Simple Events Research Articles

ИССЛЕДОВАНИЕ СПЕКТРОГРАММ РАДИОЧАСТОТ МЕТОДАМИ ЛИНГВИСТИЧЕСКОГО АНАЛИЗА

The article presents the study of experimental curves of the spectral spectra of radio waves of the FM-range developed on a laboratory model. The algorithm was used to define sections, for which the complexity function took locally minimal values. The standard was determined for each section of the curve, in which all the arithmetic mean ordinates of all areas correspond to the certain class. For a more extended linguistic description of the experimental curves, it is proposed to compile the description taking into account the location of the curve sections on the abscissa axis. The obtained extended linguistic description of the curve will reflect not only classes of simple events, but their phases as well. As a result of applying the linguistic analysis system for the analysis of spectral 
 radiograms, it can be inferred that the experimental curves are presented in the form of short and reliable rules for the analysis of the radiogram spectrum. The use of standards allows to accurately represent each chain of characters in each group with a minimum distance to the standard. The obtained 
 extended descriptions quite accurately describe the behavior of the curves studied.

Low Temperature Activation of Methane on Metal-Oxides and Complex Interfaces: Insights from Surface Science.

ConspectusThe abundance of cheap, natural gas has transformed the energy landscape, whereby revealing new possibilities for sustainable chemical technologies or impacting those that have relied on traditional fossil fuels. The primary component, methane, is underutilized and wastefully exhausted, leading to anthropogenic global warming. Historically, the manipulation of methane remained "clavis aurea," an insurmountable yet rewarding challenge and thus the focus of intense research. This is primarily due to an inability to dissociate C-H bonds in methane selectively, which requires a high energy penalty and is an essential prerequisite for the direct conversion of methane into a large set of value-added products. The discovery of such processes would promise an energy gainful use of natural gas benefiting several essential chemical processes associated with C1 chemistry. This first C-H bond dissociation step of the methane molecule appears in numerous catalytic mechanisms as the rate-determining step or most essential barrier sequence for all subsequent steps that follow in the production of C-C, C-O, or Cx-Hy-Oz bonds found in value added products. A main goal is to catalytically reduce the energy barrier for the first C-H bond dissociation to be able to achieve the activation of methane at low or moderate temperatures. As such there is great value in understanding the fundamental nature of the active sites responsible for bond breaking or formation and thus be able to facilitate better control of this chemistry, leading to the development of new technologies for fuel production and chemical conversion. Surface science studies offer enhanced perspectives for a careful manipulation of bonds over the last layer atoms of catalyst surfaces, an essential factor for the design of atomically precise catalysts and unravelling of the reaction mechanism. With the advent of new surface imaging, spectroscopy, and in situ tools, it has been possible to decipher the surface chemistry of complex materials systems and further our understanding of atomic active sites on the surfaces of metals, oxides, and carbides or metal-oxide and metal-carbide interfaces. The once considered near impossible step of C-H bond activation is now observed at low temperatures with high propensity over a collection of oxide, metal-oxide, and metal-carbide systems in a conventional or inverse configuration (oxide or carbide on metal). The enabling of C-H activation at low temperature has opened interesting possibilities for the specific production of chemicals such as methanol directly from methane, a step toward facile synthesis of liquid fuels. We highlight the most recent of these results and present the key aspects of active site configurations engineered from surface science studies which enable such a simple reactive event through careful manipulation of the last surface layer of atoms found in the catalyst structure. New concepts which help in the activation and conversion of methane are discussed.

