Wireless recording of the calls of Rousettus aegyptiacus and their reproduction using electrostatic transducers

Bats are capable of imaging their surroundings in great detail using echolocation. To apply similar methods to human engineering systems requires the capability to measure and recreate the signals used, and to understand the processing applied to returning echoes. In this work, the emitted and reflected echolocation signals of Rousettus aegyptiacus are recorded while the bat is in flight, using a wireless sensor mounted on the bat. The sensor is designed to replicate the acoustic gain control which bats are known to use, applying a gain to returning echoes that is dependent on the incurred time delay. Employing this technique allows emitted and reflected echolocation calls, which have a wide dynamic range, to be recorded. The recorded echoes demonstrate the complexity of environment reconstruction using echolocation. The sensor is also used to make accurate recordings of the emitted calls, and these calls are recreated in the laboratory using custom-built wideband electrostatic transducers, allied with a spectral equalization technique. This technique is further demonstrated by recreating multi-harmonic bioinspired FM chirps. The ability to record and accurately synthesize echolocation calls enables the exploitation of biological signals in human engineering systems for sonar, materials characterization and imaging

Excited state properties of 1-naphthol and its sulphonates

The transient absorption spectrum of 1-naphthol was first sought by flash photolysis at higher acidities than had been previously investigated. While no transient absorption was observed for l-naphthol itself, strong transient absorptions were observed for l-naphthol-2 and -4-sulphonates even in aqueous solution. This enabled pK(T₁) for the protonation of the naphtholate ions to be measured directly from the strength of triplet-triplet absorptions and this value was compared with the pK(T₁) obtained from Forster Cycle calculations on phosphorescence maxima,. Values of pK(S₁) and pK(S₀) were also obtained and the order of the pK values was found to be pK(S₀) > pK(T₁) >> pK(S₁), It is likely that this order is the same for l-naphthol and therefore disagrees with the results of some recent quantum mechanical calculations, A strong fluorescence was also observed for l-naphthol-2- sulphonate in aqueous acidic solutions, in contrast with the weak fluorescence observed for 1-naphthol and l-naphthol-4-sulphonate. This is explained in terms of intramolecular hydrogen bonding in l-naphthol-2-sulphonate which prevents quenching of the first excited singlet state by hydrogen bonding with solvent water molecules. The fluorescence intensity of 1-naphthol, l-naphthol-2-sulphonate, and l~naphthol-4-sulphonate in aqueous acidic solutions is also found to increase as the water concentration is effectively reduced by the addition of certain solutes in large quantities, A corresponding increase in the triplet yield is also found for l-naphthol-2-sulphonate in acidic solutions. These increases are also explained in terms of reducing the hydrogen bonding to solvent water molecules and hence reducing the deactivation of the state, l-Naphthol sulphonates and protonates in concentrated sulphuric acid and it is deduced that protonation occurs at a carbon atom in the naphthalene ring, A value of pK(S₀ ) was determined for this protonation

Socially Induced Synchronization of Every-other-day Egg Laying in a Seabird Colony

Spontaneous oscillator synchrony has been documented in a wide variety of electrical, mechanical, chemical, and biological systems, including the menstrual cycles of women and estrous cycles of Norway Rats (Rattus norvegicus). In temperate regions, many colonial birds breed seasonally in a time window set by photoperiod; some studies have suggested that heightened social stimulation in denser colonies can lead to a tightened annual reproductive pulse. It has been unknown, however, whether the analog of menstrual synchrony occurs in birdsthat is, whether avian ovulation cycles can synchronize on a daily timescale within the annual breeding pulse. We report every-other-day clutch-initiation and egg-laying synchrony in a breeding colony of Glaucous-winged Gulls (Larus glaucescens) and show that the level of synchrony declined with decreasing colony density. We also pose a mathematical model based on the hypothesis that preovulatory luteinizing hormone surges synchronize through social stimulation. Model predictions are consistent with observations. Finally, we suggest a procedure for identifying synchronous egg laying in other colonies and species. © 2010 by The American Ornithologists\u27 Union. All rights reserved

Spacelike distance from discrete causal order

Any discrete approach to quantum gravity must provide some prescription as to how to deduce continuum properties from the discrete substructure. In the causal set approach it is straightforward to deduce timelike distances, but surprisingly difficult to extract spacelike distances, because of the unique combination of discreteness with local Lorentz invariance in that approach. We propose a number of methods to overcome this difficulty, one of which reproduces the spatial distance between two points in a finite region of Minkowski space. We provide numerical evidence that this definition can be used to define a `spatial nearest neighbor' relation on a causal set, and conjecture that this can be exploited to define the length of `continuous curves' in causal sets which are approximated by curved spacetime. This provides evidence in support of the ``Hauptvermutung'' of causal sets.Comment: 32 pages, 16 figures, revtex4; journal versio

Coping Behaviour as an Adaptation to Stress: Post-Disturbance Preening in Colonial Seabirds

In humans, coping behaviour is an action taken to soothe oneself during or after a stressful or threatening situation. Some human behaviours with physiological functions also serve as coping behaviours, for example, comfort sucking in infants and comfort eating in adults. In birds, the behaviour of preening, which has important physiological functions, has been postulated to soothe individuals after stressful situations. We combine two existing modelling approaches – logistic regression and Darwinian dynamics – to explore theoretically how a behaviour with crucial physiological function might evolve into a coping behaviour. We apply the method to preening in colonial seabirds to investigate whether and how preening might be co-opted as a coping behaviour in the presence of predators. We conduct an in-depth study of the environmental correlates of preening in a large gull colony in Washington, USA, and we perform an independent field test for comfort preening by computing the change in frequency of preening in gulls that were alerted to a predator, but did not flee