Function of note strings in Japanese Tit alarm calls to the Common Cuckoo:a playback experiment

Background: Birds produce alarm calls to convey information about threats. Some Passerine alarm calls consist of several note strings, but few studies have examined their function. Previous studies have shown that Japanese Tits(Parus minor) can alter the calling rate and number and combination of notes in response to predators. We previously found the combinations of note types in Japanese Tit alarm calls to be significantly different in response to the Sparrowhawk(Accipiter nisus) and Common Cuckoo(Cuculus canorus).Methods: Through playback experiments, we tested whether the note strings in Japanese Tit alarm calls to the Common Cuckoo have different functions in conveying information. The note strings of selected alarm calls were divided into the categories of C and D, and different calls were then constructed separately based on the two note string categories. Original alarm calls(C–D), C calls and D calls were played back to male Japanese Tits during the incubation period.Results: Male Japanese Tits had a significantly stronger response to C calls than to C–D calls, and they showed a significantly stronger response to both C and C–D calls than to D calls, suggesting that Japanese Tits discriminated between the C and D calls.Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that the C-and D-category note strings of Japanese Tit alarm calls to the Common Cuckoo have different functions, which supports the previous finding that different note strings in an alarm call can provide different information to receivers. However, the exact meanings of these note strings are not yet known, and further investigation is therefore required.

Frequency-modulated second elements of two-element alarm calls do not enhance discrimination of callers in three Eura- sian ground squirrels

Alarm calls of the European Spermophilus citellus （EGS）, Taurus S. taurensis （TGS） and Anatolian S. xanthoprymnus （AGS） ground squirrels share the same basic structure. They are tonal sounds consisting primarily of two different elements. The first element, often produced without the second element, has limited frequency modulation, while the second element is more frequency modulated. The present study examined whether this frequency-modulated element enhances the individual distinc- tiveness of calls, allowing calls to be ascribed with greater confidence to individual callers of the three species. Cross-validated discriminant function analysis （DFA） based on five acoustic parameters of the first element successfully classified calls to correct individuals （EGS： 90%, TGS： 98%, AGS： 96%）. Cross-validated DFA based on five acoustic parameters of the second element was also successful in classifications （EGS： 88%, TGS： 86%, AGS： 96%）, though discrimination of callers based on parameters of the second versus first element was the same for the AGS, lower for the EGS and significantly lower for the TGS. Cross-validated DFA based on five acoustic parameters of two-element calls also successfully classified calls to correct individu- als （EGS： 93%, TGS： 98%, AGS： 97%）, though did not improve the extent to which calls could be classified to individuals be- yond that based on the ftrst element alone. Thus, the second element does not enhance the individual distinctiveness of calls, but may convey other information such as the location of the caller [Current Zoology 58 （5）： 749-757, 2012].

Referential alarm calling behaviour in New World primates

There is relatively good evidence that non-human primates can communicate about objects and events in their envi- ronment in ways that allow recipients to draw inferences about the nature of the event experienced by the signaller. In some spe- cies, there is also evidence that the basic semantic units are not individual calls, but call sequences and the combinations gener- ated by them. These two findings are relevant to theories pertaining to the origins of human language because of the resemblances of these phenomena with linguistic reference and syntactic organisation. Until recently, however, most research efforts on the primate origins of human language have involved Old World species with comparatively few systematic studies on New World monkeys, which has prevented insights into the deeper phylogenetic roots and evolutionary origins of language-relevant capaci- ties. To address this, we review the older primate literature and very recent evidence for functionally referential communication and call combinations in New World primates. Within the existing literature there is ample evidence in both Callitrichids and Ce- bids for acoustically distinct call variants given to external disturbances that are accompanied by distinct behavioural responses. A general pattern is that one call type is typically produced in response to a wide range of general disturbances, often on the ground but also including inter-group encounters, while another call type is produced in response to a much narrower range of aerial threats. This pattern is already described for Old World monkeys and Prosimians, suggesting an early evolutionary origin. Second, recent work with black-fronted tiff monkeys has produced evidence for different alarm call sequences consisting of acoustically distinct call types. These sequences appear to encode several aspects of the predation event simultaneously, notably predator type and location. Since meaningful call sequences have already been described in Old World primates, we suggest that basic combi- natorial vocal communication has evolved in the primate lineage long before the advent of language. Moreover, it is possible that some of these communicative abilities have evolved even earlier, or independently, as there is comparable evidence in other taxonomic groups. We discuss these findings in an attempt to shed further light on the primate stock from which human language has arisen [Current Zoology 58 （5）： 680-697, 2012].

