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Olfactory Fatigue
Olfactory fatigue, also known as odor fatigue, odor habituation, olfactory adaptation, or noseblindness, is the temporary, normal inability to distinguish a particular odor after a prolonged exposure to that airborne compound. For example, when entering a restaurant initially the odor of food is often perceived as being very strong, but after time passes the awareness of the odor normally fades to the point where the smell is not perceptible or is much weaker. After leaving the area of high odor, the sensitivity is restored with time. Anosmia is the permanent loss of the sense of smell, and is different from olfactory fatigue. It is a term commonly used in wine tasting, where one loses the ability to smell and distinguish wine bouquet after sniffing at wine continuously for an extended period of time. The term is also used in the study of indoor air quality, for example, in the perception of odors from people, tobacco, and cleaning agents. Since odor detection may be an indicator ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Odor
An odor (American English) or odour ( Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is a smell or a scent caused by one or more volatilized chemical compounds generally found in low concentrations that humans and many animals can perceive via their olfactory system. While ''smell'' can refer to pleasant and unpleasant odors, the terms ''scent'', ''aroma'', and ''fragrance'' are usually reserved for pleasant-smelling odors and are frequently used in the food and cosmetic industry to describe floral scents or to refer to perfumes. Odor physiology Sense of smell The perception of odors, or sense of smell, is mediated by the olfactory nerve. The olfactory receptor (OR) cells are neurons present in the olfactory epithelium, which is a small patch of tissue at the back of the nasal cavity. There are millions of olfactory receptor neurons that act as sensory signaling cells. Each neuron has cilia in direct contact with the air. Odorous molecules bind to receptor pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adaptive System
An adaptive system is a set of interacting or interdependent entities, real or abstract, forming an integrated whole that together are able to respond to environmental changes or changes in the interacting parts, in a way analogous to either continuous physiological homeostasis or evolutionary adaptation in biology. Feedback loops represent a key feature of adaptive systems, such as ecosystems and individual organisms; or in the human world, communities, organizations, and families. Adaptive systems can be organized into a hierarchy. Artificial adaptive systems include robots with control systems that utilize negative feedback to maintain desired states. The law of adaptation The law of adaptation may be stated informally as: Formally, the law can be defined as follows: Given a system S, we say that a physical event E is a stimulus for the system S if and only if the probability P(S \rightarrow S', E) that the system suffers a change or be perturbed (in its elements or i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Building Biology
A building or edifice is an enclosed structure with a roof, walls and windows, usually standing permanently in one place, such as a house or factory. Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and functions, and have been adapted throughout history for numerous factors, from building materials available, to weather conditions, land prices, ground conditions, specific uses, prestige, and aesthetic reasons. To better understand the concept, see ''Nonbuilding structure'' for contrast. Buildings serve several societal needs – occupancy, primarily as shelter from weather, security, living space, privacy, to store belongings, and to comfortably live and work. A building as a shelter represents a physical separation of the human habitat (a place of comfort and safety) from the ''outside'' (a place that may be harsh and harmful at times). buildings have been objects or canvasses of much artistic expression. In recent years, interest in sustainable planning and building pract ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thermal Comfort
Thermal comfort is the condition of mind that expresses subjective satisfaction with the thermal environment.ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 55-2017, Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupancy The human body can be viewed as a heat engine where food is the input energy. The human body will release excess heat into the environment, so the body can continue to operate. The heat transfer is proportional to temperature difference. In cold environments, the body loses more heat to the environment and in hot environments the body does not release enough heat. Both the hot and cold scenarios lead to discomfort. Maintaining this standard of thermal comfort for occupants of buildings or other enclosures is one of the important goals of HVAC ( heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) design engineers. Thermal neutrality is maintained when the heat generated by human metabolism is allowed to dissipate, thus maintaining thermal equilibrium with the surroundings. The main factors that in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Semantic Satiation
Semantic satiation is a psychological phenomenon in which repetition causes a word or phrase to temporarily lose meaning for the listener, who then perceives the speech as repeated meaningless sounds. Extended inspection or analysis (staring at the word or phrase for a long time) in place of repetition also produces the same effect. History and research Leon Jakobovits James coined the phrase "semantic satiation" in his 1962 doctoral dissertation at McGill University. It was demonstrated as a stable phenomenon that is possibly similar to a cognitive form of reactive inhibition. Before that, the expression "verbal satiation" had been used along with terms that express the idea of mental fatigue. The dissertation listed many of the names others had used for the phenomenon: James presented several experiments that demonstrated the operation of the semantic satiation effect in various cognitive tasks such as rating words and figures that are presented repeatedly in a short time, v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phantosmia
