The U.S. hog industry's shift to vertically-integrated, intensively-managed operations brought about a variety of management systems for breeding herds, including batch farrowing. In this system, groups of sows are weaned in 2- to 5- week intervals, making estrus synchronization of new gilts and sows critical to maintaining reproductive efficiency in the herd. The use of commercially available hormones to synchronize estrus in this system has not been extensively studied. This experiment was conducted to determine whether the use of commercially available hormones (MATRIX® and P.G. 600®; Merck Animal Health, De Sota, KS) in a 5-week batch management system had a positive impact on reproductive efficiency in gilts and sows over the course of 3 parities. Gilts were allocated to an Entry Group (A, B, or D) and then assigned to a treatment, Hormone-Assisted (HA) (5 mL P.G. 600 injection 5 days and/or fed 15 mg/day of MATRIX for 14 consecutive days prior to the breeding week) or Control (no exogenous hormones). Gilts and sows were checked daily for estrus with a mature boar, and a group was bred using AI during a 7-day breeding period every 5 weeks and allowed to farrow up to 3 parities. Among groups, there was a tendency (P = 0.08) for more HA than control gilts to display estrus and be mated on schedule. For gilts within Group A, more (P < 0.01) HA than control females displayed estrus and were mated. Body weight at first service for gilts in Groups A and B were higher than Group D (P < 0.01). Overall, there was no effect of treatment on (P = 0.20) non-productive days. There was a strong tendency for HA sows to have a greater (P = 0.07) number of parities completed than control sows; Total pigs born (P < 0.05) and total pigs born alive (P < 0.05) were greater for HA sows than control sows. In Parity 1, Group D sows had a lesser number of pigs born (P < 0.01) and pigs born alive (P < 0.02) than Groups A and B; The number of pigs weaned differed between entry groups (P < 0.05) (Group B > Group A > Group D); Control sows weaned more pigs (P < 0.02) and had a greater litter weaning weight (P < 0.01) than HA sows; HA sows had a lower (P < 0.05) wean-to-estrus interval than control sows. No significant effects of group or treatment were observed in Parities 2 and 3. The use of exogenous hormones to synchronize estrus had a positive impact on reproductive efficiency in HA gilts/sows in a 5-week batch management system. / Master of Science

Estrous synchronization (ES) protocols enhances profitability of beef cow-calf operations by improving percentage of cows pregnant early in the breeding season and increasing kg of calf weaned per cow exposed. Many factors, however, influence the fertility of cattle enrolled to ES protocols. The overall goal of this work was to determine the influences of estrus expression and timing of artificial insemination (AI), as well as temperament on fertility of Bos taurus beef females exposed to ES protocols. Multiparous cows (n = 1,676) were enrolled to the 7-d CO-Synch+ Controlled internal drug releasing device (CIDR) protocol and cows expressing estrus were inseminated. Cows not expressing estrus received a gonadotropin-releasing hormone injection and were either inseminated immediately or delayed by 8 hours. Pregnancy rates were greater for cows expressing estrus to the protocol. Delaying AI for 8 hours in cows that failed to express estrus did not improve pregnancy rates. The effects of temperament on fertility of beef heifers enrolled to the 7-d CO-Synch+CIDR protocol were investigated. Heifers (n = 297) had temperament assessed by chute score and exit velocity, and classified as adequate or excitable. Hair and blood were collected for cortisol evaluation. Pregnancy rates were greater for adequate temperament heifers. Circulating cortisol concentrations were greater for excitable heifers, and overall plasma and hair cortisol concentrations were reduced from the start of the protocol to the end. Heifers with adequate temperament have improved fertility and ES protocols acclimated heifers and reduced plasma and hair cortisol concentrations due to handling. / Master of Science / Infertility is a major issue that affects profitability of beef cow-calf producers. Estrous synchronization (ES) protocols are a tool that allow artificial insemination (AI) without estrus detection and increases the proportion of females pregnant at the start of the breeding season, providing a strategy to improve profitability. However, females enrolled in the ES protocol and that fail to express estrus have reduced pregnancy rates when compared to females expressing estrus. Furthermore, beef females with excitable temperament have reduced fertility when compared to females with adequate temperament. The effects of delaying insemination to 8 hours post injection of gonadotropin-releasing hormone for animals failing to express estrus during ES were determined in beef multiparous cows. Cows expressing estrus had greater pregnancy rates compared to cows not expressing estrus, and delayed insemination did not improve pregnancy rates. To determine the effects of temperament on fertility heifers were enrolled in an ES protocol and had temperament determined as adequate or excitable based on chute score and exit velocity. Hair and blood samples were collected for cortisol evaluation. Excitable heifers had reduced pregnancy rates and greater circulating cortisol concentrations, but hair cortisol did not differ between temperaments. Overall cortisol profiles indicate that heifers became acclimated to handling during ES protocol. Development of ES that maximizes estrus expression prior to AI and selection of cattle with adequated temperament can enhance profitability of cow-calf operations.

