Noise power fluctuations and the masking of sine signals

This article is concerned with fluctuations in noise power and with the role that such fluctuations play in the masking of sine signals by noise. Several measures of noise fluctuations are discussed: the fourth moment of the waveform, the fourth moment of the envelope, and the crest factor. Relationships among these quantities are found for cases of equal-amplitude random-phase noise and Rayleigh-distributed-amplitude noise. Of particular interest is a special non-Gaussian noise called low-noise noise in which the fluctuations are small by any of our measures. The results of frozen-noise masking experiments are reported, where the noise waveform was fixed for all stimulus presentations. In separate experiments, equal-amplitude random-phase Gaussian noise, with typical fluctuations, and low-noise noise, with almost no fluctuations were used. The data show that for a noise bandwidth less than the critical bandwidth, the masked threshold is about 5 dB lower for low-noise noise than for Gaussian noise. When the noise bandwidth is larger than the critical bandwidth, the masked threshold is the same for both kinds of noise. It is concluded that noise power fluctuations increase masked threshold by about 5 dB and that filtering by the auditory system reintroduces fluctuations into broadband low-noise noise.     

Mobility of muons in Cu below 2 K

We have performed transverse fieldSR experiments on several different samples of copper in the temperature range below 2 K, including isotope separated Cu and impurity doped polycrystalline Cu.We do not observe any strong effect of the isotope composition of the sample. A⁶³Cu and a natural Cu sample of identical purity both yield 0.16s^–1 for the low-temperature plateau, while an increased linewidth in the⁶⁵Cu case may be related to the strong effects of Fe impurities.Careful transverse field measurements on large single crystals at 0.08 K reveal non-Gaussian lineshapes in accordance with the picture of diffusing muons at this temperature. This allows us to reject several of the existing models for muon behaviour in copper below 2 K.     

Quasi-exactly Solvable (QES) Equations with Multiple Algebraisations

We review three examples of quasi-exactly solvable Hamiltonians which possess multiple algebraisations. This includes the most prominent example, the Lamé equation, as well as recently studied many-body Hamiltonians with Weierstrass interaction potential and, finally, a 2×2 coupled channel Hamiltonian.     

Nitrogen-doped multi-walled carbon nanotubes for paracetamol sensing

A novel sensor consisting of nitrogen-doped multi-walled carbon nanotubes was fabricated by means of chemical vapor deposition technique with decomposition of acetonitrile onto oxidized silicon wafer using ferrocene as catalyst. The electrochemical response of carbon nanotubes-based sensor towards oxidation of paracetamol to N-acetyl-p-quinone imine was investigated in phosphate buffer solution (pH 7.0) by means of standard electrochemical techniques. A quasi-reversible response for oxidation of paracetamol was identified on carbon nanotubes-based sensor with detection limit and sensitivity of 0.485 μM and 0.8406 A M^?1 cm^?2, respectively. It was found that the nitrogen doping in carbon nanotubes enhances the sensor's detection ability. Namely, electrochemical studies performed on film consisting of pristine carbon nanotubes reveal as well quasi-reversible response towards oxidation of paracetamol but nevertheless poorer detection ability and sensitivity (0.950 μM; 0.601 A M^?1 cm^?2). The findings strongly suggest the application of nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes in biosensing.     

Limit for pulse compression by pulse splitting

We have detected a fundamental pulse-compression limit for high-nonlinear fibers in the normal dispersion regime near the zero-dispersion wavelength. The desired generation of a broadband continuum by self-phase modulation is limited by already small amounts of third-order dispersion (TOD), which results in pulse splitting above a critical pulse power. We investigate the critical fiber length in dependence on pulse- and fiber parameters.     

Acoustic Analyses of Developmental Changes and Emotional Expression in the Preverbal Vocalizations of Infants

The nonverbal vocal utterances of seven normally hearing infants were studied within their first year of life with respect to age- and emotion-related changes. Supported by a multiparametric acoustic analysis it was possible to distinguish one inspiratory and eleven expiratory call types. Most of the call types appeared within the first two months; some emerged in the majority of infants not until the 5th (“laugh”) or 7th month (“babble”). Age-related changes in acoustic structure were found in only 4 call types (“discomfort cry,” “short discomfort cry,” “wail,” “moan”). The acoustic changes were characterized mainly by an increase in harmonic-to-noise ratio and homogeneity of the call, a decrease in frequency range and a downward shift of acoustic energy from higher to lower frequencies. Emotion-related differences were found in the acoustic structure of single call types as well as in the frequency of occurrence of different call types. A change from positive to negative emotional state was accompanied by an increase in call duration, frequency range, and peak frequency (frequency with the highest amplitude within the power spectrum). Negative emotions, in addition, were characterized by a significantly higher rate of “crying,” “hic” and “ingressive vocalizations” than positive emotions, while positive emotions showed a significantly higher rate of “babble,” “laugh,” and “raspberry.”