Cannabinoid receptors (CBR) are the most abundant G-protein coupled receptors in the mammalian brain with the highest densities within the cerebellum (Herkenham et al., 1990). Cannabinoid manipulations have been reported to cause deficits in cerebellar-dependent learning (Kishimoto and Kano, 2006; Skosnik et al., 2007; Steinmetz and Freeman, 2010; 2013). Cannabinoid receptors-1 (CB1R) have been hypothesized to be important in the establishment of long-term depression within the cerebellar cortex (Levenes et al., 1998; Safo and Regehr, 2005). However, all investigations in vivo have used global manipulations and have not attempted to localize or characterize these receptors during cerebellar-dependent learning. Chapter 2 systematically examined localization within the cerebellar cortex of cannabinoid effects on eyeblink conditioning, a type of cerebellum-dependent learning. Local infusions into a specific portion of the cerebellar cortex, the eyeblink conditioning microzone, resulted in deficits in learning similar to systemic injections. Additionally, infusions of cannabinoids into the eyeblink conditioning microzone, and no other parts of the cerebellar cortex or deep nuclei, were responsible for the deficits. Finally, tetrode recordings were made in Purkinje cells while receiving either CBR agonist or vehicle injections prior to training. Fewer Purkinje cells exhibited learning-related decreases in activity when the rat was administered a CBR agonist as compared to when it was injected with the vehicle. The CBR administered Purkinje cells also showed earlier onsets and smaller amplitudes in their learning-related activity. Purkinje cells that show a learning-related increase in activity were not affected by cannabinoid administration. The impairment in Purkinje cell plasticity was not observed after the rats reached asymptotic levels of learning. These results indicate that CBR agonist administration disrupts the induction of plasticity within the cerebellar cortex and this may account for the behavioral deficit in eyeblink conditioning. Chapter 3 examined whether infusions of the CBR agonist into the cerebellar cortex impaired forebrain-dependent learning as well as forebrain-independent associative learning. Similar to subcutaneous injections, forebrain-dependent trace eyeblink conditioning was unimpaired, whereas forebrain independent delay eyeblink conditioning was impaired. These findings provide evidence that plasticity mechanisms that are modulated by cannabinoids do not play a significant role in trace eyeblink conditioning. Finally, in Chapter 4 the role of CBRs and endocannabinoids during memory consolidation were examined. CBR and endocannabinoid manipulations prior to training resulted in impaired eyeblink conditioning. However, a CBR agonist or a drug increasing endocannabinoid levels resulted in enhanced consolidation when administered 1 hour post-training. In contrast, a CBR antagonist or an endocannabinoid decreasing drug resulted in impairments 1 hour post-training. Thus, CBRs and endocannabinoids appear to be important in learning and consolidation of cerebellar-dependent learning.

Upplevelsen av att det är svårt att prestera efter sin fulla förmåga är vanligt förekommande bland musikstuderande, även för mig. Vanligtvis ligger grunden till det på vilket sätt förberedelsen gått till, stress eller nervositet. Många gånger lär vi oss att råda bot på problemet genom att förändra dessa faktorer.  Med min studie utforskar jag om det är möjligt att skapa ett arbetssätt för att förbättra min spelprestation. Jag skapar en metod som innefattar att göra videoinspelningar kontinuerligt. Det här dokumenteras i loggbok med frågeformulär och videomaterialet granskas efter genomförandet av videoinspelningarna. På så sätt försöker jag synliggöra tankeprocesser och aspekter utifrån prestationsresultat. För att kunna göra detta samt skapa metoden fördjupar jag mig i flera perspektiv på området press, stress, prestation, och om att granska sina egna prestationer.  Resultatet visar på att metoden och arbetssättet kan användas i syfte att förbättra prestation. Själva studien hade jag för få inspelningstillfällen för att kunna uppleva stor prestationsutveckling men metoden visar på att det kan vara möjligt att vid fortsatt övning på moment förbättra spelprestation. Att göra videoinspelnings synliggjorde fler aspekter och tankeprocesser av konstnärlig utveckling som presenteras och diskuteras i diskussionskapitlet. / Experiencing that it’s difficult to perform to your fullest ability is common among music students, also for me. Usually the explanation is how the preparations have been made, stress or nervosity. Many times we learn that the cure to it is to change these elements.  With my bachelor thesis I want to find out if it’s possible to create a method to develop my performance ability. I will create a method that includes doing video recordings continuously. This will be documented in a logbook with a questionnaire and the video material is examined after the video recordings have been carried out. To be able to do this and create the method I become absorbed in various perspectives in the area of pressure, stress, performance and to examine your own performances.  The result shows that the method can be used in purpose to develop performance ability. There were not too many video recordings occasions to experience large development but the method shows that it can be possible with on going practise. To do video recordings showed more aspects and thoughts of my artistic development which are presented in the discussion chapter.

