Deep GMRT radio observations and a multi-wavelength study of the region around HESS J1858+020

Context. There are a number of very high energy sources in the Galaxy that remain unidentified. Multi-wavelength and variability studies, and catalogue searches, are powerful tools to identify the physical counterpart, given the uncertainty in the source location and extension. Aims. This work carries out a thorough multi-wavelength study of the unidentified, very high energy source HESS J1858+020 and its environs. Methods. We have performed Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope observations at 610 MHz and 1.4 GHz to obtain a deep, low-frequency radio image of the region surrounding HESS J1858+020. We analysed archival radio, infrared, and X-ray data as well. This observational information, combined with molecular data, catalogue sources, and a nearby Fermi gamma-ray detection of unidentified origin, are combined to explore possible counterparts to the very high energy source. Results. We provide with a deep radio image of a supernova remnant that might be related to the GeV and TeV emission in the region. We confirm the presence of an H ii region next to the supernova remnant and coincident with molecular emission. A potential region of star formation is also identified. We identify several radio and X-ray sources in the surroundings. Some of these sources are known planetary nebulae, whereas others may be non-thermal extended emitters and embedded young stellar objects. Three old, background Galactic pulsars also neighbour HESS J1858+020 along the line of sight. Conclusions. The region surrounding HESS J1858+020 is rich in molecular structures and non-thermal objects that may potentially be linked to this unidentified very high energy source. In particular, a supernova remnant interacting with nearby molecular clouds may be a good candidate, but a star forming region, or a non-thermal radio source of yet unclear nature, may also be behind the gamma-ray source. The neighbouring pulsars, despite being old and distant, cannot be discarded as candidates. Further observational studies are needed, however, to narrow the search for a counterpart to the HESS source.

GPS-signal Source Based on Direct Digital Synthesis

This thesis presents the design and implementation of a GPS-signal source suitable for receiver measurements. The developed signal source is based on direct digital synthesis which generates the intermediate frequency. The intermediate frequency is transfered to the final frequency with the aid of an Inphase/Quadrature modulator. The modulating GPS-data was generated with MATLAB. The signal source was duplicated to form a multi channel source. It was shown that, GPS-signals ment for civil navigation are easy to generate in the laboratory. The hardware does not need to be technically advanced if navigation with high level of accuracy is not needed. It was also shown that, the Inphase/Quadrature modulator can function as a single side band upconverter even with a high intermediate frequency. This concept reduces the demands required for output filtering.

Prototype of a web-based participative decision support platform in natural hazards and risk management

This paper presents the current state and development of a prototype web-GIS (Geographic Information System) decision support platform intended for application in natural hazards and risk management, mainly for floods and landslides. This web platform uses open-source geospatial software and technologies, particularly the Boundless (formerly OpenGeo) framework and its client side software development kit (SDK). The main purpose of the platform is to assist the experts and stakeholders in the decision-making process for evaluation and selection of different risk management strategies through an interactive participation approach, integrating web-GIS interface with decision support tool based on a compromise programming approach. The access rights and functionality of the platform are varied depending on the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders in managing the risk. The application of the prototype platform is demonstrated based on an example case study site: Malborghetto Valbruna municipality of North-Eastern Italy where flash floods and landslides are frequent with major events having occurred in 2003. The preliminary feedback collected from the stakeholders in the region is discussed to understand the perspectives of stakeholders on the proposed prototype platform.

The Coordinated Radio and Infrared Survey for High-mass Star Formation. II. Source Catalog

The CORNISH project is the highest resolution radio continuum survey of the Galactic plane to date. It is the 5 GHz radio continuum part of a series of multi-wavelength surveys that focus on the northern GLIMPSE region (10° < l < 65°), observed by the Spitzer satellite in the mid-infrared. Observations with the Very Large Array in B and BnA configurations have yielded a 1.''5 resolution Stokes I map with a root mean square noise level better than 0.4 mJy beam 1. Here we describe the data-processing methods and data characteristics, and present a new, uniform catalog of compact radio emission. This includes an implementation of automatic deconvolution that provides much more reliable imaging than standard CLEANing. A rigorous investigation of the noise characteristics and reliability of source detection has been carried out. We show that the survey is optimized to detect emission on size scales up to 14'' and for unresolved sources the catalog is more than 90% complete at a flux density of 3.9 mJy. We have detected 3062 sources above a 7σ detection limit and present their ensemble properties. The catalog is highly reliable away from regions containing poorly sampled extended emission, which comprise less than 2% of the survey area. Imaging problems have been mitigated by down-weighting the shortest spacings and potential artifacts flagged via a rigorous manual inspection with reference to the Spitzer infrared data. We present images of the most common source types found: H II regions, planetary nebulae, and radio galaxies. The CORNISH data and catalog are available online at http://cornish.leeds.ac.uk.