This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of intravaginal progesterone (P4) inserts (CIDR) in synchronization protocols combined with timed artificial insemination (TAI) as related reproductive performance. In the first study, heifers were synchronized with CIDR inserts followed by TAI. Heifers in the estradiol cypionate (ECP) group were synchronized with a combination of ECP, CIDR, prostaglandin (PGF2α), and ECP (CIDR-ECP), while the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) group was synchronized using a combination of ECP, CIDR, PGF2α, and GnRH (CIDR-GnRH). All heifers were bred at either 48, 56, or 72 hours (h) after CIDR removal. Overall pregnancy rate (PR) for synchronized heifers was 60.1%, and embryo survival rate (ESR) was 98%. Pregnancy rate for CIDR-ECP treated heifers was influenced by artificial insemination (AI) time. In conclusion, ECP or GnRH may be used effectively in a CIDR-based TAI program in heifers. In the second study, cows were synchronized with CIDR devices or Ovsynch. The CIDR group received a combination of ECP, CIDR, PGF2α, and GnRH, while the Ovsynch group was synchronized using a combination of GnRH and PGF2α. Cows were bred at either 0, 8, or 24 h after the final GnRH injection. Overall PR for first service was 30.5% with ESR of 82.8%. Overall resynchronization PR was 35.1% with an ESR of 84.8%. In conclusion, Ovsynch and CIDR-based protocols are equally effective in synchronizing ovulation in a TAI program and resulted in comparable PR. / Master of Science

As chip vendors are increasingly manufacturing a new generation of multi-processor chips called multicores, improving software performance requires exposing greater concurrency in software. Since code that must be run sequentially is often due to the need for synchronization, the synchronization abstraction has a significant effect on program performance. Lock-based synchronization — the most widely used synchronization method — suffers from programability, scalability, and composability challenges. Transactional memory (TM) is an emerging synchronization abstraction that promises to alleviate the difficulties with lock-based synchronization. With TM, code that read/write shared memory objects is organized as transactions, which speculatively execute. When two transactions conflict (e.g., read/write, write/write), one of them is aborted, while the other commits, yielding (the illusion of) atomicity. Aborted transactions are re-started, after rolling-back changes made to objects. In addition to a simple programming model, TM provides performance comparable to lock-based synchronization. Software transactional memory (STM) implements TM entirely in software, without any special hardware support, and is usually implemented as a library, or supported by a compiler or by a virtual machine. In this thesis, we present ByteSTM, a virtual machine-level Java STM implementation. ByteSTM implements two STM algorithms, TL2 and RingSTM, and transparently supports implicit transactions. Program bytecode is automatically modified to support transactions: memory load/store bytecode instructions automatically switch to transactional mode when a transaction starts, and switch back to normal mode when the transaction successfully commits. Being implemented at the VM-level, it accesses memory directly and uses absolute memory addresses to uniformly handle memory. Moreover, it avoids Java garbage collection (which has a negative impact on STM performance), by manually allocating and recycling memory for transactional metadata. ByteSTM uses field-based granularity, and uses the thread header to store transactional metadata, instead of the slower Java ThreadLocal abstraction. We conducted experimental studies comparing ByteSTM with other state-of-the-art Java STMs including Deuce, ObjectFabric, Multiverse, DSTM2, and JVSTM on a set of micro- benchmarks and macro-benchmarks. Our results reveal that, ByteSTM's transactional throughput improvement over competitors ranges from 20% to 75% on micro-benchmarks and from 36% to 100% on macro-benchmarks. / Master of Science

This Bachelor’s thesis investigates the challenge of aligning software requirements and test cases. The study defines an approach to enable synchronization between functional requirements and test cases early during development. The study focuses on Javascript Cypress end-to-end tests and Gherkin requirement descriptions. It develops an artifact using Design Science Research Methodology and studies a simulated adoption in real-world open-source projects. We are analyzing the challenges encountered during this process through thematic content analysis. Additionally, the effort required to integrate the artifact is quantified using version control data. The findings highlight the difficulties in using the approach with test cases that may need alignment with specific requirements. It also highlights the need for domain knowledge when analyzing existing test cases as a problem. The study reveals that version control data may not adequately capture the complexities involved in the adoption process of the approach.

