A computer model for simulating reflected ultrasound signals

This letter describes a model for simulating an ultrasound signal reflected from a medium composed of randomly distributed scatterers, as typified by soft biological tissue, such as liver. The model is specified in terms of the effective transducer beam radius B and the mean scatterer spacing S. The novel feature of the model is that the transducer field is partitioned by packing cylinders, called microbeams, into concentric annular regions that lie parallel to the transducer axis. The radii of the microbeams and the annuli are related to S. An independent reflector sequence is generated for each microbeam, the microbeam sequences in each annulus are summed and convolved with the impulse response of a point reflector. The reflected waveform sequence is then generated by summing the annular contributions and convolving with a band-limited pulse waveform. Simulated signals were generated for different values of B and S and compared with actual signals reflected from two in vivo livers and a tissue-equivalent phantom. Estimates of the kurtosis for the simulated signals indicate the range of signals that can be generated by varying the values for S and B.     

A simple model for diffuse reflection

Diffuse reflection from a matte nonabsorbing inhomogeneous medium such as white paint or paper can be described by a simple model in which light rays enter the volume of medium and then undergo a random walk until they reemerge from the surface. Lambert's law of diffuse reflection is an immediate consequence of the random walk. Another consequence of the volume interaction is that the light emerges from a different point than where it enters. This spreading of the light was measured for BaSO₄ white reflectance paint and for several kinds of paper. The random walk model implies a diffusion equation which makes predictions that are in reasonable agreement with the experiments. The spreading is proportional to an interaction length which, in this model, represents the range of distances that light rays penetrate before beginning their random walk.     

A model for the prediction of breathiness in vowels

The perception of breathiness in vowels is cued by multiple acoustic cues, including changes in aspiration noise (AH) and the open quotient (OQ) [Klatt and Klatt, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 87(2), 820-857 (1990)]. A loudness model can be used to determine the extent to which AH masks the harmonic components in voice. The resulting "partial loudness" (PL) and loudness of AH ["noise loudness" (NL)] have been shown to be good predictors of perceived breathiness [Shrivastav and Sapienza, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 114(1), 2217-2224 (2003)]. The levels of AH and OQ were systematically manipulated for ten synthetic vowels. Perceptual judgments of breathiness were obtained and regression functions to predict breathiness from the ratio of NL to PL (η) were derived. Results show that breathiness can be modeled as a power function of η. The power parameter of this function appears to be affected by the fundamental frequency of the vowel. A second experiment was conducted to determine if the resulting power function could estimate breathiness in a different set of voices. The breathiness of these stimuli, both natural and synthetic, was determined in a listening test. The model estimates of breathiness were highly correlated with perceptual data but the absolute predicted values showed some discrepancies.     

A long-range memory stochastic model of the return in financial markets

We present a nonlinear stochastic differential equation (SDE) which mimics the probability density function (PDF) of the return and the power spectrum of the absolute return in financial markets. Absolute return as a measure of market volatility is considered in the proposed model as a long-range memory stochastic variable. The SDE is obtained from the analogy with an earlier proposed model of trading activity in the financial markets and generalized within the nonextensive statistical mechanics framework. The proposed stochastic model generates time series of the return with two power law statistics, i.e., the PDF and the power spectral density, reproducing the empirical data for the one-minute trading return in the NYSE.     

A model for inverted spectral peaks in reflection mode photopyroelectric spectroscopy

A simple model for the photopyroelectric signal based on the concept of an attenuating and phase shifting operator is presented and three special cases are derived. Two mechanisms are given for the appearance of spectral inversions which are explained to originate in the interplay between optical absorption and transmission. Numerical simulations and the comparison with earlier experimental data support this viewpoint.     

A simple model for the nuclear curvature energy

Using the well-known analytically soluble model of semi-infinite nuclear matter of Wilets, we deduce a closed expression for the nuclear curvature energy as a function of the surface profile asymmetry; the values obtained for the curvature coefficient are in good agreement with those extracted from realistic calculations. A generalization of this procedure could be a way out of the difficulties arising in Hartree-Fock calculations of the curvature coefficient.     

A computer model for the prediction of factory noise

A computer program which calculates noise levels around a factory floor has been written. The collection of data for input to the program, formulae used in the calculation of noise levels and output from the program are described.The program has been tested using data collected in a variety of workshops and factories. The results of two of these case studies are discussed, together with overall results for all cases considered, which show that the program can predict sound levels with a high degree of accuracy.An interactive version of the program which enables a user to see immediately how certain changes to the data will affect noise levels is also described.     

A parametric model for dark energy

Determining the mechanism behind the current cosmic acceleration constitutes a major question nowadays in theoretical physics. If the dark energy route is taken, this problem may potentially bring to light new insights not only in cosmology but also in high energy physics theories. Following this approach, we explore in this Letter some cosmological consequences of a new time-dependent parameterization for the dark energy equation of state (EoS), which is a well behaved function of the redshift z   over the entire cosmological evolution, i.e., z∈[−1,∞)$z\in [-1,\infty )$. This parameterization allows us to divide the parametric plane (w₀,w₁)$(w_0,w_1)$ in defined regions associated to distinct classes of dark energy models that can be confirmed or excluded from a confrontation with current observational data. By assuming a flat universe, a statistical analysis involving the most recent observations from type Ia supernovae, baryon acoustic oscillation peak, Cosmic Microwave Background shift parameter and Hubble evolution H(z)$H(z)$ is performed to check the observational viability of the EoS parameterization here proposed.     

