Integration of the Antennal Lobe Glomeruli and Three Projection Neurons in the Standard Brain Atlas of the Moth Heliothis Virescens

Digital three dimensional standard brain atlases (SBAs) are valuable tools for integrating neuroimaging data of different preparations. In insects, SBAs of five species are available, including the atlas of the female Heliothis virescens moth brain. Like for the other species, the antennal lobes (ALs) of the moth brain atlas were integrated as one material identity without internal structures. Different from the others, the H. virescens SBA exclusively included the glomerular layer of the AL. This was an advantage in the present study for performing a direct registration of the glomerular layer of individual preparations into the standard brain. We here present the H. virescens female SBA with a new model of the AL glomeruli integrated into the atlas, i.e. with each of the 66 glomeruli identified and labelled with a specific number. The new model differs from the previous H. virescens AL model both in respect to the number of glomeruli and the numbering system; the latter according to the system used for the AL atlases of two other heliothine species. For identifying female specific glomeruli comparison with the male AL was necessary. This required a new male AL atlas, included in this paper. As demonstrated by the integration of three AL projection neurons of different preparations, the new SBA with the integrated glomruli is a helpful tool for determining the glomeruli innervated as well as the relative position of the axonal projections in the protocerebrum

Digital, Three-dimensional Average Shaped Atlas of the Heliothis Virescens Brain with Integrated Gustatory and Olfactory Neurons

We use the moth Heliothis virescens as model organism for studying the neural network involved in chemosensory coding and learning. The constituent neurons are characterised by intracellular recordings combined with staining, resulting in a single neuron identified in each brain preparation. In order to spatially relate the neurons of different preparations a common brain framework was required. We here present an average shaped atlas of the moth brain. It is based on 11 female brain preparations, each stained with a fluorescent synaptic marker and scanned in confocal laser-scanning microscope. Brain neuropils of each preparation were manually reconstructed in the computer software Amira, followed by generating the atlas using the Iterative Shape Average Procedure. To demonstrate the application of the atlas we have registered two olfactory and two gustatory interneurons, as well as the axonal projections of gustatory receptor neurons into the atlas, visualising their spatial relationships. The olfactory interneurons, showing the typical morphology of inner-tract antennal lobe projection neurons, projected in the calyces of the mushroom body and laterally in the protocerebral lobe. The two gustatory interneurons, responding to sucrose and quinine respectively, projected in different areas of the brain. The wide projections of the quinine responding neuron included a lateral area adjacent to the projections of the olfactory interneurons. The sucrose responding neuron was confined to the suboesophageal ganglion with dendritic arborisations overlapping the axonal projections of the gustatory receptor neurons on the proboscis. By serving as a tool for the integration of neurons, the atlas offers visual access to the spatial relationship between the neurons in three dimensions, and thus facilitates the study of neuronal networks in the Heliothis virescens brain. The moth standard brain is accessible at http://www.ntnu.no/biolog/english/neuroscience/brai

Milk Amyloid A in milk as a diagnostic marker for subclinical mastitis in norwegian dairy cows

