Using earcons to improve the usability of tool palettes

This paper describes an experiment to investigate the effectiveness of adding sound to tool palettes. Palette shave usability problems because users need to see the information they present but they are often outside the area of visual focus. Non-speech sounds called earcons were used to indicate the current tool and tool changes so that users could tell what tool was in use, wherever they were looking. Experimental results showed a significant reduction in the number of tasks performed with the wrong tool. Users knew what the current tool was and did not try to perform tasks with the wrong one

Androgen Receptor Signalling in Prostate Cancer: The Functional Consequences of Acetylation

The androgen receptor (AR) is a ligand activated transcription factor and member of the steroid hormone receptor (SHR) subfamily of nuclear receptors. In the early stages of prostate carcinogenesis, tumour growth is dependent on androgens, and AR directly mediates these effects by modulating gene expression. During transcriptional regulation, the AR recruits numerous cofactors with acetylation-modifying enzymatic activity, the best studied include p300/CBP and the p160/SRC family of coactivators. It is known that recruitment of histone acetyltransferases (HATs) and histone deacetylases (HDACs) is key in fine-tuning responses to androgens and is thus likely to play a role in prostate cancer progression. Further, these proteins can also modify the AR itself. The functional consequences of AR acetylation, the role of modifying enzymes in relation to AR transcriptional response, and prostate cancer will be discussed

B→πℓνlB \to \pi \ell \nu_l Width and ∣Vub∣|V_{ub}| from QCD Light-Cone Sum Rules

We employ the $B\to\pi$ form factors obtained from QCD light-cone sum rules and calculate the $B\to \pi \ell \nu_l$ width ($\ell=e,\mu$) in units of $1/|V_{ub}|^2$, integrated over the region of accessible momentum transfers, $0\leq q^2\leq 12.0 ~GeV^2$. Using the most recent BABAR-collaboration measurements we extract $|V_{ub}|=(3.50^{+0.38}_{-0.33}\big|_{th.}\pm 0.11 \big|_{exp.})\times 10^{-3}$. The sum rule results for the form factors, taken as an input for a $z$-series parameterization, yield the $q^2$-shape in the whole semileptonic region of $B\to \pi\ell\nu_\ell$. We also present the charged lepton energy spectrum in this decay. Furthermore, the current situation with $B\to \tau\nu_\tau$ is discussed from the QCD point of view. We suggest to use the ratio of the $B\to \pi \tau\nu_\tau$ and $B\to \pi\ell \nu_l ~(\ell =\mu,e)$ widths as an additional test of Standard Model. The sensitivity of this observable to new physics is illustrated by including a charged Higgs-boson contribution in the semileptonic decay amplitude.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures; comments added in section 4, version to be published in Phys. Rev.

Capital structure and its determinants in the United Kingdom – a decompositional analysis

Prior research on capital structure by Rajan and Zingales (1995) suggests that the level of gearing in UK companies is positively related to size and tangibility, and negatively correlated with profitability and the level of growth opportunities. However, as argued by Harris and Raviv (1991), 'The interpretation of results must be tempered by an awareness of the difficulties involved in measuring both leverage and the explanatory variables of interest'. In this study the focus is on the difficulties of measuring gearing, and the sensitivity of Rajan and Zingales' results to variations in gearing measures are tested. Based on an analysis of the capital structure of 822 UK companies, Rajan and Zingales' results are found to be highly definitional-dependent. The determinants of gearing appear to vary significantly, depending upon which component of debt is being analysed. In particular, significant differences are found in the determinants of long- and short-term forms of debt. Given that trade credit and equivalent, on average, accounts for more than 62% of total debt, the results are particularly sensitive to whether such debt is included in the gearing measure. It is argued, therefore, that analysis of capital structure is incomplete without a detailed examination of all forms of corporate debt

Real space first-principles derived semiempirical pseudopotentials applied to tunneling magnetoresistance

In this letter we present a real space density functional theory (DFT) localized basis set semi-empirical pseudopotential (SEP) approach. The method is applied to iron and magnesium oxide, where bulk SEP and local spin density approximation (LSDA) band structure calculations are shown to agree within approximately 0.1 eV. Subsequently we investigate the qualitative transferability of bulk derived SEPs to Fe/MgO/Fe tunnel junctions. We find that the SEP method is particularly well suited to address the tight binding transferability problem because the transferability error at the interface can be characterized not only in orbital space (via the interface local density of states) but also in real space (via the system potential). To achieve a quantitative parameterization, we introduce the notion of ghost semi-empirical pseudopotentials extracted from the first-principles calculated Fe/MgO bonding interface. Such interface corrections are shown to be particularly necessary for barrier widths in the range of 1 nm, where interface states on opposite sides of the barrier couple effectively and play a important role in the transmission characteristics. In general the results underscore the need for separate tight binding interface and bulk parameter sets when modeling conduction through thin heterojunctions on the nanoscale.Comment: Submitted to Journal of Applied Physic

