A study of the effectiveness of voice therapy in the treatment of 45 patients with nonorganic dysphonia

Forty-five patients diagnosed as having nonorganic dysphonia were assigned in rotation to 1 of 3 groups. Patients in group 1 received no treatment and acted as a control group. Patients in groups 2 and 3 received a program of indirect therapy and direct with indirect therapy, respectively. A range of qualitative and quantitative measures were carried out on all patients before and after treatment to evaluate change in voice quality over time. Results revealed a significant difference between the 3 treatment groups in the amount of change for the voice severity, electrolaryngograph, and shimmer measurements and on ratings provided by a patient questionnaire (P<0.05). However, other measures failed to show significant differences between the 3 groups. Most of the patients (86%) in group 1 showed no significant change on any of the measures. Some patients in treatment group 2 (46%) showed significant change in voice quality. Fourteen out of 15 patients (93%) in treatment group showed significant changes in voice quality.     

A comprehensive study of domain-specific emoji meanings in sentiment classification

Computational Management Science - The inclusion of emojis when solving natural language processing problems (e.g., text‐based emotion detection, sentiment classification, topic analysis)...     

Cross-language differences in fundamental frequency range: a comparison of English and German

This paper presents a systematic comparison of various measures of f0 range in female speakers of English and German. F0 range was analyzed along two dimensions, level (i.e., overall f0 height) and span (extent of f0 modulation within a given speech sample). These were examined using two types of measures, one based on "long-term distributional" (LTD) methods, and the other based on specific landmarks in speech that are linguistic in nature ("linguistic" measures). The various methods were used to identify whether and on what basis or bases speakers of these two languages differ in f0 range. Findings yielded significant cross-language differences in both dimensions of f0 range, but effect sizes were found to be larger for span than for level, and for linguistic than for LTD measures. The linguistic measures also uncovered some differences between the two languages in how f0 range varies through an intonation contour. This helps shed light on the relation between intonational structure and f0 range.     

Chemical control of spin propagation between heterometallic rings

We present a synthetic, structural, theoretical, and spectroscopic study of a family of heterometallic ring dimers which have the formula [{Cr(7)NiF(3)(Etglu)(O(2)CtBu)(15)}(2)(NLN)], in which Etglu is the pentadeprotonated form of the sugar N-ethyl-D-glucamine, and NLN is an aromatic bridging diimine ligand. By varying NLN we are able to adjust the strength of the interaction between rings with the aim of understanding how to tune our system to achieve weak magnetic communication between the spins, a prerequisite for quantum entanglement. Micro-SQUID and EPR data reveal that the magnetic coupling between rings is partly related to the through-bond distance between the spin centers, but also depends on spin-polarization mechanisms and torsion angles between aromatic rings. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations allow us to make predictions of how such chemically variable parameters could be used to tune very precisely the interaction in such systems. For possible applications in quantum information processing and molecular spintronics, such precise control is essential.     

Spectral Response of a Stochastic Oscillator under Impacts

An approximate analytical procedure is presented to estimate theresponse spectrum of an oscillator with elastic impacts under a Gaussian whitenoise excitation. The proposed approach is based on a perturbation analysis ofthe problem and on the use of the stochastic averaging principle. The basicidea is to replace the initial system by a more regular system obtained byapproximating the nonlinear restoring force by a Chebychev polynomial, and thento construct for this regular system two approximations: one for the flowand one for the stationary distribution of the response amplitude. Ananalytical approximation of the response spectrum can then be derived fromthese results. Predictions from this analytical approximation are compared with corresponding digital simulation estimates and with the ones obtained from theconventional equivalent linearization method.     

Finite-depth and intrinsic losses in vertically etched two-dimensional photonic crystals

We address the issue of out-of-plane losses in two-dimensional (2D) photonic crystals (PC) etched through a GaAs monomode waveguide clad with standard GaAlAs alloys. We correlate experimental transmission of PCs with two kinds of loss simulation results. The first kind is 2D and introduces an ad hoc imaginary index in the air holes to account for the losses [see (Benisty et al. Appl. Phys. Lett. 76, 532, 2000)]. The second kind is a novel exact three-dimensional calculation inspired by grating-Fourier analysis that provides quantitatively unprecedented agreement with experimental measurements taking into account hole depth as a limiting parameter. We conclude that, in revision to the conclusions of the above reference, the experimental losses are not the intrinsic ones, being larger by a factor of 5 to 10 due to insufficient hole depth. The transition occurs at a critical etch depth shown to be here around 700 nm. We thus predict, for holes deeper than 700 nm, much improved crystals with very low transmission losses and microresonators with ultra-high quality factors.     

Determination of ultra trace amounts of cobalt in fish by graphite furnace Zeeman effect atomic absorption spectrometry

A method is described for determining stable cobalt concentrations in fish flesh and bone using polarized Zeeman effect graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (ZAAS). Cobalt analysis on freshwater fish flesh samples (10 g dry weight) required predigestion and wet-ashing at 70-80 degrees C. Cobalt is chelated with ammonium pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (APDC) extracted with methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) and analysed by ZAAS. The mean cobalt content calculated from the standard additions method using three replicate fish flesh samples was 4.23 +/- 1.0 microgram Co. Kg-1 (dry weight). Analyses were also carried out on flesh and bone samples from similar sized fish, of the same species, taken from three area lakes.