974 resultados para Birds--Ontario--Short Hills Provincial Park.
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This article describes further evidence for a new neural network theory of biological motion perception. The theory clarifies why parallel streams Vl --> V2, Vl --> MT, and Vl --> V2 --> MT exist for static form and motion form processing among the areas Vl, V2, and MT of visual cortex. The theory suggests that the static form system (Static BCS) generates emergent boundary segmentations whose outputs are insensitive to direction-ofcontrast and insensitive to direction-of-motion, whereas the motion form system (Motion BCS) generates emergent boundary segmentations whose outputs are insensitive to directionof-contrast but sensitive to direction-of-motion. The theory is used to explain classical and recent data about short-range and long-range apparent motion percepts that have not yet been explained by alternative models. These data include beta motion; split motion; gamma motion and reverse-contrast gamma motion; delta motion; visual inertia; the transition from group motion to element motion in response to a Ternus display as the interstimulus interval (ISI) decreases; group motion in response to a reverse-contrast Ternus display even at short ISIs; speed-up of motion velocity as interflash distance increases or flash duration decreases; dependence of the transition from element motion to group motion on stimulus duration and size; various classical dependencies between flash duration, spatial separation, ISI, and motion threshold known as Korte's Laws; dependence of motion strength on stimulus orientation and spatial frequency; short-range and long-range form-color interactions; and binocular interactions of flashes to different eyes.
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The present research examines the issue of universal interventions designed to enhance wellbeing among a community-based adolescent population. The first phase saw a cross-sectional survey conducted among Transition Year students in 13 secondary schools in Cork city and county, Republic of Ireland, with a view towards identifying dimensions linked with wellbeing (operationalised as subjective happiness, life satisfaction, and depressive symptoms) and which might prove effective in informing intervention approaches. Arising from this, mindfulness, gratitude, and cognitive-behavioural dimensions emerged as predictors of wellbeing, and short interventions (four sessions/four weeks) informed by each were conducted with participant groups in three secondary schools, one intervention in each school. Results from statistical analysis showed that the mindfulness and cognitive-behavioural interventions facilitated significant reductions in depressive symptoms among active condition participants at post-test, but that these benefits were not sustained over time, while no statistically significant changes were detected on subjective happiness and life satisfaction. The gratitude intervention was found to have had no effect on the three outcome variables. The findings are discussed in the context of theory and past research, while limitations, implications, and possible future directions are also addressed.
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This paper examines the creation of religious place. It argues that the designation of a place as “religious” is a subjective and creative act which is dependent upon the perception and past, or memory, of the viewer. The paper focuses specifically on the creation of public places of worship by Hindu groups in the Dublin city area of Ireland and on the varied perceptions of the Indian Sculpture Park in County Wicklow. The creation of public places of worship results in places classified as “religious” due to the intention of the creator, the terminology used and the types of activities that take place in the space. This is in contrast to places such as the Indian Sculpture Park in County Wicklow which was created as a secular space but which is viewed by some Hindus as an outdoor temple due to the presence of sculptures of the Hindu deity Ganesh. Other Hindus do not view the space as having any religious significance and so its religiosity is contested. This points to the fact that the creation of religious place is a creative act of interpretation which is dependent upon the perception and past of the viewer and which changes over time.
