Quantative and qualitive identification of the fatty acids in the mullet (Liza aurata), sever juga (Acipenser stellatus) and Persian sturgeon (A. persicus), considering of cold storing effects on them

At the fishing season, in 2000, samples of species persian sturgeon (A. persicus), Severjuga (A. stellatus) and Mullet (L. aurata), were caught from the southern coasts of Caspian Sea and were freezes and preserved in the cold storage for one year They have also become biometery. The tissue's fillet were identified in order to determined the Fatty Acids. This was done during one year, frequently, fresh, two weeks after freezing and then monthly, respectively. So, after the extraction of lipids from the tissues and methylation, was injected to the gas-liquid Chromatography. After calibration, identified Fatty Acids were compared with standards according to their Retention Times. Peroxid value, lipid content and humidity were controlled. The unsaturated Fatty acids had The most amount, and a plenty of Polyunsaturated Fatty acids (PUFA) were observed, so that linoleic (C18:2), a-linolenic (C18:3), Arashidonic (C20:4), EPA (C20:5) and DHA (C22:6) Fatty acids had high amounts. The w-3, PUFA were more in comparison with w-6. The effects of freezing and cold storing on the fish fatty acids , were evaluated by the statistical tests , like SPSS, Tukey, Homogenous and Anova, and showed that in some species, a group of Fatty acids, specially PUFA, had some variation. The peroxide value that indicates the lipid deterioration, increased during toring. So, the best term if preserving in the cold storage, were determined and their Nutrition value and Medical applications due to their consumption were investigated.

Foraging habitats and utilization distributions of Black-necked Cranes wintering at the Napahai Wetland, China

One of the most endangered populations of Black-necked Cranes (Grus nigricollis), the central population, is declining due to habitat loss and degradation, but little is known about their space use patterns and habitat preferences. We examined the space use and habitat preferences of Black-necked Cranes during the winter of 2007-2008 at the Napahai wetland in northwest Yunnan, China, where approximately 300 Black-necked Cranes (>90% of the total central population) spent the winter. Euclidean distance analysis was employed to determine the habitat preferences of Black-necked Cranes, and a local nearest-neighbor, convex-hull construction method was used to examine space use. Our results indicate that Black-necked Cranes preferred shallow marsh and wet meadow habitats and avoided farmland and dry grassland. Core-use areas (50% isopleths) and total-use areas (100% isopleths) accounted for only 1.2% and 28.2% of the study area, respectively. We recommend that habitat protection efforts focus on shallow marsh and wet meadow habitats to maintain preferred foraging sites. Core-use areas, such as the primary foraging areas of Black-necked Cranes, should be designated as part of the core zone of the nature reserve. Monthly shifts in the core-use areas of the cranes also indicate that the reserve should be large enough to permit changes in space use. In addition to preserving habitat, government officials should also take measures to decrease human activity in areas used by foraging Black-necked Cranes.

Complex wavelets and shift invariance

Recently we have developed a new form of discrete wavelet transform, which generates complex coefficients by using a dual tree of wavelet filters to obtain their real and imaginary parts. This introduces limited redundancy (2 m:1 for m-dimensional signals) and allows the transform to provide approximate shift invariance and directionally selective filters (properties lacking in the traditional wavelet transform) while preserving the usual properties of perfect reconstruction and computational efficiency with good well-balanced frequency responses. In this paper we analyse why the new transform can be designed to be shift invariant, and describe how to estimate the accuracy of this approximation and design suitable filters to achieve this.

Probabilistic amplitude and frequency demodulation

A number of recent scientific and engineering problems require signals to be decomposed into a product of a slowly varying positive envelope and a quickly varying carrier whose instantaneous frequency also varies slowly over time. Although signal processing provides algorithms for so-called amplitude-and frequency-demodulation (AFD), there are well known problems with all of the existing methods. Motivated by the fact that AFD is ill-posed, we approach the problem using probabilistic inference. The new approach, called probabilistic amplitude and frequency demodulation (PAFD), models instantaneous frequency using an auto-regressive generalization of the von Mises distribution, and the envelopes using Gaussian auto-regressive dynamics with a positivity constraint. A novel form of expectation propagation is used for inference. We demonstrate that although PAFD is computationally demanding, it outperforms previous approaches on synthetic and real signals in clean, noisy and missing data settings.

Making a shallow network deep: Conversion of a boosting classifier into a decision tree by boolean optimisation

This paper presents a novel way to speed up the evaluation time of a boosting classifier. We make a shallow (flat) network deep (hierarchical) by growing a tree from decision regions of a given boosting classifier. The tree provides many short paths for speeding up while preserving the reasonably smooth decision regions of the boosting classifier for good generalisation. For converting a boosting classifier into a decision tree, we formulate a Boolean optimization problem, which has been previously studied for circuit design but limited to a small number of binary variables. In this work, a novel optimisation method is proposed for, firstly, several tens of variables i.e. weak-learners of a boosting classifier, and then any larger number of weak-learners by using a two-stage cascade. Experiments on the synthetic and face image data sets show that the obtained tree achieves a significant speed up both over a standard boosting classifier and the Fast-exit-a previously described method for speeding-up boosting classification, at the same accuracy. The proposed method as a general meta-algorithm is also useful for a boosting cascade, where it speeds up individual stage classifiers by different gains. The proposed method is further demonstrated for fast-moving object tracking and segmentation problems. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Neural representations of courtship song in the Drosophila brain.

