Mean

collection of problem solving tools and the most sophisticated useful method in achieving process stability and improving the process capability through the reduction of variability. In the manufacturing process, every product doesn't meet the desired range of quality consistently with the customer specification. This inconsistency occurs due to several sources of variations such as machines, operators, materials etc. The Ultimate target of control chart is to monitor the variations, and subsequently control the process. On account of applying SPC methods, this study deals with the control and improvement of the quality of bolt by inspecting the bolt's height, diameter and weight from a bolt manufacturing company. In this inspection, we have developed X bar chart, S and Range control chart for each three variables. Furthermore, we have also focused on Estimated Weighted Moving Average (EWMA) for detecting small process shifts and multivariate Hotelling's T 2 for simultaneous monitoring of height and diameter of bolt. These inspections show that either the process is in control or out of control. For the out of control situation, the assignable reasons behind it should be identified and prevented by taking necessary steps.

A generalized geometric distribution is introduced and briefly studied. First it is noted that it is a proper probability distribution. Then its probability generating function, mean and variance are derived. The probability distribution of the sum Y, of r independent random variables, distributed as generalized geometric, is derived. Finally, sufficient conditions are presented under which we can derive the limiting distribution of Y, -kr as r ~ o0.

This paper is written for the purpose of comparing the difference between private and public banks by taking top Indian Public and private banks and using certain parameters which are very valuable for a bank. We know the banking sector is any country is the backbone of the economy. But in the case of country like India it's the soul. Just because the nature of Indian population and the economic condition they heavily depend on banks to boast the economic activities. In this study top 3 banks from both public and private sectors where taken as they are leaders in the banking industry in terms of reach and data was extracted from the annual report from 2016 to 2020. Statistical techniques where used to interpret the data. This study revealed even with the vast difference in resources how private banks are performing way better then public banks. The study has done proper literature gap review and explored the area which was not done before. This will very helpful for managers and researchers to take a look at the whole sector as one and see and find out what fundamentally can be done further in this area.

Public reporting burden for the collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington VA 22202-4302. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to a penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number.

The negative binomial distribution of order k is introduced and briefly studied. First it is shown that it is a proper probability distribution. Then its probability generating function, mean and variance are derived. Finally it is shown that the number of trials until the rth kth consecotive success ( r s 1, k L 1) in independent trials with constant success probability p ( 0 e p -z 1) is distributed as negative binomial distribution of order k. The present paper generalizes results of SHANE (1973), PHILIPPOU and MUWAFI (1982), and PHILIPPOU, GEORQHIOU and PHILIPPOU (1982).

Direct numerical simulations of bubbly flows are reviewed and recent progress is discussed. Simulations of homogeneous bubble distribution in fully periodic domains at relatively low Reynolds numbers have already yielded 9 considerable insight into the dynamics of such flows. Many aspects of the evolution converge rapidly with the size of the systems and results for the rise velocity, the velocity fluctuations, as well as the average relative orientation 11 have been obtained. The challenge now is to examine bubbles at higher Reynolds numbers, bubbles in channels and confined geometry, and bubble interactions with turbulent flows. We briefly review numerical simulations used 13 for direct numerical methods of multiphase flows, with a particular emphasis on methods that use the so-called "one-field" formulation of the governing equations, and then discuss studies of bubble in periodic domains, along 15 with recent work on wobbly bubbles, bubbles in laminar and turbulent channel flows, and bubble formation in boiling.

Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing the burden, to Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports (0704-0188), 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number.

The traditional methods of security assessment using offline data and SCADA data have become inconsistent for real time operations. The latest and propelled strategy in electric power system used for security assessment is “synchrophasor” measurement technique. The device called Phasor measurement unit (PMU) provides the time stamped data for proper monitoring, control and protection of the power system. PMU measures positive sequence voltage and current time synchronized to within a microsecond. The time synchronization of data is done with the help of timing signals from Global Positioning System (GPS). However, Phasor measurements units cannot be placed on every bus in a network mainly because of economical constraints. In this paper we provide a literature survey of determining the minimum number of Phasor measurement units to be placed in a given network so that the system becomes observable.

