Identical Character Research Articles

Determination of the influence of the degree of fracturing of the rock mass on the index of reduction of its strength

Purpose. The purpose of research of the presented scientific publication is to establish the regularity of changes in the generalized coefficient of strength reduction of disturbed rock massif depending on the degree of rock fracturing. Research methodology. To solve the set tasks we applied a complex approach, which consists in the analysis and generalization of previous studies on the study of the change in the strength of the rock massif depending on the degree of fracturing, scientific and technical justification of the possibility of generalizing the studied strength indicators of the disturbed massif, approximation of graphs of the change in the structural weakening coefficient, RQD and RMR depending on the fracture modulus. Research results. Scientific data of domestic scientists on determining the value of the structural weakening coefficient depending on the factors affecting the overall strength of the rock massif, and foreign scientists on establishing indicators of the state of disturbed rock massifs have been analyzed. To summarize the results of the presented assessment methods, the changes in the structural weakening coefficient, RQD and RMR indices depending on the fracture modulus of the rock massif are combined in one graph. Alignment of the mentioned graphical dependences showed the identical character of their changes. The curve of approximation (trend) for graphical dependences of the structural weakening coefficient, RQD and RMR on the fracture modulus, which can be described by a polynomial of the 3rd degree, has been obtained and the value of approximation reliability R²= 0.8975 has been established. Scientific novelty. The idea of methods and indicators for assessing the state of disturbance of rock massifs depending on various factors has been developed. The analytical dependence of the change of the generalized coefficient of strength reduction of a rocky rock massif on the fracture modulus has been obtained. Practical significance. The established influence of rock fracture modulus on the degree of strength reduction of rock massif allows to determine reliable data on the condition of ledges and sides of the quarry and to develop organizational and technical measures for further development of technology of their mining.

Role of Gas Pressure in Quasi-Phase Matching in High Harmonics Driven by Two-Color Laser Field

The results of a study on the effect of pressure in a medium consisting of a set of gas jets separated by vacuum gaps, interacting with two-color laser fields formed by the fundamental and the second harmonics of a laser, are presented herein. It has been demonstrated that a decrease in pressure leads to a shift in the region of harmonics where quasi-phase matching (QPM) occurs towards shorter wavelength radiation, accompanied by an increase in the efficiency of amplification of these harmonics. A feature of this process is the identical power-law character of the shift in the region and the increase in the efficiency of harmonic QPM amplification. Additionally, the study presents the results of the effect of inaccurately setting the width of the gas jets on the shape of the spectrum of harmonic QPM amplification.

Křídové pískovce u Ždírce nad Doubravou (Českomoravská vrchovina): materiál pro gotické sakrální stavby v širokém okolí

The narrow, 40 km long belt of the Cretaceous sediments called „The Dlouhá mez“ has been preserved along the NW-SE-striking Železné hory fault within crystalline rocks in the Eastern Bohemia (Fig. 1). The youngest relic of this belt corresponds to the middle part of Jizera Fm. of middle Turonian age. In the southeastern part of the „Dlouhá mez“ belt, these deposits have fine-grained, glauconitic sandstone nature. Near the town of Ždírec nad Doubravou, the sandstone had been exploited for a long time in several presently abandoned quarries and used as a building material. The old quarry at the margin of Ždírec nad Doubravou was founded in the end of the 13th century, and it was replaced by new quarries between Ždírec nad Doubravou and the village of Nový Studenec in the second half of the 19th century. This sandstone was discovered in four gothic buildings in the wide surroundings of these quarries within the course of the macroscopic investigation by the author. To confirm this discovery, the author carried out microscopic investigation of ten sandstone samples taken both in the quarries and in the gothic buildings. Petrographic features of the sandstone were also specified. Microscopic study confirmed the identical character of all studied samples. The identity of sandstone exploited in the quarries and sandstones used in gothic buildings was also demonstrated by the analysis of total SiO2 content. The sandstone is fine-grained, with matrix-supported texture, variable content of glauconite grains and fragments of silicisponge spicules and rare foraminifera tests. Muscovite and feldspars occur in accessory amounts. The sandstone is silicified and exhibits a porosity from 6–8 to 20 %. The pores with very elongated, needle-like form originated by diagenetic dissolution of silicisponge spicules while the diagenetic quartz penetrated the original clayey and possibly also calcareous matrix. The foraminifera tests were also silicified during this process. Within subordinate thin layers in sandstone, the content of terrigenous quartz grains drops below 25 % (20–22 %) while the content of silicisponges fragments increases to 10–12 %. These layers can be classified as spiculitic, sandy silicite. The sandstone from Ždírec nad Doubravou was documented in two village churches (Krucemburk, Havlíčkova Borová), in a big church in the town of Havlíčkův Brod and in the chapel in the Lipnice Castle in the town of Lipnice nad Sázavou. These buildings originated in the last quarter of the 13th and in the 14th century. These localities are from 4 to 32 km away from the quarries near the town of Ždírec nad Doubravou (Fig. 1). The sandstones were used as ashlar masonry, window jambs and tracery, vault ribs and also in sculptures (figural corbels). A further investigation can probably reveal the Ždírec nad Doubravou sandstone in a higher number of medieval buildings.

