Fish lateral system is required for accurate control of shoaling behaviour

in Animal Behaviour (2010), 79

In teleost fishes, the lateral system is assumed to contribute, among other roles, to maintaining schooling behaviour. Sight is also assumed to play a role in schooling, as fish with a cut lateral line do ... [more ▼]

In teleost fishes, the lateral system is assumed to contribute, among other roles, to maintaining schooling behaviour. Sight is also assumed to play a role in schooling, as fish with a cut lateral line do not stop schooling unless they are also blinded. This conclusion, however, is based on experiments where only the trunk lateral line was inactivated, leaving the head lateral system intact. We investigated how inactivation of the whole lateral system affects fish shoaling behaviour. Groups of firehead tetras, Hemigrammus bleheri, were videorecorded before and after inactivation of their whole lateral system with aminoglycoside antibiotics (and also in sham-treated specimens). Shoaling behaviour was characterized by nearest distance to the first, second and third neighbours, shoal radius, shoal order parameter and the number of collisions between individuals. Scanning electron microscope observations showed damage to most superficial neuromasts as a result of antibiotic treatment. Importantly, the antibiotic-treated fish proved unable to maintain a shoal. After the end of the treatment, however, they recovered both a normal tissue morphology and normal shoaling behaviour within about a month. The lateral system is thus more crucial to shoaling behaviour than previously believed. [less ▲]

Effect of an electric field on an intermittent granular flow

in Physical Review. E : Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics (2010), 81

Granular gravity driven flows of glass beads have been observed in a silo with a flat bottom. A dc high electric field has been applied perpendicularly to the silo to tune the cohesion. The outlet mass flow ... [more ▼]

Granular gravity driven flows of glass beads have been observed in a silo with a flat bottom. A dc high electric field has been applied perpendicularly to the silo to tune the cohesion. The outlet mass flow has been measured. An image subtraction technique has been applied to visualize the flow geometry and a spatiotemporal analysis of the flow dynamics has been performed. The outlet mass flow is independent of voltage, but a transition from funnel flow to rathole flow is observed. This transition is of probabilistic nature and an intermediate situation exists between the funnel and the rathole situations. At a given voltage, two kinds of flow dynamics can occur: a continuous flow or an intermittent flow. The electric field increases the probability to observe an intermittent flow. [less ▲]

The mayonnaise droplet

Conference (2009, November 23)

A compound drop is made of a millimetric water drop encapsulated by an oil shell. They are obtained by merging one drop of each component (water and oil). Afterwards, they are laid on a high viscosity oil ... [more ▼]

A compound drop is made of a millimetric water drop encapsulated by an oil shell. They are obtained by merging one drop of each component (water and oil). Afterwards, they are laid on a high viscosity oil bath which is vertically vibrated. When the forcing acceleration is higher than a given threshold, compound drops can bounce on the surface. We show that above a second threshold some oil contained in the shell enters in the inner water droplet. In a second experiment, we drop the compound droplet on the oil bath at rest. We can determine the range of impact speed in which capillary waves developed on the surface are able to generate an oil drop (coming from the shell) in the water drop. When the bouncing trajectories of the droplets are analyzed a correlation between the emulsion threshold and the static analysis can be made. [less ▲]

The mayonnaise droplet

Poster (2009, September)

Compound drops are made of a millimetric water drop encapsulated by an oil shell. They are laid on a high viscosity oil bath which is vertically vibrated. When the forcing acceleration is higher than a ... [more ▼]

Compound drops are made of a millimetric water drop encapsulated by an oil shell. They are laid on a high viscosity oil bath which is vertically vibrated. When the forcing acceleration is higher than a given threshold, compound drops can bounce on the surface. We show that above an another threshold a double emulsion occurs in the drop. We measured this emulsion threshold for various size and water/oil volume ratio of the compound drop. [less ▲]

A drop of spectroscopy

Conference (2009, May)

Implication du système latéral dans le comportement de nage en banc chez les tétras à bouche rouge, Hemigrammus bleheri (Characidae)

Conference (2009, March)

compaction dynamics of magnetized powder

in Physical Review. E : Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics (2009), 80

Antibubbles, liquid onions and bouncing droplets

in Colloids and Surfaces A : Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects (2009), 344

Motion of carbon nanotubes in a rotating drum: The dynamic angle of repose and a bed behavior diagram

in Chemical Engineering Journal (2009), 146(1), 143-147

The granular flow behavior of carbon nanotubes produced by the CCVD method in a laboratory continuous inclined rotary reactor and of a catalyst was experimentally studied using a rotating drum. The ... [more ▼]

The granular flow behavior of carbon nanotubes produced by the CCVD method in a laboratory continuous inclined rotary reactor and of a catalyst was experimentally studied using a rotating drum. The dynamic angle of repose of the bulk solid and the standard variation of the solid bed surface were determined as a function of rotational speed of the rotating drum and for several filling percentages of the drum. Whatever the carbon nanotube production conditions, the dynamic angle of repose and the standard variation of the solid bed depended only on the filling percentage of the drum. Results were very interesting for practical application to carbon nanotube production in an industrial continuous inclined rotary reactor, because the granular flow behavior was the same during the reaction throughout the length of the reactor and depended only on the reactor filling. A bed behavior diagram based on the drum rotational speed and on the drum filling percentage was also constructed experimentally. The flow behavior of the solid during carbon nanotube production was on the boundary between the slumping and the rolling modes, leading to a good mixing of gas and solid during the reaction and to an improvement of the mass and heat transfer in the bed. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. [less ▲]

A video multitracking system for quantification of individual behavior in a large fish shoal: Advantages and limits

in Behavior Research Methods (2009), 41(1), 228-235

The capability of a new multitracking system to track a large number of unmarked fish (up to 100) is evaluated. This system extrapolates a trajectory from each individual and analyzes recorded sequences ... [more ▼]

The capability of a new multitracking system to track a large number of unmarked fish (up to 100) is evaluated. This system extrapolates a trajectory from each individual and analyzes recorded sequences that are several minutes long. This system is very efficient in statistical individual tracking, where the individual’s identity is important for a short period of time in comparison with the duration of the track. Individual identification is typically greater than 99%. Identification is largely efficient (more than 99%) when the fish images do not cross the image of a neighbor fish. When the images of two fish merge (occlusion), we consider that the spot on the screen has a double identity. Consequently, there are no identification errors during occlusions, even though the measurement of the positions of each individual is imprecise. When the images of these two merged fish separate (separation), individual identification errors are more frequent, but their effect is very low in statistical individual tracking. On the other hand, in complete individual tracking, where individual fish identity is important for the entire trajectory, each identification error invalidates the results. In such cases, the experimenter must observe whether the program assigns the correct identification, and, when an error is made, must edit the results. This work is not too costly in time because it is limited to the separation events, accounting for fewer than 0.1% of individual identifications. Consequently, in both statistical and rigorous individual tracking, this system allows the experimenter to gain time by measuring the individual position automatically. It can also analyze the structural and dynamic properties of an animal group with a very large sample, with precision and sampling that are impossible to obtain with manual measures. [less ▲]