Listening Context and Listening Mode: Towards a Unified Approach for Examining the Connection between Music, Emotion, and Mood.

A comprehensive investigation into music and emotion/mood research models (Eerola & Vuoskoski, 2013)1 uncovered notable shortfalls in the selection of test instruments (primacy of classical recordings); limitations of testing conditions (clinical, theoretical, or self-reporting); opportunistic choice of test participants (selected out of convenience); and research practice following historical models (scientific or sociological methodologies). This paper sought to address these issues and presented a considered approach to sourcing music stimuli; identified a wider participant cross-section and testing options; and pinpointed the need for the application of a unified, interdisciplinary research method - a model that can integrate music’s disciplines, forms, and types of engagement (ie. systematic musicology)2 with a human’s neural, physiological, behavioural, and expressive elements (ie. psychophysiology):(Systematic) Musicology today covers all disciplinary approaches to the study of all music in all its manifestations and all its contexts, whether they be physical, acoustic, digital, multimedia, social, sociological, cultural, historical, geographical, ethnological, psychological, physiological, medicinal, pedagogical, therapeutic, or in relation to any other musically relevant discipline or context. (Parncutt, 2007. Ibid.).Scientific methodologies (biological/neurological) measure physiological responses at the expense of psychoacoustic responses - an assumption that clinical measurement techniques andalgorithmic solutions present an efficient model to classify or explain the relationship between music and emotion/mood. Sociological methodologies (psychological/theoretical) suppose thatsymbolic interactionism or structural functionalism in music drives an emotional response and affects mood - an assumption that music is a semiotic system, and its constructs are either reflections of the cultural genre around which that music grew or inherent personality traits - and are imbued with messages and meaning. Therefore, this paper proposed a mixed method analysis to measure the true effect of music manifestations on emotion/mood.Outlined in this document are four aspects central to performing a critical investigation into music vs emotion/mood: a) the need for clear principles and criteria in the curation of test instruments and test subjects, b) the importance of the listening context (profile, orientation, and acrophase) of respondents, c) the significance of the listening mode (cause-based, semantic-focus, or ambient-type) of respondents in the research process, and d) the recognitionof music-induced emotions and their physiological/psychological triggers on respondents is temporal, as music means different things to different people at different times.This paper annotated key musical stimuli (music elements/genres), examined listening contexts (situational macro-variables), and explored listening modes (cognition/appreciation factors) that impact upon listening experiences using a 5W+1Hi inquiry method for compilation. Selected historical cases of claimed music-induced emotional responses or behavioural modification, as well as consciously constructed works by composers to elicit emotionalresponses, were presented side-by-side with theoretical templates used to map emotion/mood.As music-listening experiences today integrate a substantial visual/interactive component in their consumption, via a proliferation of audio-visual device options (screen music, musicvideo, promotional/commercial contents), a diverse range of samples were also included in the paper’s discussion. The general recommendations and conclusions of this paper were that:i) in the development-stage of the music/emotion/mood research plan, it is paramount that a curated menu of test instruments, applicable across a representative spectrum of listeners, and measurable in varying listening environments, be created prior to undertaking research.ii) using test instruments without a qualifying listening context template, and using test procedures without distinguishing listening mode foci, will diminish research results. Participant-profiling will determine listening backgrounds/purposes and fine-tune testing.iii) via the lens of systematic musicology which encompasses all music disciplines, and an integrated quantitative/qualitative data collection and analysis or mixed method research model (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011)3, this will address shortcomings of prior research.1 Eerola, T., and Vuoskoski, J. (2013, February). A Review of Music and Emotion Studies: Approaches, Emotion Models, and Stimuli. In Music Perception. An interdisciplinary Journal. Volume 30. Issue 3. pp. 307-340.2 Parncutt, R. (2007, Spring). Systematic musicology and the history and future of western musical scholarship. In Journal of Interdisciplinary Music Studies. Volume 1, Issue 1, pp. 1-32.3 Creswell, J. and Plano Clark, V. (2011). Designing and conducting mixed methods research. Sage

Sub-wavelength focusing of high intensities in microfibre tips

Sub-wavelength efficient intensity confinement has been demonstrated in nanostructured optical microfibre tips. Focus Ion Beam (FIB) milling was used to nanostructure gold-coated optical microfibre tips and form apertures at the apex. Simulations were carried out to optimize the device design. Enhanced transmission efficiency (higher than 10-2) was achieved in spot sizes of ~λ/10. Nanostructured microfibre tips have the potential for a number of applications including optical recording, photolithography and scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM)

Evidence for ideal insulating/conducting state in a 1D integrable system

Using numerical diagonalization techniques we analyze the finite temperature/frequency conductance of a one dimensional model of interacting spinless fermions. Depending on the interaction, the observed finite temperature charge stiffness and low frequency conductance indicate a fundamental difference between integrable and non-integrable cases. The integrable systems behave as ideal conductors in the metallic regime and as ideal insulators in the insulating one. The non-integrable systems are, as expected, generic conductors in the metallic regime and activated ones in the insulating regime.Comment: revtex file, followed by 5 uuencoded postscript figure