Synchronous disease onset and flares in siblings with PFAPA

BackgroundPeriodic fever, aphthous stomatitis, pharyngitis, and cervical adenitis (PFAPA) is a clinical syndrome of unclear etiology. PFAPA has generally been considered a non-hereditary fever syndrome; however, this has been called into question with recent reports of family clustering. Few reports have been published describing siblings with PFAPA. To our knowledge, this is the first report of siblings with near simultaneous onset of disease followed by synchronous disease flares.Case Presentation:We describe the case of near simultaneous onset of periodic fever, aphthous stomatitis, pharyngitis, and cervical adenitis in siblings followed by synchronous disease flares of clear frequency and nearly identical character. Flares were characterized predominantly by fever, aphthous ulceration, cervical lymphadenitis, and the absence of infection. The fever episodes demonstrated a robust response to glucocorticoids and recurred in the same staggered manner every four weeks, with complete absence of symptoms and normal growth and development between episodes. Nine months after onset, the older sibling, a 5-year-old female, underwent tonsillectomy resulting in dramatic resolution of episodes. At the same time, her 2-year-old sister experienced resolution of her fever episodes, though she did not undergo tonsillectomy herself.ConclusionThis is an unusual case of simultaneous onset PFAPA followed by synchronous disease flares. PFAPA is an uncommon clinical syndrome, and it is rarely diagnosed in siblings. The etiology of PFAPA remains unclear. Though the disease is classically considered sporadic, there is a growing body of evidence to suggest that PFAPA may be heritable.

Implementation of OCR using Convolutional Neural Network (CNN): A Survey

Recently, character recognition and deep learning have caught the attention of many researchers. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) usually takes an image of the character as input and generates the identical character as output. The important role that OCR does is to transform printed materials into digital text files. Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) is an influential model that is generous with bright results in optical character recognition (OCR). The state-of-the-art performance which exists in deep neural networks is usually used to handle frequently recognition and classification problems. Many applications are using it, for instance, robotics, traffic monitoring, articles digitization, etc. CNN is designed to adaptively and automatically learn features by using many kinds of layers (convolution layers, pooling layers, and fully connected layers). In this paper we will go through the advantages and recent usage of CNN in OCR and why it’s important to use it in handwritten and printed text recognition and what subjects we can use this technique for. Researchers are progressively using CNN for the machine-printed characters and recognition of handwritten, that is because CNN architectures are suitable for recognition tasks by inputting some images

High-T_c Cuprates: a Story of Two Electronic Subsystems

A review of the phenomenology and microscopy of cuprate superconductors is presented, with particular attention to universal conductance features, which reveal the existence of two electronic subsystems. The overall electronic system consists of 1+p charges, where p is the doping. At low dopings, exactly one hole is localized per planar copper–oxygen unit, while upon increasing doping and temperature, the hole is gradually delocalized and becomes itinerant. Remarkably, the itinerant holes exhibit identical Fermi liquid character across the cuprate phase diagram. This universality enables a simple count of carrier density and yields comprehensive understanding of the key features in the normal and superconducting state. A possible superconducting mechanism is presented, compatible with the key experimental facts. The base of this mechanism is the interaction of fast Fermi liquid carriers with localized holes. A change in the microscopic nature of chemical bonding in the copper oxide planes, from ionic to covalent, is invoked to explain the phase diagram of these fascinating compounds.

