That Syncopated Boogie-Boo

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/6458/thumbnail.jp

Phonology and intonation

The encoding standards for phonology and intonation are designed to facilitate consistent annotation of the phonological and intonational aspects of information structure, in languages across a range ofprosodic types. The guidelines are designed with the aim that a nonspecialist in phonology can both implement and interpret the resulting annotation

That Naughty Melody

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/6415/thumbnail.jp

Beaver (Castor fiber) activity and spatial movement in response to light and weather conditions

Animal behaviour can affect individual fitness and is influenced by exogenous and endogenous factors. Here, we investigated how light (daylight length and moonlight), weather (precipitation and temperature), age, sex and social status affected activity and movement of a semiaquatic mammal, the Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber), using GPS relocation data from 47 individuals in south-eastern Norway. Independent of daylight length, beavers had a mean daily activity time of 9:42 h and reduced their activity periods when they were older, most likely due to senescence. In line with this, older individuals also spent less time in water and moved shorter distances. Furthermore, beavers reduced their activity periods in drier weather conditions and spent less time on land during brighter nights and drier conditions, indicating a predation risk avoidance strategy. Individuals spent less time in the water during the colder parts of the year and moved shorter distances with decreasing temperature, suggesting thermal constraints. Our study adds to the increasing amount of evidence that animal behaviour is modulated by various endogenous and exogenous factors, and that weather conditions can affect their behaviour. It remains to be tested, however, how climate variability together with hunting and predation pressure affect space use and demography in species such as the Eurasian beaver.publishedVersionPaid Open Acces

Non-ischemic Cardiomyopathy Patients Derive Superior Mortality Benefit from Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy

Background: Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT) is indicated for the treatment of advanced heart failure with severe systolic dysfunction and intraventricular conduction delay. Patient selection for this technology is vital, though it remains unclear which patients benefit most from CRT. We tested the hypothesis that patients with non-ischemic cardiomyopathy have a superior mortality benefit from CRT than ischemic cardiomyopathy patients. Methods: We evaluated 95 CRT patients to determine which factors predict mortality.Results: Patients with non-ischemic cardiomyopathy had a significantly better prognosis than patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy.Conclusion: Larger prospective studies can substantiate this finding and better delineate which patients benefit most from CRT

Moving from concept to control; use of phages for Campylobacter reduction

Poultry are a major source of Campylobacter with the organism having no impact on the bird. Irrespective of this situation, the important single source of campylobacteriosis is considered to be broiler meat (European Food Safety Authority 2016). The reported number of cases of campylobacteriosis in Australia in 2015 was 22,573 (Communicable Disease Intelligence 2019). Studies have suggested that a reduction in Campylobacter levels by greater than 2-log10 units would contribute to the reduction of the public health risk by more than 90% (European Food Safety Authority 2011). Overseas models have suggested that bacteriophage treatment has the greatest potential of all known/potential methods to reduce Campylobacter levels in the live chicken (Havelaar et al. 2007). Campylobacter naturally colonises the chicken gut, where it can reach high numbers and potentially contaminate the marketed product. A low number of organisms can cause human illness. This study is exploring a biocontrol option using bacteriophages (phages) to reduce Campylobacter numbers in chickens. Bacteriophages are viruses that infect and kill the target bacteria. These specific, Campylobacter-killing phages occur naturally in farm chickens, where they are already in a ‘predator–prey relationship’ with Campylobacter. The aim of this study is to better the outcome of this natural phenomenon. The study builds upon data from previous studies to progress the option of using Campylobacter bacteriophages to control Campylobacter levels in poultry. The report is targeted at the Australian Poultry Industry, those with a role of food-safety at an industry level and also have a regulatory role

Courts, climate litigation and the evolution of earth system law

Numerous scientific reports have evidenced the transformation of the earth system due to human activities. These changes – captured under the term ‘Anthropocene’ – require a new perspective on global law and policy. The concept of ‘earth system law’ situates law in an earth system context and offers a new perspective to interrogate the role of law in governing planetary challenges such as climate change. The discourse on earth system law has not yet fully recognised courts as actors that could shape climate governance, while climate litigation discourse has insufficiently considered aspects of earth system law. We posit that courts play an increasingly influential climate governance role and that they need to be recognised as Anthropocene institutions within the earth system law paradigm. Drawing on a set of prominent climate cases, we discuss five inter-related domains that are relevant for earth system law and where the potential influence of courts can be discerned: establishing accountability, redefining power relations, remedying vulnerabilities and injustices, increasing the reach and impact of international climate law and applying climate science to adjudicate legal disputes. We suggest that their innovative work in these domains could provide a basis for positioning courts as planetary climate governance actors

