Active sensing using light, or active photolocation, is only known from deep sea and nocturnal fish with chemiluminescent 'search' lights. Bright irides in diurnal fish species have recently been proposed as a potential analogue. Here, we contribute to this discussion by testing whether iris radiance is actively modulated. The focus is on behaviourally controlled iris reflections, called 'ocula...

Research over the past 20 years has provided a clearer understanding of the pathogenesis of most forms of nystagmus and other ocular oscillations. To the clinician, these advances translate into greater accuracy of nystagmus as a diagnostic sign. However, to capitalise on these advances, it is important to systematically examine eye movements and interpret the findings with reference to pathoph...

The purpose of this study was to measure passive hip internal (IR) and external rotation (ER) range of motion (ROM) in collegiate baseball pitchers and compare to published youth and professional values. Measures were taken on the bilateral hips of 29 participants (mean age 20.0±1.4, range 18-22 years). Results identified no significant differences between the stance and stride hip in collegiat...

Background. Physical activity (PA) is associated with health benefits and disease prevention and is often prescribed in managing many health conditions. Understanding the cultural influences is relevant in order to effectively promote PA. The objective of this study was to assess the level of PA among Saudi women, measured by daily step count, and the association between PA and health beliefs. ...

Vertically coordinated ties are purportedly effective responses to the uncertainties of fast-changing purchasing environments. Building on transaction costs arguments and related work in marketing, the authors analyze vertical coordination as a response to external uncertainty and show that its effectiveness is highly contingent on the magnitude of the safeguarding problem present. Indeed, its ...

In the conventional sliding mode control, a discontinuous switching control signal is applied. It makes the system invariant to parametric uncertainty and external disturbance, but also causes actuator chattering. This paper considers a tracking control of robot manipulators using a dynamic sliding mode control, where a global invariance is achieved and the resulting control signal is chatterin...

BACKGROUND Leukoaraiosis is defined as extracellular space caused mainly by atherosclerotic or demyelinated changes in the brain tissue and is commonly found in the brains of healthy older people. A significant association between leukoaraiosis and traffic crashes was reported in our previous study; however, the reason for this is still unclear. METHOD This paper presents a comprehensive eval...

Most high-performance organic solar cells involve bulk-heterojunctions in order to increase the active donor-acceptor interface area. The power conversion efficiency depends critically on the nano-morphology of the blend and the interface. Spectroscopy of the sub-bandgap region, i.e., below the bulk absorption of the individual components, provides unique opportunities to study interface-relate...

We analyze the nonequilibrium dynamics of single inextensible semiflexible biopolymers as stretching forces are applied at the ends. Based on different (contradicting) heuristic arguments, various scaling laws have been proposed for the propagation speed of the backbone tension which is induced in response to stretching. Here, we employ a newly developed unified theory to systematically substan...

OBJECTIVES The National External Quality Assessment (NEQA) program of Burkina Faso is a proficiency testing program mandatory for all laboratories in the country since 2006. The program runs two cycles per year and covers all areas of laboratories. METHODS All panels were validated by the expert committee before dispatch under optimal storage and transport conditions to participating laborato...