ПРИЛАГАТЕЛЬНОЕ КАК СПОСОБ ДЕПЕРСОНАЛИЗАЦИИ СООБЩЕНИЯ: АКТАНТНО-ПЕРЕМЕННАЯ ФУНКЦИЯ ПАССИВА (КЛАССИЧЕСКИЙ ПОДХОД)

Semantic perspective of the sentences with passive predication, expressed by the verb in passive voice or using verbal adjectives with passive meaning is analysed in the article. Such types of predication are considered as categorial and non-categorial means of Passive Perspective expression respectively (grammatical and non-grammatical). The general characteristics of the sentences presented by the categorial passive or by non-categorial means are: absence of Agence in grammatical subject position, centripetal direction of the process, expressed by the predicate words and affection of grammatical subject. All these testify the identical character of the expressed relations (by them). Perspective (the direction of the action in the sentence) is defined by subject-object and has the identical nature in both variants.

Syntaxonomy and biogeography of the Irano‐Turanian mires and springs

AbstractAimsTo develop the first comprehensive syntaxonomic classification for patchy montane mire and spring vegetation across the Irano‐Turanian phytogeographical region in Iran, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and to explore the effects of the main environmental and geographic gradients on their distribution.LocationAlborz Mountain range (Iran), Pamir‐Alai Mountains (Tajikistan) and Tian Shan Mountains (Kyrgyzstan); total area about 3,000,000 km2.MethodsA database of 1,015 vegetation relevés including a total of 675 vascular and bryophyte taxa was established, covering the large mountains ranges of the Irano‐Turanian regions in Iran, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, at altitudes ranging from 1,300 to 4,505 m a.s.l. A semi‐supervisedk‐means analysis was performed. Additional analyses were carried out to show differences among predefined vegetation groups in terms of phytogeographical, climatic and compositional factors.ResultsTwo large groups of mire communities, referable to mires and springs were identified. Twenty associations, one subassociation and four alliances of these wetlands, belonging to three orders and three classes, were defined. Among them, ten associations, one subassociation and two alliances were formally described as new syntaxa. Moreover, a new orderCaricetalia orbicularis, that comprises phytogeographically unique vegetation of the Irano‐Turanian mires, is proposed.ConclusionsBased on our results and comparison between the Irano‐Turanian and other phytogeographical regions, we propose a first comprehensive syntaxonomic synopsis for the Irano‐Turanian mires and springs. Despite some identical character species and their vicariant nature, the Irano‐Turanian, Euro‐Siberian and Mediterranean mires and springs show considerable compositional differences. Irano‐Turanian wetlands contain a large and distinct set of endemic plant species, which are mixed with Euro‐Siberian species in the west and north, but predominate in the eastern locations. They have a patchy pattern and scattered distribution and serve as inland hotspots of wetland vegetation in the vast dry landscape of southwest and Central Asia.

