The acoustic characteristics of clause, sentence and paragraph boundaries in Chinese Putonghua

The acoustic and perceptive characteristics of discourse units, including clauses, simple sentences, compound sentences and paragraphs, were studied. The acoustic characteristics were based on the analysis of a speech corpus consisted of ten monologues. The Perceived Boundary Strength (PBS) of the monologues was labeled on a five-point scale by 25 participants. The main results are as follows: (1) There is a significant difference in the PBS of clauses (corresponding to intonational phrase), sentences (including simple sentences and compound sentences) and paragraphs. But the PBS of simple sentences and compound sentences is the same, and the pitch reset and pause are also not significantly different between these two kinds of boundaries. (2) The pitch-based cue used to distinguish clauses, sentences and paragraphs appears to be the difference between pre- and post-boundary syllables, but not simply the pitch value of either syllable alone. (3) Declination mainly occurs within intonational phrases, whereas there is no consistent global declination in sentences or in paragraphs. (4) Pauses are longer and more varied at the boundary of larger discourse units. Moreover, there is a significant positive correlation between pause duration and degree of pitch reset at clause boundaries, but not at sentence or paragraph boundaries.     

21世纪最具潜力的新型带隙材料——声子晶体

半导体发展中遇到的极大障碍,使许多研究人员开始研究光子晶体。然而,声子晶体比光子晶体具有更丰富的物理内涵,它是一种新型声学功能带隙材料。研究声子晶体的重要意义在于其广阔的应用前景,而且在研究过程中,还可能发现新现象和新规律,进而促进物理学的发展。一、什么是声子晶体声子晶体的概念诞生于20世纪90年代,是仿照光子晶体的概念而命名的。我们都知道,具有光子禁带的周期性电介质结构功能材料称为光子晶体,光子能量落在光子禁带中的光波将被禁止,不能在光子晶体中传播。通过对光子晶体周期结构及其缺陷进行设计,可以人为地调控光子…     

Advances in micro-perforated panel absorbers

Theoretical and experimental investigations on the performance of micro-perforated -panel absorbers are reviewed in this paper. By reviewing recent research work, this paper reveals a relationship between the maximum absorption coefficient and the limit of the absorption frequency bandwidth. It has been demonstrated that the absorption frequency bandwidth can be extended up to 3 or 4 octaves as the diameters of the micro-holes decrease. This has become possible with the development of the technologies for manufacturing micro-perforated panels, such as laser drilling, powder metallurgy, welded meshing and electro-etching to form micrometer order holes. In this paper, absorption characteristics of such absorbers in random fields and in high sound intensity are discussed both theoretically and experimentally. A new absorbing structure based on micro-perforated-panel absorbers demonstrate experimentally high sound absorption capability. This review shows that the micro-perforated-panel absorber has potentials to be one of ideal absorbing materials in the 21st century.     

Theoretical analysis of the acoustical characteristics of suspended micro-perforated panel absorbers

Sound absorption characteristics of suspended micro-perforated panel absorbers were investigated theoretically. The method of half thickness model of such panel absorber with quadripole analysis was used for predicting its acoustic performance. The analysis results show that the predictions agree well with the measurements of absorption in the reverberation chamber. The factors affecting the absorption characteristics for such absorbers were discussed, and some rules as design guidelines were given.     

Elimination of Spiral Waves and Competition between Travelling Wave Impulses and Spiral Waves

The interaction between travelling wave impulses and spiral waves is studied and the results of their competition are related to the exciting period. From the results, it is known that the formation and development of spiral waves in cardiac tissue depend on the period by which the travelling wave impulses are excited. A method is proposed to eliminate spiral waves, which is easily operated.     

Lower Hearing Threshold by Noise

We demonstrate that noise can be a benefit factor that enables us to hear weaker signals. We measured the hearing thresholds of subjects for pure tone in different noise levels. The results show that pure tone thresholds with noise of some levels are lower than that without noise. The largest down-shift of the threshold by noise among the examined subjects is 5.7 dB, and the smallest is 1.7 dB.     

Sound Field Calculations of Elliptical Pistons by the Superposition of Two—Dimensional Gaussian Beams

We present an alternative approach to calculate the sound field of ultrasonic transducers.The distribution function of sources is expanded into the superposition of a series of two-dimensional Gaussian functions.The corresponding radiated sound field is expressed as the superposition of these two-dimensional Gaussian beams and is then reduced to the computation of these simple functions.This treatment does not require the condition that the shape of the source is of circular axial symmetry.A numerical example is presented for the uniform elliptical piston transducer and this is in good agreement with the results given by complicated computation.     

科学出版社物理类新书推荐

比利时的物理学家使用高速摄像机首次观察到液体中“反气泡”的形成、运动和崩溃过程(DorboloSetal.NewJ.Phys .,2 0 0 4 ,5 :1 61 ) .众所周知,气泡是一球形的液体薄膜,里面包着空气,外面又被空气包围着.而反气泡,顾名思义,则是一球形的空气壳,里面包着液体,外面又为液体所包围.在液体中气泡会升到液面上来,而反气泡则沉到液体底部.比利时Liege大学的StephaneDorbolo等缓慢地将肥皂水倒入一个装有同样肥皂水的玻璃容器中.他们观察到在液面下产生了一注液体小球,然后,这注小球破裂成一系列反气泡.反气泡存在了两分钟之久.反气泡崩溃的方…     

Acoustic scattering from multiple spheres by using a kind of addition formulae for the spherical wave functions

A kind of addition formulae for the spherical wave functions is generated by using the bicentric expansion of Green function in spherical coordinates. For an acoustical system with multiple spheres, the addition formulae permit the field expansions all referred to the center of one of the spheres, whose boundary conditions can be consequently used to study the multiple scattering easily. The two-sphere acoustical system with different boundary conditions is considered and the field scattered by each sphere can be obtained by solving an infinite set of two linear, complex, algebraic equations, whose coefficients are coupled through double sums in the spherical wave functions. Finally, the form functions of two spheres insonified by a plane wave at arbitrary angles of incidence are calculated and the addition formulae presented are validated by comparing the corresponding numerical results with those of the existing literature.