5,403 research outputs found
Interventions to achieve long-term weight loss in obese older people
This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Age and Ageing following peer review. The definitive publisher-authenticated version Witham, M. & Avenell, A. (2010). 'Interventions to achieve long-term weight loss in obese older people.' Age and Ageing 39(2) pp. 176-184 is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afp251.Peer reviewe
Coding of digit displacement by cell spiking and network oscillations in the monkey sensorimotor cortex
Witham CL, Baker SN. Coding of digit displacement by cell spiking and network oscillations in the monkey sensorimotor cortex. J Neurophysiol 108: 3342-3352, 2012. First published September 26, 2012; doi:10.1152/jn.00462.2012.-beta-Band oscillations occur in motor and somatosensory cortices and muscle activity. Oscillations appear most strongly after movements, suggesting that they may represent or probe the limb\u27s final sensory state. We tested this idea by training two macaque monkeys to perform a finger flexion to one of four displacements, which was then held for 2 s without visual feedback of absolute displacement. Local field potential (LFP) and single unit spiking were recorded from the rostral and caudal primary motor cortex and parietal areas 3a, 3b, 2, and 5. Information theoretic analysis determined how well unit firing rate or the power of LFP oscillations coded finger displacement. All areas encoded significant information about finger displacement after the movement into target, both in beta-band (similar to 20 Hz) oscillatory activity and unit firing rate. On average, the information carried by unit firing was greater (0.07 bits) and peaked earlier (0.73 s after peak velocity) than that by LFP beta-oscillations (0.05 bits and 0.95 s). However, there was considerable heterogeneity among units: some cells did not encode maximal information until midway through the holding phase. In 30% of cells, information in rate lagged information in LFP oscillations recorded at the same site. Finger displacement may be represented in the cortex in multiple ways. Coding the digit configuration immediately after a movement probably relies on nonoscillatory feedback, or efference copy. With increasing delay after movement cessation, oscillatory processing may also play a part
Does measuring social attention lead to changes in behavior? A preliminary investigation into the implications of attention bias trials on behavior in Rhesus Macaques
© 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.A welfare assessment tool in development must satisfy several criteria before it is considered ready for general use. Some tools that meet many of these criteria have been criticized for their negative effect on welfare. We conducted a preliminary assessment of the impact of attention bias (AB) trials using threat-neutral conspecific face pairs followed by presumed neutral-positive filler stimuli on the behavior of 21 rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta; 15 female). Behavioral observations were conducted following AB trials and repeated two weeks later when no AB trials had occurred (no trial: NT). The association between observation period and behavior was assessed using linear mixed-effects models in R. Trials did not impact any observed behavior except for fear, which was displayed by five monkeys over six trials (four NT). For this sample, there was a significant reduction in fear behavior following AB trials. We, therefore, found no evidence suggesting that AB trials negatively affect behaviour. AB protocols may be suitable for continued development for primate welfare assessment and we encourage researchers to include assessing test impact on welfare in their AB protocols.ERI Howarth was supported by an LJMU PhD studentship. CL Witham and the Centre for Macaques are funded by the Medical Research Council
Automated face recognition of rhesus macaques
\ua9 2017 The Author. Background: Rhesus macaques are widely used in biomedical research. Automated behavior monitoring can be useful in various fields (including neuroscience), as well as having applications to animal welfare but current technology lags behind that developed for other species. One difficulty facing developers is the reliable identification of individual macaques within a group especially as pair- and group-housing of macaques becomes standard. Current published methods require either implantation or wearing of a tracking device. New method: I present face recognition, in combination with face detection, as a method to non-invasively identify individual rhesus macaques in videos. The face recognition method utilizes local-binary patterns in combination with a local discriminant classification algorithm. Results: A classification accuracy of between 90 and 96% was achieved for four different groups. Group size, number of training images and challenging image conditions such as high contrast all had an impact on classification accuracy. I demonstrate that these methods can be applied in real time using standard affordable hardware and a potential application to studies of social structure. Comparison with existing method(s): Face recognition methods have been reported for humans and other primate species such as chimpanzees but not rhesus macaques. The classification accuracy with this method is comparable to that for chimpanzees. Face recognition has the advantage over other methods for identifying rhesus macaques such as tags and collars of being non-invasive. Conclusions: This is the first reported method for face recognition of rhesus macaques, has high classification accuracy and can be implemented in real time
Open access self-archiving: An author study
This, our second author international, cross-disciplinary study on open access had 1296 respondents. Its focus was on self-archiving. Almost half (49%) of the respondent population have self-archived at least one article during the last three years. Use of institutional repositories for this purpose has doubled and usage has increased by almost 60% for subject-based repositories. Self-archiving activity is greatest amongst those who publish the largest number of papers. There is still a substantial proportion of authors unaware of the possibility of providing open access to their work by self-archiving. Of the authors who have not yet self-archived any articles, 71% remain unaware of the option. With 49% of the author population having self-archived in some way, this means that 36% of the total author population (71% of the remaining 51%), has not yet been appraised of this way of providing open access. Authors have frequently expressed reluctance to self-archive because of the perceived time required and possible technical difficulties in carrying out this activity, yet findings here show that only 20% of authors found some degree of difficulty with the first act of depositing an article in a repository, and that this dropped to 9% for subsequent deposits. Another author worry is about infringing agreed copyright agreements with publishers, yet only 10% of authors currently know of the SHERPA/RoMEO list of publisher permissions policies with respect to self-archiving, where clear guidance as to what a publisher permits is provided. Where it is not known if permission is required, however, authors are not seeking it and are self-archiving without it. Communicating their results to peers remains the primary reason for scholars publishing their work; in other words,
researchers publish to have an impact on their field. The vast majority of authors (81%) would willingly comply with a mandate from their employer or research funder to deposit copies of their articles in an institutional or subject-based repository. A further 13% would comply reluctantly; 5% would not comply with such a mandate
Progress of international hydrogen production network for the thermochemical Cu–Cl cycle
This paper presents recent advances by an international team which is developing the thermochemical copper–chlorine (Cu–Cl) cycle for hydrogen production. Development of the Cu–Cl cycle has been pursued by several countries within the framework of the Generation IV International Forum (GIF) for hydrogen production with the next generation of nuclear reactors. Due to its lower temperature requirements in comparison with other thermochemical cycles, the Cu–Cl cycle is particularly well matched with Canada's Generation IV reactor, SCWR (Super-Critical Water Reactor), as well as other heat sources such as solar energy or industrial waste heat. In this paper, recent developments of the Cu–Cl cycle are presented, specifically involving unit operation experiments, corrosion resistant materials and system integration.Atomic Energy of Canada LimitedOntario Research Excellence FundNatural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of CanadaUniversity Network of Excellence in Nuclear Engineering (UNENE)Canada Research Chairs progra
ŻYCIE UKRYTE W SŁOWIE. "BEKSIŃSCY. PORTRET PODWÓJNY" MAGDALENY GRZEBIAŁKOWSKIEJ W ŚWIETLE POSTSTRUKTURALIZMU
Life Hidden in Words. Magdalena Grzebiałkowska\u27s "Beksińscy. Portret podwójny" and Poststructuralism
The article analyzes Magdalena Grzebiałkowska\u27s biographical "Beksińscy. Portret podwójny" which focuses on the lives of Zdzisław Beksiński and Tomasz Beksiński. The author looks at the construction of the biography and its relationship to poststructuralism, which allows for an appreciation of the literary features of the book. He points to how the specificity of the content, language, a mode of narration in Grzebiałkowska\u27s book make it a full-fledged literary work itself. As such the book departs from a typical biographical scheme. Juxtaposing the book with poststructural ideas leads to the reconsideration of the role of the author in the process of shaping of a biographical narrative
Systems, methods and devices for the capture and hydrogenation of carbon dioxide with thermochemical Cu—Cl and Mg—Cl—Na/K—CO2 cycles
Systems, methods, and devices for producing hydrogen and capturing CO2 from emissions combine both H2 production and CO2 capture processes in forms of thermochemical cycles to produce useful products from captured CO2. The thermochemical cycles are copper-chlorine (Cu—Cl) and magnesium-chlorine-sodium/potassium cycles (Mg—Cl—Na/K—CO2). One system comprises a Cu—Cl cycle, a CO2 capture loop, and a hydrogenation cycle. Another system comprises an Mg—Cl—Na/K—CO2 cycle and a hydrogenation cycle. Devices for hydrogen production, CO2 capture, hydrogenation, and process and equipment integration include a two-stage fluidized/packed bed, hybrid two-stage spray-fluidized/packed bed reactor, a two-stage wet-mode absorber, a hybrid two-stage absorber, and a catalyst packed/fluidized bed reactor
Clean hydrogen production with the Cu–Cl cycle – Progress of international consortium, I: Experimental unit operations
Advancement of the thermochemical copper–chlorine (Cu–Cl) cycle for hydrogen production is reviewed and discussed in this paper. Individual unit operations and their linkage into an integrated cycle are being developed by a Canadian consortium, as part of the Generation IV International Forum (GIF) for hydrogen production with the next generation of nuclear reactors. This paper focuses on the consortium’s latest advances on the Cu–Cl cycle, particularly with respect to hydrogen production with Canada’s Generation IV reactor, called SCWR (Super-Critical Water Reactor). Other heat sources may also be utilized for the Cu–Cl cycle, such as solar energy or industrial waste heat. In this first of two companion papers, recent developments in Canada’s nuclear hydrogen program are reported, specifically unit operation experiments of the Cu–Cl cycle and system integration. The following second companion paper will present system modeling with Aspen Plus, corrosion resistant materials, thermochemistry, safety, and reliability aspects of the Cu–Cl cycle.Atomic Energy of Canada LimitedOntario Research Excellence FundNatural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of CanadaUniversity Network of Excellence in Nuclear Engineering (UNENE)Canada Research Chairs progra
Canada’s program on nuclear hydrogen production and the thermochemical Cu–Cl cycle
This paper presents an overview of the status of Canada’s program on nuclear hydrogen production and the thermochemical copper–chlorine (Cu–Cl) cycle. Enabling technologies for the Cu–Cl cycle are being developed by a Canadian consortium, as part of the Generation IV International Forum (GIF) for hydrogen production with the next generation of nuclear reactors. Particular emphasis in this paper is given to hydrogen production with Canada’s Super-Critical Water Reactor, SCWR. Recent advances towards an integrated lab-scale Cu–Cl cycle are discussed, including experimentation, modeling, simulation, advanced materials, thermochemistry, safety, reliability and economics. In addition, electrolysis during off-peak hours, and the processes of integrating hydrogen plants with Canada’s nuclear plants are presented.Atomic Energy of Canada LimitedOntario Research Excellence FundArgonne National Laboratory (International Nuclear Energy Research Initiative; U.S. Department of Energy)Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)University Network of Excellence in Nuclear Engineering (UNENE)Canada Research Chairs (CRC
- …
