Single-molecule conformations probe free volume in polymers

In this communication, we showed that the conformational dynamics of the tetraphenoxy-perylenetetracarboxy diimide single dye molecule embedded in different polymer matrixes allows a direct visualization of the local free volume. By monitoring the fluorescence lifetime of the dye molecule in time and at different locations in the matrix, different lifetimes were observed. Attributed to two distinct stable conformations of the dye molecule, the lifetime variations permitted characterization of the spatial distribution and temporal dynamics of free volume.     

Efficient heuristics for Median Cycle Problems

This article proposes a number of efficient heuristics for two versions of the Median Cycle Problem. In both versions, the aim is to construct a simple cycle containing a subset of the vertices of a mixed graph. In the first version, the objective is to minimize the cost of the cycle and the cost of assigning vertices not on the cycle to the nearest vertex on the cycle. In the second version, the objective is to minimize the cost of the cycle subject to an upper bound on the total assignment cost. Two heuristics are developed. The first, called the multistart greedy add heuristic, is composed of two main phases. In the first phase, a cycle composed of a limited number of randomly chosen vertices is constructed and augmented by iteratively adding the vertex yielding the largest cost reduction until either no further reduction is possible (for the first version) or the assignment cost is below the upper bound (for the second version). The second phase applies a number of improvement routines. The second heuristic is a random keys evolutionary algorithm. Computational results on a number of benchmark test instances show that the proposed heuristics are highly efficient for both versions of the problem, and superior to the only other available heuristic for these two versions of the problem.     

The psychomechanics of simulated sound sources: material properties of impacted bars

Sound can convey information about the materials composing an object that are often not directly available to the visual system. Material and geometric properties of synthesized impacted bars with a tube resonator were varied, their perceptual structure was inferred from multidimensional scaling of dissimilarity judgments, and the psychophysical relations between the two were quantified. Constant cross-section bars varying in mass density and viscoelastic damping coefficient were synthesized with a physical model in experiment 1. A two-dimensional perceptual space resulted, and the dimensions were correlated with the mechanical parameters after applying a power-law transformation. Variable cross-section bars varying in length and viscoelastic damping coefficient were synthesized in experiment 2 with two sets of lengths creating high- and low-pitched bars. In the low-pitched bars, there was a coupling between the bar and the resonator that modified the decay characteristics. Perceptual dimensions again corresponded to the mechanical parameters. A set of potential temporal, spectral, and spectrotemporal correlates of the auditory representation were derived from the signal. The dimensions related to mass density and bar length were correlated with the frequency of the lowest partial and are related to pitch perception. The correlate most likely to represent the viscoelastic damping coefficient across all three stimulus sets is a linear combination of a decay constant derived from the temporal envelope and the spectral center of gravity derived from a cochlear representation of the signal. These results attest to the perceptual salience of energy-loss phenomena in sound source behavior.     

Positivity of the Shape Hessian and Instability of some Equilibrium Shapes

We study the positivity of the second shape derivative around an equilibrium for a 2-dimensional functional involving the perimeter of the shape and its the Dirichlet energy under volume constraint. We prove that, generally, convex equilibria lead to strictly positive second derivatives. We also exhibit some examples where strict positivity of the second order derivative holds at an equilibrium while existence of a minimum does not.     

Parties semi-algébriques d'une variété algébrique <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-adique

Let k be a field complete with respect to an ultrametric absolute value, let A be a finitely generated k-algebra and let X be its spectrum. We denote by X^an the analytification à la Berkovich of the algebraic variety X. We say that a subset of X^an is semi-algebraic if it can be defined by a boolean combination of inequalities |f||g| where f and g are in A, where is a symbol belonging to {<,>,,} and where is a positive real number. In this text we show that the image of any semi-algebraic subset under an algebraic map between affine varieties is semi-algebraic, and that a semi-algebraic subset has only finitely many connected components, each of which is semi-algebraic. In fact our results concern not only algebraic varieties, but also analytic families of algebraic varieties which are parametrized by an affinoid space.     

Computing finite commutative semigroups: Part III

New precedence results are obtained for semigroups without zero, which describe the first row in detail and provide effective comparisons with the next few rows. These results can be used to further sharpen existing algorithms for the computation of finite commutative semigroups.     

Goos-Hänchen effect in the gaps of photonic crystals

We show the presence of the Goos-H?nchen effect when a monochromatic beam illuminates a photonic crystal inside a photonic bandgap.     

The Generalized Multifractional Brownian Motion

It is well known that the fractional Brownian motion (FBM) is of great interest in modeling. However, its Hölder is the same all along its path and this restricts its field of application. Therefore, it would be useful to construct a Gaussian process extending the FBM and having a Hölder that is allowed to change. A partial answer to this problem is supplied by the multifractional Brownian motion (MBM); but the Hölder of the MBM must necessarily be continuous and this may be a drawback in some situations. In this paper we construct a Gaussian process generalizing the MBM and having a Hölder that can be a very irregular function.     

Fresnel phase matching: a universal phase matching scheme

We present new theoretical concepts for Fresnel phase matching. A guided wave approach is described, which allows us to intrinsically take into account all the physical processes involved. To cite this article: M. Raybaut et al., C. R. Physique 8 (2007).