Origin and intraspecific diversification of the scincid lizard Ateuchosaurus pellopleurus with implications for historical island biogeography of the Central Ryukyus of Japan

The Central Ryukyus, a group of islands in southwestern Japan, harbor many endemic reptiles and amphibians, and the geographic ranges of the endemics are limited to south of the Tokara Gap, an old sea strait. Ateuchosaurus pellopleurus is a lizard with an exceptionally wide geographic range that encompasses the Central Ryukyus and north of the Tokara Gap. The intraspecific geographic variation of this species and the divergence time between A. pellopleurus and its sister species in southern China, Ateuchosaurus chinensis, were assessed by molecular phylogeographic analyses. The results indicated that the populations north of the gap were established by recent northward dispersal, prior to which the distribution of this species was limited to the Central Ryukyus. The estimated divergence time between A. pellopleurus and A. chinensis was in the Oligocene or Miocene, which was concordant with the divergence times of most Central Ryukyu endemics. These results demonstrated that A. pellopleurus is essentially a Central Ryukyu endemic that shares a common biogeographic history with other endemics. The common divergence times suggested that isolation of the endemics from their sister species in surrounding areas are attributable to geographic isolation by a tectonic event in the Miocene. In addition, A. pellopleurus showed distinct divergence between the populations in the northern and southern parts of the Central Ryukyus, and further diversification within and between islands in the southern part. Comparison of the phylogeographic patterns between this species and other endemics revealed that the present diversity in the Central Ryukyu endemics was formed by a complex history that involved occasional dispersal rather than simple vicariance events.

Comparison of SWMM evaporation and discharge to in-field observations from lined permeable pavements

ABSTRACT Limited documentation exists regarding parameterization of SWMM’s permeable pavement module and whether the output is realistic, particularly for long-term simulations. In this paper, we evaluated SWMM’s ability to replicate discharge and evaporation from three lined permeable pavement stalls. An assessment of parameter sensitivity identified the permeable pavement module’s input parameters with the highest relative sensitivity. Agreement between observations over a 1-year period and output from the calibrated model was inconsistent for 18 modelled rainfall events. While event volumes and shapes were matched relatively well for two concrete paver stalls for simple single-peak events, more complex multi-peak events showed poor agreement for all stalls. The porous asphalt stall was modelled least satisfactorily, due to its retention capacity that cannot be represented in the model. Based on the findings of this study, an evaporation coefficient (between 0.2 and 0.9), should be applied for long-term simulations of permeable pavement for best results.

Revolution without Revolution (On the Events in France)

Petrovsky’s article examines the famous events of May ’68 in France from a specific angle offered by Michel de Certeau, namely, the “taking of speech” (la prise de parole). For de Certeau the taking of speech is no less important than the taking of the Bastille—it asserts the individual’s right to resistance and is a necessary precondition of all the other human rights. However, where de Certeau speaks against the anonymizing forces at work in consumer societies, the author chooses to see (and hear) the tumult of the masses. The taking of speech, therefore, is possible only when the masses are collectively engaged in action; it is the expression of action itself. In a more general sense, May ’68, the first global protest movement in postwar history, teaches us that revolutions (especially so-called color revolutions) are no simple textbook events: they are propelled by a specific kind of sociability that points to the dynamic of noninstitutional democracy itself.

Improving lifespan automation for Caenorhabditis elegans by using image processing and a post-processing adaptive data filter

Automated lifespan determination for C. elegans cultured in standard Petri dishes is challenging. Problems include occlusions of Petri dish edges, aggregation of worms, and accumulation of dirt (dust spots on lids) during assays, etc. This work presents a protocol for a lifespan assay, with two image-processing pipelines applied to different plate zones, and a new data post-processing method to solve the aforementioned problems. Specifically, certain steps in the culture protocol were taken to alleviate aggregation, occlusions, contamination, and condensation problems. This method is based on an active illumination system and facilitates automated image sequence analysis, does not need human threshold adjustments, and simplifies the techniques required to extract lifespan curves. In addition, two image-processing pipelines, applied to different plate zones, were employed for automated lifespan determination. The first image-processing pipeline was applied to a wall zone and used only pixel level information because worm size or shape features were unavailable in this zone. However, the second image-processing pipeline, applied to the plate centre, fused information at worm and pixel levels. Simple death event detection was used to automatically obtain lifespan curves from the image sequences that were captured once daily throughout the assay. Finally, a new post-processing method was applied to the extracted lifespan curves to filter errors. The experimental results showed that the errors in automated counting of live worms followed the Gaussian distribution with a mean of 2.91% and a standard deviation of ±12.73% per Petri plate. Post-processing reduced this error to 0.54 ± 8.18% per plate. The automated survival curve incurred an error of 4.62 ± 2.01%, while the post-process method reduced the lifespan curve error to approximately 2.24 ± 0.55%.