Fast and sensitive supercritical fluid chromatography - tandem mass spectrometry multi-class screening method for the determination of doping agents in urine.

This study shows the possibility offered by modern ultra-high performance supercritical fluid chromatography combined with tandem mass spectrometry in doping control analysis. A high throughput screening method was developed for 100 substances belonging to the challenging classes of anabolic agents, hormones and metabolic modulators, synthetic cannabinoids and glucocorticoids, which should be detected at low concentrations in urine. To selectively extract these doping agents from urine, a supported liquid extraction procedure was implemented in a 48-well plate format. At the tested concentration levels ranging from 0.5 to 5 ng/mL, the recoveries were better than 70% for 48-68% of the compounds and higher than 50% for 83-87% of the tested substances. Due to the numerous interferences related to isomers of steroids and ions produced by the loss of water in the electrospray source, the choice of SFC separation conditions was very challenging. After careful optimization, a Diol stationary phase was employed. The total analysis time for the screening assay was only 8 min, and interferences as well as susceptibility to matrix effect (ME) were minimized. With the developed method, about 70% of the compounds had relative ME within the range ±20%, at a concentration of 1 and 5 ng/mL. Finally, limits of detection achieved with the above-described strategy including 5-fold preconcentration were below 0.1 ng/mL for the majority of the tested compounds. Therefore, LODs were systematically better than the minimum required performance levels established by the World anti-doping agency, except for very few metabolites.

Multi-sensor Simultaneous Localization and Mapping

Simultaneous localization and mapping(SLAM) is a very important problem in mobile robotics. Many solutions have been proposed by different scientists during the last two decades, nevertheless few studies have considered the use of multiple sensors simultane¬ously. The solution is on combining several data sources with the aid of an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF). Two approaches are proposed. The first one is to use the ordinary EKF SLAM algorithm for each data source separately in parallel and then at the end of each step, fuse the results into one solution. Another proposed approach is the use of multiple data sources simultaneously in a single filter. The comparison of the computational com¬plexity of the two methods is also presented. The first method is almost four times faster than the second one.

Implementación de un sistema de almacenamiento y distribución multi-centro de imágenes médicas, mediante software libre

Este trabajo de fin de grado plantea probar la viabilidad de realizar un sistema de almacenamiento y distribución de imágenes médicas, utilizando únicamente software de código abierto, libre distribución o gratuito.

Social Presence Approach Within the Question and Answering eLearning Model: An Experiment with a Multi-Agent System

The model of Questions Answering (Q&A) for eLearning is based on collaborative learning through questions that are posed by students and their answers to that questions which are given by peers, in contrast with the classical model in which students ask questions to the teacher only. In this proposal we extend the Q&A model including the social presence concept and a quantitative measure of it is proposed; besides it is considered the evolution of the resulting Q&A social network after the inclusion of the social presence and taking into account the feedback on questions posed by students and answered by peers. The social network behaviorwas simulated using a Multi-Agent System to compare the proposed social presence model with the classical and the Q&A models

LOW COST ANALYZER FOR THE DETERMINATION OF PHOSPHORUS BASED ON OPEN-SOURCE HARDWARE AND PULSED FLOWS

The need for automated analyzers for industrial and environmental samples has triggered the research for new and cost-effective strategies of automation and control of analytical systems. The widespread availability of open-source hardware together with novel analytical methods based on pulsed flows have opened the possibility of implementing standalone automated analytical systems at low cost. Among the areas that can benefit from this approach are the analysis of industrial products and effluents and environmental analysis. In this work, a multi-pumping flow system is proposed for the determination of phosphorus in effluents and polluted water samples. The system employs photometric detection based on the formation of molybdovanadophosphoric acid, and the fluidic circuit is built using three solenoid micropumps. The detection is implemented with a low cost LED-photodiode photometric detection system and the whole system is controlled by an open-source Arduino Uno microcontroller board. The optimization of the timing to ensure the color development and the pumping cycle is discussed for the proposed implementation. Experimental results to evaluate the system behavior are presented verifying a linear relationship between the relative absorbance and the phosphorus concentrations for levels as high as 50 mg L-1.

