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Sample records for sound area electric

  1. Puget Sound area electric reliability plan. Draft environmental impact statement

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1991-09-01

    The Puget Sound Area Electric Reliability Plan Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) identifies the alternatives for solving a power system problem in the Puget Sound area. This Plan is undertaken by Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), Puget Sound Power & Light, Seattle City Light, Snohomish Public Utility District No. 1 (PUD), and Tacoma Public Utilities. The Plan consists of potential actions in Puget Sound and other areas in the State of Washington. A specific need exists in the Puget Sound area for balance between east-west transmission capacity and the increasing demand to import power generated east of the Cascades. At certain times of the year, there is more demand for power than the electric system can supply in the Puget Sound area. This high demand, called peak demand, occurs during the winter months when unusually cold weather increases electricity use for heating. The existing power system can supply enough power if no emergencies occur. However, during emergencies, the system will not operate properly. As demand grows, the system becomes more strained. To meet demand, the rate of growth of demand must be reduced or the ability to serve the demand must be increased, or both. The plan to balance Puget Sound`s power demand and supply has these purposes: The plan should define a set of actions that would accommodate ten years of load growth (1994--2003). Federal and State environmental quality requirements should be met. The plan should be consistent with the plans of the Northwest Power Planning Council. The plan should serve as a consensus guideline for coordinated utility action. The plan should be flexible to accommodate uncertainties and differing utility needs. The plan should balance environmental impacts and economic costs. The plan should provide electric system reliability consistent with customer expectations. 29 figs., 24 tabs.

  2. Puget Sound Area Electric Reliability Plan : Draft Environmental Impact State.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    United States. Bonneville Power Administration.

    1991-09-01

    The Puget Sound Area Electric Reliability Plan Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) identifies the alternatives for solving a power system problem in the Puget Sound area. This Plan is undertaken by Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), Puget Sound Power Light, Seattle City Light, Snohomish Public Utility District No. 1 (PUD), and Tacoma Public Utilities. The Plan consists of potential actions in Puget Sound and other areas in the State of Washington. A specific need exists in the Puget Sound area for balance between east-west transmission capacity and the increasing demand to import power generated east of the Cascades. At certain times of the year, there is more demand for power than the electric system can supply in the Puget Sound area. This high demand, called peak demand, occurs during the winter months when unusually cold weather increases electricity use for heating. The existing power system can supply enough power if no emergencies occur. However, during emergencies, the system will not operate properly. As demand grows, the system becomes more strained. To meet demand, the rate of growth of demand must be reduced or the ability to serve the demand must be increased, or both. The plan to balance Puget Sound's power demand and supply has these purposes: The plan should define a set of actions that would accommodate ten years of load growth (1994--2003). Federal and State environmental quality requirements should be met. The plan should be consistent with the plans of the Northwest Power Planning Council. The plan should serve as a consensus guideline for coordinated utility action. The plan should be flexible to accommodate uncertainties and differing utility needs. The plan should balance environmental impacts and economic costs. The plan should provide electric system reliability consistent with customer expectations. 29 figs., 24 tabs.

  3. Puget Sound Area Electric Reliability Plan : Final Environmental Impact Statement.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    United States. Bonneville Power Administration.

    1992-04-01

    A specific need exists in the Puget Sound area for balance between east-west transmission capacity and the increasing demand to import power generated east of the Cascades. At certain times of the year, and during certain conditions, there is more demand for power in the Puget Sound area than the transmission system and existing generation can reliably supply. This high demand, called peak demand occurs during the winter months when unusually cold weather increases electricity use for heating. The existing power system can supply enough power if no emergencies occur. However, during emergencies the system will not operate properly. As demand grows, the system becomes more strained. To meet demand, the rate of growth of demand must be reduced or the ability to serve the demand must be increased, or both.

  4. Puget Sound area electric reliability plan

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1991-09-01

    Various conservation, load management, and fuel switching programs were considered as ways to reduce or shift system peak load. These programs operate at the end-use level, such as residential water heat. Figure D-1a shows what electricity consumption for water heat looks like on normal and extreme peak days. Load management programs, such as water heat control, are designed to reduce electricity consumption at the time of system peak. On the coldest day in average winter, system load peaks near 8:00 a.m. In a winter with extremely cold weather, electricity consumption increases fr all hours, and the system peak shifts to later in the morning. System load shapes in the Puget Sound area are shown in Figure D-1b for a normal winter peak day (February 2, 1988) and extreme peak day (February 3, 1989). Peak savings from any program are calculated to be the reduction in loads on the entire system at the hour of system peak. Peak savings for all programs are measured at 8:00 a.m. on a normal peak day and 9:00 a.m. on an extreme peak day. On extremely cold day, some water heat load shifts to much later in the morning, with less load available for shedding at the time of system peak. Models of hourly end-use consumption were constructed to simulate the impact of conservation, land management, and fuel switching programs on electricity consumption. Javelin, a time-series simulating package for personal computers, was chosen for the hourly analysis. Both a base case and a program case were simulated. 15 figs., 7 tabs.

  5. Puget Sound area electric reliability plan: Draft Environmental Impact Statement

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1992-04-01

    The purpose of this appendix to the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) report is to provide an update of the latest study work done on transmission system options for the Puget Sound Area Electric Reliability Plan. Also included in the attachments to the EIS are 2 reports analyzing the voltage stability of the Puget Sound transmission system and a review by Power Technologies, Inc. of the BPA voltage stability analysis and reactive options. Five transmission line options and several reactive options are presently being considered as possible solutions to the PSAFRP by the Transmission Team. The first two line options would be built on new rights-of way adjacent (as much as possible) to existing corridors. The reactive options would optimize the existing transmission system capability by adding new stations for series capacitors and/or switchgear. The other three line options are rebuilds or upgrades of existing cross mountain transmission lines. These options are listed below and include a preliminary assessment of the additional transmission system reinforcement required to integrate the new facilities into the existing transmission system. Plans were designed to provide at least 500 MVAR reactive margin

  6. Puget Sound Area Electric Reliability Plan : Appendix E, Transmission Reinforcement Analysis.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    United States. Bonneville Power Administration.

    1992-04-01

    The purpose of this appendix to the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) report is to provide an update of the latest study work done on transmission system options for the Puget Sound Area Electric Reliability Plan. Also included in the attachments to the EIS are 2 reports analyzing the voltage stability of the Puget Sound transmission system and a review by Power Technologies, Inc. of the BPA voltage stability analysis and reactive options. Five transmission line options and several reactive options are presently being considered as possible solutions to the PSAFRP by the Transmission Team. The first two line options would be built on new rights-of way adjacent (as much as possible) to existing corridors. The reactive options would optimize the existing transmission system capability by adding new stations for series capacitors and/or switchgear. The other three line options are rebuilds or upgrades of existing cross mountain transmission lines. These options are listed below and include a preliminary assessment of the additional transmission system reinforcement required to integrate the new facilities into the existing transmission system. Plans were designed to provide at least 500 MVAR reactive margin.

  7. Geological and Electrical Resistivity Sounding of Olokonla Area in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Akorede

    form prefential pathways for ground water. Three vertical electrical ... investigation techniques which use the electrical properties of ... Figure 1: Geological Map of Nigeria Showing the Study Area ... expected to assume a circular shape.

  8. Effects of resistive bodies on DC electrical soundings

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L. Alfano

    1996-06-01

    Full Text Available Some deep DC electrical soundings, performed in alpine and apenninic areas with the continuous polar dipole-dipole spread, show apparent resistivity curves with positive slopes. Measured values of apparent resistivity reach 30000 Wm. Applying the "surface charges" method we developed three dimensional mathematical models, by means of which we can state simple rules for determining the minimum extensions of the deep resistive bodies, fundamental information for a more precise interpretation of the field results.

  9. Application of subharmonics for active sound design of electric vehicles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gwak, Doo Young; Yoon, Kiseop; Seong, Yeolwan; Lee, Soogab

    2014-12-01

    The powertrain of electric vehicles generates an unfamiliar acoustical environment for customers. This paper seeks optimal interior sound for electric vehicles based on psychoacoustic knowledge and musical harmonic theory. The concept of inserting a virtual sound, which consists of the subharmonics of an existing high-frequency component, is suggested to improve sound quality. Subjective evaluation results indicate that the impression of interior sound can be enhanced in this manner. Increased appeal is achieved through two designed stimuli, which proves the effectiveness of the method proposed.

  10. Depth study of insular shelf electric sounding in the Las Mercedes anomaly (Tacuarembo)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cicalese, H.

    1983-01-01

    In the framework of Uranium prospecting Programme the geophysics team composed by BRGM and DINAMIGE workers were carried out an study about insular shelf electric sounding on the Mercedes area.They were studied the following topics: geographical location, geologic framework, methods, materials and some results

  11. Improving Sound Systems by Electrical Means

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schneider, Henrik

    to intelligent control and protection functionality and so on. In this work different strategies towards improvements of sound systems by electrical means was investigated considering the interfaces between each component and the performance of the full system. The strategies can be categorized by improvements...... reduction in the best case. This technology is very promising since it compensates for most distortion mechanisms of the transducer such as non-linearities, production variation, wear-n-tear, temperature changes and so on. Furthermore the accelerometer output can be used for protection purposes. The only...... of the bended copper foils to optimize the DC resistance. The DC resistance was reduced by 30 % compared to the starting point for a 10 turn toroidal inductor using this method. The combined work indicate that large sound system improvements are in reach by use of electrical means. Innovative solutions have...

  12. Using Vertical Electrical Soundings for Characterizing Hydrogeological and Tectonic Settings in Deir El-Adas Area, Yarmouk Basin, Syria

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al-Fares, Walid

    2016-06-01

    The present study is aimed at characterizing the subsurface geological and tectonic structure in Deir El-Adas area, by using Vertical Electrical Sounding survey (VES) and hydrogeological investigations, in order to determine the causes of the failure for the majority of the wells drilled in the area. The survey data was treated in three different approaches including direct VES inversion, pseudo-2D method and horizontal profiling, in order to maximize the reliability of the data interpretation. The results revealed the presence of a local faulted anticline structure at the top of the Paleogene formation, underneath the basaltic outcrops where Deir El-Adas village is situated. The appearance of this subsurface anticline structure has complicated the local hydro-geological situation, and most likely led to limitation of the groundwater recharge in the area. Moreover, the performed piezometric and discharge maps indicated the presence of a notable groundwater watershed, in addition to feeble water productivity of the wells drilled adjacent to Deir El-Adas, mostly related to the subsurface geological and tectonic settings in the area.

  13. Depth study of insular shelf electric sounding in the Puntas de Abrojal anomaly

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cicalese, H.

    1983-01-01

    In the framework of the Uranium prospecting Programme, a geophysics team composed by BRGM and DINAMIGE workers were carried out an study about of insular shelf electric sounding on the Puntas de Abrojal area.A geographical location, geologic framework, geophysical survey and methods, materials and results were given

  14. How should an electric vehicle sound? User and expert perception

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Petiot, Jean-François; Kristensen, Bjørn G.; Maier, Anja

    2013-01-01

    for electric vehicles were investigated in an experimental setting with a total of 40 participants, 34 novice users and six sound experts. Word association was used to elicit emotional reactions to the different sounds. Novice users employ more characterrelated terms to describe the sounds, while experts use...... more composition-based words. Analysis of variance and conjoint analysis was used to analyze participants’ assessments of sounds according to two semantic scales (pleasantness and appropriateness). Considerable inter-individual differences in the ratings of pleasantness and appropriateness indicate...

  15. Objective function analysis for electric soundings (VES), transient electromagnetic soundings (TEM) and joint inversion VES/TEM

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bortolozo, Cassiano Antonio; Bokhonok, Oleg; Porsani, Jorge Luís; Monteiro dos Santos, Fernando Acácio; Diogo, Liliana Alcazar; Slob, Evert

    2017-11-01

    Ambiguities in geophysical inversion results are always present. How these ambiguities appear in most cases open to interpretation. It is interesting to investigate ambiguities with regard to the parameters of the models under study. Residual Function Dispersion Map (RFDM) can be used to differentiate between global ambiguities and local minima in the objective function. We apply RFDM to Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) and TEM Sounding inversion results. Through topographic analysis of the objective function we evaluate the advantages and limitations of electrical sounding data compared with TEM sounding data, and the benefits of joint inversion in comparison with the individual methods. The RFDM analysis proved to be a very interesting tool for understanding the joint inversion method of VES/TEM. Also the advantage of the applicability of the RFDM analyses in real data is explored in this paper to demonstrate not only how the objective function of real data behaves but the applicability of the RFDM approach in real cases. With the analysis of the results, it is possible to understand how the joint inversion can reduce the ambiguity of the methods.

  16. 2D interpretation of vertical electrical soundings: application to the Sarantaporon basin (Thessaly, Greece)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Atzemoglou, A; Tsourlos, P

    2012-01-01

    A large-scale vertical electrical sounding (VES) survey was applied at the basin of Sarantaporon, Elassona in order to study the tectonic and hydrogeological setting of the area. A large number of VES was obtained on a near-regular grid and data were initially processed with 1D inversion algorithm. Since some of the dense measured soundings were collinear, it was possible to combine 1D sounding data and produce 2D data sets which were interpreted using a fully 2D inversion algorithm. 2D geoelectrical models were in very good agreement with the existing drilling information of the area. 2D interpretation results were combined to produce pseudo-3D geoelectrical images of the subsurface. Resulting geoelectrical interpretations are in very good agreement with the existing geological information and reveal a relatively detailed picture of the basin's lithology. Further, the results allowed us to obtain new, and verify existing, structural information regarding the studied area. Overall, it is concluded that 2D interpretation of 1D VES measurements can produce improved subsurface geophysical images and presents a potential useful tool for larger scale geological investigations especially in the case of reprocessing existing VES data sets

  17. 78 FR 2797 - Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Minimum Sound Requirements for Hybrid and Electric Vehicles

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-14

    ... Sound Requirements for Hybrid and Electric Vehicles; Draft Environmental Assessment for Rulemaking To Establish Minimum Sound Requirements for Hybrid and Electric Vehicles; Proposed Rules #0;#0;Federal Register...-0148] RIN 2127-AK93 Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Minimum Sound Requirements for Hybrid and...

  18. Electrical resistivity sounding to study water content distribution in heterogeneous soils

    Science.gov (United States)

    Electrical resistivity (ER) sounding is increasingly being used as non-invasive technique to reveal and map soil heterogeneity. The objective of this work was to assess ER sounding applicability to study soil water distribution in spatially heterogeneous soils. The 30x30-m study plot was located at ...

  19. Puget Sound Area Electric Reliability Plan. Appendix D, Conservation, Load Management and Fuel Switching Analysis : Draft Environmental Impact Statement.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    United States. Bonneville Power Administration.

    1991-09-01

    Various conservation, load management, and fuel switching programs were considered as ways to reduce or shift system peak load. These programs operate at the end-use level, such as residential water heat. Figure D-1a shows what electricity consumption for water heat looks like on normal and extreme peak days. Load management programs, such as water heat control, are designed to reduce electricity consumption at the time of system peak. On the coldest day in average winter, system load peaks near 8:00 a.m. In a winter with extremely cold weather, electricity consumption increases fr all hours, and the system peak shifts to later in the morning. System load shapes in the Puget Sound area are shown in Figure D-1b for a normal winter peak day (February 2, 1988) and extreme peak day (February 3, 1989). Peak savings from any program are calculated to be the reduction in loads on the entire system at the hour of system peak. Peak savings for all programs are measured at 8:00 a.m. on a normal peak day and 9:00 a.m. on an extreme peak day. On extremely cold day, some water heat load shifts to much later in the morning, with less load available for shedding at the time of system peak. Models of hourly end-use consumption were constructed to simulate the impact of conservation, land management, and fuel switching programs on electricity consumption. Javelin, a time-series simulating package for personal computers, was chosen for the hourly analysis. Both a base case and a program case were simulated. 15 figs., 7 tabs.

  20. Piezometric surface deduced from vertical electrical sounding data ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    In hydrogeological studies the knowledge of the water table is very essential. In this work, one hundred and eight vertical electrical soundings were carried out, with the view of unravelling the hydrogeological characteristics of Kuri River Basin, Kaduna, Nigeria. The water table for eleven hand dug wells were directly ...

  1. Delineating The Subsurface Structures Using Electrical Resistivity Sounding In Some Part Of Willeton Perth Western Australia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Okan Evans Onojasun

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Geophysical survey using electrical resistivity methods has been carried out within the industrial area of Willeton Perth Western Australia with the view to delineate the geoelectric characteristics of the basement complex and evaluate the groundwater potential in the area. Vertical electrical sounding with ABEM SAS 3000 Terrameter and Schlumberger electrode configuration were employed for data acquisition. Apparent resistivity values obtained from the field measurements were plotted against half current electrodes spacing on a log-log graph while a model was suggested to fit the resistivity distribution presented in the sounding. The results from the modelling were finally iterated to the lowest Root Mean Square RMS percentage error using computer software A 7 point filter derived by Guptasarma to calculate a forward model. Analysis of the results showed that the study area has fairly homogenous subsurface stratification with four distinct subsurface layers above the depth of 37m. The four subsurface layers comprises top soil mainly of unconsolidated and sand containing organic matter unsaturated sand layer with consolidated and highly resistive water saturated sand layer with highly water saturated soil and the sub-stratum layer consisting of clay material. The aquifer performance is best at about 32m hence it is suggested that boreholes for sustainable water supply in this area should be drilled to about 32 m to hit prolific aquifer.

  2. 33 CFR 334.412 - Albemarle Sound, Pamlico Sound, Harvey Point and adjacent waters, NC; restricted area.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Albemarle Sound, Pamlico Sound, Harvey Point and adjacent waters, NC; restricted area. 334.412 Section 334.412 Navigation and Navigable Waters CORPS OF ENGINEERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE DANGER ZONE AND RESTRICTED AREA...

  3. The paleorelief baseboard study by electrical soundings in the anomaly of Magnolia - Tacuarembo - Uruguay

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Perrin, J.; Bernard, J.

    1982-08-01

    This work is about the paleorelief baseboard study by electrical soundings in the anomaly of Magnolia - Tacuarembo - Uruguay. But not all electrical soundings allowed a good prevision of coating thickness.The difficulties found in the determination of the depth of the electrical resistant baseboard are explained by discontinuities levels and lateral variations in resistivities. Moreover, the re modeling of the results according to the data of drilling led to a relatively coherent interpretation that provides a basis for all future intervention in the same type of formation

  4. Research on minimum sound specifications for hybrid and electric vehicles

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-06-30

    This report documents research by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to identify ways : to develop sound specifications for electric and hybrid vehicles. The research was conducted to support activities : related to the implem...

  5. Multiple target sound quality balance for hybrid electric powertrain noise

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mosquera-Sánchez, J. A.; Sarrazin, M.; Janssens, K.; de Oliveira, L. P. R.; Desmet, W.

    2018-01-01

    The integration of the electric motor to the powertrain in hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) presents acoustic stimuli that elicit new perceptions. The large number of spectral components, as well as the wider bandwidth of this sort of noises, pose new challenges to current noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) approaches. This paper presents a framework for enhancing the sound quality (SQ) of the hybrid electric powertrain noise perceived inside the passenger compartment. Compared with current active sound quality control (ASQC) schemes, where the SQ improvement is just an effect of the control actions, the proposed technique features an optimization stage, which enables the NVH specialist to actively implement the amplitude balance of the tones that better fits into the auditory expectations. Since Loudness, Roughness, Sharpness and Tonality are the most relevant SQ metrics for interior HEV noise, they are used as performance metrics in the concurrent optimization analysis, which, eventually, drives the control design method. Thus, multichannel active sound profiling systems that feature cross-channel compensation schemes are guided by the multi-objective optimization stage, by means of optimal sets of amplitude gain factors that can be implemented at each single sensor location, while minimizing cross-channel effects that can either degrade the original SQ condition, or even hinder the implementation of independent SQ targets. The proposed framework is verified experimentally, with realistic stationary hybrid electric powertrain noise, showing SQ enhancement for multiple locations within a scaled vehicle mock-up. The results show total success rates in excess of 90%, which indicate that the proposed method is promising, not only for the improvement of the SQ of HEV noise, but also for a variety of periodic disturbances with similar features.

  6. Use Of Vertical Electrical Sounding Survey For Study Groundwater In NISSAH Region, SAUDI ARABIA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alhenaki, Bander; Alsoma, Ali

    2015-04-01

    The aim of this research is to investigate groundwater depth in desert and dry environmental conditions area . The study site located in Wadi Nisah-eastern part of Najd province (east-central of Saudi Arabia), Generally, the study site is underlain by Phanerozoic sedimentary rocks of the western edge of the Arabian platform, which rests on Proterozoic basement at depths ranged between 5-8km. Another key objective of this research is to assess the water-table and identify the bearing layers structures study area by using Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) 1D imaging technique. We have been implemented and acquired a sections of 315 meter vertical electrical soundings using Schlumberger field arrangements . These dataset were conducted along 9 profiles. The resistivity Schlumberger sounding was carried with half-spacing in the range 500 . The VES survey intend to cover several locations where existing wells information may be used for correlations. also location along the valley using the device Syscal R2 The results of this study concluded that there are at least three sedimentary layers to a depth of 130 meter. First layer, extending from the surface to a depth of about 3 meter characterized by dry sandy layer and high resistivity value. The second layer, underlain the first layer to a depth of 70 meter. This layer has less resistant compare to the first layer. Last layer, has low resistivity values of 20 ohm .m to a depth of 130 meter blow ground surface. We have observed a complex pattern of groundwater depth (ranging from 80 meter to 120 meter) which may reflect the lateral heterogeneity of study site. The outcomes of this research has been used to locate the suitable drilling locations.

  7. 33 CFR 167.1701 - In Prince William Sound: Precautionary areas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false In Prince William Sound: Precautionary areas. 167.1701 Section 167.1701 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF... Traffic Separation Schemes and Precautionary Areas Pacific West Coast § 167.1701 In Prince William Sound...

  8. Sound production to electric discharge: sonic muscle evolution in progress in Synodontis spp. catfishes (Mochokidae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boyle, Kelly S; Colleye, Orphal; Parmentier, Eric

    2014-09-22

    Elucidating the origins of complex biological structures has been one of the major challenges of evolutionary studies. Within vertebrates, the capacity to produce regular coordinated electric organ discharges (EODs) has evolved independently in different fish lineages. Intermediate stages, however, are not known. We show that, within a single catfish genus, some species are able to produce sounds, electric discharges or both signals (though not simultaneously). We highlight that both acoustic and electric communication result from actions of the same muscle. In parallel to their abilities, the studied species show different degrees of myofibril development in the sonic and electric muscle. The lowest myofibril density was observed in Synodontis nigriventris, which produced EODs but no swim bladder sounds, whereas the greatest myofibril density was observed in Synodontis grandiops, the species that produced the longest sound trains but did not emit EODs. Additionally, S. grandiops exhibited the lowest auditory thresholds. Swim bladder sounds were similar among species, while EODs were distinctive at the species level. We hypothesize that communication with conspecifics favoured the development of species-specific EOD signals and suggest an evolutionary explanation for the transition from a fast sonic muscle to electrocytes. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

  9. Sound-by-sound thalamic stimulation modulates midbrain auditory excitability and relative binaural sensitivity in frogs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ponnath, Abhilash; Farris, Hamilton E

    2014-01-01

    Descending circuitry can modulate auditory processing, biasing sensitivity to particular stimulus parameters and locations. Using awake in vivo single unit recordings, this study tested whether electrical stimulation of the thalamus modulates auditory excitability and relative binaural sensitivity in neurons of the amphibian midbrain. In addition, by using electrical stimuli that were either longer than the acoustic stimuli (i.e., seconds) or presented on a sound-by-sound basis (ms), experiments addressed whether the form of modulation depended on the temporal structure of the electrical stimulus. Following long duration electrical stimulation (3-10 s of 20 Hz square pulses), excitability (spikes/acoustic stimulus) to free-field noise stimuli decreased by 32%, but returned over 600 s. In contrast, sound-by-sound electrical stimulation using a single 2 ms duration electrical pulse 25 ms before each noise stimulus caused faster and varied forms of modulation: modulation lasted sound-by-sound electrical stimulation varied between different acoustic stimuli, including for different male calls, suggesting modulation is specific to certain stimulus attributes. For binaural units, modulation depended on the ear of input, as sound-by-sound electrical stimulation preceding dichotic acoustic stimulation caused asymmetric modulatory effects: sensitivity shifted for sounds at only one ear, or by different relative amounts for both ears. This caused a change in the relative difference in binaural sensitivity. Thus, sound-by-sound electrical stimulation revealed fast and ear-specific (i.e., lateralized) auditory modulation that is potentially suited to shifts in auditory attention during sound segregation in the auditory scene.

  10. Depth study of insular shelf electric sounding Adelaida anomaly (Rivera)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cicalese, H.

    1983-01-01

    In the framework of the Uranium prospecting programme, the DINAMIGE geophysical equipment have made a study. It was about the depth of insular shelf electric sounding on the anomalies zone of Adelaida. This equipment carried out a study of the following subjects: geographical location, geologic framework, geophysical intervention, developed works, methods and material and results

  11. The science of sound recording

    CERN Document Server

    Kadis, Jay

    2012-01-01

    The Science of Sound Recording will provide you with more than just an introduction to sound and recording, it will allow you to dive right into some of the technical areas that often appear overwhelming to anyone without an electrical engineering or physics background.  The Science of Sound Recording helps you build a basic foundation of scientific principles, explaining how recording really works. Packed with valuable must know information, illustrations and examples of 'worked through' equations this book introduces the theory behind sound recording practices in a logical and prac

  12. 33 CFR 165.1704 - Prince William Sound, Alaska-regulated navigation area.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Prince William Sound, Alaska... District § 165.1704 Prince William Sound, Alaska-regulated navigation area. (a) The following is a... Hinchinbrook Light to Schooner Rock Light, comprising that portion of Prince William Sound between 146°30′ W...

  13. Research on the Interior Sound Quality in Hybrid Electric Vehicle

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liao Lian Ying

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Even the overall level of vehicle interior noise of hybrid electric vehicle (HEV reduced to a certain degree, the vibration and noise generated by the engine, motor, generator and power split have made greater effect on the vehicle interior sound quality in HEV. In order to research the feature of vehicle interior sound quality in HEV, the HEV is used to be the research object, the binaural noise sample of the driver when playing different kinds of music in the vehicle with the speed of sixty kilometers per hour is collected. ArtemiS is used to conduct frequency division processing, so as to obtain the relative weight of each frequency band and the overall noise. The tone, roughness and sharpness of sound quality subjective evaluation parameters are quantified, the SPSS is used to establish the linear regression model of the sample, and the best masking music tracks are found out. Then, the sound samples that contains the best music tracks and the simple vehicle interior noise are re-collected, the regression model and ArtemiS are used to predict the subjective evaluation value. The research results show that when adding the music, the tone degree rises and the lowering degree decreases, thus the disturbing degree reduces, which significantly improves the sound quality in the HEV.

  14. Hybrid and electric low-noise cars cause an increase in traffic accidents involving vulnerable road users in urban areas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brand, Stephan; Petri, Maximilian; Haas, Philipp; Krettek, Christian; Haasper, Carl

    2013-01-01

    Due to resource scarcity, the number of low-noise and electric cars is expected to increase rapidly. The frequent use of these cars will lead to a significant reduction of traffic related noise and pollution. On the other hand, due to the adaption and conditioning of vulnerable road users the number of traffic accidents involving pedestrians and bicyclists is postulated to increase as well. Children, older people with reduced eyesight and the blind are especially reliant on a combination of acoustic and visual warning signals with approaching or accelerating vehicles. This is even more evident in urban areas where the engine sound is the dominating sound up to 30 kph (kilometres per hour). Above this, tyre-road interaction is the main cause of traffic noise. With the missing typical engine sound a new sound design is necessary to prevent traffic accidents in urban areas. Drivers should not be able to switch the sound generator off.

  15. Electric Holding Company Areas

    Data.gov (United States)

    Department of Homeland Security — Holding companies are electric power utilities that have a holding company structure. This vector polygon layer represents the area served by electric power holding...

  16. Application effect of TEM sounding survey on prospecting and target area selection of sandstone-type uranium deposits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    He Jianguo; Liang Shanming; Zhao Cuiping

    2006-01-01

    Based on the results of transient electromagnetic (TEM) sounding survey during recent years regional geological reconnaissance with drilling (1:250000), the application effect of TEM sounding survey during regional reconnaissance is summarized in this paper. It is suggested that the data of TEM sounding are useful in judging hydrodynamic conditions of groundwater and determining favorable areas for uranium ore-formation; TEM sounding in large areas may be proper for prospecting in gobi-desert areas and be beneficial for regional reconnaissance and target area selection, and may reduce the target area and provide basis for further drilling program. It is of popularized significance in the prospecting for sandstone-type uranium deposits. (authors)

  17. An Electric Resistivity Study of the Chelungpu Fault in the Taichung Area, Taiwan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ping-Hu Cheng

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available We conducted an electric resistivity survey consisting of six resistivity image profilings and several resistivity measurements on outcrops of strata in the Taichung area to investigate the subsurface structures of the Chelungpu fault. Three magnetotelluric sounding results are added to infer rock formations at depth. Based on the resistivity measurements on outcrops of the strata and the correlations between the interpretative resistivity structures and the rock formations recognized from drilling cores and the outcrops of the strata, the resistivity spectra of rock formations are obtained, and the geological structures are deduced.

  18. Geoelectric sounding for the determination of groundwater ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    High apparent resistivity contrasts between the saturated freshwater zones and apparent low resistivity of the saturated seawater intrusion were measured on eleven vertical electrical soundings field curves using the Schlumberger electrode array in Iwaya area of Lagos. The field measurements were inverted to subsurface ...

  19. DC Electric Field measurement in the Mid-latitude Ionosphere during MSTID by S-520-27 Sounding Rocket Experiments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ishisaka, K.; Yamamoto, M.; Yokoyama, T.; Tanaka, M.; Abe, T.; Kumamoto, A.

    2015-12-01

    In the middle latitude ionospheric F region, mainly in summer, wave structures of electron density that have wave length of 100-200 km and period of one hour are observed. This phenomena is called Medium Scale Traveling Ionosphiric Disturbance; MSTID. MSTID has been observed by GPS receiving network, and its characteristic were studied. In the past, MSTID was thought to be generated by the Perkins instability, but its growth ratio was too small to be effective so far smaller than the real. Recently coupling process between ionospheric E and F regions are studied by using two radars and by computer simulations. Through these studies, we now have hypothesis that MSTID is generated by the combination of E-F region coupling and Perkins instability. The S-520-27 sounding rocket experiment on E-layer and F-layer was planned in order to verify this hypothesis. S-520-27 sounding rocket was launched at 23:57 JST on 20th July, 2013 from JAXA Uchinoura Space Center. S-520-27 sounding rocket reached 316km height. The S-520-27 payload was equipped with Electric Field Detector (EFD) with a two set of orthogonal double probes to measure DC electric field in the spin plane of the payload. The electrodes of two double probe antennas were used to gather the potentials which were detected with high impedance pre-amplifier using the floating (unbiased) double probe technique. As a results of measurements of DC electric fields by the EFD, the natural electric field was about +/-5mV/m, and varied the direction from southeast to east. Then the electric field was mapped to the horizontal plane at 280km height along the geomagnetic field line. In this presentation, we show the detail result of DC electric field measurement by S-520-27 sounding rocket and then we discuss about the correlation between the natural electric field and TEC variation by using the GPS-TEC.

  20. Determination of the mechanical thermostat electrical contacts switching quality with sound and vibration analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rejc, Jure; Munih, Marko [University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana (Slovenia)

    2017-05-15

    A mechanical thermostat is a device that switches heating or cooling appliances on or off based on temperature. For this kind of use, electronic or mechanical switching concepts are applied. During the production of electrical contacts, several irregularities can occur leading to improper switching events of the thermostat electrical contacts. This paper presents a non-obstructive method based on the fact that when the switching event occurs it can be heard and felt by human senses. We performed several laboratory tests with two different methods. The first method includes thermostat switch sound signal analysis during the switching event. The second method is based on sampling of the accelerometer signal during the switching event. The results show that the sound analysis approach has great potential. The approach enables an accurate determination of the switching event even if the sampled signal carries also the switching event of the neighbour thermostat.

  1. Improving Sound Systems by Electrical Means

    OpenAIRE

    Schneider, Henrik; Andersen, Michael A. E.; Knott, Arnold

    2015-01-01

    The availability and flexibility of audio services on various digital platforms have created a high demand for a large range of sound systems. The fundamental components of sound systems such as docking stations, sound bars and wireless mobile speakers consists of a power supply, amplifiers and transducers. Due to historical reasons the design of each of these components are commonly handled separately which are indeed limiting the full performance potential of such systems. To state some exa...

  2. On-Chip electric power generation system from sound of portable music plyers and smartphones towerd portable uTAS

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Naito, T.; Kaji, N.; le Gac, Severine; Tokeshi, M.; van den Berg, Albert; Baba, Y.; Fujii, T.; Hibara, A.; Takeuchi, S.; Fukuba, T.

    2012-01-01

    This paper demonstrates electric generation from sound to minimize and integrate microfluidic systems for point of care testing or in-situ analysis. In this work, 5.4 volts and 50 mW DC was generated from sound through an earphone cable, which is a versatile system and able to actuate small size and

  3. Hydrostratigraphy and hydrogeology of the western part of Maira area, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan: a case study by using electrical resistivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farid, Asam; Jadoon, Khanzaib; Akhter, Gulraiz; Iqbal, Muhammad Asim

    2013-03-01

    Hydrostratigraphy and hydrogeology of the Maira vicinity is important for the characterization of aquifer system and developing numerical groundwater flow models to predict the future availability of the water resource. Conventionally, the aquifer parameters are obtained by the analysis of pumping tests data which provide limited spatial information and turn out to be costly and time consuming. Vertical electrical soundings and pump testing of boreholes were conducted to delineate the aquifer system at the western part of the Maira area, Khyber Pakhtun Khwa, Pakistan. Aquifer lithology in the eastern part of the study area is dominated by coarse sand and gravel whereas the western part is characterized by fine sand. An attempt has been made to estimate the hydraulic conductivity of the aquifer system by establishing a relationship between the pumping test results and vertical electrical soundings by using regression technique. The relationship is applied to the area along the resistivity profiles where boreholes are not drilled. Our findings show a good match between pumped hydraulic conductivity and estimated hydraulic conductivity. In case of sparse borehole data, regression technique is useful in estimating hydraulic properties for aquifers with varying lithology.

  4. Hydrostratigraphy and hydrogeology of the western part of Maira area, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan: A case study by using electrical resistivity

    KAUST Repository

    Farid, Asam M.

    2012-06-27

    Hydrostratigraphy and hydrogeology of the Maira vicinity is important for the characterization of aquifer system and developing numerical groundwater flow models to predict the future availability of the water resource. Conventionally, the aquifer parameters are obtained by the analysis of pumping tests data which provide limited spatial information and turn out to be costly and time consuming. Vertical electrical soundings and pump testing of boreholes were conducted to delineate the aquifer system at the western part of the Maira area, Khyber Pakhtun Khwa, Pakistan. Aquifer lithology in the eastern part of the study area is dominated by coarse sand and gravel whereas the western part is characterized by fine sand. An attempt has been made to estimate the hydraulic conductivity of the aquifer system by establishing a relationship between the pumping test results and vertical electrical soundings by using regression technique. The relationship is applied to the area along the resistivity profiles where boreholes are not drilled. Our findings show a good match between pumped hydraulic conductivity and estimated hydraulic conductivity. In case of sparse borehole data, regression technique is useful in estimating hydraulic properties for aquifers with varying lithology. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

  5. Mobile phone conversations, listening to music and quiet (electric) cars: Are traffic sounds important for safe cycling?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stelling-Konczak, A; van Wee, G P; Commandeur, J J F; Hagenzieker, M

    2017-09-01

    Listening to music or talking on the phone while cycling as well as the growing number of quiet (electric) cars on the road can make the use of auditory cues challenging for cyclists. The present study examined to what extent and in which traffic situations traffic sounds are important for safe cycling. Furthermore, the study investigated the potential safety implications of limited auditory information caused by quiet (electric) cars and by cyclists listening to music or talking on the phone. An Internet survey among 2249 cyclists in three age groups (16-18, 30-40 and 65-70year old) was carried out to collect information on the following aspects: 1) the auditory perception of traffic sounds, including the sounds of quiet (electric) cars; 2) the possible compensatory behaviours of cyclists who listen to music or talk on their mobile phones; 3) the possible contribution of listening to music and talking on the phone to cycling crashes and incidents. Age differences with respect to those three aspects were analysed. Results show that listening to music and talking on the phone negatively affects perception of sounds crucial for safe cycling. However, taking into account the influence of confounding variables, no relationship was found between the frequency of listening to music or talking on the phone and the frequency of incidents among teenage cyclists. This may be due to cyclists' compensating for the use of portable devices. Listening to music or talking on the phone whilst cycling may still pose a risk in the absence of compensatory behaviour or in a traffic environment with less extensive and less safe cycling infrastructure than the Dutch setting. With the increasing number of quiet (electric) cars on the road, cyclists in the future may also need to compensate for the limited auditory input of these cars. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Gefinex 400S (Sampo) EM-Soundings at Olkiluoto 2006

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jokinen, T.; Lehtimaeki, J.

    2006-08-01

    In the beginning of summer 2006 Geological Survey of Finland carried out electromagnetic frequency soundings with Gefinex 400S equipment (called also Sampo) at Onkalo situated in Olkiluoto nuclear power plant area. The same soundings sites were the first time measured and marked in 2004 and repeated in 2005. The aim of the measurements is to monitor the changes of groundwater conditions by the changes of the electric conductivity of the earth at ONKALO and repository area. The measurements form two 1400 m long broadside profiles, which have 200 m mutual distance and 200 m station separation. The profiles have been measured using 200, 500, and 800 m coil separations. The total number of the soundings was 48 but at 8 stations the measurement did not succeed because of strong electromagnetic noise. The numerous power lines and the cables of the area generate local 3-D effects on the sounding curves, but the repeatability of the results is good. However, most suitable for monitoring purposes are the sites without strong 3-D effects. Comparison of results 2004-2006 shows small differences at some sounding sites. (orig.)

  7. Identification of aquifer potential in Karanganyar city by using vertical electrical sounding method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marfuatik, L.; Koesuma, S.; Legowo, B.; Darsono

    2018-03-01

    The identification of aquifer was done by using Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) method. This research aims to identify potential and depth of the aquifers. The locations of surveys are at ten points,namely TS1 (Alastuwo), TS2 (Wonorejo), TS3 (Kaling), TS4 (Kaling), TS5 (Buran), TS6 (Wonolopo), TS7 (Buran), TS8 (Ngijo), TS9 (Jati), and TS10 (Suruhkalang) where all located in Karanganyar regency. The survey path is about 500-600 meters length which can penetrate current to 100 – 200 meters in depth. The measurement was done by using OYO Mc OHM-EL Model 2119C. Geoelectrical data analysis was processed using Progress version 3.0 Software. The interpretation result shows that the locations of research area are included in Lawu-volcano rock formation which is breccias, lava, and tuff as the constituents. We found that unconfined aquifer in all of locations with different depth and confined aquifer just 7 locations start from 25.04 meters.

  8. Approach to downstream planning for nearshore response and sensitive areas protection outside Prince William Sound, Alaska

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    DeCola, E.G.; Robertson, T.L.; Robertson, R.; Banta, J.

    2004-01-01

    This study assessed the need for an oil spill response plan for downstream coastal communities that could be affected by oil spilled from tankers travelling in Prince William Sound, Alaska. For the purpose of oil spill contingency planning, the State of Alaska has been divided into the Kodiak and Cook Inlet sub-areas that are at risk for downstream impacts from a Prince William Sound oil spill. The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill provided an example of a worst-case scenario oil spill from a tanker in Prince William Sound, but the oil spill planning system that has evolved in Alaska does not adequately plan for on oil spill that originates in one sub-area of the state, but impacts other sub-areas in the downstream spill path. This study analyzed the gaps that exist in the current response planning system in the Prince William Sound, Cook Inlet and Kodiak sub-areas. A method was proposed to improve the existing response plans so that emergency response teams are better prepared to manage cross-boundary oil spills originating in Prince William Sound. The proposed method focuses on nearshore response and sensitive areas protection for coastlines and communities that are at risk for oil spills from a tanker travelling the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS). 11 refs., 3 figs

  9. Vehicle surge detection and pathway discrimination by pedestrians who are blind: Effect of adding an alert sound to hybrid electric vehicles on performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Dae Shik; Emerson, Robert Wall; Naghshineh, Koorosh; Pliskow, Jay; Myers, Kyle

    2012-05-01

    This study examined the effect of adding an artificially generated alert sound to a quiet vehicle on its detectability and localizability with 15 visually impaired adults. When starting from a stationary position, the hybrid electric vehicle with an alert sound was significantly more quickly and reliably detected than either the identical vehicle without such added sound or the comparable internal combustion engine vehicle. However, no significant difference was found between the vehicles in respect to how accurately the participants could discriminate the path of a given vehicle (straight vs. right turn). These results suggest that adding an artificial sound to a hybrid electric vehicle may help reduce delay in street crossing initiation by a blind pedestrian, but the benefit of such alert sound may not be obvious in determining whether the vehicle in his near parallel lane proceeds straight through the intersection or turns right in front of him.

  10. Gefinex 400S (Sampo) EM-Soundings at Olkiluoto 2007

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jokinen, T.; Lehtimaeki, J.

    2007-09-01

    In the beginning of June 2007 Geological Survey of Finland carried out electromagnetic frequency soundings with Gefinex 400S equipment (Sampo) at Onkalo situated in Olkiluoto nuclear power plant area. The same soundings sites were the first time measured and marked in 2004 and repeated after it yearly. The aim of the measurements is to monitor the changes of groundwater conditions by the changes of the electric conductivity of the earth at ONKALO and repository area. The measurements form two 1400 m long broadside profiles, which have 200 m mutual distance and 200 m station separation. The profiles have been measured using 200, 500, and 800 m coil separations. The total number of the soundings stations is 48. In 2007 at 8 sounding stations the transmitter and/or receiver sites were changed and the line L11.400 was substituted by line L11.500. Some changes helped but anyway there were 6 stations that could not be measured because of the strong electromagnetic noise. The numerous power lines and the cables of the area generate local 3-D effects on the sounding curves, but the repeatability of the results is good. However, most suitable for monitoring purposes are the sites without strong 3-D effects. Comparison of results 2004-2007 shows small differences at some sounding sites. (orig.)

  11. 50 CFR Figure 4 to Subpart E of... - Prince William Sound Rural and Non-Rural Areas

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Prince William Sound Rural and Non-Rural Areas 4 Figure 4 to Subpart E of Part 300 Wildlife and Fisheries INTERNATIONAL FISHING AND RELATED... to Subpart E of Part 300—Prince William Sound Rural and Non-Rural Areas ER04NO09.010 [74 FR 57110...

  12. 3D electrical image in area contaminated by hydrocarbons at the Cubatao, Brazil, industrial pole; Imageamento eletrico 3D em area contaminada por hidrocarbonetono no polo industrial de Cubatao - SP, Brasil

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Baessa, Marcus Paulus Martins [Centro de Pesquisas e Desenvolvimento Leopoldo Americo Miguez de Mello, CENPES, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)], E-mail: marcus.baessa@petrobras.br; Oliva, Andresa; Kiang, Chang Hung [Universidade Estadual Paulista, UNESP, Rio Claro, SP (Brazil)], E-mails: aoliva@rc.unesp.br, chang@rc.unesp.br

    2010-12-15

    This work presents the results of geophysical surveys performed over an oil contaminated site in the Polo Industrial de Cubatao - Sao Paulo. The aim is to characterize geoelectrical signatures associated to hydrocarbon presence in order to delimit and calculate the volume of the contaminated area. For this study were used Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) and 3D Electrical Imaging for characterization of geology and geoelectrical response of the contaminant. The results showed that the hydrocarbon presence is associated to conductive anomalies due to products from biodegradation. The conductive anomalies are disseminated over the area, totalizing 1365.3 m3 volume. This volume, however, corresponds only to the residual phase contaminants, since it was not possible to map free-phase hydrocarbons. (author)

  13. Interpretation of electromagnetic Sampo monitoring soundings of Olkiluoto

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Korhonen, K.

    2010-04-01

    The Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) has carried out electromagnetic Sampo soundings at Olkiluoto annually since 2004 commissioned by Posiva. The soundings have been carried out at the same measurement stations every year. The goal of the soundings is to detect any changes in the electrical conditions of the bedrock surrounding the ONKALO underground research facility. This study aims to detect possible changes in the groundwater conditions using modelling. The sensitivity of the Sampo method to changes in the electrical properties and the level of groundwater were investigated as part of this study. The results of the sensitivity investigation indicate that the Sampo method is capable of detecting changes occurring even quite deep in the bedrock. Thus, the usage of the Sampo method to monitor the groundwater conditions is warranted. The plots of apparent resistivity as a function of depth indicate that the area directly above the ONKALO facility is very disturbed electromagnetically. However, most of the soundings to the east and west of ONKALO are of better quality and were interpreted. The results indicate possible changes in the groundwater conditions. The level of saline groundwater may be sinking in the eastern part while it may be rising on the western part. (orig.)

  14. A study of the electric response of He II at the excitation of second sound waves

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Chagovets, Tymofiy

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 42, č. 3 (2016), s. 230-235 ISSN 1063-777X R&D Projects: GA ČR GP13-03806P Institutional support: RVO:68378271 Keywords : superfluid helium * electric response * second sound * ions in He II Subject RIV: BM - Solid Matter Physics ; Magnetism Impact factor: 0.804, year: 2016

  15. Depth study of insular shelf electric sounding in the Las Mercedes anomaly (Tacuarembo)[Geochemical prospection of Uranium in Uruguay]; Estudio de la profundidad del zocalo por sondeos electricos en la Anomalia de Las Mercedes (Tacuarembo)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cicalese, H

    1983-07-01

    In the framework of Uranium prospecting Programme the geophysics team composed by BRGM and DINAMIGE workers were carried out an study about insular shelf electric sounding on the Mercedes area.They were studied the following topics: geographical location, geologic framework, methods, materials and some results.

  16. Electrical sounding data inversion with minimum L-1 norm; Inversao de dados de sondagem eletrica minimizando a norma L1

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Marinho, Jose Marcio Lins [Bahia Univ., Salvador, BA (Brazil). Inst. de Geociencias. Programa de Pesquisa e Pos-graduacao em Geociencias]|[Ceara Univ., Fortaleza, CE (Brazil). Dept. de Geologia; Lima, Olivar Antonio Lima de [Bahia Univ., Salvador, BA (Brazil). Inst. de Geociencias. Programa de Pesquisa e Pos-graduacao em Geociencias

    1995-12-31

    The steepest descent and the damped least squares are the most used methods for inverting electrical sounding data. Normally, such inversions are made in the apparent resistivity domain using the norm L{sub 2}. For one dimensional earth models we present a new inversion scheme based on the minimization of norm L{sub 1} applied in the logarithmic domain. In the steepest descent case, the implementation of the L{sub 1} norm consists essentially in computing partial derivatives of the objective function with respect to the model parameters. In the second case, referred here as the damped least absolute deviation, the implementation is done via an interactively reweighed least square procedure. Several inversions were done for the Schlumberger array using both theoretical and field data. The results are very promising and attest the robustness of the L{sub 1} norm. A comparative performance study of the both norms are in progress using more than 140 Schlumberger soundings obtained in a groundwater exploration program in the area of Itarema-Acarau, Ceara State, Brazil. (author). 9 refs., 3 figs

  17. Electrical Resistivity Studies Between Subarnarekha And Kansabati Rivers, Paschim Medinipur (W.B.), India: Implication To Groundwater Problems In The Area.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Panda, K. P.; Jha, M. K.; Sharma, S. P.

    2017-12-01

    Various parts of the world face acute shortage of groundwater. To solve groundwater problems various approaches are followed. Interlinking of the river is one of the approaches. The southern part of the West Bengal province of India receives huge amount of rainfall (annual 1200mm). Instead of huge amount of rainfall some parts of the area are problematic for groundwater occurrence. Characterization of aquifer in this area is very important for sustainable development of water supply and artificial recharge schemes. Electrical resistivity survey was performed at regular interval from Kharagpur (north) to Subarnrekha River (south) to map the lithological variations in this area. It covers around 25 kilometers distance from Kharagpur with latitude and longitude (22°19'7.3"N 87°18'40"E) to Subarnrekha River (22°15'49.4" N 87°16'45.1" E). To locating a suitable area for artificial recharge and for the characterization of aquifers vertical electrical sounding is a robust method. Resistivity soundings were carried out with an interval of 2 to 3 kilometers. Subsurface resistivity distribution has been interpreted by using very fast simulated annealing (VFSA) global optimization technique. The study reveals that northern part of the area is problematic and does not have suitable aquifer systems. Resistivity distribution is suitable in the southern part of area and corresponds to clayey sand. Interpreted resistivity in the northern part of the area is relatively high and reveals impervious laterite layer. In southern part of the area resistivity varies between 5-10 Ohm-m at depth below 80 m. Based on the resistivity model different types of geologic units are classified and the zone of interests for aquifer has been demarcated.

  18. Depth study of insular shelf electric sounding in the Puntas de Abrojal anomaly[Study of Uranium geochemical prospection in Uruguay]; Estudio de la profundidad del zocalo por sondeos electricos en la Anomalia Puntas de Abrojal

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cicalese, H

    1983-07-01

    In the framework of the Uranium prospecting Programme, a geophysics team composed by BRGM and DINAMIGE workers were carried out an study about of insular shelf electric sounding on the Puntas de Abrojal area.A geographical location, geologic framework, geophysical survey and methods, materials and results were given.

  19. Electrical safety in health care area

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Amer, G.M.

    2011-01-01

    An electrical safety in health care area is necessary to protect patients and staff from potential electrical hazards.Functional, accurate and safe clinical equipment is an essential requirement in the provision of health services. Well-maintained equipment will give clinicians greater confidence in the reliability of its performance and contribute to a high standard of client care. Clinical equipment, like all health services, requires annual or periodic servicing of medical equipment. In addition to planned servicing and preventative maintenance, there may be the unexpected failure of medical (and other) equipment, necessitating repair. In general, clinical equipment that has an electrical power source and has direct contact with the client must be serviced as a first priority. In this presentation, a review of the main concepts related to the electrical safety in health area,theinternational standard, the distribution of electric power in hospital and protection against shockwill be introduced. Protection system in hospital will be presented in its two ways: inpower distribution in hospitaland inbiomedical equipment design,finally the optimum maintenance technology and safety tests in health care areawill presented also.

  20. Mobile phone conversations, listening to music and quiet (electric) cars : are traffic sounds important for safe cycling?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Stelling-Konczak, A. Wee, G.P. van Commandeur, J.J.F. & Hagenzieker, M.P.

    2017-01-01

    Listening to music or talking on the phone while cycling as well as the growing number of quiet (electric) cars on the road can make the use of auditory cues challenging for cyclists. The present study examined to what extent and in which traffic situations traffic sounds are important for safe

  1. Mobile phone conversations, listening to music and quiet (electric) cars : Are traffic sounds important for safe cycling?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Stelling-Konczak, A.; van Wee, G. P.; Commandeur, J. J.F.; Hagenzieker, M.

    2017-01-01

    Listening to music or talking on the phone while cycling as well as the growing number of quiet (electric) cars on the road can make the use of auditory cues challenging for cyclists. The present study examined to what extent and in which traffic situations traffic sounds are important for safe

  2. Progress in Geo-Electrical Methods for Hydrogeological Mapping?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schrøder, Niels

    2014-01-01

    In most of the 20th century the geo-electrical methods were primarily used for groundwater exploration and the application of the methods were normally followed by a borehole, and a moment of truth. In this process the use of DC (direct current) soundings have been developed to a high grade...... of excellence. In the last 25 years the geo-electrical methods are more used in connection with groundwater protection and planning, and new methods, as transient electromagnetic (TEM) soundings, have been developed that provide more measurements per hour. In Denmark this change is very explicit, and a paper....... The test area was earlier mapped by DC-soundings, so it is possible to test the methods against each other. It is concluded that well performed DC-soundings with a Schlumberger configuration still provide the best base for hydrogeological mapping...

  3. Efficacy of Hummel (Modified Schlumberger Arrays of Vertical Electrical Sounding in Groundwater Exploration: Case Study of Parts of Ibadan Metropolis, Southwestern Nigeria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Micheal Oladunjoye

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This research compared the interpretation results of the Vertical Electrical Sounding data acquired using the conventional Schlumberger and modified Schlumberger arrays with a view to assessing the effectiveness of the modified Schlumberger arrays of vertical electrical sounding as an alternative to the conventional Schlumberger array at sites with space constraint during groundwater exploration. A total of thirty-seven (37 sounding locations were occupied and one hundred (100 sounding data for both conventional Schlumberger and modified Schlumberger arrays were collected across different rock units within Ibadan metropolis, south-western Nigeria, with electrode spacing (AB/2 ranging from 1 to 75 m. The field data were interpreted qualitatively by curve matching and computer iterative methods. Also, statistical analysis of subsurface units and the coefficient of correlation “R” of the statistical plots of the field data shows the relationship between the different arrays. The raw data plot of the different arrays shows significant similarities while statistical analysis of the geo-electric parameters obtained from the different arrays across varied lithologic units show that strong relationships exist between the different field methods. The coefficient of correlation R with values ranging from 0.7 to 0.99 implies that a good similarity exists between the different field methods employed in this study. Hence, modified Schlumberger arrays can be said to be a good alternative to the conventional Schlumberger array for groundwater exploration especially in urban settings where space constraint is a major challenge.

  4. Preliminary survey on electric energy efficiency in Ethiopia:- Areas of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    In this paper the significance of electric energy efficiency improvement and major areas of loss in Ethiopia's electric power system are highlighted for further rigorous study. Major electric energy loss areas in the utility transmission and distribution systems and consumer premises are indicated. In the consumer area the loss ...

  5. 18 CFR 141.51 - FERC Form No. 714, Annual Electric Balancing Authority Area and Planning Area Report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ..., Annual Electric Balancing Authority Area and Planning Area Report. 141.51 Section 141.51 Conservation of...) § 141.51 FERC Form No. 714, Annual Electric Balancing Authority Area and Planning Area Report. (a) Who... Policies Act, 16 U.S.C. 2602, operating a balancing authority area, and any group of electric utilities...

  6. Puget Sound Reinforcement Project : Planning for Peak Power Needs : Scoping Report, Part A, Summary of Public Comments.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    United States. Bonneville Power Administration.

    1990-07-01

    This report summarizes public participation in the environmental scoping process for the Puget Sound Reinforcement Project, a Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) and Puget Sound area utilities study of voltage stability in northwestern Washington state. The environmental scoping phase of the Puget Sound project consisted of a series of public meetings and a public comment period. The content of these meetings is summarized in 2.0, Public Involvement. In 3.0, Comment Summary, the report summarizes comments received via meetings, mail and phone. The report ends with a description of the next steps in the project. Chapter 4.0, describes the decision process to be used by BPA and area utilities. Chapter 5.0 describes opportunities for public participation in decisions to be made about the future reliability of Puget Sound's electricity supply.

  7. Interpretation of time-domain electromagnetic soundings in the Calico Hills area, Nevada Test Site, Nye County, Nevada

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kauahikaua, J.

    A controlled source, time domain electromagnetic (TDEM) sounding survey was conducted in the Calico Hills area of the Nevada Test Site (NTS). The geoelectric structure was determined as an aid in the evaluation of the site for possible future storage of spent nuclear fuel or high level nuclear waste. The data were initially interpreted with a simple scheme that produces an apparent resistivity versus depth curve from the vertical magnetic field data. These curves are qualitatively interpreted much like standard Schlumberger resistivity sounding curves. Final interpretation made use of a layered earth Marquardt inversion computer program. The results combined with those from a set of Schlumberger soundings in the area show that there is a moderately resistive basement at a depth no greater than 800 meters. The basement resistivity is greater than 100 ohm meters.

