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In the first chapter of De architectura book 3, Vitruvius famously expounds upon the theory of proportionality, ultimately crafting the analogy of the human body as a composition of ideal ratios. In this exposition, the architect repeatedly makes use of technical jargon, implementing terms found nowhere else within the Latin literary corpus. Amidst this series of rare Latin vocabulary, however, Vitruvius also includes a striking twenty-seven Greek borrowings—of which twelve are novel terms not found in the corpus before this passage, and seven are terms not found again. While many of these Grecisms are explicated by Vitruvius through the use of subordinate clauses or apposition, the very existence of Latin equivalents and the resultant redundancy of terms renders Vitruvius' linguistic vacillation strictly unnecessary and rather obfuscating in effect. After all, why borrow a term that requires definition when a corollary already exists within one's primary, 'matrix' language? Likewise, once one has committed to adopting a second language of technical vocabulary, why bother translating? Other, similar lexical borrowings are evident throughout De architectura , yet the opening of book 3 offers a unique opportunity to analyze Vitruvius' method of code-switching in close detail, revealing how the author uses the technique to draw attention both to the technicality of his art and to the Greek tradition evoked by these words. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shape of a nozzle wall influences the phenomena associated with the behaviour of the fluid movement within the flow field mathematically described by the Navier—Stokes equations. This article studies different drawing techniques for the aerodynamic tracing of the wall contour searched by Vitoshinsky, Bell, Metha and Sivells. To the system of equations of the design models are added the math formulas that define Sauer's method for redesigning the length of the converging section modifying simultaneously the contour sketches. The aim is to obtain a better distribution of the physical properties and to avoid excessive pressure in a limited space that could affect the internal structure of the wall. Numerical methods are used to visualize the features of the wave propagation, boundary layer separation and flow separation pattern to survey the appearance of the stream generated within the geometric profile of the wall and the ejected flow. A computational analysis is developed to make a comprehensive assessment of different chosen wall contours, including an optimized wall shape using genetic algorithms through a process to find maximum and minimum values of the cross-sectional area to change the wall layout. The selection carries out based on design parameters with variable area contraction ratio (from low to high) in the convergent section for being simulated in a boundary condition with a low-pressure ratio (NPR). Experimental data from Hunter's research are used for validation of the results for a J2-type aerospace nozzle operating at an NPR of 3.413. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microbiome engineering offers the potential to leverage microbial communities to improve outcomes in human health, agriculture, and climate. To translate this potential into reality, it is crucial to reliably predict community composition and function. But a brute force approach to cataloging community function is hindered by the combinatorial explosion in the number of ways we can combine microbial species. An alternative is to parameterize microbial community outcomes using simplified, mechanistic models, and then extrapolate these models beyond where we have sampled. But these approaches remain data-hungry, as well as requiring an a priori specification of what kinds of mechanisms are included and which are omitted. Here, we resolve both issues by introducing a mechanism-agnostic approach to predicting microbial community compositions and functions using limited data. The critical step is the identification of a sparse representation of the community landscape. We then leverage this sparsity to predict community compositions and functions, drawing from techniques in compressive sensing. We validate this approach on in silico community data, generated from a theoretical model. By sampling just 1% of all possible communities, we accurately predict community compositions out of sample. We then demonstrate the real-world application of our approach by applying it to four experimental datasets and showing that we can recover interpretable, accurate predictions on composition and community function from highly limited data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feeling is difficult to put into words. Anthropologists have been seeking ways to articulate feeling or other bodily experiences, looking beyond words and borrowing from artistic methods. Drawings, for instance, have been used to make visible what words cannot describe and attributed with qualities associated with feeling or the body. Instead of placing drawing in opposition to words, and words in opposition to bodies, this article presents different ways of using drawing as an ethnographic technique to tentatively find practice-specific words to articulate practices of feeling the body. Rather than evaluating drawings based on their ability to capture feeling bodies, the author reflects on the drawing process as a way to learn about her research subjects in unexpected ways. Thereby, the author learns from artistic practices, not about making drawings, but about making methods. Acknowledging that methodologies are always generative, the author dives into the making of her methodologies to learn about her research subjects.