Predicting Purchase Intent Using Pragmatic and Hedonic Kansei Engineering Scales: A Case Study of Kitchen Equipment in China

A Chinese premium kitchen equipment manufacturer was interested in knowing what their consumers liked about their product, and how they could use this to strengthen their market position. They wanted a set of repeatable scales that could be used to both evaluate their own products for future development and to benchmark competitors for sales predictions. To be successful, kitchen equipment should function perfectly, be easy to use and have emotional attributes that appeal to consumers. Kansei Engineering methods have previously been used to support the development of scales to improve the emotional response to such products. However within the Kitchen Equipment industry, there is rarely the time or resource available to implement a full and comprehensive Kansei Engineering analysis within a new product development process. We used a simplified Kansei Engineering process with two notable differences. To develop a set of useful scales we used a mix of hedonic and pragmatic adjectives and we used Kano analysis as a means to systematically reduce the number of adjectives. A factor analysis found four Kansei factors and scales were developed to measure them. The major factor was a Hedonic Scale. The next three factors measured more pragmatic attributes and specifically were: User Interface Quality, Smoke Extraction Quality and Ease of Cleaning. The four factors contributed to 70% of the variance. These factors can be used by the company as repeatable measurement scales to both evaluate their own products for future development and to benchmark competitors for sales predictions

A game for all shapes and sizes? Changes in anthropometric and performance measures of elite professional rugby union players 1999-2018

Background: Rugby union player size has increased since the game turned professional in 1995. Changes in physical and performance capability over this period have yet to be fully described. Hypothesis: Increases in player momentum would result from changes in body mass. Methods: Within-player rates of change in anthropometric and kinetic variables with season played were sampled in three successively studied professional rugby union club cohorts playing at the highest level of European competition between 1999-2019. Data comprised 910 seasons of observation for 291 elite male players. Most players had 2, 3 or 4 seasons of observation. Mixed-effects modelling distinguished changes independent of position played, club and international status. Results: With each season played, player body mass, fat-free mass, and maximum speed increased significantly, while percent fat decreased. The mean maximal velocity of a rugby player in 1999 was 8.2 (±0.18) m/s, which in 2019 had risen to 9.1 (±0.10) m/s. Player’s momentum in 2019 was 14% more than those playing in 1999. In the Front Five, momentum increased in this period by more than 25%, mainly driven by greater running speed, disproving our hypothesis. Conclusions: The momentum of players, particularly forwards, increased markedly over 20 seasons of professional rugby. The resulting forces generated in collisions are thus significantly greater, although these may be mitigated by better player conditioning. Proactive regulation to address player safety may be required to address the changing nature of anthropometric measures and physical performance, minimising injury rates and potential long-term sequelae

Reply to Comment "Invalidity of classes of approximate Hall effect calculations."

We reply to the criticism raised by Ao in his Comment (cond-mat/9801180). Being unable to properly treat the Hall conductivity in a mixed state of superconductors, Ao is looking for possible mistakes in microscopic and phenomenological calculations, as well as in the corresponding experiments. The errors in his treatment of the problem (cond-mat/9704247) are analized. We indicate where the approach advocated by him fails to properly account for the interaction with impurities and other sources of relaxation.Comment: reply to Comment by Ao (cond-mat/9801180) on our paper in PRL, 79, 1377 (1997), revtex file, 1 page, no figure

Vortex Mass in BCS systems: Kopnin and Baym-Chandler contributions

The Kopnin mass and the Baym-Chandler mass of the vortex have the same origin. Both represent the mass of the normal component trapped by the vortex. The Kopnin mass of the vortex is formed by quasiparticles localized in the vicinity of the vortex. In the superclean limit it is calculated as linear response exactly in the same way as the density of the normal component is calculated in homogeneous superfluid. The Baym-Chandler mass is the hydrodynamical (associated) mass trapped by vortex. It is analogous to the normal component formed by inhomogeneities, such as pores and impurities. Both contributions are calculated for the generic model of the continuous vortex core.Comment: revtex file, 3 pages, 1 figure. Initially appeared as Comment to the paper by E.B. Sonin et al "Vortex motion in charged and neutral superfluids: A hydrodynamic approach" (Phys. Rev. B 57, 575 (1998)). The calculation of the backflow mass is adde

Incoherent Transport through Molecules on Silicon in the vicinity of a Dangling Bond

We theoretically study the effect of a localized unpaired dangling bond (DB) on occupied molecular orbital conduction through a styrene molecule bonded to a n++ H:Si(001)-(2x1) surface. For molecules relatively far from the DB, we find good agreement with the reported experiment using a model that accounts for the electrostatic contribution of the DB, provided we include some dephasing due to low lying phonon modes. However, for molecules within 10 angstrom to the DB, we have to include electronic contribution as well along with higher dephasing to explain the transport features.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure