8 research outputs found
On the words plav and modar: New insights
Get PDFHaving collected relevant linguistic evidence from various vernaculars, the author points to the hitherto unnoticed fact that in some Serbian dialects the words plav and modar (which in the standard language translate English blue and dark blue, respectively) have no reference to colour but serve only to disclose the lightness (plav)/darkness (modar) of its tint. The existence of such a lexical phenomenon provides crucial evidence supporting the author's hypothesis (advanced in a previous article) that in ancient times the meaning of plav must have been 'having a very light shade of colour. In some Serbian vernaculars people use the colour word for 'dark blue' when referring to the deep, succulent greenness exhibited by plants. Pointing to similar phenomena that occur in other languages (spoken as a rule by small populations with limited technology) the author underlines the pertinence of the role played by the civilization factor in this respect.Ovaj rad iznosi na videlo (u našoj dijalektologiji dosad neregistrovanu) činjenicu da ima srpskih narodnih govora koji izrazima plav i modar ne iskazuju boju kao takvu. već samo to da se ona ostvarila u svojoj svetloj/u svojoj tamnoj nijansi (pa otuda govorni predstavnici sa tih dijalekatskih prostora i prihvataju kao ispravne sintaksičke spojeve tipa žutilo plavo (boja) sinja plava i sl./modro zeleno, modro plavo i sl). Takvo stanje stvari na dijalekatskom terenu uverljivo potvrđuje ispravnost autorkine pretpostavke (iznete u studiji Plava boja kao lingvistički problem - v. Ivić 1995) da se pod plav u pradavnim vremenima podrazumevalo upravo to značenje 'koji je otvorene, svetle boje'. U radu se govori još o jednoj u našoj jezičkoj nauci dosad nesagledanoj činjenici: u nekim srpskim (ekavskim i jekavskim) narodnim govorima izrazima modar i modri se kvalifikuju se biljke (modri se žito i sl) kao intenzivno zelene, a to je kolorit koji sobom svedoči o njihovoj svežini, bujnosti, jednom rečju - o njihovom dobrom napredovanju. Suočavajući taj naš leksički fenomen sa sličnim fenomenima registrovanim na nekim drugim stranama jezičkog sveta, autorka osvetljava ulogu koju ima civilizacijski faktor pri njihovom ustrojavanju
Sensemaking in Crisis: Sweden’s Handling of COVID19 : A deductive thematic analysis of the Governments Offices’ management of the COVID19-pandemic as it is described in the book Mitt i krisen (Amidst the Crisis)
No full textCovid19-pandemin utgjorde en snabbt föränderlig kris som präglades av osäkerhet och informationsbrist. Sverige hanterade pandemin på ett unikt vis, där mjuka styrmedel och tillit till expertmyndigheter var centrala. Weicks (1995) teori om meningsskapande erbjuder ett ramverk för hur ledare i Regeringskansliet navigerade krisen. Syftet med denna uppsats var att analysera hur politiska och sakkunniga ledare i Regeringskansliet agerade under pandemin utifrån ett meningsskapandeperspektiv. En kvalitativ, deduktiv tematisk analys har genomförts av boken Mitt i krisen (Fjæstad & Lennartsson, 2024). Teman i den tematiska analysen utgjordes av Weicks sju huvudsakliga aspekter av meningsskapande samt ytterligare två kritiska perspektiv på meningsskapande. Meningsskapande processer i Regeringskansliets hantering av covid19 präglades av en iterativ process med datainsamling, orientering, handling och utvärdering. Ledarna prioriterade snabba beslut baserat på rimlig information snarare än absolut sanning. Retrospektiva erfarenheter från tidigare kriser skapade mening i den rådande pandemihanteringen. Professionella och personliga identiteter tillsammans med social kontext och institutionell kultur formade krishanteringen av pandemin. Ledare i Regeringskansliet hanterade covid19-pandemin med hjälp av meningsskapande processer som utformades i en unik institutionell kultur av decentraliserad ansvarsfördelning och förtroende till expertmyndigheter. Den sociala interaktionen samt de personliga och professionella identiteterna spelade en avgörande meningsskapande roll. Således handlade Sveriges krishantering av covid19 inte bara om tekniska lösningar, utan även om att navigera kulturella och institutionella normers utmaningar och möjligheter. The COVID19 pandemic was a fast-changing crisis, characterised