Linear resolutions of powers and products

The goal of this paper is to present examples of families of homogeneous ideals in the polynomial ring over a field that satisfy the following condition: every product of ideals of the family has a linear free resolution. As we will see, this condition is strongly correlated to good primary decompositions of the products and good homological and arithmetical properties of the associated multi-Rees algebras. The following families will be discussed in detail: polymatroidal ideals, ideals generated by linear forms and Borel fixed ideals of maximal minors. The main tools are Gr\"obner bases and Sagbi deformation

Post-training load-related changes of auditory working memory: An EEG study

Working memory (WM) refers to the temporary retention and manipulation of information, and its capacity is highly susceptible to training. Yet, the neural mechanisms that allow for increased performance under demanding conditions are not fully understood. We expected that post-training efficiency in WM performance modulates neural processing during high load tasks. We tested this hypothesis, using electroencephalography (EEG) (N = 39), by comparing source space spectral power of healthy adults performing low and high load auditory WM tasks. Prior to the assessment, participants either underwent a modality-specific auditory WM training, or a modality-irrelevant tactile WM training, or were not trained (active control). After a modality-specific training participants showed higher behavioral performance, compared to the control. EEG data analysis revealed general effects of WM load, across all training groups, in the theta-, alpha-, and beta-frequency bands. With increased load theta-band power increased over frontal, and decreased over parietal areas. Centro-parietal alpha-band power and central beta-band power decreased with load. Interestingly, in the high load condition a tendency toward reduced beta-band power in the right medial temporal lobe was observed in the modality-specific WM training group compared to the modality-irrelevant and active control groups. Our finding that WM processing during the high load condition changed after modality-specific WM training, showing reduced beta-band activity in voice-selective regions, possibly indicates a more efficient maintenance of task-relevant stimuli. The general load effects suggest that WM performance at high load demands involves complementary mechanisms, combining a strengthening of task-relevant and a suppression of task-irrelevant processing

Reliability analysis of dynamic systems by translating temporal fault trees into Bayesian networks

Classical combinatorial fault trees can be used to assess combinations of failures but are unable to capture sequences of faults, which are important in complex dynamic systems. A number of proposed techniques extend fault tree analysis for dynamic systems. One of such technique, Pandora, introduces temporal gates to capture the sequencing of events and allows qualitative analysis of temporal fault trees. Pandora can be easily integrated in model-based design and analysis techniques. It is, therefore, useful to explore the possible avenues for quantitative analysis of Pandora temporal fault trees, and we identify Bayesian Networks as a possible framework for such analysis. We describe how Pandora fault trees can be translated to Bayesian Networks for dynamic dependability analysis and demonstrate the process on a simplified fuel system model. The conversion facilitates predictive reliability analysis of Pandora fault trees, but also opens the way for post-hoc diagnostic analysis of failures

From Participatory Culture to Participatory Fatigue: The Problem With the Public

The Web has changed newswork dramatically. After the turn of the Millennium, the Web 2.0 was welcomed as a unique medium of participation, interaction, and democratization. Due to the increased interactivity of many websites, and the growing prominence of social networking sites such as Facebook that invited the creation and publication of user contributions, many journalism scholars promulgated the potentials of the Web to trigger participation, a new interactivity and, eventually, more transparency, accountability, and responsiveness. In this article, I show how I was equally full of hope that the participatory potential of the Web would become widespread among news organizations. However, recent findings show that most established newsrooms still do not practice what they preach. Even more so, many newsrooms show a participation fatigue, closing user comment sections due to participation inequality or challenging phenomena such as trolls, incivility, or hate-speech. Hence, I do not believe that the majority of legacy news media will further implement accountability practices and strengthen their responsiveness toward their publics. But I still have hope, and this hope comes from entrepreneurial journalism

Political hashtag publics and counter-visuality: a case study of #fertilityday in Italy

In 2016 the Italian health ministry launched the ‘Fertility Day’ campaign, aimed at tackling Italy’s low birth rate. Under the accusation of delivering sexist and racist messages, the campaign became a trending topic on Twitter, and a protest was launched to be held during Fertility Day. By applying a combination of digital methods and visual content analysis to the #fertilityday Twitter stream, this paper contributes to existing research on the deliberative strength of political hashtag publics, with a particular focus on their power structures, communication patterns and visual content use. Findings on gatekeeping dynamics downsize optimistic views on the democratising potential of Twitter’s socio-technical infrastructure as they point to the emergence of online satirical media and ‘tweetstars’ – along with mainstream news media– as main producers of spreadable content, with ordinary users only surfacing when traditional media elites and new satirical actors lack or lose interest in the debate. Results confirm that political hashtag publics follow acute event communication patterns, with users highly engaged in retweeting and referencing external material and visual content playing a key role in these gatewatching practices. The transient counter-visuality – or critical stance – of tweets with user-manipulated images, however, also suggests that the deliberative potential of these publics is not easily sustainable over time

Hennessy-Milner Logic with Greatest Fixed Points as a Complete Behavioural Specification Theory

There are two fundamentally different approaches to specifying and verifying properties of systems. The logical approach makes use of specifications given as formulae of temporal or modal logics and relies on efficient model checking algorithms; the behavioural approach exploits various equivalence or refinement checking methods, provided the specifications are given in the same formalism as implementations. In this paper we provide translations between the logical formalism of Hennessy-Milner logic with greatest fixed points and the behavioural formalism of disjunctive modal transition systems. We also introduce a new operation of quotient for the above equivalent formalisms, which is adjoint to structural composition and allows synthesis of missing specifications from partial implementations. This is a substantial generalisation of the quotient for deterministic modal transition systems defined in earlier papers

Echo Delay and Overlap with Emitted Orientation Sounds and Doppler-shift Compensation in the Bat, Rhinolophus ferrumequinum

