The eigenspectra of Indian musical drums

In a family of drums used in the Indian subcontinent, the circular drum head is made of material of non-uniform density. Remarkably, and in contrast to a circular membrane of uniform density, the low eigenmodes of the non-uniform membrane are harmonic. In this work we model the drum head by a non-uniform membrane whose density varies smoothly between two prescribed values. Using a Fourier-Chebyshev spectral collocation method we obtain the eigenmodes and eigenvalues of the drum head. For a suitable choice of parameters, which we find by optimising a cost function, the eigenspectra obtained from our model are in excellent agreement with experimental values. Our model and the numerical method should find application in numerical sound synthesis

A Novel Approach Based on Decreased Dimension and Reduced Gray Level Range Matrix Features for Stone Texture Classification

The human eye can easily identify the type of textures in flooring of the houses and in the digital images visually.  In this work, the stone textures are grouped into four categories. They are bricks, marble, granite and mosaic. A novel approach is developed for decreasing the dimension of stone image and for reducing the gray level range of the image without any loss of significant feature information. This model is named as “Decreased Dimension and Reduced Gray level Range Matrix (DDRGRM)” model. The DDRGRM model consists of 3 stages.  In stage 1, each 5×5 sub dimension of the stone image is reduced into 2×2 sub dimension without losing any important qualities, primitives, and any other local stuff.  In stage 2, the gray level of the image is reduced from 0-255 to 0-4 by using fuzzy concepts.  In stage 3, Co-occurrence Matrix (CM) features are derived from the DDRGRM model of the stone image for stone texture classification.  Based on the feature set values, a user defined algorithm is developed to classify the stone texture image into one of the 4 categories i.e. Marble, Brick, Granite and Mosaic. The proposed method is tested by using the K-Nearest Neighbor Classification algorithm with the derived texture features.  To prove the efficiency of the proposed method, it is tested on different stone texture image databases.  The proposed method resulted in high classification rate when compared with the other existing methods

Communications and information research: Improved space link performance via concatenated forward error correction coding

With the development of new advanced instruments for remote sensing applications, sensor data will be generated at a rate that not only requires increased onboard processing and storage capability, but imposes demands on the space to ground communication link and ground data management-communication system. Data compression and error control codes provide viable means to alleviate these demands. Two types of data compression have been studied by many researchers in the area of information theory: a lossless technique that guarantees full reconstruction of the data, and a lossy technique which generally gives higher data compaction ratio but incurs some distortion in the reconstructed data. To satisfy the many science disciplines which NASA supports, lossless data compression becomes a primary focus for the technology development. While transmitting the data obtained by any lossless data compression, it is very important to use some error-control code. For a long time, convolutional codes have been widely used in satellite telecommunications. To more efficiently transform the data obtained by the Rice algorithm, it is required to meet the a posteriori probability (APP) for each decoded bit. A relevant algorithm for this purpose has been proposed which minimizes the bit error probability in the decoding linear block and convolutional codes and meets the APP for each decoded bit. However, recent results on iterative decoding of 'Turbo codes', turn conventional wisdom on its head and suggest fundamentally new techniques. During the past several months of this research, the following approaches have been developed: (1) a new lossless data compression algorithm, which is much better than the extended Rice algorithm for various types of sensor data, (2) a new approach to determine the generalized Hamming weights of the algebraic-geometric codes defined by a large class of curves in high-dimensional spaces, (3) some efficient improved geometric Goppa codes for disk memory systems and high-speed mass memory systems, and (4) a tree based approach for data compression using dynamic programming

The evolutionary status of the semiregular variable QYSge

Repeated spectroscopic observations made with the 6m telescope of yielded new data on the radial-velocity variability of the anomalous yellow supergiant QYSge. The strongest and most peculiar feature in its spectrum is the complex profile of NaI D lines, which contains a narrow and a very wide emission components. The wide emission component can be seen to extend from -170 to +120 km/s, and at its central part it is cut by an absorption feature, which, in turn, is split into two subcomponents by a narrow (16km/s at r=2.5) emission peak. An analysis of all the Vr values leads us to adopt for the star a systemic velocity of Vr=-21.1 km/s, which corresponds to the position of the narrow emission component of NaI. The locations of emission-line features of NaI D lines are invariable, which point to their formation in regions that are external to the supergiant's photosphere. Differential line shifts of about 10km/s are revealed. The absorption lines in the spectrum of QYSge have a substantial width of FWHM~45 km/s. The method of model atmospheres is used to determine the following parameters: Teff=6250K, lg g=2.0, and microturbulence Vt=4.5km/s. The metallicity of the star is found to be somewhat higher than the solar one with an average overabundance of iron-peak elements of [Met/H]=+0.20. The star is found to be slightly overabundant in carbon and nitrogen, [C/Fe]=+0.25, [N/Fe]=+0.27. The alpha-process elements Mg, Si, and Ca are slightly overabundant [alpha/H]=+0.12. The strong sodium excess, [Na/Fe]=+0.75, is likely to be due to the dredge-up of the matter processed in the NeNa cycle. Heavy elements of the s-process are underabundant relative to the Sun. On the whole, the observed properties of QYSge do not give grounds for including this star into the group of RCrB or RVTau-type type objects.Comment: 29 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables; accepted by Astrophys. Bulleti

