The costs and benefits of tonal centers for chord processing.

Harmonic priming studies have shown that a musical context, with its established tonal center, influences target chord processing. This study investigated costs and benefits of priming tonal centers for target processing by adding a baseline condition (sequences without a specific tonal center). Results confirmed harmonic priming, with faster processing for related than for unrelated and less related targets (tonic chord, out-of-key chord, subdominant chord). Comparing targets in baseline contexts with targets in sequences with well-established tonal centers revealed a benefit of processing for related targets but a cost of processing for unrelated and less related targets. Findings are discussed in terms of tonal knowledge activation and suggest that an activated tonal center gives rise to strong expectations for the tonic. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The minor third communicates sadness in speech, mirroring its use in music.

There is a long history of attempts to explain why music is perceived as expressing emotion. The relationship between pitches serves as an important cue for conveying emotion in music. The musical interval referred to as the minor third is generally thought to convey sadness. We reveal that the minor third also occurs in the pitch contour of speech conveying sadness. Bisyllabic speech samples conveying four emotions were recorded by 9 actresses. Acoustic analyses revealed that the relationship between the 2 salient pitches of the sad speech samples tended to approximate a minor third. Participants rated the speech samples for perceived emotion, and the use of numerous acoustic parameters as cues for emotional identification was modeled using regression analysis. The minor third was the most reliable cue for identifying sadness. Additional participants rated musical intervals for emotion, and their ratings verified the historical association between the musical minor third and sadness. These findings support the theory that human vocal expressions and music share an acoustic code for communicating sadness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

SiCp及Al2O3w增强铸态混杂金属基复合材料的疲劳裂纹扩展机理（英文）

研究了一种SiCp及Al2O3w增强铸态混杂金属基复合材料(MMC)的疲劳裂纹扩展(FCG)机理,同时对比研究了Al2O3w增强铸态金属基复合材料和铸态铝合金的疲劳裂纹扩展机理。在研究近临界和裂纹稳定扩展区域的疲劳裂纹扩展(FCG)机理时,发现混杂MMC的临界应力强度因子?Kth值高于其他两种材料的?Kth值,说明应力强度因子?K值较低时混杂MMC可以更好地抵抗裂纹扩展。随着?K值的降低,两种MMC在近临界区域显示出相似的FCG机理,即主要由增强相–基体界面的剥离控制,随后由铝基体中空隙的形核与合并控制;在裂纹稳定或中等扩展区域,?K值较高时FCG除了受界面上周期性裂纹扩展引起的增强相–基体界面剥离的影响之外,还显著受到铝基体中疲劳条带的影响。此外,在高?K值下,因为局部失稳断裂机制,可见铝基体中空隙的形核与合并以及SiCp和Al2O3w中的穿晶断裂。对于铸态铝合金,在低?K值下,FCG主要受空隙的形核与合并所控制;在高?K值下,FCG主要受铝晶粒的疲劳条带控制,随后受Si团簇中空隙的形核与合并控制。     

Effect of Absolute Configuration on the Optical and NMR Properties of Oligonucleotides Containing Benzo[a]Pyrene Adducts at N 6 of Deoxyadenosine

For oligonucleotide duplexes derived from trans opening of benzo[a]pyrene diol epoxides (BaP DEs) by the exocyclic N⁶-amino group of deoxyadenosine (dA), the hydrocarbon is intercalated toward the 5′-end of the modified strand when the configuration at the site of attachment of the base to the hydrocarbon (C-10) is R, and toward the 3′-end when this configuration is S. In oligonucleotide 11-mer duplexes modified by BaP DE-1 (benzylic 7-OH and epoxide oxygen cis) and DE-2 (7-OH and epoxide oxygen trans), as well as 7,8,9,10-tetrahydro BaP 9,10-epoxide, 10R adducts had consistently higher (5–9d°C) T_m values than the corresponding 10S adducts. Dodecamer duplexes from the HPRT gene with trans opened 10S (but not those with 10R) BaP DE-2 adducts at either of two adjacent dA residues exhibited blue shifts at ～350 nm at temperatures well below the T_m. We propose that these blue shifts result from a conformation in which the hydrocarbon is not stacked with the DNA bases.     

如何设计兼具隔离效果和安全性的医疗设备

使用交流电源的医疗设备,可能会因不恰当的接地和电气隔离造成漏电,让患者和医疗人员暴露在危险之下,同时漏电也可能影响到邻近其它医疗设备的性能.对医疗设备来说,EMC是一个相当重要的条件,从2005年11月开始,医疗设备必须符合国际电工委员会(IEC)更新后的IEC 60601-1-2:2001EMC标准.     

Heat Transfer Analysis of MHD Power Law Nano Fluid Flow through Annular Sector Duct

Flow and heat transfer analysis of an electrically conducting MHD power law nano fluid is carried out through annular sector duct,under the influence of constant pressure gradient.Two types of nano particles(i.e.Cu and TiO2)are used in power law nano fluid.Strongly implicit procedure,(SIP)is used to simulate the discretized coupled algebraic equations.It has been observed that volume fraction of nano particles,ϕand magnetic field parameter,Ha are favourable for the heat transfer rate,however,both resist the fluid flow.Impact of applied uniform transverse magnetic field exceeds in the case of shear thickening fluids(i.e.n>1)by increasing the value of Ha as compared to that in shear thinning fluids(i.e.n<1).Therefore,enhancement in heat transfer rate is comparably more in shear thickening fluid.Furthermore,comparable limiting case study with published result is also carried out in this research paper.     

MEASUREMENT OF THE TENSILE FAILURE OF GELS

Various methods of probing the tensile failure characteristics of both extensible and brittle gels using the Instron machine were evaluated. The true strain of the gels at failure determined from high speed video camera recording and the corresponding true stress were used as the reference. When the ratio of the test length to the length of the end-pieces of a dumbbell shaped specimen exceeds 10:1, the effect of the end-pieces was negligible and the measured stress and strain at failure by the Instron machine represent the true values in the test sector of the gel. Experimental data from tensile testing using the above method suggest that both extensive and brittle gels were weaker in tension than in compression.     

Systematics study through scanning electron microscopy; a tool for the authentication of herbal drug Mentha suaveolens Ehrh

In all over the world, herbal drugs are usually adulterated with similar species or varieties due to incorrect identification. Most of herbal products devoid purity and quality, therefore an attempt was carried out to identify plant species and authenticate its herbal drug products from Mentha suaveolens. Microscopy tools provide an excellent platform to identify plants at species level. In this study, microscopic and pharmacokinetic parameters of M. suaveolens were observed. Plant species were collected from high diverse areas of Northern Pakistan. Macro and micro‐morphology including palynology and anatomical features were analyzed to study M. suaveolens. Species characteristics were studied, while implementing microscopic techniques for the delimitation and identification of the species. Traditionally Mentha species are used to cure several diseases that is, digestive disorders, respiratory disorders. Micromorphology (stem, leaves, flowers structure, length etc.), palynology (shape, size of pollen etc.), and anatomical characters (types of stomata, epidermal cell shape, and trichomes) were studied. Micromorphology and anatomical characters were of great interest and significance to discuss the taxonomy of the species. Taxonomic characters were studied to characterize and authenticate the species. The aim of the present study is to observe in detail the taxonomic identification of the species in term of morphology, palynology, and foliar epidermal anatomy for the correct identification along with their medicinal uses in the area.