Analysis of changes in hydrological cycle of a pristine mountain catchment. 2. Isotopic data, trend and attribution analyses

Abstract δ18O in precipitation at station Liptovský Mikuláš (about 8.5 km south from the outlet of the Jalovecký Creek catchment) remains constantly higher since 2014 that might be related to greater evaporation in the region of origin of the air masses bringing precipitation to the studied part of central Europe. Increased δ18O values are reflected also in the Jalovecký Creek catchment runoff. Seasonality of δ18O in the Jalovecký Creek became less pronounced since 2014. The most significant trends found in annual hydrological data series from the catchment in the study period 1989–2018 have the correlation coefficients 0.4 to 0.7. These trends are found in the number of flow reversals (change from increasing to decreasing discharge and vice versa), June low flow, number of simple runoff events in summer months (June to September) and the flashiness index. The attribution analysis suggests that drivers responsible for the changes in these data series include the number of periods with precipitation six and more days long, total precipitation amount in February to June, number of days with precipitation in June to September and total precipitation in May on days with daily totals 10 mm and more, respectively. The coefficients of determination show that linear regressions between the drivers and supposedly changed data series explain only about 31% to 36% of the variability. Most of the change points detected in the time series by the Wild Binary Segmentation method occur in the second and third decades of the study period. Both hydrometric and isotopic data indicate that hydrological cycle in the catchment after 2014 became different than before.

Monetary policy after the crisis: A threat to hedge funds' alphas?

We examine the effects of US monetary policy announcements during and after the Great Financial Crisis on the average abnormal returns (the “alpha”) of the hedge fund industry as a whole and of a range of hedge strategy indices. We apply a variety of tests of increasing sophistication including simple event studies, formal tests for breaks, and Markov switching models. The event studies show that both the overall index and long-short equity and fixed income arbitrage hedge strategies were systematically affected by unexpected monetary policy announcements, while other strategies appear to have been less impacted. Formal break point tests show that for all strategies as well as the overall index, there is evidence of five breakpoints. For the overall index and most of the sub-indices, many of the endogenously determined breaks closely match a list of policy surprise dates that have been already singled out because they had strongly affected financial markets in general. Especially for the long-short equity, fixed income arbitrage, dedicated short-bias, and global macro hedge funds, there is a significant tendency for estimated alphas to decline over time, following policy surprises, while we find no clear-cut evidence of systematic risk beta timing skills.

Explanatory preferences for complexity matching.

People are adept at generating and evaluating explanations for events around them. But what makes for a satisfying explanation? While some scholars argue that individuals find simple explanations to be more satisfying (Lombrozo, 2007), others argue that complex explanations are preferred (Zemla, et al. 2017). Uniting these perspectives, we posit that people believe a satisfying explanation should be as complex as the event being explained–what we term the complexity matching hypothesis. Thus, individuals will prefer simple explanations for simple events, and complex explanations for complex events. Four studies provide robust evidence for the complexity-matching hypothesis. In studies 1–3, participants read scenarios and then predicted the complexity of a satisfying explanation (Study 1), generated an explanation themselves (Study 2), and evaluated explanations (Study 3). Lastly, in Study 4, we explored a different manipulation of complexity to demonstrate robustness across paradigms. We end with a discussion of mechanisms that might underlie this preference-matching phenomenon.

