Humanasonics: Compositions Inspired by Anthropological Human Universals

Human universals are the commonalitiesthe onenessof mankind, and anthropology is charged with their study. Universals form a general, immutable foundational theory of humanity. The purpose of this thesis is to show how that theory can be used to inspire composition. Human Universals, Donald E. Browns seminal 1991 work is an exhaustive and comprehensive overview of the subject and provided my understanding of anthropological human universals. Music composition is viewed as the organization of contrasting soundssonics. Humanasonics is a new word that names the concept of deriving inspiration from human universals for music composition. This suite of program music is structured in four movements, totalling approximately twenty minutes, for jazz orchestra. Each movement is inspired by a human universal trait or condition. The conclusion asserts that when music is metaphorically based on immutable human universality, it will lead to an inherent understanding, unconscious or conscious, of the work

A review of the water and energy sectors and the use of a nexus approach in Abu Dhabi

Rapid population increase coupled with urbanization and industrialization has resulted in shortages of water in the Middle East. This situation is further exacerbated by global climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions. Recent research advocates that solutions to the global water security and scarcity crisis must involve water–energy nexus approaches. This means adopting policies and strategies that harmonize these inter-related sectors to minimize environmental impact while maximizing human benefit. In the case of Abu Dhabi, when designing and locating oil/gas refineries and associated power generation facilities, previous relevant decisions were based on simple economic and geographical grounds, such as nearness to oil rigs, pipelines, existing industries and port facilities, etc. The subsequent design and location of water abstraction and treatment works operated by the waste heat from these refining and/or power generation processes was catered for as an afterthought, meaning that there is now a mismatch between the water and energy supplies and demands. This review study was carried out to show how Abu Dhabi is trying now to integrate its water–energy sectors using a nexus approach so that future water/power infrastructure is designed optimally and operated in harmony, especially in regard to future demand. Based upon this review work, some recommendations are made for designers and policy makers alike to bolster the nexus approach that Abu Dhabi is pursuing

Near-field diffraction of fs and sub-fs pulses: super-resolutions of NSOM in space and time

The near-field diffraction of fs and sub-fs light pulses by nm-size slit-type apertures and its implication for near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) is analyzed. The amplitude distributions of the diffracted wave-packets having the central wavelengths in the visible spectral region are found by using the Neerhoff and Mur coupled integral equations, which are solved numerically for each Fourier's component of the wave-packet. In the case of fs pulses, the duration and transverse dimensions of the diffracted pulse remain practically the same as that of the input pulse. This demonstrates feasibility of the NSOM in which a fs pulse is used to provide the fs temporal resolution together with nm-scale spatial resolution. In the sub-fs domain, the Fourier spectrum of the transmitted pulse experiences a considerable narrowing that leads to the increase of the pulse duration in a few times. This imposes a limit on the simultaneous resolutions in time and space.Comment: 5 figure

THE EFFECT OF VANCOMYCIN DOSES GREATER THAN 2 GRAMS ON SERUM CREATININE AND VANCOMYCIN TROUGH LEVELS

Objective: To assess the effect of vancomycin doses greater than 2 grams on renal function and vancomycin trough levels Methods: This is a retrospective, pharmacokinetic study performed in a tertiary care level II trauma center. 3579 electronic charts of patients who received vancomcyin at the medical facility between January 2010 and December 2011 were reviewed. Only 30 patients met the inclusion criteria of the study. Included patients were those who were at least 18 years of age who received doses greater than 2 grams of vancomycin for at least 48 hours. Patients in the intensive care units, pregnant or on hemodialysis and were not included in the study. The mean weight for the participants was 154.67 kg. Results: Patients were dosed based on the institution's vancomycin dosing protocol such as 15-20 mg/kg per dose where the frequency was determined based on the estimated creatinine clearance using cockroft gault equation. A loading dose of 25-30 mg/kg was administered in few cases. Two out of thirty subjects had shown an increase of serum creatinine of ≥ 0.3mg/dL when receiving maintenance doses greater than 2 grams of vancomycin. A Z approximation test was used where a standard error of 0.043 with an α error equal to 0.05 and a 95% confidence interval of (-0.024-0.144) were found. The use of doses greater than 2 grams of IV vancomycin did not show a statistically significance increase in serum creatinine. The two subjects who did have a significant increase in serum creatinine were receiving concomitant nephrotoxins. Conclusion: The use of doses greater than 2 grams of IV vancomycin did not show a statistically significant increase in serum creatinine. Patients whom serum creatinine increased were on other nephrotoxin agents that could have contributed to the acute kidney injury that was seen in these patients

Engineering geological models: an introduction: IAEG commission 25

The generation and use of engineering geological models should be a fundamental activity for any geotechnical project. Such models are an essential tool for engineering quality control and provide a transparent way of identifying project-specific critical engineering geological issues and parameters. Models should also form the basis for designing the scope, the method and assessing the effectiveness of site investigations. However, whilst the idea of models in engineering geology has existed for several decades, there has been little published that systematically distinguishes the different model types and how and when they might be used. This paper presents the views of the International Association for Engineering Geology and the Environment Commission C25 on the ‘Use of Engineering Geological Models

Quasiperiodic predictive filtering for robot-assisted beating heart surgery

Beating heart procedures promise significant health benefits to patients but the fast motion of the heart poses a serious challenge to the surgeon. Robotic motion synchronization to heart movements could facilitate these surgeries, although for intracardiac procedures this requires the development of a predictive filter to compensate for the measurement noise and time delay present in 3D ultrasound imaging. In this paper, we present a quasiperiodic cardiac motion model and apply the extended Kalman filter to estimation of its parameters in real-time. We experimentally demonstrate high accuracy robot tracking to heart motion using this filter.Engineering and Applied Science

Universality in the partially anisotropic three-dimensional Ising lattice

Using transfer-matrix extended phenomenological renormalization-group methods the critical properties of spin-1/2 Ising model on a simple-cubic lattice with partly anisotropic coupling strengths ${\vec J}=(J',J',J)$ are studied. Universality of both fundamental critical exponents $y_t$ and $y_h$ is confirmed. It is shown that the critical finite-size scaling amplitude ratios $U=A_{\chi^{(4)}}A_\kappa/A_\chi^2$, $Y_1=A_{\kappa^{''}}/A_\chi$, and $Y_2=A_{\kappa^{(4)}}/A_{\chi^{(4)}}$ are independent of the lattice anisotropy parameter $\Delta=J'/J$. By this for the last above invariant of the three-dimensional Ising universality class we give the first quantitative estimate: $Y_2\simeq2.013$ (shape $L\times L\times\infty$, periodic boundary conditions in both transverse directions).Comment: 11 pages in latex; no figure

Multiple timescales in a model for DNA denaturation dynamics

The denaturation dynamics of a long double-stranded DNA is studied by means of a model of the Poland-Scheraga type. We note that the linking of the two strands is a locally conserved quantity, hence we introduce local updates that respect this symmetry. Linking dissipation via untwist is allowed only at the two ends of the double strand. The result is a slow denaturation characterized by two time scales that depend on the chain length $L$. In a regime up to a first characteristic time $\tau_1\sim L^{2.15}$ the chain embodies an increasing number of small bubbles. Then, in a second regime, bubbles coalesce and form entropic barriers that effectively trap residual double-stranded segments within the chain, slowing down the relaxation to fully molten configurations, which takes place at $\tau_2\sim L^3$. This scenario is different from the picture in which the helical constraints are neglected.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure