International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 23-26, 2000 / Town & Country Hotel and Conference Center, San Diego, California / New Norwegian anti-ship missile program (NSM) has evaluated both the fixed format and the packet telemetry for its log/telemetry system. It is important that the NSM log system is easy to reconfigure, since the system shall be used during debugging, lab testing, system testing, test firings, and later on for operational evaluation firings. The packet telemetry standard has been selected because the packet telemetry provides dynamics and flexibility for changes, which are not easy to achieve with fixed format. Test results and system experience will be available before October and a summary will be presented at the ITC 2000 conference.

Context. Introduction of efficient multimedia technologies combined with the spreading of high-speed internet connection all over the world has led to the continuous increase in demand of multimedia services, particularly video and audio. One of the major demands are flexible, interoperable and cost-effective lightweight remote collaboration systems in companies. Web Real Time Communication (WebRTC) is an emerging peer to peer technology that is promising to be the solution to many digital real-time communication challenges. With its fantastic one-to-one communication capabilities, WebRTC supports fast and smooth audio calls, video calls, conferencing, data (media file, document and screen) sharing, gaming and all sorts of messages exchange, all being done straight out of the browser. However, as shown by investigations and interviews supported by Ericsson AB and Semcon AB as party of the MERCO (Mediated Effective Remote Collaboration) international project, many corporate use cases of remote collaboration involve applications beyond the conventional one to one communication. Present videoconferencing systems (telepresence) limits the collaboration flexibility due to their lack of the ability to adapt to system resource usage, hence tend to be too heavy for less powerful devices (laptops, tablets, phones). Moreover, their installation and maintenance costs are too expensive for small companies.  Therefore, new flexible, lightweight and less expensive solutions for remote collaboration need to be developed. Objectives. The main objective of this thesis is to identify technical solutions to address the challenges of resource usage flexibility in WebRTC multi-party remote collaboration systems. Despite concurrent developments of both commercial and free solutions that provide multi-party videoconferencing services using WebRTC, present solutions such as the conventional Multipoint Control Unit (MCU), Selective Forwarding Unit (SFU) and Fully Meshed architectures suffers from issues of excessive resource usage and cannot deliver the acceptable quality of experience in different use cases, particularly the mobile environment. The aim of this thesis is to investigate lightweight technical solutions that can be used to improve the system resource usage in WebRTC multiparty conferencing systems. Through understanding the architectural designs, benchmarking the performance of various technologies used in WebRTC and selecting the most suitable techniques a prototype is developed as a proof of concept. Methods. The first part of the thesis is dedicated to comprehensive study of fundamentals, background information and related works on WebRTC. This gives knowledge of technologies, techniques and performance evaluation metrics which help in making appropriate technical decisions during the experimental development of WebRTC solutions. The second part of the thesis is dedicated to experimental investigation in which two WebRTC signaling technologies (XSockets and NodeJs) are evaluated based on call setup time in WebRTC group call. Two lightweight technical solutions for improving resource usage flexibility (Switching video quality based on speech and using emotions and gestures instead of video) are evaluated based on system resources (CPU, memory, disk and network) and user experience. Results. Based on call setup time of WebRTC multi-party calls, the experimental results indicates that XSockets is a better signaling technology than NodeJs. The two proposed lightweight solutions have shown a remarkable improvement based on systems resource usage. A 15% reduction of CPU usage is observed when using speech controlled video quality switching and further 10% reduction is observed when video is replaced by emotions and gestures. Conclusions. Despite the minimal resource usage achieved by using emotions technique, this solution has usability issues as it cannot detect emotions in poor lighting environment. Consequently, the solution of switching video quality based on speech is chosen for further implementation. Though, this technique can be further improved through using machine learning techniques, the current implementation can significantly reduce the amount CPU, memory, disk and network usage to allow up to 6 participants to join a single conference call while maintain acceptable quality of experience.

Precooling, or a reduction in core temperature (Tc) has been demonstrated to be a potent enhancer of endurance running performance, however there is no known mechanism for this improvement. By holding the exercise workload constant, changes in variables such as running economy (RE), heart rate, and ventilation (VE) can be determined as a result of precooling. Improved running economy, or a reduced oxygen cost of a specific workload, is linked to improved exercise performance. Purpose: To determine the changes in flexibility, RE, heart rate, VE, and Tc during running at a constant workload following cool water immersion and to determine any sex-specific responses. Methods: Fourteen well-trained runners (8 males and 6 females) completed four treadmill runs at a sex-specific velocity (8.0 mph for females and 8.6 mph for males). The first two runs served as accommodation trials. The third and fourth runs were preceded by either cool water immersion (24.8oC) for 40 minutes or quiet sitting. Oxygen consumption, heart rate, Tc, VE, and flexibility were measured during both experimental trials. Results: Running economy did not change as a result of the precooling treatment, whereas Tc and heart rate were reduced by 0.4oC and 5 beats per minute, respectively. Minute ventilation was reduced in the female subjects only (1.4 liters/min). Sex differences were apparent in Tc, heart rate, VE, and flexibility response. Conclusion: While the precooling procedure was effective in reducing Tc and heart rate, RE did not change. Thus, improvements in RE cannot explain the dramatic enhancements of endurance running performance that often occur post-cooling. Differences between male and female subjects in response to precooling were identified, most notably in VE.

Behavioral flexibility, the ability to change behavior in accordance with the changing environment, was studied in pigeons using a series of reversal learning paradigms. All experiments involved a series of 5-trial sequences and I was interested in whether pigeons are sensitive to the reversal by switching to the other alternative after a single error. In Experiments 1 and 2, the overall probability of the two stimuli was equated over sequences, but the probability correct of the two stimuli changed across trials. In both experiments, subjects showed no sensitivity to the differences in sequence type. Instead they used the overall average of the probability of reinforcement on each trial as the basis of choice. In the final two experiments, the likelihood that a reversal would occur on a given trial was equated such that there was an equal overall probability that the two stimuli would be correct on a given trial, but the overall probability of each stimulus being correct across sequences favored the second correct stimulus (S2). In Experiment 3, the overall probability of S2 correct was 80%, and results showed that subjects consistently chose S2 regardless of sequence type or trial number. In Experiment 4, the overall likelihood of S2 correct was 65%, and results showed that subjects began all sequences at chance, and as the sequence progressed, began choosing S2 more often. In all experiments, subjects showed remarkably similar behavior regardless of where (or whether) the reversal occurred in a given sequence. Therefore, subjects appeared to be insensitive to the consequences of responses within a sequence (local information) and instead, seemed to be averaging over the sequences based on the overall probability of reinforcement for S1 or S2 being correct on each trial (aggregate information), thus not maximizing overall reinforcement. Together, the results of this series of experiments suggest that pigeons have a basic disposition for using the overall probability instead of using local feedback cues provided by the outcome of individual trials. The fact that pigeons do not use the more optimal information afforded by recent reinforcement contingencies to maximize reinforcement has implications for their use of flexible response strategies under reversal learning conditions.

There is a need to learn more about how managers use accounting information. This thesis investigates how managers make use of business reports; as they are one of the ways managers receive information. Previous research was found to broadly correspond to four important aspects affecting how managers make use of business reports; aggregation, timeliness, flexibility and dimensions. A case study was conducted at NCC Construction. The main findings from this study are that managers have the possibility to view information in the reports at their desired level of specificity and they are not concerned about the issue of timeliness. Furthermore they are satisfied with flexibility in reports, but wish for more capabilities and do not desire non-financial information in reports. Therefore the four aspects are found to no longer be a hindrance to managers in their use of business reports as much as could be expected from previous studies. Technological developments and business practices are found to have changed managerial work. Reporting has become faster and is more accurately reflecting the real world operations, making business reports more useful to managers.

