A disease in search of a cause: a study of self-citation and press release pronouncement in the factoid of wind farms causing “vibroacoustic disease”.

Background In recent years, claims have proliferated that wind turbines cause a large variety of diseases. Two of these, “Wind Turbine Syndrome” (WTS) and “Vibroacoustic disease” (VAD) are frequently mentioned. Seventeen reviews of the evidence for wind turbines causing harm have concluded the evidence to be poor yet some regulatory authorities are now referencing health concerns as part of the rationale for set-back guidelines from residences, greatly reducing siting opportunities. Methods and Findings Google returns 158,000 hits for WTS and 298,000 for VAD. We conducted a search for all papers and citations on WTS or VAD, and searched for evidence for any association between wind turbine exposure and VAD. No papers on WTS were found in indexed journals. Thirty five papers on VAD were found, none reporting on an association between VAD and wind turbines. Of the 35 papers on VAD, 34 had a first author from a single Portuguese research group. Seventy four per cent of citations to these papers were self-citations by the group. Median self-citation rates in science are around 7%. Two unpublished case reports presented at conferences were found alleging that VAD was “irrefutably demonstrated” to be caused by wind turbines. Conclusions VAD has received virtually no scientific recognition beyond the group who invented the term. The claim that wind turbines cause VAD is a factoid that has gone “viral” in cyberspace and may be contributing to nocebo effects among those living near turbines

Mage - Reactive articulatory feature control of HMM-based parametric speech synthesis

In this paper, we present the integration of articulatory control into MAGE, a framework for realtime and interactive (reactive) parametric speech synthesis using hidden Markov models (HMMs). MAGE is based on the speech synthesis engine from HTS and uses acoustic features (spectrum and f0) to model and synthesize speech. In this work, we replace the standard acoustic models with models combining acoustic and articulatory features, such as tongue, lips and jaw positions. We then use feature-space-switched articulatory-to-acoustic regression matrices to enable us to control the spectral acoustic features by manipulating the articulatory features. Combining this synthesis model with MAGE allows us to interactively and intuitively modify phones synthesized in real time, for example transforming one phone into another, by controlling the configuration of the articulators in a visual display. Index Terms: speech synthesis, reactive, articulators 1

Spatio-temporal differences in the history of health and noise complaints about Australian wind farms: evidence for the psychogenic, “communicated disease” hypothesis.

Background and objectives With often florid allegations about health problems arising from wind turbine exposure now widespread in parts of rural Australia and on the internet, nocebo effects potentially confound any future investigation of turbine health impact. Historical audits of health complaints across periods when such claims were rare are therefore important. We test 4 hypotheses relevant to psychogenic explanations of the variable timing and distribution of health and noise complaints about wind farms in Australia. Setting All (n=51) Australian wind farms (with 1634 turbines) operating from 1993–2012 . Methods Records of complaints about noise or health obtained from wind farm companies regarding residents living near 51 Australian wind farms, expressed as proportions of estimated populations residing within 5km of wind farms, and corroborated with complaints in submissions to 3 government public enquiries and news media records and court affidavits . Results There are large spatio-temporal variations in wind farm noise and health complaints.33/51(64.7%) of Australian wind farms including 17/34(50%) with turbine size >1MW have never been subject to noise or health complaints. These 33 farms have some 21,592 residents within 5km of their turbines and have operated complaint-free for a cumulative total of 267 years. Western Australia and Tasmania Have seen no complaints. Only 131 individuals across Australia representing approximately 1 in 250 residents living within 5km of wind farms appear to have ever complained, with 94(72%) of these being residents near 6 wind farms which have been targeted by anti wind farm groups . About 1 in 87 (126/10901) of those living near turbines >1MW have ever complained. The large majority 104/131(79%) of health and noise complaints commenced after 2009 when anti wind farm groups began to add health concerns to their wider opposition. In the preceding years, health or noise complaints were rare despite large and small turbined wind farms having operated for many years. Conclusions In view of scientific consensus that the evidence for wind turbine noise and infrasound causing health problems is poor, the reported spatio-temporal variations in complaints are consistent with psychogenic hypotheses that health problems arising are “communicated diseases” with nocebo effects likely to play an important role in the aetiology of complaints

Evaluacion de la informacion en las escuelas de negocios, a traves de sus portales de internet

