Search

In real-life audio signal transmission, noise significantly diminishes signal quality. This paper explains a technique to mitigate noise in audio signals. The proposed technique leverages the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to filter noisy signals, with a focus on White noise (AWGN) as the noise source. The underlying mathematical theory is comprehensively explored, accompanied by practical insights derived from a selected sample frequency. The significance of noise reduction in enhancing audio signal quality within communication systems is underscored. This study contributes to the understanding of the mathematics behind noise reduction techniques and their application in real-world scenarios.

Auditory and somatosensory white noise can stabilize standing balance. However, the differential effects of auditory and tactile noise stimulation on balance are unknown. Prior work on unimodal noise stimulation showed gains in balance with white noise through the auditory and tactile modalities separately. The current study aims to examine whether multimodal noise elicits similar responses to unimodal noise. We recorded the postural sway of healthy young adults who were presented with continuous white noise through the auditory or tactile modalities and through a combination of both (multimodal condition) using a wearable device. Our results replicate previous work that showed that auditory or tactile noise reduces sway variability with and without vision. Additionally, we show that multimodal noise also reduces the variability of sway. Analysis of different frequency bands of sway is typically used to separate open-loop exploratory (< 0.3 Hz) and feedback-driven (> 0.3 Hz) sway. We performed this analysis and showed that unimodal and multimodal white noise affected postural sway variability similarly in both timescales. These results support that the sensory noise effects on balance are robust across unimodal and multimodal conditions and can affect both mechanisms of sway represented in the frequency spectrum. In future work, the parameters of acoustic/tactile manipulation should be optimized for the most effective balance stabilization, and multimodal therapies should be explored for older adults with typical age-related balance instabilities.

Recently, suction buckets have become a very prominent foundation for bottom fixed and floating offshore wind turbines. They are embedded with an installation force that stems from water evacuation inside the bucket. This internal negative pressure leads to a high risk of structural buckling. The buckling strength is significantly reduced by geometric imperfections. In previous work, equivalent geometric imperfection forms were introduced and the lower bound was evaluated. However, it has not yet been possible to identify a generally appropriate imperfection form. A probabilistic design approach based on realistic imperfections was not yet considered for suction buckets. Therefore, in this work, a stochastic modeling approach is introduced, which bases on measured data. The imperfection is decomposed to the half-wave cosine Fourier representation. Realizations of the imperfection pattern are generated by filtering white noise with the amplitude spectrum. They are then applied as out of plane deviations on a geometrically and materially nonlinear finite element model and evaluated. The resulting buckling pressure distribution can then be evaluated for different reliability levels. By considering more realistic imperfections and a plastic soil model, the buckling pressure increases by up to a factor of two compared to the conservative stress-based buckling approach.

An experimental study of amplitude modulation (AM) and phase modulation (PM) noise spectra in cascaded amplifiers was carried out as a function of the number of amplification stages and the input power. Flicker and white noise contributions were determined, as well as effective noise figure (NF) from AM and PM noise spectra from small-signal to large-signal regimes. Simultaneous measurements of AM and PM noise were performed, and associated correlation was measured as a function of the offset frequency from the carrier. Measurements exhibited, in general, quite low AM–PM correlation levels both in the flicker and white noise parts of the spectrum. In some particular amplifier configurations, however, measurements showed some peaks in the correlation at some specific input power levels in the transition zone, from a quasi-linear to strong compression. The results show that the effective noise figure decreases with the number of stages for a given carrier output power level.

Identifiability of linear dynamic networks requires the presence of a sufficient number of external excitation signals. The problem of allocating a minimal number of external signals for guaranteeing generic network identifiability in the full measurement case has been recently addressed in the literature. Here we will extend that work by explicitly incorporating the situation that some network modules are known, and thus are fixed in the parametrized model set. The graphical approach introduced earlier is extended to this situation, showing that the presence of fixed modules reduces the required number of external signals. An algorithm is presented that allocates the external signals in a systematic fashion., Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public., Team Bart De Schutter

An experimental study of amplitude modulation (AM) and phase modulation (PM) noise spectra in cascaded amplifiers was carried out as a function of the number of amplification stages and the input power. Flicker and white noise contributions were determined, as well as effective noise figure (NF) from AM and PM noise spectra from small-signal to large-signal regimes. Simultaneous measurements of AM and PM noise were performed, and associated correlation was measured as a function of the offset frequency from the carrier. Measurements exhibited, in general, quite low AM–PM correlation levels both in the flicker and white noise parts of the spectrum. In some particular amplifier configurations, however, measurements showed some peaks in the correlation at some specific input power levels in the transition zone, from a quasi-linear to strong compression. The results show that the effective noise figure decreases with the number of stages for a given carrier output power level.

Distribution system state estimation (DSSE) is a critical analysis tool for active distribution networks (DNs). Unlike weighted least squares techniques, which are static DSSE methods, the augmented complex Kalman filter (ACKF) is a novel technique that considers the system’s dynamic behavior. Currently, most DNs integrate a large number of unmonitored residential photovoltaic (PV) generations. Existing unmeasured PV sources violate the white noise assumption in Kalman and least-squares-based estimators, causing the estimator to be biased. Because the one-step difference of aggregated customer demand is characterized as white noise, the suggested PV estimation technique based on the differencing strategy is used to decouple PV from the measured load. Using the specified contribution factors, the new online pseudo current injections are generated. In addition, the estimator’s accuracy is improved by using a new PV-scaling-aided ACKF approach based on the PV separation strategy. For validation purposes, this method is applied to real DN case studies. This study also makes use of an actual dataset to illustrate the efficacy of the proposed technique. The proposed technique outperforms the existing snapshot and dynamic DSSE techniques, and significant improvements are achieved in terms of accuracy and computational cost.

We derive a new formulation of nonanticipative rate distortion function (NRDF) for time-varying multivariate Gauss-Markov processes driven by correlated noise described by a first order autoregressive moving average (ARMA(1,1)) process with mean-squared error (MSE) distortion constraint. To arrive to this formulation, we first show that the Gauss-Markov process with correlated noise can be compactly written as a linear functional of the lagged by one sample of the sufficient statistic of the correlated noise and its orthogonal innovations process. Then, we use this structural result to a general low delay quantization problem where we choose to design the encoder and the decoder policies of a multi-input multi-output (MIMO) system with given the past sample of the sufficient statistic of the correlated noise process. For jointly Gaussian processes, we find the minimization problem that needs to be solved, obtain its optimal realization and solve it by showing that is semidefinite representable. Interestingly, the optimal realization of this problem reveals that it suffices only the decoder to have access to the given past sufficient statistic of the correlated noise process but not necessarily the encoder. For scalar-valued processes, we also derive a new analytical expression. The generality of our results (both for vector and scalar processes) is shown by recovering various special cases and known results obtained for independent noise processes., QC 20220216

