Control of automated system with voice commands

OpenAIRE

Švara, Denis

2012-01-01

In smart houses contemporary achievements in the fields of automation, communications, security and artificial intelligence, increase comfort and improve the quality of user's lifes. For the purpose of this thesis we developed a system for managing a smart house with voice commands via smart phone. We focused at voice commands most. We want move from communication with fingers - touches, to a more natural, human relationship - speech. We developed the entire chain of communication, by which t...

DSP Based System for Real time Voice Synthesis Applications Development

OpenAIRE

Arsinte, Radu; Ferencz, Attila; Miron, Costin

2008-01-01

This paper describes an experimental system designed for development of real time voice synthesis applications. The system is composed from a DSP coprocessor card, equipped with an TMS320C25 or TMS320C50 chip, voice acquisition module (ADDA2),host computer (IBM-PC compatible), software specific tools.

Construction site Voice Operated Information System (VOIS) test

Science.gov (United States)

Lawrence, Debbie J.; Hettchen, William

1991-01-01

The Voice Activated Information System (VAIS), developed by USACERL, allows inspectors to verbally log on-site inspection reports on a hand held tape recorder. The tape is later processed by the VAIS, which enters the information into the system's database and produces a written report. The Voice Operated Information System (VOIS), developed by USACERL and Automated Sciences Group, through a ESACERL cooperative research and development agreement (CRDA), is an improved voice recognition system based on the concepts and function of the VAIS. To determine the applicability of the VOIS to Corps of Engineers construction projects, Technology Transfer Test Bad (T3B) funds were provided to the Corps of Engineers National Security Agency (NSA) Area Office (Fort Meade) to procure and implement the VOIS, and to train personnel in its use. This report summarizes the NSA application of the VOIS to quality assurance inspection of radio frequency shielding and to progress payment logs, and concludes that the VOIS is an easily implemented system that can offer improvements when applied to repetitive inspection procedures. Use of VOIS can save time during inspection, improve documentation storage, and provide flexible retrieval of stored information.

Design of monitoring system for mail-sorting based on the Profibus S7 series PLC

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, W.; Jia, S. H.; Wang, Y. H.; Liu, H.; Tang, G. C.

2017-01-01

With the rapid development of the postal express, the workload of mail sorting is increasing, but the automatic technology of mail sorting is not mature enough. In view of this, the system uses Siemens S7-300 PLC as the main station controller, PLC of Siemens S7-200/400 is from the station controller, through the man-machine interface configuration software MCGS, PROFIBUS-DP communication, RFID technology and mechanical sorting hand achieve mail classification sorting monitoring. Among them, distinguish mail-sorting by scanning RFID posted in the mail electronic bar code (fixed code), the system uses the corresponding controller on the acquisition of information processing, the processed information transmit to the sorting manipulator by PROFIBUS-DP. The system can realize accurate and efficient mail sorting, which will promote the development of mail sorting technology.

Multimodal Translation System Using Texture-Mapped Lip-Sync Images for Video Mail and Automatic Dubbing Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nakamura Satoshi

2004-01-01

Full Text Available We introduce a multimodal English-to-Japanese and Japanese-to-English translation system that also translates the speaker's speech motion by synchronizing it to the translated speech. This system also introduces both a face synthesis technique that can generate any viseme lip shape and a face tracking technique that can estimate the original position and rotation of a speaker's face in an image sequence. To retain the speaker's facial expression, we substitute only the speech organ's image with the synthesized one, which is made by a 3D wire-frame model that is adaptable to any speaker. Our approach provides translated image synthesis with an extremely small database. The tracking motion of the face from a video image is performed by template matching. In this system, the translation and rotation of the face are detected by using a 3D personal face model whose texture is captured from a video frame. We also propose a method to customize the personal face model by using our GUI tool. By combining these techniques and the translated voice synthesis technique, an automatic multimodal translation can be achieved that is suitable for video mail or automatic dubbing systems into other languages.

A Cost-Effective Approach for Migrating Enterprise Electronic Mail Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emmanuel Omojokun

2008-02-01

Full Text Available Electronic mail (E-mail is one of the most utilized application software systems in modern-day organizations. The major messaging application programs used in the enterprise are IBM Lotus Notes also known as Domino, Microsoft Exchange Servers, and Novel GroupWise. For various reasons – such as high cost of maintenance, undeliverable e-mail issue and loss of attachments, companies find it necessary to either migrate to newer versions of their messaging software or to an entirely different software. In either case, the process must be carefully planned, well designed and properly implemented to avoid disaster. In this paper, we present a cost-effective approach for migrating a particular messaging software. The approach was implemented and tested for the migration of GroupWise 5.5 to Exchange Server 2003. We present our success story and lessons learned from the case. A six-week and one-year post migration system-audits indicated that the organization derived several benefits including significant cost savings as a result of this particular approach. Chief information/technology officers and e-mail administrators will benefit immensely from the "best practice" strategy hereby presented.

UNSOLICITED ELECTRONIC MAIL

CERN Multimedia

Judy RICHARDS

1999-01-01

Since November 1997 we have been actively trying to reduce the amount of unsolicited electronic mail, commonly known as SPAM mail that arrives in CERN mailboxes. Unfortunately this is not an easy job since the spammers are constantly finding new ways of breaking our defences! Today spammers are 'forging' addresses in the headers and envelopes of mail in such a way that it is difficult to distinguish between legitimate mail and spams. An additional problem, that does not directly affect most CERN users but does use CERN resources and affects the reputation of CERN, is caused by the spammers who try to make mail look as if it comes from a CERN machine.They either try to route the mail via a CERN machine or simply forge the mail headers to a CERN address so it will have less chance of being blocked by the recipient's anti-spam defences.Although some anti-spam measures can be automated, for many someone has to look at the system logs and spam reports from users and make a human judgement as to what should be bloc...

Design and realization of intelligent tourism service system based on voice interaction

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Lei-di; Long, Yi; Qian, Cheng-yang; Zhang, Ling; Lv, Guo-nian

2008-10-01

Voice technology is one of the important contents to improve the intelligence and humanization of tourism service system. Combining voice technology, the paper concentrates on application needs and the composition of system to present an overall intelligent tourism service system's framework consisting of presentation layer, Web services layer, and tourism application service layer. On the basis, the paper further elaborated the implementation of the system and its key technologies, including intelligent voice interactive technology, seamless integration technology of multiple data sources, location-perception-based guides' services technology, and tourism safety control technology. Finally, according to the situation of Nanjing tourism, a prototype of Tourism Services System is realized.

Factors that impact nurses' use of electronic mail (e-mail).

Science.gov (United States)

Hughes, J A; Pakieser, R A

1999-01-01

As electronic applications are used increasingly in healthcare, nurses are being challenged to adopt them. Electronic mail (e-mail) is an electronic tool with general as well as healthcare uses. E-mail use may be an opportunity to learn a tool that requires skills similar to those used in other applications. This study aimed to identify barriers and facilitators that impact nurses' use of e-mail in the workplace. Data for this study were gathered using focus group methodology. Content analysis identified and labeled factors into seven major categories. Specific factors identified were generally consistent with those previously described in the literature as affecting use of computers in general. However, there were several additional factors identified that were not reported in other previous studies: lack of face-to-face communication, individual writing skills, recency of any educational experience, volume of mail received, password integrity, and technical support. Findings from this study provide information for any individual involved in introducing or updating an e-mail system in a healthcare environment.

A long distance voice transmission system based on the white light LED

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, Chunyu; Wei, Chang; Wang, Yulian; Wang, Dachi; Yu, Benli; Xu, Feng

2017-10-01

A long distance voice transmission system based on a visible light communication technology (VLCT) is proposed in the paper. Our proposed system includes transmitter, receiver and the voice signal processing of single chip microcomputer. In the compact-sized LED transmitter, we use on-off-keying and not-return-to-zero (OOK-NRZ) to easily realize high speed modulation, and then systematic complexity is reduced. A voice transmission system, which possesses the properties of the low-noise and wide modulation band, is achieved by the design of high efficiency receiving optical path and using filters to reduce noise from the surrounding light. To improve the speed of the signal processing, we use single chip microcomputer to code and decode voice signal. Furthermore, serial peripheral interface (SPI) is adopted to accurately transmit voice signal data. The test results of our proposed system show that the transmission distance of this system is more than100 meters with the maximum data rate of 1.5 Mbit/s and a SNR of 30dB. This system has many advantages, such as simple construction, low cost and strong practicality. Therefore, it has extensive application prospect in the fields of the emergency communication and indoor wireless communication, etc.

Multi-modal assessment of on-road demand of voice and manual phone calling and voice navigation entry across two embedded vehicle systems

Science.gov (United States)

Mehler, Bruce; Kidd, David; Reimer, Bryan; Reagan, Ian; Dobres, Jonathan; McCartt, Anne

2016-01-01

Abstract One purpose of integrating voice interfaces into embedded vehicle systems is to reduce drivers’ visual and manual distractions with ‘infotainment’ technologies. However, there is scant research on actual benefits in production vehicles or how different interface designs affect attentional demands. Driving performance, visual engagement, and indices of workload (heart rate, skin conductance, subjective ratings) were assessed in 80 drivers randomly assigned to drive a 2013 Chevrolet Equinox or Volvo XC60. The Chevrolet MyLink system allowed completing tasks with one voice command, while the Volvo Sensus required multiple commands to navigate the menu structure. When calling a phone contact, both voice systems reduced visual demand relative to the visual–manual interfaces, with reductions for drivers in the Equinox being greater. The Equinox ‘one-shot’ voice command showed advantages during contact calling but had significantly higher error rates than Sensus during destination address entry. For both secondary tasks, neither voice interface entirely eliminated visual demand. Practitioner Summary: The findings reinforce the observation that most, if not all, automotive auditory–vocal interfaces are multi-modal interfaces in which the full range of potential demands (auditory, vocal, visual, manipulative, cognitive, tactile, etc.) need to be considered in developing optimal implementations and evaluating drivers’ interaction with the systems. Social Media: In-vehicle voice-interfaces can reduce visual demand but do not eliminate it and all types of demand need to be taken into account in a comprehensive evaluation. PMID:26269281

Multi-modal assessment of on-road demand of voice and manual phone calling and voice navigation entry across two embedded vehicle systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Mehler, Bruce; Kidd, David; Reimer, Bryan; Reagan, Ian; Dobres, Jonathan; McCartt, Anne

2016-03-01

One purpose of integrating voice interfaces into embedded vehicle systems is to reduce drivers' visual and manual distractions with 'infotainment' technologies. However, there is scant research on actual benefits in production vehicles or how different interface designs affect attentional demands. Driving performance, visual engagement, and indices of workload (heart rate, skin conductance, subjective ratings) were assessed in 80 drivers randomly assigned to drive a 2013 Chevrolet Equinox or Volvo XC60. The Chevrolet MyLink system allowed completing tasks with one voice command, while the Volvo Sensus required multiple commands to navigate the menu structure. When calling a phone contact, both voice systems reduced visual demand relative to the visual-manual interfaces, with reductions for drivers in the Equinox being greater. The Equinox 'one-shot' voice command showed advantages during contact calling but had significantly higher error rates than Sensus during destination address entry. For both secondary tasks, neither voice interface entirely eliminated visual demand. Practitioner Summary: The findings reinforce the observation that most, if not all, automotive auditory-vocal interfaces are multi-modal interfaces in which the full range of potential demands (auditory, vocal, visual, manipulative, cognitive, tactile, etc.) need to be considered in developing optimal implementations and evaluating drivers' interaction with the systems. Social Media: In-vehicle voice-interfaces can reduce visual demand but do not eliminate it and all types of demand need to be taken into account in a comprehensive evaluation.

Factors That Impact Nurses’ Utilization of Electronic Mail (E-Mail).

Science.gov (United States)

1998-05-21

of a system but did little to influence behavior. A study by Golden, Beauclair , & Sussman (1992) surveyed 200 electronic mail account holders at an...Aldine Publishing. Golden, P. A., Beauclair , R., & Sussman, L. (1992). Factors affecting electronic mail use. Computers in Human Behavior, 8, 297-311

Electronic Computer Originated Mail Service

Science.gov (United States)

Seto, Takao

Electronic mail originated by computer is exactly a new communication media which is a product of combining traditional mailing with electrical communication. Experimental service of this type of mailing started in June 10, 1985 at Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. Its location in various communication media, its comparison with facsimile type electronic mailing, and status quo of electronic mailing in foreign countries are described. Then, this mailing is briefed centering around the system organization and the services. Additional services to be executed in near future are also mentioned.

