Arytenoid Cartilage Dislocation: A 20-year Experience

SUMMARY: Arytenoid cartilage dislocation is an infrequently diagnosed cause of vocal fold immobility. Seventy-four cases have been reported in the literature to date. Intubation is the most common origin, followed by external laryngeal trauma. Decreased volume and breathiness are the most common presenting symptoms. We report on 63 patients with arytenoid cartilage dislocation treated by the senior author (RTS) since 1983. Significantly more posterior than anterior dislocations were represented. Although reestablishing joint mobility is difficult, endoscopic reduction should be considered to align the heights of the vocal processes. This process may result in significant voice improvement even long after the dislocation. Strobovideolaryngoscopy, laryngeal electromyography, and laryngeal computed tomography (CT) imaging are helpful in the evaluation of patients with vocal fold immobility to help distinguish arytenoid cartilage dislocation from vocal fold paralysis. Familiarity with signs and symptoms of arytenoid cartilage dislocation and current treatment techniques improves the chances for optimal therapeutic results.     

基于平均模型和误差削减网络的语音转换系统*

现阶段用于语音转换的深度学习方法多是通过使用大量的训练数据来生成高质量的语音。本文提出了一种基于平均模型和误差削减网络的语音转换框架,可用于有限数量的训练数据。首先,基于CBHG网络的平均模型使用排除源说话人和目标说话人的多说话人语音数据进行训练;然后,在有限数量的目标语音数据下对平均模型执行自适应训练;最后,提出一种误差削减网络,可以进一步改善转换后语音的质量。实验表明,所提出的语音转换框架可以灵活地处理有限的训练数据,并且在客观和主观评估方面均优于传统框架。     

Mechanical strength lowering in submicron Cu thin films by moderate DC current

This letter reports an experimental investigation into the direct current (DC) induced reduction in the yield strength of 60∼700-nm-thick Cu films. Results show that the larger the current density and the thinner the film, the greater the reduction when the film thickness is below about 340 nm. This reduction could be described on the basis of dislocation buckling, which, caused by the electron wind of the current flow, induces an increase in the dislocation length and a decrease in the critical stress for multiplying the dislocation.     

Dislocation density reduction limited by inclusions in kerfless high‐performance multicrystalline silicon

Kerfless high‐performance multicrystalline silicon is an emerging material for photovoltaic applications that is characterized by having a smaller grains, and general lower average dislocation density than conventional ribbon multicrystalline silicon. Although a significant improvement over state‐of‐the‐art, dislocation reduction at the crystal growth stage is not complete. Here we employ an annealing process previously tested in conventional ingot mc‐Si to reduce dislo‐ cation clusters that remain after crystal growth. A sample is subjected to a 1390 °C annealing process for 24 h and its dislocation density reduction is evaluated. We employ infrared birefringence imaging to observe that despite achieving significant average dislocation density reduction, if inclusions are present in the sample, these may serve to nucleate new dislocations due to thermal strain. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH &Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

蓝宝石衬底上RF-MBE生长的GaN中的极性控制和螺旋位错的降低

近年来人们报道了用MBE方法生长GaN的飞速进展,利用RF-MBE方法可以获得高的GAN生长速率和高的电子迁移率.本文讨论了用RF-MBE方法在蓝宝石衬底上生长GaN过程中的极性控制和螺旋位错的降低.在充分氮化的蓝宝石衬底上直接生长GaN,使GaN的极性控制为N-极性,并用高温生长的AlN核化层实现GaN的Ga-极性.对于N-和Ga-极性的GaN这两种情况,高温生长的AlN中间迭层的引入,可以有效地抑制螺旋位错的扩散.位错的降低使GaN的室温电子迁移率得到提高,对于Ga-极性的GaN,其值为332cm²/V·s;而对于N-极性的GaN,其值为688cm²/V·s.     

