Multiple relaxations in temporal planning

CRIKEY is a planner that separates out the scheduling from the classical parts of temporal planning. This can be seen as a relaxation of the temporal information during the classical planning phase. Relaxations in planning are used to guide the search. However, the quality of the relaxation greatly affects the performance of the planner, and in some cases can lead the search into a dead end. This can happen whilst separating out the planning and scheduling problems, leading to the production of an unschedulable plan. CRIKEY can detect these cases and change the relaxation accordingly

Speaker-normalized sound representations in the human auditory cortex

The acoustic dimensions that distinguish speech sounds (like the vowel differences in “boot” and “boat”) also differentiate speakers’ voices. Therefore, listeners must normalize across speakers without losing linguistic information. Past behavioral work suggests an important role for auditory contrast enhancement in normalization: preceding context affects listeners’ perception of subsequent speech sounds. Here, using intracranial electrocorticography in humans, we investigate whether and how such context effects arise in auditory cortex. Participants identified speech sounds that were preceded by phrases from two different speakers whose voices differed along the same acoustic dimension as target words (the lowest resonance of the vocal tract). In every participant, target vowels evoke a speaker-dependent neural response that is consistent with the listener’s perception, and which follows from a contrast enhancement model. Auditory cortex processing thus displays a critical feature of normalization, allowing listeners to extract meaningful content from the voices of diverse speakers

Vibrational-Rotational Spectroscopy for Planetary Atmospheres, volume 2

The planetary atmospheres are investigated for their chemical composition. Hydrogen, methane, ethylene, acetylene, and ethane were studied. Various spectroscopic investigations were made

Vibrational-Rotational Spectroscopy For Planetary Atmospheres, volume 1

Comprehensive information on the composition and dynamics of the varied planetary atmospheres is summarized. New observations resulted in new demands for supporting laboratory studies. Spectra observed from spacecraft used to interpret planetary atmospheric structure measurements, to aid in greenhouse and cloud physics calculations, and to plan future experiments are discussed. Current findings and new ideas of physicists, chemists, and planetry astronomers relating to the knowledge of the structure of things large and small, of planets and of molecules are summarized

In situ analysis for intelligent control

We report a pilot study on in situ analysis of backscatter data for intelligent control of a scientific instrument on an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) carried out at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). The objective of the study is to investigate techniques which use machine intelligence to enable event-response scenarios. Specifically we analyse a set of techniques for automated sample acquisition in the water-column using an electro-mechanical "Gulper", designed at MBARI. This is a syringe-like sampling device, carried onboard an AUV. The techniques we use in this study are clustering algorithms, intended to identify the important distinguishing characteristics of bodies of points within a data sample. We demonstrate that the complementary features of two clustering approaches can offer robust identification of interesting features in the water-column, which, in turn, can support automatic event-response control in the use of the Gulper

Polynomial Cointegration among Stationary Processes with Long Memory

n this paper we consider polynomial cointegrating relationships among stationary processes with long range dependence. We express the regression functions in terms of Hermite polynomials and we consider a form of spectral regression around frequency zero. For these estimates, we establish consistency by means of a more general result on continuously averaged estimates of the spectral density matrix at frequency zeroComment: 25 pages, 7 figures. Submitted in August 200

Experimental study of wing leading-edge devices for improved maneuver performance of a supercritical maneuvering fighter configuration

Wind tunnel tests were conducted to examine the use of wing leading-edge devices for improved subsonic and transonic maneuver performance. These devices were tested on a fighter configuration which utilized supercritical-wing technology. The configuration had a leading-edge sweep of 45 deg and an aspect ratio of 3.28. The tests were conducted at Mach numbers of 0.60 and 0.85 with angles of attack from -0.5 deg to 22 deg. At both Mach numbers, sharp leading-edge flaps produced vortices which greatly altered the flow pattern on the wing and resulted in substantial reductions in drag at high lift. Underwing or pylon-type vortex generators also reduced drag at high lift. The vortex generators worked better at a Mach number of 0.60. The vortex generators gave the best overall results with zero toe-in angle and when mounted on either the outboard part of the wing or at both an outboard location and halfway out the semispan. Both the flaps and the vortex generators had a minor effect on the pitching moment. Fluorescent minitufts were found to be useful for flow visualization at transonic maneuver conditions

Disentangling the Origin and Heating Mechanism of Supernova Dust: Late-Time Spitzer Spectroscopy of the Type IIn SN 2005ip

This paper presents late-time near-infrared and {\it Spitzer} mid-infrared photometric and spectroscopic observations of warm dust in the Type IIn SN 2005ip in NGC 2906. The spectra show evidence for two dust components with different temperatures. Spanning the peak of the thermal emission, these observations provide strong constraints on the dust mass, temperature, and luminosity, which serve as critical diagnostics for disentangling the origin and heating mechanism of each component. The results suggest the warmer dust has a mass of $\sim 5 \times 10^{-4}~$\msolar, originates from newly formed dust in the ejecta, or possibly the cool, dense shell, and is continuously heated by the circumstellar interaction. By contrast, the cooler component likely originates from a circumstellar shock echo that forms from the heating of a large, pre-existing dust shell $\sim 0.01 - 0.05$~\msolar~by the late-time circumstellar interaction. The progenitor wind velocity derived from the blue edge of the He 1 1.083 \micron~P Cygni profile indicates a progenitor eruption likely formed this dust shell $\sim$100 years prior to the supernova explosion, which is consistent with a Luminous Blue Variable (LBV) progenitor star.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures, Accepted to Ap