Voice Quality Estimation in Combined Radio-VoIP Networks for Dispatching Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiri Vodrazka

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The voice quality modelling assessment and planning field is deeply and widely theoretically and practically mastered for common voice communication systems, especially for the public fixed and mobile telephone networks including Next Generation Networks (NGN - internet protocol based networks. This article seeks to contribute voice quality modelling assessment and planning for dispatching communication systems based on Internet Protocol (IP and private radio networks. The network plan, correction in E-model calculation and default values for the model are presented and discussed.

Compulsory registration of mail servers in order to accept e-mail from the Internet

CERN Multimedia

IT Department

2008-01-01

This announcement is intended only for administrators of a mail server (sendmail, postfix, etc.). It concerns e-mails sent from the Internet to addresses of the following type: somemailbox@somehost.cern.ch. Mail server managers are requested to register their servers so that they can accept e-mail from outside CERN. In future the CERN mail infrastructure will relay messages from outside CERN only to officially registered mail servers. This rule applies only to messages sent from the Internet. There will be NO change with respect to messages sent from inside CERN. If you are responsible for a mail server that accepts e-mails from outside CERN, please read the following page: http://cern.ch/mail/Help/?kbid=191090, where you can find information about the new rule and check if your host is already registered in the system. If you wish to register a mail server please send a message to: mailto:mail.support@cern.ch. This rule will be gradually enforced from 20 February 2008 onwards. Thank you for your cooperation...

Voice disorder in systemic lupus erythematosus.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Milena S F C de Macedo

Full Text Available Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE is a chronic disease characterized by progressive tissue damage. In recent decades, novel treatments have greatly extended the life span of SLE patients. This creates a high demand for identifying the overarching symptoms associated with SLE and developing therapies that improve their life quality under chronic care. We hypothesized that SLE patients would present dysphonic symptoms. Given that voice disorders can reduce life quality, identifying a potential SLE-related dysphonia could be relevant for the appraisal and management of this disease. We measured objective vocal parameters and perceived vocal quality with the GRBAS (Grade, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia, Strain scale in SLE patients and compared them to matched healthy controls. SLE patients also filled a questionnaire reporting perceived vocal deficits. SLE patients had significantly lower vocal intensity and harmonics to noise ratio, as well as increased jitter and shimmer. All subjective parameters of the GRBAS scale were significantly abnormal in SLE patients. Additionally, the vast majority of SLE patients (29/36 reported at least one perceived vocal deficit, with the most prevalent deficits being vocal fatigue (19/36 and hoarseness (17/36. Self-reported voice deficits were highly correlated with altered GRBAS scores. Additionally, tissue damage scores in different organ systems correlated with dysphonic symptoms, suggesting that some features of SLE-related dysphonia are due to tissue damage. Our results show that a large fraction of SLE patients suffers from perceivable dysphonia and may benefit from voice therapy in order to improve quality of life.

New Secure E-mail System Based on Bio-Chaos Key Generation and Modified AES Algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Hoomod, Haider K.; Radi, A. M.

2018-05-01

The E-mail messages exchanged between sender’s Mailbox and recipient’s Mailbox over the open systems and insecure Networks. These messages may be vulnerable to eavesdropping and itself poses a real threat to the privacy and data integrity from unauthorized persons. The E-mail Security includes the following properties (Confidentiality, Authentication, Message integrity). We need a safe encryption algorithm to encrypt Email messages such as the algorithm Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) or Data Encryption Standard DES, as well as biometric recognition and chaotic system. The proposed E-mail system security uses modified AES algorithm and uses secret key-bio-chaos that consist of biometric (Fingerprint) and chaotic system (Lu and Lorenz). This modification makes the proposed system more sensitive and random. The execution time for both encryption and decryption of the proposed system is much less from original AES, in addition to being compatible with all Mail Servers.

DolphinAtack: Inaudible Voice Commands

OpenAIRE

Zhang, Guoming; Yan, Chen; Ji, Xiaoyu; Zhang, Taimin; Zhang, Tianchen; Xu, Wenyuan

2017-01-01

Speech recognition (SR) systems such as Siri or Google Now have become an increasingly popular human-computer interaction method, and have turned various systems into voice controllable systems(VCS). Prior work on attacking VCS shows that the hidden voice commands that are incomprehensible to people can control the systems. Hidden voice commands, though hidden, are nonetheless audible. In this work, we design a completely inaudible attack, DolphinAttack, that modulates voice commands on ultra...

A brain-computer interface controlled mail client.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Tianyou; Li, Yuanqing; Long, Jinyi; Wang, Cong

2013-01-01

In this paper, we propose a brain-computer interface (BCI) based mail client. This system is controlled by hybrid features extracted from scalp-recorded electroencephalographic (EEG). We emulate the computer mouse by the motor imagery-based mu rhythm and the P300 potential. Furthermore, an adaptive P300 speller is included to provide text input function. With this BCI mail client, users can receive, read, write mails, as well as attach files in mail writing. The system has been tested on 3 subjects. Experimental results show that mail communication with this system is feasible.

Building mail server on distributed computing system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Akihiro Shibata; Osamu Hamada; Tomoko Oshikubo; Takashi Sasaki

2001-01-01

The electronic mail has become the indispensable function in daily job, and the server stability and performance are required. Using DCE and DFS we have built the distributed electronic mail sever, that is, servers such as SMTP, IMAP are distributed symmetrically, and provides the seamless access

AN EFFECTIVE SPAM FILTERING FOR DYNAMIC MAIL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Arun Mozhi Selvi

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Spam is commonly defined as unsolicited email messages and the goal of spam categorization is to distinguish between spam and legitimate email messages. The economics of spam details that the spammer has to target several recipients with identical and similar email messages. As a result a dynamic knowledge sharing effective defense against a substantial fraction of spam has to be designed which can alternate the burdens of frequent training stand alone spam filter. A weighted email attribute based classification is proposed to mainly focus to encounter the issues in normal email system. These type of classification helps to formulate an effective utilization of our email system by combining the concepts of Bayesian Spam Filtering Algorithm, Iterative Dichotmiser 3(ID3 Algorithm and Bloom Filter. The details captured by the system are processed to track the original sender causing disturbances and prefer them to block further mails from them. We have tested the effectiveness of our scheme by collecting offline data from Yahoo mail & Gmail dumps. This proposal is implemented using .net and sample user-Id for knowledge base.

E-mail security: mail clients must use encrypted protocols

CERN Multimedia

2006-01-01

In the coming weeks, users of mail clients other than Outlook (e.g. Pine, Mozilla, Mac Mail, etc.) may receive an e-mail from Mail-service@cern.ch with instructions to update the security settings of their mail client. The aim of this campaign is to enforce the use of encrypted and authenticated mail protocols in order to prevent the propagation of viruses and protect passwords from theft. As a first step, from 6 June 2006 onwards, access to mail servers from outside CERN will require a securely configured mail client as described in the help page http://cern.ch/mmmservices/Help/?kbid=191040. On this page most users will also find tools that will update their mail client settings automatically. Note that Outlook clients and WebMail access are not affected. The Mail Team

Smart Homes with Voice Activated Systems for Disabled People

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bekir Busatlic

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Smart home refers to the application of various technologies to semi-unsupervised home control It refers to systems that control temperature, lighting, door locks, windows and many other appliances. The aim of this study was to design a system that will use existing technology to showcase how it can benefit people with disabilities. This work uses only off-the-shelf products (smart home devices and controllers, speech recognition technology, open-source code libraries. The Voice Activated Smart Home application was developed to demonstrate online grocery shopping and home control using voice comments and tested by measuring its effectiveness in performing tasks as well as its efficiency in recognizing user speech input.

The Impact of a Targeted Training Program on E-Mail System Processing Capabilities and Self-Perception of E-Mail Overload

Science.gov (United States)

Einstein, Michael M.

2014-01-01

As business e-mail volumes continue to grow and employees spend increasingly larger portions of their day processing e-mail, there is strong evidence of the negative impacts of e-mail processing, especially with respect to e-mail overload. This study sought to determine whether a training program focused on select e-mail features and processing…

The project for virus mails and junk mails

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qi Fazhi; Shou Xuejian

2003-01-01

Along with the application of network, Email is becoming more and more important for people's communication. But like other net work applications, Email is being infracted by Virus Mails and Junk mails. Sendmail and Procmail are used to deal with Virus Mails and Junk mails in this paper. It is effective to prevent the IHCP (Institute of High Energy Physics Academia Sinica) mail server from attacks now

Application of computer voice input/output

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ford, W.; Shirk, D.G.

1981-01-01

The advent of microprocessors and other large-scale integration (LSI) circuits is making voice input and output for computers and instruments practical; specialized LSI chips for speech processing are appearing on the market. Voice can be used to input data or to issue instrument commands; this allows the operator to engage in other tasks, move about, and to use standard data entry systems. Voice synthesizers can generate audible, easily understood instructions. Using voice characteristics, a control system can verify speaker identity for security purposes. Two simple voice-controlled systems have been designed at Los Alamos for nuclear safeguards applicaations. Each can easily be expanded as time allows. The first system is for instrument control that accepts voice commands and issues audible operator prompts. The second system is for access control. The speaker's voice is used to verify his identity and to actuate external devices

Terminal Radar Approach Control: Measures of Voice Communications System Performance

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Prinzo, O. V; McClellan, Mark

2005-01-01

.... As the NAS migrates from its current ground infrastructure and voice communications system to one that encompasses both ground and airborne systems, digital data transmission may become the principal...

Effect of an interactive voice response system on oral anticoagulant management.

Science.gov (United States)

Oake, Natalie; van Walraven, Carl; Rodger, Marc A; Forster, Alan J

2009-04-28

Monitoring oral anticoagulants is logistically challenging for both patients and medical staff. We evaluated the effect of adding an interactive voice response system to computerized decision support for oral anticoagulant management. We developed an interactive voice response system to communicate to patients the results of international normalized ratio testing and their dosage schedules for anticoagulation therapy. The system also reminded patients of upcoming and missed appointments for blood tests. We recruited patients whose anticoagulation control was stable after at least 3 months of warfarin therapy. We prospectively examined clinical data and outcomes for these patients for an intervention period of at least 3 months. We also collected retrospective data for each patient for the 3 months before study enrolment. We recruited 226 patients between Nov. 23, 2006, and Aug. 1, 2007. The mean duration of the intervention period (prospective data collection) was 4.2 months. Anticoagulation control was similar for the periods during and preceding the intervention (mean time within the therapeutic range 80.3%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 77.5% to 83.1% v. 79.9%, 95% CI 77.3% to 82.6%). The interactive voice response system delivered 1211 (77.8%) of 1557 scheduled dosage messages, with no further input required from clinic staff. The most common reason for clinic staff having to deliver the remaining messages (accounting for 143 [9.2%] of all messages) was an international normalized ratio that was excessively high or low, (i.e., 0.5 or more outside the therapeutic range). When given the option, 76.6% of patients (164/214) chose to continue with the interactive voice response system for management of their anticoagulation after the study was completed. The system reduced staff workload for monitoring anticoagulation therapy by 48 min/wk, a 33% reduction from the baseline of 2.4 hours. Interactive voice response systems have a potential role in improving the

Private mail

CERN Multimedia

GS Unit

2008-01-01

The internal mail service deals exclusively with the Organization’s official mail. Non-official mail with no stamp on the envelope will not be sent. Please write systematically your name and Department beneath CERN’s address so that the Mail Office can notify you in case of doubt. Anyone who has recently mailed goods is requested to call 75353 in order to make arrangements to recover them. Mail Office

Voice Based City Panic Button System

Science.gov (United States)

Febriansyah; Zainuddin, Zahir; Bachtiar Nappu, M.

