2,331 research outputs found
Ensemble equivalence for distinguishable particles
Statistics of distinguishable particles has become relevant in systems of
colloidal particles and in the context of applications of statistical mechanics
to complex networks. When studying these type of systems with the standard
textbook formalism, non-physical results such as non-extensive entropies are
obtained. In this paper, we will show that the commonly used expression for the
partition function of a system of distinguishable particles leads to huge
fluctuations of the number of particles in the grand canonical ensemble and,
consequently, to non-equivalence of statistical ensembles. We will see how a
new proposed definition for the entropy of distinguishable particles by
Swendsen [J. Stat. Phys. 107, 1143 (2002)] solves the problem and restores
ensemble equivalence. We also show that the new proposal for the partition
function does not produce any inconsistency for a system of distinguishable
localized particles, where the monoparticular partition function is not
extensive
Robotic Ironing with 3D Perception and Force/Torque Feedback in Household Environments
As robotic systems become more popular in household environments, the
complexity of required tasks also increases. In this work we focus on a
domestic chore deemed dull by a majority of the population, the task of
ironing. The presented algorithm improves on the limited number of previous
works by joining 3D perception with force/torque sensing, with emphasis on
finding a practical solution with a feasible implementation in a domestic
setting. Our algorithm obtains a point cloud representation of the working
environment. From this point cloud, the garment is segmented and a custom
Wrinkleness Local Descriptor (WiLD) is computed to determine the location of
the present wrinkles. Using this descriptor, the most suitable ironing path is
computed and, based on it, the manipulation algorithm performs the
force-controlled ironing operation. Experiments have been performed with a
humanoid robot platform, proving that our algorithm is able to detect
successfully wrinkles present in garments and iteratively reduce the
wrinkleness using an unmodified iron.Comment: Accepted and to be published on the 2017 IEEE/RSJ International
Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2017) that will be held in
Vancouver, Canada, September 24-28, 201
Combining absolute and relative information in studies on food quality
A common problem in food science concerns the assessment of the quality of food samples. Typically, a group of panellists is trained exhaustively on how to identify different quality indicators in order to provide absolute information, in the form of scores, for each given food sample. Unfortunately, this training is expensive and time-consuming. For this very reason, it is quite common to search for additional information provided by untrained panellists. However, untrained panellists usually provide relative information, in the form of rankings, for the food samples. In this paper, we discuss how both scores and rankings can be combined in order to improve the quality of the assessment
A seat at the table: the Student Trustee at the University of Massachusetts system, 1969–present
The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the developing role of the Student Trustee. Utilizing a case study design and document analysis, this descriptive study examined the comments of 143 Student Trustees in Board meetings of the University of Massachusetts (UMass) System, the first in the nation to require Student Trustees, from 1970-–2015. The research questions sought to uncover the origins of the Student Trustee at the UMass System as well as how the role developed over time. The study concluded that Student Trustees provide a unique perspective that offers meaningful contributions to the discourse and decision-making processes of university Boards.
The legislation that placed the first Student Trustee on the UMass Board was the result of contentious campus protests fueled by student dissatisfaction with higher education’s response to the Vietnam War, racism, and sexism, among other issues. Governor Francis Sargent proposed and signed that legislation in 1969 as a means to “move protest from confrontation to dialogue.” Student Trustees found success pushing the Board in a more progressive direction – adopting co-ed dormitories, providing greater due process in conduct matters, and asserting that students have primary responsibility over student policies and related matters. Student Trustees also pressed the Board to divest from companies operating in apartheid South Africa, and even to grant students an eight-day reprieve from papers and exams so they could campaign in the 1970 congressional elections.
The role of the Student Trustee has expanded since Cynthia Olken took her place as the first Student Trustee in 1970. There are now five Student Trustees representing each of the five campuses in the UMass System. The two with voting power operate as regular board members and have the ability to serve on all committees, while the other three are ex officio non-voting members and can only attend open meetings of the full Board of Trustees. While more than half of the 143 Student Trustees made five or fewer remarks during their time on the board, there were many who spoke out frequently on issues related to finance, governance, and academics.
Through their half-century of efforts, Student Trustees have earned a seat at the table and the praise of many university presidents, chancellors, and Board chairs that have used words like helpful, valuable, and significant to describe their contributions. As former UMass President Jack Wilson once exclaimed, “Having student representation on this Board is important.
Characterization of the killer toxin KTCf20 from wickerhamomyces anomalus, a potential biocontrol agent against wine spoilage yeasts
Wickerhamomyces anomalus Cf20 secretes the killer toxin KTCf20 that inhibits several wine spoilage yeasts of the species Pichia guilliermondii, P. membranifaciens, Brettanomyces bruxellensis and Dekkera anomala. KTCf20 binds cell wall extracts from the sensitive target P. guilliermondii Cd6; however, this capacity was lost when cell wall extracts were pre-treated with fungal β-glucanase. Pustulan and laminarin inhibited killer activity, suggesting that β-1,3 and β-1,6-glucans may be the putative binding sites for KTCf20 on the cell wall of sensitive cells. The toxin was produced and showed to be stable and highly active at physicochemical conditions suitable for winemaking process. In addition, the strain Cf20 is compatible with Saccharomyces cerevisiae in co-culture conditions being potential its application in a mixed starter culture. These data suggest that W. anomalus Cf20 and/or KTCf20 are promising biocontrol agents against spoilage yeasts during wine-making process.Fil: Fernandez de Ullivarri, Miguel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Tucumán. Centro de Referencia para Lactobacilos; ArgentinaFil: Mendoza, Lucia Margarita. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Tucumán. Centro de Referencia para Lactobacilos; ArgentinaFil: Raya, Raul Ricardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Tucumán. Centro de Referencia para Lactobacilos; Argentin
A Neural TTS System with Parallel Prosody Transfer from Unseen Speakers
Modern neural TTS systems are capable of generating natural and expressive
speech when provided with sufficient amounts of training data. Such systems can
be equipped with prosody-control functionality, allowing for more direct
shaping of the speech output at inference time. In some TTS applications, it
may be desirable to have an option that guides the TTS system with an ad-hoc
speech recording exemplar to impose an implicit fine-grained, user-preferred
prosodic realization for certain input prompts. In this work we present a
first-of-its-kind neural TTS system equipped with such functionality to
transfer the prosody from a parallel text recording from an unseen speaker. We
demonstrate that the proposed system can precisely transfer the speech prosody
from novel speakers to various trained TTS voices with no quality degradation,
while preserving the target TTS speakers' identity, as evaluated by a set of
subjective listening experiments.Comment: Presented at Interspeech 202
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