Three-Dimensional Acoustic Displays In A Museum Employing WFS (Wave Field Synthesis) And HOA (High Order Ambisonics)

The paper describes the sound systems and the listening rooms installed in the new "museum of reproduced sound", actually being built in Parma, restoring an ancient church. The museum is devoted to the exposition of a huge collection of antique radios and gramophones, but it will also exploit the frontiers of modern methods for immersive surround reproduction: WFS and HOA. In the main hall, a large planar WFS loudspeaker array is employed for inviting the visitors to enter the world of sound reproduction, providing stunning effects and emotional sounds enveloping them from many directions. At the end of the exposition path, a special HOA space is employed for showing the recent developments of recording/reproduction methods started from the Ambisonics concept, capable of creating natural reproduction of sport events, live music and other immersive acoustical experiences; in this room also a binaural/transaural system is available. A second, larger listening room capable of 30seats is equipped with a horizontal WFS array covering the complete perimeter of the room. The paper describes the technology employed, the problems encountered due to the difficult acoustical conditions (the museum was formerly a church), and the novel software tools developed for the purpose on LINUX platforms

Network information and connected correlations

Entropy and information provide natural measures of correlation among elements in a network. We construct here the information theoretic analog of connected correlation functions: irreducible $N$--point correlation is measured by a decrease in entropy for the joint distribution of $N$ variables relative to the maximum entropy allowed by all the observed $N-1$ variable distributions. We calculate the ``connected information'' terms for several examples, and show that it also enables the decomposition of the information that is carried by a population of elements about an outside source.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

CariesCare practice guide : consensus on evidence into practice

This CariesCare practice guide is derived from the International Caries Classification and Management System (ICCMS) and provides a structured update for dentists to help them deliver optimal caries care and outcomes for their patients. This '4D cycle' is a practice-building format, which both prevents and controls caries and can engage patients as long-term health partners with their practice. CariesCare International (CCI™) promotes a patient-centred, risk-based approach to caries management designed for dental practice. This comprises a health outcomes-focused system that aims to maintain oral health and preserve tooth structure in the long-term. It guides the dental team through a four-step process (4D system), leading to personalised interventions: 1st D: Determine Caries Risk; 2nd D: Detect lesions, stage their severity and assess their activity status; 3rd D: Decide on the most appropriate care plan for the specific patient at that time; and then, finally, 4th D: Do the preventive and tooth-preserving care which is needed (including risk-appropriate preventive care; control of initial non-cavitated lesions; and conservative restorative treatment of deep dentinal and cavitated caries lesions). CariesCare International has designed this practice-friendly consensus guide to summarise best practice as informed by the best available evidence. Following the guide should also increase patient satisfaction, involvement, wellbeing and value, by being less invasive and more health-focused. For the dentist it should also provide benefits at the professional and practice levels including improved medico-legal protection

Weak pairwise correlations imply strongly correlated network states in a neural population

Biological networks have so many possible states that exhaustive sampling is impossible. Successful analysis thus depends on simplifying hypotheses, but experiments on many systems hint that complicated, higher order interactions among large groups of elements play an important role. In the vertebrate retina, we show that weak correlations between pairs of neurons coexist with strongly collective behavior in the responses of ten or more neurons. Surprisingly, we find that this collective behavior is described quantitatively by models that capture the observed pairwise correlations but assume no higher order interactions. These maximum entropy models are equivalent to Ising models, and predict that larger networks are completely dominated by correlation effects. This suggests that the neural code has associative or error-correcting properties, and we provide preliminary evidence for such behavior. As a first test for the generality of these ideas, we show that similar results are obtained from networks of cultured cortical neurons.Comment: Full account of work presented at the conference on Computational and Systems Neuroscience (COSYNE), 17-20 March 2005, in Salt Lake City, Utah (http://cosyne.org

Non-invasive study of natural dyes on historical textiles from the collection of Michelangelo Guggenheim

