Conhecer a distribuição geográfica das espécies é primordial para a tomada de ações efetivas de conservação. Modelos de ocupação são ferramentas importantes para estimar a distribuição das espécies, especialmente quando as informações são incompletas, como é o caso de muitas espécies ameaçadas ou em áreas ainda insuficientemente amostradas. O objetivo deste estudo é ampliar e refinar o conhecimento sobre a distribuição geográfica da toninha, Pontoporia blainvillei, um pequeno cetáceo ameaçado de extinção restrito às águas costeiras do Atlântico Sul ocidental, através de modelos de ocupação. Foram realizadas amostragens aéreas com 4 observadores independentes, em 2058 sítios de 4x4km na distribuição da espécie no Brasil. Foram utilizadas cinco covariáveis de detecção (transparência da água, escala Beaufort, reflexo solar, posição dos amostradores e número de amostradores) e três covariáveis de ocupação (batimetria, temperatura média e produtividade primária) com índices de correlação de Pearson menor que 0,7. Todas as covariáveis contínuas foram estandardizadas com média zero e desvio padrão igual a um. Os modelos de ocupação com autocorrealação espacial foram estimados com Inferência Bayesiana utilizando priors ‘vagos’ (média zero e variância 1.0E6). Em apenas 75 sítios foram detectadas toninhas. A probabilidade de detecção média foi de 0.23 (CRI 0.006 a 0.51), onde as covariáveis Beaufort (efeito negativo), reflexo solar (efeito negativo) e transparência da água (efeito positivo) apresentaram efeitos significativos. A média estimada de ocupação foi de 0,066 (CRI 0,01 a 0,31). As covariáveis batimetria e a temperatura média apresentaram efeitos positivos e negativos sobre o processo de ocupação, respectivamente. Espacialmente o modelo prevê três áreas com altas probabilidades de ocupação aparentemente disjuntas: a) costa norte do Rio de Janeiro; b) costas norte de 3 Santa catarina até São Paulo; c) costa do Rio Grande do Sul. Assim, agregamos importantes informações para a conservação da espécie e realização de novos estudos, apontando onde podemos encontrar maiores probabilidade de ocupação na costa do Brasil e covariáveis que determinam a ocupação e a detecção da espécie. / Knowing the geographic distribution of a species is essential for taking effective conservation actions. Occupation Models are important tools for estimating species distribution, especially when information is incomplete, as is the case with many endangered species or in under-sampled areas. The aim of this study is to expand and refine the knowledge about the geographic distribution of the franciscana, Pontoporia blainvillei, a threatened small cetacean restricted to the coastal waters of the western South Atlantic, through Occupation Models. Aerial samplings were carried out with 4 independent observers, in 2058 sites of 4x4km across the distribution of the species in Brazilian waters. Five detection covariates were used (water transparency, Beaufort scale, solar reflectance, observer position and number of observers) and three covariates of occupation (bathymetry, mean temperature and primary productivity) with Pearson correlation indices less than 0.7. All continuous covariates were standardized with mean zero and standard deviation equal to one. Occupancy Models with spatial autocorrection were estimated using Bayesian Inference using 'vague' priors (zero mean and variance 1.0E6). Franciscana was detected only in 75 sites. The average detection probability 4 was 0.23 (CRI 0.006 to 0.51), where Beaufort (negative effect), solar reflex (negative effect) and water transparency (positive effect) covariables had significant effects. The estimated mean occupancy was 0.066 (CRI 0.01 to 0.31). The bathymetry and the mean temperature covariables had positive and negative effects on the occupation process, respectively. Spatially the model predicts three apparently disjunct areas with high probability of occupation: a) north coast of Rio de Janeiro; b) north coasts of Santa Catarina to São Paulo; c) coast of Rio Grande do Sul. Thus, we add important information for the conservation of species and new studies, pointing out where we can find greater likelihood of occupation on the coast of Brazil and covariates that determine the occupation and the detection of the species.

This thesis analyzes the specific audio signal-music. It describes the basic methods of analysis of musical signals. The following are mentioned the most common music file formats and the possibility of cross transfer. There are explained terms of music theory, which are also present in this work. They are described and created three ways of detecting melody. It is selected optimal algorithm based on the successful detection of the reference melodies recordings. User interface is created in MATLAB GUI allows recognition of recordings. This interface is tested on few melodies.

