Regular expressions as violin bowing patterns

String players spend a significant amount of practice time creating and learning bowings. These may be indicated in the music using up-bow and down-bow symbols, but those traditional notations do not capture the complex bowing patterns that are latent within the music. Regular expressions, a mathematical notation for a simple class of formal languages, can describe precisely the bowing patterns that commonly arise in string music. A software tool based on regular expressions enables performers to search for passages that can be handled with similar bowings, and to edit them consistently. A computer-based music editor incorporating bowing patterns has been implemented, using Lilypond to typeset the music. Our approach has been evaluated by using the editor to study ten movements from six violin sonatas by W. A. Mozart. Our experience shows that the editor is successful at finding passages and inserting bowings; that relatively complex patterns occur a number of times; and that the bowings can be inserted automatically and consistently

Effects of wildfire disaster exposure on male birth weight in an Australian population

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Maternal stress can depress birth weight and gestational age, with potential health effects. A growing number of studies examine the effect of maternal stress caused by environmental disasters on birth outcomes. These changes may indicate an adaptive response. In this study, we examine the effects of maternal exposure to wildfire on birth weight and gestational age, hypothesising that maternal stress will negatively influence these measures. METHODOLOGY Using data from the Australian Capital Territory, we employed Analysis of Variance to examine the influence of the 2003 Canberra wildfires on the weight of babies born to mothers resident in fire-affected regions, while considering the role of other factors. RESULTS We found that male infants born in the most severely fire-affected area had significantly higher average birth weights than their less exposed peers and were also heavier than males born in the same areas in non-fire years. Higher average weights were attributable to an increase in the number of macrosomic infants. There was no significant effect on the weight of female infants or on gestational age for either sex. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS Our findings indicate heightened environmental responsivity in the male cohort. We find that elevated maternal stress acted to accelerate the growth of male fetuses, potentially through an elevation of maternal blood glucose levels. Like previous studies, our work finds effects of disaster exposure and suggests that fetal growth patterns respond to maternal signals. However, the direction of the change in birth weight is opposite to that of many earlier studies.This work was funded by an Australian Postgraduate Award from the Australian Government Department of Education

The ecology and early life history of the intertidal tubeworm Galeolaria caespitosa

Dissertação de mestrado em Temas de Psicologia do Desenvolvimento, apresentada à Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação da Universidade de Coimbra.Os Slow Learners são alunos com Funcionamento Intelectual Borderline (FIB) que frequentemente se debatem para acompanhar as exigências académicas. O presente estudo teve como objetivo contribuir para aumentar o conhecimento em relação a estes alunos, tendo-se realizado um estudo empírico comparativo e correlacional, com uma amostra constituída por um grupo com FIB, de 40 crianças e adolescentes (7-15 anos), do 2º ao 6º ano, e um grupo de controlo, com QI médio, de 40 alunos, selecionados através de uma metodologia de emparelhamento de pares idênticos. Aplicaram-se os seguintes instrumentos: Escala de Inteligência de Wechsler para Crianças  Terceira Edição; Bateria de Avaliação Neuropsicológica de Coimbra (Lista de Palavras; Memória de Histórias; Figura Complexa de Rey; Memória de Faces; Nomeação Rápida; Fluência Verbal); e Inventário de Identificação de Dificuldades de Aprendizagem (tradução e adaptação portuguesa do "Learning Disabilities Diagnostic Inventory"). Os resultados apontaram para que os Slow Learners têm um défice na memória verbal de curto prazo, na nomeação rápida, na fluência verbal fonémica e na memória visual de curto prazo, especificamente numa tarefa de reconhecimento visual, em comparação com o grupo de controlo. Registou-se, ainda, que os Slow Learners têm dificuldades de aprendizagem generalizadas, nomeadamente no raciocínio, na matemática, escrita e leitura; e algumas destas dificuldades estão associadas, moderadamente, a resultados mais baixos nas notas escolares das disciplinas de Português e Matemática. Conclui-se que os Slow Learners não estão a atingir sucesso académico nas escolas portuguesas, sendo clara a necessidade de desenvolver linhas de atuação científica, legislativa e educativa.Slow Learners are students with Borderline Intellectual Functioning (BIF) that frequently struggle to keep up academic demands. The purpose of the present study was to contribute to enlarge the knowledge about these students. A cross-sectional, comparison and correlational study was carried out with a sample composed of a group with BIF, of 40 children and adolescents (7-15 years old), in grades two through six; and a control group with average IQ, of 40 students, selected by the method of case matching. The following instruments were used: Portuguese version of third edition of The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children; Portuguese Battery of Neuropsychological Assessment of Coimbra (Words List; Narrative Memory; Rey Complex Figure; Face Memory; Rapid Naming; Verbal Fluency); and Portuguese translation and adaptation of the Learning Disabilities Diagnostic Inventory. The results showed deficits in Slow Learners verbal short-term memory, rapid naming, phonemic verbal fluency and visual short-term memory, specifically on a visual recognition task, in comparison to the control group. Also, Slow Learners showed generalized learning disabilities, namely in reasoning, mathematics, writing and reading; and some of these disabilities are associated, moderately, with lower academic scores in the Portuguese and Mathematics school subjects. Thus, Slow Learners are not getting academic success in Portuguese schools, and there is a clear need to develop scientific, legislative and educational actions

