ -0.06}\, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$. The pulsar mass is currently less well constrained, with a value of $2.0^{+0.8 }_{ -0.5}\, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$. The companion mass and the orbital period are in agreement with the prediction made by previous numerical calculations of the evolution of compact binary systems. From a study of the polarization, we find that the orbital inclination angle is ∼100° and that PSR J1811–2405 is an orthogonal rotator. In addition, the μs-level timing precision together with its narrow profile makes PSR J1811–2405 a good candidate for inclusion in the pulsar timing arrays being used to detect nHz gravitational waves.

Link breakage maintenance and power-aware secure routing in MANET based on the Fuzzy Krill Herd-based Grasshopper optimization

As Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs) are established using battery-powered nodes, the major concern to minimize the power consumption of the nodes is still a challenge while the lifetime of the network is taken into account. Thus, power-aware routing is the effective way to handle the situation that aims at minimizing the power consumption and network overhead in order to increase the network lifespan. Therefore, an effective power-aware secure routing protocol is designed using the proposed Fuzzy Krill Herd-based Grasshopper Optimization Algorithm (Fuzzy KH-GOA) such that the secure path is determined. Hence, it is evident that the routing path for transmitting the data packets is effectively decided using the proposed algorithm, which is based on the fitness parameters, such as fuzzy function, delay, distance, and power consumed by the path. The significance of this research relies on the link lifetime estimation for which the lifetime of the routes is detected in order to measure the link failure. The performance of the proposed Fuzzy KH-GOA reported the values of 23.858 J, 0.016 sec, 0.783, 0.840, and 10.908 sec, respectively in the absence of the attack and 22.624J, 22.624sec, 0.773, 0.812, and 9.862sec, respectively in the presence of attack for the measures, such as power, delay, Detection Rate (DR), throughput, and average Link Life Time.