Search

The event-by-event fluctuation of hadronic patterns is investigated by finding a measure of the nonhadronic regions, the voids, for the experimental data of 32 S–AgBr interactions at 200 A GeV. Two lowest moments of the event-to-event fluctuation of voids, 〈 G q 〉 and S q have been defined by R.C. Hwa and Q.H. Zhang to quantify the dependence of the voids on the bin sizes. Characteristic of the quark–hadron phase transition, if any can be efficiently extracted from the scaling behavior of the voids. The experimental data of π − -AgBr interactions at 350 GeV/c are also probed with the same tool to have a complete view. The results have been compared with the results of the VENUS generated data for the above interactions.

This study reports a detailed analysis of spatial fluctuations as well as event-to-event fluctuations of compound hadrons (pions + protons) produced in 32S–AgBr interactions at 200 AGeV with a new technique known as erraticity analysis. This analysis is done for both emission-angle and azimuthal-angle phase spaces using gap-moment method. The study provides a strong evidence of erratic behavior of compound hadrons in ultra-relativistic nuclear collisions.

This paper presents a study on multifractal parameters of EEG patterns on the human brain. Multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis was applied to human EEG for normal and epileptic patients in different states. The results show that the degree of multifractality of EEG for patients in an epileptic seizure are much higher compared to normal healthy people. The degree of multifractality for normal humans with eyes open and closed was also significantly different. Thus the multifractal parameters can be used to distinguish between different physiological and pathological states of the human brain. The results are discussed in detail.

The study explores the applicability of a multifractal cross-correlated method to assess the degree of correlation of intracranial pressure (ICP) signals with ECG and ABP in traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients. Multifractal width (w) and cross-correlation exponent ( γ x ) estimated using multifractal detrended cross-correlation (MFDXA) method describe interesting features about the complexity of ICP signals of traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients. The degree of multifractality (w) of ECG signals reveal that even without going into complicated ICP signal measurement which is not only invasive but costly procedure, the trauma suffered due to brain injury can easily be assessed. With the help of two quantitative parameters w and γ x appropriate software can easily be developed and coupled with ECG system.

While the emotional state of a person can be manifested in different ways such as facial expressions, gestures, movements and postures, recognition of emotion from speech has gathered much interest over others. This study attempts to understand different factors that influence Speech Emotion Recognition (SER), while taking into account one of the most important parameter—language. We look to classify and compare four basic emotions—anger, happy, sad and neutral from speech segments of four different linguistic groups—Bengali, English, German and Spanish. Robust nonlinear feature like multifractal width was used to develop a language independent emotion classification model. EEG was done on different groups of L1 speaking participants to understand the neuro-cognitive appraisal corresponding to speech segments of different language, i.e., to understand the presence of any speech features that contribute exclusively to emotion recognition of a selected language. The nonlinear, non-stationary EEG time series has been analyzed with latest state of the art multifractal features. The first of its kind study is expected to shed light on how the emotional contents of speech depend on language or solely on the prosodic features of speech such as pitch, loudness, tempo, stress and rhythm.While the emotional state of a person can be manifested in different ways such as facial expressions, gestures, movements and postures, recognition of emotion from speech has gathered much interest over others. This study attempts to understand different factors that influence Speech Emotion Recognition (SER), while taking into account one of the most important parameter—language. We look to classify and compare four basic emotions—anger, happy, sad and neutral from speech segments of four different linguistic groups—Bengali, English, German and Spanish. Robust nonlinear feature like multifractal width was used to develop a language independent emotion classification model. EEG was done on different groups of L1 speaking participants to understand the neuro-cognitive appraisal corresponding to speech segments of different language, i.e., to understand the presence of any speech features that contribute exclusively to emotion recognition of a selected language. The nonlinear, non-stationary EEG time series...

This paper studies the cross-correlation between the pseudorapidity and azimuthal distributions of the shower particles emitted in [Formula: see text]S-AgBr interactions at 200[Formula: see text]GeV and [Formula: see text]O-AgBr interactions at 60[Formula: see text]GeV applying Multifractal detrended cross-correlation analysis (MF-DXA) methodology. The cross-correlation between the pseudorapidity ([Formula: see text]) space and the azimuthal ([Formula: see text]) space is found to exhibit multifractality in case of both the interactions. The results obtained from the analysis of the experimental data were compared with those obtained for the randomly shuffled data for both the interactions, and the results revealed that the multifractality is due to the presence of long-range correlations. The study clearly indicates that the strength of the cross-correlation depends on both the projectile mass and energy.

