Voice Training and Changing Weight—Are They Reflected in Speaking Fundamental Frequency, Voice Range, and Pitch Breaks of 13-Year-Old Girls? A Longitudinal Study

Objective

Assessment of the voice-change progress of 20 girls (12–13 years) over 1 year by observing changes in speaking fundamental frequency (SFo), voice range, and register pitch breaks in the context of weight, height, voice training, and self-perception.

Study Design

One-year longitudinal collective case study.

Method

Twenty girls were recorded at the beginning and end of a year; nine girls were recorded another three times. SFo, vocal range, and characteristics were analyzed and interactions between these data assessed against weight and height to indicate pubertal development, and to test the hypothesis that changes in weight, height, SFo, and pitch breaks were related. Effects of training and the girls' self-perception of their voice use were also assessed.

Results

Vocal characteristics changed as the girls passed through different weight ranges. During 47.5–52.4 kg (called band 2) and 52.4–57.5 kg (band 3), there was progressive contraction of vocal range and in some girls a slight rise in SFo between recording times 1 and 5. Both high- and low-pitch breaks were present in 45% of girls' voices. Girls in band 4 (<57.5 kg) had an increased vocal range, and pitch breaks in vocal-range areas that indicated the development of adult vocal registers. In this study, voice-trained girls were heavier, had higher SFo, used wider speech-range inflection, had a higher vocal range, and greater voice-use confidence; all girls lost confidence in their voice use over the year.

Conclusions

In this longitudinal study of twenty 13-year-old girls, voice changes in SFo, vocal range, and pitch-break frequency were synchronous with certain weight ranges. Girls with training registered higher maximum phonational frequency and were more confident in their voice use than girls without training.     

Solid-State 13C-NMR spectral evidence for charge transfer complex formation in aromatic diimides and dianhydrides

Solution and solid-state proton decoupled ¹³C-NMR spectra were determined on two diimides derived from 4, 4′-oxydiphthalic anhydride. Comparison of the individual diimide spectra to that of a mixture of the two diimides indicates that ordering of these materials occurs in the solid state via charge transfer complex formation. A similar study was conducted using two isomeric dianhydrides, 4, 4′-isophthaloyldiphthalic anhydride (IDPA) and 4, 4′-terephthaloyldiphthalic anhydride (TDPA). The solution spectra of these compounds are similar and are those which would be expected for these compounds. However, their solid state spectra differ from each other. The solid-state spectrum of TDPA resembles its solution spectrum, whereas, that of IDPA differs greatly from its solution spectrum and indicates charge transfer complex formation occurs with this molecule. This difference is explained in terms of the stereochemistry of the two isomeric dianhydrides.     

Kaon interferometry in heavy-ion collisions at the CERN SPS

K⁺K⁺ and K^–K^– correlations from S+Pb collisions at 200 GeV/c per nucleon and K⁺K⁺ correlations from p+Pb collisions at 450 GeV/c per nucleon, are presented as measured by the focusing spectrometer of the NA44 experiment at CERN. Multidimensional fits are performed in order to characterize the kaon-emission volume, which is found to be smaller than the pion-emission volume.     

Critical behavior in the relaminarization of localized turbulence in pipe flow

The statistics of the relaminarization of localized turbulence in a pipe are examined by direct numerical simulation. As in recent experimental data [J. Peixinho and T. Mullin, Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 094501 (2006)10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.094501], the half-life for the decaying turbulence is consistent with the scaling (Rec-Re) -1, indicating a boundary crisis of the localized turbulent state familiar in low-dimensional dynamical systems. The crisis Reynolds number is estimated as Rec=1870, a value within 7% of the experimental value 1750. We argue that the frequently asked question, of which initial disturbances at a given Re trigger sustained turbulence in a pipe, is really two separate questions: the "local phase space" question (local to the laminar state) of what threshold disturbance at a given Re is needed to initially trigger turbulence, followed by the "global phase space" question of whether Re exceeds Rec at which point the turbulent state becomes an attractor.     

A new representation for the dynamic green's tensor of an elastic half-space or layered medium

A method for inverting the transforms of the terms in generalized ray series representations for disturbances in layered media is presented. It differs from the Cagniard reduction in that the solution of algebraic equations depending upon position x and time t is not required. This step is, in effect, replaced by contour integration of relatively simple functions. The method is applicable to anisotropic layers but it simplifies when applied to isotropic layers, for which any term in the ray series is represented as a single contour integral, around a fixed contour, of the product of a function that embodies material properties and a simple explicit function of x and t. The ‘material function’ can be tabulated and used repeatedly when the integral is evaluated for a range of values of x and t, so that the procedure is computationally quite efficient. It is illustrated by a computation of Green's function for an isotropic half-space, either free or overlaid by a fluid. Wave-front singularities are obtained explicitly from the representation and are given in an appendix.     

Protecting group free syntheses of (±)-columbianetin and (±)-angelmarin

A five-step and protecting group free synthesis of (±)-columbianetin from cyclohexane-1,3-dione is reported. The former compound was converted into its p-hydroxycinnamate derivative, (±)-angelmarin, using Coster’s esterification procedure. Efforts to modify the synthesis so as to prepare angelmarin and columbianetin in an enantioselective manner are described.     

The total synthesis of the crinine alkaloid hamayne via a Pd[0]-catalyzed intramolecular alder-ene reaction

The racemic form of the title alkaloid, 1, has been prepared in 13 steps from the ring-fused gem-dibromocyclopropane 7. Key transformations include the thermally induced electrocyclic ring-opening of compound 7, the Pd[0]-catalyzed intramolecular Alder-ene (IMAE) reaction of the derived sulfonamide (±)-12, and the conversion of the ensuing C-3a-arylhexahydroindole (±)-16 into (±)-hamayne via a Pictet-Spengler reaction.