Advanced study of video signal processing in low signal to noise environments Semiannual progress report, 1967 - 1968

Parameter space calculation for phase lock loop operation in low signal to noise environmen

Movement ecology and sex are linked to barn owl microbial community composition.

The behavioural ecology of host species is likely to affect their microbial communities, because host sex, diet, physiology, and movement behaviour could all potentially influence their microbiota. We studied a wild population of barn owls (Tyto alba) and collected data on their microbiota, movement, diet, size, coloration, and reproduction. The composition of bacterial species differed by the sex of the host and female owls had more diverse bacterial communities than their male counterparts. The abundance of two families of bacteria, Actinomycetaceae and Lactobacillaceae, also varied between the sexes, potentially as a result of sex differences in hormones and immunological function, as has previously been found with Lactobacillaceae in the microbiota of mice. Male and female owls did not differ in the prey they brought to the nest, which suggests that dietary differences are unlikely to underlie the differences in their microbiota. The movement behaviour of the owls was associated with the host microbiota in both males and females because owls that moved further from their nest each day had more diverse bacterial communities than owls that stayed closer to their nests. This novel result suggests that the movement ecology of hosts can impact their microbiota, potentially on the basis of their differential encounters with new bacterial species as the hosts move and forage across the landscape. Overall, we found that many aspects of the microbial community are correlated with the behavioural ecology of the host and that data on the microbiota can aid in generating new hypotheses about host behaviour

Where is the body? – Funeral liturgy as catechesis

The funeral is a liturgical expression of the church, visible and participatory in the public arena, and is therefore an excellent opportunity for catechesis. In the observation of funerals from the perspectives of funeral director and clergy, this study and parish resource provide a framework for understanding the value of the body in this catechesis and an opportunity to begin dialog between the three significant voices in funeral planning, namely the clergy, the funeral director, and the congregational member. By use of the parish resource, a dialog can be led with the intention of answering the vital questions surrounding the body’s place in liturgical function, the proclamation of the resurrection of the body with a Lutheran historical understanding, and the catechetical use of the liturgy itself for conveying the faith of the church to those present. These points are made using historical sermons and documents of Martin Luther and his contemporaries. The deep connection between the real presence of the Body of Christ in the Eucharist and the presence of the physical body at the funeral mass is vital to the presentation of what the church proclaims about death and resurrection of that body

Polychlorinated Biphenyl Source Identification in Fish Tissue Using a Multivariate Statistical Evaluation of Congeners and Stable Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were commercially produced mixtures primarily utilized as dielectric fluids in the electrical industry. However, due to their stability, they were widely used in many other applications. Although production of PCBs ceased in the 1970\u27s, they continue to be a contaminant in the environment due to their widespread use, their recalcitrant behavior, and their proposed toxicological effects. In 2008, a routine environmental investigation of an abandoned, concrete-lined pool at a Department of Defense (DoD) training facility in Williamsburg, Virginia led to the discovery of a PCB release from the facility into an adjacent reservoir. A forensic study was performed to determine if other PCB sources were present and to evaluate if the contamination in the fish could be traced to specific sources. This research required the analysis of soils, sediments, and fish, and the subsequent fingerprinting of PCB profiles in each media. Polytopic vector analysis (PVA) was utilized to estimate the number of end-members (sources) that contributed to contamination in different species of fish, the relative contributions of key congeners in each species, and the mixing proportion of estimated end-members in each sample. Calculated end-member profiles from the PVA were compared to known concentrations of PCBs found in several sediment locations. Following the PVA evaluations, carbon and chlorine compound specific isotope analysis (CSIA) of several sediment and fish tissue samples was performed using a novel approach in an effort to further confirm the initial conclusions from the PVA. Despite weathering processes, which significantly changed the PCB congener profiles from the respective sources, results of the PVA and the general profiles of PCBs in sediments from different locations confirmed that while the PCB release from the DoD facility has impacted fish in the reservoir, there were other sources of PCB present in sediments and fish. Reference locations far removed from the Navy release showed the highest concentrations in sediments but did not show a prevalent signature in fish tissue. The isotopic data support the PVA conclusions that a source signature consistent with the Navy release was the prevalent signature in the fish, but the data also show the presence of other sources

Scale-free memory model for multiagent reinforcement learning. Mean field approximation and rock-paper-scissors dynamics

A continuous time model for multiagent systems governed by reinforcement learning with scale-free memory is developed. The agents are assumed to act independently of one another in optimizing their choice of possible actions via trial-and-error search. To gain awareness about the action value the agents accumulate in their memory the rewards obtained from taking a specific action at each moment of time. The contribution of the rewards in the past to the agent current perception of action value is described by an integral operator with a power-law kernel. Finally a fractional differential equation governing the system dynamics is obtained. The agents are considered to interact with one another implicitly via the reward of one agent depending on the choice of the other agents. The pairwise interaction model is adopted to describe this effect. As a specific example of systems with non-transitive interactions, a two agent and three agent systems of the rock-paper-scissors type are analyzed in detail, including the stability analysis and numerical simulation. Scale-free memory is demonstrated to cause complex dynamics of the systems at hand. In particular, it is shown that there can be simultaneously two modes of the system instability undergoing subcritical and supercritical bifurcation, with the latter one exhibiting anomalous oscillations with the amplitude and period growing with time. Besides, the instability onset via this supercritical mode may be regarded as "altruism self-organization". For the three agent system the instability dynamics is found to be rather irregular and can be composed of alternate fragments of oscillations different in their properties.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figur

