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The need to improve both the cost of food production and lower the environmental impact of food production is key to being able to sustainably feed the projected growth of the human population. To attempt to understand how to improve yields under lower nitrogen (N) inputs, a diverse set of UK winter wheats encompassing ~80% of the genetic diversity in current winter wheats in the UK were grown under a range of N levels and their performance measured under various levels of N. This population has parents which encompass all four end-use categories to understand how breeding for differences in NUE may change across different end-use types of wheat. The growth of the eight parents of a MAGIC population showed significant differences in biomass per plant, ear number, yield and protein content of the grain when grown with differing levels of N. No consistent response to N was seen for the lines tested for all of the traits measured. However, the underlying difference in response to N was not due to N uptake or N translocation, as short-term 15N uptake and translocation showed no significant differences in the lines tested. RNASeq was then performed on two different bread-making varieties grown under low-N conditions to identify putative genes controlling the underlying differences seen in biomass production when grown on low N. This led to the identification of the genes involved in growth and C/N signaling and metabolism, which may explain the differences in growth and biomass production seen between the parents of this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the complex development of identity and lifestyle among the nomadic river gypsies, known as the Bede, in Bangladesh. Methodologically, a comprehensive strategy combining primary and secondary data sources was employed to examine the sociodemographic profile of nomadic fishers. Traditionally, these fishermen depend on water-based enterprises such as fishing, magic shows, and serpent charms, displaying distinctive socio-cultural behaviors and engaging in various economic activities. However, the demands of the contemporary neoliberal economy increasingly conflict with their ancient practices. Their temporal and spatial lives are also undergoing rapid changes due to environmental shifts, institutional neglect, and social stigma associated with being perceived as unclean or as outsiders. This uncertain transition significantly influences their decisions regarding migration. The paper delves into the factors affecting migration decisions among marginalized communities, focusing on the cultural dynamics and adaptability of nomadic fishermen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to compare Active and Passive Investment Strategies on the Indonesian Stock Exchange for the 2013-2024 Using the Magic Formula Method introduced by Joel Greenblatt (2010), which is then optimized again using the Single Index Model. Magic formula is a simple stock selection strategy by sorting stocks based on Return on Capital (ROC) and Earning Yield (EY). The shares to be selected are included in the Kompas100 Index. The selected shares have also been listed on the stock exchange for a minimum of 18 months. Shares included in financial shares will be eliminated. The next step is to select 20 shares to be formed into a Portfolio based on the top ranking of the ROC and EY scores, these 20 shares will be optimized using the Single Index Model method. For active strategies, rebalancing will be carried out every year, while for passive strategies, buy and hold will be carried out. The results of this active strategy will be compared with passive strategies and IHSG. Portfolio measurement will be carried out in 4 ways, namely: return, Sharpe ratio, Treynor ratio and Jensen Alpha. The return from the optimized Magic Formula shows a value of 217.04%, higher than the original Magic Formula return of 43.43% and the passive strategy of 35.04% and the IHSG return of 47%, but the final research results of the portfolio show measurements based on return, ratio Sharpe, and Treynor ratios were not significantly different, being significantly different only from Jensen Alpha measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The London Mechanics' Institution, founded in 1823, sought to foster scientific knowledge among operatives. This article demonstrates how it was part of a new educational and technological landscape whereby there were increasing attempts to 'illustrate' knowledge in order to make it accessible and memorable. New scientific and optical devices were used to produce, disseminate, and democratize knowledge. The operatives attending lectures and classes had to be engaged and their attention fostered. It was believed that the march of knowledge did not succeed if it was dryasdust, and there were many forms of illustrated lectures, from diagrams and transparencies to magic lantern shows to live experiments. This article links the London Mechanics' Institution to the advent of other metropolitan institutions like the Diorama and reflects on broader ideas of progressive education and the nature of learning engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent advances in humanoid robotics have opened up many new directions for humanoid robotics research. Multimedia and