Size and shape information serve as labels in the alarm calls of Gunnison＇s prairie dogs Cynomys gunnisoni

Some animals have the capacity to produce different alarm calls for terrestrial and aerial predators. However, it is not clear what cognitive processes are involved in generating these calls. One possibility is the position of the predator： Anything on the ground receives a terrestrial predator call, and anything in the air receives an aerial predator call. Another possibility is that animals are able to recognize the physical features of predators and incorporate those into their calls. As a way of elucidating which of these mechanisms plays a primary role in generating the structure of different calls, we performed two field experiments with Gunnison＇s prairie dogs. First, we presented the prairie dogs with a circle, a triangle, and a square, each moving across the colony at the same height and speed. Second, we presented the prairie dogs with two squares of differing sizes. DFA statistics showed that 82.6 percent of calls for the circle and 79.2 percent of the calls for the triangle were correctly classified, and 73.3 percent of the calls for the square were classified as either square or circle. Also, 100 percent of the calls for the larger square and 90 percent of the calls for the smaller square were correctly classified. Because both squares and circles are features of terrestrial predators and triangles are features of aerial predators, our results suggest that prairie dogs might have a cognitive mechanism that labels the abstract shape and size of different predators, rather than the position of the predator [Current Zoology 58 （5）： 741-748, 2012].

Phylogenetic relationship and variation of alarm call traits of populations of red-cheeked ground squirrels(Spermophilus erythrogenys sensu lato)suggest taxonomic delineation

Distribution area and taxonomic borders within the species complex Spermophilus erythrogenys sensu lato re­main questionable.Early evidence suggests that red-cheeked ground squirrels of Southeast Kazakhstan are re­markably different in terms of the acoustic structure of their alarm calls from the red-cheeked ground squirrels of the Kurgan region in Russia.In this study,we analyzed the differences in the acoustic structure of the alarm call and mitochondrial DNA(complete control region,1005-1006 bp and complete cytochrome b gene,1140 bp)in 3 populations of red-cheeked ground squirrels(Tara,Altyn-Emel and Balkhash),all located within ar­eas isolated by geographical barriers in Southeast Kazakhstan.We found that the alarm call variables were sim­ilar between the 3 study populations and differed by the maximum fundamental frequency(8.46±0.75 kHz)from the values(5.62±0.06 kHz)reported for the red-cheeked ground squirrels from the Kurgan region of Rus­sia.Variation in mtDNA control region was only 3%and variation in cytochrome b gene was only 2.5%.Phylo­genetic trees based on cytochrome b gene polymorphism of 44 individuals from the study area and adjacent ter­ritories indicated 3 clades with high(98-100%)bootstrap support:“intermedius,”“brevicauda”and“iliensis”).We conclude that the 3 study populations in Southeast Kazakhstan belong to the clade intermedius and suggest a taxonomical revision of the species complex Spermophilus erythrogenys sensu lato,including analyses of nu­clear DNA and alarm calls for populations of the brevicauda and iliensis clades.

Is the propensity to emit alarm calls associated with health status?

