Cholesteric liquid crystals (CLCs), also known as chiral nematic LCs, show a photonic stopband, which is promising for various optical applications. In particular, CLCs confined in microcompartments ...are useful for sensing, lasing, and optical barcoding at the microscale. The integration of distinct CLCs into single microstructures can provide advanced functionality. In this work, CLC multishells with multiple stopbands are created by liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS) in a simple yet highly controlled manner. A homogeneous ternary mixture of LC, hydrophilic liquid, and co‐solvent is microfluidically emulsified to form uniform oil‐in‐water drops, which undergo LLPS to form onion‐like drops composed of alternating CLC‐rich and CLC‐depleted layers. The multiplicity is controlled from one to five by adjusting the initial composition of the ternary mixture, which dictates the number of consecutive steps of LLPS. Interestingly, the concentration of the chiral dopant becomes reduced from the outermost to the innermost CLC drop due to uneven partitioning during LLPS, which results in multiple stopbands. Therefore, the photonic multishells show multiple structural colors. In addition, dye‐doped multishells provide band‐edge lasing at two different wavelengths. This new class of photonic multishells will provide new opportunities for advanced optical applications.
Photonic multishells are created by controlled phase separation of cholesteric liquid crystals and hydrophilic liquid confined in emulsion drops. The material exchange between the dispersed and continuous phases triggers the consecutive steps of phase separation, through which onion‐like drops are formed. Multiple photonic stopbands are spontaneously developed by uneven partitioning of the chiral dopant, which provides advanced photonic functionality.
The present study aimed to determine the effect of music-based auditory training on older adults with hearing loss and decreased cognitive ability, which are common conditions in the older ...population.
In total, 20 older adults diagnosed with both mild-to-moderately severe hearing loss and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) participated. Half of this group were randomly assigned to the auditory training group (ATG), and the other half were designated as the control group (CG). For the ATG, a 40-minute training session (10 minutes for singing a song, 15 minutes for playing instruments, and 15 minutes for playing games with music discrimination) was conducted twice a week for 8 weeks (for a total of 16 sessions). To confirm the training effects, all participants were given tests pre- and post-training, and then a follow-up test was administered 2 weeks after the training, using various auditory and cognitive tests and a self-reporting questionnaire.
The ATG demonstrated significant improvement in all auditory test scores compared to the CG. Additionally, there was a notable enhancement in cognitive test scores post-training, except for the digit span tests. However, there was no statistically significant difference in the questionnaire scores between the two groups, although the ATG did score higher post-training.
The music-based auditory training resulted in a significant improvement in auditory function and a partial enhancement in cognitive ability among elderly patients with hearing loss and MCI. We anticipate that this music-based approach will be adopted for auditory training in clinical settings due to its engaging and easy-to-follow nature.
The study aimed to investigate the efficient pathway for BC sound transmission by measuring vibrations on the opposite side of the skull bone, referred to as the mastoid position. The realistic ...contralateral transmission pathway of bone conduction (BC) vibrations is investigated through each osseous structure in the midlines of the fresh-frozen whole head. BC stimulation is applied to the mastoid using a bone vibrator, and acceleration responses are observed on the contralateral mastoid bone and seven midline points of skull bones using triaxial accelerometers. The study finds that the range showing the highest contralateral transmission efficiency of bone vibration is the intermediate frequency range with contralateral direction. Within this range, a significant amplitude of acceleration response is measured at the face-side points and the back and upper parts of the head. The thesis suggests that signal transmission from the specific midline to the mastoid can be more efficient than the conventional configuration of BC from the mastoid to the mastoid.
Objectives: The present study identifies the effect of music-based auditory training on the elderly with hearing loss and decreased cognitive ability, common conditions in the older population. ...Methods: A total of 20 older adults diagnosed with both mild-to-moderately severe hearing loss and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) participated. Half of this group were randomly assigned to the auditory training group (ATG) and the other half were designated as the control group (CG). For the ATG, a 40-min training section (10-minutes for singing a song, 15-minutes for playing instruments, and 15-minutes for playing games with music discrimination) was undertaken twice a week for 8 weeks (for a total of 16 sections). To confirm the training effects, all participants were given tests pre- and post-training, and then follow-up test 2 weeks after the training, using various auditory and cognitive tests, and a self-reporting questionnaire. Results: ATG had significantly improved on the scores of all the auditory tests when compared to the scores for the CG group. Also, a significant improvement was found in the cognitive tests after the training except for the digit span tests. However, there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups on the questionnaire scores although ATG did higher scores after the training. Conclusions: The music-based auditory training produced a positive effect in terms of a meaningful change in auditory function and also partial cognitive ability in the elderly patients with hearing loss and MCI. We expect that the music-based method will be used for auditory training of the elderly in clinics because of interesting and easy to follow.
