122,440 research outputs found
Quality of Service for Information Access
Information is available in many forms from different sources, in distributed locations; access to information is supported by networks of varying performance; the cost of accessing and transporting the information varies for both the source and the transport route. Users who vary in their preferences, background knowledge required to interpret the information and motivation for accessing it, gather information to perform many different tasks. This position paper outlines some of these variations in information provision and access, and explores the impact these variations have on the user’s task performance, and the possibilities they make available to adapt the user interface for the presentation of information
Decay channels and charmonium mass-shifts
The discovery in the last few years of the and states of the
extended charmonium family has highlighted the importance of the closeness of
decay channels to an understanding of these mesons. We aid this debate by
illustrating a simple calculational procedure for including the effect of open
and nearby closed channels.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures Revised version: (1) corrected 2 typos in Table
II, (2) additional text in penultimate paragraph to clarify the calculation
of mass-shifts for and . We thank colleagues for pointing
out confusing wording of previous tex
Segmentation ART: A Neural Network for Word Recognition from Continuous Speech
The Segmentation ATIT (Adaptive Resonance Theory) network for word recognition from a continuous speech stream is introduced. An input sequeuce represents phonemes detected at a preproccesing stage. Segmentation ATIT is trained rapidly, and uses a fast-learning fuzzy ART modules, top-down expectation, and a spatial representation of temporal order. The network performs on-line identification of word boundaries, correcting an initial hypothesis if subsequent phonemes are incompatible with a previous partition. Simulations show that the system's segmentation perfonnance is comparable to that of TRACE, and the ability to segment a number of difficult phrases is also demonstrated.National Science Foundation (NSF-IRI-94-01659); Office of Naval Research (N00014-95-1-0409, N00014-95-1-0G57
High-temperature thermal storage systems for advanced solar receivers materials selections
Advanced space power systems that use solar energy and Brayton or Stirling heat engines require thermal energy storage (TES) systems to operate continuously through periods of shade. The receiver storage units, key elements in both Brayton and Stirling systems, are designed to use the latent heat of fusion of phase-change materials (PCMs). The power systems under current consideration for near-future National Aeronautics and Space Administration space missions require working fluid temperatures in the 1100 to 1400 K range. The PCMs under current investigation that gave liquid temperatures within this range are the fluoride family of salts. However, these salts have low thermal conductivity, which causes large temperature gradients in the storage systems. Improvements can be obtained, however, with the use of thermal conductivity enhancements or metallic PCMs. In fact, if suitable containment materials can be found, the use of metallic PCMs would virtually eliminate the orbit associated temperature variations in TES systems. The high thermal conductivity and generally low volume change on melting of germanium and alloys based on silicon make them attractive for storage of thermal energy in space power systems. An approach to solving the containment problem, involving both chemical and physical compatibility, preparation of NiSi/NiSi2, and initial results for containment of germanium and NiSi/NiSi2, are presented
On-board timeline validation and repair : a feasibility study
We report on the progress and outcome of a recent ESAfunded project (MMOPS) designed to explore the feasibility of on-board reasoning about payload timelines. The project sought to examine the role of on-board timeline reasoning and the operational context into which it would fit. We framed a specification for an on-board service that fits with existing practices and represents a plausible advance within sensible constraints on the progress of operations planning. We have implemented a prototype to demonstrate the feasibility of such a system and have used it to show how science gathering operations might be improved by its deployment
Structure of Micro-instabilities in Tokamak Plasmas: Stiff Transport or Plasma Eruptions?
Solutions to a model 2D eigenmode equation describing micro-instabilities in
tokamak plasmas are presented that demonstrate a sensitivity of the mode
structure and stability to plasma profiles. In narrow regions of parameter
space, with special plasma profiles, a maximally unstable mode is found that
balloons on the outboard side of the tokamak. This corresponds to the
conventional picture of a ballooning mode. However, for most profiles this mode
cannot exist and instead a more stable mode is found that balloons closer to
the top or bottom of the plasma. Good quantitative agreement with a 1D
ballooning analysis is found provided the constraints associated with higher
order profile effects, often neglected, are taken into account. A sudden
transition from this general mode to the more unstable ballooning mode can
occur for a critical flow shear, providing a candidate model for why some
experiments observe small plasma eruptions (Edge Localised Modes, or ELMs) in
place of large Type I ELMs.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure
Bitter taste stimuli induce differential neural codes in mouse brain.
A growing literature suggests taste stimuli commonly classified as "bitter" induce heterogeneous neural and perceptual responses. Here, the central processing of bitter stimuli was studied in mice with genetically controlled bitter taste profiles. Using these mice removed genetic heterogeneity as a factor influencing gustatory neural codes for bitter stimuli. Electrophysiological activity (spikes) was recorded from single neurons in the nucleus tractus solitarius during oral delivery of taste solutions (26 total), including concentration series of the bitter tastants quinine, denatonium benzoate, cycloheximide, and sucrose octaacetate (SOA), presented to the whole mouth for 5 s. Seventy-nine neurons were sampled; in many cases multiple cells (2 to 5) were recorded from a mouse. Results showed bitter stimuli induced variable gustatory activity. For example, although some neurons responded robustly to quinine and cycloheximide, others displayed concentration-dependent activity (p<0.05) to quinine but not cycloheximide. Differential activity to bitter stimuli was observed across multiple neurons recorded from one animal in several mice. Across all cells, quinine and denatonium induced correlated spatial responses that differed (p<0.05) from those to cycloheximide and SOA. Modeling spatiotemporal neural ensemble activity revealed responses to quinine/denatonium and cycloheximide/SOA diverged during only an early, at least 1 s wide period of the taste response. Our findings highlight how temporal features of sensory processing contribute differences among bitter taste codes and build on data suggesting heterogeneity among "bitter" stimuli, data that challenge a strict monoguesia model for the bitter quality
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