Differences in Self-Rated, Perceived, and Acoustic Voice Qualities Between High- and Low-Fatigue Groups

Objectives

The present study was performed to examine which factors among self-rated scales, perceptual evaluations, and acoustic parameters, calculated from sustained vowels, are reliable indicators of physical and mental fatigues.

Methods

A total of 73 volunteers (male:female, 52:21), aged 19–24 years, were enrolled in this study. We defined the high- and low-fatigue groups using the Chalder Fatigue Scale score. For assessment of self-rated symptoms, each subject was asked to complete Voice Handicap Index (VHI) and Voice Rating Scale (VRS). For perceptual evaluations, three clinicians assessed each subject’s vocal quality on the Grade, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia, Strain Scale. For acoustic analysis, each subject was asked to produce sustained vowels /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/ for 3 seconds. Then, the habitual fundamental frequency (F₀), jitter, shimmer, F₀ tremor, mean F₀, standard deviation of F₀, maximum F₀, minimum F₀, normalized noise energy, harmonic-to-noise ratio (HNR), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), amplitude tremor, and ratio within 2–4 kHz were calculated using Dr. Speech software.

Results

In men, VHI, VRS, F₀ tremor, shimmer, HNR, SNR, and amplitude tremor were related to mental fatigue. In women, only VHI was related to physical fatigue, and none of the acoustic parameters was related to the fatigue score. Perceptual evaluations were not related to fatigue in men or women.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that self-rated symptoms and acoustic parameters related to voice quality are indicative of mental fatigue, and these features are prominent in men.     

Morphological and ultrastructural characterization of the alimentary canal in Japanese wax scale (Ceroplastes japonicus Green)

The morphology and ultrastructure of the alimentary canal in the adult female of the Japanese wax scale, Ceroplastes japonicus Green (Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Coccidae), was investigated using light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The results showed that the foregut was subdivided into a sclerotized pharynx and an oesophagus. A pair of salivary glands attached in the middle of the foregut. The loop-shaped midgut was narrow and longer than the foregut and its inner wall lined with a thick layer of epithelia. The hindgut was divided into a narrower ileum and a broader rectum, with the well-developed filter chamber enclosed in the anterior rectum. Malpighian tubules consisted of two brownish-yellow moniliform tubules with pores, approximately 1 μm in diameter, scattered on the outer surface and many spherical crystals inside the tubules.     

Stabilization via parametric excitation of multi-dof statically unstable systems

The problem of re-stabilization via parametric excitation of statically unstable linear Hamiltonian systems is addressed. An n-degree-of-freedom dynamical system is considered, at rest in a critical equilibrium position, possessing a pair of zero-eigenvalues and n − 1 pairs of distinct purely imaginary conjugate eigenvalues. The response of the system to a small static load, making the zero eigenvalues real and opposite, simultaneous to a harmonic parametric excitation of small amplitude, is studied by the Multiple Scale perturbation method, and the stability of the equilibrium position is investigated. Several cases of resonance between the excitation frequency and the natural non-zero frequencies are studied, calling for standard and non-standard applications of the method. It is found that the parametric excitation is able to re-stabilize the equilibrium for any value of the excitation frequencies, except for frequencies close to resonant values, provided a sufficiently large excitation amplitude is enforced. Results are compared with those provided by a purely numerical approach grounded on the Floquet theory.     

A scale model investigation of sound reflection from building façades

A simple model for predicting the sound reflected from a building façade is developed based upon the assumption that the scattering coefficient is small. This model is then used as the basis of an experimental attempt to measure the scattering properties of scale model façades featuring a similar degree of surface irregularity to that found on real buildings. A series of measurements made on a simple scale model are described and the effect of a non-uniform distribution of façade scattering is examined. The measured value of the scattering coefficient is found to be small and not very sensitive to the degree of surface irregularity. A progression of energy from a specular reflection field to a diffuse reflection field for successive orders of reflections is observed. It is suggested that the dominant mechanism of sound propagation for higher order reflections is via random scattering and that the development of propagation models based upon purely random scattering is a valid approach.     

Method to reduce the memory effect of mercury in the analysis of fish tissue using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

The routine determination of mercury (Hg) by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is affected by a pronounced memory effect in the sample introduction system. This results in long washout times for the analyte, which affects the accuracy and reliability of the analytical procedure. By using a combination of flow injection sample introduction and a sulfur-containing compound in the carrier solution, it was possible to decrease the memory effect of mercury to that for the internal standard (rhodium). The carrier solution contained 2-mercaptoethanol (2-ME) and the developed method was evaluated using three different fish tissue certified reference materials: CRM 464 (BCR, Brussels); DORM-1; and DORM-2 (NRC, Canada). The samples were mineralized using a combination of concentrated nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide and heating in a closed microwave oven. The developed flow injection ICP-MS procedure gave values for total mercury in all three CRM materials in agreement with the certified concentration range. Cold vapour atomic fluorescence spectrometry (CV-AFS) confirmed the results from the developed method. The developed flow injection method had a detection limit (defined as three times the standard deviation of the blank concentration) for mercury of 5.1 μg l⁻¹.     

近红外光谱法同时测定鱼粉中脂肪,蛋白质和水份

本文使用近红外光谱分析法同时测定鱼粉中的蛋白质，脂肪和水份。本法简便，无污染。     

The numerical analysis of water and solute movement in scale heterogeneous profiles

A computer based numerical method is presented for the analysis of water and solute movement in unsaturated heterogeneous porous materials. Such a method is necessary since, for those field studies where solute movement is of concern, the soil profiles under consideration are invariably heterogeneous. The numerical analysis is based on a general one-dimensional finite difference soil water flow model which includes a numerical technique combining the concepts of scale heterogeneity with an interpolative soil water hysteresis model. An explicit finite difference solute movement subroutine is incorporated into the unsaturated flow model to describe the transport of nonreactive solutes. A velocity dependent longitudinal dispersion coefficient is used in the solution of the hydrodynamic dispersion equation. The resulting hysteretic scale heterogeneous solute movement model permits the study of solute dynamics during infiltrating and redistribution in realistically complex spatially varying soil profiles. Results are presented for the leaching of both coarse grading to fine and fine grading to coarse sand profiles. Both vertical and horizontal profiles are studied using either a constant flux or a constant concentration input boundary condition. The four cases studied demonstrate the versatility of the numerical method and emphasise the substantial differences in transport behavior that can arise between heterogeneous and homogeneous profiles.Now with BHP Petroleum Pty. Ltd., GPO Box 1911R, Melbourne, Vic. 3001, Australia.