Vbied

In the "classic" vanishing ball illusion (VBI), a magician pretends to throw a ball and the audience sees it go up and then disappear. To gain a better understanding of the mechanisms involved, we conducted two experiments to analyze the permeability of this type of illusion to auditory information. A modified version of the VBI (i.e., the Vanishing Coin Illusion [VCI]), was presented, and this was either accompanied by a sound or was not. The results show that the presence of a sound adds to the success of the illusion (Experiment 1), especially when this sound is congruent with the illusion (Experiment 2)...

Although many refractory metals have been investigated as the choice of contact metal in 4H-SiC devices, palladium (Pd) as a Schottky barrier contact for 4H-SiC radiation detectors for harsh environment applications has not been investigated adequately. Pd is a refractory metal with high material weight-to-thickness ratio and a work function as high as nickel, one of the conventional metal contacts for high performing 4H-SiC Schottky barrier detectors (SBDs). In this article, Pd/4H-SiC epitaxial SBDs have been demonstrated for the first time as a superior self-biased (0 V applied bias) radiation detector when compared to benchmark Ni/4H-SiC SBDs...

Measuring long-range electric fields by 4-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscopy (4DSTEM) is on the verge to becoming an established method, though quantifying and understanding all underlying processes remains a challenge. To gain further insight into these processes, experimental studies employing the center-of-mass (COM) method of the model system of a GaAs p-n junction are carried out in which three ranges of the semi-convergence angle α are identified, with an intermediate one where measuring the built-in potential Vbi is not feasible...

Recognizing multiple neuropathological entities in people with dementia improves understanding of diagnosis, prognosis, and expected outcomes from therapies. Care for the individual with dementia includes the evaluation and management of diseases associated with the aged brain, most commonly neurodegeneration and vascular brain injury (VBI). Terminology has evolved to keep pace with diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic advances, and autopsy studies have shown that multiple comorbid neuropathological entities are the rule, not the exception, especially in older individuals...

This study investigated the efficacy of existing vaccines against hospitalization and infection due to the Omicron variant of COVID-19, particularly for those who received two doses of Moderna or Pfizer vaccines and one dose of Johnson & Johnson vaccine or who were vaccinated more than five months before. A total of 36 variants in Omicron's spike protein, targeted by all three vaccinations, have made antibodies less effective at neutralizing the virus. The genotyping of the SARS-CoV-2 viral sequence revealed clinically significant variants such as E484K in three genetic mutations (T95I, D614G, and del142-144)...

Dihydroartemisinin (DHA) inhibits restenosis following balloon angioplasty. However, data on the mechanisms of DHA activity in restenosis remains scant. Here, we investigated the role of circRNAs in mediating the inhibitory activity of DHA in neointimal formation. We used total RNA sequencing data to profile the expression of mRNA, circRNA and small RNA in sham, vascular balloon injury (VBI) and DHA-treated groups. CCK8 and EdU assays were employed to analyze cell proliferation, while qRT-PCR and Western blot were used to analyze the RNA or protein expression...

Vertebrobasilar insufficiency (VBI) can lead to devastating brainstem and posterior cerebral infarction without timely treatment.1 A 56-year-old man with history of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes mellitus presented to the clinic with right hemiparesis due to previous left cerebral hemispheric stroke. He also harbored a giant asymptomatic parietooccipital meningioma incidentally diagnosed 2-years ago. Neuroimaging showed old left cerebral infarcts and a tumor that had remained stable in size. Cerebral angiography identified bilateral vertebral artery stenosis near their origin from the subclavian arteries with severe vertebrobasilar insufficiency...

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether cervical ultrasonography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) are useful in the differential diagnosis of etiology and understanding the pathophysiology in cases of apogeotropic direction-changing positional nystagmus (DCPN). METHODS: Thirty patients with apogeotropic DCPN were classified into 11 cases of central disease, seven cases of mixed central and peripheral disease, and 12 cases of peripheral disease by differential diagnosis based on various balance function, neuro-otological, and imaging tests...

Bismuth ferrite (BiFeO3 , BFO) is still widely investigated both because of the great diversity of its possible applications and from the perspective of intrinsic defect engineering in the perovskite structure. Defect control in BiFeO3 semiconductors could provide a key technology for overcoming undesirable limitations, namely, a strong leakage current, which is attributed to the presence of oxygen vacancies ( VO ) and Bi vacancies ( VBi ). Our study proposes a hydrothermal method for the reduction of the concentration of VBi during the ceramic synthesis of BiFeO3 ...

In this work, we investigate the problem of state estimation for a class of nonlinear systems subjected to randomly occurring measurement anomalies (ROMAs) without a priori statistic. To address the problem, first, a novel measurement model is constructed, in which the anomalous measurements and anomaly probability are modeled as Gaussian mixture distribution (GMD) and Beta distribution, respectively. Different from the existing researches assuming that the statistical information of anomalous measurements is known in advance, the model does not require a priori statistical knowledge of anomalous measurements...

