444 research outputs found
Modality-specific Affective Responses and their Implications for Affective BCI
Reliable applications of multimodal affective brain-computer interfaces (aBCI) require a detailed understanding of the processes involved in emotions. To explore the modality-specific nature of affective responses, we studied neurophysiological responses of 24 subjects during visual, auditory, and audiovisual affect stimulation and obtained their subjective ratings. Coherent with literature, we found modality-specific responses in the EEG: parietal alpha power decreases during visual stimulation and increases during auditory stimulation, whereas more anterior alpha power decreases during auditory stimulation and increases during visual stimulation. We discuss the implications of these results for multimodal aBCI
Benchmarking explanatory models for inertia forecasting using public data of the nordic area
This paper investigates the performance of a day-ahead explanatory model for inertia forecasting based on field data in the Nordic system, which achieves a 43% reduction in mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) against a state-of-the-art time-series forecast model. The generalizability of the explanatory model is verified by its consistent performance on Nordic and Great Britain datasets. Also, it appears that a long duration of training data is not required to obtain accurate results with this model, but taking a more spatially granular approach reduces the MAPE by 3.6%. Finally, two further model enhancements are studied considering the specific features in Nordic system: (i) a monthly interaction variable applied to the day-ahead national demand forecast feature, reducing the MAPE by up to 18%; and (ii) a feature based on the inertia from hydropower, although this has a negligible impact. The field dataset used for benchmarking is also made publicly available
Design of an Ecological Vertical Separation Assistance Cockpit Display
A tactical navigation support tool was designed to effectively deal with conflict situations in the vertical plane, while preserving travel freedom as much as possible. Based on Ecological Interface Design principles, the Vertical Separation Assistance Display is developed as an extension to the existing Vertical Situation Display. Functional information is presented via overlays that show pilots how their vertical maneuvering possibilities are constrained by ownship performance, and by limits imposed by surrounding traffic. A questionnaire-based evaluation shows that the ecological overlays considerably improved pilot traffic awareness in vertical conflict situations
Cross-country differences in unemployment : fiscal policy, unions, and household preferences in general equilibrium
We develop a five period overlapping generations model with individuals who differ by ability and with an imperfect labour market (union wage setting) for the individuals of lower ability. The model explains human capital formation, hours
worked and unemployment within one coherent framework. Its predictions match the differences in the unemployment rate across 12 OECD countries remarkably well. A Shapley decomposition of these differences reveals an almost equal role
for fiscal policy variables and union preferences. As to fiscal policy, differences in unemployment benefits play a much more important role than tax differences. Differences in householdsâ taste for leisure are unimportant
Live to Fight Another Day? Organizational Maintenance and Mortality Anxiety of Civil Society Organizations
Communities of civil society organizations are characterized by
substantial volatility, as new organizations are continuously
established and old ones are regularly disbanded. This article aims to
improve our understanding of the dynamic nature of civil society by
focusing on a particular aspect of organizational maintenance, namely,
mortality anxiety. Building upon previous work that assesses actual and
perceived survival chances of civil society organizations, we examine
how inter-organizational competition, ties with public authorities, and
the internal institutionalization of civil society organizations shape
how these groups assess their survival chances. Our results demonstrate
that high levels of inter-organizational competition and a strong
reliance on government funding significantly increase mortality anxiety.
