Search Results (138)

The Changbai volcano, a globally recognized hotspot of volcanic activity, has garnered significant attention due to its persistent seismicity and ongoing magma activity. The volcano’s discontinuities and magma dynamics have raised concerns about the likelihood of future eruptions, which would likely result in substantial ecological, climatic, and economic impacts. Consequently, a comprehensive understanding of the Changbai volcanic system is essential for mitigating the risks associated with volcanic activity. In recent years, the P-wave coda autocorrelation method has gained popularity in lithosphere exploration as a reliable technique for detecting reflection coefficients. Additionally, the Common Reflection Point stacking approach has been employed to superimpose reflection signals in a spatial grid, enabling continuous observation of reflection coefficients in the study area. However, the accuracy of this approach is heavily reliant on better spatial data coverage. To better understand the internal dynamics of the Changbai volcano, we applied this approach to a densely packed short-period seismic array with an average station spacing of less than 1 km. Our results were constrained using waveform data of reflection coefficients and Moho dip angles. Our findings revealed a discontinuity in the Moho, which may indicate a conduit for mantle magma entering the crust. Furthermore, we identified two low-velocity anomalies within the crust, likely representing a magma chamber comprising molten and crystallized magma. Notably, our results also provided a clear definition of the lithosphere–asthenosphere boundary. Full article

This study investigates airborne bacterial and fungal communities in south-eastern Italy and Albania using advanced DNA-based techniques and compositional data analysis (CoDa). We assess the significance of airborne microbial communities, detailing our methodologies for site selection, sample collection, DNA extraction, and data analysis. Our results reveal distinct differences in microbial composition between the two regions, driven by local environmental factors. Specifically, Albanian samples showed higher abundances of bacterial species such as Rubellimicrobium roseum and Sphingomonas cynarae, while Italian samples were characterized by a prevalence of Truepera radiovictrix and Rubrobacter radiotolerans. In terms of fungi, Albanian sites exhibited greater abundance of Mycosphaerella tassiana, Aureobasidium pullulans, and Ascochyta herbicola. Aitchison distance-based dendrograms and principal component analysis (PCA) biplots, utilizing singular value decomposition, clearly delineated a geographical separation of microbial communities, underscoring the impact of regional atmospheric conditions on microbial composition. In the discussion, we interpret these findings in the context of regional environmental factors, highlighting their implications for understanding regional differences in airborne microbial communities. The conclusion emphasizes the effectiveness of advanced DNA techniques and CoDa in environmental microbiology, offering insights into how local environmental conditions shape microbial communities and suggesting directions for future research and public health considerations. Full article

Second language speech perception and production remain an enduring concern in second language acquisition, as research evidence seems to suggest that there is not a straightforward correspondence between these two speech domains and that their interrelationship seems to be of a complex nature. The present proposal intends to contribute to the inspection of such a relationship by observing the development of perception and production skills of English codas longitudinally in a group of secondary school learners in Spain involved in a content and language integrated learning (CLIL) program, which increases exposure and production opportunities. Results point to a slight overall improvement of both sound perception and production skills during a two-year period, the coda sounds exhibiting variable realizations. Many coda sounds were found to be identified and produced at near/ceiling levels while other codas remained at less successful identification and production levels even after two years of CLIL exposure. The correlation analyses performed indicated that the two dimensions tended to correlate when the development for each coda sound was inspected. No correlations were found when students’ individual overall performance in each dimension were examined, attesting individual differences. Full article

The occurrence and abundance of Astrospartus mediterraneus (Risso, 1826) have significantly increased in the last three decades in several areas of the Mediterranean Sea. In the Tavolara–Punta Coda Cavallo Marine Protected Area (NE Sardinia, Tyrrhenian Sea, Mediterranean Sea), 60 specimens were observed mainly on the granitic shoals of the Tavolara Channel, an area characterized by very intense currents and high sedimentation. The basket stars were mainly found living as epibionts of gorgonians (Eunicella verrucosa, Paramuricea clavata and Leptogorgia sarmentosa) and massive sponges (Spongia officinalis, S. lamella, Sarcotragus foetidus). We also documented 21 small specimens (3–20 mm in diameter of the oral disc) observed in June 2024 between 27 and 52 m depth on E. verrucosa and P. clavata colonies. The bimodal size-frequency distribution of these specimens suggested that, probably, specimens belong to two different reproductive events occurring in spring 2023 and 2024. Full article

