Heart rate is tonically regulated by the two branches of the autonomic nervous system (ANS); parasympathetic activation decreases heart rate while sympathetic activation increases it. Previous studies on the ANS in chickens have focused mainly on embryonic development, but it is largely unknown what happens in the weeks following hatching. The present study focused on the development of the autonomic nervous system in 2 and 5 week old broiler and Red Junglefowl (RJF). Since broilers are less fearful, less stressed and less active than their wild ancestor RJF, a possible domestication effect on the sympathetic nervous system was investigated by evaluating both physiological and behavioural responses during stress. I found that the heart is mainly under control from the sympathetic nervous system in 2 and 5 week old broiler and RJF as propranolol significantly decreased heart rate during baseline and stress conditions while injection of atropine had little or no effect on baseline heart rates. When the adrenergic tone was blocked, heart rate still increased during stress, more so in 5 week old birds than in 2 week old birds. This suggests that some other physiological regulatory mechanism with fast recruitment is involved in the stress response and it matures in the weeks following hatch. No differences in behaviour between broiler and RJF were observed when the sympathetic nervous system was blocked. As both breeds show similar responses, a domestication effect on the ANS from these results cannot be confirmed.

Teotepec Chatino is a Zapotecan language of the Otomanguean stock, spoken in the Southeastern Sierra Madre, in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. Although other varieties of the Chatino language family have been described - Panixtlahuaca (Pride, 1963; Pride and Pride, 2004), Yaitepec (Rasch, 2002), Quiahije (Cruz, E, 2004; Cruz, E. et al., 2008), Tataltepec (Pride and Pride, 1970; Pride, 1984), Zacatepec (Villard, 2008), Zenzontepec (Campbell, 2009; Carleton, 2000) - there are no previous descriptions of Teotepec Chatino. Among the many interesting features of Teotepec Chatino is an inventory of twelve lexical tones. These tones distinguish between lexical items and have grammatical func- tions. The basic word order is VSO, however the language exhibits the alternative orders of SVO and OVS. These orders have specific semantic and pragmatic functions. The language has aspectual prefixes and some derivational patterns. There is verbal and nominal com- pounding which plays an important role in the formation of complex concepts. Animate direct objects are optionally marked by 7įᴿ ‘to’. The presence or absence of this marker with nominal constituents encodes whether an object is alienably or inalienably possessed. Teotepec Chatino has a vigesimal number system - a common areal feature of other languages in the region. There is a complex set of motion verbs that encode spatial orientation and reference. There are several constructions that result in complex sentences. These include relative clauses, complement clauses, adverbial clauses and conjunctions. There are a number of interesting temporal adverbs that are used to define different time events. The description and analysis of these aspects of Teotepec Chatino is based on data gathered through elicitation and oral texts. This work is a preliminary sketch of the language and should not be considered exhaustive. / text

Στα πλαίσια της συγκεκριμένης μεταπτυχιακής εργασίας εξετάζονται διάφορες τεχνικές βελτίωσης των modems που χρησιμοποιούνται στους δέκτες των xDSL συστημάτων, προκειμένου να επιτευχθεί μεγιστοποίηση της ταχύτητας μετάδοσης. Τα xDSL συστήματα είναι συστήματα που χρησιμοποιούν διαμόρφωση πολλαπλών φερουσών (Discrete Multitone – DMT). Η συμβατική μορφή ισοστάθμισης που απαντάται στα συστήματα αυτά, αποτελείται από έναν ισοσταθμιστή Τ-συντελεστών (Τ-tap) που ενεργεί στο πεδίο του χρόνου (TEQ) ακολουθούμενο από Ν ισοσταθμιστές 1-tap που δρουν στο πεδίο της συχνότητας (FEQ) σε κάθε τόνο ξεχωριστά. Η πρόταση που εξετάζεται σε αυτή τη διπλωματική εργασία είναι η μεταφορά του ισοσταθμιστή από το πεδίο του χρόνου στο πεδίο της συχνότητας και ο κατάλληλος συνδυασμός του με τον FEQ. Επομένως, θα προκύψει ένα σύστημα που θα αποτελείται από Ν παράλληλους ισοσταθμιστές T-tap ο κάθε ένας από τους οποίους θα λειτουργεί σε κάθε τόνο ξεχωριστά (Ισοστάθμιση ανά τόνο – PTEQ) . Με τον τρόπο αυτό επιτυγχάνεται η μεγιστοποίηση του ρυθμού μετάδοσης και ελαττώνεται η ευαισθησία του δέκτη στις παραμέτρους του καναλιού. Τα δύο προαναφερθέντα μοντέλα ισοστάθμισης, ο βέλτιστος PTEQ (MMSE PTEQ) και ο συνδυασμός ΤΕQ/FEQ συγκρίνονται μεταξύ τους. Ο βέλτιστος PTEQ παρουσιάζει μεγάλη πολυπλοκότητα κατά τον υπολογισμό των συντελεστών του. Για να γίνει αποδοτικά η αξιοποίηση των θετικών του στοιχείων, εξετάζονται διάφοροι προσαρμοστικοί τρόποι υπολογισμού του, με χρήση των αλγορίθμων RLS και LMS κατάλληλα ενταγμένων στο MMSE σύστημα. / This postgraduate thesis is about improvement techniques for modems which are used at the xDSL systems’ receivers, in order to maximize bit rate. xDSL systems are using multiple carrier modulation (Discrete Multitone – DMT). The conventional equalization scheme for these systems consists of one T-taps time domain equalizer (TEQ) followed by N 1-tap frequency domain equalizers (FEQ) per tone. In this thesis is proposed a modified scheme where the time domain equalizer is replaced by a frequency domain one, properly combined with the 1-tap FEQs. The resulting structure consists of N T-taps frequency domain equalizers per tone (Per Tone Equalizer – PTEQ). The outcome is a larger bit rate while the per tone receiver has reduced sensitivity to the channel’s parameters. The aforesaid equalization models, the optimal PTEQ (MMSE PTEQ) and the combined TEQ/FEQ, are compared. The optimal PTEQ structure presents great complexity during the calculation of its coefficients. In order to efficiently exploit its advantages, adaptive methods, using RLS and LMS algorithms properly imported at the MMSE system, are examined.