I denne fordypningsoppgaven har formålet vært å undersøke egenskapene til akuttfaseproteinet Milk Amyloid A (MAA) som diagnostisk markør for subklinisk mastitt hos norske mjølkekyr. Det ble tatt utgangspunkt i et datasett innhentet mellom 2016 og 2017 ved Senter for Husdyrforsøk ved Norges miljø- og biovitenskapelige universitet. Studien ble gjennomført som en tverrsnittstudie, da vi kun beholdt én observasjon per ku. I vårt studieutvalg var kun klinisk friske kyr og kyr med subklinisk mastitt inkludert. Subklinisk mastitt ble definert etter gitte kriterier, basert på bakteriefunn på enkeltspeneprøver. Av de 126 kyrne i vårt utvalg ble 12 definert til å ha subklinisk mastitt. Vi har undersøkt om tidspunkt i laktasjonen, laktasjonsnummer, celletallsnivå, bakteriefunn og subklinisk mastitt påvirker nivået av MAA. Det ble funnet statistisk signifikant sammenheng mellom MAA og subklinisk mastitt, samt mellom MAA og bakteriefunn. Vi kom fram til gjennomsnittlige MAA-verdier for kyr med og uten subklinisk mastitt i vårt utvalg, på henholdsvis 20 774 ng/mL og 3 504 ng/mL. Vi undersøkte hvilken grenseverdi for MAA som ga best mulighet for å korrekt klassifisere kyr med subklinisk mastitt. Grenseverdien på 2 459 ng/ml ga sensitivitet på 75 og spesifisitet på 64, som korrekt klassifiserte 9 av de 12 kyrne med subklinisk mastitt i vårt utvalg. Vi sammenlignet MAA og celletall sine egenskaper som diagnostisk test for subklinisk mastitt for kyrne i vårt utvalg. Vi mener det er gode muligheter for at MAA i framtida kan brukes som supplement til celletall for å fange opp kyr med subklinisk mastitt

Blood transcriptomes and de novo identification of candidate loci for mating success in lekking great snipe (Gallinago media)

We assembled the great snipe blood transcriptome using data from fourteen lekking males, in order to de novo identify candidate genes related to sexual selection, and determined the expression profiles in relation to mating success. The three most highly transcribed genes were encoding different haemoglobin subunits. All tended to be overexpressed in males with high mating success. We also called Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) from the transcriptome data and found considerable genetic variation for many genes expressed during lekking. Among these we identified 14 polymorphic candidate SNPs that had a significant genotypic association with mating success (number of females mated with) and/or mating status (mated or not). Four of the candidate SNPs were found in HBAA (encoding the haemoglobin α-chain). Heterozygotes for one of these and one SNP in the gene PABPC1 appeared to enjoy higher mating success compared to males homozygous for either of the alleles. In a larger dataset of individuals we genotyped 38 of the identified SNPs but found low support for consistent selection since only one of the zygosities of previously identified candidate SNPs and none of their genotypes were associated with mating status. However, candidate SNPs generally showed lower levels of spatial genetic structure compared to non-candidate markers. We also scored the prevalence of avian malaria in a sub-sample of birds. Males infected with avian malaria parasites had lower mating success in the year of sampling than non-infected males. Parasite infection and its interaction with specific genes may thus affect performance on the lek

Staging Henry Fielding: The Author-Narrator in Tom Jones On Screen

As recent adaptation theory has shown, classic-novel adaptation typically sets issues connected to authorship and literal and figurative ownership into play. This key feature of such adaptations is also central to the screen versions of Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones (1749). In much of Fielding’s fiction, the narrator, typically understood as an embodiment of Fielding himself, is a particularly prominent presence. The author-narrator in Tom Jones is no exception: not only is his presence strongly felt throughout the novel, but through a variety of means, ‘The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling’ is also distinctly marked as being under his control and ownership. The two adaptations of Fielding’s novel, a 1963 film and a 1997 television series, both retain the figure of the author-narrator, but differ greatly in their handling of this device and its consequent thematic ramifications. Although the 1963 film de-emphasises Henry Fielding’s status as proprietor of the story, the author-narrator as represented in the film’s voiceover commentary is a figure of authority and authorial control. In contrast, the 1997 adaptation emphasises Fielding’s ownership of the narrative and even includes the author-narrator as a character in the series, but this ownership is undermined by the irreverent treatment to which he is consistently subjected. The representations of Henry Fielding in the form of the author-narrator in both adaptations are not only indicative of shifting conceptions of authorship, but also of the important interplay between authorship, ownership and adaptation more generally