  8. Gefinex 400S (SAMPO) EM-soundings at Olkiluoto 2009

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jokinen, T.; Lehtimaeki, J.; Korhonen, K.

    2009-09-01

    In the beginning of June 2009 Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) carried out electromagnetic (EM) frequency soundings with Gefinex 400S equipment (Sampo) in the vicinity of ONKALO at the Olkiluoto site investigation area. The EM-monitoring sounding program started in 2004 and has been repeated since yearly in the same season. The aim of the study is to monitor the variations of the groundwater properties down to 500 m depth by the changes of the electric conductivity of the earth at ONKALO and repository area. The original measurement grid was based on two 1400 m long broadside profiles, which have 200 m mutual distance and 200 m station separation. The receiver and transmitter sites are marked with stakes and the profiles were measured using 200, 500, and 800 m coil separations. The measurement program was revised in 2007 and then again in 2009. Now 15 noisy soundings were removed from the program and 3 new points were selected from the area to the east from ONKALO. The new receiver/transmitter sites, called ABC-points were marked with stakes and the points were measured using transmitter-receiver separations 200, 400 and 800 meters. In 2009 the new EM-Sampo monitoring program included 28+9 soundings. The numerous power lines and cables in the area generate local disturbances on the sounding curves, but the SN (signal to noise) ratio and the repeatability of the results is reasonably good even with long coil separations. However, most suitable for monitoring purposes are the sites without strong shallow 3D effects. Comparison of the new results to old 2004-2008 surveys shows differences on some ARD (apparent resistivity-depth) curves. Those are mainly results of the modified shallow structures. The changes in groundwater conditions based on the monitoring results seem insignificant. (orig.)

  9. Gefinex 400S (Sampo) EM-soundings at Olkiluoto 2008

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jokinen, T.; Lehtimaeki, J.

    2008-09-01

    In the beginning of June 2008 Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) carried out electromagnetic frequency soundings with Gefinex 400S equipment (Sampo) in the vicinity of ONKALO at the Olkiluoto site investigation area. The same soundings sites were first time measured and marked in 2004 and has been repeated after it yearly in the same season. The aim of the measurements is to monitor the changes of groundwater conditions by the changes of the electric conductivity of the earth at ONKALO and repository area. The measurements form two 1400 m long broadside profiles, which have 200 m mutual distance and 200 m station separation. The profiles have been measured using 200, 500, and 800 m coil separations. Because of the strong electromagnetic noise all planned sites (48) could not be measured. In 2008 the measurements were performed at the sites that were successful in 2007 (43 soundings). The numerous power lines and cables in the area generate local disturbances on the sounding curves, but the signal/noise also with long coil separations and the repeatability of the results is reasonably good. However, most suitable for monitoring purposes are the sites without strong surficial 3D effects. Comparison of the results of 2004 to 2008 surveys shows differences on some ARD (Apparent resistivity-depth) curves. Those are mainly results of the modified man-made structures. The effects of changes in groundwater conditions are obviously slight. (orig.)

  10. Research and Implementation of Heart Sound Denoising

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Feng; Wang, Yutai; Wang, Yanxiang

    Heart sound is one of the most important signals. However, the process of getting heart sound signal can be interfered with many factors outside. Heart sound is weak electric signal and even weak external noise may lead to the misjudgment of pathological and physiological information in this signal, thus causing the misjudgment of disease diagnosis. As a result, it is a key to remove the noise which is mixed with heart sound. In this paper, a more systematic research and analysis which is involved in heart sound denoising based on matlab has been made. The study of heart sound denoising based on matlab firstly use the powerful image processing function of matlab to transform heart sound signals with noise into the wavelet domain through wavelet transform and decomposition these signals in muli-level. Then for the detail coefficient, soft thresholding is made using wavelet transform thresholding to eliminate noise, so that a signal denoising is significantly improved. The reconstructed signals are gained with stepwise coefficient reconstruction for the processed detail coefficient. Lastly, 50HZ power frequency and 35 Hz mechanical and electrical interference signals are eliminated using a notch filter.

  11. Energy-efficiency instruments in the electricity area

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hammer, S.; Oettli, B.; Schneider, Ch.; Iten, R.; Peherstorfer, N.

    2007-06-01

    This comprehensive report for the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) describes a mix of instruments that could increase the efficiency of electricity usage in Switzerland. The basis for the development of these instruments - the experience gained in Europe in this area - is discussed. Explicitly not discussed are energy and electricity steering taxes, which could also be part of a future instrument-mix. The measures suggested include the setting of compulsory long-term reduction targets that are to form the basis for strategies and measures to be taken in particular areas and the development of an appropriate instrument-mix for this purpose. These could include regulations and labels, a national fund and certificate trading. Suppliers of electricity could be committed to increasing the efficiency of electricity use and national programmes could also attempt to influence consumer habits. The instruments should, according to the authors, be based on the existing legal framework and use know-how and structures that are already available

  12. Time-domain electromagnetic soundings collected in Dawson County, Nebraska, 2007-09

    Science.gov (United States)

    Payne, Jason; Teeple, Andrew

    2011-01-01

    Between April 2007 and November 2009, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Central Platte Natural Resources District, collected time-domain electro-magnetic (TDEM) soundings at 14 locations in Dawson County, Nebraska. The TDEM soundings provide information pertaining to the hydrogeology at each of 23 sites at the 14 locations; 30 TDEM surface geophysical soundings were collected at the 14 locations to develop smooth and layered-earth resistivity models of the subsurface at each site. The soundings yield estimates of subsurface electrical resistivity; variations in subsurface electrical resistivity can be correlated with hydrogeologic and stratigraphic units. Results from each sounding were used to calculate resistivity to depths of approximately 90-130 meters (depending on loop size) below the land surface. Geonics Protem 47 and 57 systems, as well as the Alpha Geoscience TerraTEM, were used to collect the TDEM soundings (voltage data from which resistivity is calculated). For each sounding, voltage data were averaged and evaluated statistically before inversion (inverse modeling). Inverse modeling is the process of creating an estimate of the true distribution of subsurface resistivity from the mea-sured apparent resistivity obtained from TDEM soundings. Smooth and layered-earth models were generated for each sounding. A smooth model is a vertical delineation of calculated apparent resistivity that represents a non-unique estimate of the true resistivity. Ridge regression (Interpex Limited, 1996) was used by the inversion software in a series of iterations to create a smooth model consisting of 24-30 layers for each sounding site. Layered-earth models were then generated based on results of smooth modeling. The layered-earth models are simplified (generally 1 to 6 layers) to represent geologic units with depth. Throughout the area, the layered-earth models range from 2 to 4 layers, depending on observed inflections in the raw data and smooth model

  13. 27 CFR 9.151 - Puget Sound.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 27 Alcohol, Tobacco Products and Firearms 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Puget Sound. 9.151 Section... Sound. (a) Name. The name of the viticultural area described in this section is “Puget Sound.” (b) Approved maps. The appropriate maps for determining the boundary of the Puget Sound viticultural area are...

  14. Electric structure of the Copahue Volcano (Neuquén Province, Argentina), from magnetotelluric soundings: 1D and 2D modellings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mamaní, M. J.; Borzotta, E.; Venencia, J. E.; Maidana, A.; Moyano, C. E.; Castiglione, B.

    2000-05-01

    Four magnetotelluric soundings were carried out in 1993 in the region of the Copahue active volcano located at the border between Chile and Argentina (37°45'S, 71°18'W). Three soundings were located inside the caldera of the ancient stratovolcano (east of Copahue) and the fourth outside it. The soundings inside the caldera were situated at about 6, 11, and 14 km from the volcano. Digital data were obtained covering the range of periods from 1 sec to 10,000 sec using induction coils and a flux-gate magnetometer to obtain the magnetic data and Cu-SO 4Cu electrodes for electric field measurements. The apparent resistivity curves corresponding to principal directions were analyzed in conjunction with the geological background in order to eliminate distortion — which is very important in this hot volcanic region. Then, 1D modellings were performed using the "normal" curves — i.e., curves without distortions. Using the apparent resistivity curves with distortions, 2D modelling was also performed along a profile perpendicular to the regional tectonic trend suggested by MT soundings into the caldera. Results show low resistivity values of about 3-15 Ωm between 9 km to 20 km depth in the crust, suggesting high temperatures, with minimum values of about 700°C with partially melted zones in the upper crust between 9 km to 20 km depth under the caldera. The presence of a possible sulphide-carbonaceous layer (SC layer) in the upper basement could play an important role in lowering the electrical resistivities because of its high electronic conductivity.

  15. Mapping the electrical properties of large-area graphene

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bøggild, Peter; Mackenzie, David; Whelan, Patrick Rebsdorf

    2017-01-01

    The significant progress in terms of fabricating large-area graphene films for transparent electrodes, barriers, electronics, telecommunication and other applications has not yet been accompanied by efficient methods for characterizing the electrical properties of large-area graphene. While......, and a high measurement effort per device. In this topical review, we provide a comprehensive overview of the issues that need to be addressed by any large-area characterisation method for electrical key performance indicators, with emphasis on electrical uniformity and on how this can be used to provide...... a more accurate analysis of the graphene film. We review and compare three different, but complementary approaches that rely either on fixed contacts (dry laser lithography), movable contacts (micro four point probes) and non-contact (terahertz time-domain spectroscopy) between the probe and the graphene...

  16. Interpretation of time-domain electromagnetic soundings in the Calico Hills area, Nevada Test Site, Nye County, Nevada

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kauahikaua, J.

    1981-01-01

    A controlled source, time-domain electromagnetic (TDEM) sounding survey was conducted in the Calico Hills area of the Nevada Test Site (NTS). The goal of this survey was the determination of the geoelectric structure as an aid in the evaluation of the site for possible future storage of spent nuclear fuel or high-level nuclear waste. The data were initially interpreted with a simple scheme that produces an apparent resistivity versus depth curve from the vertical magnetic field data. These curves can be qualitatively interpreted much like standard Schlumberger resistivity sounding curves. Final interpretation made use of a layered-earth Marquardt inversion computer program (Kauahikaua, 1980). The results combined with those from a set of Schlumberger soundings in the area show that there is a moderately resistive basement at a depth no greater than 800 meters. The basement resistivity is greater than 100 ohm-meters

  17. Earth Resistivity And Self-Potential Study On The Area East Of Sohag City And Their Groundwater Implications

    OpenAIRE

    Ibrahim, H. A. [حمزه احمد ابراهيم; Bakheit, A. A.; Faheem, S. M.

    1993-01-01

    Nineteen field vertical electrical soundings have been made in the area east of Sohag to provide hydrogeologic information for groundwater exploration. These sounding are interpreted using programs for the automatic processing and interpretation of Schlumberger sounding curves prepared by Zohdy (1989B). Results of the interpretation indicate the presence of shallow water-bearing layer especially in the southern part of the study area. This aquifer is missing towards the east. In certain parts...

  18. Location of an electric source facility and local area promotion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shimohirao, Isao

    1999-01-01

    Here were described on energy demand and supply, energy policy and local area promotion policy for basic problems important on location of electric source facilities. At present, co-existence business between electricity business and electric source location area is lacking in its activity. It seems to be necessary to enforce some systems to intend to promote it earnestly, and to effort to promote industry promotions such as introduction of some national projects, induction of electricity cost reduction for a means of business invitation, and so forth. And it is necessary to promote them under cooperations with electricity businesses, governments, universities and communities for the industrial promotion and fixation of the youth at local areas. In order to realize such necessities, further larger efforts are expected for national and local governments. (G.K.)

  19. Impact of adding artificially generated alert sound to hybrid electric vehicles on their detectability by pedestrians who are blind.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Dae Shik; Emerson, Robert Wall; Naghshineh, Koorosh; Pliskow, Jay; Myers, Kyle

    2012-01-01

    A repeated-measures design with block randomization was used for the study, in which 14 adults with visual impairments attempted to detect three different vehicles: a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) with an artificially generated sound (Vehicle Sound for Pedestrians [VSP]), an HEV without the VSP, and a comparable internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle. The VSP vehicle (mean +/- standard deviation [SD] = 38.3 +/- 14.8 m) was detected at a significantly farther distance than the HEV (mean +/- SD = 27.5 +/- 11.5 m), t = 4.823, p vehicles (mean +/- SD = 34.5 +/- 14.3 m), t = 1.787, p = 0.10. Despite the overall sound level difference between the two test sites (parking lot = 48.7 dBA, roadway = 55.1 dBA), no significant difference in detection distance between the test sites was observed, F(1, 13) = 0.025, p = 0.88. No significant interaction was found between the vehicle type and test site, F(1.31, 16.98) = 0.272, p = 0.67. The findings of the study may help us understand how adding an artificially generated sound to an HEV could affect some of the orientation and mobility tasks performed by blind pedestrians.

  20. Electric Service Areas, Electric Servic Area - given to us from GA power and Planters Electric - distributed by the EMA Director, Val Ashcraft, Published in 2008, 1:2400 (1in=200ft) scale, Effingham County Government.

    Data.gov (United States)

    NSGIC Local Govt | GIS Inventory — Electric Service Areas dataset current as of 2008. Electric Servic Area - given to us from GA power and Planters Electric - distributed by the EMA Director, Val...

  1. Hybrid local piezoelectric and conductive functions for high performance airborne sound absorption

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rahimabady, Mojtaba; Statharas, Eleftherios Christos; Yao, Kui; Sharifzadeh Mirshekarloo, Meysam; Chen, Shuting; Tay, Francis Eng Hock

    2017-12-01

    A concept of hybrid local piezoelectric and electrical conductive functions for improving airborne sound absorption is proposed and demonstrated in composite foam made of porous polar polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) mixed with conductive single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT). According to our hybrid material function design, the local piezoelectric effect in the PVDF matrix with the polar structure and the electrical resistive loss of SWCNT enhanced sound energy conversion to electrical energy and subsequently to thermal energy, respectively, in addition to the other known sound absorption mechanisms in a porous material. It is found that the overall energy conversion and hence the sound absorption performance are maximized when the concentration of the SWCNT is around the conductivity percolation threshold. For the optimal composition of PVDF/5 wt. % SWCNT, a sound reduction coefficient of larger than 0.58 has been obtained, with a high sound absorption coefficient higher than 50% at 600 Hz, showing their great values for passive noise mitigation even at a low frequency.

  2. Electromagnetic SAMPO monitoring soundings at Olkiluoto 2011 with updated interpretations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Korhonen, K.

    2013-11-01

    The Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) has carried out electromagnetic depth soundings annually at fixed stations in Olkiluoto since 2004 as part of a monitoring programme. The goal of the programme is to detect and monitor changes in the electrical properties of the bedrock above and in the vicinity of the underground nuclear waste disposal facility. A new Sampo monitoring survey was carried out during September-October 2011. The survey resulted in 39 soundings at 17 measurement stations. The nominal coil separations of 200, 400, 500, 600 and 800 meters were used. Eight stations were selected for detailed annual layer-model interpretation. The layer models were based on prior geological and geophysical knowledge of the area. The thicknesses of the layer-model layers were kept fixed whereas their resistivities were solved for each subsequent year independent of each other. Many time series indicate clear trends in electrical resistivity. However, even though the data was carefully corrected and edited, the time series display a fairly large amount of variability increasing the uncertainty of the calculated trends. (orig.)

  3. The Feasibility of Small Hydro-Electric Generation in a Large Urban Area

    OpenAIRE

    Benson Y. Zhang; Adam Taylor

    2012-01-01

    The possibilities of generating electric power from relatively small hydro-electric sources in a large urban area is investigated. Two different aspects of hydro-electric sources have been studied: storm/waste water pipes in large multi-tenanted residential buildings and urban storm water discharge area (CSI area). The potential to generate from these sources has been investigated using a micro-turbine. The potential electric power which could be extracted from the sources was estimated using...

  4. Sounds scary? Lack of habituation following the presentation of novel sounds.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tine A Biedenweg

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Animals typically show less habituation to biologically meaningful sounds than to novel signals. We might therefore expect that acoustic deterrents should be based on natural sounds. METHODOLOGY: We investigated responses by western grey kangaroos (Macropus fulignosus towards playback of natural sounds (alarm foot stomps and Australian raven (Corvus coronoides calls and artificial sounds (faux snake hiss and bull whip crack. We then increased rate of presentation to examine whether animals would habituate. Finally, we varied frequency of playback to investigate optimal rates of delivery. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Nine behaviors clustered into five Principal Components. PC factors 1 and 2 (animals alert or looking, or hopping and moving out of area accounted for 36% of variance. PC factor 3 (eating cessation, taking flight, movement out of area accounted for 13% of variance. Factors 4 and 5 (relaxing, grooming and walking; 12 and 11% of variation, respectively discontinued upon playback. The whip crack was most evocative; eating was reduced from 75% of time spent prior to playback to 6% following playback (post alarm stomp: 32%, raven call: 49%, hiss: 75%. Additionally, 24% of individuals took flight and moved out of area (50 m radius in response to the whip crack (foot stomp: 0%, raven call: 8% and 4%, hiss: 6%. Increasing rate of presentation (12x/min ×2 min caused 71% of animals to move out of the area. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The bull whip crack, an artificial sound, was as effective as the alarm stomp at eliciting aversive behaviors. Kangaroos did not fully habituate despite hearing the signal up to 20x/min. Highest rates of playback did not elicit the greatest responses, suggesting that 'more is not always better'. Ultimately, by utilizing both artificial and biological sounds, predictability may be masked or offset, so that habituation is delayed and more effective deterrents may be produced.

  5. 78 FR 2868 - Draft Environmental Assessment for Rulemaking To Establish Minimum Sound Requirements for Hybrid...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-14

    ... require hybrid and electric passenger cars, light trucks, medium and heavy duty trucks and buses, low... Sound Requirements for Hybrid and Electric Vehicles AGENCY: National Highway Traffic Safety... minimum sound requirements for hybrid and electric vehicles. DATES: Comments must be received on or before...

  6. AC Electric Field Communication for Human-Area Networking

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kado, Yuichi; Shinagawa, Mitsuru

    We have proposed a human-area networking technology that uses the surface of the human body as a data transmission path and uses an AC electric field signal below the resonant frequency of the human body. This technology aims to achieve a “touch and connect” intuitive form of communication by using the electric field signal that propagates along the surface of the human body, while suppressing both the electric field radiating from the human body and mutual interference. To suppress the radiation field, the frequency of the AC signal that excites the transmitter electrode must be lowered, and the sensitivity of the receiver must be raised while reducing transmission power to its minimally required level. We describe how we are developing AC electric field communication technologies to promote the further evolution of a human-area network in support of ubiquitous services, focusing on three main characteristics, enabling-transceiver technique, application-scenario modeling, and communications quality evaluation. Special attention is paid to the relationship between electro-magnetic compatibility evaluation and regulations for extremely low-power radio stations based on Japan's Radio Law.

  7. 33 CFR 334.410 - Albemarle Sound, Pamlico Sound, and adjacent waters, NC; danger zones for naval aircraft operations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Albemarle Sound, Pamlico Sound... AND RESTRICTED AREA REGULATIONS § 334.410 Albemarle Sound, Pamlico Sound, and adjacent waters, NC; danger zones for naval aircraft operations. (a) Target areas—(1) North Landing River (Currituck Sound...

  8. 75 FR 26648 - Safety Zones; May Fireworks Displays Within the Captain of the Port Puget Sound Area of...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-05-12

    ... the event, and enhancing public and maritime safety. Basis and Purpose Fireworks displays are... promote public and maritime safety during fireworks displays, and to protect mariners transiting the area...-AA00 Safety Zones; May Fireworks Displays Within the Captain of the Port Puget Sound Area of...

  9. Mapping groundwater reserves in northwestern Cambodia with the combined use of data from lithologs and time-domain-electromagnetic and magnetic-resonance soundings

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valois, Remi; Vouillamoz, Jean-Michel; Lun, Sambo; Arnout, Ludovic

    2018-01-01

    Lack of access to water is the primary constraint to development in rural areas of northwestern Cambodia. Communities lack water for both domestic and irrigation purposes. To provide access to drinking water, governmental and aid agencies have focused on drilling shallow boreholes but they have not had a clear understanding of groundwater potential. The goal of this study has been to improve hydrogeological knowledge of two districts in Oddar Meanchey Province by analyzing borehole lithologs and geophysical data sets. The comparison of 55 time-domain electromagnetic (TEM) soundings and lithologs, as well as 66 magnetic-resonance soundings (MRS) with TEM soundings, allows a better understanding of the links between geology, electrical resistivity and hydrogeological parameters such as the specific yield (S y) derived from MRS. The main findings are that water inflow and S y are more related to electrical resistivity and elevation than to the litholog description. Indeed, conductive media are associated with a null value of S y, whereas resistive rocks at low elevation are always linked to strictly positive S y. A new methodology was developed to create maps of groundwater reserves based on 612 TEM soundings and the observed relationship between resistivity and S y. TEM soundings were inverted using a quasi-3D modeling approach called `spatially constrained inversion'. Such maps will, no doubt, be very useful for borehole siting and in the economic development of the province because they clearly distinguish areas of high groundwater-reserves potential from areas that lack reserves.

  10. Electrical characterization of small area devices for manufacturing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Enzenroth, R.A.; Davies, A.; Reed, S.

    2011-01-01

    Uniformity of electrical performance is critical for thin film modules. The more uniformly that all areas of the module perform the better the overall efficiency will be. Total module performance tends towards the average of localized performance, skewed slightly lower by the width of localized performance distribution. Measurement of overall module efficiency does not give information about performance uniformity. Use of small area devices (SAD's) defined from the module allow standard electrical measurements including light and dark current-voltage (IV/JV) and quantum efficiency to be performed on a small scale. Data from these measurements allows mapping of electrical performance across the module. The structure of types of SAD's is discussed and some examples of efficiency data from JV measurements as used in the optimization of a thin film module manufacturing line are presented. Also a brief discussion of statistical analysis of the data is included.

  11. Measuring the vertical electrical field above an oceanic convection system using a meteorological sounding balloon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, A. B.; Chiu, C.; Lai, S.; Chen, C.; Kuo, C.; Su, H.; Hsu, R.

    2012-12-01

    The vertical electric field above thundercloud plays an important role in the generation and modeling of transient luminous events. For example, Pasko [1995] proposed that the high quasi-static E-field following the positive cloud-to-ground lightning could accelerate and input energy to ambient electrons; as they collide and excite nitrogen and oxygen molecules in upper atmosphere, sprites may be induced. A series of balloon experiments led by Holzworth have investigated the temporal and spatial fluctuations of the electric field and conductivity in the upper atmosphere at different sites [Holzworth 2005, and references in]. But the strength and variation of the vertical electric field above thundercloud, especially oceanic ones, are not well documented so far. A lightweight, low-cost measurement system including an electric field meter and the associated aviation electronics are developed to carry out the in-situ measurement of the vertical electric field and the inter-cloud charge distribution. Our measuring system was first deployed using a meteorological sounding balloon from Taitung, Taiwan in May 2012. The measured electric field below 3km height shows an exponential decay and it is consistent with the expected potential gradient variation between ionosphere and the Earth surface. But the background strength of the measured E-field grows up exponentially and a violent fluctuations is also observed when the balloon flew over a developing oceanic convection cell. The preliminary results from this flight will be reported and discussed. This low-cost electric field meter is developed within one year. In the coming months, more flights will be performed with the aim to measure the rapid variation of the electric field above thundercloud as well as the E-field that may induce transient luminous events. Our ground campaigns show that the occurrence rates of blue and gigantic jet are relatively high in the vicinity of Taiwan. Our experiment can be used to diagnose

  12. Environmental Sciences Electrical resistivity soundings to determine ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Wood, leaves, newspaper, cloth, polythene bags, plastics, glass and metal refuse interspersed with soil exhibited resistivity of 11.6 ohm-m and layer thickness of 0.7 m as obtained from the inversion of the sounding. The unsaturated layer has a resistivity of 6.8 ohm-m and thickness of 0.6 m while leachate-saturated is ...

  13. Mapping the electrical properties of large-area graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bøggild, Peter; Mackenzie, David M. A.; Whelan, Patrick R.; Petersen, Dirch H.; Due Buron, Jonas; Zurutuza, Amaia; Gallop, John; Hao, Ling; Jepsen, Peter U.

    2017-12-01

    The significant progress in terms of fabricating large-area graphene films for transparent electrodes, barriers, electronics, telecommunication and other applications has not yet been accompanied by efficient methods for characterizing the electrical properties of large-area graphene. While in the early prototyping as well as research and development phases, electrical test devices created by conventional lithography have provided adequate insights, this approach is becoming increasingly problematic due to complications such as irreversible damage to the original graphene film, contamination, and a high measurement effort per device. In this topical review, we provide a comprehensive overview of the issues that need to be addressed by any large-area characterisation method for electrical key performance indicators, with emphasis on electrical uniformity and on how this can be used to provide a more accurate analysis of the graphene film. We review and compare three different, but complementary approaches that rely either on fixed contacts (dry laser lithography), movable contacts (micro four point probes) and non-contact (terahertz time-domain spectroscopy) between the probe and the graphene film, all of which have been optimized for maximal throughput and accuracy, and minimal damage to the graphene film. Of these three, the main emphasis is on THz time-domain spectroscopy, which is non-destructive, highly accurate and allows both conductivity, carrier density and carrier mobility to be mapped across arbitrarily large areas at rates that by far exceed any other known method. We also detail how the THz conductivity spectra give insights on the scattering mechanisms, and through that, the microstructure of graphene films subject to different growth and transfer processes. The perspectives for upscaling to realistic production environments are discussed.

  14. The effect of sound speed profile on shallow water shipping sound maps

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sertlek, H.Ö.; Binnerts, B.; Ainslie, M.A.

    2016-01-01

    Sound mapping over large areas can be computationally expensive because of the large number of sources and large source-receiver separations involved. In order to facilitate computation, a simplifying assumption sometimes made is to neglect the sound speed gradient in shallow water. The accuracy of

  15. A new signal development process and sound system for diverting fish from water intakes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Klinet, D.A.; Loeffelman, P.H.; van Hassel, J.H.

    1992-01-01

    This paper reports that American Electric Power Service Corporation has explored the feasibility of using a patented signal development process and underwater sound system to divert fish away from water intake areas. The effect of water intakes on fish is being closely scrutinized as hydropower projects are re-licensed. The overall goal of this four-year research project was to develop an underwater guidance system which is biologically effective, reliable and cost-effective compared to other proposed methods of diversion, such as physical screens. Because different fish species have various listening ranges, it was essential to the success of this experiment that the sound system have a great amount of flexibility. Assuming a fish's sounds are heard by the same kind of fish, it was necessary to develop a procedure and acquire instrumentation to properly analyze the sounds that the target fish species create to communicate and any artificial signals being generated for diversion

  16. A level switch with a sound tube

    OpenAIRE

    赤池, 誠規

    2017-01-01

    Level switches are sensor with an electrical contact output at a specific liquid, powder or bulk level. Most of traditional level switches are not suitable for harsh environments. The level switch in this study connects a loudspeaker on top end of the sound tube. When liquid, powder or bulk closes bottom end of the sound tube, the level switch turns on. The level switch is suitable for harsh environments and easy to install. The aim of this study is to propose a level switch with a sound tube...

  17. ``Hiss, clicks and pops'' - The enigmatic sounds of meteors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Finnegan, J. A.

    2015-04-01

    The improbability of sounds heard simultaneously with meteors allows the phenomenon to remain on the margins of scientific interest and research. This is unjustified, since these audibly perceived electric field effects indicate complex, inconsistent and still unresolved electric-magnetic coupling and charge dynamics; interacting between the meteor; the ionosphere and mesosphere; stratosphere; troposphere and the surface of the earth. This paper reviews meteor acoustic effects, presents illustrating reports and hypotheses and includes a summary of similar and additional phenomena observed during the 2013 February 15 asteroid fragment disintegration above the Russian district of Chelyabinsk. An augmenting theory involving near ground, non uniform electric field production of Ozone, as a stimulated geo-physical phenomenon to explain some hissing `meteor sounds' is suggested in section 2.2. Unlike previous theories, electric-magnetic field fluctuation rates are not required to occur in the audio frequency range for this process to acoustically emit hissing and intermittent impulsive sounds; removing the requirements of direct conversion, passive human transduction or excited, localised acoustic `emitters'. Links to the Armagh Observatory All-sky meteor cameras, electrophonic meteor research and full construction plans for an extremely low frequency (ELF) receiver are also included.

  18. What and Where in auditory sensory processing: A high-density electrical mapping study of distinct neural processes underlying sound object recognition and sound localization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Victoria M Leavitt

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Functionally distinct dorsal and ventral auditory pathways for sound localization (where and sound object recognition (what have been described in non-human primates. A handful of studies have explored differential processing within these streams in humans, with highly inconsistent findings. Stimuli employed have included simple tones, noise bursts and speech sounds, with simulated left-right spatial manipulations, and in some cases participants were not required to actively discriminate the stimuli. Our contention is that these paradigms were not well suited to dissociating processing within the two streams. Our aim here was to determine how early in processing we could find evidence for dissociable pathways using better titrated what and where task conditions. The use of more compelling tasks should allow us to amplify differential processing within the dorsal and ventral pathways. We employed high-density electrical mapping using a relatively large and environmentally realistic stimulus set (seven animal calls delivered from seven free-field spatial locations; with stimulus configuration identical across the where and what tasks. Topographic analysis revealed distinct dorsal and ventral auditory processing networks during the where and what tasks with the earliest point of divergence seen during the N1 component of the auditory evoked response, beginning at approximately 100 ms. While this difference occurred during the N1 timeframe, it was not a simple modulation of N1 amplitude as it displayed a wholly different topographic distribution to that of the N1. Global dissimilarity measures using topographic modulation analysis confirmed that this difference between tasks was driven by a shift in the underlying generator configuration. Minimum norm source reconstruction revealed distinct activations that corresponded well with activity within putative dorsal and ventral auditory structures.

  19. Study of physical and sound absorbing property of epoxy blended coir dust biocomposite

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nath, G.; Mishra, S. P.

    2016-09-01

    Reinforcement biocomposite has gained more attention recently due to its low cost, abundantly availability, low density, specific properties, easy method of separation, enhanced energy recovery, CO2 neutrality, biodegradability and recyclable in nature. As a waste product of coconut fruit, the coconut coir dust (CCD) obtained from the coconut husk. The biocomposite material prepared from the CCD modified with the proper blended solution with the help of ultrasonic technique. The study of adiabatic compressibility of acetone / water (70/30) worth its blending property for bleaching of CCD. The biocomposite material of CCD was prepared with epoxy resin. The different physical properties such as sound absorption coefficient, thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity were measured. The morphological study of biocomposite and measurement of sound absorption coefficient shows good evidence of sound absorbing characteristics of biocomposite of CCD. The sound absorption property of composite material shows a significant result where as the thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity executes a weak result. Thus biocomposite of CCD can acts as a good sound absorber and band conductor of heat and electric current.

  20. Multimodal method for scattering of sound at a sudden area expansion in a duct with subsonic flow

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kooijman, G.; Testud, P.; Aurégan, Y.; Hirschberg, A.

    2008-01-01

    The scattering of sound at a sudden area expansion in a duct with subsonic mean flow has been modelled with a multimodal method. Technological applications are for instance internal combustion engine exhaust silencers and silencers in industrial duct systems. Both two-dimensional (2D) rectangular

  1. Sound Transmission in a Duct with Sudden Area Expansion, Extended Inlet, and Lined Walls in Overlapping Region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahmet Demir

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The transmission of sound in a duct with sudden area expansion and extended inlet is investigated in the case where the walls of the duct lie in the finite overlapping region lined with acoustically absorbent materials. By using the series expansion in the overlap region and using the Fourier transform technique elsewhere we obtain a Wiener-Hopf equation whose solution involves a set of infinitely many unknown expansion coefficients satisfying a system of linear algebraic equations. Numerical solution of this system is obtained for various values of the problem parameters, whereby the effects of these parameters on the sound transmission are studied.

  2. Walrus Movements in Smith Sound: A Canada - Greenland Shared Stock

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Heide-Jorgensen, Mads Peter; Flora, Janne; Andersen, Astrid O.

    2017-01-01

    Fifty of 58 walruses (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) instrumented with satellite-linked transmitters in four areas in eastern Smith Sound, Northwest Greenland, during May and June of 2010 – 13 and 2015 provided data for this study. These animals departed from the feeding banks along the Greenland...... coast in June – July (average 14th June), simultaneously with the disappearance of sea ice from these areas. Most of them moved to Canadian waters in western Smith Sound. The most frequently used summering grounds were along the coasts of Ellesmere Island: on the eastern coast, the area around Alexandra...... of Jones Sound and Lancaster Sound for short periods during the summer, though this cannot be confirmed with certainty. The return migration from western Smith Sound to the wintering area in eastern Smith Sound takes place in October. The tracked walrus showed high affinity to coastal areas, while walruses...

  3. Sound and sound sources

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Larsen, Ole Næsbye; Wahlberg, Magnus

    2017-01-01

    There is no difference in principle between the infrasonic and ultrasonic sounds, which are inaudible to humans (or other animals) and the sounds that we can hear. In all cases, sound is a wave of pressure and particle oscillations propagating through an elastic medium, such as air. This chapter...... is about the physical laws that govern how animals produce sound signals and how physical principles determine the signals’ frequency content and sound level, the nature of the sound field (sound pressure versus particle vibrations) as well as directional properties of the emitted signal. Many...... of these properties are dictated by simple physical relationships between the size of the sound emitter and the wavelength of emitted sound. The wavelengths of the signals need to be sufficiently short in relation to the size of the emitter to allow for the efficient production of propagating sound pressure waves...

  4. Can road traffic mask sound from wind turbines? Response to wind turbine sound at different levels of road traffic sound

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pedersen, Eja; Berg, Frits van den; Bakker, Roel; Bouma, Jelte

    2010-01-01

    Wind turbines are favoured in the switch-over to renewable energy. Suitable sites for further developments could be difficult to find as the sound emitted from the rotor blades calls for a sufficient distance to residents to avoid negative effects. The aim of this study was to explore if road traffic sound could mask wind turbine sound or, in contrast, increases annoyance due to wind turbine noise. Annoyance of road traffic and wind turbine noise was measured in the WINDFARMperception survey in the Netherlands in 2007 (n=725) and related to calculated levels of sound. The presence of road traffic sound did not in general decrease annoyance with wind turbine noise, except when levels of wind turbine sound were moderate (35-40 dB(A) Lden) and road traffic sound level exceeded that level with at least 20 dB(A). Annoyance with both noises was intercorrelated but this correlation was probably due to the influence of individual factors. Furthermore, visibility and attitude towards wind turbines were significantly related to noise annoyance of modern wind turbines. The results can be used for the selection of suitable sites, possibly favouring already noise exposed areas if wind turbine sound levels are sufficiently low.

  5. Transportation costs for forest products from the Puget Sound area and Alaska to Pacific Rim markets.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harold W. Wisdom

    1990-01-01

    Ocean freight rates to Pacific Rim markets for softwood logs, cants, and wood pulp from Alaska were compared with rates from the Puget Sound area by using analysis of covariance and analysis of variance techniques. The results did not support the hypothesis that lower freight rates for Alaska result from shorter shipping distances. In many cases, ocean freight rates...

  6. Sound Art Situations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Krogh Groth, Sanne; Samson, Kristine

    2017-01-01

    and combine theories from several fields. Aspects of sound art studies, performance studies and contemporary art studies are presented in order to theoretically explore the very diverse dimensions of the two sound art pieces: Visual, auditory, performative, social, spatial and durational dimensions become......This article is an analysis of two sound art performances that took place June 2015 in outdoor public spaces in the social housing area Urbanplanen in Copenhagen, Denmark. The two performances were On the production of a poor acoustics by Brandon LaBelle and Green Interactive Biofeedback...... Environments (GIBE) by Jeremy Woodruff. In order to investigate the complex situation that arises when sound art is staged in such contexts, the authors of this article suggest exploring the events through approaching them as ‘situations’ (Doherty 2009). With this approach it becomes possible to engage...

  7. Impacts of plug-in electric vehicles in a balancing area

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Razeghi, Ghazal; Samuelsen, Scott

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • Unit commitment methodology is used to determine BEV impact on electricity market. • Roles of charging profile, dispatch strategy and interconnecting area are assessed. • Results show that impact of BEV on cost of electricity generation is small. • Controlled BEV charging can lower emissions intensity of the grid and MCP. • BEV deployment helps reduce overall criteria pollutant emissions. - Abstract: High contributions of the electricity generation and transportation sectors to criteria pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions have resulted in an increased interest and shift towards low to non-carbon generation options such as renewable wind and solar, and alternative transportation options including plug-in electric vehicles. Since plug-in electric vehicles transfer the tailpipe emissions to the electric grid, it is important to study the interaction between the two sectors. In this paper, a previously developed spatially and temporally resolved unit commitment model is used to determine the dispatch schedule of resources with and without battery electric vehicles for 2050 in a fictitious balancing area located within the South Coast Air Basin of California. Cases studied include various charging profiles, penetration in light-duty fleet, imports mix, and grid dispatch strategies. Results of the analysis include average cost of electricity production, market clearing price, temporal production of individual generators, and emissions from electricity generation and the transportation sectors. The results show that deploying battery electric vehicles (1) has little impact on the average cost of electricity generation-maximum of $2.5 per MW h for the cases studied with 40% penetration in the light-duty fleet, (2) reduces the overall criteria pollutant emissions except for one case, and (3) results in a smoother load profile, reduces the use of peaking units, and reduces the average emission intensity of the grid through controlled off

  8. The Harley effect : Internal and external factors that facilitate positive experiences with product sounds

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ozcan Vieira, E.

    2014-01-01

    Everyday activities are laden with emotional experiences involving sound. Our interactions with products (shavers, hairdryers, electric drills) often cause sounds that are typically unpleasant to the ear. Yet, we may get excited with the sound of an accelerating Harley Davidson because the rumbling

  9. Nonlinear effects during sound propagation in n-InSb at 4.20K

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ilisavskij, Yu.V.; Chiplis, D.

    1975-01-01

    The absorption of transverse sound and the influence of longitudinal electric and magnetic fields thereon were studied in n-InSb at 4.2 0 K over a wide range of frequencies and intensities. The electron absorption of sound was found to depend strongly on input intensity due to the heating of electrons by the sound wave. It was discovered that the observed non-linearity was suppressed by the electric field. On the basis of comparison of the experimental results with the existing theories it is concluded that during the heating of electrons by sound, apart from changes in mobility, the carrier concentration in the conductivity band is also substantially changed. The measurements in the magnetic field agree qualitatively with the two-band conductivity model. (author)

  10. Parallel electric fields detected via conjugate electron echoes during the Echo 7 sounding rocket flight

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nemzek, R. J.; Winckler, J. R.

    1991-01-01

    Electron detectors on the Echo 7 active sounding rocket experiment measured 'conjugate echoes' resulting from artificial electron beam injections. Analysis of the drift motion of the electrons after a complete bounce leads to measurements of the magnetospheric convection electric field mapped to ionospheric altitudes. The magnetospheric field was highly variable, changing by tens of mV/m on time scales of as little as hundreds of millisec. While the smallest-scale magnetospheric field irregularities were mapped out by ionospheric conductivity, larger-scale features were enhanced by up to 50 mV/m in the ionosphere. The mismatch between magnetospheric and ionspheric convection fields indicates a violation of the equipotential field line condition. The parallel fields occurred in regions roughly 10 km across and probably supported a total potential drop of 10-100 V.

  11. Long term forecasting of hourly electricity consumption in local areas in Denmark

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Møller Andersen, Frits; Larsen, Helge V.; Gaardestrup, R.B.

    2013-01-01

    . The model describes the entire profile of hourly consumption and is a first step towards differentiated local predictions of electricity consumption.The model is based on metering of aggregated hourly consumption at transformer stations covering selected local areas and on national statistics of hourly......Long term projections of hourly electricity consumption in local areas are important for planning of the transmission grid. In Denmark, at present the method used for grid planning is based on statistical analysis of the hour of maximum load and for each local area the maximum load is projected...... to change proportional to changes in the aggregated national electricity consumption. That is, specific local conditions are not considered. Yet, from measurements of local consumption we know that:. •consumption profiles differ between local areas,•consumption by categories of customers contribute...

  12. Understanding Animal Detection of Precursor Earthquake Sounds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garstang, Michael; Kelley, Michael C

    2017-08-31

    We use recent research to provide an explanation of how animals might detect earthquakes before they occur. While the intrinsic value of such warnings is immense, we show that the complexity of the process may result in inconsistent responses of animals to the possible precursor signal. Using the results of our research, we describe a logical but complex sequence of geophysical events triggered by precursor earthquake crustal movements that ultimately result in a sound signal detectable by animals. The sound heard by animals occurs only when metal or other surfaces (glass) respond to vibrations produced by electric currents induced by distortions of the earth's electric fields caused by the crustal movements. A combination of existing measurement systems combined with more careful monitoring of animal response could nevertheless be of value, particularly in remote locations.

  13. Electrical circuit theory and technology

    CERN Document Server

    Bird, John

    2014-01-01

    This much-loved textbook explains the principles of electrical circuit theory and technology so that students of electrical and mechanical engineering can master the subject. Real-world situations and engineering examples put the theory into context. The inclusion of worked problems with solutions help you to learn and further problems then allow you to test and confirm you have fully understood each subject. In total the book contains 800 worked problems, 1000 further problems and 14 revision tests with answers online. This an ideal text for foundation and undergraduate degree students and those on upper level vocational engineering courses, in particular electrical and mechanical. It provides a sound understanding of the knowledge required by technicians in fields such as electrical engineering, electronics and telecommunications. This edition has been updated with developments in key areas such as semiconductors, transistors, and fuel cells, along with brand new material on ABCD parameters and Fourier's An...

  14. Waveform analysis of sound

    CERN Document Server

    Tohyama, Mikio

    2015-01-01

    What is this sound? What does that sound indicate? These are two questions frequently heard in daily conversation. Sound results from the vibrations of elastic media and in daily life provides informative signals of events happening in the surrounding environment. In interpreting auditory sensations, the human ear seems particularly good at extracting the signal signatures from sound waves. Although exploring auditory processing schemes may be beyond our capabilities, source signature analysis is a very attractive area in which signal-processing schemes can be developed using mathematical expressions. This book is inspired by such processing schemes and is oriented to signature analysis of waveforms. Most of the examples in the book are taken from data of sound and vibrations; however, the methods and theories are mostly formulated using mathematical expressions rather than by acoustical interpretation. This book might therefore be attractive and informative for scientists, engineers, researchers, and graduat...

  15. Combined 2D inversion of electrotomographic and audio-magnetotellurgic sounding data to solve mining problems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    В. А. Куликов

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Electrical methods of exploration are widely applied in prospecting and estimation of ore mineral resources. It is not always that geoelectrical models obtained in the course of interpretation of different types of electric and electromagnetic sounding are in line with each other. This leads to difficulties in geological interpretation of electrical exploration results. In single cases a geological model can be built that with great precision satisfies data from different electrical explorations, for instance, results of geometric and inductive electromagnetic soundings. For this purpose an algorithm of combined inversion of electrotomographic and audio-megnetotellurgic sounding data has been developed and implemented by A.E.Kaminskii in software ZondRes2D. Advantage of combined inversion has been shown for investigation of sections up till 400-500 m deep on synthetic models and actual field data.

  16. Evaluation of electrical resistivity anisotropy in geological mapping ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    user

    Key words: Electrical resistivity anisotropy, radial vertical electrical sounding, anisotropy polygons. INTRODUCTION ... electrical resistivity survey in the geological interpretation ... resistivity and other electrical or electromagnetic based.

  17. An approximate inversion method of geoelectrical sounding data using linear and bayesian statistical approaches. Examples of Tritrivakely volcanic lake and Mahitsy area (central part of Madagascar)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ranaivo Nomenjanahary, F.; Rakoto, H.; Ratsimbazafy, J.B.

    1994-08-01

    This paper is concerned with resistivity sounding measurements performed from single site (vertical sounding) or from several sites (profiles) within a bounded area. The objective is to present an accurate information about the study area and to estimate the likelihood of the produced quantitative models. The achievement of this objective obviously requires quite relevant data and processing methods. It also requires interpretation methods which should take into account the probable effect of an heterogeneous structure. In front of such difficulties, the interpretation of resistivity sounding data inevitably involves the use of inversion methods. We suggest starting the interpretation in simple situation (1-D approximation), and using the rough but correct model obtained as an a-priori model for any more refined interpretation. Related to this point of view, special attention should be paid for the inverse problem applied to the resistivity sounding data. This inverse problem is nonlinear, while linearity inherent in the functional response used to describe the physical experiment. Two different approaches are used to build an approximate but higher dimensional inversion of geoelectrical data: the linear approach and the bayesian statistical approach. Some illustrations of their application in resistivity sounding data acquired at Tritrivakely volcanic lake (single site) and at Mahitsy area (several sites) will be given. (author). 28 refs, 7 figs

  18. Study Of Land Cover And Condition Catchment Area Groundwater Aquifer In Tanah Merah North Samarinda District Using Resistivity Geoelectric Sounding

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Djayus

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Land cover is a biophysical cover that maintains land conditions in water balance. The purpose of this research is to know the condition of land cover water catchment groundwater aquifer and correlation. This research begins by collecting data on land cover soil type rainfall slopes and groundwaterinformation. Field activities include observation and data collection of land cover geological conditions community wells and geoelectric sounding. Land cover data is classified according to circumstances and conditions. Geoelectric sounding data was analyzed with IP2WIN software interpretation of lithologic variation of rocks and depth based on resistivity value. Plot the position of each lithology sounding with Surfer software obtained kontour rock field boundary and 3D model of the aquifer position.The results showed that the land cover consisted of vegetated areas forests 27221 Ha 4032 and agricultural land 18336 Ha 2716 non-vegetation area 9880 Ha 1464 constructed land Open land 116.33 Ha 17.23 and water body 4.35 Ha 0.64 The condition of land cover in this water catchment area has decreased 6838 Ha 1014 from the previous condition 34059 Ha 5046 to 27221 Ha 4032. Referring to Permenhut RI No. 32 in 2009 total score catchment area 33 including the somewhat critical condition. Groundwater aquifers based on 3D sounding geolistrik modeling consist of a free aquifer for shallow groundwater depth of water level between 2-30 m with thickness 2-65 m and a distorted aquifer for groundwaterin depth of water between 75-150 m With thickness 75-125 m depth of community well 10-45 m. The transfer of land into open pit mines resulted in the destruction of the balance and water system the decreasing decreasing the discharge of the well water of the community drill the failure and the lack of new water discharge of the new wells the loss of groundwaterin several dug wells landslides and mud floods on the farmland

  19. 75 FR 14072 - Safety Zones; March Fireworks Displays Within the Captain of the Port Puget Sound Area of...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-03-24

    ... persons and vessels involved in the event, and enhancing public and maritime safety. Background and... events. The purpose of this rule is to promote public and maritime safety during fireworks displays, and...-AA00 Safety Zones; March Fireworks Displays Within the Captain of the Port Puget Sound Area of...

  20. 76 FR 33155 - Safety Zones; Multiple Firework Displays in Captain of the Port, Puget Sound Area of Responsibility

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-06-08

    ... Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks. This rule is not an economically significant rule and does not create an environmental risk to health or risk to safety that may disproportionately affect children...-AA00 Safety Zones; Multiple Firework Displays in Captain of the Port, Puget Sound Area of...

  1. Sound and heat revolutions in phononics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maldovan, Martin

    2013-11-01

    The phonon is the physical particle representing mechanical vibration and is responsible for the transmission of everyday sound and heat. Understanding and controlling the phononic properties of materials provides opportunities to thermally insulate buildings, reduce environmental noise, transform waste heat into electricity and develop earthquake protection. Here I review recent progress and the development of new ideas and devices that make use of phononic properties to control both sound and heat. Advances in sonic and thermal diodes, optomechanical crystals, acoustic and thermal cloaking, hypersonic phononic crystals, thermoelectrics, and thermocrystals herald the next technological revolution in phononics.

  2. Thin-Sheet Inversion Modeling of Geomagnetic Deep Sounding Data Using MCMC Algorithm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hendra Grandis

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The geomagnetic deep sounding (GDS method is one of electromagnetic (EM methods in geophysics that allows the estimation of the subsurface electrical conductivity distribution. This paper presents the inversion modeling of GDS data employing Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC algorithm to evaluate the marginal posterior probability of the model parameters. We used thin-sheet model to represent quasi-3D conductivity variations in the heterogeneous subsurface. The algorithm was applied to invert field GDS data from the zone covering an area that spans from eastern margin of the Bohemian Massif to the West Carpathians in Europe. Conductivity anomalies obtained from this study confirm the well-known large-scale tectonic setting of the area.

  3. Electricity demand profile with high penetration of heat pumps in Nordic area

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Liu, Zhaoxi; Wu, Qiuwei; Nielsen, Arne Hejde

    2013-01-01

    This paper presents the heat pump (HP) demand profile with high HP penetration in the Nordic area in order to achieve the carbon neutrality power system. The calculation method in the European Standard EN14825 was used to estimate the HP electricity demand profile. The study results show...... there will be high power demand from HPs and the selection of supplemental heating for heat pumps has a big impact on the peak electrical power load of heating. The study in this paper gives an estimate of the scale of the electricity demand with high penetration of heat pumps in the Nordic area....

  4. Suppression of sound radiation to far field of near-field acoustic communication system using evanescent sound field

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fujii, Ayaka; Wakatsuki, Naoto; Mizutani, Koichi

    2016-01-01

    A method of suppressing sound radiation to the far field of a near-field acoustic communication system using an evanescent sound field is proposed. The amplitude of the evanescent sound field generated from an infinite vibrating plate attenuates exponentially with increasing a distance from the surface of the vibrating plate. However, a discontinuity of the sound field exists at the edge of the finite vibrating plate in practice, which broadens the wavenumber spectrum. A sound wave radiates over the evanescent sound field because of broadening of the wavenumber spectrum. Therefore, we calculated the optimum distribution of the particle velocity on the vibrating plate to reduce the broadening of the wavenumber spectrum. We focused on a window function that is utilized in the field of signal analysis for reducing the broadening of the frequency spectrum. The optimization calculation is necessary for the design of window function suitable for suppressing sound radiation and securing a spatial area for data communication. In addition, a wide frequency bandwidth is required to increase the data transmission speed. Therefore, we investigated a suitable method for calculating the sound pressure level at the far field to confirm the variation of the distribution of sound pressure level determined on the basis of the window shape and frequency. The distribution of the sound pressure level at a finite distance was in good agreement with that obtained at an infinite far field under the condition generating the evanescent sound field. Consequently, the window function was optimized by the method used to calculate the distribution of the sound pressure level at an infinite far field using the wavenumber spectrum on the vibrating plate. According to the result of comparing the distributions of the sound pressure level in the cases with and without the window function, it was confirmed that the area whose sound pressure level was reduced from the maximum level to -50 dB was

  5. 33 CFR 167.1700 - In Prince William Sound: General.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false In Prince William Sound: General... Schemes and Precautionary Areas Pacific West Coast § 167.1700 In Prince William Sound: General. The Prince William Sound Traffic Separation Scheme consists of four parts: Prince William Sound Traffic Separation...

  6. Experiments on second-sound shock waves in superfluid helium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cummings, J.C.; Schmidt, D.W.; Wagner, W.J.

    1978-01-01

    The waveform and velocity of second-sound waves in superfluid helium have been studied experimentally using superconducting, thin-film probes. The second-sound waves were generated with electrical pulses through a resistive film. Variations in pulse power, pulse duration, and bath temperature were examined. As predicted theoretically, the formation of a shock was observed at the leading or trailing edge of the waves depending on bath temperature. Breakdown of the theoretical model was observed for large pulse powers. Accurate data for the acoustic second-sound speed were derived from the measurements of shock-wave velocities and are compared with previous results

  7. Modelling the Influence of Ground Surface Relief on Electric Sounding Curves Using the Integral Equations Method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Balgaisha Mukanova

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The problem of electrical sounding of a medium with ground surface relief is modelled using the integral equations method. This numerical method is based on the triangulation of the computational domain, which is adapted to the shape of the relief and the measuring line. The numerical algorithm is tested by comparing the results with the known solution for horizontally layered media with two layers. Calculations are also performed to verify the fulfilment of the “reciprocity principle” for the 4-electrode installations in our numerical model. Simulations are then performed for a two-layered medium with a surface relief. The quantitative influences of the relief, the resistivity ratios of the contacting media, and the depth of the second layer on the apparent resistivity curves are established.

  8. Foley Sounds vs Real Sounds

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Trento, Stefano; Götzen, Amalia De

    2011-01-01

    This paper is an initial attempt to study the world of sound effects for motion pictures, also known as Foley sounds. Throughout several audio and audio-video tests we have compared both Foley and real sounds originated by an identical action. The main purpose was to evaluate if sound effects...

  9. State Electricity Commission of Victoria annual report 1983-1984

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1984-01-01

    The State Electricity Commission of Victoria (SECV) generates, transmits and distributes electricity throughout Victoria's 228,000 square kilometres and supplies directly to 1.390 million customers. In addition, 278,500 customers are supplied by eleven municipal authorities which purchase electricity in bulk from the Commission. The Commission also has a responsibility to ensure the safe use of electricity. The Commission's mission statement is 'to provide cost effective energy and services and to act at all times in the best interests of the people of Victoria by being a responsible, adaptive, financially sound and efficient public utility'. The mission statement is the foundation for all activities and should provide the Commission with a sense of direction and unity of purpose. Corporate objectives have been developed in the following seven broad areas: customer, employee, finance, natural resources, environment, conservation and community. Each objective has been translated into a series of specific goals, the achievement of which will be monitored. Details relating to these areas of activity are detailed in this report.

  10. 33 CFR 165.1332 - Safety Zones; annual firework displays within the Captain of the Port, Puget Sound Area of...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Safety Zones; annual firework... Limited Access Areas Thirteenth Coast Guard District § 165.1332 Safety Zones; annual firework displays... from the following launch sites: Captain of the Port Puget Sound AOR Annual Firework Displays Event...

  11. Preliminary Groundwater Assessment using Electrical Method at Quaternary Deposits Area

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hazreek, Z. A. M.; Raqib, A. G. A.; Aziman, M.; Azhar, A. T. S.; Khaidir, A. T. M.; Fairus, Y. M.; Rosli, S.; Fakhrurrazi, I. M.; Izzaty, R. A.

    2017-08-01

    Alternative water sources using groundwater has increasingly demand in recent years. In the past, proper and systematic study of groundwater potential was varies due to several constraints. Conventionally, tube well point was drilled based on subjective judgment of several parties which may lead to the uncertainties of the project success. Hence, this study performed an electrical method to investigate the groundwater potential at quaternary deposits area particularly using resistivity and induced polarization technique. Electrical method was performed using ABEM SAS4000 equipment based on pole dipole array and 2.5 m electrode spacing. Resistivity raw data was analyzed using RES2DINV software. It was found that groundwater was able to be detected based on resistivity and chargeability values which varied at 10 - 100 Ωm and 0 - 1 ms respectively. Moreover, suitable location of tube well was able to be proposed which located at 80 m from the first survey electrode in west direction. Verification of both electrical results with established references has shown some good agreement thus able to convince the result reliability. Hence, the establishment of electrical method in preliminary groundwater assessment was able to assist several parties in term groundwater prospective at study area which efficient in term of cost, time, data coverage and sustainability.

  12. 78 FR 13869 - Puget Sound Energy, Inc.; Puget Sound Energy, Inc.; Puget Sound Energy, Inc.; Puget Sound Energy...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-03-01

    ...-123-LNG; 12-128-NG; 12-148-NG; 12- 158-NG] Puget Sound Energy, Inc.; Puget Sound Energy, Inc.; Puget Sound Energy, Inc.; Puget Sound Energy, Inc.; Puget Sound Energy, Inc.; CE FLNG, LLC; Consolidated...-NG Puget Sound Energy, Inc Order granting long- term authority to import/export natural gas from/to...

