Formation and characterization of inorganic membranes from zeolite-silica microcomposites

Small crystals of zeolites (500-1000 nm) with two- and three-dimensional channel systems (faujasite and ZSM-5 structures) were embedded in amorphous thin films derived from TEOS hydrolyzed in alcoholic solution. Scanning electron microscopy studies show that the zeolites can be quite evenly dispersed in the membrane, resulting in single layers of zeolite crystals protruding out of the amorphous matrix. In situ FT-IR studies with a series of probe molecules revealed that in most membranes the zeolites were 100% accessible from the gas phase. The membranes excluded molecules which are larger than the pore openings of the zeolite embedded in the composite

An entrancing tale of cross-disciplinary bridge building and burning in ethnopsychophysiomusicology

Having a paper accepted for publication is challenging, even under the best of circumstances, as when reporting an incremental finding in a field that is one’s home discipline. The process becomes considerably more difficult when venturing into foreign disciplines in which methodological conventions and assumptions may differ from those one is familiar with. Provocative topics may further exacerbate the reticence of reviewers and editors to welcome cross-disciplinary research to a journal’s pages. Here, a pair of papers, one of which describes a study of possible physiological correlates of music- induced trance states, and the other which describes the challenging journey to get the research performed and published, provide a case study for examining whether epistemological divides can be bridged in the face of editorial obstinacy

Transfer Learning for Textual Topic Classificaton

Nedávné vývoje v jazykových modelech vedly k posunu v transfer learning metodách ve zpracování přirozeného jazyka. Jazykové modely předtrénované na rozsáhlých obecných datasetech dosahují nejlepších výsledků v celé řadě úkolů. Universal Language Model Fine-tuning představuje efektivní transfer learning metodu pro klasifikaci texu. Cílem této práce je hlouběji otestovat robustnost této metody ve scénářích, které se běžně nacházejí při reálných aplikacích.The recent developments of Language Modeling led to advances in transfer learning methods in Natural Language Processing. Language Models pretrained on large general datasets achieved state-of-the-art results in a wide range of tasks. The Universal Language Model Fine-tuning represents an effective transfer learning method for text classification. The goal of this thesis is to further test the robustness of this method in scenarios, commonly found in real-world applications

About a new class of matroid-inducing packing families

AbstractLet T be a family of graphs. A T-packing of a graph G is a subgraph of G, components of which are isomorphic to members of T. We are concerned with families T, such that in every graph G, the subsets of vertices that can be saturated by some T-packing form a collection of independent sets of a matroid. The main purpose of this paper is to introduce a new class of families with this property

Commentary on "The Processing of Pitch and Scale: An ERP Study of Musicians Trained Outside of the Western Musical System" by Bischoff Renninger, Wilson, and Donchin

Electrophysiological measures of expectancy violation processing by the brain, such as the P300 component of the event-related potential, have provided insight into the way in which humans with varying amounts of musical experience maintain representations of musical information, in particular tonal representations. Bischoff Renninger and colleagues (2006) seek to extend this work by examining the P300 in the context of the very interesting topic of cross-cultural music perception, using Western listeners who either have or have not undergone training in Javanese music. Their study highlights the myriad issues and complexities of experimental design and analysis that must be addressed if one is to conduct an ethologically compelling and interpretable study of musical context representations using brain responses as dependent measures

Comparison of FEM simulation with experiment in material tests

Tato bakalářská práce se zabýva simulováním vzniku a šíření prasklin v LS-DYNA pomocí modelu GISSMO. Hlavním cílem této práce je provedení dvou experimentů a jejich simulace, a následné porovnání výsledků. Rozdíly mezi simulací a experimentem se pokusím snížit iterativním procesem. Prvním z experimentů je Charpyho test. Tento experiment byl úspěšně proveden a jeho simulace byla nakalibrována tak, aby energie zpotřebovaná na vytvoření praskliny korelovala přesně v simulaci s experimentem. Druhým z experimentů je mnou navržený. V tomto experimentu se na testovanou součást pouští závaží, v tomto případě ve tvaru koule, z různých výšek. Praskliny vytvořené tímto závažím jsou simulovány. Výsledky z experimentu se s výsledky simulace neshodují perfektně kvůli nepřesným podmínkám experimentu. Nové pochopení vzniku a šíření prasklin, které tato práce nabízí, je bezpochyby hodnotné, a může pomoci při simulování inženýrských zadání s podobnou problematikou.Any differences that appear between the simulation and the experiment, are to be mitigated through an iterative process. The first experiment is a standard Charpy impact test. It was successfully performed and its counterpart simulation calibrated so the energy loss in the specimens matches exactly in simulation as it showed during the experiment. The other experiment was a custom drop weight experiment, where a testing geometry, in this case a sphere, falls onto the tested part from varying heights and the fractures that form are later simulated. The result of this experiment doesn't exactly match the simulation due to the experimental conditions. New insight, which this thesis offers, into fracture forming using GISSMO is undoubtedly valuable and can help when dealing with engineering problems similar in nature

