Perceived boundaries without physical differences between shape and background are called illusory contours (ICs). ICs and real contours (RCs) activate the early processing stages of the macaque visual pathway and the occipitotemporal areas of the human visual system in a similar way. However, it is not known how these contours are processed further in the highest visual areas. We tested how th...

the suitability of three vapor deposition techniques for pore size modification was evaluated using polycarbonate track etched membranes as model supports. a feature scale model was employed to predict the pore geometry after modification and the resulting pure water flux. physical vapor deposition (pvd) and pulsed plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (pecvd), naturally, form asymmetric na...

Pressure-retarded osmosis (PRO) is a promising source of renewable energy when hypersaline brines and other high concentration solutions are used. However, membrane performance under conditions suitable for these solutions is poorly understood. In this work, we use a new method to characterize membranes under a variety of pressures and concentrations, including hydraulic pressures up to 48.3 ba...

Gap junction channels formed by different connexins exhibit specific permeability to a variety of larger solutes including second messengers, polypeptides, and small interfering RNAs. Here, we report the permeability of homotypic connexin26 (Cx26), Cx40, Cx43, and Cx45 gap junction channels stably expressed in HeLa cells to solutes with different size and net charge. Channel permeability was de...

Distinguishing productive zones of a drilled oil well plays a very important role for petroleum engineers to decide where to perforate to produce oil. Conventionally, net pay zones are determined by applying a set of cut-offs on perophysical logs. As a result, the conventional method finds productive intervals crisply. In this investigation, a net index value is proposed, then; diffusivity equa...

project scheduling   net present value   we consider a project scheduling problem with permitted tardiness and discrete time/resource trade-offs under maximum net present value objective. in this problem, a project consists of a set of sequential phases such that each phase contains one or more sub-projects including activities interrelated by finish-start-type precedence relations with a time ...

asymmetrically mixed matrix matrimid-mil-53 membranes with silicone cover layer were fabricated. for better understanding of membrane fabrication process, three main parameters of fabrication, matrimid concentration, silicone concentration and weight percentage of metal organic framework (mil-53) particles, were optimized by an experimental design method. cross-section sem images were used to s...