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Entrepreneurial imagination is core to the entrepreneurial process but hard to study in the present. Methodologically, historians have the advantage of reconstructing entrepreneurs' future thinking in their time. However, traditional historical methodology offers only limited tools to analyse and interpret uncertainty in historical future-oriented sources. In this paper, we suggest that Construal Level Theory (CLT), a theory in social-cognitive psychology, represents a complementary resource to deal with uncertainty and analyse the role of entrepreneurial imagination in evaluating and selecting business opportunities. We elaborate on four manifestations of abstraction suggested by CLT: desirability vs. feasibility, primary vs. secondary aspects, words vs. pictorial representations, and small vs. large categories. We further explain how insights from CLT can raise important questions for source analysis and facilitate comparisons, and then demonstrate it by investigating Thomas Edison's ego-documents. We conclude by sketching a future interdisciplinary dialogue with entrepreneurship scholars and psychologists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the results of the morphological characteristics of Dahlia leaves (leaves area, the perimeter, the length of the leaves, width of leaf), physiological processes (photosynthesis, respiration and transpiration) and chlorophyll content determined at 5 Dahlia cultivars 'Topmix Red', 'Hy Pimento', 'Babylon Red', 'Marble Ball' and 'Thomas Edison'. The average leaf area has varied from 5.35 cm² ('Topmix Red') to 68.41 cm2 ('Babylon Red'). As for the perimeter, 'Babylon Red' had the highest value (67.49 cm) and 'Topmix Red' had the lowest value (9.72 cm). The length of the leaves was between 14.19 cm for 'Babylon Red' and 4.43 cm for 'Topmix Red'. The width of the leaves was between 10,18 cm for 'Babylon Red' variant and 2.26 cm for 'Topmix Red'.The intensity of photosynthesis varied between 12.85 μmol CO2 m-2s-1 for 'Babylon Red' and 15.24 μmol CO2 m-2s-1 for 'Topmix Red', intensity of transpiration 4.69 mmol H2O m-2s-1 for 'Hy Pimento' and 6.17 mmol H2O m-2s-1 for 'Thomas Edison', intensity respiration 7.46 μmol CO2 m-2s-1 for 'Hy Pimento' and 13.43 μmol CO2 m-2s-1 to 'Marble Ball'. The total chlorophyll content was higher in the case of 'Marble Ball', at a value of 163.90 mg/100g, and the smallest quantity was recorded for the 'Babylon Red' at the value of 102.15 mg/100g. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the technical, economic, and environmental feasibility of photovoltaic (PV)/wind turbines (WT)/diesel generator (DG)/battery‐based hybrid renewable energy systems (HRES) using lead acid (LA), lithium‐ion (LI), and iron Edison nickel‐iron (IE) battery technologies (BTs). The energy cost is optimized, and the obtained results are compared to select the best hybrid system. The LI battery employed in the PV/DG/battery system (206.43 kW PV, 50 kW DG, 53.04 kWh LI batteries, and 61.1 kW converter) performed comparatively much better, as levelized cost of energy (LCOE) was reduced by around 28% and 20%, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were reduced by 31% and 6% as compared to the LA and IE batteries employed in HRES, respectively. In addition, sensitivity analysis reveals that the capital cost of PV and the discount rate are more critical to determining the LCOE and renewable penetration. In contrast, the effect of the battery cost and inflation rate is relatively small. Finally, comparing the optimal resource configuration has confirmed that PV/DG/LI has significantly reduced LCOE (58% less than DG/LI) and GHG emissions (87% less than DG/LI). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Before radiology and arthroscopy, an arthrotomy had to be made for a definitive diagnosis and treat intraarticular pathology. Before arthroscopy, endoscopy was performed on other organs, and particularly the bladder. This paper aimed to investigate the transition of the cystoscope to the arthroscope, and all the bright innovations about light and optics that finally allow arthroscopy. Methods: Physicians have always wanted to examine their patients' body cavities. Some cavities are quite accessible for diagnostic purposes, using specula and light, while others are difficult to inspect. The female bladder was the first organ to be examined using an endoscope with some light by Philipp Bozzini in 1806. We report the important innovations and inventions done by surgeons but also by scientists in optic and electricity during two centuries before arriving to arthroscopy. Results: Whereas the urologists immediately embraced the idea of endoscopy, and adapted the rules of optic and the progress in electricity to allow bladder illumination and examination with cystoscopes, the