Large scale data acquisition of simultaneous MRI and speech

We describe an arrangement for simultaneous recording of speech and vocal tract geometry in patients undergoing surgery involving this area. Experimental design is considered from an articulatory phonetic point of view. The speech signals are recorded with an acoustic-electrical arrangement. The vocal tract is simultaneously imaged with MRI. A MATLAB-based system controls the timing of speech recording and MR image acquisition. The speech signals are cleaned from acoustic MRI noise by an adaptive signal processing algorithm. Finally, a vowel data set from pilot experiments is qualitatively compared both with validation data from the anechoic chamber and with Helmholtz resonances of the vocal tract volume, obtained using FEM.     

Variable step-size subband backward BSS algorithms for speech quality enhancement

This paper addresses the problem of the speech quality improvement using adaptive filtering algorithms. Recently in Djendi and Bendoumia (2014) [1], we have proposed a new two-channel backward algorithm for noise reduction and speech intelligibility enhancement. The main drawback of proposed two-channel subband algorithm is its poor performance when the number of subband is high. This inconvenience is well seen in the steady state regime values. The source of this problem is the fixed step-sizes of the cross-adaptive filtering algorithms that distort the speech signal when they are selected high and degrade the convergence speed behaviours when they are selected small. In this paper, we propose four modifications of this algorithm which allow improving both the convergence speed and the steady state values even in very noisy condition and a high number of subbands. To confirm the good performance of the four proposed variable-step-size SBBSS algorithms, we have carried out several simulations in various noisy environments. In these simulations, we have evaluated objective and subjective criteria as the system mismatch, the cepstral distance, the output signal-to-noise-ratio, and the mean opinion score (MOS) method to compare the four proposed variables step-size versions of the SBBSS algorithm with their original versions and with the two-channel fullband backward (2CFB) least mean square algorithm.     

Enhancement of peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence intensity by surfactants and its application to detect detergent

Enhancement of peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence (PO-CL) intensity by a surfactant in the H₂O₂/bis(2,4,6-trichlorophenyl)oxalate (TCPO)/rhodamine B system was described. The effects of 15 surfactants were evaluated by comparing the ratio of a relative CL intensity (RCI) with surfactant to that of the blank in each system. In preliminary study, H₂O₂/imidazole-HNO₃ buffer/TCPO/rhodamine B system was used to study the effects of surfactants on PO-CL intensity. Fourteen surfactants reduced the CL intensity at the 2% concentration, where their relative CL intensities ranged from 0.6 to 93.5%. Some of these phenomena may be caused by a notable change of pH that was occurred by adding the surfactant.Additionally, enhancement of PO-CL intensity was studied by using system (1) H₂O₂/TCPO/rhodamine B and (2) H₂O₂/imidazole-HNO₃ buffer/TCPO/systems. In the system 1, the favorable enhancement of CL intensity (ranged from 124 to 472%) was observed with 9 surfactants at the 0.5% concentration. This result suggested that several surfactants might play a role as a catalyst in the PO-CL reaction. There was no tendency to enhance CL intensity among the surfactant types. In the system 2, the enhancement of CL intensity was also observed by adding with 11 surfactants, which might be mainly caused by the fluorescent impurities of surfactants used.Furthermore, detection of detergent commercially available was applied by using the system 1.     

Er~(3+),Yb~(3+)共掺杂Y_2O_3纳米晶体粉末中1.5μm近红外发光增强现象的研究

用燃烧法制备了平均粒径为10和40nm的(Y0.96Er0.02Yb0.02)O3纳米晶体样品,并通过1200℃高温退火获得了同样组分的体材料样品。利用X射线衍射谱(XRD),傅里叶变换红外吸收光谱(FTIR),透射电镜(TEM)和透射电镜(SEM)照片对样品的晶体结构和形貌进行了表征。测量了不同样品980nm激发下的上转换发射光谱和近红外发射光谱。对实验结果的分析发现,随着粒径的减小,样品发射光谱中红光和近红外发射的成分增加。产生这一现象的原因是由于纳米材料具有比表面积大的特点,能够吸附更多的OH-(振动能量3200～3800cm-1),OH-数量的增加使电子从Er3+的4I11/2→4I13/2能级(能量差3600cm-1)的无辐射弛豫速率增大,这一无辐射弛豫过程减少了4I11/2上的电子布居数,使绿光发射减弱;同时增加了4I13/2上的电子布居数,使红光和近红外发射增强。40nm样品的1.5μm发射主峰强度是体材料的1.6倍,这一结果对纳米发光材料的实际应用是很有意义的。     