Continuous wavelet transform approach has been applied to the pseudo-rapidity distribution of shower tracks produced in [Formula: see text]O–AgBr interactions at 60[Formula: see text]AGeV and [Formula: see text]S–AgBr interactions at 200[Formula: see text]AGeV. Multiscale analysis of wavelet pseudo-rapidity spectra has been performed in order to find out the overabundance of produced tracks at some preferred pseudo-rapidity values, i.e., production of particle clusters. Presence of ring-like correlation is not confirmed from the analysis in pseudo-rapidity space only. The clusterization effect may be attributed to the presence of Bose–Einstein correlation among the produced tracks. Comparison of experimental results with that obtained from analyzing events generated by FRITIOF and UrQMD codes is not reproduced.

We have presented an investigation on the ring- and jet-like azimuthal angle substructures in the emission of secondary charged hadrons coming from 32S–Ag/Br interactions at 200 A GeV/c. Nuclear photographic emulsion technique has been employed to collect the experimental data. The presence of such substructures, their average behaviour, their size, and their position of occurrence have been examined. The experimental results have also been compared with the results simulated by Monte-Carlo method. The analysis strongly indicates the presence of ring- and jet-like structures in the experimental distributions of particles beyond statistical noise. The experimental results are in good agreement with I M Dremin idea, that the phenomenon is similar to the emission of Cherenkov electromagnetic radiation.

An investigation on the presence of ring and jet-like structures is carried out in the angular emission of target-evaporated slow particles emitted in 16 O–Ag/Br interactions at 60 A GeV/c and 32 S–Ag/Br interactions at 200 A GeV/c. The nuclear emulsion technique was employed to collect the experimental data. We compared our experimental results with those obtained from Monte Carlo simulations. The analysis indicates the presence of ring and jet-like structures in the experimental data beyond the statistical noise. The presence of ring-like structure is fairly pronounced in 16 O–Ag/Br interactions compared to 32 S–Ag/Br interactions and jet-like structure is more distinct in 32 S. One dimensional (1d) intermittency for ring-like structures and two dimensional (2d) intermittency for jet-like structures are expected. The self-affine behavior of 2d scaled factorial moments (SFM) were investigated and the strength of 2d intermittency was determined. For each set of data, the 2d results were compared with the corresponding one-dimensional (1d) intermittency results. The strength in 2d is significantly greater than 1d for 32 S–Ag/Br interactions whereas for 16 O–Ag/Br interactions 1d is greater than 2d. This is also a sign of predominance of jets in 32 S–Ag/Br and the rings in 16 O–Ag/Br interactions.

In this work we have tried to quantify and categorize the emotional appraisal of 8 cross-cultural instrumental clips with the help of neurocognitive physics approach. Human response data is taken for 70 respondents from which the emotional appraisal for a particular musical clip is standardized. EEG is taken for 5 normal patients and response for different frequency bands (alpha, theta, gamma) of the EEG spectrum is analyzed using Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (DFA). The DFA scaling exponent is calculated for all the 3 different frequency bands of EEG signals under the effect of different emotional music clips in the frontal, temporal and occipital lobes. We have tried to develop DFA scaling exponent as a single parameter with which we can characterize and quantify emotional arousal corresponding to different emotional clips and corroborate the findings from human response study Outcomes are discussed in details in the paper.

A detailed study of Event-by-Event pseudorapidity fluctuation of the pions produced in 16O -AgBr interactions at 60A GeV and 32S -AgBr interactions at 200A GeV has been carried out in terms of $ \phi$ , a variable defined as a measure of fluctuation. Non-zero $ \phi$ values indicate the presence of strong correlation among the pions for both interactions. Multiplicity and rapidity dependence of the Event-by-Event pseudorapidity fluctuation has been investigated. A decrease of $ \phi$ with average multiplicity and increase of the same variable with pseudorapidity width are observed. Decrease of $ \phi$ with average multiplicity is concluded as the particle emission by several independent sources occurs for higher-multiplicity events. The increase in $ \phi$ values with pseudorapidity width, taken around central rapidity, might hint towards the presence of long-range correlation and its dominance over short range one. We have compared our experimental results with Monte Carlo simulation generated assuming independent particle emission. Comparison shows that the source of correlation and fluctuation is the dynamics of the pion production process. We have also compared our results with events generated by FRITIOF code. Such events also show the presence of fluctuation and correlation; however they fail to replicate the experimental findings.

