An examination of intra-articulator relative timing

The relative timing of consonant and vowel related movements of the tongue dorsum across variations in stress patterns was examined in two subjects using a computerized pulsed ultrasound system. The patterns observed were similar to those reported by Tuller et al. [J. Exp. Psychol. H.P.P. 8, 460-472 (1982)] for interarticulator timing. Correlations between the duration of a "period," defined as the interval between the onsets of movements associated with adjacent vowels, and the "latency," defined as the interval between the beginning of the period and the point in the period at which movement associated with the intervocalic consonant begins, were positive and reliable. The source of this correlation pattern was examined and found not to be due to a scaling of an invariant phase relation but rather due to a main effect for stress on the vowel-to-vowel articulatory period combined with an artifactual part-whole correlation within each stress level.     

A model of facial biomechanics for speech production

Modeling the peripheral speech motor system can advance the understanding of speech motor control and audiovisual speech perception. A 3-D physical model of the human face is presented. The model represents the soft tissue biomechanics with a multilayer deformable mesh. The mesh is controlled by a set of modeled facial muscles which uses a standard Hill-type representation of muscle dynamics. In a test of the model, recorded intramuscular electromyography (EMG) was used to activate the modeled muscles and the kinematics of the mesh was compared with 3-D kinematics recorded with OPTOTRAK. Overall, there was a good match between the recorded data and the model's movements. Animations of the model are provided as MPEG movies.     

X-ray determination of the mean amplitudes of vibration and debye temperatures of some rare earth monochalcogenides

The x-ray diffraction intensities of Bragg reflections have been measured at room temperature for thulium selenide, samarium sulphide, samarium selenide and samarium telluride. On the basis of a common amplitude approximation, the Debye-Waller factor, the mean amplitude of vibration and the Debye temperature have been evaluated. The values of the Debye temperatures and mean amplitudes of vibration are 176±16°K, 0·185 ± 0·017 Å (TmSe), 155 ± 7°K, 0·244 ± 0·012 Å (SmS), 153 ± 14°K, 0·221 ± 0·020 Å (SmSe) and 151 ± 20°K, 0·204 ± 0·027 Å (SmTe).     

Empirical modeling of human face kinematics during speech using motion clustering

In this paper we present an algorithm for building an empirical model of facial biomechanics from a set of displacement records of markers located on the face of a subject producing speech. Markers are grouped into clusters, which have a unique primary marker and a number of secondary markers with an associated weight. Motion of the secondary markers is computed as the weighted sum of the primary markers of the clusters to which they belong. This model may be used to produce facial animations, by driving the primary markers with measured kinematic signals.     

Probing the independence of formant control using altered auditory feedback

Two auditory feedback perturbation experiments were conducted to examine the nature of control of the first two formants in vowels. In the first experiment, talkers heard their auditory feedback with either F1 or F2 shifted in frequency. Talkers altered production of the perturbed formant by changing its frequency in the opposite direction to the perturbation but did not produce a correlated alteration of the unperturbed formant. Thus, the motor control system is capable of fine-grained independent control of F1 and F2. In the second experiment, a large meta-analysis was conducted on data from talkers who received feedback where both F1 and F2 had been perturbed. A moderate correlation was found between individual compensations in F1 and F2 suggesting that the control of F1 and F2 is processed in a common manner at some level. While a wide range of individual compensation magnitudes were observed, no significant correlations were found between individuals' compensations and vowel space differences. Similarly, no significant correlations were found between individuals' compensations and variability in normal vowel production. Further, when receiving normal auditory feedback, most of the population exhibited no significant correlation between the natural variation in production of F1 and F2.     

Adaptive control of vowel formant frequency: evidence from real-time formant manipulation

Auditory feedback during speech production is known to play a role in speech sound acquisition and is also important for the maintenance of accurate articulation. In two studies the first formant (F1) of monosyllabic consonant-vowel-consonant words (CVCs) was shifted electronically and fed back to the participant very quickly so that participants perceived the modified speech as their own productions. When feedback was shifted up (experiment 1 and 2) or down (experiment 1) participants compensated by producing F1 in the opposite frequency direction from baseline. The threshold size of manipulation that initiated a compensation in F1 was usually greater than 60 Hz. When normal feedback was returned, F1 did not return immediately to baseline but showed an exponential deadaptation pattern. Experiment 1 showed that this effect was not influenced by the direction of the F1 shift, with both raising and lowering of F1 exhibiting the same effects. Experiment 2 showed that manipulating the number of trials that F1 was held at the maximum shift in frequency (0, 15, 45 trials) did not influence the recovery from adaptation. There was a correlation between the lag-one autocorrelation of trial-to-trial changes in F1 in the baseline recordings and the magnitude of compensation. Some participants therefore appeared to more actively stabilize their productions from trial-to-trial. The results provide insight into the perceptual control of speech and the representations that govern sensorimotor coordination.     

