Perceptually smooth timbral guides by state-space analysis of phase-vocoder parameters

Sculptor is a phase-vocoder-based package of programs that allows users to explore timbral manipulation of sound in real time. It is the product of a research program seeking ultimately to perform gestural capture by analysis of the sound a performer makes using a conventional instrument. Since the phase-vocoder output is of high dimensionality — typically more than 1,000 channels per analysis frame—mapping phase-vocoder output to appropriate input parameters for a synthesizer is only feasible in theory

Solution of an infection model near threshold

We study the Susceptible-Infected-Recovered model of epidemics in the vicinity of the threshold infectivity. We derive the distribution of total outbreak size in the limit of large population size $N$. This is accomplished by mapping the problem to the first passage time of a random walker subject to a drift that increases linearly with time. We recover the scaling results of Ben-Naim and Krapivsky that the effective maximal size of the outbreak scales as $N^{2/3}$, with the average scaling as $N^{1/3}$, with an explicit form for the scaling function

Traditional Versus Internet Instruction

This study compares student learning outcomes for traditional and Internet classroom contexts for the same course, same instructor. Interpretation of quantitative measures (quiz scores, assignments and overall final point total) suggested no overall difference between course contexts. The evaluation of student papers using qualitative criteria (i.e. critical reasoning and critical reflection) were interpreted to suggest that on-line students evidenced a higher level of critical reflection than did the traditional students. However, it is noted that the majority of all students, traditional and on-line, were clustered at the “problem posing” end of the critical reflection process. Discussed are the critical reasoning criteria, and the implications of Internet instruction and student learning for the family sciences

Religion, place and space: a framework for investigating historical geographies of religious identities and communities

This is the author's post-print version. The definitive version is available at http://phg.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/30/1/28Despite a well-established interest in the relationship between space and identity, geographers still know little about how communal identities in specific places are built around a sense of religious belonging. This paper explores both the theoretical and practical terrain around which such an investigation can proceed. The paper makes space for the exploration of a specific set of religious groups and practices, which reflected the activities of Methodists in Cornwall during the period 1830-1930. The paper is concerned to move analysis beyond the `officially sacred' and to explore the everyday, informal, and often banal, practices of Methodists, thereby providing a blueprint for how work in the geography of religion may move forward

Strategic management and regional industrial strategy:cross-fertilization to mutual advantage

This study critically revisits extant perspectives and theories on strategic management (SM) and regional industrial strategy (RIS) and considers the scope for cross-fertilization to mutual advantage. Despite an extensive literature on value capture/creation and co-creation strategies in SM, few attempts have explored their relevance to building, and capturing value from, advantages at the regional level. Advocates of place-based approaches to RIS acknowledge the need for commercial potential, hence the need not only to create value but also to capture it in the region. The aim is to go further by exploring the relevance and scalability of SM value-capture strategies to RIS, and by showing how the focus of RIS on sustainability and value creation can benefit SM.</p

Place-Based Industrial and Regional Strategy – Levelling the Playing Field

Over the past decade there has been renewed interest in the role of industrial strategy in enhancing innovation, productivity, and competitiveness within and across firms, sectors and regions with an eye to fostering more balanced regional economic growth. This special issue explores how policymakers could adopt place-based industrial policy measures to foster regional catch up and a more balanced and cohesive regional growth. In doing so, the papers are a mix of contributions that develop theory, provide evidence and highlight ‘state of the art’ or good practice that can inform a level playing field fostering regional industrial strategy

Erupting Dwarf Novae in the Large Magellanic Cloud

We report the first likely detections of erupting Dwarf Novae (DN) in an external galaxy: the Large Magellanic Cloud. Six candidates were isolated from approximately a million stars observed every second night over 11 nights with the CTIO 8K x 8K Mosaic2 CCD imager. Artificial dwarf nova and completeness tests suggest that we are seeing only the brightest of the LMC DN, probably SS Cygni-like CVs, but possibly SU UMa-type cataclysmics undergoing superoutbursts. We derive crude but useful limits on the LMC DN surface density, and on the number of DN in the LMC. Many thousands of cataclysmic variables in the Magellanic Clouds can be discovered and characterized with 8 meter class telescopes.Comment: Accepted for publication in AJ, 28 pages, 9 figures total, Figures 1 and 8 are supplied separately in jpeg forma