Stress‐enhanced dislocation density reduction in multicrystalline silicon

Stress is generally perceived to be detrimental for multicrystalline silicon (mc‐Si), leading to dislocation multiplication during crystal growth and processing. Herein, we evaluate the role of stress as a driving force for dislocation density reduction in mc‐Si. At high temperatures, close to the melting point (>0.8T_m), we observe that the application of stress as well as the relief of residual stress, can modify the density of pre‐existing dislocations in as‐grown mc‐Si under certain conditions, leading to a net local reduction of dislocation density. (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Active cancellation of occlusion: an electronic vent for hearing aids and hearing protectors

The occlusion effect is commonly described as an unnatural and mostly annoying quality of the voice of a person wearing hearing aids or hearing protectors. As a result, it is often reported by hearing aid users as a deterrent to wearing hearing aids. This paper presents an investigation into active occlusion cancellation. Measured transducer responses combined with models of an active feedback scheme are first examined in order to predict the effectiveness of occlusion reduction. The simulations predict 18 dB of occlusion reduction in completely blocked ear canals. Simulations incorporating a 1 mm vent (providing passive occlusion reduction) predict a combined active and passive occlusion reduction of 20 dB. A prototype occlusion canceling system was constructed. Averaged across 12 listeners with normal hearing, it provided 15 dB of occlusion reduction. Ten of the subjects reported a more natural own voice quality and an appreciable increase in comfort with the cancellation active, and 11 out of the 12 preferred the active system over the passive system.     

Multi-soliton method for removal of misfit dislocations from functional area of heterostructures

A theoretical model was developed for reduction of the density of misfit dislocations at boundaries of heterojunctions. The model is based on the repulsion of a multi-soliton chain and of a single dislocation, as a result of which the removal of the dislocation from the functional area of heterostructure occurs.     

The illumination-time and wavelength dependences of photoinduced hardening of C60 crystals

The fullerite photopolymerization in air in the wavelength range 350–900 nm was investigated using microhardness and dislocation mobility methods. The photoinduced effects of the hardening and reduction of a dislocation mobility were found to increase linearly with increasing photon energy. The existence of two phototransformed states is supposed from the kinetics data on photoinduced hardening.     

Quality of Life in Dysphonic Patients

Voice disorders can affect social life. Dysphonic patients report symptoms of psychological distress as a direct consequence of their dysphonia. It is assumed that their health-related quality of life (HRQL) is reduced. The purpose of this study was to find out whether changes of HRQL depend on the kind of voice disorder (organic or functional) and on the sex of the person affected. A total of 108 adult patients took part in the study, and patients with malignancies were excluded. Test persons were asked to complete the SF-36 questionnaire on their health-related quality of life without prior information about their individual diagnosis. The results of this study show that voice disorders significantly influence patients' HRQL. There are no statistically significant differences between patients suffering from organic and functional voice disorders or between dysphonic women and men. When comparing the results obtained in this study with those in the literature, surprisingly, it seems that the manner in which a person experiences a voice disorder depends on the individual cultural background. Patients with functional voice disorders have similar reduction in HRQL as those with organic voice disorders. HRQL in dysphonic women does not differ from the one in dysphonic men. The results allow for the conclusion that changes of HRQL do not depend on the kind of voice disorder and not on the sex of the person affected.     

Effect of Interface Roughness and Dislocation Density on Electroluminescence Intensity of InGaN Multiple Quantum Wells

Effects of interface roughness and dislocation density on the electroluminescence (EL) intensity of InGaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) are investigated. It is found that the EL intensity increases with the number of satellite peaks in the x-ray diffraction experiments of InGaN MQW samples. It is indicated that the rough interface will lead the reduction of EL intensity of InGaN MQW samples. It is also found that the EL intensity increases with the decrease of dislocation density which is characterized by the x-ray diffraction measurements. It is suggested that the EL intensity of InGaN MQWs can be improved by decreasing the interface roughness and dislocation density.     

Voice Characteristics in Adults With Neurofibromatosis Type 1

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is an autosomal dominant neurocutaneous disorder caused by mutations in the NF1 gene, which is located at the long arm of chromosome 17. Major characteristics include multiple café-au-lait spots and neurofibromas. Voice abnormalities have been reported to occur in this patient group. However, most studies relied on subjective measurements only. The present study reports the results of an objective voice assessment based on a multiparameter approach in 22 adults with NF1. Aerodynamic measurements, voice range profiles, acoustic voice quality and intonation measurements, and dysphonia severity indices were obtained and compared with data from a control group, consisting of 22 healthy adults. It was found that NF1 patients show a poorer overall voice quality compared with controls. Particularly, a reduction of vital capacity and limitations in laryngeal possibilities with respect to frequency and intensity were observed in the NF1 group.     