2018-03-01

The development of voice activated panic button application aims to design faster early notification of hazardous condition in community to the nearest police by using speech as the detector where the current application still applies touch-combination on screen and use coordination of orders from control center then the early notification still takes longer time. The method used in this research was by using voice recognition as the user voice detection and haversine formula for the comparison of closest distance between the user and the police. This research was equipped with auto sms, which sent notification to the victim’s relatives, that was also integrated with Google Maps application (GMaps) as the map to the victim’s location. The results show that voice registration on the application reaches 100%, incident detection using speech recognition while the application is running is 94.67% in average, and the auto sms to the victim relatives reaches 100%.

Impact of a voice recognition system on report cycle time and radiologist reading time

Science.gov (United States)

Melson, David L.; Brophy, Robert; Blaine, G. James; Jost, R. Gilbert; Brink, Gary S.

1998-07-01

Because of its exciting potential to improve clinical service, as well as reduce costs, a voice recognition system for radiological dictation was recently installed at our institution. This system will be clinically successful if it dramatically reduces radiology report turnaround time without substantially affecting radiologist dictation and editing time. This report summarizes an observer study currently under way in which radiologist reporting times using the traditional transcription system and the voice recognition system are compared. Four radiologists are observed interpreting portable intensive care unit (ICU) chest examinations at a workstation in the chest reading area. Data are recorded with the radiologists using the transcription system and using the voice recognition system. The measurements distinguish between time spent performing clerical tasks and time spent actually dictating the report. Editing time and the number of corrections made are recorded. Additionally, statistics are gathered to assess the voice recognition system's impact on the report cycle time -- the time from report dictation to availability of an edited and finalized report -- and the length of reports.

Mail Office

CERN Multimedia

GS Department

2009-01-01

The Mail Office wishes to remind users that the CERN mail service is exclusively reserved for official CERN mail. All external official mail must be sent to the Mail Office in an unstamped envelope on which your name and Department must be clearly indicated below the official CERN address (see example) to help us to find you in the event that it cannot be delivered. If you wish to send private mail from the CERN site you must use the post offices at Meyrin (63-R-011) or Prévessin (866-R-C02). Please use "PRIORITY" envelopes only in the case of urgent mail. Any mail containing merchandise (i.e. anything other than documents) must be sent using an EDH shipping request form. INTERNAL MAIL Please remember to include the recipient’s MAILBOX number on the internal mail envelopes, either in the relevant box (new envelopes) or next to the name (old envelopes). This information, which can be found in the CERN PHONEBOOK, simplifies our t...

Electronic Mail for Personal Computers: Development Issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Tomer, Christinger

1994-01-01

Examines competing, commercially developed electronic mail programs and how these technologies will affect the functionality and quality of electronic mail. How new standards for client-server mail systems are likely to enhance messaging capabilities and the use of electronic mail for information retrieval are considered. (Contains eight…

Voice Biometrics for Information Assurance Applications

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Kang, George

2002-01-01

.... The ultimate goal of voice biometrics is to enable the use of voice as a password. Voice biometrics are "man-in-the-loop" systems in which system performance is significantly dependent on human performance...

The development of efficient coding for an electronic mail system

Science.gov (United States)

Rice, R. F.

1983-01-01

Techniques for efficiently representing scanned electronic documents were investigated. Major results include the definition and preliminary performance results of a Universal System for Efficient Electronic Mail (USEEM), offering a potential order of magnitude improvement over standard facsimile techniques for representing textual material.

Troubleshooting Requests e-mail Confirmation

CERN Multimedia

TS Department

2004-01-01

In an ongoing effort to improve quality of the repair requests, a new e-mail confirmation automatic system will be implemented starting from the 21st October. All repair requests transmitted to the TCR (72201) or the FM Helpdesk (77777) will be confirmed in an e-mail to the requestor, provided that the latter has a valid e-mail address in the HR database. The e-mail will contain a reference number, a brief description of the problem, the location and a contact where more information can be obtained. A second e-mail will be sent when the processing of the repair request is finished. We hope that this initiative will improve the transparency and quality of our service. Helpdesk Troubleshooting Requests (reminder) We remind you that all the repair requests and other communication concerning the CERN machine buildings have to be transmitted to the TCR via 72201, whereas the ones concerning tertiary buildings are handled directly by the FM helpdesk under the phone number 77777, i.e. problems on systems and equ...

Coding for Electronic Mail

Science.gov (United States)

Rice, R. F.; Lee, J. J.

1986-01-01

Scheme for coding facsimile messages promises to reduce data transmission requirements to one-tenth current level. Coding scheme paves way for true electronic mail in which handwritten, typed, or printed messages or diagrams sent virtually instantaneously - between buildings or between continents. Scheme, called Universal System for Efficient Electronic Mail (USEEM), uses unsupervised character recognition and adaptive noiseless coding of text. Image quality of resulting delivered messages improved over messages transmitted by conventional coding. Coding scheme compatible with direct-entry electronic mail as well as facsimile reproduction. Text transmitted in this scheme automatically translated to word-processor form.

Non-official mail

CERN Multimedia

2006-01-01

The Mail Office wishes to remind users of the mail service that the latter is reserved exclusively for the Organization's official mail. Private mail, even if stamped, does not fall into this category, and any mail of this nature found in the 'Outgoing Mail' or 'Départ Courrier' boxes will no longer be collected or accepted by the Meyrin or Prévessin Mail Offices. The Mail Office declines all responsibility in the event of losses, delays or any other problems arising as a result of private mail being placed in these boxes. Thank you for your understanding. The Mail Office

76 FR 7114 - International Mail: Mailing Services Price Change

Science.gov (United States)

2011-02-09

... POSTAL SERVICE 39 CFR Part 20 International Mail: Mailing Services Price Change AGENCY: Postal... States Postal Service, International Mail Manual (IMM[supreg]) for Mailing Services. This price change correlates to the Postal Service's January 13, 2011 filing of Docket No. R2011-2, Notice of Price Adjustment...

Health system tests CRM data base. Community Health Network uses direct mail to boost physicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Botvin, Judith D

2003-01-01

A six-month pilot patient retention project for Community Health Network (CHN), Indianapolis, ran from July 2002 to January 2003. It was a direct mail campaign on behalf of some members of the group practices owned by CHN, designed to test the use of the system's CRM database. Patients of the physicians received personal, dynamically-generated cards reminding them to schedule appointments and tests. Each mailing cost $1.76, including production and mailing.

White House Communications Agency (WHCA) Presidential Voice Communications Rack Mount System Mechanical Drawing Package

Science.gov (United States)

2015-12-01

Rack Mount System Mechanical Drawing Package by Steven P Callaway Approved for public release; distribution unlimited...Laboratory White House Communications Agency (WHCA) Presidential Voice Communications Rack Mount System Mechanical Drawing Package by Steven P...Note 3. DATES COVERED (From - To) 04/2013 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE White House Communications Agency (WHCA) Presidential Voice Communications Rack

75 FR 41509 - Notice of Proposed Information Collection for Public Comment; LOCCS Voice Response System Payment...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-16

... Information Collection for Public Comment; LOCCS Voice Response System Payment Vouchers for Public and Indian... lists the following information: Title of Proposal: LOCCS Voice Response System Payment Vouchers for... system. The information collected on the payment voucher will also be used as an internal control measure...

Management and Archiving e-mail Messages in Governmental Organization

OpenAIRE

Ashraf Mohamed A.Mohsen

2006-01-01

The study deals great issue of digital preservation that is e-mail archiving, it covered all aspects of the topic; it discuss: e-mail system, components of e-mail message, advantages and disadvantages of e-mail, official e-mail messages, management of e-mail messages, organizing and arrangement of e-mail messages, keeping and deleting messages, archiving e-mail messages, and some related issues like: privacy and security.

Assessing e-mail intent and tasks in e-mail messages

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sappelli, M.; Pasi, G.; Verberne, S.; Boer, M. de; Kraaij, W.

2016-01-01

In this paper, we analyze corporate e-mail messages as a medium to convey work tasks. Research indicates that categorization of e-mail could alleviate the common problem of information overload. Although e-mail clients provide possibilities of e-mail categorization, not many users spend effort on

Transparent Proxy for Secure E-Mail

Science.gov (United States)

Michalák, Juraj; Hudec, Ladislav

2010-05-01

The paper deals with the security of e-mail messages and e-mail server implementation by means of a transparent SMTP proxy. The security features include encryption and signing of transported messages. The goal is to design and implement a software proxy for secure e-mail including its monitoring, administration, encryption and signing keys administration. In particular, we focus on automatic public key on-the-fly encryption and signing of e-mail messages according to S/MIME standard by means of an embedded computer system whose function can be briefly described as a brouter with transparent SMTP proxy.

Playful Interaction with Voice Sensing Modular Robots

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Heesche, Bjarke; MacDonald, Ewen; Fogh, Rune

2013-01-01

This paper describes a voice sensor, suitable for modular robotic systems, which estimates the energy and fundamental frequency, F0, of the user’s voice. Through a number of example applications and tests with children, we observe how the voice sensor facilitates playful interaction between child...... children and two different robot configurations. In future work, we will investigate if such a system can motivate children to improve voice control and explore how to extend the sensor to detect emotions in the user’s voice....

A proposed evolution for the Italian certified electronic mail system

OpenAIRE

Buzzi, Marina; Ferrucci, Luca; Francesco, Gennai; Petrucci, Claudio

2016-01-01

One the main objective of the European Commission is to innovate and bring ICT to its full potential in any sector, including eGovernment, eCommerce, and eHealth services. Certified Electronic Mail (CEM) systems of Member States are currently not interoperable, thus impacting on economic growth and competitiveness. The paper investigates the use of the DNSSec technology as a technological evolution of the Italian CEM System and the first step towards interoperability and adherence to internat...

Mail Office

CERN Multimedia

GS Department

2011-01-01

On the occasion of the annual closure of CERN, no mail will be distributed on Wednesday, 21 December 2011 but mail will be collected in the morning. Nevertheless, it will be possible for you to bring your outgoing mail to building 555-R-002 until 12:00 noon.

E-mail marketing

OpenAIRE

Jurnečková, Jana

2014-01-01

The thesis deals with e-mail marketing. It focuses on identifying factors that affect the behavior of users of e-mail and newsletter subscribers. It evaluates the role of e-mail marketing as a part of communication mix of companies and e-shops, current trends, e-mail campaigns, e-mail marketing software provider. To study the behavior of users of e-mail and newsletter subscribers a questionnaire survey was conducted on a sample of 610 respondents and in-depth interviews (n = 30). Content anal...

41 CFR 102-192.65 - What features must our finance systems have to keep track of mail costs?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... finance systems have to keep track of mail costs? 102-192.65 Section 102-192.65 Public Contracts and... What features must our finance systems have to keep track of mail costs? All agencies must have an... requirement, because the level at which it is cost-beneficial differs widely. The agency's finance system(s...

Connections between voice ergonomic risk factors and voice symptoms, voice handicap, and respiratory tract diseases.

Science.gov (United States)

Rantala, Leena M; Hakala, Suvi J; Holmqvist, Sofia; Sala, Eeva

2012-11-01

The aim of the study was to investigate the connections between voice ergonomic risk factors found in classrooms and voice-related problems in teachers. Voice ergonomic assessment was performed in 39 classrooms in 14 elementary schools by means of a Voice Ergonomic Assessment in Work Environment--Handbook and Checklist. The voice ergonomic risk factors assessed included working culture, noise, indoor air quality, working posture, stress, and access to a sound amplifier. Teachers from the above-mentioned classrooms reported their voice symptoms, respiratory tract diseases, and completed a Voice Handicap Index (VHI). The more voice ergonomic risk factors found in the classroom the higher were the teachers' total scores on voice symptoms and VHI. Stress was the factor that correlated most strongly with voice symptoms. Poor indoor air quality increased the occurrence of laryngitis. Voice ergonomics were poor in the classrooms studied and voice ergonomic risk factors affected the voice. It is important to convey information on voice ergonomics to education administrators and those responsible for school planning and taking care of school buildings. Copyright © 2012 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Mail office

CERN Multimedia

2012-01-01

In connection with CERN's annual closure, there will be no mail distributed on Friday 21 December 2012 but mail will be collected in the morning. Nevertheless, it will be possible for you to bring us your mail for it to be delivered until 12:00 noon at building 555-R-002.

The Voice as Computer Interface: A Look at Tomorrow's Technologies.

Science.gov (United States)

Lange, Holley R.