107 p.Este trabajo es un intento de visualizar la gestión del conocimiento en las Escuelas de Negocios de distintas universidades, tanto chilenas como extranjeras, con respecto a la FACE de la Universidad de Talca. Este intento es realizado a partir de evaluaciones efectuadas al portal de la Facultad de Ciencias Empresariales –FACE-en relación a otras Escuelas de Negocios de entidades nacionales y extranjeras. Además, se establecen diferencias entre los portales de Escuelas de Negocios nacionales y portales de instituciones extranjeras. En esta presentación se identificarán indicadores de interés de las diferentes Escuelas de Negocios insertas en portales de Internet, los que posibilitarán analizar la gestión de conocimiento que éstas poseen. La gestión del conocimiento es un proceso cultural, en el cual la universidad constituye un sector intensivo en su estimulación, generación y desarrollo. Ello, porque la creación del conocimiento y su transmisión forman parte de la razón de ser de la universidad. El estudio es de carácter evaluativo, ya que valora el funcionamiento de los portales de Internet en base a una matriz formal que sintetiza un grupo de atributos. Como resultado de esta evaluación se ha observado que existen algunas instituciones que mllevan la delantera en materia de investigación y publicaciones, las que serán utilizadas como un benchmarking (comparación con algún parámetro de referencia)

Multiwavelength study of the fast rotating supergiant high-mass X-ray binary IGR J16465-4507

Since its launch, the X-ray and gamma-ray observatory INTEGRAL satellite has revealed a new class of high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXB) displaying fast flares and hosting supergiant companion stars. Optical and infrared (OIR) observations in a multi-wavelength context are essential to understand the nature and evolution of these newly discovered celestial objects. The goal of this multiwavelength study (from ultraviolet to infrared) is to characterise the properties of IGR J16465-4507, to confirm its HMXB nature and that it hosts a supergiant star. We analysed all OIR, photometric and spectroscopic observations taken on this source, carried out at ESO facilities. Using spectroscopic data, we constrained the spectral type of the companion star between B0.5 and B1 Ib, settling the debate on the true nature of this source. We measured a high rotation velocity of v = 320 +/- 8 km/s from fitting absorption and emission lines in a stellar spectral model. We then built a spectral energy distribution from photometric observations to evaluate the origin of the different components radiating at each energy range. We finally show that, having accurately determined the spectral type of the early-B supergiant in IGR J16465-4507, we firmly support its classification as an intermediate supergiant fast X-ray transient (SFXT).Comment: A&A in press, 14 pages, 15 tables, 13 figure

Observasi Sistem Otomasi Proses Pencampuran Bahan Kimia Menggunakan PLC Pada PT. Oktan Polimer Sukses

Laporan ini berisi kegiatan yang dilakukan oleh penulis selama masa kerja magang pada PT. Swarna Prima Manggala. Pekerjaan yang diberikan adalah mempelajari rancangan, proses cara kerja, dan ikut serta dalam penyelesaian project Chemical Batching System untuk PT. Oktan Polimer Sukses. PT. Oktan Polimer Sukses merupakan perusahaan spesialisasi pembuatan Thermoset/Polyurethane (PU), dalam pembuatan PU bahan utamanya terdiri dari hasil campuran bahan berupa chemical, proses pencampuran ini masih dikerjakan secara manual atau konvensional mulai dari memindahkan bahan chemical ke dalam mesin pencampur sampai hasil campuran tersebut harus dipacking dalam wadah dengan berat berbeda-beda, kekurangan dari sistem manual ini yaitu banyak menggunakan tenaga kerja dan juga resiko safety yang dapat terjadi. Pada project Chemical Batching System akan dibangun sebuah sistem otomatis terkontrol yang ditujukan untuk memperbaiki kekurangan dari sistem konvensional dan juga memberikan kelebihan dalam hal meningkatkan efisiensi, dan produktivitas

Identifikasi Teks pada Kartu Tanda Penduduk menggunakan OCR API untuk Layanan Perbankan Digital