Existence of free energy for models with long-range random Hamiltonians

Classical lattice systems with random Hamiltonians $$\frac{1}{2}\sum\limits_{x_1 \ne x_2 } {\frac{{\varepsilon (x_1 ,x_2 )\varphi (x_1 )\varphi (x_2 )}}{{\left| {x_1 - x_2 } \right|^{\alpha d} }}}$$ are considered, whered is the dimension, andε(x ₁,x ₂) are independent random variables for different pairs (x ₁,x ₂),Eε(x ₁,x ₂) = 0. It is shown that the free energy for such a system exiists with probability 1 and does not depend on the boundary conditions, providedα > 1/2.     

A long-range ferromagnetic spin model with periodic boundary conditions

A possible way to study long-range interacting particles in finite–infinite periodic systems is applied to a modified Ising model with ferromagnetic interaction that decays as a 1/r^α law. We verify, by Monte Carlo heat-bath simulations for cases in D dimensions, that the thermodynamic quantities scale in a way proposed by Tsallis, and that the mean field theory is exact in the last model for all 0⩽α⩽D/2 suggested previously by other authors.     

Long-time asymptotics of the long-range Emch-Radin model

The long-time asymptotic behaviour is studied for a long-range variant of the Emch-Radin model of interacting spins. We derive upper and lower bounds on the expectation values of a class of observables. We prove analytically that the time scale at which the system relaxes to equilibrium diverges with the system size N, displaying quasistationary nonequilibrium behaviour. This finding implies that, for large enough N, equilibration will not be observed in an experiment of finite duration.     

Solution of the long-range gaussian-random Ising model

The spin glass model of Edwards and Anderson is solved for Ising spins starting from a renormalized diagrammatic expansion. One gets two qualitatively distinct phases for arbitrary external field. The high temperature phase is identical with the solution of Sherrington and Kirkpatrick. The low temperature phase does not have unphysical properties forT0, in contrast to previous investigations.     

A rail noise prediction model for the Tehran-Karaj commuter train

Rail noise prediction models enable consideration of different scenarios for the optimal management of noise prevention and mitigation. This project is aimed at developing an equation that enables computation of L_A,max for the Tehran-Karaj commuter train, a type of Diesel-Electric Locomotive. The form of the proposed model is derived from equations for predicting L_A,max for a single locomotive pass-by, proposed in the manual prepared by Harris Miller Miller & Hanson Inc. for the US Federal Transit Administration, and in the French rail noise prediction model. The algorithm for predicting L_A,max for the Tehran-Karaj commuter train has been developed on the basis of the 50 measurements from 5 locations at distances of 25 m, 35 m, 45 m, 55 m, and 65 m from the centre of the track and at a height of 1.5 m. In the field measurements, the reference distance and the reference vehicle speed have respectively been set equal to 25 m and 80 km per hour. The reference L_A,max, length and the speed correction coefficients have been estimated from the field measurements and have been found to be 86.2 dB(A), 11.3, and 18.4 respectively. The fitness test (Kolmogorov-Smirnov) and regression analysis indicate satisfactory results.     

The anisotropic Heisenberg model in the long-range interaction limit

We consider the general spin quantum mechanical anisotropic Heisenberg model on av-dimensional lattice with potential γ ^v ?(γ|r|) of Kac type. In the limit γ→0+ (after the thermodynamic limit) it is shown that the free energy is equivalent to the corresponding Curie-Weiss or mean-field expression.     

Ferromagnetism in the two-dimensional Hubbard model with long-range hopping

The combination of small-cluster exact-diagonalization calculations and the quantum Monte Carlo method is used to examine ferromagnetism in the two-dimensional Hubbard model with a generalized type of hopping. It is found that the long-range hopping with exponentially decaying hopping amplitudes t _ij ～ ? q ^Ri?Rj stabilizes the ferromagnetic state for a wide range of electron interactions U and electron concentrations n > 1. The critical value of the hopping parameter q _c above which the ferromagnetic state becomes stable is calculated numerically and the ground-state phase diagram of the model is discussed for physically the most interesting cases.     

Short-time dynamics in the 1D long-range Potts model

We present numerical investigations of the short-time dynamics at criticality in the 1D Potts model with power-law decaying interactions of the form 1/r^1+σ. The scaling properties of the magnetization, autocorrelation function and time correlations of the magnetization are studied. The dynamical critical exponents θ' and z are derived in the cases q=2 and q=3 for several values of the parameter σ belonging to the nontrivial critical regime.     

Solutions of the reflection equation for the vertex model

We investigate the possible regular solutions of the boundary Yang–Baxter equation for the fundamental U_q[G₂] vertex model. We find four distinct classes of reflection matrices such that half of them are diagonal while the other half are non-diagonal. The latter are parameterized by two continuous parameters but only one solution has all entries non-null. The non-diagonal solutions do not reduce to diagonal ones at any special limit of the free-parameters.