Identification of Voice Disorders Using Long-Time Features and Support Vector Machine With Different Feature Reduction Methods

Identification of voice disorders has a fundamental role in our life nowadays. Therefore, many of these diseases must be diagnosed at early stages of occurrence before they lead to a critical condition. Acoustic analysis can be used to identify voice disorders as a complementary technique with other traditional invasive methods, such as laryngoscopy. In this article, we followed an extensive study in the diagnosis of voice disorders using the statistical pattern recognition techniques. Finally, we proposed a combined scheme of feature reduction methods followed by pattern recognition methods to classify voice disorders. Six classifiers are used to evaluate feature vectors obtained by principal component analysis or linear discriminant analysis (LDA) as feature reduction methods. Furthermore, individual, forward, backward, and branch-and-bound methods are examined as feature selection methods. The performance of each combined scheme is evaluated in terms of the accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). The experimental results denote that LDA along with support vector machine (SVM) has the best performance, with a recognition rate of 94.26% and AUC of 97.94%. Additionally, this structure has the lowest complexity in comparison with other architectures. Among feature selection methods, individual feature selection followed by SVM classifier shows the best recognition rate of 91.55% and AUC of 95.80%.     

Evolution of Distribution of Dislocations in Ni3Ge Single Crystals During Deformation

The evolution of the distribution of dislocations in Ni₃Ge single crystals subjected to deformation in uniaxial compression is studied. The dislocation ensemble in the material under review is found to be of a chaotic homogeneous type. Contact interactions between dislocations prevail, and a linear relation of the spacing between dislocations to the length of dislocation segments is observed for stoppers of an arbitrary type. An equation is derived for the probability density function of the fraction of mobile dislocation segments. The solution to the equation is the normal distribution law. This solution can be extended to parameters that are functions of the dislocation density or spacing between dislocations. The experimental histograms of the spacing between dislocations and of that between arbitrary stoppers with a high significance level obey the lognormal law for all degrees of reduction studied.     

Lexical frequency and voice assimilation

Acoustic duration and degree of vowel reduction are known to correlate with a word's frequency of occurrence. The present study broadens the research on the role of frequency in speech production to voice assimilation. The test case was regressive voice assimilation in Dutch. Clusters from a corpus of read speech were more often perceived as unassimilated in lower-frequency words and as either completely voiced (regressive assimilation) or, unexpectedly, as completely voiceless (progressive assimilation) in higher-frequency words. Frequency did not predict the voice classifications over and above important acoustic cues to voicing, suggesting that the frequency effects on the classifications were carried exclusively by the acoustic signal. The duration of the cluster and the period of glottal vibration during the cluster decreased while the duration of the release noises increased with frequency. This indicates that speakers reduce articulatory effort for higher-frequency words, with some acoustic cues signaling more voicing and others less voicing. A higher frequency leads not only to acoustic reduction but also to more assimilation.     

Image forces on edge dislocations: a revisit of the fundamental concept with special regard to nanocrystals

Two conditions under which image forces become significant are when a dislocation is close to a surface (or interface) or when the dislocation is in a nanocrystal. This investigation pertains to the calculation of image forces under these circumstances. A simple edge dislocation is simulated using finite element method (FEM) by feeding-in the appropriate stress-free strains in idealised domains, corresponding to the introduction of an extra half-plane of atoms. Following basic validation of the new model, the energy of the system as a function of the position of the simulated dislocation is plotted and the gradient of the curve gives the image force. The reduction in energy of the system arises from two aspects: firstly, due to the position of the dislocation in the domain and, secondly, due to deformations to the domain (/surfaces). The second aspect becomes important when the dislocation is positioned near a free-surface or in nanocrystals and can be calculated using the current methodology without constructing fictitious images. It is to be noted that domain deformations have been ignored in the standard theories for the calculation of image forces and, hence, they give erroneous results (magnitude and/or direction) whenever image forces play an important role. An important point to be noted is that, under certain circumstances, where domain deformations occur in the presence of an edge dislocation, the ‘image' can be negative (attractive), zero or even positive (repulsive). The current model is extended to calculate image forces based on the usual concept of an ‘image dislocation’.     