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arthur Voegtlin (1858–1948) designed and oversaw the construction and painting of all the major sets for the New York Hippodrome's first season, from an archway formed by two rearing dragons in the courtyard of a Martian king to the grounds of a military academy at the start of the American Civil War. In this essay, I consider the ways that Voegtlin's sets navigated the distance between fantasy and verisimilitude, bringing together his experience painting sets for immersive, spectacular works with his training as a scene painter for the realistic interiors of the legitimate theatre's comedies and dramas. Voegtlin drew on those techniques to establish the mise en scène of realistic spectacle for which the New York Hippodrome became known. Voegtlin's appeals to photographic accuracy, acute awareness about how he needed to account for the size and scale of the space for which he was designing, and sense of the audience member's embodiment (particularly in relation to that of an amusement park spectator and a viewer of modern paintings) all demonstrate how Voegtlin saw his set designs at the Hippodrome as an extension of the dramatic principles he embraced throughout this period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Creativity is now accepted as a core 21st-century competency and is increasingly an explicit part of school curricula around the world. Therefore, the ability to assess creativity for both formative and summative purposes is vital. However, the fitness-for-purpose of creativity tests has recently come under scrutiny. Current creativity assessments have up to five key weaknesses that create a barrier to their widespread use in educational settings. These are: (a) A lack of domain/subject specificity; (b) Inconsistency, leading to a lack of trust; (c) A lack of authenticity in classroom settings; (d) Slowness (in providing useful results); (e) High cost to administer. The aim of the present study is to explore the feasibility of the automated assessment of mathematical creativity, drawing on tools and techniques from the field of natural language processing, as a means to address these weaknesses. This paper describes the performance of a machine learning algorithm, relative to human judges, demonstrating the practicality of automated creativity assessment for large-scale, school-based assessments. The importance of creativity is recognized in education systems globally. The ability to assess creativity, for both formative and summative purposes, is therefore vital. However, the quality of creativity tests (their validity and reliability) tends to come at a cost. In simple terms, the better the creativity test, the greater the effort, and therefore cost, required to deliver and score that test. The aim of the present study is to explore the feasibility of the automated assessment of mathematical creativity, drawing on tools and techniques from the field of natural language processing. This paper describes how a machine learning algorithm assesses mathematical creativity and compares this to human judges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world of synthesizers and synthesists is historically male-dominated. Women in synthesis tend to be obscured by males, and their contribution suffers from erasure. This article considers Suzanne Ciani within the contexts of art, technology, science and culture and her work in composition, performance and media. In particular, her National Endowment for the Arts report of 1976 is a groundbreaking document detailing her composition and performance process using synthesizers. Her composition approach has parallels with techniques drawn from serialism, performed and improvised live using machines. Her performances utilize quadraphonic techniques for spatialized performance as part of the composition and performance. She was the first woman to score a major Hollywood film in 1981. Her work in media and technology highlights a space that women have always worked in but have frequently not been acknowledged as doing so. Ciani's story reveals tenacity in the face of bias and rejection. It is a tale of someone who always has to claim her credentials, always legitimate her mode of expression, and always counter the assumption that somewhere in her work, there is a man. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A common challenge in regression is that for many problems, the degrees of freedom required for a high‐quality solution also allows for overfitting. Regularization is a class of strategies that seek to restrict the range of possible solutions so as to discourage overfitting while still enabling good solutions, and different regularization strategies impose different types of restrictions. In this paper, we present a multilevel regularization strategy that constructs and trains a hierarchy of neural networks, each of which has layers that are wider versions of the previous network's layers. We draw intuition and techniques from the field of Algebraic Multigrid (AMG), traditionally used for solving linear and nonlinear systems of equations, and specifically adapt the Full Approximation Scheme (FAS) for nonlinear systems of equations to the problem of deep learning. Training through V‐cycles then encourage the neural networks to build a hierarchical understanding of the problem. We refer to this approach as multilevel‐in‐width to distinguish from prior multilevel works which hierarchically alter the depth of neural networks. The resulting approach is a highly flexible framework that can be applied to a variety of layer types, which we demonstrate with both fully connected and convolutional layers. We experimentally show with PDE regression problems that our multilevel training approach is an effective regularizer, improving the generalize performance of the neural networks studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the accuracy of three state-of-the-art MRI sequences for the detection of extramural venous invasion (EMVI) in locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) patients after preoperative chemoradiotherapy (pCRT). Methods: This retrospective study included 103 patients (median age 66 years old [43–84]) surgically