Towards a phonetic conspectus of preaspiration

Preaspiration, i.e. [hC], is a rare feature of stop production in the world’s languages that has been recently found to occur in Sienese Italian. We present a qualitative acoustic-phonetic description of voiceless geminate stops /p: t: k:/ with preaspiration that occurred in a corpus of spontaneous Sienese Italian speech (6 speakers). We outline the different fine-grained realizations of preaspiration and discuss the findings in the context of our general knowledge of the phenomenon across languages

Vowel duration, compression and lengthening in stressed syllables in Italian

The focus of this study is on temporal organization, specifically of vowel duration, in stressed syllables in (standard) Italian. We investigate possible compression effects on the duration of stressed vowels according to wordposition (final, penult and antepenult) and syllable type (open vs. closed) in this language. Our results show shortening in some contexts, e.g. closed syllables, and antepenultimate position, but not in all tested contexts. Compression effects do not surface in a fully linear fashion, with complications arising in word-final position where competing tendencies towards lengthening and shortening are found to co-occur. We consider the implications of our results for phonological descriptions of Italian

El Banco de España elige ALEPH y la British Library ILS, ambos productos de ExLibris

Sección: Noticias. Noticias externasEl Banco de España ha sustituido durante 2003 el programa de gestión de bibliotecas DOBIS/LIBIS que usaba hasta el momento por el sistema ALEPH 500. Es el quinto banco central europeo que opta por Aleph (otros son los bancos centrales de Holanda, Italia y Luxemburgo).N

Obtaining Maxwell's equations heuristically

Starting from the experimental fact that a moving charge experiences the Lorentz force and applying the fundamental principles of simplicity (first order derivatives only) and linearity (superposition principle), we show that the structure of the microscopic Maxwell equations for the electromagnetic fields can be deduced heuristically by using the transformation properties of the fields under space inversion and time reversal. Using the experimental facts of charge conservation and that electromagnetic waves propagate with the speed of light together with Galileo invariance of the Lorentz force allows us to introduce arbitrary electrodynamic units naturally.Comment: 11 page

Beiträge auf Vermögenseinkünfte: Zwischen Leistungsgerechtigkeit und Populismus

Die Gesetzlichen Krankenkassen haben mit erheblichen Finanzierungsproblemen zu kämpfen. Als einfache Lösung wird immer wieder eine Erweiterung der Bemessungsgrundlage um Vermögenseinkünfte gefordert. Wie ist dieser Vorschlag unter Leistungsfähigkeitsgesichtspunkten zu beurteilen? Wird die finanzielle Basis der Krankenkassen durch diese Maßnahme tatsächlich deutlich verbessert? --

Evolving morphotropic phase boundary in lead-free (Bi1/2Na1/2)TiO3–BaTiO3 piezoceramics

The correlation between structure and electrical properties of lead-free (1-x)(Bi(1/2)Na(1/2))TiO(3)-xBaTiO(3) (BNT-100xBT) polycrystalline piezoceramics was investigated systematically by in situ synchrotron diffraction technique, combined with electrical property characterization. It was found that the morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) between a rhombohedral and a tetragonal phase evolved into a morphotropic phase region with electric field. In the unpoled material, the MPB was positioned at the transition from space group R3m to P4mm (BNT-11BT) with optimized permittivity throughout a broad single-phase R3m composition regime. Upon poling, a range of compositions from BNT-6BT to BNT-11BT became two-phase mixture, and maximum piezoelectric coefficient was observed in BNT-7BT. It was shown that optimized electrical properties are related primarily to the capacity for domain texturing and not to phase coexistence

Contributions of EU-project REPCO to apple scab control

The objective of REPCO is to contribute to the replacement of copper fungicides in organic agriculture by new measures for control of downy mildew (Plasmopara viticola) in grapevine and scab (Venturia inaequalis) in apple. Both major European organic crops strongly depend on copper fungicides. Permitted amounts will be reduced stepwise during the following years (Council Regulation (EEC) 2092/91, Annex II) to avoid environmental risks. In European countries where copper fungicides are already out of use, production of organic apples suffers severe economical problems because of insufficient scab control. Potentiators of resistance, organically based fungicides and biocontrol agents are screened and evaluated in apple. Effects of crop management practices in organic agriculture on overwintering of Venturia inaequalis are assessed. Novel disease control measures and knowledge are integrated into organic management systems. 'Pipeline' products already under development elsewhere are included and where necessary optimised in their use