Pitch-interval discrimination and musical expertise: Is the semitone a perceptual boundary?

The ability to discriminate pitch changes (or intervals) is foundational for speech and music. In an auditory psychophysical experiment, musicians and non-musicians were tested with fixed- and roving-pitch discrimination tasks to investigate the effects of musical expertise on interval discrimination. The tasks were administered parametrically to assess performance across varying pitch distances between intervals. Both groups showed improvements in fixed-pitch interval discrimination as a function of increasing interval difference. Only musicians showed better roving-pitch interval discrimination as interval differences increased, suggesting that this task was too demanding for non-musicians. Musicians had better interval discrimination than non-musicians across most interval differences in both tasks. Interestingly, musicians exhibited improved interval discrimination starting at interval differences of 100 cents (a semitone in Western music), whereas non-musicians showed enhanced discrimination at interval differences exceeding 125 cents. Although exposure to Western music and speech may help establish a basic interval-discrimination threshold between 100 and 200 cents (intervals that occur often in Western languages and music), musical training presumably enhances auditory processing and reduces this threshold to a semitone. As musical expertise does not decrease this threshold beyond 100 cents, the semitone may represent a musical training-induced intervallic limit to acoustic processing.     

Thermodynamics phase transition and Hawking radiation of the Schwarzschild black hole with quintessence-like matter and a deficit solid angle

In this paper, we investigate the thermodynamics and Hawking radiation of Schwarzschild black hole with quintessence-like matter and deficit solid angle. From the metric of the black hole, we derive the expressions of temperature and specific heat using the laws of black hole thermodynamics. Using the null geodesics method and Parikh–Wilczeck tunneling method, we derive the expressions of Boltzmann factor and the change of Bekenstein–Hawking entropy for the black hole. The behaviors of the temperature, specific heat, Boltzmann factor and the change of Bekenstein entropy versus the deficit solid angle (\(\epsilon ^{2}\)) and the density of static spherically symmetric quintessence-like matter (\(\rho _{0}\)) were explicitly plotted. The results show that, when the deficit solid angle (\(\epsilon ^{2}\)) and the density of static spherically symmetric quintessence-like matter at \(r=1\) (\(\rho _{0}\)) vanish \((\rho _{0}=\epsilon =0)\), these four thermodynamics quantities are reduced to those obtained for the simple case of Schwarzschild black hole. For low entropies, the presence of quintessence-like matter induces a first order phase transition of the black hole and for the higher values of the entropies, we observe the second order phase transition. When increasing \(\rho _{0}\), the transition points are shifted to lower entropies. The same thing is observed when increasing \(\epsilon ^{2}\). In the absence of quintessence-like matter (\(\rho _{0}=0\)), these transition phenomena disappear. Moreover the rate of radiation decreases when increasing \(\rho _{0}\) or \((\epsilon ^2)\).     

CW-pumped polarization-maintaining Brillouin fiber ring laser: I. Self-structuration of Brillouin solitons

Stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) of a cw-pump in a long optical fiber ring cavity generates for a given gain G, below a critical feedback R_crit, a backward soliton Stokes pulse at the roundtrip repetition rate, through resonant three-wave interaction between the optical pump wave and backward Stokes wave, and a high frequency (GHz) axial acoustic wave. In Part I, we perform a systematic experimental and numerical exploration of the whole soliton localisation domain for a large set of (G, R) parameters, in a polarization-maintaining Brillouin fiber ring laser in the best conditions of stability and coherence, and we confirm the excellent quantitative agreement of the coherent three-wave model and the experiments.     

Two-photon excited intramolecular energy transfer and light-harvesting effect in novel dendritic systems

Two-photon absorption excited intramolecular energy transfer and light-harvesting effects are demonstrated in three novel dendritic systems. These systems contain both an antenna structure that can effectively absorb two-photon energy at approximately 800 nm and emit fluorescence at approximately 515 nm and a core moiety that can absorb one-photon energy at approximately 520 nm and emit at approximately 590 nm. Covalently combining the core and antenna functionalities intrinsically changes the optical behavior of the component pieces. The two-photon energy absorbed by the antenna structure is resonantly transferred to the core, where the core's emission intensity is enhanced by 8, 20, and 34 times for the three dendritic systems.     

A propos de conjectures de Serre et Sullivan

Summary We first give a new proof of a conjecture of J.-P. Serre on the homotopy of finite complexes, which was recently proved by C. McGibbon and J. Neisendorfer. The emphasis is on a property of the mod. 2 homology of certain spaces: their quasi-boundedness as right modules over the Steenrod algebra. This property is preserved when one goes from a simply connected space to its loop space and also when one takes a covering of anH-space. Then we show that this notion of quasi-boundedness simplifies H. Miller's proof of D. Sullivan's conjecture on the contractibility of the space of pointed maps from the classifying space of the groupe /2 into a finite complex.     