treated with pCRT for LARC and submitted to preoperative contrast-enhanced pelvic MRI after pCRT. T2-weighted, DWI, and contrast-enhanced sequences were evaluated by two radiologists with expertise in abdominal imaging, blinded to clinical and histopathological data. Patients were scored according to the probability of EMVI presence on each sequence using a grading score ranging from 0 (no evidence of EMVI) to 4 (strong evidence of EMVI). Results from 0 to 2 were ranked as EMVI negative and from 3 to 4 as EMVI positive. ROC curves were drawn for each technique, using histopathological results as reference standard. Results: T2-weighted, DWI, and contrast-enhanced sequences demonstrated an area under the ROC curve (AUC) respectively of 0.610 (95% CI: 0.509–0.704), 0.729 (95% CI: 0.633–0.812), and 0.624 (95% CI: 0.523–0.718). The AUC of DWI sequence was significantly higher than that of T2-weighted (p = 0.0494) and contrast-enhanced (p = 0.0315) sequences. Conclusions: DWI is more accurate than T2-weighted and contrast-enhanced sequences for the identification of EMVI following pCRT in LARC patients. Clinical relevance statement: MRI protocol for restaging locally advanced rectal cancer after preoperative chemoradiotherapy should routinely include DWI due to its higher accuracy for the diagnosis of extramural venous invasion compared to high-resolution T2-weighted and contrast-enhanced T1-weighted sequences. Key Points: • MRI has a moderately high accuracy for the diagnosis of extramural venous invasion in locally advanced rectal cancer after preoperative chemoradiotherapy. • DWI is more accurate than T2-weighted and contrast-enhanced T1-weighted sequences in the detection of extramural venous invasion after preoperative chemoradiotherapy of locally advanced rectal cancer. • DWI should be routinely included in the MRI protocol for restaging locally advanced rectal cancer after preoperative chemoradiotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Aula Abierta. Revista de Investigación, Formación e Innovación en Educación (RIFIE) is the property of Universidad de Oviedo, Servicio de Publicaciones 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.)

Copyright of Architectus is the property of Oficyna Wydawnicza Politechniki Wroclawskiej 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, we outline an original, creative method for capturing the multifaceted ways in which digital technologies shape social life. We outline a framework for engaging participants in creative writing and drawing techniques to support 'meeting and greeting' their 'algorithmic selves'. Algorithmic selves offer datafied reflections of individuals' social media use, represented through platform approximated advertising categories. These categories include identities, such as 'female' or 'male', and marketing interests as 'dog lovers', 'first time buyers' or 'feminists'. Our method builds on Les Back's calls for 'a more artful form of sociology' that is able to think with technology. By using algorithmic selves to mobilise creative enquiry in this way, we argue that researchers can better discern how technology users make sense of their data, the ways in which identity can be co-constructed by social media platforms, and how our interactions with technology ultimately shape social lives in meaningful and highly affective ways. Our method offers a craft-based framework for understanding imaginations, associations and connections with data profiling, and making these understandings available for participant reflection and researcher analysis. This method can also support research participants in taking creative ownership and building agency around their interactions with social media platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article traces the dramatic vicissitudes of the life of the Bulgarian artist Georgi Papazov (Bulgaria, 1894–France, 1972). He was among the first artists to develop automatic painting as a way of overriding previously established techniques in drawing. Along with Juan Miró, André Masson, and Max Ernst, Malkin emerged as one of the first representatives of Surrealism as a movement in art. However, Papazov chose not to become an official member of the Surrealists so that he could freely experiment with other artistic styles without compromising his position in the group. He pursued his own interests in the art world, ranging from automatic painting and surrealism to expressionism, lyrical abstraction, and colorfield painting. Shocked by their sectarianism, he refused to join the movement, which cost him complete neglect by historians of surrealism, as JeanPaul Crispell wrote. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers the first sustained exploration of a group of transfer drawings made by Robert Rauschenberg in 1958, a crucial moment in the artist's long and influential career. The discussion is grounded in the discovery of Rauschenberg's newspaper source material, which points to striking yet undisclosed patterns of reference within the works, enabling new interpretations and richer forms of connection to the historical moment of their production. Perhaps more important, they also reveal a striking temporal compression: in one drawing, for example, every transfer was made from newspapers published on a single day. This aligns the drawings not just with the legible content of the newspaper but also with its temporal logic. The article explores Rauschenberg's embrace of contingency, his appeal to and subversion of reading habits proper to the papers, and the role of intermittence and fragmentation in the work, alongside his motivated engagement with specific political themes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Kirsehir Education Faculty is the property of Journal of Kirsehir Education Faculty 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.)

Copyright of Sociologia & Antropologia is the property of Sociologia & Antropologia 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.)

