472 research outputs found
User-Guided System to Generate Spanish Popular Music
[EN]The automatic generation of music is an emerging field of research that has attracted wide attention in Computer Science. Additionally, the interaction between users and machines is nowadays very present in our daily lives, and influences fields such as Economy, Sports or Arts. Following this approach, this work develops an intelligent system that generates melodies based on Spanish popular music and some indications of the users through an interface. The system creates a melody by learning from the corpus selected through a Markov model, which is also influenced by the usersâ preferences. Several experiments were carried out to evaluate the musical quality and the usefulness of the system to interact with the user and generate music. The results of the evaluation shows that the proposal is able to generate music adapted to the style standards of Spanish popular music and to the usersâ indications
Detailed energy analysis of a sheet-metal-forming press from electrical measurements
This paper presents a methodology that allows for the detection of the state of a sheet-metal-forming press, the parts being produced, their cadence, and the energy demand for each unit produced. For this purpose, only electrical measurements are used. The proposed analysis is conducted at the level of the press subsystems: main motor, transfer module, cushion, and auxiliary systems, and is intended to count, classify, and monitor the production of pressed parts. The power data are collected every 20 ms and show cyclic behavior, which is the basis for the presented methodology. A neural network (NN) based on heuristic rules is developed to estimate the press states. Then, the production period is determined from the power data using a least squares method to obtain normalized harmonic coefficients. These are the basis for a second NN dedicated to identifying the parts in production. The global error in estimating the parts being produced is under 1%. The resulting information could be handy in determining relevant information regarding the press behavior, such as energy per part, which is necessary in order to evaluate the energy performance of the press under different production conditions.Xunta de Galicia | Ref. IN854A 2020/0
Component separation methods for the Planck mission
The Planck satellite will map the full sky at nine frequencies from 30 to 857
GHz. The CMB intensity and polarization that are its prime targets are
contaminated by foreground emission. The goal of this paper is to compare
proposed methods for separating CMB from foregrounds based on their different
spectral and spatial characteristics, and to separate the foregrounds into
components of different physical origin. A component separation challenge has
been organized, based on a set of realistically complex simulations of sky
emission. Several methods including those based on internal template
subtraction, maximum entropy method, parametric method, spatial and harmonic
cross correlation methods, and independent component analysis have been tested.
Different methods proved to be effective in cleaning the CMB maps from
foreground contamination, in reconstructing maps of diffuse Galactic emissions,
and in detecting point sources and thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich signals. The power
spectrum of the residuals is, on the largest scales, four orders of magnitude
lower than that of the input Galaxy power spectrum at the foreground minimum.
The CMB power spectrum was accurately recovered up to the sixth acoustic peak.
The point source detection limit reaches 100 mJy, and about 2300 clusters are
detected via the thermal SZ effect on two thirds of the sky. We have found that
no single method performs best for all scientific objectives. We foresee that
the final component separation pipeline for Planck will involve a combination
of methods and iterations between processing steps targeted at different
objectives such as diffuse component separation, spectral estimation and
compact source extraction.Comment: Matches version accepted by A&A. A version with high resolution
figures is available at http://people.sissa.it/~leach/compsepcomp.pd
Planck Intermediate Results. IX. Detection of the Galactic haze with Planck
Using precise full-sky observations from Planck, and applying several methods
of component separation, we identify and characterize the emission from the
Galactic "haze" at microwave wavelengths. The haze is a distinct component of
diffuse Galactic emission, roughly centered on the Galactic centre, and extends
to |b| ~35 deg in Galactic latitude and |l| ~15 deg in longitude. By combining
the Planck data with observations from the WMAP we are able to determine the
spectrum of this emission to high accuracy, unhindered by the large systematic
biases present in previous analyses. The derived spectrum is consistent with
power-law emission with a spectral index of -2.55 +/- 0.05, thus excluding
free-free emission as the source and instead favouring hard-spectrum
synchrotron radiation from an electron population with a spectrum (number
density per energy) dN/dE ~ E^-2.1. At Galactic latitudes |b|<30 deg, the
microwave haze morphology is consistent with that of the Fermi gamma-ray "haze"
or "bubbles," indicating that we have a multi-wavelength view of a distinct
component of our Galaxy. Given both the very hard spectrum and the extended
nature of the emission, it is highly unlikely that the haze electrons result
from supernova shocks in the Galactic disk. Instead, a new mechanism for
cosmic-ray acceleration in the centre of our Galaxy is implied.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Astronomy and Astrophysic
Planck intermediate results. III. The relation between galaxy cluster mass and Sunyaev-Zeldovich signal
We examine the relation between the galaxy cluster mass M and
Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect signal D_A^2 Y for a sample of 19 objects for
which weak lensing (WL) mass measurements obtained from Subaru Telescope data
are available in the literature. Hydrostatic X-ray masses are derived from
XMM-Newton archive data and the SZ effect signal is measured from Planck
all-sky survey data. We find an M_WL-D_A^2 Y relation that is consistent in
slope and normalisation with previous determinations using weak lensing masses;
however, there is a normalisation offset with respect to previous measures
based on hydrostatic X-ray mass-proxy relations. We verify that our SZ effect
measurements are in excellent agreement with previous determinations from
Planck data. For the present sample, the hydrostatic X-ray masses at R_500 are
on average ~ 20 per cent larger than the corresponding weak lensing masses, at