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PURPOSE: To compare health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in patients with metastatic breast cancer receiving the combination of doxorubicin and paclitaxel (AT) or doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide (AC) as first-line chemotherapy treatment. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Eligible patients (n = 275) with anthracycline-naive measurable metastatic breast cancer were randomly assigned to AT (doxorubicin 60 mg/m(2) as an intravenous bolus plus paclitaxel 175 mg/m(2) as a 3-hour infusion) or AC (doxorubicin 60 mg/m(2) plus cyclophosphamide 600 mg/m(2)) every 3 weeks for a maximum of six cycles. Dose escalation of paclitaxel (200 mg/m(2)) and cyclophosphamide (750 mg/m(2)) was planned at cycle 2 to reach equivalent myelosuppression in the two groups. HRQOL was assessed with the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Quality of Life Questionnaire C30 and the EORTC Breast Module at baseline and the start of cycles 2, 4, and 6, and 3 months after the last cycle. RESULTS: Seventy-nine percent of the patients (n = 219) completed a baseline measure. However, there were no statistically significant differences in HRQOL between the two treatment groups. In both groups, selected aspects of HRQOL were impaired over time, with increased fatigue, although some clinically significant improvements in emotional functioning were seen, as well as a reduction in pain over time. Overall, global quality of life was maintained in both treatment groups. CONCLUSION: This information is important when advising women patients of the expected HRQOL consequences of treatment regimens and should help clinicians and their patients make informed treatment decisions.
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SCOPUS: ar.j
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Summer Sprite for Orchestra was completed in December, 2004. The piece originated from a singular encounter with little angels at Chang-Kyung Palace, which is the oldest and the most beautiful palace in Korea, and where the kings of the Chosun Dynasty (1393-1897) lived. This encounter was in the summer of 2002. I certainly could not prove that those angels I met were real. Possibly they were the reflection of drops of water after a sudden shower on that summer day. However, I definitely remember that short, unforgettable, and mysterious moment and the angels' beautiful dance-like celebration. Summer Sprite is based on these special memories and the encounter with the little angels that summer. Summer Sprite consists of 3 movements: "Greeting," "Encounter," and "Celebration." These follow the course of my encounter with the little angels. In Summer Sprite, I wished to describe the image of the angels as well as the progression of greeting, encounter, and celebration with them. The moods that follow in Summer Sprite are by turns lyrical, poetic, fantastic, mysterious, and dream-like. In each movement, I describe the meeting of angels and composer through the use of the soloists -- violin (sometimes viola) and cello. As suggested by the subtitle of the first movement, "Greeting" portrays the moment when a surprised I met the angels. It begins with tam-tam, marimba, harp, and piano and sets a mysterious and dark mood. The second movement, "Encounter," is shorter than the first movement. This movement provides a more tranquil mood as well as more unique timbres resulting from the use of mutes and special instruments (English horn, harp, crotales, suspended cymbal, and celesta). The delicate expression of the percussion is particularly important in establishing the static mood of this movement . The last movement, °?Celebration,°± is bright and energetic. It is also the longest. Here, I require the most delicate changes of dynamics and tempo, the most vigorous harmonies, and the fastest rhythmic figures, as well as the most independent, lyrical, and poetic melodies. For bright orchestral tone color, I used various kinds of percussion such as timpani, xylophone, marimba, vibraphone, cymbals, side drum, tambourine, triangle, and bass drum. This last movement is divided rondo-like into five sections: The first (mm.1-3), second (mm.4 - rehearsal number 1), third (rehearsal numbers 2-4), fourth (rehearsal numbers 5-7), and fifth, (rehearsal numbers 8 -18). To sum up, Summer Sprite describes an unforgettable and mysterious moment in a my life. My intention was to portray this through a concerto-like framework. A model for this would be Brahms°Ø °?Double Concerto°± in A minor, op.102, in which the solo cello stands for my angel and the solo violin (sometimes solo viola) for me.