1991-01-01

Discussion of voice as the communications device for computer-human interaction focuses on voice recognition systems for use within a library environment. Voice technologies are described, including voice response and voice recognition; examples of voice systems in use in libraries are examined; and further possibilities, including use with…

Interactive Voice/Web Response System in clinical research.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruikar, Vrishabhsagar

2016-01-01

Emerging technologies in computer and telecommunication industry has eased the access to computer through telephone. An Interactive Voice/Web Response System (IxRS) is one of the user friendly systems for end users, with complex and tailored programs at its backend. The backend programs are specially tailored for easy understanding of users. Clinical research industry has experienced revolution in methodologies of data capture with time. Different systems have evolved toward emerging modern technologies and tools in couple of decades from past, for example, Electronic Data Capture, IxRS, electronic patient reported outcomes, etc.

Privacy Impact Assessment for the Mailing System for the Office of Public Affairs

Science.gov (United States)

The Mailing System for the Office of Public Affairs collects contact and geographic information. Learn how this data will be collected in the system, how it will be used, access to the data, the purpose of data collection, and record retention policies.

Voice stress analysis and evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Haddad, Darren M.; Ratley, Roy J.

2001-02-01

Voice Stress Analysis (VSA) systems are marketed as computer-based systems capable of measuring stress in a person's voice as an indicator of deception. They are advertised as being less expensive, easier to use, less invasive in use, and less constrained in their operation then polygraph technology. The National Institute of Justice have asked the Air Force Research Laboratory for assistance in evaluating voice stress analysis technology. Law enforcement officials have also been asking questions about this technology. If VSA technology proves to be effective, its value for military and law enforcement application is tremendous.

76 FR 16588 - Combined Mailings of Standard Mail and Periodicals Flats

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-24

... Standard Mail. These mailings must also be identified as Standard Mail when scheduling dropship... pending permit number), issue date, and advertising percentage. b. A consolidated postage statement...

76 FR 10757 - Combined Mailings of Standard Mail and Periodicals Flats

Science.gov (United States)

2011-02-28

... to Standard Mail. These mailings must also be identified as Standard Mail when scheduling dropship... advertising percentage. b. A consolidated postage statement register and postage statement for each...

High quality voice synthesis middle ware; Kohinshitsu onsei gosei middle war

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2000-03-01

Toshiba Corp. newly developed a natural voice synthesis system, TOS Drive TTS (TOtally speaker Driven Text-To-Speech) system, in which natural high-quality read-aloud is greatly improved, and also developed as its application a voice synthesis middle ware. In the newly developed system, using as a model a narrator's voice recorded preliminarily, a metrical control dictionary is automatically learned that reproduces the characteristics of metrical patters such as intonation or rhythm of a human voice, as is a voice bases dictionary that reproduces the characteristics of a voice quality, enabling natural voice synthesis to be realized that picks up human voice characteristics. The system is high quality and also very compact, while the voice synthesis middle ware utilizing this technology is adaptable to various platforms such as MPU or OS. The system is very suitable for audio response in the ITS field having car navigation systems as the core; besides, expanded application is expected to an audio response system that used to employ a sound recording and reproducing system. (translated by NEDO)

E-mail: Outlook Express

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zainul Bakri

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Salah satu layanan Internet yang sangat penting adalah electronic mail atau sering hanya disebut sebagai e-mail. Untuk menggunakan e-mail, diperlukan piranti lunak khusus supaya pengguna dapat mengirim dan menerima e-mail. Jenis piranti lunak e-mail diantaranya adalah Outlook Express yang merupakan satu paket yang didistribusikan bersama Internet Explorer versi 4. Piranti lunak ini dijalankan pada PC yang mempunyai sistem operasi Windows 95 atau 98. Jenis piranti lunak e-mail yang lain adalah Eudora, Pegasus dan sebagainya. Bahkan ada yang diintegrasikan dengan Web Browser (alat untuk menelusuri situs Web misalnya IE,dan Netscape.Sebagai layaknya pelayanan pos, maka setiap pengguna e-mail mempunyai alamat tertentu yang tidak mungkin dipunyai oleh pengguna lainnya diseluruh dunia. Untuk keperluan pendistribusian, maka e-mail mempunyai semacam kantor pos yang ditempatkan dalam sebuah komputer server (mail server atau sering disebut sebagai host. 

Effects of emotional and perceptual-motor stress on a voice recognition system's accuracy: An applied investigation

Science.gov (United States)

Poock, G. K.; Martin, B. J.

1984-02-01

This was an applied investigation examining the ability of a speech recognition system to recognize speakers' inputs when the speakers were under different stress levels. Subjects were asked to speak to a voice recognition system under three conditions: (1) normal office environment, (2) emotional stress, and (3) perceptual-motor stress. Results indicate a definite relationship between voice recognition system performance and the type of low stress reference patterns used to achieve recognition.

76 FR 4820 - New Mailing Standards for Domestic Mailing Services

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-27

.... The parcels do not bear a GS1-128 or Intelligent Mail package barcode. b. The parcels weigh less than... pieces in a mailing must be paid with the same method unless otherwise authorized by Business Mailer... pieces only if authorized by Business Mailer Support. 2.2 Affixed Postage for Presorted First-Class Mail...

Smart Homes with Voice Activated Systems for Disabled People

OpenAIRE

Bekir Busatlic; Nejdet Dogru; Isaac Lera; Enes Sukic

2017-01-01

Smart home refers to the application of various technologies to semi-unsupervised home control It refers to systems that control temperature, lighting, door locks, windows and many other appliances. The aim of this study was to design a system that will use existing technology to showcase how it can benefit people with disabilities. This work uses only off-the-shelf products (smart home devices and controllers), speech recognition technology, open-source code libraries. The Voice Activated Sm...

E-mail marketing

OpenAIRE

TŮMOVÁ, Kateřina

2012-01-01

The aim of this work is to specify the e-mail marketing and in the practical application to evaluate the pros and cons of e-mail marketing as a tool of targeted marketing communication.Based on personal interviews with representatives of the company was described their existing e-mail marketing.Through the survey it was found, how customers perceive the company's e-mail marketing.Based on the survey, changes were proposed at the end of the thesis.

Technical Perspective on Using Information Demand Pattern in a Collaborative Recommendation System for Improving E-Mail Communication

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dirk Stamer

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Today e-mail communication information is widely used in organizations to distribute information. The increasing volume of received e-mails hinders an efficient work. It becomes more and more difficult to identify relevant e-mails inside this enormous volume of information. This work presents a solution in a multi-user environment by improving an established e-mail client extension based on information demand pattern with a recommendation system. The contributions of this work are (1 the concept and implementation of the solution for a single-user environment using information demand pattern, (2 the concept and architecture to use the solution in a multi-user environment (3 a detailed technical description about the proposed solutions.

Anti-voice adaptation suggests prototype-based coding of voice identity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marianne eLatinus

2011-07-01

Full Text Available We used perceptual aftereffects induced by adaptation with anti-voice stimuli to investigate voice identity representations. Participants learned a set of voices then were tested on a voice identification task with vowel stimuli morphed between identities, after different conditions of adaptation. In Experiment 1, participants chose the identity opposite to the adapting anti-voice significantly more often than the other two identities (e.g., after being adapted to anti-A, they identified the average voice as A. In Experiment 2, participants showed a bias for identities opposite to the adaptor specifically for anti-voice, but not for non anti-voice adaptors. These results are strikingly similar to adaptation aftereffects observed for facial identity. They are compatible with a representation of individual voice identities in a multidimensional perceptual voice space referenced on a voice prototype.

Evaluating a voice recognition system: finding the right product for your department.

Science.gov (United States)

Freeh, M; Dewey, M; Brigham, L

2001-06-01

The Department of Radiology at the University of Utah Health Sciences Center has been in the process of transitioning from the traditional film-based department to a digital imaging department for the past 2 years. The department is now transitioning from the traditional method of dictating reports (dictation by radiologist to transcription to review and signing by radiologist) to a voice recognition system. The transition to digital operations will not be complete until we have the ability to directly interface the dictation process with the image review process. Voice recognition technology has advanced to the level where it can and should be an integral part of the new way of working in radiology and is an integral part of an efficient digital imaging department. The transition to voice recognition requires the task of identifying the product and the company that will best meet a department's needs. This report introduces the methods we used to evaluate the vendors and the products available as we made our purchasing decision. We discuss our evaluation method and provide a checklist that can be used by other departments to assist with their evaluation process. The criteria used in the evaluation process fall into the following major categories: user operations, technical infrastructure, medical dictionary, system interfaces, service support, cost, and company strength. Conclusions drawn from our evaluation process will be detailed, with the intention being to shorten the process for others as they embark on a similar venture. As more and more organizations investigate the many products and services that are now being offered to enhance the operations of a radiology department, it becomes increasingly important that solid methods are used to most effectively evaluate the new products. This report should help others complete the task of evaluating a voice recognition system and may be adaptable to other products as well.

The Study of Application System for Small and Medium CTI Based on Voice Card

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhong Dong

2016-01-01

Full Text Available With the rapid development of computer telecommunications integration (CTI technology, the development of application system for small and medium CTI are updated constantly, but the study of application system for small and medium CTI, we are lack of a stability and unified model. In this paper, the author analyzes the unified structure platform of application system for small and medium CTI based on voice card. Meanwhile, the author introduces a suitable software architecture model and general procedural framework for application system for small and medium CTI based on voice card by using the idea of hierarchical design, which shows the versatility of the architecture. It provided an efficient channel for the development of small and medium CTI.

Voice-activated intelligent radiologic image display

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fisher, P.

1989-01-01

The authors present a computer-based expert computer system called Mammo-Icon, which automatically assists the radiologist's case analysis by reviewing the trigger phrase output of a commercially available voice transcription system in he domain of mammography. A commercially available PC-based voice dictation system is coupled to an expert system implemented on a microcomputer. Software employs the LISP and C computer languages. Mammo-Icon responds to the trigger phrase output of a voice dictation system with a textual discussion of the potential significance of the findings that have been described and a display of reference images that may help the radiologist to confirm a suspected diagnosis or consider additional diagnoses. This results in automatic availability of potentially useful computer-based expert advice, making such systems much more likely to be used in routine clinical practice

Comparing Two Survey Research Approaches: E-Mail and Web-Based Technology versus Traditional Mail.

Science.gov (United States)

Howes, Colleen M.; Mailloux, Mark R.

2001-01-01

Contrasted two survey methodologies: e-mail-Web and traditional mail. Found that: (1) e-mail-Web respondents were proportionately more likely to be male and enrolled in school full-time; (2) more individual question non-response was present for the e-mail-Web sample; and (3) e-mail-Web respondents value different aspects of graduate school. (EV)

Interoperability through standardization: Electronic mail, and X Window systems

Science.gov (United States)

Amin, Ashok T.

1993-01-01

Since the introduction of computing machines, there has been continual advances in computer and communication technologies and approaching limits. The user interface has evolved from a row of switches, character based interface using teletype terminals and then video terminals, to present day graphical user interface. It is expected that next significant advances will come in the availability of services, such as electronic mail and directory services, as the standards for applications are developed and in the 'easy to use' interfaces, such as Graphical User Interface for example Window and X Window, which are being standardized. Various proprietary electronic mail (email) systems are in use within organizations at each center of NASA. Each system provides email services to users within an organization, however the support for email services across organizations and across centers exists at centers to a varying degree and is often easy to use. A recent NASA email initiative is intended 'to provide a simple way to send email across organizational boundaries without disruption of installed base.' The initiative calls for integration of existing organizational email systems through gateways connected by a message switch, supporting X.400 and SMTP protocols, to create a NASA wide email system and for implementation of NASA wide email directory services based on OSI standard X.500. A brief overview of MSFC efforts as a part of this initiative are described. Window based graphical user interfaces make computers easy to use. X window protocol has been developed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1984/1985 to provide uniform window based interface in a distributed computing environment with heterogenous computers. It has since become a standard supported by a number of major manufacturers. Z Windows systems, terminals and workstations, and X Window applications are becoming available. However impact of its use in the Local Area Network environment on the network

Federal Mail Expenditures

Data.gov (United States)

General Services Administration — Agencies annually report mail data using the Simplified Mail Accountability Reporting Tool (SMART), a web-based reporting tool cosponsored by GSA and the Department...

