Data acquisition system for volcano monitoring with real-time transmission, low cost and low power consumption

Postprint (published version

When "It" becomes "Mine": attentional biases triggered by object ownership.

Abstract Previous research has demonstrated that higher-order cognitive processes associated with the allocation of selective attention are engaged when highly familiar self-relevant items are encountered, such as one's name, face, personal possessions and the like. The goal of our study was to determine whether these effects on attentional processing are triggered on-line at the moment self-relevance is established. In a pair of experiments, we recorded ERPs as participants viewed common objects (e.g., apple, socks, and ketchup) in the context of an “ownership” paradigm, where the presentation of each object was followed by a cue indicating whether the object nominally belonged either to the participant (a “self” cue) or the experimenter (an “other” cue). In Experiment 1, we found that “self” ownership cues were associated with increased attentional processing, as measured via the P300 component. In Experiment 2, we replicated this effect while demonstrating that at a visual–perceptual level, spatial attention became more narrowly focused on objects owned by self, as measured via the lateral occipital P1 ERP component. Taken together, our findings indicate that self-relevant attention effects are triggered by the act of taking ownership of objects associated with both perceptual and postperceptual processing in cortex.</jats:p

Mehrwertorientierte Gestaltung mobiler Dienste im Fahrzeug : eine empirische Untersuchung von Nutzeranforderungen

Stagnierende Märkte und veränderte Kundenanforderungen eröffnen in der Automobilindustrie die Suche nach neuen, Erfolg versprechenden Geschäftsmodellen. Automobilhersteller entdecken dabei zune hmend das Potenzial des Mobile Business, sehen sich bei der Erweiterung ihres ur sprünglichen Kerngeschäftes durch die Integration von mobilen Diensten in das Fahrzeug jedoch gleichzeitig mit neuen Herausforderungen konfrontiert. Um in den Augen der Nachfrager einen erkennbaren Mehrwert zu stiften und somit die nutzerseitige Akzeptanz von mobilen Diensten im Fahrzeug zu sichern, müssen sich die Anbieter verstärkt an den Bedürfnissen ihrer Kunden orientieren. Ausgangspunkt für die vorliegende Arbeit, der en zentrales Ziel die Identifizierung und Analyse nutzenstiftender Elemente von mobilen Diensten ist, sind die bisher geringen Forschungsaktivitäten im Hinblick auf eine kundenorientierte Gestaltung von mobilen Anwendungen im Fahrzeug. Eine Expertenbefragung soll zunächst Aufschluss über die zentralen Eigenschaft en des Leistungsbündels „mobile Dienste“ geben. Anschließend erfolgt auf Grundlage einer internetbasierten Konsumentenbefragung eine Analyse der Präferenzstrukturen von potenziellen Nutzern mobiler Dienste im Rahmen einer Adaptiven Conjoint-Analyse. Im letzten Untersuchungsschritt werden mittels einer Clusteranalyse homogene Käufergruppen identifiziert und segmentspezifische Gestaltungsempfehlungen abgeleitet

Neobična etiologija infarkta miokarda tipa 2: pregled temeljen na prikazu slučaja