arts are applications with significant growth opportunities. In this paper, we introduce magic shows as a benchmark and research problem for humanoid robots and discuss our flexible and versatile system architecture. The goal is to have a humanoid robot perform as a magician in front of an audience. Note that we focus on magic performances that require complex manipulation and interaction of the robot instead of tricks where the robot is passive and used mainly as a prop. So in our tricks, the magic is critically dependent on the skills of the humanoid robot. Furthermore, a successful magic show requires that the robot interacts meaningfully and goal directed with the audience. We describe the technical details of a pen and drawing magic trick, the human-robot collaboration, hardware architecture, and software architecture of our system. One interesting aspect of our system is the inclusion of various personalities for the robot magician. Overall, the robot performed the magic tricks well in the competition and won third place at the IEEE IROS Humanoid Application Challenge(HAC) 2019 in Macau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Artery of Percheron (AOP) as main feeder artery of arteriovenous malformation (AVM) is extremely rare. Two cases of thalamic AVM fed by AOP have been reported to date and only one AVM been removed by microsurgery when attempt of intervention embolization failed. Midbrain AVM fed by AOP has not been reported yet. Case presentation: Here, we presented the first successful embolized case of midbrain AVM supplied by the AOP in a 10-year-old boy, who suffered dual oculomotor nerve palsy and secondary hemorrhage before embolization. During endovascular embolization, selective angiography by 1.2 Fr. Magic microcatheter showed an intranidal aneurysm located on the distal AOP. Two injections of a 1:4 ratio mixture of NBCA-MS completely occlude the nidus and intranidal aneurysm with no complications occurred. The child recovered well and the oculomotor deficits improved. Conclusion: This case highlighted that AOP is a clinically significant branch associated with AVM in midbrain and thalamus. Moreover, intervention embolization of midbrain AVM fed by AOP is a considerable therapeutic strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Robert Heller, a virtually unknown figure in music-historical accounts, trained in the 1840s at the Royal Academy of Music in London and gavethe American premieres of Beethoven’s Fourth and Fifth Piano Concertos with the Germania Musical Society. But he also pursued a parallel career in theatrical magic, using his musical virtuosity to elevate his social and artistic stature as a conjurer. Between 1852 and 1878, his magic act was seen by millions in Europe, East Asia, and the United States, including states and territories in the American West never visited by contemporary piano virtuosos like Thalberg and De Meyer. While magicians routinely incorporated music in their acts, Heller’s virtuosity set him apart from his conjuring peers, including those who were themselves musicians. Using his musical expertise, he blended the magic show with other popular forms of spectacle, including minstrelsy, burlesque, and the piano recital, framing the latter as an extraordinary attraction. Advertisements and accounts of his performances reveal the marketing strategies Heller employed to negotiate the crowded landscape of consumer culture and American popular entertainment, especially during the tumultuous years of the Civil War. These strategies included co-branding, altering the titles and descriptions of musical compositions (particularly “Dixie”), and joining forces with “Blind Tom” (Thomas Greene) Wiggins, the Black, enslaved musical prodigy whom Heller had briefly tutored; they performed together in Louisville during one of the magician’s last appearances in the South. Throughout the 1860s, Heller was influenced by gendered musical practices and regional attitudes toward race and politics, leading him to market his act specifically toward middle-class women, music lovers, Unionists, and those seeking postwar reconciliation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of University Chemistry is the property of Peking University, College of Chemistry & Molecular Engineering and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this letter, we propose and fabricate a waveguide Magic Tee with waveguide filter for Ka-band system. The proposed Magic Tee has a reduced z -axis arm, which must typically be long for impedance matching at the input port. A bridge iris is inserted at port 4 for signal application. The z -axis arm at port 4 is significantly shortened by the impedance matching tuning through the iris that is normally uses to connect the adaptor. Thus, the dimension of the proposed Magic Tee is reduced to 7.12 × 10 × 3.6 m m 3 , and the insertion loss shows good performance of 0.9 dB by applying the impedance matching tuning. The proposed Magic Tee also contains a 7th waveguide filter, which is used to verify the signal division performance. The results of excitation at each port of the Magic Tee show insertion loss less than 4.5 dB and return loss of over 18 dB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years Polish literature and popular culture have been increasingly populated by witches. Many