Synchronization of a Nonlinear Oscillator: Processing the Cf Component of the Echo-Response Signal in the Cochlea of the Mustached Bat

Cochlear microphonic potential (CM) was recorded from the CF2 region and the sparsely innervated zone (the mustached bat's cochlea fovea) that is specialized for analyzing the Doppler-shifted echoes of the first-harmonic (~61 kHz) of the constant-frequency component of the echolocation call. Temporal analysis of the CM, which is tuned sharply to the 61 kHz cochlear resonance, revealed that at the resonance frequency, and within 1 msec of tone onset, CM is broadly tuned with linear magnitude level functions. CM measured during the ongoing tone and in the ringing after tone offset is 50 dB more sensitive, is sharply tuned, has compressive level functions, and the phase leads onset CM by 90°: an indication that cochlear responses are amplified during maximum basilar membrane velocity. For high-level tones above the resonance frequency, CM appears at tone onset and after tone offset. Measurements indicate that the two oscillators responsible for the cochlear resonance, presumably the basilar and tectorial membranes, move together in phase during the ongoing tone, thereby minimizing net shear between them and hair cell excitation. For tones within 2 kHz of the cochlear resonance the frequency of CM measured within 2 msec of tone onset is not that of the stimulus but is proportional to it. For tones just below the cochlear resonance region CM frequency is a constant amount below that of the stimulus depending on CM measurement delay from tone onset. The frequency responses of the CM recorded from the cochlear fovea can be accounted for through synchronization between the nonlinear oscillators responsible for the cochlear resonance and the stimulus tone

The Development of a Single Frequency Place in the Mammalian Cochlea: The Cochlear Resonance in the Mustached Bat Pteronotus parnellii

Cochlear microphonic potentials (CMs) were recorded from the sharply tuned, strongly resonant auditory foveae of 1- to 5-week-old mustached bats that were anesthetized with Rompun and Ketavet. The fovea processes Doppler-shifted echo responses of the constant-frequency component of echolocation calls. During development, the frequency and tuning sharpness of the cochlear resonance increases, and CM ringing persists for longer after the tone. CM is relatively insensitive at tone onset and grows linearly with increased stimulus level. During the tone, the CM is more sensitive and grows compressively with increased stimulus level and phase leads onset CM by 90° for frequencies below the resonance. CM during the ringing is also sensitive and compressive and phase leads onset CM by 180° below the resonance and lags it by 180° above the resonance. Throughout postnatal development, CMs measured during the tone and in the ringing increase both in sensitivity and compression. The cochlear resonance appears to be attributable to interaction between two oscillators. The more broadly tuned oscillator dominates the onset response, and the narrowly tuned oscillator dominates the ringing. Early in development, mechanical coupling between the oscillators results in a relatively broadly tuned system with several frequency modes in the CM at tone onset and in the CM ringing. Beating occurs between the resonance and the stimulus response during the tone and between two components of the narrowly tuned oscillator at tone offset. At maturity, the CM has three modes for frequencies within 10 kHz of the resonance at tone onset and a single, sharply tuned mode in the ringing

The Split Delivery Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows and Customer Inconvenience Constraints

In classical routing problems, each customer is visited exactly once. By contrast, when allowing split deliveries, customers may be served through multiple visits. This potentially results in substantial savings in travel costs. Even if split deliveries are beneficial to the transport company, several visits may be undesirable on the customer side: at each visit the customer has to interrupt his primary activities and handle the goods receipt. The contribution of the present paper consists in a thorough analysis of the possibilities and limitations of split delivery distribution strategies. To this end, we investigate two different types of measures for limiting customer inconvenience (a maximum number of visits and the temporal synchronization of deliveries) and evaluate the impact of these measures on carrier efficiency by means of different objective functions (comprising variable routing costs, costs related to route durations, fixed fleet costs). We consider the vehicle routing problem with time windows in which split deliveries are allowed (SDVRPTW) and define the corresponding generalization that takes into account customer inconvenience constraints (SDVRPTW-IC). We design an extended branch-and-cut algorithm to solve the SDVRPTW-IC and report on experimental results showing the impact of customer inconvenience constraints. We finally draw useful insights for logistics managers on the basis of the experimental analysis carried out

Panel 2: Intellectual Property

An international law of property will have implications on intellectual property rights. This area of law is currently a battleground of conflict among nations at different level of development, as well as within societies seeking to balance innovation, economic development, and human and natural health and well-being. One of the major issues is how TRIPs is moving us toward a truly international body of IP law

Collective Management of Copyright and Related Rights in Musical Works

The Max Planck Institute welcomes the initiative of the European Commission for a binding legal instrument on collective management of copyright and related rights in the EU. Numerous provisions are to be appreciated (paras 15 and 31). Yet the Commission seems to fail to take account of the full legal framework and factual circumstances that have structured the current system of collective rights management. Disposing of natural monopolies in a two-sided market (paras 5-9), collecting societies (about this terminology, see footnote 2) should not refuse to grant access to their services to rightholders and users. Hence, it is strongly recommended that the European legislature follows the experience of numerous Members States and proposes an obligation to contract with rightholders (para 10) as well as with users (para 11). The critique on the Commission’s approach to cross-border licences for online rights on musical works as set forth in the Recommendation of 2005 (footnote 6) has unfortunately not been duly considered and the Commission’s assessment of the practical effects of the Recommendation is mistaken (paras 9-10, 12, 17, 46 et seq.). Differences of substantive copyright law among Member States still constitute an obstacle to the establishment of an internal market for works. This is why the Institute deems the Commission's sectorial approach to the regulation of cross-border licensing to be problematic. Also such regulation would require further harmonisation of substantive copyright law (paras 13, 20 and 25). Moreover, the Proposal fails to take account of statutory remuneration rights and cases of mandatory collective management (see paras 14, 18 and 36). Both pursue specific protection of original rightholders. In this regard the Proposal’s refusal to distinguish between different categories of rightholders raises concerns (paras 15-18, 28, 55). Since collecting societies manage copyrights and related rights arising from national law, and considering the benefits of an authorisation system (paras 57 and 69 et seq.), which can be found in several Member States, the Institute advises the European legislature to clearly state that the intellectual property exception of article 17(11) of the Service Directive applies to collecting societies (paras 19-24). The Proposal endangers the balance both between different categories of rightholders and between rightholders and users that the established system of collective management of copyright in Europe traditionally seeks to achieve (see paras 32-45, 64). It thereby compromises the laudable goal to foster the establishment of an internal market for online uses of works across Europe (paras 12, 26, 46-65)