The production and structure of animal signals may depend on an individual's health status and may provide more than one type of information to receivers.While alarm calls are not typically viewed as health condition dependent,recent studies have suggested that their structure,and possibly their propensity to be emitted,depends on an individual,s health condition and state.We asked whether the propensity of yellow-bellied marmots(Marmota flaviventer)to emit calls is influen ced by their immuno logical or parasite status,by quantifying both trap-elicited and n atural calling rates as a function of their neutrophil-to-lymphocyte(NL)ratio,the presence of a blood borne trypanosome,and the presenee of several intestinal parasites(Eimeria sp.,Entamoeba sp.,and Ascaris sp.).We fitted mixed effects models to determine if the health measures we collected were associated with the probability of calling in a trap and with annual rates of natural alarm calling.Marmots infected with a blood-borne trypanosome were marginally more likely to call naturally and when trapped,while those infected with the intestinal parasite Ascaris were less likely to call when trapped.NL ratio was not directly associated with in-trap calling probability,but males were more likely to call when they had higher NL ratios.Thus,health conditions,such as parasite infection and immune system activation,can modulate the production of alarm signals and potentially provide in formation to both predators and prey about the caller's condition.Playback experiments are required to confirm if receivers use such information.

Sounding the alarm:Functionally referential signaling in Azure-winged Magpie

Functionally referential signals are a complex form of communication that conveys information about the external environment.Such signals have been found in a range of mammal and bird species and have helped us understand the complexities of animal communication.Corvids are well known for their extraordinary cognitive abilities,but relatively little attention has been paid to their vocal function.Here,we investigated the functionally referential signals of a cooperatively breeding corvid species,Azure-winged Magpie(Cyanopica cyanus).Through field observations,we suggest that Azure-winged Magpie uses referential alarm calls to distinguish two types of threats:’rasp’ calls for terrestrial threats and ’chatter’ calls for aerial threats.A playback experiment revealed that Azure-winged Magpies responded to the two call types with qualitatively different behaviors.They sought cover by flying into the bushes in response to the ’chatter’ calls,and flew to or stayed at higher positions in response to ’rasp’ calls,displaying a shorter response time to ’chatter’ calls.Significant differences in acoustic structure were found between the two types of calls.Given the extensive cognitive abilities of corvids and the fact that referential signals were once thought to be unique to primates,these findings are important for expanding our understanding of social communication and language evolution.

The song remains the same： Juvenile Richardson＇s ground squirrels do not respond differentially to mother＇s or colony member＇s alarm calls

Alarm calls are emitted by Richardson＇s ground squirrels Urocitellus richardsonii in response to avian and terrestrial predators. Conspecifics detecting these calls respond with increased vigilance, promoting predator detection and evasion, but in doing so, lose time from foraging. That loss can be minimized if alarm call recipients discriminate among signalers, and weight their response accordingly. For juvenile ground squirrels, we predicted that the trade-off between foraging and vigilance could be optimized via selective response to alarm calls emitted by their own dam, and/or neighboring colony members over calls broad- cast by less familiar conspecifics. Alarm calls of adult female Richardson＇s ground squirrels were elicited in the field using a predator model and recorded on digital audio tape. Free-living focal juveniles were subjected to playbacks of a call of their mother, and on a separate occasion a call from either another adult female from their own colony, or an adult female from another colony. Neither immediate postural responses and escape behavior, nor the duration of vigilance manifested by juveniles differed with exposure to alarm calls of the three adult female signaler types. Thus, juveniles did not respond preferentially to alarm calls emitted by their mothers or colony members, likely reflecting the high cost of ignoring alarm signals where receivers have had limited opportunity to establish past signaler reliability [Current Zoology 58 （5）： 773-780, 2012].

Solution to reduce call drop based on alarming information in WCDMA networks

Deep analysis of call detail log of the alarming information indicates that reasons except user equipment(UE)issue are usually ignored.To effectively reduce call drop rate in wideband code division multiple access(WCDMA)mobile communication system,a novel method is presented.First,the reliable trace information is extracted to observe the distribution of all the exceptions from radio network controller(RNC)daily report.Then,the antenna angle of generalized clustering network in 024 base station’s c sector(GCN024C)for environmental test(ET)which is obtained from the radio frequency(RF)engineer is manually changed from 4° to 6°.Experimental results show that the proposed method can guarantee the key performance indicators(KPI)of WCDMA and have obvious effect on reducing call drop rate.