  13. Digitizing Sound: How Can Sound Waves be Turned into Ones and Zeros?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vick, Matthew

    2010-10-01

    From MP3 players to cell phones to computer games, we're surrounded by a constant stream of ones and zeros. Do we really need to know how this technology works? While nobody can understand everything, digital technology is increasingly making our lives a collection of "black boxes" that we can use but have no idea how they work. Pursuing scientific literacy should propel us to open up a few of these metaphorical boxes. High school physics offers opportunities to connect the curriculum to sports, art, music, and electricity, but it also offers connections to computers and digital music. Learning activities about digitizing sounds offer wonderful opportunities for technology integration and student problem solving. I used this series of lessons in high school physics after teaching about waves and sound but before optics and total internal reflection so that the concepts could be further extended when learning about fiber optics.

  14. The Deep Ocean Sound Channel in Areas Around Australia,

    Science.gov (United States)

    1980-10-01

    UNCLASSIFIED MRL-R-788 NLEEEEEE/llE/hm/l EIIEIIIEIIIII MRL-R-788 .0 -* AUSTRALIA LI, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE DEFENCE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ORGANISATION...cumbersome, even though they do give accurate results. An over-simplified but enlight - ening sound speed equation, extensively used by Northrup and Colburn [13

  15. Binaural hearing with electrical stimulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kan, Alan; Litovsky, Ruth Y.

    2014-01-01

    Bilateral cochlear implantation is becoming a standard of care in many clinics. While much benefit has been shown through bilateral implantation, patients who have bilateral cochlear implants (CIs) still do not perform as well as normal hearing listeners in sound localization and understanding speech in noisy environments. This difference in performance can arise from a number of different factors, including the areas of hardware and engineering, surgical precision and pathology of the auditory system in deaf persons. While surgical precision and individual pathology are factors that are beyond careful control, improvements can be made in the areas of clinical practice and the engineering of binaural speech processors. These improvements should be grounded in a good understanding of the sensitivities of bilateral CI patients to the acoustic binaural cues that are important to normal hearing listeners for sound localization and speech in noise understanding. To this end, we review the current state-of-the-art in the understanding of the sensitivities of bilateral CI patients to binaural cues in electric hearing, and highlight the important issues and challenges as they relate to clinical practice and the development of new binaural processing strategies. PMID:25193553

  16. Sound absorption of a new oblique-section acoustic metamaterial with nested resonator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Nansha; Hou, Hong; Zhang, Yanni; Wu, Jiu Hui

    2018-02-01

    This study designs and investigates high-efficiency sound absorption of new oblique-section nested resonators. Impedance tube experiment results show that different combinations of oblique-section nest resonators have tunable low-frequency bandwidth characteristics. The sound absorption mechanism is due to air friction losses in the slotted region and the sample structure resonance. The acousto-electric analogy model demonstrates that the sound absorption peak and bandwidth can be modulated over an even wider frequency range by changing the geometric size and combinations of structures. The proposed structure can be easily fabricated and used in low-frequency sound absorption applications.

  17. Application of Carbon Nanotube Assemblies for Sound Generation and Heat Dissipation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kozlov, Mikhail; Haines, Carter; Oh, Jiyoung; Lima, Marcio; Fang, Shaoli

    2011-03-01

    Nanotech approaches were explored for the efficient transformation of an electrical signal into sound, heat, cooling action, and mechanical strain. The studies are based on the aligned arrays of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNT forests) that can be grown on various substrates using a conventional CVD technique. They form a three-dimensional conductive network that possesses uncommon electrical, thermal, acoustic and mechanical properties. When heated with an alternating current or a near-IR laser modulated in 0.01--20 kHz range, the nanotube forests produce loud, audible sound. High generated sound pressure and broad frequency response (beyond 20 kHz) show that the forests act as efficient thermo-acoustic (TA) transducers. They can generate intense third and fourth TA harmonics that reveal peculiar interference-like patterns from ac-dc voltage scans. A strong dependence of the patterns on forest height can be used for characterization of carbon nanotube assemblies and for evaluation of properties of thermal interfaces. Because of good coupling with surrounding air, the forests provide excellent dissipation of heat produced by IC chips. Thermoacoustic converters based on forests can be used for thermo- and photo-acoustic sound generation, amplification and noise cancellation.

  18. The sound and the fury--bees hiss when expecting danger.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wehmann, Henja-Niniane; Gustav, David; Kirkerud, Nicholas H; Galizia, C Giovanni

    2015-01-01

    Honey bees are important model systems for the investigation of learning and memory and for a better understanding of the neuronal basics of brain function. Honey bees also possess a rich repertoire of tones and sounds, from queen piping and quacking to worker hissing and buzzing. In this study, we tested whether the worker bees' sounds can be used as a measure of learning. We therefore conditioned honey bees aversively to odours in a walking arena and recorded both their sound production and their movement. Bees were presented with two odours, one of which was paired with an electric shock. Initially, the bees did not produce any sound upon odour presentation, but responded to the electric shock with a strong hissing response. After learning, many bees hissed at the presentation of the learned odour, while fewer bees hissed upon presentation of another odour. We also found that hissing and movement away from the conditioned odour are independent behaviours that can co-occur but do not necessarily do so. Our data suggest that hissing can be used as a readout for learning after olfactory conditioning, but that there are large individual differences between bees concerning their hissing reaction. The basis for this variability and the possible ecological relevance of the bees' hissing remain to be investigated.

  19. From Hearing Sounds to Recognizing Phonemes: Primary Auditory Cortex is A Truly Perceptual Language Area

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Byron Bernal

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this article is to present a systematic review about the anatomy, function, connectivity, and functional activation of the primary auditory cortex (PAC (Brodmann areas 41/42 when involved in language paradigms. PAC activates with a plethora of diverse basic stimuli including but not limited to tones, chords, natural sounds, consonants, and speech. Nonetheless, the PAC shows specific sensitivity to speech. Damage in the PAC is associated with so-called “pure word-deafness” (“auditory verbal agnosia”. BA41, and to a lesser extent BA42, are involved in early stages of phonological processing (phoneme recognition. Phonological processing may take place in either the right or left side, but customarily the left exerts an inhibitory tone over the right, gaining dominance in function. BA41/42 are primary auditory cortices harboring complex phoneme perception functions with asymmetrical expression, making it possible to include them as core language processing areas (Wernicke’s area.

  20. The Seasonality of Fecal Coliform Bacteria Pollution and its Influence on Closures of Shellfish Harvesting Areas in Mississippi Sound

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paul B. Tchounwou

    2005-08-01

    Full Text Available Runoff from agricultural lands and farm animal feedlots is one of the major sources of fecal coliforms in surface waters, and fecal coliform (FC bacteria concentrations tend to vary with season because of seasonal variations in climatic factors. However, El Niño -Southern Oscillation (ENSO events may affect the extent and patterns of seasonality in FC levels in coastal waters. Water quality monitoring data for shellfish management collected during El Niño (1990, 1992, 1997, and La Niña (1999, 2000 years were analyzed to evaluate the extent to which these events influenced Pearl River stage, and bacterial levels, water temperature, and salinity in the western part of Mississippi Sound. Models to predict FC levels in relation to various environmental factors were also developed. In 1990, 1992 and 1997, FC geometric mean counts peaked in late winter (January/February reaching 120 MPN (February 1990, 165 MPN (January 1992, and 86 MPN (January 1997, and then decreased considerably during spring and summer (1.2 – 19 MPN. Thereafter, FC abundance increased slightly in fall and early winter (1.9 – 24 MPN. Fecal coliform abundance during the 2000 La Niña year was much lower (1.0 – 10.3 MPN than in 1992 (1.2 – 165 MPN, and showed no seasonal pattern from January to August, perhaps due to the relative scarcity of rainfall in 2000. In 1995 (ENSO neutral year, peak geometric mean FC count (46 MPN was lower than during El Niño years and occurred in early spring (March. The seasonal and between year variations in FC levels determined the number of days during which the conditionally approved shellfish growing area was opened for harvesting shellfish. For example, from January to April 1997, the area was not opened for shellfish harvesting, whereas in 2000, the number of days during which the area was opened ranged from 6 - 27 (January to April to 24 - 26 (October to December

  1. Sensitivity of Coastal Environments and Wildlife to Spilled Oil: Puget Sound and Strait of Juan de Fuca, Washington: MGT (Management Area Polygons)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This data set contains polygons that represent the following sensitive human-use management areas in Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Washington:...

  2. 33 CFR 110.25 - Salem Sound, Mass.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Salem Sound, Mass. 110.25 Section 110.25 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY ANCHORAGES ANCHORAGE REGULATIONS Special Anchorage Areas § 110.25 Salem Sound, Mass. (a) Beverly Harbor, north of Salem...

  3. Autonomous Docking Based on Infrared System for Electric Vehicle Charging in Urban Areas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pérez, Joshué; Nashashibi, Fawzi; Lefaudeux, Benjamin; Resende, Paulo; Pollard, Evangeline

    2013-01-01

    Electric vehicles are progressively introduced in urban areas, because of their ability to reduce air pollution, fuel consumption and noise nuisance. Nowadays, some big cities are launching the first electric car-sharing projects to clear traffic jams and enhance urban mobility, as an alternative to the classic public transportation systems. However, there are still some problems to be solved related to energy storage, electric charging and autonomy. In this paper, we present an autonomous docking system for electric vehicles recharging based on an embarked infrared camera performing infrared beacons detection installed in the infrastructure. A visual servoing system coupled with an automatic controller allows the vehicle to dock accurately to the recharging booth in a street parking area. The results show good behavior of the implemented system, which is currently deployed as a real prototype system in the city of Paris. PMID:23429581

  4. Autonomous docking based on infrared system for electric vehicle charging in urban areas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pérez, Joshué; Nashashibi, Fawzi; Lefaudeux, Benjamin; Resende, Paulo; Pollard, Evangeline

    2013-02-21

    Electric vehicles are progressively introduced in urban areas, because of their ability to reduce air pollution, fuel consumption and noise nuisance. Nowadays, some big cities are launching the first electric car-sharing projects to clear traffic jams and enhance urban mobility, as an alternative to the classic public transportation systems. However, there are still some problems to be solved related to energy storage, electric charging and autonomy. In this paper, we present an autonomous docking system for electric vehicles recharging based on an embarked infrared camera performing infrared beacons detection installed in the infrastructure. A visual servoing system coupled with an automatic controller allows the vehicle to dock accurately to the recharging booth in a street parking area. The results show good behavior of the implemented system, which is currently deployed as a real prototype system in the city of Paris.

  5. Electrical model of Olkiluoto

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Paananen, M.; Lehtonen, T.; Korhonen, K. (Geological Survey of Finland, Espoo (FI))

    2007-05-15

    The goal of this work is to construct a composite electrical model of Olkiluoto, focussing on integration of four separate geophysical methods: mise-a-la-masse (MAM), SAMPO EM soundings, Slingram (HLEM) and single-hole electrical soundings. The electrical structure of Olkiluoto is rather complex, dominated by mineral electrical conductors such as sulphide minerals and graphite. The basic idea of this work is the fact that the sulphide-rich zones and fracturing appear to coincide frequently. Accordingly, knowing the geometry of the major electric conductors would facilitate the interpretation of brittle deformation zones. The work consists of three separate phases: method-specific interpretation, integration and block modelling. In the single-hole interpretation, locations of electric conductors (resistivity < 1000 ohmm), based on long normal survey have been determined in 42 drillholes. Since MAM survey does not cover all the conductive sections and drillholes and SAMPO EM has its own limitations in sensitivity and resolution, a proportion of the conductive sections have been combined between the drillholes using only the single-hole data and the geological idea of features dipping gently to SE - S. The MAM survey has been done in numerous drillholes in order to find galvanic connections between the drillholes. Based on MAM, geometry of numerous electric conductors has been determined. Generally the results indicate continuous, gently dipping semiplanar features intersected by several drillholes. The Slingram survey and interpretation have been done on the ground surface to map electric conductors located at shallow depths (some tens of meters at maximum). A number of conductive zones have been delineated, trending mainly from ENE to WSW. The conductors have also been classified according to their in-phase/quadrature-ratio, and in some cases, also numerical modelling has been done. The SAMPO EM soundings and interpretations have been done to map subsurface electric

  6. Electrical model of Olkiluoto

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Paananen, M.; Lehtonen, T.; Korhonen, K.

    2007-05-01

    The goal of this work is to construct a composite electrical model of Olkiluoto, focussing on integration of four separate geophysical methods: mise-a-la-masse (MAM), SAMPO EM soundings, Slingram (HLEM) and single-hole electrical soundings. The electrical structure of Olkiluoto is rather complex, dominated by mineral electrical conductors such as sulphide minerals and graphite. The basic idea of this work is the fact that the sulphide-rich zones and fracturing appear to coincide frequently. Accordingly, knowing the geometry of the major electric conductors would facilitate the interpretation of brittle deformation zones. The work consists of three separate phases: method-specific interpretation, integration and block modelling. In the single-hole interpretation, locations of electric conductors (resistivity < 1000 ohmm), based on long normal survey have been determined in 42 drillholes. Since MAM survey does not cover all the conductive sections and drillholes and SAMPO EM has its own limitations in sensitivity and resolution, a proportion of the conductive sections have been combined between the drillholes using only the single-hole data and the geological idea of features dipping gently to SE - S. The MAM survey has been done in numerous drillholes in order to find galvanic connections between the drillholes. Based on MAM, geometry of numerous electric conductors has been determined. Generally the results indicate continuous, gently dipping semiplanar features intersected by several drillholes. The Slingram survey and interpretation have been done on the ground surface to map electric conductors located at shallow depths (some tens of meters at maximum). A number of conductive zones have been delineated, trending mainly from ENE to WSW. The conductors have also been classified according to their in-phase/quadrature-ratio, and in some cases, also numerical modelling has been done. The SAMPO EM soundings and interpretations have been done to map subsurface electric

  7. Control area readiness audit report of the Independent Electricity Market Operator (IMO)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gladish, L.A.; Campoli, G.; Le, Q.; Farrokhpay, S.; Kirby, B.; Penwell, C.; Weaver, S.; Vicini, D.; Wells, M.

    2004-01-01

    The Independent Electricity Market Operator (IMO) is a control area authority that is responsible for the safe and reliable operation of its portion of the bulk electric system in cooperation with neighbouring control areas. This audit by the North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) reviewed the readiness of Ontario's IMO to meets its responsibilities as a control area operator. NERC recommended specific actions to correct the deficiencies that resulted in the blackout in southeastern Ontario and northeastern United States on August 14, 2003. Initiatives to strengthen compliance with existing standards were also suggested along with longer-term technical initiatives to prevent or mitigate the impacts of cascading blackouts in the future. The audit process included: a self-assessment questionnaire to the control area being audited; a questionnaire to neighbouring control areas; a questionnaire to the reliability coordinator and an on-site audit by a selected audit team. The following issues were reviewed: criteria and compliance, authority, responsibilities in the planning time frame, real time monitoring, system restoration, delegation of reliability coordinator functions, outage coordination, transmission and generation relaying, energy emergency plan, operating policy, line clearances, and nuclear power plant requirements. It was concluded that the IMO has the necessary plans, procedures, processes, tools and trained personnel to respond to emergency events. The audit did not find any major operational problems, but offered a few recommendations for improvement. tabs

  8. Depth study of insular shelf electric sounding Adelaida anomaly (Rivera)[Geochemical prospection of Uranium in Uruguay]; Estudio de la profundidad del zocalo por sondeos electricos Anomalia Adelaida (Rivera)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cicalese, H

    1983-07-01

    In the framework of the Uranium prospecting programme, the DINAMIGE geophysical equipment have made a study. It was about the depth of insular shelf electric sounding on the anomalies zone of Adelaida. This equipment carried out a study of the following subjects: geographical location, geologic framework, geophysical intervention, developed works, methods and material and results.

  9. Preliminary seismic hazard assessment, shallow seismic refraction and resistivity sounding studies for future urban planning at the Gebel Umm Baraqa area, Egypt

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Khalil, Mohamed H; Hanafy, Sherif M; Gamal, Mohamed A

    2008-01-01

    Gebel Umm Baraqa Fan, west Gulf of Aqaba, Sinai, is one of the most important tourism areas in Egypt. However, it is located on the active Dead Sea-Gulf of Aqaba Levant transform fault system. Geophysical studies, including fresh water aquifer delineation, shallow seismic refraction, soil characterization and preliminary seismic hazard assessment, were conducted to help in future city planning. A total of 11 vertical electrical soundings (1000–3000 m maximum AB/2) and three bore-holes were drilled in the site for the analysis of ground water, total dissolved solids (TDS) and fresh water aquifer properties. The interpretation of the one-dimensional (1D) inversion of the resistivity data delineated the fresh water aquifer and determined its hydro-geologic parameters. Eleven shallow seismic refraction profiles (125 m in length) have been collected and interpreted using the generalized reciprocal method, and the resulting depth–velocity models were verified using an advanced finite difference (FD) technique. Shallow seismic refraction effectively delineates two subsurface layers (VP ∼ 450 m s −1 and VP ∼ 1000 m s −1 ). A preliminary seismic hazard assessment in Umm Baraqa has produced an estimate of the probabilistic peak ground acceleration hazard in the study area. A recent and historical earthquake catalog for the time period 2200 BC to 2006 has been compiled for the area. New accurate seismic source zoning is considered because such details affect the degree of hazard in the city. The estimated amount of PGA reveals values ranging from 250 to 260 cm s −2 in the bedrock of the Umm Baraqa area during a 100 year interval (a suitable time window for buildings). Recommendations as to suitable types of buildings, considering the amount of shaking and the aquifer properties given in this study, are expected to be helpful for the Umm Baraqa area

  10. Aquifer Characterization from Surface Geo-electrical Method, western coast of Maharashtra, India

    Science.gov (United States)

    DAS, A.; Maiti, D. S.

    2017-12-01

    Knowledge of aquifer parameters are necessary for managing groundwater amenity. These parameters are evaluated through pumping tests bring off from bore wells. But it is quite expensive as well as time consuming to carry out pumping tests at various sites and sometimes it is difficult to find bore hole at every required site. Therefore, an alternate method is put forward in which the aquifer parameters are evaluated from surface geophysical method. In this method, vertical electrical sounding (VES) with Schlumberger configuration were accomplished in 85 stations over Sindhudurg district. Sindhudurg district is located in the Konkan region of Maharashtra state, India. The district is located between north latitude 15°37' and 16° 40' and east longitude 73° 19' and 74° 13'. The area is having hard rock and acute groundwater problem. In this configuration, we have taken the maximum current electrode spacing of 200 m for every vertical electrical sounding (VES). Geo-electrical sounding data (true resistivity and thickness) is interpreted through resistivity inversion approach. The required parameters are achieved through resistivity inversion technique from which the aquifer variables (D-Z parameters, mean resistivity, hydraulic conductivity, transmissivity, and coefficient of anisotropy) are calculated by using some empirical formulae. Cross-correlation investigation has been done between these parameters, which eventually used to characterize the aquifer over the study area. At the end, the contour plot for these aquifer parameters has been raised which reveals the detailed distribution of aquifer parameters throughout the study area. From contour plot, high values of longitudinal conductance, hydraulic conductivity and transmissivity are demarcate over Kelus, Vengurle, Mochemar and Shiroda villages. This may be due to intrusion of saline water from Arabian sea. From contour trends, the aquifers are characterized from which the groundwater resources could be

  11. Brain regions for sound processing and song release in a small grasshopper.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balvantray Bhavsar, Mit; Stumpner, Andreas; Heinrich, Ralf

    2017-05-01

    We investigated brain regions - mostly neuropils - that process auditory information relevant for the initiation of response songs of female grasshoppers Chorthippus biguttulus during bidirectional intraspecific acoustic communication. Male-female acoustic duets in the species Ch. biguttulus require the perception of sounds, their recognition as a species- and gender-specific signal and the initiation of commands that activate thoracic pattern generating circuits to drive the sound-producing stridulatory movements of the hind legs. To study sensory-to-motor processing during acoustic communication we used multielectrodes that allowed simultaneous recordings of acoustically stimulated electrical activity from several ascending auditory interneurons or local brain neurons and subsequent electrical stimulation of the recording site. Auditory activity was detected in the lateral protocerebrum (where most of the described ascending auditory interneurons terminate), in the superior medial protocerebrum and in the central complex, that has previously been implicated in the control of sound production. Neural responses to behaviorally attractive sound stimuli showed no or only poor correlation with behavioral responses. Current injections into the lateral protocerebrum, the central complex and the deuto-/tritocerebrum (close to the cerebro-cervical fascicles), but not into the superior medial protocerebrum, elicited species-typical stridulation with high success rate. Latencies and numbers of phrases produced by electrical stimulation were different between these brain regions. Our results indicate three brain regions (likely neuropils) where auditory activity can be detected with two of these regions being potentially involved in song initiation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Sound

    CERN Document Server

    Robertson, William C

    2003-01-01

    Muddled about what makes music? Stuck on the study of harmonics? Dumbfounded by how sound gets around? Now you no longer have to struggle to teach concepts you really don t grasp yourself. Sound takes an intentionally light touch to help out all those adults science teachers, parents wanting to help with homework, home-schoolers seeking necessary scientific background to teach middle school physics with confidence. The book introduces sound waves and uses that model to explain sound-related occurrences. Starting with the basics of what causes sound and how it travels, you'll learn how musical instruments work, how sound waves add and subtract, how the human ear works, and even why you can sound like a Munchkin when you inhale helium. Sound is the fourth book in the award-winning Stop Faking It! Series, published by NSTA Press. Like the other popular volumes, it is written by irreverent educator Bill Robertson, who offers this Sound recommendation: One of the coolest activities is whacking a spinning metal rod...

  13. Puget Sound Intertidal Habitat Inventory; Puget Sound Ambient Monitoring Program, 1996 (NODC Accession 9900221)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Puget Sound's intertidal areas provide habitat for species of commercial, recreational, biotic, and aesthetic value. Habitat is a critical ecosystem component -- it...

  14. Plastic modes of listening: affordance in constructed sound environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sjolin, Anders

    This thesis is concerned with how the ecological approach to perception with the inclusion of listening modes, informs the creation of sound art installation, or more specifically as referred to in this thesis as constructed sound environments. The basis for the thesis has been a practiced based research where the aim and purpose of the written part of this PhD project has been to critically investigate the area of sound art, in order to map various approaches towards participating in and listening to a constructed sound environment. The main areas has been the notion of affordance as coined by James J. Gibson (1986), listening modes as coined by Pierre Schaeffer (1966) and further developed by Michel Chion (1994), aural architects as coined by Blesser and Salter (2007) and the holistic approach towards understanding sound art developed by Brandon LaBelle (2006). The findings within the written part of the thesis, based on a qualitative analysis, have informed the practice that has resulted in artefacts in the form of seven constructed sound environments that also functions as case studies for further analysis. The aim of the practice has been to exemplify the methodology, strategy and progress behind the organisation and construction of sound environments The research concerns point towards the acknowledgment of affordance as the crucial factor in understanding a constructed sound environment. The affordance approach govern the idea that perceiving a sound environment is a top-down process where the autonomic quality of a constructed sound environment is based upon the perception of structures of the sound material and its relationship with speaker placement and surrounding space. This enables a researcher to side step the conflicting poles of musical/abstract and non-musical/realistic classification of sound elements and regard these poles as included, not separated elements in the analysis of a constructed sound environment.

  15. Sound velocity profiles in the St. Clair and St. Mary's Rivers in the Great Lakes area by the National Ocean Service's Navigation Response Team 4, May 2006 (NODC Accession 0006777)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Sound velocity profile data were collected using sound velocimeter in the St. Clair and St. Mary rivers in the Great Lakes area by the NAVIGATION RESPONSE TEAM 4...

  16. Autonomous Docking Based on Infrared System for Electric Vehicle Charging in Urban Areas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joshué Pérez

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available Electric vehicles are progressively introduced in urban areas, because of their ability to reduce air pollution, fuel consumption and noise nuisance. Nowadays, some big cities are launching the first electric car-sharing projects to clear traffic jams and enhance urban mobility, as an alternative to the classic public transportation systems. However, there are still some problems to be solved related to energy storage, electric charging and autonomy. In this paper, we present an autonomous docking system for electric vehicles recharging based on an embarked infrared camera performing infrared beacons detection installed in the infrastructure. A visual servoing system coupled with an automatic controller allows the vehicle to dock accurately to the recharging booth in a street parking area. The results show good behavior of the implemented system, which is currently deployed as a real prototype system in the city of Paris.

  17. 33 CFR 161.60 - Vessel Traffic Service Prince William Sound.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... William Sound. 161.60 Section 161.60 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND... Movement Reporting System Areas and Reporting Points § 161.60 Vessel Traffic Service Prince William Sound... Cape Hinchinbrook Light to Schooner Rock Light, comprising that portion of Prince William Sound between...

  18. Sounding rockets explore the ionosphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mendillo, M.

    1990-01-01

    It is suggested that small, expendable, solid-fuel rockets used to explore ionospheric plasma can offer insight into all the processes and complexities common to space plasma. NASA's sounding rocket program for ionospheric research focuses on the flight of instruments to measure parameters governing the natural state of the ionosphere. Parameters include input functions, such as photons, particles, and composition of the neutral atmosphere; resultant structures, such as electron and ion densities, temperatures and drifts; and emerging signals such as photons and electric and magnetic fields. Systematic study of the aurora is also conducted by these rockets, allowing sampling at relatively high spatial and temporal rates as well as investigation of parameters, such as energetic particle fluxes, not accessible to ground based systems. Recent active experiments in the ionosphere are discussed, and future sounding rocket missions are cited

  19. The sound and the fury--bees hiss when expecting danger.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Henja-Niniane Wehmann

    Full Text Available Honey bees are important model systems for the investigation of learning and memory and for a better understanding of the neuronal basics of brain function. Honey bees also possess a rich repertoire of tones and sounds, from queen piping and quacking to worker hissing and buzzing. In this study, we tested whether the worker bees' sounds can be used as a measure of learning. We therefore conditioned honey bees aversively to odours in a walking arena and recorded both their sound production and their movement. Bees were presented with two odours, one of which was paired with an electric shock. Initially, the bees did not produce any sound upon odour presentation, but responded to the electric shock with a strong hissing response. After learning, many bees hissed at the presentation of the learned odour, while fewer bees hissed upon presentation of another odour. We also found that hissing and movement away from the conditioned odour are independent behaviours that can co-occur but do not necessarily do so. Our data suggest that hissing can be used as a readout for learning after olfactory conditioning, but that there are large individual differences between bees concerning their hissing reaction. The basis for this variability and the possible ecological relevance of the bees' hissing remain to be investigated.

  20. The Sound and the Fury—Bees Hiss when Expecting Danger

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galizia, C. Giovanni

    2015-01-01

    Honey bees are important model systems for the investigation of learning and memory and for a better understanding of the neuronal basics of brain function. Honey bees also possess a rich repertoire of tones and sounds, from queen piping and quacking to worker hissing and buzzing. In this study, we tested whether the worker bees’ sounds can be used as a measure of learning. We therefore conditioned honey bees aversively to odours in a walking arena and recorded both their sound production and their movement. Bees were presented with two odours, one of which was paired with an electric shock. Initially, the bees did not produce any sound upon odour presentation, but responded to the electric shock with a strong hissing response. After learning, many bees hissed at the presentation of the learned odour, while fewer bees hissed upon presentation of another odour. We also found that hissing and movement away from the conditioned odour are independent behaviours that can co-occur but do not necessarily do so. Our data suggest that hissing can be used as a readout for learning after olfactory conditioning, but that there are large individual differences between bees concerning their hissing reaction. The basis for this variability and the possible ecological relevance of the bees’ hissing remain to be investigated. PMID:25747702

  1. The effect of brain lesions on sound localization in complex acoustic environments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zündorf, Ida C; Karnath, Hans-Otto; Lewald, Jörg

    2014-05-01

    Localizing sound sources of interest in cluttered acoustic environments--as in the 'cocktail-party' situation--is one of the most demanding challenges to the human auditory system in everyday life. In this study, stroke patients' ability to localize acoustic targets in a single-source and in a multi-source setup in the free sound field were directly compared. Subsequent voxel-based lesion-behaviour mapping analyses were computed to uncover the brain areas associated with a deficit in localization in the presence of multiple distracter sound sources rather than localization of individually presented sound sources. Analyses revealed a fundamental role of the right planum temporale in this task. The results from the left hemisphere were less straightforward, but suggested an involvement of inferior frontal and pre- and postcentral areas. These areas appear to be particularly involved in the spectrotemporal analyses crucial for effective segregation of multiple sound streams from various locations, beyond the currently known network for localization of isolated sound sources in otherwise silent surroundings.

  2. Techno-economic evaluation of various electric energy supply for rural areas Pakistan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nagdev, A.J.; Samo, S.R.

    1994-01-01

    A diagnostic study was carried out to evaluate the techno-economic viability of various electric supply sources for electrification of rural areas in Pakistan in present socio-economic conditions. The important influencing factors considered were: social needs, electric requirement and availability of energy resources. The electric requirements of model rural village were established at 20431 kw h per year. Prudent evaluations reveal that hydroelectric, photovoltaic and diesel systems are better options than an electric grid extension of more than 2 km. In order to become an economically meritorious energy source, photovoltaic system should attain cost level Rs. 100 per watt-peak of installed system. (author)

  3. Seafloor environments in the Long Island Sound estuarine system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knebel, H.J.; Signell, R.P.; Rendigs, R. R.; Poppe, L.J.; List, J.H.

    1999-01-01

    Four categories of modern seafloor sedimentary environments have been identified and mapped across the large, glaciated, topographically complex Long Island Sound estuary by means of an extensive regional set of sidescan sonographs, bottom samples, and video-camera observations and supplemental marine-geologic and modeled physical-oceanographic data. (1) Environments of erosion or nondeposition contain sediments which range from boulder fields to gravelly coarse-to-medium sands and appear on the sonographs either as patterns with isolated reflections (caused by outcrops of glacial drift and bedrock) or as patterns of strong backscatter (caused by coarse lag deposits). Areas of erosion or nondeposition were found across the rugged seafloor at the eastern entrance of the Sound and atop bathymetric highs and within constricted depressions in other parts of the basin. (2) Environments of bedload transport contain mostly coarse-to-fine sand with only small amounts of mud and are depicted by sonograph patterns of sand ribbons and sand waves. Areas of bedload transport were found primarily in the eastern Sound where bottom currents have sculptured the surface of a Holocene marine delta and are moving these sediments toward the WSW into the estuary. (3) Environments of sediment sorting and reworking comprise variable amounts of fine sand and mud and are characterized either by patterns of moderate backscatter or by patterns with patches of moderate-to-weak backscatter that reflect a combination of erosion and deposition. Areas of sediment sorting and reworking were found around the periphery of the zone of bedload transport in the eastern Sound and along the southern nearshore margin. They also are located atop low knolls, on the flanks of shoal complexes, and within segments of the axial depression in the western Sound. (4) Environments of deposition are blanketed by muds and muddy fine sands that produce patterns of uniformly weak backscatter. Depositional areas occupy

  4. Electrical distribution studies for the 200 Area tank farms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fisler, J.B.

    1994-01-01

    This is an engineering study providing reliability numbers for various design configurations as well as computer analyses (Captor/Dapper) of the existing distribution system to the 480V side of the unit substations. The objective of the study was to assure the adequacy of the existing electrical system components from the connection at the high voltage supply point through the transformation and distribution equipment to the point where it is reduced to its useful voltage level. It also was to evaluate the reasonableness of proposed solutions of identified deficiencies and recommendations of possible alternate solutions. The electrical utilities are normally considered the most vital of the utility systems on a site because all other utility systems depend on electrical power. The system accepts electric power from the external sources, reduces it to a lower voltage, and distributes it to end-use points throughout the site. By classic definition, all utility systems extend to a point 5 feet from the facility perimeter. An exception is made to this definition for the electric utilities at this site. The electrical Utility System ends at the low voltage section of the unit substation, which reduces the voltage from 13.8 kV to 2,400, 480, 277/480 or 120/208 volts. These transformers are located at various distances from existing facilities. The adequacy of the distribution system which transports the power from the main substation to the individual area substations and other load centers is evaluated and factored into the impact of the future load forecast

  5. Electrical distribution studies for the 200 Area tank farms

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fisler, J.B.

    1994-08-26

    This is an engineering study providing reliability numbers for various design configurations as well as computer analyses (Captor/Dapper) of the existing distribution system to the 480V side of the unit substations. The objective of the study was to assure the adequacy of the existing electrical system components from the connection at the high voltage supply point through the transformation and distribution equipment to the point where it is reduced to its useful voltage level. It also was to evaluate the reasonableness of proposed solutions of identified deficiencies and recommendations of possible alternate solutions. The electrical utilities are normally considered the most vital of the utility systems on a site because all other utility systems depend on electrical power. The system accepts electric power from the external sources, reduces it to a lower voltage, and distributes it to end-use points throughout the site. By classic definition, all utility systems extend to a point 5 feet from the facility perimeter. An exception is made to this definition for the electric utilities at this site. The electrical Utility System ends at the low voltage section of the unit substation, which reduces the voltage from 13.8 kV to 2,400, 480, 277/480 or 120/208 volts. These transformers are located at various distances from existing facilities. The adequacy of the distribution system which transports the power from the main substation to the individual area substations and other load centers is evaluated and factored into the impact of the future load forecast.

  6. Binaural hearing with electrical stimulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kan, Alan; Litovsky, Ruth Y

    2015-04-01

    Bilateral cochlear implantation is becoming a standard of care in many clinics. While much benefit has been shown through bilateral implantation, patients who have bilateral cochlear implants (CIs) still do not perform as well as normal hearing listeners in sound localization and understanding speech in noisy environments. This difference in performance can arise from a number of different factors, including the areas of hardware and engineering, surgical precision and pathology of the auditory system in deaf persons. While surgical precision and individual pathology are factors that are beyond careful control, improvements can be made in the areas of clinical practice and the engineering of binaural speech processors. These improvements should be grounded in a good understanding of the sensitivities of bilateral CI patients to the acoustic binaural cues that are important to normal hearing listeners for sound localization and speech in noise understanding. To this end, we review the current state-of-the-art in the understanding of the sensitivities of bilateral CI patients to binaural cues in electric hearing, and highlight the important issues and challenges as they relate to clinical practice and the development of new binaural processing strategies. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled . Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. Xinyinqin: a computer-based heart sound simulator.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhan, X X; Pei, J H; Xiao, Y H

    1995-01-01

    "Xinyinqin" is the Chinese phoneticized name of the Heart Sound Simulator (HSS). The "qin" in "Xinyinqin" is the Chinese name of a category of musical instruments, which means that the operation of HSS is very convenient--like playing an electric piano with the keys. HSS is connected to the GAME I/O of an Apple microcomputer. The generation of sound is controlled by a program. Xinyinqin is used as a teaching aid of Diagnostics. It has been applied in teaching for three years. In this demonstration we will introduce the following functions of HSS: 1) The main program has two modules. The first one is the heart auscultation training module. HSS can output a heart sound selected by the student. Another program module is used to test the student's learning condition. The computer can randomly simulate a certain heart sound and ask the student to name it. The computer gives the student's answer an assessment: "correct" or "incorrect." When the answer is incorrect, the computer will output that heart sound again for the student to listen to; this process is repeated until she correctly identifies it. 2) The program is convenient to use and easy to control. By pressing the S key, it is able to output a slow heart rate until the student can clearly identify the rhythm. The heart rate, like the actual rate of a patient, can then be restored by hitting any key. By pressing the SPACE BAR, the heart sound output can be stopped to allow the teacher to explain something to the student. The teacher can resume playing the heart sound again by hitting any key; she can also change the content of the training by hitting RETURN key. In the future, we plan to simulate more heart sounds and incorporate relevant graphs.

  8. Learning about the Dynamic Sun through Sounds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quinn, M.; Peticolas, L. M.; Luhmann, J.; MacCallum, J.

    2008-06-01

    Can we hear the Sun or its solar wind? Not in the sense that they make sound. But we can take the particle, magnetic field, electric field, and image data and turn it into sound to demonstrate what the data tells us. We present work on turning data from the two-satellite NASA mission called STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) into sounds and music (sonification). STEREO has two satellites orbiting the Sun near Earth's orbit to study the coronal mass ejections (CMEs) from the Corona. One sonification project aims to inspire musicians, museum patrons, and the public to learn more about CMEs by downloading STEREO data and using it to make music. We demonstrate the software and discuss the way in which it was developed. A second project aims to produce a museum exhibit using STEREO imagery and sounds from STEREO data. We demonstrate a "walk across the Sun" created for this exhibit so people can hear the features on solar images. We show how pixel intensity translates into pitches from selectable scales with selectable musical scale size and octave locations. We also share our successes and lessons learned.

  9. Larval fish collected from sound-scattering layers in an offshore tropical area.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castro, M S; Bonecker, A C T

    2017-12-01

    The composition of the larval fish assemblage in the sound-scattering layer of the continental shelf waters off the coast of south-eastern Brazil (12 and 22° S), a research project that is part of the Brazilian programme Avaliação do Potencial Sustentável de Recursos Vivos na Zona Econômica Exclusiva (REVIZEE), is described. Samples were collected during daylight hours and at dusk at five oceanographic stations in the winter of 1999 using an Isaacs-Kidd Midwater Trawl (IKMT). The oceanographic stations were chosen based on the detection of plankton layers by acoustic observation. A total of 2192 larval fish were identified, comprising 52 families and 62 species. Maurolicus stehmanni (Sternoptychidae) was the most abundant species found within the study area, comprising 18·5% of all identified larvae, followed by Psilotris celsus (Gobiidae) at 10·9%. © 2017 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.

  10. Detection System of Sound Noise Level (SNL) Based on Condenser Microphone Sensor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rajagukguk, Juniastel; Eka Sari, Nurdieni

    2018-03-01

    The research aims to know the noise level by using the Arduino Uno as data processing input from sensors and called as Sound Noise Level (SNL). The working principle of the instrument is as noise detector with the show notifications the noise level on the LCD indicator and in the audiovisual form. Noise detection using the sensor is a condenser microphone and LM 567 as IC op-amps, which are assembled so that it can detect the noise, which sounds are captured by the sensor will turn the tide of sinusoida voice became sine wave energy electricity (altering sinusoida electric current) that is able to responded to complaints by the Arduino Uno. The tool is equipped with a detector consists of a set indicator LED and sound well as the notification from the text on LCD 16*2. Work setting indicators on the condition that, if the measured noise > 75 dB then sound will beep, the red LED will light up indicating the status of the danger. If the measured value on the LCD is higher than 56 dB, sound indicator will be beep and yellow LED will be on indicating noisy. If the noise measured value <55 dB, sound indicator will be quiet indicating peaceful from noisy. From the result of the research can be explained that the SNL is capable to detecting and displaying noise level with a measuring range 50-100 dB and capable to delivering the notification noise in audiovisual.

  11. electrical resistivity investigation of the groundwater potential in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The VES data generated were processed and interpreted using partial curve matching ... electrical sounding, a technique of electrical resistivity method in identifying viable .... Geoelectric/Electromagnetic VLF Survey for. Groundwater in a ...

  12. Effect of a sound wave on the stability of an argon discharge

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Galechyan, G.A.; Karapetyan, D.M.; Tavakalyan, L.B.

    1992-01-01

    The effect of a sound wave on the stability of the positive column of an argon discharge has been studied experimentally in the range of pressures from 40 to 180 torr and discharge currents from 40 to 110 mA in a tube with an interior diameter of 9.8 cm. It is shown that, depending on the intensity of the sound wave and the discharge parameters, sound can cause the positive column either to contract or to leave the contracted state. The electric field strength has been measured as a function of the sound intensity. An analogy between the effect of sound and that of longitudinal pumping of the gas on the argon discharge parameters has been established. The radial temperature of the gas has been studied in an argon discharge as a function of the sound intensity for different gas pressures. A direct relationship has been established between the sign of the detector effect produced by a sound wave in a discharge and the processes of contraction and filamentation of a discharge. 11 refs., 4 figs., 1 tab

  13. Techniques and instrumentation for the measurement of transient sound energy flux

    Science.gov (United States)

    Watkinson, P. S.; Fahy, F. J.

    1983-12-01

    The evaluation of sound intensity distributions, and sound powers, of essentially continuous sources such as automotive engines, electric motors, production line machinery, furnaces, earth moving machinery and various types of process plants were studied. Although such systems are important sources of community disturbance and, to a lesser extent, of industrial health hazard, the most serious sources of hearing hazard in industry are machines operating on an impact principle, such as drop forges, hammers and punches. Controlled experiments to identify major noise source regions and mechanisms are difficult because it is normally impossible to install them in quiet, anechoic environments. The potential for sound intensity measurement to provide a means of overcoming these difficulties has given promising results, indicating the possibility of separation of directly radiated and reverberant sound fields. However, because of the complexity of transient sound fields, a fundamental investigation is necessary to establish the practicability of intensity field decomposition, which is basic to source characterization techniques.

  14. Geo-electrical and geological strikes of the Mount Lamongan geothermal area, East Java, Indonesia – preliminary results

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nugraheni, L. R.; Niasari, S. W.; Nukman, M.

    2018-04-01

    Geothermal manifestations located in the Tiris, Mount Lamongan, Probolinggo, consist of warm springs. These warm springs have temperature from 35° until 45°C. Tiris fault has NW-SE dominant orientation, similar to some lineaments of maars and cinder cones around Mount Lamongan. The Mount Lamongan geothermal area is situated between Bromo and Argapura volcanoes. This study aims to map the geo-electrical and geological strikes in the study area. Phase tensor analysis has been performed in this study to determine geo-electrical strike of study area. Geological field campaign has been conducted to measure geological strikes. Then, orientation of geo-electrical strike was compared to geological strike. The result presents that the regional geological strike of study area is NW-SE while the orientation of geo-electrical strike is N-S.

  15. Delineation of graves using electrical resistivity tomography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nero, Callistus; Aning, Akwasi Acheampong; Danuor, Sylvester K.; Noye, Reginald M.

    2016-03-01

    A suspected old royal cemetery has been surveyed at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) campus, Kumasi, Ghana using Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) with the objective of detecting graves in order to make informed decisions with regard to the future use of the area. The survey was conducted on a 10,000 m2 area. Continuous Vertical Electrical Sounding (CVES) was combined with the roll along technique for 51 profiles with 1 m probe separation separated by 2 m. Inverted data results indicated wide resistivity variations ranging between 9.34 Ωm and 600 Ωm in the near surface. Such heterogeneity suggests a disturbance of the soil at this level. Both high (≥ 600 Ωm) and low resistivity (≤ 74.7 Ωm) anomalies, relative to background levels, were identified within the first 4 m of the subsurface. These were suspected to be burial tombs because of their rectangular geometries and resistivity contrasts. The results were validated with forward numerical modeling results. The study area is therefore an old cemetery and should be preserved as a cultural heritage site.

  16. Improving distribution efficiency of electrical network using geo-electrical options. A case study in a rural area of Assam (India)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hazarika, S.; Hiloidhari, M.; Baruah, D.C. [Energy Conservation Laboratory, Department of Energy, Tezpur University, Tezpur, Assam (India)

    2012-11-15

    Reduction of electricity distribution loss is a major area of focus in India. This paper aims to investigate geo-electrical options to improve distribution efficiency of electrical network. Distribution efficiencies corresponding to several possible electrical network options are assessed using Geographical Information System (GIS) integrated electrical theory. An existing electrical distribution network of a rural area in Assam (India) is considered for the present investigation. Information related to characteristics of loads, features of conductors, and transformers of the existing network are used for this investigation. The line losses of the three existing transformers are estimated at about 36, 20, and 3 % of their respective connected loads. Longer distribution lines associated with higher loads are the causes of higher line losses. Using basic electrical theory and GIS tools, it is found that line losses can be reduced in the existing distribution system through management of distribution transformer and reconductoring. Two alternative locations for each of the three transformers are identified for optimal management of distribution transformers. Similarly, five different types of commercially available conductors are identified for possible reconductoring to reduce line loss. The economic viability of reconductoring of distribution lines are also assessed through an economic analysis. Net present values of total expenditure comprising purchase prices of conductor and cost attributed to line losses are estimated considering 30 years of useful life. The existing conductor has the worst economic merit, though it is the cheapest amongst all. A net saving of about USD 24,084 is possible through the best choice of distribution conductor for the village.

  17. 40 CFR 81.32 - Puget Sound Intrastate Air Quality Control Region.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... Quality Control Regions § 81.32 Puget Sound Intrastate Air Quality Control Region. The Puget Sound Intrastate Air Quality Control Region (Washington) consists of the territorial area encompassed by the... 40 Protection of Environment 17 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Puget Sound Intrastate Air Quality...

  18. Impacts of Western Area Power Administration's power marketing alternatives on electric utility systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Veselka, T.D.; Portante, E.C.; Koritarov, V.

    1995-03-01

    This technical memorandum estimates the effects of alternative contractual commitments that may be initiated by the Western Area Power Administration's Salt Lake City Area Office. It also studies hydropower operational restrictions at the Salt Lake City Area Integrated Projects in combination with these alternatives. Power marketing and hydropower operational effects are estimated in support of Western's Electric Power Marketing Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Electricity production and capacity expansion for utility systems that will be directly affected by alternatives specified in the EIS are simulated. Cost estimates are presented by utility type and for various activities such as capacity expansion, generation, long-term firm purchases and sales, fixed operation and maintenance expenses, and spot market activities. Operational changes at hydropower facilities are also investigated

  19. Integrating surface and borehole geophysics in ground water studies - an example using electromagnetic soundings in south Florida

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paillet, Frederick; Hite, Laura; Carlson, Matthew

    1999-01-01

    Time domain surface electromagnetic soundings, borehole induction logs, and other borehole logging techniques are used to construct a realistic model for the shallow subsurface hydraulic properties of unconsolidated sediments in south Florida. Induction logs are used to calibrate surface induction soundings in units of pore water salinity by correlating water sample specific electrical conductivity with the electrical conductivity of the formation over the sampled interval for a two‐layered aquifer model. Geophysical logs are also used to show that a constant conductivity layer model is appropriate for the south Florida study. Several physically independent log measurements are used to quantify the dependence of formation electrical conductivity on such parameters as salinity, permeability, and clay mineral fraction. The combined interpretation of electromagnetic soundings and induction logs was verified by logging three validation boreholes, confirming quantitative estimates of formation conductivity and thickness in the upper model layer, and qualitative estimates of conductivity in the lower model layer.

  20. Sound modes in holographic hydrodynamics for charged AdS black hole

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Matsuo, Yoshinori; Sin, Sang-Jin; Takeuchi, Shingo; Tsukioka, Takuya; Yoo, Chul-Moon

    2009-01-01

    In the previous paper we studied the transport coefficients of quark-gluon plasma in finite temperature and finite density in vector and tensor modes. In this paper, we extend it to the scalar modes. We work out the decoupling problem and hydrodynamic analysis for the sound mode in charged AdS black hole and calculate the sound velocity, the charge susceptibility and the electrical conductivity. We find that Einstein relation among the conductivity, the diffusion constant and the susceptibility holds exactly.

  1. Source Separation of Heartbeat Sounds for Effective E-Auscultation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Geethu, R. S.; Krishnakumar, M.; Pramod, K. V.; George, Sudhish N.

    2016-03-01

    This paper proposes a cost effective solution for improving the effectiveness of e-auscultation. Auscultation is the most difficult skill for a doctor, since it can be acquired only through experience. The heart sound mixtures are captured by placing the four numbers of sensors at appropriate auscultation area in the body. These sound mixtures are separated to its relevant components by a statistical method independent component analysis. The separated heartbeat sounds can be further processed or can be stored for future reference. This idea can be used for making a low cost, easy to use portable instrument which will be beneficial to people living in remote areas and are unable to take the advantage of advanced diagnosis methods.

  2. Effect of different sound atmospheres on SnO2:Sb thin films prepared by dip coating technique

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kocyigit, Adem; Ozturk, Erhan; Ejderha, Kadir; Turgut, Guven

    2017-11-01

    Different sound atmosphere effects were investigated on SnO2:Sb thin films, which were deposited with dip coating technique. Two sound atmospheres were used in this study; one of them was nay sound atmosphere for soft sound, another was metallic sound for hard sound. X-ray diffraction (XRD) graphs have indicated that the films have different orientations and structural parameters in quiet room, metallic and soft sound atmospheres. It could be seen from UV-Vis spectrometer measurements that films have different band gaps and optical transmittances with changing sound atmospheres. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and AFM images of the films have been pointed out that surfaces of films have been affected with changing sound atmospheres. The electrical measurements have shown that films have different I-V plots and different sheet resistances with changing sound atmospheres. These sound effects may be used to manage atoms in nano dimensions.

  3. Sound algorithms

    OpenAIRE

    De Götzen , Amalia; Mion , Luca; Tache , Olivier

    2007-01-01

    International audience; We call sound algorithms the categories of algorithms that deal with digital sound signal. Sound algorithms appeared in the very infancy of computer. Sound algorithms present strong specificities that are the consequence of two dual considerations: the properties of the digital sound signal itself and its uses, and the properties of auditory perception.

  4. 2002 Puget Sound LiDAR Consortium (PSLC) Unclassified Topographic LiDAR: Puget Sound Lowlands Washington

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — TerraPoint surveyed and created this data for the Puget Sound LiDAR Consortium under contract. The area surveyed is approximately 730 square miles and covers the...

  5. 100 Area electrical distribution fault and coordination report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Webber, J.J.

    1994-01-01

    This report documents three-phase and line-to-ground fault values and time overcurrent coordination curves for the electrical utility distribution system located in the 100 Areas. Activities that may improve the coordination of the distribution system have also been identified. An evaluation of system coordination was performed. The results of this evaluation are listed in Appendix B. There are protective devices within the 100 Area distribution system that do not coordinate with one another throughout the Areas. There is also a mis-application of reclosing relays at the 100B Area. The impact of the mis-coordination and incorrect application of reclosing relays is that system selectivity is reduced. Equipment will still be protected against damaging currents, however more equipment will be de-energized than necessary during fault conditions. It is the opinion of the author of this report that the cases of mis-coordination listed above, and in Appendix B, do not significantly degrade the system protection system nor the reliability of the 100 Area distribution system. Therefore, immediate response to correct these problems is not recommended. However, a planned methodology, outlined in an Activity Plan, to correct these problems should be developed and implemented in the near future

  6. 46 CFR 7.20 - Nantucket Sound, Vineyard Sound, Buzzards Bay, Narragansett Bay, MA, Block Island Sound and...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 46 Shipping 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Nantucket Sound, Vineyard Sound, Buzzards Bay, Narragansett Bay, MA, Block Island Sound and easterly entrance to Long Island Sound, NY. 7.20 Section 7.20... Atlantic Coast § 7.20 Nantucket Sound, Vineyard Sound, Buzzards Bay, Narragansett Bay, MA, Block Island...

  7. Application of Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) for the assessment of Ground Water Potential at Madi Phant, Palpa District, Western Nepal

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khatiwada, B.; Ghimire, H.; Bhusal, U. C.; Shrestha, S. R.; Upadhyay, K.; Khanal, A.; Pandey, D.

    2017-12-01

    Ground Water Resources Development Board (GWRDB), Government of Nepal, is the sole authority for systematize investigation, and management of ground water in the country. This study was conducted by GWRDB to create a data base of the groundwater potential in the hilly area. The main purpose of the study was to assess the groundwater potential at the Madi Phant Valley, Lesser Himalaya Region, Plapa District, Nepal. Data were acquired from WDJD-4 and analyzed using computer aided software called IPI2win, which yield an automatic interpretation of the apparent resistivity and data were correlated with lithologs of the vertical section. The simulated results of the ten VES points conducted using Schlumberger Configuration with AB/2 varying from 2 to 400 m and MN/2 varying from 0.5 to 50m reveal the presence of 4 to 8 geo-electric layers. Results obtained from software were rechecked by plotting the apparent resistivity value on Log-Log transparent graph sheet and manually interpreted using master curves and auxiliary curves. The resistivity values of the different layers' ranges from 3 Ωm to 3700 Ωm and were statistically analyzed from Golden Software Grapher. Representative resistivity sounding curves with modeled layer obtained after inversion was used to delineate the aquifer and 1D geoelectric sections. The geoelectrical sections for the study area consists of: the topsoil, sandy silt, sand and gravel, fractured rock and the fresh basement rock. The groundwater bearing layer of fractured rock varies between depth of 8-65 meters across foothill site (Eastern Corner) of the study area and groundwater bearing layer of sand and gravel/fractured rock varies between depth of 20-100 m in the central part of the Madi Phant valley. Contour map and 3D map of bedrock and water bearing layers for the conceptual model were prepared with the help of surfer shows that the gradient of the contour is high in the surrounding parts and flat in the center of Valley.

  8. Combined 2D inversion of electrotomographic and audio-magnetotellurgic sounding data to solve mining problems

    OpenAIRE

    В. А. Куликов; А. Е. Каминский; А. Г. Яковлев

    2017-01-01

    Electrical methods of exploration are widely applied in prospecting and estimation of ore mineral resources. It is not always that geoelectrical models obtained in the course of interpretation of different types of electric and electromagnetic sounding are in line with each other. This leads to difficulties in geological interpretation of electrical exploration results. In single cases a geological model can be built that with great precision satisfies data from different electrical...

  9. Electrically-pumped, broad-area, single-mode photonic crystal lasers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Lin; Chak, Philip; Poon, Joyce K S; DeRose, Guy A; Yariv, Amnon; Scherer, Axel

    2007-05-14

    Planar broad-area single-mode lasers, with modal widths of the order of tens of microns, are technologically important for high-power applications and improved coupling efficiency into optical fibers. They may also find new areas of applications in on-chip integration with devices that are of similar size scales, such as for spectroscopy in microfluidic chambers or optical signal processing with micro-electromechanical systems. An outstanding challenge is that broad-area lasers often require external means of control, such as injection-locking or a frequency/spatial filter to obtain single-mode operation. In this paper, we propose and demonstrate effective index-guided, large-area, edge-emitting photonic crystal lasers driven by pulsed electrical current injection at the optical telecommunication wavelength of 1550 nm. By suitable design of the photonic crystal lattice, our lasers operate in a single mode with a 1/e(2) modal width of 25 microm and a length of 600 microm.

  10. Hearing abilities and sound reception of broadband sounds in an adult Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mooney, T Aran; Yang, Wei-Cheng; Yu, Hsin-Yi; Ketten, Darlene R; Jen, I-Fan

    2015-08-01

    While odontocetes do not have an external pinna that guides sound to the middle ear, they are considered to receive sound through specialized regions of the head and lower jaw. Yet odontocetes differ in the shape of the lower jaw suggesting that hearing pathways may vary between species, potentially influencing hearing directionality and noise impacts. This work measured the audiogram and received sensitivity of a Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus) in an effort to comparatively examine how this species receives sound. Jaw hearing thresholds were lowest (most sensitive) at two locations along the anterior, midline region of the lower jaw (the lower jaw tip and anterior part of the throat). Responses were similarly low along a more posterior region of the lower mandible, considered the area of best hearing in bottlenose dolphins. Left- and right-side differences were also noted suggesting possible left-right asymmetries in sound reception or differences in ear sensitivities. The results indicate best hearing pathways may vary between the Risso's dolphin and other odontocetes measured. This animal received sound well, supporting a proposed throat pathway. For Risso's dolphins in particular, good ventral hearing would support their acoustic ecology by facilitating echo-detection from their proposed downward oriented echolocation beam.

  11. Seismic and Biological Sources of Ambient Ocean Sound

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freeman, Simon Eric

    Sound is the most efficient radiation in the ocean. Sounds of seismic and biological origin contain information regarding the underlying processes that created them. A single hydrophone records summary time-frequency information from the volume within acoustic range. Beamforming using a hydrophone array additionally produces azimuthal estimates of sound sources. A two-dimensional array and acoustic focusing produce an unambiguous two-dimensional `image' of sources. This dissertation describes the application of these techniques in three cases. The first utilizes hydrophone arrays to investigate T-phases (water-borne seismic waves) in the Philippine Sea. Ninety T-phases were recorded over a 12-day period, implying a greater number of seismic events occur than are detected by terrestrial seismic monitoring in the region. Observation of an azimuthally migrating T-phase suggests that reverberation of such sounds from bathymetric features can occur over megameter scales. In the second case, single hydrophone recordings from coral reefs in the Line Islands archipelago reveal that local ambient reef sound is spectrally similar to sounds produced by small, hard-shelled benthic invertebrates in captivity. Time-lapse photography of the reef reveals an increase in benthic invertebrate activity at sundown, consistent with an increase in sound level. The dominant acoustic phenomenon on these reefs may thus originate from the interaction between a large number of small invertebrates and the substrate. Such sounds could be used to take census of hard-shelled benthic invertebrates that are otherwise extremely difficult to survey. A two-dimensional `map' of sound production over a coral reef in the Hawaiian Islands was obtained using two-dimensional hydrophone array in the third case. Heterogeneously distributed bio-acoustic sources were generally co-located with rocky reef areas. Acoustically dominant snapping shrimp were largely restricted to one location within the area surveyed

  12. Acoustic Data for Hybrid and Electric Heavy-Duty Vehicles and Electric Motorcycles

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-12-01

    The Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act (PSEA) of 2010 requires NHTSA to conduct a rulemaking to establish a Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard requiring an alert sound for pedestrians to be emitted by all types of motor vehicles that are electric o...