This study explores how changes in skin tone surveillance predicted by: (a) skin tone satisfaction, (b) preference for lighter skin tone, (c) internalization of cultural standards of attractiveness, and (d) use of skin-lightening products among Asian Indian women. Exploratory analyses with demographic variables such as age, education, and marital status were also examined. Cross-cultural issues in conducting research with Asian Indian women using U.S. American standardized measures of skin tone related variables were explored. Participants were 169 Asian Indian women over the age of 18 from New Delhi, Mumbai, and other major cities in India and proficiency in English. The data were collected via an Internet-based survey with measures including the Skin Tone Specific Surveillance Subscale of the Objectification Body Consciousness Scale (OBCS, McKinley & Hyde, 1996); the Skin Color Satisfaction Scale (SCSS, Bond & Cash, 1992); Internalization subscale from the Sociocultural Attitudes towards Appearance Questionnaire -3 (SATAQ-3, Thompson, van den Berg, Gurada, & Heinberg, 2004), and a questionnaire about skin tone preference and use of skin lightening products (Hamed, Tayyem, Nimer, & Alkhatib, 2010). Results of the study indicate that an increase in skin tone surveillance was significantly predicted by decreasing skin tone satisfaction, increased preference for lighter skin tone, internalization of cultural standards of beauty and increased use of skin lightening products among the participants. Implications of this study include illuminating the role of skin tone related attitudes and beliefs among Asian Indian women in the persistence of objectification experiences among Asian Indian women to advance feminist scholarship on objectification.

L'avancement de la technologie durant ces dernières années a permis aux imageurs d'atteindre de très hautes résolutions. Ceci a rendu les images plus riches en détails. D'un autre côté, une autre limitation se présente à ce niveau; celle du nombre de bits limité après la conversion analogique numérique. De ce fait, la qualité de l'image peut être affectée. Pour remédier à cette limitation et garder une meilleure qualité de l'image en sortie de son système d'acquisition, l'information lumineuse doit être codée sur un grand nombre de bits et conservée durant tout le flot de traitement pour éviter l'intervention du bruit et la génération des artefacts en sortie du système. En outre, le traitement numérique de chaque pixel sera coûteux en consommation d'énergie et en occupation de surface silicium.Le travail effectué dans cette thèse consiste à étudier, concevoir et implémenter plusieurs fonctions et architectures de traitement d'image en électronique analogique ou mixte. L'implémentation de ces fonctions en analogique permet de décaler la conversion de l'information lumineuse en numérique vers une étape ultérieure. ceci permet de conserver un maximum de précision sur l'information traitée. Ces fonctions et leurs architectures ont un but d'améliorer la dynamique de fonctionnement des imageurs CMOS standard (à intégration), en utilisant des techniques à temps d'intégration variable, et des "tone mapping" locaux qui imitent le système de vision humaine.Les principes de fonctionnement, les émulations sous MATLAB, la conception et les simulations électriques ainsi que les résultats expérimentaux des techniques proposées sont présentés en détails dans ce manuscrit. / The technology progress in recent years has enabled imagers to reach a very high resolutions. This allows images to be more detailed and rich in information. On the other hand, the limited number of bites after the digital analogue conversion may drastically affect the quality of the image. To maintain the quality of the output image of the acquisition system, the luminous information should be (1) encoded on a large number of bits and (2) maintained throughout the processing flow so that to avoid noise interference and generating artifacts system output. However, the digital processing of each pixel will be energy consuming will occupy more surface silicon.The goal of this thesis is to study, design and implement several image processing functions as well as their architectures using analog and mixed electronic. Implementation of these functions shifts the analog to digital conversion to a subsequent step. This allows a maximum precision of the processed information. The proposed functions and their architectures improve the operational dynamics Standard CMOS imagers using (1) variable integration time techniques, and (2) "tone mapping" which mimics the human vision system.The experimental results based on emulations in Matlab and the electrical design show the novelty and the efficiency of the proposed method.

