Natural images from the birthplace of the human eye

Here we introduce a database of calibrated natural images publicly available through an easy-to-use web interface. Using a Nikon D70 digital SLR camera, we acquired about 5000 six-megapixel images of Okavango Delta of Botswana, a tropical savanna habitat similar to where the human eye is thought to have evolved. Some sequences of images were captured unsystematically while following a baboon troop, while others were designed to vary a single parameter such as aperture, object distance, time of day or position on the horizon. Images are available in the raw RGB format and in grayscale. Images are also available in units relevant to the physiology of human cone photoreceptors, where pixel values represent the expected number of photoisomerizations per second for cones sensitive to long (L), medium (M) and short (S) wavelengths. This database is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial Unported license to facilitate research in computer vision, psychophysics of perception, and visual neuroscience.Comment: Submitted to PLoS ON

Species specific anaesthetics for fish anaesthesia and euthanasia.

There is a need to ensure that the care and welfare for fish maintained in the laboratory are to the highest standards. This extends to the use of anaesthetics for both scientific study, humane killing and euthanasia at end of life. An anaesthetic should not induce negative behaviours and fish should not seek to avoid the anaesthetic. Surprisingly little information is available to facilitate a humane choice of anaesthetic agent for fish despite over 100 years of use and the millions of fish currently held in thousands of laboratories worldwide. Using a chemotaxic choice chamber we found different species specific behavioural responses among four closely related fish species commonly held in the laboratory, exposed to three widely used anaesthetic agents. As previously found for zebrafish (Danio rerio), the use of MS-222 and benzocaine also appears to induce avoidance behaviours in medaka (Oryzias latipes); but etomidate could provide an alternative choice. Carp (Cyprinus carpio), although closely related to zebrafish showed avoidance behaviours to etomidate, but not benzocaine or MS-222; and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) showed no avoidance to the three agents tested. We were unable to ascertain avoidance responses in fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) and suggest different test paradigms are required for that species

Calcium, Phosphorus, and Vitamin D in Dogs and Cats: Beyond the Bones

Calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin D are nutrients that play a key role in maintaining normal organ, cell, and tissue function. Much is known about their role in bone metabolism, but these nutrients are also important in renal health, urinary tract disease, and multiple other organ systems. It is nutritionally important to meet the physiologic requirements for each of these nutrients, but the interplay between them should also be considered

The Lack of International Consumption Risk Sharing: Can Inflation Differentials and Trading Costs Help Explain the Puzzle?

International consumption risk sharing, Capital flows, Trading cost, New open economy macroeconomics, Home bias, F21, F32, F36, E21,

Reconciling the statistics of spectral reflectance and colour

The spectral reflectance function of a surface specifies the fraction of the illumination reflected by it at each wavelength. Jointly with the illumination spectral density, this function determines the apparent colour of the surface. Models for the distribution of spectral reflectance functions in the natural environment are considered. The realism of the models is assessed in terms of the individual reflectance functions they generate, and in terms of the overall distribution of colours which they give rise to. Both realism assessments are made in comparison to empirical datasets. Previously described models (PCA- and fourier-based) of reflectance function statistics are evaluated, as are improved versions; and also a novel model, which synthesizes reflectance functions as a sum of sigmoid functions. Key model features for realism are identified. The new sigmoid-sum model is shown to be the most realistic, generating reflectance functions that are hard to distinguish from real ones, and accounting for the majority of colours found in natural images with the exception of an abundance of vegetation green and sky blue