In radar signal detection, the problem is to automatically detect a target in a nonstationary noise and clutter background while maintaining a constant probability of false alarm. Classical detection using a matched filter receiver and a fixed threshold is not applicable due to the nonstationary nature of the background noise. Therefore, adaptive threshold techniques are needed to maintain a constant false-alarm rate (CFAR). One approach to adaptive detection in nonstationary noise and clutter background is to compare the processed target signal to an adaptive threshold. In the cell-averaging CFAR processing, an estimate of the background noise from the leading and the lagging reference windows is used to set the adaptive threshold. A threshold multiplier (or scaling factor) is used to scale the threshold to achieve the desired probability of false alarm. In the first part of this report, we have proposed two modified cell-averaging detectors for multiple target situations. The firs...

This study aimed at correlating the presence of extrahepatic manifestations with hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotypes in patients with chronic HBV infection.This was a national (France), multicenter, retrospective, cross-sectional study. HBV genotypes were determined in 190 patients HBsAg-positive for at least 6 months and documented before any treatment.Patients were aged 42±15 years and mainly male (77%). Alcohol intake was high in 6% of them, ALT elevated in 73%; 27% were cirrhotic. All HBV genotypes were found, mainly A (24%), D (29%), C (11%), and E (10%). Thirty (16%) patients had clinical extrahepatic manifestations, mainly sensory-motor deficiency, sicca syndrome, myalgia, glomerulonephritis, and arthralgia-arthritis. Their presence was not related to any epidemiologic, viral (including genotypes) or hepatic factor, but to a higher platelet count (P=0.004). Twenty-nine (15%) patients had biological extrahepatic manifestations, mainly anti-smooth muscle, antinuclear, and anti-nucleosome antibodies. Their presence was related only to anti-HBe antibodies positivity (P=0.007) or elevated platelet count (P=0.003). Carrying precore mutant HBV increased by 2.8 folds the risk to have at least one extrahepatic biological manifestation.No relationships between HBV genotypes and the presence of extrahepatic manifestations were evidenced in patients with chronic HBV infection.

ii REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing the burden, to Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports (0704-0188), 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number.

Diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DT-MRI) is unique in providing information about both the structural integrity and the orientation of white matter fibers in vivo and, through “tractography”, revealing the trajectories of white matter tracts. DT-MRI is therefore a promising technique for detecting differences in white matter architecture between different subject populations. However, while studies involving analyses of group averages of scalar quantities derived from DT-MRI data have been performed, as yet there have been no similar studies involving the whole tensor. Here we present the first step towards realizing such a study, i.e., the spatial normalization of whole tensor data sets. The approach is illustrated by spatial normalization of 10 DT-MRI data sets to a standard anatomical template. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches are described for assessing the results of spatial normalization. Techniques are then described for combining the spatially normalized data sets according to three definitions of average, i.e., the mean, median, and mode of a distribution of tensors. The current absence of, and hence need for, appropriate statistical tests for comparison of results derived from group-averaged DT-MRI data sets is then discussed. Finally, the feasibility of performing tractography on the group-averaged DT-MRI data set is investigated and the possibility and implications of generating a generic map of brain connectivity from a group of subjects is considered.

The entire earth consist of so many varieties of rock minerals which compositely for an entire rock mass which may be natural or artificial rock slopes which are at the level of the ground itself or it may be a deepest cuts or the hill slopes above the ground level. The factor of safety plays a major role in rock slope analysis. Due to the uncertainty involved in the calculation of rock parameters the application of factor of safety is widely used in analysis. Theses factor of safety are determined here by using Geo5 demo version software based on the uncertainty involved in the various rock parameters. The simple reliability analysis will provides the means of combined effect of uncertainty involved in calculations. The additional parameters such as standard deviation, mean, reliability index are used to determine the probability of failure of the rock slope. This probability of failure will helps to determine the reliability of the rock slope which in turn gives the idea of the stability of rock slope for any future recommendations regarding the actions for their stability.