Features of Formation and Coronization of the State Apparatus in the Context of National Construction in the Northern Caucasus in 1920s — 1930s

The article examines the features of the policy of the indigenization of the state apparatus in the national autonomies of the North Caucasus in the 1920s — 1930s. Based on the analysis of the achievements of modern historiography, as well as a wide range of archival documents, the main tasks, directions and stages of the indigenization of state authorities are highlighted. The emphasis is on studying the specifics of the indigenization of the lower Soviet apparatus — village councils and aul councils, which were considered as the basis of Soviet power in the North Caucasus. The article substantiates the position that the process of Soviet construction and the indigenization of the lower Soviet authorities in the mountain autonomies had an identical character. It is emphasized that the indigenous policy was of an applied nature and was the most important component of the state strategy of nation-building in the region. Its essence consisted in the promotion of national personnel to managerial and technical positions in the state apparatus and the translation of office work into national languages. It is noted that the process of indigenization proceeded unevenly, had different dynamics and faced a number of difficulties due to local cultural, social and everyday characteristics. It is shown that in the 1920s. the indigenization of the state apparatus had a political implication and was aimed at ensuring the loyalty of the peoples of the North Caucasus to the Soviet regime. In the 1930s. the policy of indigenization acquires a pronounced class character, which leads to a decrease in its dynamics and a gradual curtailment.

Rainbow Body and Resurrection: Spiritual Attainment, The Dissolution Of the Material Body, and the Case of Khenpo a Chö by Francis V. Tiso

Reviewed by: Rainbow Body and Resurrection: Spiritual Attainment, The Dissolution Of the Material Body, and the Case of Khenpo a Chö by Francis V. Tiso Thomas Cattoi RAINBOW BODY AND RESURRECTION: SPIRITUAL ATTAINMENT, THE DISSOLUTION OF THE MATERIAL BODY, AND THE CASE OF KHENPO A CHÖ. By Francis V. Tiso.. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 2016. 393 pp. In recent years, the growing popularity of comparative theology as an academic discipline has led to the proliferation of academic studies exploring the points of contact between different religious traditions, bringing into conversation authors and texts that address analogous themes or question, without however postulating any historical or conceptual link between the strands of the tradition in question. For instance, Francis Clooney's Hindu God Christian God (2001), Divine Mother Blessed Mother (2003), or Beyond Compare: St. Francis de Sales and Sri Vedanta Desika on Loving Surrender to God (2008) set out an ambitious road map for an intellectual exchange between two vastly different religious traditions. These monographs, however, focus on speculative and conceptual echoes between Hindu and Christian authors from different eras and never claim any instance of reciprocal influence. In a similar way, a work like John Keenan's I Am/No Self: a Christian Commentary on the Heart Sutra (2011) may highlight unexpected echoes between the well-known Mahāyāna text and the Gospel of John, but it certainly does not venture any hypothesis about historical exchanges of ideas. At this stage in the history of interreligious dialogue, to embrace an alternative approach would seem a throwback to the Campbellian world of The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949), where a sort of perennialism for the masses presents all religions as culturally determined expressions of the same tradition. Francis Tiso's Rainbow Body and Resurrection is not a neo-perennialist work in the vogue of Campbell or Guenon: Tiso is certainly not interested in erasing the peculiarities of different religious traditions or in turning Tibetan Buddhism and Christianity into masks of the divine. At the same time, Tiso makes a number of daring claims, namely he affirms that there are peak mystical experiences in Buddhism and Christianity that share intriguing similarities, even if no one can actually affirm their identical character. In addition, he affirms that the interpretation of such experiences in the Tibetan tradition of Buddhism was actually influenced by certain theological strands of Syriac Christianity that were largely erased from the historical consciousness of Western, and to a great extent Byzantine Christianity, but were able to spread to the East via the Silk Road, until they encountered the [End Page 467] Buddhist world on the Tibetan plateau and in Western China. Tiso is well aware of the fact that most scholars will question his reconstruction of the history of Tibetan thought and that many readers will be startled at his acceptance of the truth of seemingly "paranormal" phenomena. Even this reviewer, while sympathetic to Tiso's enterprise, is ultimately reluctant to accept the full import of his claims. At the same time, whether or not one chooses to follow the author in his search for the ever-elusive historical contact between Buddhism and Christianity, this monograph has the distinctive merit of trying to challenge established academic conventions and reset the terms of the comparative conversation. Perhaps, Tiso appears to suggest, there is more to comparative theology than the mere juxtaposition of texts; it may be high time to go back to fieldwork, let go of our enlightened prejudices, and seek out the extraordinary phenomena that religious traditions—at least in the past!—routinely acknowledged as possible. In the introduction, Tiso observes that the resurrection of the dead in Christianity is associated with the notion of a transcendent God returning his creation to fullness of being, while such an eschatological perspective is not universally present in Buddhism. At the same time—he claims—this teleological thrust can be found in later strands of the Tibetan tradition of Dzogchen, where the emphasis on the interrelatedness of all phenomena coexists with the conviction that human experience can have a direction or purpose. What would this be? According to many Dzogchen authors, then, the purpose of human experience is to break...

