第57次南極地域観測隊による氷床沿岸でのアイスコア中層掘削と周辺観測の計画について

第6回極域科学シンポジウム分野横断セッション：[IG] 全球環境変動を駆動する南大洋・南極氷床11月17日（火）　国立極地研究所１階交流アトリウ

Improvement of DOA Estimation by using Quaternion Output in Sound Event Localization and Detection

This paper describes improvement of Direction of Arrival (DOA) estimation performance using quaternion output in the Detection and Classification of Acoustic Scenes and Events (DCASE) 2019 Task 3. DCASE 2019 Task3 focuses on the sound event localization and detection (SELD) which is a task that simultaneously estimates the sound source direction in addition to conventional sound event detection (SED). In the baseline method, the sound source direction angle is directly regressed. However, the angle is a periodic function and it has discontinuities which may make learning unstable. Specifical-ly, even though -180 deg and 180 deg are in the same direc-tion, a large loss is calculated. Estimating DOA angles with a classification approach instead of regression can solve such instability of discontinuities but this causes limitation of reso-lution. In this paper, we propose to introduce the quaternion which is a continuous function into the output layer of the neural network instead of directly estimating the sound source direction angle. This method can be easily implemented only by changing the output of the existing neural network, and thus does not significantly increase the number of parameters in the middle layers. Experimental results show that proposed method improves the DOA estimation without significantly increasing the number of parameters.24424

On the Dissociation Pressures of Germanium Sulfides

Measurements on the equilibria in the hydrogen reductions of germanium sulfides, viz., GeS_2 and GeS synthesized in laboratory, were carried out over the temperature range from 390°to 485℃ using the flow method. From the observed data, simple equations for representing the correlation of log ps_2 with 1/T were deduced. Basing themselves on the present numerical data and other published papers, the behaviour of germanium in practical processes of smelting of sulfide ores was discussed

The effectiveness of cooling down using the Water Walker

　Cooling down after exercise is considered to be crucial to recovering from fatigue and to ensuring venous return. Activities like walking or stretching are normally used to cool down. In addition, aquatic exercise is recommended because it is effective at increasing venous return and reducing strain on joints such as the knees as a result of the effects of buoyancy in water and water pressure. Thus, the aim of the current study was to examine the effectiveness of cooling down by walking in water, using the Water Walker（the Water Walker & Spa, or WWS）， after exercise. Subjects were a typical male and female adult. Exercise involved running on a treadmill at a speed of 6-8 km/h to reach a target heart rate calculated as 75% HRreserve based on the resting heart rate. After running, subjects cooled down by walking for 15 min either in the WWS or on the treadmill, and subjects then rested in a seated position for 15 min. The lactate level and heart rate were measured 4 times：at rest, immediately after exercise, after walking, and after resting in a seated position. Heart rate was about the same immediately after exercise. Heart rate was lower when cooling down for 15 min by walking in the WWS. Walking in the WWS or on the treadmill resulted in similar lactate levels. These findings revealed that walking on land or in the WWS helps to cool down and lower the lactate level. Moreover, findings revealed that heart rate decreases more in the WWS than on land. In addition to cooling down, being subjected to water pressure helped to ensure venous return to the heart and presumably contributed to high and low levels of lactate in the liver

White Matter Hyperintensities: Initial Assessments

The white matter hyperintensities (WMH, leucoaraiosis) represent the most common kind of ischemic vascular lesion of the white matter due to small vessel diseases, and occurs frequently in the elderly. Consequent to the neuroimaging identification arouse the need for their assessment. The group of Fazekas proposed a systematized semi-quantitative visual scale to score such lesions where two parameters were considered, extent and localization. The original scale was further modified, to a simplified version. Although other more complex scales have appeared, researchers remarked that the relatively simple Fazekas scale, in comparison to the complex ones and to volumetric measures, appeared to be sufficient when analyzing relationships between clinical parameters and WMH load in a clinical settin

Dementia screening in Brazil: a systematic review of normative data for the mini-mental state examination

The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) is the most widely used instrument for the screening of older adults with suspected cognitive impairment; the MMSE has been translated and validated in numerous languages and countries. The cultural and sociodemographic characteristics of the sample can influence performance on the test; therefore, applying the MMSE in different populations usually requires adjustments of those variables. From this perspective, the present study aims to review the normative data for the MMSE in the Brazilian older population, including those adaptations to the original test. Database searches were performed in Medline, Web of Knowledge, Scielo and Pepsic for articles assessing healthy elderly Brazilian samples using the MMSE. Heterogeneity across and within the studies was analyzed. Of a total of 1,085 retrieved articles, 14 were included. Significant differences across studies were identified for the characteristics of the samples, the presence of alterations to the MMSE subtests and the presentation of the results. The risk of biases was relevant for all the studies. Considering the large methodological heterogeneity among studies, the generalization of the available normative data for the MMSE may not be appropriate for the general elderly Brazilian population

Comparison of coronary hemodynamics in patients with internal mammary artery and saphenous vein coronary artery bypass grafts: A noninvasive approach using combined two-dimensional and Doppler echocardiography

AbstractBlood flow in bypass grafts and recipient left anterior descending coronary arteries was evaluated with combined two-dimensional and Doppler echocardiography in 15 patients with an internal mammary artery graft and in 24 patients with a saphenous vein graft. Comparative studies of coronary hemodynamics were also performed regarding these two different grafting techniques.The graft vessel was detected in 11 (79%) of 14 patients with an internal mammary artery graft and in 20 (87%) of 23 with a saphenous vein graft. The recipient left anterior descending coronary artery was detected in 10 (67%) of the former group and 17 (71%) of the latter. The blood flow patterns obtained were generally biphasic, consisting of systolic and diastolic phases with higher velocity during diastole. The maximal diastolic flow velocity in internal mammary artery grafts was much higher than that in saphenous vein grafts. In patients with an internal mammary artery graft, the flow pattern characteristics within the recipient coronary artery were quite similar to those within the arterial graft, and flow velocities within the recipient coronary artery and the arterial graft were quantitatively almost identical. This outcome may contribute to the long-term patency seen in internal mammary artery grafts.On the other hand, the flow velocity in saphenous vein grafts was fairly low throughout the cardiac cycle. Flow velocity in the recipient coronary artery in patients with a saphenous vein graft was accelerated only in early diastole. As a result, the recipient coronary artery flow pattern and velocity differed substantially from those in the saphenous vein graft. Internal mammary artery and saphenous vein grafts showed average diastolic peak flow velocity of 57.7 ± 9.9 and 28.0 ± 8.9 cm/s, respectively, compared with 55.1 ± 7.2 and 93.5 ± 14.7 cm/s, respectively, in the recipient coronary arteries with artery grafts and vein grafts.Thus, the Doppler method allowed us to evaluate not only the direct effects of bypass grafting on the coronary circulation, but also the differences in effects between these two different grafting techniques