Measurement of the proton and deuteron structure functions, F2p and F2d, and of the ratio sigma(L)/sigma(T)

The muon-proton and muon-deuteron inclusive deep inelastic scattering cross sections were measured in the kinematic range 0.002 < x < 0.60 and 0.5 < Q2 < 75 GeV2 at incident muon energies of 90, 120, 200 and 280 GeV. These results are based on the full data set collected by the New Muon Collaboration, including the data taken with a small angle trigger. The extracted values of the structure functions F2p and F2d are in good agreement with those from other experiments. The data cover a sufficient range of y to allow the determination of the ratio of the longitudinally to transversely polarised virtual photon absorption cross sections, R= sigma(L)/sigma(T), for 0.002 < x < 0.12 . The values of R are compatible with a perturbative QCD prediction; they agree with earlier measurements and extend to smaller x.Comment: In this replacement the erroneously quoted R values in tables 3-6 for x>0.12, and R1990 values in tables 5-6 for all x, have been corrected, and the cross sections in tables 3-4 have been adapted. Everything else, including the structure functions F2, remained unchanged. 22 pages, LateX, including figures, with two .sty files, and three separate f2tab.tex files for the F2-tables. Accepted for publication in Nucl.Phys.B 199

Short and Intense Tailor-Made Notched Music Training against Tinnitus: The Tinnitus Frequency Matters

Tinnitus is one of the most common diseases in industrialized countries. Here, we developed and evaluated a short-term (5 subsequent days) and intensive (6 hours/day) tailor-made notched music training (TMNMT) for patients suffering from chronic, tonal tinnitus. We evaluated (i) the TMNMT efficacy in terms of behavioral and magnetoencephalographic outcome measures for two matched patient groups with either low (≤8 kHz, N = 10) or high (>8 kHz, N = 10) tinnitus frequencies, and the (ii) persistency of the TMNMT effects over the course of a four weeks post-training phase. The results indicated that the short-term intensive TMNMT took effect in patients with tinnitus frequencies ≤8 kHz: subjective tinnitus loudness, tinnitus-related distress, and tinnitus-related auditory cortex evoked activity were significantly reduced after TMNMT completion. However, in the patients with tinnitus frequencies >8 kHz, significant changes were not observed. Interpreted in their entirety, the results also indicated that the induced changes in auditory cortex evoked neuronal activity and tinnitus loudness were not persistent, encouraging the application of the TMNMT as a longer-term training. The findings are essential in guiding the intended transfer of this neuro-scientific treatment approach into routine clinical practice

Auditory Resting-State Network Connectivity in Tinnitus: A Functional MRI Study

The underlying functional neuroanatomy of tinnitus remains poorly understood. Few studies have focused on functional cerebral connectivity changes in tinnitus patients. The aim of this study was to test if functional MRI “resting-state” connectivity patterns in auditory network differ between tinnitus patients and normal controls. Thirteen chronic tinnitus subjects and fifteen age-matched healthy controls were studied on a 3 tesla MRI. Connectivity was investigated using independent component analysis and an automated component selection approach taking into account the spatial and temporal properties of each component. Connectivity in extra-auditory regions such as brainstem, basal ganglia/NAc, cerebellum, parahippocampal, right prefrontal, parietal, and sensorimotor areas was found to be increased in tinnitus subjects. The right primary auditory cortex, left prefrontal, left fusiform gyrus, and bilateral occipital regions showed a decreased connectivity in tinnitus. These results show that there is a modification of cortical and subcortical functional connectivity in tinnitus encompassing attentional, mnemonic, and emotional networks. Our data corroborate the hypothesized implication of non-auditory regions in tinnitus physiopathology and suggest that various regions of the brain seem involved in the persistent awareness of the phenomenon as well as in the development of the associated distress leading to disabling chronic tinnitus

Selective Attention Increases Both Gain and Feature Selectivity of the Human Auditory Cortex

Background. An experienced car mechanic can often deduce what’s wrong with a car by carefully listening to the sound of the ailing engine, despite the presence of multiple sources of noise. Indeed, the ability to select task-relevant sounds for awareness, whilst ignoring irrelevant ones, constitutes one of the most fundamental of human faculties, but the underlying neural mechanisms have remained elusive. While most of the literature explains the neural basis of selective attention by means of an increase in neural gain, a number of papers propose enhancement in neural selectivity as an alternative or a complementary mechanism. Methodology/Principal Findings. Here, to address the question whether pure gain increase alone can explain auditory selective attention in humans, we quantified the auditory cortex frequency selectivity in 20 healthy subjects by masking 1000-Hz tones by continuous noise masker with parametrically varying frequency notches around the tone frequency (i.e., a notched-noise masker). The task of the subjects was, in different conditions, to selectively attend to either occasionally occurring slight increments in tone frequency (1020 Hz), tones of slightly longer duration, or ignore the sounds. In line with previous studies, in the ignore condition, the global field power (GFP) of event-related brain responses at 100 ms from the stimulus onset to the 1000-Hz tones was suppressed as a function of the narrowing of the notch width. During the selective attention conditions, the suppressant effect of the noise notch width on GFP was decreased, but as a function significantly different from a multiplicative one expected on the basis of simple gain model of selective attention. Conclusions/Significance. Our results suggest that auditory selective attention in humans cannot be explained by a gai

