The effect of task on determination of maximum phonational frequency range

The purpose of this study was to investigate if there was an effect of task on determination of maximum phonational frequency range (MPFR). Two tasks commonly used to elicit MPFR in clinical voice evaluations were compared. Normal adult females (N = 30) were examined. No statistically significant effect of task was found. Both tasks (glissando and discrete-step) were found to have a high positive correlation (0.84). Implications of the use of one task for determination of maximum phonational frequency range are discussed, as is the possibility of a task effect on determination of other voice parameters.     

Vocal violence in actors: An investigation into its acoustic consequences and the effects of hygienic laryngeal release training

Acoustic analysis techniques were used to investigate the short-term consequences of vocally violent behavior, and to compare voice production before and after training in hygienic laryngeal release (HLR) techniques. Twenty-seven actors ranging in age from 17 to 48 years were audiorecorded before and after multiple productions of 4 vocally violent behaviors: grunting, groaning, sobbing, and shouting. After training in HLR techniques, the experimental protocol was repeated. Audiorecordings of vowels (produced at 3 pitch levels: modal F0, minimum F0, maximum F0) before and after vocal violence, and before and after HLR training, were analyzed using the Multidimensional Voice Program (4305, Kay Elemetrics Corp, Lincoln Park, NJ). After vocal violence, no consistent acoustic changes were detected for voice generated at modal and minimum F0; however, significant increases in both fundamental frequency range and maximum F0 were observed. After training in HLR techniques, acoustic measures sensitive to pitch and amplitude perturbation, and non-harmonic noise, improved across pitch levels. The results also indicated that vocal training does defend the laryngeal system from undesirable changes related to vocally violent maneuvers that might surface at the extremes of an actor's pitch range. Because the HLR technique used in this investigation was multimodal, interesting questions are raised regarding which aspect of training is primarily responsible for the observed effects. Further study is required to identify such factors.     

E.S.R. and ENDOR studies of X-irradiated 1-phenyl-3-thiosemicarbazide single crystals

By means of E.S.R. and ENDOR spectroscopy, a radical identified as C₅H₆NNHCSNH₂ has been studied in X-irradiated single crystals of 1-phenyl-3-thiosemicarbazide, C₆H₅NHNHCSNH₂. The unpaired electron interacts with one nitrogen and three hydrogen nuclei. The nitrogen interaction, studied with E.S.R., has the principal values A ₁=76·2±8 MHz; A ₂=10·0±8 MHz; A ₃=0·0±8 MHz, and is characteristic of a π-type radical with 50 per cent of the spin density localized in a nitrogen 2p orbital. The three hydrogen interactions, studied with ENDOR, have the principal values

These interactions are of the CH α-type and arise from hydrogen atoms on the phenyl ring. The remaining spin density is distributed on the phenyl ring with virtually the same amount in each of the three different carbon 2pπ orbitals.     

Information-theoretical complexity for the hydrogenic abstraction reaction

In this work, we have investigated the complexity of the hydrogenic abstraction reaction by means of information functionals such as disequilibrium (D), exponential entropy (L), Fisher information (I), power entropy (J) and joint information-theoretic measures, i.e. the I–D, D–L and I–J planes and the Fisher–Shannon and López–Mancini–Calbet (LMC) shape complexities. The analysis of the information-theoretical functionals of the one-particle density was computed in position (r) and momentum (p) space. The analysis revealed that all of the chemically significant regions can be identified from the information functionals and most of the information-theoretical planes, i.e. the reactant/product regions (R/P), the transition state (TS), including those that are not present in the energy profile such as the bond cleavage energy region (BCER), and the bond breaking/forming regions (B–B/F). The analysis of the complexities shows that, in position as well as in the joint space, the energy profile of the abstraction reaction bears the same information-theoretical features as the LMC and FS measures. We discuss why most of the chemical features of interest, namely the BCER and B–B/F, are lost in the energy profile and that they are only revealed when particular information-theoretical aspects of localizability (L or J), uniformity (D) and disorder (I) are considered.     

An application of interactive analysis and computer graphics in stochastic modeling

This paper will describe the application of an interactive queueing network analyzer and an interactive graphics system to the analysis of a multiple processor computer system. The application of these tools greatly increased the productivity of the modelers and resulted in insights which would have otherwise been difficult, if not impossible, to obtain. With this experience as background, we discuss how the increasing availability of computing resources, especially high resolution interactive computer graphics and sophisticated modeling packages, is likely to have a profound influence on the applied stochastic modeler.     

An absolute and relative rate study of the reaction of oh radicals with dimethyl sulfide

The gas phase reaction of OH radicals with dimethyl sulfide (CH₃SCH₃, DMS) has been studied using both an absolute and a relative technique at 295 ± 2 K and a total pressure of 1 atm. The absolute rate technique of pulse radiolysis combined with kinetic spectroscopy was applied. Using this technique a rate constant of (3.5 ± 0.2) × 10^?12 cm³ molecule^?1 s^?1 was obtained. For the relative rate method, rate constants for the reaction of OH with DMS were found to increase with increasing concentrations of added NO. These results are compared with the large body of kinetic and mechanistic data previously reported in the literature.     

Penetration of mercury-adsorbed phospholipid monolayers by polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons

The penetration of phospholipid monolayers (dioleoyl lecithin) adsorbed on mercury by polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) is described. The PAH studied were anthracene, phenanthrene, pyrene, benzo[a]anthracene, fluoranthene and perylene. The penetration is monitored by measuring the differential capacitance of the monolayer; the uptake of PAH causes a potential shift (up to ?0.25 V) in the cathodic capacitance peaks. This occurs without displacement of the lipid from the mercury. The differential capacitance is measured by out-of-phase (90°) a.c. voltammetry and rapid cyclic voltammetry. The PAH permeate the mercury-adsorbed lipid layers from dilute aqueous solution; the order of affinity is benzo[a]anthracene > fluoranthrene = pyrene > anthracene = phenanthrene. The rates of penetration vary for the different compounds and depend on their water solubility.     

Palladium-mediated transannular cyclizations of medium-ring olefinic enolsilanes

Medium-ring olefinic ketone and lactone enolsilanes were subjected to palladium(II)-mediated cycloalkenylation conditions. Diverse bicyclic ring products were obtained in moderate to good yields. The effect of olefin geometry and ring size is discussed.