Satellite images are playing a major role in region structure planning, change detection which is used in defense for protection and also used for study and analysis of geographical structures of earth and space. Clouds are challenging issue in most of the satellite imaging based applications since appearance of cloud on input image will be treated as noise. Accurate detection and removal of cloud region either from an input image or from image acquisition is an important pre processing phase on most of the applications especially in remote sensing. Algorithms such as, Mean, Second Highest (SH) value, Modified Maximum Average (MMA) and Hybrid methods (combination of Mean and MMA) are widely in use for cloud detection and removal. The result of exiting methods shows that Mean and SH algorithm will be appreciable for removing less number of clouds which have less in brightness (low pixel values). However, MMA and Hybrid algorithms are used for removing more number of clouds in an image that have both less and high brightness (Low and High pixel values). This paper focuses new enhanced method for cloud removal. The result of proposed method shows that it is able to remove the clouds of both low and high brightness values without affecting quality of the images and it is also suitable for all types of satellite images.

The long-term foetal surveillance is often to be recommended. Hence, the fully non-invasive acoustic recording, through maternal abdomen, represents a valuable alternative to the ultrasonic cardiotocography. Unfortunately, the recorded heart sound signal is heavily loaded by noise, thus the determination of the foetal heart rate raises serious signal processing issues. In this paper, we present a new algorithm for foetal heart rate estimation from foetal phonocardiographic recordings. A filtering is employed as a first step of the algorithm to reduce the background noise. A block for first heart sounds enhancing is then used to further reduce other components of foetal heart sound signals. A complex logic block, guided by a number of rules concerning foetal heart beat regularity, is proposed as a successive block, for the detection of most probable first heart sounds from several candidates. A final block is used for exact first heart sound timing and in turn foetal heart rate estimation. Filtering and enhancing blocks are actually implemented by means of different techniques, so that different processing paths are proposed. Furthermore, a reliability index is introduced to quantify the consistency of the estimated foetal heart rate and, based on statistic parameters; [,] a software quality index is designed to indicate the most reliable analysis procedure (that is, combining the best processing path and the most accurate time mark of the first heart sound, provides the lowest estimation errors). The algorithm performances have been tested on phonocardiographic signals recorded in a local gynaecology private practice from a sample group of about 50 pregnant women. Phonocardiographic signals have been recorded simultaneously to ultrasonic cardiotocographic signals in order to compare the two foetal heart rate series (the one estimated by our algorithm and the other provided by cardiotocographic device). Our results show that the proposed algorithm, in particular some analysis procedures, provides reliable foetal heart rate signals, very close to the reference cardiotocographic recordings.

As more high-resolution observations become available, our view of ocean mesoscale turbulence more closely becomes that of a "sea of eddies." The presence of the coherent vortices significantly affects the dynamics and the statistical properties of mesoscale flows, with important consequences on tracer dispersion and ocean stirring and mixing processes. Here we review some of the properties of particle transport in vortex-dominated flows, concentrating on the statistical properties induced by the presence of an ensemble of vortices. We discuss a possible parameterization of particle dispersion in vortex-dominated flows, adopting the view that ocean mesoscale turbulence is a two-component fluid which includes intense, localized vortical structures with non-local effects immersed in a Kolmogorovian, low-energy turbulent background which has mostly local effects. Finally, we report on some recent results regarding the role of coherent mesoscale eddies in marine ecosystem functioning, which is related to the effects that vortices have on nutrient supply. frequency mesoscale variability (i.e. the medium-size fluctuations in the general circulation), for the mesoscale and sub-mesoscale coherent vortices (vortical motions at scales smaller than the internal Rossby radius of deformation, McWilliams 1985), or for a generic complicated motion in the presence of turbulence.

This paper is written for the purpose of comparing the difference between private and public banks by taking top Indian Public and private banks and using certain parameters which are very valuable for a bank. We know the banking sector is any country is the backbone of the economy. But in the case of country like India it's the soul. Just because the nature of Indian population and the economic condition they heavily depend on banks to boast the economic activities. In this study top 3 banks from both public and private sectors where taken as they are leaders in the banking industry in terms of reach and data was extracted from the annual report from 2016 to 2020. Statistical techniques where used to interpret the data. This study revealed even with the vast difference in resources how private banks are performing way better then public banks. The study has done proper literature gap review and explored the area which was not done before. This will very helpful for managers and researchers to take a look at the whole sector as one and see and find out what fundamentally can be done further in this area.

