Search results for "threshold"

No linealidad y asimetría en el proceso generador del Índice Ibex35

2013

This paper analyzes the behavior of Ibex35 from January 1999 to December 2001, in order to check if it follows a different process from random walk so its return is not a white noise and it can be predictable, against the efficient market hypothesis. For that, a nonlinear generating process of return will be considered and a STAR-APARCH model will be specified. This model allows a nonlinear behavior in the conditional mean and in the conditional variance. The empirical results show that the Ibex35 follows a nonlinear and asymmetric process, both in the conditional mean as in the conditional variance, so the weak-version of efficient market hypothesis is rejected. El trabajo analiza el compo…

Reports of the AAAI 2009 Fall Symposia

2010

The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence was pleased to present the 2009 Fall Symposium Series, held Thursday through Saturday, November 5–7, at the Westin Arlington Gateway in Arlington, Virginia. The Symposium Series was preceded on Wednesday, November 4 by a one-day AI funding seminar. The titles of the seven symposia were as follows: (1) Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architectures, (2) Cognitive and Metacognitive Educational Systems, (3) Complex Adaptive Systems and the Threshold Effect: Views from the Natural and Social Sciences, (4) Manifold Learning and Its Applications, (5) Multirepresentational Architectures for Human-Level Intelligence, (6) The Uses of Comp…

A Low-Power Fully-Mosfet Voltage Reference Generator for 90 nm CMOS Technology

2006

An integrated voltage reference generator, designed for being incorporated in standard 90-nm CMOS technology flash memories, is described in this paper. A fully MOSFET based approach, using also subthreshold operated devices, has been adopted in order to achieve low-voltage and low-power requirements and to overcome the difficulties of conventional band-gap reference circuits. The proposed circuit, based on current signals, internally generates two currents with opposite dependence on temperature. The two currents are added, thus canceling almost completely temperature dependence, and then linearly converted into the output voltage. For a temperature variation between -20degC and 90degC, th…

A criterion for the assessment of the reliability of ASHRAE conduction transfer function coefficients

2010

This paper presents a new mathematical approach, which, when applied to conduction transfer functions (CTFs) of a multi-layered wall, is able to predict the reliability of building simulations. This new procedure can be used to identify the best set of CTF coefficients, which are a critical point at the core of the ASHRAE calculation methodology founded on the transfer function method. To evaluate the performance of different CTF coefficient sets, the authors performed a large number of thermal simulations on the multi-layered walls included in the ASHRAE Handbook, volume fundamentals, and on other walls typical of Mediterranean building heritage. Those data were employed to test an algorit…

Occupational hygiene in a waste incineration plant

2003

Abstract The Turku incineration plant was renovated in 1995 to meet the emission requirements of modern waste combustion facilities. It treats presorted municipal waste from 170,000 residents in the Turku area. In the plant, the incineration process produces several types of by-products having importance in terms of occupational hygiene. Although not obligated by the law, the management of the plant has a keen interest in occupational hygiene at the plant, which was studied from 1998 to 2001. Concentrations of microbes, endotoxins, and dust and the noise level were investigated in three different working areas. Microbe measurements were conducted with a six-stage impactor and using the CAMN…

Exposure to bioaerosols and noise at a Finnish dry waste treatment plant

2004

Repeated measurements were carried out during two different campaigns between 1998 and 2001 to assess the occupational hygiene at a Finnish dry waste treatment plant. The analytical determinations were done in four different places within the processing hall of the plant: near a conveyor belt, near a jigger screen, near an after-crusher and near a bailer. Measurements were also carried out in a coffee room for employees. Concentrations of bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes were determined by two methods (six-stage impactor and Camnea method) and levels of endotoxins, dust and noise were also investigated. High concentrations of microbes and endotoxins and the noise level were found to be a …

Microbial environmental contamination in Italian dental clinics: A multicenter study yielding recommendations for standardized sampling methods and t…

2012

A microbiological environmental investigation was carried out in ten dental clinics in Italy. Microbial contamination of water, air and surfaces was assessed in each clinic during the five working days, for one week per month, for a three-month period. Water and surfaces were sampled before and after clinical activity; air was sampled before, after, and during clinical activity. A wide variation was found in microbial environmental contamination, both within the participating clinics and for the different sampling times. Before clinical activity, microbial water contamination in tap water reached 51,200cfu/mL (colony forming units per milliliter), and that in Dental Unit Water Systems (DUWS…

‘Threshold effect’ of increasing tocopherol ingestion upon the microsomal epoxide hydrolase activity of rat liver

1990

Skin innervation at different depths correlates with small fibre function but not with pain in neuropathic pain patients

2012

Background: Neuropathy can lead not only to impaired function but also to sensory sensitization. We aimed to link reduced skin nerve fibre density in different levels to layer-specific functional impairment in neuropathic pain patients and tried to identify pain-specific functional and structural markers. Methods: In 12 healthy controls and 36 patients with neuropathic pain, we assessed clinical characteristics, thermal thresholds (quantitative sensory testing) and electrically induced pain and axon reflex erythema. At the most painful sites and at intra-individual control sites, skin biopsies were taken and innervation densities in the different skin layers were assessed. Moreover, neurona…

Local Extinction of Dragonfly and Damselfly Populations in Low- and High-Quality Habitat Patches

2010

Understanding the risk of extinction of a single population is an important problem in both theoretical and applied ecology. Local extinction risk depends on several factors, including population size, demographic or environmental stochasticity, natural catastrophe, or the loss of genetic diversity. The probability of local extinction may also be higher in low-quality sink habitats than in high-quality source habitats. We tested this hypothesis by comparing local extinction rates of 15 species of Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) between 1930-1975 and 1995-2003 in central Finland. Local extinction rates were higher in low-quality than in high-quality habitats. Nevertheless, for the thre…