Digging with ‘hands’: observations of food capture in the flying gurnard Dactylopterus volitans (Linnaeus, 1758)

ABSTRACT

Videofilms of a foraging flying gurnard (Dactylopterus volitans) were collected at Itaipu, Niterói, RJ, Brazil. Analysis revealed details of the use of anterior parts of the pectoral fins which act as digging ‘hands’ to access infaunal prey items that are subsequently captured by oral suction feeding. Each pectoral fin has two distinct sections articulated separately on the pectoral girdle. The digging ‘anterior pectoral fin’ mainly consists of segmented and flexible fin rays but has an anterior robust unsegmented ray that provides an edge to the ‘hand’, allowing penetration of the substratum. The huge ‘posterior pectoral fins’ are supported by unsegmented rays. Most digging episodes involved one ‘hand’ and consisted of 1–7 cycles of movement with frequencies 1.15–3.74 cycles s^?1. During a cycle, the ‘hand’ is moved forwards and medially above the substratum, then is twisted medially and simultaneously depressed so that the anterior unsegmented ray impacts and enters the substratum. The hand is then drawn backwards and laterally to disturb the substratum. To prevent upward pitching of the head during digging, the ‘posterior pectoral fins’ are both moved anteriorly and laterally to shift the centre of gravity forwards while the caudal and ?second dorsal fins continue to provide propulsive force.     

Aristotle Said “Happiness is a State of Activity” — Predicting Mood Through Body Sensing with Smartwatches

We measure and predict states of Activation and Happiness using a body sensing application connected to smartwatches. Through the sensors of commercially available smartwatches we collect individual mood states and correlate them with body sensing data such as acceleration, heart rate, light level data, and location, through the GPS sensor built into the smartphone connected to the smartwatch. We polled users on the smartwatch for seven weeks four times per day asking for their mood state. We found that both Happiness and Activation are negatively correlated with heart beats and with the levels of light. People tend to be happier when they are moving more intensely and are feeling less activated during weekends. We also found that people with a lower Conscientiousness and Neuroticism and higher Agreeableness tend to be happy more frequently. In addition, more Activation can be predicted by lower Openness to experience and higher Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. Lastly, we find that tracking people’s geographical coordinates might play an important role in predicting Happiness and Activation. The methodology we propose is a first step towards building an automated mood tracking system, to be used for better teamwork and in combination with social network analysis studies.     

The expansion of GPCR transactivation-dependent signalling to include serine/threonine kinase receptors represents a new cell signalling frontier

G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signalling is mediated through transactivation-independent signalling pathways or the transactivation of protein tyrosine kinase receptors and the recently reported activation of the serine/threonine kinase receptors, most notably the transforming growth factor-β receptor family. Since the original observation of GPCR transactivation of protein tyrosine kinase receptors, there has been considerable work on the mechanism of transactivation and several pathways are prominent. These pathways include the “triple membrane bypass” pathway and the generation of reactive oxygen species. The recent recognition of GPCR transactivation of serine/threonine kinase receptors enormously broadens the GPCR signalling paradigm. It may be predicted that the transactivation of serine/threonine kinase receptors would have mechanistic similarities with transactivation of tyrosine kinase pathways; however, initial studies suggest that these two transactivation pathways are mechanistically distinct. Important questions are the relative importance of tyrosine and serine/threonine transactivation pathways, the contribution of transactivation to overall GPCR signalling, mechanisms of transactivation and the range of cell types in which this phenomenon occurs. The ultimate significance of transactivation-dependent signalling remains to be defined but it appears to be prominent and if so will represent a new cell signalling frontier.     

机械工程专业学生在企业完成毕业设计的尝试

按照学校,企业联合方式进行毕业设计的尝试过程和结果,并且指出了要注意的问题,结果表明,这种实施毕业设计的主式有设计工作量比较饱满,训练贴近工程实际,学生积极性高,结合就业比较密切等优点.     

发达国家早期与当今发展中国家经济发展的跨期比较--拓展发展经济学理论视野的一种新尝试

不管是发达国家还是发展中国家,每个经济体的经济发展都要经历由传统农业社会向现代工业社会转型的经济发展过程,这是我们拓展发展经济学的理论视野。在发展经济学的分析框架中研究发达国家早期发展历程,并将其与当今发展中国家经济发展进行垮期比较研究的客观基础。这种跨期比较研究既能为发展经济学提供更丰富的经验素材,并从经济发展思想史中吸取思想营养,使其理论视野更为广阔、逻辑更为严谨,又能为当今发展中国家选择发展道路提供更为丰富具体的历史参照系和更深入的理论阐释。     

硼对12Ni3CrMoV高强度钢焊接接头冷裂敏感性的影响

低碳调质高强度钢中添加硼对焊接冷裂敏感性的影响较少有人研究,并存在两种不同意见.本文对含硼量分别为0.005%,0.0014%,0.0028%,0.0035%的12Ni3CrMoV调质高强度钢焊接冷裂敏感性进行研究.试验结果表明:1.插销试验临界应力:含硼钢比无硼钢(含硼0.0005%)高;含硼钢中,临界应力按含硼量0.0014%,0.0028%,0.0035%的顺序递减.2.扫描电镜断口分析:无硼钢有沿晶断裂区、准介理断裂区和韧窝断裂区.含硼钢没有沿晶断裂区,只有准介理断裂区和韧窝断裂区.3.焊条未烘干时,无硼和含硼钢的插销临界应力都降低,无硼钢沿晶断裂区扩大,含硼钢仍无沿晶断裂区.4.硼在HAZ粗晶区中沿奥氏体晶界形成偏聚带,硼相主要沿奥氏体晶界呈不连续点状析出.含硼愈多,沿奥氏体晶界偏聚和硼相析出也愈多.5.C.D.Beachem提出的断口形貌发展过程示意图可以解释无硼钢断裂,不能完全解释含硼钢断裂过程.6.裂纹敏感性成分Pcm值表达式中,硼项系数为" 5"值得商榷.就本文钢材而言,硼项函数应为"负变数".本文对含硼钢延迟裂纹机理作了探讨.     

血液的光学性质研究

本文用辐射输运理论方法去计算红细胞的光学特征量,并在此基础上提出检测血细胞数密度的理论实验方案,其结果与传统的方法一致。本文为开发一种血球数自动检测仪提供了理论基础和仪器结构原型。     

巷道底板上锚杆布置形式对预防底鼓效果的模拟研究

本文采用三个边界元模型对巷道底板上锚杆的不同布置形式对防治底鼓的效果进行了模拟研究。根据研究结果,提出采用在巷道底板上分期安装锚杆的方法,可有效地防治巷道底鼓。本文对巷道底鼓产生机理和防治措施的研究结果,具有一定的理论价值和应用参考价值。     

Resistant orthogonal procrustes analysis

In this paper two alternative loss criteria for the least squares Procrustes problem are studied. These alternative criteria are based on the Huber function and on the more radical biweight function, which are designed to be resistant to outliers. Using iterative majorization it is shown how a convergent reweighted least squares algorithm can be developed. In asimulation study it turns out that the proposed methods perform well over a specific range of contamination. When a uniform dilation factor is included, mixed results are obtained. The methods also yield a set of weights that can be used for diagnostic purposes.