Identifiability of linear dynamic networks requires the presence of a sufficient number of external excitation signals. The problem of allocating a minimal number of external signals for guaranteeing generic network identifiability in the full measurement case has been recently addressed in the literature. Here we will extend that work by explicitly incorporating the situation that some network modules are known, and thus are fixed in the parametrized model set. The graphical approach introduced earlier is extended to this situation, showing that the presence of fixed modules reduces the required number of external signals. An algorithm is presented that allocates the external signals in a systematic fashion., Accepted Author Manuscript, Team DeSchutter

An experimental study of amplitude modulation (AM) and phase modulation (PM) noise spectra in cascaded amplifiers was carried out as a function of the number of amplification stages and the input power. Flicker and white noise contributions were determined, as well as effective noise figure (NF) from AM and PM noise spectra from small-signal to large-signal regimes. Simultaneous measurements of AM and PM noise were performed, and associated correlation was measured as a function of the offset frequency from the carrier. Measurements exhibited, in general, quite low AM–PM correlation levels both in the flicker and white noise parts of the spectrum. In some particular amplifier configurations, however, measurements showed some peaks in the correlation at some specific input power levels in the transition zone, from a quasi-linear to strong compression. The results show that the effective noise figure decreases with the number of stages for a given carrier output power level.

The Dark Triad of personality has been associated with aggression against others as a reaction to perceived provocations. However, previous work has also shown that such responsive aggression even occurs if it means harming oneself. The first of two laboratory studies aimed to investigate whether this relation between the Dark Triad and self-harming behavior also occurs in situations where no others are affected but self-harm is likely. The second laboratory study considered two different settings in a within-participants design in order to analyze the stability of self-harming behavior and to what extent the Dark Triad constructs influence this behavior. The sample for study 1 consisted of 151 students (45.7% female) with a mean age of 21.40 years (SD = 2.19); the sample for study 2 consisted of 251 students (76.0% female) with a mean age of 22.21 years (SD = 3.90). Aside from the Dark Triad’s common core, depending on how self-harm was triggered (ego-threat (mainly narcissism), being alone with one’s own thoughts (mainly psychopathy), or reward condition (mainly Machiavellianism)), the Dark Triad traits differed in their responsiveness but were stable over the last two conditions, thereby suggesting a vulnerable side of the Dark Triad., Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Peer Reviewed

Current measurements from electromagnetic current transformers are essential for the construction of secondary circuit systems, including for protection systems. Magnetic core of these transformers are at risk of saturation, as a result of which maloperation of protection algorithms can possibly occur. The paper considers methods for recovering a current signal in the saturation mode of current transformers. The advantages and disadvantages of methods for detecting the occurrence of current transformers core saturation are described. A comparative analysis of mathematical methods for recovering a current signal is given, their approbation was carried out, and the most promising of them was revealed. The stability and sensitivity of recovery methods were tested by adding white noise to the measured signal and taking into account the initial flux density (remanent magnetization) in the current transformers core. Their comparison is given on the basis of angular, magnitude, and total errors at a given simulation interval. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

In this article, an augmented complex Kalman filter (ACKF) is proposed for distribution networks as a noniterative forecasting-aided state estimator. Although most of the distribution state estimator (DSE) algorithms deal with real and imaginary parts of distribution networks’ states independently, the proposed algorithm in this article considers the states as complex values. In the case of real-time DSE and the presence of a large number of customer loads in the system, employing DSEs in one single estimation layer is not computationally efficient. Consequently, our proposed method performs in several estimation layers hierarchically as a multilayer DSE based on an ACKF (DSE-MACKF). In the proposed method, a distribution network can be divided into one main area and several subareas. The aggregated loads in each subarea act like a big customer load in the main area. Customer load aggregation results in lower variability and higher spatial-temporal correlation. This increases the accuracy of the estimated states in the main estimation layer. Additionally, the proposed method is formulated to include unbalanced loads in low-voltage radial distribution networks. This approach is applied to two real distribution networks for comparison and evaluation. The effectiveness of the proposed method is discussed using several criteria such as computational time, standard deviation, and maximum and average voltage error. The performance of the proposed method has been assessed against the weighted least square estimation method, while the computational time and the average voltage error have been decreased from 14 to 2 s and 1.13% to 0.23%, respectively.

Typically stochastic differential equations (SDEs) involve an additive or multiplicative noise term. Here, we are interested in stochastic differential equations for which the white noise is nonlinearly integrated into the corresponding evolution term, typically termed as random ordinary differential equations (RODEs). The classical averaging methods fail to treat such RODEs. Therefore, we introduce a novel averaging method appropriate to be applied to a specific class of RODEs. To exemplify the importance of our method, we apply it to an important biomedical problem, in particular, we implement the method to the assessment of intratumoral heterogeneity impact on tumor dynamics. Precisely, we model gliomas according to a well-known Go or Grow (GoG) model, and tumor heterogeneity is modeled as a stochastic process. It has been shown that the corresponding deterministic GoG model exhibits an emerging Allee effect (bistability). In contrast, we analytically and computationally show that the introduction of white noise, as a model of intratumoral heterogeneity, leads to monostable tumor growth. This monostability behavior is also derived even when spatial cell diffusion is taken into account.

The Dark Triad of personality has been associated with aggression against others as a reaction to perceived provocations. However, previous work has also shown that such responsive aggression even occurs if it means harming oneself. The first of two laboratory studies aimed to investigate whether this relation between the Dark Triad and self-harming behavior also occurs in situations where no others are affected but self-harm is likely. The second laboratory study considered two different settings in a within-participants design in order to analyze the stability of self-harming behavior and to what extent the Dark Triad constructs influence this behavior. The sample for study 1 consisted of 151 students (45.7% female) with a mean age of 21.40 years (SD = 2.19); the sample for study 2 consisted of 251 students (76.0% female) with a mean age of 22.21 years (SD = 3.90). Aside from the Dark Triad’s common core, depending on how self-harm was triggered (ego-threat (mainly narcissism), being alone with one’s own thoughts (mainly psychopathy), or reward condition (mainly Machiavellianism)), the Dark Triad traits differed in their responsiveness but were stable over the last two conditions, thereby suggesting a vulnerable side of the Dark Triad., Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Peer Reviewed

Herein, results from noise and dark current density studies on InAs/GaSb type-II superlattice IR detectors are presented. The activation energy of the dark current density is used to identify the dominating dark current mechanisms (generation–recombination (GR), tunneling, or diffusion dark current) as a function of temperature and bias. The bias evolution of the power spectral density (PSD) is measured in dark conditions for several temperatures. At the operating bias of the detectors, the arrays show a white noise–dominated spectrum up to 100 K with a minor 1/f contribution (corner frequency around 10 Hz), while for higher temperatures the spectra are 1/f dominated. The 1/f noise component is compared to the dominating dark current mechanism in the same temperature and bias regimes. A strong correlation between the 1/f noise component and the dominating dark current (I) is found, with the PSD proportional to I for tunneling currents and I2 for GR and diffusion currents. Very low noise coefficients of αGR = 4.8 × 10−9 Hz−1, αdiff = 1.9 × 10−10 Hz−1, and αtun = 2.1 × 10−16 A Hz−1 are observed for these detectors. © 2020 Wiley-VCH GmbH, QC 20201202

In this paper, we analyze a stochastic coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic model which is perturbed by both white noise and telegraph noise incorporating general incidence rate. Firstly, we investigate the existence and uniqueness of a global positive solution. Then, we establish the stochastic threshold for the extinction and the persistence of the disease. The data from Indian states, are used to confirm the results established along this paper.

