Physical Characteristics of Near-Shore Ice Ridges

Investigations of the morphology and composition of near-shore ice ridges were conducted on the southern shore of Lake Superior near Grand Marais, Michigan, and at other Great Lakes locations during 1970 and 1971. Data are given for ice densities, sediment load, temperature and internal arrangements of ice forms. A cross-sectional map of the gross structure of one ice ridge is also presented. The basic internal appearance of the ridges is similar to that of conglomerate rock, and little stratification occurs. These ridges are seldom discussed in the literature but commonly appear along the shorelines of the Great Lakes. It is suggested that they are developed primarily as a product of wind and spray processes and are not to be confused with pressure ridge and ice thrust features

Brain-Computer Interfaces for 1-D and 2-D Cursor Control: Designs Using Volitional Control of the EEG Spectrum or Steady-State Visual Evoked Potentials

We have developed and tested two EEG-based brain-computer interfaces (BCI) for users to control a cursor on a computer display. Our system uses an adaptive algorithm, based on kernel partial least squares classification (KPLS), to associate patterns in multichannel EEG frequency spectra with cursor controls. Our first BCI, Target Practice, is a system for one-dimensional device control, in which participants use biofeedback to learn voluntary control of their EEG spectra. Target Practice uses a KF LS classifier to map power spectra of 30-electrode EEG signals to rightward or leftward position of a moving cursor on a computer display. Three subjects learned to control motion of a cursor on a video display in multiple blocks of 60 trials over periods of up to six weeks. The best subject s average skill in correct selection of the cursor direction grew from 58% to 88% after 13 training sessions. Target Practice also implements online control of two artifact sources: a) removal of ocular artifact by linear subtraction of wavelet-smoothed vertical and horizontal EOG signals, b) control of muscle artifact by inhibition of BCI training during periods of relatively high power in the 40-64 Hz band. The second BCI, Think Pointer, is a system for two-dimensional cursor control. Steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEP) are triggered by four flickering checkerboard stimuli located in narrow strips at each edge of the display. The user attends to one of the four beacons to initiate motion in the desired direction. The SSVEP signals are recorded from eight electrodes located over the occipital region. A KPLS classifier is individually calibrated to map multichannel frequency bands of the SSVEP signals to right-left or up-down motion of a cursor on a computer display. The display stops moving when the user attends to a central fixation point. As for Target Practice, Think Pointer also implements wavelet-based online removal of ocular artifact; however, in Think Pointer muscle artifact is controlled via adaptive normalization of the SSVEP. Training of the classifier requires about three minutes. We have tested our system in real-time operation in three human subjects. Across subjects and sessions, control accuracy ranged from 80% to 100% correct with lags of 1-5 seconds for movement initiation and turning

Kernel PLS-SVC for Linear and Nonlinear Discrimination

A new methodology for discrimination is proposed. This is based on kernel orthonormalized partial least squares (PLS) dimensionality reduction of the original data space followed by support vector machines for classification. Close connection of orthonormalized PLS and Fisher's approach to linear discrimination or equivalently with canonical correlation analysis is described. This gives preference to use orthonormalized PLS over principal component analysis. Good behavior of the proposed method is demonstrated on 13 different benchmark data sets and on the real world problem of the classification finger movement periods versus non-movement periods based on electroencephalogram

Occupational Therapy’s Psychosocial Role for Young Children Transitioning out of Foster Care

Background: Unmet needs for children in the foster care system lead to hardships with social participation, healthy relationships, and occupational engagement. Despite an understanding of these needs, there is minimal research on occupational therapy’s role for young children transitioning from foster care back to their biological parents. Method: A single case report was completed via occupational-based interventions focused on psychosocial development, such as emotional regulation and appropriate social skills. All nine interventions were intended to be provided via 45-min individual treatment sessions followed by biological parent coaching for 15 min with strategies such as role-playing, sensory techniques, and trauma-informed care. Emotional regulation and appropriate social skills were tracked through Goal Attainment Scaling, the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure, the Developmental Assessment of Young Children- Second Edition, and a parent interview. Results: All assessments provided significant results in the improvement of child engagement in social participation, education, and play. The parent interview demonstrated increased biological parent knowledge and decreased stress. Conclusion: Overall, the child’s occupational engagement and biological parent’s satisfaction enhanced their skill sets to improve their quality of life, occupational participation, and relationship quality. Through a coaching strategy, the biological parent gained confidence to take on social-emotional challenges during the child’s transitional phase

