On-line arbitrarily vertex decomposable trees

A tree T is arbitrarily vertex decomposable if for any sequence τ of positive integers adding up to the order of T there is a sequence of vertex-disjoint subtrees of T whose orders are given by τ. An on-line version of the problem of characterizing arbitrarily vertex decomposable trees is completely solved here.     

Physics, mind, society: Back and forth

The life course of the physicist and biologist George Feher may be seen as an epitome of science of the second half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century. Feher, a native of Slovakia, barely escaped Nazism and communism and became a scientist in the USA. The Nazi concentration camps and the communist gulags have become a symbol of the 20th century. This symbol stands here to pose a question: How the two totalitarian systems, fraught with irrationality, may have arisen and thrived in parallel with an unprecedented expansion of science, the paragon of rationalism? The question has become even more urgent in the 21st century. The Ground Zero, an empty spot left after the collapse of the twin towers of the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001, has become the symbol of the entrance of humankind into the new millennium. We can do much, but we understand too little about who we are and what we are doing — this is a message that the two symbols convey about the precarious stage of our evolution. The second message concerns the role of artifacts, specifically scientific instruments, in the advancement of science. Human cultural evolution has been steadily progressing, in a form of a ratchet, only because artifacts have been continually evolving. Contrary to the common Popperian wisdom, the demarcation in science may not consist in the amenability to theoretical falsification, but rather in the amenability to instrumental grasping. Scientific instruments have empowered humans for impressive feats of manipulation with Nature and themselves. Knowledge arising in the course of autonomous evolution of artifacts may surpass the horizon of human understanding and grasping. New knowledge may still be power, but no longer the power of humans. We may need a revision of some fundamental ideas of European thought. Our understanding of the human mind may entirely reshape our comprehension of the nature of physical knowledge, and vice versa.     

Group-valued measures on coarse-grained quantum logics

In [3] it was shown that a (real) signed measure on a cyclic coarse-grained quantum logic can be extended, as a signed measure, over the entire power algebra. Later ([9]) this result was re-proved (and further improved on) and, moreover, the non-negative measures were shown to allow for extensions as non-negative measures. In both cases the proof technique used was the technique of linear algebra. In this paper we further generalize the results cited by extending group-valued measures on cyclic coarse-grained quantum logics (or non-negative group-valued measures for lattice-ordered groups). Obviously, the proof technique is entirely different from that of the preceding papers. In addition, we provide a new combinatorial argument for describing all atoms of cyclic coarse-grained quantum logics.     

Hilbert Space of Probability Density Functions Based on Aitchison Geometry

The set of probability functions is a convex subset of L1 and it does not have a linear space structure when using ordinary sum and multiplication by real constants. Moreover, difficulties arise when dealing with distances between densities. The crucial point is that usual distances are not invariant under relevant transformations of densities. To overcome these limitations, Aitchison＇s ideas on compositional data analysis are used, generalizing perturbation and power transformation, as well as the Aitchison inner product, to operations on probability density functions with support on a finite interval. With these operations at hand, it is shown that the set of bounded probability density functions on finite intervals is a pre-Hilbert space. A Hilbert space of densities, whose logarithm is square-integrable, is obtained as the natural completion of the pre-Hilbert space.     

Category with a natural cone

Generally, in homotopy theory a cylinder object (or, its dual, a path object) is used to define homotopy between morphisms, and a cone object is used to build exact sequences of homotopy groups. Here, an axiomatic theory based on a cone functor is given. Suspension objects are associated to based objects and cofibrations, obtaining homotopy groups referred to an object and relative to a cofibration, respectively. Exact sequences of these groups are built. Algebraic and particular examples are given. We point out that the main results of this paper were already stated in [3], and the purpose of this article is to give full details of the foregoing.     

The LPCTrap experiment: measurement of the β–ν angular correlation in 6He using a transparent Paul trap

We report on the status of the LPCTrap experiment, devoted to measure the β–ν angular correlation in the pure Gamow–Teller decay of ⁶He. This measurement is motivated by the search for the presence of tensor type contributions to the weak interaction. The ⁶He ions are confined in a novel transparent Paul trap. The β particles and the recoil ions are detected in coincidence to deduce the angular correlation parameter. The commissioning run performed in 2005 has given the proof of principle of this experiment. Up to 10⁵ coincidences were recorded during a second run in 2006.     

A polar macroporous sorbent for gas chromatography

Summary The gas chromatographic behaviour of crosslinked macroporous 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate grafted with 2-methyloxazoline was investigated and the range of applicability of the copolymer was assessed. Retention index values were measured on this copolymer and compared with those obtained on the terpolymer 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate-ethylene dimethacrylate-acrylonitrile. Rohrschneider constants and efficiency data for selected sorbates are given. The use of this type of polymer in the separation of various types of compounds is documented by various examples.     

Equilibrium States in the Quadruple–Kerr Solution

The extended quadruple–Kerr metric is used to consider equilibrium states of four collinear Kerr particles. We explain our previous failure to solve numerically the full set of the balance equations, and we derive a self–consistent system of the axis conditions leading to the equilibrium of all four constituents which can be black holes or hyperextreme objects. The equilibrium configurations obtained in this paper exhibit similar features with those occurring in the systems of two Kerr particles, for instance, the balance of four Kerr black holes with positive masses does not seem possible. Equilibrium states of two identical compound Kerr objects are also discussed.     

JET: Preparing the future in fusion

JET (Joint European Torus) is the largest tokamak in the world and the only fusion facility able to operate with Tritium, the fusion fuel, and Beryllium, the ITER first wall material. JET also features the most complete remote handling equipment for invessel maintenance. As a multinational research center, JET provides logistic experience in preparing for operation of the global facility, tokamak ITER.Experiments on JET are focused on ITER-relevant studies, in particular on detailing the operational scenarios (EL My H-modes and advanced regimes), on enhancing the heating systems, on developing diagnostics for burning plasmas etc. Pioneering real-time control techniques have been implemented that maximize performance and minimize internal disturbances of JET plasmas. In helium plasmas, ion cyclotron heating (ICRH) created fast α-particles, mimicking their populations in future burning plasmas. The recent successful Trace Tritium campaign provided important new data on fuel transport. Current enhancements on JET include a new ITER-like ELM-resilient high power ICRH antenna (7 MW) and over twenty new diagnostics that will further extend the JET scientific capabilities and push the facility even closer to the ITER parameters.A special mention is given to the involvement of the fusion experts from Association EURATOM-IPP.CR, who have been actively participating in the collective use of JET facility for more than three years.     

Spectral enhancement of Polish vowels to improve their identification by hearing impaired listeners

Abnormalities in the cochlear function usually cause broadening of the auditory filters which reduces the speech intelligibility. An attempt to apply a spectral enhancement algorithm has been undertaken to improve the identification of Polish vowels by subjects with cochlear-based hearing-impairment. The identification scores of natural (unprocessed) vowels and spectrally enhanced (processed) vowels has been measured for hearing-impaired subjects. It has been found that spectral enhancement improves vowel scores by about 10% for those subjects, however, a wide variation in individual performance among subjects has been observed. The overall vowels identification scores obtained were 85% for natural vowels and 96% for spectrally enhanced vowels.