Wireless recording of the calls of Rousettus aegyptiacus and their reproduction using electrostatic transducers

Bats are capable of imaging their surroundings in great detail using echolocation. To apply similar methods to human engineering systems requires the capability to measure and recreate the signals used, and to understand the processing applied to returning echoes. In this work, the emitted and reflected echolocation signals of Rousettus aegyptiacus are recorded while the bat is in flight, using a wireless sensor mounted on the bat. The sensor is designed to replicate the acoustic gain control which bats are known to use, applying a gain to returning echoes that is dependent on the incurred time delay. Employing this technique allows emitted and reflected echolocation calls, which have a wide dynamic range, to be recorded. The recorded echoes demonstrate the complexity of environment reconstruction using echolocation. The sensor is also used to make accurate recordings of the emitted calls, and these calls are recreated in the laboratory using custom-built wideband electrostatic transducers, allied with a spectral equalization technique. This technique is further demonstrated by recreating multi-harmonic bioinspired FM chirps. The ability to record and accurately synthesize echolocation calls enables the exploitation of biological signals in human engineering systems for sonar, materials characterization and imaging

Observations of industrial sulfur flows and implications for Io

The possibility of sulfur flows on the Jovian satellite Io is discussed. Although the primary problem is lack of sufficient information to resolve the issue, interpretations of existing data are hampered by poor knowledge of the thermal properties and rheologic behavior of sulfur flows, especially under conditions present on Io. Relatively few natural sulfur flows occur on Earth and only one has been seen in active flow. However, recent observations of industrial sulfur flows, which are much larger than those produced experimentally, may provide important information concerning natural sulfur flows on both Earth and Io

The centred travelling salesman at high temperature

A recently formulated statistical mechanics method is used to study the phase transition occurring in a generalisation of the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) known as the centred TSP. The method shows that the problem has clear signs of a crossover, but is only able to access (unscaled) finite temperatures above the transition point. The solution of the problem using this method displays a curious duality

Slow synaptic transmission in frog sympathetic ganglia

Bullfrog ganglia contain two classes of neurone, B and C cells, which receive different inputs and exhibit different slow synaptic potentials. B cells, to which most effort has been directed, possess slow and late slow EPSPs. The sEPSP reflects a muscarinic action of acetylcholine released from boutons on B cells, whereas the late sEPSP is caused by a peptide (similar to teleost LHRH) released from boutons on C cells. During either sEPSP there is a selective reduction in two slow potassium conductances, designated 'M' and 'AHP'. The M conductance is voltage dependent and the AHP conductance is calcium dependent. Normally they act synergistically to prevent repetitive firing of action potentials during maintained stimuli. Computer stimulation of the interactions of these conductances with the other five voltage-dependent conductances present in the membrane allows a complete reconstruction of the effects of slow synaptic transmission on electrical behaviour

An Algorithmic Test for Diagonalizability of Finite-Dimensional PT-Invariant Systems

A non-Hermitean operator does not necessarily have a complete set of eigenstates, contrary to a Hermitean one. An algorithm is presented which allows one to decide whether the eigenstates of a given PT-invariant operator on a finite-dimensional space are complete or not. In other words, the algorithm checks whether a given PT-symmetric matrix is diagonalizable. The procedure neither requires to calculate any single eigenvalue nor any numerical approximation.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figur

Thermodynamic and magnetic properties of the layered triangular magnet NaNiO2

We report muon-spin rotation, heat capacity, magnetization, and ac magnetic susceptibility measurements of the layered spin-1/2 antiferromagnet NaNiO2. These show the onset of long-range magnetic order below T_N = 19.5K. Rapid muon depolarization persisting to about 5K above T_N is consistent with the presence of short-range magnetic order. The temperature and frequency dependence of the ac susceptibility suggests that magnetic clusters persist above 25K in the paramagnetic state and that their volume fraction decreases with increasing temperature. A frequency dependent peak in the ac magnetic susceptibility at T_sf = 3K is observed, consistent with a slowing of spin fluctuations at this temperature. A partial magnetic phase diagram is deduced.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

A Study of Activated Processes in Soft Sphere Glass

On the basis of long simulations of a binary mixture of soft spheres just below the glass transition, we make an exploratory study of the activated processes that contribute to the dynamics. We concentrate on statistical measures of the size of the activated processes.Comment: 17 pages, 9 postscript figures with epsf, uses harvmac.te