An effective way to solve the forced Burgers' equation in a variational multiscale framework is to close the system of equations using unresolved-scale interaction terms predicted by an artificial neural network. The goal of this thesis is to investigate the accuracy and stability of the said system by training a neural network offline with data enriched by two different noise -augmentation techniques - White and Gaussian., Aerospace Engineering | Aerodynamics and Wind Energy

In this paper, we analyze a stochastic coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic model which is perturbed by both white noise and telegraph noise incorporating general incidence rate. Firstly, we investigate the existence and uniqueness of a global positive solution. Then, we establish the stochastic threshold for the extinction and the persistence of the disease. The data from Indian states, are used to confirm the results established along this paper.

Don DeLillo’s White Noise is often taught as an exemplar of postmodern literature because of its concern with the postmodern themes of identity and spectacular commodification. There is much in the text, however, to suggest that DeLillo’s central characters are searching for certainties, some of which are related to earlier cultural paradigms. This paper argues that Don DeLillo’s novel explores ways to overcome the persistent displacement of meaning in postmodern texts by establishing death as one concept outside the systems of signs which is irreducible, certain and universal. DeLillo’s characters are in search of a “transcendental signified” (Derrida) able to bring a halt to the potentially infinite postmodern regressions of late twentieth century American culture. Here I argue that in White Noise it is death which provides this exterior metaphysical principle., White Noise, de Don DeLillo, se enseña a menudo como ejemplo de literatura postmoderna debido a que aborda temas postmodernos como la identidad y la mercantilización del espectáculo. El texto de la novela sugiere en numerosas ocasiones que los personajes principales están buscando certezas, algunas de las cuales están relacionadas con anteriores paradigmas culturales. En este artículo se defiende que esta novela de Don DeLillo explora maneras de sobrellevar el persistente desplazamiento de significados que se localizan en textos postmodernos, y que lo hace considerando a la muerte como concepto que se sale de los sistemas de signos y que es irreductible, cierta y universal. Los personajes de DeLillo van en busca de un “significado transcendental” (Derrida) capaz de detener las regresiones potencialmente infinitas de la cultura estadounidense de finales del siglo XX. Mi postura es que en White Noise la muerte es lo que prorporciona este principio metafísico externo.

Published: June 25, 2020, Neuroimaging software methods are complex, making it a near certainty that some implementations will contain errors. Modern computational techniques (i.e., public code and data repositories, continuous integration, containerization) enable the reproducibility of the analyses and reduce coding errors, but they do not guarantee the scientific validity of the results. It is difficult, nay impossible, for researchers to check the accuracy of software by reading the source code; ground truth test datasets are needed. Computational reproducibility means providing software so that for the same input anyone obtains the same result, right or wrong. Computational validity means obtaining the right result for the ground-truth test data. We describe a framework for validating and sharing software implementations, and we illustrate its usage with an example application: population receptive field (pRF) methods for functional MRI data. The framework is composed of three main components implemented with containerization methods to guarantee computational reproducibility. In our example pRF application, those components are: (1) synthesis of fMRI time series from ground-truth pRF parameters, (2) implementation of four public pRF analysis tools and standardization of inputs and outputs, and (3) report creation to compare the results with the ground truth parameters. The framework was useful in identifying realistic conditions that lead to imperfect parameter recovery in all four pRF implementations, that would remain undetected using classic validation methods. We provide means to mitigate these problems in future experiments. A computational validation framework supports scientific rigor and creativity, as opposed to the oft-repeated suggestion that investigators rely upon a few agreed upon packages. We hope that the framework will be helpful to validate other critical neuroimaging algorithms, as having a validation framework helps (1) developers to build new software, (2) research

Published: June 25, 2020, Neuroimaging software methods are complex, making it a near certainty that some implementations will contain errors. Modern computational techniques (i.e., public code and data repositories, continuous integration, containerization) enable the reproducibility of the analyses and reduce coding errors, but they do not guarantee the scientific validity of the results. It is difficult, nay impossible, for researchers to check the accuracy of software by reading the source code; ground truth test datasets are needed. Computational reproducibility means providing software so that for the same input anyone obtains the same result, right or wrong. Computational validity means obtaining the right result for the ground-truth test data. We describe a framework for validating and sharing software implementations, and we illustrate its usage with an example application: population receptive field (pRF) methods for functional MRI data. The framework is composed of three main components implemented with containerization methods to guarantee computational reproducibility. In our example pRF application, those components are: (1) synthesis of fMRI time series from ground-truth pRF parameters, (2) implementation of four public pRF analysis tools and standardization of inputs and outputs, and (3) report creation to compare the results with the ground truth parameters. The framework was useful in identifying realistic conditions that lead to imperfect parameter recovery in all four pRF implementations, that would remain undetected using classic validation methods. We provide means to mitigate these problems in future experiments. A computational validation framework supports scientific rigor and creativity, as opposed to the oft-repeated suggestion that investigators rely upon a few agreed upon packages. We hope that the framework will be helpful to validate other critical neuroimaging algorithms, as having a validation framework helps (1) developers to build new software, (2) research

Don DeLillo’s White Noise is often taught as an exemplar of postmodern literature because of its concern with the postmodern themes of identity and spectacular commodification. There is much in the text, however, to suggest that DeLillo’s central characters are searching for certainties, some of which are related to earlier cultural paradigms. This paper argues that Don DeLillo’s novel explores ways to overcome the persistent displacement of meaning in postmodern texts by establishing death as one concept outside the systems of signs which is irreducible, certain and universal. DeLillo’s characters are in search of a “transcendental signified” (Derrida) able to bring a halt to the potentially infinite postmodern regressions of late twentieth century American culture. Here I argue that in White Noise it is death which provides this exterior metaphysical principle., White Noise, de Don DeLillo, se enseña a menudo como ejemplo de literatura postmoderna debido a que aborda temas postmodernos como la identidad y la mercantilización del espectáculo. El texto de la novela sugiere en numerosas ocasiones que los personajes principales están buscando certezas, algunas de las cuales están relacionadas con anteriores paradigmas culturales. En este artículo se defiende que esta novela de Don DeLillo explora maneras de sobrellevar el persistente desplazamiento de significados que se localizan en textos postmodernos, y que lo hace considerando a la muerte como concepto que se sale de los sistemas de signos y que es irreductible, cierta y universal. Los personajes de DeLillo van en busca de un “significado transcendental” (Derrida) capaz de detener las regresiones potencialmente infinitas de la cultura estadounidense de finales del siglo XX. Mi postura es que en White Noise la muerte es lo que prorporciona este principio metafísico externo.

