Animal behavioral studies are often combined with research concerning cognitive abilities.Larger brains usually mean more complex neural networks and advanced cognitive functions.By measuring the brain size of differe...Animal behavioral studies are often combined with research concerning cognitive abilities.Larger brains usually mean more complex neural networks and advanced cognitive functions.By measuring the brain size of different individual animals,we can explore differences in behavioral complexity between populations or species.However,obtaining accurate measurements of brain size is challenging both in field and laboratory environments,especially for rare and endangered species.Therefore,there is an urgent need to develop reliable methods for performing cranial brain mass.This study tests which external structures of the avian head can most accurately predict brain size.We selected five bird species from four orders,categorized external head measures into three types of parameters(direct,calculated and composite measurements),and analyzed these in relation to brain mass.The results showed that while head size can partially explain brain mass,the parameters of head height x head width were the most accurate predictors of brain mass in birds(90.4%).In addition,the positive correlation between endocranial volume and brain mass once again confirmed that avian endocranial volume can,to a certain extent,serve as a valid proxy for brain mass.Our study demonstrates that in the future we can more conveniently perform non-invasive measurements to better understand the relationship between bird brain size and behavior,ecology,and evolution.展开更多
In order to investigate the influence of dummy head on measuring speech intelligi- bility, the objective and subjective speech intelligibility evaluation experiments were respectively carried out for different spatial...In order to investigate the influence of dummy head on measuring speech intelligi- bility, the objective and subjective speech intelligibility evaluation experiments were respectively carried out for different spatial configurations of a target source and a noise source in the horizontal plane. The differences between standard STIPA measured without a dummy head and binaural STIPA measured with a dummy head were compared and the correlation of subjective speech intelligibility and objective STIPA was analyzed. It is showed that the position of sound source affects significantly on binaural STIPA and subjective intelligibility measured by a dummy head or measured in a real-life scenario. The standard STIPA is closer to the lower value of the two binaural STIPA values. The speech intelligibility is higher for a single ear which is on the same side with the target source or on the other side of the noise source. Binaural speech intelligibility is always the lowest when both target and noise sources are at the same place but once apart the speech intelligibility will increase sharply. It is also found that the subjective intelligibility measured by a dummy head or measured in a real-life scenario is uncorrelated with standard STIPA, but correlated highly with STIPA measured with a dummy head. The subjective intelligibility of one single ear is correlated highly with STIPA measured at the same ear, and the binaural speech intelligibility is in well agreement with the higher value of the two binaural STIPA values.展开更多
Urban gullies are a rapidly growing concern in many tropical cities of the Global South.Various measures are already implemented for their stabilization.However,an overview of these measures and their overall effectiv...Urban gullies are a rapidly growing concern in many tropical cities of the Global South.Various measures are already implemented for their stabilization.However,an overview of these measures and their overall effectivenesss is currently lacking.We aim at addressing this gap by documenting existing ini-tiatives to stabilize urban gullies in D.R.Congo and assessing their overall effectiveness.To this end we conducted extensive field campaigns in Kinshasa,Kikwit and Bukavu and combined our terrain obser-vations with data on gully expansion rates(derived from series of satellite imagery).In total,we char-acterized present and past stabilization initiatives for 398 urban gullies.For 69 of these gullies,the effect of a specific measure on gully expansion rates could be estimated.Results show that for the large ma-jority of gullies,various measures have been implemented.Yet,these are mainly ad-hoc measures installed by the affected population.More structural measures based on larger engineering works were observed for only 20-30%of gullies.The huge efforts invested in the installation of measures strongly contrast with their overall low impact Among all strategies,only the deviation of runoff resulted in significantly lower expansion rates after installation.The numerous initiatives that rely on the sparse means available seem to have limited effects.This does not imply,however,that they are completely ineffective and should be abandoned.Based on our findings,we formulate recommendations for further research on how to effectively prevent and stabilize urban gullies,taking into account the difficult environmental and socio-economic context.展开更多
基金supported by the National Key R&D Program of China(2023YFF1304600)。
文摘Animal behavioral studies are often combined with research concerning cognitive abilities.Larger brains usually mean more complex neural networks and advanced cognitive functions.By measuring the brain size of different individual animals,we can explore differences in behavioral complexity between populations or species.However,obtaining accurate measurements of brain size is challenging both in field and laboratory environments,especially for rare and endangered species.Therefore,there is an urgent need to develop reliable methods for performing cranial brain mass.This study tests which external structures of the avian head can most accurately predict brain size.We selected five bird species from four orders,categorized external head measures into three types of parameters(direct,calculated and composite measurements),and analyzed these in relation to brain mass.The results showed that while head size can partially explain brain mass,the parameters of head height x head width were the most accurate predictors of brain mass in birds(90.4%).In addition,the positive correlation between endocranial volume and brain mass once again confirmed that avian endocranial volume can,to a certain extent,serve as a valid proxy for brain mass.Our study demonstrates that in the future we can more conveniently perform non-invasive measurements to better understand the relationship between bird brain size and behavior,ecology,and evolution.
基金supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China(11204278)
文摘In order to investigate the influence of dummy head on measuring speech intelligi- bility, the objective and subjective speech intelligibility evaluation experiments were respectively carried out for different spatial configurations of a target source and a noise source in the horizontal plane. The differences between standard STIPA measured without a dummy head and binaural STIPA measured with a dummy head were compared and the correlation of subjective speech intelligibility and objective STIPA was analyzed. It is showed that the position of sound source affects significantly on binaural STIPA and subjective intelligibility measured by a dummy head or measured in a real-life scenario. The standard STIPA is closer to the lower value of the two binaural STIPA values. The speech intelligibility is higher for a single ear which is on the same side with the target source or on the other side of the noise source. Binaural speech intelligibility is always the lowest when both target and noise sources are at the same place but once apart the speech intelligibility will increase sharply. It is also found that the subjective intelligibility measured by a dummy head or measured in a real-life scenario is uncorrelated with standard STIPA, but correlated highly with STIPA measured with a dummy head. The subjective intelligibility of one single ear is correlated highly with STIPA measured at the same ear, and the binaural speech intelligibility is in well agreement with the higher value of the two binaural STIPA values.
文摘Urban gullies are a rapidly growing concern in many tropical cities of the Global South.Various measures are already implemented for their stabilization.However,an overview of these measures and their overall effectivenesss is currently lacking.We aim at addressing this gap by documenting existing ini-tiatives to stabilize urban gullies in D.R.Congo and assessing their overall effectiveness.To this end we conducted extensive field campaigns in Kinshasa,Kikwit and Bukavu and combined our terrain obser-vations with data on gully expansion rates(derived from series of satellite imagery).In total,we char-acterized present and past stabilization initiatives for 398 urban gullies.For 69 of these gullies,the effect of a specific measure on gully expansion rates could be estimated.Results show that for the large ma-jority of gullies,various measures have been implemented.Yet,these are mainly ad-hoc measures installed by the affected population.More structural measures based on larger engineering works were observed for only 20-30%of gullies.The huge efforts invested in the installation of measures strongly contrast with their overall low impact Among all strategies,only the deviation of runoff resulted in significantly lower expansion rates after installation.The numerous initiatives that rely on the sparse means available seem to have limited effects.This does not imply,however,that they are completely ineffective and should be abandoned.Based on our findings,we formulate recommendations for further research on how to effectively prevent and stabilize urban gullies,taking into account the difficult environmental and socio-economic context.
