We present the first observation of stochastic resonance (SR) in the human brain's visual processing area. The novel experimental protocol is to stimulate the right eye with a subthreshold periodic optical signal and the left eye with a noisy one. The stimuli bypass sensory organs and are mixed in the visual cortex. With many noise sources present in the brain, higher brain functions, e.g., perception and cognition, may exploit SR.

Hydrothermal ZnO nanowires have shown great potential for various nanoscale device applications due to their fascinating properties and lowtemperature processing. A preferential crystal growth of ZnO (0001) polar plane is essential and fundamental to realize the anisotropic nanowire growth. Here we demonstrate that a critical concentration for a nucleation strongly depends on a crystal plane, which plays an important role on an anisotropic growth of hydrothermal ZnO nanowires. We measure a growth rate of each crystal plane when varying a concentration of Zn ionic species by using a regular array structure. Selective anisotropic growth on (0001) plane emerges within a certain concentration range. Above the concentration range, a crystal growth on (101̅ 0) plane tends to simultaneously occur. This strong concentration dependence on the crystal plane is understood in terms of a critical concentration difference between (0001) plane and (101̅ 0) plane, which is related to the surface energy difference between the crystal planes.

A series of new experiments on Liesegang ring (or band) formation is presented which is concerned with the temporal and spatial evolution of the process of structure formation. We have chosen NH4OH and MgSO4 to form rings of Mg(OH)2 precipitate in a gelatin gel, as well as KI and Pb(NO3)2 for periodic precipitation of PbI2 in an agar gel. A temporal sequence of events during the entire period from the start of a Liesegang experiment in a test tube to the completion of the final ring pattern has been determined at many locations in the tube by visual observations and by measurements of transmitted light, of scattered light, of deflection of the transmitted light beam, and of gravity effects. After diffusion of one electrolyte into the gel medium containing the second electrolyte results in an ion product larger than three times the solubility product, at any and all points in space, we observe the onset of homogeneous nucleation of colloidal particles by a steplike increase of the index of refraction. The colloid concentration and the particle number density at the nucleation site are estimated to be 10−2 mol/l and 1015 to 1016 cm−3, respectively. Nucleation is followed by the growth of colloidal particles which gives rise to distinct light scattering (turbidity). Both nucleation and colloid formation take place in space continuously; the fronts of these phenomena move through the system and obey a simple diffusion law. A substantial time interval after their passage, there arises a localized gradient of the index of refraction at the prospective ring positions which indicates onset of structure formation by means of a focusing mechanism. While the localized gradient becomes more pronounced and narrower in space, the turbidity in the regions on either side of the ring location decreases, which indicates a depletion in colloidal material in the neighboring zones. Eventually, a sharp band of visible precipitate appears, which is clearly separated from the preceding ring. We conclude that the ring formation is a postnucleation phenomenon in that structure arises from a spatially continuous region of colloid a long time after nucleation has occurred, and propose that it is associated with the autocatalytic growth of colloidal particles. The location of rings is not determined by the spatial pattern of nucleation and colloid deposition as predicted by the Ostwald–Wagner–Prager theory. Our conclusions are supported by experiments on the influence of gravity on the ring locations, which provide evidence for the existence of colloidal particles of several hundred angstroms in size for a substantial fraction of the time required for the formation of a visible structure.

Various patterns in the electrohydrodynamic convection of planarly aligned nematic liquid crystals are investigated. We give experimental and theoretical results on the onset of convection in the conduction regime and the dielectric regime as well. The transition to the fluctuating Williams domain (FWD) immediately above the onset of convection in the conduction regime is characterized in detail. At this secondary threshold the straight rolls become unstable and defects appear. During the temporal development of the FWD, defects are continuously created and annihilated, and the defect density behaves rather stochastical in time. At even higher values of the applied voltage we investigate the transition between the two turbulent states DSMl and DSM2 which has some analogy with TI-TII transition in superfiuid Hell. DSM2 turbulence can be characterized by disclination and therefore called disclination turbulence. We show that this transition is local via nucleation and that the main difference between both states is the vanishing disclination density in the DSMl state and its finite value in the DSM2. In the high frequency regime we analyse the secondary transition to chevrons and the defect dynamics in this pattern as a periodic defect structure. Furthermore, the influence of a superimposingly applied magnetic field on these patterns is considered.at Oakland University on June 2, 2015 http://ptps.oxfordjournals.org/ Downloaded from

