A neuronal circuitry for relative movement discrimination by the visual system of the fly

We propose the basic structure of a neuronal circuitry possibly underlying the detection of discontinuities in the optical flow by the visual system of the housefly. The main features of the circuitry are: binocular cells summate elementary movement detectors over a large visual field and inhibit each one of them; inhibition is of the shunting type, with an inhibitory equilibrium potential very near the resting potential. A specific model implementing our proposal accounts for all the behavioral data on relative movement discrimination, including the characteristic dynamics of the response.     

两种有机磷农药对缢蛏(Sinonovacula constricta)鳃超微结构的影响

在实验室模拟缢蛏生长环境,研究结构、性质不同的两种典型有机磷农药(OPs)乐果和三唑磷对滩涂养殖生物缢蛏的毒性效应,通过电镜观察乐果和三唑磷对缢蛏鳃超微结构的影响.结果发现:乐果和三唑磷对缢蛏鳃超微结构的影响主要表现在对细胞核和各种细胞器(如线粒体、内质网、高尔基体)的伤害.主要病变为:细胞核变形,核膜凸起或凹陷,染色质发生凝聚或边缘化;线粒体肿大,双层膜溶解,内嵴部分消失;个别线粒体内嵴完全瓦解,形成电子透明区;粗面内质网水肿,核糖体部分脱落,片层结构间距增大;高尔基膜囊水肿,膜溶解,高尔基小泡破裂消失.本研究为了解不同OPs对缢蛏的毒性效应提供了病理形态学证据,为预测OPs对近海海洋生物及人类健康的影响提供有力的证据,为规范OPs的应用、制定海洋环境质量标准提供了部分基础理论依据.     

A case of prenatal paternity discrimination

A case is described in which prenatal paternity determination was required, on account of suspected incest. Chromosome heteromorphisms were uninformative, but discrimination was achieved by HLA typing.     

青藏铁路景观视觉管理系统研究

铁路建设需要设置取(弃)土场、砂石料点、施工营地等工程场地,这些工程场地如果设计不合理,必将对沿线景观造成破坏,进而对视觉产生强烈的冲击。该文参考美国林务局的“视觉管理系统(VisualManagementSystem,VMS)”和美国土地管理局的“视觉管理(VisualResourcesMana-gement,VRM)”,利用遥感(RS)和地理信息系统(GIS)技术,结合新建青藏铁路沿线景观特点和工程场地的位置、面积、所处的坡度、相对于铁路的距离、沿铁路方向的长度以及相对于本底景观的对比度,建立了新建青藏铁路沿线的景观视觉管理系统,定量分析和评价了铁路建设工程可能对高原景观带来的冲击,并为修改和重新设计工程场地提出了指导性建议。     

视觉感受对噪声烦恼度的影响

运用模糊数学原理,通过对噪声主观反应调查,并用模糊隶属度原理进行分析计算．结果表明,在受声点噪声的听觉性质大致相同的情况下,在噪声源可见时,噪声烦恼度比噪声源不可见时要大．这一研究结果对于改善噪声影响提出了一种新的思路．     

The visual system of male scale insects

Animal eyes generally fall into two categories: (1) their photoreceptive array is convex, as is typical for camera eyes, including the human eye, or (2) their photoreceptive array is concave, as is typical for the compound eye of insects. There are a few rare examples of the latter eye type having secondarily evolved into the former one. When viewed in a phylogenetic framework, the head morphology of a variety of male scale insects suggests that this group could be one such example. In the Margarodidae (Hemiptera, Coccoidea), males have been described as having compound eyes, while males of some more derived groups only have two single-chamber eyes on each side of the head. Those eyes are situated in the place occupied by the compound eye of other insects. Since male scale insects tend to be rare, little is known about how their visual systems are organized, and what anatomical traits are associated with this evolutionary transition. In adult male Margarodidae, one single-chamber eye (stemmateran ocellus) is present in addition to a compound eye-like region. Our histological investigation reveals that the stemmateran ocellus has an extended retina which is formed by concrete clusters of receptor cells that connect to its own first-order neuropil. In addition, we find that the ommatidia of the compound eyes also share several anatomical characteristics with simple camera eyes. These include shallow units with extended retinas, each of which is connected by its own small nerve to the lamina. These anatomical changes suggest that the margarodid compound eye represents a transitional form to the giant unicornal eyes that have been described in more derived species.     