Out of the rat race - Versions of pastoral in music, 1967-1968

This thesis is concerned with the late 1960s, a time of huge social and political upheaval in the Western world. My argument is founded on the premise that the many changes of the era led to a historical ‘turn’ in the late part of the decade, somewhere between the late summer of 1967 and early summer of 1968. Roughly speaking, society changed from an optimistic 1967 epitomized by the ‘Summer of Love’ into a violent 1968 epitomized by riots and assassinations. The social, cultural and psychological changes in society were reflected in the music and lyrics of some of the most important artists of the time. This happened through a complex, ongoing dialogue where the music was partly responsive and partly an agent of change. The young people in the Europe and America had, at this point, the freedom to pursue a lifestyle based on individualism and freedom of choice. While people in the mainstream enjoyed the benefits gained by progress, influential artists started longing for something else. They began dreaming of the past, campaigning for communal values and a return to simpler, more innocent times, while making music that abandoned the psychedelic and urban in favour of the primitive and rural – in other words, the pastoral. In the first part of the thesis, I will describe the term pastoral and point to its long literary tradition. I will then go on to describe the society the artists of the sixties wanted to get away from. With emphasis on the joyful youth culture of 1967, I will show some of the signs pointing forward to turbulent 1968. In the second part I will analyse four significant records from 1968 in detail – four different versions of pastoral in music. All these albums were conceived, written and recorded with the social and political events of the time as a backdrop, and my aim is to show that the records are not only inspired by the same undercurrents, but also internally connected in subject matter, musical style and general philosophy

Design of ground station receiver for Kongsberg Satellite Services based on Software Defined Radio

As the space industry keeps growing, the need for low cost solutions increases. This applies not only to the launch vehicles and space segments, but also to the ground station systems. In this report, a software defined radio (SDR) ground station receiver implemented. It features an Ettus Research USRP SDR which converts an analog signal to a digital baseband representation. The baseband signal, is sent to a host computer, which runs an application that demodulates and decodes the incoming signal to extract the transmitted data. The software component is built with GNU Radio, an open source toolkit with a rich set of signal processing features. It is designed to use a CCSDS frame format, with forward error correction, and demodulate the signal using binary phase-shift keying (BPSK). To synchronize to the symbol timing and carrier frequency of the incoming signal, a clock recovery algorithm is used in addition to a Costas Loop. This accounts for frequency offsets between transmitter and receiver, including those from Doppler shifts. The proposed system has been tested in two ways. First at short range, between two SDR units, communicating in the VHF band using omnidirectional antennas. Here, another application for uplink communication is implemented, also to be used with an SDR, representing the satellite. The second test was done using the SDR to receive downlink data from a satellite in low earth orbit. The satellite communicates on the S-band with a data rate of 2 Mbps. Before the signal reaches the SDR it is processed by RF equipment and mixed down to an intermediate frequency of 70 MHz. The results show that downlink reception from the space segment is possible. Only a few of the received data frames had too many errors for the Reed Solomon decoder to be able to correct them. Simulations show that the SDR would still be able to perform satisfactory at a lower SNR. This could potentially allow for a cost reduction in the RF equipment

Digital Twin Solution for Structural Health Monitoring of Stadia Structures - Monitoring of Vibrations Caused by Dynamic Crowd Loads at Lerkendal Stadion

The combination of increased computational power, sophisticated sensors, and telecommunications enable monitoring by utilising digital twin concept. A digital twin is a virtual representation of a physical asset, that runs a simulation based on real data that is affecting the said asset. Digital twins have many potential uses, one of which is structural health monitoring. This work concerns the exploration and development of a system for structural health monitoring for stadia structures. The dynamic load of a crowd on a structure is complex and hard to model correctly. The vibrations caused by such a load causes concern among attendants and officials alike. Such concerns could be validated or invalidated by the use of a monitoring system. The digital twin concept will utilise a simulation based on data from recorded events and gives free reign for the solver to generate loads to recreate the recorded behaviour on a digital twin. The monitoring system has three main components which are the edge, the core, and the consumption. The edge captures behaviour, whereas the core recreates the behaviour on the the digital twin, and the consumption visualizes the recreated events for an end user of the system over the web. All components of the system has successfully been investigated and is capable of providing an event based monitoring system from matches recorded. The system has not been automated and developed into a closed-loop, however, all parts are mature for further development into a more complete product by streamlining and automating the process

