Artificial Fur Research Articles

Domain analysis of the Edwardsiella tarda ferric uptake regulator

Recent studies have shown that the ferric uptake regulator (Fur) of Edwardsiella tarda (Fur(Et)) shares high sequence identity with the Escherichia coli Fur (Fur(Ec)) at the N-terminal DNA-binding region. In the present study, the functional importance of the C-terminal region of Fur(Et) was investigated. It was found that Fur(Et) bearing deletion of the C-terminal 12 residues still possesses most of the repressor activity, whereas Fur(Et) bearing deletions of the C-terminal 16 and more than 16 residues are severely affected in activity. Domain swapping analyses indicated that the chimeric Fur proteins (Et75Ec73 and Et75Vh74) consisting of the N-terminal 1-75 region of Fur(Et) fused to the C-terminal 76-148 region of Fur(Ec) and the C-terminal 76-149 region of the Vibrio harveyi Fur (Fur(Vh)), respectively, are fully active. C92 of Fur(Ec) and C137 of Fur(Vh), which are functionally essential in Fur(Ec) and Fur(Vh), respectively, are also essential in Et75Ec73 and Et75Vh74, respectively. Further study identified an artificial Fur protein, EtMF54, which is composed of the N-terminal 49 residues of Fur(Et) and five artificial residues. Compared to Fur(Et), EtMF54 possesses partial Fur activity that is iron-dependent. These results (i) indicate that there exist certain functional/structural compatibilities among Fur(Et), Fur(Ec), and Fur(Vh) at the C-terminal region; (ii) provide insights to the potential location of the regulatory ion-binding site of Fur(Et).

Clothing the homunculus

The concept of the homunculus, or `body in the brain', has been used by neuroscientists to explain bodily illusions such as the Shrinking Waist, the disappearance of limbs from conscious perception with stroke, and the sensations of phantom limbs. In this article, the author proposes that the homunculus can also provide a theoretical basis for the design of wearable interfaces and information systems. This idea is explored in a series of practice-led experiments with textile interfaces. The first experiment, called ZiZi the Affectionate Couch, is a couch that responds with a tactile `purring' when it is stroked. Visitors to exhibitions of the couch have commented on the positive effects this tactile responsiveness has had on autistic children in their care. The next experiment, called Scruffy Scallyscrap, is a prototype of an actively tactile textile, called a `taxtile', that co-locates tactile input and output in the same textile substrate. The most recent development is a `nerve extension button' designed to connect a taxtile to the tactile sensations of the wearer. Ten of these buttons have been sewn on the inside of a fashion concept garment called Fauxy the Fake Fur with Feelings. In further work, Fauxy will be used to explore what effects these nerve extensions might have on the bodily perceptions and behaviours of the wearer.

Beyonde Viande: The Ethics of Faux Flesh, Fake Fur and Thriftshop Leather

Beyonde Viande: The Ethics of Faux Flesh, Fake Fur and Thriftshop Leather

Queer Canadiana and Madama Butterfly's Legacy in Three Acts: Playwrighting Orientalism

Bellowing the lyrics of Tammy Wynette's 1968 country hits, D-I-V-O-R-C-E and Stand By Your Man, self-confessed ethnically displaced Canadian performance artist and bewildered nymphomaniac David Bateman - clad in faux fur, black heels and yellow beehive hair - opened the first act of Lotus Blossom Special at the Western Front Lux Theatre on November 18, 2004.

ロボット工学とソフトマテリアル 癒し系ロボットとソフトマテリアル

Seal Robot, Paro, has been developed as a therapeutic robot for people at hospitals and elderly institutions. The body of Paro is covered by “Ubiquitous Surface Tactile Sensor” beneath its artificial fur. The sensor has soft structure. Paro has other kinds of sensors and actuators for physical interaction with humans and its autonomous behaviors. Results of psychological experiment show importance of the physical interaction for interpretation of emotional behaviors of Paro and for high subjective evaluation value. Paro has been used for therapy at children's hospitals and elderly institutions as well as at home. Paro has three kinds of effects to humans; psychological effect, physiological effect and social effect.