Synthetic chalcogenides of gold in the Au-Te-Se-S system and their natural analogs

First in the Au-Te-Se-S system (where Te ≥ Se + S) quadruple chalcogenides were obtained by dry synthesis: AuX (AuTe0,7Se0,2S0,1), Au3X10 (Au3Te6Se3S, Au3Te6Se2,5S1,5) и AuX2 (AuTe1,8Se0,2, AuTe1,8Se0,1S0,1). According to the results of X-ray phase analysis, the synthetic phases of the composition AuTe1,8(Se,S)0,2 correspond to the calaverite (AuTe2). The unidentified peaks on the diffractograms belong to the new gold chalcogenides AuTe0,7Se0,2S0,1 and Au3Te6(Se,S)4. Obviously, they are synthetic analogues of compounds previously unknown in nature, found on the Gatching occurence of the Maleteuyamsky ore field (Central Kamchatka volcanic belt). The compositions of natural phases cover the intervals: 1) Au0,99-1,00Te0,70-0,71Se0,25-0,27S0,03-0,06; 2) Au2,91-3,08Te5,85-6,06Se1,57-3,66S2,63-0,44. Raman spectra of synthetic and natural gold chalcogenides with a similar composition have identical character.

Tradition, Morality and Solidarity in Durkheim’s Theory

This article examines Durkheim’s approach to the interrelationship of tradition, morality and solidarity. One of its basic claims is that Durkheim was an epistemological and methodological rationalist, but not an ontological one. It means that he grounded rational and scientific knowledge about social reality, which itself, to his mind, is not rational. It concerns directly his treatment of tradition, morality and social solidarity. In spite of all Durkheim’s statements about the decline of traditionalism in contemporary societies, he affirmed sometimes that traditional behaviour in general is almost identical to a moral one. We can see it namely in his reasoning about the close affinity and nearly identical character between “collective habits” and true morality. In industrial societies, according to him, two types of traditions coexist, namely old, “traditional” traditions inherited from the past on the one hand, and new, “rational” traditions, on the other hand. His statements about the alternation of historical periods dominated by traditions and ideals contains a kind of sketch on the philosophy of history, partly explaining the phenomena of time compression and time distension in different periods of social development. Durkheimian theory may be interpreted as a fruitful contribution to the present-day understanding of the processes of modernization. 

Against the Character Solution to the Problem of Moral Luck

ABSTRACTOne way to frame the problem of moral luck is as a contradiction in our ordinary ideas about moral responsibility. In the case of two identical reckless drivers where one kills a pedestrian and the other does not, we tend to intuit that they are and are not equally blameworthy. The Character Response sorts these intuitions in part by providing an account of moral responsibility: the drivers must be equally blameworthy, because they have identical character traits and people are originally praiseworthy and blameworthy in virtue of, and only in virtue of, their character traits. After explicating two versions of the Character Response, I argue that they both involve implausible accounts of moral responsibility and fail to provide a good solution to the problem of moral luck. I close by noting how proponents of moral luck can preserve a kernel of truth from the Character Response to explain away the intuition that the drivers are equally blameworthy.

