10,809 research outputs found
Individual differences in the discrimination of novel speech sounds: effects of sex, temporal processing, musical and cognitive abilities
This study examined whether rapid temporal auditory processing, verbal working memory capacity, non-verbal intelligence, executive functioning, musical ability and prior foreign language experience predicted how well native English speakers (N = 120) discriminated Norwegian tonal and vowel contrasts as well as a non-speech analogue of the tonal contrast and a native vowel contrast presented over noise. Results confirmed a male advantage for temporal and tonal processing, and also revealed that temporal processing was associated with both non-verbal intelligence and speech processing. In contrast, effects of musical ability on non-native speech-sound processing and of inhibitory control on vowel discrimination were not mediated by temporal processing. These results suggest that individual differences in non-native speech-sound processing are to some extent determined by temporal auditory processing ability, in which males perform better, but are also determined by a host of other abilities that are deployed flexibly depending on the characteristics of the target sounds
X-Ray Spectral Variability of Extreme BL Lac AGN H1426+428
Between 7 March 2002 and 15 June 2002, intensive X-ray observations were
carried out on the extreme BL Lac object H1426+428 with instruments on board
the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). These instruments provide measurements
of H1426+428 in the crucial energy range that characterizes the first peak of
its spectral energy distribution. This peak, which is almost certainly due to
synchrotron emission, has previously been inferred to be in excess of 100 keV.
By taking frequent observations over a four-month campaign, which included
450 ksec of RXTE time, studies of flux and spectral variability on
multiple timescales were performed, along with studies of spectral hysteresis.
The 3-24 keV X-ray flux and spectra exhibited significant variability, implying
variability in the location of the first peak of the spectral energy
distribution. Hysteresis patterns were observed, and their characteristics have
been discussed within the context of emission models.Comment: accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journa
Particle acceleration at ultrarelativistic shocks: an eigenfunction method
We extend the eigenfunction method of computing the power-law spectrum of
particles accelerated at a relativistic shock fronts to apply to shocks of
arbitrarily high Lorentz factor. In agreement with the findings of Monte-Carlo
simulations, we find the index of the power-law distribution of accelerated
particles which undergo isotropic diffusion in angle at an ultrarelativistic,
unmagnetized shock is s=4.23 (where s=-d(ln f)/dp with f the Lorentz invariant
phase-space density and p the momentum). This corresponds to a synchrotron
index for uncooled electrons of a=0.62 (taking cooling into account a=1.12),
where a=-d(ln F)/dn, F is the radiation flux and n the frequency. We also
present an approximate analytic expression for the angular distribution of
accelerated particles, which displays the effect of particle trapping by the
shock: compared with the non-relativistic case the angular distribution is
weighted more towards the plane of the shock and away from its normal. We
investigate the sensitivity of our results to the transport properties of the
particles and the presence of a magnetic field. Shocks in which the ratio of
Poynting to kinetic energy flux upstream is not small are less compressive and
lead to larger values of .Comment: Minor additions on publicatio
Targeting Mr Average: Participation, gender equity and school sport partnerships
The School Sport Partnership Programme (SSPP) is one strand of the national strategy for physical education and school sport in England, the physical education and school sport Club Links Strategy (PESSCL). The SSPP aims to make links between school physical education (PE) and out of school sports participation, and has a particular remit to raise the participation levels of several identified under-represented groups, of which girls and young women are one. National evaluations of the SSPP show that it is beginning to have positive impacts on young people's activity levels by increasing the range and provision of extra curricular activities (Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED), 2003, 2004, 2005; Loughborough Partnership, 2005, 2006). This paper contributes to the developing picture of the phased implementation of the programme by providing qualitative insights into the work of one school sport partnership with a particular focus on gender equity. The paper explores the ways in which gender equity issues have been explicitly addressed within the 'official texts' of the SSPP; how these have shifted over time and how teachers are responding to and making sense of these in their daily practice. Using participation observation, interview and questionnaire data, the paper explores how the coordinators are addressing the challenge of increasing the participation of girls and young women. The paper draws on Walby's (2000) conceptualisation of different kinds of feminist praxis to highlight the limitations of the coordinators' work. Two key themes from the data and their implications are addressed: the dominance of competitive sport practices and the PE professionals' views of targeting as a strategy for increasing the participation of under-represented groups. The paper concludes that coordinators work within an equality or difference discourse with little evidence of the transformative praxis needed for the programme to be truly inclusive. © 2008 Taylor & Francis
Direct measurement of the flow field around swimming microorganisms
Swimming microorganisms create flows that influence their mutual interactions
and modify the rheology of their suspensions. While extensively studied
theoretically, these flows have not been measured in detail around any
freely-swimming microorganism. We report such measurements for the microphytes
Volvox carteri and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The minute ~0.3% density excess
of V. carteri over water leads to a strongly dominant Stokeslet contribution,
with the widely-assumed stresslet flow only a correction to the subleading
source dipole term. This implies that suspensions of V. carteri have features
similar to suspensions of sedimenting particles. The flow in the region around
C. reinhardtii where significant hydrodynamic interaction is likely to occur
differs qualitatively from a "puller" stresslet, and can be described by a
simple three-Stokeslet model.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in PR
Understanding the effect resonant magnetic perturbations have on ELMs
All current estimations of the energy released by type I ELMs indicate that,
in order to ensure an adequate lifetime of the divertor targets on ITER, a
mechanism is required to decrease the amount of energy released by an ELM, or
to eliminate ELMs altogether. One such amelioration mechanism relies on
perturbing the magnetic field in the edge plasma region, either leading to more
frequent, smaller ELMs (ELM mitigation) or ELM suppression. This technique of
Resonant Magnetic Perturbations (RMPs) has been employed to suppress type I
ELMs at high collisionality/density on DIII-D, ASDEX Upgrade, KSTAR and JET and
at low collisionality on DIII-D. At ITER-like collisionality the RMPs enhance
the transport of particles or energy and keep the edge pressure gradient below
the 2D linear ideal MHD critical value that would trigger an ELM, whereas at
high collisionality/density the type I ELMs are replaced by small type II ELMs.
