Does training with amplitude modulated tones affect tone-vocoded speech perception?

Temporal-envelope cues are essential for successful speech perception. We asked here whether training on stimuli containing temporal-envelope cues without speech content can improve the perception of spectrally-degraded (vocoded) speech in which the temporal-envelope (but not the temporal fine structure) is mainly preserved. Two groups of listeners were trained on different amplitude-modulation (AM) based tasks, either AM detection or AM-rate discrimination (21 blocks of 60 trials during two days, 1260 trials; frequency range: 4Hz, 8Hz, and 16Hz), while an additional control group did not undertake any training. Consonant identification in vocoded vowel-consonant-vowel stimuli was tested before and after training on the AM tasks (or at an equivalent time interval for the control group). Following training, only the trained groups showed a significant improvement in the perception of vocoded speech, but the improvement did not significantly differ from that observed for controls. Thus, we do not find convincing evidence that this amount of training with temporal-envelope cues without speech content provide significant benefit for vocoded speech intelligibility. Alternative training regimens using vocoded speech along the linguistic hierarchy should be explored

Low-redshift quasars in the SDSS Stripe 82-II. Associated companion galaxies and signature of star formation

We present optical spectroscopy of the close companions of 22 low-redshift (z < 0.5) quasars (QSO) selected from a larger sample of QSO in the SDSS Stripe82 region for which both the host galaxy and the large-scale environments have been investigated in our previous work. The new observations extend the number of QSO studied in our previous paper on close companion galaxies of 12 quasars. Our analysis here covers all 34 quasars from both this work and the previously published paper. We find that half of them (15 QSO; similar to 44 per cent) have at least one associated galaxy. Many (12 galaxies; similar to 67 per cent) of the associated companions exhibit [O II] 3727 angstrom emission line as signature of recent star formation. The star formation rate (SFR) of these galaxies is modest (median SFR similar to 4.3 M-circle dot yr(-1)). For eight QSO, we are also able to detect the starlight of the host galaxy from which three have a typical spectrum of a post-starburst galaxy. Our results suggest that quasars do not have a strong influence on the star formation of their companion galaxies

Quantum oscillations of nitrogen atoms in uranium nitride

The vibrational excitations of crystalline solids corresponding to acoustic or optic one phonon modes appear as sharp features in measurements such as neutron spectroscopy. In contrast, many-phonon excitations generally produce a complicated, weak, and featureless response. Here we present time-of-flight neutron scattering measurements for the binary solid uranium nitride (UN), showing well-defined, equally-spaced, high energy vibrational modes in addition to the usual phonons. The spectrum is that of a single atom, isotropic quantum harmonic oscillator and characterizes independent motions of light nitrogen atoms, each found in an octahedral cage of heavy uranium atoms. This is an unexpected and beautiful experimental realization of one of the fundamental, exactly-solvable problems in quantum mechanics. There are also practical implications, as the oscillator modes must be accounted for in the design of generation IV nuclear reactors that plan to use UN as a fuel.Comment: 25 pages, 10 figures, submitted to Nature Communications, supplementary information adde

Proximate Kitaev quantum spin liquid behaviour in a honeycomb magnet.

Quantum spin liquids (QSLs) are topological states of matter exhibiting remarkable properties such as the capacity to protect quantum information from decoherence. Whereas their featureless ground states have precluded their straightforward experimental identification, excited states are more revealing and particularly interesting owing to the emergence of fundamentally new excitations such as Majorana fermions. Ideal probes of these excitations are inelastic neutron scattering experiments. These we report here for a ruthenium-based material, α-RuCl3, continuing a major search (so far concentrated on iridium materials) for realizations of the celebrated Kitaev honeycomb topological QSL. Our measurements confirm the requisite strong spin-orbit coupling and low-temperature magnetic order matching predictions proximate to the QSL. We find stacking faults, inherent to the highly two-dimensional nature of the material, resolve an outstanding puzzle. Crucially, dynamical response measurements above interlayer energy scales are naturally accounted for in terms of deconfinement physics expected for QSLs. Comparing these with recent dynamical calculations involving gauge flux excitations and Majorana fermions of the pure Kitaev model, we propose the excitation spectrum of α-RuCl3 as a prime candidate for fractionalized Kitaev physics.Research using ORNL’s HFIR and SNS facilities was sponsored by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences (BES), Scientific User Facilities Division. A part of the synthesis and the bulk characterization performed at ORNL was supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division (C.A.B. and J.-Q.Y.). The work at University of Tennessee was funded in part by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s EPiQS Initiative through Grant GBMF4416 (D.G.M. and L.L.). The work at Dresden was in part supported by DFG grant SFB 1143 (J.K. and R.M.), and by a fellowship within the Postdoc-Program of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) (J.K.). D.L.K. is supported by EPSRC Grant No. EP/M007928/1. The collaboration as a whole was supported by the Helmholtz Virtual Institute ‘New States of Matter and their Excitations’ initiative.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Nature Publishing Group via http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nmat460

Predator-Induced Vertical Behavior of a Ctenophore

Although many studies have focused on Mnemiopsis leidyi predation, little is known about the role of this ctenophore as prey when abundant in native and invaded pelagic systems. We examined the response of the ctenophore M. leidyi to the predatory ctenophore Beroe ovata in an experiment in which the two species could potentially sense each other while being physically separated. On average, M. leidyi responded to the predator’s presence by increasing variability in swimming speeds and by lowering their vertical distribution. Such behavior may help explain field records of vertical migration, as well as stratified and near-bottom distributions of M. leidyi

A glimpse of a Luttinger liquid

The concept of a Luttinger liquid has recently been established as a fundamental paradigm vital to our understanding of the properties of one-dimensional quantum systems, leading to a number of theoretical breakthroughs. Now theoretical predictions have been put to test by the comprehensive experimental study.Comment: Unedited version of N&V article in Nature materials 4, 273 (2005