New evidence on the provenance of Red Lustrous Wheel-made Ware (RLW): Petrographic, elemental and Sr-Nd isotope analysis

The Red Lustrous Wheel-made Ware (RLW) is a distinctive Late Bronze Age ware produced from high quality red clay with an array of particular forms and a polished red surface. It has a wide distribution in the Eastern Mediterranean, mainly including central Anatolia, Cilicia, Cyprus, the Levant, and Egypt, indicating the important role of the ware in displaying possible cultural, commercial, and political interconnections. Its unique and identical character throughout its distribution area still complicates the identification of its provenance. Therefore, it has been the subject of numerous archaeological and archaeometric studies. In previous archaeological studies, a Cypriot origin for the ware has been proposed and generally accepted. In comparison to archaeological research, Cyprus and/or Anatolia are suggested as the origin of RLW in previous archaeometric studies. However, the latest discoveries from Anatolia suggests that the production place of RLW could be located in Rough Cilicia in southern Anatolia, as new RLW forms have been identified at Kilise Tepe level III (1500–1300 BCE).This study focuses on the newly identified RLW forms of jar and its subgroups excavated at Kilise Tepe, level III (c. 1500–1300 BCE). We report archaeometric results of petrographic, trace element and Sr (87Sr/86Sr) and Nd (143Nd/144Nd) isotopic analysis of RLW samples, not only from Kilise Tepe in southern Anatolia but also from Boğazköy/Ḫattuša in central Anatolia, and Tell Atchana/Alalakh in the Amuq Plain as comparative material. Archaeometric results suggest that the new RLW forms with their subgroups belong to the main chemical and mineralogical corpus of RLW. These results support the thesis that Kilise Tepe is the site with the largest variety of RLW forms, and also the hypothesis that the origin of RLW might be in Rough Cilicia in southern Anatolia. A few samples from each site were defined as outliers, indicating that there are small amounts of RLW produced from other clays, the sources of which remain unidentified.

MCM-2 an alternative to Ki-67 for assessing cell proliferation in odontogenic pathologies

ObjectiveNew proliferative marker MCM-2 can be observed in all phases of cell cycle and plays a central role in chromatin replication. At present limited information exists on the expression of MCM-2 in odontogenic pathologies (OP). Hence, the purpose was to assess the expression of Ki-67 and MCM-2 in clinically significant OP and to evaluate the relation between these markers and the clinical-imaging-pathologic characteristics of ameloblastoma (AM) and odontogenic keratocyst (OKC).Materials and Methods: Clinical-imaging-pathologic characteristics of thirty consecutive cases of AM and thirty OKC were tabulated and sections were subjected to immunostaining for Ki-67 and MCM-2. The quantitative data was subjected to One Way Anova, Tukeys multiple posthoc procedures, independent t-test, paired t-test and Pearson’s correlation test. ResultsProliferative index (PI) was significantly higher with MCM-2 than Ki-67 in AM and OKC. PI with Ki-67 and MCM-2 in AM was significantly higher in peripheral than the central cells. PI with Ki-67 and MCM-2 in OKC was significantly higher in suprabasal than the basal cells. PI with Ki-67 or MCM-2 in AM and OKC did not show a statistically significant difference. MCM-2 in AM showed a significant association with type of radiolucency and nature of lesion. Ki-67 in OKC showed a significant association with number of lesion and type of radiolucency. ConclusionsMCM-2 is a more sensitive marker for assessing the growth rate, and may be appropriate in sorting the proliferative fraction than Ki-67. Comparable expression of proliferative markers in AM and OKC clarifies their nature, indicating identical aggressive character.

Paleomagnetic results from Lower Devonian sandstones of the Niqiuhe Formation in the Duobaoshan area and its constraints on paleoposition of the Xing’an block