Comme toutes modulations multiporteuses, l'OFDM souffre d'une forte variation d'amplitudes qui se traduit par un PAPR élevé. Cette caractéristique de l'OFDM la rend très sensible aux non-linéarités de l'amplificateur de puissance. Pour faire face à cette problématique, on peut surdimensionner l'amplificateur de puissance (solution non efficace en terme de rendement énergétique), linéariser l'amplificateur via les techniques de pré-distorsions, ou réduire le PAPR du signal avant amplification. L'objectif de cette thèse s'inscrit dans cette dernière thématique et plus particulièrement sur les techniques dites d'ajout de signal.Dans cette thèse, après une étude sur l'état de l'art des techniques de réduction du PAPR et en particulier les techniques dites d'ajout de signal, nous avons développé et proposé de nouvelles techniques de réduction du PAPR. Ces contributions s'articulent principalement autour des techniques de Clipping et de la Tone Reservation. / One of the main drawbacks of the OFDM modulation scheme is its high Peak-To-Average Power variation (PAPR) which can induce poor power efficiency at the transmitter amplifier. The digital base band pre-distortion for linearisation of power amplifier and the PAPR mitigation are the most commonly used solution in order to deals with efficiency and linearisation at the high power amplifier. This thesis is focused on the PAPR mitigation solution, and particularly on the adding signal based techniques. The proposed solutions in this report are about improving the Tone Reservation method which is the most popular adding signal based technique for PAPR mitigation, and also the classical clipping method which is the most simple method (in terms of computational complexity) actually.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the ability of trained musicians and musically untrained college students to discriminate music instrument timbre as a function of duration. Specific factors investigated were the thresholds for timbre discrimination as a function of duration, musical ensemble participation as training, and the relative discrimination abilities of vocalists and instrumentalists. Under the conditions of this study, it can be concluded that the threshold for timbre discrimination as a function of duration is at or below 20 ms. Even though trained musicians tended to discriminate timbre better than musically untrained college students, musicians cannot discriminate timbre significantly better then those subjects who have not participated in musical ensembles. Additionally, instrumentalists tended to discriminate timbre better than vocalists, but the discrimination is not significantly different. Recommendations for further research include suggestions for a timbre discrimination measurement tool that takes into consideration the multidimensionality of timbre and the relationship of timbre discrimination to timbre source, duration, pitch, and loudness.

An investigation was done on the methods used by performers of classical flute music to improve their flute tone. A literature study was done and a methodology created. This resulted in detailed dissection and then discussion of the various aspects that influence flute tone. Thereafter a series of practice charts were developed, which can be used to guide performers, students and teachers in their experiment to improve and diversify flute tone. The key areas of flute tone that were examined are: embouchure, lip flexibility, vibrato and tone colour. It has been found that different methods work for different people to improve their flute tone, and therefore personal experimentation is necessary in order to achieve the required tone, which also depends on personal taste. / Dissertation (MMus (Performing Art))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Music / MMus / unrestricted

The purpose of this study was to determine the physical elements which experienced trombonists associate with selected descriptors in characterizing the tone quality of that instrument. Stimuli sampled from live trombone tones and synthesized into musical phrases represented 17 variations in (1) presence/absence of attack transient, (2) rise time, (3) duration, (4) number of harmonics, (5) upper limit of harmonicity (6) spectral envelope shape, and (7) frequency.

The early stage of piano students' training is one of the most important, because it is then that they establish their habits for life. Those who teach beginners need clear principles for developing a solid technical foundation and for preventing bad technical habits. One of the most difficult principles to inculcate in young students is that of tone production and quality. The primary purpose of this study is to provide a pedagogical guide to help piano teachers teach tone production to elementary-level students. To accomplish this purpose, the strategies of the twentieth-century pedagogues Josef Lhévinne, Josef Hofmann, and Heinrich Neuhaus are examined, and applied to the elementary-level piano literature. This study offers practical training suggestions to teachers of elementary piano students as well as musical examples from high-quality piano literature to accompany these suggestions.