Localization performance of binaurally recorded sounds with and without training

One of the problems associated with listening to binaurally recorded sound events is localization confusions. The main objective of this investigation was to find out whether a short training session prior to listening to binaural recordings through headphones would facilitate correct spatial perception of the sound field. Focus was on the localization of the sound stimuli in median plane. Sound signals were recorded with an artificial head in three different conditions namely, anechoic, highly reverberant and moderately reverberant. Fourteen subjects participated in the listening tests. All subjects were required to localize all virtual sound stimuli under two different conditions. The first condition had a short training session binaurally recorded in the same environments as preceeding sound stimuli, and only sound stimuli recorded in the same environment were presented. The second condition did not have a training session, and sound stimuli recorded in different environments were presented. Results showed that a short training session prior to listening to binaurally recorded sounds through headphones was useful as it facilitated localization performance. The biggest effect was in reduced amount of sounds perceived inside the head. It was most pronounced for sound stimuli recorded in anechoic environment.     

Model for a Complex Analysis of Intelligent Built Environment

The purpose of intelligent built environment is to improve inhabitant's quality of life and to satisfy inhabitants by replacing routine work with smart devices and robots. Smart devices and robots can interpret changes in the built environment and respond appropriately. The problem is how to define a rational intelligent built environment when many various stakeholders are involved, projects have thousands of alternative versions and the quality of life and economical efficiency changes with alterations in micro and macro environmental conditions and the constituent parts of the process in question. Moreover, the realization of some objectives seems more rational from the economic perspective though their significance is varied from other perspectives. The formalized Model for Complex Analysis of Intelligent Built Environment and the Multiple Criteria Decision Support System of Intelligent Built Environment developed by the authors of this paper show how changes in project alternatives and the extent to which the goals of various stakeholders are satisfied cause respective changes in the value and utility degree of a project. To achieve the above-mentioned aims new multiple criteria analysis methods were developed.     

Role of frontal cortex in social odor discrimination and scent-marking in female golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus).

Orbital/agranular insular (ORB/AI) cortex has been implicated in traditional olfactory learning tasks and social behavior but its precise role in discriminating-learning social odors is not known. Female golden hamsters received aspiration lesions of ORB/AI or dorsomedial (DM) frontal cortex and were tested for their ability to (a) discriminate between odors of individual males in a habituation-discrimination task, (b) show preferences for male over female odors, and (c) scent-mark in response to male odors. Lesioned females readily discriminated between scents of individual males. Neither lesion altered female preferences for male odors. Females with DM lesions showed increased levels of scent marking to male odors, but those with ORB/AI cortex lesions did not differ from controls. Thus, ORB/AI cortex does not appear to be critical for discrimination of odors of individuals or sex or for scent-marking responses based on these discriminations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of Twisting on Linen Fancy Yarn Structure

A study is reported for analysis of periodical effects of linen fancy yarns made in twisting process. The results indicate that the investigated variables are significant in determining the kind of decorative effect. It was concluded that the mathematical model that expresses the relationship between number of combination of two effects: loop/knot and plain knot in the unit of fancy yarn length and technological parameters of fancy yarn manufacture is informative. The received results enable to forecast the geometry of fancy yarn’s effects also permits to design new fancy yarns with optimum structure.     

Causes of scent marking in female golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus): Specific signals or classes of information?

Odor-elicited scent marking is common among mammals, but the proximate causes of marking are not well understood. Scent marking by female hamsters in response to 8 different male odors was investigated. Two odors (flank, mouth) increased flank marking and 2 (flank, rump) increased vaginal marking; in the latter case the effects of flank and rump odors were additive. Two odors (feces, urine) decreased flank marking but did not affect vaginal marking; other odors (foot, ear, ano-genital) had no influence on either scent-marking behavior. Results show that scent marking by females is influenced by a limited number of male odors, suggesting specific effects of particular odors. Classes of information (such as sexual identity) were not relevant causes of scent marking, as some odors containing such information were effective but others were not. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Scheduling two agents on uniform parallel machines with makespan and cost functions

We consider the problem of scheduling two jobs A and B on a set of m uniform parallel machines. Each job is assumed to be independent from the other: job A and job B are made up of n _A and n _B operations, respectively. Each operation is defined by its processing time and possibly additional data such as a due date, a weight, etc., and must be processed on a single machine. All machines are uniform, i.e. each machine has its own processing speed. Notice that we consider the special case of equal-size operations, i.e. all operations have the same processing time. The scheduling of operations of job A must be achieved to minimize a general cost function F ^A , whereas it is the makespan that must be minimized when scheduling the operations of job B. These kind of problems are called multiple agent scheduling problems. As we are dealing with two conflicting criteria, we focus on the calculation of strict Pareto optima for F ^A and C_max^BC_{\mathrm{max}}^{B} criteria. In this paper we consider different min-max and min-sum versions of function F ^A and provide special properties as well as polynomial time algorithms.     

QMLE for Quadratic ARCH Model with Long Memory

We discuss parametric quasi‐maximum likelihood estimation for quadratic autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (ARCH) process with long memory introduced in Doukhan emphet al. (2016) and Grublyt? and ?karnulis (2016) with conditional variance involving the square of inhomogeneous linear combination of observable sequence with square summable weights. The aforementioned model extends the quadratic ARCH model of Sentana ( 1995 ) and the linear ARCH model of Robinson ( 1991 ) to the case of strictly positive conditional variance. We prove consistency and asymptotic normality of the corresponding quasi‐maximum likelihood estimates, including the estimate of long memory parameter 0 < d < 1/2. A simulation study of empirical mean‐squared error is included.     

Fundamental study of the effect of the fiber wall thickness and inner diameter on the structure of polyamide and polypropylene hollow fibers

Some properties of the structure of polyamide (PA) and polypropylene (PP) hollow fibers were investigated in a theoretical fashion. These fibers were simultaneously compared with solid fibers. The structural indices of the hollow fibers, that is, the wall thickness and inner diameter, were systematically examined with the aim of determining their effect on the four conventional structural indices suitable for hollow fibers and for solid fibers. The fiber outer diameter and fiber outer lateral area were examined as well, and the ratio of the fiber outer lateral area to the fiber whole volume and the ratio of this area to the fiber mass were considered. Under assumptions about the fixed level and equal values of the linear density of PA and PP fibers, comments on the aforementioned effect were presented. The structural properties of these fibers with different wall thicknesses and inner diameters were examined. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 92: 2017–2022, 2004     

Asymptotic Distribution of the Bias Corrected Least Squares Estimators in Measurement Error Linear Regression Models Under Long Memory

This article derives the consistency and asymptotic distribution of the bias corrected least squares estimators (LSEs) of the regression parameters in linear regression models when covariates have measurement error (ME) and errors and covariates form mutually independent long memory moving average processes. In the structural ME linear regression model, the nature of the asymptotic distribution of suitably standardized bias corrected LSEs depends on the range of the values of where d _X ,d _u , and d _ε are the LM parameters of the covariate, ME and regression error processes respectively. This limiting distribution is Gaussian when and non‐Gaussian in the case . In the former case some consistent estimators of the asymptotic variances of these estimators and a log(n)‐consistent estimator of an underlying LM parameter are also provided. They are useful in the construction of the large sample confidence intervals for regression parameters. The article also discusses the asymptotic distribution of these estimators in some functional ME linear regression models, where the unobservable covariate is non‐random. In these models, the limiting distribution of the bias corrected LSEs is always a Gaussian distribution determined by the range of the values of d _ε ? d _u .