Strategies for bass enhancement in Multiactuator Panels for Wave Field Synthesis

In this paper, an extension of the useful bandwidth in the low frequency band is applied to compensate the inherent poor bass response of Multiactuator Panels. These are a special type of flat panel loudspeakers that are commonly used to reproduce spatial audio under the Wave Field Synthesis system. The proposed algorithm combines two strategies: first, a dynamic electrical equalization, applied to additional exciters, which are carefully positioned to excite the lower frequency modes of the panel; second, a psycho-acoustical approach, taking profit of the behavior of human hearing based on the missing fundamental principle. For comparison purposes, the shelving and peak equalizations are also applied to the MAP prototypes developed in this paper. Objective and subjective results show that the combined approach results in an effective extension in the low frequency end of MAP with very low levels of distortion, outperforming conventional equalization methods, with better low frequency behavior, and hence better audio quality perception.     

Efficient equalization of multi-exciter distributed mode loudspeakers

An efficient digital equalization method is applied successfully to the problem of spectral equalization of multi-exciter distributed mode loudspeakers (DML). It is based on a chain of second-order sections of infinite impulse response parametric filters with very low computational cost. The method compensates for the measured multi-exciter DML response in order to achieve a desired frequency response. The sound radiation of these flat loudspeakers is a complex superposition of excited modes that vary strongly with frequency. Therefore, the characteristic multi-exciter DML spectrum is very irregular and is equalized with the method presented here for a natural, uncolored response. In multichannel systems, such as wave field synthesis (WFS), the use of efficient filters to equalize a large amount of drivers is an advantageous approach. The equalization process has been applied to two multi-exciter DML prototypes, comprising three and five exciters per panel. Both panel and exciter equalization have been addressed, which consequences on the filtered responses are discussed. Finally, some subjective assessments are carried out to optimize the order of the filter while maintaining the perceived quality of the equalization.     

Isolation, structure, and antibacterial activity of philipimycin, a thiazolyl peptide discovered from Actinoplanes philippinensis MA7347

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics, particularly to multiple drug resistant antibiotics, is becoming cause for significant concern. The only really viable course of action is to discover new antibiotics with novel mode of actions. Thiazolyl peptides are a class of natural products that are architecturally complex potent antibiotics but generally suffer from poor solubility and pharmaceutical properties. To discover new thiazolyl peptides potentially with better desired properties, we designed a highly specific assay with a pair of thiazomycin sensitive and resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus, which led to the discovery of philipimycin, a new thiazolyl peptide glycoside. It was isolated along with an acid-catalyzed degradation product by bioassay-guided fractionation. Structure of both compounds was elucidated by extensive application of 2D NMR, 1D TOCSY, and HRESIFT-MS/MS. Both compounds showed strong antibacterial activities against gram-positive bacteria including MRSA and exhibited MIC values ranging from 0.015 to 1 microg/mL. Philipimycin was significantly more potent than the degradation product. Both compounds showed selective inhibition of protein synthesis, indicating that they targeted the ribosome. Philipimycin was effective in vivo in a mouse model of S. aureus infection exhibiting an ED50 value of 8.4 mg/kg. The docking studies of philipimycin suggested that a part of the molecule interacts with the ribosome and another part with Pro23, Pro22, and Pro26 of L11 protein, which helped in explaining the differential of activities between the sensitive and resistant strains. The design and execution of the bioassay, the isolation, structure, in vitro and in vivo antibacterial activity, and docking studies of philipimycin and its degradation product are described.     

Rigid sets and nonexpansive mappings

We introduce a new class of normed spaces (not necessarily finite dimensional), which contains the finite dimensional normed spaces with polyhedral norm. We study the properties of rigid sets of the spaces of this class and we apply the results to limit sets of the sequences of iterates of nonexpansive maps.

     

Isoperimetric inequalities for an ergodic stochastic control problem

In this paper we deal with blow-up solutions to an elliptic equation with a nonlinear gradient term. The problem under consideration can be seen as the ergodic limit of a stochastic control problem with state constraints. It is well known that it has a solution only when a parameter which appears in the equation assumes a particular value known as ergodic constant. For such a constant many properties similar to those of an eigenvalue hold true. We show that a Faber–Krahn inequality can be stated for the ergodic constant and that for the corresponding solution a comparison result in terms of the solution to a symmetrized problem can be proved.     

Sopra un problema di navigazione di Zermelo

Lavoro eseguito nel Seminario Matematico della R. Scuola Normale Sup. di Pisa.     

From Chaos to Global Convergence

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate dynamical systems F : \mathbbR² ? \mathbbR²{F : \mathbb{R}^2 \rightarrow \mathbb{R}^2} of the form F(x, y) = (f(x, y), x). We assume that f : \mathbbR² ? \mathbbR{f : \mathbb{R}^2 \rightarrow \mathbb{R}} is continuous and satisfies a condition that holds when f is non decreasing with respect to the second variable. We show that for every initial condition x₀ = (x ₀, y ₀), such that the orbit