Musical thrills and chills

Book review

Status quo and development trends of remote sensing usage for forensic ekotechnique: forest and trees

This paper refers to possibility of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) usage for FEFT experts’ needs. Different Remote Sensing Stations (Czech Geological Survey, Forest Management Institute and others) obtain Czech territory actual pictorial data from satellites together with aerial images, LiDaR data from Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Defense and Czech Office for Surveying Mapping and Cadastre (COSMC) joint project that deals with regular two years scanning of the Czech Republic. Remote Sensing Stations also have resources for obtaining actual aerial photographs of investigated objects and localities through commercial subjects operating own airplanes. State organizations initiating expertise do not have resources for actual scanning of the investigated localities with airplanes. Forensic experts depend on COSMC products. COSMC is the only one of the organizations dealing with Czech territory scanning which has authority to sell actual aerial images if are available. Remote-controlled UAVs can aboard equipment for remote sensing. UAVs service expenses are many-times lower than aircraft service expenses. Department of Geoinformation Technologies at Mendel University Brno has a multirotor UAV available that is equipped to gain optical and infrared band data.Tématem tohoto příspěvku je poukázat na možnosti využití bezpilotních letounů (UAV - Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) pro potřeby soudních znalců pracujících v oboru FEld. Různá pracoviště DPZ (Česká geologická služba, ÚHÚL a jiná) získávají aktuální obrazová data našeho území z družic a současně mohou pracovat i s leteckými snímky a lidarovými daty získanými ze společného projektu Ministerstva zemědělství, Ministerstva obrany a Českého zeměměřičského ústavu (ČÚZK) v rámci kterého se provádí pravidelné snímkování (skenování) České republiky nyní v dvouletých cyklech. Případně mají tato pracoviště DPZ k dispozici dostatek finančních prostředků na zaplacení subjektu s letovým parkem, který nafotografuje vyžádané objekty a dodá aktuální obrazová data. Prostředí iniciující zadávání znaleckých posudků nedisponuje dostatečnými finančními prostředky k zajištění zhotovení leteckých snímků zkoumaných lokalit či objektů klasickými metodami za použití letounů. Soudní znalci jsou tudíž odkázáni na ČÚZK, který jediný ze zapojených subjektů do projektu snímkování ČR je oprávněn poskytovat aktuální data, jsou-li tato k dispozici. Dálkově ovládané bezpilotní letouny mohou mimo jiné sloužit jako nosiče přístrojů snímající zemský povrch. Provozní a finanční nároky jsou však mnohonásobně nižší v porovnání s klasickými letouny. Ústav geoinformačních technologií Mendelovy univerzity v Brně disponuje multirotorovým bezpilotním letounem, který je přizpůsoben k získávání dat DPZ ve viditelném a blízkém infračerveném elektromagnetickém spektru

The Neural Architecture of Music-Evoked Autobiographical Memories

The medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) is regarded as a region of the brain that supports self-referential processes, including the integration of sensory information with self-knowledge and the retrieval of autobiographical information. I used functional magnetic resonance imaging and a novel procedure for eliciting autobiographical memories with excerpts of popular music dating to one's extended childhood to test the hypothesis that music and autobiographical memories are integrated in the MPFC. Dorsal regions of the MPFC (Brodmann area 8/9) were shown to respond parametrically to the degree of autobiographical salience experienced over the course of individual 30 s excerpts. Moreover, the dorsal MPFC also responded on a second, faster timescale corresponding to the signature movements of the musical excerpts through tonal space. These results suggest that the dorsal MPFC associates music and memories when we experience emotionally salient episodic memories that are triggered by familiar songs from our personal past. MPFC acted in concert with lateral prefrontal and posterior cortices both in terms of tonality tracking and overall responsiveness to familiar and autobiographically salient songs. These findings extend the results of previous autobiographical memory research by demonstrating the spontaneous activation of an autobiographical memory network in a naturalistic task with low retrieval demands

Using GIS and methods of digital cartography for analyzing battlefield engravings of 17th century

Iconographic sources depicting Thirty Years’ War battlefields in the Czech lands can be found in historical graphic works printed in the most comprehensive documentary publication of the 17th century, the Theatrum Europaeum. In this publication, the year 1647 is one of the richest in terms of the number of engravings depicting the course of the war. In addition, the Swedish campaign of the same year left behind the most numerous and best preserved traces in the landscape of the Czech lands. The paper focuses primarily on engravings related to war events at the locations of Cheb, Třebel and Teplá. It presents interim results of interdisciplinary research of these iconographic sources, which involves the tools of spatial analyses, digital terrain modelling and also new possibilities of airborne laser scanning data processing. The main aims of the research, which are also being implemented, are the confirmation of depicted localities and their localization; analyses of the scale and geometrical precision of displayed landscape; estimates of visibility and methods of creating the source materials for engravings; and a detailed comparison with other contemporary or current cartographic sources