Promoting Programming Learning. Engagement, Automatic Assessment with Immediate Feedback in Visualizations

The skill of programming is a key asset for every computer science student. Many studies have shown that this is a hard skill to learn and the outcomes of programming courses have often been substandard. Thus, a range of methods and tools have been developed to assist students’ learning processes. One of the biggest fields in computer science education is the use of visualizations as a learning aid and many visualization based tools have been developed to aid the learning process during last few decades. Studies conducted in this thesis focus on two different visualizationbased tools TRAKLA2 and ViLLE. This thesis includes results from multiple empirical studies about what kind of effects the introduction and usage of these tools have on students’ opinions and performance, and what kind of implications there are from a teacher’s point of view. The results from studies in this thesis show that students preferred to do web-based exercises, and felt that those exercises contributed to their learning. The usage of the tool motivated students to work harder during their course, which was shown in overall course performance and drop-out statistics. We have also shown that visualization-based tools can be used to enhance the learning process, and one of the key factors is the higher and active level of engagement (see. Engagement Taxonomy by Naps et al., 2002). The automatic grading accompanied with immediate feedback helps students to overcome obstacles during the learning process, and to grasp the key element in the learning task. These kinds of tools can help us to cope with the fact that many programming courses are overcrowded with limited teaching resources. These tools allows us to tackle this problem by utilizing automatic assessment in exercises that are most suitable to be done in the web (like tracing and simulation) since its supports students’ independent learning regardless of time and place. In summary, we can use our course’s resources more efficiently to increase the quality of the learning experience of the students and the teaching experience of the teacher, and even increase performance of the students. There are also methodological results from this thesis which contribute to developing insight into the conduct of empirical evaluations of new tools or techniques. When we evaluate a new tool, especially one accompanied with visualization, we need to give a proper introduction to it and to the graphical notation used by tool. The standard procedure should also include capturing the screen with audio to confirm that the participants of the experiment are doing what they are supposed to do. By taken such measures in the study of the learning impact of visualization support for learning, we can avoid drawing false conclusion from our experiments. As computer science educators, we face two important challenges. Firstly, we need to start to deliver the message in our own institution and all over the world about the new – scientifically proven – innovations in teaching like TRAKLA2 and ViLLE. Secondly, we have the relevant experience of conducting teaching related experiment, and thus we can support our colleagues to learn essential know-how of the research based improvement of their teaching. This change can transform academic teaching into publications and by utilizing this approach we can significantly increase the adoption of the new tools and techniques, and overall increase the knowledge of best-practices. In future, we need to combine our forces and tackle these universal and common problems together by creating multi-national and multiinstitutional research projects. We need to create a community and a platform in which we can share these best practices and at the same time conduct multi-national research projects easily.

Development of Cost Estimation with Feedback Information in EPCM Business

Target company of this study is a large machinery company, which is, inter alia, engaged in energy and pulp engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) supply business. The main objective of this study was to develop cost estimation of the target company by providing more accurate, reliable and up-to-date information through enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Another objective was to find cost-effective methods to collect total cost of ownership information to support more informed supplier selection decision making. This study is primarily action-oriented, but also constructive, and it can be divided in two sections: theoretical literature review and empirical study on the abovementioned part of the target company’s business. Development of information collection is, in addition to literature review, based on nearly 30 qualitative interviews of employees at various organizational units, functions and levels at the target company. At the core of development was to make initial data more accurate, reliable and available, a necessary prerequisite for informed use of the information. Certain development suggestions and paths were presented in order to regain confidence in ERP system as information source by reorganizing work breakdown structure and by complementing mere cost information with quantitative, technical and scope information. Several methods to use the information ever more effectively were also discussed. While implementation of the development suggestions outreached the scope of this study, it was forwarded in test environment and interest groups.

