Response Behaviors of Svalbard Reindeer TOwards Humans and Humans Disguised as Polar Bears on Edgeøya

Due to observed interactions between Svalbard reindeer (Rangifer tarandusplatyrliynchus) and polar bears (Ursus maritimus) during field work on Edge0ya, Svalbard, we measured response distances for reindeer from a stalking polar bear and improvised five approaches from a person disguised as a polar bear for comparison with human encounters. The alert, flight initiation and escape distances were 1.6, 2.5 and 2.3 times longer, respectively, when Svalbard reindeer were encountered by a person disguised as a polar bear compared to a person in dark hiking gear. Population increase of polar bears on Svalbard and decrease in sea-ice cover in the Arctic region during summer probably results in more frequent interactions with reindeer on the archipelago. Similar reindeer response behavior from encounters with a polar bear and persons disguised as polar bears indicate a predator-prey relationship between the two species on Edge0y

What does your profile picture say about you? The accuracy of thin-slice personality judgments from social networking sites made at zero-acquaintance

The myocardium exhibits heterogeneous nature due to scarring after Myocardial Infarction (MI). In Cardiac Magnetic Resonance (CMR) imaging, Late Gadolinium (LG) contrast agent enhances the intensity of scarred area in the myocardium. In this paper, we propose a probability mapping technique using Texture and Intensity features to describe heterogeneous nature of the scarred myocardium in Cardiac Magnetic Resonance (CMR) images after Myocardial Infarction (MI). Scarred tissue and non-scarred tissue are represented with high and low probabilities, respectively. Intermediate values possibly indicate areas where the scarred and healthy tissues are interwoven. The probability map of scarred myocardium is calculated by using a probability function based on Bayes rule. Any set of features can be used in the probability function. In the present study, we demonstrate the use of two different types of features. One is based on the mean intensity of pixel and the other on underlying texture information of the scarred and non-scarred myocardium. Examples of probability maps computed using the mean intensity of pixel and the underlying texture information are presented. We hypothesize that the probability mapping of myocardium offers alternate visualization, possibly showing the details with physiological significance difficult to detect visually in the original CMR image. The probability mapping obtained from the two features provides a way to define different cardiac segments which offer a way to identify areas in the myocardium of diagnostic importance (like core and border areas in scarred myocardiu

A Differential Play of Forces. Transcendental Empiricism and Music

'A Differential Play of Forces' is a study of transcendental empiricism in musical contexts. It presents a reading of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s philosophical apparatus and explores how music can be thought of as functioning in the operation Deleuze terms transcendental empiricism. Central to transcendental empiricism is the idea of an encounter with intensive difference and the consequent experience of intensive and virtual forces. The thesis sets out to explore this idea in three interwoven steps. First, it develops transcendental empiricism as a philosophical framework, expounding central notions related to time and aesthetic experience. In the context of this philosophical apparatus, music is then discussed as an encounter with intensity and what this may entail for our understanding of musical experience and its potential. The third part of the thesis explores the idea of experiencing intensive forces through music in the thinking and poietic of three composers of the twentieth century: Arnold Schönberg, Olivier Messiaen and Giacinto Scelsi. The thesis develops three ‘images of thought’ corresponding, respectively, to the composers’ expressed theoretical ideas, identifying central concepts from Deleuze and Guattari’s philosophy. A mutual illumination of ideas about music and transcendental empiricism is thus presented, pointing towards a possible convergence between theory and practice, thinking and aesthetic experience as a differential play of intensive forces

Den blendende musikken

In this essay I explore the encounter between religion and music via ideas taken from Olivier Messiaen. I first present his categorization of music and the concepts of sound-colour and dazzlement as the 'directional meaning' of music. I then show how Messiaen relates this to the phenomena of natural resonance and afterimages, and based on this, I present-via Goethe and Rudolf Steiner-the notion of an etheric, evanescent or incorporeal matter. This understanding and experience of matter is then brought to bear on music. In this context the notion of a 'religious experience' can be understood as both referring to content and sentiment related to a religious belief, and, in a more general sense of 'religare' (to bind), as a deeper bond with the material-temporal flow of nature. This gives way to a Johannine vision of Messiaen's musical thinking where the creative-sounding Logos or 'word' is both spirit and matter, and where music may represent a potential awakening to this reality

Reindeer fidelity to high quality winter pastures outcompete power line barrier effects