The raga is said to be the soul of Hindustani music. Each raga in Hindustani music is associated with particular or a variety of emotional experiences. In this paper, we took a neurocognitive physics approach to quantitatively evaluate the emotions induced by two sets of Hindustani raga music. The study reports the change in the complexity of EEG brain rhythms while they listen to Hindustani music (instrumental) of contrast emotions. The two set of raga clips chosen for our analysis are Chayanat (romantic/joy) and Darbari Kannada (sad/ pathos) on the first day while Bahar (romantic/joy) and Mian ki Malhar (sad/ pathos) on the second day. 20 subjects voluntarily participated in the EEG study, who were made to listen to 2 min ‘alaap’ section of each raga. Detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) was used to determine the complexity of neuronal oscillations in 5 electrodes, when the subjects listened to clips of contrast emotions. Alpha and theta brain rhythms were extracted from each of these electrodes and power spectral density (PSD) evaluated to estimate the alpha and theta power in all these electrodes. The results show that the complexity of brain rhythm varies significantly when the emotion of music changes from happy to sad.

In North-Indian-Music-System(NIMS),tabla is mostly used as percussive accompaniment for vocal-music in polyphonic-compositions. The human auditory system uses perceptual grouping of musical-elements and easily filters the tabla component, thereby decoding prominent rhythmic features like tala, tempo from a polyphonic composition. For Western music, lots of work have been reported for automated drum analysis of polyphonic composition. However, attempts at computational analysis of tala by separating the tabla-signal from mixed signal in NIMS have not been successful. Tabla is played with two components - right and left. The right-hand component has frequency overlap with voice and other instruments. So, tala analysis of polyphonic-composition, by accurately separating the tabla-signal from the mixture is a baffling task, therefore an area of challenge. In this work we propose a novel technique for successfully detecting tala using left-tabla signal, producing meaningful results because the left-tabla normally doesn't have frequency overlap with voice and other instruments. North-Indian-rhythm follows complex cyclic pattern, against linear approach of Western-rhythm. We have exploited this cyclic property along with stressed and non-stressed methods of playing tabla-strokes to extract a characteristic pattern from the left-tabla strokes, which, after matching with the grammar of tala-system, determines the tala and tempo of the composition. A large number of polyphonic(vocal+tabla+other-instruments) compositions has been analyzed with the methodology and the result clearly reveals the effectiveness of proposed techniques., Comment: It is a 20 page document with 8 figures, essentially portrays a pattern recognition novel approach to detect tala from a polyphonic song having table content and of North-Indian-Music-System(NIMS) genre

In this paper we try to evaluate the multifractality displayed by the EEG signals obtained from subjects with sleep apnea syndrome. The Multifractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (MF-DFA) shows that the EEG signals have different degree of multifractality and we suspected this variety is due to various stages of sleep. In an attempt to identify the origin of multifractality we extend our study and produce surrogate data set. Applying MF-DFA method on the surrogate data set we find that this multifractality is caused by both the long-range correlation appearing due to large and small fluctuations and broad probability distribution. However the first one has more influence on the multifractality of the EEG signals during sleep.

The concept of creativity and perception of a raga is revisited in this work from the brain electrical response of a professional Hindustani musician. EEG was done to record the response when a musician created the imagery of raga Jay Jayanti as well as when he listened to the same raga sung by him. We have quantified the correlation values obtained from different lobes of the brain during these two experimental conditions using a robust non-linear technique called multifractal detrended cross-correlation analysis (MFDXA). With this method, we have seen that both during imagination and perception the degree of cross-correlation is very high in the occipital lobe, purportedly due to the visualization of the raga by the musicians. In other electrodes also, inter/intra-lobe cross correlations have been found to be significantly during different conditions. With this study, we look forward to develop a paradigm with which we can quantify the definition of creativity. The results are discussed in detail.

We have studied the multifractality of pion emission process in16O-AgBr interactions at 2.1 AGeV and 60 AGeV,12C-AgBr and 24Mg-AgBr interactions at 4.5 AGeV, and32S-AgBr interactions at 200 AGeV using Multifractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (MFDFA) method which is capable of extracting the actual multifractal property filtering out the average trend of fluctuation. The analysis reveals that the pseudorapidity distribution of the shower particles is multifractal in nature for all the interactions; that is, pion production mechanism has inbuilt multiscale self-similarity property. We have employed MFDFA method for randomly generated events for32S-AgBr interactions at 200 AGeV. Comparison of expt. results with those obtained from randomly generated data set reveals that the source of multifractality in our data is the presence of long range correlation. Comparing the results obtained from different interactions, it may be concluded that strength of multifractality decreases with projectile mass for the same projectile energy and for a particular projectile it increases with energy. The values of ordinary Hurst exponent suggest that there is long range correlation present in our data for all the interactions.

