Speed-Testing in Audio Engineering Education: An Imperative Assessment Tool

Multiple choice tests, fill-in the blanks, and essay question assessments do have their place in academia, but for students preparing for careers as studio engineers, live engineers, and producers, other assessments that test readiness for troubleshooting “real-world” problems in audio technology are needed. Being able to quickly solve signal flow issues is crucial whether it is for a high paying client in the studio or a rock band during a live show for 10,000 fans. It is well-documented that experiential learning is key in audio education, but I argue that it is not just the ability to complete hands-on tasks correctly but being able to do it as efficiently and at the fastest speed possible. Because learning how to handle pressure in the fast paced live and studio audio worlds is crucial for success, this paper focuses on the “need for speed” in audio education training. I will present selective interviews from new employees in the live audio field, employers in the live audio field, and studio owners who support speed-testing as an invaluable and necessary—if often neglected— assessment tool for career preparation. This paper will also address speed-testing online and future studies that may utilize virtual reality testing

Review of the Role of Environmental Cues in Various Aspects of Nicotine Addiction

Nicotine in cigarettes is a highly addictive substance but can also alter the incentive value of cues associated with smoking as well as other natural reinforcers, such as food. While previous work has shown nicotine to enhance the saliency of and reactivity to sucrose-paired cues by serving as an occasion-setting stimulus while also enhancing reward-learning, much of this work has been done in male rats. In the present study, we explore whether nicotine can enhance sucrose self-administration and sucrose-seeking in female rats. For ten days female Sprague-Dawley rats were either given subcutaneous saline (ST, saline trained) or nicotine (NT, nicotine trained, 0.4 mg/kg) prior to sucrose self-administration. Then, rats were given two separate tests for sucrose-seeking in which they received either a saline or nicotine challenge. We show that ST and NT animals have mostly comparable acquisition of sucrose self-administration, with the exception of NT animals lever pressing at a higher rate when the sucrose-paired audiovisual cue was on. We also show that NT trained animals elevate responding during sucrose-seeking tests when given a nicotine challenge compared to a saline challenge while ST animals have comparable responding. Thus, we show that nicotine is an occasion-setting stimulus for sucrose-seeking in female rats, as is in male rats, but unlike in male rats where the effects of nicotine on reward-learning are profound, we observed subtler effects on acquisition of sucrose-self administration. Consideration of nicotine and cue-saliency leads to implications for treatment in those with a nicotine addiction, targeting various aspects of the addiction cycle. Menthol has been shown to effect various aspects of nicotine’s mechanism of action and would be worth further investigation into its effect nicotine’s relationship with cue-seeking

The extratropical upper troposphere and lower stratosphere

The extratropical upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (Ex-UTLS) is a transition region between the stratosphere and the troposphere. The Ex-UTLS includes the tropopause, a strong static stability gradient and dynamic barrier to transport. The barrier is reflected in tracer profiles. This region exhibits complex dynamical, radiative, and chemical characteristics that place stringent spatial and temporal requirements on observing and modeling systems. The Ex-UTLS couples the stratosphere to the troposphere through chemical constituent transport (of, e.g., ozone), by dynamically linking the stratospheric circulation with tropospheric wave patterns, and via radiative processes tied to optically thick clouds and clear-sky gradients of radiatively active gases. A comprehensive picture of the Ex-UTLS is presented that brings together different definitions of the tropopause, focusing on observed dynamical and chemical structure and their coupling. This integral view recognizes that thermal gradients and dynamic barriers are necessarily linked, that these barriers inhibit mixing and give rise to specific trace gas distributions, and that there are radiative feedbacks that help maintain this structure. The impacts of 21st century anthropogenic changes to the atmosphere due to ozone recovery and climate change will be felt in the Ex-UTLS, and recent simulations of these effects are summarized and placed in context

Exploring the Effects of Nicotine on Reward Learning in Female Sprague-Dawley Rats