  13. Technical and legal considerations and solutions in the area of battery charging for electric vehicles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Juda, Z.

    2016-09-01

    The issue of protecting health of residents of urbanized areas from the effect of excessive particulate matter and toxic components of car exhaust gases imposes the need of introduction of clean electric vehicles to the market. The increasing market availability of electric vehicles, especially in the segment of short-range (neighborhood) vehicles is followed by development of new and advanced infrastructure solutions. This also applies to the increasingly popular hybrid vehicles PHEV (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles). However, problems with the existing designs are primarily associated with limited driving range on a single battery charge, the density of charging stations in urban and suburban area, energy system efficiency due to increased electricity demand and the unification of solutions for charging stations, on-board chargers and the necessary accessories. Technical solutions are dependent on many factors, including the type and size of battery in the vehicle and access to power grid with increased load capacity. The article discusses the legal and technical actions outlined in the above directions. It shows the available and planned solutions in this area.

  14. Non-musical sound branding – a conceptualization and research overview

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Graakjær, Nicolai J.; Bonde, Anders

    2018-01-01

    Purpose The purpose of this paper is to advance the understanding of sound branding by developing a new conceptual framework and providing an overview of the research literature on non-musical sound. Design/methodology/approach Using four mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive types of non......-musical sound, the paper assesses and synthesizes 99 significant studies across various scholarly fields. Findings The overview reveals two areas in which more research may be warranted, that is, non-musical atmospherics and non-musical sonic logos. Moreover, future sound-branding research should examine...... in further detail the potentials of developed versus annexed object sounds, and mediated versus unmediated brand sounds. Research limitations/implications The paper provides important insights into critical issues that suggest directions for further research on non-musical sound branding. Practical...

  15. Supercurrents and hydrodynamic modes in 3He-A1 in an electric field

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Makhlin, Yu.G.

    1994-01-01

    The authors consider the supercurrent in superfluid 3 He in an electric field. The possibility to generate hydrodynamic modes (first and second sound) in the A 1 -phase by an oscillating electric field is proposed. It is shown that the resonance technique can amplify the small amplitude of the second-sound wave. The possibility of measurement is also discussed

  16. Wide-area situation awareness in electric power grid

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greitzer, Frank L.

    2010-04-01

    Two primary elements of the US energy policy are demand management and efficiency and renewable sources. Major objectives are clean energy transmission and integration, reliable energy transmission, and grid cyber security. Development of the Smart Grid seeks to achieve these goals by lowering energy costs for consumers, achieving energy independence and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The Smart Grid is expected to enable real time wide-area situation awareness (SA) for operators. Requirements for wide-area SA have been identified among interoperability standards proposed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the National Institute of Standards and Technology to ensure smart-grid functionality. Wide-area SA and enhanced decision support and visualization tools are key elements in the transformation to the Smart Grid. This paper discusses human factors research to promote SA in the electric power grid and the Smart Grid. Topics that will be discussed include the role of human factors in meeting US energy policy goals, the impact and challenges for Smart Grid development, and cyber security challenges.

  17. Dissemination of electric vehicles in urban areas: Major factors for success

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ajanovic, Amela; Haas, Reinhard

    2016-01-01

    Problems of transport become more pressing with increasing urbanisation. Although EVs (electric vehicles) are considered to contribute to reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and local air pollution caused by passenger car transport, their use is still very modest. The core objective of this paper is to identify the major impact factors for the broader dissemination of EVs in urban areas. We compare and analyse cities selected in nine different countries which are active in dissemination of EVs. The most important recommendation for policy makers is that all monetary and non-monetary promotion measures implemented should depend on the environmental benignity of the electricity generation mix. From society's point of view the promotion of EVs make sense only if it is ensured that a major share of electricity they use is generated from renewables. Since the final goal is not just to increase the number of EVs but to reduce emissions, cities also have to consider other e-mobility options such as trolleybuses, metros, trams and electro buses, as well as promote walking and biking, especially for short distances. - Highlights: • Oslo is a good example in use of EVs (electric vehicles) in urban areas. • Monetary and non-monetary measures could increase the attractiveness of EVs. • Most of the policies implemented will be abolished with the increasing number of EVs. • All environmental benefits of EVs could be reached only in combination with renewable energy. • Cities have to consider also e-mobility options for public transport.

  18. Reduction of noise in the neonatal intensive care unit using sound-activated noise meters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, D; Aubertin, C; Barrowman, N; Moreau, K; Dunn, S; Harrold, J

    2014-11-01

    To determine if sound-activated noise meters providing direct audit and visual feedback can reduce sound levels in a level 3 neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Sound levels (in dB) were compared between a 2-month period with noise meters present but without visual signal fluctuation and a subsequent 2 months with the noise meters providing direct audit and visual feedback. There was a significant increase in the percentage of time the sound level in the NICU was below 50 dB across all patient care areas (9.9%, 8.9% and 7.3%). This improvement was not observed in the desk area where there are no admitted patients. There was no change in the percentage of time the NICU was below 45 or 55 dB. Sound-activated noise meters seem effective in reducing sound levels in patient care areas. Conversations may have moved to non-patient care areas preventing a similar change there. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

  19. Migration patterns of post-spawning Pacific herring in a subarctic sound

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bishop, Mary Anne; Eiler, John H.

    2018-01-01

    Understanding the distribution of Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) can be challenging because spawning, feeding and overwintering may take place in different areas separated by 1000s of kilometers. Along the northern Gulf of Alaska, Pacific herring movements after spring spawning are largely unknown. During the fall and spring, herring have been seen moving from the Gulf of Alaska into Prince William Sound, a large embayment, suggesting that fish spawning in the Sound migrate out into the Gulf of Alaska. We acoustic-tagged 69 adult herring on spawning grounds in Prince William Sound during April 2013 to determine seasonal migratory patterns. We monitored departures from the spawning grounds as well as herring arrivals and movements between the major entrances connecting Prince William Sound and the Gulf of Alaska. Departures of herring from the spawning grounds coincided with cessation of major spawning events in the immediate area. After spawning, 43 of 69 tagged herring (62%) moved to the entrances of Prince William Sound over a span of 104 d, although most fish arrived within 10 d of their departure from the spawning grounds. A large proportion remained in these areas until mid-June, most likely foraging on the seasonal bloom of large, Neocalanus copepods. Pulses of tagged herring detected during September and October at Montague Strait suggest that some herring returned from the Gulf of Alaska. Intermittent detections at Montague Strait and the Port Bainbridge passages from September through early January (when the transmitters expired) indicate that herring schools are highly mobile and are overwintering in this area. The pattern of detections at the entrances to Prince William Sound suggest that some herring remain in the Gulf of Alaska until late winter. The results of this study confirm the connectivity between local herring stocks in Prince William Sound and the Gulf of Alaska.

  20. The Process of Optimizing Mechanical Sound Quality in Product Design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Eriksen, Kaare; Holst, Thomas

    2011-01-01

    The research field concerning optimizing product sound quality is a relatively unexplored area, and may become difficult for designers to operate in. To some degree, sound is a highly subjective parameter, which is normally targeted sound specialists. This paper describes the theoretical...... and practical background for managing a process of optimizing the mechanical sound quality in a product design by using simple tools and workshops systematically. The procedure is illustrated by a case study of a computer navigation tool (computer mouse or mouse). The process is divided into 4 phases, which...... clarify the importance of product sound, defining perceptive demands identified by users, and, finally, how to suggest mechanical principles for modification of an existing sound design. The optimized mechanical sound design is followed by tests on users of the product in its use context. The result...

  1. Creating a robust and integrated electrical transmission system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McLain, S.

    2004-01-01

    The service territory for Puget Sound Energy (PSE) was presented in terms of electric power and gas transmission. Issues affecting the Puget Sound area include high growth and the west coast energy crisis which has had an adverse financial impact on the power industry. The transmission system is basically at capacity and has been impacted by imports and exports between the United States and Canada. Other issues include the separation between energy resources and transmission, modernizing the power grid, and challenges for independent power producers (IPPs). The Northwest Transmission Assessment Committee (NTAC), which was formed under the Northwest Power Pool, has the potential to bring interested parties to study constrained paths and to plan a single utility concept for the region. It is expected that new challenges such as financing and risk management will emerge once the technical solutions are identified and agreed upon. The issue of enforceable and mandatory reliability standards was also discussed. 1 fig

  2. Turbine sound may influence the metamorphosis behaviour of estuarine crab megalopae.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pine, Matthew K; Jeffs, Andrew G; Radford, Craig A

    2012-01-01

    It is now widely accepted that a shift towards renewable energy production is needed in order to avoid further anthropogenically induced climate change. The ocean provides a largely untapped source of renewable energy. As a result, harvesting electrical power from the wind and tides has sparked immense government and commercial interest but with relatively little detailed understanding of the potential environmental impacts. This study investigated how the sound emitted from an underwater tidal turbine and an offshore wind turbine would influence the settlement and metamorphosis of the pelagic larvae of estuarine brachyuran crabs which are ubiquitous in most coastal habitats. In a laboratory experiment the median time to metamorphosis (TTM) for the megalopae of the crabs Austrohelice crassa and Hemigrapsus crenulatus was significantly increased by at least 18 h when exposed to either tidal turbine or sea-based wind turbine sound, compared to silent control treatments. Contrastingly, when either species were subjected to natural habitat sound, observed median TTM decreased by approximately 21-31% compared to silent control treatments, 38-47% compared to tidal turbine sound treatments, and 46-60% compared to wind turbine sound treatments. A lack of difference in median TTM in A. crassa between two different source levels of tidal turbine sound suggests the frequency composition of turbine sound is more relevant in explaining such responses rather than sound intensity. These results show that estuarine mudflat sound mediates natural metamorphosis behaviour in two common species of estuarine crabs, and that exposure to continuous turbine sound interferes with this natural process. These results raise concerns about the potential ecological impacts of sound generated by renewable energy generation systems placed in the nearshore environment.

  3. Turbine sound may influence the metamorphosis behaviour of estuarine crab megalopae.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matthew K Pine

    Full Text Available It is now widely accepted that a shift towards renewable energy production is needed in order to avoid further anthropogenically induced climate change. The ocean provides a largely untapped source of renewable energy. As a result, harvesting electrical power from the wind and tides has sparked immense government and commercial interest but with relatively little detailed understanding of the potential environmental impacts. This study investigated how the sound emitted from an underwater tidal turbine and an offshore wind turbine would influence the settlement and metamorphosis of the pelagic larvae of estuarine brachyuran crabs which are ubiquitous in most coastal habitats. In a laboratory experiment the median time to metamorphosis (TTM for the megalopae of the crabs Austrohelice crassa and Hemigrapsus crenulatus was significantly increased by at least 18 h when exposed to either tidal turbine or sea-based wind turbine sound, compared to silent control treatments. Contrastingly, when either species were subjected to natural habitat sound, observed median TTM decreased by approximately 21-31% compared to silent control treatments, 38-47% compared to tidal turbine sound treatments, and 46-60% compared to wind turbine sound treatments. A lack of difference in median TTM in A. crassa between two different source levels of tidal turbine sound suggests the frequency composition of turbine sound is more relevant in explaining such responses rather than sound intensity. These results show that estuarine mudflat sound mediates natural metamorphosis behaviour in two common species of estuarine crabs, and that exposure to continuous turbine sound interferes with this natural process. These results raise concerns about the potential ecological impacts of sound generated by renewable energy generation systems placed in the nearshore environment.

  4. An investigation of sound fields based on the acousto-optic effect

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Torras Rosell, Antoni; Barrera Figueroa, Salvador; Jacobsen, Finn

    2011-01-01

    Various types of transducers are nowadays capable of translating different properties of sound waves into mechanical/electrical quantities, which can afterwards be reinterpreted into acoustical ones. However, in certain applications, for example when using microphone arrays, the presence of bulk...... range, and in two different measurement scenarios where the sound field is well-known: in a rectangular duct and in an anechoic room. Models for predicting the acousto-optic effect in such scenarios are derived and measurements are carried out with a laser Doppler vibrometer. The results show a fairly...

  5. Soundness of Krsko Nuclear Power Plant Performance in Terms of Energy and Finance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Curkovic, A.; Vrankic, K.; Magdic, M.

    1998-01-01

    Compared to existing conventional thermal power plants in Croatian electric power system, as well as to alternative (potential) imported coal and gas fired thermal power plants, Krsko NPP (nuclear power plant) generates electricity with lower production costs. This cost margin in favour of the Krsko NPP represents the soundness of this nuclear power plant in terms of energy and finance. (author)

  6. Electrical Resistivity Imaging for environmental applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leite, O.; Bernard, J.; Vermeersch, F.

    2007-01-01

    For a few years, the evolution of measuring equipment and of interpretation software have permitted to develop a new electrical resistivity technique called resistivity imaging where the equipment, which includes a large number of electrodes located along a line at the same time, carries out an automatic switching of these electrodes for acquiring profiling data. The apparent resistivity pseudo sections measured with such a technique are processed by an inversion software which gives interpreted resistivity and depth values for the anomalies detected along the profile. The multi-electrode resistivity technique consists in using a multi-core cable with as many conductors (24, 48, 72, 96) as electrodes plugged into the ground at a fixed spacing, every 5m for instance. In the resistivitymeter itself are located the relays which ensure the switching of those electrodes according to a sequence of readings predefined and stored in the internal memory of the equipment. The various combinations of transmitting (A,B) and receiving (M,N) pairs of electrodes construct the mixed sounding / profiling section, with a maximum investigation depth which mainly depends on the total length of the cable. The 2D resistivity images obtained with such a multi-electrode technique are used for studying the shallow stuctures of the underground located a few tens of metres down to about one hundred metres depth; these images supply an information which complements the one obtained with the more traditionnal Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) technique, which mainly aims at determining the depths of horizontal 1D structures from the surface down to several hundreds metres depths. Several examples are presented for various types of applications: groundwater (intrusion of salt water in fresh water), geotechnics (detection of a fault in a granitic area), environment (delineation of a waste disposal area) and archaeology (discovery of an ancient tomb)

  7. How has the Long Island Sound Seafloor Changed Over Time?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mayo, E. C.; Nitsche, F. O.

    2016-12-01

    The present Long Island Sound (LIS) was mainly shaped by the last glaciation and the sea level transgression that followed. Today the LIS is an important ecosystem that provides a critical habitat to numerous plant and animal species, and is important to the stability of several economies including fishing, boating, and tourism. Determining where erosion, transportation and deposition of sediment is occurring is important for sustainable development in and around the sound. Calculating the rate of change of the seafloor, identifying the hot spots where the most change is occurring, and determining which processes impact the scale of change are important for preserving the economy and ecology that depend on the sound. This is especially true as larger and more frequent storms comparable to hurricane Sandy are anticipated due to climate change. We used older bathymetric data (collected 1990-2001 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and compared those with the more recently collected LIS bathymetric data covering the same areas (collected 2012-2014 by a collaborative LIS mapping project with NOAA, the States of New York and Connecticut). Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) we analyzed and mapped the differences between these two datasets to determine where and by how much the seafloor has changed. The results show observable changes in the LIS seafloor on the scale of 1-2 meters over this 10-20 year period. The scale and type of these changes varies across the sound. The rates of change observed depends on the area of the sound, as each area has different factors to account for that controls sediment movement. We present results from five areas of the sound that had data from 1990-2001 and 2012-2014 and that highlight different key processes that change the seafloor. Observed changes in tidal inlets are mostly controlled by existing morphology and near shore sediment transport. In areas with strong bottom currents the data show migrating

  8. Problems in nonlinear acoustics: Scattering of sound by sound, parametric receiving arrays, nonlinear effects in asymmetric sound beams and pulsed finite amplitude sound beams

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamilton, Mark F.

    1989-08-01

    Four projects are discussed in this annual summary report, all of which involve basic research in nonlinear acoustics: Scattering of Sound by Sound, a theoretical study of two nonconlinear Gaussian beams which interact to produce sum and difference frequency sound; Parametric Receiving Arrays, a theoretical study of parametric reception in a reverberant environment; Nonlinear Effects in Asymmetric Sound Beams, a numerical study of two dimensional finite amplitude sound fields; and Pulsed Finite Amplitude Sound Beams, a numerical time domain solution of the KZK equation.

  9. PREFACE: Aerodynamic sound Aerodynamic sound

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akishita, Sadao

    2010-02-01

    The modern theory of aerodynamic sound originates from Lighthill's two papers in 1952 and 1954, as is well known. I have heard that Lighthill was motivated in writing the papers by the jet-noise emitted by the newly commercialized jet-engined airplanes at that time. The technology of aerodynamic sound is destined for environmental problems. Therefore the theory should always be applied to newly emerged public nuisances. This issue of Fluid Dynamics Research (FDR) reflects problems of environmental sound in present Japanese technology. The Japanese community studying aerodynamic sound has held an annual symposium since 29 years ago when the late Professor S Kotake and Professor S Kaji of Teikyo University organized the symposium. Most of the Japanese authors in this issue are members of the annual symposium. I should note the contribution of the two professors cited above in establishing the Japanese community of aerodynamic sound research. It is my pleasure to present the publication in this issue of ten papers discussed at the annual symposium. I would like to express many thanks to the Editorial Board of FDR for giving us the chance to contribute these papers. We have a review paper by T Suzuki on the study of jet noise, which continues to be important nowadays, and is expected to reform the theoretical model of generating mechanisms. Professor M S Howe and R S McGowan contribute an analytical paper, a valuable study in today's fluid dynamics research. They apply hydrodynamics to solve the compressible flow generated in the vocal cords of the human body. Experimental study continues to be the main methodology in aerodynamic sound, and it is expected to explore new horizons. H Fujita's study on the Aeolian tone provides a new viewpoint on major, longstanding sound problems. The paper by M Nishimura and T Goto on textile fabrics describes new technology for the effective reduction of bluff-body noise. The paper by T Sueki et al also reports new technology for the

  10. Electrochemical properties for high surface area and improved electrical conductivity of platinum-embedded porous carbon nanofibers

    Science.gov (United States)

    An, Geon-Hyoung; Ahn, Hyo-Jin; Hong, Woong-Ki

    2015-01-01

    Four different types of carbon nanofibers (CNFs) for electrical double-layer capacitors (EDLCs), porous and non-porous CNFs with and without Pt metal nanoparticles, are synthesized by an electrospinning method and their performance in electrical double-layer capacitors (EDLCs) is characterized. In particular, the Pt-embedded porous CNFs (PCNFs) exhibit a high specific surface area of 670 m2 g-1, a large mesopore volume of 55.7%, and a low electrical resistance of 1.7 × 103. The synergistic effects of the high specific surface area with a large mesopore volume, and superior electrical conductivity result in an excellent specific capacitance of 130.2 F g-1, a good high-rate performance, superior cycling durability, and high energy density of 16.9-15.4 W h kg-1 for the performance of EDLCs.

  11. Recent paleoseismicity record in Prince William Sound, Alaska, USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuehl, Steven A.; Miller, Eric J.; Marshall, Nicole R.; Dellapenna, Timothy M.

    2017-12-01

    Sedimentological and geochemical investigation of sediment cores collected in the deep (>400 m) central basin of Prince William Sound, along with geochemical fingerprinting of sediment source areas, are used to identify earthquake-generated sediment gravity flows. Prince William Sound receives sediment from two distinct sources: from offshore (primarily Copper River) through Hinchinbrook Inlet, and from sources within the Sound (primarily Columbia Glacier). These sources are found to have diagnostic elemental ratios indicative of provenance; Copper River Basin sediments were significantly higher in Sr/Pb and Cu/Pb, whereas Prince William Sound sediments were significantly higher in K/Ca and Rb/Sr. Within the past century, sediment gravity flows deposited within the deep central channel of Prince William Sound have robust geochemical (provenance) signatures that can be correlated with known moderate to large earthquakes in the region. Given the thick Holocene sequence in the Sound ( 200 m) and correspondingly high sedimentation rates (>1 cm year-1), this relationship suggests that sediments within the central basin of Prince William Sound may contain an extraordinary high-resolution record of paleoseismicity in the region.

  12. A unified approach for the spatial enhancement of sound

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Joung-Woo; Jang, Ji-Ho; Kim, Yang-Hann

    2005-09-01

    This paper aims to control the sound field spatially, so that the desired or target acoustic variable is enhanced within a zone where a listener is located. This is somewhat analogous to having manipulators that can draw sounds in any place. This also means that one can somehow see the controlled shape of sound in frequency or in real time. The former assures its practical applicability, for example, listening zone control for music. The latter provides a mean of analyzing sound field. With all these regards, a unified approach is proposed that can enhance selected acoustic variables using multiple sources. Three kinds of acoustic variables that have to do with magnitude and direction of sound field are formulated and enhanced. The first one, which has to do with the spatial control of acoustic potential energy, enables one to make a zone of loud sound over an area. Otherwise, one can control directional characteristic of sound field by controlling directional energy density, or one can enhance the magnitude and direction of sound at the same time by controlling acoustic intensity. Throughout various examples, it is shown that these acoustic variables can be controlled successfully by the proposed approach.

  13. Turbine Sound May Influence the Metamorphosis Behaviour of Estuarine Crab Megalopae

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pine, Matthew K.; Jeffs, Andrew G.; Radford, Craig A.

    2012-01-01

    It is now widely accepted that a shift towards renewable energy production is needed in order to avoid further anthropogenically induced climate change. The ocean provides a largely untapped source of renewable energy. As a result, harvesting electrical power from the wind and tides has sparked immense government and commercial interest but with relatively little detailed understanding of the potential environmental impacts. This study investigated how the sound emitted from an underwater tidal turbine and an offshore wind turbine would influence the settlement and metamorphosis of the pelagic larvae of estuarine brachyuran crabs which are ubiquitous in most coastal habitats. In a laboratory experiment the median time to metamorphosis (TTM) for the megalopae of the crabs Austrohelice crassa and Hemigrapsus crenulatus was significantly increased by at least 18 h when exposed to either tidal turbine or sea-based wind turbine sound, compared to silent control treatments. Contrastingly, when either species were subjected to natural habitat sound, observed median TTM decreased by approximately 21–31% compared to silent control treatments, 38–47% compared to tidal turbine sound treatments, and 46–60% compared to wind turbine sound treatments. A lack of difference in median TTM in A. crassa between two different source levels of tidal turbine sound suggests the frequency composition of turbine sound is more relevant in explaining such responses rather than sound intensity. These results show that estuarine mudflat sound mediates natural metamorphosis behaviour in two common species of estuarine crabs, and that exposure to continuous turbine sound interferes with this natural process. These results raise concerns about the potential ecological impacts of sound generated by renewable energy generation systems placed in the nearshore environment. PMID:23240063

  14. AFSC/ABL: Salisbury Sound sponge recovery

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — In 1995, an area of the seafloor near Salisbury Sound was trawled to identify immediate effects on large, erect sponges and sea whips. Video transects were made in...

  15. Directivity of Spherical Polyhedron Sound Source Used in Near-Field HRTF Measurements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yu Guang-Zheng; Xie Bo-Sun; Rao Dan

    2010-01-01

    The omnidirectional character is one of important requirements for the sound source used in near-field head-related transfer function (HRTF) measurements. Based on the analysis on the radiation sound pressure and directivity character of various spherical polyhedron sound sources, a spherical dodecahedral sound source with radius of 0.035m is proposed and manufactured. Theoretical and measured results indicate that the sound source is approximately omnidirectional below the frequency of 8 kHz. In addition, the sound source has reasonable magnitude response from 350Hz to 20kHz and linear phase characteristics. Therefore, it is suitable for the near-field HRTF measurements. (fundamental areas of phenomenology(including applications))

  16. How do auditory cortex neurons represent communication sounds?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaucher, Quentin; Huetz, Chloé; Gourévitch, Boris; Laudanski, Jonathan; Occelli, Florian; Edeline, Jean-Marc

    2013-11-01

    A major goal in auditory neuroscience is to characterize how communication sounds are represented at the cortical level. The present review aims at investigating the role of auditory cortex in the processing of speech, bird songs and other vocalizations, which all are spectrally and temporally highly structured sounds. Whereas earlier studies have simply looked for neurons exhibiting higher firing rates to particular conspecific vocalizations over their modified, artificially synthesized versions, more recent studies determined the coding capacity of temporal spike patterns, which are prominent in primary and non-primary areas (and also in non-auditory cortical areas). In several cases, this information seems to be correlated with the behavioral performance of human or animal subjects, suggesting that spike-timing based coding strategies might set the foundations of our perceptive abilities. Also, it is now clear that the responses of auditory cortex neurons are highly nonlinear and that their responses to natural stimuli cannot be predicted from their responses to artificial stimuli such as moving ripples and broadband noises. Since auditory cortex neurons cannot follow rapid fluctuations of the vocalizations envelope, they only respond at specific time points during communication sounds, which can serve as temporal markers for integrating the temporal and spectral processing taking place at subcortical relays. Thus, the temporal sparse code of auditory cortex neurons can be considered as a first step for generating high level representations of communication sounds independent of the acoustic characteristic of these sounds. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Communication Sounds and the Brain: New Directions and Perspectives". Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. Broadband transmission noise reduction of smart panels featuring piezoelectric shunt circuits and sound-absorbing material.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Jaehwan; Lee, Joong-Kuen

    2002-09-01

    The possibility of a broadband noise reduction of piezoelectric smart panels is experimentally studied. A piezoelectric smart panel is basically a plate structure on which piezoelectric patches with electrical shunt circuits are mounted and sound-absorbing material is bonded on the surface of the structure. Sound-absorbing material can absorb the sound transmitted at the midfrequency region effectively while the use of piezoelectric shunt damping can reduce the transmission at resonance frequencies of the panel structure. To be able to reduce the sound transmission at low panel resonance frequencies, piezoelectric damping using the measured electrical impedance model is adopted. A resonant shunt circuit for piezoelectric shunt damping is composed of resistor and inductor in series, and they are determined by maximizing the dissipated energy through the circuit. The transmitted noise-reduction performance of smart panels is tested in an acoustic tunnel. The tunnel is a square cross-sectional tube and a loudspeaker is mounted at one side of the tube as a sound source. Panels are mounted in the middle of the tunnel and the transmitted sound pressure across panels is measured. When an absorbing material is bonded on a single plate, a remarkable transmitted noise reduction in the midfrequency region is observed except for the fundamental resonance frequency of the plate. By enabling the piezoelectric shunt damping, noise reduction is achieved at the resonance frequency as well. Piezoelectric smart panels incorporating passive absorbing material and piezoelectric shunt damping is a promising technology for noise reduction over a broadband of frequencies.

  18. Permafrost at Lupin. Interpretation of SAMPO electromagnetic soundings at Lupin

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Paananen, M.; Ruskeeniemi, T

    2003-07-01

    The Permafrost Project at the Lupin Mine in northern Canada is an international project, aiming to improve the understanding of behaviour and processes of crystalline bedrock under permafrost conditions. As a part of this project, the Geological Survey of Finland carried out electromagnetic SAMPO soundings in the vicinity of the mine between 11th and 23rd of June 2002 in order to give additional information on the permafrost depth, the location and electrical characteristics of fracture zones and possible talik structures. The total number of sounding points was 214, forming 17 separate survey lines. Used coil separation was 100 - 800 m. According to the temperature data from Lupin Mine, the base of the permafrost is at the depth of 540 m. However, there is no information about the depth distribution outside the mine. The starting point of this survey was the possible existence of a saline water horizon below the permafrost, resulting from repeated segregation and enrichment of salts in front of advancing freezing front. The main result of the survey was a deep conductor, observed at numerous sounding points irrespectively of the measurement configuration. These sounding anomalies form a subhorizontal layer at the depths between 400 and 700 m, in contrast to the vertical orientation of the geological units in the area. According to the results, the conductor gets weaker or deeper close to the Lake Contwoyto and seems to be absent below the lake. There also seems to be a lithological control, since the conducting layer is not observed in granodiorite. It is assumed that the conducting layer represents saline or brackish waters at the base of the permafrost; their calculated TDS-values are in a realistic range for such waters (5000-30 000 mg/l). The subvertical fracture zone VI, previously interpreted from the seismic survey, could be observed as a slight decrease in resistivity in 3 survey profiles using a coil separation of 100 m. (orig.)

  19. Permafrost at Lupin. Interpretation of SAMPO electromagnetic soundings at Lupin

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Paananen, M.; Ruskeeniemi, T.

    2003-01-01

    The Permafrost Project at the Lupin Mine in northern Canada is an international project, aiming to improve the understanding of behaviour and processes of crystalline bedrock under permafrost conditions. As a part of this project, the Geological Survey of Finland carried out electromagnetic SAMPO soundings in the vicinity of the mine between 11th and 23rd of June 2002 in order to give additional information on the permafrost depth, the location and electrical characteristics of fracture zones and possible talik structures. The total number of sounding points was 214, forming 17 separate survey lines. Used coil separation was 100 - 800 m. According to the temperature data from Lupin Mine, the base of the permafrost is at the depth of 540 m. However, there is no information about the depth distribution outside the mine. The starting point of this survey was the possible existence of a saline water horizon below the permafrost, resulting from repeated segregation and enrichment of salts in front of advancing freezing front. The main result of the survey was a deep conductor, observed at numerous sounding points irrespectively of the measurement configuration. These sounding anomalies form a subhorizontal layer at the depths between 400 and 700 m, in contrast to the vertical orientation of the geological units in the area. According to the results, the conductor gets weaker or deeper close to the Lake Contwoyto and seems to be absent below the lake. There also seems to be a lithological control, since the conducting layer is not observed in granodiorite. It is assumed that the conducting layer represents saline or brackish waters at the base of the permafrost; their calculated TDS-values are in a realistic range for such waters (5000-30 000 mg/l). The subvertical fracture zone VI, previously interpreted from the seismic survey, could be observed as a slight decrease in resistivity in 3 survey profiles using a coil separation of 100 m. (orig.)

  20. Selective attention to sound location or pitch studied with fMRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Degerman, Alexander; Rinne, Teemu; Salmi, Juha; Salonen, Oili; Alho, Kimmo

    2006-03-10

    We used 3-T functional magnetic resonance imaging to compare the brain mechanisms underlying selective attention to sound location and pitch. In different tasks, the subjects (N = 10) attended to a designated sound location or pitch or to pictures presented on the screen. In the Attend Location conditions, the sound location varied randomly (left or right), while the pitch was kept constant (high or low). In the Attend Pitch conditions, sounds of randomly varying pitch (high or low) were presented at a constant location (left or right). Both attention to location and attention to pitch produced enhanced activity (in comparison with activation caused by the same sounds when attention was focused on the pictures) in widespread areas of the superior temporal cortex. Attention to either sound feature also activated prefrontal and inferior parietal cortical regions. These activations were stronger during attention to location than during attention to pitch. Attention to location but not to pitch produced a significant increase of activation in the premotor/supplementary motor cortices of both hemispheres and in the right prefrontal cortex, while no area showed activity specifically related to attention to pitch. The present results suggest some differences in the attentional selection of sounds on the basis of their location and pitch consistent with the suggested auditory "what" and "where" processing streams.

  1. Imagining Sound

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grimshaw, Mark; Garner, Tom Alexander

    2014-01-01

    We make the case in this essay that sound that is imagined is both a perception and as much a sound as that perceived through external stimulation. To argue this, we look at the evidence from auditory science, neuroscience, and philosophy, briefly present some new conceptual thinking on sound...... that accounts for this view, and then use this to look at what the future might hold in the context of imagining sound and developing technology....

  2. Influence of Personal Factors on Sound Perception and Overall Experience in Urban Green Areas. A Case Study of a Cycling Path Highly Exposed to Road Traffic Noise.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aletta, Francesco; Van Renterghem, Timothy; Botteldooren, Dick

    2018-05-30

    In contemporary urban design, green public areas play a vital role. They have great societal value, but if exposed to undue environmental noise their restorative potential might be compromised. On the other hand, research has shown that the presence of greenery can moderate noise annoyance in areas with high sound levels, while personal factors are expected to play an important role too. A cycling path bordered by vegetation, but highly exposed to road traffic noise, was here considered as a case study. A sound perception survey was submitted to participants on site and they were subsequently sorted into groups according to their noise sensitivity, visual attention and attitude towards greenery. The aim of this study was testing whether these three personal factors could affect their noise perception and overall experience of the place. Results showed that people highly sensitive to noise and more sceptical towards greenery's potential as an environmental moderator reported worse soundscape quality, while visually attentive people reported better quality. These three personal factors were found to be statistically independent. This study shows that several person-related factors impact the assessment of the sound environment in green areas. Although the majority of the respondents benefit from the presence of visual green, policy-makers and planners should be aware that for a significant subset of the population, it should be accompanied by a tranquil soundscape to be fully appreciated.

  3. Sustained Magnetic Responses in Temporal Cortex Reflect Instantaneous Significance of Approaching and Receding Sounds.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dominik R Bach

    Full Text Available Rising sound intensity often signals an approaching sound source and can serve as a powerful warning cue, eliciting phasic attention, perception biases and emotional responses. How the evaluation of approaching sounds unfolds over time remains elusive. Here, we capitalised on the temporal resolution of magnetoencephalograpy (MEG to investigate in humans a dynamic encoding of perceiving approaching and receding sounds. We compared magnetic responses to intensity envelopes of complex sounds to those of white noise sounds, in which intensity change is not perceived as approaching. Sustained magnetic fields over temporal sensors tracked intensity change in complex sounds in an approximately linear fashion, an effect not seen for intensity change in white noise sounds, or for overall intensity. Hence, these fields are likely to track approach/recession, but not the apparent (instantaneous distance of the sound source, or its intensity as such. As a likely source of this activity, the bilateral inferior temporal gyrus and right temporo-parietal junction emerged. Our results indicate that discrete temporal cortical areas parametrically encode behavioural significance in moving sound sources where the signal unfolded in a manner reminiscent of evidence accumulation. This may help an understanding of how acoustic percepts are evaluated as behaviourally relevant, where our results highlight a crucial role of cortical areas.

  4. 33 CFR 110.27 - Lynn Harbor in Broad Sound, Mass.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Lynn Harbor in Broad Sound, Mass. 110.27 Section 110.27 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY ANCHORAGES ANCHORAGE REGULATIONS Special Anchorage Areas § 110.27 Lynn Harbor in Broad Sound, Mass. North of...

  5. Kelp and Eelgrass in Puget Sound

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Mumford, Jr, Thomas F

    2007-01-01

    .... Shellfish, such as crabs and bivalves, use eelgrass beds for habitat and nursery areas. Fishes such as juvenile salmonids use eelgrass beds as migratory corridors as they pass through Puget Sound; the beds provide both protection from predators and abundant food.

  6. Electrical resistance determination of actual contact area of cold welded metal joints

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hordon, M. J.

    1970-01-01

    Method measures the area of the bonded zone of a compression weld by observing the electrical resistance of the weld zone while the load changes from full compression until the joint ruptures under tension. The ratio of bonding force to maximum tensile load varies considerably.

  7. Geological survey by high resolution electrical survey on granite areas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sugimoto, Yoshihiro; Yamada, Naoyuki

    2002-03-01

    As an Integral part of the geological survey in 'The study of the regions ground water flow system' that we are carrying out with Tono Geoscience Center, we proved the relation between the uncontinuation structure such as lineament in the base rock and resistivity structure (resistivity distribution), for the purpose of that confirms the efficacy of the high resolution electrical survey as geological survey, we carried out high resolution electrical survey on granite area. We obtained the following result, by the comparison of resistivity distribution with established geological survey, lineament analysis and investigative drilling. 1. The resistivity structure of this survey area is almost able to classify it into the following four range. 1) the low resistivity range of 50-800 Ωm, 2) The resistivity range like the middle of 200-2000 Ωm, 3) The high resistivity range of 2000 Ωm over, 4) The low resistivity range of depth of the survey line 400-550 section. 2. The low resistivity range of 4) that correspond with the established geological data is not admitted. 3. It was confirmed that resistivity structure almost correspond to geological structure by the comparison with the established data. 4. The small-scale low resistivity area is admitted in the point equivalent to the lineament position of established. 5. We carried out it with the simulation method about the low resistivity range of 4). As a result, it understood that it has the possibility that the narrow ratio low resistivity area is shown as the wide ratio resistivity range in the analysis section. In the survey in this time, it is conceivable that the resistivity distribution with the possibility of the unhomogeneous and uncontinuation structure of the base rock is being shown conspicuously, the efficacy of the high resolution resistivity survey as geological survey on granite was shown. (author)

  8. Risk analysis of the LHC underground area fire risk due to faulty electrical equipment

    CERN Document Server

    Harrison, A

    2007-01-01

    The European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland, is currently building the latest generation of particle accelerators, the LHC (Large Hadron Collider). The machine is housed in a circular tunnel of 27 km of circumference and is situated approximately 100 metres beneath the surface astride the Franco-Swiss border. Electrically induced fires in the LHC are a major concern, since an incident could present a threat to CERN personnel as well as the public. Moreover, the loss of equipment would result in significant costs and downtime. However, the amount of electrical equipment in the underground area required for operation, supervision and control of the machine is essential. Thus the present thesis is assessing the risk of fire due to faulty electrical equipment in both a qualitative as well as quantitative way. The recommendations following the qualitative analysis suggest the introduction of fire protection zones for the areas with the highest risk of fire due to a combination of p...

  9. Fish protection at water intakes using a new signal development process and sound system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Loeffelman, P.H.; Klinect, D.A.; Van Hassel, J.H.

    1991-01-01

    American Electric Power Company, Inc., is exploring the feasibility of using a patented signal development process and sound system to guide aquatic animals with underwater sound. Sounds from animals such as chinook salmon, steelhead trout, striped bass, freshwater drum, largemouth bass, and gizzard shad can be used to synthesize a new signal to stimulate the animal in the most sensitive portion of its hearing range. AEP's field tests during its research demonstrate that adult chinook salmon, steelhead trout and warmwater fish, and steelhead trout and chinook salmon smolts can be repelled with a properly-tuned system. The signal development process and sound system is designed to be transportable and use animals at the site to incorporate site-specific factors known to affect underwater sound, e.g., bottom shape and type, water current, and temperature. This paper reports that, because the overall goal of this research was to determine the feasibility of using sound to divert fish, it was essential that the approach use a signal development process which could be customized to animals and site conditions at any hydropower plant site

  10. Electrical Resistivity Survey For Conductive Soils At Gas Turbine ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Ten (10) vertical electrical soundings (VES) using Schlumberger configuration were carried out to delineate subsurface conductive soils for the design of earthling grid for electrical materials installation at the Gas Turbine Station, Ajaokuta, SW Nigeria. Interpretation of the resistivity data revealed three major geoelectric ...

  11. Sound radiation contrast in MR phase images. Method for the representation of elasticity, sound damping, and sound impedance changes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Radicke, Marcus

    2009-01-01

    The method presented in this thesis combines ultrasound techniques with the magnetic-resonance tomography (MRT). An ultrasonic wave generates in absorbing media a static force in sound-propagation direction. The force leads at sound intensities of some W/cm 2 and a sound frequency in the lower MHz range to a tissue shift in the micrometer range. This tissue shift depends on the sound power, the sound frequency, the sound absorption, and the elastic properties of the tissue. A MRT sequence of the Siemens Healthcare AG was modified so that it measures (indirectly) the tissue shift, codes as grey values, and presents as 2D picture. By means of the grey values the sound-beam slope in the tissue can be visualized, and so additionally sound obstacles (changes of the sound impedance) can be detected. By the MRT images token up spatial changes of the tissue parameters sound absorption and elasticity can be detected. In this thesis measurements are presented, which show the feasibility and future chances of this method especially for the mammary-cancer diagnostics. [de

  12. Utility of Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM) For The Rapid Manufacture of Customized Electric Vehicles

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Love, Lonnie J [ORNL

    2015-08-01

    This Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Manufacturing Development Facility (MDF) technical collaboration project was conducted in two phases as a CRADA with Local Motors Inc. Phase 1 was previously reported as Advanced Manufacturing of Complex Cyber Mechanical Devices through Community Engagement and Micro-manufacturing and demonstrated the integration of components onto a prototype body part for a vehicle. Phase 2 was reported as Utility of Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM) for the Rapid Manufacture of Customized Electric Vehicles and demonstrated the high profile live printing of an all-electric vehicle using ONRL s Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM) technology. This demonstration generated considerable national attention and successfully demonstrated the capabilities of the BAAM system as developed by ORNL and Cincinnati, Inc. and the feasibility of additive manufacturing of a full scale electric vehicle as envisioned by the CRADA partner Local Motors, Inc.

  13. Development of Prediction Tool for Sound Absorption and Sound Insulation for Sound Proof Properties

    OpenAIRE

    Yoshio Kurosawa; Takao Yamaguchi

    2015-01-01

    High frequency automotive interior noise above 500 Hz considerably affects automotive passenger comfort. To reduce this noise, sound insulation material is often laminated on body panels or interior trim panels. For a more effective noise reduction, the sound reduction properties of this laminated structure need to be estimated. We have developed a new calculate tool that can roughly calculate the sound absorption and insulation properties of laminate structure and handy ...

  14. Artificial Cochlear Sensory Epithelium with Functions of Outer Hair Cells Mimicked Using Feedback Electrical Stimuli

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tetsuro Tsuji

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available We report a novel vibration control technique of an artificial auditory cochlear epithelium that mimics the function of outer hair cells in the organ of Corti. The proposed piezoelectric and trapezoidal membrane not only has the acoustic/electric conversion and frequency selectivity of the previous device developed mainly by one of the authors and colleagues, but also has a function to control local vibration according to sound stimuli. Vibration control is achieved by applying local electrical stimuli to patterned electrodes on an epithelium made using micro-electro-mechanical system technology. By choosing appropriate phase differences between sound and electrical stimuli, it is shown that it is possible to both amplify and dampen membrane vibration, realizing better control of the response of the artificial cochlea. To be more specific, amplification and damping are achieved when the phase difference between the membrane vibration by sound stimuli and electrical stimuli is zero and π , respectively. We also demonstrate that the developed control system responds automatically to a change in sound frequency. The proposed technique can be applied to mimic the nonlinear response of the outer hair cells in a cochlea, and to realize a high-quality human auditory system.

  15. Parameterizing Sound: Design Considerations for an Environmental Sound Database

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-04-01

    associated with, or produced by, a physical event or human activity and 2) sound sources that are common in the environment. Reproductions or sound...Rogers S. Confrontation naming of environmental sounds. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology . 2000;22(6):830–864. 14 VanDerveer NJ

  16. The Opponent Channel Population Code of Sound Location Is an Efficient Representation of Natural Binaural Sounds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Młynarski, Wiktor

    2015-01-01

    In mammalian auditory cortex, sound source position is represented by a population of broadly tuned neurons whose firing is modulated by sounds located at all positions surrounding the animal. Peaks of their tuning curves are concentrated at lateral position, while their slopes are steepest at the interaural midline, allowing for the maximum localization accuracy in that area. These experimental observations contradict initial assumptions that the auditory space is represented as a topographic cortical map. It has been suggested that a “panoramic” code has evolved to match specific demands of the sound localization task. This work provides evidence suggesting that properties of spatial auditory neurons identified experimentally follow from a general design principle- learning a sparse, efficient representation of natural stimuli. Natural binaural sounds were recorded and served as input to a hierarchical sparse-coding model. In the first layer, left and right ear sounds were separately encoded by a population of complex-valued basis functions which separated phase and amplitude. Both parameters are known to carry information relevant for spatial hearing. Monaural input converged in the second layer, which learned a joint representation of amplitude and interaural phase difference. Spatial selectivity of each second-layer unit was measured by exposing the model to natural sound sources recorded at different positions. Obtained tuning curves match well tuning characteristics of neurons in the mammalian auditory cortex. This study connects neuronal coding of the auditory space with natural stimulus statistics and generates new experimental predictions. Moreover, results presented here suggest that cortical regions with seemingly different functions may implement the same computational strategy-efficient coding. PMID:25996373

  17. Sound cable crossing brings inexpensive electric power to Long Island

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Grzan, J.; Goyette, R.

    1992-01-01

    This paper reports that while many electric-utility customers in New York State benefit from inexpensive hydroelectric power from Canada and upstate New York, lack of sufficient transmission connections have prevented this electricity from reaching Long Island. However, a newly constructed underground/underwater link capable of carrying 700-MW now transmits low-cost electricity to the island, saving money for customers. The self-contained fluid-filled cable used for the underwater portion of the project is the largest underwater cable in the world. The use of high-pressure, fluid-filled pipe-type cable on the land portion represents the largest application of paper-polypropylene-paper (PPP) insulated cable in the United States. State-of-the-art technologies were implemented in the use of temperature monitoring and leak detection systems, SF 6 gas-insulated substation, and underwater cable laying and embedment techniques

  18. Spatial resolution limits for the localization of noise sources using direct sound mapping

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Comesana, D. Fernandez; Holland, K. R.; Fernandez Grande, Efren

    2016-01-01

    the relationship between spatial resolution, noise level and geometry. The proposed expressions are validated via simulations and experiments. It is shown that particle velocity mapping yields better results for identifying closely spaced sound sources than sound pressure or sound intensity, especially...... extensively been used for many years to locate sound sources. However, it is not yet well defined when two sources should be regarded as resolved by means of direct sound mapping. This paper derives the limits of the direct representation of sound pressure, particle velocity and sound intensity by exploring......One of the main challenges arising from noise and vibration problems is how to identify the areas of a device, machine or structure that produce significant acoustic excitation, i.e. the localization of main noise sources. The direct visualization of sound, in particular sound intensity, has...

  19. Electrical effects in superfluid helium. I. thermoelectric effect in Einstein's capacitor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ledenyov, D.O.; Ledenyov, V.O.; Ledenyov, O.P.

    2014-01-01

    The Einstein's ideas about the thermodynamical fluctuational nature of some electrical phenomena and the difference of electrical potentials U in a capacitor at temperature T were proposed in 1906-1907. On base of these ideas we explain the experimental results, which were recently observed under the action of the second sound standing wave in the electrical capacitors which take placed in the superfluid Sup>4He and in the torsional mechanical resonator. The Einstein's approach, based on the interrelation of thermal, mechanical and electrical fluctuations, allows to obtain the quantitative results, coinciding with the experimental data for the correlations of the alternate low temperatures difference in second sound wave and alternate electric potentials difference between the capacitor plates in superfluid helium at as well as in the rotating mechanical oscillator

  20. Making fictions sound real - On film sound, perceptual realism and genre

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Birger Langkjær

    2010-05-01

    Full Text Available This article examines the role that sound plays in making fictions perceptually real to film audiences, whether these fictions are realist or non-realist in content and narrative form. I will argue that some aspects of film sound practices and the kind of experiences they trigger are related to basic rules of human perception, whereas others are more properly explained in relation to how aesthetic devices, including sound, are used to characterise the fiction and thereby make it perceptually real to its audience. Finally, I will argue that not all genres can be defined by a simple taxonomy of sounds. Apart from an account of the kinds of sounds that typically appear in a specific genre, a genre analysis of sound may also benefit from a functionalist approach that focuses on how sounds can make both realist and non-realist aspects of genres sound real to audiences.

  1. Making fictions sound real - On film sound, perceptual realism and genre

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Birger Langkjær

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available This article examines the role that sound plays in making fictions perceptually real to film audiences, whether these fictions are realist or non-realist in content and narrative form. I will argue that some aspects of film sound practices and the kind of experiences they trigger are related to basic rules of human perception, whereas others are more properly explained in relation to how aesthetic devices, including sound, are used to characterise the fiction and thereby make it perceptually real to its audience. Finally, I will argue that not all genres can be defined by a simple taxonomy of sounds. Apart from an account of the kinds of sounds that typically appear in a specific genre, a genre analysis of sound may also benefit from a functionalist approach that focuses on how sounds can make both realist and non-realist aspects of genres sound real to audiences.

  2. A COMPUTER PROGRAM FOR INTERPRETATION OF THE DATA OF VERTICAL ELECTRICAL SOUNDING VEZ-4A

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. G. Koliushko

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Purpose. Creating a computer program for interpreting the results of vertical sounding the soil in the form of multilayer model most typical for Ukraine. Methodology. The algorithm of the program is constructed on determination the soil structure with the help of the method of point source current, method of analogy and method of equivalent. The option of automatic interpretation based on Hook-Jeeves method. The program is implemented in the programming language Delphi. Results. The computer program «VEZ-4A» has a possibility of the interactive and automatic interpretation sounding results in the multi-layered geoelectrical model. Originality. In first time the computer program for analyzing and interpreting results of the soil sounding by Wenner configuration was created on the base of the analytical solution for field of current point source located in four-, three- or two-layer structure. In paper the review is presented and basic functions of our program are analyzed. Practical value. The program «VEZ-4A» is created and adapted for use in the electromagnetic diagnostics of grounding of existing power plants and substations.

  3. Influence of Personal Factors on Sound Perception and Overall Experience in Urban Green Areas. A Case Study of a Cycling Path Highly Exposed to Road Traffic Noise

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francesco Aletta

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available In contemporary urban design, green public areas play a vital role. They have great societal value, but if exposed to undue environmental noise their restorative potential might be compromised. On the other hand, research has shown that the presence of greenery can moderate noise annoyance in areas with high sound levels, while personal factors are expected to play an important role too. A cycling path bordered by vegetation, but highly exposed to road traffic noise, was here considered as a case study. A sound perception survey was submitted to participants on site and they were subsequently sorted into groups according to their noise sensitivity, visual attention and attitude towards greenery. The aim of this study was testing whether these three personal factors could affect their noise perception and overall experience of the place. Results showed that people highly sensitive to noise and more sceptical towards greenery’s potential as an environmental moderator reported worse soundscape quality, while visually attentive people reported better quality. These three personal factors were found to be statistically independent. This study shows that several person-related factors impact the assessment of the sound environment in green areas. Although the majority of the respondents benefit from the presence of visual green, policy-makers and planners should be aware that for a significant subset of the population, it should be accompanied by a tranquil soundscape to be fully appreciated.

  4. Wind-powered electrical systems : highway rest areas, weigh stations, and team section buildings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2009-02-01

    This project considered the use of wind for providing electrical power at Illinois Department of Transportation : (IDOT) highway rest areas, weigh stations, and team section buildings. The goal of the project was to determine : the extent to which wi...

  5. Electrical substation service-area estimation using Cellular Automata: An initial report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fenwick, J.W.; Dowell, L.J.

    1998-07-01

    The service areas for electric power substations can be estimated using a Cellular Automata (CA) model. The CA model is a discrete, iterative process whereby substations acquire service area by claiming neighboring cells. The service area expands from a substation until a neighboring substation service area is met or the substation`s total capacity or other constraints are reached. The CA-model output is dependent on the rule set that defines cell interactions. The rule set is based on a hierarchy of quantitative metrics that represent real-world factors such as land use and population density. Together, the metrics determine the rate of cell acquisition and the upper bound for service area size. Assessing the CA-model accuracy requires comparisons to actual service areas. These actual service areas can be extracted from distribution maps. Quantitative assessment of the CA-model accuracy can be accomplished by a number of methods. Some are as simple as finding the percentage of cells predicted correctly, while others assess a penalty based on the distance from an incorrectly predicted cell to its correct service area. This is an initial report of a work in progress.

  6. Sound Absorbers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fuchs, H. V.; Möser, M.

    Sound absorption indicates the transformation of sound energy into heat. It is, for instance, employed to design the acoustics in rooms. The noise emitted by machinery and plants shall be reduced before arriving at a workplace; auditoria such as lecture rooms or concert halls require a certain reverberation time. Such design goals are realised by installing absorbing components at the walls with well-defined absorption characteristics, which are adjusted for corresponding demands. Sound absorbers also play an important role in acoustic capsules, ducts and screens to avoid sound immission from noise intensive environments into the neighbourhood.

  7. Applying mathematical finance tools to the competitive Nordic electricity market

    OpenAIRE

    Vehviläinen, Iivo

    2004-01-01

    This thesis models competitive electricity markets using the methods of mathematical finance. Fundamental problems of finance are market price modelling, derivative pricing, and optimal portfolio selection. The same questions arise in competitive electricity markets. The thesis presents an electricity spot price model based on the fundamental stochastic factors that affect electricity prices. The resulting price model has sound economic foundations, is able to explain spot market price mo...

  8. Making Sound Connections

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deal, Walter F., III

    2007-01-01

    Sound provides and offers amazing insights into the world. Sound waves may be defined as mechanical energy that moves through air or other medium as a longitudinal wave and consists of pressure fluctuations. Humans and animals alike use sound as a means of communication and a tool for survival. Mammals, such as bats, use ultrasonic sound waves to…

  9. Electromagnetic Sampo soundings at Olkiluoto in 2007

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Korhonen, K.; Lehtimaeki, J.

    2007-11-01

    The Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) carried out a Sampo Gefinex 400S frequency domain electromagnetic (EM) survey in the central part of the eastern Olkiluoto island. The survey comprised a total of 408 soundings; 134 of these were measurements of EM noise. The goal of the survey was to supplement previously performed soundings. The measurements of EM noise were used to analyse the influence of power lines on the soundings. A statistically significant correlation was found between EM noise and the distance between the receiver and the high-voltage power line located northeast of the research area. The high-voltage power line exerted a considerable influence on the soundings. Numerical modelling was used to evaluate the effect of a dipping layer on the interpretation of Sampo soundings, which is based on the 1-D layered earth model. The results indicate that Sampo interpretation is robust even in the case of a dipping layer, assuming that the dip of the layer is not steep, and both the transmitter and receiver are located above the layer. The interpretations of the soundings indicate three conducting layers. There appear to be two layers of significant conductivity above the depth of 600 m. These layers may be indications of sulphide and/or graphite rich layers. Furthermore, a deeper conducting layer below the depth of 600 m was also indicated by the interpretations. This layer may indicate deep saline groundwater. (orig.)

  10. Computer model for estimating electric utility environmental noise

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Teplitzky, A.M.; Hahn, K.J.

    1991-01-01

    This paper reports on a computer code for estimating environmental noise emissions from the operation and the construction of electric power plants that was developed based on algorithms. The computer code (Model) is used to predict octave band sound power levels for power plant operation and construction activities on the basis of the equipment operating characteristics and calculates off-site sound levels for each noise source and for an entire plant. Estimated noise levels are presented either as A-weighted sound level contours around the power plant or as octave band levels at user defined receptor locations. Calculated sound levels can be compared with user designated noise criteria, and the program can assist the user in analyzing alternative noise control strategies

  11. Mapping localised freshwater anomalies in the brackish paleo-lake sediments of the Machile–Zambezi Basin with transient electromagnetic sounding, geoelectrical imaging and induced polarisation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Chongo, Mkhuzo; Christiansen, Anders Vest; Fiandaca, Gianluca

    2015-01-01

    A recent airborne TEM survey in the Machile–Zambezi Basin of south western Zambia revealed high electrical resistivity anomalies (around 100 Ωm) in a low electrical resistivity (below 13 Ωm) background. The near surface (0–40 m depth range) electrical resistivity distribution of these anomalies...... appeared to be coincident with superficial features related to surface water such as alluvial fans and flood plains. This paper describes the application of transient electromagnetic soundings (TEM) and continuous vertical electrical sounding (CVES) using geo-electrics and time domain induced polarisation...... thins out and deteriorates in water quality further inland. It is postulated that the freshwater lens originated as a result of interaction between the Zambezi River and the salty aquifer in a setting in which evapotranspiration is the net climatic stress. Similar high electrical resistivity bodies were...

