12,943 research outputs found
Analog voicing detector responds to pitch
Modified electronic voice encoder /Vocoder/ includes an independent analog mode of operation in addition to the conventional digital mode. The Vocoder is a bandwidth compression equipment that permits voice transmission over channels, having only a fraction of the bandwidth required for conventional telephone-quality speech transmission
Automated Retrieval of Non-Engineering Domain Solutions to Engineering Problems
Organised by: Cranfield UniversityBiological inspiration for engineering design has occurred through a variety of techniques such as creation
and use of databases, keyword searches of biological information in natural-language format, prior
knowledge of biology, and chance observations of nature. This research focuses on utilizing the reconciled
Functional Basis function and flow terms to identify suitable biological inspiration for function based design.
The organized search provides two levels of results: (1) associated with verb function only and (2) narrowed
results associated with verb-noun (function-flow). A set of heuristics has been complied to promote efficient
searching using this technique. An example for creating smart flooring is also presented and discussed.Mori Seiki – The Machine Tool Compan
Content & Watkins's account of natural axiomatizations
This paper briefly recounts the importance of the notion of natural axiomatizations for explicating hypothetico-deductivism, empirical significance, theoretical reduction, and organic fertility. Problems for the account of natural axiomatizations developed by John Watkins in Science and Scepticism and the revised account developed by Elie Zahar are demonstrated. It is then shown that Watkins's account can be salvaged from various counter-examples in a principled way by adding the demand that every axiom of a natural axiomatization should be part of the content of the theory being axiomatized. The crucial point here is that content cannot simply be identified with the set of logical consequences of a theory, but must be restricted to a proper subset of the consequence set. It is concluded that the revised Watkins account has certain advantages over the account of natural axiomatizations offered in Gemes (1993)
Hubble flow variance and the cosmic rest frame
We characterize the radial and angular variance of the Hubble flow in the
COMPOSITE sample of 4534 galaxies, on scales in which much of the flow is in
the nonlinear regime. With no cosmological assumptions other than the existence
of a suitably averaged linear Hubble law, we find with decisive Bayesian
evidence (ln B >> 5) that the Hubble constant averaged in independent spherical
radial shells is closer to its asymptotic value when referred to the rest frame
of the Local Group, rather than the standard rest frame of the Cosmic Microwave
Background. An exception occurs for radial shells in the range 40/h-60/h Mpc.
Angular averages reveal a dipole structure in the Hubble flow, whose amplitude
changes markedly over the range 32/h-62/h Mpc. Whereas the LG frame dipole is
initially constant and then decreases significantly, the CMB frame dipole
initially decreases but then increases. The map of angular Hubble flow
variation in the LG rest frame is found to coincide with that of the residual
CMB temperature dipole, with correlation coefficient -0.92. These results are
difficult to reconcile with the standard kinematic interpretation of the motion
of the Local Group in response to the clustering dipole, but are consistent
with a foreground non-kinematic anisotropy in the distance-redshift relation of
0.5% on scales up to 65/h Mpc. Effectively, the differential expansion of space
produced by nearby nonlinear structures of local voids and denser walls and
filaments cannot be reduced to a local boost. This hypothesis suggests a
reinterpretation of bulk flows, which may potentially impact on calibration of
supernovae distances, anomalies associated with large angles in the CMB
anisotropy spectrum, and the dark flow inferred from the kinematic
Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect. It is consistent with recent studies that find
evidence for a non-kinematic dipole in the distribution of distant radio
sources.Comment: 37 pages, 9 tables, 13 figures; v2 adds extensive new analysis
(including additional subsections, tables, figures); v3 adds a Monte Carlo
analysis (with additional table, figure) which further tightens the
statistical robustness of the dipole results; v4 adds further clarifications,
small corrections, references and discussion of Planck satellite results; v5
typos fixed, matches published versio
The dependence of solar wind burst size on burst duration and its invariance across solar cycles 23 and 24