The Essays on the Structure of Property Rights to Natural Resources

In this dissertation I study how the structure of property rights is shaped by the benefits and costs of defining and enforcing rights along various dimensions to inform current policy debates by better understanding the economic structure of the resource problems we face and saying something about the opportunity costs of policy proposals to alter resource use. I do this by combining formal models of natural resource use with detailed econometric analysis of novel historic and modern data sets which I build using GIS.In Chapter 1, Gary Libecap and I analyze the economic determinants and effects of prior appropriation water rights that were voluntarily implemented across a vast area of the US West, replacing common-law riparian water rights. We model potential benefits and test hypotheses regarding search, coordination, and investment. Our novel dataset of 7,800 rights in Colorado, established between 1852 and 2013 includes location, date, size, infrastructure investment, irrigated acreage, crops, topography, stream flow, soil quality, and precipitation. Prior appropriation doubled infrastructure investment and raised the value of agricultural output beyond baseline riparian rights. The analysis reveals institutional innovation that informs contemporary water policy.In Chapter 2, Dominic Parker and I study how subdivision of land rights can affect natural resource use. Land contains multiple natural resources that are efficiently managed at different spatial scales, either concurrently or over time. We explain how subdividing the commons to promote one resource (agricultural land) inadvertently creates anticommons problems for another (shale oil). We provide empirical tests from a natural experiment on the Bakken, one of the world's largest booming oil fields. Before oil was discovered, U.S. land allotment policies created a mosaic of private, tribal, and fragmented ownership to shale on and around the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. We compare horizontal drilling patterns across over 40,000 parcels on and off the reservation. We find that subdivision has caused economically significant delays in compensation to shale owners, as parcels surrounded by tribal lands are more quickly and fully exploited. The evidence demonstrates how subdivision can inadvertently delay spatially coordinated resource use and reduce resource rents.In Chapter 3, Gary Libecap and I examine the emergence of spontaneous claims to inframarginal rents in open-access resources. Although early models of open-access in economics predicted full rent dissipation as homogeneous agents exploited the resource, later theory and empirical observations indicated persistence of inframarginal rents. The existence of inframarginal rents under open-access has been recognized in the literature, but agents’ incentives to invest in de facto institutions to protect rental streams from competitors has not been explored. These institutions include local property rights, specialized production, and restricted information sharing. Moreover, there has been no recognition of how these informal arrangements might contribute to observed resistance by inframarginal-rent earners to externally imposed schemes in order to reduce aggregate rent dissipation. Proponents are high-cost agents, who earn low or zero rents. High-cost agents ought to be able to compensate low-cost agents for a shift to a new property regime if the shift makes them better off than they were under open-access. Empirically, however, this appears not to happen and formal open-access persists. We develop a simple framework to show why ``willingness to pay'' and ``willingness to accept'' do not overlap and that institutional change is not Pareto-improving for those who have adjusted well to open-access. If agents are heterogeneous in search and production costs, and the resource is large and heterogeneous in quality, then low-cost parties search for the most productive locations and apply their superior skills and develop human and physical capital to earn inframarginal rents. We then apply this framework to historical experiences in oil and gas and fisheries

Antimicrobial resistance in commensal faecal Escherichia coli of hospitalised horses

The objective of this study was to examine the impact of hospitalisation and antimicrobial drug administration on the prevalence of resistance in commensal faecal E. coli of horses. Faecal samples were collected from ten hospitalised horses treated with antimicrobials, ten hospitalised horses not treated with antimicrobials and nine non-hospitalised horses over a consecutive five day period and susceptibility testing was performed on isolated E. coli. Results revealed that hospitalisation alone was associated with increased prevalence of antimicrobial resistance and multidrug resistance in commensal E. coli of horses. Due to the risk of transfer of resistance between commensal and pathogenic bacteria, veterinarians need to be aware of possible resistance in commensal bacteria when treating hospitalised horses

Contamination of the lairage of a pork abattoir with Salmonella species

The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of Salmonella spp. In the lairage of a pork abattoir on different days of the week and to investigate the effect of daily washing routines and disinfection procedures on contamination levels with Salmonella spp. In total, 359 swabs were collected from lairage pen floors at three time points during the course of two slaughter days. All samples were analysed quantitatively

Infection of pigs following exposure to contaminated pen floors

The objective of these studies was to determine if pigs could acquire infection when exposed to different levels of environmental contamination with Salmonella typhimurium. In experiment 1, pigs were euthanised after 2, 3 and 24 hours of exposure to a highly contaminated environment (105 organisms/100cm2)

月面探査を行うロボット群のためのロバストな無線ネットワーク

要約のみTohoku University吉田和哉課

Orexin Receptor Activation Generates Gamma Band Input to Cholinergic and Serotonergic Arousal System Neurons and Drives an Intrinsic Ca(2+)-Dependent Resonance in LDT and PPT Cholinergic Neurons

A hallmark of the waking state is a shift in EEG power to higher frequencies with epochs of synchronized intracortical gamma activity (30-60 Hz) - a process associated with high-level cognitive functions. The ascending arousal system, including cholinergic laterodorsal (LDT) and pedunculopontine (PPT) tegmental neurons and serotonergic dorsal raphe (DR) neurons, promotes this state. Recently, this system has been proposed as a gamma wave generator, in part, because some neurons produce high-threshold, Ca(2+)-dependent oscillations at gamma frequencies. However, it is not known whether arousal-related inputs to these neurons generate such oscillations, or whether such oscillations are ever transmitted to neuronal targets. Since key arousal input arises from hypothalamic orexin (hypocretin) neurons, we investigated whether the unusually noisy, depolarizing orexin current could provide significant gamma input to cholinergic and serotonergic neurons, and whether such input could drive Ca(2+)-dependent oscillations. Whole-cell recordings in brain slices were obtained from mice expressing Cre-induced fluorescence in cholinergic LDT and PPT, and serotonergic DR neurons. After first quantifying reporter expression accuracy in cholinergic and serotonergic neurons, we found that the orexin current produced significant high frequency, including gamma, input to both cholinergic and serotonergic neurons. Then, by using a dynamic clamp, we found that adding a noisy orexin conductance to cholinergic neurons induced a Ca(2+)-dependent resonance that peaked in the theta and alpha frequency range (4-14 Hz) and extended up to 100 Hz. We propose that this orexin current noise and the Ca(2+) dependent resonance work synergistically to boost the encoding of high-frequency synaptic inputs into action potentials and to help ensure cholinergic neurons fire during EEG activation. This activity could reinforce thalamocortical states supporting arousal, REM sleep, and intracortical gamma