Verbs and other temporal expressions allow speakers to specify the location of events in time, as well as to move back and forth in time, shifting in a narrative between past, present and future. The referential flexibility of temporal expressions is well understood in linguistics but its neurocognitive bases remain unknown. We aimed at obtaining a neural signature of shifting times in narrativ...

BACKGROUND Contrast discrimination for an image is usually harder if another image is superimposed on top. We asked whether such contrast masking may be enhanced or relieved depending on cues promoting integration of both images as a single pattern, versus segmentation into two independent components. METHODOLOGY & PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Contrast discrimination thresholds for a foveal test gratin...

Repeatable fabrication of sensitive plasmonic substrates through a simple procedure has become a major challenge for SERS-based sensing and imaging. Herein, a new class of high-performance SERS substrates, including pyramid, ridged-hexagon, and quasi-triangle nanostructures, is successfully fabricated based on the nanosphere lithography technique and anisotropic wet etching. Using the wafer-sca...

tomato production, growing nearly 40 percent of world supply. The majority of fruit is processed into concentrated paste, but an increasing percentage is being used for products utilizing peeled fruit, either whole or diced. Important fruit quality attributes for paste production are soluble solids content (SS) and color of the blended product. Uniformity of color is more important for peeled f...

Light-induced changes in the volume of protoplasts bathed in a medium of constant osmolarity are useful indications of light-dependent cellular osmoregulation. With this in mind, we investigated the effect of light on the volume of protoplasts isolated from the elongating stems of pea (Pisum sativum) seedlings raised under red light. The protoplasts were isolated separately from epidermal peels...

PURPOSE To characterize the effects of Descemet's stripping, Rho-associated protein kinase inhibitor Y-27632, and donor age on endothelial migration in human corneas maintained in ex vivo culture. METHODS Twenty-eight cadaveric human corneas underwent ex vivo culture in either standard or Y-27632-supplemented culture medium for 14 days. The posterior surface of each cornea was manipulated to ...

Protein content in chestnuts is an important parameter for evaluating the fruit quality. In this work, the pilot application of near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy in measuring protein content of chestnuts was implemented. 182 samples were involved and 5 preprocessing methods were compared. PLS regression models developed from the spectra of intact nuts and peeled nuts were established separately....

In this research, we present a simple and cost effective soft lithographic process to fabricate PLA scaffolds for tissue engineering. In which, the negative photoresist JSR THB-120N was spun on a glass subtract followed by conventional UV lithographic processes to fabricate the master to cast the PDMS elastomeric mold. A thin poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) layer was used as a mode release such that ...