Two common but contradictory views toward the timing of the final closure of the eastern Paleo-Asian Ocean (PAO) are either the Pre-Late Devonian or the Late Permian to Early Triassic. Previous paleomagnetic studies support a consolidation of the unified North China and Mongolia by the Late Permian. However, Pre-Late Permian paleogeography of the eastern Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB) is not well understood due to the scarcity of reliable paleomagnetic records. The Xing’an block plays a key role in the evolution of the CAOB, however, no paleomagnetic results are available so far to provide constraints on its Late Paleozoic paleo-position. We performed a systematic paleomagnetic study on a purple siltstone section of the Lower Devonian Niqiuhe Formation near the Duobaoshan County, Heilongjiang Province. Representative fresh end samples were subjected to rock magnetic analysis to identify their dominant magnetic carriers and particle size distribution. Rock magnetic experiments include measurements of magnetic susceptibility variation dependence of temperature ( κ - T ) curves, hysteresis loops, acquisition of isothermal remanent magnetization (IRM) and back-field demagnetization of saturated IRM (SIRM) curves. The results indicate that the magnetic remanence carriers are dominant by hematite with minor contributions of magnetite. 112 cylindrical specimens were thermally demagnetized using an ASC TD-48S furnace and measured in a 2G-755-4K SQUID system in the Magnetotectonics Lab of Peking University. A total of 11 sites revealed identical bi-components character. The low temperature component resembles the present geomagnetic field in geographic coordinates, while the high temperature characteristic remanence (ChRM) component was reversed polarity both before and after tilt correction. Optimal concentration is achieved at 35.7% unfolding percentage, which suggests the magnetization was acquired during the late stage of a folding process. A previous structural study indicated that stress field of the research area switched from NW-SE to N-S orientation during the Late Permian, which is supported by the predominant NE-SW oriented Ordovician to Devonian strata as well as the angular unconformity between the Devonian and Upper Permian strata. The folding time of the Niqiuhe Formation is likely Middle Devonian to Middle Permian. Supported by evidence from a suite of granites near our sampling section (less than 3 km) dating at 309−299 Ma along with the universal reversed polarity of all 11 sites, we argue that the ChRM component was acquired during the Permo-Carboniferous Reversed Superchron (~318−262 Ma), when the study area was affected by a granitic intrusion thermal event (309−299 Ma). The ChRM component ( D / I =28.6°/−33.2°, k =18.6, α 95=10.9°) corresponds to a paleomagnetic pole of λ p/ φ p=17.3°S/97.1°E ( dp / dm =7.0°/12.4°). For a common reference site (43°N/114°E), our results suggest the Xing’an block was situated at 27.7°±12.4°N during the Late Carboniferous. Coeval results obtained from rocks of different lithology suggest 28.5°±9.7°N and 19.9°±14.8°N for the Uliastai continental margin and the Central Mongolia-Euruna block. After applying a blanket flattening factor f =0.6 for results obtained from clastic sedimentary rocks, the paleolatitudinal difference between the Xing’an block, Uliastai continental margin, and the Central Mongolia-Erguna block is less than 3.2°±12.8°. Late Carboniferous paleomagnetic poles from those three blocks are distributed along a small circle. Significant post-Permian local rotations are likely attributed to extensive Mesozoic strike-slip faults among the eastern CAOB. Those three blocks were probably consolidated into a unified block, situated at ~28°−30°N during the Late Carboniferous and dominant by the cold water Borel realm fauna. By contrast, the North China and Songliao-Xilinhot blocks was situated at an equatorial region (4.3°S−12°N) and dominant by the warm water Tethyan realm fauna, while Siberia was located at ~45°−50°N. The Paleo-Asian Ocean therefore remained open and the main basin was the Hegenshan ocean rather than the Solonker ocean.

Experimental confirmation of a character-facing bias in literacy development

When learning to write, children often mirror-reverse individual letters. For children learning to use the Latin alphabet, in a left-to-right writing culture, letters that appear to face left (such as J and Z) seem to be more prone to reversal than those that appear to face right (such as B and C). It has been proposed that, because most asymmetrical Latin letters face right, children statistically learn this general regularity and are subsequently biased to write any letter rightward. The evidence for this character-facing bias is circumstantial, however, because letter-facing direction is confounded with other factors that could affect error rates; for instance, J and Z are left-facing, but they are also infrequent. We report the first controlled experimental test of the character-facing bias. We taught 43 Scottish primary schoolchildren (aged 4.8–5.8 years) four artificial, letter-like characters, two of which were left-facing and two of which were right-facing. The characters were novel and so were not subject to prior exposure effects, and alternate groups of children were assigned to identical but mirror-reflected character sets. Children were three times more likely to mirror-write a novel character they had learned in a left-facing format than to mirror-write one they had learned in a right-facing format. This provides the first experimental confirmation of the character-facing bias in literacy development and suggests that implicit knowledge acquired from exposure to written language is readily generalized to novel letter-like forms.