"Stopp opp og lytt - til stemmen og til kroppen" En kvalitativ studie om stemmehelse hos profesjonelle stemmeutøvere i estetiske fag

Stemmen er en av de mest naturlige og grunnleggende funksjonene knyttet til kommunikasjon. Den profesjonelle stemmen utsettes imidlertid for unaturlige og store krav og de naturlige funksjonene utfordres (Martin, 2000). Profesjonelle stemmeutøvere er derfor mer utsatte for stemmevansker enn andre yrkesgrupper (Benninger, Syamal, Gardner & Jacobson, 2018). Innenfor logopedifeltet trengs det mer forskning på stemmehelse og stemmevansker. Siden jeg selv er sanger, ønsker jeg å bidra til mer bevissthet og kunnskap om betydningen av god stemmehelse, forebygging av overbelastning og stemmevansker og vedlikehold av stemmen – og det på et instrument som på alle måter er hørbart, men umulig å skifte ut. Med studien ønsker jeg også å bidra til mer bevissthet og kunnskap om logopedisk tilnærming til stemmehelse, som kan komme både utøvere og institusjoner til gode. Samtidig ønsker jeg at denne studien kan bidra til større åpenhet omkring det å få stemmevansker som sanger og skuespiller. Formålet med studien er å få kunnskap om profesjonelle stemmeutøvere i estetiske fag sin stemmehelse. Med utgangspunkt i studiens bakgrunn og formål er det formulert følgende problemstilling: Hvilke erfaringer har de profesjonelle stemmeutøverne i denne studien om stemmehelse og stemmevansker? Det er en kvalitativ studie med semistrukturert intervju som metode for innsamling av datamateriale. Utvalget består av fem profesjonelle sangere og skuespillere: to sangere og en skuespiller som alle har opplevd å ha stemmevansker, og en sanger og en skuespiller uten erfaring med stemmevansker. Den narrative analysen belyser dimensjoner ved de profesjonelle utøvernes erfaringer med stemmehelse og stemmevansker, og logopedisk behandling av stemmehelse. Funnene i studien antyder at stemmehelse, stemmevansker og talestemmens kvalitet som grunnlag for god stemmehelse i liten grad har vært tematisert i utøvernes utdanning. Resultatene indikerer at stemmevansker har konsekvenser på flere livsområder for stemmeutøverne, som tap av personlig og profesjonell identitet og emosjonelle konsekvenser som bekymring for arbeidssituasjon og videre karriere, frykt for at stemmevanskene skal komme tilbake og bekymring for at vanskene skal påvirke ryktet man har som sanger eller skuespiller. Emipirien viser at de profesjonelle stemmeutøverne ønsker mer åpenhet om stemmevansker i miljøet for å redusere stigma rundt stemmevansker, og at det å få stemmevansker som profesjonell sanger eller skuespiller normaliseres. Resultatene indikerer videre at de stemmeutøverne som har erfaring med stemmevansker og logopedisk oppfølging, har fått økt kunnskap om logopedisk behandling om og tilnærming til stemmehelse og stemmevansker. De har også fått mer bevissthet om egen stemmehelse og har endret sin stemmepraksis og yrkesutøvelse som følge av stemmevanskene og logopedisk veiledning og behandling. Det er relevant for det logopediske fagfeltet å bidra med informasjon om stemmehelse og stemmevansker, med kunnskap om årsaker til at stemmevansker oppstår og jobbe med forebygging og vedlikehold av den profesjonelle stemmen. Det logopediske fagfeltet kan dermed også bidra til mer åpenhet om og å normalisere det å få stemmevansker som profesjonell utøver. Det kan også være relevant med et tverrfaglig samarbeid mellom profesjonelle stemmeutøvere og logopeder, sang- og stemmepedagoger, både under utdanningene og videre i yrkeslivet (Gates, 1998; Sataloff, 2018b)