A selection of historical textile fragments from the Venetian art dealer Moisè Michelangelo Guggenheim collection, ranging from XV to XVIII century, has been investigated by means of non-invasive techniques in order to reveal the coloring materials. Imaging was preliminarily used to visually investigate the selected artwork fragments in order to investigate their structure and conservation conditions; Fiber Optics Reflectance Spectroscopy (FORS) allowed recognizing the main natural dyestuffs, such as indigotin and anthraquinones-based compounds, except the yellow ones, difficultly identifiable when using this non-invasive technique. Collected spectroscopic data have been also elaborated by using a clustering algorithm that permitted to group collected spectra on the basis of similar properties and evidencing their inflection point wavelength as the most influencing feature

Search for a Fourth-Generation Quark More Massive than the Z0 Boson in ppbar Collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.8 TeV

We present the results of a search for pair production of a fourth-generation charge -1/3 quark (b') in sqrt(s)=1.8 TeV ppbar collisions using 88 pb^(-1) of data obtained with the Collider Detector at Fermilab. We assume that both quarks decay via the flavor-changing neutral current process b' -> bZ and that the b' mass is greater than m_Z + m_b. We studied the decay mode b'b'bar -> ZZ b bbar where one Z0 decays into e^+e^- or mu^+ mu^- and the other decays hadronically, giving a signature of two leptons plus jets. An upper limit on the cross section of ppbar -> b'b'bar times [BR (b' -> bZ)]^2 is established as a function of the b' mass. We exclude at 95% confidence level a b' quark with mass between 100 and 199 GeV/c^2 for BR(b' -> bZ) = 100%.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Letters on 9/12/9

Search for the Supersymmetric Partner of the Top-Quark in ppˉp \bar{p} Collisions at s=1.8TeV\sqrt{s} = 1.8 {\rm TeV}

We report on a search for the supersymmetric partner of the top quark (stop) produced in $t \bar{t}$ events using $110 {\rm pb}^{-1}$ of $p \bar{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 1.8 {\rm TeV}$ recorded with the Collider Detector at Fermilab. In the case of a light stop squark, the decay of the top quark into stop plus the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) could have a significant branching ratio. The observed events are consistent with Standard Model $t \bar{t}$ production and decay. Hence, we set limits on the branching ratio of the top quark decaying into stop plus LSP, excluding branching ratios above 45% for a LSP mass up to 40 {\rm GeV/c}$^{2}$.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Measurement of the Helicity of W Bosons in Top Quark Decays

We use the transverse momentum spectrum of leptons in the decay chain t-->bW with W-->l nu to measure the helicity of the W bosons in the top quark rest frame. Our measurement uses a ttbar sample isolated in 106 +/- 4 inverse picobarns of data collected in ppbar collisions at sqrt(s)=1.8 TeV with the CDF detector at the Fermilab Tevatron. Assuming a standard V--A weak decay, we find that the fraction of W's with zero helicity in the top rest frame is F_0 = 0.91 +/- 0.37 (stat) +/- 0.13 (syst), consistent with the standard model prediction of F_0=0.70 for a top mass of 175 GeV/c**2.Comment: Submitted to PRL. 8 pages, 2 figure

Measurement of the Strong Coupling Constant from Inclusive Jet Production at the Tevatron pˉp\bar pp Collider

We report a measurement of the strong coupling constant, $\alpha_s(M_Z)$, extracted from inclusive jet production in $p\bar{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=$1800 GeV. The QCD prediction for the evolution of $\alpha_s$ with jet transverse energy $E_T$ is tested over the range 40<$E_T$<450 GeV using $E_T$ for the renormalization scale. The data show good agreement with QCD in the region below 250 GeV. In the text we discuss the data-theory comparison in the region from 250 to 450 GeV. The value of $\alpha_s$ at the mass of the $Z^0$ boson averaged over the range 40<$E_T$<250 GeV is found to be $\alpha_s(M_{Z})= 0.1178 \pm 0.0001{(\rm stat)}^{+0.0081}_{-0.0095}{\rm (exp. syst)}$. The associated theoretical uncertainties are mainly due to the choice of renormalization scale (^{+6%}_{-4%}) and input parton distribution functions (5%).Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, using RevTeX. Submitted to Physical Review Letter