Microdroplet event recognition and volume detection system based on flexible printed circuit electrode

Changes of microdroplet volume and the occurrence of different droplet events will exert a significant influence on droplet-based microfluidics. Droplet volume is closely related to reagent consumption and hydrodynamic resistance while droplet events reflect actual microchannel conditions. Based on current research, this work was dedicated to fabricate a reliable microdroplet sensing system with event recognition and volume detection function. Signal acquisition was on the basis of capacitance coupled detection and the coplanar fork sensing electrode was fabricated by flexible printed circuit(FPC) which was tens of times cheaper than photolithography. Wave peaks will appear while ink droplets traverse over the fork electrode from above. Shape features of waveform were used to recognize some simple droplet events and the period was employed to calculate droplet volume. Through experimental verification, droplet generation and droplet merging events could be recognized and distinguished by the system. In addition, the detection error between the theoretical volume calculated from formula and the actual volume derived from image analysis was less than 0.5 nL. The sensing system possesses the potential to achieve high throughput detection and surely can be employed to recognize more complicated droplet events in the future.

Singularity variables for missing energy event kinematics

We discuss singularity variables which are properly suited for analyzing the kinematics of events with missing transverse energy at the LHC. We consider six of the simplest event topologies encountered in studies of leptonic W -bosons and top quarks, as well as in SUSY-like searches for new physics with dark matter particles. In each case, we illustrate the general prescription for finding the relevant singularity variable, which in turn helps delineate the visible parameter subspace on which the singularities are located. Our results can be used in two different ways — first, as a guide for targeting the signal-rich regions of parameter space during the stage of discovery, and second, as a sensitive focus point method for measuring the particle mass spectrum after the initial discovery.

Agentive versus non-agentive motions immediately influence event apprehension and description: an eye-tracking study in a VOS language

The embodied cognition hypothesis postulates that human cognition is fundamentally grounded in our experience of interacting with the physical world (Barsalou in Behav Brain Sci 22:577–609, 1999). Research has shown bi-directional associations between physical action and the processes of understanding language: language comprehension seems to activate implied visual and motor components (Zwaan and Taylor in J Exp Psychol Gen 135(1):1–11, 2006), and action behavior seems to facilitate the comprehension of associated action-language (Beilock et al. in Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 105:13269–13273, 2008). Although numerous research studies have reported a link between action and language comprehension, the exact nature of their association remains subject to debate (Chatterjee in Lang Cognit 2:79–116, 2010). Moreover, the role of action in the production of language is under-explored, as are general language production processes in Austronesian languages. The endangered Austronesian language Truku provides typological patterns that are both under-examined in psycholinguistic research and informative for questions of language production. Truku allows flexibility in the relative location of verbs versus arguments in sentence production, and uses a symmetrical voice system that marks the prominence of different participants in an event. Working with native speakers of Truku, we tested whether performing physical motions immediately affects the conceptual saliency of the components represented in a to-be-described event in ways that guide speakers’ visual attention and shape their utterance formulation. More specifically, we investigated whether speakers’ engagement as an agent or patient in a non-speech physical action affects initial eye-fixations on agent versus patient participants in a visual scene, as well as word order and grammatical voice choices in the speakers’ descriptions of simple transitive events. The results revealed significant effects of physical action on the relative location and prominence of agents in subsequent sentence formulation, and on online patterns of eye fixations. These results provide further support for language-action connections in cognitive processing, and shed light on the cross-linguistic patterns of sentence production.