Title: Walking step coordination characteristic comparison for walking on running simulator and off-road walking. Objectives: Goal of the thesis is to measure, analyze and evaluate data of activity and involvement of lower limb muscles for offroad walking and walking on running simulator. The measured characteristic will be intra-individually and extra-individually compared. Method: Surface polyelectromyography method for data measurement and kineziological movement analysis method for values comparison are used in the thesis. Ten muscles of lower limb (2  5 muscles on left and right lower limb) were chosen. Results: Ten lower limb muscles were chosen and their activity for walking on running simulator and offroad walking was measured by surface polyelectromyography method on ten sportsmen. The results indicate that chosen muscles participate on monitored movement. The analysis shows that the muscles activity follows the same order for each of tested sportsmen independently on the external condition (running simulator and offroad walking). The thesis that correlation of measured values is higher for running simulator have been confirmed. But m.gluteus.med. and m.glut.max. have variation in the activity of the involvement in the field and on the treadmill. Similar results have also m.vastus med....

Although the complexity of prosody is widely recognised, there is a lack of widely-accepted descriptive standards for prosodic phenomena. This situation has become particularly noticeable with the development of increasingly capable text-to-speech (TTS) systems. Such systems require detailed prosodic models to sound natural. For the languages of Southern Africa, the deficiencies in our modelling capabilities are acute. Little work of a quantitative nature has been published for the languages of the Nguni family (such as isiZulu and isiXhosa), and there are significant contradictions and imprecisions in the literature on this topic. We have therefore embarked on a programme aimed at understanding the relationship between linguistic and physical variables of a prosodic nature in this family of languages. We then use the information/knowledge gathered to build intonation models for isiZulu and isiXhosa as representatives of the Nguni languages. Firstly, we need to extract physical measurements from the voice recordings of the Nguni family of languages. A number of pitch tracking algorithms have been developed; however, to our knowledge, these algorithms have not been evaluated formally on a Nguni language. In order to decide on an appropriate algorithm for further analysis, evaluations have been performed on two stateof- the-art algorithms namely the Praat pitch tracker and Yin (developed by Alain de Cheveingn´e). Praat’s pitch tracker algorithm performs somewhat better than Yin in terms of gross and fine errors and we use this algorithm for the rest of our analysis.<./p> For South African languages the task of building an intonation model is complicated by the lack of intonation resources available. We describe the methodology used for developing a generalpurpose intonation corpus and the various methods implemented to extract relevant features such as fundamental frequency, intensity and duration from the spoken utterances of these languages. In order to understand how the ‘expected’ intonation relates to the actual measured characteristics extracted, we developed two different statistical approaches to build intonation models for isiZulu and isiXhosa. The first is based on straightforward statistical techniques and the second uses a classifier. Both intonation models built produce fairly good accuracy for our isiZulu and isiXhosa sets of data. The neural network classifier used produces slightly better results for both sets of data than the statistical method. The classification model is also more robust and can easily learn from the training data. We show that it is possible to build fairly good intonation models for these languages using different approaches, and that intensity and fundamental frequency are comparable in predictive value for the ascribed tone. / Dissertation (MSc (Computer Science))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Computer Science / MSc / unrestricted

In the present paper, we examine the effect of socioeconomic characteristics on the life expectancy of men and women in the Stockholm metropolitan area. Detailed individual data allows for a novel approach where observations can be displayed in high resolution. As is often the case with geographical data, the variables display high spatial autocorrelations, which imply that observations in proximity are more, or less, similar than what could be expected under the assumption of independent and identically distributed observations. Presence of spatial autocorrelation makes conventional regression models nonfunctional, and a model that accounts for this is therefore specified. In addition, a distance-band which reflects the distance and association between observations is determined. Lagrange Multiplier tests, AIC, log-likelihood, and the Schwarz criterion suggest that a spatial error model with a 300-meter distance band is appropriate for the data at hand. The findings suggest that: (1) Belonging to a minority group has the strongest effect on life expectancies and (2) the effect is negative for both genders, although the negative impact is stronger for males. Tests for spatial autocorrelation on the residuals suggest that the adopted spatial error model captures nearly all spatial autocorrelation in the data, compared to alternative models.