Nicotine addiction harms millions of individuals worldwide: financially, socially, and psychologically. Successful smoking cessation could dramatically improve the quality of life for these people. A key driver of smoking relapse centers around associated environmental cues, which induces craving and drives a smoker to re-initiate smoking. Previous work has shown that nicotine can enhance the reinforcing properties of reward-associated cues in male rats. This research aims to evaluate nicotine’s effect on female rats using a behavioral assay called “cue-induced reward-seeking.” In this behavioral assay, rats are trained to press a lever that produces liquid sucrose along with an audiovisual cue. After the training period, the liquid sucrose reward is omitted. Surprisingly, animals will keep pressing the lever, as the cue has become synonymous with the reward. Here, we describe various approaches (water deprivation, food restriction, and shaping) that could potentially be helpful in establishing sucrose self-administration with the goal of examining how nicotine influences cue-induced sucrose-seeking. Shaping was found to be the most influential approach in promoting sucrose self-administration. In future experiments, nicotine (0.4 mg/kg, s.c.) will be administered in these rats in a comparison with controls (saline, s.c.) prior to training to assess the effects of nicotine on cue-induced sucrose-seeking

Microwave spectroscopy and quantum chemical calculations of triple bonded molecules and benzyl compounds

Triple bonded hydrocarbons. The rotational spectrum of 5-hexynenitrile and n-butyl acetylene, respectively, was measured with high-resolution microwave spectroscopy. Rotational constants and other spectroscopic constants were measured for the conformations belonging to each molecule. Nuclear quadrupole splittings were observed and characterized for each assigned conformer of 5-hexynenitrile. The spectra of the singly substituted 13C isotopomers were assigned for two of the four observed conformers of n-butyl acetylene. Also, a Kraitchman analysis was done to characterize the substitution structures of the parent isotopomers for these conformations. Ab initio calculations were carried out on the aforementioned compounds and n-butyl cyanide in order to assess the relative energy ordering of each compound\u27s conformations. ^ Benzyl-X compounds. We have observed the microwave spectrum of benzyl alcohol and its OD isotopomers at high resolution in a pulsed-jet Fourier transform microwave spectrometer. The spectrum is consistent an asymmetric stable conformation characterized by a C–C–C–O dihedral angle of approximately 60°. Tunneling interactions strongly perturb the spectrum. Tunneling interactions between two equivalent conformational minima is manifested by transitions split into doublets. The observed splittings diminish upon deuterium substitution. ^ Previous studies on benzyl alcohol have suggested that a weak attraction between the π electrons of the phenyl ring and the substituent –OH group as the reason for the observed stable conformation. A theoretical analysis of the atomic charges in benzyl alcohol suggests another possible explanation for the observed structure. Atomic charges, generated by fits to the electrostatic potential, indicate a relatively strong dipole-dipole coupling between the –CH group in the methylene side chain and the closest –CH group in the phenyl ring, which results in a nearly planar orientation of the –CH group in the methylene side chain with the phenyl ring.

MICROWAVE STUDIES OF BENZYL ALCOHOL

$^{a}$A. E. Nikolaev and D. W. Pratt 56th Int. Symp. on Molec. Spectrosc. Paper RF03, June 2001.Author Institution: Department of Chemistry, University of ConnecticutAt last year's Columbus Symposium, Nikolaev and $Pratt^{a}$ reported studies of a benzyl alcohol derivative indicating that the C-O bond does not lie in a plane orthogonal to the benzene ring. That report prompted this study on benzyl alcohol, itself. The microwave rotational spectrum of benzyl alcohol $(C_{6}H_{5}CH_{2}OH)$ has been observed at rotational temperatures near 1 K on a pulsed-jet Fourier transform microwave spectrometer. Measurements have been taken in the range 6 to 15 GHz. A preliminary assignment of the spectrum is consistent with a nonorthogonal orientation of the C-O bond with respect to the benzene ring. Analysis of the spectrum is continuing which will determine the torsional orientation of the C-O bond as well as the conformation of the alcoholic hydrogen

