Rhythm and Vowel Quality in Accents of English

In a sample of 27 speakers of Scottish Standard English two notoriously variable consonantal features are investigated: the contrast of /m/ and /w/ and non-prevocalic /r/, the latter both in terms of its presence or absence and the phonetic form it takes, if present. The pattern of realisation of non-prevocalic /r/ largely confirms previously reported findings. But there are a number of surprising results regarding the merger of /m/ and /w/ and the loss of non-prevocalic /r/: While the former is more likely to happen in younger speakers and females, the latter seems more likely in older speakers and males. This is suggestive of change in progress leading to a loss of the /m/ - /w/ contrast, while the variation found in non-prevocalic /r/ follows an almost inverse sociolinguistic pattern that does not suggest any such change and is additionally largely explicable in language-internal terms. One phenomenon requiring further investigation is the curious effect direct contact with Southern English accents seems to have on non-prevocalic /r/: innovation on the structural level (i.e. loss) and conservatism on the realisational level (i.e. increased incidence of [r] and [r]) appear to be conditioned by the same sociolinguistic factors

Computations in Large N Matrix Mechanics

The algebraic formulation of Large N matrix mechanics recently developed by Halpern and Schwartz leads to a practical method of numerical computation for both action and Hamiltonian problems. The new technique posits a boundary condition on the planar connected parts X_w, namely that they should decrease rapidly with increasing order. This leads to algebraic/variational schemes of computation which show remarkably rapid convergence in numerical tests on some many- matrix models. The method allows the calculation of all moments of the ground state, in a sequence of approximations, and excited states can be determined as well. There are two unexpected findings: a large d expansion and a new selection rule for certain types of interaction.Comment: 27 page

VETA-I x ray test analysis

This interim report presents some definitive results from our analysis of the VETA-I x-ray testing data. It also provides a description of the hardware and software used in the conduct of the VETA-I x-ray test program performed at the MSFC x-ray Calibration Facility (XRCF). These test results also serve to supply data and information to include in the TRW final report required by DPD 692, DR XC04. To provide an authoritative compendium of results, we have taken nine papers as published in the SPIE Symposium, 'Grazing Incidence X-ray/EUV Optics for Astronomy and Projection Lithography' and have reproduced them as the content of this report

Scaling in activated escape of underdamped systems

Noise-induced escape from a metastable state of a dynamical system is studied close to a saddle-node bifurcation point, but in the region where the system remains underdamped. The activation energy of escape scales as a power of the distance to the bifurcation point. We find two types of scaling and the corresponding critical exponents.Comment: 9 page

The spectral action for Moyal planes

Extending a result of D.V. Vassilevich, we obtain the asymptotic expansion for the trace of a "spatially" regularized heat operator associated with a generalized Laplacian defined with integral Moyal products. The Moyal hyperplanes corresponding to any skewsymmetric matrix $\Theta$ being spectral triples, the spectral action introduced in noncommutative geometry by A. Chamseddine and A. Connes is computed. This result generalizes the Connes-Lott action previously computed by Gayral for symplectic $\Theta$.Comment: 20 pages, no figure, few improvment

Stability and phase coherence of trapped 1D Bose gases

We discuss stability and phase coherence of 1D trapped Bose gases and find that inelastic decay processes, such as 3-body recombination, are suppressed in the strongly interacting (Tonks-Girardeau) and intermediate regimes. This is promising for achieving these regimes with a large number of particles. "Fermionization" of the system reduces the phase coherence length, and at T=0 the gas is fully phase coherent only deeply in the weakly interacting (Gross-Pitaevskii) regime.Comment: published versio

Patterns and regulation of ribosomal RNA transcription in Borrelia burgdorferi

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Borrelia burgdorferi </it>contains one 16S and two tandem sets of 23S-5S ribosomal (r) RNA genes whose patterns of transcription and regulation are unknown but are likely to be critical for survival and persistence in its hosts.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>RT-PCR of <it>B. burgdorferi </it>N40 and B31 revealed three rRNA region transcripts: 16S rRNA-alanine transfer RNA (tRNA^Ala); tRNA^Ile; and both sets of 23S-5S rRNA. At 34°C, there were no differences in growth rate or in accumulation of total protein, DNA and RNA in B31 cultured in Barbour-Stoenner-Kelly (BSK)-H whether rabbit serum was present or not. At 23°C, B31 grew more slowly in serum-containing BSK-H than at 34°C. DNA per cell was higher in cells in exponential as compared to stationary phase at either temperature; protein per cell was similar at both temperatures in both phases. Similar amounts of rRNA were produced in exponential phase at both temperatures, and rRNA was down-regulated in stationary phase at either temperature. Interestingly, a <it>rel_Bbu</it>deletion mutant unable to generate (p)ppGpp did not down-regulate rRNA at transition to stationary phase in serum-containing BSK-H at 34°C, similar to the relaxed phenotype of <it>E. coli relA </it>mutants.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We conclude that rRNA transcription in <it>B. burgdorferi </it>is complex and regulated both by growth phase and by the stringent response but not by temperature-modulated growth rate.</p

Partially obscured human detection based on component detectors using multiple feature descriptors

This paper presents a human detection system based on component detector using multiple feature descriptors. The contribution presents two issues for dealing with the problem of partially obscured human. First, it presents the extension of feature descriptors using multiple scales based Histograms of Oriented Gradients (HOG) and parallelogram based Haar-like feature (PHF) for improving the accuracy of the system. By using multiple scales based HOG, an extensive feature space allows obtaining high-discriminated features. Otherwise, the PHF is adaptive limb shapes of human in fast computing feature. Second, learning system using boosting classifications based approach is used for training and detecting the partially obscured human. The advantage of boosting is constructing a strong classification by combining a set of weak classifiers. However, the performance of boosting depends on the kernel of weak classifier. Therefore, the hybrid algorithms based on AdaBoost and SVM using the proposed feature descriptors is one of solutions for robust human detection.This paper presents a human detection system based on component detector using multiple feature descriptors. The contribution presents two issues for dealing with the problem of partially obscured human. First, it presents the extension of feature descriptors using multiple scales based Histograms of Oriented Gradients (HOG) and parallelogram based Haar-like feature (PHF) for improving the accuracy of the system. By using multiple scales based HOG, an extensive feature space allows obtaining high-discriminated features. Otherwise, the PHF is adaptive limb shapes of human in fast computing feature. Second, learning system using boosting classifications based approach is used for training and detecting the partially obscured human. The advantage of boosting is constructing a strong classification by combining a set of weak classifiers. However, the performance of boosting depends on the kernel of weak classifier. Therefore, the hybrid algorithms based on AdaBoost and SVM using the proposed feature descriptors is one of solutions for robust human detection

Deciphering top flavor violation at the LHC with B factories

The LHC will have unprecedented sensitivity to flavor-changing neutral current (FCNC) top quark decays, whose observation would be a clear sign of physics beyond the standard model. Although many details of top flavor violation are model dependent, the standard model gauge symmetries relate top FCNCs to other processes, which are strongly constrained by existing data. We study these constraints in a model independent way, using a low energy effective theory from which the new physics is integrated out. We consider the most important operators which contribute to top FCNCs and analyze the current constraints on them. We find that the data rule out top FCNCs at a level observable at the LHC due to most of the operators comprising left-handed first or second generation quark fields, while there remains a substantial window for top decays mediated by operators with right-handed charm or up quarks. If FCNC top decays are observed at the LHC, such an analysis may help decipher the underlying physics.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures; some typos correcte