Nowadays depression is a well-known cause of various mental health impairments, impacting the quality of our personal and social lives. Severe depression leads to suicidal tendency, particularly in young people. Detection and assessment of depression and suicidal tendency is a difficult task, due to their complex clinical attributes. Their key symptoms include transformed emotions which are eventually reflected in speech. Hence emotion detection from speech signals is an important field of research in the area of Human Computer Interaction (HCI). In this work we have attempted to extract a novel feature from the nonlinear and non-stationary aspects of the speech signals generated out of different emotions. We have introduced a modified version of the Visibility Graph analysis technique for the analysis of speech signals and extraction of a quantitative feature named mPSVG (Modified Power of Scale-freeness of Visibility Graph). This parameter efficiently classifies the contrasting emotions of anger and sadness, and we have proposed to use this parameter as a precursor for assessing suicidal tendency. This method of Modified Visibility Graph analysis is computationally efficient and suitable for realtime applications but still retains the nonlinear and nonstationary aspects of the speech signal. This is a constructive step towards the assessment of suicidal tendency and other cognitive disorders, using a nonlinear and non-stationary analysis of speech.

Measuring EEG signals as a diagnostic tool for Epileptic patient is a well traveled way. Different non-linear statistical approaches have been applied over the past years on this signal to reveal the nature of connection between epilepsy and EEG. In this work we study the post-ictal ECG signals of epileptic patient collected from MIT-BIH database using mono-fractal methods as well as multifractal approach. We compare the results of the same statistical methods with healthy normal group. Result from monofractal analysis such as Rescaled range analysis indicates that the ECG signals of epileptic patients are anti-persistent in nature whereas for healthy normal people it is persistent. Detrended fluctuation analysis also confirms the same fact and declares that ECG signals of healthy normal people are more persistent and more correlated than epileptic patients. Finally we use the multifractal approach on the ECG signals. Result from the Multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis confirms that healthy normal people have higher degree of multifractality compared to epileptic patients.

Speech emotion recognition has become crucial in the field of human computer interaction for important applications like early detection of Alzheimer's Disease- (hereafter AD). The aim of the present paper is to introduce a new feature for emotion detection from speech using the Multi Fractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (MFDFA) method. We propose a quantitative parameter for categorizing various emotions by analyzing the non-stationary details of the dynamics of speech signal, generated out of differing emotions. The observed contrast in this parameter on Angry and Sad emotion can be used for diagnosis of AD. It will be a positive step towards early detection of AD using speech analysis.

Music engages much of the brain, and coordinates a wide range of processing mechanisms. This naturally invites consideration of how music processing in the brain might relate to other complex dynamical abilities. The tremendous ability that music has to affect and manipulate emotions and the brain is undeniable, and yet largely inexplicable. The study of music cognition is drawing an increasing amount of research interest. Like language, music is a human universal involving perceptual discrete elements organized into hierarchically structured sequences. Music can thus provide the study of brain mechanisms, underlying complex sound processing, and also can provide novel insights into the functional and neural architecture of brain functions. The change in the structure and form of music might bring a change in the neural dynamics. So it is important to study and analyze music and see its correlation with the changes it brings about in the neural dynamics. This work is essentially a case report of the various robust scientific nonlinear tools used by us in the assessment of complex neural dynamics induced by a variety of musical clips. Also, the inherent self-similarity in the musical clips can also be studied with the help of these analysis techniques. These methods can be best described taking the example of a mathematical microscope which can wonderfully describe the complex nature of various bio-signals as well as the music signals. The findings and implications are discussed in detail.

This work presents the Levy index analysis of target protons emitted from 32S–AgBr (at 200 A GeV) and 16O–AgBr (at 60 A GeV) interactions using the G-moment (frequency moment) technique applied in the cosθ phase space. The observations are discussed in view of a thermal versus non-thermal phase transition.