Real-world expectations and their affective value modulate object processing

It is well known that expectations influence how we perceive the world. Yet the neural mechanisms underlying this process remain unclear. Studies about the effects of prior expectations have focused so far on artificial contingencies between simple neutral cues and events. Real-world expectations are however often generated from complex associations between contexts and objects learned over a lifetime. Additionally, these expectations may contain some affective value and recent proposals present conflicting hypotheses about the mechanisms underlying affect in predictions. In this study, we used fMRI to investigate how object processing is influenced by realistic context-based expectations, and how affect impacts these expectations. First, we show that the precuneus, the inferotemporal cortex and the frontal cortex are more active during object recognition when expectations have been elicited a priori, irrespectively of their validity or their affective intensity. This result supports previous hypotheses according to which these brain areas integrate contextual expectations with object sensory information. Notably, these brain areas are different from those responsible for simultaneous context-object interactions, dissociating the two processes. Then, we show that early visual areas, on the contrary, are more active during object recognition when no prior expectation has been elicited by a context. Lastly, BOLD activity was shown to be enhanced in early visual areas when objects are less expected, but only when contexts are neutral; the reverse effect is observed when contexts are affective. This result supports the proposal that affect modulates the weighting of sensory information during predictions. Together, our results help elucidate the neural mechanisms of real-world expectations.

Infants' Goal Prediction for Simple ActionEvents: The Role of Experience and Agency Cues.

Looking times and gaze behavior indicate that infants can predict the goalstate of anobserved simple actionevent (e.g., object-directed grasping) already in the first year of life. The present paper mainly focuses on infants' predictive gaze-shifts toward the goal of an ongoing action. For this, infants need to generate a forward model of the to-be-obtained goalstate and to disengage their gaze from the moving agent at a time when information about the actionevent is still incomplete. By about 6months of age, infants show goal-predictive gaze-shifts, but mainly for familiar actions that they can perform themselves (e.g., grasping) and for familiar agents (e.g., a human hand). Therefore, some theoretical models have highlighted close relations between infants' ability for action-goal prediction and theirmotor development and/or emerging action experience. Recent research indicates that infants can also predict actiongoals of familiar simple actions performed by non-human agents (e.g., object-directed grasping by a mechanical claw) when these agents display agencycues, such as self-propelled movement, equifinality of goalapproach, or production of a salient actioneffect. This paper provides a review on relevant findings and theoretical models, and proposes that the impacts of action experience and of agencycues can be explained from an action-event perspective. In particular, infants' goal-predictive gaze-shifts are seen as resulting from an interplay between bottom-up processing of perceptual information and top-down influences exerted by event schemata that store information about previously executed or observed actions.

Intracellular Electrochemical Nanomeasurements Reveal that Exocytosis of Molecules at Living Neurons is Subquantal and Complex

AbstractSince the early work of Bernard Katz, the process of cellular chemical communication through exocytosis, quantal release, has been considered to be all or none. Recent evidence has shown exocytosis to be partial or “subquantal” at single‐cell model systems, but there is a need to understand this at communicating nerve cells. Partial release allows nerve cells to control the signal at the site of release during individual events, for which the smaller the fraction released, the greater the range of regulation. Herein, we show that the fraction of the vesicular octopamine content released from a living Drosophila larval neuromuscular neuron is very small. The percentage of released molecules was found to be only 4.5 % for simple events and 10.7 % for complex (i.e., oscillating or flickering) events. This large content, combined with partial release controlled by fluctuations of the fusion pore, offers presynaptic plasticity that can be widely regulated.

Intracellular Electrochemical Nanomeasurements Reveal that Exocytosis of Molecules at Living Neurons is Subquantal and Complex

Since the early work of Bernard Katz, the process of cellular chemical communication through exocytosis, quantal release, has been considered to be all or none. Recent evidence has shown exocytosis to be partial or "subquantal" at single-cell model systems, but there is a need to understand this at communicating nerve cells. Partial release allows nerve cells to control the signal at the site of release during individual events, for which the smaller the fraction released, the greater the range of regulation. Herein, we show that the fraction of the vesicular octopamine content released from a living Drosophila larval neuromuscular neuron is very small. The percentage of released molecules was found to be only 4.5 % for simple events and 10.7 % for complex (i.e., oscillating or flickering) events. This large content, combined with partial release controlled by fluctuations of the fusion pore, offers presynaptic plasticity that can be widely regulated.