A collision study is performed to compare the interference rejection characteristics of two spread spectrum receivers, one employing a sliding correlator and the other using a more sophisticated matched filter design. The testing involves using two similar transmitters, one acting a the jammer, to test the collision dynamics of each receiver. Packet data from both transmitters contain identical spreading codes. Data from the testing is analyzed and the receivers' jamming margin, capture, and process gain qualities are compared as to which system best optimizes a one-way channel. Motivation for the collision study stems from researching a one-way communication link for the Interactive Video Data Service ( IVDS ) project currently being developed by the Center for Wireless Telecommunications ( CWT ) at Virginia Tech. A novel retransmission technique has previously been developed which discusses the probability of packet collisions on the channel and uses a computer program to simulate the channel model. This thesis will provide more information as to what happens in packet collisions as well as determine which receiver type offers the greatest interference rejection. / Master of Science

One of the two project reports: The other part is designated PART A: MCMASTER (Off-Campus) PROJECT / <P> A simple and inexpensive pseudo-random number generator has been designed and built using linear feedback shift registers to generate rectangular and gaussian distributed numbers. The device has been interfaced to a Nova computer to provide a high speed source of random numbers. The two distributions have been checked with the following tests: (i) Frequency test (ii) Autocorrelation test and (iii) d 2-test. Results of each test have been compared with the expected theoretical values. Finally, a comparison of the generating speed has been made between this new generator and the existing old software generators. This 28-bit generator is especially desirable in random simulation and Monte Carlo application if randomness, speed and cost are the main consideration in the design. </P> / Thesis / Master of Engineering (MEngr)

This study uncovered the pattern and spatial relationships between socio-economic factors and aggregated COVID-19 rates in Ottawa, Canada, from July 2020 to December 2021 at the neighbourhood scale. Both top-down and bottom-up data mining approaches were used to predict COVID-19 rates. The top-down approach employed ordinary least squares regression (OLS), spatial error model (SEM), geographically weighted regression (GWR) and multi-scale geographically weighted regression (MGWR). Model intercomparison was also undertaken. The pattern of COVID-19 in Ottawa exhibited a significant moderately positive spatial structure among neighbourhoods (Moran's I = 0.39; p = 0.0001). Local Moran's analysis identified areas of low and high COVID-19 clustering, interspersed with cold spots. The OLS model used determinants based on a literature review. Determinants were tested for normality using the Shapiro-Wilks test with those that failed the test had transformatoins to normality applied. Next, an OLS-based backward stepwise approach was used to select the optimal set of determinants based on goodness of fit, selecting the model with the lowest Akaike Information Criterion (AIC). The percentage of people who take public transit to work, percentage of people with no high school diploma, percentage of people over 65 years old, and percentage of people with a Bachelor level degree or above comprised the final set of determinants. A SEM model was created to account for residual spatial autocorrelation in the OLS model's residuals and yielded an adjusted R² = 0.63. Based on the SEM, a one-unit increase in the square root of the percentage of people with a bachelor's degree or above was associated with a 3.2% increase in COVID-19 rates, while the same unit increase in the square root of the percentage of people with no high school diploma was associated with a 10.6% increase in COVID-19 rates. Conversely, a one percent increase in the percentage of people aged 65 and older was linked to a 34.6% decrease in COVID-19 rates. To examine local variations in the relationships between the determinants and COVID-19, a MGWR with a Bisquare kernel and an adaptive bandwidth was used to improve upon the overall explained variance of the SEM model. The residuals of the MGWR model exhibited no significant spatial autocorrelation (Moran's I = -0.04; p = 0.62) and residuals were approximately normal (W = 0.98; p > 0.25). The MGWR model yielded an adjusted R² = 0.75. Taking a data mining and bottom-up approach, an optimized Random Forest model provided a very different set of determinants as important when compared to the top-down regression approaches and accounted for 47.34% of the COVID-19 variance.

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