In TDMA (time division multiple access), stations transmit their messages on a shared communication channel using their dedicated time slots. All the previous delay analyses of TDMA have been based on the assumption that either the interarrival times of the traffic is exponential or the message lengths are geometrically distributed. This paper presents a generalized model in which the above assumptions are relaxed. This model allows us to compute the exact performance characteristics in closed forms for the mean and the variance of the queue size and the message delay for the TDMA. The model is used to define and compare five bursty traffic distributions. These distributions are used to study their effects on the buffer size and the end-to-end delay for the Mars Regional Network.

The main goal of investors is to minimize risk at any point of a given returns or/and maximize returns at any given risk. Asset allocation involves allotting investments among different assets. Optimal asset allocation minimizes risk of portfolio to the barest level and maximizes returns better. The aim of this paper is to investigate the two asset allocations; Black Litterman model (BLM) and Mean Variance model (MVM) and examine the model that minimizes risk better and maximizes return optimally. The data used are monthly data of groundnut oil, palm oil and palm kernel. The study shows that the BLM minimizes risk of portfolio better and maximizes return optimally than MVM.

This paper explores the new technique for CBIR based on bins approach. Bins approach is based on the novel idea of dividing the image histograms into four parts to form 64 bins. Each image is separated into three planes and a histogram of each of them is calculated. Each histogram is divided into four parts with part ids 0, 1, 2 and 3. Three planes, each divided in four parts generates 4 3 bins.

Wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) is a recently developed technology to detect small intestine diseases, such as bleeding. In this paper, a scheme for automatic bleeding detection from WCE video is proposed based on different statistical measures computed from a new red to green (R/G) pixel ratio intensity plane of RGB color images. Different statistical parameters, namely mean, mode, maximum, minimum, skewness, median, variance, and kurtosis are used to extract variation in spatial characteristics in R/G intensity plane of bleeding and non-bleeding WCE RGB images. Depending on the ability to provide significantly distinguishable characteristics, in the proposed feature vector, median, variance, and kurtosis of R/G ratio values corresponding to a WCE image are considered. For the purpose of classification, K-nearest neighbor (KNN) classifier is employed. From extensive experimentation on several WCE videos collected from a publicly available database, it is observed that the proposed method can successfully detect bleeding and non-bleeding images with high level of accuracy, sensitivity and specificity in comparison to that of some of the existing methods.

A generalized geometric distribution is introduced and briefly studied. First it is noted that it is a proper probability distribution. Then its probability generating function, mean and variance are derived. The probability distribution of the sum Y, of r independent random variables, distributed as generalized geometric, is derived. Finally, sufficient conditions are presented under which we can derive the limiting distribution of Y, -kr as r ~ o0.

silvia mayén, carmen Batanero, carmen díaz conflictos semióticos de estudiantes mexicanos en un proBlema de comparación de datos ordinales semiotic conflicts of mexican students for a proBlem of comparison of ordinal data RESUMEN. En este trabajo analizamos las respuestas a un problema de comparación de datos ordinales en 643 estudiantes mexicanos de Educación Secundaria y Bachillerato. Utilizando las ideas del Enfoque Onto-Semiótico propuesto por Godino y sus colaboradores, realizamos un análisis de las respuestas abiertas, clasificándolas según la medida de tendencia central utilizada y los conflictos semióticos detectados. Mediante el test Chi-cuadrado estudiamos la relación entre el tipo de respuesta y el grupo de estudiantes. Observamos mejores resultados entre los alumnos de Secundaria, quienes utilizan en mayor medida la mediana y la moda, aunque también dejan con mayor frecuencia respuestas en blanco.

In modeling teletraffic performance of mobile cellular networks, previous work has made use of the concept of dwell time-a random variable that describes the amount of time a platform remains in a cell, sector, or microcell. The dwell time was characterized as a negative exponential variate or the sum of negative exponential variates. With a suitable state description, this allows use of the memoryless property of negative exponential variates with the result that the problem of computing traffic performance characteristics can be cast in an underlying framework based on multidimensional birth-death processes. Many alternative system configurations and issues can be investigated using this approach. In small cell (microcellular) systems, however, cell sizes tend to be much less regular in shape and size, and differences in paths traversed by mobiles have a large impact on dwell-time realizations. Succinctly, some mobile platform classes have mobility characteristics that are highly variable, in that dwell-time standard deviation is greater than the mean. The previous models, in which dwell time is a negative exponential or sum of exponential variates, may not be adequate in such cases because they can only accommodate dwell-time variates for which the standard deviation does not exceed the mean. We seek to extend the analytical framework so that highly variable mobilities can be considered while insights, tools, approaches, and formulations that are facilitated by the framework can be exploited. The approach allows computation of major teletraffic performance characteristics for cellular communications in which mobility issues are important. In this paper, we consider multiple platform types as well as cutoff priority for handoffs. Additional issues can be considered using this same approach. Computational issues are discussed, and some theoretical performance characteristics are obtained to demonstrate the method and compare with previous work.

