Spectral pattern recognition of improved voice quality

The self-organizing map (a neural network) was applied to the spectral pattern recognition of voice quality in 34 subjects: 15 patients operated on because of insufficient glottal closure and 19 subjects not treated for voice disorders. The voice samples, segments of sustained /a/, were perceptually rated by six experts. A self-organized acoustic feature map was first computed from tokens of /a/ and then used for the analysis of the samples. The locations of the samples on the map were determined and the distances from a normal reference were compared with the perceptual ratings. The map locations corresponded to the degree of audible disorder: the samples judged as normal were overlapping or close to the normal reference, whereas the samples judged as dysphonie were located further away from it. The comparison of pre- and postoperative samples of the patients showed that the perceived improvement of voice quality was also detected by the map.     

Studies on lanthanoid sulfites. Part VIII. Thermogravimetric study of europium sulfite trihydrate

When Eu₂(SO₃)₃·3H₂O is heated in air it forms after dehydration two sulfite-sulfate phases: Eu₂(SO₃)₂SO₂ and Eu₂SO₃(SO₄)₂. The latter phase is thermally remarkably stable and decomposes above 700°C via Eu₂O₂SO₄ to Eu₂O₃. Anhydrous Eu₂(SO₃)₃ and Eu₂O₂SO₄ were also found as intermediates before Eu₂O₃ when the TG experiments were carried out in nitrogen but in other details the decomposition mechanism differs from that in air.

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Zusammenfassung Eu₂(SO₃)₃·3H₂O bildet durch Erhitzen in Luft nach Dehydratation zwei Sulfit-Sulfat-Phasen: Eu₂(SO₃)₂SO₄ und Eu₂SO₃(SO₄)₂·Letztere ist thermisch bedeutend stabiler und zersetzt sich oberhalb 700°C über Eu₂O₂SO₄ zu Eu₂O₃. Bei Durchführung der TG-Experimente in Stickstoff wurden als Zwischenprodukte vor Eu₂O₃ auch wasserfreies Eu₂(SO₃)₃ und Eu₂O₂SO₄ gefunden, in anderen Details weicht jedoch der Mechanismus der Zersetzung von dem der Zersetzung in Luft ab.

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- Eu/SO_3/2SO₄ Eu₂SO₃/SO_4/2. 700° Eu₂O₃ Eu₂O₂SO₄. Eu₂/SO_3/3 Eu₂O₂SO₄ , .

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For Part VII, see ref. 6.     

Importance of structural tightening, as opposed to partially bound States, in the determination of chemical shift changes at noncovalently bonded interfaces

Two models (A and B) have been proposed to account for decreased downfield chemical shifts of a proton bound by noncovalent interactions at a ligand/antibiotic interface as the number of ligand/antibiotic interactions is decreased. In model A, the proton involved in the noncovalent bond suffers a smaller downfield shift because the bond is, with a relatively large probability, broken, and not because it is longer. In model B, the proton involved in the noncovalent bond suffers a smaller downfield shift because the bond is longer, and not because it is, with a relatively large probability, broken. We show that model A cannot account for the chemical shift changes. Model B accounts for the process of positively cooperative binding, in which noncovalent bonds are reduced in length and thereby increase the stability of the organized state.     

Co-eluent effect in partition chromatography. Rhamnose-xylose separation with strong and weak cation-exchangers in aqueous ethanol

The effect of ethanol in aqueous eluent on the chromatographic separation was studied at 298 K. Two sugars, L-rhamnose and D-xylose, were separated by using strong and weak cation-exchangers as a stationary phase. The ionic form of the resins was Na+ or Ca2+. The separations were carried out with sugar feed concentrations up to 35 wt% and with both low (about 1%) and high (about 10%) feed volume to bed volume ratios. The separation of the sugars was improved by adding ethanol into the eluent. The separation was also significantly enhanced when the weak cation-exchangers with the greatest affinity for water were used instead of strong cation-exchangers as a separation medium for the sugars having different hydrophilicities. The experimental data were successfully explained with a rate-based column model, which accounted for the volume changes of the stationary phase. A thermodynamic sorption model was utilized in column calculations.     