El presente trabajo de investigación trata de identificar y analizar la influencia y la aplicación del audio analógico en la producción musical contemporánea, abarcando diversos criterios: sonoro/técnico, de ejecución, social, de preservación o archivo, entre otros. A pesar de que el audio digital, y el uso derivado de las herramientas de edición y mezcla, se consideran el estándar en la industria musical actual, se conoce que un número importante de productores, ingenieros y artistas siguen empleando hoy en día las técnicas de grabación y mezcla analógica desarrolladas décadas atrás. Por ello, el audio analógico surge como una alternativa a los procesos de creación y producción musical modernos, tanto a nivel sonoro como de ejecución. Este trabajo parte del desarrollo técnico y estético en la grabación analógica, realizando comparaciones con su contraparte digital. Para ello, se toman en cuenta las opiniones y los procesos de producción de productores musicales y profesionales a cargo de las producciones discográficas más relevantes en los últimos años en el circuito norteamericano. Es en estas producciones donde se evidencia el uso creativo del audio analógico, así como su adaptación al entorno digital. Finalmente, se tiene en cuenta al productor independiente como principal beneficiario de esta publicación, quien conoce directa o indirectamente los beneficios del audio analógico, pero no necesariamente cuenta con los recursos para integrarlo a su estación de trabajo. Por ello, se busca brindar herramientas y soluciones para poder emplear e integrar las principales funciones del formato analógico y digital en una producción moderna. / The hereby thesis attempts to identify and analyze the influence and application of analog audio in contemporary music production by covering diverse criteria: sonic/technical, performative, social, of preservation or archive, among others. Although digital audio, and its derived use of editing and mixing tools, are currently considered standard in the music industry, it is also known that a significant number of producers, engineers and artists still employ analog recording and mixing techniques developed decades ago. Hence, analog audio presents itself as an alternative to the modern creative and production processes, at both sonic and performance levels. This work begins with the technical and aesthetical development within an analog recording, comparing it afterwards with its digital counterpart. To serve this purpose, the opinion and detailed production processes of renowned American producers and professionals, responsible for the most acclaimed records in the last ten years, are taken into consideration. Those records evidence the creative use of analog audio, as well as its adaptation to a digital setup. Finally, independent producers could benefit the most from the information and arguments in this paper, because they directly or indirectly know the benefits of working analog, even when they often lack the resources to acquire these tools. Therefore, the author attempts to bring tools and solutions for the application of analog and digital audio in a single modern production. / Tesis

Magister Artium (Social Work) - MA(SW) / The researcher's concern for the topic was founded on the fact that previous research on child labour in Rwanda did not qualitatively explore the working and living conditions of child domestic workers in this specific contextual setting. The aim of the study therefore, was to explore the living and working conditions of child domestic workers in a contextual setting of Kigali city and its periphery. To achieve the objectives of this study, a qualitative approach was envisaged, utilizing a case study strategy. The population was selected among child domestic workers in four districts of Kigali city and its periphery. The criteria of selection and reaching participants were snowball sampling and purposive sampling techniques. Data was collected by means of a semi-structured interview with open-ended questions. The collected data was analyzed through a model that is presented as a spiral image including: Collecting and recording data; managing data; reading and writing memos; describing, classifying and interpreting; representing and visualizing (Creswell, 1998: 142-165). In order to increase trustworthiness, triangulation as a process that uses multiple perceptions to clarify meaning, was used through child workers themselves, their employers, neighbours and local authorities. Colleagues helped to verify translations from mother tongue into English. Participants, especially child domestic workers revealed that the main factors pushing them into the job market was poverty and family and socio-political conflicts. Findings concerning working and living conditions also indicate experiences of exploitation and maltreatment. It has also been revealed that most participants were ignorant about children's rights. Finally discussions allowed the researcher to discover what participants and especially child domestic participants were expecting in their future and suggestions of how child domestic work would be abolished.