White Teachers, Indian Children

TWO YEARS ago, my ignorance and I began to teach on Montana's Rocky Boy Reservation. Until then, I had never really thought of myself as white. My identity was formed by the facts that I am an Appalachian woman, the daughter of a coal miner, a hillbilly -- somehow not quite white. But at Rocky Boy Elementary, I was bride-dress white, and it mattered more than ever before. Before Montana, my only Indian experience had been in the summer of 1959. Our family was on the way to Florida, and the route took us across the Smoky Mountains. My father nervously maneuvered our 1949 Buick along the twists and turns and through the tunnels that curled around and through the mountains. road was narrow. turns were sharp. valley was far below. There were no guard rails. I held my eyes tightly shut but could not contain persistent slow-motion images of our car flying off the mountainside and drifting silently to the ground below. Moments after the mountains were behind us, a wooden sign welcomed us to the Cherokee Indian Reservation. Stretched out before me was the closest thing to Disneyland I'd ever seen. Motels, restaurants, and souvenir shops were lined up wall to wall on both sides of the highway. There were cars and people as far as I could see. My father wheeled our tank of a car into a parking space right in front of Big Bear's Cherokee Trading Post. I jumped out of the car and ran to the window. There before my eyes was a virtual cornucopia of essential Indian and frontiersmen's regalia. They had everything I needed -- hard plastic bows with yellow-suction-cup-tipped arrows; rubber tomahawks decorated with secret Indian symbols; cardboard headdresses adorned with blue, red, or yellow feathers; and a real cedar ash tray with a ceramic insert showing a hillbilly boy with his pants down. Put your butts here, it said. While that was funny, it paled alongside the bag of corn husks labeled Hillbilly Toilet Paper. My eyes continued to scan the window until they landed on a genuine faux fur coonskin cap. I knew I had to have it and began to concoct a plan to attain it. As I crafted the finer points of the coming battle between my mother and me, my eyes were diverted. coonskin was erased from my mind and replaced by the most remarkable thing I'd ever seen. There, right in the parking lot, stood an enormous painted teepee. I was lured to it as though under a spell. But I forgot all about it when I saw an Indian chief standing beside it. I looked him over as if he were a museum specimen. His arms were tightly folded across his chest, his headdress was feathered all the way to the ground, and his stance conveyed emotionless power. like Tonto, I thought. The chief wants us to take a picture of him with you and Tom, my father said. I couldn't imagine why, but, sure enough, the chief motioned to us to come stand beside him. I was going to get my picture taken with a real Indian! Why, it could be the best thing that ever happened. My neighborhood status would shoot to the top when kids saw me standing beside the chief. My little brother refused to loosen his death grip on my mother's arm. Always a baby. He's going to ruin everything. I took matters into my own hands. With whispered threats of bodily harm once Mother and Daddy weren't there to protect him, I pulled him into camera range. Just before the camera snapped, I flashed my biggest smile, Tom's face froze in terror, and the chief contorted his face to create an appropriately fierce look. Later, I saw my father drop quarters into a cup labeled tips. TODAY, MOST Indian children are taught by white people who, like me, possess only the sanitized knowledge and understandings of Indian people and their history from bland white history texts. We learned about the pilgrims, but not about the Indians who saved them; about Lewis and Clark, but not about the Indians who saved them; about the great westward expansion, but not about the destruction of the Indian way of life it required; about reservations, but not about the attempted genocide. …

Fake fur

Fake fur

Thermoregulation and the determinants of heat transfer in Colias butterflies.

As a means of exploring behavioral and morphological adaptations for thermoregulation in Colias butterflies, convective heat transfer coefficients of real and model butterflies were measured in a wind tunnel as a function of wind speed and body orientation (yaw angle). Results are reported in terms of a dimensionless heat transfer coefficient (Nusselt number, Nu) and a dimensionless wind speed (Reynolds number, Re), for a wind speed range typical of that experienced by basking Colias in the field. The resultant Nusselt-Reynolds (Nu-Re) plots thus indicate the rates of heat transfer by forced convection as a function of wind speed for particular model geometries.For Reynolds numbers throughout the measured range, Nusselt numbers for C. eurytheme butterflies are consistently lower than those for long cylinders, and are independent of yaw angle. There is significant variation among individual butterflies in heat transfer coefficients throughout the Re range. Model butterflies without artificial fur have Nu-Re relations similar to those for cylinders. Heat transfer in these models depends upon yaw angle, with higher heat transfer at intermediate yaw angles (30-60°); these yaw effects increase with increasing Reynolds number. Models with artificial fur, like real Colias, have Nusselt numbers which are consistently lower than those for models without fur at given Reynolds numbers throughout the Re range. Unlike real Colias, however, the models with fur do show yaw angle effects similar to those for models without fur.The independence of heat loss from yaw angle for real Colias is consistent with field observations indicating no behavioral orientation to wind direction. The presence of fur on the models reduces heat loss but does not affect yaw dependence. The large individual variation in heat transfer coefficients among butterflies is probably due to differences in fur characteristics rather than to differences in wing morphology.Finally, a physical model of a butterfly was constructed which accurately simulates the body temperatures of basking Colias in the field for a variety of radiation and wind velocity conditions. The success of the butterfly simulator in mimicking Colias thermal characteristics confirms our preliminary understanding of the physical bases for and heat transfer mechanisms underlying thermoregulatory adaptations in these butterflies.