Coalescent-based species delimitation in the sand lizards of the Liolaemus wiegmannii complex (Squamata: Liolaemidae)

Coalescent-based algorithms coupled with the access to genome-wide data have become powerful tools forassessing questions on recent or rapid diversification, as well as delineating species boundaries in the absence of reciprocal monophyly. In southern South America, the diversification of Liolaemus lizards during the Pleistocene is well documented and has been attributed to the climatic changes that characterized this recent period of time. Past climatic changes had harsh effects at extreme latitudes, including Patagonia, but habitat changes at intermediate latitudes of South America have also been recorded, including expansion of sand fields over northern Patagonia and Pampas). In this work, we apply a coalescent-based approach to study the diversification of the Liolaemus wiegmannii species complex, a morphologically conservative clade that inhabits sandy soils across northwest and south-central Argentina, and the south shores of Uruguay. Using four standard sequence markers (mitochondrial DNA and three nuclear loci) along with ddRADseq data we inferred species limits and a time calibrated species tree for the L. wiegmannii complex in order to evaluate the influence of Quaternary sand expansion/retraction cycles on diversification. We also evaluated the evolutionary independence of the recently described L. gardeli and inferred its phylogenetic position relative to L. wiegmannii. We find strong evidence for six allopatric candidate species within L. wiegmannii, which diversified during the Pleistocene. The Great Patagonian Glaciation (∼1 million years before present) likely split the species complex into two main groups: one composed of lineages associated with sub-Andean sedimentary formations, and the other mostly related to sand fields in the Pampas and northern Patagonia. We hypothesize that early speciation within L. wiegmannii was influenced by the expansion of sand dunes throughout central Argentina and Pampas. Finally, L. gardeli is supported as a distinct lineage nested within the L. wiegmannii complex.Fil: Villamil, Joaquín. Universidad de la República. Facultad de Ciencias; UruguayFil: Avila, Luciano Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Instituto Patagónico para el Estudio de los Ecosistemas Continentales; ArgentinaFil: Morando, Mariana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Instituto Patagónico para el Estudio de los Ecosistemas Continentales; ArgentinaFil: Sites, Jack W.. University Brigham Young; Estados UnidosFil: Leaché, Adam D.. University of Washington; Estados UnidosFil: Maneyro, Raúl. Universidad de la República. Facultad de Ciencias; UruguayFil: Camargo Bentaberry, Arley. Universidad de la República; Urugua

Ultrasonic Imaging Systems

The use of ultrasonic imaging systems for non-destructive evaluation is increasing, with particular interest being paid to research into real time and quasi-real time imaging systems. Photos are shown which were taken using an electronically scanned and focused real time ultrasonic imaging system. The system can be operated with longitudinal waves, shear waves, Rayleigh waves, and lamb waves in the 1.5 MHz to 3.5 MHz frequency range, and has been successfully used on composite materials (boron fiber epoxy on titanium) and on a number of metals (steel, aluminum, and titanium). This system has been operated in both transmission and reflection modes; examples of each are shown

Effects of dietary sources of vegetable fats on performance of dairy ewes and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) in milk.

Two experiments were carried out to study the effects of supplementing the ration of lactating ewes with vegetable fats (sunflower oil, SO or hydrogenated palm oil, HPO; HIDROPALM (R)) on diet digestibility, milk yield and milk composition, and on the concentration of the conjugated linoleic acid (CIA) C18:2 cis-9 trans-11 and C18:1 trans-11 (vaccenic acid, VA) and other main fatty acids in milk fat. Treatments involved a control diet, without added oil, and 2 diets supplemented with either 12 g/kg SO or 12 g/kg HPO on a dry matter (DM) basis. In the first experiment, 6 non-pregnant, non-lactating Lacaune ewes were used following a 3 x 3 replicated Latin Square design. Addition of vegetable fat supplement to the diet increased digestibility of DM, organic matter (OM) and crude protein (CP), but did not affect that of the ether extract (EE), neutral detergent fibre (NDF) or acid detergent fibre (ADF). In the second experiment, 60 Lacaune dairy ewes mid-way through lactation (120 +/- 12 days in milk, 0.98 +/- 0.03 kg/day average milk yield) were divided into three equal-sized groups each of which was assigned to one of the three experimental diets for 4 weeks. Compared with the control treatment, supplementation with H PO increased milk yield and energy-corrected milk. But neither vegetable fat supplement modified percentages of fat and protein in milk. Supplementation with HPO increased C14:1, C16:1 and C16:0 content and reduced C18:0 and C18:1 cis-9 content in milk fat. Supplementation with SO increased the VA content in milk fat by 36% and that of cis-9 trans-11 CLA by 29% in comparison with the control diet. Supplementation with HPO led to milk fat with 15% more cis-9 trans-11 CLA than control milk. In conclusion, adding a moderate dose of HPO or SO to the diets increased CIA concentration in milk fat. Nevertheless, supplementation with SO was more effective than HPO in increasing CLA concentration in milk fat and reducing the atherogenicity index, improving milk quality from the human health standpoint