Thesis (MScEng (Electrical and Electronic Engineering))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis describes the design and implementation of a software based QPSK demodulator with a demodulation speed of 100 Mbps. The objective of the thesis was to identify a topology for the QPSK demodulator that would allow for high data rates and the design of the synchronization algorithms for carrier and symbol recovery. The QPSK demodulator was implemented on an Altera Stratix II field programmable gate array (FPGA), which does complex I and Q sampling on a down converted 720 MHz QPSK signal. The I and Q down converted baseband signals are sent through matched filters which are implemented with discrete components to maximize the signal to noise ratio of the received rectangular baseband pulses. A 1 GSPS direct digital synthesizer (DDS) is used to generate the synchronous clock for the analog to digital converters which samples the matched filter outputs. The demodulator uses two samples per symbol to demodulate the QPSK signal. A dual locking system is implemented to have a wide pre-locking filter for symbol synchronization and a narrow band post-lock filter to minimize the loop noise. A symbol lock detection algorithm decides when the symbol recovery loop is locked and switches between the loop filters. A second 1 GSPS DDS output is mixed with a local oscillator to generate the 1.44 GHz LO signal for the quadrature down conversion. The carrier recovery loop uses a numerically controlled oscillator inside the FPGA for initial carrier acquisition which allows for very wide locking bandwidth. After lock is achieved, the external carrier recovery loop takes over and removes any frequency offset in the complex baseband signal by changing the frequency of the DDS. A QPSK modulator was also developed to provide a QPSK signal with known data. The modulator can generate any constellation diagram up to 256 points. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis bespreek die ontwerp en implementasie van ’n sagteware gebaseerde QPSK demodulator met ’n demodulasie spoed van 100 Mbps. Die doelstelling is om ’n topologie te identifiseer vir ’n QPSK demodulator wat ’n hoë datatempo sal toelaat en ook om sinkronisasie algoritmes te ontwikkel vir draer en simbool herkenning. Die QPSK demodulator is geïmplimenteer op ’n Stratix II FPGA van Altera wat kompleks basisband monstering doen op infase en kwadratuur basisband seine. Die basisband seine word gegenereer van ’n 720 MHz QPSK sein met ’n kwadratuur menger wiese uittrees deur puls passende filters gestuur word om die sein tot ruis verhouding te maksimeer. ’n Een gigamonster per sekonde direk digitale sintetiseerder (DDS) is gebruik om die klok vir die analoog na digitaal omsetters te genereer vir sinkrone monstering van die pulse passende filter uittrees. Die demodulator gebruik twee monsters per simbool om ’n QPSK sein te demoduleer. ’n Tweevoudige sluit algoritme word gebruik vir die simbool sinkronisasie waar ’n wyeband filter die inisiële sluit funksie verrig en dan word daar oorgeslaan na ’n nouband filter vir fase volging wat die ruis in die terugvoerlus verminder. Daar is ’n simbool sluit detektor wat identifiseer wanneer die simbool beheerlus gesluit is en selekteer dan die gepaste filter. ’n Tweede DDS en ’n sintetiseerder se uittrees word gemeng om ’n 1.44 GHz draer te genereer vir kohurente frekwensie translasie in die kwadratuur menger. Die draer sinkronisasie gebruik ’n numeries beheerbare ossilator vir die inisiële frekwensie en fase sluit wat baie vinnig geimplenteer kan word omdat dit alles in sagteware binne in die FPGA gebeur. Na die interne draer beheerlus gesluit is, neem die eksterne beheerlus oor om enige fase of frekwensie afsette in die kompleks basisband seine van die kwadratuur menger te verwyder deur die frekwensie van die draer DDS te beheer. ’n QPSK modulator is ook ontwikkel om verwysings data te genereer. Enige konstelasie vorm tot 256 punte kan geimplementeer word.