Phantosmia (phantom smell), also called an olfactory hallucination or a phantom odor, is smelling an odor that is not actually there. This hallucination is intrinsically suspicious as the formal evaluation and detection of relatively low levels of odour particles is itself a very tricky task in air epistemology. It can occur in one nostril or both. Unpleasant phantosmia, cacosmia, is more common and is often described as smelling something that is burned, foul, spoiled, or rotten. Experiencing occasional phantom smells is normal and usually goes away on its own in time. When hallucinations of this type do not seem to go away or when they keep coming back, it can be very upsetting and can disrupt an individual's quality of life. Olfactory hallucinations can be caused by common medical conditions such as nasal infections, nasal polyps, or dental problems. It can result from neurological conditions such as migraines, head injuries, strokes, Parkinson's disease, seizures, or brain tu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palate Cleanser
A palate cleanser is a serving of food or drink that removes food residue from the tongue, allowing one to more accurately assess a new flavor. Palate cleansers are often used between tasting wines, cheeses, or other strong flavors. Gari (ginger), Pickled ginger is used as a palate cleanser between sushi pieces. Traditional French palate-cleansing foods include sorbet, bread, apple slices, parsley and Mentha, mint. Bamia is a traditional Anatolian stew that is sometimes served as a palate cleanser between food course (food), courses at ceremonial Banquet, feasts. References External links What Foods Cleanse the Palate Orange Sorbet - A Palate Cleanser {{ingredient-stub Taste modifiers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olfaction
The sense of smell, or olfaction, is the special sense through which smells (or odors) are perceived. The sense of smell has many functions, including detecting desirable foods, hazards, and pheromones, and plays a role in taste. In humans, it occurs when an odor binds to a receptor within the nasal cavity, transmitting a signal through the olfactory system. Glomeruli aggregate signals from these receptors and transmit them to the olfactory bulb, where the sensory input will start to interact with parts of the brain responsible for smell identification, memory, and emotion. There are many different things which can interfere with a normal sense of smell, including damage to the nose or smell receptors, anosmia, upper respiratory infections, traumatic brain injury, and neurodegenerative disease. History of study Early scientific study of the sense of smell includes the extensive doctoral dissertation of Eleanor Gamble, published in 1898, which compared olfactory to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Building Indoor Environment
Building science is the science and technology-driven collection of knowledge to provide better indoor environmental quality (IEQ), energy-efficient built environments, and occupant comfort and satisfaction. ''Building physics, architectural science'', and ''applied physics'' are terms used for the knowledge domain that overlaps with building science. In building science, the methods used in natural and hard sciences are widely applied, which may include controlled and quasi-experiments, randomized control, physical measurements, remote sensing, and simulations. On the other hand, methods from social and soft sciences, such as case study, interviews & focus group, observational method, surveys, and experience sampling, are also widely used in building science to understand occupant satisfaction, comfort, and experiences by acquiring qualitative data. One of the recent trends in building science is a combination of the two different methods. For instance, it is widely known t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Banner Blindness
Banner blindness is a phenomenon in web usability where visitors to a website consciously or unconsciously ignore banner-like information. A broader term covering all forms of advertising is ad blindness, and the mass of banners that people ignore is called banner noise. The term ''banner blindness'' was coined in 1998 as a result of website usability tests where a majority of the test subjects either consciously or unconsciously ignored information that was presented in banners. The information that was overlooked included both external advertisement banners and internal navigational banners, often called "quick links". This does not, however, mean that banner ads do not influence viewers. Website viewers may not be consciously aware of an ad, but it does have an unconscious influence on their behavior. A banner's content affects both businesses and visitors of the site.Lapa, C. (2007). Using eye tracking to understand banner blindness and improve website design. Native adverti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phosphodiesterase
A phosphodiesterase (PDE) is an enzyme that breaks a phosphodiester bond. Usually, ''phosphodiesterase'' refers to cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases, which have great clinical significance and are described below. However, there are many other families of phosphodiesterases, including phospholipases C and D, autotaxin, sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase, DNases, RNases, and restriction endonucleases (which all break the phosphodiester backbone of DNA or RNA), as well as numerous less-well-characterized small-molecule phosphodiesterases. The cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases comprise a group of enzymes that degrade the phosphodiester bond in the second messenger molecules cAMP and cGMP. They regulate the localization, duration, and amplitude of cyclic nucleotide signaling within subcellular domains. PDEs are therefore important regulators of signal transduction mediated by these second messenger molecules. History These multiple forms (isoforms or subtypes) of phosp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anosmia
Anosmia, also known as smell blindness, is the lack of ability to detect one or more smells. Anosmia may be temporary or permanent. It differs from hyposmia, which is a decreased sensitivity to some or all smells. Anosmia can be categorized into acquired anosmia and congenital anosmia. Acquired anosmia develops later in life due to various causes, such as upper respiratory infections, head trauma, or neurodegenerative diseases. In contrast, congenital anosmia is present from birth and is typically caused by genetic factors or developmental abnormalities of the olfactory system. While acquired anosmia may have potential treatments depending on the underlying cause, such as medications or surgery, congenital anosmia currently has no known cure, and management focuses on safety precautions and coping strategies. Anosmia can be due to a number of factors, including inflammation of the nasal mucosa, blockage of nasal passages, or destruction of temporal lobular tissue. Anosmia s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