We investigated barrier effects of a 66 kV power line established in 1966 before and after the line was upgraded to 132 kV in 2004 over a period of 44 years (1974-2017) in the North Ottadalen wild reindeer area (3245 km2) of  which 1038 km2 are in use as winter pastures. The power line transects a peninsula (135 km2) with high quality winter pastures in the southeast periphery. The reindeer population originated from a nucleus herd of 402 animals of domestic origin released in the area in 1964-1965 and 100 resident wild animals. Yearly winter survey started in 1974 and reindeer were first surveyed south of the 66 kV power line in 1982. Comparing the number of animals recorded in the peninsula vs. the number of individuals expected relative to available grazing area during the three periods (1974-2004, 1982-2004 and 2005-2017), the number of animals recorded in the peninsula was 3.6–4.9 times higher than expected. Since the upgrade of the power line, a substantial part of the reindeer population grazed in the peninsula every year. We therefore conclude that there was no long-term barrier effect from the original power line and no barrier effects at all from the upgrade. However, during the first 5 surveys of this study, there were no animals in the peninsula. Therefore, even if there are several possible reasons for this, we cannot exclude the possibility of short-term barrier effects resulting from the construction of the original power line. Our results support recent studies that report no effects from existing power lines and contrast some previous findings that have reported strong long-term barrier and avoidance effects of such infrastructure for Rangifer migration and grazing behaviour

Om å gripe og å begripe

Innenfor restaurant- og matfagene er sensorikk et sentralt verktøy for å utvikle, tilberede og servere innbydende mat og drikke. Sensorikk er læren om hva vi kan oppleve med sansene våre (Rødbotten, 2015). Med Kunnskapsløftet 2020 (LK20) ble sensorikk introdusert i læreplanverket. Endringen kan tolkes dit at LK20 er et forsøk på å imøtekomme bransjens etterlysning om høyere faglig nivå på lærlingene som kommer ut fra skolene (NHO Mat og Drikke, 2019; Sundqvist, 2016). Formålet med oppgaven er å bidra til utviklingen av dyktige yrkesfaglærere som er i stand til å tilrettelegge for elevers utvikling av sensoriske ferdigheter. Oppgaven undersøker elevers vilkår for utvikling av sansene som profesjonelle arbeidsredskap. Oppgaven har en todelt problemstilling: (1) Hvordan tematiseres sensorikk i yrkesfaglæreres undervisningspraksis i restaurant- og matfag? (2) Hvordan kan vi på bakgrunn av dette forstå elevenes vilkår for utvikling av sansene som profesjonelle arbeidsredskap? Gjennom deltakende observasjon og basert på et fenomenologisk vitenskapsteoretisk perspektiv, har tre yrkesfaglærere og deres undervisningspraksis blitt observert. Datamaterialet er analysert gjennom en tematisk analyse, som muliggjorde en kombinasjon av induktiv og deduktiv tilnærming til materialet. Etter fortolkningsprosessen viser funnene at sensorikk tematiseres lite eksplisitt i yrkesfaglærernes undervisningspraksis. Det oppfordres i liten grad til refleksjon over, eller diskusjon med elevene rundt matens sensoriske kvaliteter. Opplevelsen av dårlig tid tolkes som en faktor som begrenser lærerne i å utforske sensoriske kvaliteter med elevene. Kombinert med et mål om at elevene skal bli selvstendige arbeidstakere, fører det til at lærerne inntar mer tilbaketrukne roller. Slik blir oppskriftene som elevene bruker viktige verktøy i matlagningen og for elevenes læreprosesser. At sensoriske ferdigheter tematiseres lite eksplisitt i lærernes undervisningspraksis, gjør at elevene kan ha vanskelig for å avkode den tause kunnskapen som formidles uartikulert. Det kan oppleves utfordrende for elevene å tolke hva som forventes av dem og det ønskede resultatet. Lærerens evne til å forklare og invitere elevene til å sanse og reflektere over stimuli, vil være avgjørende for elevers utvikling av sanseerfaring og kunnskap. Det vil videre legge grunnlaget for elevers utvikling av sansene som profesjonelle arbeidsredskap

Optimizing support vector machines and autoregressive integrated moving average methods for heart rate variability data correction

Heart rate variability (HRV) is the variation in time between successive heartbeats and can be used as an indirect measure of autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity. During physical exercise, movement of the measuring device can cause artifacts in the HRV data, severely affecting the analysis of the HRV data. Current methods used for data artifact correction perform insufficiently when HRV is measured during exercise. In this paper we propose the use of autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) and support vector regression (SVR) for HRV data artifact correction. Since both methods are only trained on previous data points, they can be applied not only for correction (i.e., gap filling), but also prediction (i.e., forecasting future values). Our paper describes: • why HRV is difficult to predict and why ARIMA and SVR might be valuable options. • finding the best hyperparameters for using ARIMA and SVR to correct HRV data, including which criterion to use for choosing the best model. • which correction method should be used given the data at hand.publishedVersio

