Perceptual Identification and Acoustic Measures of the Resonant Voice Based on “Lessac''s Y-Buzz”—A Preliminary Study With Actors

This study aimed to verify whether the resonant voice based on Lessac's Y-Buzz can be perceived by listeners as resonant and different from habitual voice and to compare them to determine whether this sound exploration improves the vocal production. Nine newly graduated actors, six men and three women without voice complaints, were the subjects. They received a session of Lessac's Y-Buzz training from the primary investigator. Before training, they were asked to sustain the vowel /i/ at comfortable frequency and habitual loudness. After training, they were requested to sustain the Y-Buzz they had learned at a comfortable frequency and habitual loudness. Three speech-language pathologists (SLP) trained in voice developed an auditory-perceptive analysis. The pre- and posttraining voice samples were randomly spliced together, edited, and presented in pairs to perceptual judges who were asked to identify the most resonant of the pair. The voice samples were also acoustically compared through the Hoarseness Diagram and acoustic measures using the VoxMetria Software (CTS, version 2.0s, Brazil). The Y-Buzz trials were identified as resonant voice in 74% of the comparisons. The acoustic measures showed a statistically significant decrease of irregularity (P = 0.002) and shimmer (P = 0.38). The Hoarseness Diagram demonstrated how the resonant voice moved toward the normality for irregularity and noise components. The results showed that the resonant voice based on the Y-Buzz can be identified as resonant and different from normal voicing in the same subject, and it apparently implies a better vocal production demonstrating a significant decrease of shimmer and irregularity through the Hoarseness Diagram evaluation.     

Impact of droplets onto inclined surfaces

Drop impacts onto dry walls and liquid films at low impact angles and low normal Weber numbers are experimentally investigated. Measurements were performed using a high spatial resolution CCD camera and short exposure times, yielding both qualitative and quantitative information about the impact. Whereas a droplet generally deposits on the surface for high impact angles, a rebound can occur at lower angles and for smooth or wetted surfaces. No rebound is observed for rough surfaces. A low viscous liquid (water) will either rebound or deposit on smooth or wetted surfaces. A high viscous liquid (glycerin) may also disjoin into two droplets, depending on the impact angle. A correlation is presented for the size of the secondary droplet. A further correlation quantifies the critical impact angle at which rebounding first occurs in terms of the normal Weber number.     

Complementarity and diversity in a soluble model ecosystem

Complementarity among species with different traits is one of the basic processes affecting biodiversity, defined as the number of species in the ecosystem. We present here a soluble model of microbial-based ecosystems in which the species are characterized by binary traits and their pairwise interactions follow a complementarity principle. Manipulation of the species composition, and so the study of its effects on the species diversity, is achieved through the introduction of a bias parameter favoring one of the traits. Using statistical mechanics tools we find explicit expressions for the allowed values of the equilibrium species concentrations in terms of the control parameters of the model.     

On the calculation of wall temperatures in the post dryout heat transfer region

A non-equilibrium post dryout heat transfer model for calculating the wall temperature distribution in vertical upflows is presented in this study. The model is based upon the three path heat transfer formulation developed by MIT researchers (Laverty & Rohsenow 1964, Forslund & Rohsenow 1968, Hynek et al. 1969 and Plummer et al. 1974) that involves heat transfer from wall to vapor, from wall to droplets in contact with the wall and from vapor to liquid droplets in the vapor core. Downstream gradients for the bulk vapor temperature, vapor quality, droplet size and vapor velocities are identical to those used by Hynek et al. (1969) and Plummer et al. (1974). Conditions at the dryout location are calculated using a modified version of a technique developed by Hynek et al. (1969).A procedure for determining an average droplet diameter based on a size distribution is introduced. Migration of droplets through the boundary layer and droplet deposition flux are predicted with the model of Gani? & Rohsenow (1979). Heat transfer from the wall to the impinging liquid droplets is calculated with a correlation by Holman & McGinnis (1969). Mechanisms contributing to wall to droplet heat transfer are identified as (a) droplet-wall contact, (b) intensive droplet evaporation inside the boundary layer, and (c) destruction of the boundary layer due to droplet migration to, and rebound from, the hot surface. The significance of the average droplet size and size distribution is demonstrated through its control over the free stream evaporation and droplet deposition rates.Predicted uniform heat flux wall temperature profiles for water, nitrogen and freon 12 are in good agreement with the data of Era et al. (1966), Bennett et al. (1967), Forslund & Rohsenow (1968), Ling et al. (1971), Groeneveld (1972) and Janssen & Kervinen (1975).     

