Vision Impairs the Abilities of Bats to Avoid Colliding with Stationary Obstacles

Background: Free-flying insectivorous bats occasionally collide with stationary objects they should easily detect by echolocation and avoid. Collisions often occur with lighted objects, suggesting ambient light may deleteriously affect obstacle avoidance capabilities. We tested the hypothesis that free-flying bats may orient by vision when they collide with some obstacles. We additionally tested whether acoustic distractions, such as ‘‘distress calls’ ’ of other bats, contributed to probabilities of collision. Methodology/Principal Findings: To investigate the role of visual cues in the collisions of free-flying little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) with stationary objects, we set up obstacles in an area of high bat traffic during swarming. We used combinations of light intensities and visually dissimilar obstacles to verify that bats orient by vision. In early August, bats collided more often in the light than the dark, and probabilities of collision varied with the visibility of obstacles. However, the probabilities of collisions altered in mid to late August, coincident with the start of behavioural, hormonal, and physiological changes occurring during swarming and mating. Distress calls did not distract bats and increase the incidence of collisions. Conclusions/Significance: Our findings indicate that visual cues are more important for free-flying bats than previously recognized, suggesting integration of multi-sensory modalities during orientation. Furthermore, our study highlight

THE CITY OF PAIN: POWER FOUND IN THE FORM OF THE BUILDING AS A SIGN / SKAUSMO MIESTAS: PASTATO-ŽENKLO FORMOS GALIA

To consciously provoke the society’s reaction, an architectural object is inserted – on the design offer level – into the main recreational zone of the New York peninsula, the Central Park area. Besides, the social and cultural phenomena inspired by the innovative form of this project are touched upon. The article aims to analyse the process of form modelling and, consequently, perform a research on the form power based on an experimental project carried out by the author. It is also sought to find out the influence of the volume deficiency formed in the city’s planning system on the suggestibility of the building’s form. In the given project, the term volume deficiency is used to describe the stress environment within the city structure, formed on the artistic, planning, volume, stylistic, value or historical basis that programmes the continuity of the above processes after integration of the newly proposed object into the above-mentioned environment. Artistic value of the volume developed within the stress environment and adapted to it provides the suggestibility to the form typical to objects of mass attraction. The form designed in such space obtains all the features characteristic to an architectural sign or urban dominant. The City of Pain project is created as a bridge connecting a narrow city system with large area of artificial recreational space. The building is formed as a corridor for social provocation and laboratory of the modern society’s behaviour. Santrauka Sąmoningai siekiant sukelti visuomenės reakciją į Niujorko pusiasalio pagrindinę rekreacinę zoną – Centrinio parko erdvę – projektinio pasiūlymo lygiu įterpiamas architektūrinis objektas, taip pat aptariami ir inovatyvios formos sukelti socialiniai bei kultūriniai reiškiniai. Straipsnio tikslas – remiantis autorės atliktu eksperimentiniu projektu nagrinėti formos modeliavimo procesą ir ištirti modeliavimo poveikį formos galioms. Siekiama nustatyti, kaip pastato formos galia ir įtaiga priklauso nuo miesto planinėje sistemoje susiformavusio (ar suformuoto) tūrio. Tūrio trūkumu aptariamame projekte vadinama meniniu, planiniu, tūriniu, stilistiniu, vertės ar istoriniu pagrindu sudarytos įtampos terpė miesto struktūroje, užprogramuojanti šių procesų tęstinumą po naujai siūlomo objekto integracijos į minėtą aplinką. Įtampos terpėje sukurto ir joje adaptuoto tūrio meninė vertė formai suteikia masinės traukos objektui būdingą įtaigą. Tokioje erdvėje projektuojama forma įgyja visas architektūriniam ženklui, miesto dominantei būdingas savybes. Skausmo miesto projektas tarsi koridorius jungia ankštą miesto sistemą su didžiule dirbtine rekreacine erdve. Pastatas formuojamas kaip socialinių provokacijų koridorius ir moderniosios visuomenės elgesio laboratorija. Reikšminiai žodžiai: pastatas-ženklas, forma, formos galia, formos modeliavimas, susiformavęs (ar suformuotas) trūkumas, architektūrinis eksperimentas, rekreacinė erdvė

A Ral GAP complex links PI 3-kinase/Akt signaling to RalA activation in insulin action

It is shown that RalA is regulated by a Ral GAP complex (RGC 1/2) in insulin action and links PI 3-kinase signaling to RalA activation. Akt phosphorylates the complex and inhibits its function, resulting in increased RalA activity and glucose uptake