High performance 3D sound localization for surveillance applications

One of the key features of the human auditory system, is its nearly constant omni-directional sensitivity, e.g., the system reacts to alerting signals coming from a direction away from the sight of focused visual attention. In many surveillance situations where visual attention completely fails since the robot cameras have no direct line of sight with the sound sources, the ability to estimate the direction of the sources of danger relying on sound becomes extremely important. We present in this paper a novel method for sound localization in azimuth and elevation based on a humanoid head. The method was tested in simulations as well as in a real reverberant environment. Compared to state-of-the-art localization techniques the method is able to localize with high accuracy 3D sound sources even in the presence of reflections and high distortion

Mobilnost in identiteta v umetnosti in literaturi Etel Adnan

This article is based on a literary reading of two books by Etel Adnan: In the Heart of the Heart of Another Country and Of Cities & Women (Letters to Fawwaz), and on an interview that the author personally conducted with her in 2018. It examines Adnan’s sense of nomadism in her art and literature. She is born into a nomadic culture and moves as an intellectual nomad from Lebanon to Paris, and then to California, and finally returns to Lebanon before having to escape due to the civil war. Her nomadism gives her an inspiring openness, creating a state of béance – the freedom from borders postulated by Bouraoui.Članek temelji na literarni analizi dveh knjig Etel Adnan, in sicer V srcu srca druge države (In the Heart of the Heart of Another Country) in Mesta in ženske (Pisma Fawwazu) (Cities&Women, Letters to Fawwaz) ter osebnem intervjuju z umetnico iz leta 2018. Osrednja tema članka je preučevanje vpliva nomadstva v umetnosti in literaturi Etel Adnan. Umetnica izhaja iz nomadske kulture in se je kot intelektualna nomadka iz Libanona najprej preselila v Pariz, nato v Kalifornijo, ko pa se je končno vrnila v Libanon, je morala državo zaradi državljanske vojne znova zapustiti. Njena navdihujoča odprtost izhaja iz nomadskega načina življenja, ki ustvarja stanje béance, kar, kot predvideva Bourauoi, pomeni »svobodo od meja«

Weaving a descriptive tapestry of war, a language composed of two fragile and precious threads : a review of the works of Zeina Abirached

Beirut, an immensely historically and culturally rich city, can be described as a city of birth, destruction, and rebirth. Using comparative literature, I will be discussing how the works of Zeina Abirached use words and images to describe the people, places, and events of the civil war which occurred there in the 1970s and 80s. I will start by briefly describing each book. As this review progresses, I will focus on the individual as well as universal human behavior through graphic narration and storytelling. This is essential to the understanding of the totality of the situation in the text. The question to be analysed is how she—as an author of comic books—writes about the Mediterranean (in particular, Beirut) through the study of its characters as well as their stories and origins. Zeina Abirached was born in Beirut, in 1981, when the civil war had already begun; she was already 10 years old by the time it ended in 1990, and her childhood memories were shaped by living through its horrific events. Going on to study graphic arts and commercial design at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts (ALBA), she was awarded the top prize at the International Comic Book Festival in Beirut in 2002 for her first graphic novel Beyrouth-Catharsis. She moved to Paris in 2004, where she attended the National School of Decorative Arts. From among her illustrated books, I chose three: A Game for Swallows: To Die, To Leave, To Return, I Remember Beirut, and Le piano oriental.peer-reviewe

Representation of Places in Etel Adnan’s In the Heart of the Heart of Another Country and Of Cities & Women (Letters to Fawwaz)

This article will take a close look at two books of Etel Adnan which are strongly tied to the representation of places. References to nature found in both books link the places she is physically present in to her inner-spaces. Additionally, the people she encounters in these locations also become elements with which she weaves different places together. In Of Cities & Women (Letters to Fawwaz), the notion of place is particularly enriched by the different qualities of the women she finds in each location, comparing the situation of women in the Orient and the Occident. The shadow of recent wars hangs heavy in the memories of Adnan as she travels between these different places in both books – the thought of which never abandons her.         &nbsp

Electrical conductivity of parylene F at high temperature

The electrical conductivity of both as-deposited and annealed poly(α,α,α′,α′-tetrafluoro-p-xylylene) (PA-F) films has been investigated up to 400°C. The static conductivity (σ DC) values of PA-F measured between 200°C and 340°C appear to be ∼2.5 orders of magnitude lower for annealed films than for as-deposited ones. This change is attributed to a strong increase in the crystallinity of the material occurring above 340°C. After annealing at 400°C in N2, the σ DC value measured at 300°C, for instance, decreased from 3.8 × 10−12 Ω−1 cm−1 to 7.5 × 10−15 Ω−1 cm−1. Physical interpretations of such an improvement are offered