  12. The Electric Company Writers' Notebook.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Children's Television Workshop, New York, NY.

    This handbook outlines the curriculum objectives for the children's television program, "The Electric Company." The first portion of the text delineates strategies for teaching symbol/sound analysis, including units on blends, letter groups, and word structure. A second section addresses strategies for reading for meaning, including…

  13. Particularidades de la medición de presión sonora y vibraciones en grupos electrógenos MAN 18 V48/60 B // Distinctive features for sound pressure level and vibration measurements over engine generator sets type MAN 18 v48/60 b

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yanexi Cepero‐Aguilera

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Como parte de las líneas de investigación del Centro de Estudios en Ingeniería de Mantenimiento, sedesarrolla un proyecto de investigación encaminado a establecer las pautas para la evaluación de lacondición de grupos electrógenos. El presente artículo muestra las particularidades de la mediciónde sonido y vibraciones sobre un Grupo Electrógeno MAN 18 V48/60 B. Se analiza lo indicado en elestándar ISO 3744 concluyéndose con la imposibilidad práctica de su aplicación en el entornoindustrial y para grandes máquinas como lo es el caso de los grupos electrógenos MAN 18 V48/60 B.El interés de esta investigación se enfoca al generador del grupo electrógeno y por ello no obstante,se efectuaron mediciones de presión sonora orientando el micrófono hacia los cojinetes de este,sobre los cuales también se registraron sus vibraciones siguiendo lo indicado en el estándar ISO8528-9. El análisis comparativo de los registros espectrales de presión sonora y de vibracionesobligó a convertir los espectros FFT en espectros de ancho de banda proporcional constante. Comoresultado fundamental se obtiene la no correlación de las frecuencias espectrales de presión sonoracon las de vibraciones y una evaluación preliminar del generador exhibiendo una condición normal.Palabras claves: nivel de presión sonora, medición de vibraciones, ancho de banda proporcionalconstante, grupos electrógenos._________________________________________________________________AbstractA research project for condition monitoring of engine generator sets is developed as part of mainresearches at Maintenance Engineering Research Center. Sound pressure level and vibrationmeasurements over an engine generator set MAN 18 V48/60 B are made with the goal of identifythose frequencies present in both, sound pressure level and vibration spectra which could give thepossibility to use sound pressure level as a symptom parameter because of the continuous feature ofthis kind of

  14. Abnormal sound detection device

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yamada, Izumi; Matsui, Yuji.

    1995-01-01

    Only components synchronized with rotation of pumps are sampled from detected acoustic sounds, to judge the presence or absence of abnormality based on the magnitude of the synchronized components. A synchronized component sampling means can remove resonance sounds and other acoustic sounds generated at a synchronously with the rotation based on the knowledge that generated acoustic components in a normal state are a sort of resonance sounds and are not precisely synchronized with the number of rotation. On the other hand, abnormal sounds of a rotating body are often caused by compulsory force accompanying the rotation as a generation source, and the abnormal sounds can be detected by extracting only the rotation-synchronized components. Since components of normal acoustic sounds generated at present are discriminated from the detected sounds, reduction of the abnormal sounds due to a signal processing can be avoided and, as a result, abnormal sound detection sensitivity can be improved. Further, since it is adapted to discriminate the occurrence of the abnormal sound from the actually detected sounds, the other frequency components which are forecast but not generated actually are not removed, so that it is further effective for the improvement of detection sensitivity. (N.H.)

  15. GDS (Geomagnetic Depth Sounding in Italy: applications and perspectives

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Gambetta

    1998-06-01

    Full Text Available The analysis of geomagnetic field variations is a useful tool to detect electrical conductivity contrasts within the Earth. Lateral resolution of outlined patterns depends on the array dimensions and density of measurement sites over the investigated area. The inspection depth is constrained by the period of geomagnetic variations considered in data processing. Regions with significant geological features such as boundaries of continental plates, marginal areas of contact between tectonic units or other geodynamical processes, are of primary interest for the application of the MagnetoVariational (MV method. In the last ten years, in the frame of the ElectroMagnetic (EM sounding techniques in applied geophysics, this method has been applied in Italy by researchers of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica, Rome, the Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Universitá di Genova and the Czech Science Academy of Prague. The Ivrea body in the Northwestern Alps and their junction with the Apennine chain, the micro-plate of the Sardinian-Corsican system and, recently, the central part of the peninsula along Tyrrhenian-Adriatic lithospheric transects were investigated. Studies in time and frequency-domain used in the first investigations, have been followed by more refined analysis involving tests on the induced EM field dimension, computations of single site Transfer Functions (TFs through Parkinson arrows' and Fourier maps in the Hypothetical Event technique (HE. It was possible to describe the electrical conductivity distribution in the inner part of the SW Alpine arc and to confirm the presence of lithospheric and asthenospheric anomalies obtained by other geophysical methods. For the Sardinia-Corsica system, 2D and 3D inversion models highlighted the existence of two major conducting bodies, one north of Corsica, and the other south of Sardinia. In Central Italy, the regional electrical conductivity distribution pointed out a deep conductive structure

  16. Tinnitus Suppression by Intracochlear Electrical Stimulation in Single Sided Deafness - A Prospective Clinical Trial: Follow-Up.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Remo A G J Arts

    Full Text Available Earlier studies show that a Cochlear Implant (CI, capable of providing intracochlear electrical stimulation independent of environmental sounds, appears to suppress tinnitus at least for minutes. The current main objective is to compare the long-term suppressive effects of looped (i.e. repeated electrical stimulation (without environmental sound perception with the standard stimulation pattern of a CI (with environmental sound perception. This could open new possibilities for the development of a "Tinnitus Implant" (TI, an intracochlear pulse generator for the suppression of tinnitus.Ten patients with single sided deafness suffering from unilateral tinnitus in the deaf ear are fitted with a CI (MED-EL Corporation, Innsbruck, Austria. Stimulation patterns are optimized for each individual patient, after which they are compared using a randomized crossover design, with a follow-up of six months, followed by a 3 month period using the modality of patient's choice.Results show that tinnitus can be suppressed with intracochlear electrical stimulation independent of environmental sounds, even long term. No significant difference in tinnitus suppression was found between the standard clinical CI and the TI.It can be concluded that coding of environmental sounds is no requirement for tinnitus suppression with intracochlear electrical stimulation. It is therefore plausible that tinnitus suppression by CI is not solely caused by an attention shift from the tinnitus to environmental sounds. Both the standard clinical CI and the experimental TI are potential treatment options for tinnitus. These findings offer perspectives for a successful clinical application of the TI, possibly even in patients with significant residual hearing.TrialRegister.nl NTR3374.

  17. Sound preference test in animal models of addicts and phobias.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soga, Ryo; Shiramatsu, Tomoyo I; Kanzaki, Ryohei; Takahashi, Hirokazu

    2016-08-01

    Biased or too strong preference for a particular object is often problematic, resulting in addiction and phobia. In animal models, alternative forced-choice tasks have been routinely used, but such preference test is far from daily situations that addicts or phobic are facing. In the present study, we developed a behavioral assay to evaluate the preference of sounds in rodents. In the assay, several sounds were presented according to the position of free-moving rats, and quantified the sound preference based on the behavior. A particular tone was paired with microstimulation to the ventral tegmental area (VTA), which plays central roles in reward processing, to increase sound preference. The behaviors of rats were logged during the classical conditioning for six days. Consequently, some behavioral indices suggest that rats search for the conditioned sound. Thus, our data demonstrated that quantitative evaluation of preference in the behavioral assay is feasible.

  18. Classification of Real and Imagined Sounds in Early Visual Cortex

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Petra Vetter

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available Early visual cortex has been thought to be mainly involved in the detection of low-level visual features. Here we show that complex natural sounds can be decoded from early visual cortex activity, in the absence of visual stimulation and both when sounds are actually displayed and when they are merely imagined. Blindfolded subjects listened to three complex natural sounds (bird singing, people talking, traffic noise; Exp. 1 or received word cues (“forest”, “people”, “traffic”; Exp 2 to imagine the associated scene. fMRI BOLD activation patterns from retinotopically defined early visual areas were fed into a multivariate pattern classification algorithm (a linear support vector machine. Actual sounds were discriminated above chance in V2 and V3 and imagined sounds were decoded in V1. Also cross-classification, ie, training the classifier to real sounds and testing it to imagined sounds and vice versa, was successful. Two further experiments showed that an orthogonal working memory task does not interfere with sound classification in early visual cortex (Exp. 3, however, an orthogonal visuo-spatial imagery task does (Exp. 4. These results demonstrate that early visual cortex activity contains content-specific information from hearing and from imagery, challenging the view of a strict modality-specific function of early visual cortex.

  19. Assessment of access to electricity and the socio-economic impacts in rural areas of developing countries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kanagawa, Makoto; Nakata, Toshihiko

    2008-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to reveal relations between access to electricity and advancement in a socio-economic condition in rural areas of developing countries. Recently, multi-dimensional aspects of poverty, for example, economy, education, and health, has been increasingly focused on, and access to modern energy such as electricity is one possible solution. As a case study, we have analyzed unelectrified rural areas in Assam state, India. We have developed an energy-economic model in order to analyze the possibility of electrification through dissemination of electric lighting appliances as well as applied multiple regression analysis to estimate the socio-economic condition, a literacy rate above 6 years old, in the areas. As a result of the case study, the household electrification rate, the 1000 km 2 road density, and sex ratio have been chosen as the explanatory variables of the literacy rate. Moreover, the model analysis shows that complete household electrification will be achieved by the year 2012. In combination with the multiple regression and model analysis, the literacy rate in Assam may increase to 74.4% from 63.3%

  20. Economic analysis for the electricity production in isolated areas in Cuba using different renewable sources

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Morales Salas, Joel; Moreno Figueredo, Conrado; Briesemeister, Ludwig; Arzola, Jose

    2015-01-01

    Despite the effort and commitment of the Cuban government in more of 50 year, there are houses without electricity in remote areas of the Electricity Network. These houses or communities have the promise and commitment of the local and national authorities to help them in improve his life quality. How the houses and communities are remote of the electricity network, the cost to extend the network is considerably high. For that reason, the use of renewable sources in these areas is an acceptable proposal. This article does an analysis to obtain different configurations depending to the number of houses. It do a proposal with the use of the Hydrothermal Carbonization process in the cases where is not feasible introduce different renewable source; a technology new in Cuba, and advantageous taking into consideration the kind of biomass that exist in Cuba. The study of the chemical process of the Hydrothermal Carbonization with the Cuban biomass should be further researched. (full text)

  1. High-Surface-Area Nitrogen-Doped Reduced Graphene Oxide for Electric Double-Layer Capacitors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Youn, Hee-Chang; Bak, Seong-Min; Kim, Myeong-Seong; Jaye, Cherno; Fischer, Daniel A; Lee, Chang-Wook; Yang, Xiao-Qing; Roh, Kwang Chul; Kim, Kwang-Bum

    2015-06-08

    A two-step method consisting of solid-state microwave irradiation and heat treatment under NH3 gas was used to prepare nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide (N-RGO) with a high specific surface area (1007 m(2)  g(-1) ), high electrical conductivity (1532 S m(-1) ), and low oxygen content (1.5 wt %) for electrical double-layer capacitor applications. The specific capacitance of N-RGO was 291 F g(-1) at a current density of 1 A g(-1) , and a capacitance of 261 F g(-1) was retained at 50 A g(-1) , which indicated a very good rate capability. N-RGO also showed excellent cycling stability and preserved 96 % of the initial specific capacitance after 100 000 cycles. Near-edge X-ray absorption fine-structure spectroscopy results provided evidenced for the recovery of π conjugation in the carbon networks with the removal of oxygenated groups and revealed chemical bonding of the nitrogen atoms in N-RGO. The good electrochemical performance of N-RGO is attributed to its high surface area, high electrical conductivity, and low oxygen content. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  2. Economic analysis of biomass gasification for generating electricity in rural areas in Indonesia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Susanto, H.; Suria, T.; Pranolo, S. H.

    2018-03-01

    The gaseous fuel from biomass gasification might reduce the consumption of diesel fuel by 70%. The investment cost of the whole unit with a capacity of 45 kWe was about IDR 220 million in 2008 comprised of 24% for gasification unit, 54% for diesel engine and electric generator, 22% for transportation of the whole unit from Bandung to the site in South Borneo. The gasification unit was made in local workshop in Bandung, while the diesel-generator was purchased also in a local market. To anticipate the development of biomass based electricity in remote areas, an economic analysis has been made for implementations in 2019. A specific investment cost of 600 USD/kW has been estimated taking account to the escalation and capacity factors. Using a discounted factor of 11% and biomass cost in the range of 0.03-0.07 USD/kg, the production cost of electricity would be in the range of 0.09-0.16 USD/kWh. This production cost was lower than that of diesel engine fueled with full oil commonly implemented in many remote areas in Indonesia at this moment. This production cost was also lower than the Feed in Tariff in some regions established by Indonesian government in 2017.

  3. Sound Search Engine Concept

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    2006-01-01

    Sound search is provided by the major search engines, however, indexing is text based, not sound based. We will establish a dedicated sound search services with based on sound feature indexing. The current demo shows the concept of the sound search engine. The first engine will be realased June...

  4. VT Electric Utility Franchise Areas

    Data.gov (United States)

    Vermont Center for Geographic Information — (Link to Metadata) ELCFRANCHISE includes Vermont's Electric Utility Franchise boundaries. It is a compilation of many data sources. The boundaries are approximate...

  5. The sound manifesto

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Donnell, Michael J.; Bisnovatyi, Ilia

    2000-11-01

    Computing practice today depends on visual output to drive almost all user interaction. Other senses, such as audition, may be totally neglected, or used tangentially, or used in highly restricted specialized ways. We have excellent audio rendering through D-A conversion, but we lack rich general facilities for modeling and manipulating sound comparable in quality and flexibility to graphics. We need coordinated research in several disciplines to improve the use of sound as an interactive information channel. Incremental and separate improvements in synthesis, analysis, speech processing, audiology, acoustics, music, etc. will not alone produce the radical progress that we seek in sonic practice. We also need to create a new central topic of study in digital audio research. The new topic will assimilate the contributions of different disciplines on a common foundation. The key central concept that we lack is sound as a general-purpose information channel. We must investigate the structure of this information channel, which is driven by the cooperative development of auditory perception and physical sound production. Particular audible encodings, such as speech and music, illuminate sonic information by example, but they are no more sufficient for a characterization than typography is sufficient for characterization of visual information. To develop this new conceptual topic of sonic information structure, we need to integrate insights from a number of different disciplines that deal with sound. In particular, we need to coordinate central and foundational studies of the representational models of sound with specific applications that illuminate the good and bad qualities of these models. Each natural or artificial process that generates informative sound, and each perceptual mechanism that derives information from sound, will teach us something about the right structure to attribute to the sound itself. The new Sound topic will combine the work of computer

  6. Electric response in superfluid helium

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Chagovets, Tymofiy

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 488, May (2016), s. 62-66 ISSN 0921-4526 R&D Projects: GA ČR GP13-03806P Institutional support: RVO:68378271 Keywords : superfluid helium * electric response * second sound * ions in He II Subject RIV: BM - Solid Matter Physics ; Magnetism Impact factor: 1.386, year: 2016

  7. A demand-side approach to the optimal deployment of electric vehicle charging stations in metropolitan areas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Andrenacci, N.; Ragona, R.; Valenti, G.

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • A demand-side approach to the location of charging infrastructure problem is discussed in the paper. • The analysis is based on a large data-set of private vehicle travels within the urban area of Rome. • Cluster analysis is applied to the data to find the optimal location zones for charging infrastructures. • The daily energy demand and the average number of users per day are calculated for each and every charging infrastructure. - Abstract: Despite all the acknowledged advantages in terms of environmental impact reduction, energy efficiency and noise reduction, the electric mobility market is below expectations. In fact, electric vehicles have limitations that pose several important challenges for achieving a sustainable mobility system: among them, the availability of an adequate charging infrastructure is recognized as a fundamental requirement and appropriate approaches to optimize public and private investments in this field are to be delineated. In this paper we consider actual data on conventional private vehicle usage in the urban area of Rome to carry out a strategy for the optimal allocation of charging infrastructures into portions (subareas) of the urban area, based on an analysis of a driver sample under the assumption of a complete switch to an equivalent fleet of electric vehicles. Moreover, the energy requirement for each one of the subareas is estimated in terms of the electric energy used by the equivalent fleet of electric vehicles to reach their destination. The model can be easily generalized to other problems regarding facility allocation based on user demand.

  8. Unsound Sound

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Knakkergaard, Martin

    2016-01-01

    This article discusses the change in premise that digitally produced sound brings about and how digital technologies more generally have changed our relationship to the musical artifact, not simply in degree but in kind. It demonstrates how our acoustical conceptions are thoroughly challenged...... by the digital production of sound and, by questioning the ontological basis for digital sound, turns our understanding of the core term substance upside down....

  9. Early Sound Symbolism for Vowel Sounds

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ferrinne Spector

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Children and adults consistently match some words (e.g., kiki to jagged shapes and other words (e.g., bouba to rounded shapes, providing evidence for non-arbitrary sound–shape mapping. In this study, we investigated the influence of vowels on sound–shape matching in toddlers, using four contrasting pairs of nonsense words differing in vowel sound (/i/ as in feet vs. /o/ as in boat and four rounded–jagged shape pairs. Crucially, we used reduplicated syllables (e.g., kiki vs. koko rather than confounding vowel sound with consonant context and syllable variability (e.g., kiki vs. bouba. Toddlers consistently matched words with /o/ to rounded shapes and words with /i/ to jagged shapes (p < 0.01. The results suggest that there may be naturally biased correspondences between vowel sound and shape.

  10. Sound Art and Spatial Practices: Situating Sound Installation Art Since 1958

    OpenAIRE

    Ouzounian, Gascia

    2008-01-01

    This dissertation examines the emergence and development ofsound installation art, an under-recognized tradition that hasdeveloped between music, architecture, and media art practicessince the late 1950s. Unlike many musical works, which are concernedwith organizing sounds in time, sound installations organize sounds inspace; they thus necessitate new theoretical and analytical modelsthat take into consideration the spatial situated-ness of sound. Existingdiscourses on “spatial sound” privile...

  11. Decoding sound level in the marmoset primary auditory cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Wensheng; Marongelli, Ellisha N; Watkins, Paul V; Barbour, Dennis L

    2017-10-01

    Neurons that respond favorably to a particular sound level have been observed throughout the central auditory system, becoming steadily more common at higher processing areas. One theory about the role of these level-tuned or nonmonotonic neurons is the level-invariant encoding of sounds. To investigate this theory, we simulated various subpopulations of neurons by drawing from real primary auditory cortex (A1) neuron responses and surveyed their performance in forming different sound level representations. Pure nonmonotonic subpopulations did not provide the best level-invariant decoding; instead, mixtures of monotonic and nonmonotonic neurons provided the most accurate decoding. For level-fidelity decoding, the inclusion of nonmonotonic neurons slightly improved or did not change decoding accuracy until they constituted a high proportion. These results indicate that nonmonotonic neurons fill an encoding role complementary to, rather than alternate to, monotonic neurons. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Neurons with nonmonotonic rate-level functions are unique to the central auditory system. These level-tuned neurons have been proposed to account for invariant sound perception across sound levels. Through systematic simulations based on real neuron responses, this study shows that neuron populations perform sound encoding optimally when containing both monotonic and nonmonotonic neurons. The results indicate that instead of working independently, nonmonotonic neurons complement the function of monotonic neurons in different sound-encoding contexts. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.

  12. Primate auditory recognition memory performance varies with sound type.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ng, Chi-Wing; Plakke, Bethany; Poremba, Amy

    2009-10-01

    Neural correlates of auditory processing, including for species-specific vocalizations that convey biological and ethological significance (e.g., social status, kinship, environment), have been identified in a wide variety of areas including the temporal and frontal cortices. However, few studies elucidate how non-human primates interact with these vocalization signals when they are challenged by tasks requiring auditory discrimination, recognition and/or memory. The present study employs a delayed matching-to-sample task with auditory stimuli to examine auditory memory performance of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), wherein two sounds are determined to be the same or different. Rhesus macaques seem to have relatively poor short-term memory with auditory stimuli, and we examine if particular sound types are more favorable for memory performance. Experiment 1 suggests memory performance with vocalization sound types (particularly monkey), are significantly better than when using non-vocalization sound types, and male monkeys outperform female monkeys overall. Experiment 2, controlling for number of sound exemplars and presentation pairings across types, replicates Experiment 1, demonstrating better performance or decreased response latencies, depending on trial type, to species-specific monkey vocalizations. The findings cannot be explained by acoustic differences between monkey vocalizations and the other sound types, suggesting the biological, and/or ethological meaning of these sounds are more effective for auditory memory. 2009 Elsevier B.V.

  13. Geo-Electrical Investigation for Groundwater Potential of Ihievbe ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    ADOWIE PERE

    2017-12-10

    Dec 10, 2017 ... Keywords: Groundwater, Vertical Electrical Sounding, Fractured basement, prospectively ranking. The ease of ... magnetic, electromagnetic etc. Of all these ... ranking, to aid our interpretation and evaluation of the ground ...

  14. Validating computationally predicted TMS stimulation areas using direct electrical stimulation in patients with brain tumors near precentral regions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Opitz, Alexander; Zafar, Noman; Bockermann, Volker; Rohde, Veit; Paulus, Walter

    2014-01-01

    The spatial extent of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is of paramount interest for all studies employing this method. It is generally assumed that the induced electric field is the crucial parameter to determine which cortical regions are excited. While it is difficult to directly measure the electric field, one usually relies on computational models to estimate the electric field distribution. Direct electrical stimulation (DES) is a local brain stimulation method generally considered the gold standard to map structure-function relationships in the brain. Its application is typically limited to patients undergoing brain surgery. In this study we compare the computationally predicted stimulation area in TMS with the DES area in six patients with tumors near precentral regions. We combine a motor evoked potential (MEP) mapping experiment for both TMS and DES with realistic individual finite element method (FEM) simulations of the electric field distribution during TMS and DES. On average, stimulation areas in TMS and DES show an overlap of up to 80%, thus validating our computational physiology approach to estimate TMS excitation volumes. Our results can help in understanding the spatial spread of TMS effects and in optimizing stimulation protocols to more specifically target certain cortical regions based on computational modeling.

  15. Sound a very short introduction

    CERN Document Server

    Goldsmith, Mike

    2015-01-01

    Sound is integral to how we experience the world, in the form of noise as well as music. But what is sound? What is the physical basis of pitch and harmony? And how are sound waves exploited in musical instruments? Sound: A Very Short Introduction looks at the science of sound and the behaviour of sound waves with their different frequencies. It also explores sound in different contexts, covering the audible and inaudible, sound underground and underwater, acoustic and electronic sound, and hearing in humans and animals. It concludes with the problem of sound out of place—noise and its reduction.

  16. The role of electric grids in the European energy policy. Grids development is necessary to supply cleaner and securer electric power

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Merlin, A.

    2009-01-01

    The world is actually entering a new energy era where CO 2 emissions must be reduced. Consequently, the European Union policy includes three goals: a) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fossil energy consumption; b) to improve the security of energy supply; c) to improve interconnection between regions. In this context, electrical grids play a strategic role. While the overall energy consumption in Europe will decrease, the electricity demand will increase by more than 1% per year. A large part of this increase will be covered by renewable energy sources, especially wind energy. In 2020 the total wind power installed in Europe should be ∼1000 GW, leading to a mean power production of 200-250 GW. This makes necessary an adaptation of electrical grids in order to be able to integrate into the system large power sources of intermittent character, and also to improve the solidarity of the different countries. The interconnection of the grids must be improved in order to balance electricity supply and demand. For the transport of electricity over large distances, developments will take place in three different areas; a) high voltage alternative current for most of the grids; b) high voltage direct current where it is necessary to overpass obstacles (mountains, sounds); c) gaseous insulation technology for underground transport. Local (mostly low voltage) grids must also be adapted: so far, they only carry electricity in one direction, to the customers. With the distributed power production, electricity transport in the reverse direction must also be considered

  17. Experiments in Area of Musical Sound in the Chamber and Instrumental Works by Rodion Shchedrin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zaytseva Marina

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available The article scientifically proves the peculiarities of Rodion Shchedrin’s musical thinking. Having analysed such piano works by Rodion Shchedrin as "Imitating Albéniz", "Humoresque", arranged for violin and piano by D. M. Tsyganov, "Balalaika" for solo violin without a bow, there have been identified composer’s innovations in the field of violin sound. It has been proved that the search for new expressive violin-coloristic resources was due to the desire of the composer to discover the new worlds of sound, create an original work, which would masterfully implement the most complex creative tasks.

  18. The frequency range of TMJ sounds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Widmalm, S E; Williams, W J; Djurdjanovic, D; McKay, D C

    2003-04-01

    There are conflicting opinions about the frequency range of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) sounds. Some authors claim that the upper limit is about 650 Hz. The aim was to test the hypothesis that TMJ sounds may contain frequencies well above 650 Hz but that significant amounts of their energy are lost if the vibrations are recorded using contact sensors and/or travel far through the head tissues. Time-frequency distributions of 172 TMJ clickings (three subjects) were compared between recordings with one microphone in the ear canal and a skin contact transducer above the clicking joint and between recordings from two microphones, one in each ear canal. The energy peaks of the clickings recorded with a microphone in the ear canal on the clicking side were often well above 650 Hz and always in a significantly higher area (range 117-1922 Hz, P 375 Hz) or in microphone recordings from the opposite ear canal (range 141-703 Hz). Future studies are required to establish normative frequency range values of TMJ sounds but need methods also capable of recording the high frequency vibrations.

  19. Estimating aquifer transmissivity from geo-electrical sounding ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Aquifer resistivity range from 4.26 ohm-m to 755.3 ohm-m with maximum thickness of 52.25m. A maximum 55.52m depth- tobasement was obtained in the study area. Based on the model obtained, aquifer Transmissivity was calculated and was used to delineate the study area into prospective low and high groundwater ...

  20. Hydraulic transmissivity determination for the groundwater exploration using vertical electric sounding method in comparison to the traditional methods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arshad, M.; Shakoor, A.; Ahmad, M.

    2013-01-01

    An important aquifer characteristic, transmissivity significantly contributes to the development of local and regional groundwater resources and solute transport management. Estimation of this property allows quantitative prediction of the hydraulic response and solute transport of the aquifer to recharge and pumping. This study presents the three techniques, used to compare transmissivity determination by Vertical Electric Sounding (VES) over the traditional techniques. The validation of VES was compared with the old widely used methods such as grain size distribution and pumping test techniques. Grain size distribution analysis was carried out to determine transmissivity. Pumping test was performed to determine transmissivity using the type curves solution for unconfined aquifer and taking into account the delayed yield. In resistivity imaging survey, the soil layers were detected through interpretation of resistivity data. Formation factor for each layer was determined with the relation of aquifer soil resistivity and ground water resistivity. The estimated transmissivities though grain size distribution, pumping test and resistivity survey were 0.588, 0.578 and 0.756m/sup 2//min, respectively. The results emphasized the potential of the resistivity survey for aquifer transmissivity determination. (author)

  1. What is Sound?

    OpenAIRE

    Nelson, Peter

    2014-01-01

    What is sound? This question is posed in contradiction to the every-day understanding that sound is a phenomenon apart from us, to be heard, made, shaped and organised. Thinking through the history of computer music, and considering the current configuration of digital communi-cations, sound is reconfigured as a type of network. This network is envisaged as non-hierarchical, in keeping with currents of thought that refuse to prioritise the human in the world. The relationship of sound to musi...

  2. Broadcast sound technology

    CERN Document Server

    Talbot-Smith, Michael

    1990-01-01

    Broadcast Sound Technology provides an explanation of the underlying principles of modern audio technology. Organized into 21 chapters, the book first describes the basic sound; behavior of sound waves; aspects of hearing, harming, and charming the ear; room acoustics; reverberation; microphones; phantom power; loudspeakers; basic stereo; and monitoring of audio signal. Subsequent chapters explore the processing of audio signal, sockets, sound desks, and digital audio. Analogue and digital tape recording and reproduction, as well as noise reduction, are also explained.

  3. Propagation of sound

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wahlberg, Magnus; Larsen, Ole Næsbye

    2017-01-01

    properties can be modified by sound absorption, refraction, and interference from multi paths caused by reflections.The path from the source to the receiver may be bent due to refraction. Besides geometrical attenuation, the ground effect and turbulence are the most important mechanisms to influence...... communication sounds for airborne acoustics and bottom and surface effects for underwater sounds. Refraction becomes very important close to shadow zones. For echolocation signals, geometric attenuation and sound absorption have the largest effects on the signals....

  4. Assessment of access to electricity and the socio-economic impacts in rural areas of developing countries

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kanagawa, Makoto; Nakata, Toshihiko [Department of Management Science and Technology, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Aoba-Yama 6-6-11-815, Sendai 980-8579 (Japan)

    2008-06-15

    The purpose of this study is to reveal relations between access to electricity and advancement in a socio-economic condition in rural areas of developing countries. Recently, multi-dimensional aspects of poverty, for example, economy, education, and health, has been increasingly focused on, and access to modern energy such as electricity is one possible solution. As a case study, we have analyzed unelectrified rural areas in Assam state, India. We have developed an energy-economic model in order to analyze the possibility of electrification through dissemination of electric lighting appliances as well as applied multiple regression analysis to estimate the socio-economic condition, a literacy rate above 6 years old, in the areas. As a result of the case study, the household electrification rate, the 1000 km{sup 2} road density, and sex ratio have been chosen as the explanatory variables of the literacy rate. Moreover, the model analysis shows that complete household electrification will be achieved by the year 2012. In combination with the multiple regression and model analysis, the literacy rate in Assam may increase to 74.4% from 63.3%. (author)

  5. Making fictions sound real

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Langkjær, Birger

    2010-01-01

    This article examines the role that sound plays in making fictions perceptually real to film audiences, whether these fictions are realist or non-realist in content and narrative form. I will argue that some aspects of film sound practices and the kind of experiences they trigger are related...... to basic rules of human perception, whereas others are more properly explained in relation to how aesthetic devices, including sound, are used to characterise the fiction and thereby make it perceptually real to its audience. Finally, I will argue that not all genres can be defined by a simple taxonomy...... of sounds. Apart from an account of the kinds of sounds that typically appear in a specific genre, a genre analysis of sound may also benefit from a functionalist approach that focuses on how sounds can make both realist and non-realist aspects of genres sound real to audiences....

  6. Dacthal and chlorophenoxy herbicides and chlorothalonil fungicide in eggs of osprey (Pandion haliaetus) from the Duwamish-Lake Washington-Puget Sound area of Washington state, USA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chu Shaogang; Henny, Charles J.; Kaiser, James L.; Drouillard, Ken G.; Haffner, G. Douglas; Letcher, Robert J.

    2007-01-01

    Current-use chlorophenoxy herbicides including 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, dicamba, triclopyr, dicamba, dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate (DCPA or dacthal), and the metabolite of pyrethroids, 3-phenoxybenzoic acid (3-PBA), and the fungicide, chlorothalonil, were investigated in the eggs of osprey (Pandion haliaetus) that were collected from 15 sites from five study areas Puget Sound/Seattle area of Washington State, USA. DCPA differs from acidic chlorophenoxy herbicides, and is not readily hydrolyzed to free acid or acid metabolites, and thus we developed a new method. Of the 12 chlorophenoxy herbicides and chlorothalonil analyzed only DCPA could be quantified at six of these sites (2.0 to 10.3 pg/g fresh weight). However, higher levels (6.9 to 85.5 pg/g fresh weight) of the unexpected DCPA structural isomer, dimethyl tetrachlorophthalate (diMe-TCP) were quantified in eggs from all sites. diMe-TCP concentrations tended to be higher in eggs from the Everett Harbor area. As diMe-TCP is not an industrial product, and not commercially available, the source of diMe-TCP is unclear. Regardless, these findings indicate that DCPA and diMe-TCP can be accumulated in the food chain of fish-eating osprey, and transferred in ovo to eggs, and thus may be of concern to the health of the developing chick and the general reproductive health of this osprey population. - Osprey eggs from the Puget Sound area contain the herbicide dacthal and its analogue

  7. The use of the automation for experiments using computers: determination of sound velocity in air

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Valdes, R.; Valdes, P.; Clavelo, A.

    1998-01-01

    This article shows the use of IBM PCs joysticks in order to measure the speed of sound in the air. Electrical circuits and software are presented and both technical and methodological advantages of the proposed method are discussed. (Author) 19 refs

  8. Sound sensitivity of neurons in rat hippocampus during performance of a sound-guided task

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vinnik, Ekaterina; Honey, Christian; Schnupp, Jan; Diamond, Mathew E.

    2012-01-01

    To investigate how hippocampal neurons encode sound stimuli, and the conjunction of sound stimuli with the animal's position in space, we recorded from neurons in the CA1 region of hippocampus in rats while they performed a sound discrimination task. Four different sounds were used, two associated with water reward on the right side of the animal and the other two with water reward on the left side. This allowed us to separate neuronal activity related to sound identity from activity related to response direction. To test the effect of spatial context on sound coding, we trained rats to carry out the task on two identical testing platforms at different locations in the same room. Twenty-one percent of the recorded neurons exhibited sensitivity to sound identity, as quantified by the difference in firing rate for the two sounds associated with the same response direction. Sensitivity to sound identity was often observed on only one of the two testing platforms, indicating an effect of spatial context on sensory responses. Forty-three percent of the neurons were sensitive to response direction, and the probability that any one neuron was sensitive to response direction was statistically independent from its sensitivity to sound identity. There was no significant coding for sound identity when the rats heard the same sounds outside the behavioral task. These results suggest that CA1 neurons encode sound stimuli, but only when those sounds are associated with actions. PMID:22219030

  9. A survey of critical research areas in the energy segment of restructured electric power markets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nanduri, Vishnu; Das, Tapas K.

    2009-01-01

    Availability of a large volume of recent literature on deregulated (a.k.a. restructured) electricity markets underscores the importance of the research needs to ensure proper design and functioning of the markets. Researchers have made significant contributions fueling the evolution of the fundamental market design changes that have taken place since the beginning of the restructuring process. Due to the vast scope, existing survey papers are focused on particular facets of deregulated electricity markets. We adopt a similar approach by focusing on the most important research areas related to the energy market. The contributions of the survey paper lie in the novel approach used in classifying the literature based on critical research areas. Some areas of research such as auction based pricing, bidding strategy formulation, market equilibria, and market power are reviewed in a different light than other existing survey papers. We conclude by providing some future research directions for the energy markets. (author)

  10. Mapping saltwater intrusion in the Biscayne Aquifer, Miami-Dade County, Florida using transient electromagnetic sounding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fitterman, David V.

    2014-01-01

    Saltwater intrusion in southern Florida poses a potential threat to the public drinking-water supply that is typically monitored using water samples and electromagnetic induction logs collected from a network of wells. Transient electromagnetic (TEM) soundings are a complementary addition to the monitoring program because of their ease of use, low cost, and ability to fill in data gaps between wells. TEM soundings have been used to map saltwater intrusion in the Biscayne aquifer over a large part of south Florida including eastern Miami-Dade County and the Everglades. These two areas are very different with one being urban and the other undeveloped. Each poses different conditions that affect data collection and data quality. In the developed areas, finding sites large enough to make soundings is difficult. The presence of underground pipes further restricts useable locations. Electromagnetic noise, which reduces data quality, is also an issue. In the Everglades, access to field sites is difficult and working in water-covered terrain is challenging. Nonetheless, TEM soundings are an effective tool for mapping saltwater intrusion. Direct estimates of water quality can be obtained from the inverted TEM data using a formation factor determined for the Biscayne aquifer. This formation factor is remarkably constant over Miami-Dade County owing to the uniformity of the aquifer and the absence of clay. Thirty-six TEM soundings were collected in the Model Land area of southeast Miami-Dade County to aid in calibration of a helicopter electromagnetic (HEM) survey. The soundings and HEM survey revealed an area of saltwater intrusion aligned with canals and drainage ditches along U.S. Highway 1 and the Card Sound Road. These canals and ditches likely reduced freshwater levels through unregulated drainage and provided pathways for seawater to flow at least 12.4 km inland.

  11. From acoustic descriptors to evoked quality of car door sounds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bezat, Marie-Céline; Kronland-Martinet, Richard; Roussarie, Vincent; Ystad, Sølvi

    2014-07-01

    This article describes the first part of a study aiming at adapting the mechanical car door construction to the drivers' expectancies in terms of perceived quality of cars deduced from car door sounds. A perceptual cartography of car door sounds is obtained from various listening tests aiming at revealing both ecological and analytical properties linked to evoked car quality. In the first test naive listeners performed absolute evaluations of five ecological properties (i.e., solidity, quality, weight, closure energy, and success of closure). Then experts in the area of automobile doors categorized the sounds according to organic constituents (lock, joints, door panel), in particular whether or not the lock mechanism could be perceived. Further, a sensory panel of naive listeners identified sensory descriptors such as classical descriptors or onomatopoeia that characterize the sounds, hereby providing an analytic description of the sounds. Finally, acoustic descriptors were calculated after decomposition of the signal into a lock and a closure component by the Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) method. A statistical relationship between the acoustic descriptors and the perceptual evaluations of the car door sounds could then be obtained through linear regression analysis.

  12. Tracheal sound parameters of respiratory cycle phases show differences between flow-limited and normal breathing during sleep

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kulkas, A; Huupponen, E; Virkkala, J; Saastamoinen, A; Rauhala, E; Tenhunen, M; Himanen, S-L

    2010-01-01

    The objective of the present work was to develop new computational parameters to examine the characteristics of respiratory cycle phases from the tracheal breathing sound signal during sleep. Tracheal sound data from 14 patients (10 males and 4 females) were examined. From each patient, a 10 min long section of normal and a 10 min section of flow-limited breathing during sleep were analysed. The computationally determined proportional durations of the respiratory phases were first investigated. Moreover, the phase durations and breathing sound amplitude levels were used to calculate the area under the breathing sound envelope signal during inspiration and expiration phases. An inspiratory sound index was then developed to provide the percentage of this type of area during the inspiratory phase with respect to the combined area of inspiratory and expiratory phases. The proportional duration of the inspiratory phase showed statistically significantly higher values during flow-limited breathing than during normal breathing and inspiratory pause displayed an opposite difference. The inspiratory sound index showed statistically significantly higher values during flow-limited breathing than during normal breathing. The presented novel computational parameters could contribute to the examination of sleep-disordered breathing or as a screening tool

  13. Nano-Electric Field TechnologY (NEFTY)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kintner, Paul M.

    2000-01-01

    The NEFTY SR&T grant was focused on the development of novel electric field boom systems for sounding rocket applications. A "yo-yo"-type boom that unwraps from a rotating and damped axel was analyzed through a simulation with Prof. Psiaki of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University. The basic parameters of the analysis were evaluated and validated on a spinning platform prototyping system developed at Cornell University. The full "yo-yo"-type boom system is being developing for the SIERRA sounding rocket flight scheduled for a January 2002 launch. The principal results from this study were published.

  14. Memory for product sounds: the effect of sound and label type.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ozcan, Elif; van Egmond, René

    2007-11-01

    The (mnemonic) interactions between auditory, visual, and the semantic systems have been investigated using structurally complex auditory stimuli (i.e., product sounds). Six types of product sounds (air, alarm, cyclic, impact, liquid, mechanical) that vary in spectral-temporal structure were presented in four label type conditions: self-generated text, text, image, and pictogram. A memory paradigm that incorporated free recall, recognition, and matching tasks was employed. The results for the sound type suggest that the amount of spectral-temporal structure in a sound can be indicative for memory performance. Findings related to label type suggest that 'self' creates a strong bias for the retrieval and the recognition of sounds that were self-labeled; the density and the complexity of the visual information (i.e., pictograms) hinders the memory performance ('visual' overshadowing effect); and image labeling has an additive effect on the recall and matching tasks (dual coding). Thus, the findings suggest that the memory performances for product sounds are task-dependent.

  15. 33 CFR 167.1702 - In Prince William Sound: Prince William Sound Traffic Separation Scheme.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false In Prince William Sound: Prince William Sound Traffic Separation Scheme. 167.1702 Section 167.1702 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST....1702 In Prince William Sound: Prince William Sound Traffic Separation Scheme. The Prince William Sound...

  16. The meaning of city noises: Investigating sound quality in Paris (France)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dubois, Daniele; Guastavino, Catherine; Maffiolo, Valerie; Guastavino, Catherine; Maffiolo, Valerie

    2004-05-01

    The sound quality of Paris (France) was investigated by using field inquiries in actual environments (open questionnaires) and using recordings under laboratory conditions (free-sorting tasks). Cognitive categories of soundscapes were inferred by means of psycholinguistic analyses of verbal data and of mathematical analyses of similarity judgments. Results show that auditory judgments mainly rely on source identification. The appraisal of urban noise therefore depends on the qualitative evaluation of noise sources. The salience of human sounds in public spaces has been demonstrated, in relation to pleasantness judgments: soundscapes with human presence tend to be perceived as more pleasant than soundscapes consisting solely of mechanical sounds. Furthermore, human sounds are qualitatively processed as indicators of human outdoor activities, such as open markets, pedestrian areas, and sidewalk cafe districts that reflect city life. In contrast, mechanical noises (mainly traffic noise) are commonly described in terms of physical properties (temporal structure, intensity) of a permanent background noise that also characterizes urban areas. This connotes considering both quantitative and qualitative descriptions to account for the diversity of cognitive interpretations of urban soundscapes, since subjective evaluations depend both on the meaning attributed to noise sources and on inherent properties of the acoustic signal.

  17. Evaluation of sounds for hybrid and electric vehicles operating at low speed

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-10-22

    Electric vehicles (EV) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), operated at low speeds may reduce auditory cues used by pedestrians to assess the state of nearby traffic creating a safety issue. This field study compares the auditory detectability of num...

  18. Sounds Exaggerate Visual Shape

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sweeny, Timothy D.; Guzman-Martinez, Emmanuel; Ortega, Laura; Grabowecky, Marcia; Suzuki, Satoru

    2012-01-01

    While perceiving speech, people see mouth shapes that are systematically associated with sounds. In particular, a vertically stretched mouth produces a /woo/ sound, whereas a horizontally stretched mouth produces a /wee/ sound. We demonstrate that hearing these speech sounds alters how we see aspect ratio, a basic visual feature that contributes…

  19. Sound Zones

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Møller, Martin Bo; Olsen, Martin

    2017-01-01

    Sound zones, i.e. spatially confined regions of individual audio content, can be created by appropriate filtering of the desired audio signals reproduced by an array of loudspeakers. The challenge of designing filters for sound zones is twofold: First, the filtered responses should generate...... an acoustic separation between the control regions. Secondly, the pre- and post-ringing as well as spectral deterioration introduced by the filters should be minimized. The tradeoff between acoustic separation and filter ringing is the focus of this paper. A weighted L2-norm penalty is introduced in the sound...

  20. Generation of electricity and combustible gas by utilization of agricultural waste in Nara canal area water board

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Joyo, P.; Memon, F.; Sohag, M.A.

    2005-01-01

    Biomass in an important source of energy, however, it is not fully utilized in Sindh. The various types of biomass normally used for the generation of energy are extensively available in the province. These are forest debris and thinning; residue from wood products industry; agricultural waste; fast-growing trees and crops; wood and wood waste; animal manures and non-hazardous organic portion of municipal solid waste. Since agriculture is pre-dominant in Sindh, it has a large amount of agricultural waste available in most of the areas. Agriculture wastes like rice husk, wheat straw, cotton stalks, and sugarcane bagasse can be utilized to produce gas and afterwards electricity. Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) has found that at most of the locations of Sindh, agricultural waste is available more than the energy requirements of that particular area. Biomass can also generate electricity (or heat) in one of the several processes, can be used in a piston driven engine, high efficiency gas turbine generator or a fuel cell to produce electricity. Biomass gasifies have gained attention for their efficiency, economy and environment-friendly. The Nara Canal Area Water Board is facing acute problem of electricity in the O and M of its drainage network and running of tube wells. The frequent breakdown and irregular supply of power is badly affecting in the management of drainage system and control of rising water-table, however, it is anticipated that the generation of electricity through biomass can address this acute problem and greatly help in controlling water logging and salinity in Sindh. (author)

  1. Advanced Control of Wind Electric Pumping System for Isolated Areas Application

    OpenAIRE

    Mohamed Barara; Abderrahim Bennassar; Ahmed Abbou; Mohammed Akherraz; Badre Bossoufi

    2014-01-01

    The supply water in remote areas of windy region is one of most attractive application of wind energy conversion .This paper proposes an advanced controller suitable for wind-electric pump in isolated applications in order to have a desired debit from variation of reference speed of the pump also the control scheme of DC voltage of SIEG for feed the pump are presented under step change in wind speed. The simulation results showed a good performance of the global proposed control system.

  2. Some models for electric power price clearing in liberalized market area

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chogelja, Goran; Pavlov, Risto

    2001-01-01

    This paper presents some of the basic models for electrical energy price clearing in liberalized market area and competition on level of consumption and level of production. As an example the Amsterdam power exchange APX (spot market) is given and some of another types of markets and methodology for pricing are presented. In detal 'clearing pricing mechanism in day athead market' from the Amsterdam power exchange is presented as well as the methodology for market balancing and financial clearing. (Original)

  3. Structure-borne sound structural vibrations and sound radiation at audio frequencies

    CERN Document Server

    Cremer, L; Petersson, Björn AT

    2005-01-01

    Structure-Borne Sound"" is a thorough introduction to structural vibrations with emphasis on audio frequencies and the associated radiation of sound. The book presents in-depth discussions of fundamental principles and basic problems, in order to enable the reader to understand and solve his own problems. It includes chapters dealing with measurement and generation of vibrations and sound, various types of structural wave motion, structural damping and its effects, impedances and vibration responses of the important types of structures, as well as with attenuation of vibrations, and sound radi

  4. An Exploratory Analysis of Sound Field Characteristics using the Impulse Response in a Car Cabin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yoshiharu Soeta

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Sound environments in cars are becoming quieter and receiving attention because of the prevalence of low-noise engines such as hybrid and electric engines and the manifestation of automated driving. Although the car cabin has potential as a listening space, its acoustic quality has not been examined in detail. The present study investigated sound field characteristics in the car cabin using acoustic parameters obtained by impulse response analysis. In particular, effects of the passenger position, open windows and the use of an air conditioner on acoustic parameters were investigated. The passenger position affected the sound strength at low frequencies. Rear seats, except for the rear central seat, had lower interaural correlation than the front seats, suggesting that rear seats have more diffused sound fields. The opening of windows and use of air conditioners attenuated the ratio of early- and late-arriving energy at high frequencies, suggesting a loss of clarity for music.

  5. Behavioral response of manatees to variations in environmental sound levels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miksis-Olds, Jennifer L.; Wagner, Tyler

    2011-01-01

    Florida manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris) inhabit coastal regions because they feed on the aquatic vegetation that grows in shallow waters, which are the same areas where human activities are greatest. Noise produced from anthropogenic and natural sources has the potential to affect these animals by eliciting responses ranging from mild behavioral changes to extreme aversion. Sound levels were calculated from recordings made throughout behavioral observation periods. An information theoretic approach was used to investigate the relationship between behavior patterns and sound level. Results indicated that elevated sound levels affect manatee activity and are a function of behavioral state. The proportion of time manatees spent feeding and milling changed in response to sound level. When ambient sound levels were highest, more time was spent in the directed, goal-oriented behavior of feeding, whereas less time was spent engaged in undirected behavior such as milling. This work illustrates how shifts in activity of individual manatees may be useful parameters for identifying impacts of noise on manatees and might inform population level effects.

  6. InfoSound

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sonnenwald, Diane H.; Gopinath, B.; Haberman, Gary O.

    1990-01-01

    The authors explore ways to enhance users' comprehension of complex applications using music and sound effects to present application-program events that are difficult to detect visually. A prototype system, Infosound, allows developers to create and store musical sequences and sound effects with...

  7. The Sound of Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Merwade, Venkatesh; Eichinger, David; Harriger, Bradley; Doherty, Erin; Habben, Ryan

    2014-01-01

    While the science of sound can be taught by explaining the concept of sound waves and vibrations, the authors of this article focused their efforts on creating a more engaging way to teach the science of sound--through engineering design. In this article they share the experience of teaching sound to third graders through an engineering challenge…

  8. Elecromagnetic Sampo monitoring soundings at Olkiluoto in 2013 with updated interpretations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Korhonen, K.

    2014-10-01

    The Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) has carried out electromagnetic depth soundings annually at fixed stations in Olkiluoto since 2004 as part of a monitoring program. The goal of the monitoring program is to detect and monitor changes in the electrical properties of the bedrock in the vicinity of the ONKALO underground research facility which will constitute a part of the final nuclear waste repository. A new Sampo monitoring survey was carried out by GTK in October 2013. The survey consists of 37 soundings performed at 17 measurement stations. The nominal coil separations of 200, 400, 500, 600 and 800 metres were used depending on the station. Layer-model interpretations of soundings at eight selected stations were updated with the new data. The interpretations indicate consistent annual changes. Resistivities be-low stations to the East of the ONKALO facility appear to increase annually. In contrast, resistivities below stations to the West of the ONKALO facility appear to decrease annually. However, these changes need to be considered keeping in mind the uncertainties associated with the data and their interpretations. (orig.)

  9. P-band radar ice sounding in Antarctica

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dall, Jørgen; Kusk, Anders; Kristensen, Steen Savstrup

    2012-01-01

    In February 2011, the Polarimetric Airborne Radar Ice Sounder (POLARIS) was flown in Antarctica in order to assess the feasibility of a potential space-based radar ice sounding mission. The campaign has demonstrated that the basal return is detectable in areas with up to 3 km thick cold ice, in a...

  10. Study of the Acoustic Effects of Hydrokinetic Tidal Turbines in Admiralty Inlet, Puget Sound

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brian Polagye; Jim Thomson; Chris Bassett; Jason Wood; Dom Tollit; Robert Cavagnaro; Andrea Copping

    2012-03-30

    Hydrokinetic turbines will be a source of noise in the marine environment - both during operation and during installation/removal. High intensity sound can cause injury or behavioral changes in marine mammals and may also affect fish and invertebrates. These noise effects are, however, highly dependent on the individual marine animals; the intensity, frequency, and duration of the sound; and context in which the sound is received. In other words, production of sound is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for an environmental impact. At a workshop on the environmental effects of tidal energy development, experts identified sound produced by turbines as an area of potentially significant impact, but also high uncertainty. The overall objectives of this project are to improve our understanding of the potential acoustic effects of tidal turbines by: (1) Characterizing sources of existing underwater noise; (2) Assessing the effectiveness of monitoring technologies to characterize underwater noise and marine mammal responsiveness to noise; (3) Evaluating the sound profile of an operating tidal turbine; and (4) Studying the effect of turbine sound on surrogate species in a laboratory environment. This study focuses on a specific case study for tidal energy development in Admiralty Inlet, Puget Sound, Washington (USA), but the methodologies and results are applicable to other turbine technologies and geographic locations. The project succeeded in achieving the above objectives and, in doing so, substantially contributed to the body of knowledge around the acoustic effects of tidal energy development in several ways: (1) Through collection of data from Admiralty Inlet, established the sources of sound generated by strong currents (mobilizations of sediment and gravel) and determined that low-frequency sound recorded during periods of strong currents is non-propagating pseudo-sound. This helped to advance the debate within the marine and hydrokinetics acoustic

  11. Renewable sources of electricity in the SWEB area

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1993-06-01

    Following the privatisation of the Electricity Supply Industry, Regional Electricity Companies now have greater influence on the generation and supply of electricity, including power from renewable sources. The introduction of the Non-Fossil Fuel Obligation has also greatly assisted the development of electricity generation from renewables, culminating in around 260 MW of new renewables capacity by April 1993 in England and Wales, including 116 MW from windfarms. In view of the increased interest in renewables shown nationally and within the South West, SWEB and the Department of Trade and Industry agreed to conduct a study of the renewable energy technologies and their associated resource potential within the SWEB region. (author)

  12. Hemispheric lateralization in an analysis of speech sounds. Left hemisphere dominance replicated in Japanese subjects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koyama, S; Gunji, A; Yabe, H; Oiwa, S; Akahane-Yamada, R; Kakigi, R; Näätänen, R

    2000-09-01

    Evoked magnetic responses to speech sounds [R. Näätänen, A. Lehtokoski, M. Lennes, M. Cheour, M. Huotilainen, A. Iivonen, M. Vainio, P. Alku, R.J. Ilmoniemi, A. Luuk, J. Allik, J. Sinkkonen and K. Alho, Language-specific phoneme representations revealed by electric and magnetic brain responses. Nature, 385 (1997) 432-434.] were recorded from 13 Japanese subjects (right-handed). Infrequently presented vowels ([o]) among repetitive vowels ([e]) elicited the magnetic counterpart of mismatch negativity, MMNm (Bilateral, nine subjects; Left hemisphere alone, three subjects; Right hemisphere alone, one subject). The estimated source of the MMNm was stronger in the left than in the right auditory cortex. The sources were located posteriorly in the left than in the right auditory cortex. These findings are consistent with the results obtained in Finnish [R. Näätänen, A. Lehtokoski, M. Lennes, M. Cheour, M. Huotilainen, A. Iivonen, M.Vainio, P.Alku, R.J. Ilmoniemi, A. Luuk, J. Allik, J. Sinkkonen and K. Alho, Language-specific phoneme representations revealed by electric and magnetic brain responses. Nature, 385 (1997) 432-434.][T. Rinne, K. Alho, P. Alku, M. Holi, J. Sinkkonen, J. Virtanen, O. Bertrand and R. Näätänen, Analysis of speech sounds is left-hemisphere predominant at 100-150 ms after sound onset. Neuroreport, 10 (1999) 1113-1117.] and English [K. Alho, J.F. Connolly, M. Cheour, A. Lehtokoski, M. Huotilainen, J. Virtanen, R. Aulanko and R.J. Ilmoniemi, Hemispheric lateralization in preattentive processing of speech sounds. Neurosci. Lett., 258 (1998) 9-12.] subjects. Instead of the P1m observed in Finnish [M. Tervaniemi, A. Kujala, K. Alho, J. Virtanen, R.J. Ilmoniemi and R. Näätänen, Functional specialization of the human auditory cortex in processing phonetic and musical sounds: A magnetoencephalographic (MEG) study. Neuroimage, 9 (1999) 330-336.] and English [K. Alho, J. F. Connolly, M. Cheour, A. Lehtokoski, M. Huotilainen, J. Virtanen, R. Aulanko

  13. Sound insulation of dwellings - Legal requirements in Europe and subjective evaluation of acoustical comfort

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rasmussen, B.; Rindel, Jens Holger

    2003-01-01

    Acoustical comfort is a concept that can be characterised by absence of unwanted sound and by opportunities for acoustic activities without annoying other people. In order to achieve acoustical comfort in dwellings certain requirements have to be fulfilled concerning the airborne sound insulation...... requirement for sound insulation. The findings can also be used as a guide to specify acoustic requirements for dwellings in the future......., the impact sound insulation and the noise level from traffic and building services. For road traffic noise it is well established that an outdoor noise level LAeq, 24 h below 55 dB in a housing area means that approximately 15-20% of the occupants are annoyed by the noise. However, for sound insulation...

  14. 75 FR 33696 - Safety Zone: July Firework Display in Captain of the Port, Puget Sound AOR

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-06-15

    ...-AA00 Safety Zone: July Firework Display in Captain of the Port, Puget Sound AOR AGENCY: Coast Guard... Captain of the Port, Puget Sound AOR. (a) Safety Zone. The following area is a designated safety zone: all..., Captain of the Port, Puget Sound. [FR Doc. 2010-14294 Filed 6-14-10; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 9110-04-P ...

