RATIONALE Mixing models are a common method for quantifying the contribution of prey sources to the diet of an individual using stable isotope analysis; however, these models rely upon a known trophic discrimination factor (hereafter, TDF) that results from fractionation between prey and animal tissues. Quantifying TDFs in captive animals is ideal, because diet is controlled and the proportiona...

Rodent whisker sensation occurs both actively, as whiskers move rhythmically across objects, and in a passive mode in which externally applied deflections are sensed by static, non-moving whiskers. Passive whisker stimuli are robustly encoded in the somatosensory (S1) cortex, and provide a potentially powerful means of studying cortical processing. However, whether S1 contributes to passive sen...

The 400 A filaments or "whiskers," which extend outward from the collar region of the phage, control retraction and extension of the tail fibers in response to certain environmental conditions. The tail fibers of normal phage retract in the absence of a required adsorption cofactor, at low pH, at low ionic strength, at low temperature, and at high concentrations of polyethylene glycol. The tail...

Fabrication of poly(p-oxybenzoyl) (POB) nanowhiskers was examined by using reaction-induced crystallization of oligomers during the polymerization of p-acetoxybenzoic acid in liquid paraffin. Width of the POB whiskers was susceptible to polymerization temperature and it was efficiently controlled by a change in temperature during the polymerization. Increase in polymerization temperature just a...

Whiskers are versatile sensors for short-range navigation and exploration that are widespread in many animal species, especially in rodents. Their arrangement is in very precise rows and arcs on both sides of the animal’s head. The controlled variations between species and the conservation within a species indicates a prominent role of their morphology for their functioning. Because of their en...

The fragile X mental retardation 1 mutant mouse (Fmr1 KO) recapitulates several of the neurologic deficits associated with Fragile X syndrome (FXS). As tactile hypersensitivity is a hallmark of FXS, we examined the sensory representation of individual whiskers in somatosensory barrel cortex of Fmr1 KO and wild-type (WT) mice and compared their performance in a whisker-dependent learning paradig...

Cellulose nanofibers or ‘‘whiskers’’ derived from tunicates were coated with PEDOT:PSS to produce high-aspect-ratio nanorods with high electrical conductivity. Films made from these PEDOT:PSS whiskers have surface resistivities as low as 97 U/,. The nanorods were found to disperse well in polar organic solvents such as dimethylformamide, which allowed the fabrication of nanocomposites with iner...

The rat has a sophisticated tactile sensory system centred around the facial whiskers. During normal behaviour, rats sweep their longer whiskers (macrovibrissae) through the environment to obtain largescale information, whilst gathering small-scale information with the sensory apparatus around their snout. The macrovibrissae are actively and differentially controlled. Using high-speed video rec...

Rodents use their whiskers to sense their surroundings. As most of the information available to the somatosensory system originates in whiskers' primary afferents, it is essential to understand the transformation of whisker motion into neuronal activity. Here, we combined in vivo recordings in anesthetized rats with mathematical modeling to ascertain the mechanical and electrical characteristic...

Almost all mammals use their mystacial vibrissae (whiskers) as important tactile sensors. There are no sensors along the length of a whisker: all sensing is performed by mechanoreceptors at the whisker base. To use artificial whiskers as a sensing tool in robotics, it is essential to be able to determine the three-dimensional (3D) location at which a whisker has made contact with an object. Wit...