Effect of modulator asynchrony of sinusoidal and noise modulators on frequency and amplitude modulation detection interference

The effect on modulation detection interference (MDI) of timing of gating of the modulation of target and interferer, with synchronously gated carriers, was investigated in three experiments. In a two-interval, two-alternative forced choice adaptive procedure, listeners had to detect 15 Hz sinusoidal amplitude modulation (AM) or frequency modulation (FM) imposed for 200 ms in the temporal center of a 600 ms target sinusoidal carrier. In the first experiment, 15 Hz sinusoidal FM was imposed in phase on both target and interferer carriers. Thresholds were lower for nonoverlapping than for synchronous modulation of target and interferer, but MDI still occurred for the former. Thresholds were significantly higher when the modulators were gated synchronously than when the interferer modulator was gated on before and off after that of the target. This contrasts with the findings of Oxenham and Dau [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 110, 402-408 (2001)], who reported no effect of modulation asynchrony on AM detection thresholds, using a narrowband noise modulator. Using FM, experiment 2 showed that for temporally overlapping modulation of target and interferer, modulator asynchrony had no significant effect when the interferer was modulated by a narrowband noise. Experiment 3 showed that, for AM, synchronous gating of modulation of the target and interferer produced lower thresholds than asynchronous gating, especially for sinusoidal modulation of the interferer. Results are discussed in terms of specific cues available for periodic modulation, and differences between perceptual grouping on the basis of common AM and FM.     

Reduced contribution of a nonsimultaneous mistuned harmonic to residue pitch

Ciocca and Darwin [V. Ciocca and C. J. Darwin, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 105, 2421-2430 (1999)] reported that the shift in residue pitch caused by mistuning a single harmonic (the fourth out of the first 12) was the same when the mistuned harmonic was presented after the remainder of the complex as when it was simultaneous, even though subjects were asked to ignore the pure-tone percept. The present study tried to replicate this result, and investigated the role of the presence of the nominally mistuned harmonic in the matching sound. Subjects adjusted a "matching" sound so that its pitch equaled that of a subsequent 90-ms complex tone (12 harmonics of a 155-Hz F0), whose mistuned (+/-3%) third harmonic was presented either simultaneously with or after the remaining harmonics. In experiment 1, the matching sound was a harmonic complex whose third harmonic was either present or absent. In experiments 2A and 2B, the target and matching sound had nonoverlapping spectra. Pitch shifts were reduced both when the mistuned component was nonsimultaneous, and when the third harmonic was absent in the matching sound. The results indicate a shorter than originally estimated time window for obligatory integration of nonsimultaneous components into a virtual pitch.     

Louder sounds can produce less forward masking: effects of component phase in complex tones

The influence of the degree of envelope modulation and periodicity on the loudness and effectiveness of sounds as forward maskers was investigated. In the first experiment, listeners matched the loudness of complex tones and noise. The tones had a fundamental frequency (F0) of 62.5 or 250 Hz and were filtered into a frequency range from the 10th harmonic to 5000 Hz. The Gaussian noise was filtered in the same way. The components of the complex tones were added either in cosine phase (CPH), giving a large crest factor, or in random phase (RPH), giving a smaller crest factor. For each F0, subjects matched the loudness between all possible stimulus pairs. Six different levels of the fixed stimulus were used, ranging from about 30 dB SPL to about 80 dB SPL in 10-dB steps. Results showed that, at a given overall level, the CPH and the RPH tones were louder than the noise, and that the CPH tone was louder than the RPH tone. The difference in loudness was larger at medium than at low levels and was only slightly reduced by the addition of a noise intended to mask combination tones. The differences in loudness were slightly smaller for the higher than for the lower F0. In the second experiment, the stimuli with the lower F0s were used as forward maskers of a 20-ms sinusoid, presented at various frequencies within the spectral range of the maskers. Results showed that the CPH tone was the least effective forward masker, even though it was the loudest. The differences in effectiveness as forward maskers depended on masker level and signal frequency; in order to produce equal masking, the level of the CPH tone had to be up to 35 dB above that of the RPH tone and the noise. The implications of these results for models of loudness are discussed and a model is presented based on neural activity patterns in the auditory nerve; this predicts the general pattern of loudness matches. It is suggested that the effects observed in the experiments may have been influenced by two factors: cochlear compression and suppression.     

