246,116 research outputs found

    Null Subjects in Northeast English

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    This paper presents data and analysis relating to null subjects in spoken colloquial English. While English is not a „pro-drop? language (i.e. subjects must usually be overt), a corpus of speech collected on Tyneside and Wearside in 2007 shows that null subjects are permitted in finite clauses in certain contexts. This paper analyses these examples and follow-up questionnaires, and compares the data with the other types of null subject described in the literature (pro-drop, topic-drop, early null subjects, aphasics? null subjects and „diary-drop?), ultimately concluding that the colloquial English phenomenon is most closely related to diary- drop

    Publication Bias Against Null Results

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    Studies suggest a bias against the publication of null (p > .05) results. Instead of significance, we advocate reporting effect sizes and confidence intervals, and using replication studies. If statistical tests are used, power tests should accompany them.publication, bias, null results

    The appearance, motion, and disappearance of three-dimensional magnetic null points

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    N.A.M. acknowledges support from NASA grants NNX11AB61G, NNX12AB25G, and NNX15AF43G; NASA contract NNM07AB07C; and NSF SHINE grants AGS-1156076 and AGS-1358342 to SAO. C.E.P. acknowledges support from the St Andrews 2013 STFC Consolidated grant.While theoretical models and simulations of magnetic reconnection often assume symmetry such that the magnetic null point when present is co-located with a flow stagnation point, the introduction of asymmetry typically leads to non-ideal flows across the null point. To understand this behavior, we present exact expressions for the motion of three-dimensional linear null points. The most general expression shows that linear null points move in the direction along which the magnetic field and its time derivative are antiparallel. Null point motion in resistive magnetohydrodynamics results from advection by the bulk plasma flow and resistive diffusion of the magnetic field, which allows non-ideal flows across topological boundaries. Null point motion is described intrinsically by parameters evaluated locally; however, global dynamics help set the local conditions at the null point. During a bifurcation of a degenerate null point into a null-null pair or the reverse, the instantaneous velocity of separation or convergence of the null-null pair will typically be infinite along the null space of the Jacobian matrix of the magnetic field, but with finite components in the directions orthogonal to the null space. Not all bifurcating null-null pairs are connected by a separator. Furthermore, except under special circumstances, there will not exist a straight line separator connecting a bifurcating null-null pair. The motion of separators cannot be described using solely local parameters because the identification of a particular field line as a separator may change as a result of non-ideal behavior elsewhere along the field line.Peer reviewe

    A local structure of null hypersurfaces of R1n+1\mathbb{R}_{1}^{n+1}

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    In the present paper, we characterize constant mean curvature and scalar curvature null hypersurfaces of R1n+1\mathbb{R}_{1}^{n+1}. Locally, such hypersurfaces are a product of a null curve and generalized cylinders

    Functional dependencies with null markers

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    Functional dependencies (FDs) are an integral part of database design. However, they are only defined when we exclude null markers. However, we commonly use null markers in practice. To bridge this gap between theory and practice, researchers have proposed definitions of FDs over relations with null markers. Though sound, these definitions lack some qualities that we find desirable. For example, some fail to satisfy Armstrong's axioms—while these axioms are part of the foundation of common database methodologies. We propose a set of properties that any extension of FDs over relations with null markers should possess. We then propose two new extensions having these properties. These extensions attempt to allow null markers where they make sense to practitioners. They both support Armstrong's axioms and provide realizable null markers: at any time, some or all of the null markers can be replaced by actual values without causing an anomaly. Our proposals may improve database designs

    Linear Operator Inequality and Null Controllability with Vanishing Energy for Unbounded Control Systems

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    We consider a linear boundary or point control system on a Hilbert space HH which is null controllable at some time T0>0T_0 >0. To every initial state y0H y_0 \in H we associate the minimal ``energy'' needed to transfer y0 y_0 to 0 0 in a time TT0 T \ge T_0 (``energy'' of a control being the square of its L2 L^2 norm). Clearly, it decreases with the control time T T . We shall prove that, under suitable spectral properties of the linear system operator, the minimal energy converges to 0 0 for $ T\to+\infty