Voice amplification for primary school teachers with voice disorders: a randomized clinical trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Bovo, Roberto; Trevisi, Patrizia; Emanuelli, Enzo; Martini, Alessandro

2013-06-01

Several studies have demonstrated a high prevalence of voice disorders in teachers, together with the personal, professional and economical consequences of the problem. Good primary prevention should be based on 3 aspects: 1) amelioration of classroom acoustics, 2) voice care programs for future professional voice users, including teachers and 3) classroom or portable amplification systems. The aim of the study was to assess the benefit obtained from the use of portable amplification systems by female primary school teachers in their occupational setting. Forty female primary school teachers attended a course about professional voice care, which comprised two theoretical lectures, each 60 min long. Thereafter, they were randomized into 2 groups: the teachers of the first group were asked to use a portable vocal amplifier for 3 months, till the end of school-year. The other 20 teachers were part of the control group, matched for age and years of employment. All subjects had a grade 1 of dysphonia with no significant organic lesion of the vocal folds. Most teachers of the experimental group used the amplifier consistently for the whole duration of the experiment and found it very useful in reducing the symptoms of vocal fatigue. In fact, after 3 months, Voice Handicap Index (VHI) scores in "course + amplifier" group demonstrated a significant amelioration (p = 0.003). The perceptual grade of dysphonia also improved significantly (p = 0.0005). The same parameters changed favourably also in the "course only" group, but the results were not statistically significant (p = 0.4 for VHI and p = 0.03 for perceptual grade). In teachers, and particularly in those with a constitutional weak voice and/or those who are prone to vocal fold pathology, vocal amplifiers may be an effective and low-cost intervention to decrease potentially damaging vocal loads and may represent a necessary form of prevention.

A Novel Chaos-Based Voice Controlled FTP Tool

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammed Maruf Ozturk

2015-08-01

Full Text Available To manage file transfer operation various tools have been developed so far. However these tools can not respond adequately for conduct a secure transfer. Also few works have been done using encrypted voice controlled system yet. By regarding this lack we investigate how to built a useful and secure tool. This work presents a novel improved voice controlled FTP tool Wb-CFTP using chaotic system. A chaotic system called as logistic map is associated with Wb-FTP designed on the basis of Asp.Net and C. Here we depict the prominence of encryption in voice controlled systems.

On Successful E-Mail Writing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vesna Vulić

2009-12-01

Full Text Available This article is intended to be a simplified guide for the efficient use of e-mail in business and private communication in English. E-mailing is frequently used as a substitute for other kinds of communication in today’s working environment, due in particular, to the fact that messages are transmitted instantly, irrespective of the distance of the recipient. Due to the speed and volume of e-mail, mastering the art of effective e-mail writing includes the knowledge of Network Etiquette or ‘Netiquette’ and it is therefore important that whether it be for business or private use, the basics of e-mail etiquette are followed. When writing an e-mail it is important to consider the recipient. Careful consideration will determine the content and style of the e-mail. No less important is knowing the points of detail in writing e-mail. That is, to be clear and concise in the specific information that the e-mail should contain. Furthermore, abbreviations, acronyms and emoticons are frequently found in e-mail and their use should also be considered. An e-mail is a valuable communication tool and it is essential to use it effectively in order to improve both professional and private communication.

Did You Get My E-Mail? Moving E-Mails beyond the Inbox

Science.gov (United States)

Ellis, Susan J.

2011-01-01

The challenge today is how to make e-mail and other forms of electronic communication effective in motivating volunteer action. Is it possible to make e-mails feel personal and welcoming? E-mail, instant messaging, texting, and social media are tools that allow individuals to communicate quickly and inexpensively, but they are lifeless without the…

The role of the medial temporal limbic system in processing emotions in voice and music.

Science.gov (United States)

Frühholz, Sascha; Trost, Wiebke; Grandjean, Didier

2014-12-01

Subcortical brain structures of the limbic system, such as the amygdala, are thought to decode the emotional value of sensory information. Recent neuroimaging studies, as well as lesion studies in patients, have shown that the amygdala is sensitive to emotions in voice and music. Similarly, the hippocampus, another part of the temporal limbic system (TLS), is responsive to vocal and musical emotions, but its specific roles in emotional processing from music and especially from voices have been largely neglected. Here we review recent research on vocal and musical emotions, and outline commonalities and differences in the neural processing of emotions in the TLS in terms of emotional valence, emotional intensity and arousal, as well as in terms of acoustic and structural features of voices and music. We summarize the findings in a neural framework including several subcortical and cortical functional pathways between the auditory system and the TLS. This framework proposes that some vocal expressions might already receive a fast emotional evaluation via a subcortical pathway to the amygdala, whereas cortical pathways to the TLS are thought to be equally used for vocal and musical emotions. While the amygdala might be specifically involved in a coarse decoding of the emotional value of voices and music, the hippocampus might process more complex vocal and musical emotions, and might have an important role especially for the decoding of musical emotions by providing memory-based and contextual associations. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mail Delivery | 19 December

CERN Multimedia

Mail Office

2014-01-01

Due to the annual closure of CERN, no mail will be distributed on Friday, 19 December but mail will still be collected in the morning. Nevertheless, it will be possible for you to bring outgoing mail to building 555-R-002 until 12 noon.

Familiarity and Voice Representation: From Acoustic-Based Representation to Voice Averages

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maureen Fontaine

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The ability to recognize an individual from their voice is a widespread ability with a long evolutionary history. Yet, the perceptual representation of familiar voices is ill-defined. In two experiments, we explored the neuropsychological processes involved in the perception of voice identity. We specifically explored the hypothesis that familiar voices (trained-to-familiar (Experiment 1, and famous voices (Experiment 2 are represented as a whole complex pattern, well approximated by the average of multiple utterances produced by a single speaker. In experiment 1, participants learned three voices over several sessions, and performed a three-alternative forced-choice identification task on original voice samples and several “speaker averages,” created by morphing across varying numbers of different vowels (e.g., [a] and [i] produced by the same speaker. In experiment 2, the same participants performed the same task on voice samples produced by familiar speakers. The two experiments showed that for famous voices, but not for trained-to-familiar voices, identification performance increased and response times decreased as a function of the number of utterances in the averages. This study sheds light on the perceptual representation of familiar voices, and demonstrates the power of average in recognizing familiar voices. The speaker average captures the unique characteristics of a speaker, and thus retains the information essential for recognition; it acts as a prototype of the speaker.

Mail Office annual closure

CERN Multimedia

2013-01-01

On the occasion of the annual closure of CERN, there will be no mail distributed on Friday 20 December 2013 but mail will be collected in the morning. Nevertheless, you will still be able to bring your outgoing mail to Building 555-R-002 until 12 noon.  

A Robust Multimodal Bio metric Authentication Scheme with Voice and Face Recognition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kasban, H.

2017-01-01

This paper proposes a multimodal biometric scheme for human authentication based on fusion of voice and face recognition. For voice recognition, three categories of features (statistical coefficients, cepstral coefficients and voice timbre) are used and compared. The voice identification modality is carried out using Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM). For face recognition, three recognition methods (Eigenface, Linear Discriminate Analysis (LDA), and Gabor filter) are used and compared. The combination of voice and face biometrics systems into a single multimodal biometrics system is performed using features fusion and scores fusion. This study shows that the best results are obtained using all the features (cepstral coefficients, statistical coefficients and voice timbre features) for voice recognition, LDA face recognition method and scores fusion for the multimodal biometrics system

A Voice Processing Technology for Rural Specific Context

Science.gov (United States)

He, Zhiyong; Zhang, Zhengguang; Zhao, Chunshen

Durian the promotion and applications of rural information, different geographical dialect voice interaction is a very complex issue. Through in-depth analysis of TTS core technologies, this paper presents the methods of intelligent segmentation, word segmentation algorithm and intelligent voice thesaurus construction in the different dialects context. And then COM based development methodology for specific context voice processing system implementation and programming method. The method has a certain reference value for the rural dialect and voice processing applications.

[Voice disorders in female teachers assessed by Voice Handicap Index].

Science.gov (United States)

Niebudek-Bogusz, Ewa; Kuzańska, Anna; Woźnicka, Ewelina; Sliwińska-Kowalska, Mariola

2007-01-01

The aim of this study was to assess the application of Voice Handicap Index (VHI) in the diagnosis of occupational voice disorders in female teachers. The subjective assessment of voice by VHI was performed in fifty subjects with dysphonia diagnosed in laryngovideostroboscopic examination. The control group comprised 30 women whose jobs did not involve vocal effort. The results of the total VHI score and each of its subscales: functional, emotional and physical was significantly worse in the study group than in controls (p teachers estimated their own voice problems as a moderate disability, while 12% of them reported severe voice disability. However, all non-teachers assessed their voice problems as slight, their results ranged at the lowest level of VHI score. This study confirmed that VHI as a tool for self-assessment of voice can be a significant contribution to the diagnosis of occupational dysphonia.

Speaking in Character: Voice Communication in Virtual Worlds

Science.gov (United States)

Wadley, Greg; Gibbs, Martin R.

This chapter summarizes 5 years of research on the implications of introducing voice communication systems to virtual worlds. Voice introduces both benefits and problems for players of fast-paced team games, from better coordination of groups and greater social presence of fellow players on the positive side, to negative features such as channel congestion, transmission of noise, and an unwillingness by some to use voice with strangers online. Similarly, in non-game worlds like Second Life, issues related to identity and impression management play important roles, as voice may build greater trust that is especially important for business users, yet it erodes the anonymity and ability to conceal social attributes like gender that are important for other users. A very different mixture of problems and opportunities exists when users conduct several simultaneous conversations in multiple text and voice channels. Technical difficulties still exist with current systems, including the challenge of debugging and harmonizing all the participants' voice setups. Different groups use virtual worlds for very different purposes, so a single modality may not suit all.

Voice preprocessing system incorporating a real-time spectrum analyzer with programmable switched-capacitor filters

Science.gov (United States)

Knapp, G.

1984-01-01

As part of a speaker verification program for BISS (Base Installation Security System), a test system is being designed with a flexible preprocessing system for the evaluation of voice spectrum/verification algorithm related problems. The main part of this report covers the design, construction, and testing of a voice analyzer with 16 integrating real-time frequency channels ranging from 300 Hz to 3 KHz. The bandpass filter response of each channel is programmable by NMOS switched capacitor quad filter arrays. Presently, the accuracy of these units is limited to a moderate precision by the finite steps of programming. However, repeatability of characteristics between filter units and sections seems to be excellent for the implemented fourth-order Butterworth bandpass responses. We obtained a 0.1 dB linearity error of signal detection and measured a signal-to-noise ratio of approximately 70 dB. The proprocessing system discussed includes preemphasis filter design, gain normalizer design, and data acquisition system design as well as test results.

Singing voice outcomes following singing voice therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Dastolfo-Hromack, Christina; Thomas, Tracey L; Rosen, Clark A; Gartner-Schmidt, Jackie

2016-11-01

The objectives of this study were to describe singing voice therapy (SVT), describe referred patient characteristics, and document the outcomes of SVT. Retrospective. Records of patients receiving SVT between June 2008 and June 2013 were reviewed (n = 51). All diagnoses were included. Demographic information, number of SVT sessions, and symptom severity were retrieved from the medical record. Symptom severity was measured via the 10-item Singing Voice Handicap Index (SVHI-10). Treatment outcome was analyzed by diagnosis, history of previous training, and SVHI-10. SVHI-10 scores decreased following SVT (mean change = 11, 40% decrease) (P singing lessons (n = 10) also completed an average of three SVT sessions. Primary muscle tension dysphonia (MTD1) and benign vocal fold lesion (lesion) were the most common diagnoses. Most patients (60%) had previous vocal training. SVHI-10 decrease was not significantly different between MTD and lesion. This is the first outcome-based study of SVT in a disordered population. Diagnosis of MTD or lesion did not influence treatment outcomes. Duration of SVT was short (approximately three sessions). Voice care providers are encouraged to partner with a singing voice therapist to provide optimal care for the singing voice. This study supports the use of SVT as a tool for the treatment of singing voice disorders. 4 Laryngoscope, 126:2546-2551, 2016. © 2016 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.

