5,404 research outputs found
Algorithms for 3D rigidity analysis and a first order percolation transition
A fast computer algorithm, the pebble game, has been used successfully to
study rigidity percolation on 2D elastic networks, as well as on a special
class of 3D networks, the bond-bending networks. Application of the pebble game
approach to general 3D networks has been hindered by the fact that the
underlying mathematical theory is, strictly speaking, invalid in this case. We
construct an approximate pebble game algorithm for general 3D networks, as well
as a slower but exact algorithm, the relaxation algorithm, that we use for
testing the new pebble game. Based on the results of these tests and additional
considerations, we argue that in the particular case of randomly diluted
central-force networks on BCC and FCC lattices, the pebble game is essentially
exact. Using the pebble game, we observe an extremely sharp jump in the largest
rigid cluster size in bond-diluted central-force networks in 3D, with the
percolating cluster appearing and taking up most of the network after a single
bond addition. This strongly suggests a first order rigidity percolation
transition, which is in contrast to the second order transitions found
previously for the 2D central-force and 3D bond-bending networks. While a first
order rigidity transition has been observed for Bethe lattices and networks
with ``chemical order'', this is the first time it has been seen for a regular
randomly diluted network. In the case of site dilution, the transition is also
first order for BCC, but results for FCC suggest a second order transition.
Even in bond-diluted lattices, while the transition appears massively first
order in the order parameter (the percolating cluster size), it is continuous
in the elastic moduli. This, and the apparent non-universality, make this phase
transition highly unusual.Comment: 28 pages, 19 figure
SketchSynth: Cross-Modal Control of Sound Synthesis
This paper introduces a prototype of SketchSynth, a system that enables users to graphically control synthesis using sketches of cross-modal associations between sound and shape. The development is motivated by finding alternatives to technical synthesiser controls to enable a more intuitive realisation of sound ideas. There is strong evidence that humans share cross-modal associations between sound and shapes, and recent studies found similar patterns when humans represent sound graphically. Compared to similar cross-modal mapping architectures, this prototype uses a deep classifier that predicts the character of a sound rather than a specific sound. The prediction is then mapped onto a semantically annotated FM synthesiser dataset. This approach allows for a perceptual evaluation of the mapping model and gives the possibility to be combined with various sound datasets. Two models based on architectures commonly used for sketch recognition were compared, convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and recurrent neural networks (RNNs). In an evaluation study, 62 participants created sketches from prompts and rated the predicted audio output. Both models were able to infer sound characteristics on which they were trained with over 84% accuracy. Participant ratings were significantly higher than the baseline for some prompts, but revealed a potential weak point in the mapping between classifier output and FM synthesiser. The prototype provides the basis for further development that, in the next step, aims to make SketchSynth available online to be explored outside of a study environment
Terminal velocity and drag reduction measurements on superhydrophobic spheres
Super water-repellent surfaces occur naturally on plants and aquatic insects and are created in the laboratory by combining micro- or nanoscale surface topographic features with hydrophobic surface chemistry. When such types of water-repellent surfaces are submerged they can retain a film of air (a plastron). In this work, we report measurements of the terminal velocity of solid acrylic spheres with various surface treatments settling under the action of gravity in water. We observed increases in terminal velocity corresponding to drag reduction of between 5% and 15% for superhydrophobic surfaces that carry plastrons
Stressed backbone and elasticity of random central-force systems
We use a new algorithm to find the stress-carrying backbone of ``generic''
site-diluted triangular lattices of up to 10^6 sites. Generic lattices can be
made by randomly displacing the sites of a regular lattice. The percolation
threshold is Pc=0.6975 +/- 0.0003, the correlation length exponent \nu =1.16
+/- 0.03 and the fractal dimension of the backbone Db=1.78 +/- 0.02. The number
of ``critical bonds'' (if you remove them rigidity is lost) on the backbone