orthopedic surgeons were reluctant. We focus on the early history of endoscopy and arthroscopy specifically. Our story ends in 1918 with Dr. Severin Nordentoft in Germany and Professor Kenji Takagi in Japan began with cystoscopes before designing the first arthroscopes for performing the first knee arthroscopies. Conclusion: We document some crucial figures on the thorny path, from cystoscopy to adopting the arthroscope as a useful orthopaedic tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a comparative case study of Nikola Tesla's use as a symbol in interwar Yugoslavia and the contemporary United States to build upon Anderson's theory of modular nationalism. The modularity of national symbols, I argue, is driven by their utility in addressing similar social, political and economic transformations in different countries and may be transmissible through emigrant communities—albeit not without some changes in substance. Just as Yugoslavia used Tesla to bridge ethnic divisions, Yugoslav emigrants deployed Tesla to enhance their status in the United States. The cult of Tesla, moreover, is doubly modular, with its Yugoslav incarnation drawing inspiration from the American cult of Thomas Edison, just as Edison's current obsolescence as a symbol led to the cult of Tesla's adoption in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel optimal method of a Dynamic Voltage Restorer (DVR) supported by solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and its simplified topological structure are proposed. DVR is a power-electronic converter-based device, and the objective of the DVR control system is to minimize supply voltage variations at the load terminals. This is attained by generating a compensating voltage at the series injection transformer. Conventional controllers are mathematical model-based; also, the particular system varies widely, and nonlinear factors make the PI controller tuning more challenging to some extent. As a result, an intelligent PI optimization control method is essential. This paper proposes Hybrid PSOGSA to search for optimal values of two PI control parameters for the d – q -axis components by considering a novel bi-objective function. The performance of the test system is analyzed for five test scenarios using the proposed PI controller with SPSO-optimized and Ziegler–Nichols tuning methods. DVR system provides an excellent control performance in the transient and steady states for compensating the sensitive load voltages with almost zero steady-state errors. Simulation results show that the proposed approach can provide improved performance than PSO-optimized and classical PI controllers for the power quality indices measured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visual adaptations of the Frankenstein myth highlight the role ocularcentrism and scopic power play. By engaging with the concept of the gaze, this paper analyzes remediations of Mary Shelley’s masterpiece and discusses how visual narratives frame potentially monstrous bodies in order to assimilate or question traditional privileged visions and their construction of otherness, as well as to (re) orient spectators towards recognition of or detachment from the onscreen monster. It will address particularly relevant examples: Edison’s Frankenstein, the YouTube series Frankenstein M.D., Whale’s and Branagh’s iconic remediations, as well as the less known Murders of the Rue Morgue and Frankenhooker. Ultimately, this work will vindicate the role of remediations as an arena within which contemporary imaginaries regarding otherness and who holds the visual and narrative power are either legitimized or challenged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plants of the Dahlia genus are particularly valued for their wide variety of shapes and colors both as cultivated plants and as cut flowers thus increasing the interest for the introduction in the culture of cultivars with great decorative value and great resistance as cut flowers. The work presents anatomical aspects, but also particularities regarding the life span of cut flowers in preservation solutions for the cultivars 'Topmix Red', 'Hy Pimento', 'Babylon Red', 'Marble Ball' and 'Thomas Edison'. The objective of this study was to analyze dahlia varieties both from the anatomical point of view and the preservation of cut flowers in vases using different preservation solutions to establish a correlation between the diameter of xylem vessels and cut flower life. The diameter of the xylem vessels does not seem to influence the life span of the cut flowers, regardless of the solution used in the conditions of this experiment. The Quick dip and eZDose conservation solution increased the lifespan of the varieties studied compared to the other conservation solutions used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We already know that