by lack of information. Sweden’s handling of the pandemic was unique underscoring soft law, individual responsibility, and trusted, independent expert agencies. Weick’s (1995) theory of sensemaking offers a framework to understand how leaders in the Government Offices’ managed the crisis. The aim of this study was to analyse how political and expert leaders of the Government Offices acted under the pandemic from a sensemaking perspective. A qualitative, deductive thematic analysis of the book Mitt i krisen (Amidst the Crisis) (Fjæstad & Lennartsson, 2024) was done. The themes of the thematic analysis were Weick’s seven primary aspects of sensemaking and two further sensemaking-critical perspectives. Sensemaking processes in the Government Offices’ management of COVID19 were characterised by an iterative process of data-gathering, orientation, action, and reevaluation. Leaders prioritised fast decisions based on plausible information rather than definitive truths. Retrospective experiences from earlier crises helped to make sense of the management of the pandemic. Professional and personal identities together with the social context and institutional culture formed the crisis-management of the pandemic. Leaders in the Swedish Government Offices used sensemaking processes in the management of COVID19 in a unique institutional culture of decentralised responsibility and trust in expert agencies. The social interaction together with personal and professional identities were central sensemaking aspects. Thus, Sweden’s crisis-management of COVID19 was not only affected by technical aspects, but also by navigating the possibilities and difficulties of cultural and institutional norms
Effects of water on mortar-brick bond
No full textThe quality of bond in masonry is, to a large extent, a function of the (i) the hydration conditions and (ii) the mortar composition of the mortar-brick interface. For insight into the effects of these parameters on bond performance it is essential to dispose of quantitative information about water content changes and flow rates, occurring immediately after brick laying. This quantitative information is preferably to be obtained by means of a non-destructive testing. The paper describes the test set-up, the potentiality and the limitations of two measuring methods, using thermal neutrons, with which the required data can be acquired. Furthermore, an attempt is made to explain differences in bond performance of various brick-modar-brick combinations, using the results from neutron transmission measurements and X-ray diffraction testing.Stevin laboratoryCivil Engineering and Geoscience
CFD Investigation of Enhancing Natural Ventilation in Attached Family House Buildings in Hungary
No full textEnergy consumption of the residential sector in Hungary is 12% higher than the EU average. Most of existing house buildings in Hungary are inefficient in term of their indoor comfort and energy consumption. This is where the refurbishment process takes a vital role bringing these houses back on the track of achieving the UN sustainable development goals. When a responsible refurbishment is conducted, it leaves room for integrating passive methods to enhance the building behaviour. One of the most important passive methods is utilizing natural ventilation in order to reduce the cooling energy and to improve the Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). This research is investigating the integration of a passive ventilation solar chimney into an attached family house in Hungary as a part of its refurbishment process. This paper is a part of an extended research by the main author. The investigation utilizes Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. Different operation scenarios are tested, compared, and analysed. The simulation results demonstrate the functionality of the integrated solar chimney and the skylight as a ventilation outlet. In transitional seasons, it can provide accepted indoor comfort as the results of air change rate, indoor airflow velocity and indoor temperature indicate
Intracranial pressure dynamics, cerebral autoregulation, and brain perfusion after decompressive craniectomy in malignant middle cerebral artery infarction : is there a role for invasive monitoring?
