Excellent daytime seeing at Dome Fuji on the Antarctic plateau

Context. Dome Fuji, the second highest region on the Antarctic plateau, is expected to have some of the best astronomical seeing on Earth. However, site testing at Dome Fuji is still in its very early stages. Aims. To investigate the astronomical seeing in the free atmosphere above Dome Fuji, and to determine the height of the surface boundary layer. Methods. A Differential Image Motion Monitor was used to measure the seeing in the visible (472 nm) at a height of 11 m above the snow surface at Dome Fuji during the austral summer of 2012/2013. Results. Seeing below 0.2'' has been observed. The seeing often has a local minimum of ~0.3'' near 18 h local time. Some periods of excellent seeing, 0.3'' or smaller, were also observed, sometimes extending for several hours at local midnight. The median seeing is higher, at 0.52''---this large value is believed to be caused by periods when the telescope was within the turbulent boundary layer. Conclusions. The diurnal variation of the daytime seeing at Dome Fuji is similar to that reported for Dome C, and the height of the surface boundary layer is consistent with previous simulations for Dome Fuji. The free atmosphere seeing is ~0.2'', and the height of the surface boundary layer can be as low as ~11 m.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, Submitted to Astronomy & Astrophysics (letter

Summary of the Sussex-Huawei Locomotion-Transportation Recognition Challenge

In this paper we summarize the contributions of participants to the Sussex-Huawei Transportation-Locomotion (SHL) Recognition Challenge organized at the HASCA Workshop of UbiComp 2018. The SHL challenge is a machine learning and data science competition, which aims to recognize eight transportation activities (Still, Walk, Run, Bike, Bus, Car, Train, Subway) from the inertial and pressure sensor data of a smartphone. We introduce the dataset used in the challenge and the protocol for the competition. We present a meta-analysis of the contributions from 19 submissions, their approaches, the software tools used, computational cost and the achieved results. Overall, two entries achieved F1 scores above 90%, eight with F1 scores between 80% and 90%, and nine between 50% and 80%

Physiological stress in eastern black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis michaeli) as influenced by their density, climatological variables and sexes

It is important to understand the physiological stressors in animals especially for threatened species or intensively managed to improve their conservation and optimise their reproduction. We sought to understand changes in stress hormones (faecal glucocorticoid metabolites) in black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis michaeli) in relation to population density and sex (intrinsic factors) and plant minerals, rainfall and land surface temperature (extrinsic factors). We used non-invasive faecal sampling techniques on animals of known sex, age and dominance in seven populations of contrasting population densities over 1 year. We measured variability in faecal corticosterone metabolites through radioimmunoassay and related them to population density, sex and faecal calcium, phosphorus, copper, zinc and potassium as characteristic of plant minerals, rainfall and temperature. We used linear mixed models (LMM) to analyse the data. We did not detect a significant relationship between physiological stress parameters and population density. However, we have indications that stress levels increased as rainfall and temperature increased and were correlated negatively and positively with concentration of faecal phosphorus and copper respectively; we found higher stress levels in females than in males. These results suggest that both intrinsic and extrinsic factors explain the variation in physiological stress observed in black rhinoceros

