865 research outputs found
Perceptually Motivated Wavelet Packet Transform for Bioacoustic Signal Enhancement
A significant and often unavoidable problem in bioacoustic signal processing is the presence of background noise due to an adverse recording environment. This paper proposes a new bioacoustic signal enhancement technique which can be used on a wide range of species. The technique is based on a perceptually scaled wavelet packet decomposition using a species-specific Greenwood scale function. Spectral estimation techniques, similar to those used for human speech enhancement, are used for estimation of clean signal wavelet coefficients under an additive noise model. The new approach is compared to several other techniques, including basic bandpass filtering as well as classical speech enhancement methods such as spectral subtraction, Wiener filtering, and Ephraim–Malah filtering. Vocalizations recorded from several species are used for evaluation, including the ortolan bunting (Emberiza hortulana), rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta), and humpback whale (Megaptera novaeanglia), with both additive white Gaussian noise and environment recording noise added across a range of signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). Results, measured by both SNR and segmental SNR of the enhanced wave forms, indicate that the proposed method outperforms other approaches for a wide range of noise conditions
Multiband superconductivity in the heavy fermion compound PrOs4Sb12
The thermal conductivity of the heavy fermion superconductor PrOs4Sb12 was
measured down to Tc/40 throughout the vortex state. At lowest temperatures and
for magnetic fields H ~ 0.07Hc2, already 40% of the normal state thermal
conductivity is restored. This behaviour (similar to that observed in MgB2) is
a clear signature of multiband superconductivity in this compound.Comment: 12pages, version #1 20\_06\_200
Fermi-surface topology of the iron pnictide LaFeP
We report on a comprehensive de Haas--van Alphen (dHvA) study of the iron
pnictide LaFeP. Our extensive density-functional band-structure
calculations can well explain the measured angular-dependent dHvA frequencies.
As salient feature, we observe only one quasi-two-dimensional Fermi-surface
sheet, i.e., a hole-like Fermi-surface cylinder around , essential for
pairing, is missing. In spite of considerable mass enhancements due to
many-body effects, LaFeP shows no superconductivity. This is likely
caused by the absence of any nesting between electron and hole bands.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
The Polarized H and D Atomic Beam Source for ANKE at COSY-J\"ulich
A polarized atomic beam source was developed for the polarized internal
storage-cell gas target at the magnet spectrometer ANKE of COSY-J\"ulich. The
intensities of the beams injected into the storage cell, measured with a
compression tube, are hydrogen atoms/s (two hyperfine
states) and deuterium atoms/s (three hyperfine states). For
the hydrogen beam the achieved vector polarizations are . For the deuterium beam, the obtained combinations of vector
and tensor () polarizations are (with a
constant ), and or (both with vanishing ). The paper includes a detailed
technical description of the apparatus and of the investigations performed
during the development.Comment: 18 pages, 26 figures, 4 table
Direct observation of the quantum critical point in heavy fermion CeRhSi
We report on muon spin rotation studies of the noncentrosymmetric heavy
fermion antiferromagnet CeRhSi. A drastic and monotonic suppression of the
internal fields, at the lowest measured temperature, was observed upon an
increase of external pressure. Our data suggest that the ordered moments are
gradually quenched with increasing pressure, in a manner different from the
pressure dependence of the N\'eel temperature. At \unit{23.6}{kbar}, the
ordered magnetic moments are fully suppressed via a second-order phase
transition, and is zero. Thus, we directly observed the quantum
critical point at \unit{23.6}{kbar} hidden inside the superconducting phase
of CeRhSi
How much of the intraaortic balloon volume is displaced toward the coronary circulation?
This is a post-print version of the published article. Copyright @ 2010 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Objective: During intraaortic balloon inflation, blood volume is displaced toward the heart (Vtip), traveling retrograde in the descending aorta, passing by the arch vessels, reaching the aortic root (Vroot), and eventually perfusing the coronary circulation (Vcor). Vcor leads to coronary flow augmentation, one of the main benefits of the intraaortic balloon pump. The aim of this study was to assess Vroot and Vcor in vivo and in vitro, respectively.
Methods: During intraaortic balloon inflation, Vroot was obtained by integrating over time the aortic root flow signals measured in 10 patients with intraaortic balloon assistance frequencies of 1:1 and 1:2. In a mock circulation system, flow measurements were recorded simultaneously upstream of the intraaortic balloon tip and at each of the arch and coronary branches of a silicone aorta during 1:1 and 1:2 intraaortic balloon support. Integration over time of the flow signals during inflation yielded Vcor and the distribution of Vtip.
Results: In patients, Vroot was 6.4% ± 4.8% of the intraaortic balloon volume during 1:1 assistance and 10.0% ± 5.0% during 1:2 assistance. In vitro and with an artificial heart simulating the native heart, Vcor was smaller, 3.7% and 3.8%, respectively. The distribution of Vtip in vitro varied, with less volume displaced toward the arch and coronary branches and more volume stored in the compliant aortic wall when the artificial heart was not operating.
Conclusion: The blood volume displaced toward the coronary circulation as the result of intraaortic balloon inflation is a small percentage of the nominal intraaortic balloon volume. Although small, this percentage is still a significant fraction of baseline coronary flow.This article is available through the Open Access Publishing Fund
Effects of Impurities with Singlet-Triplet Configuration on Multiband Superconductors
Roles of multipole degrees of freedom in multiband superconductors are
investigated in a case of impurities whose low-lying states consist of singlet
ground and triplet excited states, which is related to the experimental fact
that the transition temperature is increased by Pr substitution for
La in LaOsSb. The most important contribution to the
increase comes from the inelastic interband scattering of electrons coupled to
quadrupole or octupole moments of impurities. It is found that a magnetic field
modifies an effective pairing interaction and the scattering anisotropy appears
in the field-orientation dependence of the upper critical field
in the vicinity of , although a uniaxial anisotropic field is
required for experimental detection. This would be proof that the Pr internal
degrees of freedom are relevant to the stability of superconductivity in
(LaPr)OsSb.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, to appear in J. Phys. Soc. Jp
First measurements of spin correlations in the np -> d pi^0 reaction
The transverse spin correlations Axx and Ayy in the np-> d pi^0 reaction have
been measured for the first time in quasi-free kinematics at the COSY-ANKE
facility using a polarised deuteron beam incident on a polarised hydrogen cell
target. The results obtained for neutron energies close to 353 MeV and 600 MeV
are in good agreement with the partial wave analysis of data on the
isospin-related pp-> d pi^+ reaction, though the present results cover also the
small-angle region, which was largely absent from these data
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