The cognitive organization of music knowledge: a clinical analysis

Despite much recent interest in the clinical neuroscience of music processing, the cognitive organization of music as a domain of non-verbal knowledge has been little studied. Here we addressed this issue systematically in two expert musicians with clinical diagnoses of semantic dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, in comparison with a control group of healthy expert musicians. In a series of neuropsychological experiments, we investigated associative knowledge of musical compositions (musical objects), musical emotions, musical instruments (musical sources) and music notation (musical symbols). These aspects of music knowledge were assessed in relation to musical perceptual abilities and extra-musical neuropsychological functions. The patient with semantic dementia showed relatively preserved recognition of musical compositions and musical symbols despite severely impaired recognition of musical emotions and musical instruments from sound. In contrast, the patient with Alzheimer’s disease showed impaired recognition of compositions, with somewhat better recognition of composer and musical era, and impaired comprehension of musical symbols, but normal recognition of musical emotions and musical instruments from sound. The findings suggest that music knowledge is fractionated, and superordinate musical knowledge is relatively more robust than knowledge of particular music. We propose that music constitutes a distinct domain of non-verbal knowledge but shares certain cognitive organizational features with other brain knowledge systems. Within the domain of music knowledge, dissociable cognitive mechanisms process knowledge derived from physical sources and the knowledge of abstract musical entities

Coal conversion products industrial applications

Coal-based synthetic fuels complexes under development consideration by NASA/MSFC will produce large quantities of synthetic fuels, primarily medium BTU gas, which could be sold commercially to industries located in South Central Tennessee and Northern Alabama. The complexes would be modular in construction, and subsequent modules may produce liquid fuels or fuels for electric power production. Current and projected industries in the two states which have a propensity for utilizing coal-based synthetic fuels were identified, and a data base was compiled to support MFSC activities

Monolayers of 3He on the Surface of Bulk Superfluid 4He

We have used quantum evaporation to investigate the two-dimensional fermion system that forms at the free surface of (initially isotopically pure) 4He when small quantities of 3He are added to it. By measuring the first-arrival times of the evaporated atoms, we have determined that the 3He-3He potential in this system is V_3S/k_B=(0.23+/-0.02) K nm^2 (repulsive) and estimated a value of m_3S=(1.53+/-0.02)m_3 for the zero-coverage effective mass. We have also observed the predicted second layer-state which becomes occupied once the first layer-state density exceeds about 0.6 monolayers.Comment: 2 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to Proc. LT-22 (1999) to appear in Physica

Relative Evaporation Probabilities of 3He and 4He from the Surface of Superfluid 4He

We report a preliminary experiment which demonstrates that 3He atoms in Andreev states are evaporated by high-energy (E/k_B ~ 10.2 K) phonons in a quantum evaporation process similar to that which occurs in pure 4He. Under conditions of low 3He coverage, high-energy phonons appear to evaporate 3He and 4He atoms with equal probability. However, we have not managed to detect any 3He atoms that have been evaporated by rotons, and conclude that the probability of a roton evaporating a 3He atom is less than 2% of the probability that it evaporates a 4He atom.Comment: 2 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to Proc. LT-22 (1999) Physica

Chemistry of Tropical Root Crops: Significance for Nutrition and Agriculture in the Pacific

Crop Production/Industries,

Controlling the accuracy of unconditionally stable algorithms in Cahn-Hilliard Equation

Given an unconditionally stable algorithm for solving the Cahn-Hilliard equation, we present a general calculation for an analytic time step \d \tau in terms of an algorithmic time step \dt. By studying the accumulative multi-step error in Fourier space and controlling the error with arbitrary accuracy, we determine an improved driving scheme \dt=At^{2/3} and confirm the numerical results observed in a previous study \cite{Cheng1}.Comment: 4 pages, late

Managing professional identity within a changing market environment: New Zealand optometrists’ responses to the growth of corporate optometry

This research investigated the effects of changes in the market environment for optometry services and products on the professional identity of New Zealand optometrists. It explored three issues. First, ways participants’ location within either the independent or corporate sectors shaped their professional identities. Second, ways potential ethical conflicts between participants’ healthcare and retailing identities were resolved. Last, participants’ opinions concerning the future of their profession. Twelve male and fourteen female optometrists were interviewed. Nineteen participants worked within independent optometry practices. Seven worked within practices that were part of international optometry chains. Six participants were recent graduates, the rest experienced optometrists. All participants identified primarily as healthcare professionals. All recognised that practising optometry within a commercial market created the possibility of ethical conflicts between healthcare and business imperatives. There were differences in the ways participants managed this boundary, with participants working within corporate optometry seeming more comfortable with the business aspects of their profession. All participants thought the profession was changing and several suggested that the future of independent optometry was limited. The article concludes that recent changes within the market environment of optometry have heightened tensions between optometrists’ medical and entrepreneurial identities and contributed to changing work patterns within the profession.fals