596 research outputs found
Mechanisms of amygdala facilitated cortico-striatal plasticity:
No full textThe amygdala is known to mediate the enhancing effects of emotional arousal on learning and memory. The increased firing rate of neurons in the basolateral complex of the amygdala (BLA) is believed to facilitate memory storage in various target structures, such as the striatum. Changes in the efficacy of cortical inputs to the striatum are thought to underlie motor learning and habit formation, making this pathway a perfect model to test the effects of BLA activity on synaptic plasticity and learning. My thesis provides evidence that BLA synapses have an N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor – to α-amino-5-hydroxy-3-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid receptor ratio higher than that of cortical synapses onto the same striatal neurons (Chapter 3). This property allows BLA inputs to facilitate the induction of heterosynaptic long term potentiation in vitro (Chapters 4 and 5). I also show that temporal coupling of BLA and striatal neurons in vivo occurs during coherent bursts of gamma activity observed in the local field potentials. Changes in the coherence of BLA-striatal gamma paralleled learning of a striatal-dependent task (Chapter 6). Together, these findings point towards a new mechanism of amygdala-facilitated learning.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical references (p. 111-123)by Andrei Tiberiu Popesc
Does strict employment protection discourage job creation? Evidence from Croatia
Get PDFEmployment protection legislation in Croatia is among the most strict in Europe. Firing is difficult and costly, and flexible forms of employment are limited. Is this apparent rigidity reflected-as one would expect based on standard economic theory-in low labor market dynamics? Is job creation low and hiring limited? Is the job security of insiders achieved at the cost of outsiders not being able to enter thelabor market? The author attempts to answer these questions by examining job flows. If the employment protection legislation is binding, then job and worker turnover should be low. He shows that this is indeed the case. Hiring is limited and the average job tenure is very long in Croatia. Job destruction is low, however job creation is still lower. The result is accumulation of unemployment, in large part due to new labor market entrants not being able to find a job. The high degree of job protection also seems to strengthen the bargaining position of insiders and results in relatively high wages. So, wages in Croatia are higher than among its competitors, even after adjusting for productivity. These high labor costs are likely to contribute to limited job creation in existing firms, but also are likely to discourage the entry of-and thus job creation in-new firms. The author presents evidence that firm growth has been indeed limited in Croatia, contributing to the low employment level. The author examines other potential causes of high unemployment in Croatia (the unemployment benefit system, labor taxation, the wage structure, and skill and spatial mismatches). He argues that they do not play a substantial part in accounting for poor labor market outcomes in Croatia. The author concludes that the stringent employment protection legislation is the key labor market institution behind low job creation and high unemployment. Based on this he recommends specific measures aimed at liberalizing the labor market to foster job creation and employment.Labor Management and Relations,Labor Policies,Labor Markets,Environmental Economics&Policies,Trade Finance and Investment,Labor Markets,Labor Management and Relations,Labor Standards,Banks&Banking Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies
Degradation at transition zones in railway tracks: 1-D and 2-D model comparison
No full textTransition zones in railway tracks are areas with considerable variation of track properties (i.e., foundation stiffness) encountered near structures such as bridges. Due to strong amplification of the railway track’s response, transition zones are prone to rapid degradation. To study this degradation, researchers and engineers have developed models ranging from simple 1-D models (e.g., beam on Winkler foundation) to complex 3-D models with accurate geometry and material behaviour. This study compares a 1-D model to a 2-D one with the aim of assessing if the degradation patterns predicted by the more simplistic model are accurate. We choose a very simple geometry for the 2-D model such that the comparison is restricted to (mainly) the influence of the soil layer (present in the 2-D model) on the predicted degradation at transition zones; incorporating the soil layer makes the response of the supporting structure frequency and wavenumber dependent as well as non-local, characteristics which are not usually incorporated in 1-D models. Preliminary results show that the degradation predicted by the 1-D model is significantly larger than the one in the 2-D model.Dynamics of StructuresOffshore EngineeringEngineering Structure