In this paper, we analyze a stochastic coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic model which is perturbed by both white noise and telegraph noise incorporating general incidence rate. Firstly, we investigate the existence and uniqueness of a global positive solution. Then, we establish the stochastic threshold for the extinction and the persistence of the disease. The data from Indian states, are used to confirm the results established along this paper.

In spin Hall nano-oscillators (SHNOs), pure spin currents drive local regions of magnetic films and nanostructures into auto-oscillating precession. If such regions are placed in close proximity to each other they can interact and may mutually synchronize. Here, we demonstrate robust mutual synchronization of two-dimensional SHNO arrays ranging from 2 × 2 to 8 × 8 nano-constrictions, observed both electrically and using micro-Brillouin light scattering microscopy. On short time scales, where the auto-oscillation linewidth Δ f is governed by white noise, the signal quality factor, Q= f∕ Δ f, increases linearly with the number of mutually synchronized nano-constrictions (N), reaching 170,000 in the largest arrays. We also show that SHNO arrays exposed to two independently tuned microwave frequencies exhibit the same synchronization maps as can be used for neuromorphic vowel recognition. Our demonstrations may hence enable the use of SHNO arrays in two-dimensional oscillator networks for high-quality microwave signal generation and ultra-fast neuromorphic computing., QC 20200329

In this paper, a delayed SIQR epidemic model with vaccination and elimination hybrid strategies is analysed under a white noise perturbation. We prove the existence and the uniqueness of a positive solution. Afterwards, we establish a stochastic threshold R-s in order to study the extinction and persistence in mean of the stochastic epidemic system. Then we investigate the existence of a stationary distribution for the delayed stochastic model. Finally, some numerical simulations are presented to support our theoretical results.

Published: June 25, 2020, Neuroimaging software methods are complex, making it a near certainty that some implementations will contain errors. Modern computational techniques (i.e., public code and data repositories, continuous integration, containerization) enable the reproducibility of the analyses and reduce coding errors, but they do not guarantee the scientific validity of the results. It is difficult, nay impossible, for researchers to check the accuracy of software by reading the source code; ground truth test datasets are needed. Computational reproducibility means providing software so that for the same input anyone obtains the same result, right or wrong. Computational validity means obtaining the right result for the ground-truth test data. We describe a framework for validating and sharing software implementations, and we illustrate its usage with an example application: population receptive field (pRF) methods for functional MRI data. The framework is composed of three main components implemented with containerization methods to guarantee computational reproducibility. In our example pRF application, those components are: (1) synthesis of fMRI time series from ground-truth pRF parameters, (2) implementation of four public pRF analysis tools and standardization of inputs and outputs, and (3) report creation to compare the results with the ground truth parameters. The framework was useful in identifying realistic conditions that lead to imperfect parameter recovery in all four pRF implementations, that would remain undetected using classic validation methods. We provide means to mitigate these problems in future experiments. A computational validation framework supports scientific rigor and creativity, as opposed to the oft-repeated suggestion that investigators rely upon a few agreed upon packages. We hope that the framework will be helpful to validate other critical neuroimaging algorithms, as having a validation framework helps (1) developers to build new software, (2) research

An effective way to solve the forced Burgers' equation in a variational multiscale framework is to close the system of equations using unresolved-scale interaction terms predicted by an artificial neural network. The goal of this thesis is to investigate the accuracy and stability of the said system by training a neural network offline with data enriched by two different noise -augmentation techniques - White and Gaussian., Aerospace Engineering | Aerodynamics and Wind Energy

In this paper, we analyze a stochastic coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic model which is perturbed by both white noise and telegraph noise incorporating general incidence rate. Firstly, we investigate the existence and uniqueness of a global positive solution. Then, we establish the stochastic threshold for the extinction and the persistence of the disease. The data from Indian states, are used to confirm the results established along this paper.

Focusing on epidemic model in random environments, this paper uses white noise and Lévy noise to model the dynamics of the SIS epidemic model subject to the random changes of the external environment. We show that the jump encourages the extinction of the disease in the population. We first, give a rigorous proof of the global stability of the disease-free equilibrium state. We also establish sufficient conditions for the persistence of the disease. The presented results are demonstrated by numerical simulations.

Focusing on epidemic model in random environments, this paper uses white noise and Lévy noise to model the dynamics of the SIS epidemic model subject to the random changes of the external environment. We show that the jump encourages the extinction of the disease in the population. We first, give a rigorous proof of the global stability of the disease-free equilibrium state. We also establish sufficient conditions for the persistence of the disease. The presented results are demonstrated by numerical simulations.

We show here how the methods recently applied in Debussche and Weber (2018 Electron. J. Probab. 23 28) to solve the stochastic nonlinear Schrödinger equation on can be enhanced to yield solutions on if the nonlinearity is weak enough. We prove that the solutions remain localized on compact time intervals which allow us to apply energy methods on the full space., Peer Reviewed

