Background: Type II shell evolution has recently been identified as a microscopic cause for nuclear shape coexistence.

No abstract

Modern computer techniques have been in use for several years to generate three-dimensional visualizations of human anatomy. Very good 3-D computer models of the human body are now available and used routinely in anatomy instruction. These techniques are subsumed under the heading "virtual anatomy" to distinguish them from the conventional study of anatomy entailing cadavers and anatomy textbooks. Moreover, other imaging procedures (X-ray, angiography, CT and MR) are also used in virtual anatomy instruction. A recently introduced three-dimensional post-processing technique named Cinematic Rendering now makes it possible to use the output of routine CT and MR examinations as the basis for highly photo-realistic 3-D depictions of human anatomy. We have installed Cinematic Rendering (enabled for stereoscopy) in a high-definition 8K 3-D projection space that accommodates an audience of 150. The space's projection surface measures 16 × 9 meters; images can be projected on both the front wall and the floor. A game controller can be used to operate Cinematic Rendering software so that it can generate interactive real-time depictions of human anatomy on the basis of CT and MR data sets. This prototype installation was implemented without technical problems; in day-to-day, real-world use over a period of 22 months, there were no impairments of service due to software crashes or other technical problems. We are already employing this installation routinely for educational offerings open to the public, courses for students in the health professions, and (continuing) professional education units for medical interns, residents and specialists-in, so to speak, the dissecting theater of the future.

Background: Quasi dynamical symmetries (QDS) and partial dynamical symmetries (PDS) play an important role in the understanding of complex systems. Up to now these symmetry concepts have been considered to be unrelated.

Human settlements and activities alter the natural environment acoustically and visually. Traffic noise and street lights are two of the most prominent pollutants which may affect animal activity patterns. Birds in urban areas have been reported to sing nocturnally and to have an earlier dawn chorus compared to their rural counterparts. However, few studies have measured whether singing more at night or earlier in the morning means singing less during daytime. It is therefore unclear whether they shift or extend or overall increase their activities. Furthermore, few studies on anthropogenic noise-related shifts in song activity replicated well at the habitat level. We recorded singing activity in urban and rural great tits (Parus major) for 24 h and sampled 11 urban-rural pairs of territories, inside and outside 11 different cities across the Netherlands. We found that urban birds sing earlier during the day, have similar singing effort in the dawn chorus, but sing less than rural birds during the rest of the day. The shift in timing between urban and rural birds was 22 min on average and resulted in more songs for urban birds during a less noisy time of the day. The lower singing activity over the day made that urban birds sang less when it was more noisy compared to the natural rhythm of rural great tits. We currently lack insight into whether these differences yield any positive or negative fitness consequences, but it is a clear case of how anthropogenic effects on the natural environment influence fundamental aspects of daily life in the animal communities with which we share the urban habitat.