Effects of voice timbre and accompaniment on working memory as measured by sequential monosyllabic digit recall performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Silverman, Michael J; Schwartzberg, Edward T

2014-01-01

Information is often paired with music in an attempt to facilitate recall and enhance learning. However, there is a lack of basic research investigating how music carrying information might facilitate recall and subsequent learning. The purpose of the current study was to determine the effects of voice timbre and accompaniment on working memory as measured by recall performance on a sequential digit recall task. Specific research questions were as follows: (a) How might female and male voice timbres affect serial recall? (b) How might piano, guitar, and no accompaniment affect serial recall? (c) Do music majors have enhanced recall accuracy when compared to nonmusic majors? The recall of information paired with six different melodies was tested on 60 university students. Melodies were composed and recorded using female and male voices with three levels of accompaniment: guitar, piano, and no accompaniment. Participants had more accurate recall during the male voice and piano and no accompaniment conditions and least accurate recall during the female voice and guitar accompaniment conditions. As participants had most accurate recall during the male voice and with piano or no accompaniment, clinicians are encouraged to consider using no accompaniment or piano accompaniment when initially teaching social and academic information paired with music for later recall. When possible, vocal timbre (i.e., the potential benefit of male voicing) should also be considered. Implications for clinical practice, limitations of the study, and suggestions for future research are provided. © the American Music Therapy Association 2014. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

E-Mail at Work: Is it Really Private?

Science.gov (United States)

Rosenblum, Cindy

This paper examines the controversy of e-mail privacy in the workplace. Once an employee uses an e-mail system that belongs to the employer, according to recent case law, their privacy rights are forfeited. Employers will now have to start creating policies to safeguard themselves from expensive litigation, and employees will have to be more…

Voice amplification for primary school teachers with voice disorders: A randomized clinical trial

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roberto Bovo

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Objectives: Several studies have demonstrated a high prevalence of voice disorders in teachers, together with the personal, professional and economical consequences of the problem. Good primary prevention should be based on 3 aspects: 1 amelioration of classroom acoustics, 2 voice care programs for future professional voice users, including teachers and 3 classroom or portable amplification systems. The aim of the study was to assess the benefit obtained from the use of portable amplification systems by female primary school teachers in their occupational setting. Materials and Methods: Forty female primary school teachers attended a course about professional voice care, which comprised two theoretical lectures, each 60 min long. Thereafter, they were randomized into 2 groups: the teachers of the first group were asked to use a portable vocal amplifier for 3 months, till the end of school-year. The other 20 teachers were part of the control group, matched for age and years of employment. All subjects had a grade 1 of dysphonia with no significant organic lesion of the vocal folds. Results: Most teachers of the experimental group used the amplifier consistently for the whole duration of the experiment and found it very useful in reducing the symptoms of vocal fatigue. In fact, after 3 months, Voice Handicap Index (VHI scores in "course + amplifier" group demonstrated a significant amelioration (p = 0.003. The perceptual grade of dysphonia also improved significantly (p = 0.0005. The same parameters changed favourably also in the "course only" group, but the results were not statistically significant (p = 0.4 for VHI and p = 0.03 for perceptual grade. Conclusions: In teachers, and particularly in those with a constitutional weak voice and/or those who are prone to vocal fold pathology, vocal amplifiers may be an effective and low-cost intervention to decrease potentially damaging vocal loads and may represent a necessary form of prevention.

Admission Control of Integrated Voice and Data CDMA／TDD System Considering Asymmetric Traffic and Power Limit

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

CAOYanbo; ZHOUBin; LIChengshu

2004-01-01

In this paper, we research an admission control scheme of integrated voice and data CDMA/TDD (Code division multiple access/Time division duplex) system considering asymmetric traffic and power limit. A new user can access the system only if the outage probabilities it experiences on the uplink and downlink time slots are below a threshold value. Based on the power limit the results show the voice and data blocking probabilities under different cell coverage~ arrival rates and various uplink/downlink time slot allocation patterns. Furthermore, multicode and multislot schemes are also evaluated under the presented admission control scheme.

Voice and Speech Quality Perception Assessment and Evaluation

CERN Document Server

Jekosch, Ute

2005-01-01

Foundations of Voice and Speech Quality Perception starts out with the fundamental question of: "How do listeners perceive voice and speech quality and how can these processes be modeled?" Any quantitative answers require measurements. This is natural for physical quantities but harder to imagine for perceptual measurands. This book approaches the problem by actually identifying major perceptual dimensions of voice and speech quality perception, defining units wherever possible and offering paradigms to position these dimensions into a structural skeleton of perceptual speech and voice quality. The emphasis is placed on voice and speech quality assessment of systems in artificial scenarios. Many scientific fields are involved. This book bridges the gap between two quite diverse fields, engineering and humanities, and establishes the new research area of Voice and Speech Quality Perception.

I like my voice better: self-enhancement bias in perceptions of voice attractiveness.

Science.gov (United States)

Hughes, Susan M; Harrison, Marissa A

2013-01-01

Previous research shows that the human voice can communicate a wealth of nonsemantic information; preferences for voices can predict health, fertility, and genetic quality of the speaker, and people often use voice attractiveness, in particular, to make these assessments of others. But it is not known what we think of the attractiveness of our own voices as others hear them. In this study eighty men and women rated the attractiveness of an array of voice recordings of different individuals and were not told that their own recorded voices were included in the presentation. Results showed that participants rated their own voices as sounding more attractive than others had rated their voices, and participants also rated their own voices as sounding more attractive than they had rated the voices of others. These findings suggest that people may engage in vocal implicit egotism, a form of self-enhancement.

Associations between the Transsexual Voice Questionnaire (TVQMtF ) and self-report of voice femininity and acoustic voice measures.

Science.gov (United States)

Dacakis, Georgia; Oates, Jennifer; Douglas, Jacinta

2017-11-01

The Transsexual Voice Questionnaire (TVQ MtF ) was designed to capture the voice-related perceptions of individuals whose gender identity as female is the opposite of their birth-assigned gender (MtF women). Evaluation of the psychometric properties of the TVQ MtF is ongoing. To investigate associations between TVQ MtF scores and (1) self-perceptions of voice femininity and (2) acoustic parameters of voice pitch and voice quality in order to evaluate further the validity of the TVQ MtF . A strong correlation between TVQ MtF scores and self-ratings of voice femininity was predicted, but no association between TVQ MtF scores and acoustic measures of voice pitch and quality was proposed. Participants were 148 MtF women (mean age 48.14 years) recruited from the La Trobe Communication Clinic and the clinics of three doctors specializing in transgender health. All participants completed the TVQ MtF and 34 of these participants also provided a voice sample for acoustic analysis. Pearson product-moment correlation analysis was conducted to examine the associations between TVQ MtF scores and (1) self-perceptions of voice femininity and (2) acoustic measures of F0, jitter (%), shimmer (dB) and harmonic-to-noise ratio (HNR). Strong negative correlations between the participants' perceptions of their voice femininity and the TVQ MtF scores demonstrated that for this group of MtF women a low self-rating of voice femininity was associated with more frequent negative voice-related experiences. This association was strongest with the vocal-functioning component of the TVQ MtF . These strong correlations and high levels of shared variance between the TVQ MtF and a measure of a related construct provides evidence for the convergent validity of the TVQ MtF . The absence of significant correlations between the TVQ MtF and the acoustic data is consistent with the equivocal findings of earlier research. This finding indicates that these two measures assess different aspects of the voice

The recognition of female voice based on voice registers in singing techniques in real-time using hankel transform method and macdonald function

Science.gov (United States)

Meiyanti, R.; Subandi, A.; Fuqara, N.; Budiman, M. A.; Siahaan, A. P. U.

2018-03-01

A singer doesn’t just recite the lyrics of a song, but also with the use of particular sound techniques to make it more beautiful. In the singing technique, more female have a diverse sound registers than male. There are so many registers of the human voice, but the voice registers used while singing, among others, Chest Voice, Head Voice, Falsetto, and Vocal fry. Research of speech recognition based on the female’s voice registers in singing technique is built using Borland Delphi 7.0. Speech recognition process performed by the input recorded voice samples and also in real time. Voice input will result in weight energy values based on calculations using Hankel Transformation method and Macdonald Functions. The results showed that the accuracy of the system depends on the accuracy of sound engineering that trained and tested, and obtained an average percentage of the successful introduction of the voice registers record reached 48.75 percent, while the average percentage of the successful introduction of the voice registers in real time to reach 57 percent.

Self Assistive Technology for Disabled People – Voice Controlled Wheel Chair and Home Automation System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Puviarasi

2014-07-01

Full Text Available This paper describes the design of an innovative and low cost self-assistive technology that is used to facilitate the control of a wheelchair and home appliances by using advanced voice commands of the disabled people. This proposed system will provide an alternative to the physically challenged people with quadriplegics who is permanently unable to move their limbs (but who is able to speak and hear and elderly people in controlling the motion of the wheelchair and home appliances using their voices to lead an independent, confident and enjoyable life. The performance of this microcontroller based and voice integrated design is evaluated in terms of accuracy and velocity in various environments. The results show that it could be part of an assistive technology for the disabled persons without any third person’s assistance.

Connections between voice ergonomic risk factors in classrooms and teachers' voice production.

Science.gov (United States)

Rantala, Leena M; Hakala, Suvi; Holmqvist, Sofia; Sala, Eeva

2012-01-01

The aim of the study was to investigate if voice ergonomic risk factors in classrooms correlated with acoustic parameters of teachers' voice production. The voice ergonomic risk factors in the fields of working culture, working postures and indoor air quality were assessed in 40 classrooms using the Voice Ergonomic Assessment in Work Environment - Handbook and Checklist. Teachers (32 females, 8 males) from the above-mentioned classrooms recorded text readings before and after a working day. Fundamental frequency, sound pressure level (SPL) and the slope of the spectrum (alpha ratio) were analyzed. The higher the number of the risk factors in the classrooms, the higher SPL the teachers used and the more strained the males' voices (increased alpha ratio) were. The SPL was already higher before the working day in the teachers with higher risk than in those with lower risk. In the working environment with many voice ergonomic risk factors, speakers increase voice loudness and use more strained voice quality (males). A practical implication of the results is that voice ergonomic assessments are needed in schools. Copyright © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Voice-Controlled and Wireless Solid Set Canopy Delivery (VCW-SSCD System for Mist-Cooling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yiannis Ampatzidis

2018-02-01

Full Text Available California growers in the San Joaquin Valley believe that climate change will affect the pistachio yield dramatically. As the central valley fog disappears, insufficient dormant chill accumulation results in poor flowering synchrony, flower quality, and fruit set in this dioecious species. We have developed a novel, user-friendly, and low-cost Voice-Controlled Wireless Solid Set Canopy Delivery (VCW-SSCD system to increase bud chill accumulation with evaporative cooling on sunny (winter days. This system includes: (i an automated solid-state canopy delivery (SSCD system; (ii a wireless weather-, crop-related data acquisition system; (iii a Voice-Controlled (VC system using Amazon Alexa; (iv a mobile application to visualize the collected data and wirelessly control the SSCD system; and (v a smart control system. The proposed system was deployed and evaluated in a commercial pistachio orchard in Bakersfield, CA. The system worked well with no reported errors. Results demonstrated the system’s ability to cool bud temperatures in a low relative humidity climate. At an ambient temperature of 10–20 °C, bud temperatures were lowered 5–10 °C.

Mail distribution

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2007-01-01

Please note that starting from 1 March 2007, the mail distribution and collection times will be modified for the following buildings: 6, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 29, 69, 40, 70, 101, 102, 109, 118, 152, 153, 154, 155, 166, 167, 169, 171, 174, 261, 354, 358, 576, 579 and 580. Complementary Information on the new times will be posted on the entry doors and left in the mail boxes of each building. TS/FM Group

78 FR 63915 - New Mailing Standards for Domestic Mailing Services Products

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2013-10-25

... action, regardless of the class of mail or the extra service being purchased. This has resulted in... accountable mail, including a Return Receipt (Form 3811) purchased with the applicable extra service. Although... require a Form 1508 submission with the claim. Also, gift cards, most of which are replaceable, are being...