White Lines and 3d-Occupancy for the 3d Transition-Metal Oxides

Electron energy-loss spectrometry was employed to measure the white lines at the L23 absorption edges of the 3d transition-metal oxides and lithium transition-metal oxides. The white-line ratio (L3/L2) was found to increase between d^0 and d^5 and decrease between d^5 and d^10, consistent with previous results for the transition metals and their oxides. The intensities of the white lines, normalized to the post-edge background, are linear for the 3d transition-metal oxides and lithium transition-metal oxides. An empirical correlation between normalized white-line intensity and 3d occupancy is established. It provides a method for measuring changes in the 3d-state occupancy. As an example, this empirical relationship is used to measure changes in the transition-metal valences of Li_{1-x}Ni_{0.8}Co_{0.2}O_2 in the range of 0 < x < 0.64. In these experiments the 3d occupancy of the nickel ion decreased upon lithium deintercalation, while the cobalt valence remained constant.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure

XMM observations of the narrow-line QSO PHL 1092: Detection of a high and variable soft component

We present results based on an XMM-Newton observation of the high luminosity narrow-line QSO PHL 1092 performed in 2003 January. The 0.3 - 10 keV spectrum is well described by a model which includes a power-law (Gamma ~ 2.1) and two blackbody components (kT ~ 130 eV and kT ~ 50 eV). The soft X-ray excess emission is featureless and contributes ~ 80% to the total X-ray emission in the 0.3 - 10 keV band. The most remarkable feature of the present observation is the detection of X-ray variability at very short time scale: the X-ray emission varied by 35% in about 5000 s. We find that this variability can be explained by assuming that only the overall normalization varied during the observation. There was no evidence for any short term spectral variability and the spectral shape was similar even during the ASCA observation carried out in 1997. Considering the high intrinsic luminosity (~ 2x10^45 erg/s) and the large inferred mass of the putative black hole (~ 1.6x10^8 M_sun), the observed time scale of variability indicates emission at close to Eddington luminosity arising from very close to the black hole. We suggest that PHL 1092 in particular (and narrow line Seyfert galaxies in general) is a fast rotating black hole emitting close to its Eddington luminosity and the X-ray emission corresponds to the high-soft state seen in Galactic black hole sources.Comment: 7 figures, 8 pages, emulateapj style, ApJ in pres

Peculiarities and variations in the optical spectrum of the post-AGB star V448Lac=IRAS22223+4327

Repeated observations with high spectral resolution acquired in 1998-2008 are used to study the temporal behavior of the spectral line profiles and velocity field in the atmosphere and circumstellar envelope of the post-AGB star V448Lac. Asymmetry of the profiles of the strongest absorption lines with low-level excitation potentials less 1eV and time variations of these profiles have been detected, most prominently the profiles of the resonance lines of BaII, YII, LaII, SiII. The peculiarity of these profiles can be explained using a superposition of stellar absorption line and shell emission lines. Emission in the (0;1) 5635A Swan band of the C2 molecule has been detected in the spectrum of V448Lac for the first time. The core of the Halpha line displays radial velocity variations with an amplitude ~8 km/s. Radial velocity variations displayed by weakest metallic lines with lower amplitudes, 1-2 km/s, may be due to atmospheric pulsations. Differential line shifts, 0 -- 8 km/s, have been detected on various dates. The position of the molecular spectrum is stationary in time, indicating a constant expansion velocity of the circumstellar shell, Vexp=15.2 km/s, as derived from the C2 and NaI lines.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, 1 tabl

Phonon dispersion and electron-phonon interaction in peanut-shaped fullerene polymers

We reveal that the periodic radius modulation peculiar to one-dimensional (1D) peanut-shaped fullerene (C$_{60}$) polymers exerts a strong influence on their low-frequency phonon states and their interactions with mobile electrons. The continuum approximation is employed to show the zone-folding of phonon dispersion curves, which leads to fast relaxation of a radial breathing mode in the 1D C$_{60}$ polymers. We also formulate the electron-phonon interaction along the deformation potential theory, demonstrating that only a few set of electron and phonon modes yields a significant magnitude of the interaction relevant to the low-temperature physics of the system. The latter finding gives an important implication for the possible Peierls instability of the C$_{60}$ polymers suggested in the earlier experiment.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure

Reentrant Peak Effect in an anisotropic superconductor 2H-NbSe_2 : Role of disorder

The reentrant nature of Peak Effect is established in a single crystal of 2H-NbSe_2 via electrical transport and dc magnetisation studies. The role of disorder on the reentrant branch of PE has been examined in three single crystals with varying levels of quenched random disorder. Increasing disorder presumably shrinks the (H,T) parameter space over which vortex array retains spatial order. Although, the upper branch of the PE curve is somewhat robust, the lower reentrant branch of the same curve is strongly affected by disorder.Comment: 5 Pages of text, 4 figure