The influence of music and stress on musicians’ hearing

Hearing and hearing disorders among classical and rock/jazz musicians was investigated. Pure tone audiometry was done in 140 classical and 139 rock/jazz musicians. The rock/jazz musicians answered a questionnaire concerning hearing disorders and psychosocial exposure. All results were compared to age appropriate reference materials. Hearing thresholds showed a notch configuration in both classical and rock/jazz musicians indicating the inclusion of high sound levels but an overall well-preserved hearing thresholds. Female musicians had significantly better hearing thresholds in the high-frequency area than males. Rock/jazz musicians showed slight worse hearing thresholds as compared to classical musicians. When assessing hearing disorders, a large number of rock/jazz musicians suffered from different hearing disorders (74%). Hearing loss, tinnitus and hyperacusis were the most common disorders and were significantly more frequent in comparison with different reference populations. Among classical musicians, no extended negative progress of the pure tone hearing threshold values was found in spite of the continued 16 years of musical noise exposure. In rock/jazz musicians, there was no relationships between psychosocial factors at work and hearing disorders. The rock/jazz musicians reported low stress and high degree of energy. On the average, the rock/jazz musicians reported higher control, lower stress and higher energy than a reference material of white-collar workers.     

Isolation of chlorinated fatty acid methyl esters derived from cell-culture medium and from fish lipids by using an aminopropyl solid-phase extraction column

An aminopropyl-based solid-phase extraction technique was used for isolation of chlorinated fatty acids in lipids. A range of different chlorinated fatty acids was eluted in a small volume of solvent (4 ml) and the recoveries of the different species and isomers were quantitative. Only 1% of the vastly dominating unchlorinated fatty acid methyl esters were recovered in the fractions containing the chlorinated fatty acid methyl esters. This method makes it possible to isolate and detect > or = 1 microg of a chlorinated fatty acid methyl ester in 1 g of lipid.     

A uniformly well-conditioned, unfitted Nitsche method for interface problems

A finite element method for elliptic partial differential equations that allows for discontinuities along an interface not aligned with the mesh is presented. The solution on each side of the interface is separately expanded in standard continuous, piecewise-linear functions, and jump conditions at the interface are weakly enforced using a variant of Nitsche’s method. In our method, the solutions on each side of the interface are extended to the entire domain which results in a fixed number of unknowns independent of the location of the interface. A stabilization procedure is included to ensure well-defined extensions. We prove that the method provides optimal convergence order in the energy and the L ² norms and a condition number of the system matrix that is independent of the position of the interface relative to the mesh. Numerical experiments confirm the theoretical results and demonstrate optimal convergence order also for the pointwise errors.     

Synthesis of C 2 Symmetric Potential Inhibitors of HIV-1 Protease From D-Mannitol

ABSTRACT

D-Mannitol was used as precursor for the synthesis of acyclic C ₂ symmetric potential HIV-1 protease inhibitors. The 1- and 6-hydroxy groups of D-mannitol were substituted by -NHBoc, -NHValZ, -SAr, -SOAr and -SO₂Ar and the 2-and 5-hydroxy groups were benzylated. In some products one of the central hydroxyl groups was either inverted or deoxygenated. Despite a close structural similarity to previously published inhibitors none of the products showed significant inhibitory activity against HIV-1 protease.

     

Atomistic-continuum multiscale modelling of magnetisation dynamics at non-zero temperature

In this article, a few problems related to multiscale modelling of magnetic materials at finite temperatures and possible ways of solving these problems are discussed. The discussion is mainly centred around two established multiscale concepts: the partitioned domain and the upscaling-based methodologies. The major challenge for both multiscale methods is to capture the correct value of magnetisation length accurately, which is affected by a random temperature-dependent force. Moreover, general limitations of these multiscale techniques in application to spin systems are discussed.     

Acoustic characteristics of a heavy duty vehicle cooling module

Studies dedicated to the determination of acoustic characteristics of an automotive cooling package are presented. A shrouded subsonic axial fan is mounted in a wall separating an anechoic- and a reverberation room. This enables a unique separation of the up- and downstream sound fields. Microphone measurements were acquired of the radiated sound as a function of rotational speed, fan type and components included in the cooling module. The aim of the present work is to investigate the effect of a closely mounted radiator upstream of the impeller on the SPL spectral distribution. Upon examination of the SPL spectral shape, features linked specifically to the source and system are revealed. The properties of a reverberant sound field combined with the method of spectral decomposition permit an estimation of the source spectral distribution and the acoustic transfer response, respectively. Additionally, purely intrinsic acoustic properties of the radiator are scrutinized by standardized ISO methods. A new methodology comprising a dipole sound source is adopted to circumvent limitation of transmission loss measurement in the low frequency range. The sound attenuation caused by the radiator alone was found to be negligible.     

Just noticeable differences of open quotient and asymmetry coefficient in singing voice

This study aims to explore the perceptual relevance of the variations of glottal flow parameters and to what extent a small variation can be detected. Just Noticeable Differences (JNDs) have been measured for three values of open quotient (0.4, 0.6, and 0.8) and two values of asymmetry coefficient (2/3 and 0.8), and the effect of changes of vowel, pitch, vibrato, and amplitude parameters has been tested. Two main groups of subjects have been analyzed: a group of 20 untrained subjects and a group of 10 trained subjects. The results show that the JND for open quotient is highly dependent on the target value: an increase of the JND is noticed when the open quotient target value is increased. The relative JND is constant: ΔO_q/O_q = 14% for the untrained and 10% for the trained. In the same way, the JND for asymmetry coefficient is also slightly dependent on the target value–an increase of the asymmetry coefficient value leads to a decrease of the JND. The results show that there is no effect from the selected vowel or frequency (two values have been tested), but that the addition of a vibrato has a small effect on the JND of open quotient. The choice of an amplitude parameter also has a great effect on the JND of open quotient.