The generation of valley current is a fundamental goal in graphene valleytronics but no practical ways of its realization are known yet. We propose a workable scheme for the generation of bulk valley current in a graphene mechanical resonator through adiabatic cyclic deformations of the strains and a chemical potential in the suspended region. The accompanied strain gauge fields can break the s...

A Rift Valley fever (RVF) epidemic affecting animals on domestic livestock farms was reported in South Africa during January-August 2010. The first cases occurred after heavy rainfall, and the virus subsequently spread countrywide. To determine the possible effect of environmental conditions and vaccination on RVF virus transmissibility, we estimated the effective reproduction number (Re) for t...

Formation of the s-channel slepton resonances at LEP2 or Tevatron at current energies is an exciting possibility in R-parity violating SUSY models. Existing LEP2 and Tevatron data can be exploited to look for sleptons, or to derive bounds on the Yukawa couplings of sleptons to quark and lepton pairs. Invited talk at the 12th Les Rencontres de Physique de la Vallée d’Aoste, La Thuile, Aosta Vall...

Here the “Uncanny Valley”, where falling just short of perfection in creating synthetic humans exacts a large negative reaction, is explored with talking head animations focusing on naturalness in speech, face model and face motion. We discuss possible techniques to manipulate naturalness for each of these aspects. Outcomes of this method will provide insights for the choice of the degree of re...

With technology allowing for increased realism in video games, realistic, human-like characters risk falling into the Uncanny Valley. The Uncanny Valley phenomenon implies that virtual characters approaching full human-likeness will evoke a negative reaction from the viewer, due to aspects of the character’s appearance and behavior differing from the human norm. This study investigates if “unca...

A fundamental question about the surface of Mars is whether it was ever conducive to life in the past, which is related to the broader questions of how the planet’s atmosphere evolved over time and whether past climates supported widespread liquid water. Taken together, geochemical data and models support the view that much of the original atmospheric inventory was lost to space before about 3....

Dismemberment of the preglacial Teays Valley system and development of the present Ohio River valley began in late Tertiary or early Pleistocene. By Illinoian time the present Ohio River was largely established in its present course, except for its headwaters above mile 114, which still flowed northward. The Illinoian glacial advance into northwestern Pennsylvania caused diversion of this porti...

The Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia has been collaborating with Utah Valley University creating “online videoconferences” held in both universities This project was intended to promote autonomous learning and to improve videoconference’ structure, helping students with their foreign language competences. Every participant must assess their own Teaching Perspective and Learning Sty...