The effect of voice lessons on the clinical and perceptual skills of graduate students in speech-language pathology

Two groups of 10 speech-language pathology graduate students were each given 7 weeks of singing lessons to determine whether voice lessons could have an effect on their clinical and perceptual skills. Pre-, mid-, and posttests to measure various skills were designed and implemented. With use of paired sample statistical testing, statistically significant results were obtained. In addition, the subjective responses of the students show that the lessons were effective in improving pitch perception, breath control, and legato production or easy onset. This study supports efforts to integrate curricula in vocal performance and speech-language pathology.     

Vowel Intelligibility in Classical Singing

Vowel intelligibility during singing is an important aspect of communication during performance. The intelligibility of isolated vowels sung by Western classically trained singers has been found to be relatively low, in fact, decreasing as pitch rises, and it is lower for women than for men. The lack of contextual cues significantly deteriorates vowel intelligibility. It was postulated in this study that the reduced intelligibility of isolated sung vowels may be partly from the vowels used by the singers in their daily vocalises. More specifically, if classically trained singers sang only a few American English vowels during their vocalises, their intelligibility for American English vowels would be less than for those classically trained singers who usually vocalize on most American English vowels. In this study, there were 21 subjects (15 women, 6 men), all Western classically trained performers as well as teachers of classical singing. They sang 11 words containing 11 different American English vowels, singing on two pitches a musical fifth apart. Subjects were divided into two groups, those who normally vocalize on 4, 5, or 6 vowels, and those who sing all 11 vowels during their daily vocalises. The sung words were cropped to isolate the vowels, and listening tapes were created. Two listening groups, four singing teachers and five speech-language pathologists, were asked to identify the vowels intended by the singers. Results suggest that singing fewer vowels during daily vocalises does not decrease intelligibility compared with singing the 11 American English vowels. Also, in general, vowel intelligibility was lower with the higher pitch, and vowels sung by the women were less intelligible than those sung by the men. Identification accuracy was about the same for the singing teacher listeners and the speech-language pathologist listeners except for the lower pitch, where the singing teachers were more accurate.     

Preparation and characterization of activated carbons from impregnation pitch by ZnCl2

Using an impregnation pitch from bituminous coal tar (OP) supplied by Industrias Químicas del Nalon Company as raw material, two phases (isotropic and anisotropic) have been obtained. The latter was used as precursor for the preparation of activated carbons. First, a chemical activation process was carried out with ZnCl₂ as activating agent. The process was conducted at different concentrations and temperatures and by means of impregnation with solid zinc chloride. Optimal values were obtained for samples prepared by using a ZnCl₂:pitch ratio equal to 3:1 (sample AZn3). Next, this sample was thermally treated at two different temperatures, i.e., 700 and 800 °C. A lose of specific surface area, microporosity and mesoporosity was observed with respect to sample AZn3, such a lose being more remarkable as temperature increased. Moreover, impregnation of the anisotropic phase of the original pitch with an aqueous solution of ZnCl₂ followed by thermal treatment resulted in a poorly developed surface area and porous texture, probably due to the presence of Zn complexes, which interfere with the activation process.     

Characterisation of pitch by HPLC

Summary A new high performance liquid chromatography method for the characterisation of toluene-soluble fractions of pitches has been developed. Although a chromatographic system typical of size exclusion chromatography was used, results indicate that, for these structurally complex samples, separation does not follow the usual discrimination by molecular size. A differentiation between several classes of polyaromatic hydrocarbons is achieved instead. Data are reported on the analysis of individual standard polyaromatic hydrocarbons, showing that four different elution ranges can be observed: three ofcata-condensed compounds (Cata1, Cata2 and Cata3) and one ofperi-condensed compounds (Peri). Results are reported proving the capacity of this high performance liquid chromatography method to distinguish between pitches of different origin and nature. It is also effective for the study of the chemical reactions occurring during heat treatment.     

浅析简易型架空光缆的研制及应用

随着国内外光通信行业的发展,光纤光缆的制造技术也得到了长足的发展,目前管道资源日益紧缺的情况下,架空光缆成为解决管道资源紧张的有效措施之一,尤其是自承式架空光缆借助其施工便利而备受青睐.本文重点介绍简易型架空光缆的结构设计原理、关键制造工艺技术及应用,为光缆小型化低成本提供一定借鉴意义.     

一种可用于CDMA移动通信的变速率语音编码算法

该文提出了一种码率为 0.75-5.4kb/s可变速率的高质量语音编码讲法。该算法对CELP的激励进行了改进,根据语音的特征把语音分成4类,不同类型的语音采用不同的激励码本。特别是对于浊音,提出了一种基于基音同步的嵌入分裂式激励码本,该码本利用浊音具有准周期性的特点,使该算法在很低的码率下就可很好地恢复浊音信号,克服了CELP在4kb/s速率以下因码本尺寸小而导致合成语音质量差的缺点。经非正式听音测试,它的主观质量超过了1～8kb/s的可变速率QCELP系统,并且平均速率大约只有2kb/s,比QCELP的5kb/s平均速率低了很多、非常适用于 CDMA移动通信系统。     

高速传输系统CAD/CAM齿形误差最优化算法

本文提出了一种CAD/CAM齿形误差的最优化算法。本算法收敛速度快、拟合误差小,能够按照预定设计要求对齿形精度加以控制,实现最优化自动搜索,同时给出数值计算结果。     

椭圆轨道全零多普勒导引律研究

星载合成孔径雷达(SAR)数据处理中,多普勒特性对于方位向性能以及成像精度都有直接的影响。基于轨道动力学理论,在椭圆轨道情况下,该文导出了同时考虑偏航控制和俯仰控制的多普勒中心频率解析表达式,分别分析了偏航控制和俯仰控制对多普勒中心的影响,提出一种基于椭圆轨道的全零多普勒方法,并用TerraSAR-X轨道参数进行了数值仿真,仿真结果表明,使用该方法后,多普勒中心频率被减小到不超过5 Hz,比传统的偏航导引方法缩小了约一百倍,比基于瞬时圆轨道的全零多普勒方法缩小了5倍,表明了该方法的有效性。