Vocal Projection in Actors: The Long-Term Average Spectral Features That Distinguish Comfortable Acting Voice From Voicing With Maximal Projection in Male Actors

This study explored whether acoustic and perceptual features could distinguish comfortable from maximally projected acting voice. Thirteen professional male actors performed a passage from William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar twice. The first delivery used their comfortably projected voices, whereas the second used maximal projection. Acoustic measures, expert ratings, and self-ratings of projection and voice quality were investigated. Long-term average spectra (LTAS) and sound pressure level (SPL) analyses were conducted. Perceptual variables included projection, breathiness, roughness, and strain. When comparing the intensity difference between the higher (2-4 kHz) and lower (0-2 kHz) regions of the spectrum in voice samples from the maximal projected condition, LTAS analyses demonstrated increased acoustic energy in the higher part of the spectrum. This LTAS pattern was not as evident in the comfortable projected condition. These findings offered some preliminary support for the existence of an actor's formant (prominent peak in the upper part of the spectrum) during maximal projection.     

Observation of the nonlinear meissner effect in YBCO thin films: evidence for a D-wave order parameter in the bulk of the cuprate superconductors

We present experimental evidence for the observation of the nonlinear Meissner effect in high-quality epitaxial yttrium barium copper oxide thin films by measuring their intermodulation distortion at microwave frequencies versus temperature. Most of the films measured show a characteristic increase in nonlinearity at low temperatures as predicted by the nonlinear Meissner effect. We could measure the nonlinear Meissner effect because intermodulation distortion measurements are an extremely sensitive method that can detect changes in the penetration depth of the order of 1 part in 10(5).     

High-accuracy measurement of atomic polarizability in an optical lattice clock

Presently, the Stark effect contributes the largest source of uncertainty in a ytterbium optical atomic clock through blackbody radiation. By employing an ultracold, trapped atomic ensemble and high stability optical clock, we characterize the quadratic Stark effect with unprecedented precision. We report the ytterbium optical clock's sensitivity to electric fields (such as blackbody radiation) as the differential static polarizability of the ground and excited clock levels α(clock) = 36.2612(7) kHz?(kV/cm)(-2). The clock's uncertainty due to room temperature blackbody radiation is reduced by an order of magnitude to 3×10(-17).     

The Acoustic Characteristics of Professional Opera Singers Performing in Chorus Versus Solo Mode

In this study, members of a professional opera chorus were recorded using close microphones, while singing in both choral and solo modes. The analysis included computation of long-term average spectra (LTAS) for the two song sections performed and calculation of singing power ratio (SPR) and energy ratio (ER), which provide an indication of the relative energy in the singer's formant region. Vibrato rate and extent were determined from two matched vowels, and SPR and ER were calculated for these vowels. Subjects sung with equal or more power in the singer's formant region in choral versus solo mode in the context of the piece as a whole and in individual vowels. There was no difference in vibrato rate and extent between the two modes. Singing in choral mode, therefore, required the ability to use a similar vocal timbre to that required for solo opera singing.     

Compensation of field-induced frequency shifts in Ramsey spectroscopy of optical clock transitions

We have extended Ramsey spectroscopy by stepping the probe frequency during the two Ramsey excitation pulses to compensate frequency shifts induced by the excitation itself. This makes precision Ramsey spectroscopy applicable even for transitions that have Stark and Zeeman shifts comparable to the spectroscopic resolution. The method enables a new way to evaluate and compensate key frequency shifts, which benefits in particular, optical clocks based on magnetic field-induced, spectroscopy, two-photon transitions, or heavily forbidden transitions.     

Thermodynamics and point defects in the B2 intermetallic phase PdIn

The X-ray and bulk densities of PdIn alloys have been determined at ambient temperature on samples annealed at 1273 and 1373 K and quenched in water-ice mixtures. From these measurements the vacancy concentrations in this intermetallic phase have been obtained as a function of In concentration at these two temperatures. In addition, a generalized thermodynamic model is presented which considers the existence of antisite and vacancy defects on both sublattices without any dilute solution approximations. This model uses three energy parameters, whose values have been obtained for PdIn using the measured vacancy concentrations and the chemical potentials of In. This model is able to describe all the available vacancy data and is suitable for calculating these values at compositions and temperatures when such data are not available. In addition, the model permits the calculation of the concentrations of the minority point defects. It is shown that dilute-solution approximations, which have invariably been used in this kind of modelling, are unsatisfactory. The present results and their analysis confirm that PdIn is a near-triple-defect type of intermetallic and not a near-Schottky type, as has been claimed recently.     

A colorimetric reaction to quantify fluid mixing

We found the colorimetric reaction of Tiron (1,2-dihydroxybenzene-3,5-disulfonic acid) and molybdate suitable for optical quantification of chemical reaction during fluid–fluid mixing in laboratory chambers. This reaction consists of two colorless reagents that mix to rapidly form colored, stable, soluble products. These products can be digitally imaged and quantified using light absorbance to study fluid–fluid mixing. Here we provide a model and equilibrium constants for the relevant complexation reactions. We also provide methods for relating light absorbance to product concentrations. Practical implementation issues of this reaction are discussed and an example of imaged absorbances for fluid–fluid mixing in heterogeneous porous media is given.     

Development of an Auditory-Perceptual Rating Instrument for the Operatic Singing Voice

Although considerable progress has been made in the development of acoustic and physiological measures of operatic singing voice, there is still no widely accepted objective tool for the evaluation of its multidimensional features. Auditory-perceptual evaluation, therefore, remains an important evaluation method for singing pedagogues, voice scientists, and clinicians who work with opera singers. Few investigators, however, have attempted to develop standard auditory-perceptual tools for evaluation of the operatic voice. This study aimed to pilot test a new auditory-perceptual rating instrument for operatic singing voice. Nine expert teachers of operatic singing used the instrument to rate the singing voices of 21 professional opera chorus artists from a national opera company. The findings showed that the instrument has good face validity, that it can be legitimately treated as a psychometrically sound scale, and that raters can use the scale consistently, both between and within judges. This new instrument, therefore, has the potential to allow opera singers, their teachers, voice care clinicians, and researchers to evaluate the important auditory-perceptual features of operatic voice quality.