Furthermore, they highlight the importance of a professionalized and
internally differentiated structure. We rely on survey data and focus on
the case of Belgium, in this way providing a first assessment of
mortality anxiety in a neo-corporatist political system.The politics and administration of institutional chang
Hygienograms for evaluation of cleaning and disinfection protocols in pig facilities
Cleaning and disinfection (C&D) is already well established in the daily routine of modern Flemish pig herds. Correct application of cleaning and disinfection protocols is however not always performed. To evaluate the efficiency of the applied cleaning and disinfection protocols, the use of hygienograms - as already widely used in poultry - should be promoted. Therefore, a study was conducted by Animal Health Care Flanders and CID Lines to evaluate the relevance of a hygienogram scoring system in pigs following cleaning and disinfection according to the farmers\u27 routine procedures and a protocol as prescribed by CID Lines
New <i>Methyloceanibacter</i> diversity from North Sea sediments includes methanotroph containing solely the soluble methane monooxygenase
Marine methylotrophs play a key role in the global carbon cycle by metabolizing reduced one-carbon compounds that are found in high concentrations in marine environments. Genome, physiology and diversity studies have been greatly facilitated by the numerous model organisms brought into culture. However, the availability of marine representatives remains poor. Here, we report the isolation of four novel species from North Sea sediment enrichments closely related to the Alphaproteobacterium Methyloceanibacter caenitepidi. Each of the newly isolated Methyloceanibacter species exhibited a clear genome sequence divergence which was reflected in physiological differences. Notably one strain R-67174 was capable of oxidizing methane as sole source of carbon and energy using solely a soluble methane monooxygenase and represents the first marine Alphaproteobacterial methanotroph brought into culture. Differences in maximum cell density of >1.5 orders of magnitude were observed. Furthermore, three strains were capable of producing nitrous oxide from nitrate. Together, these findings highlight the metabolic and physiologic variability within closely related Methyloceanibacter species and provide a new understanding of the physiological basis of marine methylotrophy
Isomer shift and magnetic moment of the long-lived 1/2 isomer in Zn: signature of shape coexistence near Ni
Collinear laser spectroscopy has been performed on the Zn
isotope at ISOLDE-CERN. The existence of a long-lived isomer with a few hundred
milliseconds half-life was confirmed, and the nuclear spins and moments of the
ground and isomeric states in Zn as well as the isomer shift were
measured. From the observed hyperfine structures, spins and
are firmly assigned to the ground and isomeric states. The magnetic moment
(Zn) = 1.1866(10) , confirms the spin-parity
with a shell-model configuration, in excellent
agreement with the prediction from large scale shell-model theories. The
magnetic moment (Zn) = 1.0180(12) supports a
positive parity for the isomer, with a wave function dominated by a 2h-1p
neutron excitation across the shell gap. The large isomer shift
reveals an increase of the intruder isomer mean square charge radius with
respect to that of the ground state:
= +0.204(6) fm, providing first evidence of shape coexistence.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, Accepeted by Phys. Rev. Lett. (2016
Decay-assisted collinear resonance ionization spectroscopy: Application to neutron-deficient francium
This paper reports on the hyperfine-structure and radioactive-decay studies
of the neutron-deficient francium isotopes Fr performed with the
Collinear Resonance Ionization Spectroscopy (CRIS) experiment at the ISOLDE
facility, CERN. The high resolution innate to collinear laser spectroscopy is
combined with the high efficiency of ion detection to provide a
highly-sensitive technique to probe the hyperfine structure of exotic isotopes.
The technique of decay-assisted laser spectroscopy is presented, whereby the
isomeric ion beam is deflected to a decay spectroscopy station for alpha-decay
tagging of the hyperfine components. Here, we present the first
hyperfine-structure measurements of the neutron-deficient francium isotopes
Fr, in addition to the identification of the low-lying states of
Fr performed at the CRIS experiment.Comment: Accepted for publication with Physical Review
The Changing Face of Youth Employment in Europe
This article examines trends in youth employment across the EU-15 countries during 2002-6 and 2007-11. Drawing upon microdata from the EU-Labour Force Survey it examines changes in contract-type, hours worked and occupation by level of education. Although the financial crisis creates a discontinuity in numbers employed, and despite certain country specificities, we observe common structural changes across the two periods. We find an increasing shift from permanent full-time to temporary part-time contracts, the âhollowing outâ of traditional mid-skill level occupations and evidence of âoccupational filtering downâ whereby the higher-educated are substituted for the lower-educated in low-skilled occupations. We observe some growth in âprofessionalsâ following the crisis, but little evidence of the rise of a new knowledge economy. This raises questions concerning the most appropriate policy approaches to education and training and labour market regulation if European nations are to provide high-quality employment opportunities for their young people
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