Sound intolerance refers to an adverse reaction to sounds at sound pressure levels most people do not find bothersome. It is sometimes associated with hearing loss and tinnitus, but neither conditions are a prerequisite for being intolerant to sounds. The processes underlying the heightened reactions to sound, or how sound intolerance is related to other afflictions is not fully known, and research in this area can still be described as being in an early stage. This thesis aims to broaden the knowledge about sound intolerance and the sub-category of hyperacusis by using cross-sectional epidemiological and quasi-experimental methods of inquiry. The thesis consists of three studies, each approaching the subject from a different perspective with the aim to better understand various characteristics of sound intolerance in general, its relation to psychosocial factors in the work environment, and its effects during noise exposure. Studies I & II are cross-sectional studies using two different data sets with similar design. Study I was based on data from a stratified sample in the Västerbotten Environmental Health Study. It examined the characteristics, background descriptions and comorbidities of self-reported and physician diagnosed individuals with hyperacusis, and compared them to a healthy referent group. Analyses revealed that a majority of both hyperacusis groups actively tried to avoid sound sources, and experienced that they for the most part could affect the environment to make it less noisy. There were significantly increased risks for other diagnosed illnesses in the hyperacusis groups compared to the healthy referent group, with large odds ratios (ORs) for the psychiatric illnesses anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and exhaustion syndrome. Other common illnesses were tinnitus, hearing impairment and musculoskeletal disorders. Study II used data from the Österbotten Environmental Health Study and focused on the psychosocial work environme, Ljudintolerans syftar på en negativ reaktion på ljud vid ljudtrycksnivåer som de flesta människor inte finner obehagligt. Vilka processer som ligger bakom de förhöjda reaktionerna eller relationerna till andra åkommor är ännu oklart. Syftet med den här avhandlingen är att bredda kunskapen om ljudintolerans och dess underkategori hyperakusi, genom bruket av tvärsektionella och kvasi-experimentella metoder. Avhandlingen består av tre studier som angriper ämnet från olika perspektiv, med syfte att bättre förstå generella egenskaper hos ljudintolerans; relationen till psykosociala arbetsmiljöfaktorer; samt effekterna av en ljudexponering i kontrollerad laboratoriemiljö. Studie I bestod av tvärsnittsdata från Miljöhälsostudien i Västerbotten och avhandlade egenskaper, bakgrundsdata och komorbiditeter för självrapporterade och läkardiagnostiserade individer med hyperakusi, jämfört med en referensgrupp utan dessa besvär. Resultaten visade att en majoritet av båda hyperakusi-grupperna försökte undvika ljudkällor, och upplevde att de för det mesta kunde påverka miljön för att göra den mindre bullrig. Det var en signifikant ökad risk för flera samsjukligheter för den självrapporterade gruppen jämfört med referenterna, med stora oddskvoter för såväl psykiatriska, muskuloskeletala och otorinolaryngologiska diagnoser, som funktionella somatiska syndrom. Studie II var även den en tvärsnittsstudie, den här gången med data från Miljöhälsostudien i Österbotten. Fokus för denna studie var kopplingen mellan ljudintolerans och psykosociala arbetsmiljöfaktorer. Personer med hyperakusi som arbetade, var tjänstlediga, föräldralediga eller långtidssjukskrivna, jämfördes med motsvarande grupp utan hyperakusi. Resultaten visade signifikant högre risk att skatta högt på enkätinstrument som mätte oro, brist på socialt stöd och brist på belöning. Ingen signifikant skillnad fanns för variablerna lågt känslomässigt stöd, överengagemang på arbetsplatsen och ansträngning. Den tredje och s

Focusing on epidemic model in random environments, this paper uses white noise and Lévy noise to model the dynamics of the SIS epidemic model subject to the random changes of the external environment. We show that the jump encourages the extinction of the disease in the population. We first, give a rigorous proof of the global stability of the disease-free equilibrium state. We also establish sufficient conditions for the persistence of the disease. The presented results are demonstrated by numerical simulations.

We show here how the methods recently applied in Debussche and Weber (2018 Electron. J. Probab. 23 28) to solve the stochastic nonlinear Schrödinger equation on can be enhanced to yield solutions on if the nonlinearity is weak enough. We prove that the solutions remain localized on compact time intervals which allow us to apply energy methods on the full space., Peer Reviewed

Objective: To describe and model a decade of ED presentations in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia, from July 2000 to June 2010 and to validate the model of ED presentations by testing the model's performance in forecasting the subsequent 2 year period of daily presentations, from July 2010 to June 2012. Method(s): Retrospective analyses of prospectively collected data sourced from the Victorian Emergency Minimum Dataset were performed and included 13 public hospitals. Time series modelling involved unobserved components modelling and forward selection of variables using incidence rate ratios. Forecasting with the model and validation were performed using the 2 year period up to June 2012. Model performance was calculated using the mean average percentage error. Result(s): A total of 7 031 242 patient presentations occurred to the sample metropolitan EDs in the 12 year study period. An absolute increase in mean daily ED presentations of 81.3% was observed. Presentations increased on Sunday and Monday incidence rate ratio of 1.10 (95% CI 1.08-1.11, P < 0.05). No monthly or seasonal pattern was evident. Public holidays were associated with increased presentations, incidence rate ratio of 1.11 (95% CI 1.08-1.15, P < 0.05). The model with the best goodness-of-fit and Wald chi2 value included Sunday-Monday (vs Tuesday-Saturday), public holidays, the trend of gradual increase over time and a stochastic (random white noise) cycle. The mean average percentage error for the 2 year forecast period was 3.6%. Conclusion(s): We have produced and validated a model for predicting daily ED presentations across a major city. Even though ED presentations are multifactorial, city-wide daily presentations are predictable and explained by a small number of variables. The model will have implications for future health planning.Copyright © 2019 Australasian College for Emergency Medicine

Objective: To describe and model a decade of ED presentations in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia, from July 2000 to June 2010 and to validate the model of ED presentations by testing the model's performance in forecasting the subsequent 2 year period of daily presentations, from July 2010 to June 2012. Method(s): Retrospective analyses of prospectively collected data sourced from the Victorian Emergency Minimum Dataset were performed and included 13 public hospitals. Time series modelling involved unobserved components modelling and forward selection of variables using incidence rate ratios. Forecasting with the model and validation were performed using the 2 year period up to June 2012. Model performance was calculated using the mean average percentage error. Result(s): A total of 7 031 242 patient presentations occurred to the sample metropolitan EDs in the 12 year study period. An absolute increase in mean daily ED presentations of 81.3% was observed. Presentations increased on Sunday and Monday incidence rate ratio of 1.10 (95% CI 1.08-1.11, P < 0.05). No monthly or seasonal pattern was evident. Public holidays were associated with increased presentations, incidence rate ratio of 1.11 (95% CI 1.08-1.15, P < 0.05). The model with the best goodness-of-fit and Wald chi2 value included Sunday-Monday (vs Tuesday-Saturday), public holidays, the trend of gradual increase over time and a stochastic (random white noise) cycle. The mean average percentage error for the 2 year forecast period was 3.6%. Conclusion(s): We have produced and validated a model for predicting daily ED presentations across a major city. Even though ED presentations are multifactorial, city-wide daily presentations are predictable and explained by a small number of variables. The model will have implications for future health planning.Copyright © 2019 Australasian College for Emergency Medicine

The intrinsic anomalous Hall conductance σxyint of a minimal model of the twodimensional disordered Chern insulator is investigated in the framework of Kubo quantum theory of linear response. The electron momentum relaxation is assumed to be due to electron scattering by Gaussian white-noise potential. The explicit expressions for the density of states and σxyint are obtained in the self-consistent Born approximation. The numerical analysis of these expressions at the different values of parameters of the considered model shows that calculated σxyint takes a quantized value e 2/4π when the Fermi level lies within the energy gap. This gap is narrowed as disorder increases that leads to decreasing of the Hall plateau width. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.

Focusing on epidemic model in random environments, this paper uses white noise and Lévy noise to model the dynamics of the SIS epidemic model subject to the random changes of the external environment. We show that the jump encourages the extinction of the disease in the population. We first, give a rigorous proof of the global stability of the disease-free equilibrium state. We also establish sufficient conditions for the persistence of the disease. The presented results are demonstrated by numerical simulations.