Free energy change of a dislocation due to a Cottrell atmosphere

The free energy reduction of a dislocation due to a Cottrell atmosphere of solutes is computed using a continuum model. We show that the free energy change is composed of near-core and far-field components. The far-field component can be computed analytically using the linearized theory of solid solutions. Near the core the linearized theory is inaccurate, and the near-core component must be computed numerically. The influence of interactions between solutes in neighbouring lattice sites is also examined using the continuum model. We show that this model is able to reproduce atomistic calculations of the nickel–hydrogen system, predicting hydride formation on dislocations. The formation of these hydrides leads to dramatic reductions in the free energy. Finally, the influence of the free energy change on a dislocation’s line tension is examined by computing the equilibrium shape of a dislocation shear loop and the activation stress for a Frank–Read source using discrete dislocation dynamics.     

Neurovegetative symptoms and complaints before and after voice therapy for nonorganic habitual dysphonia

In a previous study, female patients in all age categories with a nonorganic dysphonia were found to report significantly more autonomic symptoms and complaints than healthy controls. This could not be confirmed for the male subgroup. The present study is to corroborate and nuance this observation by investigating larger groups, and to determine if, after voice therapy, the number of autonomic symptoms and complaints-particularly those ones that have no obvious relation to voice function-decreases. It is a prospective study with a matched control group; 184 patients with nonorganic dysphonia and 126 normal controls answered a questionnaire of 46 questions with 3 subsets and a consistency control. One hundred and one patients received functional voice therapy and completed the questionnaire before and after treatment. A matched control group of 42 normal subjects also filled in the questionnaire two times, with an interval of about 6 months. Neurovegetative symptoms and complaints-voice related and not related-are reported in highly significant excess by patients (especially but not exclusively females) with habitual nonorganic voice disorder. After therapy, there is a highly significant reduction in the number of autonomic symptoms and complaints (related or not related to voice), to such an extent that patients report on average no more general neurovegetative symptoms and complaints than healthy controls (even less). The number of neurovegetative symptoms and complaints connected with voice function is also strongly reduced in patients after therapy, but remains in significant excess when compared with controls.     

Diffusion-controlled phase growth on dislocations†

We treat the problem of diffusion of solute atoms around screw dislocations. In particular, we express and solve the diffusion equation in two dimensions with radial symmetry in an elastic field of a screw dislocation subject to conservation of flux at the interface of a new phase. We consider an incoherent second-phase precipitate growing under the action of the stress field of a screw dislocation. The second-phase growth rate as a function of the supersaturation and a strain energy parameter is evaluated in spatial dimensions d = 2. Our calculations show that an increase in the amplitude of the dislocation force, e.g. the magnitude of the Burgers vector, enhances the second-phase growth in an alloy. Moreover, we calculate the reduction in concentration of solute atoms as a function of radius around a second phase which grows cylindrically (in the radial direction) so that its radius varies as the square root of time for various levels of the dislocation force amplitude.     

石墨烯/铝基复合材料在纳米压痕过程中位错与石墨烯相互作用机制的模拟研究

石墨烯因其优异的力学性能已成为增强金属基复合材料的理想增强体.然而,目前对石墨烯/金属基复合材料在纳米压痕过程中嵌入石墨烯与位错之间的相互作用仍不清晰.本文采用分子动力学模拟方法,对90°,45°和0°位向的石墨烯/铝基复合材料进行了纳米压痕模拟,研究了压痕加载和卸载过程中石墨烯/铝基复合材料的位错形核及演化,以获取不同位向的石墨烯与位错的相互作用机制,并分析其对塑性区的影响.研究发现,石墨烯可以有效阻碍位错运动,并且石墨烯会沿着位错滑移方向发生弹性变形.在纳米压痕过程中,位错与不同位向石墨烯之间的相互作用差异导致塑性区的变化趋势不同.研究结果表明,在石墨烯/铝基复合材料中,位向不同的石墨烯对位错阻碍强度和方式不同,且石墨烯位向为45°的复合材料的硬度高于其他模型.此外,石墨烯/铝基复合材料的位错线总长度的演化规律与石墨烯位向紧密相关.本文研究可为设计和制备高性能石墨烯/金属基复合材料提供一定的理论指导.