Constructional material deterioration and member damage can cause changes in the dynamic characteristics of bridge structures, and such changes can be tracked in the responses of passing vehicles via the vehicle-bridge interaction (VBI). Though data-driven methods have shown promising results in damage inspection for drive-by methods, there is still much room for improvement in their performance. Given this background, this paper proposes a novel time-domain signal processing algorithm for the raw vehicle acceleration data of data-driven drive-by inspection methods...

A comprehensive surveillance of Aedes mosquitoes in west-central Illinois has not been conducted in recent years, resulting in incomplete distribution records for several Illinois counties. As of 2014, out of 102 Illinois counties, active populations of Ae. japonicus had been confirmed in 15 counties, and Ae. albopictus confirmed in 34 counties. The Miller laboratory at Western Illinois University (WIU) began the WIU Vector Biology Initiative (WIU-VBI) in 2014 to address the lack of mosquito surveillance in west-central Illinois...

ZrS2 is transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) which is believed one of the most talented applicants to fabricate photovoltaics. Therefore, we present here for the first-time numerical simulation of novel inorganic ZrS2 /CuO heterojunction solar cells employing SCAPS-1D. The influence of the thickness, carrier concentration, and bandgap for both the window and absorber layers on the solar cell fundamental parameters was explored intensely. Our results reveal that the solar cell devices performance is mainly affected by many parameters such as the depletion width (Wd ), built-in voltage (Vbi ), collection length of charge carrier, the minority carrier lifetime, photogenerated current, and recombination rate...

OBJECTIVE:  A ventricle-to-brain index (VBI) >0.35 is associated with low scores on the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition (BSID-III) in preterm infants with birth weight <1,250 g. However, VBI obtained at the third ventricle has only moderate interobserver reliability. The objective of this study was to test (1) reliability of VBI measured at the foramen of Monro on the latest ultrasonogram (US) before discharge using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and (2) the relationship between VBI and BSID-III scores at ≥18 months corrected age...

Mg3 (Sb,Bi)2 is a potential nearly-room temperature thermoelectric compound composed of earth-abundant elements. However, complex defect tuning and exceptional microstructural control are required. Prior studies have confirmed the detrimental effect of Mg vacancies (VMg ) in Mg3 (Sb,Bi)2 . This study proposes an approach to mitigating the negative scattering effect of VMg by Bi deficiency, synergistically modulating the electrical and thermal transport properties to enhance the thermoelectric performance. Positron annihilation spectrometry and Cs -corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy analyses indicated that the VMg tends to coalesce due to the introduced Bi vacancies (VBi )...

We evaluated neutralizing antibody (NAbs) levels as a protective factor against vaccine breakthrough infection (VBI) in healthcare workers (HCWs) during the third COVID-19 wave in Peru. This retrospective cohort study employed the information from a private laboratory in Lima (Peru) of HCW who received only two BBIBP-CorV vaccines or (additionally) a heterologous booster with BNT162b2. We evaluated the association between the VBI and the levels of NAbs at 21, 90, 180, and 210 days after the BBIBP-CorV second dose...

BACKGROUND: In recent decades, an increasing number of terrorist attacks have been carried out against medical institutions, hospitals, and health care workers. These attacks, that often result in high numbers of casualties and impaired access to health services, have a more significant impact on people's sense of security than attacks against military and police targets. Attacks on ambulances - especially on the African continent - have been sparsely studied. This study examines attacks on ambulances on the African continent during the period from 1992-2022 (until December 31, 2021)...

Subclavian steal syndrome (SSS) refers to the phenomenon of retrograde flow in an ipsilateral branch of the subclavian artery due to hemodynamically significant stenosis or occlusion of the ipsilateral proximal subclavian artery. While SSS is usually asymptomatic, it can manifest as vertebrobasilar insufficiency (VBI), ischemia of the affected extremity, or cardiac angina when an internal mammary artery (IMA) is used as a bypass graft. The underlying etiology is most often atherosclerosis but can include Takayasu arteritis, thoracic outlet syndrome, cervical rib, and stenosis secondary to surgical repair of aortic coarctation or tetralogy of Fallot...

BACKGROUND: This retrospective case report describes a rare presentation of VBI in a young male patient. AIMS: Share a rare cause of VBI in a young patient. MATERIALS & METHODS: The patient presented with recurrent episodes of dizziness and a history of several cerebellar infarcts. Imaging revealed the right vertebral artery was being mechanically compressed by the right superior cornu of the thyroid cartilage during mouth opening. Surgical resection of the right superior cornu of the thyroid cartilage was performed...

INTRODUCTION: Vasculobiliary injury (VBI) is a rare but critical complication of laparoscopic cholecystectomy (Lap-C). Dividing first the gallbladder body and then the gallbladder neck from the gallbladder bed (the "body-first approach") may decrease the possibility of VBI. METHODS: The surgical outcome of 62 patients who underwent Lap-C with a body-first approach were evaluated. In this procedure, after serosal resection of the gallbladder, the gallbladder body is divided from the cystic plate; then the gallbladder neck and cystic duct are isolated...