Acoustic communication in drosophilid flies is based on the production and perception of courtship songs, which facilitate mating. Despite decades of research on courtship songs and behavior in Drosophila, central auditory responses have remained uncharacterized. In this study, we report on intracellular recordings from central neurons that innervate the Drosophila antennal mechanosensory and motor center (AMMC), the first relay for auditory information in the fly brain. These neurons produce graded-potential (nonspiking) responses to sound; we compare recordings from AMMC neurons to extracellular recordings of the receptor neuron population [Johnston's organ neurons (JONs)]. We discover that, while steady-state response profiles for tonal and broadband stimuli are significantly transformed between the JON population in the antenna and AMMC neurons in the brain, transient responses to pulses present in natural stimuli (courtship song) are not. For pulse stimuli in particular, AMMC neurons simply low-pass filter the receptor population response, thus preserving low-frequency temporal features (such as the spacing of song pulses) for analysis by postsynaptic neurons. We also compare responses in two closely related Drosophila species, Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila simulans, and find that pulse song responses are largely similar, despite differences in the spectral content of their songs. Our recordings inform how downstream circuits may read out behaviorally relevant information from central neurons in the AMMC.

Fabrication, densification, and replica molding of 3D carbon nanotube microstructures

The introduction of new materials and processes to microfabrication has, in large part, enabled many important advances in microsystems, labon- a-chip devices, and their applications. In particular, capabilities for cost-effective fabrication of polymer microstructures were transformed by the advent of soft lithography and other micromolding techniques 1,2, and this led a revolution in applications of microfabrication to biomedical engineering and biology. Nevertheless, it remains challenging to fabricate microstructures with well-defined nanoscale surface textures, and to fabricate arbitrary 3D shapes at the micro-scale. Robustness of master molds and maintenance of shape integrity is especially important to achieve high fidelity replication of complex structures and preserving their nanoscale surface texture. The combination of hierarchical textures, and heterogeneous shapes, is a profound challenge to existing microfabrication methods that largely rely upon top-down etching using fixed mask templates. On the other hand, the bottom-up synthesis of nanostructures such as nanotubes and nanowires can offer new capabilities to microfabrication, in particular by taking advantage of the collective self-organization of nanostructures, and local control of their growth behavior with respect to microfabricated patterns. Our goal is to introduce vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs), which we refer to as CNT "forests", as a new microfabrication material. We present details of a suite of related methods recently developed by our group: fabrication of CNT forest microstructures by thermal CVD from lithographically patterned catalyst thin films; self-directed elastocapillary densification of CNT microstructures; and replica molding of polymer microstructures using CNT composite master molds. In particular, our work shows that self-directed capillary densification ("capillary forming"), which is performed by condensation of a solvent onto the substrate with CNT microstructures, significantly increases the packing density of CNTs. This process enables directed transformation of vertical CNT microstructures into straight, inclined, and twisted shapes, which have robust mechanical properties exceeding those of typical microfabrication polymers. This in turn enables formation of nanocomposite CNT master molds by capillary-driven infiltration of polymers. The replica structures exhibit the anisotropic nanoscale texture of the aligned CNTs, and can have walls with sub-micron thickness and aspect ratios exceeding 50:1. Integration of CNT microstructures in fabrication offers further opportunity to exploit the electrical and thermal properties of CNTs, and diverse capabilities for chemical and biochemical functionalization 3. © 2012 Journal of Visualized Experiments.

Bayesian updating of a unified soil compression model

Some amount of differential settlement occurs even in the most uniform soil deposit, but it is extremely difficult to estimate because of the natural heterogeneity of the soil. The compression response of the soil and its variability must be characterised in order to estimate the probability of the differential settlement exceeding a certain threshold value. The work presented in this paper introduces a probabilistic framework to address this issue in a rigorous manner, while preserving the format of a typical geotechnical settlement analysis. In order to avoid dealing with different approaches for each category of soil, a simplified unified compression model is used to characterise the nonlinear compression behavior of soils of varying gradation through a single constitutive law. The Bayesian updating rule is used to incorporate information from three different laboratory datasets in the computation of the statistics (estimates of the means and covariance matrix) of the compression model parameters, as well as of the uncertainty inherent in the model.