Stroke‐based rendering is a rendering method that mimics the actual painting technique by drawing a stroke by stroke on a blank canvas image. In this paper, we propose a watercolor image generation method using stroke‐based rendering. The proposed method generates an image that is a good approximation of the input image as well as having the characteristics of a watercolor painting by repeatedly painting strokes while referring to the input image. To generate a high‐quality image, that is, an image that closely resembles an actual watercolor painting, various techniques are employed: modeling of watercolor paper, detailed physical simulation of the movement of water and pigment, strokes using a brush model, among others. The proposed method generates a large number of strokes and performs computationally intensive watercolor simulations for each stroke. Therefore, this paper also presents its parallel algorithm using a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). We implemented this parallel algorithm on an NVIDIA A100 GPU. The experimental results show that the CPU implementations with sequential and parallel executions take 34,651 and 867 s to generate a 4K‐watercolor image of size 3840×2144$$ 3840\times 2144 $$, respectively. In contrast, the GPU implementation with parallel execution succeeded in reducing the time to 44 s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared to steel, glass has higher strength and lower density, which makes it stand out as a pressure resistant vessel for hydrogen storage. However, glass easily breaks when it encounters locally concentrated stress. For high pressure hydrogen storage, the stress distribution of a glass vessel during pressure loading needs to be homogeneous without local stress concentration. Herein, the stress-strain behavior of portable hydrogen storage vessels made of glass fiber tubes is investigated theoretically and experimentally, respectively. The effects of different glass materials, wall thickness and pressure on the strength of the microtubes are investigated. Meanwhile, the method of filling the triangular gaps and adding solid fiberglass border was proposed to reduce the stress concentration. The result reveals that glass materials have little effect on the strength of microtubes. The optimal wall thickness is 12.5 μm for microtubes with an inner diameter of 100 μm. Filling the triangular gaps can reduce stress and expansion. The arrayed microtubes with solid fiberglass border are less deformed during fiber drawing technique. The stress increases at the tangent point of the arrayed microtubes with solid fiberglass border, but the stress of the outermost microtubes is significantly decreases. [Display omitted] • The fabrication process of the high-pressure microtube hydrogen storage vessel was present. • The stress-strain behavior during hydrogen storage of the microtubes was revealed. • The method of filling the triangular gaps and adding solid fiberglass borders was proposed to reduce the stress concentration. • The arrayed microtubes with solid fiberglass border has good stability during fiber drawing technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research uses 3D drawing techniques to create a re-composition of the lost April 11 Memorial, a contested monument which commemorated the deportation of Armenian intellectuals from Istanbul in 1915. We use the only photograph of the monument remaining in the public record as a witness to inform this re-composition and multiply the possibilities of remembering through the medium of drawing. The memorial's absence in the archive can be viewed as an extension of the violence Armenians endured during the deportations and subsequent massacres of the twentieth century, as well as a prolonged suppression of the Armenian people's right to memory within Turkey's unequal historical geography. For this reason, we represent the monument in a new way, in a new medium. Our research explores the value of non-physical reproductions of lost monuments. The re-composition takes place through making a visual and spatial analysis of the photograph, and reveals how drawing techniques, that use 3-dimensional projections, can be used to overcome the absence of knowledge. This method allows us to speculate on the lost monument, to reappropriate and carry it to the present by producing a new visual archive. This act also calls for the profanation, in Agamben's sense, of the memorial by unsettling and removing this forbidden object from the realm of the sacred and the inviolable. Through play and design, we open up a new use and space for the lost memorial. • Documents the one-hundred-year absence of a memorial to the Armenian Intellectuals killed in 1915. • Uses re-composition, isometric projection, and mapping as a framework for visualising archival absences. • Discusses the lasting impact that the erection and removal of monuments can have on the urban landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Healthcare systems are actively working to innovate their care delivery models, seeking to improve service quality, improve patient and provider satisfaction, and reduce cost. Methods: By critically evaluating our experiences to date, this article highlights challenges systems may face in the process of trying to redesign healthcare and offers insights on how to navigate hurdles. We identify barriers to—and ultimately approaches to promote—rapid, scalable, sustainable, and transformative care redesign. Results: Dedicated electronic health record IT and analytic support, and ongoing leadership engagement and communication, play a valuable role in enabling redesign efforts. Flexible, but guided, innovation support helps teams stay accountable and motivated, while accommodating new project needs and directions. Understanding the change ecosystem and evaluating and sharing outcomes on an ongoing basis, enables teams to adapt as needed. Facilitation and support help realize the value of diverse, engaged teams; novel approaches and techniques draw out innovative perspectives and promote creative thinking. Conclusions: Although not an exhaustive list of challenges or strategies to overcome them, we hope these insights will contribute to a culture of innovation and support other institutions in their healthcare redesign initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Selcuk University Social Sciences Institute Journal is the property of Selcuk University Social Sciences Institute Journal 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.)