Antonia Dickson co-wrote The Kinetograph, the Kinetoscope and the Kineto-phonograph (1895) with her inventor brother William Kennedy Laurie Dickson, published as a Raff and Gammon pamphlet and now considered the 'first' history of motion pictures. The late Paul Spehr was one of Antonia's champions, and he suggested what a more careful reading of the prose style of that 'history' might reveal about the likely author. Also, a comparison with W.K.L. Dickson's 1933 version of that history – published 30 years after Antonia's death and after he had moved to the UK – reveals distinct differences not only in prose style but also in the conceptualization of the invention. Here is a re-introduction to Antonia Dickson relative to her talents (music historian, art historian, pianist, poet, translator, popular science writer) and achievements (including co-authorship of a biography of Thomas Edison), the single-authored 'Nine Hundred and Fifty Miles by Telephone', in Cassier's Magazine (November 1892), written after she witnessed the first successful telephone call between New York and Chicago. Then, in 'Wonders of the Kinetoscope' from 1895 she published her own account of how moving pictures worked, significant for its grasp of how the device functioned. From there I offer another angle on the contradictory accounts of invention published in the newly illustrated engineering journals of the late nineteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When Thomas Edison handed over his 1877 invention of the phonograph—the new sound recording technology—to a group of investors to market across the U.S, the company lacked the proper expertise, manufacturing, and supply networks to do so. This article traces one company's struggle in dealing with the recurring malfunction of exhibition phonographs, which impacted how audiences came to view the innovation. In doing so, the article revisits the issue of technological determinism as parsed by scholars such as Bruno Latour, Robert Heilbroner, Thomas Hughes, Donald MacKenzie, and Judy Wajcman. Investigating under what circumstances one innovation enjoys more (or less) autonomy vis-à-vis social forces, the case study suggests that scholars should make more granular assessments of how technology and society impact each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese Edison pearls, invented and produced in China by the Zhejiang Grace Pearl Jewelry Co., Ltd, are usually large and round with variable but attractive colors. Edison pearls have entered the jewelry market in 2011. However, the fine microstructural characteristics of these pearls remain largely unknown, particularly the thickness of the nacre and the spatial distributions of organic pigment in the nacre. Herein, using X-ray microradiography analysis, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy, we comprehensively investigated the internal fine-microstructural characteristics of typical colored Edison pearls. Our results indicated that Edison pearls have a typical core–shell structure, in which the core is the nucellus and the shell is the nacre. Average nacre thicknesses varied from 1.00 to 3.60 mm among specimens. Surprisingly, theoretical calculations showed that nacre accounted for about 50–90% of the whole pearl by volume. In addition, multiple prismatic or irregular structures, almost entirely composed of aragonite, coexisted in the nacre of some Edison pearls; one of these structures was closely adjacent to the nucleus. Interestingly, the average thickness of individual aragonite tablets in the nacre gradually decreased from the inner nacre (near the nucleus) to the outer nacre (near the pearl surface). Finally, the intensity ratios of the two peaks in the Raman spectra (I1124–1134/I1085) were non-uniform across nacre regions, and generally increased with distance from the nucleus. This pattern was directly attributed to variations in pigment content among nacre regions. Our results substantially increase our understanding of nacre biomineralization and the gemological characteristics of colored Edison pearls. More importantly, this study identified certain characteristics that can be used to identify color-treated Edison pearls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dan Berglund's Letter to the Editor offers a practitioner's perspective on my research article comparing the role of industrial policies in Pittsburgh and Cleveland during the 1980s and afterward. Mr. Berglund worked for the State of Ohio's Department of Development and later for Ohio's Thomas Edison Program, one of the policies discussed in the article, during the 1990s. Mr. Berglund suggests that the article "argues that two policy initiatives instituted almost 40 years ago ... are the reason Pittsburgh is stronger economically than Cleveland in 2015" ([4]). Mr. Berglund appears to agree with one of these alternative hypotheses in his letter, which is that the steep decline of Pittsburgh's steel sector could have helped enable Pittsburgh's transformation. [Extracted from the article]

