Differentiated audio-tactile correspondences in sighted and blind individuals

The aim of the present study is to investigate whether the crossmodal correspondence robustly documented between auditory pitch and visual elevation has analogues in the audio-tactile domain. Across 4 experiments, the compatibility effects between intuitively congruent pairs of stimuli (i.e., outward tactile movement, going from the inside of the finger toward the fingertip and increasing pitch, or inward tactile movement and decreasing pitch) and incongruent pairs stimuli (i.e., the reverse associations) were measured. Two methods were compared to assess the behavioral effects of such a correspondence: One where participants have to respond to either the auditory or tactile stimulus presented simultaneously, while ignoring the other (speeded classification task), and the other where the auditory and tactile stimuli are presented sequentially and associated to different response buttons (implicit association test). No significant compatibility effect was observed under the speeded classification task. The implicit association test revealed a significant compatibility effect. This effect was similar in the conditions where the finger was placed vertically and horizontally. However, this implicit association between pitch and tactile movements was not observed in blind participants. These results have methodological implications for the explanation and testing of crossmodal correspondences, and the origin of the widely discussed association between pitch and vertical elevation

Can virtual nature improve patient experiences and memories of dental treatment? A study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background Dental anxiety and anxiety-related avoidance of dental care create significant problems for patients and the dental profession. Distraction interventions are used in daily medical practice to help patients cope with unpleasant procedures. There is evidence that exposure to natural scenery is beneficial for patients and that the use of virtual reality (VR) distraction is more effective than other distraction interventions, such as watching television. The main aim of this randomized controlled trial is to determine whether the use of VR during dental treatment can improve the overall dental experience and recollections of treatment for patients, breaking the negative cycle of memories of anxiety leading to further anxiety, and avoidance of future dental appointments. Additionally, the aim is to test whether VR benefits dental patients with all levels of dental anxiety or whether it could be especially beneficial for patients suffering from higher levels of dental anxiety. The third aim is to test whether the content of the VR distraction can make a difference for its effectiveness by comparing two types of virtual environments, a natural environment and an urban environment. Methods/design The effectiveness of VR distraction will be examined in patients 18 years or older who are scheduled to undergo dental treatment for fillings and/or extractions, with a maximum length of 30 minutes. Patients will be randomly allocated into one of three groups. The first group will be exposed to a VR of a natural environment. The second group will be exposed to a VR of an urban environment. A third group consists of patients who receive standard care (control group). Primary outcomes relate to patients’ memories of the dental treatment one week after treatment: (a) remembered pain, (b) intrusive thoughts and (c) vividness of memories. Other measures of interest are the dental experience, the treatment experience and the VR experience. Trial registration Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN4144280

Rods Near Curved Surfaces and in Curved Boxes

We consider an ideal gas of infinitely rigid rods near a perfectly repulsive wall, and show that the interfacial tension of a surface with rods on one side is lower when the surface bends towards the rods. Surprisingly we find that rods on both sides of surfaces also lower the energy when the surface bends. We compute the partition functions of rods confined to spherical and cylindrical open shells, and conclude that spherical shells repel rods, whereas cylindrical shells (for thickness of the shell on the order of the rod-length) attract them. The role of flexibility is investigated by considering chains composed of two rigid segments.Comment: 39 pages including figures and tables. 12 eps figures. LaTeX with REVTe

Electronic Circular Dichroism Spectroscopy of Proteins

Circular dichroism (CD) is an important spectroscopic technique that enables the characterization of protein secondary and tertiary structure. Proteins can undergo changes in their structure when they participate in processes, for example, ligand binding. CD, therefore, can be used to monitor secondary and tertiary structural changes when a protein (receptor) binds to a drug molecule (ligand).This review describes experimental studies of protein CD and theoretical and computational methods that compute spectra from structure or structure from spectra. CD is a technique that can be used to complement X-ray, NMR, and ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) experiments on biomolecules and proteins, all of which can be assisted by molecular modeling, which has the capability of computing CD from first principles. A combination of experimental CD and molecular modeling has the capacity to greatly enhance future multi-disciplinary research to expand our knowledge of the structure, function, and dynamics of proteins