This work presents the analysis of ring-like and jet-like events in terms of factorial correlations of 32S–Ag/Br interactions at 200 A GeV. The investigation reveals that the correlated moments increase with decreasing bin–bin separation D, following power law, which suggests the presence of an intermittent nature of self-similar dynamical fluctuation pattern for ring-like and jet-like events. The analysis further shows that the strength of the non-statistical fluctuations is larger for ring- like events than those of jet-like events i.e. correlations in bins are more pronounced in case of ring-like events. However, ring-like events are consistent with the predictions of the α-model, but jet-like events are not.

Event-to-event fluctuation pattern of pions produced by proton and pion beams is studied in terms of the newly defined erraticity measures χ(p, q), $\chi_q^{\prime}$ and $\mu_q^{\prime}$ proposed by Cao and Hwa. The analysis reveals the erratic behaviour of the produced pions signifying the chaotic multiparticle production in high-energy hadron–nucleus interactions (π − –AgBr interactions at 350 GeV/c and p–AgBr interactions at 400 GeV/c). However, the chaoticity does not depend on whether the projectile is proton or pion. The results are compared with the results of the VENUS-generated data for the above interactions which suggests that VENUS event generator is unable to reproduce the event-to-event fluctuations of spatial patterns of final states. A comparative study of p–AgBr interactions and p–p collisions at 400 GeV/c from NA27, with the help of a quantitative parameter for the assessment of pion fluctuation, indicates conclusively that particle production process is more chaotic for hadron–nucleus interactions than for hadron–hadron interactions.

Erraticity analysis using the gap moment method is performed using the experimental data of π−–AgBr interactions at 200 and 350 GeV both for pions and compound hadrons (pions + protons). The entropy like quantity Sq has been calculated at two different energies. The variation of Sq with q and their dependence on multiplicity of charged particles are investigated also. The study reveals the positive indication of the presence of erratic nature of event-by-event fluctuations of gap distributions of produced pions and compound hadrons in emission angle (cos θ) space in relativistic hadron–nucleus interaction.

This work presents an analysis of anomalous fractal dimension of pions emitted from 16 O – AgBr interactions at 2.1 AGeV and 60 AGeV and 32 S–AgBr interactions at 200 AGeV using the data of F q moment analysis in different phase space binning regions in two-dimensional η – ϕ space. Further a scaling exponent ( ν ) in each case has been determined following Ginzburg–Landau formalism to search for possible signal of quark-hadron phase transition. The analysis reveals that the values of scaling exponent in all bin-ranges at three widely different energies are significantly different from the critical value (1.304) discarding any possibility of QGP phase transition.

The multifractal analysis of charged pion produced in 16 O–AgBr interactions at 2.1 AGeV and 24 Mg–AgBr interactions at 4.5 AGeV has been investigated using the Takagi moment method in pseudo-rapidity space. The generalized fractal dimensions D q are determined for these two interactions for different orders of moment. Experimental data reflects multifractal geometry in the multipion production process. From the knowledge of the generalized fractal dimensions D q , the multifractal specific heat has also been evaluated for these data. A detailed comparison is presented with the results obtained from 12 C–AgBr and 28 Si–AgBr interactions at 4.5 AGeV/c, 28 Si–AgBr interactions at 14.5 A GeV/c, 16 O–AgBr interactions 60 AGeV and 32 S–AgBr interactions 200 AGeV from the recent literatures.

This study reveals the analysis of ring-like and jet-like events in terms of factorial correlations of 16 O – Ag/Br interactions at 60A GeV . The investigation revealed that the correlated moments are found to increase with decreasing bin–bin separation D and follows a power-law which suggests the presence of an intermittent nature of self-similar dynamical fluctuations pattern for ring-like and jet-like events. From the analysis we find that for jet-like events the strength of non-statistical fluctuation is greater than the ring-like and total event set. Jet-like events follow the bin size independence according to α model of intermittency as like total events, whereas ring-like events are not consistent with the prediction of α model of intermittency.