SIRF: Synergistic Image Reconstruction Framework

The combination of positron emission tomography (PET) with magnetic resonance (MR) imaging opens the way to more accurate diagnosis and improved patient management. At present, the data acquired by PET-MR scanners are essentially processed separately, but the opportunity to improve accuracy of the tomographic reconstruction via synergy of the two imaging techniques is an active area of research. In this paper, we present Release 2.1.0 of the CCP-PETMR Synergistic Image Reconstruction Framework (SIRF) software suite, providing an open-source software platform for efficient implementation and validation of novel reconstruction algorithms. SIRF provides user-friendly Python and MATLAB interfaces built on top of C++ libraries. SIRF uses advanced PET and MR reconstruction software packages and tools. Currently, for PET this is Software for Tomographic Image Reconstruction (STIR); for MR, Gadgetron and ISMRMRD; and for image registration tools, NiftyReg. The software aims to be capable of reconstructing images from acquired scanner data, whilst being simple enough to be used for educational purposes

SIRF: Synergistic Image Reconstruction Framework

The combination of positron emission tomography (PET) with magnetic resonance (MR) imaging opens the way to more accurate diagnosis and improved patient management. At present, the data acquired by PET-MR scanners are essentially processed separately, but the opportunity to improve accuracy of the tomographic reconstruction via synergy of the two imaging techniques is an active area of research. In this paper, we present Release 2.1.0 of the CCP-PETMR Synergistic Image Reconstruction Framework (SIRF) software suite, providing an open-source software platform for efficient implementation and validation of novel reconstruction algorithms. SIRF provides user-friendly Python and MATLAB interfaces built on top of C++ libraries. SIRF uses advanced PET and MR reconstruction software packages and tools. Currently, for PET this is Software for Tomographic Image Reconstruction (STIR); for MR, Gadgetron and ISMRMRD; and for image registration tools, NiftyReg. The software aims to be capable of reconstructing images from acquired scanner data, whilst being simple enough to be used for educational purposes. The most recent version of the software can be downloaded from http://www.ccppetmr.ac.uk/downloads and https://github.com/CCPPETMR/. Program summary: Program Title: Synergistic Image Reconstruction Framework (SIRF) Program Files DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17632/s45f5jh55j.1 Licensing provisions: GPLv3 and Apache-2.0 Programming languages: C++, C, Python, MATLAB Nature of problem: In current practice, data acquired by PET-MR scanners are processed separately. Methods for improving the accuracy of the tomographic reconstruction using the synergy of the two imaging techniques are actively being investigated by the PET-MR research and development community, however, practical application is heavily reliant on software. Open-source software available to the PET-MR community – such as the PET package (STIR) (Thielemans et al., 2012) and the MR package Gadgetron (Hansen and Sørensen, 2013) – provide a basis for new synergistic PET-MR software. However, these two software packages are independent and have very different software architectures. They are mostly written in C++ but many researchers in the PET-MR community are more familiar with script-style languages, such as Python and MATLAB, which enable rapid prototyping of novel reconstruction algorithms. In the current situation it is difficult for researchers to exploit any synergy between PET and MR data. Furthermore, techniques from one field cannot easily be applied in the other. Solution method: In SIRF, the bulk of computation is performed by available advanced open-source reconstruction and registration software (currently STIR, Gadgetron and NiftyReg) that can use multithreading and GPUs. The SIRF C++ code provides a thin layer on top of these existing libraries. The SIRF layer has unified data-containers and access mechanisms. This C++ layer provides the basis for a simple and intuitive Python and MATLAB interface, enabling users to quickly develop and test their reconstruction algorithms using these scripting languages only. At the same time, advanced users proficient in C++ can directly utilise wider SIRF functionality via the SIRF C++ libraries that we provide