Link-usage asymmetry and collective patterns emerging from rich-club organization of complex networks

In models of excitable dynamics on graphs, excitations can travel in both directions of an undirected link. However, as a striking interplay of dynamics and network topology, excitations often establish a directional preference. Some of these cases of “link-usage asymmetry” are local in nature and can be mechanistically understood, for instance, from the degree gradient of a link (i.e., the difference in node degrees at both ends of the link). Other contributions to the link-usage asymmetry are instead, as we show, self-organized in nature, and strictly nonlocal. This is the case for excitation waves, where the preferential propagation of excitations along a link depends on its orientation with respect to a hub acting as a source, even if the link in question is several steps away from the hub itself. Here, we identify and quantify the contribution of such self-organized patterns to link-usage asymmetry and show that they extend to ranges significantly longer than those ascribed to local patterns. We introduce a topological characterization, the hub-set-orientation prevalence of a link, which indicates its average orientation with respect to the hubs of a graph. Our numerical results show that the hub-set-orientation prevalence of a link strongly correlates with the preferential usage of the link in the direction of propagation away from the hub core of the graph. Our methodology is embedding-agnostic and allows for the measurement of wave signals and the sizes of the cores from which they originate.

ASSESSMENT OF GEOCENTRIC DATUM OF MALAYSIA 2000 (GDM2000)

Several major earthquakes that happened nearby Malaysia for the past decades resulted in a tectonic drift of the Sunda plate. Geocentric Datum of Malaysia 2000 (GDM2000) is affected and has shifted. This paper aims to assess the consistency of GDM2000 by computing datum shift caused by tectonic movement and reference frame effect. Daily solution coordinate of Malaysia Real-Time Kinematic Network (MyRTKnet) stations in the latest reference frame i.e ITRF2014 generated and a coordinate discrepancy between the current reference frame and publish coordinate provided by Jabatan Ukur dan Pemetaan Malaysia (JUPEM) are computed. The result shows that the datum has shifted with an average of 34.6 cm and moved with an average orientation of 111.1° toward the southeast direction. Therefore, this study will contribute to giving an overview of the current status of GDM2000.

Application of photochromic pigment in mass dyed polypropylene fibres intended for intelligent textiles

At the present time, characterised by worsening environmental conditions, the protection of human organism against irreversible damage is necessary. Protective clothing on base of smart textiles represents the future in human clothing. In this article, the effect of photochromic pigments on spinnability, drawability and properties of pigmented polypropylene (PP) fibres is presented. Mechanical properties (tenacity and elongation at break, Young’s modulus), thermo-mechanical properties and the factor of average orientation of fibres were evaluated and discussed. The obtained results indicate a possibility of fibres preparation with photochromic pigments.

Banque Centrale Et Politique Budgetaire : Une Évidence Empirique Pour La Zone CEMAC

The purpose of this article is to analyze how the degree of independence of the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) influences the level of budget deficit for the countries of the Economic and Monetary Community of Africa Centrale (CEMAC) over the period 1994-2016. To do this, we rely on the statutory and rotational indicators of central bank governors developed by the literature, as well as on the econometrics of panel data. The results of the estimates indicate a mixed relationship between degree of independence and level of budget deficit. This result can be interpreted as an absence of constraint on fiscal policy, or as the partial assumption of cyclical stabilization by the central bank even when it is independent. It can also be interpreted as an absence of obligation for the budgetary policy to take charge of the cyclical adjustment. These results nevertheless confirm that the average orientation of fiscal policy is determined more by the budget procedure itself than by the statutes and the government of BEAC.

Human noise blindness drives suboptimal cognitive inference

Humans typically make near-optimal sensorimotor judgments but show systematic biases when making more cognitive judgments. Here we test the hypothesis that, while humans are sensitive to the noise present during early sensory processing, the “optimality gap” arises because they are blind to noise introduced by later cognitive integration of variable or discordant pieces of information. In six psychophysical experiments, human observers judged the average orientation of an array of contrast gratings. We varied the stimulus contrast (encoding noise) and orientation variability (integration noise) of the array. Participants adapted near-optimally to changes in encoding noise, but, under increased integration noise, displayed a range of suboptimal behaviours: they ignored stimulus base rates, reported excessive confidence in their choices, and refrained from opting out of objectively difficult trials. These overconfident behaviours were captured by a Bayesian model which is blind to integration noise. Our study provides a computationally grounded explanation of suboptimal cognitive inferences.

Average orientation of a fluoroaromatic molecule in lipid bilayers from DFT-informed NMR measurements of 1H–19F dipolar couplings

An NMR approach is described for determining the orientational preference of bioactive fluoroaromatic molecules within lipid bilayers, by combining measurements of 19F chemical shift anisotropy with the detection of 1H–19F dipolar couplings.

Perceived Average Orientation Reflects Effective Gist of the Surface

The human ability to represent ensemble visual information, such as average orientation and size, has been suggested as the foundation of gist perception. To effectively summarize different groups of objects into the gist of a scene, observers should form ensembles separately for different groups, even when objects have similar visual features across groups. We hypothesized that the visual system utilizes perceptual groups characterized by spatial configuration and represents separate ensembles for different groups. Therefore, participants could not integrate ensembles of different perceptual groups on a task basis. We asked participants to determine the average orientation of visual elements comprising a surface with a contour situated inside. Although participants were asked to estimate the average orientation of all the elements, they ignored orientation signals embedded in the contour. This constraint may help the visual system to keep the visual features of occluding objects separate from those of the occluded objects.