Connection between low energy effective Hamiltonians and energy level statistics

We study the level statistics of a non-integrable one dimensional interacting fermionic system characterized by the GOE distribution. We calculate numerically on a finite size system the level spacing distribution $P(s)$ and the Dyson-Mehta $\Delta_3$ correlation. We observe that its low energy spectrum follows rather the Poisson distribution, characteristic of an integrable system, consistent with the fact that the low energy excitations of this system are described by the Luttinger model. We propose this Random Matrix Theory analysis as a probe for the existence and integrability of low energy effective Hamiltonians for strongly correlated systems.Comment: REVTEX, 5 postscript figures at the end of the fil

Biostimulant activity of azotobacter chroococcum and trichoderma harzianum in durum wheat under water and nitrogen deficiency

Biostimulants hold great potential for developing integrated sustainable agriculture systems. The rhizobacteria Azotobacter chroococcum strain 76A and the fungus Trichoderma harzianum strain T22, with demonstrated biostimulant activity in previous systems, were evaluated in Triticum durum cv Creso for their ability to enhance growth and tolerance to drought stress. Growth and drought tolerance were evaluated in conditions of low and high soil nitrogen, with two levels of water stress. T. harzianum increased plant growth (+16%) under control conditions and tolerance to moderate drought stress (+52%) under optimal fertilization, while A. chroococcum conferred a growth penalty (−28%) in well-watered conditions under suboptimal fertilization and increased tolerance only under extreme drought stress (+15%). This growth penalty was ameliorated by nitrogen fertilization. T. harzianum abundance was found to be positively correlated to extreme soil drying, whereas A. chroococcum-induced tolerance was dependent on soil nitrogen availability. These results indicate that while biostimulants may enhance growth and stress tolerance, nutrient availability soil and environmental conditions heavily influence these responses. These interactions should be considered when designing biostimulant products targeted to specific cultural conditions

Analysis, Design and Implementation of an End-to-End QKD Link

This manuscript discusses the most relevant aspects of the practical implementation of a long-range Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) link with trusted nodes, achieving the highest possible secret key rate generation within the security and system level constraints. To this purpose, we report on recent pilot studies for the measurements of detection efficiency and source photon statistics for validating the calibration facilities (i) at telecom wavelength for realistic quantum backbone implementation through standard telecommunications grade optical fiber, and (ii) for the telecom and VIS-NIR regime. In addition, since there are circumstances when a fiber optical link may not be available, we will also discuss the characterization of a Free Space Optics (FSO) QKD link. Finally, the manuscript also discusses the problem of information reconciliation in Continuous Variable QKD (CV-QKD) scenarios

Level Statistics of XXZ Spin Chains with Discrete Symmetries: Analysis through Finite-size Effects

Level statistics is discussed for XXZ spin chains with discrete symmetries for some values of the next-nearest-neighbor (NNN) coupling parameter. We show how the level statistics of the finite-size systems depends on the NNN coupling and the XXZ anisotropy, which should reflect competition among quantum chaos, integrability and finite-size effects. Here discrete symmetries play a central role in our analysis. Evaluating the level-spacing distribution, the spectral rigidity and the number variance, we confirm the correspondence between non-integrability and Wigner behavior in the spectrum. We also show that non-Wigner behavior appears due to mixed symmetries and finite-size effects in some nonintegrable cases.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figure

Impaired eye blink classical conditioning distinguishes dystonic patients with and without tremor

INTRODUCTION: Tremor is frequently associated with dystonia, but its pathophysiology is still unclear. Dysfunctions of cerebellar circuits are known to play a role in the pathophysiology of action-induced tremors, and cerebellar impairment has frequently been associated to dystonia. However, a link between dystonic tremor and cerebellar abnormalities has not been demonstrated so far. METHODS: Twenty-five patients with idiopathic isolated cervical dystonia, with and without tremor, were enrolled. We studied the excitability of inhibitory circuits in the brainstem by measuring the R2 blink reflex recovery cycle (BRC) and implicit learning mediated by the cerebellum by means of eyeblink classical conditioning (EBCC). Results were compared with those obtained in a group of age-matched healthy subjects (HS). RESULTS: Statistical analysis did not disclose any significant clinical differences among dystonic patients with and without tremor. Patients with dystonia (regardless of the presence of tremor) showed decreased inhibition of R2 blink reflex by conditioning pulses compared with HS. Patients with dystonic tremor showed a decreased number of conditioned responses in the EBCC paradigm compared to HS and dystonic patients without tremor. CONCLUSION: The present data show that cerebellar impairment segregates with the presence of tremor in patients with dystonia, suggesting that the cerebellum might have a role in the occurrence of dystonic tremor