76 FR 37655 - Combined Mailings of Standard Mail and Periodicals Flats

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2011-06-28

... Periodicals flats to be made using a minimum of six (6) pieces, as is currently permitted for Periodicals... Regulations to reflect that the Standard Mail service standards apply to all Periodicals flats pieces entered... for Standard Mail of 200 pieces or 50 pounds. Periodicals publications must be authorized or have a...

Voice Habits and Behaviors: Voice Care Among Flamenco Singers.

Science.gov (United States)

Garzón García, Marina; Muñoz López, Juana; Y Mendoza Lara, Elvira

2017-03-01

The purpose of this study is to analyze the vocal behavior of flamenco singers, as compared with classical music singers, to establish a differential vocal profile of voice habits and behaviors in flamenco music. Bibliographic review was conducted, and the Singer's Vocal Habits Questionnaire, an experimental tool designed by the authors to gather data regarding hygiene behavior, drinking and smoking habits, type of practice, voice care, and symptomatology perceived in both the singing and the speaking voice, was administered. We interviewed 94 singers, divided into two groups: the flamenco experimental group (FEG, n = 48) and the classical control group (CCG, n = 46). Frequency analysis, a Likert scale, and discriminant and exploratory factor analysis were used to obtain a differential profile for each group. The FEG scored higher than the CCG in speaking voice symptomatology. The FEG scored significantly higher than the CCG in use of "inadequate vocal technique" when singing. Regarding voice habits, the FEG scored higher in "lack of practice and warm-up" and "environmental habits." A total of 92.6% of the subjects classified themselves correctly in each group. The Singer's Vocal Habits Questionnaire has proven effective in differentiating flamenco and classical singers. Flamenco singers are exposed to numerous vocal risk factors that make them more prone to vocal fatigue, mucosa dehydration, phonotrauma, and muscle stiffness than classical singers. Further research is needed in voice training in flamenco music, as a means to strengthen the voice and enable it to meet the requirements of this musical genre. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

PERANCANGAN MAIL SERVER ZIMBRA MENGGUNAKAN TEKNOLOGI VIRTUALISASI STUDI KASUS : SMK PANCAKARYA KOTA TANGERANG

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Heru Prasetiawan

2017-05-01

Full Text Available The development of information technology is growing rapidly spur the emergence of new technologies are constantly evolving. The development of technologies that generate more reliable, efficient, economical, and powerful than previous technology. Electronic mail (email is a form of communication and correspondence electronically through a computer system and transmitted to another computer that is intended to traverse the computer network. The existence of mail server is needed to support the communication needs via email. Zimbra Mail Server is implemented using virtualization technology with the operating system Proxmox which is a Linux distribution based on Debian and to guestnya operating system SLES (Suse Linux Enterprise Server. This research was conducted at the agency already has a previous computer networking facilities, so that the research was conducted to complement the needs of the mail server at the institution. The result achieved is a mail application server using virtualization technology that has the facilities and the web-based mail client applications, antivirus and antispam.

Sound induced activity in voice sensitive cortex predicts voice memory ability

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rebecca eWatson

2012-04-01

Full Text Available The ‘temporal voice areas’ (TVAs (Belin et al., 2000 of the human brain show greater neuronal activity in response to human voices than to other categories of nonvocal sounds. However, a direct link between TVA activity and voice perceptionbehaviour has not yet been established. Here we show that a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI measure of activity in the TVAs predicts individual performance at a separately administered voice memory test. This relation holds whengeneral sound memory ability is taken into account. These findings provide the first evidence that the TVAs are specifically involved in voice cognition.

The IE Middle Voice: A Study in Syntactic Strategy and Syntactic Change.

Science.gov (United States)

Barber, Elizabeth

The active/passive system of English grew out of a Proto-Indo-European (PIE) system where the fundamental distinction was between active and middle voices. The middle voice included within its functions the relationship that now would be known as passive. The PIE voice system is preserved in ancient Greek and Sanskrit, and in the former, the…

Integrating cues of social interest and voice pitch in men's preferences for women's voices.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Benedict C; Feinberg, David R; Debruine, Lisa M; Little, Anthony C; Vukovic, Jovana

2008-04-23

Most previous studies of vocal attractiveness have focused on preferences for physical characteristics of voices such as pitch. Here we examine the content of vocalizations in interaction with such physical traits, finding that vocal cues of social interest modulate the strength of men's preferences for raised pitch in women's voices. Men showed stronger preferences for raised pitch when judging the voices of women who appeared interested in the listener than when judging the voices of women who appeared relatively disinterested in the listener. These findings show that voice preferences are not determined solely by physical properties of voices and that men integrate information about voice pitch and the degree of social interest expressed by women when forming voice preferences. Women's preferences for raised pitch in women's voices were not modulated by cues of social interest, suggesting that the integration of cues of social interest and voice pitch when men judge the attractiveness of women's voices may reflect adaptations that promote efficient allocation of men's mating effort.

Voice Therapy Practices and Techniques: A Survey of Voice Clinicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Mueller, Peter B.; Larson, George W.

1992-01-01

Eighty-three voice disorder therapists' ratings of statements regarding voice therapy practices indicated that vocal nodules are the most frequent disorder treated; vocal abuse and hard glottal attack elimination, counseling, and relaxation were preferred treatment approaches; and voice therapy is more effective with adults than with children.…

76 FR 16460 - Mail Classification Change for Priority Mail Flat Mail

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2011-03-23

... online model and the retail model. The online model will allow customers to purchase packs from a Web... offer those packs in their stores directly to their customers. The Postal Service includes five... noticing a recently-filed Postal Service request to provide Forever postage on Priority Mail Flat Rate...

On Successful E-Mail Writing

OpenAIRE

Vesna Vulić

2009-01-01

This article is intended to be a simplified guide for the efficient use of e-mail in business and private communication in English. E-mailing is frequently used as a substitute for other kinds of communication in today’s working environment, due in particular, to the fact that messages are transmitted instantly, irrespective of the distance of the recipient. Due to the speed and volume of e-mail, mastering the art of effective e-mail writing includes the knowledge of Network Etiquette o...

Practical applications of interactive voice technologies: Some accomplishments and prospects

Science.gov (United States)

Grady, Michael W.; Hicklin, M. B.; Porter, J. E.

1977-01-01

A technology assessment of the application of computers and electronics to complex systems is presented. Three existing systems which utilize voice technology (speech recognition and speech generation) are described. Future directions in voice technology are also described.

Remote upgrade and control system of NAT crossing based on mail protocol

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chen Lei

2017-02-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes a new scheme which uses transmits information such as related IP address and port by the mail server POP3 and SMTP protocol to realize net address turning (NAT crossing.The UDP connection between client and device node is realized by using "burrow" technology.Compared to the scheme that uses procedure server to realize NAT crossing schemes by the "burrow" technology,our scheme has advantages of saving operating costs,improving the stability of the system and enhancing the transferability of the system.With multiple equipment node,and a variety of network environment,we introduces the firmware update module,designs and realizes the remote upgrade and the control system of an intelligent device of Internet of Things based on the proposed scheme,and discusses the robustness of the system.

Social Studies by Electronic Mail.

Science.gov (United States)

Barr, Hugh

1994-01-01

Asserts that electronic mail provides opportunities to engage students actively in cross-cultural contact with students in other nations. Discusses advantages and problems with using electronic mail in the social studies classroom. Describes electronic mail projects that link students in New Zealand, England, and the United States. (CFR)

Voice following radiotherapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stoicheff, M.L.

1975-01-01

This study was undertaken to provide information on the voice of patients following radiotherapy for glottic cancer. Part I presents findings from questionnaires returned by 227 of 235 patients successfully irradiated for glottic cancer from 1960 through 1971. Part II presents preliminary findings on the speaking fundamental frequencies of 22 irradiated patients. Normal to near-normal voice was reported by 83 percent of the 227 patients; however, 80 percent did indicate persisting vocal difficulties such as fatiguing of voice with much usage, inability to sing, reduced loudness, hoarse voice quality and inability to shout. Amount of talking during treatments appeared to affect length of time for voice to recover following treatments in those cases where it took from nine to 26 weeks; also, with increasing years since treatment, patients rated their voices more favorably. Smoking habits following treatments improved significantly with only 27 percent smoking heavily as compared with 65 percent prior to radiation therapy. No correlation was found between smoking (during or after treatments) and vocal ratings or between smoking and length of time for voice to recover. There was no relationship found between reported vocal ratings and stage of the disease

Voices Not Heard: Voice-Use Profiles of Elementary Music Teachers, the Effects of Voice Amplification on Vocal Load, and Perceptions of Issues Surrounding Voice Use

Science.gov (United States)

Morrow, Sharon L.

2009-01-01

Teachers represent the largest group of occupational voice users and have voice-related problems at a rate of over twice that found in the general population. Among teachers, music teachers are roughly four times more likely than classroom teachers to develop voice-related problems. Although it has been established that music teachers use their…

Dimensionality in voice quality.

Science.gov (United States)

Bele, Irene Velsvik

2007-05-01

This study concerns speaking voice quality in a group of male teachers (n = 35) and male actors (n = 36), as the purpose was to investigate normal and supranormal voices. The goal was the development of a method of valid perceptual evaluation for normal to supranormal and resonant voices. The voices (text reading at two loudness levels) had been evaluated by 10 listeners, for 15 vocal characteristics using VA scales. In this investigation, the results of an exploratory factor analysis of the vocal characteristics used in this method are presented, reflecting four dimensions of major importance for normal and supranormal voices. Special emphasis is placed on the effects on voice quality of a change in the loudness variable, as two loudness levels are studied. Furthermore, the vocal characteristics Sonority and Ringing voice quality are paid special attention, as the essence of the term "resonant voice" was a basic issue throughout a doctoral dissertation where this study was included.

[Assessment of voice acoustic parameters in female teachers with diagnosed occupational voice disorders].

Science.gov (United States)

Niebudek-Bogusz, Ewa; Fiszer, Marta; Sliwińska-Kowalska, Mariola

2005-01-01

Laryngovideostroboscopy is the method most frequently used in the assessment of voice disorders. However, the employment of quantitative methods, such as voice acoustic analysis, is essential for evaluating the effectiveness of prophylactic and therapeutic activities as well as for objective medical certification of larynx pathologies. The aim of this study was to examine voice acoustic parameters in female teachers with occupational voice diseases. Acoustic analysis (IRIS software) was performed in 66 female teachers, including 35 teachers with occupational voice diseases and 31 with functional dysphonia. The teachers with occupational voice diseases presented the lower average fundamental frequency (193 Hz) compared to the group with functional dysphonia (209 Hz) and to the normative value (236 Hz), whereas other acoustic parameters did not differ significantly in both groups. Voice acoustic analysis, when applied separately from vocal loading, cannot be used as a testing method to verify the diagnosis of occupational voice disorders.

76 FR 76619 - International Mail: New Prices and Fee Changes-Mailing Services

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2011-12-08

... fraction thereof)......... 0.80 Duplicate copy of PS Form 3606 1.15 * * * * * International Business Reply Service (382) [For each country that offers International Business Reply Service, revise the fees to read... POSTAL SERVICE 39 CFR Part 20 International Mail: New Prices and Fee Changes--Mailing Services...

Muscular tension and body posture in relation to voice handicap and voice quality in teachers with persistent voice complaints.

Science.gov (United States)

Kooijman, P G C; de Jong, F I C R S; Oudes, M J; Huinck, W; van Acht, H; Graamans, K

2005-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between extrinsic laryngeal muscular hypertonicity and deviant body posture on the one hand and voice handicap and voice quality on the other hand in teachers with persistent voice complaints and a history of voice-related absenteeism. The study group consisted of 25 female teachers. A voice therapist assessed extrinsic laryngeal muscular tension and a physical therapist assessed body posture. The assessed parameters were clustered in categories. The parameters in the different categories represent the same function. Further a tension/posture index was created, which is the summation of the different parameters. The different parameters and the index were related to the Voice Handicap Index (VHI) and the Dysphonia Severity Index (DSI). The scores of the VHI and the individual parameters differ significantly except for the posterior weight bearing and tension of the sternocleidomastoid muscle. There was also a significant difference between the individual parameters and the DSI, except for tension of the cricothyroid muscle and posterior weight bearing. The score of the tension/posture index correlates significantly with both the VHI and the DSI. In a linear regression analysis, the combination of hypertonicity of the sternocleidomastoid, the geniohyoid muscles and posterior weight bearing is the most important predictor for a high voice handicap. The combination of hypertonicity of the geniohyoid muscle, posterior weight bearing, high position of the hyoid bone, hypertonicity of the cricothyroid muscle and anteroposition of the head is the most important predictor for a low DSI score. The results of this study show the higher the score of the index, the higher the score of the voice handicap and the worse the voice quality is. Moreover, the results are indicative for the importance of assessment of muscular tension and body posture in the diagnosis of voice disorders.

