Multiparametric Evaluation of Dysphonic Severity

SUMMARY: In recent years, the multiparametric approach for evaluating perceptual rating of voice quality has been advocated. This study evaluates the accuracy of predicting perceived overall severity of voice quality with a minimal set of aerodynamic, voice range profile (phonetogram), and acoustic perturbation measures. One hundred and twelve dysphonic persons (93 women and 19 men) with laryngeal pathologies and 41 normal controls (35 women and six men) with normal voices participated in this study. Perceptual severity judgement was carried out by four listeners rating the G (overall grade) parameter of the GRBAS scale. The minimal set of instrumental measures was selected based on the ability of the measure to discriminate between dysphonic and normal voices, and to attain at least a moderate correlation with perceived overall severity. Results indicated that perceived overall severity was best described by maximum phonation time of sustained /a/, peak intraoral pressure of the consonant-vowel /pi/ strings production, voice range profile area, and acoustic jitter. Direct-entry discriminant function analysis revealed that these four voice measures in combination correctly predicted 67.3% of perceived overall severity levels.     

Evolution of first-order sidebands from multiple FWM processes in HiBi optical fibers

The generation of two idler waves inside a high birefringent (HiBi) optical fiber through three four-wave mixing (FWM) processes is studied theoretically. The coupled-equations for the field amplitudes are derived and analytically solved, in the co-polarized and orthogonal polarization schemes. The obtained solutions take into account the delayed Raman response of the medium. The polarization sensitivity of the generation of the idler waves is analyzed. Results show that the stimulated Raman scattering does not change the efficiency of the idler wave generation in the co-polarized scheme, whereas in the orthogonal polarization scheme that nonlinear process decreases the efficiency of the four-wave mixing processes. Results also show that this set of multiple four-wave mixing processes is physically quite different from the typical single or dual pump four-wave mixing configurations. Findings show that the power transfer from the pumps to the idler fields can lead to a monotonous growth, or a periodic evolution of the sidebands along the fiber. Results show that the process efficiency varies greatly with the angle between the two pump polarizations.     

基于波束形成的多类型多声源定位研究

为实现空压机多噪声源的准确定位,仿真对比了多种近场球面波多声源定位算法。基于时域波束形成,研究了相同声源平面、不同声源频率、不同声源纵向距离、不同声源强度下多声源定位以及声源频率、声源纵向距离和声源强度多因素联合的多声源定位仿真方法,模拟了更接近实际的噪声源类型。基于频域波束形成,仿真研究了1400 Hz,2400 Hz,3400 Hz,4400 Hz的多声源。分别利用互功率谱波束形成和除自谱的互功率谱波束形成,仿真研究了相干声源和不相干声源。开发了阵列声成像测试平台,运用频域波束形成和功率谱波束形成对空压机进行了定位试验研究。结果表明,1400 Hz下空压机的主要噪声源是气缸盖、空气滤清器和曲轴附近的机体,这可为空压机减振降噪改进设计提供依据。     

Switched safe tracking control design for unmanned autonomous helicopter with disturbances

In this paper, the switched safe tracking control scheme is investigated for the attitude and altitude system of a medium-scale unmanned autonomous helicopter with output constraints and unknown external disturbances. To keep the attitude angles and altitude within the desired constrained range, an output boundary protection approach is adopted to generate an output constrained trajectory which is piecewise differentiable. The disturbance observer-based control method is employed to handle the unknown external disturbances of the system. Because of the piecewise differentiability of the output constrained trajectory, the closed-loop error system with the safe tracking controller can be seen as a switched system with jump dynamics. The multiple Lyapunov function method is adopted to guarantee the tracking performance with designed average dwell time. Simulation results of an example are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme for the unmanned autonomous helicopter system.     

Fixed-time stability of switched systems with application to a problem of formation control

The problem of fixed-time stability of switched systems is studied. With the aid of the multiple Lyapunov function method, constraints on switching signals are derived under which global fixed-time stability of zero solutions of considered systems can be guaranteed. Sufficient conditions of fixed-time stability for Persidskii-type systems are obtained. The developed approaches are applied to the problem of the fixed-time deployment of mobile agents over a line segment under protocols with switched communication topology. Efficiency of the obtained results is demonstrated by a numerical simulation.     

Almost global stability of nonlinear switched systems with mode-dependent and edge-dependent average dwell time

It has recently been shown that almost global stability of nonlinear switched systems can be characterized using multiple Lyapunov densities. This has been accomplished for switched systems subject to a minimum dwell time or an average dwell time constraint. In this paper, as an extension of the aforementioned results, we provide a sufficient condition on mode-dependent and edge-dependent average dwell time to ensure almost global stability of a nonlinear switched system. The relations between average dwell time, mode-dependent, and edge-dependent average dwell time have been discussed. The obtained results for nonlinear switched systems imply the existing results for linear switched systems.     

Reflection and transmission by a slab with randomly distributed isotropic point scatterers

The problem of how a wave propagates in an infinite medium filled with scatterers has revealed the notion of an effective medium: the mean wave propagates as in an homogeneous medium with complex index. Is this notion of an effective medium still valid when the scatterers are bounded in space? The problem is treated here for isotropic point scatterers. It is shown that (i) the waves propagate inside the slab with an effective wavenumber K being the same as that in an infinite medium, (ii) the reflection and transmission coefficients of the slab mainly behave as and at leading order, (iii) the reflection and transmission coefficients of a single interface are related to R and T with the usual law of optics and (iv) the boundary conditions to be applied at the interface are the continuity of the field and its first derivative for isotropic scatterers. Finally, numerical experiments in one dimension show satisfactory agreement with the presented theory.     

A three-stage, VSVO, Hermite-Birkhoff-Taylor, ODE solver

The new variable-step, variable-order, ODE solver, HBT(p) of order p, presented in this paper, combines a three-stage Runge-Kutta method of order 3 with a Taylor series method of order p-2 to solve initial value problems , where y:R→R^d and f:R×R^d→R^d. The order conditions satisfied by HBT(p) are formulated and they lead to Vandermonde-type linear algebraic systems whose solutions are the coefficients in the formulae for HBT(p). A detailed formulation of variable-step HBT(p) in both fixed-order and variable-order modes is presented. The new method and the Taylor series method have similar regions of absolute stability. To obtain high-accuracy results at high order, this method has been implemented in multiple precision.     

Multiplicity of positive solutions to period boundary value problems for second order impulsive differential equations

This paper deals with the existence and multiplicity of positive solutions to second order period boundary value problems with impulse effects. The proof of our main results relies on a well-known fixed point theorem in cones. The paper extends some previous results and reports some new results about impulsive differential equations.     

Position magnifying sensor

This paper describes the application of multiple beam shearing interferometry to a position magnifying sensor. A multiple beam shearing interferometer (MBSI) with a shear plate wedged in the vertical direction produces sharp multiple beam fringes. When the lateral displacement of a point source (which gives rise to the input beam of the MBSI) or its image occurs in the horizontal direction, these fringes move vertically in a magnified manner. This characteristic was used in a position magnifying sensor to detect the displacement of a point image. The advantages of the sensor include a large displacement magnification (more than a hundred times) and a large working distance.