Orbital period changes are an important diagnostic for understanding low mass X-ray binary (LMXB) accretioninduced angular momentum exchange and overall system evolution. We present our most recent results for the eclipse timing of the LMXB EXO 0748−676. Since its discovery in 1985 it has apparently undergone three distinct orbital period “epochs", each characterized by a different orbital peri...

In the framework of brane-world models lowering the Planck scale to the TeV range, it has recently been pointed out that small black holes could be formed at particle colliders or by neutrinos interactions in the atmosphere. This article aims at reviewing other places and epochs where microscopic black holes could be formed : the interstellar medium and the early Universe. The related decay cha...

A new read-one write-all (ROWA) protocol for replicated data is proposed that allows a system to adjust to failures dynamically in order to keep the data available. If failures arrive mostly sequentially, our protocol keeps the data available as long as there is at least one operational replica. This is achieved by making the epoch mechanism, previously applicable to non-ROWA schemes only, usab...

According to the ancient Romans, “Delectare, docere, movere” are the goals of eloquence. To be accepted by museums, landscapes and archaeological sites, technology has to win the same challenge. Is technology unobtrusive enough to avoid compromising the emotional involvement that makes a visit to a cultural site unforgettable? Can it achieve a dissemination of the information in such a way that...

Professional Original Effective Date: October 26, 2010 Institutional Original Effective Date: November 29, 2010 Revision Date(s): May 20, 2011; February 14, 2012; February 24, 2012; January 15, 2013; March 19, 2013 Revision Date(s): May 20, 2011; February 14, 2012; February 24, 2012; January 15, 2013; March 19, 2013 Current Effective Date: October 26, 2010 Current Effective Date: November 29, 2010

Only when we come to the last page of the book do we learn the secret. The page that solves the riddle comes after the book has ended, after the index, and at the end of a series of pages advertising books by the same author. Finally, an answer to the purpose of the book; finally a link that binds the apparently un-associated! The solution is a novel previously written by the author; a novel th...

In natural conversations, significant part of laughter co-occurs with speech which is referred to as speech-laugh. Hence, speech-laugh will have characteristics of both laughter and neutral speech. But it is not clearly evident how acoustic properties of neutral speech are influenced by its co-occurring laughter. The objective of this study is to analyze the acoustic variations between vowel re...

labeling, but has found none that would achieve the objective of this ban, consistent with the public health and safety. (2) The Commission believes that any adverse effects of the ban should be minimal and would be expected to be confined to some shift in distribution patterns to accommodate professional users, including methods of distinguishing between professional users and consumers. (3) T...

Although colleges and universities are facing increased scrutiny to demonstrate a return on investment for their students, the demand for college-educated workers continues to grow. As of 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that more than one-fifth of Americans age 25 and older—around 43.5 million people—have some postsecondary education but no degree (Lumina, 2012). This article presents an...

We investigate the phase synchronization of heartbeat and respiration in a group of healthy infants. Having presented and compared two quantitative measures of synchronization, we conclude that one of these measures — the conditional probability index — allows reliable detection of synchronous epochs of different order n :m and, thus, makes possible an automatic processing of large data sets. I...