Direct reaction contribution in the very low-energy 19F(p,α0) reaction

The direct reaction component of the [Formula: see text]F([Formula: see text]) reaction at [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]keV is studied for the data that became very recently available. This component is significant in this work using the direct pickup model in the framework of the DWBA formalism and indicate the strong cluster structure of [Formula: see text]F. The direct component of astrophysical S-factor is calculated for [Formula: see text]F([Formula: see text]).

The humanitarian alibi: an overview and a redefinition

This paper explores and illustrates the diverse manifestations of the phenomenon of the ‘humanitarian alibi’, drawing upon historical and contemporary cases of violent conflict in order to identify substitutionary phenomena by governments and international actors. It affirms the existence of substitution process where humanitarian aid intervention substitutes for the prevention and resolution of violent conflict and the protection of civilian populations. The paper argues for expanding the humanitarian alibi, however, to take into account how international aid intervention compensates for both the systemic neglect of conflict related crises and for the systemic harm that exacerbates and perpetuates these crises. It also challenges the suggestion that the humanitarian alibi phenomenon is the product of a bygone era, and finds that the use of aid as a substitute for peacemaking can co-exist alongside the use of aid as a direct component of international intervention.

Discrimination of 2D wall textures by passive echolocation for different reflected-to-direct level difference configurations

In this work, we study people’s ability to discriminate between different 2D textures of walls by passive listening to a pre-recorded tongue click in an auralized echolocation scenario. In addition, the impact of artificially enhancing the early reflection magnitude by 6dB and of removing the direct component while equalizing the loudness was investigated. Listening test results for different textures, ranging from a flat wall to a staircase, were assessed using a 2 Alternative-Forced-Choice (2AFC) method, in which 14 sighted, untrained participants were indicating 2 equally perceived stimuli out of 3 presented stimuli. The average performance of the listening subjects to discriminate between different textures was found to be significantly higher for walls at 5m distance, without overlap between the reflected and direct sound, compared to the same walls at 0.8m distance. Enhancing the reflections as well as removing the direct sound were found to be beneficial to differentiate textures. This finding highlights the importance of forward masking in the discrimination process. The overall texture discriminability was found to be larger for the walls reflecting with a higher spectral coloration.

Simulations and Subjective Rating of Acoustic Conditions in a Symphony Orchestra—A Case Study

Acoustic conditions in a symphony orchestra on a concert hall stage are very different from those on an empty stage. Since inter-orchestral sound transmission and other acoustic conditions with the orchestra present is easier to simulate than to measure, a method for simulations in Odeon models of orchestras in different rooms was developed by this author. This method was applied in the Grieghallen Renewal Project, which involved changes in concert hall, orchestra pit, and rehearsal hall. The resident orchestra members gave their overall rating of playing conditions in the home venues in addition to a number of international venues. Acoustical conditions in the rated venues were simulated and compared with ratings. Several metrics were investigated, and their correlation with subjective ratings varied between r2 = 0.09 and r2 = 0.85. It turned out the orchestra clearly preferred to play in conditions where the direct component and the reverberant component of the inter-orchestral sound-transmission on average were equally strong; |D-R| = 0. Any deviation from equality was associated with reduced preference, with correlation coefficient r = −0.92. Several interesting implications and interpretations of the result are discussed in the paper.