A phase aberration correction method for ultrasound imaging

Cataloged from PDF version of article.A computationally efficient method for phase aberration correction in ultrasound imaging is presented. The method is based on time delay estimation via minimization of the sum of absolute differences between radio frequency samples of adjacent array elements. Effects of averaging estimated aberration patterns over scan angles, and truncation to a single bit wordlength are examined. Phase distortions due to near-field inhomogeneities are simulated using silicone rubber aberrators. Performance of the method is tested using experimental data. Simulation studies addressing different factors affecting efficiency of the method, such as the number of iterations, window length, and the number of scan angles used for averaging, are presented. Images of a standard resolution phantom are reconstructed and used for qualitative testing

International classification of functioning, disability and health core sets for children and youth with cerebral palsy: a consensus meeting

AIM: The objective of this article is to report on the Core Sets developed for children and youth aged 0 to 18 years, with cerebral palsy (CP) based on the pediatric International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) by the World Health Organization (WHO).METHOD: A formal decision-making and consensus process integrating evidence gathered from preparatory studies was followed. Preparatory studies included: a systematic literature review; an international expert survey; a qualitative study of children and youth with CP and their caregivers; and a clinical study. Relevant ICF categories were identified in a formal consensus process by international experts from different backgrounds. Twenty-six international experts chosen by WHO region with expertise in CP attended the consensus meeting.RESULTS: Overall, five ICF Core Sets were developed: a Comprehensive Core Set (135 ICF categories); a Common Brief (25 ICF categories); and three age-specific Core Sets: under 6 years (31 ICF categories), from 6 to &lt;14 years (35 ICF categories) and from 14 to 18 years (37 ICF categories).INTERPRETATION: These ICF Core Sets for children and youth with CP are the first ICF-based tools developed for this population. The ICF Core Sets for children and youth with CP can be applied in clinical practice, research, teaching and administration. The application of the ICF Core Sets to this population will standardize the functional assessments of CP worldwide.<br/

The transmission of nosocomial pathogens in an intensive care unit: a space–time clustering and structural equation modelling approach

We investigated the incidence of cases of nosocomial pathogens and risk factors in an intensive treatment unit ward to determine if the number of cases is dependent on location of patients and the colonization/infection history of the ward. A clustering approach method was developed to investigate the patterns of spread of cases through time for five microorganisms [methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Acinetobacter spp., Klebsiella spp., Candida spp., and Pseudomonas aeruginosa] using hospital microbiological monitoring data and ward records of patient-bed use. Cases of colonization/infection by MRSA, Candida and Pseudomonas were clustered in beds and through time while cases of Klebsiella and Acinetobacter were not. We used structural equation modelling to analyse interacting risk factors and the potential pathways of transmission in the ward. Prior nurse contact with colonized/infected patients, mediated by the number of patient-bed movements, were important predictors for all cases, except for those of Pseudomonas. General health and invasive surgery were significant predictors of cases of Candida and Klebsiella. We suggest that isolation and bed movement as a strategy to manage MRSA infections is likely to impact upon the incidence of cases of other opportunist pathogen

Influence of missing array elements on phase aberration correction for medical ultrasound

Cataloged from PDF version of article.The influence of missing array elements on aberration correction based on time delay estimation using radio frequency signals of neighboring elements is experimentally investigated. Normalized cross correlation and sum of absolute differences are employed as the cost functions in aberration estimation. Their performance is tested through various measurements using radio frequency data acquired with a 3.3 MHz, 64-element phased array. Variation of cost functions and phase estimation error are obtained for different combinations of number of missing elements, amount of aberration, and noise level. For a particular combination of these parameters, a set of B-scan images is reconstructed and presented to examine the effects of residual phase errors on image quality

Broken particle-hole symmetry at atomically flat a-axis YBa2Cu3O7-d interfaces

We have studied quasiparticle tunneling into atomically flat a-axis films of YBa2Cu3O7-d and DyBa2Cu3O7-d through epitaxial CaTiO3 barriers. The junction heterostructures were grown by oxide molecular beam epitaxy and were carefully optimized using in-situ monitoring techniques, resulting in unprecedented crystalline perfection of the superconductor/insulator interface. Below Tc, the tunneling conductance shows the evolution of a large unexpected asymmetrical feature near zero bias. This is evidence that superconducting YBCO crystals, atomically truncated along the lobe direction with a titanate layer, have intrinsically broken particle-hole symmetry over macroscopically large areas.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures; v2 includes minor changes in concluding paragraph to match PRL versio