The multiplicity fluctuations of the produced pions were studied using scaled vari- ance method in 16 O-AgBr interactions at 2.1 AGeV, 24 Mg-AgBr interactions at 4.5 AGeV, 12 C- AgBr interactions at 4.5 AGeV, 16 O-AgBr interactions at 60 AGeV and 32 S-AgBr interactions at 200 AGeV at two different binning conditions. In the first binning condition, the rapidity interval was varied in steps of one centring about the central rapidity until it reached 14. In the second case, the rapidity interval was increased in steps of 1.6 up to 14.4. Multiplicity distributions and their scaled variances were presented as a function of the dependence on the rapidity width for both the binning conditions. Multiplicity fluctuations were found to increase with the increase of rapidity interval and later found to saturate at larger rapidity window for all the interactions and in both the binning conditions. Multiplicity fluctuations were found to increase with the energy of the projec- tile beam. The values of the scaled variances were found to be greater than one in all the cases in both the binning conditions indicating the presence of correlation during the multiparticle production process in high-energy nucleus-nucleus interactions. Experimental results were compared with the results obtained from the Monte Carlo simulated events for all the interactions. The Monte Carlo simulated data showed very small values of scaled variance suggesting very small fluctuations for the simulated events. Experimental results obtained from 16 O-AgBr interactions at 60 AGeV and 32 S- AgBr interactions at 200 AGeV were compared with the events generated by Lund Monte Carlo code (FRITIOF model). FRITIOF model failed to explain the multiplicity fluctuations of pions emitted from 16 O-AgBr interactions at 60 AGeV for both the binning conditions. However, the experimental data agreed well with the FRITIOF model for 32 S-AgBr interactions at 200 AGeV.

This work presents a study on the multiplicity distribution of shower and compound multiplicity (pions + target protons) emitted from 12 C – AgBr and 24 Mg – AgBr interactions at 4.5 AGeV in terms of negative binomial distribution (NBD) and also on the fluctuation pattern of shower and compound multiplicity in the frame work of two-dimensional factorial moment methodology using the concept of Hurst exponent.

In this paper we have studied the multiplicity distribution of black and grey particles emitted from 16 O – AgBr interactions at 2.1 AGeV and 60 AGeV. We have also calculated the multiplicity moment up to the fifth order for both the interactions and for both kinds of emitted particles. The variation of multiplicity moment with the order number has been investigated. It is seen that in the case of black particles multiplicity moment up to fourth order remains almost constant as energy increases from 2.1 AGeV to 60 AGeV. Fifth order multiplicity moment increases insignificantly with energy. However in the case of grey particles no such constancy of multiplicity moment with energy of the projectile beam is obtained. Later we have extended our study on the basis of Regge–Mueller approach to find the existence of second order correlation during the emission of black as well as the grey particles. The second Mueller moment is found to be positive and it increases as energy increases in the case of black particles. On the contrary in the case of grey particles the second Mueller moment decreases with energy. It can be concluded that as energy increases correlation among the black particles increases. On the other hand with the increase of energy correlation among the grey particles is found to diminish.

This series comprises of a variety of sacrococcygeal masses other than meningomyelocele that presented to the department of pediatric surgery of Medical College Kolkata over last 10 years. In this series, 23 cases of sacrococcygeal masses are included. Barring meningomyelocele, teratoma constitutes a major group of cases. It also includes few other interesting and atypical masses such as presacral dermoid, degenerated nerve fiber, fibrofatty tissue, rhabdomyosarcoma, etc. This is an endeavor to enlighten ourselves so that the diagnosis and management of unfamiliar sacrococcygeal masses can be done.

Study of radon behaviour in soil or groundwater provides important information in case of seismic activity within the earth’s crust. In a previous work, we have tried to correlate the occurrence of radon concentration anomalies in soil with incidents of earthquakes within the distance of 1000 km from the experimental site. The experiment was performed at Kolkata, West Bengal, India (22.53°N, 88.4°E) which is not located in an active fault zone. In extension of our study we have performed simultaneous measurement of radon in an active fault zone at Jalpaiguri (26.53°N, 88.76°E), West Bengal, India as well as in Kolkata – a non-active fault zone. The variation of radon concentration in soil gas was measured by SSNTDs [Solid State Nuclear Track-etch Detector(s)]. Interesting features of an anomalous fluctuation in radon concentration in both the seismic as well as non-seismic zones prior to any particular earthquake is reported.

The search for genuine two-particle dynamical correlations among the target evaporated slow particles in 12C-AgBr and 24Mg-AgBr interactions at 4.5 AGeV and 28Si-AgBr interactions at 14.5 AGeV in the emission angle space has been carried out using the method of normalized factorial cumulant moments. The analysis reveals the presence of genuine two-particle dynamical correlations among the target fragments in 12C-AgBr, 24Mg-AgBr, and 28Si-AgBr interactions. The correlations among the target evaporated slow particles are found to decrease with an increase in mass and energy of the projectile beam.

This paper reports the measurement of radon concentration in well water at the site of Jalpaiguri (26°32′N, 88°46′E) near the active fault zone of West Bengal, India. Radon concentration has been measured in well water with the help of solid-state nuclear track detectors (SSNTD). The study indicates a positive correlation between radon anomaly and earthquake. The data of radon content in well water have been compared with that in soil gas at the same site.

