KEY POINTS Light-responsive neurones in the rat suprachiasmatic nucleus discharge with a harmonic distribution of interspike intervals, whereas unresponsive neurones seldom do. This harmonic patterning has a fundamental frequency of close to 30 Hz, and is the same in light-on cells as in light-off cells, and is unaffected by exposure to light. Light-on cells are more active than light-off cells...

The brain's master circadian pacemaker resides within the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). SCN clock neurons are entrained to the day/night cycle via the retinohypothalamic tract and the SCN provides temporal information to the central nervous system and to peripheral organs that function as secondary oscillators. The SCN clock-cell network is thought to be the hypothalamic link betw...

Synchronization of biological rhythms to the 24-hour day/night has long been studied with model organisms, under artificial light/dark cycles in the laboratory. The commonly used rectangular light/dark cycles, comprising hours of continuous light and darkness, may not be representative of the natural light exposure for most species, including humans. Subterranean rodents live in dark undergroun...

Realistic rendering of sky scene is important in virtual environment. Traditional methods are mostly based on skybox, thus failing to realistically simulate the change of sky scene under different weathers and conditions. In this paper, a new sky light model under different weathers for virtual environment is proposed. We first analyze the atmosphere characters of sky scene, and calculate the l...

Being the largest land mammals, elephants have very few natural enemies and are active during both day and night. Compared with those of diurnal and nocturnal animals, the eyes of elephants and other arrhythmic species, such as many ungulates and large carnivores, must function in both the bright light of day and dim light of night. Despite their fundamental importance, the roles of photosensit...

Long photoperiods characteristic of summers at high latitudes can increase ozone-induced foliar injury in subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum). This study compared the effects of long photoperiods on ozone injury in red and white clover cultivars adapted to shorter or longer daylengths of southern or northern Fennoscandia. Plants were exposed to 70 ppb ozone for six hours during the day...

The timing, intensity, and duration of exposure to both artificial and natural light have acute metabolic and physiological effects in mammals. Recent research in human adults suggests exposure to moderate intensity light later in the day is concurrently associated with increased body mass; however, no studies have investigated the effect of light exposure on body mass in young children. We exa...

BACKGROUND The 'attached cultivation' technique for microalgae production, combining the immobilized biofilm technology with proper light dilution strategies, has shown improved biomass production and photosynthetic efficiency over conventional open-pond suspended cultures. However, how light is transferred and distributed inside the biofilm has not been clearly defined yet. RESULTS In this r...

The effect of photoperiod (day:night ratio) on flowering time was investigated in the wild species, Setaria viridis, and in a set of recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from a cross between foxtail millet (S. italica) and its wild ancestor green foxtail (S. viridis). Photoperiods totaled 24 h, with three trials of 8:16, 12:12 and 16:8 light:dark hour regimes for the RIL population, and thes...

BACKGROUND Applying latent class analysis (LCA) to accelerometry can help elucidated underlying patterns. This study described the patterns of accelerometer-determined sedentary behavior and physical activity among youth by applying LCA to a nationally representative United States (US) sample. METHODS Using 2003-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data, 3998 youths 6-17 year...