Cascading Failure Modeling for Circuit Systems Using Impedance Networks: A Current-Flow Redistribution Approach

The collapse of circuits is usually a cascading failure rather than a simple failure event. It is usually difficult to model this kind of failure due to the complex structural and functional coupling. In this article, the impedance network is introduced as a prototypical model for characterizing the cascading failure of the circuit. A current-flow redistribution approach is proposed to analyze the cascading failure mechanisms of the circuits. Specific current-flow redistribution factors for two typical failure modes, i.e., the open circuit and short circuit, are put forward to determine the effect of the failed component on the remaining components. A health confidence value is further introduced to assess the health status of the impedance network. Then, a simulation framework for cascading failure propagation is proposed to capture the dynamic failure process. Finally, an example is presented to show the cascading failure behavior. The proposed model is also validated by comparing the obtained results with those of the SPICE software simulation.

A preliminary pan-European assessment of pollution loads from urban runoff

Acknowledging the difficulty of modelling pollution conveyed by urban runoff, this contribution presents a first pan-European quantification of loads from this diffuse source. We estimate annual loads of 5-days biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and total suspended solids (TSS) using a simple event mean concentration (EMC) model initially proposed by Heaney et al., 1976. On a European scale, this yields discharges corresponding to untreated wastewater of about 31 million population equivalents (PE) for BOD5, about 18.5 million PE for N and P and about 280 million for TSS. These represent 51% of the pollution coming from treated wastewater for BOD5, 15% for N and P and 461% for TSS. Although the model applied for the assessment was developed more than 40 years ago, the results are consistent with those obtained using more recent parameterizations, except for a tendency to underestimate P loads. Although lack of data on pollution from urban runoff makes model verification impossible, and the uncertainty on EMC models is known to be very high, urban runoff emerges as a significant source of pollution, and should be properly addressed as such. Reducing runoff volume from urban areas through improved water retention is not only key to pollution control, but also a no-regret option thanks to its co-benefits, especially when incorporated at early stages of planning and design.

Structured word-lists as a model of basic schemata: deviations from content and order in a repeated event paradigm

ABSTRACTRepeated events are common in everyday life, but relatively neglected as a topic within memory psychology. In two samples of adults, we investigated memory for repeated, schema-establishing simple events (operationalised as structured word-lists), and the effects of deviations within those events. We focused on the effects of deviations from two core dimensions of schema: content and order. Across three successive word-list events, we established and reinforced a basic list schema by always presenting three content categories in the same order. These expectations were violated in a fourth and final word-list. We measured the effects on memory of both the violating and the schema-establishing lists in multiple recall attempts over a period of one month. We measured correct recall, misattribution errors, metacognitive awareness of list-organisation and deviations, and recall organisation. Across all delays and across all word-lists (not only the final one), content changes increased recall, whereas order changes decreased recall. Participants were also more aware of content changes than order changes. These disparate effects suggest that the two types of schema-deviations may have qualitatively different effects on memory for specific instances of a repeated generic event. Cognitive processes underlying memory for typical and exceptional instances of repeated events are discussed.

Simple Event nominals with Argument Structure? – Evidence from Irish deverbal nominalizations1

Abstract Deverbal nominals in Irish support Grimshaw’s (1990) tripartite division into complex event (CE-), simple event (SE-) and result nominals (R-nominals). Irish nominals are ambiguous only between the SE- and R-status. There are no CE-nominals containing the AspP layer in their structure. SE-nominals (also found in Light Verb Constructions) are number-neutral and incapable of pluralizing and are represented as [nP[vP[Root]]]. R-nominals are devoid of the vP layer and behave like ordinary nouns. The Irish data point to v as the layer introducing event implications and the vP or PPs as the functional heads introducing the internal argument (Alexiadou and Schäfer 2011). Event denoting nominals in Irish can license the internal argument but aspectual modification and external argument licensing are not possible (cf. synthetic compounds in Greek (Alexiadou 2017)), which means that, counter to Borer (2013), the licensing of Argument Structure need not follow from the presence of the AspP layer.