Time series of solar wind variables are “bursty” in nature. Bursts, or excursions, in the time series of solar wind parameters are associated with various transient structures in the solar wind plasma, and are often the drivers of increased space weather activity in Earth's magnetosphere. We define bursts by setting a threshold value of the time series and identifying how often, and for how long, it is exceeded. This allows us to study how the statistical distributions and scaling properties of burst parameters vary over solar cycles 23 and 24. We find the distributions of burst duration and integrated burst size vary over the solar cycle, and between the equivalent phases of consecutive cycles. However, there exists a single power law scaling relation between burst size and duration, with a joint area‐duration scaling exponent α that is independent of the solar cycle. This provides a solar cycle invariant constraint between possible sizes and durations of solar wind bursts that can occur
HST astrometry in the 30 Doradus region: II. Runaway stars from new proper motions in the Large Magellanic Cloud
We present a catalog of relative proper motions for 368,787 stars in the 30
Doradus region of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), based on a dedicated
two-epoch survey with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and supplemented with
proper motions from our pilot archival study. We demonstrate that a relatively
short epoch difference of 3 years is sufficient to reach a 0.1 mas
yr level of precision or better. A number of stars have relative proper
motions exceeding a 3-sigma error threshold, representing a mixture of Milky
Way denizens and 17 potential LMC runaway stars. Based upon 183 VFTS OB-stars
with the best proper motions, we conclude that none of them move faster than
0.3 mas yr in each coordinate -- equivalent to 70 km
s. Among the remaining 351 VFTS stars with less accurate proper motions,
only one candidate OB runaway can be identified. We rule out any OB star in our
sample moving at a tangential velocity exceeding 120 km s. The
most significant result of this study is finding 10 stars over wide range of
masses, which appear to be ejected from the massive star cluster R136 in the
tangential plane to angular distances from out to
, equivalent to 8-98 pc. The tangential velocities of these
runaways appear to be correlated with apparent magnitude, indicating a possible
dependence on the stellar mass.Comment: 45 pages (in referee format), 12 figures, 3 tables. Submitted to AJ.
Comments are welcom
Assessing gender mainstreaming in the education sector: depoliticised technique or a step towards women's rights and gender equality?
In 1995 the Beijing Conference on Women identified gender mainstreaming as a key area for action. Policies to effect gender mainstreaming have since been widely adopted. This special issue of Compare looks at research on how gender mainstreaming has been used in government education departments, schools, higher education institutions, international agencies and NGOs .1 In this introduction we first provide a brief history of the emergence of gender mainstreaming and review changing definitions of the term. In the process we outline some policy initiatives that have attempted to mainstream gender and consider some difficulties with putting ideas into practice, particularly the tensions between a technical and transformative interpretations . Much of the literature about experiences with gender mainstreaming tends to look at organizational processes and not any specificities of a particular social sector. However, in our second section, we are concerned to explore whether institutional forms and particular actions associated with education give gender mainstreaming in education sites some distinctive features. In our last section we consider some of the debates about global and local negotiations in discussions of gender policy and education and the light this throws on gender mainstreaming. In so doing, we place the articles that follow in relation to contestations over ownership, political economy, the form and content of education practice and the social complexity of gender equality
'I-I' and 'I-me' : Transposing Buber's interpersonal attitudes to the intrapersonal plane
Hermans' polyphonic model of the self proposes that dialogical relationships can be established between multiple I-positions1 (e.g., Hermans, 2001a). There have been few attempts, however, to explicitly characterize the forms that these intrapersonal relationships may take. Drawing on Buber's (1958) distinction between the 'I-Thou' and 'I-It' attitude, it is proposed that intrapersonal relationships can take one of two forms: an 'I-I' form, in which one I-position encounters and confirms another I-position in its uniqueness and wholeness; and an 'I-Me' form, in which one I-position experiences another I-position in a detached and objectifying way. This article argues that this I-Me form of intrapersonal relating is associated with psychological distress, and that this is so for a number of reasons: Most notably, because an individual who objectifies and subjugates certain I-position cannot reconnect with more central I-positions when dominance reversal (Hermans, 2001a) takes place. On this basis, it is suggested that a key role of the therapeutic process is to help clients become more able to experience moments of I-I intrapersonal encounter, and it is argued that this requires the therapist to confirm the client both as a whole and in terms of each of his or her different voices
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