La estimación del tamaño del efecto (TE) se considera actualmente como un complemento necesario a las pruebas de hipótesis, no obstante, su uso se encuentra aún poco extendido entre los investigadores en Psicología. Este trabajo ofrece una revisión teórica de las estimaciones del TE para el caso de la diferencia entre dos medias, considerando los algoritmos más importantes y su interpretación. Complementariamente, se presenta y describe un nuevo programa para el cálculo del TE dentro del sistema ViSta. Este programa es simple de utilizar y se encuentra disponible de forma gratuita. Se espera que el trabajo contribuya a difundir estos procedimientos y aliente su uso entre los investigadores en Psicología.

The paper examines the impact of Superhero cartoons such as Bheem, Little Singham and Vir
on school going children in India. Children lack perceptual defence to mass media messages, unlike
the adults. They learn to speak, to dress, to eat and to behave from these cartoon characters. Online
survey has been conducted on 66 respondents to gather data. Percentages and Central tendencies of
data have been calculated for data analysis. For detailed study an expert named Kiran Gupta has
been interviewed. The both results show cartoons play an important role in school children‘s life

the structural integrity and the orientation of white matter fibers in vivo and, through "tractography", revealing the trajectories of white matter tracts. DT-MRI is therefore a promising technique for detecting differences in white matter architecture between different subject populations. However, while studies involving analyses of group averages of scalar quantities derived from DT-MRI data have been performed, as yet there have been no similar studies involving the whole tensor. Here we present the first step towards realizing such a study, i.e., the spatial normalization of whole tensor data sets. The approach is illustrated by spatial normalization of 10 DT-MRI data sets to a standard anatomical template. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches are described for assessing the results of spatial normalization. Techniques are then described for combining the spatially normalized data sets according to three definitions of average, i.e., the mean, median, and mode of a distribution of tensors. The current absence of, and hence need for, appropriate statistical tests for comparison of results derived from group-averaged DT-MRI data sets is then discussed. Finally, the feasibility of performing tractography on the group-averaged DT-MRI data set is investigated and the possibility and implications of generating a generic map of brain connectivity from a group of subjects is considered. © 2002 Elsevier Science (USA)

Averaging (in statistical terms, estimation of the location of data) is one of the most commonly used procedures in neuroscience and the basic procedure for obtaining event-related potentials (ERP). Only the arithmetic mean is routinely used in the current practice of ERP research, though its sensitivity to outliers is well-known. Weighted averaging is sometimes used as a more robust procedure, however, it can be not sufficiently appropriate when the signal is nonstationary within a trial. Trimmed estimators provide an alternative way to average data. In this paper, a number of such location estimators (trimmed mean, Winsorized mean and recently introduced trimmed L-mean) are reviewed, as well as arithmetic mean and median. A new robust location estimator tanh, which allows the data-dependent optimization, is proposed for averaging of small number of trials. The possibilities to improve signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of averaged waveforms using trimmed location estimators are demonstrated for epochs randomly drawn from a set of real auditory evoked potential data.

Data is increasing day by day. So we can’t store them in local storage. But the cloud provides a huge resource, flexibility, and software. So we don’t need to make a costly and more complicated system. On the other hand, because of handle various data mining issues, we need a statistical model of data. Statistical calculation tells us about the past and helps to predict our future. The most basic term in statistical information is the mean calculation. So to analyze the mean over large data, resource constraint clients take help from the cloud. But when we want to know about mean from large data stored in the cloud, there is always a security issue of data. Because the cloud is not fully trusted. So, for the security issue data is saved in cloud in encrypted form. So analysis can be invoked in encrypted data. But we want to know the actual analysis result. So the solution is the homomorphism encryption technique. For this, a central key generator is used to give an encrypted keys to clients and decrypted keys to the analyzer. Also, analyzer is not fully trusted. In this paper, we proposed a protocol to securely analyze client’s data on the cloud by securely share private keys.