  15. An intelligent artificial throat with sound-sensing ability based on laser induced graphene

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tao, Lu-Qi; Tian, He; Liu, Ying; Ju, Zhen-Yi; Pang, Yu; Chen, Yuan-Quan; Wang, Dan-Yang; Tian, Xiang-Guang; Yan, Jun-Chao; Deng, Ning-Qin; Yang, Yi; Ren, Tian-Ling

    2017-02-01

    Traditional sound sources and sound detectors are usually independent and discrete in the human hearing range. To minimize the device size and integrate it with wearable electronics, there is an urgent requirement of realizing the functional integration of generating and detecting sound in a single device. Here we show an intelligent laser-induced graphene artificial throat, which can not only generate sound but also detect sound in a single device. More importantly, the intelligent artificial throat will significantly assist for the disabled, because the simple throat vibrations such as hum, cough and scream with different intensity or frequency from a mute person can be detected and converted into controllable sounds. Furthermore, the laser-induced graphene artificial throat has the advantage of one-step fabrication, high efficiency, excellent flexibility and low cost, and it will open practical applications in voice control, wearable electronics and many other areas.

  16. Estuarine monitoring programs in the Albemarle Sound study area, North Carolina

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moorman, Michelle; Kolb, Katharine R.; Supak, Stacy

    2014-01-01

    Albemarle Sound was selected in 2012 as one of the two demonstration sites in the Nation to test and improve the design of the National Water Quality Monitoring Council’s National Monitoring Network (NMN) for U.S. Coastal Waters and their tributaries. The goal of the NMN for U.S. coastal waters and tributaries is to provide information about the health of our oceans and coastal ecosystems and inland influences on coastal waters for improved resource management. The NMN is an integrated, multidisciplinary, and multiorganizational program using multiple sources of data and information to augment current monitoring programs.

  17. fMRI assessment of somatotopy in human Brodmann area 3b by electrical finger stimulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurth, R; Villringer, K; Mackert, B M; Schwiemann, J; Braun, J; Curio, G; Villringer, A; Wolf, K J

    1998-01-26

    Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is capable of detecting focal brain activation induced by electrical stimulation of single fingers in human subjects. In eight subjects somatotopic arrangement of the second and fifth finger was found in Brodmann area 3b of the primary somatosensory cortex. In four subjects the representation area of the second finger was located lateral and inferior to the fifth finger; in one subject the somatotopy was reversed. In three subjects representation areas of the two fingers in Brodmann area 3b were found overlapping. Additional activated areas were found on the crown of ipsilateral and contralateral postcentral gyrus (Brodmann areas 1 and 2) and posterior parietal cortex.

  18. Electrical Resistivity Models in Geological Formations in the Southern Area of the East of Cuba

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Antonio García-Gutiérrez

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to develop electrical resistivity models in geological formations of greater interest for geological engineering in the southern area of the East of Cuba. A procedure for the generalization of the geo-electrical database was prepared to generate the referred geo-electrical models. A total of 38 works with 895 vertical electrical surveys, of which 317 (35.4% located near (parametrical drills. Three models for the Paso Real formation and one for the Capdevila, the most distributed in the region under investigation were defined. The surface quartz sands from the municipality of Sandino were identified to have higher electrical resistivity averages (1241 Ω•m, while they do not exceed 86 Ω•m in the lower horizons to resolve basic tasks of the geological engineering investigations. The assessment of the cover clayey sandy soils was satisfactory in both geological formations while the determination of the water table depth was unfavorable. The remaining tasks varied between relatively favorable to unfavorable according to the geological formations.

  19. Light and Sound

    CERN Document Server

    Karam, P Andrew

    2010-01-01

    Our world is largely defined by what we see and hear-but our uses for light and sound go far beyond simply seeing a photo or hearing a song. A concentrated beam of light, lasers are powerful tools used in industry, research, and medicine, as well as in everyday electronics like DVD and CD players. Ultrasound, sound emitted at a high frequency, helps create images of a developing baby, cleans teeth, and much more. Light and Sound teaches how light and sound work, how they are used in our day-to-day lives, and how they can be used to learn about the universe at large.

  20. Power Distribution Analysis For Electrical Usage In Province Area Using Olap (Online Analytical Processing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Samsinar Riza

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The distribution network is the closest power grid to the customer Electric service providers such as PT. PLN. The dispatching center of power grid companies is also the data center of the power grid where gathers great amount of operating information. The valuable information contained in these data means a lot for power grid operating management. The technique of data warehousing online analytical processing has been used to manage and analysis the great capacity of data. Specific methods for online analytics information systems resulting from data warehouse processing with OLAP are chart and query reporting. The information in the form of chart reporting consists of the load distribution chart based on the repetition of time, distribution chart on the area, the substation region chart and the electric load usage chart. The results of the OLAP process show the development of electric load distribution, as well as the analysis of information on the load of electric power consumption and become an alternative in presenting information related to peak load.

  1. Power Distribution Analysis For Electrical Usage In Province Area Using Olap (Online Analytical Processing)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Samsinar, Riza; Suseno, Jatmiko Endro; Widodo, Catur Edi

    2018-02-01

    The distribution network is the closest power grid to the customer Electric service providers such as PT. PLN. The dispatching center of power grid companies is also the data center of the power grid where gathers great amount of operating information. The valuable information contained in these data means a lot for power grid operating management. The technique of data warehousing online analytical processing has been used to manage and analysis the great capacity of data. Specific methods for online analytics information systems resulting from data warehouse processing with OLAP are chart and query reporting. The information in the form of chart reporting consists of the load distribution chart based on the repetition of time, distribution chart on the area, the substation region chart and the electric load usage chart. The results of the OLAP process show the development of electric load distribution, as well as the analysis of information on the load of electric power consumption and become an alternative in presenting information related to peak load.

  2. The Textile Form of Sound

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bendixen, Cecilie

    Sound is a part of architecture, and sound is complex. Upon this, sound is invisible. How is it then possible to design visual objects that interact with the sound? This paper addresses the problem of how to get access to the complexity of sound and how to make textile material revealing the form...... goemetry by analysing the sound pattern at a specific spot. This analysis is done theoretically with algorithmic systems and practical with waves in water. The paper describes the experiments and the findings, and explains how an analysis of sound can be catched in a textile form....

  3. Reduction of heart sound interference from lung sound signals using empirical mode decomposition technique.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mondal, Ashok; Bhattacharya, P S; Saha, Goutam

    2011-01-01

    During the recording time of lung sound (LS) signals from the chest wall of a subject, there is always heart sound (HS) signal interfering with it. This obscures the features of lung sound signals and creates confusion on pathological states, if any, of the lungs. A novel method based on empirical mode decomposition (EMD) technique is proposed in this paper for reducing the undesired heart sound interference from the desired lung sound signals. In this, the mixed signal is split into several components. Some of these components contain larger proportions of interfering signals like heart sound, environmental noise etc. and are filtered out. Experiments have been conducted on simulated and real-time recorded mixed signals of heart sound and lung sound. The proposed method is found to be superior in terms of time domain, frequency domain, and time-frequency domain representations and also in listening test performed by pulmonologist.

  4. Sound generator

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Berkhoff, Arthur P.

    2008-01-01

    A sound generator, particularly a loudspeaker, configured to emit sound, comprising a rigid element (2) enclosing a plurality of air compartments (3), wherein the rigid element (2) has a back side (B) comprising apertures (4), and a front side (F) that is closed, wherein the generator is provided

  5. Sound generator

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Berkhoff, Arthur P.

    2010-01-01

    A sound generator, particularly a loudspeaker, configured to emit sound, comprising a rigid element (2) enclosing a plurality of air compartments (3), wherein the rigid element (2) has a back side (B) comprising apertures (4), and a front side (F) that is closed, wherein the generator is provided

  6. Sound generator

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Berkhoff, Arthur P.

    2007-01-01

    A sound generator, particularly a loudspeaker, configured to emit sound, comprising a rigid element (2) enclosing a plurality of air compartments (3), wherein the rigid element (2) has a back side (B) comprising apertures (4), and a front side (F) that is closed, wherein the generator is provided

  7. NASA Space Sounds API

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — NASA has released a series of space sounds via sound cloud. We have abstracted away some of the hassle in accessing these sounds, so that developers can play with...

  8. Large-area WSe2 electric double layer transistors on a plastic substrate

    KAUST Repository

    Funahashi, Kazuma; Pu, Jiang; Li, Ming Yang; Li, Lain-Jong; Iwasa, Yoshihiro; Takenobu, Taishi

    2015-01-01

    Due to the requirements for large-area, uniform films, currently transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDC) cannot be used in flexible transistor industrial applications. In this study, we first transferred chemically grown large-area WSe2 monolayer films from the as-grown sapphire substrates to the flexible plastic substrates. We also fabricated electric double layer transistors using the WSe2 films on the plastic substrates. These transistors exhibited ambipolar operation and an ON/OFF current ratio of ∼104, demonstrating chemically grown WSe2 transistors on plastic substrates for the first time. This achievement can be an important first step for the next-generation TMDC based flexible devices. © 2015 The Japan Society of Applied Physics.

  9. Large-area WSe2 electric double layer transistors on a plastic substrate

    KAUST Repository

    Funahashi, Kazuma

    2015-04-27

    Due to the requirements for large-area, uniform films, currently transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDC) cannot be used in flexible transistor industrial applications. In this study, we first transferred chemically grown large-area WSe2 monolayer films from the as-grown sapphire substrates to the flexible plastic substrates. We also fabricated electric double layer transistors using the WSe2 films on the plastic substrates. These transistors exhibited ambipolar operation and an ON/OFF current ratio of ∼104, demonstrating chemically grown WSe2 transistors on plastic substrates for the first time. This achievement can be an important first step for the next-generation TMDC based flexible devices. © 2015 The Japan Society of Applied Physics.

  10. Optical Reading and Playing of Sound Signals from Vinyl Records

    OpenAIRE

    Hensman, Arnold; Casey, Kevin

    2007-01-01

    While advanced digital music systems such as compact disk players and MP3 have become the standard in sound reproduction technology, critics claim that conversion to digital often results in a loss of sound quality and richness. For this reason, vinyl records remain the medium of choice for many audiophiles involved in specialist areas. The waveform cut into a vinyl record is an exact replica of the analogue version from the original source. However, while some perceive this media as reproduc...

  11. An Investigation of the 3D Electrical Resistivity Structure in the Chingshui Geothermal Area, NE Taiwan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chih-Wen Chiang

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The Chingshui geothermal area southwest of the Ilan plain is identified as a western extension of the Okinawa Trough in the northern Taiwan subduction system. Numerous geophysical, geological and geochemical investigations have been conducted since the 1970s by the Industrial Technology Research Institute, the Chinese Petroleum Corporation of Taiwan and the National Science Council of Taiwan. These studies indicated that the Chingshui stream is one of the largest geothermal areas for electricity generation in Taiwan. However, the power generation efficiency has not met initial expectations. Magnetotelluric (MT data analyses show that the Chingshui geothermal region is a geologically complex area. A full three-dimensional (3D inversion was therefore applied to reprocess the MT data and provide the detailed electrical structure beneath the Chingshui geothermal region. The 3D geoelectrical model displays an improved image that clearly delineates the Chingshui geothermal system geometry. Two conductive anomalies are imaged that possibly indicate high potential areas for geothermal energy in the Chingshui geothermal system. One of the potential areas is located in the eastern part of the Chingshui Fault at shallow depths. A significant conductive anomaly is associated with high heat flow and fluid content situations southwest of the geothermal manifest area at depth. A higher interconnected fluid indicates that this area contains the highest potential for geothermal energy in the Chingshui geothermal system.

  12. Investigation of electrically exploded large area foil for current switching

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chernyshev, V.K.; Boyko, A.M.; Kostyukov, V.N.; Kuzyaev, A.I.; Kulagin, A.A.; Mamyshev, V.I.; Mezhevov, A.B.; Nechaev, A.I.; Petrukhin, A.A.; Protasov, M.S.; Shevtsov, V.I.; Yakubov, V.B.

    1990-01-01

    The possibility of microsecond ∼40 MA current switching from EMG into a quasiconstant inductive load by an electrically exploded foil is investigated. The copper foil of large area, S ∼ 10 4 cm 2 , was placed between thin-walled insulators into a coaxial transmission line (TL). This paper shows a conceptual device scheme. To feed a foil opening switch (FOS), a disc explosive magnetic generator (DEMG) with 20 μs current rise time was employed. An inductive coaxial load was connected to a FOS at a moment, that was close to the foil vaporization start by means of an axisymmetric explosive current commutator (ECC)

  13. Neural dynamics of learning sound-action associations.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adam McNamara

    Full Text Available A motor component is pre-requisite to any communicative act as one must inherently move to communicate. To learn to make a communicative act, the brain must be able to dynamically associate arbitrary percepts to the neural substrate underlying the pre-requisite motor activity. We aimed to investigate whether brain regions involved in complex gestures (ventral pre-motor cortex, Brodmann Area 44 were involved in mediating association between novel abstract auditory stimuli and novel gestural movements. In a functional resonance imaging (fMRI study we asked participants to learn associations between previously unrelated novel sounds and meaningless gestures inside the scanner. We use functional connectivity analysis to eliminate the often present confound of 'strategic covert naming' when dealing with BA44 and to rule out effects of non-specific reductions in signal. Brodmann Area 44, a region incorporating Broca's region showed strong, bilateral, negative correlation of BOLD (blood oxygen level dependent response with learning of sound-action associations during data acquisition. Left-inferior-parietal-lobule (l-IPL and bilateral loci in and around visual area V5, right-orbital-frontal-gyrus, right-hippocampus, left-para-hippocampus, right-head-of-caudate, right-insula and left-lingual-gyrus also showed decreases in BOLD response with learning. Concurrent with these decreases in BOLD response, an increasing connectivity between areas of the imaged network as well as the right-middle-frontal-gyrus with rising learning performance was revealed by a psychophysiological interaction (PPI analysis. The increasing connectivity therefore occurs within an increasingly energy efficient network as learning proceeds. Strongest learning related connectivity between regions was found when analysing BA44 and l-IPL seeds. The results clearly show that BA44 and l-IPL is dynamically involved in linking gesture and sound and therefore provides evidence that one of

  14. Sound Insulation between Dwellings

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rasmussen, Birgit

    2011-01-01

    Regulatory sound insulation requirements for dwellings exist in more than 30 countries in Europe. In some countries, requirements have existed since the 1950s. Findings from comparative studies show that sound insulation descriptors and requirements represent a high degree of diversity...... and initiate – where needed – improvement of sound insulation of new and existing dwellings in Europe to the benefit of the inhabitants and the society. A European COST Action TU0901 "Integrating and Harmonizing Sound Insulation Aspects in Sustainable Urban Housing Constructions", has been established and runs...... 2009-2013. The main objectives of TU0901 are to prepare proposals for harmonized sound insulation descriptors and for a European sound classification scheme with a number of quality classes for dwellings. Findings from the studies provide input for the discussions in COST TU0901. Data collected from 24...

  15. 基于直接寻找法的电阻抗断层成像%Electrical Impedance Tomography Based on Direct Search Method

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    蔡畅; 严壮志

    2005-01-01

    Solution to impedance distribution in electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is an ill-posed nonlinear inverse problem. It is especially difficult to reconstruct an EIT image in the center area of a measured object. Tikhonov regularization with some prior information is a sound regularization method for static electrical impedance tomography under the condition that some true impedance distribution information is known a priori. This paper presents a direct search method (DSM) as pretreatment of image reconstruction through which one not only can construct a regularization matrix which maylocate in areas of impedance change, but also can obtain an initial impedance distribution more similar to the true impedance distribution, as well as better current modes which can better distinguish the initial distribution and the true distribution. Simulation results indicate that, by using DSM, resolution in the center area of the measured object can be improved significantly.

  16. Digital sound de-localisation as a game mechanic for novel bodily play

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tiab, John; Rantakari, Juho; Halse, Mads Laurberg

    2016-01-01

    This paper describes an exertion gameplay mechanic involving player's partial control of their opponent's sound localization abilities. We developed this concept through designing and testing "The Boy and The Wolf" game. In this game, we combined deprivation of sight with a positional disparity...... between player bodily movement and sound. This facilitated intense gameplay supporting player creativity and spectator engagement. We use our observations and analysis of our game to offer a set of lessons learnt for designing engaging bodily play using disparity between sound and movement. Moreover, we...... describe our intended future explorations of this area....

  17. Remembering that big things sound big: Sound symbolism and associative memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Preziosi, Melissa A; Coane, Jennifer H

    2017-01-01

    According to sound symbolism theory, individual sounds or clusters of sounds can convey meaning. To examine the role of sound symbolic effects on processing and memory for nonwords, we developed a novel set of 100 nonwords to convey largeness (nonwords containing plosive consonants and back vowels) and smallness (nonwords containing fricative consonants and front vowels). In Experiments 1A and 1B, participants rated the size of the 100 nonwords and provided definitions to them as if they were products. Nonwords composed of fricative/front vowels were rated as smaller than those composed of plosive/back vowels. In Experiment 2, participants studied sound symbolic congruent and incongruent nonword and participant-generated definition pairings. Definitions paired with nonwords that matched the size and participant-generated meanings were recalled better than those that did not match. When the participant-generated definitions were re-paired with other nonwords, this mnemonic advantage was reduced, although still reliable. In a final free association study, the possibility that plosive/back vowel and fricative/front vowel nonwords elicit sound symbolic size effects due to mediation from word neighbors was ruled out. Together, these results suggest that definitions that are sound symbolically congruent with a nonword are more memorable than incongruent definition-nonword pairings. This work has implications for the creation of brand names and how to create brand names that not only convey desired product characteristics, but also are memorable for consumers.

  18. An Antropologist of Sound

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Groth, Sanne Krogh

    2015-01-01

    PROFESSOR PORTRAIT: Sanne Krogh Groth met Holger Schulze, newly appointed professor in Musicology at the Department for Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen, to a talk about anthropology of sound, sound studies, musical canons and ideology.......PROFESSOR PORTRAIT: Sanne Krogh Groth met Holger Schulze, newly appointed professor in Musicology at the Department for Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen, to a talk about anthropology of sound, sound studies, musical canons and ideology....

  19. Environmentally sound development in the energy and mining industries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1987-01-01

    The paper contains the proceedings of a seminar on Strategies for Environmentally Sound Development in the Energy and Mining Industries, Crete, 1984. The seminar was structured around the following themes: 1) oil and gas exploration and production, 2) water power generation and storage projects, 3) electricity generating facilities, 4) restoration and after-use of disturbed land, 5) mineral development, 6) mineral and energy resources in fragile and remote ecosystems, and 7) general environmental issues. Two papers from the seminar were chosen and indexed separately. (U.K.)

  20. Neural mechanisms underlying sound-induced visual motion perception: An fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hidaka, Souta; Higuchi, Satomi; Teramoto, Wataru; Sugita, Yoichi

    2017-07-01

    Studies of crossmodal interactions in motion perception have reported activation in several brain areas, including those related to motion processing and/or sensory association, in response to multimodal (e.g., visual and auditory) stimuli that were both in motion. Recent studies have demonstrated that sounds can trigger illusory visual apparent motion to static visual stimuli (sound-induced visual motion: SIVM): A visual stimulus blinking at a fixed location is perceived to be moving laterally when an alternating left-right sound is also present. Here, we investigated brain activity related to the perception of SIVM using a 7T functional magnetic resonance imaging technique. Specifically, we focused on the patterns of neural activities in SIVM and visually induced visual apparent motion (VIVM). We observed shared activations in the middle occipital area (V5/hMT), which is thought to be involved in visual motion processing, for SIVM and VIVM. Moreover, as compared to VIVM, SIVM resulted in greater activation in the superior temporal area and dominant functional connectivity between the V5/hMT area and the areas related to auditory and crossmodal motion processing. These findings indicate that similar but partially different neural mechanisms could be involved in auditory-induced and visually-induced motion perception, and neural signals in auditory, visual, and, crossmodal motion processing areas closely and directly interact in the perception of SIVM. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Environmental quality of Long Island Sound: Assessment and management issues

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wolfe, D.A.; Farrow, D.R.G.; Robertson, A.; Monahan, R.; Stacey, P.E.

    1991-01-01

    Estimated pollutant loadings to Long Island Sound (LIS) are presented and discussed in the context of current information on population trends and land-use characteristics within the drainage basin of the sound. For the conventional pollutants (BOD, N, and P) and for most of the metals examined, the fluxes to LIS from wastewater treatment plants approach or exceed the fluxes from riverine sources. Urban runoff is a significant source for only a few contaminants, such as lead and petroleum hydrocarbons. Atmospheric flux estimates made for other areas are extrapolated to LIS, and this source appears to be significant for lead, zinc, and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, and chlorinated pesticides. Continued population growth is projected through 2010, both in the urban centers of the western sound and in the coastal counties surrounding the central and eastern portions of LIS. This growth will place increased pollution pressure on the sound and increased demands on already scarce coastal and estuarine land-use categories. Close interaction between environmental planners, managers, and scientists is required to identify effective control strategies for reducing existing pollutant stress to the sound and for minimizing the effects of future development

  2. Community Response to Multiple Sound Sources: Integrating Acoustic and Contextual Approaches in the Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter Lercher

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Sufficient data refer to the relevant prevalence of sound exposure by mixed traffic sources in many nations. Furthermore, consideration of the potential effects of combined sound exposure is required in legal procedures such as environmental health impact assessments. Nevertheless, current practice still uses single exposure response functions. It is silently assumed that those standard exposure-response curves accommodate also for mixed exposures—although some evidence from experimental and field studies casts doubt on this practice. The ALPNAP-study population (N = 1641 shows sufficient subgroups with combinations of rail-highway, highway-main road and rail-highway-main road sound exposure. In this paper we apply a few suggested approaches of the literature to investigate exposure-response curves and its major determinants in the case of exposure to multiple traffic sources. Highly/moderate annoyance and full scale mean annoyance served as outcome. The results show several limitations of the current approaches. Even facing the inherent methodological limitations (energy equivalent summation of sound, rating of overall annoyance the consideration of main contextual factors jointly occurring with the sources (such as vibration, air pollution or coping activities and judgments of the wider area soundscape increases the variance explanation from up to 8% (bivariate, up to 15% (base adjustments up to 55% (full contextual model. The added predictors vary significantly, depending on the source combination. (e.g., significant vibration effects with main road/railway, not highway. Although no significant interactions were found, the observed additive effects are of public health importance. Especially in the case of a three source exposure situation the overall annoyance is already high at lower levels and the contribution of the acoustic indicators is small compared with the non-acoustic and contextual predictors. Noise mapping needs to go down to

  3. Ground water contamination by electrical prospecting; Denki tansaho ni yoru chikasui osen chosa

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Irie, S; Fujii, Y; Sakaguchi, S; Ushijima, K [Kyushu University, Fukuoka (Japan). Faculty of Engineering

    1996-05-01

    A report is made about the result of vertical electric sounding conducted in the MK district, Fukuoka City, where Kyushu University is about to move. As for the method of electrical prospecting, in consideration of the need for probing a depth of 50m at the shallowest, vertical electrical sounding with a Schlumberger array of electrodes was employed. Measurements were made for 57 locations on the planar ground, the interval between electrodes gradually increased from 1 to 200m. In the 2D structure model analysis, a 2D inversion program was utilized in the ABIC minimization method. Also investigated were the relationship of electric prospecting and the geology, geological conditions, water level in the well, water quality, salt water, and pore rate from the previously-conducted investigative boring. As the result, it was estimated that the boundary between the first and second layers detected by electric prospecting reflected the level of underground water and that the boundary between the second and third layers reflected the portion where the N-value sharply increases. 4 refs., 8 figs.

  4. Impact of wind turbine sound on annoyance, self-reported sleep disturbance and psychological distress.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bakker, R H; Pedersen, E; van den Berg, G P; Stewart, R E; Lok, W; Bouma, J

    2012-05-15

    The present government in the Netherlands intends to realize a substantial growth of wind energy before 2020, both onshore and offshore. Wind turbines, when positioned in the neighborhood of residents may cause visual annoyance and noise annoyance. Studies on other environmental sound sources, such as railway, road traffic, industry and aircraft noise show that (long-term) exposure to sound can have negative effects other than annoyance from noise. This study aims to elucidate the relation between exposure to the sound of wind turbines and annoyance, self-reported sleep disturbance and psychological distress of people that live in their vicinity. Data were gathered by questionnaire that was sent by mail to a representative sample of residents of the Netherlands living in the vicinity of wind turbines A dose-response relationship was found between immission levels of wind turbine sound and selfreported noise annoyance. Sound exposure was also related to sleep disturbance and psychological distress among those who reported that they could hear the sound, however not directly but with noise annoyance acting as a mediator. Respondents living in areas with other background sounds were less affected than respondents in quiet areas. People living in the vicinity of wind turbines are at risk of being annoyed by the noise, an adverse effect in itself. Noise annoyance in turn could lead to sleep disturbance and psychological distress. No direct effects of wind turbine noise on sleep disturbance or psychological stress has been demonstrated, which means that residents, who do not hear the sound, or do not feel disturbed, are not adversely affected. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. The propagation of sound in narrow street canyons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iu, K. K.; Li, K. M.

    2002-08-01

    This paper addresses an important problem of predicting sound propagation in narrow street canyons with width less than 10 m, which are commonly found in a built-up urban district. Major noise sources are, for example, air conditioners installed on building facades and powered mechanical equipment for repair and construction work. Interference effects due to multiple reflections from building facades and ground surfaces are important contributions in these complex environments. Although the studies of sound transmission in urban areas can be traced back to as early as the 1960s, the resulting mathematical and numerical models are still unable to predict sound fields accurately in city streets. This is understandable because sound propagation in city streets involves many intriguing phenomena such as reflections and scattering at the building facades, diffusion effects due to recessions and protrusions of building surfaces, geometric spreading, and atmospheric absorption. This paper describes the development of a numerical model for the prediction of sound fields in city streets. To simplify the problem, a typical city street is represented by two parallel reflecting walls and a flat impedance ground. The numerical model is based on a simple ray theory that takes account of multiple reflections from the building facades. The sound fields due to the point source and its images are summed coherently such that mutual interference effects between contributing rays can be included in the analysis. Indoor experiments are conducted in an anechoic chamber. Experimental data are compared with theoretical predictions to establish the validity and usefulness of this simple model. Outdoor experimental measurements have also been conducted to further validate the model. copyright 2002 Acoustical Society of America.

  6. Intraoperative direct electrical stimulations of central nervous system during surgery of gliomas near eloquent areas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    WANG Wei-min

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Objective To report our experiences of direct cortical stimulation in surgery of gliomas located in eloquent areas. Methods Clinical data of 157 patients with gliomas underwent awake craniotomy with the direct electrical stimulation for functional mapping of the eloquent areas were analysed retrospectively. Results Negative cortical stimulation was found in 4 patients, and positive cortical stimulation was achieved in 153 patients (97.45% . Four hundred and ninty -six cortical sites in 139 patients were detected for motor response by direct electrical stimulation, 70 sites in 21 patients for sensory, 112 sites in 91 patients for language (such as counting and naming. The positive areas of counting disturbance were mainly seen at the lower part of left precentral gyri operculum of left inferior frontal gyri, triangular part of left inferior frontal gyri, posterior part of left middle frontal gyri, and posterior part of left superior frontal gyri. Postoperative MRI showed 92 patients (58.60% achieved total resection, 55 cases (35.03% subtotal and 10 cases (6.37% partial. One hundred and ten patients (70.06% were diagnosed as having low grade glimas, including 71 cases of astrocytoma, 26 cases of oligodendroglioma, and 13 cases of mixed astro ? oligodendroglioma, 47 patients (29.94% were high grade gliomas, including 19 cases of glioblastoma, 15 cases of anaplastic astrocytoma, and 13 cases of anaplastic oligodendroglioma. After operation 53 patients (33.76% occurred transient postoperative paralysis, 39 patients (24.84% transient language disturbance and 4 patients (2.55% permanent neurological deficits. Conclusion Intraoperative direct electrical stimulation is a reliable, precise and safety method for functional mapping of the eloquent areas. This technique allows us to achieve 'maximal safety resection' in glioma surgery.

  7. Sound specificity effects in spoken word recognition: The effect of integrality between words and sounds

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Strori, Dorina; Zaar, Johannes; Cooke, Martin

    2017-01-01

    Recent evidence has shown that nonlinguistic sounds co-occurring with spoken words may be retained in memory and affect later retrieval of the words. This sound-specificity effect shares many characteristics with the classic voice-specificity effect. In this study, we argue that the sound......-specificity effect is conditional upon the context in which the word and sound coexist. Specifically, we argue that, besides co-occurrence, integrality between words and sounds is a crucial factor in the emergence of the effect. In two recognition-memory experiments, we compared the emergence of voice and sound...... from a mere co-occurrence context effect by removing the intensity modulation. The absence of integrality led to the disappearance of the sound-specificity effect. Taken together, the results suggest that the assimilation of background sounds into memory cannot be reduced to a simple context effect...

  8. Active sound reduction system and method

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    2016-01-01

    The present invention refers to an active sound reduction system and method for attenuation of sound emitted by a primary sound source, especially for attenuation of snoring sounds emitted by a human being. This system comprises a primary sound source, at least one speaker as a secondary sound

  9. Multimodal method for scattering of sound at a sudden area expansion in a duct with subsonic flow

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kooijman, G.; Testud, P.; Aurégan, Y.; Hirschberg, A.

    2008-03-01

    The scattering of sound at a sudden area expansion in a duct with subsonic mean flow has been modelled with a multimodal method. Technological applications are for instance internal combustion engine exhaust silencers and silencers in industrial duct systems. Both two-dimensional (2D) rectangular and 2D cylindrical geometry and uniform mean flow as well as non-uniform mean flow profiles are considered. Model results for the scattering of plane waves in case of uniform flow, in which case an infinitely thin shear layer is formed downstream of the area expansion, are compared to results obtained by other models in literature. Generally good agreement is found. Furthermore, model results for the scattering are compared to experimental data found in literature. Also here fairly good correspondence is observed. When employing a turbulent pipe flow profile in the model, instead of a uniform flow profile, the prediction for the downstream transmission- and upstream reflection coefficient is improved. However, worse agreement is observed for the upstream transmission and downstream reflection coefficient. On the contrary, employing a non-uniform jet flow profile, which represents a typical shear layer flow downstream of the expansion, gives worse agreement for the downstream transmission- and the upstream reflection coefficient, whereas prediction for the upstream transmission and downstream reflection coefficient improves.

  10. Sound insulation of dwellings - Legal requirements in Europe and subjective evaluation of acoustical comfort

    OpenAIRE

    Rasmussen, Birgit; Rindel, Jens Holger

    2003-01-01

    Acoustical comfort is a concept that can be characterised by absence of unwanted sound and by opportunities for acoustic activities without annoying other people. In order to achieve acoustical comfort in dwellings certain requirements have to be fulfilled concerning the airborne sound insulation, the impact sound insulation and the noise level from traffic and building services.For road traffic noise it is well established that an outdoor noise level LAeq, 24 h below 55 dB in a housing area ...

  11. Sound Symbolism in Basic Vocabulary

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Søren Wichmann

    2010-04-01

    Full Text Available The relationship between meanings of words and their sound shapes is to a large extent arbitrary, but it is well known that languages exhibit sound symbolism effects violating arbitrariness. Evidence for sound symbolism is typically anecdotal, however. Here we present a systematic approach. Using a selection of basic vocabulary in nearly one half of the world’s languages we find commonalities among sound shapes for words referring to same concepts. These are interpreted as due to sound symbolism. Studying the effects of sound symbolism cross-linguistically is of key importance for the understanding of language evolution.

  12. Quieter Cars and the Safety of Blind Pedestrians, Phase 2 : Development of Potential Specifications for Vehicle Countermeasure Sounds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-10-01

    This project performed research to support the development of potential specifications for vehicle : sounds, (i.e., audible countermeasures) to be used in vehicles while operating in electric mode in specific low speed : conditions. The purpose of th...

  13. Hearing sounds, understanding actions: action representation in mirror neurons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kohler, Evelyne; Keysers, Christian; Umiltà, M Alessandra; Fogassi, Leonardo; Gallese, Vittorio; Rizzolatti, Giacomo

    2002-08-02

    Many object-related actions can be recognized by their sound. We found neurons in monkey premotor cortex that discharge when the animal performs a specific action and when it hears the related sound. Most of the neurons also discharge when the monkey observes the same action. These audiovisual mirror neurons code actions independently of whether these actions are performed, heard, or seen. This discovery in the monkey homolog of Broca's area might shed light on the origin of language: audiovisual mirror neurons code abstract contents-the meaning of actions-and have the auditory access typical of human language to these contents.

  14. Comprehensive measures of sound exposures in cinemas using smart phones.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huth, Markus E; Popelka, Gerald R; Blevins, Nikolas H

    2014-01-01

    Sensorineural hearing loss from sound overexposure has a considerable prevalence. Identification of sound hazards is crucial, as prevention, due to a lack of definitive therapies, is the sole alternative to hearing aids. One subjectively loud, yet little studied, potential sound hazard is movie theaters. This study uses smart phones to evaluate their applicability as a widely available, validated sound pressure level (SPL) meter. Therefore, this study measures sound levels in movie theaters to determine whether sound levels exceed safe occupational noise exposure limits and whether sound levels in movie theaters differ as a function of movie, movie theater, presentation time, and seat location within the theater. Six smart phones with an SPL meter software application were calibrated with a precision SPL meter and validated as an SPL meter. Additionally, three different smart phone generations were measured in comparison to an integrating SPL meter. Two different movies, an action movie and a children's movie, were measured six times each in 10 different venues (n = 117). To maximize representativeness, movies were selected focusing on large release productions with probable high attendance. Movie theaters were selected in the San Francisco, CA, area based on whether they screened both chosen movies and to represent the largest variety of theater proprietors. Measurements were analyzed in regard to differences between theaters, location within the theater, movie, as well as presentation time and day as indirect indicator of film attendance. The smart phone measurements demonstrated high accuracy and reliability. Overall, sound levels in movie theaters do not exceed safe exposure limits by occupational standards. Sound levels vary significantly across theaters and demonstrated statistically significant higher sound levels and exposures in the action movie compared to the children's movie. Sound levels decrease with distance from the screen. However, no influence on

  15. Integrated sound absorption in thermally activated concrete ceilings - acoustic and thermal effectiveness of sound-absorber strips spaced at intervals; Integrierte Schallabsorption in thermisch aktivierten Betondecken - akustische und thermische Wirksamkeit periodischer Schallabsorberstreifen

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Drotleff, Horst; Wack, Roman; Leistner, Philip; Holm, Andreas; Ziegler, Matthias; Sedlbauer, Klaus [Fraunhofer-Institut fuer Bauphysik IBP, Stuttgart (Germany)

    2011-10-15

    From the perspectives of energy as well as indoor climate, thermally activated concrete ceilings make sense. Used in office buildings, however, their drawback becomes apparent: they are acoustically reflective. The conventional approaches use sound-absorbing suspended sails and absorber baffles or heat-conducting sound absorbers embedded in large areas of the concrete. In this paper, an alternative approach is presented and is evaluated acoustically and thermally. A few strips of sound absorber, arranged at intervals, are mounted flush into the concrete ceiling. To calculate the sound-absorption spectrum, an already widely publicised model (the Rayleigh approach) is used. It predicts the sound-absorption spectrum for normal sound incidence very well. For diffuse sound incidence, the difference to reverberation chamber measurements is greater, presumably because of the edge effect. The sound- absorption coefficient of the design can be tuned by skilful choice of the strip geometry, and it is significantly higher than the expected average value for the surface. On the one hand, the thermal efficiency of the components is determined by comparing the heat fluxes in the ceilings with absorber strips to an untreated reference ceiling. On the other hand, the indoor climate is investigated using a room model for office rooms of both solid and lightweight constructions. The influence of the strips (proportion of absorber area 20 %) on the thermal efficiency and indoor climate is low. Two absorber materials are examined in the strip approach: open-cell foam glass and a micro-perforated metallic absorber. While the metallic absorber displays thermal advantages, its sound absorption spectrum - even at high surface-coverage proportions - exhibits a much lower absorption coefficient than, for example, open-cell foam glass strips with only 20 % ceiling coverage. A demonstration in situ shows the potential of the absorber strips spaced at intervals. However, the method chosen in

  16. Sounding the Alarm: An Introduction to Ecological Sound Art

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jonathan Gilmurray

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, a number of sound artists have begun engaging with ecological issues through their work, forming a growing movement of ˝ecological sound art˝. This paper traces its development, examines its influences, and provides examples of the artists whose work is currently defining this important and timely new field.

  17. Sound Stuff? Naïve materialism in middle-school students' conceptions of sound

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eshach, Haim; Schwartz, Judah L.

    2006-06-01

    Few studies have dealt with students’ preconceptions of sounds. The current research employs Reiner et al. (2000) substance schema to reveal new insights about students’ difficulties in understanding this fundamental topic. It aims not only to detect whether the substance schema is present in middle school students’ thinking, but also examines how students use the schema’s properties. It asks, moreover, whether the substance schema properties are used as islands of local consistency or whether one can identify more global coherent consistencies among the properties that the students use to explain the sound phenomena. In-depth standardized open-ended interviews were conducted with ten middle school students. Consistent with the substance schema, sound was perceived by our participants as being pushable, frictional, containable, or transitional. However, sound was also viewed as a substance different from the ordinary with respect to its stability, corpuscular nature, additive properties, and inertial characteristics. In other words, students’ conceptions of sound do not seem to fit Reiner et al.’s schema in all respects. Our results also indicate that students’ conceptualization of sound lack internal consistency. Analyzing our results with respect to local and global coherence, we found students’ conception of sound is close to diSessa’s “loosely connected, fragmented collection of ideas.” The notion that sound is perceived only as a “sort of a material,” we believe, requires some revision of the substance schema as it applies to sound. The article closes with a discussion concerning the implications of the results for instruction.

  18. Sound symbolism: the role of word sound in meaning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Svantesson, Jan-Olof

    2017-09-01

    The question whether there is a natural connection between sound and meaning or if they are related only by convention has been debated since antiquity. In linguistics, it is usually taken for granted that 'the linguistic sign is arbitrary,' and exceptions like onomatopoeia have been regarded as marginal phenomena. However, it is becoming more and more clear that motivated relations between sound and meaning are more common and important than has been thought. There is now a large and rapidly growing literature on subjects as ideophones (or expressives), words that describe how a speaker perceives a situation with the senses, and phonaesthemes, units like English gl-, which occur in many words that share a meaning component (in this case 'light': gleam, glitter, etc.). Furthermore, psychological experiments have shown that sound symbolism in one language can be understood by speakers of other languages, suggesting that some kinds of sound symbolism are universal. WIREs Cogn Sci 2017, 8:e1441. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1441 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  19. A Real-Time Sound Field Rendering Processor

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tan Yiyu

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Real-time sound field renderings are computationally intensive and memory-intensive. Traditional rendering systems based on computer simulations suffer from memory bandwidth and arithmetic units. The computation is time-consuming, and the sample rate of the output sound is low because of the long computation time at each time step. In this work, a processor with a hybrid architecture is proposed to speed up computation and improve the sample rate of the output sound, and an interface is developed for system scalability through simply cascading many chips to enlarge the simulated area. To render a three-minute Beethoven wave sound in a small shoe-box room with dimensions of 1.28 m × 1.28 m × 0.64 m, the field programming gate array (FPGA-based prototype machine with the proposed architecture carries out the sound rendering at run-time while the software simulation with the OpenMP parallelization takes about 12.70 min on a personal computer (PC with 32 GB random access memory (RAM and an Intel i7-6800K six-core processor running at 3.4 GHz. The throughput in the software simulation is about 194 M grids/s while it is 51.2 G grids/s in the prototype machine even if the clock frequency of the prototype machine is much lower than that of the PC. The rendering processor with a processing element (PE and interfaces consumes about 238,515 gates after fabricated by the 0.18 µm processing technology from the ROHM semiconductor Co., Ltd. (Kyoto Japan, and the power consumption is about 143.8 mW.

  20. Sound specificity effects in spoken word recognition: The effect of integrality between words and sounds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strori, Dorina; Zaar, Johannes; Cooke, Martin; Mattys, Sven L

    2018-01-01

    Recent evidence has shown that nonlinguistic sounds co-occurring with spoken words may be retained in memory and affect later retrieval of the words. This sound-specificity effect shares many characteristics with the classic voice-specificity effect. In this study, we argue that the sound-specificity effect is conditional upon the context in which the word and sound coexist. Specifically, we argue that, besides co-occurrence, integrality between words and sounds is a crucial factor in the emergence of the effect. In two recognition-memory experiments, we compared the emergence of voice and sound specificity effects. In Experiment 1 , we examined two conditions where integrality is high. Namely, the classic voice-specificity effect (Exp. 1a) was compared with a condition in which the intensity envelope of a background sound was modulated along the intensity envelope of the accompanying spoken word (Exp. 1b). Results revealed a robust voice-specificity effect and, critically, a comparable sound-specificity effect: A change in the paired sound from exposure to test led to a decrease in word-recognition performance. In the second experiment, we sought to disentangle the contribution of integrality from a mere co-occurrence context effect by removing the intensity modulation. The absence of integrality led to the disappearance of the sound-specificity effect. Taken together, the results suggest that the assimilation of background sounds into memory cannot be reduced to a simple context effect. Rather, it is conditioned by the extent to which words and sounds are perceived as integral as opposed to distinct auditory objects.

  1. Analysis, Synthesis, and Perception of Musical Sounds The Sound of Music

    CERN Document Server

    Beauchamp, James W

    2007-01-01

    Analysis, Synthesis, and Perception of Musical Sounds contains a detailed treatment of basic methods for analysis and synthesis of musical sounds, including the phase vocoder method, the McAulay-Quatieri frequency-tracking method, the constant-Q transform, and methods for pitch tracking with several examples shown. Various aspects of musical sound spectra such as spectral envelope, spectral centroid, spectral flux, and spectral irregularity are defined and discussed. One chapter is devoted to the control and synthesis of spectral envelopes. Two advanced methods of analysis/synthesis are given: "Sines Plus Transients Plus Noise" and "Spectrotemporal Reassignment" are covered. Methods for timbre morphing are given. The last two chapters discuss the perception of musical sounds based on discrimination and multidimensional scaling timbre models.

  2. Michael Jackson's Sound Stages

    OpenAIRE

    Morten Michelsen

    2012-01-01

    In order to discuss analytically spatial aspects of recorded sound William Moylan’s concept of ‘sound stage’ is developed within a musicological framework as part of a sound paradigm which includes timbre, texture and sound stage. Two Michael Jackson songs (‘The Lady in My Life’ from 1982 and ‘Scream’ from 1995) are used to: a) demonstrate the value of such a conceptualisation, and b) demonstrate that the model has its limits, as record producers in the 1990s began ignoring the conventions of...

  3. (VLF-EM) and electrical resistivity survey for evaluation

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    ENSEMBLES

    2016-05-26

    May 26, 2016 ... The VES data were presented as depth sounding curves and .... Base map of the study area. ... resistivity data are presented as sounding curves (Figure ..... occasion of water Africa exhibition Nigeria (2006) at Ikoyi hotels and.

  4. Solid state silicon based condenser microphone for hearing aid, has transducer chip and IC chip between intermediate chip and openings on both sides of intermediate chip, to allow sound towards diaphragm

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    2000-01-01

    towards diaphragm. Surface of the chip (2) has electrical conductors (14) to connect chip with IC chip (3). USE - For use in miniature electroacoustic devices such as hearing aid. ADVANTAGE - Since sound inlet is covered by filter, dust, moisture and other impurities do not obstruct interior and sound...... inlet of microphone. External electrical connection can be made economically reliable and the thermal stress is avoided with the small size solid state silicon based condenser microphone....

  5. Three-dimensional audio-magnetotelluric sounding in monitoring coalbed methane reservoirs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Nan; Zhao, Shanshan; Hui, Jian; Qin, Qiming

    2017-03-01

    Audio-magnetotelluric (AMT) sounding is widely employed in rapid resistivity delineation of objective geometry in near surface exploration. According to reservoir patterns and electrical parameters obtained in Qinshui Basin, China, two-dimensional and three-dimensional synthetic "objective anomaly" models were designed and inverted with the availability of a modular system for electromagnetic inversion (ModEM). The results revealed that 3-D full impedance inversion yielded the subsurface models closest to synthetic models. One or more conductive targets were correctly recovered. Therefore, conductive aquifers in the study area, including hydrous coalbed methane (CBM) reservoirs, were suggested to be the interpretation signs for reservoir characterization. With the aim of dynamic monitoring of CBM reservoirs, the AMT surveys in continuous years (June 2013-May 2015) were carried out. 3-D inversion results demonstrated that conductive anomalies accumulated around the producing reservoirs at the corresponding depths if CBM reservoirs were in high water production rates. In contrast, smaller conductive anomalies were generally identical with rapid gas production or stopping production of reservoirs. These analyses were in accordance with actual production history of CBM wells. The dynamic traces of conductive anomalies revealed that reservoir water migrated deep or converged in axial parts and wings of folds, which contributed significantly to formations of CBM traps. Then the well spacing scenario was also evaluated based on the dynamic production analysis. Wells distributed near closed faults or flat folds, rather than open faults, had CBM production potential to ascertain stable gas production. Therefore, three-dimensional AMT sounding becomes an attractive option with the ability of dynamic monitoring of CBM reservoirs, and lays a solid foundation of quantitative evaluation of reservoir parameters.

  6. ABOUT SOUNDS IN VIDEO GAMES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Denikin Anton A.

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available The article considers the aesthetical and practical possibilities for sounds (sound design in video games and interactive applications. Outlines the key features of the game sound, such as simulation, representativeness, interactivity, immersion, randomization, and audio-visuality. The author defines the basic terminology in study of game audio, as well as identifies significant aesthetic differences between film sounds and sounds in video game projects. It is an attempt to determine the techniques of art analysis for the approaches in study of video games including aesthetics of their sounds. The article offers a range of research methods, considering the video game scoring as a contemporary creative practice.

  7. Environmental consequences of electricity sector reforms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wohlgemuth, N.

    1999-01-01

    Worldwide, the electricity industry is in the process of undergoing fundamental transitions. The reform process typically involves one or more of the following changes: commercialisation, privatisation, unbundling/restructuring and introduction of competition. The environmental impacts of these changes pull in different directions. There is concern that restructured electricity markets may not always incorporate adequately the environmental impacts of electricity resource development and consumption decisions. However, the electricity sector reform process also offers an opportunity to promote positive environmental changes: because the sector is already in flux, it may be easier to address environmental issues. The paper gives an overview of power sector reform in six countries where reforms have already been implemented, and concludes that reform measures will have to be accompanied by competitively neutral regulations in order to stimulate investment in environmentally sound technologies, including renewable and energy efficient technologies. (author)

  8. A noisy spring: the impact of globally rising underwater sound levels on fish.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slabbekoorn, Hans; Bouton, Niels; van Opzeeland, Ilse; Coers, Aukje; ten Cate, Carel; Popper, Arthur N

    2010-07-01

    The underwater environment is filled with biotic and abiotic sounds, many of which can be important for the survival and reproduction of fish. Over the last century, human activities in and near the water have increasingly added artificial sounds to this environment. Very loud sounds of relatively short exposure, such as those produced during pile driving, can harm nearby fish. However, more moderate underwater noises of longer duration, such as those produced by vessels, could potentially impact much larger areas, and involve much larger numbers of fish. Here we call attention to the urgent need to study the role of sound in the lives of fish and to develop a better understanding of the ecological impact of anthropogenic noise. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Sound [signal] noise

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bjørnsten, Thomas

    2012-01-01

    The article discusses the intricate relationship between sound and signification through notions of noise. The emergence of new fields of sonic artistic practices has generated several questions of how to approach sound as aesthetic form and material. During the past decade an increased attention...... has been paid to, for instance, a category such as ‘sound art’ together with an equally strengthened interest in phenomena and concepts that fall outside the accepted aesthetic procedures and constructions of what we traditionally would term as musical sound – a recurring example being ‘noise’....

  10. Active equalisation of the sound field in an extended region of a room

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Orozco-Santillán, Arturo

    1997-01-01

    studied by means of an idealised frequency domain model. The analysis is based on the calculation of the complex source strengths that minimise the difference between the actual sound pressure and the desired sound pressure in the listening area. Results in relation to the position of the sources......, the frequency range, and the size and location of the listening area are presented. However, the frequency-domain approach results in non-causal impulse responses that can be realised only at the expense of a delay. Therefore, this analysis is supplemented with a study of the equalisation carried out...

  11. Beneath sci-fi sound: primer, science fiction sound design, and American independent cinema

    OpenAIRE

    Johnston, Nessa

    2012-01-01

    Primer is a very low budget science-fiction film that deals with the subject of time travel; however, it looks and sounds quite distinctively different from other films associated with the genre. While Hollywood blockbuster sci-fi relies on “sound spectacle” as a key attraction, in contrast Primer sounds “lo-fi” and screen-centred, mixed to two channel stereo rather than the now industry-standard 5.1 surround sound. Although this is partly a consequence of the economics of its production, the...

  12. A real-time acoustic violin emulator for electric violins

    OpenAIRE

    GAYDECKI , Patrick

    2012-01-01

    International audience; A stand-alone electronic device has been developed that processes the raw electrical output produced by an electric violin, generating an output signal which, when fed to an amplifier, produces a sound that approximates closely the timbre of an acoustic or wooden instrument. The system comprises a high-impedance preamplifier, a 24-bit sigma delta codec and a digital signal processor (DSP) operating at 600 million multiplications-accumulations per second (MMACs). The de...

  13. Sound classification of dwellings

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rasmussen, Birgit

    2012-01-01

    National schemes for sound classification of dwellings exist in more than ten countries in Europe, typically published as national standards. The schemes define quality classes reflecting different levels of acoustical comfort. Main criteria concern airborne and impact sound insulation between...... dwellings, facade sound insulation and installation noise. The schemes have been developed, implemented and revised gradually since the early 1990s. However, due to lack of coordination between countries, there are significant discrepancies, and new standards and revisions continue to increase the diversity...... is needed, and a European COST Action TU0901 "Integrating and Harmonizing Sound Insulation Aspects in Sustainable Urban Housing Constructions", has been established and runs 2009-2013, one of the main objectives being to prepare a proposal for a European sound classification scheme with a number of quality...

  14. Vocal Imitations of Non-Vocal Sounds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Houix, Olivier; Voisin, Frédéric; Misdariis, Nicolas; Susini, Patrick

    2016-01-01

    Imitative behaviors are widespread in humans, in particular whenever two persons communicate and interact. Several tokens of spoken languages (onomatopoeias, ideophones, and phonesthemes) also display different degrees of iconicity between the sound of a word and what it refers to. Thus, it probably comes at no surprise that human speakers use a lot of imitative vocalizations and gestures when they communicate about sounds, as sounds are notably difficult to describe. What is more surprising is that vocal imitations of non-vocal everyday sounds (e.g. the sound of a car passing by) are in practice very effective: listeners identify sounds better with vocal imitations than with verbal descriptions, despite the fact that vocal imitations are inaccurate reproductions of a sound created by a particular mechanical system (e.g. a car driving by) through a different system (the voice apparatus). The present study investigated the semantic representations evoked by vocal imitations of sounds by experimentally quantifying how well listeners could match sounds to category labels. The experiment used three different types of sounds: recordings of easily identifiable sounds (sounds of human actions and manufactured products), human vocal imitations, and computational “auditory sketches” (created by algorithmic computations). The results show that performance with the best vocal imitations was similar to the best auditory sketches for most categories of sounds, and even to the referent sounds themselves in some cases. More detailed analyses showed that the acoustic distance between a vocal imitation and a referent sound is not sufficient to account for such performance. Analyses suggested that instead of trying to reproduce the referent sound as accurately as vocally possible, vocal imitations focus on a few important features, which depend on each particular sound category. These results offer perspectives for understanding how human listeners store and access long

  15. Land-use planning for nearshore ecosystem services—the Puget Sound Ecosystem Portfolio Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Byrd, Kristin

    2011-01-01

    The 2,500 miles of shoreline and nearshore areas of Puget Sound, Washington, provide multiple benefits to people—"ecosystem services"—including important fishing, shellfishing, and recreation industries. To help resource managers plan for expected growth in coming decades, the U.S. Geological Survey Western Geographic Science Center has developed the Puget Sound Ecosystem Portfolio Model (PSEPM). Scenarios of urban growth and shoreline modifications serve as model inputs to develop alternative futures of important nearshore features such as water quality and beach habitats. Model results will support regional long-term planning decisions for the Puget Sound region.

  16. Long-term evolution of brainstem electrical evoked responses to sound after restricted ablation of the auditory cortex.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Verónica Lamas

    Full Text Available INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to assess the top-down control of sound processing in the auditory brainstem of rats. Short latency evoked responses were analyzed after unilateral or bilateral ablation of auditory cortex. This experimental paradigm was also used towards analyzing the long-term evolution of post-lesion plasticity in the auditory system and its ability to self-repair. METHOD: Auditory cortex lesions were performed in rats by stereotactically guided fine-needle aspiration of the cerebrocortical surface. Auditory Brainstem Responses (ABR were recorded at post-surgery day (PSD 1, 7, 15 and 30. Recordings were performed under closed-field conditions, using click trains at different sound intensity levels, followed by statistical analysis of threshold values and ABR amplitude and latency variables. Subsequently, brains were sectioned and immunostained for GAD and parvalbumin to assess the location and extent of lesions accurately. RESULTS: Alterations in ABR variables depended on the type of lesion and post-surgery time of ABR recordings. Accordingly, bilateral ablations caused a statistically significant increase in thresholds at PSD1 and 7 and a decrease in waves amplitudes at PSD1 that recover at PSD7. No effects on latency were noted at PSD1 and 7, whilst recordings at PSD15 and 30 showed statistically significant decreases in latency. Conversely, unilateral ablations had no effect on auditory thresholds or latencies, while wave amplitudes only decreased at PSD1 strictly in the ipsilateral ear. CONCLUSION: Post-lesion plasticity in the auditory system acts in two time periods: short-term period of decreased sound sensitivity (until PSD7, most likely resulting from axonal degeneration; and a long-term period (up to PSD7, with changes in latency responses and recovery of thresholds and amplitudes values. The cerebral cortex may have a net positive gain on the auditory pathway response to sound.

  17. Characteristic sounds facilitate visual search.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iordanescu, Lucica; Guzman-Martinez, Emmanuel; Grabowecky, Marcia; Suzuki, Satoru

    2008-06-01

    In a natural environment, objects that we look for often make characteristic sounds. A hiding cat may meow, or the keys in the cluttered drawer may jingle when moved. Using a visual search paradigm, we demonstrated that characteristic sounds facilitated visual localization of objects, even when the sounds carried no location information. For example, finding a cat was faster when participants heard a meow sound. In contrast, sounds had no effect when participants searched for names rather than pictures of objects. For example, hearing "meow" did not facilitate localization of the word cat. These results suggest that characteristic sounds cross-modally enhance visual (rather than conceptual) processing of the corresponding objects. Our behavioral demonstration of object-based cross-modal enhancement complements the extensive literature on space-based cross-modal interactions. When looking for your keys next time, you might want to play jingling sounds.

  18. Determining the speed of sound in the air by sound wave interference

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silva, Abel A.

    2017-07-01

    Mechanical waves propagate through material media. Sound is an example of a mechanical wave. In fluids like air, sound waves propagate through successive longitudinal perturbations of compression and decompression. Audible sound frequencies for human ears range from 20 to 20 000 Hz. In this study, the speed of sound v in the air is determined using the identification of maxima of interference from two synchronous waves at frequency f. The values of v were correct to 0 °C. The experimental average value of {\\bar{ν }}\\exp =336 +/- 4 {{m}} {{{s}}}-1 was found. It is 1.5% larger than the reference value. The standard deviation of 4 m s-1 (1.2% of {\\bar{ν }}\\exp ) is an improved value by the use of the concept of the central limit theorem. The proposed procedure to determine the speed of sound in the air aims to be an academic activity for physics classes of scientific and technological courses in college.

  19. Fluid Sounds

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Explorations and analysis of soundscapes have, since Canadian R. Murray Schafer's work during the early 1970's, developed into various established research - and artistic disciplines. The interest in sonic environments is today present within a broad range of contemporary art projects and in arch......Explorations and analysis of soundscapes have, since Canadian R. Murray Schafer's work during the early 1970's, developed into various established research - and artistic disciplines. The interest in sonic environments is today present within a broad range of contemporary art projects...... and in architectural design. Aesthetics, psychoacoustics, perception, and cognition are all present in this expanding field embracing such categories as soundscape composition, sound art, sonic art, sound design, sound studies and auditory culture. Of greatest significance to the overall field is the investigation...

  20. The influence of environmental sound training on the perception of spectrally degraded speech and environmental sounds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shafiro, Valeriy; Sheft, Stanley; Gygi, Brian; Ho, Kim Thien N

    2012-06-01

    Perceptual training with spectrally degraded environmental sounds results in improved environmental sound identification, with benefits shown to extend to untrained speech perception as well. The present study extended those findings to examine longer-term training effects as well as effects of mere repeated exposure to sounds over time. Participants received two pretests (1 week apart) prior to a week-long environmental sound training regimen, which was followed by two posttest sessions, separated by another week without training. Spectrally degraded stimuli, processed with a four-channel vocoder, consisted of a 160-item environmental sound test, word and sentence tests, and a battery of basic auditory abilities and cognitive tests. Results indicated significant improvements in all speech and environmental sound scores between the initial pretest and the last posttest with performance increments following both exposure and training. For environmental sounds (the stimulus class that was trained), the magnitude of positive change that accompanied training was much greater than that due to exposure alone, with improvement for untrained sounds roughly comparable to the speech benefit from exposure. Additional tests of auditory and cognitive abilities showed that speech and environmental sound performance were differentially correlated with tests of spectral and temporal-fine-structure processing, whereas working memory and executive function were correlated with speech, but not environmental sound perception. These findings indicate generalizability of environmental sound training and provide a basis for implementing environmental sound training programs for cochlear implant (CI) patients.

  1. Sound Surfing Network (SSN): Mobile Phone-based Sound Spatialization with Audience Collaboration

    OpenAIRE

    Park, Saebyul; Ban, Seonghoon; Hong, Dae Ryong; Yeo, Woon Seung

    2013-01-01

    SSN (Sound Surfing Network) is a performance system that provides a new musicalexperience by incorporating mobile phone-based spatial sound control tocollaborative music performance. SSN enables both the performer and theaudience to manipulate the spatial distribution of sound using the smartphonesof the audience as distributed speaker system. Proposing a new perspective tothe social aspect music appreciation, SSN will provide a new possibility tomobile music performances in the context of in...

  2. Sound Exposure of Symphony Orchestra Musicians

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schmidt, Jesper Hvass; Pedersen, Ellen Raben; Juhl, Peter Møller

    2011-01-01

    dBA and their left ear was exposed 4.6 dB more than the right ear. Percussionists were exposed to high sound peaks >115 dBC but less continuous sound exposure was observed in this group. Musicians were exposed up to LAeq8h of 92 dB and a majority of musicians were exposed to sound levels exceeding......Background: Assessment of sound exposure by noise dosimetry can be challenging especially when measuring the exposure of classical orchestra musicians where sound originate from many different instruments. A new measurement method of bilateral sound exposure of classical musicians was developed...... and used to characterize sound exposure of the left and right ear simultaneously in two different symphony orchestras.Objectives: To measure binaural sound exposure of professional classical musicians and to identify possible exposure risk factors of specific musicians.Methods: Sound exposure was measured...

  3. Letter-Sound Reading: Teaching Preschool Children Print-to-Sound Processing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wolf, Gail Marie

    2016-01-01

    This intervention study investigated the growth of letter sound reading and growth of consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) word decoding abilities for a representative sample of 41 US children in preschool settings. Specifically, the study evaluated the effectiveness of a 3-step letter-sound teaching intervention in teaching preschool children to…

  4. Mercury in Long Island Sound sediments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Varekamp, J.C.; Buchholtz ten Brink, Marilyn R.; Mecray, E.I.; Kreulen, B.

    2000-01-01

    Mercury (Hg) concentrations were measured in 394 surface and core samples from Long Island Sound (LIS). The surface sediment Hg concentration data show a wide spread, ranging from 600 ppb Hg in westernmost LIS. Part of the observed range is related to variations in the bottom sedimentary environments, with higher Hg concentrations in the muddy depositional areas of central and western LIS. A strong residual trend of higher Hg values to the west remains when the data are normalized to grain size. Relationships between a tracer for sewage effluents (C. perfringens) and Hg concentrations indicate that between 0-50 % of the Hg is derived from sewage sources for most samples from the western and central basins. A higher percentage of sewage-derived Hg is found in samples from the westernmost section of LIS and in some local spots near urban centers. The remainder of the Hg is carried into the Sound with contaminated sediments from the watersheds and a small fraction enters the Sound as in situ atmospheric deposition. The Hg-depth profiles of several cores have well-defined contamination profiles that extend to pre-industrial background values. These data indicate that the Hg levels in the Sound have increased by a factor of 5-6 over the last few centuries, but Hg levels in LIS sediments have declined in modern times by up to 30 %. The concentrations of C. perfringens increased exponentially in the top core sections which had declining Hg concentrations, suggesting a recent decline in Hg fluxes that are unrelated to sewage effluents. The observed spatial and historical trends show Hg fluxes to LIS from sewage effluents, contaminated sediment input from the Connecticut River, point source inputs of strongly contaminated sediment from the Housatonic River, variations in the abundance of Hg carrier phases such as TOC and Fe, and focusing of sediment-bound Hg in association with westward sediment transport within the Sound.

  5. Application of the Electrical (Geophysical) Method for the Identification of the Sealed Bevel in the Coastal Region of Walidia Province of el Jadida - Morocco

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elfjiji, H.; Boukdir, A.; Zitouni, A.

    2018-05-01

    The Walidia area knows a great development of agricultural, industrial, maritime activities and a very great demographic expansion. This development is accompanied by a growing demand for water. On the other hand, any intense abstraction of fresh water at a coastal aquifer capture field causes a decrease in groundwater flow and a lowering of the piezometric surface. There is therefore a danger of advancing towards the land of the saltwater bevel and salinization of groundwater which is gradually loaded into mineral salts and can reach abnormally high levels. This work deals with the application of geophysics by electrical sounding method to the in-depth study of the freshwater-salt water interface (salted bevel) on the one hand and the study of the lateral and vertical evolution of the geometry of the different aquifers. The principle of the method is, when performing an electrical survey, to research how varies, at a given point on the surface, the resistivity of the subsoil vertically. For this one executes in a same place a succession of measurements, increasing each time the dimensions of the device and thus the depth of investigation which is proportional to them. At this site, we explore a slice of ground increasingly thick and thus highlights the changes in geological constitution along the vertical. The electrical soundings were carried out with the classic Schlumberger device. The interpretation and the exploitation of the data of the electric soundings carried out made it possible to : Follow the evolution of the salted bevel roof, Draw the upstream limit (marine invasion) of salted bevel Hauterivian, on the one hand, and Valanginian and Jurassic on the other hand, Follow the roof structure of Dridrat limestone (Hauterivien) and limestones of Valanginien and Upper Jurassic, Draw the map of the marl roof of Safi (Hauterivian) constituting the impermeable substratum of Dridrat limestones.

  6. The acquisition of mechano-electrical transducer current adaptation in auditory hair cells requires myosin VI

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Marcotti, Walter; Corns, Laura F.; Goodyear, Richard J.; Rzadzinska, Agnieszka K.; Avraham, Karen B.; Steel, Karen P.; Richardson, Guy P.; Kros, Corne J.

    2016-01-01

    The transduction of sound into electrical signals occurs at the hair bundles atop sensory hair cells in the cochlea, by means of mechanosensitive ion channels, the mechano-electrical transducer (MET) channels. The MET currents decline during steady stimuli; this is termed adaptation and ensures they

  7. Mode of the short circuit in the direct current electric traction network with different feed charts of fyder area

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. Mihalichenko

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available In the article the results of mathematical design of the system of electric traction of direct current are represented in the mode of short circuit and different feed charts of fyder area: two-sided; one-sided. Comparison of transitional electric sizes which characterize electromagnetic processes during these malfunctions is analysed and executed.

  8. Modelling Hyperboloid Sound Scattering

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Burry, Jane; Davis, Daniel; Peters, Brady

    2011-01-01

    The Responsive Acoustic Surfaces workshop project described here sought new understandings about the interaction between geometry and sound in the arena of sound scattering. This paper reports on the challenges associated with modelling, simulating, fabricating and measuring this phenomenon using...... both physical and digital models at three distinct scales. The results suggest hyperboloid geometry, while difficult to fabricate, facilitates sound scattering....

  9. The influence of ski helmets on sound perception and sound localisation on the ski slope

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lana Ružić

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Objectives: The aim of the study was to investigate whether a ski helmet interferes with the sound localization and the time of sound perception in the frontal plane. Material and Methods: Twenty-three participants (age 30.7±10.2 were tested on the slope in 2 conditions, with and without wearing the ski helmet, by 6 different spatially distributed sound stimuli per each condition. Each of the subjects had to react when hearing the sound as soon as possible and to signalize the correct side of the sound arrival. Results: The results showed a significant difference in the ability to localize the specific ski sounds; 72.5±15.6% of correct answers without a helmet vs. 61.3±16.2% with a helmet (p < 0.01. However, the performance on this test did not depend on whether they were used to wearing a helmet (p = 0.89. In identifying the timing, at which the sound was firstly perceived, the results were also in favor of the subjects not wearing a helmet. The subjects reported hearing the ski sound clues at 73.4±5.56 m without a helmet vs. 60.29±6.34 m with a helmet (p < 0.001. In that case the results did depend on previously used helmets (p < 0.05, meaning that that regular usage of helmets might help to diminish the attenuation of the sound identification that occurs because of the helmets. Conclusions: Ski helmets might limit the ability of a skier to localize the direction of the sounds of danger and might interfere with the moment, in which the sound is firstly heard.

  10. Application of multi-criteria decision analysis in prediction of groundwater resources potential: A case of Oke-Ana, Ilesa Area Southwestern, Nigeria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A.A. Akinlalu

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Groundwater Potential of Oke-Ana area southwestern Nigeria have been evaluated using the integration of electrical resistivity method, remote sensing and geographic information systems. The effect of five hydrogeological indices, namely lineament density, drainage density, lithology, overburden thickness and aquifer layer resistivity on groundwater occurrence was established. Multi-criteria decision analysis technique was employed to assign weight to each of the index using the concept of analytical hierarchy process. The assigned weight was normalized and consistency ratio was established. In order to evaluate the groundwater potential of Oke-Ana, sixty-seven (67 vertical electrical sounding points were occupied. Ten curve types were delineated in the study area. The curve types vary from simple three layer A and H-type curves to the more complex four, five and six layer AA, HA, KH, QH, AKH, HKH, KHA and KHKH curves. Four subsurface geo-electric sequences of top soil, weathered layer, partially weathered/fractured basement and the fresh basement were delineated in the area. The analytical process assisted in classifying Oke-Ana into, low, medium and high groundwater potential zones. Validation of the model from well information and two aborted boreholes suggest 70% agreement.

  11. Research on the application of active sound barriers for the transformer noise abatement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hu Sheng

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Sound barriers are a type of measure most commonly used in the noise abatement of transformers. In the noise abatement project of substations, the design of sound barriers is restrained by the portal frames which are used to hold up outgoing lines from the main transformers, which impacts the noise reduction effect. If active sound barriers are utilized in these places, the noise diffraction of sound barriers can be effectively reduced. At a 110kV Substation, an experiment using a 15-channel active sound barrier has been carried out. The result of the experiment shows that the mean noise reduction value (MNRV of the noise measuring points at the substation boundary are 1.5 dB (A. The effect of the active noise control system is impacted by the layout of the active noise control system, the acoustic environment on site and the spectral characteristic of the target area.

  12. Mapping cultural resource sites for the Prince William Sound Graphical Resource Database

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wooley, C. B.; O'Brien, D. K.; Hillman, S. O.

    1997-01-01

    A software package for mapping digital data 'layers' of environmentally and/or culturally sensitive areas such as seabird colonies, seal haulouts, and sea otter concentrations in Prince William Sound and adjoining areas of southern Alaska has been developed by the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company. The data is to be added to an environmental computer mapping database. More than 1,800 known and reported coastal cultural resource sites have been identified. The database is part of the Prince William Sound Tanker Oil Discharge Prevention and Contingency Plan. The mappable data layers can be used to plan and execute whatever site protection program may be necessary, thus enhancing effective cultural resource protection during an oil spill response. 22 refs., 4 figs

  13. 77 FR 37318 - Eighth Coast Guard District Annual Safety Zones; Sound of Independence; Santa Rosa Sound; Fort...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-06-21

    ...-AA00 Eighth Coast Guard District Annual Safety Zones; Sound of Independence; Santa Rosa Sound; Fort... Coast Guard will enforce a Safety Zone for the Sound of Independence event in the Santa Rosa Sound, Fort... during the Sound of Independence. During the enforcement period, entry into, transiting or anchoring in...

  14. Effect of sound intensity on tonotopic fMRI maps in the unanesthetized monkey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tanji, Kazuyo; Leopold, David A; Ye, Frank Q; Zhu, Charles; Malloy, Megan; Saunders, Richard C; Mishkin, Mortimer

    2010-01-01

    The monkey's auditory cortex includes a core region on the supratemporal plane (STP) made up of the tonotopically organized areas A1, R, and RT, together with a surrounding belt and a lateral parabelt region. The functional studies that yielded the tonotopic maps and corroborated the anatomical division into core, belt, and parabelt typically used low-amplitude pure tones that were often restricted to threshold-level intensities. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging in awake rhesus monkeys to determine whether, and if so how, the tonotopic maps and the pattern of activation in core, belt, and parabelt are affected by systematic changes in sound intensity. Blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) responses to groups of low- and high-frequency pure tones 3-4 octaves apart were measured at multiple sound intensity levels. The results revealed tonotopic maps in the auditory core that reversed at the putative areal boundaries between A1 and R and between R and RT. Although these reversals of the tonotopic representations were present at all intensity levels, the lateral spread of activation depended on sound amplitude, with increasing recruitment of the adjacent belt areas as the intensities increased. Tonotopic organization along the STP was also evident in frequency-specific deactivation (i.e. "negative BOLD"), an effect that was intensity-specific as well. Regions of positive and negative BOLD were spatially interleaved, possibly reflecting lateral inhibition of high-frequency areas during activation of adjacent low-frequency areas, and vice versa. These results, which demonstrate the strong influence of tonal amplitude on activation levels, identify sound intensity as an important adjunct parameter for mapping the functional architecture of auditory cortex.

  15. Material sound source localization through headphones

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunai, Larisa; Peris-Fajarnes, Guillermo; Lengua, Ismael Lengua; Montaña, Ignacio Tortajada

    2012-09-01

    In the present paper a study of sound localization is carried out, considering two different sounds emitted from different hit materials (wood and bongo) as well as a Delta sound. The motivation of this research is to study how humans localize sounds coming from different materials, with the purpose of a future implementation of the acoustic sounds with better localization features in navigation aid systems or training audio-games suited for blind people. Wood and bongo sounds are recorded after hitting two objects made of these materials. Afterwards, they are analysed and processed. On the other hand, the Delta sound (click) is generated by using the Adobe Audition software, considering a frequency of 44.1 kHz. All sounds are analysed and convolved with previously measured non-individual Head-Related Transfer Functions both for an anechoic environment and for an environment with reverberation. The First Choice method is used in this experiment. Subjects are asked to localize the source position of the sound listened through the headphones, by using a graphic user interface. The analyses of the recorded data reveal that no significant differences are obtained either when considering the nature of the sounds (wood, bongo, Delta) or their environmental context (with or without reverberation). The localization accuracies for the anechoic sounds are: wood 90.19%, bongo 92.96% and Delta sound 89.59%, whereas for the sounds with reverberation the results are: wood 90.59%, bongo 92.63% and Delta sound 90.91%. According to these data, we can conclude that even when considering the reverberation effect, the localization accuracy does not significantly increase.

  16. Energy-efficiency instruments in the electricity area; Instrumente fuer Energieeffizienz im Elektrizitaetsbereich. Auslaendische Erfahrungen und Instrumenten-Mix fuer die Schweiz

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hammer, S; Oettli, B; Schneider, Ch; Iten, R [Infras, Zuerich (Switzerland); Peherstorfer, N [Oesterreichische Energieagentur, Wien (Austria)

    2007-06-15

    This comprehensive report for the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) describes a mix of instruments that could increase the efficiency of electricity usage in Switzerland. The basis for the development of these instruments - the experience gained in Europe in this area - is discussed. Explicitly not discussed are energy and electricity steering taxes, which could also be part of a future instrument-mix. The measures suggested include the setting of compulsory long-term reduction targets that are to form the basis for strategies and measures to be taken in particular areas and the development of an appropriate instrument-mix for this purpose. These could include regulations and labels, a national fund and certificate trading. Suppliers of electricity could be committed to increasing the efficiency of electricity use and national programmes could also attempt to influence consumer habits. The instruments should, according to the authors, be based on the existing legal framework and use know-how and structures that are already available.

  17. Effect of temporary open-air markets on the sound environment and acoustic perception based on the crowd density characteristics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meng, Qi; Sun, Yang; Kang, Jian

    2017-12-01

    The sound environment and acoustic perception of open-air markets, which are very common in high-density urban open spaces, play important roles in terms of the urban soundscape. Based on objective and subjective measurements of a typical temporary open-air market in Harbin city, China, the effects of the temporary open-air market on the sound environment and acoustic perception were studied, considering different crowd densities. It was observed that a temporary open-air market without zoning increases the sound pressure level and subjective loudness by 2.4dBA and 0.21dBA, respectively, compared to the absence of a temporary market. Different from the sound pressure level and subjective loudness, the relationship between crowd density and the perceived acoustic comfort is parabolic. Regarding the effect of a temporary open-air market with different zones on the sound environment and acoustic perception, when the crowd densities were the same, subjective loudness in the fruit and vegetable sales area was always higher than in the food sales area and the clothing sales area. In terms of acoustic comfort, with an increase in crowd density, acoustic comfort in the fruit and vegetable sales area decreased, and acoustic comfort in the food sales area and the clothing sales area exhibited a parabolic change trend of increase followed by decrease. Overall, acoustic comfort can be effectively improved by better planning temporary open-air markets in high-density urban open spaces. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Resistivity Study of Shallow Aquifers in theParts of Southern Ukanafun Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. J. George

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available A resistivity study by vertical electrical sounding (VES employing the Schlumberger electrode configuration has been used to delineate shallow aquifers in some villages in Southern Ukanafun Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Southern Nigeria. The information realized from the resistivity data and nearby logged boreholes show that the depths penetrated by currents were all sandy formations with various thicknesses. However, the main aquifers comprise within the maximum current penetration, very coarse – grained (gravelly sand and fine sand with resistivity in the ranges of 4680-30700 Ωm and 207-2530 Ωm and thickness in the ranges of 43-63 m and 18-40 m respectively. The aquifers with minor hydraulic gradient are separated by thin beds of clay according to lithology logs and these beds were masked in the sounding data due to the principle of suppression.

  19. Combined multibeam and bathymetry data from Rhode Island Sound and Block Island Sound: a regional perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poppe, Lawrence J.; McMullen, Katherine Y.; Danforth, William W.; Blankenship, Mark R.; Clos, Andrew R.; Glomb, Kimberly A.; Lewit, Peter G.; Nadeau, Megan A.; Wood, Douglas A.; Parker, Castleton E.

    2014-01-01

    Detailed bathymetric maps of the sea floor in Rhode Island and Block Island Sounds are of great interest to the New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts research and management communities because of this area's ecological, recreational, and commercial importance. Geologically interpreted digital terrain models from individual surveys provide important benthic environmental information, yet many applications of this information require a geographically broader perspective. For example, individual surveys are of limited use for the planning and construction of cross-sound infrastructure, such as cables and pipelines, or for the testing of regional circulation models. To address this need, we integrated 14 contiguous multibeam bathymetric datasets that were produced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration during charting operations into one digital terrain model that covers much of Block Island Sound and extends eastward across Rhode Island Sound. The new dataset, which covers over 1244 square kilometers, is adjusted to mean lower low water, gridded to 4-meter resolution, and provided in Universal Transverse Mercator Zone 19, North American Datum of 1983 and geographic World Geodetic Survey of 1984 projections. This resolution is adequate for sea-floor feature and process interpretation but is small enough to be queried and manipulated with standard Geographic Information System programs and to allow for future growth. Natural features visible in the data include boulder lag deposits of winnowed Pleistocene strata, sand-wave fields, and scour depressions that reflect the strength of oscillating tidal currents and scour by storm-induced waves. Bedform asymmetry allows interpretations of net sediment transport. Anthropogenic features visible in the data include shipwrecks and dredged channels. Together the merged data reveal a larger, more continuous perspective of bathymetric topography than previously available, providing a fundamental framework for

  20. Noise pollution is pervasive in U.S. protected areas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buxton, Rachel T; McKenna, Megan F; Mennitt, Daniel; Fristrup, Kurt; Crooks, Kevin; Angeloni, Lisa; Wittemyer, George

    2017-05-05

    Anthropogenic noise threatens ecological systems, including the cultural and biodiversity resources in protected areas. Using continental-scale sound models, we found that anthropogenic noise doubled background sound levels in 63% of U.S. protected area units and caused a 10-fold or greater increase in 21%, surpassing levels known to interfere with human visitor experience and disrupt wildlife behavior, fitness, and community composition. Elevated noise was also found in critical habitats of endangered species, with 14% experiencing a 10-fold increase in sound levels. However, protected areas with more stringent regulations had less anthropogenic noise. Our analysis indicates that noise pollution in protected areas is closely linked with transportation, development, and extractive land use, providing insight into where mitigation efforts can be most effective. Copyright © 2017, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

  1. Sound Settlements

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mortensen, Peder Duelund; Hornyanszky, Elisabeth Dalholm; Larsen, Jacob Norvig

    2013-01-01

    Præsentation af projektresultater fra Interreg forskningen Sound Settlements om udvikling af bæredygtighed i det almene boligbyggerier i København, Malmø, Helsingborg og Lund samt europæiske eksempler på best practice......Præsentation af projektresultater fra Interreg forskningen Sound Settlements om udvikling af bæredygtighed i det almene boligbyggerier i København, Malmø, Helsingborg og Lund samt europæiske eksempler på best practice...

  2. Sounds of silence: How to animate virtual worlds with sound

    Science.gov (United States)

    Astheimer, Peter

    1993-01-01

    Sounds are an integral and sometimes annoying part of our daily life. Virtual worlds which imitate natural environments gain a lot of authenticity from fast, high quality visualization combined with sound effects. Sounds help to increase the degree of immersion for human dwellers in imaginary worlds significantly. The virtual reality toolkit of IGD (Institute for Computer Graphics) features a broad range of standard visual and advanced real-time audio components which interpret an object-oriented definition of the scene. The virtual reality system 'Virtual Design' realized with the toolkit enables the designer of virtual worlds to create a true audiovisual environment. Several examples on video demonstrate the usage of the audio features in Virtual Design.

  3. Geophysical investigations in the Veitsivaara area, Finland summary report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heikkinen, E.; Saksa, P.; Hinkkanen, H.

    1991-10-01

    Teollisuuden Voima Oy (TVO carries out site investigations in Finland for final disposal of nuclear high level waste during 1987-2000. Investigations by geological, geophysical, geohydrological and geochemical methods were carried out in the Veitsivaara area in 1987-90 to determine the suitability of the bedrock for the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel. Airborne, ground and borehole geophysical methods were used to study the rock type distribution, fracturing and hydraulic conductivity. Airborne surveys were performed by magnetic, radiometric and two electromagnetic methods and ground investigations by VLF magnetic and resistivity, magnetic and impulse radar methods. Electromagnetic and seismic refraction surveys were used to locate crushed and fracture zones. The properties of weak electrical conductors, e.g. their depth dimensions, were studied by direct current resistivity measurements. The rock type distribution was studied by single-hole logging of susceptibility, natural γ-radiation and radiometric γ γ-density. Electrical and acoustic logging allowed water bearing fractures to be mapped and the results of water injection tests to be interpreted. Flow conditions in the boreholes were studied by both fluid logging and tube wave sounding

  4. Emergence of category-level sensitivities in non-native speech sound learning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emily eMyers

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Over the course of development, speech sounds that are contrastive in one’s native language tend to become perceived categorically: that is, listeners are unaware of variation within phonetic categories while showing excellent sensitivity to speech sounds that span linguistically meaningful phonetic category boundaries. The end stage of this developmental process is that the perceptual systems that handle acoustic-phonetic information show special tuning to native language contrasts, and as such, category-level information appears to be present at even fairly low levels of the neural processing stream. Research on adults acquiring non-native speech categories offers an avenue for investigating the interplay of category-level information and perceptual sensitivities to these sounds as speech categories emerge. In particular, one can observe the neural changes that unfold as listeners learn not only to perceive acoustic distinctions that mark non-native speech sound contrasts, but also to map these distinctions onto category-level representations. An emergent literature on the neural basis of novel and non-native speech sound learning offers new insight into this question. In this review, I will examine this literature in order to answer two key questions. First, where in the neural pathway does sensitivity to category-level phonetic information first emerge over the trajectory of speech sound learning? Second, how do frontal and temporal brain areas work in concert over the course of non-native speech sound learning? Finally, in the context of this literature I will describe a model of speech sound learning in which rapidly-adapting access to categorical information in the frontal lobes modulates the sensitivity of stable, slowly-adapting responses in the temporal lobes.

  5. How Pleasant Sounds Promote and Annoying Sounds Impede Health: A Cognitive Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tjeerd C. Andringa

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available This theoretical paper addresses the cognitive functions via which quiet and in general pleasurable sounds promote and annoying sounds impede health. The article comprises a literature analysis and an interpretation of how the bidirectional influence of appraising the environment and the feelings of the perceiver can be understood in terms of core affect and motivation. This conceptual basis allows the formulation of a detailed cognitive model describing how sonic content, related to indicators of safety and danger, either allows full freedom over mind-states or forces the activation of a vigilance function with associated arousal. The model leads to a number of detailed predictions that can be used to provide existing soundscape approaches with a solid cognitive science foundation that may lead to novel approaches to soundscape design. These will take into account that louder sounds typically contribute to distal situational awareness while subtle environmental sounds provide proximal situational awareness. The role of safety indicators, mediated by proximal situational awareness and subtle sounds, should become more important in future soundscape research.

  6. Sound synthesis and evaluation of interactive footsteps and environmental sounds rendering for virtual reality applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nordahl, Rolf; Turchet, Luca; Serafin, Stefania

    2011-09-01

    We propose a system that affords real-time sound synthesis of footsteps on different materials. The system is based on microphones, which detect real footstep sounds from subjects, from which the ground reaction force (GRF) is estimated. Such GRF is used to control a sound synthesis engine based on physical models. Two experiments were conducted. In the first experiment, the ability of subjects to recognize the surface they were exposed to was assessed. In the second experiment, the sound synthesis engine was enhanced with environmental sounds. Results show that, in some conditions, adding a soundscape significantly improves the recognition of the simulated environment.

  7. It sounds good!

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN Bulletin

    2010-01-01

    Both the atmosphere and we ourselves are hit by hundreds of particles every second and yet nobody has ever heard a sound coming from these processes. Like cosmic rays, particles interacting inside the detectors at the LHC do not make any noise…unless you've decided to use the ‘sonification’ technique, in which case you might even hear the Higgs boson sound like music. Screenshot of the first page of the "LHC sound" site. A group of particle physicists, composers, software developers and artists recently got involved in the ‘LHC sound’ project to make the particles at the LHC produce music. Yes…music! The ‘sonification’ technique converts data into sound. “In this way, if you implement the right software you can get really nice music out of the particle tracks”, says Lily Asquith, a member of the ATLAS collaboration and one of the initiators of the project. The ‘LHC...

  8. Musical Sound, Instruments, and Equipment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Photinos, Panos

    2017-12-01

    'Musical Sound, Instruments, and Equipment' offers a basic understanding of sound, musical instruments and music equipment, geared towards a general audience and non-science majors. The book begins with an introduction of the fundamental properties of sound waves, and the perception of the characteristics of sound. The relation between intensity and loudness, and the relation between frequency and pitch are discussed. The basics of propagation of sound waves, and the interaction of sound waves with objects and structures of various sizes are introduced. Standing waves, harmonics and resonance are explained in simple terms, using graphics that provide a visual understanding. The development is focused on musical instruments and acoustics. The construction of musical scales and the frequency relations are reviewed and applied in the description of musical instruments. The frequency spectrum of selected instruments is explored using freely available sound analysis software. Sound amplification and sound recording, including analog and digital approaches, are discussed in two separate chapters. The book concludes with a chapter on acoustics, the physical factors that affect the quality of the music experience, and practical ways to improve the acoustics at home or small recording studios. A brief technical section is provided at the end of each chapter, where the interested reader can find the relevant physics and sample calculations. These quantitative sections can be skipped without affecting the comprehension of the basic material. Questions are provided to test the reader's understanding of the material. Answers are given in the appendix.

  9. Sound Velocity in Soap Foams

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wu Gong-Tao; Lü Yong-Jun; Liu Peng-Fei; Li Yi-Ning; Shi Qing-Fan

    2012-01-01

    The velocity of sound in soap foams at high gas volume fractions is experimentally studied by using the time difference method. It is found that the sound velocities increase with increasing bubble diameter, and asymptotically approach to the value in air when the diameter is larger than 12.5 mm. We propose a simple theoretical model for the sound propagation in a disordered foam. In this model, the attenuation of a sound wave due to the scattering of the bubble wall is equivalently described as the effect of an additional length. This simplicity reasonably reproduces the sound velocity in foams and the predicted results are in good agreement with the experiments. Further measurements indicate that the increase of frequency markedly slows down the sound velocity, whereas the latter does not display a strong dependence on the solution concentration

  10. Magnetospheric radio sounding

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ondoh, Tadanori; Nakamura, Yoshikatsu; Koseki, Teruo; Watanabe, Sigeaki; Murakami, Toshimitsu

    1977-01-01

    Radio sounding of the plasmapause from a geostationary satellite has been investigated to observe time variations of the plasmapause structure and effects of the plasma convection. In the equatorial plane, the plasmapause is located, on the average, at 4 R sub(E) (R sub(E); Earth radius), and the plasma density drops outwards from 10 2 -10 3 /cm 3 to 1-10/cm 3 in the plasmapause width of about 600 km. Plasmagrams showing a relation between the virtual range and sounding frequencies are computed by ray tracing of LF-VLF waves transmitted from a geostationary satellite, using model distributions of the electron density in the vicinity of the plasmapause. The general features of the plasmagrams are similar to the topside ionograms. The plasmagram has no penetration frequency such as f 0 F 2 , but the virtual range of the plasmagram increases rapidly with frequency above 100 kHz, since the distance between a satellite and wave reflection point increases rapidly with increasing the electron density inside the plasmapause. The plasmapause sounder on a geostationary satellite has been designed by taking account of an average propagation distance of 2 x 2.6 R sub(E) between a satellite (6.6 R sub(E)) and the plasmapause (4.0 R sub(E)), background noise, range resolution, power consumption, and receiver S/N of 10 dB. The 13-bit Barker coded pulses of baud length of 0.5 msec should be transmitted in direction parallel to the orbital plane at frequencies for 10 kHz-2MHz in a pulse interval of 0.5 sec. The transmitter peak power of 70 watts and 700 watts are required respectively in geomagnetically quiet and disturbed (strong nonthermal continuum emissions) conditions for a 400 meter cylindrical dipole of 1.2 cm diameter on the geostationary satellite. This technique will open new area of radio sounding in the magnetosphere. (auth.)

  11. Detection and description of surface breaking cracks by means of optical sound field visualization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Crostack, H.A.; Krueger, A.

    1986-01-01

    The authors present an ultrasound testing method for surface-breaking cracks in components. The method is based on large-area imaging of ultrasound by means of an optical receiver system. The receiver system is based on the principle of holographic interferometry. Application of double exposure technique using a double pulse laser and of sensitivity boosting measures allowed to construct a holographic sound field camera (sensitivity threshold: 0.2 nm) which allows large-area sound detection (in the square meter range) without requiring the usual methods for vibrational insulation in contrast to all the other optical interferometric and holographic techniques. (orig./DG) [de

  12. OMNIDIRECTIONAL SOUND SOURCE

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    1996-01-01

    A sound source comprising a loudspeaker (6) and a hollow coupler (4) with an open inlet which communicates with and is closed by the loudspeaker (6) and an open outlet, said coupler (4) comprising rigid walls which cannot respond to the sound pressures produced by the loudspeaker (6). According...

  13. The velocity of sound

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Beyer, R.T.

    1985-01-01

    The paper reviews the work carried out on the velocity of sound in liquid alkali metals. The experimental methods to determine the velocity measurements are described. Tables are presented of reported data on the velocity of sound in lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium and caesium. A formula is given for alkali metals, in which the sound velocity is a function of shear viscosity, atomic mass and atomic volume. (U.K.)

  14. Product sounds : Fundamentals and application

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ozcan-Vieira, E.

    2008-01-01

    Products are ubiquitous, so are the sounds emitted by products. Product sounds influence our reasoning, emotional state, purchase decisions, preference, and expectations regarding the product and the product's performance. Thus, auditory experience elicited by product sounds may not be just about

  15. Analysis and Optimal Condition of the Rear-Sound-Aided Control Source in Active Noise Control

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karel Kreuter

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available An active noise control scenario of simple ducts is considered. The previously suggested technique of using an single loudspeaker and its rear sound to cancel the upstream sound is further examined and compared to the bidirectional solution in order to give theoretical proof of its advantage. Firstly, a model with a new approach for taking damping effects into account is derived based on the electrical transmission line theory. By comparison with the old model, the new approach is validated, and occurring differences are discussed. Moreover, a numerical application with the consideration of damping is implemented for confirmation. The influence of the rear sound strength on the feedback-path system is investigated, and the optimal condition is determined. Finally, it is proven that the proposed source has an advantage of an extended phase lag and a time delay in the feedback-path system by both frequency-response analysis and numerical calculation of the time response.

  16. Relationship between breast sound speed and mammographic percent density

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sak, Mark; Duric, Nebojsa; Boyd, Norman; Littrup, Peter; Myc, Lukasz; Faiz, Muhammad; Li, Cuiping; Bey-Knight, Lisa

    2011-03-01

    Despite some shortcomings, mammography is currently the standard of care for breast cancer screening and diagnosis. However, breast ultrasound tomography is a rapidly developing imaging modality that has the potential to overcome the drawbacks of mammography. It is known that women with high breast densities have a greater risk of developing breast cancer. Measuring breast density is accomplished through the use of mammographic percent density, defined as the ratio of fibroglandular to total breast area. Using an ultrasound tomography (UST) prototype, we created sound speed images of the patient's breast, motivated by the fact that sound speed in a tissue is proportional to the density of the tissue. The purpose of this work is to compare the acoustic performance of the UST system with the measurement of mammographic percent density. A cohort of 251 patients was studied using both imaging modalities and the results suggest that the volume averaged breast sound speed is significantly related to mammographic percent density. The Spearman correlation coefficient was found to be 0.73 for the 175 film mammograms and 0.69 for the 76 digital mammograms obtained. Since sound speed measurements do not require ionizing radiation or physical compression, they have the potential to form the basis of a safe, more accurate surrogate marker of breast density.

  17. Spatial sound in the use of multimodal interfaces for the acquisition of motor skills

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hoffmann, Pablo F.

    2008-01-01

    This paper discusses the potential effectiveness of spatial sound in the use of multimodal interfaces and virtual environment technologies for the acquisition of motor skills. Because skills are generally of multimodal nature, spatial sound is discussed in terms of the role that it may play...... as to convey information considered critical for the transfer of motor skills....... in facilitating skill acquisition by complementing, or substituting, other sensory modalities. An overview of related research areas on audiovisual and audiotactile interaction is given in connection to the potential benefits of spatial sound as a means to improve the perceptual quality of the interfaces as well...

  18. Maximizing the science return of interplanetary missions using nuclear electric power

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zubrin, R.M.

    1995-01-01

    The multi-kilowatt power sources on the spaecraft also enables active sensing, including radar, which could be used to do topographic and subsurface studies of clouded bodies such as Titan, ground pentrating sounding of Pluto, the major planet's moons, and planetoids, and topside sounding of the electrically conductive atmospheres of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune to produce profiles of fluid density, conductivity, and horizontal and vertical velocity as a function of depth and global location. Radio science investigations of planetary atmospheres and ring systems would be greatly enhanced by increased transmitter power. The scientific benefits of utilizing such techniques are discussed, and a comparison is made with the quantity and quality of science that a low-powered spacecraft employing RTGs could return. It is concluded that the non-propulsive benefits of nuclear power for spacecraft exploring the outer solar system are enormous, and taken together with the well documented mission enhancements enabled by electric propulsion fully justify the expanditures needed to bring a space qualified nuclear electric power source into being. copyright 1995 American Institute of Physics

  19. Simulation of Sound Waves Using the Lattice Boltzmann Method for Fluid Flow: Benchmark Cases for Outdoor Sound Propagation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salomons, Erik M; Lohman, Walter J A; Zhou, Han

    2016-01-01

    Propagation of sound waves in air can be considered as a special case of fluid dynamics. Consequently, the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) for fluid flow can be used for simulating sound propagation. In this article application of the LBM to sound propagation is illustrated for various cases: free-field propagation, propagation over porous and non-porous ground, propagation over a noise barrier, and propagation in an atmosphere with wind. LBM results are compared with solutions of the equations of acoustics. It is found that the LBM works well for sound waves, but dissipation of sound waves with the LBM is generally much larger than real dissipation of sound waves in air. To circumvent this problem it is proposed here to use the LBM for assessing the excess sound level, i.e. the difference between the sound level and the free-field sound level. The effect of dissipation on the excess sound level is much smaller than the effect on the sound level, so the LBM can be used to estimate the excess sound level for a non-dissipative atmosphere, which is a useful quantity in atmospheric acoustics. To reduce dissipation in an LBM simulation two approaches are considered: i) reduction of the kinematic viscosity and ii) reduction of the lattice spacing.

  20. Enviromentally Sound Timber Extracting Techniques for Small Tree Harvesting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lihai Wang

    1999-01-01

    Due to large area disturbed and great deal of energy cost during-its operations, introducing or applying the appropriate timber extracting techniques could significantly reduce the impact of timber extraction operations to forest environment while pursuing the reasonable operation costs. Four environmentally sound timber extraction techniques for small tree harvesting...

  1. Increasing low frequency sound attenuation using compounded single layer of sonic crystal

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gulia, Preeti; Gupta, Arpan

    2018-05-01

    Sonic crystals (SC) are man-made periodic structures where sound hard scatterers are arranged in a crystalline manner. SC reduces noise in a particular range of frequencies called as band gap. Sonic crystals have a promising application in noise shielding; however, the application is limited due to the size of structure. Particularly for low frequencies, the structure becomes quite bulky, restricting its practical application. This paper presents a compounded model of SC, which has the same overall area and filling fraction but with increased low frequency sound attenuation. Two cases have been considered, a three layer SC and a compounded single layer SC. Both models have been analyzed using finite element simulation and plane wave expansion method. Band gaps for periodic structures have been obtained using both methods which are in good agreement. Further, sound transmission loss has been evaluated using finite element method. The results demonstrate the use of compounded model of Sonic Crystal for low frequency sound attenuation.

  2. Effects of coil orientation on the electric field induced by TMS over the hand motor area

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Laakso, Ilkka; Hirata, Akimasa; Ugawa, Yoshikazu

    2014-01-01

    Responses elicited by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the hand motor area depend on the position and orientation of the stimulating coil. In this work, we computationally investigate the induced electric field for multiple coil orientations and locations in order to determine which parts of the brain are affected and how the sensitivity of motor cortical activation depends on the direction of the electric field. The finite element method is used for calculating the electric field induced by TMS in two individual anatomical models of the head and brain. The orientation of the coil affects both the strength and depth of penetration of the electric field, and the field strongly depends on the direction of the sulcus, where the target neurons are located. The coil position that gives the strongest electric field in the target cortical region may deviate from the closest scalp location by a distance on the order of 1 cm. Together with previous experimental data, the results support the hypothesis that the cortex is most sensitive to fields oriented perpendicular to the cortical layers, while it is relatively insensitive to fields parallel to them. This has important implications for targeting of TMS. To determine the most effective coil position and orientation, it is essential to consider both biological (the direction of the targeted axons) and physical factors (the strength and direction of the electric field). (paper)

  3. Sounding out the logo shot

    OpenAIRE

    Nicolai Jørgensgaard Graakjær

    2013-01-01

    This article focuses on how sound in combination with visuals (i.e. ‘branding by’) may possibly affect the signifying potentials (i.e. ‘branding effect’) of products and corporate brands (i.e. ‘branding of’) during logo shots in television commercials (i.e. ‘branding through’). This particular focus adds both to the understanding of sound in television commercials and to the understanding of sound brands. The article firstly presents a typology of sounds. Secondly, this typology is applied...

  4. Sound intensity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Crocker, Malcolm J.; Jacobsen, Finn

    1998-01-01

    This chapter is an overview, intended for readers with no special knowledge about this particular topic. The chapter deals with all aspects of sound intensity and its measurement from the fundamental theoretical background to practical applications of the measurement technique.......This chapter is an overview, intended for readers with no special knowledge about this particular topic. The chapter deals with all aspects of sound intensity and its measurement from the fundamental theoretical background to practical applications of the measurement technique....

  5. Sound Intensity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Crocker, M.J.; Jacobsen, Finn

    1997-01-01

    This chapter is an overview, intended for readers with no special knowledge about this particular topic. The chapter deals with all aspects of sound intensity and its measurement from the fundamental theoretical background to practical applications of the measurement technique.......This chapter is an overview, intended for readers with no special knowledge about this particular topic. The chapter deals with all aspects of sound intensity and its measurement from the fundamental theoretical background to practical applications of the measurement technique....

  6. SoleSound

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zanotto, Damiano; Turchet, Luca; Boggs, Emily Marie

    2014-01-01

    This paper introduces the design of SoleSound, a wearable system designed to deliver ecological, audio-tactile, underfoot feedback. The device, which primarily targets clinical applications, uses an audio-tactile footstep synthesis engine informed by the readings of pressure and inertial sensors...... embedded in the footwear to integrate enhanced feedback modalities into the authors' previously developed instrumented footwear. The synthesis models currently implemented in the SoleSound simulate different ground surface interactions. Unlike similar devices, the system presented here is fully portable...

  7. Sound engineering for diesel engines; Sound Engineering an Dieselmotoren

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Enderich, A.; Fischer, R. [MAHLE Filtersysteme GmbH, Stuttgart (Germany)

    2006-07-01

    The strong acceptance for vehicles powered by turbo-charged diesel engines encourages several manufacturers to think about sportive diesel concepts. The approach of suppressing unpleasant noise by the application of distinctive insulation steps is not adequate to satisfy sportive needs. The acoustics cannot follow the engine's performance. This report documents, that it is possible to give diesel-powered vehicles a sportive sound characteristic by using an advanced MAHLE motor-sound-system with a pressure-resistant membrane and an integrated load controlled flap. With this the specific acoustic disadvantages of the diesel engine, like the ''diesel knock'' or a rough engine running can be masked. However, by the application of a motor-sound-system you must not negate the original character of the diesel engine concept, but accentuate its strong torque characteristic in the middle engine speed range. (orig.)

  8. Cost of electricity generated and fuel saving of an optimized wind-diesel electricity supply for village in Tangier-area (Morocco)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nfaoui, H.; Buret, J.

    1996-01-01

    In several of the remote areas of Morocco, diesel generators are used to provide electrical power. Such systems are often characterized by poor efficiency and high maintenance costs. The integration of wind turbine with a diesel/battery hybrid system is becoming cost-effective in wind locations. In previous works (Nfaoul et al, 1990, 1994a, 1994b), the wind characteristics in Tangier-area were studied on the basis of 12 years (1978-1989) of hourly average wind speed data. A wind/diesel energy system with battery storage has been modelled using the Tangiers wind regime over a one year period (1989), and synthesized consumer load data based on the characteristics of typical usage of domestic appliances, along with the estimated working patterns of a local isolated community. In this work, we use a more realistic hourly consumer load, which is the result of an experiment realized in a Maroccan village using a diesel engine to provide electricity for lighting and audio-visual. The 1989 wind data were reworked for a large series of measurements (12 years). The optimum wind turbine size and the benefits of a storage system on fuel saving are also reviewed. This work is concerned with diesel fuel consumption: an optimum design of the considered system is to be found which minimises the cost energy generation over the equipments' lifetime. Given the economic assumption made (the most important being a fuel price of 4.5 Dh/litre and an interest rate of 5% net of inflation), the wind/diesel energy system has been shown to be competitive with diesel-only generation in the wind regime of the Tangier location for the cost per unit wind turbine swept area less than 3000 Dh/m 2 (8Dh=1$). (author)

  9. Temporal-Spectral Characterization and Classification of Marine Mammal Vocalizations and Diesel-Electric Ships Radiated Sound over Continental Shelf Scale Regions with Coherent Hydrophone Array Measurements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Wei

    The passive ocean acoustic waveguide remote sensing (POAWRS) technology is capable of monitoring a large variety of underwater sound sources over instantaneous wide areas spanning continental-shelf scale regions. POAWRS uses a large-aperture densely-sampled coherent hydrophone array to significantly enhance the signal-to-noise ratio via beamforming, enabling detection of sound sources roughly two-orders of magnitude more distant in range than that possible with a single hydrophone. The sound sources detected by POAWRS include ocean biology, geophysical processes, and man-made activities. POAWRS provides detection, bearing-time estimation, localization, and classification of underwater sound sources. The volume of underwater sounds detected by POAWRS is immense, typically exceeding a million unique signal detections per day, in the 10-4000 Hz frequency range, making it a tremendously challenging task to distinguish and categorize the various sound sources present in a given region. Here we develop various approaches for characterizing and clustering the signal detections for various subsets of data acquired using the POAWRS technology. The approaches include pitch tracking of the dominant signal detections, time-frequency feature extraction, clustering and categorization methods. These approaches are essential for automatic processing and enhancing the efficiency and accuracy of POAWRS data analysis. The results of the signal detection, clustering and classification analysis are required for further POAWRS processing, including localization and tracking of a large number of oceanic sound sources. Here the POAWRS detection, localization and clustering approaches are applied to analyze and elucidate the vocalization behavior of humpback, sperm and fin whales in the New England continental shelf and slope, including the Gulf of Maine from data acquired using coherent hydrophone arrays. The POAWRS technology can also be applied for monitoring ocean vehicles. Here the

  10. Sonic mediations: body, sound, technology

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Birdsall, C.; Enns, A.

    2008-01-01

    Sonic Mediations: Body, Sound, Technology is a collection of original essays that represents an invaluable contribution to the burgeoning field of sound studies. While sound is often posited as having a bridging function, as a passive in-between, this volume invites readers to rethink the concept of

  11. System for actively reducing sound

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Berkhoff, Arthur P.

    2005-01-01

    A system for actively reducing sound from a primary noise source, such as traffic noise, comprising: a loudspeaker connector for connecting to at least one loudspeaker for generating anti-sound for reducing said noisy sound; a microphone connector for connecting to at least a first microphone placed

  12. Is 1/f sound more effective than simple resting in reducing stress response?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oh, Eun-Joo; Cho, Il-Young; Park, Soon-Kwon

    2014-01-01

    It has been previously demonstrated that listening to 1/f sound effectively reduces stress. However, these findings have been inconsistent and further study on the relationship between 1/f sound and the stress response is consequently necessary. The present study examined whether sound with 1/f properties (1/f sound) affects stress-induced electroencephalogram (EEG) changes. Twenty-six subjects who voluntarily participated in the study were randomly assigned to the experimental or control group. Data from four participants were excluded because of EEG artifacts. A mental arithmetic task was used as a stressor. Participants in the experiment group listened to 1/f sound for 5 minutes and 33 seconds, while participants in the control group sat quietly for the same duration. EEG recordings were obtained at various points throughout the experiment. After the experiment, participants completed a questionnaire on the affective impact of the 1/f sound. The results indicated that the mental arithmetic task effectively induced a stress response measurable by EEG. Relative theta power at all electrode sites was significantly lower than baseline in both the control and experimental group. Relative alpha power was significantly lower, and relative beta power was significantly higher in the T3 and T4 areas. Secondly, 1/f sound and simple resting affected task-associated EEG changes in a similar manner. Finally, participants reported in the questionnaire that they experienced a positive feeling in response to the 1/f sound. Our results suggest that a commercialized 1/f sound product is not more effective than simple resting in alleviating the physiological stress response.

  13. Monitoring hydraulic stimulation using telluric sounding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rees, Nigel; Heinson, Graham; Conway, Dennis

    2018-01-01

    The telluric sounding (TS) method is introduced as a potential tool for monitoring hydraulic fracturing at depth. The advantage of this technique is that it requires only the measurement of electric fields, which are cheap and easy when compared with magnetotelluric measurements. Additionally, the transfer function between electric fields from two locations is essentially the identity matrix for a 1D Earth no matter what the vertical structure. Therefore, changes in the earth resulting from the introduction of conductive bodies underneath one of these sites can be associated with deviations away from the identity matrix, with static shift appearing as a galvanic multiplier at all periods. Singular value decomposition and eigenvalue analysis can reduce the complexity of the resulting telluric distortion matrix to simpler parameters that can be visualised in the form of Mohr circles. This technique would be useful in constraining the lateral extent of resistivity changes. We test the viability of utilising the TS method for monitoring on both a synthetic dataset and for a hydraulic stimulation of an enhanced geothermal system case study conducted in Paralana, South Australia. The synthetic data example shows small but consistent changes in the transfer functions associated with hydraulic stimulation, with grids of Mohr circles introduced as a useful diagnostic tool for visualising the extent of fluid movement. The Paralana electric field data were relatively noisy and affected by the dead band making the analysis of transfer functions difficult. However, changes in the order of 5% were observed from 5 s to longer periods. We conclude that deep monitoring using the TS method is marginal at depths in the order of 4 km and that in order to have meaningful interpretations, electric field data need to be of a high quality with low levels of site noise.[Figure not available: see fulltext.

  14. Electrical Stimulation of the Ventral Tegmental Area Induces Reanimation from General Anesthesia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Solt, Ken; Van Dort, Christa J.; Chemali, Jessica J.; Taylor, Norman E.; Kenny, Jonathan D.; Brown, Emery N.

    2014-01-01

    BACKGROUND Methylphenidate or a D1 dopamine receptor agonist induce reanimation (active emergence) from general anesthesia. We tested whether electrical stimulation of dopaminergic nuclei also induces reanimation from general anesthesia. METHODS In adult rats, a bipolar insulated stainless steel electrode was placed in the ventral tegmental area (VTA, n = 5) or substantia nigra (SN, n = 5). After a minimum 7-day recovery period, the isoflurane dose sufficient to maintain loss of righting was established. Electrical stimulation was initiated and increased in intensity every 3 min to a maximum of 120μA. If stimulation restored the righting reflex, an additional experiment was performed at least 3 days later during continuous propofol anesthesia. Histological analysis was conducted to identify the location of the electrode tip. In separate experiments, stimulation was performed in the prone position during general anesthesia with isoflurane or propofol, and the electroencephalogram was recorded. RESULTS To maintain loss of righting, the dose of isoflurane was 0.9% ± 0.1 vol%, and the target plasma dose of propofol was 4.4 μg/ml ± 1.1 μg/ml (mean ± SD). In all rats with VTA electrodes, electrical stimulation induced a graded arousal response including righting that increased with current intensity. VTA stimulation induced a shift in electroencephalogram peak power from δ (anesthesia with isoflurane or propofol. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that dopamine release by VTA, but not SN, neurons induces reanimation from general anesthesia. PMID:24398816

  15. The future of fission-electric power

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Morowski, J.V.

    1983-06-01

    Future worldwide electricity supply needs dictate the necessity of maintaining a sound capability for electricity and electric power generating facilities, including nuclear, as viable export commodities. A survey of fission-power plant types and the status of worldwide nuclear electric power illustrates the primary emphasis on LWR's and HWR's as two leading types in the export market. This survey examines the factors affecting the market prospects for the next five to fifteen years and provides a discussion on some possible improvements to current market circumstances. A comparative description is provided for some of the types of LWR and CANDU characteristics such as quantities, schedules, constructability factors, and equipment and system. Important factors in the selection process for future nuclear power plants are discussed. Some factors included are seismic design requirements; plant design description and possible site layout; plant protection, control and instrumentation; thermal cycle design and arrangement; and special construction and rigging requirements

  16. Regional economic impacts of changes in electricity rates resulting from Western Area Power Administration`s power marketing alternatives

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Allison, T.; Griffes, P.; Edwards, B.K.

    1995-03-01

    This technical memorandum describes an analysis of regional economic impacts resulting from changes in retail electricity rates due to six power marketing programs proposed by Western Area Power Administration (Western). Regional economic impacts of changes in rates are estimated in terms of five key regional economic variables: population, gross regional product, disposable income, employment, and household income. The REMI (Regional Impact Models, Inc.) and IMPLAN (Impact Analysis for Planning) models simulate economic impacts in nine subregions in the area in which Western power is sold for the years 1993, 2000, and 2008. Estimates show that impacts on aggregate economic activity in any of the subregions or years would be minimal for three reasons. First, the utilities that buy power from Western sell only a relatively small proportion of the total electricity sold in any of the subregions. Second, reliance of Western customers on Western power is fairly low in each subregion. Finally, electricity is not a significant input cost for any industry or for households in any subregion.

  17. Measuring the 'complexity'of sound

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Sounds in the natural environment form an important class of biologically relevant nonstationary signals. We propose a dynamic spectral measure to characterize the spectral dynamics of such non-stationary sound signals and classify them based on rate of change of spectral dynamics. We categorize sounds with slowly ...

  18. Controlling sound with acoustic metamaterials

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cummer, Steven A. ; Christensen, Johan; Alù, Andrea

    2016-01-01

    Acoustic metamaterials can manipulate and control sound waves in ways that are not possible in conventional materials. Metamaterials with zero, or even negative, refractive index for sound offer new possibilities for acoustic imaging and for the control of sound at subwavelength scales....... The combination of transformation acoustics theory and highly anisotropic acoustic metamaterials enables precise control over the deformation of sound fields, which can be used, for example, to hide or cloak objects from incident acoustic energy. Active acoustic metamaterials use external control to create......-scale metamaterial structures and converting laboratory experiments into useful devices. In this Review, we outline the designs and properties of materials with unusual acoustic parameters (for example, negative refractive index), discuss examples of extreme manipulation of sound and, finally, provide an overview...

  19. Caolines Program. N1 area prospective soundings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Coronel, N.; Mari, C.

    1984-01-01

    This work is about The Caolines program. After several stages was designed a network of drilling to be developed in prospective areas. The support of this network was a geological cartography performed in a devonian region.

  20. Geoelectrical structure by electrical logs and Schlumberger sounding at the Akinomiya geothermal field, Akita Prefecture; Denki kenso oyobi Schlumberger ho ni yoru Akinomiya chinetsu chiiki no hiteiko kozo

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kajiwara, T; Takemoto, S

    1997-05-27

    Based on the electrical logging data of the existed well and Schlumberger sounding data obtained in 1974, a two-dimensional inversion analysis of the specific resistance profile was conducted at the Akinomiya geothermal field, Akita Prefecture. From the electrical logging data, relationships between the geology and the specific resistance were illustrated. The specific resistance values of basement rocks showed more than 100 ohm-m, which were higher than those of the other seams. Intrusive rocks and tuffs in the basement rocks showed locally low values less than 100 ohm-m. Younger volcanic rocks showed low values around 10 ohm-m. As a result of the two-dimensional inversion analysis, the basement rocks could be detected as high specific resistance layers. Accordingly, it was considered that the basement rocks in this field can be detected as high specific resistance layers by analyzing the results of field survey sufficiently. Low specific resistance zones were observed in the shallow depth, which corresponded to the fumarolic gases. There were some layers with remarkably varied specific resistance values, which were considered to be related with alteration. 6 refs., 3 figs.

  1. Sound intensity as a function of sound insulation partition

    OpenAIRE

    Cvetkovic , S.; Prascevic , R.