环丙沙星荧光光度法测定微量铝(Ⅲ)

在HAc-NaAc缓冲介质中,铝(Ⅲ)对环丙沙星有荧光增强作用,据此建立了测定微量铝的荧光分析法。选择最大激发与发射波长分别为273nm和439nm,在pH=4.00的HAc-NaAc缓冲溶液介质中,环丙沙星的荧光强度变化与铝(Ⅲ)浓度呈良好的线性关系,线性范围为1.05×10-4—7.35×10-2mol/L,方法的检出限为5.6×10-6mol/L,校准曲线回归方程式为F/F0=0.272lgC+2.764。本方法用于实际样品中铝(Ⅲ)的测定,结果满意。     

Verbal communication and noise in eating establishments

A new simple prediction model has been derived for the average A-weighted noise level due to many people speaking in a room with assumed diffuse sound field. Due to the feed-back influence of noise on the speech level (the Lombard effect), the speech level increases in noisy environments, and the suggested prediction model gives a 6 dB reduction of the noise level by doubling the equivalent absorption area of the room. This is in contrast to the lowering by 3 dB by doubling of the absorption area for a constant power sound source. The prediction model is verified by experimental data found in the literature. In order to achieve acceptable conditions for speech communication within a small group of people, a guide for the recommended minimum absorption area per person in eating establishments is provided.     

Enhanced backscattering of polarized light: Effect of particle nonsphericity on the helicity-preserving enhancement factor

We analyze theoretically the effect of particle nonsphericity on the backscattering enhancement factor ζ_hp in the helicity-preserving channel. Using numerically exact T-matrix and vector radiative-transfer codes, we have performed computations for optically semi-infinite homogeneous layers composed of polydisperse, randomly oriented oblate spheroids with the real part of the refractive index equal to 1.2, 1.4, and 1.6, the imaginary part of the refractive index equal to 0 and 0.01, various values of the equal-surface-area-sphere effective size parameter, and aspect ratios 12. Our computations demonstrate that whereas for spheres ζ_hp≡2, for spheroids the helicity-preserving enhancement factor can deviate quite significantly from the value 2. The magnitude of this deviation varies substantially with particle microphysical parameters and illumination geometry.     

Time varying forgetting factor for the noise estimation in multi-channel noise reduction

We introduce a time varying forgetting factor for the noise estimation in multi-channel noise reduction. In conventional multi-channel noise reduction system, the noise statistics are estimated during noise-only periods and kept fixed during speech-present periods. For deciding whether the current frame is speech-present period or not, a voice activity detector (VAD) is usually used. Instead of this conventional scheme that needs an explicit VAD, we adopt a time varying forgetting factor which is parameterized from the normalized cross correlation (NCC). The simulation results show that multi-channel noise reduction using the proposed method yields better performance in several typical objective measures.     

Temperature Sensitivity Control and Mechanical Stress Effect of Boron-Doped Long-Period Fiber Gratings

We will present in this work the quantitative analysis of the relationship between the doping concentrations of GeO 2 and B 2 O 3 in the core and cladding regions and the temperature sensitivity of the resonance wavelength shift in long-period fiber gratings (LPFGs). Based on this analysis, the temperature sensitivity was suppressed and enhanced to 0.002 nm/°C and 0.28 nm/°C, respectively. We will also discuss the effect of the residual mechanical stress on the optical and mechanical properties of LPFGs. In particular, we will present the measurement results of the dependence of the refractive index change and mechanical strength on the residual mechanical stress in the boron-doped fibers with depressed clad and matched clad.