Speech recognition in noise with active and passive hearing protectors: a comparative study

The perceived negative influence of standard hearing protectors on communication is a common argument for not wearing them. Thus, "augmented" protectors have been developed to improve speech intelligibility. Nevertheless, their actual benefit remains a point of concern. In this paper, speech perception with active earplugs is compared to standard passive custom-made earplugs. The two types of active protectors included amplify the incoming sound with a fixed level or to a user selected fraction of the maximum safe level. For the latter type, minimal and maximal amplification are selected. To compare speech intelligibility, 20 different speech-in-noise fragments are presented to 60 normal-hearing subjects and speech recognition is scored. The background noise is selected from realistic industrial noise samples with different intensity, frequency, and temporal characteristics. Statistical analyses suggest that the protectors' performance strongly depends on the noise condition. The active protectors with minimal amplification outclass the others for the most difficult and the easiest situations, but they also limit binaural listening. In other conditions, the passive protectors clearly surpass their active counterparts. Subsequently, test fragments are analyzed acoustically to clarify the results. This provides useful information for developing prototypes, but also indicates that tests with human subjects remain essential.     

Model-based sediment classification using single-beam echosounder signals

Acoustic remote sensing techniques for mapping sediment properties are of interest due to their low costs and high coverage. Model-based approaches directly couple the acoustic signals to sediment properties. Despite the limited coverage of the single-beam echosounder (SBES), it is widely used. Having available model-based SBES classification tools, therefore, is important. Here, two model-based approaches of different complexity are compared to investigate their practical applicability. The first approach is based on matching the echo envelope. It maximally exploits the information available in the signal but requires complex modeling and optimization. To minimize computational costs, the efficient differential evolution method is used. The second approach reduces the information of the signal to energy only and directly relates this to the reflection coefficient to obtain quantitative information about the sediment parameters. The first approach provides information over a variety of sediment types. In addition to sediment mean grain size, it also provides estimates for the spectral strength and volume scattering parameter. The need to account for all three parameters is demonstrated, justifying computational expenses. In the second approach, the lack of information on these parameters and the limited SBES beamwidth are demonstrated to hamper the conversion of echo energy to reflection coefficient.     

On the spectral and conservation properties of nonlinear discretization operators

Following the study of Pirozzoli [1], the objective of the present work is to provide a detailed theoretical analysis of the spectral properties and the conservation properties of nonlinear finite difference discretizations. First, a Nonlinear Spectral Analysis (NSA) is proposed in order to study the statistical behavior of the modified wavenumber of a nonlinear finite difference operator, for a large set of synthetic scalar fields with prescribed energy spectrum and random phase. Second, the necessary conditions for local and global conservation of momentum and kinetic energy are derived and verified for nonlinear discretizations. Because the nonlinear mechanisms result in a violation of the energy conservation conditions, the NSA is used to quantify the energy imbalance. Third, the effect of aliasing errors due to the nonlinearity is analyzed. Finally, the theoretical observations are verified for two simple, thought relevant, numerical simulations.     

Direct blast initiation of spherical gaseous detonations in highly argon diluted mixtures

In this study, direct initiation of spherical detonations in highly argon diluted mixtures is investigated. Direct initiation is achieved via a high voltage capacitor spark discharge and the critical energy is estimated from the analysis of the current output. Stoichiometric acetylene–oxygen mixtures highly diluted with 70% argon is used in the experiment. Previous investigations have suggested that detonations in mixtures that are highly diluted with argon have been shown to be “stable” in that the reaction zone is at least piecewise laminar described by the ZND model and cellular instabilities play a minor role on the detonation propagation. For the acetylene–oxygen mixture that is highly diluted with argon, the experimental results show that the critical energy where the detonation is “stable” is in good agreement with the Zel’dovich criterion of the cubic dependence on the ZND reaction length, which can be readily determined using the chemical kinetic data of the reaction. The experimental results are also compared with those estimated using Lee’s surface energy model where empirical data on detonation cell sizes are required. Good agreement is found between the experimental measurement and theoretical model prediction, where the breakdown of the 13λ relationship for critical tube diameter – and hence a different propagation and initiation mechanism – is elucidated in highly argon diluted mixtures and this appears to indicate that cellular instabilities do not have a prominent effect on the initiation process of a stable detonation.     

