Preliminary evidence for signature vocalizations among free-ranging narwhals (Monodon monoceros)

Animal signature vocalizations that are distinctive at the individual or group level can facilitate recognition between conspecifics and re-establish contact with an animal that has become separated from its associates. In this study, the vocal behavior of two free-ranging adult male narwhals (Monodon monoceros) in Admiralty Inlet, Baffin Island was recorded using digital archival tags. These recording instruments were deployed when the animals were caught and held onshore to attach satellite tags, a protocol that separated them from their groups. The signature content of two vocal categories was considered: (1) combined tonal/pulsed signals, which contained synchronous pulsatile and tonal content; (2) whistles, or frequency modulated tonal signals with harmonic energy. Nonparametric comparisons of the temporal and spectral features of each vocal class revealed significant differences between the two individuals. A separate, cross-correlation measure conducted on the whistles that accounted for overall contour shape and absolute frequency content confirmed greater interindividual compared to intraindividual differences. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that narwhals produce signature vocalizations that may facilitate their reunion with group members once they become separated, but additional data are required to demonstrate this claim more rigorously.     

Ionic liquids from Car-Parrinello simulations, part I: liquid AlCl3

The properties of isolated AlCl3 clusters and the bulk system are investigated by means of static and dynamic electronic structure methods. We find important structural motifs with the edge connectivity dominant in a dimer and the corner connectivity dominant in a trimer. Furthermore, the trimer cluster exhibits an interesting ring structure with large cooperative effects relative to the dimer. Comparing the found structural motifs in isolated molecule calculations with the structure of the liquid allows us to determine the dominance of edge connectivity in the liquid. The size of the clusters present in the liquid indicates indeed that the dimer is the most abundant species, but there are also trimers, tetramers, and pentamers present. From the local dipole analysis both for the isolated clusters as well as for the liquid, further proof for the edge connectivity is given. However, all results point to the fact that there is also some small percentage of corner connectivity present that might be attributed to the most stable corner-connected cluster, namely the trimer. Importantly, we find that energetic considerations of isolated (static) clusters only do not represent the findings in liquid phase. Instead, a quantum cluster equilibrium approach or simulations are needed.     

High-resolution discrete absorption spectrum of alpha-methallyl free radical in the vapor phase

The alpha-methallyl free radical is formed in the flash photolysis of 3-methylbut-1-ene, and cis-pent-2-ene in the vapor phase, and then subsequent reactions have been investigated by kinetic spectroscopy and gas-liquid chromatography. The photolysis flash was of short duration and it was possible to follow the kinetics of the radicals' decay, which occurred predominantly by bimolecular recombination. The measured rate constant for the alpha-methallyl recombination was (3.5+/-0.3) x 10(10) mol(-1) ls(-1) at 295+/-2K. The absolute extinction coefficients of the alpha-methallyl radical are calculated from the optical densities of the absorption bands. Detailed analysis of related absorption bands and lifetime measurements in the original alpha-methallyl high-resolution discrete absorption spectrum image were also carried out by image processing techniques.     

Normalized LMS digital filter for chromatic dispersion equalization in 112-Gbit/s PDM-QPSK coherent optical transmission system

High bit rates optical communication systems pose the challenge of their tolerance to linear and non-linear fiber impairments. Coherent optical receivers using digital signal processing techniques can mitigate the fiber impairments in the optical transmission system, including the chromatic dispersion equalization with digital filters. In this paper, an adaptive finite impulse response filter employing normalized least mean square algorithm is developed for compensating the chromatic dispersion in a 112-Gbit/s polarization division multiplexed quadrature phase shift keying coherent communication system, which is established in the VPI simulation platform. The principle of the adaptive normalized least mean square algorithm for signal equalization is analyzed theoretically, and at the meanwhile, the taps number and the tap weights in the adaptive finite impulse response filter for compensating a certain fiber chromatic dispersion are also investigated by numerical simulation. The chromatic dispersion compensation performance of the adaptive filter is analyzed by evaluating the behavior of the bit-error-rate versus the optical signal-to-noise ratio, and the compensation results are also compared with other present digital filters.     