Tarkovsky’s Influence on American Culture (“Weird” and “Eerie” Cosmos of Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan, and Andrei Tarkovsky)
Get PDFIn the United States, attention to Andrei Tarkovsky’s work has been extensive: Tarkovsky is an important reference point for both filmmakers and film theorists. Paul Schrader refers to him as a transcendental filmmaker and, moreover, introduces the notion of “Tarkovsky’s ring”, with which he correlates transcendental slow cinema that is experimental in nature. The forms and ways that American directors refer to Tarkovsky, who regard him as a cultural resource, are diverse: from overlaps at the level of visual images and frame composition to correspondences at the conceptual level and coincidence of worldviews. The author compares Christopher Nolan’s film Interstellar (2014) and Jonathan Nolan’s screenplay of the same name with Andrei Tarkovsky’s films Solaris (1972) and Stalker (1979). The author suggests that the connection between Nolan’s cinematography and Tarkovsky’s work is evident in the encounters with the weird, characterized by “the presence of that which does not correspond (does not belong) to reality”, and the eerie, characterized by a “failure of absence” or, on the contrary, a “failure of presence”, and appearing in spaces that are partially or completely devoid of human beings. The directors’ recourse to the weird and the eerie as narrative modes, as well as the solastalgic and nostalgic experiences of the character associated with the “home” from which his space journey begins, allow us to speak of the creation of a special “atmosphere”, in the terminology of Gernot Böhme. The absence of image of aliens and the theme of contact with aliens in Nolan’s and Tarkovsky’s “space odysseys”, and the foregrounding of an intimate story about human feelings and relationships, in contrast with the cosmic scale of the universe, contributes to the transfer of the narrative to a metaphysical level. Nolan, like Tarkovsky, departs largely from the conventions of the science fiction genre. A close analysis of the script and film “Interstellar” leads the author to conclude that Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan’s approach to the theme of outer space, bringing them closer to the “Tarkovsky ring”, blurs the boundaries of the science fiction genre
Glossolalia of Andrei Bely (under the prism of comparative study)
Get PDFAutorka sa v štúdii zaoberá experimentálnou básnickou poémou ruského symbolistického spisovateľa Andreja Belého (1880–1934) Glossolália z roku 1917. Dielo odráža vplyv antropozofie, ktorej básnik, stúpenec R. Steinera, nadlho prepadol. Zameral sa na eurytmiu, ktorá vyjadruje vnútorné zvuky vonkajškovo-telesne, a tiež na Steinerovu kozmogóniu. Originálne umelecké spracovanie obsiahlo široký medziliterárny a medzikultúrny kontext (Biblia v steinerovskom výklade, Kabala, Kniha stvorenia, Aurora J. Böhmeho atď.). V štúdii sa rozoberajú podoby reflexie Belého die¬la u ruských literárnych odborníkov, ale i v českej vede (D. Kšicová), pričom podstatnú odozvu Glossolália zaznamenala v priestore západnej slavistiky. Pod prizmou komparatívneho skúmania autorka dospieva k interpretácii diela ako jedného z európskych projektov hľadania univerzálneho (slovami U. Eca dokonalého) jazyka.The experimental long poem Glossolália (1917) by the Russian symbolist author Andrei Bely (1880–1934) reflects the great influence of anthroposophy on the poet, a follower of Rudolf Steiner. The poet focuses on eurythmy, which expresses interior sounds through the body, and also Steiner’s cosmogony. This original artistic work encompasses a wide inter-literary and inter-cultural context (The Bible in Steiner’s interpretation, Kabala, The Book of Genesis, Aurora by J. Böhme, etc.). The article analyses the forms of reflection on Bely\u27s work by Russian as well as Czech literary scholars (Danuše Kšicová), while a considerable response to Glossolália can be found also among Western Slavicists. Through the prism of comparative analysis the article interprets the work as one of the European projects of searching for the universal (in the words of Umberto Eco ideal) language
Building an Initial Fitness Function Based on an Identified Melodic Feature Set for Classical and Non-Classical Melody Classification
No full textFrancis Leneghan, "The Dynastic Drama of Beowulf" (Anglo-Saxon Studies 39), Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2022 (paperback edition), pp. vii, 300.