We experimentally investigate, in detail, electromechanical effects in liquid-crystal elastomers (LCEs) previously swollen with low-molecular-weight liquid crystals (LMWLCs). Both polydomain (POLY) and monodomain (MONO) LCEs were studied. We used a well known LMWLC, 4-n-pentyl-4-cyanobiphenyl (5CB) as a solvent. After swelling POLY and MONO LCEs (LSCE) with 5CB, shape changes were measured by recording the displacement of the edge of the swollen LCE at different voltages, V, and temperature. With 100 microm distance between electrodes, measurable shape changes (approximately 1-20 microm) are observed with small voltages (V approximately 0.5-10 V). In particular, we note that, compared to unswollen L(S)CEs, a dramatic approximately 200 times decrease of the threshold field was found for electromechanical effects in swollen L(S)CEs. While swollen MONO LCEs showed electromechanical effects in the planar geometry, homeotropic MONO swollen with homeotropically oriented 5CB did not. This is easy to understand because, in the homeotropic case, the liquid-crystal preferred axis is already aligned with the field so the field has no reorienting effect. The inverse of the response time when the field was switched on in both POLY and MONO was proportional to E2, which is the same field dependence as the response time of LMWLCs. When the field was switched off, the relaxation time showed a field dependence different from that of LMWLCs that we attribute to relaxation of the LCE network.

We experimentally investigated the swelling behavior of thin films (approximately 150 microm) of liquid crystalline elastomers (LCEs) by low molecular weight liquid crystals (LMWLCs). The two LMWLCs used are the well-known nematic liquid crystals, 4-n-pentyl-4-cyanobiphenyl, and 4-methoxy-benzilidene-4-butyl-aniline. Both polydomain (POLY) and monodomain (MONO) LCE swelling are studied. In MONO LCEs (LSCEs), the director n empty set is uniformly oriented throughout the film. POLY films are made of many domains with different orientations. Its swelling behavior was similar to isotropic gels. In contrast, LSCEs revealed interesting results not anticipated by any theory. First, the LMWLC enters the LSCE by front propagation about three-times faster axially n empty set than radially n empty set. Second, only the LSCE dimensions radially n empty set expanded, while that axially n empty set did not change at all. Third, when the LMWLC director and the LSCE director are aligned (MONO2 samples), swelling takes place about twice as fast as when they are not aligned. Volume change dynamics of swollen L(S)CEs investigated as a function of temperature revealed several phase transitions by optical and calorimetry techniques.

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The electrohydrodynamic pattern forming instability (EHC) driven by an ac voltage applied to a homeotropically aligned nematic liquid crystal layer is experimentally studied near onset. By controlling an external magnetic field, many different scenarios become accessible. For finite fields various regular convective structures are observed, which we call, for example, wavy, chain, and bamboo-chevron patterns. The various types are documented with the help of a phase diagram governed by the frequency and the strength of the applied ac voltage. In addition the stability regimes in the voltage-wavenumber plane (the "Busse balloon") are mapped out. One finds significant differences from the conventional planar case, for which a theoretical analysis is lacking so far. For zero magnetic field, on the other hand, no regular structure is observed, even immediately above the onset of EHC. A new spatiotemporally chaotic pattern called the soft mode turbulence directly appears via a supercritical bifurcation from the nonconvective state. This is due to the presence of the Goldstone mode related to the spontaneously broken rotational symmetry associated with the director component in the plane of the layer.