Kegunaan kartu identitas yang paling utama yaitu sebagai alat untuk verifikasi dan registrasi, dalam proses registrasi calon nasabah perbankan secara daring biasanya kita diharuskan untuk mengupload foto identitas lalu mengisi field formulir sesuai identitas asli, proses pengisian field ini dapat diotomasikan dengan memanfaatkan image processing Optical Character Recognition (OCR). Namun OCR memiliki keterbatasan yaitu ketika terdapat background kompleks seperti garis, titik di belakang teks pada suatu gambar dan juga ketika input foto mempunyai variasi angle kemiringan, perspektif membuat input yang tidak ideal dapat sangat mempengaruhi hasil deteksi. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menyediakan layanan API OCR untuk Kartu Tanda Penduduk yang terdapat error handling dengan dapat menerima kondisi input foto yang tidak tegak mendatar dengan berbagai sudut kemiringan yang dapat terjadi diakibatkan faktor-faktor seperti saat foto KTP diambil tanpa diletakan di meja, terburu-buru saat mengambil foto, distorsi pada foto akibat lensa wide kamera smartphone sekarang ini, tidak disediakannya layout capture kamera khusus yang menambahkan guideline sesuai KTP dan sebagainya. Aplikasi yang dapat memanfaatkan sistem hasil penelitian ini yaitu pihak yang butuh pendaftaran pengguna namun tidak memiliki akses menggunakan reader KTP Secure Access Module, atau butuh melakukan proses tersebut secara online dengan menggunakan sistem scanning KTP sebagai sumber informasi data diri pengguna layanan. Kesimpulan yang didapat yaitu adanya keterbatasan pada sistem untuk memproses KTP dengan angle kemiringan yang tidak lebih dari 45 derajat, selebihnya dapat menyebabkan output yang tidak sesuai bahkan tidak dapat diproses lebih lanjut, sistem dapat mengidentifikasi KTP dan menghasilkan Good OCR Accuracy berdasarkan kategori penilaian Character Error Rate

Implication des gènes de la famille Bcl-2 dans l'apoptose des hépatocytes chez le rat Long-Evans Cinnamon

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Drying of complex suspensions

We investigate the 3D structure and drying dynamics of complex mixtures of emulsion droplets and colloidal particles, using confocal microscopy. Air invades and rapidly collapses large emulsion droplets, forcing their contents into the surrounding porous particle pack at a rate proportional to the square of the droplet radius. By contrast, small droplets do not collapse, but remain intact and are merely deformed. A simple model coupling the Laplace pressure to Darcy's law correctly estimates both the threshold radius separating these two behaviors, and the rate of large-droplet evacuation. Finally, we use these systems to make novel hierarchical structures.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Multi-trait selection for improved solid wood physical and flexural properties in white spruce

Commercial production of high-quality lumber for Nordic conifers is negatively impacted by long rotation age and adverse negative correlations between growth and wood quality traits. A prospective solution to ensure sufficient fibre quality from future plantations is to identify key wood traits for desired applications and to consider them in tree breeding programs. In this study, we used the widespread and largely reforested white spruce (Picea glauca [Moench] Voss) in Canada to investigate the genetic control of wood flexural properties such as stiffness, i.e. modulus of elasticity (MOE), and strength, i.e. modulus of rupture (MOR). We also looked at their phenotypic and genetic correlations with other wood quality and growth traits to assess the efficiency of indirect methods of selection to improve wood flexural properties in the context of multi-trait selection in tree breeding programs. To achieve this, standardized solid wood samples, growth records and standing tree wood quality traits were collected from 289 trees belonging to 38 white spruce families from a polycross genetic trial established on two different sites in the province of Quebec, Canada. Flexural stiffness and strength, height, diameter at breast height (DBH) and wood density showed moderate to high heritability. Flexural stiffness was also positively correlated at the genetic level with flexural strength, average wood density and acoustic velocity as an indirect measure of dynamic MOE (⁠rG  = 0.99, rG  = 0.78 and rG = 0.78, respectively). When selecting the top 5 per cent of the trees, the expected genetic gains varied from 3.6 per cent for acoustic velocity to 16.5 per cent for MOE. Selection based on wood density and acoustic velocity would result in considerable genetic gains in flexural stiffness. Several multi-trait selection scenarios were tested to investigate the genetic gains obtained from selecting with different combinations of growth and wood quality traits. The results showed that indirect selection for wood flexural properties by means of acoustic velocity and wood density are efficient methods that can be combined in operational white spruce breeding programs to increase simultaneously genetic gains for growth and wood flexural properties