Design of AI-Enhanced and Hardware-Supported Multimodal E-Skin for Environmental Object Recognition and Wireless Toxic Gas Alarm

Post-earthquake rescue missions are full of challenges due to the unstable structure of ruins and successive aftershocks.Most of the current rescue robots lack the ability to interact with environments,leading to low rescue efficiency.The multimodal electronic skin(e-skin)proposed not only reproduces the pressure,temperature,and humidity sensing capabilities of natural skin but also develops sensing functions beyond it—perceiving object proximity and NO2 gas.Its multilayer stacked structure based on Ecoflex and organohydrogel endows the e-skin with mechanical properties similar to natural skin.Rescue robots integrated with multimodal e-skin and artificial intelligence(AI)algorithms show strong environmental perception capabilities and can accurately distinguish objects and identify human limbs through grasping,laying the foundation for automated post-earthquake rescue.Besides,the combination of e-skin and NO2 wireless alarm circuits allows robots to sense toxic gases in the environment in real time,thereby adopting appropriate measures to protect trapped people from the toxic environment.Multimodal e-skin powered by AI algorithms and hardware circuits exhibits powerful environmental perception and information processing capabilities,which,as an interface for interaction with the physical world,dramatically expands intelligent robots’application scenarios.

A lightweight false alarm suppression method in heterogeneous change detection

Overlooking the issue of false alarm suppression in heterogeneous change detection leads to inferior detection per-formance.This paper proposes a method to handle false alarms in heterogeneous change detection.A lightweight network of two channels is bulit based on the combination of convolutional neural network(CNN)and graph convolutional network(GCN).CNNs learn feature difference maps of multitemporal images,and attention modules adaptively fuse CNN-based and graph-based features for different scales.GCNs with a new kernel filter adaptively distinguish between nodes with the same and those with different labels,generating change maps.Experimental evaluation on two datasets validates the efficacy of the pro-posed method in addressing false alarms.

Critical care nurses and their clinical reasoning for customizing monitor alarms:a mixed-method study

Objective:To explore the clinical rationale of critical care nurses for personalizing monitor alarms.One of the most crucial jobs assigned to critical care nurses is monitoring patients'physiological indicators and carrying out the necessary associated interventions.Successful use of equipment in the nursing practice environment will be improved by a thorough understanding of the nurse's approach to alarm configuration.Methods:A mixed-method design integrating quantitative and qualitative components was used.The sample of this study recruited a convenience sample of 60 nurses who have worked in critical care areas.This study took place at Lebanese American University Medical Center Rizk Hospital,utilizing a semi-structured interview with participants.Results:The study demonstrated the high incidence of nuisance alarms and the desensitization of critical care nurses to vital ones.According to the nurses,frequent false alarms and a shortage of staff are the 2 main causes of alarm desensitization.Age was significantly associated with the perception of Smart alarms,according to the data(P=0.03).Four interconnected themes and subcategories that reflect the clinical reasoning process for alarm customization were developed as a result of the study's qualitative component:(1)unit alarm environment;(2)nursing style;(3)motivation to customize;and(4)clinical and technological customization.Conclusions:According to this study,nurses believe that alarms are valuable.However,a qualitative analysis of the experiences revealed that customization has been severely limited since the healthcare team depends on nurses to complete these tasks independently.Additionally,a staffing shortage and lack of technical training at the start of placement have also hindered customization.

Design of Signal Lamp Filament Monitoring Alarm Instrument

To improve the reliability of the light emitting diode(LED)signal lamp filament current monitoring alarm instrument for metro systems,a new type of hot standby online monitoring apparatus was developed which is based on synchronous transmission data(STD)bus technology.In this system,a double hot standby mode can be achieved by adopting bus arbitration.In addition,to detect the effective value of alternating current which is from 0 to 200 mA in the signal lamp lighting circuit,a precision rectifier signal conditioning circuit and an isolated acquisition circuit were designed.This new type of alarm instrument has high detection accuracy and could meet the functional requirements for metro signal systems after comparing it with some industry products that were applied on the spot.

