Spectral and temporal changes to speech produced in the presence of energetic and informational maskers

Talkers change the way they speak in noisy conditions. For energetic maskers, speech production changes are relatively well-understood, but less is known about how informational maskers such as competing speech affect speech production. The current study examines the effect of energetic and informational maskers on speech production by talkers speaking alone or in pairs. Talkers produced speech in quiet and in backgrounds of speech-shaped noise, speech-modulated noise, and competing speech. Relative to quiet, speech output level and fundamental frequency increased and spectral tilt flattened in proportion to the energetic masking capacity of the background. In response to modulated backgrounds, talkers were able to reduce substantially the degree of temporal overlap with the noise, with greater reduction for the competing speech background. Reduction in foreground-background overlap can be expected to lead to a release from both energetic and informational masking for listeners. Passive changes in speech rate, mean pause length or pause distribution cannot explain the overlap reduction, which appears instead to result from a purposeful process of listening while speaking. Talkers appear to monitor the background and exploit upcoming pauses, a strategy which is particularly effective for backgrounds containing intelligible speech.     

Influence of Foam Apparent Viscosity and Viscoelasticity of Liquid Films on Foam Stability

The objective of this research work was to study the relationship among the apparent viscosity of bulk foam, the viscoelasticity of liquid films, and foam stability. Bulk foam tests showed that the drainage half-life of AOS foam was higher than that of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and hexadecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) foams. The results of foam apparent viscosity revealed that the foam apparent viscosity was related to foam quality rather than foam stability. Higher film viscoelasticity modulus could be assigned for α -olefin sulfonate (AOS) films than those for SDS and CTAB ones. The film conductivity tests indicated that AOS liquid films, compared with SDS and CTAB liquid films, could delay the liquid drainage speed under dynamic conditions. Compared with foam apparent viscosity, the viscoelasticity of liquid films appeared to be a key factor in foam stability.     

超塑胀形CCD光电检测技术

本文介绍了用 CCD 光电检测系统,测量超塑胀形高度随时间变化的规律 H(t).该系统具有测试精度高、稳定性好,和实时采集处理数据等优点.实测了 Ti-6Al-4V 圆形薄板等应变速率的 H(t)曲线.解决了反映超塑胀形过程的关键问题.     

Determination of phenol in landfill leachate by using microchip capillary electrophoresis with end-channel amperometric detection

Phenol, 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP), and 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (2,4,6-TCP) were baseline separated by using a homemade microchip CE with an end-channel amperometric detector where a 50 microm Pt microdisk working electrode (WE) and a Pt cathode were integrated onto the microchip itself. Separation parameters such as injection time and voltage, pH of the buffer, online pretreatment condition for WE, reproducibility, and detection potential were investigated. Under the selected separation conditions, the linear ranges for phenol, 2,4-DCP, and 2,4,6-TCP were 2-200, 4-400, and 4-400 microM, respectively. The LODs were 0.4, 0.5, and 0.7 microM for phenol, 2,4-DCP, and 2,4,6-TCP, respectively (S/N = 3). The standard addition method was successfully applied to the analysis of landfill leachate samples and the concentration of phenol in the landfill leachate samples was measured to be 0.32 and 0.21 mM, respectively. The recoveries were in the range of 85-103% and corresponding RSDs were less than 5.5%.     

Stability of Polymer and Surfactant Mixture Enhanced Foams in the Presence of Oil Under Static and Dynamic Conditions

Three different types of foaming agents including hydrocarbon surfactant TQ01, partial fluorinated surfactant BF01, and per-fluorinated surfactant QF01 exhibited good foaming ability and foam stability under 95°C high temperature and 32,325 ppm salinity conditions. The oil-tolerance ability order with respect to Malaysia Off-shore (MOS) crude oil for surfactant TQ01, BF01, and QF01 is TQ01 < BF01 < QF01. Introduction of polymer into the foam formula could significantly increase foam stability. Different polymers show different abilities of increasing foam stability. Spreading coefficient and entering coefficient are close to zero for surfactant BF01 foaming system and much less than zero for surfactant QF01 foaming system, so the oil-resistance ability of foam generated by surfactant QF01 is the strongest. For surfactant TQ01 foaming system, the calculated spreading coefficient and entering coefficient are greater than zero; therefore, the TQ01 foam system is more sensitive to MOS crude oil and its oil-resistance ability is the poorest. Core flooding test indicated that using the 0.4% BF01 and 0.2% YH1096 combined foaming formula could increase the pressure drop across the porous media significantly, indicating that strong foam was generated in the presence of MOS crude oil.     