Effects of GaAs laser and stretching on muscle contusion in rats

Laser e alongamento são usados para tratar lesões musculares. Este estudo objetivou avaliar os efeitos do laser GaAs e alongamento na morfologia do músculo Tibial anterior (TA) após contusão. Trinta e seis ratos (349±23 g) foram divididos em seis grupos (n=6): grupo controle (GC); grupo lesão e laser (GLL); grupo lesão e alongamento (GLA); grupo lesão, laser e alongamento (GLLA) e grupo alongamento (GA). Foi realizada lesão no TA por meio de um aparato de contusão. O tratamento com laser GAAS foi usado com dose de 4,5 J/cm2 durante 32 s, iniciando 48 h após lesão, por 7 dias. Alongamento passivo manual consistiu de 10 repetições de 1 minuto de duração, iniciando no 8º dia, 3 vezes por semana, durante 3 semanas. Após 4 semanas, os ratos foram eutanasiados para retirada do TA para análise de: peso e comprimento musculares, área de secção transversa das fibras musculares (ASTFM), número de sarcômeros em série (NSS), comprimento dos sarcômeros e porcentagem de tecido conjuntivo. A comparação entre os grupos deu-se por meio da ANOVA e post hoc Tukey, com nível de significância ≤ 0,05. O número de sarcômeros em série do GLLS foi maior que o GLS. O comprimento dos sarcômeros no GLA foi superior ao GLL, GLLA e GA. No GA houve aumento do NSS comparado com o GC, enquanto a porcentagem de tecido conjuntivo do GA diminuiu em comparação com o GLLA. Assim, a sarcomerogênese dos músculos lesionados foi aumentada pelo uso do laser, alongamento e pela associação destes. O alongamento foi suficiente para aumentar o NSS em músculos intactos.Láser y estiramiento son utilizados para sanar lesiones musculares. Este estudio tuvo como objetivo evaluar los efectos del láser GaAs y del estiramiento en la morfología del músculo tibial anterior (TA) después de contusión. Treinta y seis ratones (349±23 g) fueron divididos en seis grupos (n=6): grupo control (GC); grupo lesión y láser (GLL); grupo lesión y estiramiento (GLE); grupo lesión, laser y estiramiento (GLLA) y grupo estiramiento (GA). Se realizó lesión en el TA mediante un aparato de contusión. Se utilizó el tratamiento con láser GaAs con dosis de 4,5 J/cm2 durante 32 s, iniciado 48 h después de la lesión, durante 7 días. El estiramiento pasivo manual consistió de 10 repeticiones de 1 minuto de duración, iniciado en el 8º día, 3 veces por semana, durante 3 semanas. Después de 4 semanas, los ratones sufrieron eutanasia para la retirada del TA para análisis de: peso y longitud musculares, área de sección trasversa de las fibras musculares (ASTFM), número de sarcómeros en serie (NSS), longitud de los sarcómeros y porcentaje de tejido conjuntivo. La comparación entre los grupos ocurrió mediante la Anova y post hoc Tukey, con nivel de significancia de ≤0,05. El número de sarcómeros en serie del GLLS fue mayor que el GLS. La longitud de los sarcómeros en el GLA fue superior al GLL, GLLA y GA. En el GA hubo aumento del NSS en comparación con el GC, mientras el porcentaje del tejido conjuntivo del GA disminuyó en comparación al del GLLA. Así, la sarcomerogénesis de los músculos lesionados fue aumentada por el uso del láser, estiramiento y por su asociación. El estiramiento fue suficiente para aumentar el NSS en músculos intactos.Laser and stretching are used to treat skeletal muscle injuries. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of GaAs laser and stretching in the morphology of the tibialis anterior (TA) muscle after contusion. Thirty-six male rats (349±23g) were divided into six groups (n=6): control group (CG); lesion group (LG); lesion and laser group (LLG); lesion and stretching group (LSG); lesion, laser and stretching group (LLSG); and stretching group (SG). TA was wounded by a contusion apparatus. We used GaAs laser 4.5 J/cm2 dose for 32 s each, beginning 48 h after lesion, for 7 days, once a day. Manual passive stretching was applied by 10 repetitions for 1 minute, initiating on the 8th day, once a day, 3 times a week, during 3 weeks. After 4 weeks, rats were euthanized and we analyzed: muscle weight and length, cross sectional area of muscle fibers (CSAMF), serial sarcomere number (SSN), sarcomere length, and percentage of connective tissue. Comparisons among groups were made by ANOVA and post hoc Tukey tests, with the significance level set at ≤ 0.05. The serial sarcomere number of LLSG was higher than LSG. The sarcomere length of LSG was superior to LLG, LLSG, and SG. SG increased SSN compared to CG, while the percentage of connective tissue of SG decreased in comparison to LLSG. Thus, the sarcomerogenesis of injured muscles was enhanced by laser therapy, stretching, and association of both. The stretching protocol was enough to increase SSN of intact muscles