This research pursues bringing to light the modern landscape of administering audio-visual archives at the National Archives of Zimbabwe (NAZ) and getting it on the journey towards digital preservation. The Victorian era paved the way to analogue technological evolution in the audio-visual archiving fraternity. A technological breakthrough initiated by a Frenchman, Louis Daguerre, led to the invention of a photographic image on a silver-coated copper plate medium in 1839. Again, in 1927, the outstanding Thomas Alva Edison positively documented audio on a rotating tin foil cylinder carrier. The form of documented memories in many African archives is mostly in conventional formats. Nonetheless, in the contemporary past, NAZ combined audio-visual archives and television archives that were raised up by the United Kingdom, which was the colonial supremacy during the period of 1890 to 1979. The British administration established the Colonial Film Unit at the commencement of the Second World War, in 1939, as part of political creativity focused on colonies. The NAZ audio-visual unit was born in 1988 under the library section to assist the information desires of the establishment, through the creation, purchase, organisation, preservation, and dissemination of audio-visual archives. The researcher used a qualitative case study methodology with an interpretivist perspective where the main focus of the research was on the NAZ's Harare head office. Interviews, document analysis and observations were used as the major data collecting tools. The results showed that the institution houses audio-visual materials and is still struggling to preserve all the formats digitally. Lastly, the study recommends the adoption of digital preservation mechanisms to facilitate the proper care and access of these precious non-conventional records as declared by UNESCO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay builds on recent scholarship on romans d'anticipation and the popular press to read French Edisonades by Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam (L'Ève future, Contes cruels), Alphonse Allais ("La Vérité sur l'exposition de Chicago," "Supériorité de la vie américaine sur la nôtre," etc.), and Gustave Le Rouge and Gustave Guitton (La Conspiration des milliardaires) as marking a fundamental anxiety about France's slipping world-power status in the face of America's industrial and economic ascendancy. In these fin de siècle technological fictions, the American inventor emerges as an ambivalent figure hovering between scientific genius and hucksterish humbuggery. The real-life rivalry between Thomas Alva Edison and Charles Cros over the 1878 invention of the phonograph led to satiric forms of resistance to the United States as a land of vulgar mercantile utilitarianism threatening to decenter Paris as the cultural capital of the nineteenth century. Although evolving drafts of Villiers's metaphysical novel seem to highlight the divine creative potential of "le 'Sorcier de Menlo Park,'" L'Ève future retains less idealistic references to Edison's commercial side as a Barnum-like businessman from America. Meanwhile, Le Rouge and Guitton's fantasy of French scientific triumph over American millionaires counters the troubling lure of technical wonder and speculative energy from the land of the almighty dollar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article was prompted by a plate published in the foundational text, Principles of Visual Anthropology, which purports to show a film being made by Thomas Edison of the Snake Dance as performed in the Hopi village of Orayvi, Arizona, in August 1898. This footage is now lost but could still have been one of the first ethnographic films ever made—depending on how one defines "ethnographic." Here, contesting its attribution to Edison, we seek to reconstruct the content of this footage, drawing on the extensive photographic record made at the event, along with textual accounts by eyewitnesses and contemporary newspaper reports of subsequent screenings of the film material. We conclude by discussing the ethnographic status of the film footage, which also included sequences of a Navajo "tournament," shot in the course of the filmmakers' return journey, which foreshadows the tropes of the travelog and the Western movie. We hope that, if this material still exists, by correctly identifying the filmmakers and by describing the content of the footage, this article will help in locating it, particularly given the recent great improvements in the cataloging of and access to early film archives made possible by digital technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]