The establishment of bachelor gorilla groups in captivity, along with the continued success of the captive breeding programme provides an opportunity for research on social interactions in two differing circumstances. This thesis focuses on male – male social interactions. Emphasis is placed on dominance and affiliative behaviours and gives indications of the level of behavioural flexibility within both breeder and bachelor gorilla groups. Evaluation of behavioural diversity, to validate the use of multi-institutional research, confirms that behavioural phenomena, such as the effect of age class, are not masked by the potential confound of differing husbandry practices and enclosure design between institutions. It was found that males in bachelor groups express significantly lower frequencies of both dominance and aggressive behaviours than males in breeder groups. A Relationship Quality Index (RQI, based on the ration of dominance to affiliative behaviours) was developed and again bachelor males exhibited a significantly lower RQI, indicating that bachelor males express a greater frequency of dominance behaviours than affiliative behaviours. This may have a direct impact on the social development of young males, and potentially their social competence in later life, a significant finding for the management of gorillas in captivity. In addition, it can be suggested that affiliative behaviours, which may work to repair damage to social bonds, may not be performed to the same extent in bachelor groups, suggesting that the ‘value’ of social bonds within a bachelor group may be reduced.

Cardiac contraction at the level of the sarcomere is regulated by the thin filament (TF) composed of actin, alpha tropomyosin (TPM), and the troponin (Tn) complex (cTnT: cTnC: cTnI). The "gate-keeper" protein, α-TPM, is a highly conserved α-helical, coiled-coil dimer that spans actin and regulates myosin-actin interactions. The N-terminus of one α-TPM dimer inter-digitates with the C-terminus of the adjacent dimer in a head-to-tail fashion forming the flexible and cooperative TPM-overlap that is necessary for myofilament activation. Two dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) causing mutations in TPM (D84N and D230N) and one hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) causing mutation (E62Q), all identified in large, unrelated, multigenerational families, were utilized to study how primary alterations in protein structure cause functional deficits. We hypothesize that structural changes from a single point mutation propagate along the -helical coiled-coil of TPM, thus affecting its regulatory function. Structural effects of the mutations studied via differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) on TPM alone revealed significant changes in the thermal unfolding temperatures of both the C- and N-termini for all mutants compared to WT, indicating that mutational effects propagate to both ends of TPM, thus affecting the overlap region. Although, of note, the proximal termini to the mutation has shown more significant structural changes compared to WT. DSC analysis on fully reconstituted TF’s (Tn:TPM:Actin) revealed effects on the TPM-Actin cooperativity of activation, affecting interaction strength (thermal stability), and the rigidity of TPM moving along actin (FWHM). To characterize the resultant functional effect of these discrete changes in thermal stability and TPM rigidity, ATPase assays were used to measure actomyosin activation in the presence and absence of Ca2+. Together, these data will provide a molecular level understanding of the structural and functional deficits caused by these mutations to help elucidate the mechanisms leading to disease.

The purpose of this study was to investigate strength and flexibility development as each is affected by three training programs using two apparatuss the Exer-Genie and the Super-Mini-Gym.

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between each of three variables of creativity — Verbal Fluency, Verbal Flexibility, Verbal Originality — and each of nine measures of sensory perception. The nine sensory measures included three visual, three auditory, and three tactual tasks.

- Flexible forms of employment This thesis deals with the flexible forms of employment as an alternative to an indefinite term employment with eight-hour working days and as an instrument for increasing employment relationship flexibility. These forms of employment, also called atypical or precarious, are attractive for employees who want to achieve a balance between their professional and personal lives, or for employers who can use these forms of employment as a competitive advantage or as an instrument to solve their economic problems. The thesis is divided into introduction, conclusion and five chapters which are divided into sub-chapters. The first chapter briefly describes the terms and principles which are important for the characterization of flexible forms of employment. The second chapter contains the definition of flexible forms of employment, their enumeration and brief summary of the survey on how czech employers use the flexible forms of employment. The third chapter deals with the flexible forms of employment provided for in the Labour Code. Namely fixed-term contract, agency employment, agreements on work carried out beyond employment, part-time job and homeworking. The next chapter deals with the forms which are not contained in the Labour Code, namely job sharing, compressed...