The aim of this study is to examine how Istanbul is represented visually and verbally adopting the approach of Social Representations. A field study was carried out with 158 undergraduate students in Istanbul. A questionnaire form was administered in the first stage of study including questions about the demographic characteristics of participants, and their metaphors about Istanbul. The drawings as a visual technique were used in the second stage. The results were analyzed by inductive content analysis. The prominent themes in drawings were grouped as ‘panorama of Istanbul,’ ‘problems of Istanbul,’ and ‘behaviors and appearances of residents in Istanbul.’ The results of metaphor analysis revealed the following salient themes: ‘contrasts,’ ‘diversities,’ and ‘problems.’ The social representations of Istanbul are influenced by its socio-cultural diversity, spatial properties, historical background, problems, people’s daily activities there. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of observations and analysis carried out in the modern mural painting of 54m2, known as Planisphere (or Mapa-mundi), made by Almada Negreiros in 1939 in the city of Lisbon. The painting is Almada's first monumental painted work at fresco, and it is a striking, colourful composition inspired by early world maps of navigators. The aim is to ascertain how he built up this masterpiece and what artistic sources could have inspired him. The analytical setup comprised in-situ technical photography in the visible (Vis and Vis-Rak) and near infrared radiation (NIR), Vis-handled-Optical microscopy, complemented by laboratorial analysis of microsamples collected from paint layers with OM-Vis-UV and SEM-EDS. The data obtained was compared with the painting compendiums of Paul Bedouin's La fresque. Sa Technique-ses applications (1914) and of Costin Petresco's L'art de la fresque (1931), retrieved from the artist studio in 2019. The study reveals the first technical and material features found, such as the painting execution by large giornate, the use of different types of techniques to transfer the drawings to the wall, and the presence of paint layers made with buon and lime fresco. The results also reveal the likely strategies used by Almada to overcome the challenges imposed by a fresco execution, inspired by both eastern and western mural painting traditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study contextual search, a generalization of binary search in higher dimensions, which captures settings such as feature-based dynamic pricing. Standard formulations of this problem assume that agents act in accordance with a specific homogeneous response model. In practice, however, some responses may be adversarially corrupted. Existing algorithms heavily depend on the assumed responsemodel being (approximately) accurate for all agents and have poor performance in the presence of even a few such arbitrary misspecifications. We initiate the study of contextual search when some of the agents can behave in ways inconsistent with the underlying response model. In particular, we provide two algorithms, one based on multidimensional binary search methods and one based on gradient descent. We show that these algorithms attain near-optimal regret in the absence of adversarial corruptions and their performance degrades gracefully with the number of such agents, providing the first results for contextual search in any adversarial noise model. Our techniques draw inspiration from learning theory, game theory, highdimensional geometry, and convex analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Al-Academy 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.)

Polyetherimides (PEI) are high‐performance thermoplastic polymers featuring a high dielectric constant and excellent thermal stability. In particular, PEI thin films are of increasing interest for use in solid‐state capacitors and membranes, yet the cost and thickness are limited by conventional synthesis and thermal drawing techniques. Here, a method of synthesizing ultrathin PEI films and coatings is introduced based on interfacial polymerization (IP) of poly(amic acid), followed by thermal imidization. Control of transport, reaction, and precipitation kinetics enables tailoring of PEI film morphology from a nanometer‐scale smooth film to a porous micrometer‐scale layer of polymer microparticles. At short reaction times (≈1 min) freestanding films are formed with ≈1 µm thickness, which to our knowledge surpass commercial state‐of‐the‐art films (3–5 µm minimum thickness) made by thermal drawing. PEI films synthesized via the IP route have thermal and optical properties on par with conventional PEI. The use of the final PEI is demonstrated in structurally colored films, dielectric layers in capacitors, and show that the IP route can form nanometer‐scale coatings on carbon nanotubes. The rapid film formation rate and fine property control are attractive for scale‐up, and established methods for roll‐to‐roll processing can be applied in future work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the demand of structural integrity in manufacturing industries is increasing, the ultrasonic array technique has drawn more attention thanks to its inspection flexibility and versatility. By taking advantage of the possibility of individual triggering of each array element, full matrix capture (FMC) data acquisition strategy has been developed that contains the entire information of an inspection scenario. Total focusing method (TFM) as one of the ultrasonic imaging algorithms, is preferably applied to FMC dataset since it uses all information in FMC to synthetically focus the sound energy at every image pixel in the region of interest. Half-skip TFM (HSTFM) is proposed in multi-mode TFM imaging that involves a backwall reflection wave path, so that the defect profile could be reconstructed for accurate defect characterization. In this paper, a method involving Snell's law-based wave mode conversion is proposed to account for more reasonable wave propagation time when wave mode conversion happens at backwall reflection in HSTFM. A series of model based simulations (in software simSUNDT) are performed for parametric studies, with the intention of investigating the capability of defect characterization using HSTFM with varying tilt angle and relative position of surface-breaking notch to array probe. The results show that certain TFM modes could help with defect characterization, but the effectiveness is limited with varying defect features. It is inappropriate to address a certain mode for all characterization perspectives but rather a combination, i.e., multi-mode TFM, should be adopted for possible interpretation and characterization of defect features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Electronic Turkish Studies is the property of Electronic Turkish Studies 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.)