The rebranding of reggaetón towards Latin urban has been criticized for tokenizing Afro-Caribbean linguistic and cultural practices as symbolic resources recruitable by non-Caribbean artists/executives in the interest of profit. Consumers are particularly critical of an audible phonological homogeneity in the performances of ethnonationally distinct mainstream performers, framed as a form of linguistic minstrelsy popularly termed a ‘Caribbean Blaccent’ that facilitates capitalization on the genre’s popularity by tapping into the covert prestige of distinctive phonological elements of Insular Caribbean Spanish otherwise stigmatized. This work pairs acoustic analysis with quantitative statistical modeling to compare the use of lenited coronal sibilant allophones popularly considered indexical of Hispano-Caribbean origins in the spoken and sung speech of four of the genre’s top-charting female performers. A general pattern of style-shifting from interview to sung speech wherein sibilance is favored in the former and phonetic zeros in the latter is revealed. Moreover, a statistically significant increased incidence of [-] across time shows the most recent records to uniformly deploy near-categorical reduction independent of artists’ sociocultural and linguistic backgrounds. The results support the enregisterment of practices popularized by the genre’s San Juan-based pioneers as a stylistic resource—a reggaetón voice—for engaging the images of vernacularity sustaining and driving the contemporary, mainstream popularity of música urbana. Full article

This study compares the analysis of the financial statements of the brewing sector in Italy and Spain due to its growth in both Mediterranean countries and its relationship with other sectors of activity of great importance in these countries. The web transparency of the sustainability indicators of the brewing sector in both countries is also analyzed, following the new regulatory framework, EU Directive 2022/2426, on sustainability information, in order to analyze, in an integrated way, the financial and sustainability information which they report for a sustainable development of the sector, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals and the European Green Deal. The methodology used involved compositional data, which are reliable at an accounting and statistical level; such data allow us to value the financial health of the sector and its relationship with the web exploration of the communication of its environmental, social, and corporate governance indicators. The results indicate a solvency of the sector in the short term, with poor margins, especially in the pandemic, which recovered in 2021 due to the sector’s resilience. On the other hand, there is a clear need to study the costs and margins of the sector in depth to improve the quality of the beers and to project the sector. The web analysis reveals acceptable transparency at the environmental level and poor transparency at the social and corporate governance level, with differences between the two countries and the population under study. Full article

Traditional models of opinion dynamics provide a simplified approach to understanding human behavior in basic social scenarios. However, when it comes to issues such as polarization and extremism, a more nuanced understanding of human biases and cognitive tendencies are required. This paper proposes an approach to modeling opinion dynamics by integrating mental models and assumptions of individuals agents using Bayesian-inspired methods. By exploring the relationship between human rationality and Bayesian theory, this paper demonstrates the usefulness of these methods in describing how opinions evolve. The analysis here builds upon the basic idea in the Continuous Opinions and Discrete Actions (CODA) model, by applying Bayesian-inspired rules to account for key human behaviors such as confirmation bias, motivated reasoning, and human reluctance to change opinions. Through this, This paper updates rules that are compatible with known human biases. The current work sheds light on the role of human biases in shaping opinion dynamics. I hope that by making the model more realistic this might lead to more accurate predictions of real-world scenarios. Full article

