Host Plant Constancy in Ovipositing Manduca sexta

Journal of Chemical Ecology - Many pollinating insects exhibit flower constancy, i.e. they target flower species they have already experienced and fed from. While the insects might profit from...     

The mechanical milling of Al/TiO2 composite powders

The processing of Al/TiO₂ composite powders produced by high-energy mechanical milling leads to production of a range of valuable, titanium-based materials. They include Ti(Al,O)/Al₂O₃ and Ti_xAl_y(O)/Al₂O₃ composite powders, bulk composites and Ti₃Al/TiAl alloy powders, and corresponding bulk materials. The strength of the Ti(Al,O)/Al₂O₃ and Ti_xAl_y(O)/Al₂O₃ composites is moderate, but their high-temperature oxidation resistance is exceptionally high, making the titanium-based composite powders favorable feedstock materials for protective coatings. The hardness of the Ti(Al,O)/Al₂O₃ and Ti₃Al(O)/Al₂O₃ composites is also very high (10–16 GPa). For more information, contact D.L. Zhang, University of Waikato, Waikato Centre for Advanced Materials, Department of Materials and Process Engineering, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton, New Zealand; 011-64-7-838-4783; fax 011-64-7-838-4835; e-mail d.zhang@waikato.ac.nz.     

Numerical simulation of non-linear chatter vibration in turning

In this paper, basic relationships and algorithms for numerical simulation of non-linear, self-excited vibrations in single degree-of-freedom cutting systems are presented. Non-linearities due to the tool leaving the cut, as well as interference between the cutting tool clearance face and cutting surface waviness, were taken into consideration. Examples of vibration simulation results are shown.     

An improved factor based approach to precedential constraint

In this article I argue for rule-based, non-monotonic theories of common law judicial reasoning and improve upon one such theory offered by Horty and Bench-Capon. The improvements reveal some of the interconnections between formal theories of judicial reasoning and traditional issues within jurisprudence regarding the notions of the ratio decidendi and obiter dicta. Though I do not purport to resolve the long-standing jurisprudential issues here, it is beneficial for theorists both of legal philosophy and formalizing legal reasoning to see where the two projects interact.     

Think,feel, bid: the impact of environmental conditions on the role of bidders’ cognitive and affective processes in auction bidding

Environmental conditions and the interplay of cognitive and affective processes both exert influences on bidding behavior. This paper brings the above together, considering how the (external) auction environment determines the impact of (internal) cognitive and affective processes on bidding behavior, assessed in comparison to the optimal bid. Two aspects of the auction environment were considered, namely auction dynamics (low: first-price sealed-bid auction, high: Dutch auction) and value uncertainty (low, high). In a laboratory experiment, we assess bidders’ cognitive workload and emotional arousal through physiological measurements. We find that higher auction dynamics increase the impact of emotional arousal on bid deviations, but not that of cognitive workload. Higher value uncertainty, conversely, increases the impact of cognitive workload on bid deviations, but not that of emotional arousal. Taken together, the auction environment is a critical factor in understanding the nature of the underlying decision process and its impact on bids.     

High quality voice conversion using prosodic and high-resolution spectral features

Voice conversion methods have advanced rapidly over the last decade. Studies have shown that speaker characteristics are captured by spectral feature as well as various prosodic features. Most existing conversion methods focus on the spectral feature as it directly represents the timbre characteristics, while some conversion methods have focused only on the prosodic feature represented by the fundamental frequency. In this paper, a comprehensive framework using deep neural networks to convert both timbre and prosodic features is proposed. The timbre feature is represented by a high-resolution spectral feature. The prosodic features include F0, intensity and duration. It is well known that DNN is useful as a tool to model high-dimensional features. In this work, we show that DNN initialized by our proposed autoencoder pretraining yields good quality DNN conversion models. This pretraining is tailor-made for voice conversion and leverages on autoencoder to capture the generic spectral shape of source speech. Additionally, our framework uses segmental DNN models to capture the evolution of the prosodic features over time. To reconstruct the converted speech, the spectral feature produced by the DNN model is combined with the three prosodic features produced by the DNN segmental models. Our experimental results show that the application of both prosodic and high-resolution spectral features leads to quality converted speech as measured by objective evaluation and subjective listening tests.     

Constructive quantum scaling of unitary matrices

In this work, we present a method of decomposition of arbitrary unitary matrix \(U\in \mathbf {U}(2^k)\) into a product of single-qubit negator and controlled-\(\sqrt{\text{ NOT }}\) gates. Since the product results with negator matrix, which can be treated as complex analogue of bistochastic matrix, our method can be seen as complex analogue of Sinkhorn–Knopp algorithm, where diagonal matrices are replaced by adding and removing an one-qubit ancilla. The decomposition can be found constructively, and resulting circuit consists of \(O(4^k)\) entangling gates, which is proved to be optimal. An example of such transformation is presented.     

In Face on Facebook: Brooklyn's Drag Community and Sociotechnical Practices of Online Communication

Recently, Brooklyn has seen an explosion of drag culture, with dozens of performers taking the stage in any given week. Social media plays a vital role for members of this community, simultaneously allowing self‐promotion and community solidarity. Drawing on focus group interviews, we analyze the communication practices of Brooklyn's drag performers, examining both the advantages and drawbacks of social media platforms. Using conceptual frameworks of faceted identity and relational labor, our discussion focuses on affordances and constraints of multifaceted identity in online contexts and theories of seamful design. We contend that by analyzing online communication practices of drag performers, it becomes possible to identify gaps between embedded ideologies of mainstream social media technologies and the localized values of outsider communities.