No full textObjective Malignant middle cerebral artery infarction (MMI) is a severe neurological condition. Decompressive craniectomy (DC) is an established lifesaving surgical treatment. However, the role of neurocritical care with monitoring and management of the intracranial pressure (ICP), pressure reactivity index (PRx), cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP), and optimal perfusion pressure (CPPopt) remain unclear. This study aims to examine the dynamics of these variables post-DC in relation to clinical outcome. Methods This retrospective study included 70 MMI patients who underwent DC with ICP monitoring of at least 12 hours and available data of clinical outcome (modified Rankin Scale [mRS] at 6 months). The associations between mRS and cerebral physiology (ICP, PRx, CPP, and ∆CPPopt) was analysed and presented in different outcome heatmaps over the first 7 days following DC. Results ICP above 15 mmHg was associated with unfavourable outcome, particularly for longer durations. As PRx exceeded zero, outcome worsened progressively, and values above 0.5 correlated to poor outcome regardless of duration. As CPP dropped below 80 mmHg, there was a transition from favourable to unfavourable outcome. Negative ∆CPPopt, particularly below -20 mmHg, corresponded to unfavourable outcome. In two-variable heatmaps, elevated PRx combined with high ICP, low CPP or negative ∆CPPopt correlated with worse outcome. Conclusion Invasive ICP-monitoring may provide prognostic information for long-term recovery in MMI patients post-DC. The study highlighted disease-specific optimal physiological intervals for ICP, PRx, CPP, and ΔCPPopt. Of particular interest, the autoregulatory variable, PRx, influenced the safe and dangerous ICP, CPP, and ∆CPPopt intervals
The Effects of Hyper- and Hypoventilation on Cerebral Physiology in a Healthy and Compromised Brain State : An Experimental Pig Model with State-of-the-Art Neuromonitoring
No full textArterial carbon dioxide (pCO2) strongly affects cerebrovascular tone and cerebral physiology. While moderate hyperventilation is often used to reduce intracranial pressure (ICP) in acute brain injury, its broader physiological effects remain unclear. In this experimental study, 10 anesthetized pigs underwent multimodal neuromonitoring, including ICP, cerebral perfusion pressure, common autoregulatory indices (pressure reactivity index [PRx], cerebral blood flow index [CBFx], oxygen reactivity index), CBF, brain tissue oxygenation (pbtO2), and microdialysis. Animals were exposed to four ventilatory intervals (normoventilation, moderate and severe hyperventilation, and hypoventilation), first in a healthy state and then following induction of intracranial hypertension (ICP 30-40 mmHg) via epidural balloon inflation. In the healthy brain, moderate and severe hyperventilation numerically, but non-significantly, reduced CBF without affecting pbtO2 or cerebral energy metabolism, while hypoventilation increased CBF and pbtO2. Under intracranial hypertension, moderate hyperventilation improved PRx and preserved CBF, pbtO2, and metabolism, but severe hyperventilation reduced pbtO2. Hypoventilation produced variable responses: Animals with higher baseline blood pressure showed improved perfusion and oxygenation, whereas those with lower pressure experienced reduced CBF, impaired oxygenation, and metabolic distress. These findings underscore the complex and context-dependent effects of pCO2 on cerebral physiology, indicating that ventilatory strategies may both benefit and harm the injured brain depending on individual vulnerability and hemodynamic status
ODAQ: OPEN DATASET OF AUDIO QUALITY
No full text<div>
<div>ODAQ is a dataset addressing the scarcity of openly available collections of audio signals accompanied by corresponding subjective scores of perceived quality.</div>
<br>
<div>ODAQ contains 240 audio samples accompanied by corresponding quality scores obtained via a MUSHRA listening test carried out in parallel at Fraunhofer IIS (Germany) and at Netflix, Inc. (USA).</div>
<br>
<div>The quality-rated audio samples are processed versions of the original audio material (also made available). The original audio material consists of:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Stereo audio with 44.1 or 48 kHz sampling frequency;</li>
<li>14 music excerpts (8 of which are solo recordings);</li>
<li>11 excerpts from movie-like soundtracks with dialogues mixed with music and effects (separate stems and transcripts are also provided).</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<h3>Highlights</h3>
<ul>
<li>Each of the 240 audio samples is rated by 26 expert listeners (after post-screening).</li>
<li>The audio samples are processed by a total of 6 method classes, each operating at 5 different quality levels, plus anchor conditions.</li>
<li>The audio samples are processed by methods designed to generate quality degradations possibly encountered during audio coding and source separation.</li>
<li>The quality levels for each processing method span the entire quality range.</li>
<li>The diversity of the processing conditions, the large span of quality levels, the high sampling frequency of the audio signals, and the pool of international listeners make ODAQ particularly suited for further research into the prediction and analysis of perceived audio quality.</li>