In Brazilian Veneto (a heritage variety of Veneto spoken in several areas of Brazil), a stem alternation targets the plurals of masculine nominals ending in a consonant. While nominals with a word-final rhotic or nasal are pluralized by adding the masculine plural suffix $/-\mathrm{i}/ ([\mathrm{b}\mathrm{i}\text{'}\stackrel{{\displaystyle ̑}}{\mathrm{t}\int }\mathrm{e}\mathrm{r}]\to [\mathrm{b}\mathrm{i}\text{'}\stackrel{{\displaystyle ̑}}{\mathrm{t}\int }\mathrm{e}\mathrm{r}\mathrm{i}]$ ‘glass’), pluralization in nominals with a final lateral involves deletion of the consonant (e.g., $[\mathrm{n}\mathrm{i}\text{'}\mathrm{s}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{l}]\to [\mathrm{n}\mathrm{i}\text{'}\mathrm{s}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{i}]$ ‘bedsheet’). I argue that these differences stem from word-final laterals having a distinct representation from rhotics and nasals: while the latter are represented as codas, the former are represented as onsets of empty-headed syllables. Based on a corpus analysis, I show that (a) speakers’ productions of these plurals are stable, and (b) other patterns of pluralization (namely, in monosyllables and words with final stress on a CV syllable) are consistent with the proposal. In addition, the behaviour of laterals with respect to resyllabification, metaphony and intervocalic consonant deletion further suggest that laterals are represented as onsets word-finally. Full article

Recent work found a correspondence between consonant clustering probability in monosyllabic lexemes and the three vowel types, short and long monophthong and diphthong, in German dialects. Furthermore, that correspondence was found to be bound to a North–South divide. This paper explores the preferences in consonant clustering of particular vowels by analyzing the PhonD2-Corpus, a large database of phonotactic and morphological information. The clustering probability of the diphthongs is positively correlated with frequency while the other vowels showed particular preferences that are not positively correlated with frequency. However, all of them are determined by a threefold pattern: short monophthongs prefer coda clusters, diphthongs onset clusters and long monophthong are balanced. Furthermore, it was found that this threefold pattern seems to have evolved from an originally twofold pattern (short monophthong prefers coda clusters and long monophthong and diphthong prefer onset clusters) in Middle High and Low German. This result is then further considered under the aspect of the compensation of the syllable weight and moraicity. Furthermore, some interesting parallels with the syllable vs. word-language typology framework are noted. Full article

Ultrasonic velocity field imaging offers a robust tool for characterizing and analyzing damage and its evolution within fractured rock masses. The combined application of ultrasonic first arrival waves and coda waves can significantly enhance the accuracy and range of velocity field imaging. This manuscript introduces an improved imaging method that integrates the propagation probability distribution of the first arrival and coda waves to calculate the velocity field. The proposed method was applied to the velocity field imaging of a medium with multiple scatterers and varying degrees of fracturing. The overall error and calculation unit error of the proposed method were analyzed, and its improvement in calculation accuracy and applicable scope was verified. Additionally, this method was employed to image the velocity field during the damage process of fractured rock masses. The imaging results were compared against digital speckle patterns to confirm the method’s suitability. Finally, we discussed the impact of measurement errors and sensor missing on the accuracy of the computational outcomes presented in this method. These two situations will affect the calculation results, and the influence of reducing the number of sensors is smaller than that of measuring time shifts with error. Full article

Academics often comment that their teaching affects their research, but how this manifests is often implicit. In this essay, I explicitly explore the artistic, scholarly, and curatorial research instantiated by an undergraduate class titled “Transgender Studies meets Art History,” which I taught during the fall of 2022. Alongside personal anecdotes—both personal and connected to the class—and a critical reflection on my pedagogy, I discuss the artwork and public programming connected to a curatorial project, “Forever Becoming: Decolonization, Materiality, and Trans* Subjectivity, I organized at UrbanGlass, New York City in 2023. The first part of the article I examine how “trans” can be applied to thinking about syllabus construction and re-thinking canon formation for a class focused on transgender studies’ relationship to art history. In the second half, I theorize trans joy as a felt vibration between/across multiplicity and singularity, belonging and unbelonging, and world-making and world-unmaking. Overall, I consider trans as a lived experience and its utility as a conceptual tool. As a coda, I consider the precarity of teaching this course in the current political climate of the United States. Full article