Get PDFDespite the considerable amount of scholarship dedicated to the most important Old English poem, Francis Leneghan manages to make a major contribution to Beowulf exegesis. This book discusses at large the three royal dynasties in the poem (the Scyldings, the Scylfings, and the Hrethlings), and the role their struggles play in the larger landscape of Scandinavian royal legends. The introduction contextualises the manuscript, and offers information on the text’s origin, while also providing a brief overview of earlier critical reception. It then moves on to a succinct discussion of the major themes of the poem, including kingship and dynasties. The reader is given extensive guidance through ample annotations and footnotes. Chapter One distinguishes between three stages in the life cycle of a dynasty: founding, maturity and the inevitable fall. Thus, the poem begins with the story of Scyld Scefing, the destitute child who became the founder of a dynasty. The youthful phase of the dynasty is in place, and Scyld’s offspring thrive after his death. Beowulf therefore becomes a poem about the life cycle of dynasties, and how and why they differ.
Author Biography
Andrei CRIȘAN
Faculty of Letters, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. [email protected].
Faculty of Letters, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Email: [email protected]
Francis Leneghan, "The Dynastic Drama of Beowulf" (Anglo-Saxon Studies 39), Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2022 (paperback edition), pp. vii, 300.
Get PDFDespite the considerable amount of scholarship dedicated to the most important Old English poem, Francis Leneghan manages to make a major contribution to Beowulf exegesis. This book discusses at large the three royal dynasties in the poem (the Scyldings, the Scylfings, and the Hrethlings), and the role their struggles play in the larger landscape of Scandinavian royal legends. The introduction contextualises the manuscript, and offers information on the text’s origin, while also providing a brief overview of earlier critical reception. It then moves on to a succinct discussion of the major themes of the poem, including kingship and dynasties. The reader is given extensive guidance through ample annotations and footnotes. Chapter One distinguishes between three stages in the life cycle of a dynasty: founding, maturity and the inevitable fall. Thus, the poem begins with the story of Scyld Scefing, the destitute child who became the founder of a dynasty. The youthful phase of the dynasty is in place, and Scyld’s offspring thrive after his death. Beowulf therefore becomes a poem about the life cycle of dynasties, and how and why they differ.
Author Biography
Andrei CRIȘAN
Faculty of Letters, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. [email protected].
Faculty of Letters, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Email: [email protected]
Francis Leneghan, "The Dynastic Drama of Beowulf" (Anglo-Saxon Studies 39), Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2022 (paperback edition), pp. vii, 300.
Get PDFDespite the considerable amount of scholarship dedicated to the most important Old English poem, Francis Leneghan manages to make a major contribution to Beowulf exegesis. This book discusses at large the three royal dynasties in the poem (the Scyldings, the Scylfings, and the Hrethlings), and the role their struggles play in the larger landscape of Scandinavian royal legends. The introduction contextualises the manuscript, and offers information on the text’s origin, while also providing a brief overview of earlier critical reception. It then moves on to a succinct discussion of the major themes of the poem, including kingship and dynasties. The reader is given extensive guidance through ample annotations and footnotes. Chapter One distinguishes between three stages in the life cycle of a dynasty: founding, maturity and the inevitable fall. Thus, the poem begins with the story of Scyld Scefing, the destitute child who became the founder of a dynasty. The youthful phase of the dynasty is in place, and Scyld’s offspring thrive after his death. Beowulf therefore becomes a poem about the life cycle of dynasties, and how and why they differ.
Author Biography
Andrei CRIȘAN
Faculty of Letters, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. [email protected].
Faculty of Letters, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Email: [email protected]
Towards Automated Counter-Melody Generation for Monophonic Melodies
No full textAlgorithmic composition has focused on creating music from algorithms, stemming from the capacity to convert notes into numbers and vice versa, thus allowing simple to complex algorithmic manipulations. The focus of these studies has either been the creation of melodies, chords, accompaniments or entire songs. This study focuses on a relatively underexplored topic on the algorithmic generation of a counter-melody from a given melody. Using a method based on existing knowledge of generating chords and music theory on compatible notes and chord progressions, combined with concepts of machine learning and tree traversal techniques for generating chords, this study was able to generate 200 counter-melodies from 100 inputs, involving two generation techniques per input. The results show that counter-melodies were successfully generated based on chord progression generation and note selection approaches, and after subjecting the counter-melodies to proper subject evaluation, the average scores of 2.89 and 3.02 on a 5-point evaluation criteria reveal that the counter-melodies are musically fit for the original melodies they were based from
- …