<li>The dataset is released with permissive licenses, please refer to <code>_license_disclaimer.txt</code> for full details.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Package Structure</h3>
<ul>
<li><strong>The</strong> <strong>top-level </strong>folder contains:
<ul>
<li><code>_license_disclaimer.txt</code> and <code>_detailed_license.csv</code> detailing the license agreement;</li>
<li><code>DE_systems_info.xls</code> detailing the separation systems used for generating part of the dataset;</li>
<li>The following subfolders.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>ODAQ_unprocessed</strong>
<ul>
<li>This folder contains the original "unprocessed" audio material.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>ODAQ_listening_test</strong>
<ul>
<li>This folder contains the audio samples used in the listening test and the listening test results both as individual result files (<code>.xml</code>) and as aggregated <code>.csv</code> table. </li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>ODAQ_training</strong>
<ul>
<li>This folder contains the audio samples used during the training phase preceeding the main phase of the listening test.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>listening_test_instructions</strong>
<ul>
<li>This folder contains the instructions provided to the participants in the listening test.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><strong>ODAQ_DE_raw_outputs</strong>
<ul>
<li>This folder contains the raw dialogue estimates output by the separation systems used for the Dialogue Enhancement (DE) scenario.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>ICASSP 2024</h3>
<p>Please refer to <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.00197" target="_blank" rel="noopener">our ICASSP 2024 paper</a> for full details about the listening test and please cite it if you find this dataset useful:</p>
<div>
<pre><code>@inproceedings{Torcoli2024ODAQ,
author = {Torcoli, M. and Wu, C. W. and Dick, S. and Williams, P. A. and Halimeh, M. M. and Wolcott, W. and Habets, E. A. P.},
year = {2024},
month = {April},
title = {{ODAQ}: Open Dataset of Audio Quality},
address = {Seoul, Korea},
booktitle={IEEE International Conference on Acoustics Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP)}
}</code></pre>
</div>
<h3>Useful Links</h3>
<ul>
<li>Paper: <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.00197" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.00197</a></li>
<li>GitHub project page: <a href="https://github.com/Fraunhofer-IIS/ODAQ/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://github.com/Fraunhofer-IIS/ODAQ/</a></li>
<li>Listening test app: <a href="https://github.com/Netflix-Skunkworks/listening-test-app" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://github.com/Netflix-Skunkworks/listening-test-app</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Call for Contributions</h3>
<p>We make this data available to the community and we welcome contributions and extensions from the community!</p>
Decoding the historical tale: COVID-19 impact on haematological malignancy patients—EPICOVIDEHA insights from 2020 to 2022
No full textBackground: The COVID-19 pandemic heightened risks for individuals with hematological malignancies due to compromised immune systems, leading to more severe outcomes and increased mortality. While interventions like vaccines, targeted antivirals, and monoclonal antibodies have been effective for the general population, their benefits for these patients may not be as pronounced. Methods: The EPICOVIDEHA registry (National Clinical Trials Identifier, NCT04733729) gathers COVID-19 data from hematological malignancy patients since the pandemic's start worldwide. It spans various global locations, allowing comprehensive analysis over the first three years (2020–2022). Findings: The EPICOVIDEHA registry collected data from January 2020 to December 2022, involving 8767 COVID-19 cases in hematological malignancy patients from 152 centers across 41 countries, with 42% being female. Over this period, there was a significant reduction in critical infections and an overall decrease in mortality from 29% to 4%. However, hospitalization, particularly in the ICU, remained associated with higher mortality rates. Factors contributing to increased mortality included age, multiple comorbidities, active malignancy at COVID-19 onset, pulmonary symptoms, and hospitalization. On the positive side, vaccination with one to two doses or three or more doses, as well as encountering COVID-19 in 2022, were associated with improved survival. Interpretation: Patients with hematological malignancies still face elevated risks, despite reductions in critical infections and overall mortality rates over time. Hospitalization, especially in ICUs, remains a significant concern. The study underscores the importance of vaccination and the timing of COVID-19 exposure in 2022 for enhanced survival in this patient group. Ongoing monitoring and targeted interventions are essential to support this vulnerable population, emphasizing the critical role of timely diagnosis and prompt treatment in preventing severe COVID-19 cases. Funding: Not applicable. © 2024 The Author(s