Theorizing Formal and Informal Feedback Practices in Management Accounting Through Three Dimensions

The purpose of this doctoral thesis is to widen and develop our theoretical frameworks for discussion and analyses of feedback practices in management accounting, particularly shedding light on its formal and informal aspects. The concept of feedback in management accounting has conventionally been analyzed within cybernetic control theory, in which feedback flows as a diagnostic or comparative loop between measurable outputs and pre-set goals (see e.g. Flamholtz et al. 1985; Flamholtz 1996, 1983), i.e. as a formal feedback loop. However, the everyday feedback practices in organizations are combinations of formal and informal elements. In addition to technique-driven feedback approaches (like budgets, measurement, and reward systems) we could also categorize social feedback practices that managers see relevant and effective in the pursuit of organizational control. While cybernetics or control theories successfully capture rational and measured aspects of organizational performance and offer a broad organizational context for the analysis, many individual and informal aspects remain vague and isolated. In order to discuss and make sense of the heterogeneous field of interpretations of formal and informal feedback, both in theory and practice, dichotomous approaches seem to be insufficient. Therefore, I suggest an analytical framework of formal and informal feedback with three dimensions (3D’s): source, time, and rule. Based on an abductive analysis of the theoretical and empirical findings from an interpretive case study around a business unit called Division Steelco, the 3Dframework and formal and informal feedback practices are further elaborated vis-á-vis the four thematic layers in the organizational control model by Flamholtz et al. (1985; Flamholtz 1996, 1983): core control system, organizational structure, organizational culture, and external environment. Various personal and cultural meanings given to the formal and informal feedback practices (“feedback as something”) create multidimensional interpretative contexts. Multidimensional frameworks aim to capture and better understand both the variety of interpretations and their implications to the functionality of feedback practices, important in interpretive research.

Towards multi bibliographic format support in Invenio

Presentation at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014

Facilitation of the main generator source of earthworm muscle contraction by a peripheral neuron

A constant facilitation of responses evoked in the earthworm muscle contraction generator neurons by responses evoked in the neurons of its peripheral nervous system was demonstrated. It is based on the proposal that these two responses are bifurcations of an afferent response evoked by the same peripheral mechanical stimulus but converging again on this central neuron. A single-peaked generator response without facilitation was demonstrated by sectioning the afferent route of the peripheral facilitatory modulatory response, or conditioning response (CR). The multipeaked response could be restored by restimulating the sectioned modulatory neuron with an intracellular substitutive conditioning stimulus (SCS). These multi-peaked responses were proposed to be the result of reverberating the original single peaked unconditioned response (UR) through a parallel (P) neuronal circuit which receives the facilitation of the peripheral modulatory neuron. This peripheral modulatory neuron was named "Peri-Kästchen" (PK) neuron because it has about 20 peripheral processes distributed on the surface of a Kästchen of longitudinal muscle cells on the body wall of this preparation as revealed by the Lucifer Yellow-CH-filling method.

Autonomic and electrocortical indices of performance monitoring and source memory discrimination in older and younger adults

Reduced capacity for executive cognitive function and for the autonomic control of cardiac responsivity are both concomitants of the aging process. These may be linked through their mutual dependence on medial prefrontal function, but the specifics ofthat linkage have not been well explored. Executive functions associated with medial prefrontal cortex involve various aspects ofperformance monitoring, whereas centrally mediated autonomic functions can be observed as heart rate variability (HRV), i.e., variability in the length of intervals between heart beats. The focus for this thesis was to examine the degree to which the capacity for phasic autonomic adjustments to heart rate relates to performance monitoring in younger and older adults, using measures of electrocortical and autonomic activity. Behavioural performance and attention allocation during two age-sensitive tasks could be predicted by various aspects of autonomic control. For young adults, greater influence of the parasympathetic system on HRV was beneficial for learning unfamiliar maze paths; for older adults, greater sympathetic influence was detrimental to these functions. Further, these relationships were primarily evoked when the task required the construction and use of internalized representations of mazes rather than passive responses to feedback. When memory for source was required, older adults made three times as many source errors as young adults. However, greater parasympathetic influence on HRV in the older group was conducive to avoiding source errors and to reduced electrocortical responses to irrelevant information. Higher sympathetic predominance, in contrast, was associated with higher rates of source error and greater electrocortical responses tq non-target information in both groups. These relations were not seen for 11 errors associated with a speeded perceptual task, irrespective of its difficulty level. Overall, autonomic modulation of cardiac activity was associated with higher levels of performance monitoring, but differentially across tasks and age groups. With respect to age, those older adults who had maintained higher levels of autonomic cardiac regulation appeared to have also maintained higher levels of executive control over task performance.