H-transfer rates in ion-neutral complexes versus those in intact aliphatic ions

The relative rates of H-transfer between partners in ion-neutral complexes were compared with those in intramolecular rearrangements using results of first differential photoionization mass spectrometry measurements. Complex-mediated H-transfers are inferred to have rates of the same order as those for intramolecular hydrogen rearrangements, suggesting a similar range of motion of the reactive sites in both types of reactions. It is also concluded that at their fastest H-transfers take place between the partners in ion-neutral complexes within at most the time of several rotations of the partners in the complexes. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Disentangling the effects of phonation and articulation: Hemispheric asymmetries in the auditory N1m response of the human brain

Background  

The cortical activity underlying the perception of vowel identity has typically been addressed by manipulating the first and second formant frequency (F1 & F2) of the speech stimuli. These two values, originating from articulation, are already sufficient for the phonetic characterization of vowel category. In the present study, we investigated how the spectral cues caused by articulation are reflected in cortical speech processing when combined with phonation, the other major part of speech production manifested as the fundamental frequency (F0) and its harmonic integer multiples. To study the combined effects of articulation and phonation we presented vowels with either high (/a/) or low (/u/) formant frequencies which were driven by three different types of excitation: a natural periodic pulseform reflecting the vibration of the vocal folds, an aperiodic noise excitation, or a tonal waveform. The auditory N1m response was recorded with whole-head magnetoencephalography (MEG) from ten human subjects in order to resolve whether brain events reflecting articulation and phonation are specific to the left or right hemisphere of the human brain.     

Spin-flip probability for 7.6 MeV neutrons scattered inelastically (Q = −2.23 MeV) by a sulfur target

The spin-flip probability for 7.6 MeV (ΔE = 0.250 MeV) neutrons scattered inelastically (Q = ?2.23 MeV) from naturally occuring sulfur has been measured at scattering angles between 40° and 160° using a γ-correlated neutron time-of-flight method. The scattering by the natural sulfur target was assumed to be characteristic of ³²S. The results of the measurement were compared with an incoherent sum of statistical compound-nucleus (CN) and direct-interaction (DI) contributions. The DI contributions were obtained using either a DWBA calculation or the coupled-channel (CC) formalism. Neither combination of CN plus DI contributions reproduced the experimental spin-flip probability angular distribution which was peaked near 110° with a maximum value of 0.33 ± 0.08.