    1994-01-01

    In the modern engineering practice, the sound insulation of the partitions is the synthesis of the theory and of the experience acquired in the procedure of the field and of the laboratory measurement. The science and research public treat the sound insulation in the context of the emission and propagation of the acoustic energy in the media with the different acoustics impedance. In this paper, starting from the essence of physical concept of the intensity as the energy vector, the authors g...

  2. Experiences with sound insulating open windows in traffic noise exposed housing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rasmussen, Birgit

    2015-01-01

    windows are open, not least to reduce sleep disturbance. Unfortunately, such window solutions are complicated and expensive and practical experience limited. Nevertheless, they have been included in some Danish projects. To support further development and use, experience from seven field cases......Sound insulating windows are widely used in traffic noise exposed residential areas to reduce indoor noise levels to acceptable levels. However, such windows are typically only designed to provide sound insulation in closed position, and many people prefer open windows parts of time for ventilation...... purposes, including during night, or simply because it’s a good feeling to have windows open to be in contact with the surroundings. High noise exposure can lead to adverse effects on comfort and health, and thus, there is a need for sound insulating open windows to reduce noise exposure in homes, when...

  3. Heart Sound Localization and Reduction in Tracheal Sounds by Gabor Time-Frequency Masking

    OpenAIRE

    SAATCI, Esra; Akan, Aydın

    2018-01-01

    Background and aim: Respiratorysounds, i.e. tracheal and lung sounds, have been of great interest due to theirdiagnostic values as well as the potential of their use in the estimation ofthe respiratory dynamics (mainly airflow). Thus the aim of the study is topresent a new method to filter the heart sound interference from the trachealsounds. Materials and methods: Trachealsounds and airflow signals were collected by using an accelerometer from 10 healthysubjects. Tracheal sounds were then pr...

  4. Interactive physically-based sound simulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raghuvanshi, Nikunj

    The realization of interactive, immersive virtual worlds requires the ability to present a realistic audio experience that convincingly compliments their visual rendering. Physical simulation is a natural way to achieve such realism, enabling deeply immersive virtual worlds. However, physically-based sound simulation is very computationally expensive owing to the high-frequency, transient oscillations underlying audible sounds. The increasing computational power of desktop computers has served to reduce the gap between required and available computation, and it has become possible to bridge this gap further by using a combination of algorithmic improvements that exploit the physical, as well as perceptual properties of audible sounds. My thesis is a step in this direction. My dissertation concentrates on developing real-time techniques for both sub-problems of sound simulation: synthesis and propagation. Sound synthesis is concerned with generating the sounds produced by objects due to elastic surface vibrations upon interaction with the environment, such as collisions. I present novel techniques that exploit human auditory perception to simulate scenes with hundreds of sounding objects undergoing impact and rolling in real time. Sound propagation is the complementary problem of modeling the high-order scattering and diffraction of sound in an environment as it travels from source to listener. I discuss my work on a novel numerical acoustic simulator (ARD) that is hundred times faster and consumes ten times less memory than a high-accuracy finite-difference technique, allowing acoustic simulations on previously-intractable spaces, such as a cathedral, on a desktop computer. Lastly, I present my work on interactive sound propagation that leverages my ARD simulator to render the acoustics of arbitrary static scenes for multiple moving sources and listener in real time, while accounting for scene-dependent effects such as low-pass filtering and smooth attenuation

  5. How Pleasant Sounds Promote and Annoying Sounds Impede Health : A Cognitive Approach

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Andringa, Tjeerd C.; Lanser, J. Jolie L.

    2013-01-01

    This theoretical paper addresses the cognitive functions via which quiet and in general pleasurable sounds promote and annoying sounds impede health. The article comprises a literature analysis and an interpretation of how the bidirectional influence of appraising the environment and the feelings of

  6. Of Sound Mind: Mental Distress and Sound in Twentieth-Century Media Culture

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Birdsall, C.; Siewert, S.

    2013-01-01

    This article seeks to specify the representation of mental disturbance in sound media during the twentieth century. It engages perspectives on societal and technological change across the twentieth century as crucial for aesthetic strategies developed in radio and sound film production. The analysis

  7. Sources of Nutrients to Nearshore Areas of a Eutrophic Estuary: Implications for Nutrient-Enhanced Acidification in Puget Sound

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pacella, S. R.

    2016-02-01

    Ocean acidification has recently been highlighted as a major stressor for coastal organisms. Further work is needed to assess the role of anthropogenic nutrient additions in eutrophied systems on local biological processes, and how this interacts with CO2 emission-driven acidification. This study sought to distinguish changes in pH caused by natural versus anthropogenically affected processes. We quantified the variability in water column pH attributable to primary production and respiration fueled by anthropogenically derived nitrogen in a shallow nearshore area. Two study sites were located in shallow subtidal areas of the Snohomish River estuary, a eutrophic system located in central Puget Sound, Washington. These sites were chosen due to the presence of heavy agricultural activity, urbanized areas with associated waste water treatment, as well as influence from deep, high CO2 marine waters transported through the Strait of Juan de Fuca and upwelled into the area during spring and summer. Data was collected from July-December 2015 utilizing continuous moorings and discrete water column sampling. Analysis of stable isotopes, δ15N, δ18O-NO3, δ15N-NH4, was used to estimate the relative contributions of anthropogenic versus upwelled marine nitrogen sources. Continuous monitoring of pH, dissolved oxygen, temperature, and salinity was conducted at both study sites to link changes in nutrient source and availability with changes in pH. We predicted that isotope data would indicate greater contributions of nitrogen from agriculture and wastewater rather than upwelling in the shallow, nearshore study sites. This study seeks to distinguish the relative magnitude of pH change stimulated by anthropogenic versus natural sources of nitrogen to inform public policy decisions in critically important nearshore ecosystems.

  8. Sound localization and occupational noise

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pedro de Lemos Menezes

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the effects of occupational noise on sound localization in different spatial planes and frequencies among normal hearing firefighters. METHOD: A total of 29 adults with pure-tone hearing thresholds below 25 dB took part in the study. The participants were divided into a group of 19 firefighters exposed to occupational noise and a control group of 10 adults who were not exposed to such noise. All subjects were assigned a sound localization task involving 117 stimuli from 13 sound sources that were spatially distributed in horizontal, vertical, midsagittal and transverse planes. The three stimuli, which were square waves with fundamental frequencies of 500, 2,000 and 4,000 Hz, were presented at a sound level of 70 dB and were randomly repeated three times from each sound source. The angle between the speaker's axis in the same plane was 45°, and the distance to the subject was 1 m. RESULT: The results demonstrate that the sound localization ability of the firefighters was significantly lower (p<0.01 than that of the control group. CONCLUSION: Exposure to occupational noise, even when not resulting in hearing loss, may lead to a diminished ability to locate a sound source.

  9. Sound-based assistive technology support to hearing, speaking and seeing

    CERN Document Server

    Ifukube, Tohru

    2017-01-01

    This book "Sound-based Assistive Technology" explains a technology to help speech-, hearing- and sight-impaired people. They might benefit in some way from an enhancement in their ability to recognize and produce speech or to detect sounds in their surroundings. Additionally, it is considered how sound-based assistive technology might be applied to the areas of speech recognition, speech synthesis, environmental recognition, virtual reality and robots. It is the primary focus of this book to provide an understanding of both the methodology and basic concepts of assistive technology rather than listing the variety of assistive devices developed in Japan or other countries. Although this book presents a number of different topics, they are sufficiently independent from one another that the reader may begin at any chapter without experiencing confusion. It should be acknowledged that much of the research quoted in this book was conducted in the author's laboratories both at Hokkaido University and the University...

  10. Corticofugal modulation of initial neural processing of sound information from the ipsilateral ear in the mouse.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiuping Liu

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available Cortical neurons implement a high frequency-specific modulation of subcortical nuclei that includes the cochlear nucleus. Anatomical studies show that corticofugal fibers terminating in the auditory thalamus and midbrain are mostly ipsilateral. Differently, corticofugal fibers terminating in the cochlear nucleus are bilateral, which fits to the needs of binaural hearing that improves hearing quality. This leads to our hypothesis that corticofugal modulation of initial neural processing of sound information from the contralateral and ipsilateral ears could be equivalent or coordinated at the first sound processing level.With the focal electrical stimulation of the auditory cortex and single unit recording, this study examined corticofugal modulation of the ipsilateral cochlear nucleus. The same methods and procedures as described in our previous study of corticofugal modulation of contralateral cochlear nucleus were employed simply for comparison. We found that focal electrical stimulation of cortical neurons induced substantial changes in the response magnitude, response latency and receptive field of ipsilateral cochlear nucleus neurons. Cortical stimulation facilitated auditory response and shortened the response latency of physiologically matched neurons whereas it inhibited auditory response and lengthened the response latency of unmatched neurons. Finally, cortical stimulation shifted the best frequencies of cochlear neurons towards those of stimulated cortical neurons.Our data suggest that cortical neurons enable a high frequency-specific remodelling of sound information processing in the ipsilateral cochlear nucleus in the same manner as that in the contralateral cochlear nucleus.

  11. Frequency electromagnetic sounding with industrial power lines on Karelia-Kola geotraverse

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    А. Н. Шевцов

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available The paper describes theory, method and first experimental results of research on the interaction between electromagnetic waves of extremely low and ultra low frequency (0.1-200 Hz, the Earth crust and ionosphere in the field of two mutually orthogonal industrial power lines, 109 and 120 km long, in the course of FENICS experiment (Fennoscandian Electrical conductivity from Natural and Induction Control Source soundings. The main focus was on the observation results along the line of Karelia-Kola geotraverse over a distance of 700 km from the source. High horizontal homogeneity of geoelectrical lithosphere section has been detected in the eastern part of the Baltic shield at depth range from 10-15 to 50-70 km. Parameters of «regular» lithosphere section have been specified to the depth of 60-70 km. As a result of inverse problem solution for the western part of Karelia and Central Finland, a zone of decreased transverse resistivity has been detected at the depth of 50-60 km, corresponding to the area, detected by seismic methods, where Moho boundary reaches the same depth.

  12. Sound wave transmission (image)

    Science.gov (United States)

    When sounds waves reach the ear, they are translated into nerve impulses. These impulses then travel to the brain where they are interpreted by the brain as sound. The hearing mechanisms within the inner ear, can ...

  13. Willingness to pay for public services and quality of supply in the electricity area

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leukert, K.; Telser, H.; Vaterlaus, S.; Mahler, P.

    2008-01-01

    This report for the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) takes a look at the results of a study made on the willingness to pay for public services and quality of supply in the electricity area. First, the starting point of the study and definitions of quality of supply and security of supply are noted. The methods used in the study are presented and macro-economic aspects are reviewed. The costs of black-outs are examined and the carrying out of surveys in the electricity market is discussed. The results of surveys made in households and commercial enterprises concerning the willingness to pay for security of supply and the costs incurred when supplies fail are presented and discussed. The report is completed with a comprehensive list of references and an appendix containing the results of the various tests and surveys made.

  14. Operating and impact of the compensation mechanism of the electric utility charges on the energy offer in non connected areas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Levratto, N.

    2005-01-01

    Since the law of the 10 february 2000 relative to the modernization and the development of the electric utility, the France adopted a mechanism aiming to compensate the costs subjected by EDF and other suppliers providing a public utility mission in the domain of the electricity production and distribution. This document takes stock on the organization, the evaluation and the economical and environmental consequences of the implementing of a compensation system of costs bond to the electricity production in non connected areas. (A.L.B.)

  15. Sound & The Society

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schulze, Holger

    2014-01-01

    How are those sounds you hear right now socially constructed and evaluated, how are they architecturally conceptualized and how dependant on urban planning, industrial developments and political decisions are they really? How is your ability to hear intertwined with social interactions and their ...... and their professional design? And how is listening and sounding a deeply social activity – constructing our way of living together in cities as well as in apartment houses? A radio feature with Nina Backmann, Jochen Bonz, Stefan Krebs, Esther Schelander & Holger Schulze......How are those sounds you hear right now socially constructed and evaluated, how are they architecturally conceptualized and how dependant on urban planning, industrial developments and political decisions are they really? How is your ability to hear intertwined with social interactions...

  16. Predicting outdoor sound

    CERN Document Server

    Attenborough, Keith; Horoshenkov, Kirill

    2014-01-01

    1. Introduction  2. The Propagation of Sound Near Ground Surfaces in a Homogeneous Medium  3. Predicting the Acoustical Properties of Outdoor Ground Surfaces  4. Measurements of the Acoustical Properties of Ground Surfaces and Comparisons with Models  5. Predicting Effects of Source Characteristics on Outdoor Sound  6. Predictions, Approximations and Empirical Results for Ground Effect Excluding Meteorological Effects  7. Influence of Source Motion on Ground Effect and Diffraction  8. Predicting Effects of Mixed Impedance Ground  9. Predicting the Performance of Outdoor Noise Barriers  10. Predicting Effects of Vegetation, Trees and Turbulence  11. Analytical Approximations including Ground Effect, Refraction and Turbulence  12. Prediction Schemes  13. Predicting Sound in an Urban Environment.

  17. Measurement of geo electric and radon intensity on determination of potential area for ground water drilling at Lebeng Barat village, Pasongsongan, East Java

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    I Gde Sukadana

    2013-01-01

    Lebeng Barat village, Pasongsongan sub-district is a village which has insufficient of fresh water, particularly in dry season. This region has a fairly dense population and equitable distribution of the population, therefore a sufficient supply of clean water for consumption and other needs are required. The purpose of study is to find out the ground-water potential zone in determination of exploration drilling points to develop ground-water’s well production. The methods used in this study as follow: Geological/hydrogeological mapping, measurement of radon intensity and geo-electric sounding survey with Schlumberger’s configuration. Exposed rocks within work areas can be classified into 5 (five) rocks unit, namely clay stone with intercalation of limestone unit, inter bedded of calcareous sandstone and limestone unit, mud stone unit and limestone-clay stone unit. The potential rock’s layer as aquifer is a layer of calcareous sandstone which has characteristic of pale yellow to brown, medium-coarse grained, sufficient permeability rocks (in the section exposed at the surface) include the limestone unit. Rock aquifers that serve on the bottom are included in inter bedded of calcareous sandstone and limestone unit. Potential points recommended for drilling exploration / production are the point of LBR-29 with the thickness of the aquifer 1 (shallower) 33.86 m and aquifer 2 (deeper) 23.72 m. (author)

  18. Fuel cell electric vehicle as a power plant : Fully renewable integrated transport and energy system design and analysis for smart city areas

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Oldenbroek, V.D.W.M.; Verhoef, L.A.; van Wijk, A.J.M.

    2017-01-01

    Reliable and affordable future zero emission power, heat and transport systems require efficient and versatile energy storage and distribution systems. This paper answers the question whether for city areas, solar and wind electricity together with fuel cell electric vehicles as energy generators

  19. Sounds of Web Advertising

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jessen, Iben Bredahl; Graakjær, Nicolai Jørgensgaard

    2010-01-01

    Sound seems to be a neglected issue in the study of web ads. Web advertising is predominantly regarded as visual phenomena–commercial messages, as for instance banner ads that we watch, read, and eventually click on–but only rarely as something that we listen to. The present chapter presents...... an overview of the auditory dimensions in web advertising: Which kinds of sounds do we hear in web ads? What are the conditions and functions of sound in web ads? Moreover, the chapter proposes a theoretical framework in order to analyse the communicative functions of sound in web advertising. The main...... argument is that an understanding of the auditory dimensions in web advertising must include a reflection on the hypertextual settings of the web ad as well as a perspective on how users engage with web content....

  20. The Last Seat in the House: The Story of Hanley Sound

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kane, John

    Prior to the rush of live outdoor sound during the 1950s, a young, audio-savvy Bill Hanley recognized certain inadequacies within the widely used public address system marketplace. Hanley's techniques allowed him to construct systems of sound that changed what the audience heard during outdoor events. Through my research, I reveal a new insight into how Hanley and those who worked at his business (Hanley Sound) had a direct, innovative influence on specific sound applications, which are now widely used and often taken for granted. Hanley's innovations shifted an existing public address, oral-based sound industry into a new area of technology rich with clarity and intelligibility. What makes his story so unique is that, because his relationship with sound was so intimate, it superseded his immediate economic, safety, and political concerns. He acted selflessly and with extreme focus. As Hanley's reputation grew, so did audience and performer demand for clear, audible concert sound. Over time, he would provide sound for some of the largest antiwar peace rallies and concerts in American history. Hanley worked in the thickness of extreme civil unrest, not typical for the average soundman of the day. Conveniently, Hanley's passion for clarity in sound also happened to occur when popular music transitioned into an important conveyor of political message through festivals. Since May 2011 I have been exploring the life of Bill Hanley, an innovative leader in sound. I use interdisciplinary approaches to uncover cultural, historical, social, political, and psychological occasions in Hanley's life that were imperative to his ongoing development. Filmed action sequences, such as talking head interviews (friends, family members, and professional colleagues) and historical archival 8 mm footage, and family photos and music ephemera, help uncover this qualitative ethnographic analysis of not only Bill's development but also the world around him. Reflective, intimate interviews

  1. Optimization of low temperature solar thermal electric generation with Organic Rankine Cycle in different areas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jing, Li; Gang, Pei; Jie, Ji

    2010-01-01

    The presented low temperature solar thermal electric generation system mainly consists of compound parabolic concentrators (CPC) and the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) working with HCFC-123. A novel design is proposed to reduce heat transfer irreversibility between conduction oil and HCFC-123 in the heat exchangers while maintaining the stability of electricity output. Mathematical formulations are developed to study the heat transfer and energy conversion processes and the numerical simulation is carried out based on distributed parameters. Annual performances of the proposed system in different areas of Canberra, Singapore, Bombay, Lhasa, Sacramento and Berlin are simulated. The influences of the collector tilt angle adjustment, the connection between the heat exchangers and the CPC collectors, and the ORC evaporation temperature on the system performance are investigated. The results indicate that the three factors have a major impact on the annual electricity output and should be the key points of optimization. And the optimized system shows that: (1) The annual received direct irradiance can be significantly increased by two or three times optimal adjustments even when the CPC concentration ratio is smaller than 3.0. (2) Compared with the traditional single-stage collectors, two-stage collectors connected with the heat exchangers by two thermal oil cycles can improve the collector efficiency by 8.1-20.9% in the simultaneous processes of heat collection and power generation. (3) On the use of the market available collectors the optimal ORC evaporation temperatures in most of the simulated areas are around 120 C. (author)

  2. The Aesthetic Experience of Sound

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Breinbjerg, Morten

    2005-01-01

    to react on. In an ecological understanding of hearing our detection of audible information affords us ways of responding to our environment. In my paper I will address both these ways of using sound in relation to computer games. Since a game player is responsible for the unfolding of the game, his......The use of sound in (3D) computer games basically falls in two. Sound is used as an element in the design of the set and as a narrative. As set design sound stages the nature of the environment, it brings it to life. As a narrative it brings us information that we can choose to or perhaps need...... exploration of the virtual space laid out before him is pertinent. In this mood of exploration sound is important and heavily contributing to the aesthetic of the experience....

  3. Micro- and nanoscale electrical characterization of large-area graphene transferred to functional substrates

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gabriele Fisichella

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available Chemical vapour deposition (CVD on catalytic metals is one of main approaches for high-quality graphene growth over large areas. However, a subsequent transfer step to an insulating substrate is required in order to use the graphene for electronic applications. This step can severely affect both the structural integrity and the electronic properties of the graphene membrane. In this paper, we investigated the morphological and electrical properties of CVD graphene transferred onto SiO2 and on a polymeric substrate (poly(ethylene-2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylate, briefly PEN, suitable for microelectronics and flexible electronics applications, respectively. The electrical properties (sheet resistance, mobility, carrier density of the transferred graphene as well as the specific contact resistance of metal contacts onto graphene were investigated by using properly designed test patterns. While a sheet resistance Rsh ≈ 1.7 kΩ/sq and a specific contact resistance ρc ≈ 15 kΩ·μm have been measured for graphene transferred onto SiO2, about 2.3× higher Rsh and about 8× higher ρc values were obtained for graphene on PEN. High-resolution current mapping by torsion resonant conductive atomic force microscopy (TRCAFM provided an insight into the nanoscale mechanisms responsible for the very high ρc in the case of graphene on PEN, showing a ca. 10× smaller “effective” area for current injection than in the case of graphene on SiO2.

  4. Principles of underwater sound

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Urick, Robert J

    1983-01-01

    ... the immediately useful help they need for sonar problem solving. Its coverage is broad-ranging from the basic concepts of sound in the sea to making performance predictions in such applications as depth sounding, fish finding, and submarine detection...

  5. Sounding the field: recent works in sound studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boon, Tim

    2015-09-01

    For sound studies, the publication of a 593-page handbook, not to mention the establishment of at least one society - the European Sound Studies Association - might seem to signify the emergence of a new academic discipline. Certainly, the books under consideration here, alongside many others, testify to an intensification of concern with the aural dimensions of culture. Some of this work comes from HPS and STS, some from musicology and cultural studies. But all of it should concern members of our disciplines, as it represents a long-overdue foregrounding of the aural in how we think about the intersections of science, technology and culture.

  6. Sound Clocks and Sonic Relativity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Todd, Scott L.; Menicucci, Nicolas C.

    2017-10-01

    Sound propagation within certain non-relativistic condensed matter models obeys a relativistic wave equation despite such systems admitting entirely non-relativistic descriptions. A natural question that arises upon consideration of this is, "do devices exist that will experience the relativity in these systems?" We describe a thought experiment in which `acoustic observers' possess devices called sound clocks that can be connected to form chains. Careful investigation shows that appropriately constructed chains of stationary and moving sound clocks are perceived by observers on the other chain as undergoing the relativistic phenomena of length contraction and time dilation by the Lorentz factor, γ , with c the speed of sound. Sound clocks within moving chains actually tick less frequently than stationary ones and must be separated by a shorter distance than when stationary to satisfy simultaneity conditions. Stationary sound clocks appear to be length contracted and time dilated to moving observers due to their misunderstanding of their own state of motion with respect to the laboratory. Observers restricted to using sound clocks describe a universe kinematically consistent with the theory of special relativity, despite the preferred frame of their universe in the laboratory. Such devices show promise in further probing analogue relativity models, for example in investigating phenomena that require careful consideration of the proper time elapsed for observers.

  7. Non-Wovens as Sound Reducers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Belakova, D.; Seile, A.; Kukle, S.; Plamus, T.

    2018-04-01

    Within the present study, the effect of hemp (40 wt%) and polyactide (60 wt%), non-woven surface density, thickness and number of fibre web layers on the sound absorption coefficient and the sound transmission loss in the frequency range from 50 to 5000 Hz is analysed. The sound insulation properties of the experimental samples have been determined, compared to the ones in practical use, and the possible use of material has been defined. Non-woven materials are ideally suited for use in acoustic insulation products because the arrangement of fibres produces a porous material structure, which leads to a greater interaction between sound waves and fibre structure. Of all the tested samples (A, B and D), the non-woven variant B exceeded the surface density of sample A by 1.22 times and 1.15 times that of sample D. By placing non-wovens one above the other in 2 layers, it is possible to increase the absorption coefficient of the material, which depending on the frequency corresponds to C, D, and E sound absorption classes. Sample A demonstrates the best sound absorption of all the three samples in the frequency range from 250 to 2000 Hz. In the test frequency range from 50 to 5000 Hz, the sound transmission loss varies from 0.76 (Sample D at 63 Hz) to 3.90 (Sample B at 5000 Hz).

  8. Sounding rocket experiments during the IMS period at Syowa Station, Antarctica

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hirasawa, T.; Nagata, T.

    1979-01-01

    During IMS Period, 19 sounding rockets were launched into auroras at various stages of polar substorms from Syowa Station (Geomag. lat. = -69.6 0 , Geomag. log. = 77.1 0 ), Antarctica. Through the successful rocket flights, the significant physical quantities in auroras were obtained: 19 profiles of electron density and temperature, 11 energy spectra of precipitating electrons, 15 frequency spectra of VLF and HF plasma waves and 4 vertical profiles of electric and magnetic fields. These rocket data have been analyzed and compared with the coordinated ground-based observation data for studies of polar substorms. (author)

  9. Measurement of the sound power incident on the walls of a reverberation room with near field acoustic holography

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jacobsen, Finn; Tiana Roig, Elisabet

    2010-01-01

    area; and it has always been regarded as impossible to measure the sound power that is incident on a wall directly. This paper examines a new method of determining this quantity from sound pressure measurements at positions on the wall using 'statistically optimised near field acoustic holography...

  10. Sounds of Space

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gurnett, D. A.

    2005-12-01

    Starting in the early 1960s, spacecraft-borne plasma wave instruments revealed that space is filled with an astonishing variety of radio and plasma wave sounds, which have come to be called "sounds of space." For over forty years these sounds have been collected and played to a wide variety of audiences, often as the result of press conferences or press releases involving various NASA projects for which the University of Iowa has provided plasma wave instruments. This activity has led to many interviews on local and national radio programs, and occasionally on programs haviang world-wide coverage, such as the BBC. As a result of this media coverage, we have been approached many times by composers requesting copies of our space sounds for use in their various projects, many of which involve electronic synthesis of music. One of these collaborations led to "Sun Rings," which is a musical event produced by the Kronos Quartet that has played to large audiences all over the world. With the availability of modern computer graphic techniques we have recently been attempting to integrate some of these sound of space into an educational audio/video web site that illustrates the scientific principles involved in the origin of space plasma waves. Typically I try to emphasize that a substantial gas pressure exists everywhere in space in the form of an ionized gas called a plasma, and that this plasma can lead to a wide variety of wave phenomenon. Examples of some of this audio/video material will be presented.

  11. Sound Synthesis and Evaluation of Interactive Footsteps and Environmental Sounds Rendering for Virtual Reality Applications

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nordahl, Rolf; Turchet, Luca; Serafin, Stefania

    2011-01-01

    We propose a system that affords real-time sound synthesis of footsteps on different materials. The system is based on microphones, which detect real footstep sounds from subjects, from which the ground reaction force (GRF) is estimated. Such GRF is used to control a sound synthesis engine based ...... a soundscape significantly improves the recognition of the simulated environment....

  12. Assessing environmental risk of the retired filter bed area, Battelle West Jefferson

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miller, S.F.; Thompson, M.D.; Glennon, M.A.

    1997-04-01

    Initial investigations conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy, Chicago Operations Office, and by Argonne National Laboratory used seismic refraction profiling, electrical resistivity depth sounding, conductivity profiling, magnetic gradiometry, and ground-penetrating radar to study environmental geophysics in the area of the Battelle West Jefferson site's radiologically contaminated retired filter beds. The investigators used a combination of nonintrusive technologies and innovative drilling techniques to assess environmental risk at the filter beds and to improve understanding of the geology of the Big Darby Creek floodplain. The geophysical investigation, which showed that the preferred groundwater pathway is associated with a laterally extensive deposit of silty sand to sand that is less than 12 ft deep in the floodplain area, also guided the location of cone penetrometer test sites and piezometer installation. Cone penetrometer testing was useful for comparing continuous logging data with surface geophysical data in establishing correlations among unconsolidated materials

  13. International perception of lung sounds: a comparison of classification across some European borders

    OpenAIRE

    Aviles Solis, Juan Carlos; Vanbelle, Sophie; Halvorsen, Peder Andreas; Francis, Nick; Cals, Jochem W L; Andreeva, Elena A; Marques, Alda; Piirila, Paivi; Pasterkamp, Hans; Melbye, Hasse

    2017-01-01

    Source at http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjresp-2017-000250 Introduction: Lung auscultation is helpful in the diagnosis of lung and heart diseases; however, the diagnostic value of lung sounds may be questioned due to interobserver variation. This situation may also impair clinical research in this area to generate evidence-based knowledge about the role that chest auscultation has in a modern clinical setting. The recording and visual display of lung sounds is a method that is both repeatab...

  14. Defining the value of injection current and effective electrical contact area for EGaIn-based molecular tunneling junctions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simeone, Felice C; Yoon, Hyo Jae; Thuo, Martin M; Barber, Jabulani R; Smith, Barbara; Whitesides, George M

    2013-12-04

    Analysis of rates of tunneling across self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of n-alkanethiolates SCn (with n = number of carbon atoms) incorporated in junctions having structure Ag(TS)-SAM//Ga2O3/EGaIn leads to a value for the injection tunnel current density J0 (i.e., the current flowing through an ideal junction with n = 0) of 10(3.6±0.3) A·cm(-2) (V = +0.5 V). This estimation of J0 does not involve an extrapolation in length, because it was possible to measure current densities across SAMs over the range of lengths n = 1-18. This value of J0 is estimated under the assumption that values of the geometrical contact area equal the values of the effective electrical contact area. Detailed experimental analysis, however, indicates that the roughness of the Ga2O3 layer, and that of the Ag(TS)-SAM, determine values of the effective electrical contact area that are ~10(-4) the corresponding values of the geometrical contact area. Conversion of the values of geometrical contact area into the corresponding values of effective electrical contact area results in J0(+0.5 V) = 10(7.6±0.8) A·cm(-2), which is compatible with values reported for junctions using top-electrodes of evaporated Au, and graphene, and also comparable with values of J0 estimated from tunneling through single molecules. For these EGaIn-based junctions, the value of the tunneling decay factor β (β = 0.75 ± 0.02 Å(-1); β = 0.92 ± 0.02 nC(-1)) falls within the consensus range across different types of junctions (β = 0.73-0.89 Å(-1); β = 0.9-1.1 nC(-1)). A comparison of the characteristics of conical Ga2O3/EGaIn tips with the characteristics of other top-electrodes suggests that the EGaIn-based electrodes provide a particularly attractive technology for physical-organic studies of charge transport across SAMs.

  15. Assessment of the health effects of low-frequency sounds and infra-sounds from wind farms. ANSES Opinion. Collective expertise report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lepoutre, Philippe; Avan, Paul; Cheveigne, Alain de; Ecotiere, David; Evrard, Anne-Sophie; Hours, Martine; Lelong, Joel; Moati, Frederique; Michaud, David; Toppila, Esko; Beugnet, Laurent; Bounouh, Alexandre; Feltin, Nicolas; Campo, Pierre; Dore, Jean-Francois; Ducimetiere, Pierre; Douki, Thierry; Flahaut, Emmanuel; Gaffet, Eric; Lafaye, Murielle; Martinsons, Christophe; Mouneyrac, Catherine; Ndagijimana, Fabien; Soyez, Alain; Yardin, Catherine; Cadene, Anthony; Merckel, Olivier; Niaudet, Aurelie; Cadene, Anthony; Saddoki, Sophia; Debuire, Brigitte; Genet, Roger

    2017-03-01

    a health effect has not been documented. In this context, ANSES recommends: Concerning studies and research: - verifying whether or not there is a possible mechanism modulating the perception of audible sound at intensities of infra-sound similar to those measured from local residents; - studying the effects of the amplitude modulation of the acoustic signal on the noise-related disturbance felt; - studying the assumption that cochlea-vestibular effects may be responsible for pathophysiological effects; - undertaking a survey of residents living near wind farms enabling the identification of an objective signature of a physiological effect. Concerning information for local residents and the monitoring of noise levels: - enhancing information for local residents during the construction of wind farms and participation in public inquiries undertaken in rural areas; - systematically measuring the noise emissions of wind turbines before and after they are brought into service; - setting up, especially in the event of controversy, continuous noise measurement systems around wind farms (based on experience at airports, for example). Lastly, the Agency reiterates that the current regulations state that the distance between a wind turbine and the first home should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, taking the conditions of wind farms into account. This distance, of at least 500 metres, may be increased further to the results of an impact assessment, in order to comply with the limit values for noise exposure. Current knowledge of the potential health effects of exposure to infra-sounds and low-frequency noise provides no justification for changing the current limit values or for extending the spectrum of noise currently taken into consideration

  16. Using therapeutic sound with progressive audiologic tinnitus management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henry, James A; Zaugg, Tara L; Myers, Paula J; Schechter, Martin A

    2008-09-01

    Management of tinnitus generally involves educational counseling, stress reduction, and/or the use of therapeutic sound. This article focuses on therapeutic sound, which can involve three objectives: (a) producing a sense of relief from tinnitus-associated stress (using soothing sound); (b) passively diverting attention away from tinnitus by reducing contrast between tinnitus and the acoustic environment (using background sound); and (c) actively diverting attention away from tinnitus (using interesting sound). Each of these goals can be accomplished using three different types of sound-broadly categorized as environmental sound, music, and speech-resulting in nine combinations of uses of sound and types of sound to manage tinnitus. The authors explain the uses and types of sound, how they can be combined, and how the different combinations are used with Progressive Audiologic Tinnitus Management. They also describe how sound is used with other sound-based methods of tinnitus management (Tinnitus Masking, Tinnitus Retraining Therapy, and Neuromonics).

  17. Letter-Sound Knowledge: Exploring Gender Differences in Children When They Start School Regarding Knowledge of Large Letters, Small Letters, Sound Large Letters, and Sound Small Letters

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hermundur Sigmundsson

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available This study explored whether there is a gender difference in letter-sound knowledge when children start at school. 485 children aged 5–6 years completed assessment of letter-sound knowledge, i.e., large letters; sound of large letters; small letters; sound of small letters. The findings indicate a significant difference between girls and boys in all four factors tested in this study in favor of the girls. There are still no clear explanations to the basis of a presumed gender difference in letter-sound knowledge. That the findings have origin in neuro-biological factors cannot be excluded, however, the fact that girls probably have been exposed to more language experience/stimulation compared to boys, lends support to explanations derived from environmental aspects.

  18. By the sound of it. An ERP investigation of human action sound processing in 7-month-old infants

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elena Geangu

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Recent evidence suggests that human adults perceive human action sounds as a distinct category from human vocalizations, environmental, and mechanical sounds, activating different neural networks (Engel et al., 2009; Lewis et al., 2011. Yet, little is known about the development of such specialization. Using event-related potentials (ERP, this study investigated neural correlates of 7-month-olds’ processing of human action (HA sounds in comparison to human vocalizations (HV, environmental (ENV, and mechanical (MEC sounds. Relative to the other categories, HA sounds led to increased positive amplitudes between 470 and 570 ms post-stimulus onset at left anterior temporal locations, while HV led to increased negative amplitudes at the more posterior temporal locations in both hemispheres. Collectively, human produced sounds (HA + HV led to significantly different response profiles compared to non-living sound sources (ENV + MEC at parietal and frontal locations in both hemispheres. Overall, by 7 months of age human action sounds are being differentially processed in the brain, consistent with a dichotomy for processing living versus non-living things. This provides novel evidence regarding the typical categorical processing of socially relevant sounds.

  19. Detection of questionable occlusal carious lesions using an electrical bioimpedance method with fractional electrical model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Morais, A. P. [Biomedical Engineering Program, COPPE, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil); Salgado de Oliveira University, Marechal Deodoro Street, 217 – Centro, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil); Pino, A. V. [Biomedical Engineering Program, COPPE, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil); Souza, M. N. [Biomedical Engineering Program, COPPE, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil); Electronics Department at Polytechnic School, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Centro de Tecnologia Bloco H sala 217, Ilha do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)

    2016-08-15

    This in vitro study evaluated the diagnostic performance of an alternative electric bioimpedance spectroscopy technique (BIS-STEP) detect questionable occlusal carious lesions. Six specialists carried out the visual (V), radiography (R), and combined (VR) exams of 57 sound or non-cavitated occlusal carious lesion teeth classifying the occlusal surfaces in sound surface (H), enamel caries (EC), and dentinal caries (DC). Measurements were based on the current response to a step voltage excitation (BIS-STEP). A fractional electrical model was used to predict the current response in the time domain and to estimate the model parameters: Rs and Rp (resistive parameters), and C and α (fractional parameters). Histological analysis showed caries prevalence of 33.3% being 15.8% hidden caries. Combined examination obtained the best traditional diagnostic results with specificity = 59.0%, sensitivity = 70.9%, and accuracy = 60.8%. There were statistically significant differences in bioimpedance parameters between the H and EC groups (p = 0.016) and between the H and DC groups (Rs, p = 0.006; Rp, p = 0.022, and α, p = 0.041). Using a suitable threshold for the Rs, we obtained specificity = 60.7%, sensitivity = 77.9%, accuracy = 73.2%, and 100% of detection for deep lesions. It can be concluded that BIS-STEP method could be an important tool to improve the detection and management of occlusal non-cavitated primary caries and pigmented sites.

  20. Detection of questionable occlusal carious lesions using an electrical bioimpedance method with fractional electrical model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Morais, A. P.; Pino, A. V.; Souza, M. N.

    2016-01-01

    This in vitro study evaluated the diagnostic performance of an alternative electric bioimpedance spectroscopy technique (BIS-STEP) detect questionable occlusal carious lesions. Six specialists carried out the visual (V), radiography (R), and combined (VR) exams of 57 sound or non-cavitated occlusal carious lesion teeth classifying the occlusal surfaces in sound surface (H), enamel caries (EC), and dentinal caries (DC). Measurements were based on the current response to a step voltage excitation (BIS-STEP). A fractional electrical model was used to predict the current response in the time domain and to estimate the model parameters: Rs and Rp (resistive parameters), and C and α (fractional parameters). Histological analysis showed caries prevalence of 33.3% being 15.8% hidden caries. Combined examination obtained the best traditional diagnostic results with specificity = 59.0%, sensitivity = 70.9%, and accuracy = 60.8%. There were statistically significant differences in bioimpedance parameters between the H and EC groups (p = 0.016) and between the H and DC groups (Rs, p = 0.006; Rp, p = 0.022, and α, p = 0.041). Using a suitable threshold for the Rs, we obtained specificity = 60.7%, sensitivity = 77.9%, accuracy = 73.2%, and 100% of detection for deep lesions. It can be concluded that BIS-STEP method could be an important tool to improve the detection and management of occlusal non-cavitated primary caries and pigmented sites.

  1. Sound as Popular Culture

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    The wide-ranging texts in this book take as their premise the idea that sound is a subject through which popular culture can be analyzed in an innovative way. From an infant’s gurgles over a baby monitor to the roar of the crowd in a stadium to the sub-bass frequencies produced by sound systems...... in the disco era, sound—not necessarily aestheticized as music—is inextricably part of the many domains of popular culture. Expanding the view taken by many scholars of cultural studies, the contributors consider cultural practices concerning sound not merely as semiotic or signifying processes but as material......, physical, perceptual, and sensory processes that integrate a multitude of cultural traditions and forms of knowledge. The chapters discuss conceptual issues as well as terminologies and research methods; analyze historical and contemporary case studies of listening in various sound cultures; and consider...

  2. Contaminación acústica por grupos electrógenos // Acoustic contamination by diesel driven electric plant.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yanexy Cepero-Aguilera

    2009-05-01

    Full Text Available El trabajo tiene como tema el impacto ambiental por ruido de grupos electrógenos (GE. Semuestran diferentes definiciones y conceptos referidos a la explotación de los GE y lasconsecuencias que puede provocar a las personas que permanezcan cerca de ellos durante sufuncionamiento. Los grupos electrógenos son además de generadores de energía, generadores deruido y por tanto contribuyen a la contaminación acústica del lugar donde estén situados. En eldocumento se aborda la importancia del correcto uso y selección de los protectores auditivos paraaquellas personas que trabajen directamente en las baterías de grupos electrógenos, así comoalgunas formas de atenuar el ruido. También se caracteriza la emisión sonora de estos a partir deestudios realizados.Palabras claves: ruido, nivel sonoro, sonido.________________________________________________________________________AbstractThis paper concerns with the environmental damage due to noise emission introduced by EngineGenerator Sets. Definitions and concepts about Engine Generator operation are shown as well asthe consequences over the personnel who stand near the Engine Generators during theiroperation. Obviously, such kind of machines generates energy but they also generate noise whichcontaminates the environment around them. The paper states how important are the rightselection and use of noise protection devices for those whose main job is to operate enginegenerator sets. Some methods for noise damping are also shown. Finally, some case studies arepresented in order to describe the noise emission registered in the real world.Key words: noise, sound level, sound.

  3. Fourth sound in relativistic superfluidity theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vil'chinskij, S.I.; Fomin, P.I.

    1995-01-01

    The Lorentz-covariant equations describing propagation of the fourth sound in the relativistic theory of superfluidity are derived. The expressions for the velocity of the fourth sound are obtained. The character of oscillation in sound is determined

  4. Nuclear sound

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wambach, J.

    1991-01-01

    Nuclei, like more familiar mechanical systems, undergo simple vibrational motion. Among these vibrations, sound modes are of particular interest since they reveal important information on the effective interactions among the constituents and, through extrapolation, on the bulk behaviour of nuclear and neutron matter. Sound wave propagation in nuclei shows strong quantum effects familiar from other quantum systems. Microscopic theory suggests that the restoring forces are caused by the complex structure of the many-Fermion wavefunction and, in some cases, have no classical analogue. The damping of the vibrational amplitude is strongly influenced by phase coherence among the particles participating in the motion. (author)

  5. Distribution and Network of Basal Temporal Language Areas: A Study of the Combination of Electric Cortical Stimulation and Diffusion Tensor Imaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Enatsu, Rei; Kanno, Aya; Ookawa, Satoshi; Ochi, Satoko; Ishiai, Sumio; Nagamine, Takashi; Mikuni, Nobuhiro

    2017-10-01

    The basal temporal language area (BTLA) is considered to have several functions in language processing; however, its brain network is still unknown. This study investigated the distribution and networks of the BTLA using a combination of electric cortical stimulation and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). 10 patients with intractable focal epilepsy who underwent presurgical evaluation with subdural electrodes were enrolled in this study (language dominant side: 6 patients, language nondominant side: 4 patients). Electric stimulation at 50 Hz was applied to the electrodes during Japanese sentence reading, morphograms (kanji) reading, and syllabograms (kana) reading tasks to identify the BTLA. DTI was used to identify the subcortical fibers originating from the BTLA found by electric stimulation. The BTLA was found in 6 patients who underwent implantation of the subdural electrodes in the dominant hemisphere. The BTLA was located anywhere between 20 mm and 56 mm posterior to the temporal tips. In 3 patients, electric stimulation of some or all areas within the BTLA induced disturbance in reading of kanji words only. DTI detected the inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF) in all patients and the uncinate fasciculus (UF) in 1 patient, originating from the BTLA. ILF was detected from both kanji-specific areas and kanji-nonspecific areas. This study indicates that the network of the BTLA is a part of a ventral stream and is mainly composed of the ILF, which acts as a critical structure for lexical retrieval. ILF is also associated with the specific processing of kanji words. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Students' Learning of a Generalized Theory of Sound Transmission from a Teaching-Learning Sequence about Sound, Hearing and Health

    Science.gov (United States)

    West, Eva; Wallin, Anita

    2013-04-01

    Learning abstract concepts such as sound often involves an ontological shift because to conceptualize sound transmission as a process of motion demands abandoning sound transmission as a transfer of matter. Thus, for students to be able to grasp and use a generalized model of sound transmission poses great challenges for them. This study involved 199 students aged 10-14. Their views about sound transmission were investigated before and after teaching by comparing their written answers about sound transfer in different media. The teaching was built on a research-based teaching-learning sequence (TLS), which was developed within a framework of design research. The analysis involved interpreting students' underlying theories of sound transmission, including the different conceptual categories that were found in their answers. The results indicated a shift in students' understandings from the use of a theory of matter before the intervention to embracing a theory of process afterwards. The described pattern was found in all groups of students irrespective of age. Thus, teaching about sound and sound transmission is fruitful already at the ages of 10-11. However, the older the students, the more advanced is their understanding of the process of motion. In conclusion, the use of a TLS about sound, hearing and auditory health promotes students' conceptualization of sound transmission as a process in all grades. The results also imply some crucial points in teaching and learning about the scientific content of sound.

  7. Digitizing a sound archive

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cone, Louise

    2017-01-01

    Danish and international artists. His methodology left us with a large collection of unique and inspirational time-based media sound artworks that have, until very recently, been inaccessible. Existing on an array of different media formats, such as open reel tapes, 8-track and 4 track cassettes, VHS......In 1990 an artist by the name of William Louis Sørensen was hired by the National Gallery of Denmark to collect important works of art – made from sound. His job was to acquire sound art, but also recordings that captured rare artistic occurrences, music, performances and happenings from both...

  8. Geometric and frequency EMI sounding of estuarine earthen flood defence embankments in Ireland using 1D inversion models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Viganotti, Matteo; Jackson, Ruth; Krahn, Hartmut; Dyer, Mark

    2013-05-01

    Earthen flood defence embankments are linear structures, raised above the flood plain, that are commonly used as flood defences in rural settings; these are often relatively old structures constructed using locally garnered material and of which little is known in terms of design and construction. Alarmingly, it is generally reported that a number of urban developments have expanded to previously rural areas; hence, acquiring knowledge about the flood defences protecting these areas has risen significantly in the agendas of basin and asset managers. This paper focusses, by reporting two case studies, on electromagnetic induction (EMI) methods that would efficiently complement routine visual inspections and would represent a first step to more detailed investigations. Evaluation of the results is presented by comparison with ERT profiles and intrusive investigation data. The EM data, acquired using a GEM-2 apparatus for frequency sounding and an EM-31 apparatus for geometrical sounding, has been handled using the prototype eGMS software tool, being developed by the eGMS international research consortium; the depth sounding data interpretation was assisted by 1D inversions obtained with the EM1DFM software developed by the University of British Columbia. Although both sounding methods showed some limitations, the models obtained were consistent with ERT models and the techniques were useful screening methods for the identification of areas of interest, such as material interfaces or potential seepage areas, within the embankment structure: 1D modelling improved the rapid assessment of earthen flood defence embankments in an estuarine environment; evidence that EMI sounding could play an important role as a monitoring tool or as a first step towards more detailed investigations.

  9. Parallel-plate third sound waveguides with fixed and variable plate spacings for the study of fifth sound in superfluid helium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jelatis, G.J.

    1983-01-01

    Third sound in superfluid helium four films has been investigated using two parallel-plate waveguides. These investigations led to the observation of fifth sound, a new mode of sound propagation. Both waveguides consisted of two parallel pieces of vitreous quartz. The sound speed was obtained by measuring the time-of-flight of pulsed third sound over a known distance. Investigations from 1.0-1.7K were possible with the use of superconducting bolometers, which measure the temperature component of the third sound wave. Observations were initially made with a waveguide having a plate separation fixed at five microns. Adiabatic third sound was measured in the geometry. Isothermal third sound was also observed, using the usual, single-substrate technique. Fifth sound speeds, calculated from the two-fluid theory of helium and the speeds of the two forms of third sound, agreed in size and temperature dependence with theoretical predictions. Nevertheless, only equivocal observations of fifth sound were made. As a result, the film-substrate interaction was examined, and estimates of the Kapitza conductance were made. Assuming the dominance of the effects of this conductance over those due to the ECEs led to a new expression for fifth sound. A reanalysis of the initial data was made, which contained no adjustable parameters. The observation of fifth sound was seen to be consistent with the existence of an anomalously low boundary conductance

  10. Energy conservation in electric distribution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Chong-Jin.

    1994-01-01

    This paper discusses the potential for energy and power savings that exist in electric power delivery systems. These savings translate into significant financial and environmental benefits for electricity producers and consumers as well as for society in general. AlliedSignal's knowledge and perspectives on this topic are the result of discussions with hundreds of utility executives, government officials and other industry experts over the past decade in conjunction with marketing our Amorphous Metal technology for electric distribution transformers. Amorphous metal is a technology developed by AlliedSignal that significantly reduces the energy lost in electric distribution transformers at an incremental cost of just a few cents per kilo-Watt-hour. The purpose of this paper is to discuss: Amorphous Metal Alloy Technology; Energy Savings Opportunity; The Industrial Barriers and Remedies; Worldwide Demand; and A Low Risk Strategy. I wish this presentation will help KEPCO achieve their stated aims of ensuring sound development of the national economy and enhancement of public life through the economic and stable supply of electric power. AlliedSignal Korea Ltd. in conjunction with AlliedSignal Amorphous Metals in the U.S. are here to work with KEPCO, transformer manufacturers, industry, and government agencies to achieve greater efficiency in power distribution

  11. Pricing of electricity in Indonesia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Amarullah, M.

    1983-01-01

    The objectives of this study are 1) to establish a sound theoretical basis for the determinants of electricity demand in Indonesia, 2) to measure the welfare losses of existing electricity pricing, and 3) to suggest a method of reducing these welfare losses. An econometric model for electricity demand is estimated using pooled time-series of fifteen regions in Indonesia covering the period 1970-1979. The short run price elasticities for both residential and industrial/business sectors are found to be inelastic, while the long run price elasticities for these sectors are found to be quite elastic with a value of -.61 for the residential sector and of -1.1 for the industrial/business sector. Income elasticity is .8 in the short run and around 1.00 for the long run. The exposure variable that captures the accessibility of electricity, has long run elasticity of 1.00 for the residential sector and less than 1.00 for the industrial/business sector. Due to distributional considerations, the 1980's electricity rate was set below its efficient level, and has created a welfare loss of Rp.8273.23 million per month. This accounts for 36.03% of the monthly electricity revenue. A rebate mechanism is recommended in this study, which provides a way to mitigate conflicting aspects of efficiency and equity

  12. An evaluation of high-resolution interferometer soundings and their use in mesoscale analyses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bradshaw, John T.; Fuelberg, Henry E.

    1993-01-01

    An examination is made of temperature and dewpoint soundings obtained by an airborne prototype of the High-resolution Interferometer Sounder (HIS) on two flight days, to ascertain their error characteristics and their utility in mesoscale analyses. Crude estimates of Bowen ratio were obtained from HIS data using a mixing-line approach; the HIS retrievals indicated that areas of thunderstorm formation were the regions of greatest instability. HIS soundings were also able to detect some of the landscape variability and temperature and humidity fluctuations present.

  13. Robust Sounds of Activities of Daily Living Classification in Two-Channel Audio-Based Telemonitoring

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Maunder

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Despite recent advances in the area of home telemonitoring, the challenge of automatically detecting the sound signatures of activities of daily living of an elderly patient using nonintrusive and reliable methods remains. This paper investigates the classification of eight typical sounds of daily life from arbitrarily positioned two-microphone sensors under realistic noisy conditions. In particular, the role of several source separation and sound activity detection methods is considered. Evaluations on a new four-microphone database collected under four realistic noise conditions reveal that effective sound activity detection can produce significant gains in classification accuracy and that further gains can be made using source separation methods based on independent component analysis. Encouragingly, the results show that recognition accuracies in the range 70%–100% can be consistently obtained using different microphone-pair positions, under all but the most severe noise conditions.

  14. Sound propagation in cities

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Salomons, E.; Polinder, H.; Lohman, W.; Zhou, H.; Borst, H.

    2009-01-01

    A new engineering model for sound propagation in cities is presented. The model is based on numerical and experimental studies of sound propagation between street canyons. Multiple reflections in the source canyon and the receiver canyon are taken into account in an efficient way, while weak

  15. Hamiltonian Algorithm Sound Synthesis

    OpenAIRE

    大矢, 健一

    2013-01-01

    Hamiltonian Algorithm (HA) is an algorithm for searching solutions is optimization problems. This paper introduces a sound synthesis technique using Hamiltonian Algorithm and shows a simple example. "Hamiltonian Algorithm Sound Synthesis" uses phase transition effect in HA. Because of this transition effect, totally new waveforms are produced.

  16. Exploring Noise: Sound Pollution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rillo, Thomas J.

    1979-01-01

    Part one of a three-part series about noise pollution and its effects on humans. This section presents the background information for teachers who are preparing a unit on sound. The next issues will offer learning activities for measuring the effects of sound and some references. (SA)

  17. Forced sound transmission through a finite-sized single leaf panel subject to a point source excitation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Chong

    2018-03-01

    In the case of a point source in front of a panel, the wavefront of the incident wave is spherical. This paper discusses spherical sound waves transmitting through a finite sized panel. The forced sound transmission performance that predominates in the frequency range below the coincidence frequency is the focus. Given the point source located along the centerline of the panel, forced sound transmission coefficient is derived through introducing the sound radiation impedance for spherical incident waves. It is found that in addition to the panel mass, forced sound transmission loss also depends on the distance from the source to the panel as determined by the radiation impedance. Unlike the case of plane incident waves, sound transmission performance of a finite sized panel does not necessarily converge to that of an infinite panel, especially when the source is away from the panel. For practical applications, the normal incidence sound transmission loss expression of plane incident waves can be used if the distance between the source and panel d and the panel surface area S satisfy d/S>0.5. When d/S ≈0.1, the diffuse field sound transmission loss expression may be a good approximation. An empirical expression for d/S=0  is also given.

  18. The application of preoperative functional MRI in neurosurgical treatment of intraoperative electrical stimulation for gliomas involving motor areas at 3 T

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li Zixiao; Dai Jianping; Li Shaowu; Li Changhong; Gao Peiyi; Jiang Tao; Sun Yilin

    2006-01-01

    Objective: To assess the value of preoperative blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) 3 T functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify motor cortical areas in neurosurgical treatment of intraoperative electrical stimulation for gliomas involving motor areas. Methods: The study included 26 consecutive preoperative BOLD-fMRI sessions in patients with brain gliomas in or near senorimotor cortices. The bilateral hand movement fMRI paradigm was preformed in all patients. The BOLD data were analyzed by the workstation (Leonardo Syngo 2003A, Siemens)to obtain the BOLD-fMRI images, which were used to guide the preoperative neurosurgical planning. With guidance of preoperative mapping, all patients received microsurgery under anaesthesia retaining consciousness using intraoperative motor functional brain mapping with the method of direct electrical stimulations. The brain lesions were removed as far as possible in the case of eloquent areas preservation. The preoperative and postoperative KPS of all patients were operated to evaluate the state of patients. Results: The preoperative mappings of the hand area on primary sensorimotor cortex using BOLD-fMRI were obtained successfully in twenty-three of twenty-six patients. Under anaesthesia retaining consciousness, the primary motor area was monitored by the method of direct electrical stimulations with the guidance of preoperative BOLD-fMRI. There was good correlation between preoperative fMRI findings and intraoperative cortical stimulation. Furthermore, the preoperative mappings could make up for the un-monitored areas during operative cortical stimulation. For the 21 patients of the pre-KPS from 80.0 to 90.0, the pre-KPS and post-KPS are 85.7 and 95.2 respectively, and for the 5 patients of the pre-KPS from 40. 0 to 70.0, the pre-KPS and post-KPS are 68.0 and 90.0 respectively. Conclusion: The preoperative mapping of the hand area on primary sensorimotor cortex using BOLD-fMRI could non-invasively localize the

  19. Photoacoustic Sounds from Meteors.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Spalding, Richard E. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Tencer, John [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Sweatt, William C. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Hogan, Roy E. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Boslough, Mark B. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Spurny, Pavel [Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (ASCR), Prague (Czech Republic)

    2015-03-01

    High-speed photometric observations of meteor fireballs have shown that they often produce high-amplitude light oscillations with frequency components in the kHz range, and in some cases exhibit strong millisecond flares. We built a light source with similar characteristics and illuminated various materials in the laboratory, generating audible sounds. Models suggest that light oscillations and pulses can radiatively heat dielectric materials, which in turn conductively heats the surrounding air on millisecond timescales. The sound waves can be heard if the illuminated material is sufficiently close to the observer’s ears. The mechanism described herein may explain many reports of meteors that appear to be audible while they are concurrently visible in the sky and too far away for sound to have propagated to the observer. This photoacoustic (PA) explanation provides an alternative to electrophonic (EP) sounds hypothesized to arise from electromagnetic coupling of plasma oscillation in the meteor wake to natural antennas in the vicinity of an observer.

  20. Urban Sound Interfaces

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Breinbjerg, Morten

    2012-01-01

    This paper draws on the theories of Michel de Certeau and Gaston Bachelard to discuss how media architecture, in the form of urban sound interfaces, can help us perceive the complexity of the spaces we inhabit, by exploring the history and the narratives of the places in which we live. In this pa......This paper draws on the theories of Michel de Certeau and Gaston Bachelard to discuss how media architecture, in the form of urban sound interfaces, can help us perceive the complexity of the spaces we inhabit, by exploring the history and the narratives of the places in which we live....... In this paper, three sound works are discussed in relation to the iPod, which is considered as a more private way to explore urban environments, and as a way to control the individual perception of urban spaces....