Nakamura and Kudo proposed a scaling form for charged particle pseudorapidity distributions on the basis of scaling in the mean hypothesis. This scaling form was tested primarily for hadron–hadron interaction data. But no attempt was made to verify this for hadron–nucleus interaction which offers unique opportunity to learn about the space–time structure of a strongly interacting process. In view of this we report an analysis of p–AgBr interaction data at 400 GeV/c and 200 GeV/c, π-–AgBr interaction data at 200 GeV/c and 350 GeV/c to test its (Nakamura–Kudo scaling) validity in hadron–nucleus interaction. In all cases the data show a remarkable agreement with the scaling behavior of Nakamura and Kudo.

The current practice of central banks lending gold to gold producers allows the gold leasing rate to be derived from published data. Gold leasing rates, a potential measure of real world interest rates, are calculated and compared with real interest rates derived from U.K. index-linked gilts. The authors then test for Granger causality between changes in the gap between U.K. and world interest rates and changes in the SDR/Sterling exchange rate. They find evidence of Granger causality in both directions, which is consistent with economic theory. Copyright 1994 by Blackwell Publishers Ltd and The Victoria University of Manchester

The target excitation dependence of the degree of multifractality and critical exponent of pions produced for the 16O-AgBr interaction at 60 AGeV has been investigated. To study target excitation dependence, the data for the produced pions were distributed into three sets, depending on the number of grey tracks (ng). The different sets correspond to the different degrees of target excitation. The probability G-moments were used for the analysis in pseudorapidity space. The analysis reveals that the produced particle density distribution possesses multifractal structure for all degrees of target excitation (0 ≤ ng ≤ 3, 4 ≤ ng ≤ 7, and ng ≥ 8). The distribution Levy index and the phase transition critical exponent are calculated. The study indicates the non-thermal phase transition, but it does not show evidence for the second-order phase transition.

The sitar is perhaps the most well known of the Indian plucked string musical instruments. It has a varying number of strings but 16–20 is usual. When played by an expert, the sitar produces a melodious sound effect. The mode of attachment of strings and or the interaction of the large number of strings, some of them being playing strings, some drone and others sympathetic, create the total acoustic environment, which also includes the global resonance structure of the instrument. This creates a sound whose complexity is difficult to model by usual mathematical methods.Fractal dimension is an effective tool for analysis in such cases. In the present paper D0(fractal dimension), D2(correlation dimension) and also the higher moments are studied for acoustic signals obtained from actual sitar performances. Four such performances are used for the present study. The obeying of power law indicates the presence of non-linearity in the production system. The presence of multifractality is noticed through an examination of relationship between q and Dqand the functional relationship between the Dq's. It was observed that fractal dimension might be used as a measure of signal complexity.

In this paper, a detailed study of two-particle rapidity correlation has been presented by measuring the dynamical fluctuation variable [Formula: see text] in forward and backward pseudo-rapidity window of shower particles produced in the relativistic heavy ion collision, [Formula: see text]O–AgBr interactions at 60[Formula: see text]AGeV and [Formula: see text]S–AgBr interactions at 200[Formula: see text]AGeV. Variations of [Formula: see text] with rapidity gap between forward and backward zones and with the width of each zone have been studied. For both cases, [Formula: see text] increase with increasing either width of the zone or gap between the zones. Our findings show the presence of strong long-range correlation. Comparison of experimental results with MC-RAND events confirms the present correlation to be dynamical in nature. We have also compared our results with FRITIOF and UrQMD events. Such events also show the presence of correlation, but found to fail to reproduce the experimental results both quantitatively and qualitatively. Strength of correlation is dependent on the centrality of collision for experimental events, it decreases with centrality.

Target excitation dependence of fluctuation of produced pions (i.e. classifying data of the fluctuation pattern on pions on the basis of the number of gray tracks) is studied for nucleus–nucleus collisions at different projectile energies. In each set the experimental multiplicity distribution is compared with the negative binomial distribution (NBD), which is found to describe the experimental distribution quite well. Target excitation dependence is studied in respect of the clan model parameters [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], which are extracted from the NBD fit parameters [Formula: see text] and k. A detailed comparison between different interactions at the same energy and the same interactions at different energies is also drawn. A nonmonotonic dependence of [Formula: see text] on 〈ng〉 is revealed, which is also a characteristic of multiplicity fluctuations at RHIC data.

