Review of international geothermal activities and assessment of U.S. industry opportunities /

"LA-11066-MS ... UC-66."

Eliciting Euphoria Online: The Aesthetics of “ASMR” Video Culture

“Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response” (ASMR) is a term that has emerged online to describe a mysterious tingling sensation that some people experience in response to particular audiovisual and interpersonal “triggers.” Initially coalescing via discussion threads on health forums, ASMR culture quickly began using platforms like YouTube and Reddit to exchange trigger videos. This paper frames the emergence of ASMR video culture as an example of how bodies and algorithms are conspiring to bring into being new cultural forms that can seem literally inexplicable on first encounter. Treating videos as “inputs,” judged not as messages to be understood or interpreted but by their ability to elicit particular affective and somatic “outputs,” ASMR communities cultivate a quasi-cybernetic relationship with the moving image, using video as a vehicle for “feeling out” phenomena that seem to thwart linguistic articulation and rational comprehension.

Report on the United States and Mexican boundary survey, made under the direction of the secretary of the interior,

v. 1. pt. 1. Personal account. General description of the country. Lower Rio Bravo. From mouth of Devil's river to El Paso del Norte. Sketch of territory acquired by treaty of Dec. 30, 1853. From the 111th meridian of longitude to the Pacific ocean; Report of Lieut. Michler. Astronomical and geodetic work. Meteorology. pt. 2. Geological reports of Dr. C. C. Parry and assistant Arthur Schott. Notes by W. H. Emory. Paleontology and geology of the boundary, by

Eastern forest insects /

"This publication supersedes 'Insect enemies of the [i.e. of] Eastern forests, ' Miscellaneous publication no. 657."

Worker protection programs in construction : final report /

"January 14, 1994."

Report upon ornithological specimens collected in the years 1871, 1872, and 1873 /

"Preliminary to the full report in the quarto series, vol. V, Zoology. The list of birds of Utah ... by Mr. Henshaw, appeared as a separate paper in the Annals of the Lyceum of natural history of New York, vol. xi, June, 1874."

Works of Jules Verne /

v. 9. Off on a comet. The underground city.--v. 10. Dick Sands: A captain at fifteen. The dark continent. Measuring a meridian.--v. 11. The five hundred millions of the begum. The tribulations of a Chinaman in China. The giant raft: Eight hundred leagues on the Amazon.--v. 12. The giant raft: The cryptogram. The steam house: The demon of Cawnpore. Tigers and traitors.--v. 13. The Robinson Crusoe school. The star of the south. Purchase of the North pole.--v. 14. Robur the conqueror. The master of the world. The sphinx of ice.--v. 15. The exploration of the world: The world outlined. Seekers and traders. Scientific exploration.

The veteran's story ... dedicated to the heroes who wore the gray.

Mode of access: Internet.

Resolving the organization of the New World monkey third visual complex: The dorsal extrastriate cortex of the marmoset (Callithrix jacchus)

We tested current hypotheses on the functional organization of the third visual complex, a particularly controversial region of the primate extrastriate cortex. In anatomical experiments, injections of retrograde tracers were placed in the dorsal cortex immediately rostral to the second visual area (V2) of New World monkeys (Callithrix jacchus), revealing the topography of interconnections between the third tier cortex and the primary visual area (V1). The data indicate the presence of a dorsomedial area (DM), which represents the entire upper and lower quadrants of the visual field, and which receives strong, topographically organized projections from the superficial layers of V1. The visuotopic organization and boundaries of DM were confirmed by electrophysiological recordings in the same animals and by architectural characteristics which were distinct from those found in ventral extrastriate cortex rostral to V2. There was no electrophysiological or histological evidence for a transitional area between V2 and DM. In particular, the central representation of the upper quadrant in DM was directly adjacent to the representation of the horizontal meridian that marks the rostral border of V2. The present results argue in favor of the hypothesis that the third visual complex in New World monkeys contains different areas in its dorsal and ventral components: area DM, near the dorsal midline, and a homolog of area 19 of other mammals, located more lateral and ventrally. The characteristics of DM suggest that it may correspond to visual area 6 (V6) of Old World monkeys. (C) 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

The number, morphology, and distribution of retinal ganglion cells and optic axons in the Australian lungfish Neoceratodus forsteri (Krefft 1870)