    Interpreting null findings from trials of alcohol brief interventions

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    The effectiveness of alcohol brief intervention (ABI) has been established by a succession of meta-analyses but, because the effects of ABI are small, null findings from randomized controlled trials are often reported and can sometimes lead to skepticism regarding the benefits of ABI in routine practice. This article first explains why null findings are likely to occur under null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) due to the phenomenon known as ‘the dance of the p-values’. A number of misconceptions about null findings are then described, using as an example the way in which the results of the primary care arm of a recent cluster randomized trial of ABI in England (the SIPS project) have been misunderstood. These misinterpretations include the fallacy of ‘proving the null hypothesis’ that lack of a significant difference between the means of sample groups can be taken as evidence of no difference between their population means, and the possible effects of this and related misunderstandings of the SIPS findings are examined. The mistaken inference that reductions in alcohol consumption seen in control groups from baseline to follow-up are evidence of real effects of control group procedures is then discussed and other possible reasons for such reductions, including regression to the mean, research participation effects, historical trends, and assessment reactivity, are described. From the standpoint of scientific progress, the chief problem about null findings under the conventional NHST approach is that it is not possible to distinguish ‘evidence of absence’ from ‘absence of evidence’. By contrast, under a Bayesian approach, such a distinction is possible and it is explained how this approach could classify ABIs in particular settings or among particular populations as either truly ineffective or as of unknown effectiveness, thus accelerating progress in the field of ABI research

    Estimation in threshold autoregressive models with a stationary and a unit root regime

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    This paper treats estimation in a class of new nonlinear threshold autoregressive models with both a stationary and a unit root regime. Existing literature on nonstationary threshold models have basically focused on models where the nonstationarity can be removed by differencing and/or where the threshold variable is stationary. This is not the case for the process we consider, and nonstandard estimation problems are the result. This paper proposes a parameter estimation method for such nonlinear threshold autoregressive models using the theory of null recurrent Markov chains. Under certain assumptions, we show that the ordinary least squares (OLS) estimators of the parameters involved are asymptotically consistent. Furthermore, it can be shown that the OLS estimator of the coefficient parameter involved in the stationary regime can still be asymptotically normal while the OLS estimator of the coefficient parameter involved in the nonstationary regime has a nonstandard asymptotic distribution. In the limit, the rate of convergence in the stationary regime is asymptotically proportional to n-1/4, whereas it is n-1 in the nonstationary regime. The proposed theory and estimation method are illustrated by both simulated data and a real data example.Autoregressive process; null-recurrent process; semiparametric model; threshold time series; unit root structure.

    Current sheet formation and nonideal behavior at three-dimensional magnetic null points

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    The nature of the evolution of the magnetic field, and of current sheet formation, at three-dimensional (3D) magnetic null points is investigated. A kinematic example is presented that demonstrates that for certain evolutions of a 3D null (specifically those for which the ratios of the null point eigenvalues are time-dependent), there is no possible choice of boundary conditions that renders the evolution of the field at the null ideal. Resistive magnetohydrodynamics simulations are described that demonstrate that such evolutions are generic. A 3D null is subjected to boundary driving by shearing motions, and it is shown that a current sheet localized at the null is formed. The qualitative and quantitative properties of the current sheet are discussed. Accompanying the sheet development is the growth of a localized parallel electric field, one of the signatures of magnetic reconnection. Finally, the relevance of the results to a recent theory of turbulent reconnection is discussed

    Null quaternionic Bertrand curves in Minkowski space R₁⁴

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    In this study, we defined null quaternionic Bertrand curves in R₁⁴. The only Bertrand null quaternionic curves in R₁⁴ are null quaternionic helices with (p-τ)=0
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