The objective of the study was to determine if chronic interruption of all extrinsic nerve inputs to the heart alters cholinergic-mediated responses within the intrinsic cardiac nervous system (ICN). Extracardiac nerve inputs to the ICN were surgically interrupted (ICN decentralized). Three weeks later, the intrinsic cardiac right atrial ganglionated plexus (RAGP) was removed and intrinsic cardiac neuronal responses were evaluated electrophysiologically. Cholinergic receptor abundance was evaluated using autoradiography. In sham controls and chronic decentralized ICN ganglia, neuronal postsynaptic responses were mediated by acetylcholine, acting at nicotinic and muscarinic receptors. Muscarine- but not nicotine-mediated synaptic responses that were enhanced after chronic ICN decentralization. After chronic decentralization, muscarine facilitation of orthodromic neuronal activation increased. Receptor autoradiography demonstrated that nicotinic and muscarinic receptor density associated with the RAGP was unaffected by decentralization and that muscarinic receptors were tenfold more abundant than nicotinic receptors in the right atrial ganglia in each group. After chronic decentralization of the ICN, intrinsic cardiac neurons remain viable and responsive to cholinergic synaptic inputs. Enhanced muscarinic responsiveness of intrinsic cardiac neurons occurs without changes in receptor abundance.

No description available.

The Telephone Voice Alert is divided into six parts: the ring detector, controller, voice memory, synthesizer, speaker, and power supply subsystems. These all interact together to produce a voice signal whenever a ring signal is detected. By beginning from the system function and analyzing the components as we break the system into subsystems, we find that the trade-off between system cost and system "effectiveness" minimizes to prove Configuration A (digital voice reproduction) a more effective means. Further testing and development is necessary, however, as the design must be "fine-tuned" in order to insure proper function. / Master of Science

No description available.

Understanding how the human brain works can lead to new discoveries and improved treatments for brain related diseases and disabilities such as Alzheimer's and autism. One method for studying brain activity is through electrophysiological recordings, particularly through the use of in vivo recording techniques. While these techniques have advanced significantly over the years, data analysis tools have not kept pace, making it difficult to isolate the activity of individual neurons from the recordings. In this thesis, we propose a unified protocol for isolating the spike activity of a neuron from an electrophysiology recording. Additionally, we conducted customized spike train analysis on the recorded cells in a pattern separation task. Preliminary results suggest that changes in the neural activity of mossy cells was not significant. However, for granule cells and interneurons, responses to punishment and reward were observed.

Lecture recording has become an essential tool for educational institutions to enhance the student learning experience and offer online courses for remote learning programs. Highresolution 4K cameras have gained popularity in these systems due to their affordability and clarity of written content on boards/screens. Unfortunately, at 4K resolution, a typical 45- minute lecture video easily exceeds 2GB. Many video files of this size place a financial burden on institutions and students, especially in developing countries where financial resources are limited. Institutions require costly high-end equipment to capture, store and distribute this ever-increasing collection of videos. Students require a fast internet connection with a large data quota for off-campus viewing, which can be too expensive for many, especially if they use mobile data. This project designs and implements a low-cost presenter and writing detection front-end that can integrate with an external Virtual Cinematographer (VC). Gesture detection was also explored; however, the frame differencing approach used for presenter detection was not sufficiently robust for gesture detection. Our front-end is carefully designed to run on commodity computers without requiring expensive Graphics Processing Units (GPU) or servers. An external VC can use our contextual information to segment a smaller cropping window from the 4K frame, only containing the presenter and relevant boards, drastically reducing the file size of the resultant videos while preserving writing clarity. The software developed as part of this project will be available as open source. Our results show that the front-end module is fit for purpose and sufficiently robust across several challenging lecture venue types. On average, a 2-minute video clip is processed by the front-end in under 60 seconds (or approximately half of the input video duration). The majority (89%) of this time is used for reading and decoding frames from storage. Additionally, our low-cost presenter detection achieves an overall F1-Score of 0.76, while our writing detection achieves an overall F1-Score of 0.55. We also demonstrate a mean reduction of 81.3% in file size from the original 4K video to a cropped 720p video when using our front-end in a full pipeline with an external VC.