The photonic cross-communication between photonic droplets has provided complex color patterns through multiple reflections, potentially serving as novel optical codes. However, the ...cross-communication is mostly restricted to symmetric pairs of identical droplets. Here, a design rule is reported for the asymmetric pairing of two distinct droplets to provide bright color patterns through strong cross-communication and enrich a variety of optical codes. Cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) droplets with different stopband positions and sizes are paired. The brightness of corresponding color patterns is maximized when the pairs are selected to effectively guide light along the double reflection path by stopbands of two droplets. The experimental results are in good agreement with a geometric model where the blueshift of stopbands is better described by the angles of refraction rather than reflection. The model predicts the effectiveness of pairing quantitatively, which serves as a design rule for programming the asymmetric photonic cross-communication. Moreover, three distinct droplets can be paired in triangular arrays, where all three cross-communication paths yield bright color patterns when three droplets are selected to simultaneously satisfy the rule. It is believed that asymmetric pairing of distinct CLC droplets opens new opportunities for programmable optical encoding in security and anti-counterfeiting applications.
In article number 2002166, Sang Seok Lee, Shin‐Hyun Kim, and Sihun Park design onion‐like photonic multishells with distinct photonic bandgaps. The multilayered structure is spontaneously created in ...emulsion drops by consecutive steps of phase separation between cholesteric liquid crystals (CLCs) and hydrophilic liquid, triggered by material exchange with the continuous phase. During the phase separation, a chiral dopant is unevenly partitioned in the CLC shells, resulting in multiple stopbands. The photonic multishells provide multi‐wavelength lasing and advanced optical barcoding.
The present study aimed to systematically review to find the best available evidence on the efficacy of non-pharmaceutical interventions that have been used in the community so far. Through eight ...electronic journal database, 9 articles met our inclusion Participants, Intervention, Control, Outcomes, and Study Design (PICOS) criteria based on medical symptoms, interventions, and improvements. In general, interventions included hand hygiene, mask use, health education such as cough etiquette, hand washing and sanitizer methods. In addition, exercise and meditation were performed to improve immunity. As a result, the number of incidents and absences related to respiratory infections were reduced, the frequency and method of handwashing improved, and there were also positive effects in knowledge, attitude/perception, and performance. We concluded that it is necessary to create an environment and systematic support so that organizations or governments can determine healthy behavior at the same time as an individual approach. Furthermore, the follow-up for evaluating the effectiveness of interventions and the monitoring period should be included during the study, consequently resulting in having an opportunity to continuously remind people about health behavior. The community provides information on various types of non-pharmaceutical intervention to maintain healthy management and lifestyles in the public.
Purpose: Many previous studies related to speech recognition of hearing-impaired elderly have found that the elderly have difficulty in monosyllable recognition under noisy situations, but there is ...still lack of their specific information to perceive the monosyllables in terms of error pattern. The purpose of the present study was to measure and analyze the prominent errors of consonant (C)-vowel (V) combinations as a function of noise levels in the hearing-impaired elderly. Methods: A total of twenty older adults with sensorineural hearing loss participated. While randomly presenting 122 syllables which consisted of the Korean CV and VC combinations under quiet and two signalto-noise ratios (SNRs, +6 and +3 dB) conditions, the participants were asked to respond the syllables heard in a way of either discrimination or identification. Error rate (or percent incorrect) and error patterns of the syllables were analyzed in each condition. Results: Substitution error of the initial consonant showed the highest rate regardless of the background conditions. As the medial phoneme, the vowel errors were decreased as the level of noise increased. In the final consonant, additional error rate of /k/ was abruptly increased as SNR decreased. Furthermore, it was an interesting pattern that the initial consonants such as /s/, /l/, and /t*/ had a high substitution error rate when combined with /i/, /o/, and /ɛ/ vowels, respectively. Conclusion: Based on the current results, the hearing-impaired older adults seem to have their unique error patterns although there is individual difference. We expect that these results will be fundamental data to understand characteristics of speech perception in the older adults at the monosyllables level. KCI Citation Count: 0
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