On normal graph of a finite group

Suppose G is a finite group and C(G) denotes the set of all conjugacy classes of G. The normal graph of G, N(G), is a finite simple graph such that V(N(G)) = C(G). Two conjugacy classes A and B in C(G) are adjacent if and only if there is a proper normal subgroup N such that A U B ? N. The aim of this paper is to study the normal graph of a finite group G. It is proved, among other things, that the groups with identical character table have isomorphic normal graphs and so this new graph associated to a group has good relationship by its group structure. The normal graphs of some classes of finite groups are also obtained and some open questions are posed.

Text steganography: a novel character‐level embedding algorithm using font attribute

AbstractText Steganography uses text documents as cover medium to communicate the secret messages, covertly, by making unnoticeable distortions in the cover medium. Character‐Level Embedding Technique (CLET), a variant of text steganography, embeds a secret character by serially marking/distorting an identical character in the cover medium. Hence, these techniques suffer from low embedding capacity as the occurrence of certain alphabets in a text document is not uniform/guaranteed. In addition, identification of the marked cover character itself can reveal the hidden secret. This makes the CLET a less preferable choice. To overcome the aforementioned shortcomings, this paper proposes a novel CLET by introducing the Frequency Normalization Set in combination with the Character and String Mapping. The combination allows a low occurring character to get embedded in several cover characters, and thereby boosts its embedding probability. In addition, the combination also ensures the uniform embedding probability of secret characters. A font attribute called the character spacing is used to embed the secret. Experiments were conducted to investigate the embedding capacity, uniformity in embedding probability and frequency profile of stego characters of the proposed method. A comparison of the proposed method with the existing CLET algorithms is also provided. Various applications and the security aspects of the proposed method have also been discussed. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Identification and characterization of multiple emissive species in aggregated minor antenna complexes

Aggregation induced conformational change of light harvesting antenna complexes is believed to constitute one of the pathways through which photosynthetic organisms can safely dissipate the surplus of energy while exposed to saturating light. In this study, Stark fluorescence (SF) spectroscopy is applied to minor antenna complexes (CP24, CP26 and CP29) both in their light-harvesting and energy-dissipating states to trace and characterize different species generated upon energy dissipation through aggregation (in-vitro) induced conformational change. SF spectroscopy could identify three spectral species in the dissipative state of CP24, two in CP26 and only one in CP29. The comprehensive analysis of the SF spectra yielded different sets of molecular parameters for the multiple spectral species identified in CP24 or CP26, indicating the involvement of different pigments in their formation. Interestingly, a species giving emission around the 730nm spectral region is found to form in both CP24 and CP26 following transition to the energy dissipative state, but not in CP29. The SF analyses revealed that the far red species has exceptionally large charge transfer (CT) character in the excited state. Moreover, the far red species was found to be formed invariably in both Zeaxanthin (Z)- and Violaxathin (V)-enriched CP24 and CP26 antennas with identical CT character but with larger emission yield in Z-enriched ones. This suggests that the carotenoid Z is not directly involved but only confers an allosteric effect on the formation of the far red species. Similar far red species with remarkably large CT character were also observed in the dissipative state of the major light harvesting antenna (LHCII) of plants [Wahadoszamen et al. PCCP, 2012], the fucoxanthin-chlorophyll protein (FCP) of brown algae [Wahadoszamen et al. BBA, 2014] and cyanobacterial IsiA [Wahadoszamen et al. BBA, 2015], thus pointing to identical sites and pigments active in the formation of the far red quenching species in different organisms.