This paper presents new data on void analysis of target residues in ultrarelativistic nucleus–nucleus interaction. The study reveals a set of interesting observations. Void probability shows a scaling behavior at high energy (32 S –AgBr interactions at 200 A GeV) in both forward and backward hemisphere. Whereas such behavior is absent at low energy (16 O –AgBr interactions at 60 A GeV) in backward hemisphere.

We perform a Lévy index analysis of relativistic shower particles produced in the interactions of 32 S nuclei at 200A GeV with nuclear emulsion using the results of factorial moment Fq in two-dimensional anisotropic (η - ϕ) space. We carry out the same investigation for target fragments produced in 32 S - AgBr interactions at 200A GeV energy for both events in emission angle space and azimuthal angle space. The analysis reveals that for pions the value of Lévy index μ is 1.491 ± 0.025 for ring-like events and μ ~ 2.004 ± 0.054 for jet-like events which indicates different degree of multifractality. In case of target fragments jet-like events show a value of μ ~ 1.871 ± 0.010 whereas ring-like events yields an unphysical value (μ > 2) the implication of which need to be explored.

Intrathoracic migration of ventriculoperitoneal shunt is a rare complication and usually complicated with pneumonia or cerebrospinal fluid hydrothorax, which leads to diagnosis and early interventions. Very rarely patient remains asymptomatic. Here is a case report of a 6-year-old boy with a rare asymptomatic intrathoracic migration of ventriculoperitoneal shunt.

This paper studies the cross correlation between the time series of atmospheric CO2 concentration and the temperature anomalies data using multifractal detrended cross correlation analysis (MF-DXA) methodology. The data sets for both the series are obtained over a period from 1994 to 2009. In our previous paper we have studied the multifractal nature of the time series of atmospheric CO2 concentration using multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MF-DFA). In this paper we have attempted to explore the correlation between the increasing CO2 concentration and increasing values of temperature anomalies. The present study reveals the fact that the individual series are autocorrelated and there exists cross correlation between the two mentioned time series.

This paper studies the multifractality of the time series of atmospheric CO2 concentration using the MFDFA methodology. The data of the atmospheric CO2 recorded from Jubany Station, (Antarctica) during the period 1994–2009 was analysed. The data was further divided to subsets of four years and the analysis was repeated. The results show that the complete set reveals more complex pattern than subsets in most of the cases. The degree of multifractality and degree of correlation does not vary appreciably in recent past. However a low value of suggests that the atmospheric CO2 concentration is expected to increase at a higher rate in the future.

This work presents the analysis about multifractality using the concept of Tq moment and Levy index using the data of target residues emitted from 16O–AgBr (at 60 AGeV) interaction beams. The analysis has been performed for full phase space as well as for forward and backward hemispheres. The analysis shows difference in degree of multifractality in the three cases (full, forward and backward) of 16O–AgBr interactions at 60 AGeV.

We compute the factorial correlators to study the dynamical fluctuations of pions and a combination of pions and protons (compound multiplicity) in 32S-AgBr interactions at 200 A GeV. The study reveals that for both pion and compound multiplicity the correlated moments increase with the decrease in bin-bin separation D, following a power-law, which suggests the self-similarity of multiplicity fluctuation in each case. The results of the analysis also show a consistency with the prediction of α-model for the existence of intermittency in both cases.

Recent years have seen an ever increasing interest in studying the usefulness of radon measurements in earth sciences. Radon emissions that are enhanced by forthcoming geophysical events as earthquakes or volcanic activity have been observed all over the world. The abnormal radon exhalation from the interior of earth, as a precursory phenomenon related to earthquakes and as an indicator of underlying geological faults, is an important field of investigation. For this purpose a number of active and passive methods for getting radon signals have been developed. Several models have been proposed as an explanation of the experimental field data. This paper gives a brief review of the progress made in the field of radon measurements in earth sciences specially in predicting earthquakes. Radon anomalies that have been observed in soil gas as well as groundwater or spring prior to earthquakes have been reviewed in this paper. The models proposed in relating precursor time, epicentral distance, magnitude of earthquake have also been discussed.

This paper presents an investigation of compound hadrons (pions and protons) distribution emitted from 24Mg-AgBr and 12C-AgBr interactions both at 4.5 AGeV and 32S-AgBr interactions at 200 AGeV. The study includes azimuthal correlations (two particle and three particle), azimuthal asymmetry and fractal behaviour. This paper reveals some interesting results.