the structural integrity and the orientation of white matter fibers in vivo and, through "tractography", revealing the trajectories of white matter tracts. DT-MRI is therefore a promising technique for detecting differences in white matter architecture between different subject populations. However, while studies involving analyses of group averages of scalar quantities derived from DT-MRI data have been performed, as yet there have been no similar studies involving the whole tensor. Here we present the first step towards realizing such a study, i.e., the spatial normalization of whole tensor data sets. The approach is illustrated by spatial normalization of 10 DT-MRI data sets to a standard anatomical template. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches are described for assessing the results of spatial normalization. Techniques are then described for combining the spatially normalized data sets according to three definitions of average, i.e., the mean, median, and mode of a distribution of tensors. The current absence of, and hence need for, appropriate statistical tests for comparison of results derived from group-averaged DT-MRI data sets is then discussed. Finally, the feasibility of performing tractography on the group-averaged DT-MRI data set is investigated and the possibility and implications of generating a generic map of brain connectivity from a group of subjects is considered. © 2002 Elsevier Science (USA)

This study examined the effects of hypohydration on thermoregulation during cold exposure. In addition, the independent influences of hypohydration-associated hypertonicity and hypovolemia were investigated. Nine male volunteers were monitored for 30 min at 25°C, then for 120 min at 7°C, under three counterbalanced conditions: euhydration (Eu), hypertonic hypohydration (HH), and isotonic hypohydration (IH). Hypohydration was achieved 12 h before cold exposure by inducing sweating (HH) or by ingestion of furosemide (IH). Body weight decrease (4.1 ± 0.2%) caused by hypohydration was similar for HH and IH, but differences (P < 0.05) were found between HH and IH in plasma osmolality (292 ± 1 vs. 284 ± 1 mosmol/kgH 2 0) and plasma volume reduction (-8 ± 2 vs. -18 ± 3%). Heat debt (349 ± 14 among) did not differ (P > 0.05) among trials. Mean skin temperature decreased throughout cold exposure during Eu but plateaued after 90 min during HH and IH. Forearmfinger temperature gradient tended (P = 0.06) to be greater during Eu (10.0 ± 0.7°C) than during HH or IH (8.9 ± 0.7°C). This suggests weaker vasoconstrictor tone during hypohydration than during Eu. Final mean skin temperature was higher for HH than for Eu or IH (23.5 ± 0.3, 22.6 ± 0.4, and 22.9 ± 0.3°C, respectively), and insulation was lower on HH than on IH (0.13 ± 0.01 vs. 0.15 ± COrC-W^-m" 2 , respectively), but not with Eu (0.14 ± O-OrC-W-Lm" 2 ). This provides some evidence that hypertonicity impairs the vasoconstrictor response to cold. Although mild hypohydration did not affect body heat balance during 2-h whole body exposure to moderate cold, hypohydration-associated hypertonicity may have subtle effects on vasoconstriction that could become important during a more severe cold exposure. hypovolemia; hypertonicity; furosemide; cold-induced vasodilation

We present a general second order statistical analysis of the 2D Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) resulted after the computation of the correlation functions in all possible cases: inter-scale and inter-band dependency, inter-scale and intraband dependency and intra-scale and intra-band dependency. The expected value and the variance of the wavelet coefficients are also computed. The resulting equations are useful for the design of different signal processing systems based on the wavelet theory.