Total Synthesis of (+)‐Rubriflordilactone A

Two enantioselective total syntheses of the nortriterpenoid natural product rubriflordilactone A are described, which use palladium‐ or cobalt‐catalyzed cyclizations to form the CDE rings, and converge on a late‐stage synthetic intermediate. These key processes are set up through the convergent coupling of a common diyne component with appropriate AB‐ring aldehydes, a strategy that sets the stage for the synthetic exploration of other members of this family of natural products.     

Zine Complexes of Cysteine,Histidine, and Derivatives Thereof: Potentiometric determination of their compositions and stabilities

The stabilities of Zn complexes of cysteine and histidine have been determined together with those with those of three derivatives of each n which one of their three donor functions (carboxyl, amino, and mercapto and imidazole, respectively) has been blocked. Using potentionmetric titrations of aqueous solutions, the 1:1 and 1:2 complexes of all for cysteine- and all four histidine-derived ligands are observed among te various species present (ligands, 1:1 and 1:2 complexes, and protonatd derivatives thereof). All cysteine-derived complexes are more stable than the corresponding histidine-derived complexes by 1–2 orders of magnitude for the 1:1 composition and by 1–6 order of magnitude for the 1:2 composition. For the cysteine series, the sequence of stabilities is cysteine > cysteine ethyl ester ? N(α)-acetylcysteine ? SMethylcysteine. For the histidine series, the corresponding sequence is histidine > histidine methyl ester > N,N (imidazole)-dimethylhistidine > N(α)-acetylhistidine. The order of stabilities can be explained by the relative strengths of the Zn–S vs. Zn–N coordination, y charge effects, and by chelate ring sizes.     

Material Simulation and Damage Analysis at Thermal Shock Conditions

Thermal shock is an extreme form of thermo-mechanical loading. This detailed investigation close to reality is necessary in industrial engineering in order to get a good prediction of life expectancy for high quality and safety relevant machine components. This paper addresses on experimental investigations of deformation and damage at thermal shocked cylinders. Additionally the parameters for the Chaboche model are identified on the basis of uniaxial cyclic experiments. (© 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Experimental and Numerical Investigations for Cyclic Thermal Shocks

Thermal shock is an extreme form of thermo-mechanical loading. Detailed investigations of thermal shock and live time analysis close to reality are necessary in industrial engineering in order to get a good prediction of life expectancy of high quality and safety relevant machine components. The first part of this paper concentrates on experimental investigations of macroscopic quantities like temperature, deformation, damage and crack propagation. Additionally first results on parameter studies for finite element thermal shock simulations on the thermal-mechanical problem are summarized. (© 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Pitch discrimination interference: the role of pitch pulse asynchrony

Gockel, Carlyon, and Plack [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 116, 1092-1104 (2004)] showed that discrimination of the fundamental frequency (F0) of a target tone containing only unresolved harmonics was impaired when an interfering complex tone with fixed F0 was added to the target, but filtered into a lower frequency region. This pitch discrimination interference (PDI) was greater when the interferer contained resolved harmonics than when it contained only unresolved harmonics. Here, it is examined whether this occurred because, when the interferer contained unresolved harmonics, "pitch pulse asynchrony (PPA)" between the target and interferer provided a cue that enhanced performance; this was possible in the earlier experiment because both target and interferer had components added in sine phase. In experiment 1, it was shown that subjects were moderately sensitive to the direction of PPA across frequency regions. In experiments 2 and 3, PPA cues were eliminated by adding the components of the target only, or of both target and interferer, in random phase. For both experiments, an interferer containing resolved harmonics produced more PDI than an interferer containing unresolved harmonics. These results show that PDI is smaller for an interferer with unresolved harmonics even when cues related to PPA are eliminated.     

Deformation and Damage Analysis of a Hybrid-Forming Tool under Thermal Shock Conditions

In the hybrid–forming process for gradient structures [1] inhomogeneous cyclic thermo–mechanical stresses and strains lead to higher risks of failure of the forming tool. The main topic of this paper is the validation of finite element calculations for a tool–like specimen under complex thermo–mechanical loadings in order to predict the material behaviour [3]. To this end thermal shock experiments of tool–like specimens are performed. Optical measuring systems are used for three–dimensional digitalisation of the specimens to get a sufficient amount of data. Results of experimental optical measurings and results of finite element calculations are compared. Additionally, damage analysis using the eddy current method is performed to characterize the surface state of the cyclically thermal shocked specimens. This damage analysis provides data for lifetime prediction models under thermal shock conditions. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)