scales as L^{x}, with x=0.85 +/- 0.05. The Young's modulus is also calculated.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, uses epsfi
Microstructure and magnetization of doped Y-Ba-Ca-O materials prepared by melt quench and post annealing method
Y-Ba-Cu-O bulk materials prepared using the melt quench and post annealing method were shown to have very high maximum as well as remanent magnetization. Studies were carried out on materials prepared using this method which deviate from the Y:Ba:Cu = 1:2:3 stoichiometry. In one series of materials, only the stoichiometry was changed, in particular by introducing an excess of yttrium. In other cases, dopants including several rare earths were introduced. Effects of variations in composition on microstructure and phase evolution are discussed, as well as effects on the magnetic susceptibility and on the magnetization. The results show that doped materials can exhibit improvements in magnetic properties. Furthermore, the use of dopants sheds light on the role of defect sites in flux pinning
Spin recovery in the 25nm gate length InGaAs field effect transistore
We augmented an ensemble Monte-Carlo semiconductor device simulator [3] to incorporate electron spin degrees of freedom using a Bloch equation model to investigate the feasibility of spintronic devices. Results are presented for the steady state polarization and polarization decay due to scattering and spin orbit coupling for a III-V MOSFET device as a function of gate voltages, injection polarization and strain
The role of science in physical natural hazard assessment : report to the UK Government by the Natural Hazard Working Group
Following the tragic Asian tsunami on 26 December 2004, the Prime Minister asked
the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir David King, to convene a group of
experts (the Natural Hazard Working Group) to advise on the mechanisms that could
and should be established for the detection and early warning of global physical
natural hazards.
2. The Group was asked to examine physical hazards which have high global or regional
impact and for which an appropriate early warning system could be put in place. It
was also asked to consider the global natural hazard frameworks currently in place
and under development and their effectiveness in using scientific evidence; to
consider whether there is an existing appropriate international body to pull together
the international science community to advise governments on the systems that need
to be put in place, and to advise on research needed to fill current gaps in knowledge.
The Group was asked to make recommendations on whether a new body was
needed, or whether other arrangements would be more effective
The Size of the Radio-Emitting Region in Low-luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei
We have used the VLA to study radio variability among a sample of 18 low
luminosity active galactic nuclei (LLAGNs), on time scales of a few hours to 10
days. The goal was to measure or limit the sizes of the LLAGN radio-emitting
regions, in order to use the size measurements as input to models of the radio
emission mechanisms in LLAGNs. We detect variability on typical time scales of
a few days, at a confidence level of 99%, in half of the target galaxies.
Either variability that is intrinsic to the radio emitting regions, or that is
caused by scintillation in the Galactic interstellar medium, is consistent with
the data. For either interpretation, the brightness temperature of the emission
is below the inverse-Compton limit for all of our LLAGNs, and has a mean value
of about 1E10 K. The variability measurements plus VLBI upper limits imply that
the typical angular size of the LLAGN radio cores at 8.5 GHz is 0.2
milliarcseconds, plus or minus a factor of two. The ~ 1E10 K brightness
temperature strongly suggests that a population of high-energy nonthermal
electrons must be present, in addition to a hypothesized thermal population in
an accretion flow, in order to produce the observed radio emission.Comment: 61 pages, 17 figures, 10 tables. Accepted for publication in the
Astrophysical Journa
Supervised Learning in Multilayer Spiking Neural Networks
The current article introduces a supervised learning algorithm for multilayer
spiking neural networks. The algorithm presented here overcomes some
limitations of existing learning algorithms as it can be applied to neurons
firing multiple spikes and it can in principle be applied to any linearisable
neuron model. The algorithm is applied successfully to various benchmarks, such
as the XOR problem and the Iris data set, as well as complex classifications
problems. The simulations also show the flexibility of this supervised learning
algorithm which permits different encodings of the spike timing patterns,
including precise spike trains encoding.Comment: 38 pages, 4 figure
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