Fear is probably the most basic of all emotions. Not only do all humans experience it, but fear responses have been found in all species of animals right down to the sea slug. Experiences of fear vary tremendously in their severity, from mild anxiety to extreme terror and panic. The experience of fear can also vary in duration from a brief, almost fleeting flash, to a constant, all day experien...

Meerkats (Suricata suricatta), as many other animals, suffer from a high mortality rate due to predation. Any behaviour facilitating the avoidance of predators is therefore under strong selection. In addition to a coordinated sentinel system, meerkats have developed a sophisticated alarm call system where the acoustic structure of alarm calls provide listeners with information about both the ty...

An alarm system as extrinsic sensor on optical fibers for detecting and controlling inflammable liquids based on thermosensitive proprieties of the PNIPAAm hydrogel is presented. The changes on the optical proprieties of the PNIPAAm with the temperature (being its LCST 32oC), induce abrupt changes on the light intensity and they act as an alarm signal, which is transmitted by optical fibers and...

Maintenance of highways often involves mobile work zones for various types of low speed moving operations such as striping and sweeping. The speed differential between the moving operation and traffic, and the increasing problem of distracted driving can lead to potential collisions between approaching vehicles and the truck-mounted attenuator (TMA) protecting the mobile work zone. One potentia...