Construction of explicit and implicit dynamic finite difference schemes and application to the large-eddy simulation of the Taylor–Green vortex

A general class of explicit and implicit dynamic finite difference schemes for large-eddy simulation is constructed, by combining Taylor series expansions on two different grid resolutions. After calibration for Re→∞, the dynamic finite difference schemes allow to minimize the dispersion errors during the calculation through the real-time adaption of a dynamic coefficient. In case of DNS resolution, these dynamic schemes reduce to Taylor-based finite difference schemes with formal asymptotic order of accuracy, whereas for LES resolution, the schemes adapt to Dispersion-Relation Preserving schemes. Both the explicit and implicit dynamic finite difference schemes are tested for the large-eddy simulation of the Taylor–Green vortex flow and numerical errors are investigated as well as their interaction with the dynamic Smagorinsky model and the multiscale Smagorinsky model. Very good results are obtained.     

Synthesis and Reactions of New Dithiolopyrroles

The title compounds were prepared starting from pyrrolinone 4 . Nucleophilic‐displacement and ring‐closure reactions yielded the dithiolopyrrole 5a , which formed salts with electrophiles ( 7, 8 ) as well as with bases. The crystal structure of 5a was determined. Oxidation of the dithioles 5a and 6a led to S(2)‐oxides ( 10a, 11a ) and the corresponding S(2)‐dioxides ( 10b, 11b ) depending on reaction conditions. The thiosulfinate 10a was converted by a ring‐opening/ring‐closure reaction sequence to the bicyclic sulfinamide 12 . The oxidative addition reactions of [Pt(η²‐C₂H₄) (PPh₃)₂] ( 14 ) with the disulfides 5a and 13 led to the dithiolatoplatinum(II) complexes 15 and 16 , respectively. Complex 16 was characterized structurally. The sulfenato‐thiolato complex 17 was synthesized via reaction of 14 with the thiosulfinate 10a . The thiosulfonato Pt^II complex 18 was prepared by an oxidative insertion of Pt⁰ into the C? S bond of the corresponding thiosulfonate 10b . Furthermore, complex 18 was characterized by single‐crystal X‐ray‐diffraction studies.     

Synthesis,characterization and in vitro cytotoxicity of homobimetallic complexes of palladium(II) with 2‐thiouracil ligands. Crystal structure of [Pd2(TU)(PPh3)3Cl2]

Square planar metallic and homonuclear bimetallic complexes of Pd(II) with 2‐thiouracil (HTU) and organophosphines have been synthesized and characterized by FT‐IR and multinuclear ¹H, ¹³C, ³¹P NMR spectroscopy. The thiouracil ligand TU acts as bidentate, is bound through the thioxo moiety and the endo amino group and forms a bridge between a PdCl(R₃P) and a PdCl(R₃P)₂ moiety [R₃P = Ph₃P (o‐tolyl)₃P, ClPh₂P] in the homonuclear bimetallic complexes. The square planar geometry around Pd(II) has been confirmed for these complexes by a single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction study of compound 1 , [Pd₂(TU)(PPh₃)₃Cl₂]. These compounds were also screened against human tumor cell lines and showed promising in vitro cytotoxicity. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Laser spectroscopy of the B[17.7]8-X8 and C[19.3]9-X8 transitions of holmium monochloride

Several new transitions of holmium monochloride (HoCl) have been studied at high resolution using laser excitation spectroscopy. Two main transitions, B[17.7]8-X8 and C[19.3]9-X8 have been observed and five bands, 0-0, 0-1, 1-0, 1-1, and 2-1 of the B-X transition and three bands, 0-0, 0-1, and 0-3 of the C-X transition have been obtained at high resolution and rotationally analyzed. Among several low lying states observed in dispersed fluorescence was a strong transition from the C state to a state ∼2140 cm⁻¹ above the ground state. Excitation spectra of this transition have shown that there are apparently two states, ∼6 cm⁻¹ apart. Comparison with ligand field theory calculations are consistent with assigning these states to the excited low lying Ho⁺(4f¹¹6s)Cl⁻ configuration. Several other low lying electronic states have been observed in dispersed fluorescence spectra. Although their assignments could not be established, their energies suggest that they are from the Ho⁺(4f¹⁰6s²)Cl⁻ or Ho⁺(4f¹¹6s)Cl⁻ configurations. Rotational constants have been obtained for the B[17.7]8 and C[19.3]9 states and have been used to speculate on the possible electron configurations for these states.     

Inequivalence of Jordan and Einstein Frame: What Is the Low Energy Gravity in String Theory?

It is well-known that any scalar can be promoted to a Jordan-Brans-Dicke type scalar coupling to the Einstein-Hilbert term through a field dependent Weyl transformation of the metric. The Weyl rescaling also transforms mass terms into coupling constants between matter and the scalar. It is pointed out that there exists a distinguished metric where all scalars decouple from an arbitrary fiducial fermion, e.g. the nucleon. If bound states of this fermion are used to define distances and to probe the interior of the forward light cone, it seems reasonable to say that the metric in that particular frame defines the local geometry of space-time at low energies, as probed by experimental gravity and cosmology.