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The artistic play of light seen on a pyramid in some Mayan ruins located in Cancun, Mexico provided the inspiration for Vision of Equinox. On both the spring and autumn equinox days, the sunlight projected on the pyramid forms a shape which looks like a serpent moving on the stairway of the pyramid. Vision of Equinox was composed with an image of light as the model for the artistic transfiguration of sound. The light image of sound changes its shape in each stage of the piece, using the orchestra in different ways - sometimes like a chamber ensemble, sometimes like one big instrument. The image of light casting on a pyramid is expressed by descending melodic lines that can be heard several times in the piece. At the final climax of the work, a complete and embodied artistic figure is formed and stated, expressing the appearance of the Mayan god Quetzalcoatl, the serpent, in my own imagination. The light and shadow which comprise this pyramid art are treated as two contrasting elements in my composition and become the two main motives in this piece. To express these two contrasting elements, I picked the numbers "5" and "2," and used them as "key numbers" in this piece. As a result, the intervals of a fifth and a second (sometimes inverted as a seventh) are the two main intervals used in the structure. The interval of a fifth was taken into account for the construction of the pyramid, which has five points of contact. The interval of a second was selected as a contrasting sonority to the fifth. Further, the numbers "5" and "2" are used as the number of notes which form the main motives in this piece; quintuplets are used throughout this piece, and the short motive made by two sixteenth notes is used as one of the main motives in this piece. Moreover, the shape of the pyramid provided a concept of symmetry, which is expressed by the setting of a central point of the music (pitch center) as well as the use of retrograde and inversion in this piece.
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Several lines of evidence point strongly toward the importance of highly alpha-helical intermediates in the folding of all globular proteins, regardless of their native structure. However, experimental refolding studies demonstrate no observable alpha-helical intermediate during refolding of some beta-sheet proteins and have dampened enthusiasm for this model of protein folding. In this study, beta-sheet proteins were hypothesized to have potential to form amphiphilic helices at a period of <3.6 residues/turn that matches or exceeds the potential at 3.6 residues/turn. Hypothetically, such potential is the basis for an effective and unidirectional mechanism by which highly alpha-helical intermediates might be rapidly disassembled during folding and potentially accounts for the difficulty in detecting highly alpha-helical intermediates during the folding of some proteins. The presence of this potential was confirmed, indicating that a model entailing ubiquitous formation of alpha-helical intermediates during the folding of globular proteins predicts previously unrecognized features of primary structure. Further, the folding of fatty acid binding protein, a predominantly beta-sheet protein that exhibits no apparent highly alpha-helical intermediate during folding, was dramatically accelerated by 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol, a solvent that stabilizes alpha-helical structure. This observation suggests that formation of an alpha-helix can be a rate-limiting step during folding of a predominantly beta-sheet protein and further supports the role of highly alpha-helical intermediates in the folding of all globular proteins.
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Widespread adoption of lead-free materials and processing for printed circuit board (PCB) assembly has raised reliability concerns regarding surface insulation resistance (SIR) degradation and electrochemical migration (ECM). As PCB conductor spacings decrease, electronic products become more susceptible to these failures mechanisms, especially in the presence of surface contamination and flux residues which might remain after no-clean processing. Moreover, the probability of failure due to SIR degradation and ECM is affected by the interaction between physical factors (such as temperature, relative humidity, electric field) and chemical factors (such as solder alloy, substrate material, no-clean processing). Current industry standards for assessing SIR reliability are designed to serve as short-term qualification tests, typically lasting 72 to 168 hours, and do not provide a prediction of reliability in long-term applications. The risk of electrochemical migration with lead-free assemblies has not been adequately investigated. Furthermore, the mechanism of electrochemical migration is not completely understood. For example, the role of path formation has not been discussed in previous studies. Another issue is that there are very few studies on development of rapid assessment methodologies for characterizing materials such as solder flux with respect to their potential for promoting ECM. In this dissertation, the following research accomplishments are described: 1). Long-term temp-humidity-bias (THB) testing over 8,000 hours assessing the reliability of printed circuit boards processed with a variety of lead-free solder pastes, solder pad finishes, and substrates. 2). Identification of silver migration from Sn3.5Ag and Sn3.0Ag0.5Cu lead-free solder, which is a completely new finding compared with previous research. 3). Established the role of path formation as a step in the ECM process, and provided clarification of the sequence of individual steps in the mechanism of ECM: path formation, electrodeposition, ion transport, electrodeposition, and filament formation. 4). Developed appropriate accelerated testing conditions for assessing the no-clean processed PCBs' susceptibility to ECM: a). Conductor spacings in test structures should be reduced in order to reflect the trend of higher density electronics and the effect of path formation, independent of electric field, on the time-to-failure. b). THB testing temperatures should be modified according to the material present on the PCB, since testing at 85oC can cause the evaporation of weak organic acids (WOAs) in the flux residues, leading one to underestimate the risk of ECM. 5). Correlated temp-humidity-bias testing with ion chromatography analysis and potentiostat measurement to develop an efficient and effective assessment methodology to characterize the effect of no-clean processing on ECM.