Feature extraction and damage alarming using time series analysis

Aiming at the problem of on-line damage diagnosis in structural health monitoring （SHM）, an algorithm of feature extraction and damage alarming based on auto-regressive moving-average （ARMA） time series analysis is presented. The monitoring data were first modeled as ARMA models, while a principalcomponent matrix derived from the AR coefficients of these models was utilized to establish the Mahalanobisdistance criterion functions. Then, a new damage-sensitive feature index DDSF is proposed. A hypothesis test involving the t-test method is further applied to obtain a decision of damage alarming as the mean value of DDSF had significantly changed after damage. The numerical results of a three-span-girder model shows that the defined index is sensitive to subtle structural damage, and the proposed algorithm can be applied to the on-line damage alarming in SHM.

Theoretical research on structural damage alarming of long-span bridges using wavelet packet analysis

The state equation and observation equation of the structural dynamic systems under various analysis scales are derived based on wavelet packet analysis. The time-frequency properties of structural dynamic response under various scales are further formulated. The theoretical analysis results reveal that the wavelet packet energy spectrum （WPES） obtained from wavelet packet decomposition of structural dynamic response will detect the presence of structural damage. The sensitivity analysis of the WPES to structural damage and measurement noise is also performed. The transfer properties of the structural system matrix and the observation noise under various analysis scales are formulated, which verify the damage alarming reliability using the proposed WPES with preferable damage sensitivity and noise robusticity.

费森4008B血透机Flow alarm故障维修

1故障现象 机器运行过程中电导度不稳定,上下漂移且出现Flow alarm报警。

Multitask Data Processing in a Wireless Alarm System

Aim To achieve multitask data procssing in a wireless alarm system by computer. Methods The alarm system was composed of hardware and software. The hardware was composed of a master master computer and slave transmitters. On urgent ugent occasion, one or more of the transmitters transmitted alarm signals and the master computer received the signals; interruption, residence, graph and word processing were utilized in software to achieve multitiask data processing . Results The main computer can conduct precise and quick multitask data procesing in any condition so long as alarm signals are received. The processing speed is higher than ordinary alarm System. Conclusion The master computer can conduct safe and quick multitask data processing by way of reliable design of software and hardware , so there is no need of special processor.

Antipredatory call behavior of lapwing species in an Afrotropical environment

Predation is an important source of natural selection on prey species and has resulted in adaptations such as antipredator vocal signals,which can alert others to the presence of predators and solicit cooperative attack.Although vocal alarm signals of birds have been well studied,they are poorly known in tropical African species.To address this lack of information,the antipredatory signals and responses of two lapwings(Wattled Lapwing Vanellus senegallus and Spur-winged Lapwing Vanellus spinosus)to potential predators were investigated using data collected from focal observation,distance measurements,focal recordings,and playback experiment.The lapwing calls elicited to predators were classified as alarm or mobbing calls based on whether the calls elicited alert behavior or attack from other lapwings.Discriminant linear analysis(DLA)was used to compare the time and frequency parameters of the call types measured in Raven PRO.Also,lapwings’responses to intruders,alert and start distance,time of day,and latency,as well as the effects of flock size and distance to cover were examined.About 48%of all calls was correctly classified by DLA.The best predictors of call type for the lapwings were maximum frequency and high frequency.Both alarm and mobbing calls were elicited by African Wattled Lapwings to dogs and humans.Mobbing calls were elicited to intruders by the Spur-winged Lapwings.Alert distance was positively associated with start distance,and differed between morning and evening in both lapwings.With scarce information from tropical Africa,this study put in perspective vocal and antipredator behavior of lapwing species in Africa.

Research on Micro-vibration Generator for Powering Tire Pressure Alarm System

In order to meet the self-powered requirement by microelectronic products and micro-electrostatic vibration generator and avoid the environmental pollution caused by waste batteries,many countries have started their researches on piezoelectric power generation based on the researches on the recovery device of rotational energy of piezoelectric effect.The piezoelectric power generation has many advantages compared with other generation patterns.The piezoelectric power generation has become a new field of research.In this study,the piezoelectric vibrators were used to convert energy.According to the requirements by tire pressure alarm system,the energy conversion and storage were researched and analyzed by using the passive sensing device used in automotive inspection.The converted energy was then provided to the alarm,achieving intelligent control and utilization of piezoelectric vibrators.