Control of bimanual rhythmic movements: Trading efficiency for robustness depending on the context

This paper investigates how the efficiency and robustness of a skilled rhythmic task compete against each other in the control of a bimanual movement. Human subjects juggled a puck in 2D through impacts with two metallic arms, requiring rhythmic bimanual actuation. The arms kinematics were only constrained by the position, velocity and time of impacts while the rest of the trajectory did not influence the movement of the puck. In order to expose the task robustness, we manipulated the task context in two distinct manners: the task tempo was assigned at four different values (hence manipulating the time available to plan and execute each impact movement individually); and vision was withdrawn during half of the trials (hence reducing the sensory inflows). We show that when the tempo was fast, the actuation was rhythmic (no pause in the trajectory) while at slow tempo, the actuation was discrete (with pause intervals between individual movements). Moreover, the withdrawal of visual information encouraged the rhythmic behavior at the four tested tempi. The discrete versus rhythmic behavior give different answers to the efficiency/robustness trade-off: discrete movements result in energy efficient movements, while rhythmic movements impact the puck with negative acceleration, a property preserving robustness. Moreover, we report that in all conditions the impact velocity of the arms was negatively correlated with the energy of the puck. This correlation tended to stabilize the task and was influenced by vision, revealing again different control strategies. In conclusion, this task involves different modes of control that balance efficiency and robustness, depending on the context. © 2008 Springer-Verlag.

Optimization on the orthogonal group for independent component analysis

This paper derives a new algorithm that performs independent component analysis (ICA) by optimizing the contrast function of the RADICAL algorithm. The core idea of the proposed optimization method is to combine the global search of a good initial condition with a gradient-descent algorithm. This new ICA algorithm performs faster than the RADICAL algorithm (based on Jacobi rotations) while still preserving, and even enhancing, the strong robustness properties that result from its contrast. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.

A Newton algorithm for invariant subspace computation with large basins of attraction

We study the global behaviour of a Newton algorithm on the Grassmann manifold for invariant subspace computation. It is shown that the basins of attraction of the invariant subspaces may collapse in case of small eigenvalue gaps. A Levenberg-Marquardt-like modification of the algorithm with low numerical cost is proposed. A simple strategy for choosing the parameter is shown to dramatically enlarge the basins of attraction of the invariant subspaces while preserving the fast local convergence.

Failure and formation of axial nanowire heterostructures in vapor-liquid-solid growth

To observe the axial growth behavior of InAs on GaAs nanowires, InAs was grown for different growth durations on GaAs nanowires using Au nanoparticles. Through transmission electron microscopy, we have observed the following evolution steps for the InAs growth. (1) In the initial stages of the InAs growth, InAs clusters into a wedge shape preferentially at an edge of the Au/GaAs interface by minimizing Au/InAs interfacial area; (2) with further growth of InAs, the Au particle moves sidewards and then downwards by preserving an interface with GaAs nanowire sidewalls. The lower interfacial energy of Au/GaAs than that of Au/In As is attributed to be the reason for such Au movement. This downward movement of the Au nanoparticle later terminates when the nanoparticle encounters InAs growing radially on the GaAs nanowire sidewalls, and with further supply of In and As vapor reactants, the Au nanoparticle assists the formation of InAs branches. These observations give some insights into vapor-liquid-solid growth and the formation of kinks in nanowire heterostructures. © 2008 Materials Research Society.

Effects of indium ion implantation on the total dose hardness of fully depleted SOI NMOSFET

In this work, we investigate the effects of the indium ion implantation towards the back-channel interface on the total dose hardness of the n-channel SOI MOSFET. The results show that the indium implant has slight impact on the normal threshold voltage while preserving low leakage current after irradiation. The advantage is attributed to the narrow as-implanted and postanneal profile of the indium implantation. Two-dimensional simulations have been used to understand the physical mechanisms of the effects.

Coherence loss and recovery of an electron spin coupled inhomogeneously to a one-dimensional interacting spin bath: An adaptive time-dependent density-matrix renormalization group study

Coherence evolution and echo effect of an electron spin, which is coupled inhomogeneously to an interacting one-dimensional finite spin bath via hyperfine-type interaction, are studied using the adaptive time-dependent density-matrix renormalization group method. It is found that the interplay of the coupling inhomogeneity and the transverse intrabath interactions results in two qualitatively different coherence evolutions, namely, a coherence-preserving evolution characterized by periodic oscillation and a complete decoherence evolution. Correspondingly, the echo effects induced by an electron-spin flip at time tau exhibit stable recoherence pulse sequence for the periodic evolution and a single peak at root 2 tau for the decoherence evolution, respectively. With the diagonal intrabath interaction included, the specific feature of the periodic regime is kept, while the root 2 tau-type echo effect in the decoherence regime is significantly affected. To render the experimental verifications possible, the Hahn echo envelope as a function of tau is calculated, which eliminates the inhomogeneous broadening effect and serves for the identification of the different status of the dynamic coherence evolution, periodic versus decoherence.

Entanglement evolution of a spin-chain bath coupled to a quantum spin

For an electron spin in coupling with an interacting spin chain via hyperfine-type interaction, we investigate the dynamical evolutions of the pairwise entanglement of the spin chain, and a correlation function joined the electron spin with a pair of chain spins in correspondence to the electron-spin coherence evolution. Both quantities manifest a periodic and a decaying evolution. The entanglement of the spin bath is significant in distinguishing the zero-coherence status exhibited in periodic and decoherence evolutions of the electron spin. The periodical concurrence evolution of the spin bath characterizes the whole system in a coherence-preserving phase, particularly for the case that the associated periodic coherence evolution is predominated by zero value in the infinite chain-length limit, which was often regarded as the realization of decoherence.