As enterprises look forward to new market share and supply chain opportunities, innovative strategies and sustainable manufacturing play important roles for micro-, small, and mid-sized enterprises worldwide. Sustainable manufacturing is one of the practices aimed towards deploying green energy initiatives to ease climate change, presenting three main pillars—economic, social, and environmental. The issue of how to reach sustainability goals within the sustainable manufacturing of pillars is a less-researched area. This paper’s main purpose and novelty is two-fold. First, it aims to provide a hierarchy of the green energy indicators and their measurements through a multi-criteria decision-making point of view to implement them as an alliance strategy towards sustainable manufacturing. Moreover, we aim to provide researchers and practitioners with a forecasting method to re-prioritize green energy indicators through a linearity factor model. The CODAS–Hamming–Mahalanobis method is used to obtain preference scores and rankings from a 50-item list. The resulting top 10 list shows that enterprises defined nine items within the economic pillar as more important and one item on the environmental pillar; items from the social pillar were less important. The implication for MSMEs within the manufacturing sector represents an opportunity to work with decision makers to deploy specific initiatives towards sustainable manufacturing, focused on profit and welfare while taking care of natural resources. In addition, we propose a continuous predictive analysis method, the linearity factor model, as a tool for new enterprises to seek a green energy hierarchy according to their individual needs. The resulting hierarchy using the predictive analysis model presented changes in the items’ order, but it remained within the same two sustainable manufacturing pillars: economic and environmental. Full article

The well-known deletion of coda sibilants in Old French (11th–14th centuries) induced a compensatory lengthening effect on the preceding vowel, generally described as applying uniformly where coda /s/ was lost. This study highlights and analyzes phonological contexts where lengthening likely did not occur, examining their interaction with stress assignment, vowel quality, schwa adjustment, prothesis, and morphological structure. The Stratal OT analysis formalizes the proposed pattern differentiating the long and short vowel reflexes identified especially for mid vowels: while categorical in tonic syllables and low vowels /a, ɑ/ irrespective of stress, lengthening only prevails in atonic mid vowels when coda /s/ deletion impacts a syllable assigned stress within the specific stratal phonological cycle when /s/ is deleted from input. The resulting length is transmitted and preserved in subsequent stratal cycles regardless of eventual word-level stress reassignment, especially (but not exclusively) because of word-level schwa adjustment, allowing a shift to word-final stress and producing an opacity effect of a long atonic mid vowel inherited from an earlier cycle. The stratal account formalizes observed analogical effects between lexical items and derived forms with respect to vowel quality and length and proposes them to result instead from the interplay of morphology and phonology. Full article

Coda waves are highly sensitive to changes in medium properties and can serve as a tool for structural health monitoring (SHM). However, high sensitivity also makes them susceptible to noise, leading to excessive dispersion of monitoring results. In this paper, a coda wave multi-feature extraction method is proposed, in which three parameters, the time shift, the time stretch, and the amplitude variation of the wave trains within the time window, are totally derived. These three parameters are each mapped to the temperature variations of concrete beams, and then combined together with their optimal weight coefficients to give a best-fitted temperature–multi-parameter relationship that has the smallest errors. Coda wave signals were collected from an ultrasonic experiment on concrete beams within an environmental temperature range of 14 °C~21 °C to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results indicate that the combination of multi-features derived from coda wave signals to quantify the medium temperature is feasible. Compared to the relationship established by a single parameter, the goodness-of-fit is improved. During identification, the method effectively reduces the dispersion of identification errors and mitigates the impact of noise interference on structural state assessment. Both the identification accuracy and stability are improved by more than 50%, and the order of magnitude of the identification accuracy is improved from 1 °C to 0.1 °C. Full article

The Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) regression technique has proven to be a valuable tool for fitting and reducing linear models. The trend of applying LASSO to compositional data is growing, thereby expanding its applicability to diverse scientific domains. This paper aims to contribute to this evolving landscape by undertaking a comprehensive exploration of the $L^1$-norm for the penalty term of a LASSO regression in a compositional context. This implies first introducing a rigorous definition of the compositional $L^p$-norm, as the particular geometric structure of the compositional sample space needs to be taken into account. The focus is subsequently extended to a meticulous data-driven analysis of the dimension reduction effects on linear models, providing valuable insights into the interplay between penalty term norms and model performance. An analysis of a microbial dataset illustrates the proposed approach. Full article