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Avian malaria and related haematozoa are nearly ubiquitous parasites that can impose fitness costs of variable severity and may, in some cases, cause substantial mortality in their host populations. One example of the latter, the emergence of avian malaria in the endemic avifauna of Hawaii, has become a model for understanding the consequences of human-mediated disease introduction. The drastic declines of native Hawaiian birds due to avian malaria provided the impetus for examining more closely several aspects of host-parasite interactions in this system. Host-specificity is an important character determining the extent to which a parasite may emerge. Traditional parasite classification, however, has used host information as a character in taxonomical identification, potentially obscuring the true host range of many parasites. To improve upon previous methods, I first developed molecular tools to identify parasites infecting a particular host. I then used these molecular techniques to characterize host-specificity of parasites in the genera Plasmodium and Haemoproteus. I show that parasites in the genus Plasmodium exhibit low specificity and are therefore most likely to emerge in new hosts in the future. Subsequently, I characterized the global distribution of the single lineage of P. relictum that has emerged in Hawaii. I demonstrate that this parasite has a broad host distribution worldwide, that it is likely of Old World origin and that it has been introduced to numerous islands around the world, where it may have been overlooked as a cause of decline in native birds. I also demonstrate that morphological classification of P. relictum does not capture differences among groups of parasites that appear to be reproductively isolated based on molecular evidence. Finally, I examined whether reduced immunological capacity, which has been proposed to explain the susceptibility of Hawaiian endemics, is a general feature of an "island syndrome" in isolated avifauna of the remote Pacific. I show that, over multiple time scales, changes in immune response are not uniform and that observed changes probably reflect differences in genetic diversity, parasite exposure and life history that are unique to each species.
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This dissertation investigates the concept of motion as a fundamental aesthetic element in the devotional music, dance, and rituals performed in honor of the celebrated thirteenth-century Persian mystic poet and saint, the Mevlana Celal ed-Din Muhammad Rumi. The main focus of the study is threefold. First, it investigates the prevalence of the notion of movement in Islamic music and culture, specifically within the Sufi communities of Turkey, in order to arrive at a broader understanding of the relationship between music, aesthetics, and worldview. Secondly, it explores how musical performance functions as a form of devotion or religious worship by focusing on the musical repertories performed in honor of a single holy figure, the Mevlana Rumi. Finally, it provides an ethnographic account of contemporary developments in Sufi musical culture in Turkey and across the world by describing the recent activities of the Mevlana's devotees, which includes members of the Mevlevi Order of Islamic mystics as well as adherents of other Sufi brotherhoods and followers of so-called New Religions or New Age. The primary research for this study involved two short one-month field trips to Turkey and India in 2002 and 2003, respectively, and a longer one year expedition to Turkey in 2004 and 2005, which also included shorter stays in Cyprus, Syria, and Egypt. Additionally, the dissertation draws directly from critical theories advanced in the fields of ethnomusicology, cultural anthropology, and ethnochoreology and focuses on the kinesthetic parameters of music, dance, trance, and ritual as well as on broader forms of socio-cultural movement including pilgrimage, cultural tourism, and globalization. These forms of movement are analyzed in four broad categories of music used in worship, including classical Mevlevi music, music of the zikr ceremony, popular musics, and non-Turkish musics.