odds with expectations. We show that the mass discrepancy is driven by a
difference in mass concentration as measured by the two methods, and, for the
present sample, the mass discrepancy and difference in mass concentration is
especially large for disturbed systems. The mass discrepancy is also linked to
the offset in centres used by the X-ray and weak lensing analyses, which again
is most important in disturbed systems. We outline several approaches that are
needed to help achieve convergence in cluster mass measurement with X-ray and
weak lensing observations.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures, matches accepted versio
Conservation status of a recently described endemic land snail, Candidula coudensis, from the Iberian Peninsula
Research ArticleWe assessed the distribution, population size and conservation status of Candidula coudensis,
a recently described endemic land snail from Portugal. From March 2013 to April
2014, surveys were carried out in the region where the species was described. We found an
extent of occurrence larger than originally described, but still quite small (13.5 km2). The
species was found mainly in olive groves, although it occurred in a variety of other habitats
with limestone soils, including grasslands, scrublands and stone walls. Minimum population
estimate ranged from 110,000â311,000 individuals. The main identified potential threats to
the species include wildfires, pesticides and quarrying. Following the application of IUCN
criteria, we advise a conservation status of either âLeast Concernâ or âNear-threatenedâ
under criterion D (restricted population)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Jumping in aquatic environment after sciatic nerve compression: nociceptive evaluation and morphological characteristics of the soleus muscle of Wistar rats
Planck 2013 results. XXII. Constraints on inflation
We analyse the implications of the Planck data for cosmic inflation. The Planck nominal mission temperature anisotropy measurements, combined with the WMAP large-angle polarization, constrain the scalar spectral index to be ns = 0:9603 _ 0:0073, ruling out exact scale invariance at over 5_: Planck establishes an upper bound on the tensor-to-scalar ratio of r < 0:11 (95% CL). The Planck data thus shrink the space of allowed standard inflationary models, preferring potentials with V00 < 0. Exponential potential models, the simplest hybrid inflationary models, and monomial potential models of degree n _ 2 do not provide a good fit to the data. Planck does not find statistically significant running of the scalar spectral index, obtaining dns=dln k = 0:0134 _ 0:0090. We verify these conclusions through a numerical analysis, which makes no slowroll approximation, and carry out a Bayesian parameter estimation and model-selection analysis for a number of inflationary models including monomial, natural, and hilltop potentials. For each model, we present the Planck constraints on the parameters of the potential and explore several possibilities for the post-inflationary entropy generation epoch, thus obtaining nontrivial data-driven constraints. We also present a direct reconstruction of the observable range of the inflaton potential. Unless a quartic term is allowed in the potential, we find results consistent with second-order slow-roll predictions. We also investigate whether the primordial power spectrum contains any features. We find that models with a parameterized oscillatory feature improve the fit by __2 e_ _ 10; however, Bayesian evidence does not prefer these models. We constrain several single-field inflation models with generalized Lagrangians by combining power spectrum data with Planck bounds on fNL. Planck constrains with unprecedented accuracy the amplitude and possible correlation (with the adiabatic mode) of non-decaying isocurvature fluctuations. The fractional primordial contributions of cold dark matter (CDM) isocurvature modes of the types expected in the curvaton and axion scenarios have upper bounds of 0.25% and 3.9% (95% CL), respectively. In models with arbitrarily correlated CDM or neutrino isocurvature modes, an anticorrelated isocurvature component can improve the _2 e_ by approximately 4 as a result of slightly lowering the theoretical prediction for the ` <_ 40 multipoles relative to the higher multipoles. Nonetheless, the data are consistent with adiabatic initial conditions
Comparative Proteomics of Inner Membrane Fraction from Carbapenem-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii with a Reference Strain
Acinetobacter baumannii has been identified by the Infectious Diseases Society of America as one of the six pathogens that cause majority of hospital infections. Increased resistance of A.
baumannii even to the latest generation of ÎČ-lactams like carbapenem is an immediate threat to mankind. As inner-membrane fraction plays a significant role in survival of A.
baumannii, we investigated the inner-membrane fraction proteome of carbapenem-resistant strain of A.
baumannii using Differential In-Gel Electrophoresis (DIGE) followed by DeCyder, Progenesis and LC-MS/MS analysis. We identified 19 over-expressed and 4 down-regulated proteins (fold change>2, p<0.05) in resistant strain as compared to reference strain. Some of the upregulated proteins in resistant strain and their association with carbapenem resistance in A.
baumannii are: i) ÎČ-lactamases, AmpC and OXA-51: cleave and inactivate carbapenem ii) metabolic enzymes, ATP synthase, malate dehydrogenase and 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase: help in increased energy production for the survival and iii) elongation factor Tu and ribosomal proteins: help in the overall protein production. Further, entry of carbapenem perhaps is limited by controlled production of OmpW and low levels of surface antigen help to evade host defence mechanism in developing resistance in A.
baumannii. Present results support a model for the importance of proteins of inner-membrane fraction and their synergistic effect in the mediation of resistance of A.
baumannii to carbapenem
Central odontogenic fibroma: a case report with long-term follow-up
An osteolytic tumour of the mandible with prominent expansive growth on the alveolar ridge and displacement of the involved teeth is described in a 28-year-old man. The lesion was diagnosed as a central odontogenic fibroma, an uncommon benign neoplasm derived from dental apparatus, and was removed by curettage. The patient remains asymptomatic after thirteen years of follow-up, which supports the claimed indolent behavior of this poorly documented disease and the adequacy of a conservative surgical treatment
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