Social partner discrimination based on sounds and scents in Asian small-clawed otters (Aonyx cinereus)

Ability to discriminate familiar conspecifics is an essential competence in any group-living species, ensuring socio-spatial cohesion, but in many animals, such as mustelids, the relative importance of the different communicative modalities for discrimination is poorly understood. In otters, there is evidence of intra-specific variation in physical appearance and in feces chemical profile, but the potential for acoustic identity coding as well as for identity decoding in visual, acoustic and olfactive domains remains unexplored. We investigated the acoustic structure of contact calls in five captive groups of small-clawed otters and found that it is possible to reliably assign one particular call to a given adult male caller. Females discriminated between familiar and unfamiliar adult males based on their sound (playback) and smell (feces) but not based on their picture, suggesting abilities to memorize and use acoustic and olfactive signatures in their daily social life.     

Representation of complex visual stimuli in the brain

A method was developed to investigate transfer properties of neurons in the visual system using pictures of complex visual stimuli. The picture is moved over the receptive field of a neuron so that it can scan it along programmed lines. The activity of the neuron during the scanning procedure is presented in a two-dimensional dot display on scale with the original picture. By superposition of the stimulus and the transfer pattern, one can find out to which detail of a stimulus the neuron responds. Neurons in the first intracerebral relay of the visual system, the lateral geniculate body, reduce a complex stimulus, such as a photograph of a natural environment, to its contours. Cortical cells only respond to contours either of a limited or of a wider range of orientations (simple and complex cells, respectively). But the course of contours is only described by a continuous representation of these contours in the cortical map of the visual field. This is done by the simple cells, which have small receptive fields and thus a higher resolving power, whereas complex cells with their large receptive fields monitor the approximate location of a moving stimulus. The function of these two classes of neurons is discussed in terms of visual behavior, i.e., for fixation, hold, and binocular vergence movements (simple cells), and for detection of moving objects and motor command signals towards these objects (complex cells). These functions are an important condition for foveal vision which is the basis of perception in primates. An important function of orientation sensitivity of simple cells may be the binocular alignment of contours in binocular fusion and stereoscopic vision.     

The effect of flower-like and non-flower-like visual properties on choice of unrewarding patterns by bumblebees

How do distinct visual stimuli help bumblebees discover flowers before they have experienced any reward outside of their nest? Two visual floral properties, type of a pattern (concentric vs radial) and its position on unrewarding artificial flowers (central vs peripheral on corolla), were manipulated in two experiments. Both visual properties showed significant effects on floral choice. When pitted against each other, pattern was more important than position. Experiment 1 shows a significant effect of concentric pattern position, and experiment 2 shows a significant preference towards radial patterns regardless of their position. These results show that the presence of markings at the center of a flower are not so important as the presence of markings that will direct bees there.     

氟化物的亚细胞效应

氟化物诱发生物有机体体内或体外的毒理学效应.本文简要地综述氟化物对有机体的不同亚细胞组分:酶、胶原、染色体、线粒体、膜和蛋白质合成的影响.     

藻类的光谱吸收特征及其混合藻吸收系数的分离

利用定量滤膜技术测定了实验室培养的聚球藻(Synechococcus 7942)、铜绿微囊藻(Microcystis aeruginosa)、斜生栅藻(Scenedesmusobliquus)、蛋白核小球藻(Chlorella pyrenoidosa)、直链硅藻的吸收光谱(Melosira granulate Var.angustissima),通过其标准化吸收谱,分析了同种藻不同生长时期的吸收谱特征,并比较分析了不同藻类的标准化吸收谱.结果表明,同一藻的标准化吸收光谱在不同生长时期基本恒定不变.色素组成及其比例的不同是引起藻类间吸收光谱变化的主要原因,同时也是大型浅水湖泊中浮游植物种群演替的原因之一.蓝藻光谱主要存在620nm左右的吸收峰,使得其在水体中较易获取生长所需的光能.直链硅藻在短波范围内稍强的吸收能力被非藻类颗粒物、黄质所弱化,而其在630nm的吸收峰较低,因而难以成为浅水湖泊中的优势种;绿藻在655nm处的吸收肩峰有利于其光能竞争.通过纯种藻的标准化吸收谱,较为成功地对混合藻的吸收谱进行了分离.