The article "Teaching From the Inside Out" discusses the importance of mindfulness and self-awareness in teaching. It emphasizes the value of recognizing and managing stressors to be more present with students. The text offers practical mindfulness activities and techniques, such as conscious breathing and playful imagery, to help teachers navigate challenging emotions and situations. By teaching from a place of inner wisdom and deliberate intent, educators can authentically connect with their students and colleagues. [Extracted from the article]

An oxygen-rich atmosphere is essential for complex animals. The early Earth had an anoxic atmosphere, and understanding the rise and maintenance of high O2 levels is critical for investigating what drove our own evolution and for assessing the likely habitability of exoplanets. A growing number of techniques aim to reproduce changes in O2 levels over the Phanerozoic Eon (the past 539 million years). We assess these methods and attempt to draw the reliable techniques together to form a consensus Phanerozoic O2 curve. We conclude that O2 probably made up around 5–10% of the atmosphere during the Cambrian and rose in pulses to ∼15–20% in the Devonian, reaching a further peak of greater than 25% in the Permo-Carboniferous before declining toward the present day. Evolutionary radiations in the Cambrian and Ordovician appear consistent with an oxygen driver, and the Devonian "Age of the Fishes" coincides with oxygen rising above 15% atm. An oxygen-rich atmosphere is essential for complex animals such as humans. We review the methods for reconstructing past variation in oxygen levels over the past 539 million years (the Phanerozoic Eon). We produce a consensus plot of the most likely evolution of atmospheric oxygen levels. Evolutionary radiations in the Cambrian, Ordovician, and Devonian periods may be linked to rises in oxygen concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conjugated polymer (CP) aggregates have been the focus of considerable research, as these mesoscopic entities, compared with single CP chains, provide environments more analogous to those present in polymer-based optoelectronics in terms of the complexity of morphology and chain interactions; thereby, such aggregates hold the potential to provide insights into structure–function relationships highly relevant to optoelectronic device efficiency and stability. This review article highlights single-aggregate spectroscopy studies of CP aggregates based on a combination of solvent vapor annealing and single-molecule fluorescence techniques and draws mesoscopic connections between morphology, electronic coupling, and photophysics in CPs. This molecular-level understanding will pave the way for the bottom-up control of optoelectronic properties from the molecular to the device-length scale. This review highlights single-aggregate spectroscopy studies of conjugated polymer aggregates based on a combination of solvent vapor annealing and single-molecule fluorescence techniques and draws mesoscopic connections between morphology, electronic coupling, and photophysics in conjugated polymers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The various essential morphological land features are represented in a scale-governed map called a topographic sheet. One of the crucial features presented in the topographic sheet often used in Geographical Information System (GIS) based applications is contour lines. Contour lines are non-intersecting lines formed after joining points which are at the same elevation from a given reference point. To elaborate on contour lines, these lines may be of different types, dictated by various geographical landforms such as enclosures (such as lakes, glaciers, etc.), linear features (such as drainage networks, geomorphological landscape. Etc.), islands, eyes and many more. A suitable purpose-specific digitization process is to be implemented for extracting the identified features for use in geographical applications. It can be achieved either through a traditional manual digitization approach or a computer-aided semi-automatic or fully-automatic digitization process may be conceived leveraging advancement in technological support. The manual approach demands considerable effort, execution time, digitization capabilities and attention making it relatively ineffective and inefficient. On the contrary, automatic digitization calls for greater reliance on color segmentation techniques which if implemented incorrectly or imprecisely, the quality of the result will be tremendously compromised. One of the pertinent problems often observed in the segmented image is the loss of continuity in contour lines. This may be circumstantially due to overlapping features, improper segmentation, incomplete information content, incomplete information extraction and the presence of additional details like elevation values. The solution to the identified problem should be motivated toward designing an integrity-preserving reconnection mechanism that is apt, computationally simple and effective. Therefore, this research initiative is motivated towards the conception and implementation of a technique for reconnection of broken contour lines to facilitate continuity of contour lines relying on concepts such as the Sign of Gradient (SG), Euclidean Distance (ED) and modified Bezier Curve (BC) drawing technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports a detailed study on some relevant portions of the main façades of Caserta Royal Palace (Reggia di Caserta), one of the most important Italian monuments, comparable