Bipartite peak-pit domains

In this paper, we introduce the class of bipartite peak-pit domains. This is a class of Condorcet domains which include both the classical single-peaked and single-dipped domains. Our class of domains can be used to model situations where some alternatives are ranked based on a most preferred location on a societal axis, and some are ranked based on a least preferred location. This makes it possible to model situations where agents have different rationales for their ranking depending on which of two subclasses of the alternatives one is considering belong to. The class of bipartite peak-pit domains includes most peak-pit domains for $n\leq 7$ alternatives, and the largest Condorcet domains for each $n\leq 8$. In order to study the maximum possible size of a bipartite peak-pit domain we introduce set-alternating schemes. This is a method for constructing well-structured peak-pit domains which are copious and connected. We show that domains based on these schemes always have size at least $2^{n-1}$ and some of them have sizes larger than the domains of Fishburn's alternating scheme. We show that the maximum domain size for sufficiently high $n$ exceeds $2.1973^n$. This improves the previous lower bound for peak-pit domains $2.1890^n$ from \cite{karpov2023constructing}, which was also the highest asymptotic lower bound for the size of the largest Condorcet domains

DDI-FlatDB: Next steps

We analyzed our current data structures and working habits of, and with the DDI-FlatDB with respect to efficiency of data access and the effectiveness of the developer, adopting new DDI versions. For data structures within DDI we found internal links, directing forward and backward within a study as well as links to external sources, like institutions or controlled vocabulary. Instantiating these links lead currently to slow access times and to load large portions of XML snippets. In order to overcome this drawbacks the idea is to extend the DDI-FlatDB to instantiate all links within a link database based on Linked Open Data principles. This will lead to an efficient access within and across surveys. We will describe how we plan to store the links as triplets and what the advantages will be. Along adapting DDI and XML for the CESSDA CV Manager, we found, that the description of the mapping of DDI elements via XPaths to our entities is still a complex tasks and involves XPath creation and verification of results, which lead to inefficient turnaround times. We plan to create a specific editor for capturing the structure when editing XPaths, so the developing time will be more efficient and less error-prone

Recent Graduates’ Perspectives on Undergraduate Kinesiology Programs in Canada

Background: Kinesiologists are a growing group of health professionals in Canada who can enter practice after completing undergraduate kinesiology programs. Unlike other health professional programs such as physiotherapy that have well-established curricula and extensive national accreditation standards, kinesiology programs vary considerably between institutions. The resultant disparities in kinesiology graduates’ entry-level skillsets, competencies, and confidence levels contribute to their uncertainty regarding their role in healthcare and the public’s underutilization of kinesiology services. Conclusions: As former kinesiology students, and as current kinesiologists and allied health professionals, we offer our perspective on how undergraduate kinesiology programs could change to respond to the needs of their graduates. Specifically, we suggest an increased emphasis on practical skill development, providing students with kinesiologist mentors and teaching staff, offering kinesiologist specific career planning, and creating explicit streams of specialization. We hope our perspectives based on our own lived experience will better prepare kinesiology students for careers as kinesiologists

Gas Temperature and Radiative Heat Transfer in Oxy-fuel Flames

This work presents measurements of the gas temperature, including fluctuations, and its influence on the radiative heat transfer in oxy-fuel flames. The measurements were carried out in the Chalmers 100 kW oxy-fuel test unit. The in-furnace gas temperature was measured by a suction pyrometer and by an optical system based on FTIR-spectroscopy. The radiation intensity was measured by a Narrow Angle Radiometer and the gas radiation was calculated with a Statistical Narrow Band model. The overall agreement between the two temperature measurement techniques was good. The optical system showed a lower temperature than the suction pyrometer in the low velocity regions of the furnace, a difference which is likely to be an effect of the purge gas added in the optical probe. The measured temperature fluctuations were evaluated by modeling of the gas radiation. The influence from the measured fluctuations on the radiative heat transfer shows no effect of turbulence-radiation interaction. However, by comparing with temperature fluctuations in other flames it can be seen that the fluctuations measured here are relatively small. Further research is needed to clarify to which extent the applied methods can account for the turbulence-radiation interaction in the investigated flame

Incompressible Euler equations with stochastic forcing: a geometric approach

We consider stochastic versions of Euler--Arnold equations using the infinite-dimensional geometric approach as pioneered by Ebin and Marsden. For the Euler equation on a compact manifold (possibly with smooth boundary) we establish local existence and uniqueness of a strong solution (in the stochastic sense) in spaces of Sobolev mappings (of high enough regularity). Our approach combines techniques from stochastic analysis and infinite-dimensional geometry and provides a novel toolbox to establish local well-posedness of stochastic Euler--Arnold equations.Comment: 55 pages, v3: Corrected typos and minor mistakes, expanded introduction and added more examples, main results remain unchange

Soil moisture remote-sensing applications for identification of flood-prone areas along transport infrastructure

AbstractThe expected increase in precipitation and temperature in Scandinavia, and especially short-time heavy precipitation, will increase the frequency of flooding. Urban areas are the most vulnerable, and specifically, the road infrastructure. The accumulation of large volumes of water and sediments on road-stream intersections gets severe consequences for the road drainage structures. This study integrates the spatial and temporal soil moisture properties into the research about flood prediction methods by a case study of two areas in Sweden, Västra Götaland and Värmland, which was affected by severe flooding in August 2014. Soil moisture data are derived from remote-sensing techniques, with a focus on the soil moisture-specific satellites ASCAT and SMOS. Furthermore, several physical catchments descriptors (PCDs) are analyzed and the result shows that larger slopes and drainage density, in general, mean a higher risk of flooding. The precipitation is the same; however, it can be concluded that more precipitation in most cases gives higher soil moisture values. The lack, or the dimensioning, of road drainage structures seems to have a large impact on the flood risk as more sediment and water can be accumulated at the road-stream intersection. The results show that the method implementing soil moisture satellite data is promising for improving the reliability of flooding

Visualizing the ultra-structure of microorganisms using table-top extreme ultraviolet imaging

Table-top extreme ultraviolet (EUV) microscopy offers unique opportunities for label-free investigation of biological samples. Here, we demonstrate ptychographic EUV imaging of two dried, unstained model specimens: germlings of a fungus (Aspergillus nidulans), and bacteria (Escherichia coli) cells at 13.5 nm wavelength. We find that the EUV spectral region, which to date has not received much attention for biological imaging, offers sufficient penetration depths for the identification of intracellular features. By implementing a position-correlated ptychography approach, we demonstrate a millimeter-squared field of view enabled by infrared illumination combined with sub-60 nm spatial resolution achieved with EUV illumination on selected regions of interest. The strong element contrast at 13.5 nm wavelength enables the identification of the nanoscale material composition inside the specimens. Our work will advance and facilitate EUV imaging applications and enable further possibilities in life science

On Cognitive Robot Woodworking in SMErobotics

This paper details and discusses work performed at the woodworking SME Mivelaz Techniques Bois SA within the SMErobotics FP7 project. The aim is to improve non-expert handling of the cell by introduction of cognitive abilities in the robot system. Three areas are considered; intuitive programming, process adaptation and system integration. Proposed cognitive components are described together with experiments performed