Australian lungfish Neoceratodus forsteri may be the closest living relative to the first tetrapods and yet little is known about their retinal ganglion cells. This study reveals that lungfish possess a heterogeneous population of ganglion cells distributed in a horizontal streak across the retinal meridian, which is formed early in development and maintained through to adult stages. The number and complement of both ganglion cells and a population of putative amacrine cells within the ganglion cell layer are examined using retrograde labelling from the optic nerve and transmission electron-microscopic analysis of axons within the optic nerve. At least four types of retinal ganglion cells are present and lie predominantly within a thin ganglion cell layer, although two subpopulations are identified, one within the inner plexiform and the other within the inner nuclear layer. A subpopulation of retinal ganglion cells comprising up to 7% or the total population are significantly larger (> 400 mu m(2)) and are characterized as giant or alpha-like cells. Up to 44% of cells within the retinal ganglion cell layer represent a population of presumed amacrine cells. The optic nerve is heavily fasciculated and the proportion of myelinated axons increases with body length from 17% in subadults to 74% in adults. Spatial resolving power, based on ganglion cell spacing, is low (1.6-1.9 cycles deg(-1), n = 2) and does not significantly increase with growth. This represents the first detailed study of retinal ganglion cells in sarcopterygian fish, and reveals that, despite variation amongst animal groups, trends in ganglion cell density distribution and characteristics of cell types were defined early in vertebrate evolution.

Changes of corneal biomechanics with keratoconus

PURPOSE: To perform advanced analysis of the corneal deformation response to air pressure in keratoconics compared with age- and sex-matched controls. METHODS: The ocular response analyzer was used to measure the air pressure-corneal deformation relationship of 37 patients with keratoconus and 37 age (mean 36 ± 10 years)- and sex-matched controls with healthy corneas. Four repeat air pressure-corneal deformation profiles were averaged, and 42 separate parameters relating to each element of the profiles were extracted. Corneal topography and pachymetry were performed with the Orbscan II. The severity of the keratoconus was graded based on a single metric derived from anterior corneal curvatures, difference in astigmatism in each meridian, anterior best-fit sphere, and posterior best-fit sphere. RESULTS: Most of the biomechanical characteristics of keratoconic eyes were significantly different from normal eyes (P <0.001), especially during the initial corneal applanation. With increasing keratoconus severity, the cornea was thinner (r = -0.407, P <0.001), the speed of corneal concave deformation past applanation was quicker (dive; r = -0.314, P = 0.01), and the tear film index was lower (r = -0.319, P = 0.01). The variance in keratoconus severity could be accounted for by the corneal curvature and central corneal thickness (r = 0.80) with biomechanical characteristics contributing an additional 4% (total r = 0.84). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.919 ± 0.025 for keratometry alone, 0.965 ± 0.014 with the addition of pachymetry, and 0.972 ± 0.012 combined with ocular response analyzer biomechanical parameters. CONCLUSIONS: Characteristics of the air pressure-corneal deformation profile are more affected by keratoconus than the traditionally extracted corneal hysteresis and corneal resistance factors. These biomechanical metrics slightly improved the detection and severity prediction of keratoconus above traditional keratometric and pachymetric assessment of corneal shape.

Phakometric measurement of ocular surface radii of curvature, axial separations and alignment in relaxed and accommodated human eyes

Measurements (autokeratometry, A-scan ultrasonography and video ophthalmophakometry) of ocular surface radii, axial separations and alignment were made in the horizontal meridian of nine emmetropes (aged 20-38 years) with relaxed (cycloplegia) and active accommodation (mean ± 95% confidence interval: 3.7 ± 1.1 D). The anterior chamber depth (-1.5 ± 0.3 D) and both crystalline lens surfaces (front 3.1 ± 0.8 D; rear 2.1 ± 0.6 D) contributed to dioptric vergence changes that accompany accommodation. Accommodation did not alter ocular surface alignment. Ocular misalignment in relaxed eyes is mainly because of eye rotation (5.7 ± 1.6° temporally) with small amounts of lens tilt (0.2 ± 0.8° temporally) and decentration (0.1 ± 0.1 mm nasally) but these results must be viewed with caution as we did not account for corneal asymmetry. Comparison of calculated and empirically derived coefficients (upon which ocular surface alignment calculations depend) revealed that negligible inherent errors arose from neglect of ocular surface asphericity, lens gradient refractive index properties, surface astigmatism, effects of pupil size and centration, assumed eye rotation axis position and use of linear equations for analysing Purkinje image shifts. © 2004 The College of Optometrists.