A Strategic Assessment and Evaluation of the Major Determinants of Work-Life Balance for University Student Workers in Lebanon

This research aims to explore the major determinants of work-life balance (WLB) for university student workers in Lebanon. The proposed relationships consist of causality between each of the variables of working hours, proximity to employment, proximity to university, workload, study leave, leaving early, work from home, study at work, and flexible working hours on one hand, and work-life balance on the other. Employing a deductive approach, this study presents one main research question and quantitatively tests 11 hypotheses using a sample of 300 workers studying in both Lebanese University and Notre Dame University. The findings show that work-life balance significantly varies according to demographic factors. As for variables, the number of courses was found to have a significant negative causal relation with work-life balance, while the ability to obtain a study leave and leaving early have a significant positive causal relation with work-life balance. This research adds quantitative empirical proof that number of courses, study leave, leaving early significantly affect “work-life balance” of today’s private and public university student workers in Lebanon. Therefore, the findings offer a theoretical enrichment to the topic of work-life balance in general, and open way for new research to expand internationally as well as locally

Management of anticoagulant-related intracranial hemorrhage: An evidence-based review

The increased use of anticoagulants for the prevention and treatment of thromboembolic diseases has led to a rising incidence of anticoagulant-related intracranial hemorrhage (AICH) in the aging western population. High mortality accompanies this form of hemorrhagic stroke, and significant and debilitating long-term consequences plague survivors. Although management guidelines for such hemorrhages are available for the older generation anticoagulants, they are still lacking for newer agents, which are becoming popular among physicians. Supportive care, including blood pressure control, and reversal of anticoagulation remain the cornerstone of acute management of AICH. Prothrombin complex concentrates are gaining popularity over fresh frozen plasma, and reversal agents for newer anticoagulation agents are being developed. Surgical interventions are options fraught with complications, and are decided on a case-by-case basis. Our current state of understanding of this condition and its management is insufficient. This deficit calls for more population-based studies and therapeutic trials to better evaluate risk factors for, and to prevent and treat AICH

Year in review 2011: Critical Care – neurocritical care

Contributions from the neurosciences to Critical Care in 2011 covered an array of topics. We learned about potential biomarkers for, and the effect of cerebral oxygen metabolism on, delirium, in addition to treatment of the latter. A group of investigators studied surface cooling in healthy awake volunteers, and incidence of infection associated with therapeutic hypothermia. The effects of statin and erythropoietin on stroke were revisited, and the role of adhesion molecule in the inflammatory reaction accompanying intracerebral hemorrhage was scrutinized. Biomarkers in subarachnoid hemorrhage and their relationship to vasospasm and outcome, and effect of daylight on outcome in this patient population, as well as a new meta-analysis of statin therapy were among the research in subarachnoid hemorrhage. Moreover, 2011 witnessed the publication of a multidisciplinary consensus conference's recommendations on the critical care management of subarachnoid hemorrhage. Results of studies regarding the diagnosis and vascular complications of meningitis were reported. Traumatic brain injury received its share of articles addressing therapy with hypertonic saline and surgical decompression, the development of coagulopathy, and biomarkers to help with prognostication. Finally, research on the treatment of Guillain-Barre syndrome in children, prediction of long-term need of ventilatory support, and pathophysiology of critical illness polyneuropathy and myopathy were reported

Clinical review: Prevention and therapy of vasospasm in subarachnoid hemorrhage

Vasospasm is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality following aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Radiographic vasospasm usually develops between 5 and 15 days after the initial hemorrhage, and is associated with clinically apparent delayed ischemic neurological deficits (DID) in one-third of patients. The pathophysiology of this reversible vasculopathy is not fully understood but appears to involve structural changes and biochemical alterations at the levels of the vascular endothelium and smooth muscle cells. Blood in the subarachnoid space is believed to trigger these changes. In addition, cerebral perfusion may be concurrently impaired by hypovolemia and impaired cerebral autoregulatory function. The combined effects of these processes can lead to reduction in cerebral blood flow so severe as to cause ischemia leading to infarction. Diagnosis is made by some combination of clinical, cerebral angiographic, and transcranial doppler ultrasonographic factors. Nimodipine, a calcium channel antagonist, is so far the only available therapy with proven benefit for reducing the impact of DID. Aggressive therapy combining hemodynamic augmentation, transluminal balloon angioplasty, and intra-arterial infusion of vasodilator drugs is, to varying degrees, usually implemented. A panoply of drugs, with different mechanisms of action, has been studied in SAH related vasospasm. Currently, the most promising are magnesium sulfate, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase inhibitors, nitric oxide donors and endothelin-1 antagonists. This paper reviews established and emerging therapies for vasospasm