The compensation of Doppler-shifts by the bat, Rhinolophusferrumequinum, functions only when certain temporal relations between the echo and the emitted orientation sound are given. Three echo configurations were used: a) Original orientation sounds were electronically Doppler-shifted and played back either cut at the beginning (variable delay) or at the end (variable duration) of the echo. b) Artificial constant frequency echoes with variable delay or duration were clamped to the frequency of the emitted orientation sound at different Doppler-shifts. c) The echoes were only partially Doppler-shifted and the Doppler-shifted component began after variable delays or had variable durations. With increasing delay or decreasing duration of the Doppler-shifted echo the compensation amplitude for a sinusoidally modulated + 3 kHz Dopplershift (modulation rate 0.08 Hz) decreases for all stimulus configurations (Figs. 1, 2, 3). The range of the Doppler-shift compensation system is therefore limited by the delay due to acoustic travel time to about 4 m distance between bat and target. In this range the overlap duration of the echo with the emitted orientation sound is always sufficiently long, when compared with data on the orientation pulse length during target approach from Schnitzler (1968) (Fig. 5)

Soybean seed protein, oil, fatty acids, and mineral composition as influenced by soybean-corn rotation

Effects of crop rotation on soybean (Glycine max (L) Merr.) seed composition have not been well investigated. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the effects of soybean-corn (Zea mays L.) rotations on seed protein, oil, and fatty acids composition on soybean. Soybeans were grown at Stoneville, MS, from 2005 to 2008 in five different scheduled cropping sequences. In 2007, following three years of rotation with corn, seed oleic acid percentage was significantly higher in any crop rotation than continuous soybean. The increase of oleic fatty acid ranged from 61 to 68% in 2007, and from 27 to 51% in 2008, depending on the rotation. The increase of oleic acid was accompanied by significant increases in seed concentrations of phosphorus (P), iron (Fe), and boron (B). In 2007, the increase of P ranged from 60 to 75%, Fe from 70 to 72%, and B from 34 to 69%. In 2008, the increase of P ranged from 82 to 106%, Fe from 32 to 84%, and B from 62 to 77%. Continuous soybean had higher linoleic:oleic ratio and linoleic: palmitic + stearic + oleic ratio, indicating that relative quantity of linoleic acid decreased in rotated crops. The total production of protein, oil, stearic and oleic fatty acids was the lowest in continuous soybean. The total production of palmitic acid was inconsistent across years. The results show that soybean- corn rotation affects seed composition by consistently increasing seed oleic fatty acid, P, Fe, and B concentrations. Higher oleic acid, unsaturated fatty acid, is desirable for oil stability and long-shelf storage. The mechanisms of how these nutrients are involved are not yet understood

High Velocity Cloud Complex H: A Satellite of the Milky Way in a Retrograde Orbit?

Observations with the Green Bank Telescope of 21cm HI emission from the high-velocity cloud Complex H suggest that it is interacting with the Milky Way. A model in which the cloud is a satellite of the Galaxy in an inclined, retrograde circular orbit reproduces both the cloud's average velocity and its velocity gradient with latitude. The model places Complex H at approximately 33 kpc from the Galactic Center on a retrograde orbit inclined about 45 degrees to the Galactic plane. At this location it has an HI mass > 6 10^6 Msun and dimensions of at least 10 by 5 kpc. Some of the diffuse HI associated with the cloud has apparently been decelerated by interaction with Galactic gas. Complex H has similarities to the dwarf irregular galaxy Leo A and to some compact high-velocity clouds, and has an internal structure nearly identical to parts of the Magellanic Stream, with a pressure P/k about 100 cm^{-3} K.Comment: 12 pages includes 4 figures. To be published in Astrophysical Journal Letters, 1 July 200

Measurements of O3</sub>, NO₂ and BrO at the Kaashidhoo Climate Observatory (KCO) during the INDOEX (INDian Ocean EXperiment) Campaign using ground based DOAS (Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy) and satellite based GOME (Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment) data

International audienceThe INDian Ocean EXperiment (INDOEX) was an international, multi-platform field campaign to measure long-range transport of air masses from South and South-East-(SE) Asia towards the Indian Ocean. During the dry monsoon season between January and March 1999, local measurements were carried out from ground based platforms and were compared with satellite based data. The objective of this study was to characterise stratospheric and tropospheric trace gas amounts in the equatorial region, and to investigate the impact of air pollution at this remote site. For the characterisation of the chemical composition of the outflow from the S-SE-Asian region, we performed ground based dual-axis-DOAS (Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy) measurements at the KCO (Kaashidhoo Climate Observatory) in the Maldives (5.0° N, 73.5° E). The ground based dual-axis-DOAS measurements were conducted using two different observation modes (off-axis and zenith-sky). This technique allows the separation of the tropospheric and stratospheric columns for different trace gases like O3 and NO2. These dual-axis DOAS data were compared with O3-sonde measurements performed at KCO and satellite based GOME (Global Ozone Measuring Experiment) data during the intensive measuring phase of the INDOEX campaign in February and March 1999. From GOME observations, tropospheric and stratospheric columns for O3 and NO2 were retrieved. In addition, the analysis of the O3-sonde measurements allowed the determination of the tropospheric O3 amount. The comparison shows that the results of all three measurement systems agree within their error limits. During the INDOEX campaign, background conditions were observed most of the time, but in a single case an increase of tropospheric NO2 during a short pollution event was observed and the impact on the vertical columns was calculated. In the GOME measurements, evidence was found for large tropospheric contributions to the BrO budget, probably located in the free troposphere and present throughout the year. The latter has been investigated by the comparison of satellite pixels influenced by high and low cloud conditions based on GOME data which allows the determination of the detection limit of tropospheric BrO columns