for its impressive architecture to the Royal Palace of Versailles in France and considered the largest royal palace in the world by volume. The research was focused on the weathering pathologies affecting the stone surfaces that, in the last decades, suffered several detachments of fragments from the coatings and from other architectural elements such as string courses, eaves, and capitals. A preliminary characterization of the materials of the façades and an evaluation of the relative weathering pathologies provided the information required for appropriate restoration and securing of these portions of the building. In particular, an innovative evaluation procedure which draws on techniques typical of the earth sciences allowed the proposal of a 'risk attitude' applied to discrete portions of the geomaterials used in the built heritage which is based on the influence of different factors leading to weakening of the stone and to the final detachment of rock fragments. Such a large and complete set of information should be carefully considered by the project planners to adopt the required steps for a suitable risk mitigation and for securing the site during restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The British female writer Virginia Woolf had been remaining a close relationship with modern visual arts. Adopting the approach of stream-of-consciousness, To the Lighthouse is a verbal-visual experiment containing language-image elements such as impressionist / postimpressionist drawing technique and ekphrasis. Characters' point of view switches actively and smoothly, which empowers them to think through observing by bare eyes. In the story, "Window" is not only a tunnel for watching, but also an image with physical and virtual meanings. To the Lighthouse is also an autobiographical novel, in which Woolf made Lily, the female painter, feels what the writer herself feels in reality. Therefore, of all the characters, Lily plays the most significant role as a modern observer. Ekphrasis is the verbal representation of visual image, and customarily, it was utilized to depict still life and art works in a concrete way. However, the description of Lily's abstract painting in this novel breaks the traditional usage of Ekphrasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Determining the skills required for salespersons to maximize their effectiveness was the main driver for conducting the present study. In order to identify those necessary skills, this study aims to review various research techniques drawn from multiple disciplines and applied that knowledge to salespersons. Design/methodology/approach: This study used a mixed-method methodology. This study began by conducting a literature review and then interviewed experienced salespersons with varied backgrounds to develop a comprehensive list of sales skills and themes and categorize them into competency categories. This study then conducted a quantitative analysis to determine the respective importance of the skills and themes by surveying a sample of internal stakeholders of a multinational company. Finally, this study calculated the reliability and validity of the themes. Findings: A total of 206 relevant skills (later reduced to 110) and 28 themes were identified and grouped into three competency categories: conceptual, human/interpersonal and technical. Survey respondents rated the skills and themes higher than the "somewhat important" score of 3 out of 5, with the overall mean importance for skills being in the "important" range (score of 4.27 out of 5). All identified skills were believed to be important to a salesperson's success. Originality/value: This study's expanded list of sales skills will improve employability, reduce turnover among employees and build better groundwork for fostering learning through work, resulting in better performance. These skills represent a 2020 updated list that could be used for future academic research and training and research in the business world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mathematical difficulty remains in many classical financial problems, especially for a closed-form expression of asset value. The European option evaluation problem based on a regime-switching has been formally modeled since early 2000, for which a recursive algorithm was developed to solve it. The key mathematical difficulty of this problem relies on the expectation I E [ h (Y T) ] , where h is a payoff function and { Y t } t ∈ [ 0 , T ] denotes a geometric Brownian motion with Markovian regime-switching. It is long since attempted to conclude this problem with closed form formulas. Towards the same target, this paper applies some novel techniques to draw explicit formulas for cases with more states for regime-switching (whereas the former deals the cases with two states) for any integrable function h (whereas the former only applies to the payoff of a European option). This paper combines the technique of occupation time of Markov chains and inverse Laplace transform to achieve the density function of geometric Brownian motion with Markovian regime-switching. Extension along this technique creates potential for probabilistic computations in addition to European option pricing. The reflection from the inverse Laplace transform to the expression of a moment-generating function is the core technique developed by this paper, and it is presented in symmetric forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A refractive index insensitive, directional bending sensor is proposed based on microstructure optical fibre with