In this paper, the phenomenology of wave propagation through foliage and forest ground reflectivity is investigated for assessing the feasibility of foliage-covered target detection at millimeter-wave frequencies. An experimental procedure for simultaneous measurements of foliage attenuation and ground reflectivity is outlined. This measurement procedure is implemented for two different tree stands, one mostly coniferous and the other deciduous, using a nadir-looking, high-resolution, 35-GHz radar positioned above the tree canopy. Statistics of the two-way attenuation and ground reflectivity for these two well-characterized stands are derived. Strong spatial and angular fluctuations in the two-way foliage attenuation coefficient are observed. The mean, standard deviation, and median of the measured two-way attenuation factor at Stand (mostly coniferous trees with 0.140 trees/m 2 stocking density and 45.45 Kg/m 2 green biomass) are 25 4, 18 3, and 48 2 dB, respectively, while the mean, standard deviation, and median of the measured two-way attenuation factor at Stand 2 (deciduous trees with 0.1055 trees/m 2 stocking density and 30.90 Kg/m 2 green biomass) are 15 4, 12 7, and 33 6 dB, respectively. The mean attenuation rates of Stand 1 and Stand 2, derived from the measured two-way attenuation factor, are 0.40 and 0.24 Np/m, respectively. Only a small percentage of the data had two-way foliage attenuation values exceeding 70 dB. The mean, standard deviation, and median of the power reflectivity of the forest floor at Stand 1 are 14 2, 11 0, and 21 1 dB, respectively, while for Stand 2, the same statistical measures are 16 0, 14 3, and 22 2 dB, respectively. The results demonstrate the potential for using MMW nadir-looking radars for the detection of targets underneath foliage-cover.

The long-term foetal surveillance is often to be recommended. Hence, the fully non-invasive acoustic recording, through maternal abdomen, represents a valuable alternative to the ultrasonic cardiotocography. Unfortunately, the recorded heart sound signal is heavily loaded by noise, thus the determination of the foetal heart rate raises serious signal processing issues. In this paper, we present a new algorithm for foetal heart rate estimation from foetal phonocardiographic recordings. A filtering is employed as a first step of the algorithm to reduce the background noise. A block for first heart sounds enhancing is then used to further reduce other components of foetal heart sound signals. A complex logic block, guided by a number of rules concerning foetal heart beat regularity, is proposed as a successive block, for the detection of most probable first heart sounds from several candidates. A final block is used for exact first heart sound timing and in turn foetal heart rate estimation. Filtering and enhancing blocks are actually implemented by means of different techniques, so that different processing paths are proposed. Furthermore, a reliability index is introduced to quantify the consistency of the estimated foetal heart rate and, based on statistic parameters; [,] a software quality index is designed to indicate the most reliable analysis procedure (that is, combining the best processing path and the most accurate time mark of the first heart sound, provides the lowest estimation errors). The algorithm performances have been tested on phonocardiographic signals recorded in a local gynaecology private practice from a sample group of about 50 pregnant women. Phonocardiographic signals have been recorded simultaneously to ultrasonic cardiotocographic signals in order to compare the two foetal heart rate series (the one estimated by our algorithm and the other provided by cardiotocographic device). Our results show that the proposed algorithm, in particular some analysis procedures, provides reliable foetal heart rate signals, very close to the reference cardiotocographic recordings.

As more high-resolution observations become available, our view of ocean mesoscale turbulence more closely becomes that of a "sea of eddies." The presence of the coherent vortices significantly affects the dynamics and the statistical properties of mesoscale flows, with important consequences on tracer dispersion and ocean stirring and mixing processes. Here we review some of the properties of particle transport in vortex-dominated flows, concentrating on the statistical properties induced by the presence of an ensemble of vortices. We discuss a possible parameterization of particle dispersion in vortex-dominated flows, adopting the view that ocean mesoscale turbulence is a two-component fluid which includes intense, localized vortical structures with non-local effects immersed in a Kolmogorovian, low-energy turbulent background which has mostly local effects. Finally, we report on some recent results regarding the role of coherent mesoscale eddies in marine ecosystem functioning, which is related to the effects that vortices have on nutrient supply. frequency mesoscale variability (i.e. the medium-size fluctuations in the general circulation), for the mesoscale and sub-mesoscale coherent vortices (vortical motions at scales smaller than the internal Rossby radius of deformation, McWilliams 1985), or for a generic complicated motion in the presence of turbulence.

The main goal of investors is to minimize risk at any point of a given returns or/and maximize returns at any given risk. Asset allocation involves allotting investments among different assets. Optimal asset allocation minimizes risk of portfolio to the barest level and maximizes returns better. The aim of this paper is to investigate the two asset allocations; Black Litterman model (BLM) and Mean Variance model (MVM) and examine the model that minimizes risk better and maximizes return optimally. The data used are monthly data of groundnut oil, palm oil and palm kernel. The study shows that the BLM minimizes risk of portfolio better and maximizes return optimally than MVM.

Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estImated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, 10 Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302, and to the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (07040 laB), Washington, DC 20503.