Fully resolved direct numerical simulations, performed with a high-order spectral-element method, are used to study coherent structures in turbulent pipe flow at friction Reynolds numbers Reτ = 180 and 550 (El Khoury et al., 2013). The database was analysed using spectral proper orthogonal decomposition (SPOD) so as to identify dominant coherent structures, most of which are of streaky shape. As a reduced-order model for such structures, the linearised flow response to harmonic forcing was computed, and the analysed singular modes of the resolvent operator were analysed. For turbulent flows, this approach amounts to considering the non-linear terms in the Navier–Stokes system as an unknown forcing, treated convenienty as external. Resolvent analysis then allows an identification of the optimal forcing and most amplified flow response; the latter may be related to observed relevant structures obtained by SPOD, especially if the gain between forcing and response is much larger than what is found for suboptimal forcings or if the non-linear forcing is white noise. Results from SPOD and resolvent analysis were extracted for several combinations of frequencies, streamwise and azimuthal wavenumbers. For both Reynolds numbers, good agreement between SPOD and resolvent modes was observed for parameter combinations where the lift-up mechanism is present: optimal forcing from resolvent analysis represents streamwise vortices and the associated response are streaky structures., QC 20200618

Image denoising, particularly Gaussian denoising, has achieved continuous success in the past decades. Although deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are also shown leading high-performance in Gaussian denoising just as in many other computer vision tasks, they are not competitive at all on real noisy photographs to representative classical methods such as BM3D and WNNM. In this paper, a simple yet robust method is proposed to improve the effectiveness and practicability of deep denoising models. In view of the difference between real-world noise in camera systems and additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN), the model learning has exploited clean-noisy image pairs newly produced built on a generalized signal dependent noise model. During the model inference, the proposed denoising model is not only blind to the noise type but also to the noise level. Meanwhile, in order to separate the noise from image content as full as possible, a new convolutional architecture is advocated for such a blind denoising task where a kind of lifting residual modules is specifically proposed for discriminative feature extraction. Experimental results on both simulated and real noisy images demonstrate that the proposed blind denoiser achieves fairly competitive or even better performance than state-of-the-art algorithms in terms of both quantitative and qualitative assessment. The codes of the proposed method are available at https://github.com/zhaohengyuan1/SDNet., QC 20200622

Fully resolved direct numerical simulations, performed with a high-order spectral-element method, are used to study coherent structures in turbulent pipe flow at friction Reynolds numbers Reτ = 180 and 550 (El Khoury et al., 2013). The database was analysed using spectral proper orthogonal decomposition (SPOD) so as to identify dominant coherent structures, most of which are of streaky shape. As a reduced-order model for such structures, the linearised flow response to harmonic forcing was computed, and the analysed singular modes of the resolvent operator were analysed. For turbulent flows, this approach amounts to considering the non-linear terms in the Navier–Stokes system as an unknown forcing, treated convenienty as external. Resolvent analysis then allows an identification of the optimal forcing and most amplified flow response; the latter may be related to observed relevant structures obtained by SPOD, especially if the gain between forcing and response is much larger than what is found for suboptimal forcings or if the non-linear forcing is white noise. Results from SPOD and resolvent analysis were extracted for several combinations of frequencies, streamwise and azimuthal wavenumbers. For both Reynolds numbers, good agreement between SPOD and resolvent modes was observed for parameter combinations where the lift-up mechanism is present: optimal forcing from resolvent analysis represents streamwise vortices and the associated response are streaky structures., QC 20200402

Sound intolerance refers to an adverse reaction to sounds at sound pressure levels most people do not find bothersome. It is sometimes associated with hearing loss and tinnitus, but neither conditions are a prerequisite for being intolerant to sounds. The processes underlying the heightened reactions to sound, or how sound intolerance is related to other afflictions is not fully known, and research in this area can still be described as being in an early stage. This thesis aims to broaden the knowledge about sound intolerance and the sub-category of hyperacusis by using cross-sectional epidemiological and quasi-experimental methods of inquiry. The thesis consists of three studies, each approaching the subject from a different perspective with the aim to better understand various characteristics of sound intolerance in general, its relation to psychosocial factors in the work environment, and its effects during noise exposure. Studies I & II are cross-sectional studies using two different data sets with similar design. Study I was based on data from a stratified sample in the Västerbotten Environmental Health Study. It examined the characteristics, background descriptions and comorbidities of self-reported and physician diagnosed individuals with hyperacusis, and compared them to a healthy referent group. Analyses revealed that a majority of both hyperacusis groups actively tried to avoid sound sources, and experienced that they for the most part could affect the environment to make it less noisy. There were significantly increased risks for other diagnosed illnesses in the hyperacusis groups compared to the healthy referent group, with large odds ratios (ORs) for the psychiatric illnesses anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and exhaustion syndrome. Other common illnesses were tinnitus, hearing impairment and musculoskeletal disorders. Study II used data from the Österbotten Environmental Health Study and focused on the psychosocial work environme, Ljudintolerans syftar på en negativ reaktion på ljud vid ljudtrycksnivåer som de flesta människor inte finner obehagligt. Vilka processer som ligger bakom de förhöjda reaktionerna eller relationerna till andra åkommor är ännu oklart. Syftet med den här avhandlingen är att bredda kunskapen om ljudintolerans och dess underkategori hyperakusi, genom bruket av tvärsektionella och kvasi-experimentella metoder. Avhandlingen består av tre studier som angriper ämnet från olika perspektiv, med syfte att bättre förstå generella egenskaper hos ljudintolerans; relationen till psykosociala arbetsmiljöfaktorer; samt effekterna av en ljudexponering i kontrollerad laboratoriemiljö. Studie I bestod av tvärsnittsdata från Miljöhälsostudien i Västerbotten och avhandlade egenskaper, bakgrundsdata och komorbiditeter för självrapporterade och läkardiagnostiserade individer med hyperakusi, jämfört med en referensgrupp utan dessa besvär. Resultaten visade att en majoritet av båda hyperakusi-grupperna försökte undvika ljudkällor, och upplevde att de för det mesta kunde påverka miljön för att göra den mindre bullrig. Det var en signifikant ökad risk för flera samsjukligheter för den självrapporterade gruppen jämfört med referenterna, med stora oddskvoter för såväl psykiatriska, muskuloskeletala och otorinolaryngologiska diagnoser, som funktionella somatiska syndrom. Studie II var även den en tvärsnittsstudie, den här gången med data från Miljöhälsostudien i Österbotten. Fokus för denna studie var kopplingen mellan ljudintolerans och psykosociala arbetsmiljöfaktorer. Personer med hyperakusi som arbetade, var tjänstlediga, föräldralediga eller långtidssjukskrivna, jämfördes med motsvarande grupp utan hyperakusi. Resultaten visade signifikant högre risk att skatta högt på enkätinstrument som mätte oro, brist på socialt stöd och brist på belöning. Ingen signifikant skillnad fanns för variablerna lågt känslomässigt stöd, överengagemang på arbetsplatsen och ansträngning. Den tredje och s

