912 research outputs found
Beyond scattering and absorption: Perceptual un-mixing of translucent liquids
Is perception of translucence based on estimations of scattering and absorption of light or on statistical pseudocues associated with familiar materials? We compared perceptual performance with real and computer-generated stimuli. Real stimuli were glasses of milky tea. Milk predominantly scatters light and tea absorbs it, but since the tea absorbs less as the milk concentration increases, the effects of milkiness and strength on scattering and absorption are not independent. Conversely, computer-generated stimuli were glasses of âmilky teaâ in which absorption and scattering were independently manipulated. Observers judged tea concentrations regardless of milk concentrations, or vice versa. Maximum-likelihood conjoint measurement was used to estimate the contributions of each physical componentâconcentrations of milk and tea, or amounts of scattering and absorptionâto perceived milkiness or tea strength. Separability of the two physical dimensions was better for real than for computer-generated teas, suggesting that interactions between scattering and absorption were correctly accounted for in perceptual unmixing, but unmixing was always imperfect. Since the real and rendered stimuli represent different physical processes and therefore differ in their image statistics, perceptual judgments with these stimuli allowed us to identify particular pseudocues (presumably learned with real stimuli) that explain judgments with both stimulus sets
The complications of âhiring a hubbyâ: gender relations and the commoditisation of home maintenance in New Zealand
This paper examines the commoditization of traditionally male domestic tasks through interviews with handymen who own franchises in the company âHire a Hubbyâ in New Zealand and homeowners who have paid for home repair tasks to be done. Discussions of the commoditization of traditionally female tasks in the home have revealed the emotional conflicts of paying others to care as well as the exploitative and degrading conditions that often arise when work takes place behind closed doors. By examining the working conditions and relationships involved when traditionally male tasks are paid for, this paper raises important questions about the valuing of reproductive labour and the production of gendered identities. The paper argues that while working conditions and rates of pay for âhubbiesâ are better than those for people undertaking commoditized forms of traditionally female domestic labour, the negotiation of this work is still complex and implicated in gendered relations and identities. Working on the home was described by interviewees as an expression of care for family and a performance of the ârightâ way to be a âKiwi blokeâ and a father. Paying others to do this labour can imply a failure in a duty of care and in the performance of masculinity
Molecular dynamics study of melting of a bcc metal-vanadium II : thermodynamic melting
We present molecular dynamics simulations of the thermodynamic melting
transition of a bcc metal, vanadium using the Finnis-Sinclair potential. We
studied the structural, transport and energetic properties of slabs made of 27
atomic layers with a free surface. We investigated premelting phenomena at the
low-index surfaces of vanadium; V(111), V(001), and V(011), finding that as the
temperature increases, the V(111) surface disorders first, then the V(100)
surface, while the V(110) surface remains stable up to the melting temperature.
Also, as the temperature increases, the disorder spreads from the surface layer
into the bulk, establishing a thin quasiliquid film in the surface region. We
conclude that the hierarchy of premelting phenomena is inversely proportional
to the surface atomic density, being most pronounced for the V(111) surface
which has the lowest surface density
Women, anger, and aggression an interpretative phenomenological analysis
This study reports a qualitative phenomenological investigation of anger and anger-related aggression in the context of the lives of individual women. Semistructured interviews with five women are analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. This inductive approach aims to capture the richness and complexity of the lived experience of emotional life. In particular, it draws attention to the context-dependent and relational dimension of angry feelings and aggressive behavior. Three analytic themes are presented here: the subjective experience of anger, which includes the perceptual confusion and bodily change felt by the women when angry, crying, and the presence of multiple emotions; the forms and contexts of aggression, paying particular attention to the range of aggressive strategies used; and anger as moral judgment, in particular perceptions of injustice and unfairness. The authors conclude by examining the analytic observations in light of phenomenological thinking
Parallelization of General Linkage Analysis Problems
We describe a parallel implementation of a genetic linkage analysis program that achieves good speedups, even for analyses on a single pedigree and with a single starting recombination fraction vector. Our parallel implementation has been run on three different platforms: an Ethernet network of workstations, a higher-bandwidth. Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) network of workstations, and a shared-memory multiprocessor. The same program, written in a shared memory programming style, is used on all platforms. On the workstation networks, the hardware does not provide shared memory, so the program executes on a distributed shared memory system that implements shared memory in software. These three platforms represent different points on the price/performance scale. Ethernet networks are cheap and omnipresent. ATM networks are an emerging technology that others higher bandwidth, and shared-memory multiprocessors offer the best performance because communication is implemented entirely by hardware. On 8 processors and for the longer runs, we achieve speedups between 3.5 and 5 on the Ethernet network and between 4.8 and 6 on the ATM network. On the shared-memory multiprocessor, we achieve speedups in the 5.5 to 6.5 range for all runs
Complex Kerr Geometry and Nonstationary Kerr Solutions
In the frame of the Kerr-Schild approach, we consider the complex structure
of Kerr geometry which is determined by a complex world line of a complex
source. The real Kerr geometry is represented as a real slice of this complex
structure. The Kerr geometry is generalized to the nonstationary case when the
current geometry is determined by a retarded time and is defined by a
retarded-time construction via a given complex world line of source. A general
exact solution corresponding to arbitrary motion of a spinning source is
obtained. The acceleration of the source is accompanied by a lightlike
radiation along the principal null congruence. It generalizes to the rotating
case the known Kinnersley class of "photon rocket" solutions.Comment: v.3, revtex, 16 pages, one eps-figure, final version (to appear in
PRD), added the relation to twistors and algorithm of numerical computations,
English is correcte
Spin dynamics simulations of the magnetic dynamics of RbMnF and direct comparison with experiment
Spin-dynamics techniques have been used to perform large-scale simulations of
the dynamic behavior of the classical Heisenberg antiferromagnet in simple
cubic lattices with linear sizes . This system is widely recognized
as an appropriate model for the magnetic properties of RbMnF.
Time-evolutions of spin configurations were determined numerically from coupled
equations of motion for individual spins using a new algorithm implemented by
Krech {\it etal}, which is based on fourth-order Suzuki-Trotter decompositions
of exponential operators. The dynamic structure factor was calculated from the
space- and time-displaced spin-spin correlation function. The crossover from
hydrodynamic to critical behavior of the dispersion curve and spin-wave
half-width was studied as the temperature was increased towards the critical
temperature. The dynamic critical exponent was estimated to be , which is slightly lower than the dynamic scaling prediction, but in
good agreement with a recent experimental value. Direct, quantitative
comparisons of both the dispersion curve and the lineshapes obtained from our
simulations with very recent experimental results for RbMnF are presented.Comment: 30 pages, RevTex, 9 figures, to appear in PR
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