CONFORMATIONS AND INTERNAL ROTATION IN PHENYL ETHYL ACETYLENE

Author Institution: University of Connecticut; Dept. of Chemistry, University of ConnecticutMicrowave rotational spectra of phenyl ethyl acetylene $(C_{6}H_{5}CCCH_{2}CH_{3}$, 1-phenyl-1-butyne) have been observed at rotational temperatures near 1 K on a pulsed-jet Fourier transform microwave spectrometer. Measurements have been taken in the range 5 to 8.7 GHz. Many of the rotational transitions display tunneling splittings of several MHz due to the 2-fold internal rotation barrier about the acetylene -CC- axis. Preliminary values of the B and C rotational constants for the ground and first excited torsional states are $B = 557.3169(3)$, $556.6456(11)$ and $C = 500.7120(4)$, $500.8820(13)$, respectively. Since only a-type transitions have been assigned so far, the A constant is not well determined. The stable conformation appears to have a planar-heavy-atom structure which contrasts with the orthogonal orientation of the phenyl and ethyl groups found in ethyl benzene, ethyl phenyl acetylene with the -CC- spacer removed

MICROWAVE SPECTRUM OF 1-HEXYNE (BUTYL ACETYLENE)

Author Institution: Dept. of Chemistry, University of ConnecticutThe microwave spectrum of a conformer of 1-hexyne has been assigned. Preliminary rotational constants are $B = 1326.660(1) MHz$ and $C = 1254.719(1) MHz$. Since Ray's asymmetry parameter is approximately -0.99 and only a-type transitions have been assigned. A remains undetermined. These rotational constants are consistent with an all anti heavy-atom planar conformation. Many unassigned transitions remain. We expect to assign b-type transitions for the conformer above as well as transitions from conformations with either the terminal acetylene or the methyl group in a gauche configuration

CONFORMATIONS OF p-METHOXYPHENETHYLAMINE, A NEUROTRANSMITTER

$^{a}$S. J. Martinez III, et al., J. Molec. Spectrosc., 158, 82(1993) and I. Unamuno, et al., J. Phys. Chem. A, 104, 4364(2000).Author Institution: University of Connecticut; Department of Chemistry, University of Connecticut; Department of Chemistry, National Institute of Standards and Technology; Optical Technology Division, National Institute of Standards and Technologyp-Methoxyphenethylamine $(CH_{3}OC_{6}H_{4}C_{a}H_{2}C_{b}H_{2}NH_{2})$ is a neurotransmitter. Seven conformers have been identified by electronic $spectroscopy^{a}$ and their conformational identities characterized by analogy to simpler related compounds, empirical force field and quantum chemical calculations, and vibrational spectra. With the $C_{a}-C_{b}$ bond lying in a plane nominally orthogonal to the benzene ring, there are nine possible conformers. With $C(phenyl)-C_{a}-C_{b}-N$ gauche, the $NH_{2}$ group has 3 possible orientations. These are doubled by the two possible planar orientations of the methoxy group. With C(phenyl)-$C_{a}-C_{b}-N$ anti, the $NH_{2}$ group again has 3 distinguishable orientations. A pair of the C(phenyl)-$C_{a}-C_{b}-N$ gauche conformers with the N lone pair directed toward the benzene ring were deemed to be missing in the electronic spectroscopic studies. The rotational spectrum was investigated at a rotational temperature near 1 K in a pulsed-jet Fourier transform microwave spectrometer. Rotational spectra of four conformers have been assigned with preliminary rotational constant values of 2832.545, 538.362, and 509.172 MHz; 2740.111, 542.176, and 507.522 MHz; 2789.609, 535.220, and 509.950 MHz; and 2750.592, 548.056, and 507.537 MHz. They all correspond to conformers with a C(phenyl)-$C_{a}-C_{b}-N$ gauche conformation coupled with the methoxy group ``anti'' or ``syn'' to the gauche $NH_{2}$ group. Structural characterization is continuing. More lines remain to be assigned