A comparison between static and kinetic visual attention as a means of detecting age-related deterioration of the visual system and driving performance

A critical review of previous research revealed that visual attention tests, such as the Useful Field of View (UFOV) test, provided the best means of detecting age-related changes to the visual system that could potentially increase crash risk. However, the question was raised as to whether the UFOV, which was regarded as a static visual attention test, could be improved by inclusion of kinetic targets that more closely represent the driving task. A computer program was written to provide more information about the derivation of UFOV test scores. Although this investigation succeeded in providing new information, some of the commercially protected UFOV test procedures still remain unknown. Two kinetic visual attention tests (DRTS1 and 2), developed at Aston University to investigate inclusion of kinetic targets in visual attention tests, were introduced. The UFOV was found to be more repeatable than either of the kinetic visual attention tests and learning effects or age did not influence these findings. Determinants of static and kinetic visual attention were explored. Increasing target eccentricity led to reduced performance on the UFOV and DRTS1 tests. The DRTS2 was not affected by eccentricity but this may have been due to the style of presentation of its targets. This might also have explained why only the DRTS2 showed laterality effects (i.e. better performance to targets presented on the left hand side of the road). Radial location, explored using the UFOV test, showed that subjects responded best to targets positioned to the horizontal meridian. Distraction had opposite effects on static and kinetic visual attention. While UFOV test performance declined with distraction, DRTS1 performance increased. Previous research had shown that this striking difference was to be expected. Whereas the detection of static targets is attenuated in the presence of distracting stimuli, distracting stimuli that move in a structured flow field enhances the detection of moving targets. Subjects reacted more slowly to kinetic compared to static targets, longitudinal motion compared to angular motion and to increased self-motion. However, the effects of longitudinal motion, angular motion, self-motion and even target eccentricity were caused by target edge speed variations arising because of optic flow field effects. The UFOV test was more able to detect age-related changes to the visual system than were either of the kinetic visual attention tests. The driving samples investigated were too limited to draw firm conclusions. Nevertheless, the results presented showed that neither the DRTS2 nor the UFOV tests were powerful tools for the identification of drivers prone to crashes or poor driving performance.

The influence of posterior corneal surface astigmatism on residual astigmatism

It has often been found that corneal astigmatism exceeds the amount exhibited by the eye as a whole. This difference is usually referred to as residual astigmatism. Scrutiny of the studies of corneal astigmatismreveal that what has actually been measured is the astigmatic contributionof the anterior corneal surface alone. This anterior surface is easily measured whereas measurement of the posterior corneal surface is much more difficult. A method was therefore developed to measure the radius and toricity of the posterior corneal surface. The method relies upon photography of the first and second Purkinje images in three fixed meridians. Keratometry, comparison of anterior and posterior corneal Purkinje images and pachometricdata were applied to three meridional analysis equations, allowing the posterior corneal surface to be described in sphero-cylindrical form. Measurements were taken from 80 healthy subjects from two distinct age groups. The first consisted of 60 young subjects, mean age 22.04 years and the second consisted of 20 old subjects, mean age 74.64 years. The young group consisted of 28 myopes, 24 emmetropes and 8 hyperopes. The old group consisted of 6 myopes and 14 hyperopes. There was an equal number of males and females in each group. These groupings allowed the study of the effects of age, ametropia and gender on the posterior corneal toricity. The effect of the posterior corneal surface on residual astigmatism was assessed and was found to cause an overall reduction. This reduction was due primarily to the posterior corneal surface being consistently steeper relative to the anterior surface in the vertical meridian compared to the horizontal meridian.

Non-standard techniques for the investigation of the visual field

The study investigated the potential applications and the limitations of non-standard techniques of visual field investigation utilizing automated perimetry. Normal subjects exhibited a greater sensitivity to kinetic stimuli than to static stimuli of identical size. The magnitude of physiological SKD was found to be largely independent of age, stimulus size, meridian and eccentricity. The absence of a dependency on stimulus size indicated that successive lateral spatial summation could not totally account for the underlying mechanism of physiological SKD. The visual field indices MD and LV exhibited a progressive deterioration during the time course of a conventional central visual field examination both for normal subjects and for ocular hypertensive patients. The fatigue effect was more pronounced in the latter stages and for the second eye tested. The confidence limits for the definition of abnormality should reflect the greater effect of fatigue on the second eye. A 330 cdm-2 yellow background was employed for blue-on-yellow perimetry. Instrument measurement range was preserved by positioning a concave mirror behind the stimulus bulb to increase the light output by 60% . The mean magnitude of SWS pathway isolation was approximately 1.4 log units relative to a 460nm stimulus filter. The absorption spectra of the ocular media exhibited an exponential increase with increase in age, whilst that of the macular pigment showed no systematic trend. The magnitude of ocular media absorption was demonstrated to reduce with increase in wavelength. Ocular media absorption was significantly greater in diabetic patients than in normal subjects. Five diabetic patients with either normal or borderline achromatic sensitivity exhibited an abnormal blue-on-yellow sensitivity; two of these patients showed no signs of retinopathy. A greater vulnerability of the SWS pathway to the diabetic disease process was hypothesized.