Sound intolerance refers to an adverse reaction to sounds at sound pressure levels most people do not find bothersome. It is sometimes associated with hearing loss and tinnitus, but neither conditions are a prerequisite for being intolerant to sounds. The processes underlying the heightened reactions to sound, or how sound intolerance is related to other afflictions is not fully known, and research in this area can still be described as being in an early stage. This thesis aims to broaden the knowledge about sound intolerance and the sub-category of hyperacusis by using cross-sectional epidemiological and quasi-experimental methods of inquiry. The thesis consists of three studies, each approaching the subject from a different perspective with the aim to better understand various characteristics of sound intolerance in general, its relation to psychosocial factors in the work environment, and its effects during noise exposure. Studies I & II are cross-sectional studies using two different data sets with similar design. Study I was based on data from a stratified sample in the Västerbotten Environmental Health Study. It examined the characteristics, background descriptions and comorbidities of self-reported and physician diagnosed individuals with hyperacusis, and compared them to a healthy referent group. Analyses revealed that a majority of both hyperacusis groups actively tried to avoid sound sources, and experienced that they for the most part could affect the environment to make it less noisy. There were significantly increased risks for other diagnosed illnesses in the hyperacusis groups compared to the healthy referent group, with large odds ratios (ORs) for the psychiatric illnesses anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and exhaustion syndrome. Other common illnesses were tinnitus, hearing impairment and musculoskeletal disorders. Study II used data from the Österbotten Environmental Health Study and focused on the psychosocial work environme, Ljudintolerans syftar på en negativ reaktion på ljud vid ljudtrycksnivåer som de flesta människor inte finner obehagligt. Vilka processer som ligger bakom de förhöjda reaktionerna eller relationerna till andra åkommor är ännu oklart. Syftet med den här avhandlingen är att bredda kunskapen om ljudintolerans och dess underkategori hyperakusi, genom bruket av tvärsektionella och kvasi-experimentella metoder. Avhandlingen består av tre studier som angriper ämnet från olika perspektiv, med syfte att bättre förstå generella egenskaper hos ljudintolerans; relationen till psykosociala arbetsmiljöfaktorer; samt effekterna av en ljudexponering i kontrollerad laboratoriemiljö. Studie I bestod av tvärsnittsdata från Miljöhälsostudien i Västerbotten och avhandlade egenskaper, bakgrundsdata och komorbiditeter för självrapporterade och läkardiagnostiserade individer med hyperakusi, jämfört med en referensgrupp utan dessa besvär. Resultaten visade att en majoritet av båda hyperakusi-grupperna försökte undvika ljudkällor, och upplevde att de för det mesta kunde påverka miljön för att göra den mindre bullrig. Det var en signifikant ökad risk för flera samsjukligheter för den självrapporterade gruppen jämfört med referenterna, med stora oddskvoter för såväl psykiatriska, muskuloskeletala och otorinolaryngologiska diagnoser, som funktionella somatiska syndrom. Studie II var även den en tvärsnittsstudie, den här gången med data från Miljöhälsostudien i Österbotten. Fokus för denna studie var kopplingen mellan ljudintolerans och psykosociala arbetsmiljöfaktorer. Personer med hyperakusi som arbetade, var tjänstlediga, föräldralediga eller långtidssjukskrivna, jämfördes med motsvarande grupp utan hyperakusi. Resultaten visade signifikant högre risk att skatta högt på enkätinstrument som mätte oro, brist på socialt stöd och brist på belöning. Ingen signifikant skillnad fanns för variablerna lågt känslomässigt stöd, överengagemang på arbetsplatsen och ansträngning. Den tredje och s

In this paper, we study the dynamic properties of an SIRI epidemic model incorporating media coverage, and stochastically perturbed by a Lévy noise. We establish the existence of a unique global positive solution. We investigate the dynamic properties of the solution around both disease-free and endemic equilibria points of the deterministic model depending on the basic reproduction number under some noise excitation. Furthermore, we present some numerical simulations to support the theoretical results. © 2019 World Scientific Publishing Company.

Sound intolerance refers to an adverse reaction to sounds at sound pressure levels most people do not find bothersome. It is sometimes associated with hearing loss and tinnitus, but neither conditions are a prerequisite for being intolerant to sounds. The processes underlying the heightened reactions to sound, or how sound intolerance is related to other afflictions is not fully known, and research in this area can still be described as being in an early stage. This thesis aims to broaden the knowledge about sound intolerance and the sub-category of hyperacusis by using cross-sectional epidemiological and quasi-experimental methods of inquiry. The thesis consists of three studies, each approaching the subject from a different perspective with the aim to better understand various characteristics of sound intolerance in general, its relation to psychosocial factors in the work environment, and its effects during noise exposure. Studies I & II are cross-sectional studies using two different data sets with similar design. Study I was based on data from a stratified sample in the Västerbotten Environmental Health Study. It examined the characteristics, background descriptions and comorbidities of self-reported and physician diagnosed individuals with hyperacusis, and compared them to a healthy referent group. Analyses revealed that a majority of both hyperacusis groups actively tried to avoid sound sources, and experienced that they for the most part could affect the environment to make it less noisy. There were significantly increased risks for other diagnosed illnesses in the hyperacusis groups compared to the healthy referent group, with large odds ratios (ORs) for the psychiatric illnesses anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and exhaustion syndrome. Other common illnesses were tinnitus, hearing impairment and musculoskeletal disorders. Study II used data from the Österbotten Environmental Health Study and focused on the psychosocial work environme, Ljudintolerans syftar på en negativ reaktion på ljud vid ljudtrycksnivåer som de flesta människor inte finner obehagligt. Vilka processer som ligger bakom de förhöjda reaktionerna eller relationerna till andra åkommor är ännu oklart. Syftet med den här avhandlingen är att bredda kunskapen om ljudintolerans och dess underkategori hyperakusi, genom bruket av tvärsektionella och kvasi-experimentella metoder. Avhandlingen består av tre studier som angriper ämnet från olika perspektiv, med syfte att bättre förstå generella egenskaper hos ljudintolerans; relationen till psykosociala arbetsmiljöfaktorer; samt effekterna av en ljudexponering i kontrollerad laboratoriemiljö. Studie I bestod av tvärsnittsdata från Miljöhälsostudien i Västerbotten och avhandlade egenskaper, bakgrundsdata och komorbiditeter för självrapporterade och läkardiagnostiserade individer med hyperakusi, jämfört med en referensgrupp utan dessa besvär. Resultaten visade att en majoritet av båda hyperakusi-grupperna försökte undvika ljudkällor, och upplevde att de för det mesta kunde påverka miljön för att göra den mindre bullrig. Det var en signifikant ökad risk för flera samsjukligheter för den självrapporterade gruppen jämfört med referenterna, med stora oddskvoter för såväl psykiatriska, muskuloskeletala och otorinolaryngologiska diagnoser, som funktionella somatiska syndrom. Studie II var även den en tvärsnittsstudie, den här gången med data från Miljöhälsostudien i Österbotten. Fokus för denna studie var kopplingen mellan ljudintolerans och psykosociala arbetsmiljöfaktorer. Personer med hyperakusi som arbetade, var tjänstlediga, föräldralediga eller långtidssjukskrivna, jämfördes med motsvarande grupp utan hyperakusi. Resultaten visade signifikant högre risk att skatta högt på enkätinstrument som mätte oro, brist på socialt stöd och brist på belöning. Ingen signifikant skillnad fanns för variablerna lågt känslomässigt stöd, överengagemang på arbetsplatsen och ansträngning. Den tredje och s