Organophosphate pesticide (OP) poisoning is quite common and can cause cardiovascular complications and even direct myocardial injury. However, no guideline has included an acute poisoning as a potential cause for a type 2 myocardial infarction (MI) so far. Here we present a case of a 61-year-old woman brought by ambulance to emergency department one hour after accidental ingestion of an unknown quantity of a solution she used against flea infestation. The patient presented with dizziness, myosis, excessive sweating, hypersalivation, sphincteric incontinence, muscle fasciculation, tremor of the extremities, pale skin, alcoholic and pesticide breath odour. Even though we had no guidelines to fall back on, we successfully treated the patient with low-molecular-weight heparin, antiplatelets, statin, diltiazem, antidote therapy, and supportive care. Physicians should be aware that OP poisoning can induce type 2 MI as a complication within a few hours since exposure, and emergency management should always include close cardiac monitoring.Otrovanje organofosfatnim pesticidima prilično je često i može dovesti do komplikacija sa srcem i krvožiljem, a ponekad i izravno oštetiti srčani mišić. Do sada, međutim, nije zabilježen slučaj infarkta miokarda tipa 2. U ovom je radu prikazan slučaj otrovanja 61-godišnjakinje koja je primljena u odjel hitne pomoći jedan sat nakon slučajnoga gutanja nepoznate količine otopine koju je upotrebljavala za suzbijanje biljnih uši. Bolesnica je primljena sa znakovima i simptomima ošamućenosti, mioze, prekomjernoga znojenja, hipersalivacije, urinarne inkontinencije, mišićne fascikulacije, drhtavice u udovima, bljedilom te dahom koji je mirisao na alkohol i pesticide. Premda nije bilo smjernica za liječenje u takvom slučaju, primjena heparina niske molekulske mase, antitrombotika, statina, diltiazema, antidota i potpornoga liječenja dovela je do povoljnog ishoda. Svrha je ovoga prikaza ukazati liječnicima da otrovanje organofosfatima može uzrokovati infarkt miokarda tipa 2, koji se javlja kao komplikacija unutar nekoliko sati od otrovanja, tako da obrada u odjelu hitne pomoći svakako treba obuhvatiti i strogi nadzor srčane funkcije

An impacting energy harvester through piezoelectric device for velocity water flow

Peer Reviewe

A Service Ranker Based on Logic Rules Evaluation and Constraint Programming

Ranking of Semantic Web Services is usually performed based on user preferences descriptions. These descriptions are expressed in terms of an underlying logical formalism, which limits their expressiveness. Thus, there are some kind of descriptions, such as utility functions, that cannot be handled by reasoners currently being used to perform Semantic Web Services tasks, though utility functions provide a higher level of expressiveness. in this work, we present a hybrid solution to allow the introduction of utility functions in user preferences descriptions, using both Logic Programming rules evaluation and Constraint Programming to perform the ranking process. This proposal is based on the Web Service Modeling Ontology, extending it with a highly expressive framework to specify user preferences, and enabling the integration of different engines to perform the ranking process

A Universal Central Engine Hypothesis for Short and Long GRBs

It is noted that X-ray tails (XRTs) of short, hard $\gamma$-ray bursts (SHBs) are similar to X-ray flashes (XRFs). We suggest a universal central engine hypothesis, as a way of accounting for this curiosity, in which SHBs differ from long $\gamma$-ray bursts (GRBs) in prompt emission because of the differences in the host star and attendant differences in the environment they present to the compact central engine (as opposed to differences in the central engine itself). Observational constraints and implications are discussed, especially for confirming putative detections of gravitational waves from merging compact objects.Comment: 3 figures, one with two panel

A quantitative analysis of attitudes and behaviours concerning sustainable parasite control practices from Scottish sheep farmers

Nematode control in sheep, by strategic use of anthelmintics, is threatened by the emergence of roundworms populations that are resistant to one or more of the currently available drugs. In response to growing concerns of Anthelmintic Resistance (AR) development in UK sheep flocks, the Sustainable Control of Parasites in Sheep (SCOPS) initiative was set up in 2003 in order to promote practical guidelines for producers and advisors. To facilitate the uptake of ‘best practice’ approaches to nematode management, a comprehensive understanding of the various factors influencing sheep farmers’ adoption of the SCOPS principles is required. A telephone survey of 400 Scottish sheep farmers was conducted to elicit attitudes regarding roundworm control, AR and ‘best practice’ recommendations. A quantitative statistical analysis approach using structural equation modelling was chosen to test the relationships between both observed and latent variables relating to general roundworm control beliefs. A model framework was developed to test the influence of socio-psychological factors on the uptake of sustainable (SCOPS) and known unsustainable (AR selective) roundworm control practices. The analysis identified eleven factors with significant influences on the adoption of SCOPS recommended practices and AR selective practices. Two models established a good fit with the observed data with each model explaining 54% and 47% of the variance in SCOPS and AR selective behaviours, respectively. The key influences toward the adoption of best practice parasite management, as well as demonstrating negative influences on employing AR selective practices were farmer’s base line understanding about roundworm control and confirmation about lack of anthelmintic efficacy in a flock. The findings suggest that improving farmers’ acceptance and uptake of diagnostic testing and improving underlying knowledge and awareness about nematode control may influence adoption of best practice behaviour

