Database - Student's Achievements in High School and Thereafter

Computer infrastructure represented in the Croatian educational system is rather developed nowadays. It would be necessary to develop an integral information system (IIS) within the competent Ministry (Ministry of Science, Education and Sports) for the purpose of more efficient and high-quality management of the educational process itself as well as process control. In this paper by the proposed database “Students’ achievements in high school and thereafter” we describe a possible model of data acquisition, processing and display of results. The data in question (grades and absence from classes – as the output of the educational system) are processed in schools at the end of each semester (analysis of students’ achievements after each semester), but they disappear with time. By using a web-application homeroom teachers would be able to feed the data on students’ achievements into the IIS in just 2-3 days for more than 500 schools in Croatia, and in that way “time series” of data on achievements would be created. Such database would contribute to better management in education. To scientists dealing with this field of research it would offer “easily attainable and relevant data” for their research that would improve the system itself.educational system, students’ achievements, high school and thereafter

Field Propagation Experiments of Male African Savanna Elephant Rumbles: A Focus on the Transmission of Formant Frequencies.

African savanna elephants live in dynamic fission⁻fusion societies and exhibit a sophisticated vocal communication system. Their most frequent call-type is the 'rumble', with a fundamental frequency (which refers to the lowest vocal fold vibration rate when producing a vocalization) near or in the infrasonic range. Rumbles are used in a wide variety of behavioral contexts, for short- and long-distance communication, and convey contextual and physical information. For example, maturity (age and size) is encoded in male rumbles by formant frequencies (the resonance frequencies of the vocal tract), having the most informative power. As sound propagates, however, its spectral and temporal structures degrade progressively. Our study used manipulated and resynthesized male social rumbles to simulate large and small individuals (based on different formant values) to quantify whether this phenotypic information efficiently transmits over long distances. To examine transmission efficiency and the potential influences of ecological factors, we broadcasted and re-recorded rumbles at distances of up to 1.5 km in two different habitats at the Addo Elephant National Park, South Africa. Our results show that rumbles were affected by spectral⁻temporal degradation over distance. Interestingly and unlike previous findings, the transmission of formants was better than that of the fundamental frequency. Our findings demonstrate the importance of formant frequencies for the efficiency of rumble propagation and the transmission of information content in a savanna elephant's natural habitat

Isoflurane induced eNOS signaling and cardioprotection:Preconditioning mechanisms under normal and hyperglycemic conditions

The main goal of the thesis was to evaluate the mechanisms conferring cardioprotection offered by anesthetic preconditioning (APC), i.e. the administration of inhalation anesthetics producing resistance to subsequent cessation of blood and oxygen supply, and to evaluate why this technique fails in diabetic conditions. We found that APC with isoflurane protected rat hearts by modulating nitric oxide (NO) synthesis through time-dependent changes in the expression of key NO regulatory proteins, including endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) and guanosine triphosphate cyclohydrolase (GTPCH)-1, the rate-limiting enzyme of tetrahydrobiopterin biosynthesis. Involvement of endothelial NO in APC was confirmed in co-cultures of endothelial and cardiac cells, which is dependent on maintenance of eNOS phosphorylation, partly via induction of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF1α). APC is thought critically dependent on mitochondria. Given that diabetes alters mitochondrial bioenergetics and disrupts APC protection, contribution of proteins encoded by mitochondrial DNA was studied by using two strains of diabetic rats with the same nuclear but distinct mitochondrial genome. As APC protected hearts of only one of both strains from ischemia, with antioxidants having opposite effects, mitochondria and mitochondrial oxygen radical production seem critical in APC induced cardioprotection. Further mitochondrial adaptations that may abrogate APC induced cardioprotection in hyperglycemia and diabetes are reviewed in depth. Finally, we demonstrate that the ApoA1 mimetic, D-4F, restores APC evoked cardioprotection in hyperglycemia by maintaining a proper cellular localization of eNOS and limiting oxygen radical production. Collectively, this thesis discloses important signal transduction pathways involved in APC affected by diabetic conditions, and identifies a therapeutic strategy to counteract such loss for further clinical investigation

Hazardous Odor Recognition by CMAC Based Neural Networks

Electronic noses are being developed as systems for the automated detection and classification of odors, vapors, and gases. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) have been used to analyze complex data and to recognize patterns, and have shown promising results in recognition of volatile compounds and odors in electronic nose applications. When an ANN is combined with a sensor array, the number of detectable chemicals is generally greater than the number of unique sensor types. The odor sensing system should be extended to new areas since its standard style where the output pattern from multiple sensors with partially overlapped specificity is recognized by a neural network or multivariate analysis. This paper describes the design, implementation and performance evaluations of the application developed for hazardous odor recognition using Cerebellar Model Articulation Controller (CMAC) based neural networks

MANOVA comparing source- and filter-related acoustic features between male and female African elephant social rumbles.

<p>MANOVA comparing source- and filter-related acoustic features between male and female African elephant social rumbles.</p