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-21T19:25:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Lameu, Ewandson Luiz.pdf: 7848775 bytes, checksum: 6554423cbb845e57ef8b0353b78352c9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-10-25 / Fundação Araucária de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico do Paraná / In this thesis we present a theoretical model of a neural network based on real anatomical structure of connections between cat’s cerebral cortex areas. This anatomical network contains 65 cortical areas organized into four regions called visual, auditory, somatosensory-motor and frontolimbic. We analize for which probabilities of connections the proposed network approaches with greater fidelity the real anatomical network. To describe the neuron dynamics we use a system known as Rulkov bidimensional map, which is a phenomenological model that simulates the changes in the neuronal membrane potential. For the coupling between neurons we consider electrical and chemical synapses. Then, we study the phenomenon of synchronization of neuronal firing due to its relationship with some neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy. In addition to seeking the cause of these disorders, the study of effective techniques to prevent such behavior becomes indispensable. In light of this, we propose three methods of applying external perturbations over the system with the aim of suppress synchronization. The first of these disorders simulates a stimulus by light that is capable of inducing a neuron to have a spike, the second perturbation used was the introduction of a periodic electrical current on the network, and the third was based on reinjection of an electric signal collected from the system itself. We show the coupling intervals where disturbances are able to suppress the synchrony and evaluate which of them has higher efficiency. / Nesta tese apresentamos um modelo teórico de uma rede neuronal baseado na estrutura anatõmica real das conexões entre áreas do córtex cerebral do gato. Esta rede anatômica contém 65 áreas corticais que estão organizadas em quatro regiões denominadas visual, auditiva, somatosensorialmotora e frontolımbica. Analisamos para quais probabilidades de conexões a rede modelada se aproxima com maior fidelidade da rede real anatomica. Para descrever a dinãmica neuronal consideramos um sistema bidimensional conhecido como mapa de Rulkov, sendo este um modelo fenomenol´ogico que simula as variações do potencial de membrana neuronal. Para o acoplamento entre os neuronios consideramos sinapses eletricas e quımicas. Entao, estudamos o fenomeno da sincronização dos disparos neuronais devido a sua relação com algumas desordens neurológicas, como Parkinson e epilepsia. Além de buscar compreender a causa destas desordens, o estudo de tecnicas eficazes para evitar tais comportamentos torna-se imprescindıvel. Com isso em mente, propomos tres métodos de aplicações de perturbações externas sobre o sistema com a finalidade de suprimir a sincronizaçãoo. A primeira destas perturbaçoes simula um estımulo por luz que é capaz de induzir um neuronio a ter um pico de potencial, a segunda perturbação utilizada foi a introdução de uma corrente eletrica periodica sobre a rede e a terceira baseou-se na reinjeção de uma sinal eletrico coletado do proprio sistema. Mostramos os intervalos de acoplamento onde as perturbacoes sao capazes de suprimir a sincronia e avaliamos qual delas apresenta maior eficiencia.

