NNNLO correction to the toponium and bottomonium wave-functions at the origin

We report new results of the NNNLO correction to the S-wave quarkonium wave-functions at the origin, which also provide an estimate of the resonance cross section in t-tbar threshold production at the ILC.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, Proceedings of 2007 International Linear Collider Workshop: LCWS07 and ILC07, Hamburg, Germany, 30 May - 3 Jun 200

Hearing Characteristics and Doppler Shift Compensation in South Indian CF-FM Bats

1. Echolocation pulses, Doppler shift compensation behaviour under laboratory conditions and frequency response characteristics of hearing were recorded inRhinolophus rouxi, Hipposideros speoris andHipposideros bicolor. 2. The frequencies of the constant frequency portions of the CF-FM pulses lie at about 82.8 kHz forR. rouxi from Mahabaleshwar, at 85.2 kHz forR. rouxi from Mysore. Hipposiderid bats have considerably higher frequencies at 135 kHz inH. speoris and 154.5 kHz inH. bicolor. The mean sound durations were 50 ms, 6.4 ms and 4.7 ms, respectively. 3. R. rouxi compensates for Doppler shifts in a range up to typically 4 kHz of positive Doppler shifts (Fig. 2). The Doppler shift compensation behaviour is almost identical to that ofR. ferrumequinum. 4. H. speoris andH. bicolor do not compensate for Doppler shifts under laboratory conditions. Doppler shifts in the echoes induce emission frequency changes which are not correlated to the presented Doppler shifts (Fig. 3). 5. The frequency response characteristics of hearing ofR. rouxi show characteristic sensitivity changes near the bat's reference frequency as also found inR. ferrumequinum. The threshold differences between the low threshold at the reference frequency and a few hundred Hz below are 40 to 50 dB in awake bats (Fig. 5). 6. Frequency sensitivity changes near the emitted CF-frequency of the bats are less pronounced inH. speoris or almost absent inH. bicolor

Foraging behavior and Doppler shift compensation in echolocating hipposiderid bats, I-Iipposideros bicolor and I-Iipposideros speoris

1. Two hipposiderid bats,H. bicolor andH. speoris, were observed in their natural foraging areas in Madurai (South India). Both species hunt close together near the foliage of trees and bushes but they differ in fine structure of preferred hunting space:H. bicolor hunts within the foliage, especially whenH. speoris is active at the same time, whereasH. speoris never flies in dense vegetation but rather in the more open area (Fig. 1, Table 1). 2. Both species emit CF/FM-sounds containing only one harmonic component in almost all echolocation situations. The CF-parts of CF/FM-sounds are species specific within a band of 127–138 kHz forH. speoris and 147–159 kHz forH. bicolor (Tables 2 and 3). 3. H. speoris additionally uses a complex harmonic sound during obstacle avoidance and during laboratory tests for Doppler shift compensation.H. bicolor consistently emits CF/FM-sounds in these same situations (Fig. 2). 4. Both hipposiderid bats respond to Doppler shifts in the returning echoes by lowering the frequency of the emitted sounds (Fig. 3). However, Doppler compensations are incomplete as the emitted frequencies are decreased by only 55% and 56% (mean values) of the full frequency shifts byH. speoris andH, bicolor, respectively. 5. The differences in Doppler shift compensation, echolocating and hunting behavior suggest thatH. speoris is less specialized on echolocation with CF/FM-sounds thanH. bicolor

Assessing the Prosody of Non-Native Speakers of English: Measures and Feature Sets

In this paper, we describe a new database with audio recordings of non-native (L2) speakers of English, and the perceptual evaluation experiment conducted with native English speakers for assessing the prosody of each recording. These annotations are then used to compute the gold standard using different methods, and a series of regression experiments is conducted to evaluate their impact on the performance of a regression model predicting the degree of Abstract naturalness of L2 speech. Further, we compare the relevance of different feature groups modelling prosody in general (without speech tempo), speech rate and pauses modelling speech tempo (fluency), voice quality, and a variety of spectral features. We also discuss the impact of various fusion strategies on performance.Overall, our results demonstrate that the prosody of non-native speakers of English as L2 can be reliably assessed using supra- segmental audio features; prosodic features seem to be the most important ones

NNNLO results on top-quark pair production near threshold

We present new results on the NNNLO top-antitop production cross section near threshold from potential and ultrasoft gluon corrections. The new non-logarithmic third-order terms are in the 10% range and lead to a significant reduction in the theoretical error.Comment: 6 pages, to appear in the proceedings of 8th International Symposium on Radiative Corrections (RADCOR 2007), Florence, Italy, October 1-

Vortex ratchet reversal: The role of interstitial vortices

Triangular arrays of Ni nanotriangles embedded in superconducting Nb films exhibit unexpected dynamical vortex effects. Collective pinning with a vortex lattice configuration different from the expected fundamental triangular "Abrikosov state" is found. The vortex motion which prevails against the triangular periodic potential is produced by channelling effects between triangles. Interstitial vortices coexisting with pinned vortices in this asymmetric potential, lead to ratchet reversal, i.e. a DC output voltage which changes sign with the amplitude of an applied alternating drive current. In this landscape, ratchet reversal is always observed at all magnetic fields (all numbers of vortices) and at different temperatures. The ratchet reversal is unambiguously connected to the presence of two locations for the vortices: interstitial and above the artificial pinning sites.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures, 1 Tabl