Maternal and neonatal characteristics of babies admitted with congenital CNS anomalies in a tertiary hospital in North Central Nigeria

Background: CNS anomalies are an important group of largely preventable congenital anomalies. Knowledge of maternal and neonatal sociodemographic characteristics could identify a pattern of population at risk in order to target preventive interventions.Methods: This was a 3-year retrospective review of health records of all neonates admitted with CNS anomalies in Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), Jos, central-Nigeria.Results: Out of a total of 27 neonates with congenital CNS anomalies reviewed, 25 had neural tube defects, 1 hydrocephalos and 1 anencephaly. The peak age group of mothers were 20-29years (44.4%) and 30-39 years (44.4%). Twenty-two (81.5%) mothers had antenatal care (ANC). No mother booked in the 1st month and only 7 (25.9%) booked in the first trimester. Twenty-four (88.9%) mothers took folic acid during pregnancy. No mother had peri-conceptional folic acid use. There were 11(40.7%) home births with 14(87.5%) of the 16 hospital births taking place in lower tier health facilities. Twenty-six (96.3%) mothers had vaginal delivery. An obstetric ultrasound scan was reported by one (3.7%) mother and did not detect the anomaly. Five (18.5%) of the mothers had HIV infection. Twenty-six were term with a male: female ratio of 1.1:1. The median age at presentation was 2 (interquartile range 1, 8) days.Conclusions: Neonates with congenital CNS anomalies in JUTH frequently had mothers aged &lt;35 years who did not receive preventive care before and during delivery. We therefore recommend interventions to improve the efficiency of health care delivery to cater for this gap

The Correlation of Spectral Lag Evolution with Prompt Optical Emission in GRB 080319B

We report on observations of correlated behavior between the prompt gamma-ray and optical emission from GRB 080319B, which confirm that (i) they occurred within the same astrophysical source region and (ii) their respective radiation mechanisms were dynamically coupled. Our results, based upon a new CCF methodology for determining the time-resolved spectral lag, are summarized as follows. First, the evolution in the arrival offset of prompt gamma-ray photon counts between Swift-BAT 15-25 keV and 50-100 keV energy bands (intrinsic gamma-ray spectral lag) appears to be anti-correlated with the arrival offset between prompt 15-350 keV gamma-rays and the optical emission observed by TORTORA (extrinsic optical/gamma-ray spectral lag), thus effectively partitioning the burst into two main episodes at ~T+28+/-2 sec. Second, the rise and decline of prompt optical emission at ~T+10+/-1 sec and ~T+50+/-1 sec, respectively, both coincide with discontinuities in the hard to soft evolution of the photon index for a power law fit to 15-150 keV Swift-BAT data at ~T+8+/-2 sec and ~T+48+/-1 sec. These spectral energy changes also coincide with intervals whose time-resolved spectral lag values are consistent with zero, at ~T+12+/-2 sec and ~T+50+/-2 sec. These results, which are robust across heuristic permutations of Swift-BAT energy channels and varying temporal bin resolution, have also been corroborated via independent analysis of Konus-Wind data. This potential discovery may provide the first observational evidence for an implicit connection between spectral lags and GRB emission mechanisms in the context of canonical fireball phenomenology. Future work includes exploring a subset of bursts with prompt optical emission to probe the unique or ubiquitous nature of this result.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. Contributed to the Proceedings of the Sixth Huntsville GRB Symposium. Edited by C.A. Meegan, N. Gehrels, and C. Kouvelioto