dumbbell shape core. • Sensing characteristics of this specialty fibre based Mach-Zehnder interferometer are systematically studied and analyzed. • It displays different response to bending along x and y direction, giving out a maximum bending sensitivity of 2.57 nm/m−1 ranging of 0–3.79 m−1. • The peak wavelength is almost insensitive to the refractive index change. With the development of information society, more and more special occasions are calling for a wide range of sensors with special properties. In this work, a refractive index insensitive directional bend sensor is proposed based on a specialty microstructure optical fiber with dumbbell shape core, which works as a dual core fiber (DCF). Firstly, this specialty microstructure optical fiber with dumbbell shape core has been fabricated with self-pressurised drawing technique. Then, it has been constructed as a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) sensor. Consequently, its bend sensing characteristics has been investigated from both theory and experiment. The response of the proposed sensor to the bending evidently displays the directional dependence. In the bending along x direction, the interference peak wavelength is almost insensitive to the curvature. But the transmission is sensitive, which almost obeys the exponential function. Correspondingly, in the bending along y direction the wavelength almost linearly varies with curvature, giving out an averaged sensitivity of 2.44 nm/m−1 in the curvature range of 0–3.79 m−1. But the peak transmission fluctuates without typical principle. In addition, the response of the proposed sensor to the refractive index variation has been checked. It is found that the peak wavelength is almost insensitive to the change of refractive index from 1.33 to 1.45, and the peak transmission fluctuates without clear principle. All these results demonstrate that the proposed sensor has great potential for future internet of things (IoT) applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In the last decades, many studies have emphasized emotion’s role in psycho-educational processes during childhood, such as scholastic integration. Emotional variables in childhood can be assessed through projective graphic techniques, as they allow children to use kinetic components of the draws to communicate emotions. Method: 1.757 couple of draws were collected, from primary school children (N = 1.270; F = 643 [50.6%]; Age = 8.6; SD = 1.31) and secondary school children (N = 487; F = 220 [45.2%]; Age = 11.72; SD = 0.70) and from eight schools in Sicily and over 60 different classrooms. The Drawn Stories Technique and the Classroom Draw were used to assess children’s current emotional state and scholastic integration. Results: Pearson’s correlation showed significant relationships between the Drawn Stories Technique and both sex and age. In contrast, Classroom Drawing total score showed a significant relationship with the female sex but no significant relationship with age. Linear regression analysis, including sex and age as independent variables, showed that sex is a significant predictor of Negative Outcomes of the Drawn Stories Technique, while no effect of age was detected. Discussion: These findings showed that adequate attention is needed to the learners’ emotional-affective world that influences their relationships and their vision within the class group. Although the drawing techniques alone seem to be not as such sufficient to explain children’s individual differences in the classroom on the whole, they could be helpful for the teacher to facilitate dialogues with children, modulate didactical materials, and detect and prevent some problems in group class functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food security is emerging as a key focus in developing countries and a determinant of socio-economic development. Rain-dependent agriculture, rain irregularities and variability necessitate the need to study the current status of food security, especially in semi-arid areas of Africa. This paper assesses food security in the rural context of Chamwino District, Tanzania. It adopts the sustainable livelihoods framework as its main tool of assessment under a mixed-method design for qualitative and quantitative analyses. It employs a simple random sampling technique to draw 385 agro-pastoralist households out of 13595. Likewise, it also applies a stratified sampling technique to ensure that appropriate number of elements are drawn from the homogeneous subsets of the population. Focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, transect walk and situational analysis mapping techniques were employed to ensure validity. Quantitative analysis was supported by the IBM SPSS software, version 20, to establish values of existing patterns. Qualitative data were subjected to content analysis to explore functions, attributes and drivers. The results suggest that Chamwino District has a chronic food insecurity history recorded from 1837 up to 2020. Most of the rural agro-pastoralists are victims of food insecurity even when agricultural productions are in surplus due to a wide range of factors. The magnitude of this problem is comparatively higher than in other districts in Dodoma Region. The intensity of the food problem is influenced by cash economy, the lack of technical education, limited diversity in reliable sources of income, and inadequate public utilities. Also, there are field-based evidences about the failure of the regulatory system to stimulate agro-pastoralism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]