Effects of wind turbines on area use and behaviour of semi-domestic reindeer in enclosures

In recent decades, industrial developments have expanded into reindeer ranges in the arctic and adjacent higher latitudes in search for energy, minerals, timber and other resources. Several wind turbine parks are under planning in reindeer ranges in Norway, and there is concern about possible negative effects on behaviour and area use of wild and semi-domestic reindeer. We tested whether a wind turbine and its rotor movement had any effect on area use, activity changes, vigilance bouts, and restless behaviour like running, walking, and standing for enclosed semi-domestic reindeer. Five different groups of reindeer in a 450 m long, 8 hectare, enclosure close to a wind turbine were manipulated by turning the wind turbine rotor on and off, and compared with reindeer in a control enclosure without wind turbine exposure. When exposed to rotor movement, two groups used locations farther from the wind turbine, two groups showed no shift, while one group moved closer to the wind turbine. The reindeer showed no systematic differences in the measured behaviour patterns between the two enclosures that could indicate fright or stress as a consequence of the wind turbine or rotor movement. We conclude that semi-domestic reindeer in an enclosure showed no negative behavioural response and little or no aversion towards a wind turbine. The possibility of rapid habituation in a small enclosure with continuous wind turbine exposure suggests that effects on area use should be studied at a larger scale or with free-ranging reindeer.Abstract in Norwegian / Sammendrag:I løpet av de senere tiår har industriell utbygging til utnytting av energi, mineraler, tømmer og andre ressurser ekspandert inn i reinens beiteområder i nordområdene. Flere vindmølleparker er under planlegging i norske reinbeiteområder, og det spekuleres i mulige konsekvenser av disse på atferd og arealbruk hos villrein og tamrein. Vi testet om en vindmølle og dens rotorbevegelse hadde noen effekt på arealbruk, aktivitetsskifter, vaktsomhetsatferd, og rastløshetsatferd i form av løp, gange og ståing for tamrein i innhegning. I en 450 m lang innhegning på 8 hektar som var plassert tett opp til en vindmølle, ble fem forskjellig grupper av reinsdyr manipulert ved å slå vindmøllerotoren av og på. Reinsdyrene i innhegningen ved vindmøllen ble sammenlignet med reinsdyr i en kontrollinnhegning som var uten påvirkning fra vindmøller. Når reinsdyrene ble utsatt for vindmøllerotoren i bevegelse, viste to grupper av dyr et skifte i arealbruk til områder av innhegningen som var lenger unna møllen, to grupper av dyr viste ikke noe skifte i arealbruk, mens en gruppe dyr beveget seg nærmere vindmøllen. Sammenligning av atferden hos reinsdyrene i vindmølleinnhegningen og kontrollinnhegningen viste ingen systematisk forskjell som kunne indikere frykt eller stress som en effekt av vindmøllen eller rotorbevegelsen. Vi konkluderer med at tamrein i innhegning ikke viser negative atferdsresponser og viser lite eller ingen reduksjon i arealbruken tett opp til en vindmølle. Muligheten for at det skjer en rask tilvenning i en liten innhegning der dyrene er i kontinuerlig påvirkning av vindmøllen betyr at effekter på arealbruk bør studeres i et større arealperspektiv eller på frittgående rein

Recurrent Neural Networks for Artifact Correction in HRV Data During Physical Exercise

In this paper, we propose the use of recurrent neural networks (RNNs) for artifact correction and analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) data. HRV can be a valuable metric for determining the function of the heart and the autonomic nervous system. When measured during exercise, motion artifacts present a significant challenge. Several methods for artifact correction have previously been proposed, none of them applying machine learning, and each presenting some limitations regarding an accurate representation of HRV metrics. RNNs offer the ability to capture patterns that might otherwise not be detected, yielding predictions where no prior physiological assumptions are needed. A hyperparameter search has been carried out to determine the best network configuration and the most important hyperparameters. The approach was tested on two extensive multi-subject data sets, one from a recreational bicycle race and the other from a laboratory experiment. The results demonstrate that RNNs outperform by order of magnitude existing methods with respect to the calculation of derived HRV metrics. However, they are not able to accurately fill in individual missing RR intervals in sequence. Future research should pursue improvements in the prediction of RR interval lengths and reduction in necessary training data.publishedVersio