Formation of segregated and integrated groups

A model of group formation is presented such that the number of groups is fixed, and a person can only join a group if the group’s members approve the person’s joining. Agents have either local status preferences (each agent wants to be the highest status agent in his group) or global status preferences (each agent wants to join the highest status group that she can join). For both preference types, conditions are provided which guarantee the existence of a segregated stable partition such that similar people are grouped together, and conditions are provided which guarantee the existence of an integrated stable partition such that dissimilar people are grouped together. Additionally, in a dynamic framework we show that if a new empty group is added to a segregated stable partition, then integration may occur.     

Have women's voices lowered across time? A cross sectional study of Australian women's voices

Various aspects of our communication are well known to havechanged over time (1-3). This article describes a cross-sectional study that examined the acoustic characteristics of two groups of Australian women aged 18–25 years from recordings made in 1945 and 1993 and investigated the possible changes in the voice across generations. Archival recordings from 1945 which had been used in a longitudinal study (4) were compared to recordings made in 1993. The results of this study show that women in 1993 have significantly deeper voices than women of the same age recorded in 1945. The possible factors influencing this change are discussed.     

Fourier Analysis of Multigrid for a Model Two-Dimensional Convection-Diffusion Equation

We present a Fourier analysis of multigrid for the two-dimensional discrete convection-diffusion equation. For constant coefficient problems with grid-aligned flow and semi-periodic boundary conditions, we show that the two-grid iteration matrix can be reduced via a set of orthogonal transformations to a matrix containing individual 4×4 blocks. This enables a trivial computation of the norm of the iteration matrix demonstrating rapid convergence in the case of both small and large mesh Peclet numbers, where the streamline-diffusion discretisation is used in the latter case. We also demonstrate that these results are strongly correlated with the properties of the iteration matrix arising from Dirichlet boundary conditions. AMS subject classification (2000) 65F10, 65N22, 65N30, 65N55     

Implicit Solution of Hyperbolic Equations with Space-Time Adaptivity

Adaptivity in space and time is introduced to control the error in the numerical solution of hyperbolic partial differential equations. The equations are discretised by a finite volume method in space and an implicit linear multistep method in time. The computational grid is refined in blocks. At the boundaries of the blocks, there may be jumps in the step size. Special treatment is needed there to ensure second order accuracy and stability. The local truncation error of the discretisation is estimated and is controlled by changing the step size and the time step. The global error is obtained by integration of the error equations. In the implicit scheme, the system of linear equations at each time step is solved iteratively by the GMRES method. Numerical examples executed on a parallel computer illustrate the method.     

Field distribution in an electrospray ionization source determined by finite element method

Three‐dimensional computer models of electrospray ionization sources were constructed in COMSOL Multiphysics? to solve the static electric fields using finite element methods. The magnitude of the electric field strength for onset of electrospray and optimum signal was calculated under various conditions. The modification of the electric field distribution in the ion source by an atmospheric pressure ion lens was also investigated by plotting the equipotential surfaces, electric field lines and trajectories of charged droplets. Both the calculated and the experimental results demonstrate that the changes in the ion signal detected by the mass spectrometer are attributable to the focusing effect of the ion lens when appropriate voltages are applied on the sprayer and ion lens. The optimum signal was found by setting the sprayer voltage from 3000 to 5000 V while scanning the ion lens voltage. The calculated strengths of the electric field at the sprayer tip for optimum signals are similar although the applied voltages at the sprayer and ion lens are significantly different. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Infrared spectra for co isotopes chemisorbed on Pt “111”: Evidence for strong absorbate coupling interactions

Previous results for ¹²C¹⁶O chemisorbed on a Pt“111” recrystallised ribbon revealed that the infrared absorption band due to the CO stretch appears at low coverages at 2063 cm^?1 and shifts to ~2100 cm^?1 at saturation coverage at 300 K. The cause of this shift is studied in the present work, by investigating the vibrational spectra from a variety of mixtures of ¹²C¹⁶O and ¹²C¹⁶O. The results show that there is a strong dipole-dipole coupling interaction between adsorbate molecules in the overlayer, and provide conclusive evidence that the 35 cm^?1 frequency shift observed with increasing coverage for ¹²C¹⁶O is attributable to coupling.     

Neural control of vocalization: Respiratory and emotional influences

Previous research has shown that a region of the midbrain, the periaqueductal gray matter (PAG), is critical for vocalization. In this review, we describe the results of previous investigations in which we sought to find out how PAG neurons integrate the activity and precise timing of respiratory, laryngeal, and oral muscle activity for natural-sounding vocalization using the technique of excitatory amino acid microinjections in cats. In these studies, all surgical procedures were carried out under deep anaesthesia. In the precollicular decerebrate cat two general types of vocalization, classified as voiced and unvoiced, could be evoked by exciting neurons in the lateral part of the intermediate part of the PAG. The patterns of evoked electromyographic activity were strikingly similar to previously reported patterns of human muscle activity. Coordinated patterns of activity were evoked with just-threshold excitation leading to the conclusion that patterned muscle activity corresponding to the major categories of voiced and voiceless sound production are represented in the PAG. In a parallel series of human and animal experiments, we also determined that the speech and vocalization respiratory patterns are integrated and coordinated with afferent signals related to lung volume. These data have led to the proposal of a new hypothesis for the neural control of vocalization: that the PAG is a crucial brain site for mammalian voice production, not only in the production of emotional or involuntary sounds, but also as a generator of specific respiratory and laryngeal motor patterns essential for human speech and song     

Aspects of Rich Accessibility User Experiences

We present an approach to providing broad-based accessibility to graphical applications by employing the capabilities of the Eclipse platform and aspect-oriented programming (AOP) in a way that leverages the strengths of each. We first describe the Eclipse platform and the variety of frameworks that can be useful to the effort. We also present the advantages of aspect-oriented programming and contrast aspect-oriented programming with object-oriented programming (OOP). Then, we discuss how to use the Eclipse frameworks and AOP in the design of accessible Eclipse-based applications and share some situations of when to leverage these frameworks and when we do not from the perspective of robustness and efficiency.