模规MG－1的光束质量检测实验

在高斯光束传输方程的基础上，介绍了模规ＭＧ－１的组成和工作原理，给出了单模稳频Ｈｅ－Ｎｅ激光和Ａｒ￣＋激光光束质量的实验测试结果。     

HT—6M托卡马克欧姆加热下氧杂质的输运模拟

本文利用HT-6M托卡马克上现有的实验数据,对氧杂质进行了输运模拟,给出了HT-6M托卡马克在欧姆加热下氧杂质的输运特性,空间分布和辐射能量。     

Elasticity of cardiac cells on the polymer substrates with different stiffness: an atomic force microscopy study

Influences of substrate stiffness on mechanical properties of cardiac myocytes and fibroblasts were investigated by cell elasticity measurement with atomic force microscopy. The cells were cultured on collagen-coated polyacrylamide substrates with gradient rigidity. While cardiac myocytes showed no evident change in cell elasticity on different substrates, cardiac fibroblasts displayed the non-monotonic dependence on substrate stiffness with a maximum elastic modulus. Moreover, the elasticity change of cardiac fibroblasts with substrates stiffness was found to be regulated by actin filaments. Study of the effect of substrate stiffness on cell elasticity for different cardiac cells provides new information for the better understanding of cardiac physiology and pathology.     

Surface characteristics of a self-polymerized dopamine coating deposited on hydrophobic polymer films

This study aims to explore the fundamental surface characteristics of polydopamine (pDA)-coated hydrophobic polymer films. A poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) film was surface modified by dip coating in an aqueous solution of dopamine on the basis of its self-polymerization and strong adhesion feature. The self-polymerization and deposition rates of dopamine on film surfaces increased with increasing temperature as evaluated by both spectroscopic ellipsometry and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM). Changes in the surface morphologies of pDA-coated films as well as the size and shape of pDA particles in the solution were also investigated by SEM, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The surface roughness and surface free energy of pDA-modified films were mainly affected by the reaction temperature and showed only a slight dependence on the reaction time and concentration of the dopamine solution. Additionally, three other typical hydrophobic polymer films of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), and polyimide (PI) were also modified by the same procedure. The lyophilicity (liquid affinity) and surface free energy of these polymer films were enhanced significantly after being coated with pDA, as were those of PVDF films. It is indicated that the deposition behavior of pDA is not strongly dependent on the nature of the substrates. This information provides us with not only a better understanding of biologically inspired surface chemistry for pDA coatings but also effective strategies for exploiting the properties of dopamine to create novel functional polymer materials.     

Tunable Viscoelastic Properties of Sodium Polyacrylate Solution via CO2-Responsive Switchable Water

Upon stimulus by CO₂, CO₂-switchable viscoelastic fluids experience a deliberate transition between non-viscous and highly viscous solution states. Despite attracting considerable recent attention, most such fluids have not been applied at a large- scale due to their high costs and/or complex synthesis processes. Here, we report the development of CO₂-switchable viscoelastic fluids using commercially available sodium polyacrylate (NaPAA) and N,N-dimethyl ethanol amine (DMEA)-based switchable water. Upon bubbling CO₂, into the solutions under study, DMEA molecules are protonated to generate quaternary ammonium salts, resulting in pronounced decreases in solutions viscosity and elasticity due to the influence of increased ionic strength on NaPAA molecular conformations. Upon removal of CO₂ via introduction of N₂, quaternary salts are deprotonated to tertiary amines, allowing recovery of fluid viscosity and elasticity to near the initial state. This work provides a simple approach to fabricating CO₂-switchable viscoelastic fluids, widening the potential use of CO₂ in stimuli-responsive applications.