Measurement of the proton and the deuteron structure functions F2p and F2d

The proton and deuteron structure functions F2p and F2d were measured in the kinematic range 0.006<x<0.6 and 0.5<Q^2<75 GeV^2, by inclusive deep inelastic muon scattering at 90, 120, 200 and 280 GeV. The measurements are in good agreement with earlier high precision results. The present and earlier results together have been parametrised to give descriptions of the proton and deuteron structure functions F2 and their uncertainties over the range 0.006<x<0.9.Comment: 22 pages, using LATEX, 12pt, epsfig.sty, rotating.sty; 2 tables and 6 figures uuencoded compressed tar files in f2fig.uu (Corrected two values of Table 3 into c3=-35.01 and c4=44.43 for "Upper F2p".

A Re-Evaluation of the nuclear Structure Function Ratios for D, He, Li, C and Ca

We present a re-evaluation of the structure function ratios F2(He)/F2(D), F2(C)/F2(D) and F2(Ca)/F2(D) measured in deep inelastic muon-nucleus scattering at an incident muon momentum of 200 GeV. We also present the ratios F2(C)/F2(Li), F2(Ca)/F2(Li) and F2(Ca)/F2(C) measured at 90 GeV. The results are based on data already published by NMC; the main difference in the analysis is a correction for the masses of the deuterium targets and an improvement in the radiative corrections. The kinematic range covered is 0.0035 < x < 0.65, 0.5 < Q^2 <90 GeV^2 for the He/D, C/D and Ca/D data and 0.0085 < x < 0.6, 0.84 < Q^2 < 17 GeV^2 for the Li/C/Ca ones.Comment: 6 pages, Latex, 3 figures as uuencoded compressed tar file included at the end, in case of problems contact [email protected] (Antje Bruell

Accurate Measurement of F2d/F2p and Rd-Rp

Results are presented for F2d/F2p and Rd-Rp from simultaneous measurements of deep inelastic muon scattering on hydrogen and deuterium targets, at 90, 120, 200 and 280 GeV. The difference Rd-Rp, determined in the range 0.002<x<0.4 at an average Q^2 of 5 GeV^2, is compatible with zero. The x and Q^2 dependence of F2d/F2p was measured in the kinematic range 0.001<x<0.8 and 0.1<Q^2<145 GeV^2 with small statistical and systematic errors. For x>0.1 the ratio decreases with Q^2.Comment: 29 pages, LateX, including figures, prepared with uufiles, arriving with .sty files as used, figures .eps files and a table .tex file. Accepted for publication in Nucl.Phys.B 199

The Structure Function Ratios F2(Li)/F2(D) and F2(C)/F2(D) at small x

We present the structure function ratios F2(Li)/F2(D) and F2(C)/F2(D) measured in deep inelastic muon-nucleus scattering at a nominal incident muon energy of 200 GeV. The kinematic range 0.0001 < x < 0.7 and 0.01< Q^2 < 70 GeV^2 is covered. For values of $x$ less than $0.002$ both ratios indicate saturation of shadowing at values compatible with photoabsorption results

Strong Neurophilosophy and the Matter of Bat Consciousness: A case study

In “What is it like to be boring and myopic?” Kathleen Akins offers an interesting, empirically driven, argument for thinking that there is nothing that it is like to be a bat. She suggests that bats are “boring” in the sense that they are governed by behavioral scripts and simple, non-representational, control loops, and are best characterized as biological automatons. Her approach has been well received by philosophers sympathetic to empirically informed philosophy of mind. But, despite its influence, her work has not met with any critical appraisal. It is argued that a reconsideration of the empirical results shows that bats are not boring automatons, driven by short input-output loops, instincts, and reflexes. Grounds are provided for thinking that bats satisfy a range of philosophically and scientifically interesting elaborations of the general idea that consciousness is best understood in terms of representational functions. A more complete examination of bat sensory capabilities suggests there is something that it is like after all. The discussion of bats is also used to develop an objection to strongly neurophilosophical approaches to animal consciousness