Simulating Vocal Imitation in Infants, using a Growth Articulatory Model and Speech Robotics

In order to shed lights on the cognitive representations likely to underlie early vocal imitation, we tried to simulate Kuhl and Meltzoff's experiment (1996), using Bayesian robotics and a statistical model of the vocal tract that had been fitted to pre-babblers' actual vocalizations. It was shown that audition is compulsory to account for infants' early vocal imitation performance, inasmuch as the simulation of purely visual imitation failed to reproduce infants' score and pattern of imitation. Further, a small number of vocalizations (less than 100!) appeared to be enough for a learning process to provide scores at least as high as those of pre-babblers. Thus, early vocal imitation lies in the reach of a baby robot, with only a few assumptions about learning and imitation

B+ and Ds+ Decay Constants from Belle and Babar

The Belle and Babar experiments have measured the branching fractions for B+ -> tau+ nu and Ds+ -> mu+ nu decays. From these measurements one can extract the B+ and Ds+ decay constants, which can be compared to lattice QCD calculations. For the Ds+ decay constant, there is currently a 2.1 sigma difference between the calculated value and the measured value.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, 1 table, contribution to the Tenth Conference on the Intersections of Particle and Nuclear Physics (CIPANP 2009), San Diego, Californi

Topographic Shear and the Relation of Ocular Dominance Columns to Orientation Columns in Prime and Cat Visual Cortex

Shear has been known to exist for many years in the topographic structure of prirnary visual cortex, but has received little attention in the modeling literature. Although the topographic map of V1 is largely conformal (i.e. zero shear), several groups have observed topographic shear in the region of the V1/V2 border. Furthennore, shear has also been revealed by anisotropy of cortical magnification factor within a single ocular dominance colunm. In the present paper, we make a functional hypothesis: the major axis of the topographic shear tensor provides cortical neurons with a preferred direction of orientation tuning. We demonstrate that isotropic neuronal summation of a sheared topographic map, in the presence of additional random shear can provide the major features of corlical functional architecture with the ocular dominance column system acting as the principal source of the shear tensor. The major principal axis of the shear tensor determines the direction and its eigenvalues the relative strength of cortical orientation preference. This hypothesis is then shown to be qualitatively consistent with a variety of experimental results on cat and monkey orientation column properties obtained from optical recording and from other anatomical and physiological techniques. In addition, we show that a recent result of (Das and Gilbert, 1997) is consistent with an infinite set of parameterized solutions for the cortical map. We exploit this freedom to choose a particular instance of the Das-Gilbert solution set which is consistent with the full range of local spatial structure in V1. These results suggest that further relationships between ocular dominance columns, orientation columns, and local topography may be revealed by experimental testing

A Relativistic Quaternionic Wave Equation

We study a one-component quaternionic wave equation which is relativistically covariant. Bi-linear forms include a conserved 4-current and an antisymmetric second rank tensor. Waves propagate within the light-cone and there is a conserved quantity which looks like helicity. The principle of superposition is retained in a slightly altered manner. External potentials can be introduced in a way that allows for gauge invariance. There are some results for scattering theory and for two-particle wavefunctions as well as the beginnings of second quantization. However, we are unable to find a suitable Lagrangian or an energy-momentum tensor.Comment: 19 pages; minor corrections in Section 11 and Appendix

Impact of propulsion system R and D on electric vehicle performance and cost

The efficiency, weight, and manufacturing cost of the propulsion subsystem (motor, motor controller, transmission, and differential, but excluding the battery) are major factors in the purchase price and cost of ownership of a traffic-compatible electric vehicle. The relative impact of each was studied, and the conclusions reached are that propulsion system technology advances can result in a major reduction of the sticker price of an electric vehicle and a smaller, but significant, reduction in overall cost of ownership

Survey of electric power plants for space applications

Fuel and solar cells, chemical batteries, Rankine and Brayton cycle power plants, thermoelectric generators, and thermionic converters for space power application

1-loop matching and NNLL resummation for all partonic 2 to 2 processes in QCD

The Wilson Coefficients for all 4-parton operators which arise in matching QCD to Soft-Collinear Effective Theory (SCET) are computed at 1-loop. Any dijet observable calculated in SCET beyond leading order will require these results. The Wilson coefficients are separated by spin and color, although most applications will involve only the spin-averaged hard functions. The anomalous dimensions for the Wilson coefficients are given to 2-loop order, and the renormalization group equations are solved explicitly. This will allow for analytical resummation of dijet observables to next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy. For each channel, there is a natural basis in which the evolution is diagonal in color space. The same basis also diagonalizes the color evolution for the soft function. Even though soft functions required for SCET calculations are observable dependent, it is shown that their renormalization group evolution is almost completely determined by a universal structure. With these results, it will be possible to calculate hadronic event shapes or other dijet observables to next-to-leading order with next-to-next-to-leading log resummation.Comment: 28 pages, 5 tables; v2: typo corrected in Eq. (56

A reliable all-silver front contact for silicon solar cells

The feasibility of making an adherent and moisture degradation resistant silver-only front contact to silicon solar cells was demonstrated. Optimum fabrication processes and process sequences were determined for making such contacts. These contacts were found to also have good electrical characteristics. A back contact of aluminum-silver was also developed. This proved very satisfactory for low-temperature applications

Current status of one- and two-dimensional numerical models: Successes and limitations

The capabilities of one and two-dimensional numerical solar cell modeling programs (SCAP1D and SCAP2D) are described. The occasions when a two-dimensional model is required are discussed. The application of the models to design, analysis, and prediction are presented along with a discussion of problem areas for solar cell modeling

Excess mortality during heat waves in Ireland

Ireland is not known for having extreme high temperatures, with values above 30C uncommon. Ireland has significant excess winter mortality compared to summer. The objective of this study is to estimate the impact of nation-wide heat waves on the total, cardiovascular and respiratory relationship, for the period 1981–2003, to determine if there are any periods of excess summer mortality