authors use the historical, folk image of an ambivalent pagan witch as basis for creating their characters. Other notable sources are fairy tales, feminism (after all the myth of the witch was popularized by second-wave feminism) and neo-paganism (women as priestesses of nature). As a result of these various inspirations depictions of the witch are quite diverse, while the plot patterns presented in terms of stages of initiation are characterized by high constancy. A young girl, entering adulthood, not knowing who she is — such is the protagonist of many a novel. Her fictional biography begins with ‘borderline events’: an important birthday, a graduation, inheriting a farmhouse (usually from her grandmother). After crossing this narrative threshold, the protagonist is imbued with the powers of a witch, which she initially rejects. An elderly woman — her guide — persuades her to accept them. She teaches her the how to notice the manifestations of femininity that have been suppressed in our culture, and were represented as witches, fortune-tellers and madwomen. The use of magic is shown as a rediscovery of these rejected abilities, wrongly labeled as insane. It seems that the most important values related to the witch’s initiation motive are: restoring the relationship with the creative female element (intuition, nature, imagination), repairing generational ties between women (an older kinswoman as the master of initiation) and putting emphasis on female spirituality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-examination is detrimental to the consistency and accuracy of children's reports and a re-direct interview may rehabilitate accuracy. We compared the effects of cross-examination on reports provided by single-event and repeated-event children. Children participated in one or five magic shows. One week later they were interviewed in a supportive manner (Interview 1). Next, a different interviewer cross-examined half the children or asked the other children all questions again (Interview 2). Finally, the initial interviewer re-directed the children by re-asking questions in a supportive manner (Interview 3). When defined narrowly (the instance children were asked to describe), cross-examination was more detrimental to single-event children and the re-direct interview rehabilitated correct responses for all children. When defined broadly (experienced details), cross-examination was more detrimental to repeated-event children and the re-direct did not rehabilitate correct responses for repeated-event children. Therefore when performance was off the floor, cross-examination was more detrimental to repeated-event children. The changes that repeated-event children make under cross-examination are explained by cognitive factors and social influences Ost et al., [2016]. Recall, verbatim memory and remembered narratives. In G. Oxburgh (Ed.), Communication in investigative and legal contexts: Integrated approaches from forensic psychology, linguistics and law enforcement (pp. 39–54). Wiley Blackwell). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magic shows were one of many illusory spectacles popular in nineteenth-century Europe and North America, co-existing with melodrama, pantomime, and magic lantern displays. Yet there is little scholarship in any field documenting the function and significance of music in theatrical conjuring. This essay introduces a new field of research by surveying common practices in historical and modern magic shows. Historical evidence, drawn from broadsides, handbills, programmes, memoirs, reviews, and instructional guides to magic, supports three themes: (1) the relationship between conjuring, musical institutions, and related theatrical entertainments; (2) the phenomenon of magicians doubling as musical performers; and (3) the link between music, magic, and imperialist projects. Filmed performances of magic and empirical studies on illusion, cross-modal perception, and entrainment suggest a continuity of practice between nineteenth-century conjurers and modern magicians. A scene from the 2006 film The Illusionist links modern film-scoring techniques to musical conventions in nineteenth-century stage magic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Queen Victoria was enthusiastically taken up by the shows, exhibitions, and lectures that blossomed in the nineteenth century. This collaborative article demonstrates the way Victoria's life and reign was embraced by the moving-image and projected-image formats that proliferated during the period, particularly touring panoramas, magic lantern shows, and early film. Victoria and Albert were themselves intermittent visitors to these new pictorial shows in London, while, across both nation and empire, local communities were able to participate in key royal events thanks to their replaying and broadcasting by media such as the magic lantern and early film. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study evaluated the efficacy of free-recall, cognitive instruction and closed-ended questions with students (N = 50; ages 6–18) with developmental disabilities. After watching a magic show wherein the magician made a major error, the students were asked by the magician to keep the transgression a secret. Next, students were interviewed using the Cognitive Interview (CI: free-recall, cognitive instruction and closed-ended questions) or a Standard Interview (SI: free-recall and closed-ended questions) by an unfamiliar researcher whereby their statement quality (statement consistency, veracity and disclosure forthcomingness) and quantity (number of words, transgression details and events recalled) were evaluated. The CI group disclosed significantly more total words and events than the SI group, without compromising testimony consistency; while not significant, descriptive differences in transgression details were found between interview groups. Nevertheless, there were no significant interview group differences in disclosure honesty or forthcomingness. Truth-tellers provided the most forthcoming and detailed statements on the free-recall question, irrespective of interview type. Conversely, lie-tellers rarely discussed the alleged transgression, and primarily lied on the final direct closed-ended question. These results suggest that the CI can be effective with students with developmental disabilities for increasing eyewitness memory recall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The figure of the superstitious old woman is common in mid-nineteenth-century literary and graphic representations of magic and optical spectatorship. Through her literal belief in images, the superstitious woman acts as a comic foil against which modern, disenchanted practices of spectatorship can be asserted. This essay examines the representation of female magic spectatorship in Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford by placing it in the context of Victorian magic practice and discourse. The novel centers on a magic show performed by an itinerant conjurer for a group of women spectators who fear they are witnessing a demonstration of the occult. Cranford portrays magic panic not as a symptom of undisciplined female minds, however, but rather as a manifestation of literary and cultural anxieties about the unstable status of the real. Through a combination of literary close reading and media archaeology, this essay argues for a female-coded counter-discourse to magic's pedagogy of disenchantment. At the same time, it demonstrates that Cranford 's depiction of stage magic is reflexive and allows the novel to conceptualize how representations construct reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the present note is to draw attention to the potential role of a recently discovered visual illusion in creating traffic accidents. The illusion consists in a compelling and immediate experience that the space behind an occluding object in the foreground is empty. Although the illusion refers to a region of space, which is invisible due to occlusion (a blind spot), there is evidence to suggest that it is nevertheless driven by visual mechanisms and that it can be just as deceptive and powerful as ordinary visual illusions. We suggest that this novel illusion can make situations involving blind spots in a road user's field of view even more dangerous than one would expect based on the lack of visibility by itself. This could be because it erroneously makes the road user feel that (s)he has actually seen everything there is to see, and thus has verified that the blind spot is empty. This hypothesis requires further testing before definitive conclusions can be drawn, but we wish to make researchers and authorities involved in the analysis of traffic accidents and on-the-spot crash investigations aware of its potential role in order to encourage registration of relevant data and facilitate further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Historical & Cultural Studies an Academic Magazine is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this article, the design, characterization, and manufacture of a circuit for a ${W}$ -band, ultracompact continuous wave sheet beam klystron are described. This klystron, aiming to produce more than 1.5-kW output power, operates at a comparatively low voltage benefiting the device size and extending its application space. However, a lower operation voltage adversely affects the beam-gap interaction efficiency. Two multigap output cavities have been employed to achieve a higher beam interaction efficiency without introducing additional competing modes or shrinking the interval between the operation mode and competing mode. Inspired by the resynchronization technology, the second output cavity can be optimized for the spent beam from the first output cavity. Comprising a single cavity output structure, the circuit efficiency of this double output cavity circuit is increased from 2.37% to 4.96%. In this circuit, electromagnetic modeling and design have been optimized to avoid complicated structures which are constrained by current mechanical design and manufacturing techniques. The MAGIC simulation shows that, driven by a 1-W RF signal, this circuit can extract more than 1.7-kW output power from a 35-kV, 1-A beam. A prototype single output cavity circuit has been designed and manufactured to determine the required machining tolerances for the final double output cavity circuit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Turkish Literature, Culture, Education is the property of International Journal of Turkish, Literature, Culture, Education and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)