Hole doping and superconductivity characteristics of the s=1, 2 and 3 members of the (Cu,Mo)-12s2 homologous series of layered copper oxides

Superconductivity characteristics have been systematically evaluated for a two-CuO₂-plane copper oxide system, (Cu,Mo)-12s2, upon increasing the number of fluorite-structured layers, s, between the two CuO₂ planes. Essentially single-phase samples of (Cu_0.75Mo_0.25)Sr₂YCu₂O_7+δ (s=1), (Cu_0.75Mo_0.25)Sr₂(Ce_0.45Y_0.55)₂Cu₂O_9+δ (s=2) and (Cu_0.75Mo_0.25)Sr₂(Ce_0.67Y_0.33)₃Cu₂O_11+δ (s=3) were synthesized through a conventional solid-state route in air. To make the samples superconductive an additional high-pressure oxygenation (HPO) treatment was required. Such treatment (carried out at 5 GPa and 500 °C in the presence of 75 mol% Ag₂O₂ as an oxygen source to maximize the T_c) compressed the crystal lattice for the three members of the (Cu_0.75Mo_0.25)-12s2 series equally, i.e., by 0.01 Å for the a parameter and by 0.07 Å for the c parameter per formula unit. From both Cu L-edge and O K-edge XANES spectra the s=1 sample was found to possess the highest overall hole-doping level among the HPO samples. Accordingly it exhibited the best superconductivity characteristics. With increasing s, both the T_c (s=1: 88 K, s=2: 61 K, s=3: 53 K) and H_irr values got depressed, being well explained by the trend of decreasing CuO₂-plane hole concentration with increasing s as revealed from O K-edge XANES spectra for the same samples. Hence, the present results do not suggest any significant (negative) impact on the superconductivity characteristics from the gradually thickened fluorite-structured block itself.     

Electronic structure of the enolate anion of chlorophyll b

The enolate anion of chlorophyll b (Chl b) has been synthesized under deoxygenated conditions and its electronic structure characterized for the first time by ¹H NMR and electronic absorption spectroscopy. The formation of the enolate anion caused a marked perturbation to the 18 π-electron [18]diazaannulene aromatic pathway of Chl b. This perturbation appeared as noticeable upfield shifts, exceeding 1 ppm, for the meso-CH protons of the Chl b enolate anion. Nevertheless, the enolate anion remained diatropic, maintaining aromaticity in its delocalized macrocycle.     

Influence of pH on formation and stability of phosphatidylcholine/phosphatidylserine coatings in fused-silica capillaries

The effect of pH on the formation and stability of phospholipid coatings in fused-silica capillaries in electrophoresis was investigated. A liposome solution consisting of 3 mM of 80:20 mol% phosphatidylcholine/phosphatidylserine (PC/PS) in N-(2-hydroxyethyl)piperazine-N'-(2-ethanesulfonic acid) (HEPES) buffer was used as coating material. The coating was prepared by a method described earlier and five steroids were used as neutral model analytes. First, the effect of pH of the coating solution on the formation and stability of phospholipid coatings was studied at pH 6.5-8.5. The pH of the background electrolyte (BGE) solution (HEPES) was either kept constant at pH 7.4 or made similar to the pH of the liposome coating solution. Results showed that attachment of the coating on the fused-silica wall mostly depends on the protonation of amines of the phospholipids and HEPES. The ability of the phospholipid coating to withstand changes in pH was then investigated by coating at pH 7.5 and separating steroids with acetic acid, 3-(cyclohexylamino)-1-propanesulfonic acid (CAPS), HEPES, or glycine BGE, adjusted to pH between 4.5 and 10.8. The results showed that with use of BGE solution at pH 10.8, the separation of steroids was not successful and the electroosmotic flow was high because of leakage of the phospholipid coating during preconditioning of the capillary with BGE solution. There was no phospholipid leakage with a BGE solution of pH 4.5, indicating that the protonated form of the functional groups of PS and HEPES participating in the attachment of the phospholipid coating to the capillary play an essential role in the success of the coating.     

Effects of various washing procedures on the chromium content of human scalp hair

The effects of four wash procedures on the concentration of chromium in a pooled sample of human scalp hair are compared. The wash solutions examined are Triton X-100, sodium lauryl sulphate, acetone, and a mixture (1 + 1) of hexane and ethanol. The plateaux reached for hair chromium concentration are functions of the number of washings, and are characteristic for each wash solution. The wash procedure recommended involves two 20-min washes with aqueous 1% sodium lauryl sulphate solution after a hexane rinse.