The mammalian brain is, with its numerous neural elements and structured complex connectivity, one of the most complex systems in nature. Recently, large-scale corticocortical connectivities, both structural and functional, have received a great deal of research attention, especially using the approach of complex networks. Here, we try to shed some light on the relationship between structural and functional connectivities by studying synchronization dynamics in a realistic anatomical network of cat cortical connectivity. We model the cortical areas by a subnetwork of interacting excitable neurons (multilevel model) and by a neural mass model (population model). With weak couplings, the multilevel model displays biologically plausible dynamics and the synchronization patterns reveal a hierarchical cluster organization in the network structure. We can identify a group of brain areas involved in multifunctional tasks by comparing the dynamical clusters to the topological communities of the network. With strong couplings of multilevel model and by using neural mass model, the dynamics are characterized by well-defined oscillations. The synchronization patterns are mainly determined by the node intensity (total input strengths of a node); the detailed network topology is of secondary importance. The biologically improved multilevel model exhibits similar dynamical patterns in the two regimes. Thus, the study of synchronization in a multilevel complex network model of cortex can provide insights into the relationship between network topology and functional organization of complex brain networks. / Das Gehirn von Säugetieren stellt mit seinen zahlreichen, hochgradig vernetzten Neuronen ein natürliches Netzwerk von immenser Komplexität dar. In der jüngsten Vergangenheit sind die großflächige kortikale Konnektivitäten, sowohl unter strukturellen wie auch funktionalen Gesichtspunkten, in den Fokus der Forschung getreten. Die Verwendung von komplexe Netzwerke spielt hierbei eine entscheidende Rolle. In der vorliegenden Dissertation versuchen wir, das Verhältnis von struktureller und funktionaler Konnektivität durch Untersuchung der Synchronisationsdynamik anhand eines realistischen Modells der Konnektivität im Kortex einer Katze näher zu beleuchten. Wir modellieren die Kortexareale durch ein Subnetzwerk interagierender, erregbarer Neuronen (multilevel model) und durch ein Modell von Neuronenensembles (population model). Bei schwacher Kopplung zeigt das multilevel model eine biologisch plausible Dynamik und die Synchronisationsmuster lassen eine hierarchische Organisation der Netzwerkstruktur erkennen. Indem wir die dynamischen Cluster mit den topologischen Einheiten des Netzwerks vergleichen, sind wir in der Lage die Hirnareale, die an der Bewältigung komplexer Aufgaben beteiligt sind, zu identifizieren. Bei starker Kopplung im multilevel model und unter Verwendung des Ensemblemodells weist die Dynamik klare Oszillationen auf. Die Synchronisationsmuster werden hauptsächlich durch die Eingangsstärke an den einzelnen Knoten bestimmt, während die genaue Netzwerktopologie zweitrangig ist. Eine Erweiterung des Modells auf andere biologisch relevante Faktoren bestätigt die vorherigen Ergebnisse. Die Untersuchung der Synchronisation in einem multilevel model des Kortex ermöglicht daher tiefere Einblicke in die Zusammenhänge zwischen Netzwerktopologie und funktionaler Organisation in komplexen Hirn-Netzwerken.

In this work, we investigate the application of Bayesian filtering techniques such as Kalman Filtering and Particle filtering to the problems of network time synchronization, self-localization and radio-frequency (RF) tomography in wireless networks. Networks of large numbers of small, cheap, mobile wireless devices have shown enormous potential in applications ranging from intrusion detection to environmental monitoring. These applications require the devices to have accurate time and position estimates, however traditional techniques may not be available. Additionally RF tomography offers a new paradigm to sense the network environment and could greatly enhance existing network capabilities. While there are some existing works addressing these problems, they all suffer from limitations. Current time synchronization methods are not energy efficient on small wireless devices with low quality oscillators. Existing localization methods do not consider additional sources of information available to nodes in the network such as measurements from accelerometers or models of the shadowing environment in the network. RF tomography has only been examined briefly in such networks, and current algorithms can not handle node mobility and rely on shadowing models that have not been experimentally verified. We address the time synchronization problem by analyzing the characteristics of the clocks in small wireless devices, developing a model for it, and then applying a Kalman filter to track both clock offset and skew. In our investigation into RF tomography, we present a method using a Kalman filter which jointly estimates and tracks static and dynamic objects in the environment. We also use channel measurements collected from a field test of our RF tomography testbed to compare RF shadowing models. For the localization problem, we present two algorithms incorporating additional information for improved localization: one based on a distributed extended Kalman filter that combines local acceleration measurements with signal strength measurements for improved localization, and another that uses a distributed particle filter to incorporate a model of the channel environment.

Every software program that interacts with a user requires a user interface. Model-View-Controller (MVC) is a common design pattern to integrate a user interface with the application domain logic. MVC separates the representation of the application domain (Model) from the display of the application's state (View) and user interaction control (Controller). However, studying the literature reveals that a variety of other related patterns exists, which we denote with Model-View-* (MV*) design patterns. This thesis discusses existing MV* patterns classified in three main families: Model-View-Controller (MVC), Model-View-View Model (MVVM), and Model-View-Presenter (MVP). We take a practitioners' point of view and emphasize the essentials of each family as well as the differences. The study shows that the selection of patterns should take into account the use cases and quality requirements at hand, and chosen technology. We illustrate the selection of a pattern with an example of our practice. The study results aim to bring more clarity in the variety of MV* design patterns and help practitioners to make better grounded decisions when selecting patterns.