Kink-antikink interactions in the double sine-Gordon equation and the problem of resonance frequencies

We studied the kink-antikink collision process for the "double sine-Gordon" (DSG) equation in 1+1 dimensions at different values of the potential parameter R>0. For small values of R we discuss the problem of resonance frequencies. We give qualitative explanation of the frequency shift in comparison with the frequency of the discrete level in the potential well of isolated kink. We show that in this region of the parameter R the effective long-range interaction between kink and antikink takes place.     

A note on threshold theorems for epidemics with bunching

This note begins by reviewing the Kermack-McKendrick and Whittle Threshold Theorems for the general epidemic. It then extends these results to the case of the general epidemic with bunching where thexy homogeneous mixing term is replaced byxy/(x+y), 01.Research supported by Office of Naval Research Contract N00014-84-K-0568.     

Triple quadrupole linear ion trap mass spectrometer for the analysis of small molecules and macromolecules

Recently, linear ion traps (LITs) have been combined with quadrupole (Q), time-of-flight (TOF) and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) mass spectrometry (MS). LITs can be used either as ion accumulation devices or as commercially available, stand-alone mass spectrometers with MSn capabilities. The combination of triple quadrupole MS with LIT technology in the form of an instrument of configuration QqLIT, using axial ejection, is particularly interesting, because this instrument retains the classical triple quadrupole scan functions such as selected reaction monitoring (SRM), product ion (PI), neutral loss (NL) and precursor ion (PC) while also providing access to sensitive ion trap experiments. For small molecules, quantitative and qualitative analysis can be performed using the same instrument. In addition, for peptide analysis, the enhanced multiply charged (EMC) scan allows an increase in selectivity, while the time-delayed fragmentation (TDF) scan provides additional structural information. Various methods of operating the hybrid instrument are described for the case of the commercial Q TRAP (AB/MDS Sciex) and applications to drug metabolism analysis, quantitative confirmatory analysis, peptides analysis and automated nanoelectrospray (ESI-chip-MS) analysis are discussed.     

On almost periodic processes in impulsive fractional-order competitive systems

In this paper an impulsive model for the dynamics of competitive Lotka–Volterra systems using the Caputo fractional-order derivative is developed. The existence and uniqueness of almost periodic solutions are investigated. Applying the fractional Lyapunov method, we give sufficient conditions for global perfect uniform-asymptotic stability of the almost periodic solution and sufficient conditions to save these qualities at the uncertain case. Since the competitive relationship in ecosystem models is relevant in various contexts, including many population, neural nets or chemical kinetics problems, our results can be applied in the investigation of almost periodic processes in a wide range of competitive systems of diverse interest.     

Simultaneous analysis of gamma-hydroxybutyric acid and its precursors in urine using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

We have developed a rapid method that enables the simultaneous analysis of gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) and its precursors, i.e. gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) and 1,4-butanediol (1,4-BD) in urine. The method comprised a simple dilution of the urine sample, followed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analysis. Chromatographic separation was achieved using an Atlantis dC18 column, eluted with a mixture of formic acid and methanol. The method was linear from 1-80 mg/L for GHB and 1,4-BD and from 1-50 mg/L for GBL. The limit of quantification was 1 mg/L for all analytes. The procedure, which has a total analysis time (including sample preparation) of less than 12 min, was fully validated and applied to the analysis of 182 authentic urine samples; the results were correlated with a previously published GC-MS procedure and revealed a low prevalence of GHB-positive samples. Since no commercial immunoassay is available for the routine screening of GHB, this simple and rapid method should prove useful to meet the current increased demand for the measurement of GHB and its precursors.