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In stable solar systems, planets remain in nearly elliptical orbits around their stars. Over longer timescales, however, their orbital shapes and sizes change due to mutual gravitational perturbations. Orbits of satellites around a planet vary for the same reason. Because of their interactions, the orbits of planets and satellites today are different from what they were earlier. In order to determine their original orbits, which are critical constraints on formation theories, it is crucial to understand how orbits evolve over the age of the Solar System. Depending on their timescale, we classify orbital interactions as either short-term (orbital resonances) or long-term (secular evolution). My work involves examples of both interaction types. Resonant history of the small Neptunian satellites In satellite systems, tidal migration brings satellite orbits in and out of resonances. During a resonance passage, satellite orbits change dramatically in a very short period of time. We investigate the resonant history of the six small Neptunian moons. In this unique system, the exotic orbit of the large captured Triton (with a circular, retrograde, and highly tilted orbit) influences the resonances among the small satellites very strongly. We derive an analytical framework which can be applied to Neptune's satellites and to similar systems. Our numerical simulations explain the current orbital tilts of the small satellites as well as constrain key physical parameters of both Neptune and its moons. Secular orbital interactions during eccentricity damping Long-term periodic changes of orbital shape and orientation occur when two or more planets orbit the same star. The variations of orbital elements are superpositions of the same number of fundamental modes as the number of planets in the system. We investigate how this effect interacts with other perturbations imposed by external disturbances, such as the tides and relativistic effects. Through analytical studies of a system consisting of two planets, we find that an external perturbation exerted on one planet affects the other indirectly. We formulate a general theory for how both orbits evolve in response to an arbitrary externally-imposed slow change in eccentricity.
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With the growing demand for high-speed and high-quality short-range communication, multi-band orthogonal frequency division multiplexing ultra-wide band (MB-OFDM UWB) systems have recently garnered considerable interest in industry and in academia. To achieve a low-cost solution, highly integrated transceivers with small die area and minimum power consumption are required. The key building block of the transceiver is the frequency synthesizer. A frequency synthesizer comprised of two PLLs and one multiplexer is presented in this thesis. Ring oscillators are adopted for PLL implementation in order to drastically reduce the die area of the frequency synthesizer. The poor spectral purity appearing in the frequency synthesizers involving mixers is greatly improved in this design. Based on the specifications derived from application standards, a design methodology is presented to obtain the parameters of building blocks. As well, the simulation results are provided to verify the performance of proposed design.
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A model to estimate the mean monthly growth of Crassostrea virginica oysters in Chesapeake Bay was developed. This model is based on the classic von Bertalanffy growth function, however the growth constant is changed every monthly timestep in response to short term changes in temperature and salinity. Using a dynamically varying growth constant allows the model to capture seasonal oscillations in growth, and growth responses to changing environmental conditions that previous applications of the von Bertalanffy model do not capture. This model is further expanded to include an estimation of Perkinsus marinus impacts on growth rates as well as estimations of ecosystem services provided by a restored oyster bar over time. The model was validated by comparing growth estimates from the model to oyster shell height observations from a variety of restoration sites in the upper Chesapeake Bay. Without using the P. marinus impact on growth, the model consistently overestimates mean oyster growth. However, when P. marinus effects are included in the model, the model estimates match the observed mean shell height closely for at least the first 3 years of growth. The estimates of ecosystem services suggested by this model imply that even with high levels of mortality on an oyster reef, the ecosystem services provided by that reef can still be maintained by growth for several years. Because larger oyster filter more water than smaller ones, larger oysters contribute more to the filtration and nutrient removal ecosystem services of the reef. Therefore a reef with an abundance of larger oysters will provide better filtration and nutrient removal. This implies that if an oyster restoration project is trying to improve water quality through oyster filtration, it is important to maintain the larger older oysters on the reef.
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Gemstone Team ANSWER Poverty (Assessing the Need for Services Which Effectively Reduce Poverty)