© 2019 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes,creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works., Stochastic Resonance (SR) is a nonlinear system specific phenomenon, which was demonstrated to lead to system unexpected (counter-intuitive) performance improvements under certain noise conditions. Memristor, on the other hand, is a fundamentally nonlinear circuit element, thus susceptible to benefit from SR, which recently came in the spotlight of the emerging technologies potential candidates. However, at this time, the variability exhibited by manufactured memristor devices within the same array constitutes the main hurdle in the road towards the commercialisation of memristor-based memories and/or computing units. Thus, in this paper, memristor SR effects are explored, assuming various memristor models, and SR-based memristance range enhancement, tolerant to device-to-device variability, is demonstrated. Our experiments reveal that SR can induce significant R MAX /R MIN ratio increase under up to 60% variability, getting as high as 3.4× for 29 dBm noise power., Peer Reviewed, Postprint (author's final draft)

Sound intolerance refers to an adverse reaction to sounds at sound pressure levels most people do not find bothersome. It is sometimes associated with hearing loss and tinnitus, but neither conditions are a prerequisite for being intolerant to sounds. The processes underlying the heightened reactions to sound, or how sound intolerance is related to other afflictions is not fully known, and research in this area can still be described as being in an early stage. This thesis aims to broaden the knowledge about sound intolerance and the sub-category of hyperacusis by using cross-sectional epidemiological and quasi-experimental methods of inquiry. The thesis consists of three studies, each approaching the subject from a different perspective with the aim to better understand various characteristics of sound intolerance in general, its relation to psychosocial factors in the work environment, and its effects during noise exposure. Studies I & II are cross-sectional studies using two different data sets with similar design. Study I was based on data from a stratified sample in the Västerbotten Environmental Health Study. It examined the characteristics, background descriptions and comorbidities of self-reported and physician diagnosed individuals with hyperacusis, and compared them to a healthy referent group. Analyses revealed that a majority of both hyperacusis groups actively tried to avoid sound sources, and experienced that they for the most part could affect the environment to make it less noisy. There were significantly increased risks for other diagnosed illnesses in the hyperacusis groups compared to the healthy referent group, with large odds ratios (ORs) for the psychiatric illnesses anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and exhaustion syndrome. Other common illnesses were tinnitus, hearing impairment and musculoskeletal disorders. Study II used data from the Österbotten Environmental Health Study and focused on the psychosocial work environme, Ljudintolerans syftar på en negativ reaktion på ljud vid ljudtrycksnivåer som de flesta människor inte finner obehagligt. Vilka processer som ligger bakom de förhöjda reaktionerna eller relationerna till andra åkommor är ännu oklart. Syftet med den här avhandlingen är att bredda kunskapen om ljudintolerans och dess underkategori hyperakusi, genom bruket av tvärsektionella och kvasi-experimentella metoder. Avhandlingen består av tre studier som angriper ämnet från olika perspektiv, med syfte att bättre förstå generella egenskaper hos ljudintolerans; relationen till psykosociala arbetsmiljöfaktorer; samt effekterna av en ljudexponering i kontrollerad laboratoriemiljö. Studie I bestod av tvärsnittsdata från Miljöhälsostudien i Västerbotten och avhandlade egenskaper, bakgrundsdata och komorbiditeter för självrapporterade och läkardiagnostiserade individer med hyperakusi, jämfört med en referensgrupp utan dessa besvär. Resultaten visade att en majoritet av båda hyperakusi-grupperna försökte undvika ljudkällor, och upplevde att de för det mesta kunde påverka miljön för att göra den mindre bullrig. Det var en signifikant ökad risk för flera samsjukligheter för den självrapporterade gruppen jämfört med referenterna, med stora oddskvoter för såväl psykiatriska, muskuloskeletala och otorinolaryngologiska diagnoser, som funktionella somatiska syndrom. Studie II var även den en tvärsnittsstudie, den här gången med data från Miljöhälsostudien i Österbotten. Fokus för denna studie var kopplingen mellan ljudintolerans och psykosociala arbetsmiljöfaktorer. Personer med hyperakusi som arbetade, var tjänstlediga, föräldralediga eller långtidssjukskrivna, jämfördes med motsvarande grupp utan hyperakusi. Resultaten visade signifikant högre risk att skatta högt på enkätinstrument som mätte oro, brist på socialt stöd och brist på belöning. Ingen signifikant skillnad fanns för variablerna lågt känslomässigt stöd, överengagemang på arbetsplatsen och ansträngning. Den tredje och s

A gap in standardization of quantitative infrared thermography (IRT) directly leads to a lack of measurement pattern for determining in-situ U-values of heavy multi-leaf walls. Three groups of causal factors might influence the estimation of this build quality indicator: operating conditions, thermophysical properties and technical conditions. Focusing on the last one, previous studies underlined the difficulties of measuring below 3¿h. In contrast to active IRT, no algorithms have been found to process images, despite playing an important role in the effectiveness and robustness of IRT. The traditional approach involves analysing from 120 to 7200 thermograms with a data acquisition interval of 1¿min up to 1¿s respectively. The aim of this paper was to critically assess the test duration that is traditionally used. Six real heavy multi-leaf walls were tested under a stationary regime as a stochastic process of underlying data. For the first time, a research based on two U-value time series analyses (statistical tests and a signal modelling technique by MATLAB) demonstrated the feasibility of short-lasting IRT tests. Moreover, this research posed an innovative data management tool to automate this non-destructive testing (NDT) in mid-term, stopping IRT tests in real time once the right level of accuracy was achieved., Postprint (author's final draft)

With regards to energy constrained Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs), and difficulties inherent to the acoustic underwater communication channel, a non-coherent method is investigated in order to improve energy consumption and reliability over traditional Frequency Shift Keying (FSK), without increasing the bandwidth. A proposed method of adapting Trellis Coded Modulation (TCM) to constant amplitude Permutated Frequency Shift Keying (PFSK) symbol constellations is evaluated. A system implementation of two PFSK methods is simulated in an Additive White Gaussian Noise channel, and field tested in an underwater channel in the Stockholm archipelago, where a binary FSK reference method is used as a comparison. The main interest is comparing electrical bit energy and bit error rate (BER) for the methods. Time variability of frequency fading, related to wind speed, is also evaluated from the field tests., QC 20210915