Although ELM suppression only occurs within limitied operational ranges, ELM
mitigation is much more easily achieved. The exact parameters that determine
the onset of ELM suppression are unknown but in all cases the magnetic
perturbations produce 3D distortions to the plasma and enhanced particle
transport. The incorporation of these 3D effects in codes will be essential in
order to make quantitative predictions for future devices.Comment: 32 pages, 9 figure
The beaming pattern and spectrum of inverse Compton radiation in blazars
By including Klein-Nishina effects, we generalize previous calculations of
the beaming pattern of photons produced by inverse Compton scattering. For an
isotropic distribution of soft photons upscattered by nonthermal electrons with
a power-law density distribution embedded in a plasma moving with relativistic
bulk speed we show that the observed radiation intensity is proportional to
D^(3+p), where D is the Doppler boosting factor, and p the electron
distribution index. This agrees with previous computations performed in the
Thomson limit, where the observed spectral index is a=(p-1)/2 and the beaming
pattern D^(4+2a). Independent of D, Klein-Nishina effects limit the location of
the peak energy of the observed spectral energy distribution such that e_{peak}
less than 1/e_0, where e_0 is the energy of the seed photons in units of mc^2.
Assuming that the seed photons originate in the broad line region, we
demonstrate that the GeV emission of blazars is significantly modified by
Klein-Nishina effects, the spectrum being softer than that calculated in the
Thomson limit. We further show that the change in spectral index of the inverse
Compton emission across the peak energy can exceed the value of 0.5 predicted
by computations performed in the Thomson limit. The model spectra agree with
OSSE and COMPTEL limits on this break without invoking the effects of
differential absorption at the edge of a gamma-ray photosphere.Comment: Accepted in ApJ, Nov 200
Numerical solution of the linear dispersion relation in a relativistic pair plasma
We describe an algorithm that computes the linear dispersion relation of
waves and instabilities in relativistic plasmas within a Vlasov-Maxwell
description. The method used is fully relativistic and involves explicit
integration of particle orbits along the unperturbed equilibrium trajectories.
We check the algorithm against the dispersion curves for a single component
magnetised plasma and for an unmagnetised plasma with counter-streaming
components in the non-relativistic case. New results on the growth rate of the
Weibel or two-stream instability in a hot unmagnetised pair plasma consisting
of two counter-streaming relativistic Maxwellians are presented. These are
relevant to the physics of the relativistic plasmas found in gamma-ray bursts,
relativistic jets and pulsar winds.Comment: Accepted by Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusio
Molecular dynamics simulation of nanocolloidal amorphous silica particles: Part II
Explicit molecular dynamics simulations were applied to a pair of amorphous
silica nanoparticles of diameter 3.2 nm immersed in a background electrolyte.
Mean forces acting between the pair of silica nanoparticles were extracted at
four different background electrolyte concentrations. Dependence of the
inter-particle potential of mean force on the separation and the silicon to
sodium ratio, as well as on the background electrolyte concentration, are
demonstrated. The pH was indirectly accounted for via the ratio of silicon to
sodium used in the simulations. The nature of the interaction of the
counter-ions with charged silica surface sites (deprotonated silanols) was also
investigated. The effect of the sodium double layer on the water ordering was
investigated for three Si:Na+ ratios. The number of water molecules trapped
inside the nanoparticles was investigated as the Si:Na+ ratio was varied.
Differences in this number between the two nanoparticles in the simulations are
attributed to differences in the calculated electric dipole moment. The
implications of the form of the potentials for aggregation are also discussed.Comment: v1. 33 pages, 7 figures (screen-quality PDF), submitted to J. Chem.
Phys v2. 15 pages, 4 tables, 6 figures. Content, author list and title
changed; single space
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