Infinite horizon risk-sensitive control of diffusions without any blanket stability assumptions

We consider the infinite horizon risk-sensitive problem for nondegenerate diffusions with a compact action space, and controlled through the drift. We only impose a structural assumption on the running cost function, namely near-monotonicity, and show that there always exists a solution to the risk-sensitive Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman (HJB) equation, and that any minimizer in the Hamiltonian is optimal in the class of stationary Markov controls. Under the additional hypothesis that the coefficients of the diffusion are bounded, and satisfy a condition that limits (even though it still allows) transient behavior, we show that any minimizer in the Hamiltonian is optimal in the class of all admissible controls. In addition, we present a sufficient condition, under which the solution of the HJB is unique (up to a multiplicative constant), and establish the usual verification result. We also present some new results concerning the multiplicative Poisson equation for elliptic operators in ${\mathbb{R}}^d$.     

Optimal ship navigation with safety distance and realistic turn constraints

We consider the optimal ship navigation problem wherein the goal is to find the shortest path between two given coordinates in the presence of obstacles subject to safety distance and turn-radius constraints. These obstacles can be debris, rock formations, small islands, ice blocks, other ships, or even an entire coastline. We present a graph-theoretic solution on an appropriately-weighted directed graph representation of the navigation area obtained via 8-adjacency integer lattice discretization and utilization of the A^∗ algorithm. We explicitly account for the following three conditions as part of the turn-radius constraints: (1) the ship’s left and right turn radii are different, (2) ship’s speed reduces while turning, and (3) the ship needs to navigate a certain minimum number of lattice edges along a straight line before making any turns. The last constraint ensures that the navigation area can be discretized at any desired resolution. Once the optimal (discrete) path is determined, we smoothen it to emulate the actual navigation of the ship. We illustrate our methodology on an ice navigation example involving a 100,000 DWT merchant ship and present a proof-of-concept by simulating the ship’s path in a full-mission ship handling simulator.     

Glass‐embedded silver nanoparticle patterns by masked ion‐exchange process for surface‐enhanced Raman scattering

Glass‐embedded silver nanoparticle patterns were fabricated by masked silver–sodium ion‐exchange process followed by etching to reveal the particles for surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). The intensity of the enhanced Raman signal is comparable to that of the fluorescence, and the detection limit of 1 nM for Rhodamine 6G has been achieved. Raman images at different etching depths and corresponding morphological images are compared to find optimal SERS signal. Our results demonstrate that silver nanoparticle patterns embedded in glass can be used as SERS‐active substrates. Nanoparticles can be formed in a glass of high optical quality and have potential to be integrated with optical waveguides for a sensor chip. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Electrically Switchable Magnetic Molecules: Inducing a Magnetic Coupling by Means of an External Electric Field in a Mixed‐Valence Polyoxovanadate Cluster

Herein we evaluate the influence of an electric field on the coupling of two delocalized electrons in the mixed‐valence polyoxometalate (POM) [GeV₁₄O₄₀]^8? (in short V₁₄) by using both a t‐J model Hamiltonian and DFT calculations. In absence of an electric field the compound is paramagnetic, because the two electrons are localized on different parts of the POM. When an electric field is applied, an abrupt change of the magnetic coupling between the two delocalized electrons can be induced. Indeed, the field forces the two electrons to localize on nearest‐neighbors metal centers, leading to a very strong antiferromagnetic coupling. Both theoretical approaches have led to similar results, emphasizing that the sharp spin transition induced by the electric field in the V₁₄ system is a robust phenomenon, intramolecular in nature, and barely influenced by small changes on the external structure.     

Some existence results about radial graphs of constant mean curvature with boundary in parallel planes

In this work, for given H, we investigate the existence of radial cmc H annulus spanning two given non necessarily convex Jordan curves in parallel planes of . We established some existence results under hypotheses relating the geometry of the curves and the distance between the planes. Ari J. Aiolfi was partially supported by Fapergs and Programa FIPE Junior/UFSM.