帕隆藏布流域堆积体边坡的工程地质特征及稳定性评价

位于藏东南的帕隆藏布流域,处在东喜马拉雅构造结的北缘,是新构造强烈隆升区,断层、褶皱等地质构造发育。在青藏高原隆升及气候变化等内外动力作用下,研究区内堆积体分布广泛,具有独特的工程地质特征并成为该区内地质灾害的主要物源。由于河流的下切及川藏公路的修建,形成了许多高陡的堆积体边坡,以冰碛边坡最为典型。由于其特殊的物源特征及形成过程,冰碛物具有粒度分布范围广、粗粒含量多等与其他沉积物不同的粒度特征。冰碛物粒度分布范围广的特征,导致随着研究尺度的不同,其结构特征也不相同,具有明显的尺度效应。冰碛土的力学强度一般强于其他堆积体,但受不同粒径颗粒的含量及分布、形成时代的影响,其力学特征也有所差异。作者对川藏公路沿线部分典型的剖面进行了量测,所量测的剖面虽然只是整个斜坡的一部分,与经验数据相比,仍表现出高陡的特征,而且很多边坡在既高且陡的形态下仍能保持稳定。本文以极限平衡理论为基础,采用多种方法对这类边坡的稳定性进行计算分析,求出边坡的安全系数。考虑各种地震烈度下边坡的稳定性,得出这些边坡的安全系数与地震加速度具有严格的指数相关关系。     

Control of rate and duration of speech movements

A computerized pulsed-ultrasound system was used to monitor tongue dorsum movements during the production of consonant-vowel sequences in which speech rate, vowel, and consonant were varied. The kinematics of tongue movement were analyzed by measuring the lowering gesture of the tongue to give estimates of movement amplitude, duration, and maximum velocity. All three subjects in the study showed reliable correlations between the amplitude of the tongue dorsum movement and its maximum velocity. Further, the ratio of the maximum velocity to the extent of the gesture, a kinematic indicator of articulator stiffness, was found to vary inversely with the duration of the movement. This relationship held both within individual conditions and across all conditions in the study such that a single function was able to accommodate a large proportion of the variance due to changes in movement duration. As similar findings have been obtained both for abduction and adduction gestures of the vocal folds and for rapid voluntary limb movements, the data suggest that a wide range of changes in the duration of individual movements might all have a similar origin. The control of movement rate and duration through the specification of biomechanical characteristics of speech articulators is discussed.     

Training English listeners to perceive phonemic length contrasts in Japanese

The present study investigated the extent to which native English listeners' perception of Japanese length contrasts can be modified with perceptual training, and how their performance is affected by factors that influence segment duration, which is a primary correlate of Japanese length contrasts. Listeners were trained in a minimal-pair identification paradigm with feedback, using isolated words contrasting in vowel length, produced at a normal speaking rate. Experiment 1 tested listeners using stimuli varying in speaking rate, presentation context (in isolation versus embedded in carrier sentences), and type of length contrast. Experiment 2 examined whether performance varied by the position of the contrast within the word, and by whether the test talkers were professionally trained or not. Results did not show that trained listeners improved overall performance to a greater extent than untrained control participants. Training improved perception of trained contrast types, generalized to nonprofessional talkers' productions, and improved performance in difficult within-word positions. However, training did not enable listeners to cope with speaking rate variation, and did not generalize to untrained contrast types. These results suggest that perceptual training improves non-native listeners' perception of Japanese length contrasts only to a limited extent.     

Dose–Response Relationship of Photobiomodulation Therapy on Matrix Metalloproteinase in Healing Dynamics of Diabetic Neuropathic Ulcers—An in vivo Study

Individuals with diabetic foot ulcers have overlapped the inflammatory, proliferative and remodeling phase, making the tissue vulnerable to delayed healing responses. We aimed to establish the dose–response relationship of photobiomodulation therapy of different doses and matrix metalloproteinases in the healing dynamics of diabetic neuropathic ulcers. Diabetes was induced in 126 Albino Wistar rats, and neuropathy was induced to the hind paw by a sciatic nerve injury method. An excisional wound was created on the neuropathy-induced leg. Photobiomodulation therapy of dosages 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 15 J cm⁻² and wavelength 655 nm and 808 nm was irradiated. Photobiomodulation therapy of dosages 4, 6 and 8 J cm⁻² showed better wound healing properties with optimized levels of matrix metalloproteinases-1 and 8. We observed a strong dose response in the experimental group treated with 6 and 8 J cm⁻². The findings from the present study conclude that photobiomodulation therapy of dosages 4, 6 and 8 J cm⁻² is suggestive of usefulness in diabetic neuropathic ulcer healing. Markers like matrix metalloproteinases may give a clear direction on response to the therapy. Based on the findings from the present study, we recommend to validate the findings for safety and efficacy in future through human prospective randomized controlled clinical trials.