Investigation of the Effectiveness of a Holistic Vocal Training Program Designed to Preserve Theatre Students’ Vocal Health and Increase Their Vocal Performances; A Prospective Research Study

ObjectiveThe main purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of a 12-week holistic vocal training program designed for theatre students.MethodsThe participants included 10 female and 8 male students, who were third- and fourth-year students of a state conservatory theatre department. Participants randomly selected from among those who were between the ages of 18–30 years, had no history of voice disorders, and had no systemic and neurological disorders. The study group (n = 9) was involved in the vocal training program. The control group (n = 9) has not received any training. During the program, 12 sessions of lectures and voice exercises were given to all participants of the study group for a period of 12 weeks. The sessions were planned to last for a duration of 30–45 minutes. Participants’ knowledge of vocal health was assessed using a questionnaire that was developed in the present study and a multidimensional voice assessment protocol including acoustic analyses and audio-perceptual evaluation has been applied.ResultsWithin-group comparisons indicated a significant increase in the study group participants’ knowledge of vocal hygiene after training (P = 0.011). Similarly, the study group outperformed the control group in the vocal mechanism knowledge (P = 0.027). Multidimensional Voice Profile findings revealed that vocal qualities of the control group deteriorated, whereas no alterations were found in the study group. Audio-perceptual analysis conducted through the Consensus Auditory-Perceptual Evaluation of Voice did not introduce significant changes in the control group in overall severity and roughness parameters, these values were found significantly improved for the study group.ConclusionIt can be concluded that the Holistic Vocal Training Program designed in the present study is effective for preserving theatre students’ vocal health and voice quality. It is important for future studies to search the long-term effects.     

Impact of Viscosity on DNA Dynamics

We study the influence of viscosity on DNA dynamics. By employing the nonlinear Peyrard-Bishop-Dauxois （PBD） model, it is shown that the DNA dynamics can be explained by a solution of a complex nonlinear Schrǒdinger equation （CNLSE）. This is the nonlinear Schrǒdinger equation （NLSE） with a nonlinear parameter being a complex number. We compare real and imaginary parts of this nonlinear parameter and show that the latter one should not be negligible, which means that the CNLSE should be solved numerically,     

Study of the Impact of Relativistic Double Star Systems on the Earth’s Electric Field

Russian Physics Journal - Dependences of the effective amplitudes of the Earth's electric field (EEF) components spectrally localized at double rotation frequencies of relativistic double...     

Reply to Comments of Steuernagel on the Afshar’s Experiment

We respond to criticism of our paper “Paradox in Wave-Particle Duality for Non-Perturbative Measurements”. We disagree with Steuernagel’s derivation of the visibility of the Afshar experiment. To calculate the fringe visibility, Steuernagel utilizes two different experimental situations, i.e. the wire grid in the pattern minima and in the pattern maxima. In our assessment, this procedure cannot lead to the correct result for the complementarity properties of a wave-particle in one particular experimental set-up.     

On the effect of electric potential on resistance of metals’ surface to microindentation

The effect of electric potential on the microindentation resistance is investigated experimentally for aluminum and zirconium samples. The effects of the electric potential proper applied to a sample and of the potential arising due to contact potential difference between metals with different electron work functions are compared. A qualitative equivalence of these two types of electrical action is revealed. A possibility of a significant (over 10%) change in the metal microhardness due to the above nentioned actions is established.     

Impact of Laser Linewidth on Performance of Externally Modulated Optical Transmission Systems

ＩｍｐａｃｔｏｆＬａｓｅｒＬｉｎｅｗｉｄｔｈｏｎＰｅｒｆｏｒｍａｎｃｅｏｆＥｘｔｅｒｎａｌｙＭｏｄｕｌａｔｅｄＯｐｔｉｃａｌＴｒａｎｓｍｉｓｉｏｎＳｙｓｔｅｍｓＸＩＥＹｏｎｇＸＩＥＳｈｉｚｈｏｎｇＬＩＵＦｅｎｇｈａｉＷＡＮＧＨｕｉＺＨＯＵＢｉｎｇｋｕ...     

Impact of nitrogen plasma passivation on the interface of germanium MOS capacitor

Nitrogen plasma passivation(NPP) on(111) germanium(Ge) was studied in terms of the interface trap density,roughness, and interfacial layer thickness using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition(PECVD). The results show that NPP not only reduces the interface states, but also improves the surface roughness of Ge, which is beneficial for suppressing the channel scattering at both low and high field regions of Ge MOSFETs. However, the interfacial layer thickness is also increased by the NPP treatment, which will impact the equivalent oxide thickness(EOT) scaling and thus degrade the device performance gain from the improvement of the surface morphology and the interface passivation. To obtain better device performance of Ge MOSFETs, suppressing the interfacial layer regrowth as well as a trade-off with reducing the interface states and roughness should be considered carefully when using the NPP process.     

A Change of Coordinates on the Large Phase Space¶of Quantum Cohomology

The Gromov–Witten invariants of a smooth, projective variety V, when twisted by the tautological classes on the moduli space of stable maps, give rise to a family of cohomological field theories and endow the base of the family with coordinates. We prove that the potential functions associated to the tautological ψ classes (the large phase space) and the κ classes are related by a change of coordinates which generalizes a change of basis on the ring of symmetric functions. Our result is a generalization of the work of Manin–Zograf who studied the case where V is a point. We utilize this change of variables to derive the topological recursion relations associated to the κ classes from those associated to the ψ classes. Received: 2 August 1999 / Accepted: 30 September 2000     

Effects of Change in the Average Permittivity on the Volume Hologram

ＥｆｆｅｃｔｓｏｆＣｈａｎｇｅｉｎｔｈｅＡｖｅｒａｇｅＰｅｒｍｉｔｔｉｖｉｔｙｏｎＴｈｅＶｏｌｕｍｅＨｏｌｏｇｒａｍ￥ＣＨＥＮＸｉｙｕａｎ（ＰｈｙｓｉｃｓＳｅｃｔｉｏｎ，Ｓｅｃｔｉｏｎ，ＦｕｓｈｕｎＰｅｔｒｏｌｅｕｍＩｎｓｔｉｔｕｔｅ，Ｆｕｓｈｕｎ１...     

Change in γ radiation properties due to cooling of single-crystal targets

A technique is described for cooling single-crystal targets to nitrogen temperatures. The effect of temperature on the spectral, radiation, and angular properties of the coherent bremsstrahlung and channeled radiation are investigated experimentally. It is shown that as the temperature decreases the radiation intensity associated with channeling rises and the intensity maximum shifts in the direction of high energies. The change in the properties of coherent bremsstrahlung as the temperature decreases is in good agreement with the corresponding coherent bremsstrahlung theory. These results are compared with numerical calculations and discussed.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 6, pp. 44–53, June, 1991.