Etudes sur les fibres naturelles et de synthèse

Résumé Nous avons mesuré, en fonction de la température, le degré de gonflement dans l'eau de fibres de collagène amorphes qui ont été tannées différemment, ceci dans le but de pouvoir déterminer, pour chaque degré de tannage (pontage chimique) la chaleur de mélange du collagène amorphe sec avec l'eau de gonflement. En utilisant la théorie relative au gonflement des réseaux polymériques amorphes dans un excès de diluant, on a pu montrer que le paramètre thermodynamiqueχ ₁ caractéristique du système collagène-eau (paramètre deFlory-Huggins) varie avec la composition du réseau gonflé. Par contre, le paramètre ?enthalpique? correspondantϰ ₁=− =−0,34 est indépendant de cette composition. La chaleur de mélangeΔH _mél/V ₀ d'un cm³ de collagène amorphe sec avec l'eau de gonflement peut être calculée pour les différents degrées de tannage. Elle a le signe deϰ ₁, i. e. elle est négative et est donnée par:ΔH _mél/V ₀=RT gK₁(1−v₂ ^éq). Sa valeur absolue est donc d'autant moins importante que le degré de tannage des fibres est poussé; v₂ ^éq augmente en effet avec la concentration en liens intermoléculaires introduits dans les échantillons. La variation d'enthalpie accompagnant la transformation d'une fibre de collagène cristalline sèche en fibre amorphe gonflée (enthalpie de rétraction dans l'eau) diminuée de la chaleur de mélange correspondant au gonflement de la fibre amorphe sèche dans l'eau donne la chaleur de fusion du collagène sec. Cette quantité est égale à:ΔH/V ₀=28±1,5 cal./cm³ et est indépendante du degré de tannage comme on doit s'y attendre.

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Summary We have measured the temperature dependence of the swelling of amorphous collagen fibres of different degrees of tanning in an excess of water. This was done for the purpose of determining the heat of mixing of amorphous dry collagen with the equilibrium swelling water for each degree of tanning (chemical crosslinking). Using the theory of swelling of polymeric networks in an excess of diluent we were able to show that the parameterχ ₁ of the system collagen-water (Flory-Huggins parameter) is a function of the composition of the swollen network. On the other hand, the energy parameterϰ ₁=− =−0,34 is found to be concentration independent. The heat of mixingΔH _mél/V ₀ of 1 cm³ of dry amorphous collagen with the equilibrium swelling water can be calculated for the different degrees of tanning. It has the same sign asϰ ₁, i. e. is negative, and is given byΔH _mél/V ₀=RTϰ ₁ (1−v₂ ^éq). Its absolute value decreases therefore with increasing degrees of tanning, sincev ₂ ^éq increases with the density of the cross-links in the sample. The change in heat content on transforming 1 cm³ of dry crystalline collagen fibre into amorphous swollen fibre (heat of shrinking in water), decreased by the heat of swelling of the dry amorphous fibre in water, gives the heat of fusion of dry collagen. This latter equalsΔH/V ₀=28±1.5 cal/cm³ and is, as expected, independent of the degree of tanning.

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Zusammenfassung Um die Mischungsw?rme des amorphen trockenen Kollagens mit dem Quellungswasser zu bestimmen, wurde die Temperaturabh?ngigkeit des Quellungsgrades von verschieden stark gegerbten amorphen Kollagenfasern gemessen. Auf Grund der Theorie der Quellung von amorphen polymeren Netzwerken in einem überschu? von Quellungsmittel konnte gezeigt werden, da? der thermodynamische (Flory- Huggins) Parameterχ ₁ für das System Kollagen-Wasser vom Quellungsgrad des Netzwerkes abh?ngt. Hingegen ist der Enthalpieparameterϰ ₁=− =−0,34 davon unabh?ngig. Die Mischungsw?rmeΔH _mél/V₀ eines cm³ trockenen amorphen Kollagens mit dem Quellungswasser kann für verschiedene Gerbungsgrade (Vernetzungsgrade) berechnet werden. Sie hat das gleiche Vorzeichen wieϰ ₁ d. h. ist negativ, und gehorcht der Gleichung:ΔH _mél/V ₀=RTϰ ₁ (1−v₂ ^éq). Der Betrag der Mischungsw?rme ist um so kleiner, je h?her der Gerbungsgrad der Faser ist; in der Tat w?chstv ₂ ^éq mit der Konzentration der Vernetzungspunkte an. Wenn von der Enthalpie?nderung, welche mit dem übergang von einer trockenen kristallinen Faser zu einer gequollenen amorphen verbunden ist, (Schrumfungsenthalpie im Wasser), die oben definierte QuellungsenthalpieΔH _mél/V ₀ abgezogen wird, so bleibt die Schmelzw?rme des trockenen Kollagens übrig. Diese Schmelzw?rme betr?gt:ΔH/V ₀=28±1,5 cal./cm³ und ist, wie zu erwarten, vom Vernetzungsgrad (Gerbungsgrad) des Fadens unabh?ngig.

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Travail effectué au Laboratoire de Chimie-Physique de l'Université de Liège, Liège (Belgique).     

Etude variationnelle d'une double perturbation. Application au calcul des constantes de couplage entre spins nucleaires

The calculation of molecular electronic polarizability tensor components is presented in the CNDO approximation using several methods, on one hand a perturbation calculation, on the other hand a variational method. Results obtained on thirty molecules are used to compare these methods and to discuss their usefulness.

     

On the structure of CH5+; A study of hydron transfer reactions from CH4H+ and CD4H+ tandem-ICR

Relative rates of proton and deuteron transfer from CH₄D⁺ and CD₄H⁺ to a number of molecules were examined in a tandem-ion cyclotron resonance instrument. The results were in conflict with the recent work of Sefcik et al. and support a randomized model.