Revision of the age of magnetization of the Montmartin red beds, Normandy, France

A new roadcut has enabled us to sample the south-dipping limb of the Montmartin syncline for a palaeomagnetic reevaluation of an earlier result published by Jones, Van der Voo & Bonhommet. In combination with the results previously published in 1979 for the north-dipping beds of the syncline, a conclusively negative fold test is obtained. The resulting magnetization (declination/inclination =206°/-3°, Α 95 = 12°, palaeopole at 38°S, 325°E) is interpreted to be of Late Carboniferous age, not Late Devonian as thought earlier. Simultaneously, we have re-evaluated the age of the rocks, previously thought to be Late Devonian on the basis of Acritarchs, Chitinozoans and spores. It has not been possible to reconfirm these fossils, not even in the same samples as studied originally; in contrast, the regional presence of Early Palaeozoic fossils suggests to us an age similar to that of other red beds in the Arrnorican Massif, which have been dated as Early Ordovician. The geodynamic implications of our finding that the Montmartin rocks are completely remagnetized, however, are of no great consequence for the geodynamics of the Hercynian belt. Pre-folding magnetization obtained from Silurian and Devonian rocks in Spain and Germany argue for the same conclusion as reached erroneously in our earlier study, namely that the Armorican Massif and adjacent parts of Hercynian Europe were adjointed to North America, Great Britain, the Baltic Shield and the Russian Platform since at least Late Devonian time. If a Medio-European ocean existed during the Palaeozoic, it was virtually closed before the mid-Devonian and of insignificant width during Culm deposition in Early Carboniferoirs time.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/74719/1/j.1365-246X.1985.tb05108.x.pd

Membranes in rod solutions: a system with spontaneously broken symmetry

We consider a dilute solution of infinitely rigid rods near a curved, perfectly repulsive surface and study the contribution of the rod depletion layer to the bending elastic constants of membranes. We find that a spontaneous curvature state can be induced by exposure of BOTH sides of the membrane to a rod solution. A similar result applies for rigid disks with a diameter equal to the rod's length. We also study the confinement of rods in spherical and cylindrical repulsive shells. This helps elucidate a recent discussion on curvature effects in confined quantum mechanical and polymer systems.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, 1 table; submitted to PR

Chemical nonlinearities in relating intercontinental ozone pollution to anthropogenic emissions

Model studies typically estimate intercontinental influence on surface ozone by perturbing emissions from a source continent and diagnosing the ozone response in the receptor continent. Since the response to perturbations is non-linear due to chemistry, conclusions drawn from different studies may depend on the magnitude of the applied perturbation. We investigate this issue for intercontinental transport between North America, Europe, and Asia with sensitivity simulations in three global chemical transport models. In each region, we decrease anthropogenic emissions of NOx and nonmethane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) by 20% and 100%. We find strong nonlinearity in the response to NOx perturbations outside summer, reflecting transitions in the chemical regime for ozone production. In contrast, we find no significant nonlinearity to NOx perturbations in summer or to NMVOC perturbations year-round. The relative benefit of decreasing NOx vs. NMVOC from current levels to abate intercontinental pollution increases with the magnitude of emission reductions

Tactile Language for a Head-Mounted Sensory Augmentation Device

Sensory augmentation is one of the most exciting domains for research in human-machine biohybridicity. The current paper presents the design of a 2nd generation vibrotactile helmet as a sensory augmentation prototype that is being developed to help users to navigate in low visibility environments. The paper outlines a study in which the user navigates along a virtual wall whilst the position and orientation of the user’s head is tracked by a motion capture system. Vibrotactile feedback is presented according to the user’s distance from the virtual wall and their head orientation. The research builds on our previous work by developing a simplified “tactile language” for communicating navigation commands. A key goal is to identify language tokens suitable to a head-mounted tactile interface that are maximally informative, minimize information overload, intuitive, and that have the potential to become ‘experientially transparent