Speech, audio, and acoustic processing for multimedia

The primary advances in speech and audio signal processing that contributed to the maturing of multimedia applications are discussed in the areas of speech and audio signal compression, speech synthesis, acoustic processing and echo control, and network echo cancellation     

Pattern recognition using discriminative feature extraction

We propose a new design method, called discriminative feature extraction for practical modular pattern recognizers. A key concept of discriminative feature extraction is the design of an overall recognizer in a manner consistent with recognition error minimization. The utility of the method is demonstrated in a Japanese vowel recognition task     

Immiscibility,upper critical solution temperature,and miscibility in blends of poly(vinyl ether)s with polyacrylics: Effects of pendant groups

Various phase behavior of blends of poly(vinyl ether)s with homologous acrylic polymers (polymethacrylates or polyacrylates) were examined using differential scanning calorimetry, optical microscopy (OM), and Fourier‐transformed infrared spectroscopy. Effects of varying the pendant groups of either of constituent polymers on the phase behavior of the blends were analyzed. A series of interestingly different phase behavior in the blends has been revealed in that as the pendant group in the acrylic polymer series gets longer, polymethacrylate/poly(vinyl methyl ether) (PVME) blends exhibit immiscibility, upper critical solution temperature (UCST), and miscibility, respectively. This study found that the true phase behavior of poly(propyl methacrylate)/PVME [and poly(isopropyl methacrylate)/PVME)] blend systems, though immiscible at ambient, actually displayed a rare UCST upon heating to higher temperatures. Similarly, as the methyl pendant group in PVE is lengthened to ethyl (i.e., PVME replaced by PVEE), phase behavior of its blends with series of polymethacrylates or polyacrylates changes correspondingly. Analyses and quantitative comparisons on four series of blends of PVE/acrylic polymer were performed to thoroughly understand the effects of pendant groups in either polyethers (PVE's) or acrylic polymers on the phase behavior of the blends of these two constituents. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 45: 1521–1534, 2007     

Mechanism of sorption of phenols from aqueous solutions onto surfactant-modified montmorillonite

Equilibrium and kinetic studies on the sorption of phenol, m-nitrophenol (m-NP), and o-cresol from water onto montmorillonite modified with cetyltrimethylammounium bromide (CTAB) were conducted. Experiments were carried out as a function of solution pH, sorbate concentration, and temperature (25-55 degrees C). It was shown that the sorption capacity decreased in the order phenol>o-cresol>m-NP. The Langmuir, dual-mode sorption, and Redlich-Peterson models were tested to fit the sorption isotherms of single-solute systems, whereas the Langmuir competitive model was used to describe bisolute sorption equilibria. Thermodynamic parameters (DeltaH degrees and DeltaS degrees ) and the mean free energy (E) for the sorption of phenols were determined from the temperature dependence of the distribution constant and the Dubinin-Radushkevick equation, respectively. A simplified kinetic model was proposed to confirm the sorption mechanism.     

Determination of hydrolyzable tannins in the fruit of Terminalia chebula Retz. by high-performance liquid chromatography and capillary electrophoresis

A RP-HPLC method for determining fourteen components (gallic acid, chebulic acid, 1,6-di-O-galloyl-D-glucose, punicalagin, 3,4,6-tri-O-galloyl-D-glucose, casuarinin, chebulanin, corilagin, neochebulinic acid, terchebulin, ellagic acid, chebulagic acid, chebulinic acid, and 1,2,3,4,6-penta-O-galloyl-D-glucose) in the fruit of Terminalia chebula Retz. is described. The separation was achieved within 80 min using a binary gradient with mobile phases consisting of a pH 2.7 phosphoric acid solution and an 80% CH3CN solution. Capillary electrophoretic analyses were also attempted, and it was found that CZE (25 mM Na2B4O7, 5 mM NaH2PO4, pH 7.0) was an efficient method for the separation of gallotannins, while an MEKC method (25 mM Na2B4O7, 5 mM NaH2PO4, 20 mM SDS, pH 7.0, and 10% acetonitrile) provided a better separation for most of the tannins examined. The HPLC and CE methods developed were both successfully applied to the assay of tannins in commercial samples of Chebulae Fructus.     

Reexamination of the magnetic properties of Cu(2)(dca)(4)(2,5-me(2)pyz) [dca = dicyanamide; me(2)pyz = dimethylpyrazine]: isolated spin-1/2 dimers versus long-range magnetic ordering

The magnetic properties of Cu(2)(dca)(4)(2,5-me(2)pyz) have been reexamined. The extended structure of Cu(2)(dca)(4)(2,5-me(2)pyz) can be viewed in terms of Cu(2)(2,5-me(2)pyz)(4+) dimer units interconnected via mu(1,5)-dca ligands. The bulk magnetic susceptibility chi(T) and the isothermal M(H) of Cu(2)(dca)(4)(2,5-me(2)pyz) are shown to be well described by an isolated dimer model. This finding was confirmed by carrying out a spin dimer analysis based on tight-binding calculations, which shows that the 2,5-me(2)pyz ligand provides a substantial spin exchange interaction between the Cu(2+) ions while the dca ligands do not.     

Spin dimer analysis of the spin exchange interactions in paramelaconite Cu(4)O(3) and its analogue Ag(2)Cu(2)O(3) and the spin ordering of the Cu(2)O(3) spin lattice leading to their magnetic phase transitions

The magnetic structures of the Cu(2)O(3) spin lattices present in Cu(4)O(3) and Ag(2)Cu(2)O(3) were analyzed by studying their spin exchange interactions on the basis of spin dimer analysis. Calculations of spin exchange parameters were calibrated by studying LiCuVO(4) whose intrachain and interchain antiferromagnetic spin exchange parameters are known experimentally. The magnetic phase transition of Cu(4)O(3) at 42.3 K doubles the unit cell along each crystallographic direction. The spin arrangements of the Cu(2)O(3) lattice consistent with this experimental observation are different from conventional antiferromagnetic ordering. Our analysis indicates that spin fluctuation should occur in Cu(4)O(3), low-dimensional magnetism should be more important than magnetic frustration in Cu(4)O(3), and Ag(2)Cu(2)O(3) and Cu(4)O(3) should have similar structural and magnetic properties.     

Synthesis and characterization of a magnetic semiconductor Na(2)RuO(4) containing one-dimensional chains of Ru(6+)

A new ternary ruthenium oxide Na(2)RuO(4) was prepared and shown to crystallize with a new structure type. Single crystal X-ray diffraction measurements reveal that Na(2)RuO(4) consists of RuO(4) chains made up of RuO(5) trigonal bipyramids by sharing axial corners. Na(2)RuO(4) is a magnetic semiconductor with a variable range hopping behavior, and its molar magnetic susceptibility chi(mol) has a broad maximum at approximately 74 K. The derivative d(chi(mol).T)/dT exhibits a peak at 37.7 K which has been confirmed by heat capacity measurement to be due to long-range antiferromagnetic ordering.     

Unusual hysteresis in the magnetic susceptibility of cubic hexaboride KB6

Electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility, and electron paramagnetic resonance measurements were carried out for cubic hexaboride KB(6), which is one electron short of completely filling its conduction band. It is found that KB(6) is not metallic and has localized spins. KB(6) exhibits a highly unusual hysteresis in the magnetic susceptibility below 100 K, which suggests that it undergoes a slow relaxation process.