Mindfulness of voices, self-compassion, and secure attachment in relation to the experience of hearing voices.

Science.gov (United States)

Dudley, James; Eames, Catrin; Mulligan, John; Fisher, Naomi

2018-03-01

Developing compassion towards oneself has been linked to improvement in many areas of psychological well-being, including psychosis. Furthermore, developing a non-judgemental, accepting way of relating to voices is associated with lower levels of distress for people who hear voices. These factors have also been associated with secure attachment. This study explores associations between the constructs of mindfulness of voices, self-compassion, and distress from hearing voices and how secure attachment style related to each of these variables. Cross-sectional online. One hundred and twenty-eight people (73% female; M age  = 37.5; 87.5% Caucasian) who currently hear voices completed the Self-Compassion Scale, Southampton Mindfulness of Voices Questionnaire, Relationships Questionnaire, and Hamilton Programme for Schizophrenia Voices Questionnaire. Results showed that mindfulness of voices mediated the relationship between self-compassion and severity of voices, and self-compassion mediated the relationship between mindfulness of voices and severity of voices. Self-compassion and mindfulness of voices were significantly positively correlated with each other and negatively correlated with distress and severity of voices. Mindful relation to voices and self-compassion are associated with reduced distress and severity of voices, which supports the proposed potential benefits of mindful relating to voices and self-compassion as therapeutic skills for people experiencing distress by voice hearing. Greater self-compassion and mindfulness of voices were significantly associated with less distress from voices. These findings support theory underlining compassionate mind training. Mindfulness of voices mediated the relationship between self-compassion and distress from voices, indicating a synergistic relationship between the constructs. Although the current findings do not give a direction of causation, consideration is given to the potential impact of mindful and

Reproducibility of Automated Voice Range Profiles, a Systematic Literature Review

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Printz, Trine; Rosenberg, Tine; Godballe, Christian

2018-01-01

literature on test-retest accuracy of the automated voice range profile assessment. Study design: Systematic review. Data sources: PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library, ComDisDome, Embase, and CINAHL (EBSCO). Methods: We conducted a systematic literature search of six databases from 1983 to 2016. The following......Objective: Reliable voice range profiles are of great importance when measuring effects and side effects from surgery affecting voice capacity. Automated recording systems are increasingly used, but the reproducibility of results is uncertain. Our objective was to identify and review the existing...... keywords were used: phonetogram, voice range profile, and acoustic voice analysis. Inclusion criteria were automated recording procedure, healthy voices, and no intervention between test and retest. Test-retest values concerning fundamental frequency and voice intensity were reviewed. Results: Of 483...

39 CFR 121.3 - Standard Mail.

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2010-07-01

... 39 Postal Service 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Standard Mail. 121.3 Section 121.3 Postal Service UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE POST OFFICE SERVICES [DOMESTIC MAIL] SERVICE STANDARDS FOR MARKET-DOMINANT MAIL PRODUCTS § 121.3 Standard Mail. (a) End-to-End. (1) The service standard for Sectional Center...

Using voice to create hospital progress notes: Description of a mobile application and supporting system integrated with a commercial electronic health record.

Science.gov (United States)

Payne, Thomas H; Alonso, W David; Markiel, J Andrew; Lybarger, Kevin; White, Andrew A

2018-01-01

We describe the development and design of a smartphone app-based system to create inpatient progress notes using voice, commercial automatic speech recognition software, with text processing to recognize spoken voice commands and format the note, and integration with a commercial EHR. This new system fits hospital rounding workflow and was used to support a randomized clinical trial testing whether use of voice to create notes improves timeliness of note availability, note quality, and physician satisfaction with the note creation process. The system was used to create 709 notes which were placed in the corresponding patient's EHR record. The median time from pressing the Send button to appearance of the formatted note in the Inbox was 8.8 min. It was generally very reliable, accepted by physician users, and secure. This approach provides an alternative to use of keyboard and templates to create progress notes and may appeal to physicians who prefer voice to typing. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Face the voice

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lønstrup, Ansa

2014-01-01

will be based on a reception aesthetic and phenomenological approach, the latter as presented by Don Ihde in his book Listening and Voice. Phenomenologies of Sound , and my analytical sketches will be related to theoretical statements concerning the understanding of voice and media (Cavarero, Dolar, La......Belle, Neumark). Finally, the article will discuss the specific artistic combination and our auditory experience of mediated human voices and sculpturally projected faces in an art museum context under the general conditions of the societal panophonia of disembodied and mediated voices, as promoted by Steven...

76 FR 3679 - Market Test of Marketing Mail Made Easy

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-20

... POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION [Docket No. MT2011-3; Order No. 649] Market Test of Marketing Mail... recently-filed Postal Service proposal to conduct a 2-year market test involving the sale of Marketing Mail..., 2011. ADDRESSES: Submit comments electronically via the Commission's Filing Online system at http://www...

Listening to Young Children's Voices: The Evaluation of a Coding System

Science.gov (United States)

Tertoolen, Anja; Geldens, Jeannette; van Oers, Bert; Popeijus, Herman

2015-01-01

Listening to young children's voices is an issue with increasing relevance for many researchers in the field of early childhood research. At the same time, teachers and researchers are faced with challenges to provide children with possibilities to express their notions, and to find ways of comprehending children's voices. In our research we aim…

"Voice Forum" The Human Voice as Primary Instrument in Music Therapy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Inge Nygaard; Storm, Sanne

2009-01-01

Aspects will be drawn on the human voice as tool for embodying our psychological and physiological state, and attempting integration of feelings. Presentations and dialogues on different methods and techniques in "Therapy related body-and voice work.", as well as the human voice as a tool for non...

Implicit multisensory associations influence voice recognition.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katharina von Kriegstein

2006-10-01

Full Text Available Natural objects provide partially redundant information to the brain through different sensory modalities. For example, voices and faces both give information about the speech content, age, and gender of a person. Thanks to this redundancy, multimodal recognition is fast, robust, and automatic. In unimodal perception, however, only part of the information about an object is available. Here, we addressed whether, even under conditions of unimodal sensory input, crossmodal neural circuits that have been shaped by previous associative learning become activated and underpin a performance benefit. We measured brain activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging before, while, and after participants learned to associate either sensory redundant stimuli, i.e. voices and faces, or arbitrary multimodal combinations, i.e. voices and written names, ring tones, and cell phones or brand names of these cell phones. After learning, participants were better at recognizing unimodal auditory voices that had been paired with faces than those paired with written names, and association of voices with faces resulted in an increased functional coupling between voice and face areas. No such effects were observed for ring tones that had been paired with cell phones or names. These findings demonstrate that brief exposure to ecologically valid and sensory redundant stimulus pairs, such as voices and faces, induces specific multisensory associations. Consistent with predictive coding theories, associative representations become thereafter available for unimodal perception and facilitate object recognition. These data suggest that for natural objects effective predictive signals can be generated across sensory systems and proceed by optimization of functional connectivity between specialized cortical sensory modules.

Voice and gesture-based 3D multimedia presentation tool

Science.gov (United States)

Fukutake, Hiromichi; Akazawa, Yoshiaki; Okada, Yoshihiro

2007-09-01

This paper proposes a 3D multimedia presentation tool that allows the user to manipulate intuitively only through the voice input and the gesture input without using a standard keyboard or a mouse device. The authors developed this system as a presentation tool to be used in a presentation room equipped a large screen like an exhibition room in a museum because, in such a presentation environment, it is better to use voice commands and the gesture pointing input rather than using a keyboard or a mouse device. This system was developed using IntelligentBox, which is a component-based 3D graphics software development system. IntelligentBox has already provided various types of 3D visible, reactive functional components called boxes, e.g., a voice input component and various multimedia handling components. IntelligentBox also provides a dynamic data linkage mechanism called slot-connection that allows the user to develop 3D graphics applications by combining already existing boxes through direct manipulations on a computer screen. Using IntelligentBox, the 3D multimedia presentation tool proposed in this paper was also developed as combined components only through direct manipulations on a computer screen. The authors have already proposed a 3D multimedia presentation tool using a stage metaphor and its voice input interface. This time, we extended the system to make it accept the user gesture input besides voice commands. This paper explains details of the proposed 3D multimedia presentation tool and especially describes its component-based voice and gesture input interfaces.

Contrast enhancement of mail piece images

Science.gov (United States)

Shin, Yong-Chul; Sridhar, Ramalingam; Demjanenko, Victor; Palumbo, Paul W.; Hull, Jonathan J.

1992-08-01

A New approach to contrast enhancement of mail piece images is presented. The contrast enhancement is used as a preprocessing step in the real-time address block location (RT-ABL) system. The RT-ABL system processes a stream of mail piece images and locates destination address blocks. Most of the mail pieces (classified into letters) show high contrast between background and foreground. As an extreme case, however, the seasonal greeting cards usually use colored envelopes which results in reduced contrast osured by an error rate by using a linear distributed associative memory (DAM). The DAM is trained to recognize the spectra of three classes of images: with high, medium, and low OCR error rates. The DAM is not forced to make a classification every time. It is allowed to reject as unknown a spectrum presented that does not closely resemble any that has been stored in the DAM. The DAM was fairly accurate with noisy images but conservative (i.e., rejected several text images as unknowns) when there was little ground and foreground degradations without affecting the nondegraded images. This approach provides local enhancement which adapts to local features. In order to simplify the computation of A and (sigma) , dynamic programming technique is used. Implementation details, performance, and the results on test images are presented in this paper.

Application of AI techniques to a voice-actuated computer system for reconstructing and displaying magnetic resonance imaging data

Science.gov (United States)

Sherley, Patrick L.; Pujol, Alfonso, Jr.; Meadow, John S.

1990-07-01

To provide a means of rendering complex computer architectures languages and input/output modalities transparent to experienced and inexperienced users research is being conducted to develop a voice driven/voice response computer graphics imaging system. The system will be used for reconstructing and displaying computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging scan data. In conjunction with this study an artificial intelligence (Al) control strategy was developed to interface the voice components and support software to the computer graphics functions implemented on the Sun Microsystems 4/280 color graphics workstation. Based on generated text and converted renditions of verbal utterances by the user the Al control strategy determines the user''s intent and develops and validates a plan. The program type and parameters within the plan are used as input to the graphics system for reconstructing and displaying medical image data corresponding to that perceived intent. If the plan is not valid the control strategy queries the user for additional information. The control strategy operates in a conversation mode and vocally provides system status reports. A detailed examination of the various AT techniques is presented with major emphasis being placed on their specific roles within the total control strategy structure. 1.

Voice Use Among Music Theory Teachers: A Voice Dosimetry and Self-Assessment Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Schiller, Isabel S; Morsomme, Dominique; Remacle, Angélique

2017-07-25

This study aimed (1) to investigate music theory teachers' professional and extra-professional vocal loading and background noise exposure, (2) to determine the correlation between vocal loading and background noise, and (3) to determine the correlation between vocal loading and self-evaluation data. Using voice dosimetry, 13 music theory teachers were monitored for one workweek. The parameters analyzed were voice sound pressure level (SPL), fundamental frequency (F0), phonation time, vocal loading index (VLI), and noise SPL. Spearman correlation was used to correlate vocal loading parameters (voice SPL, F0, and phonation time) and noise SPL. Each day, the subjects self-assessed their voice using visual analog scales. VLI and self-evaluation data were correlated using Spearman correlation. Vocal loading parameters and noise SPL were significantly higher in the professional than in the extra-professional environment. Voice SPL, phonation time, and female subjects' F0 correlated positively with noise SPL. VLI correlated with self-assessed voice quality, vocal fatigue, and amount of singing and speaking voice produced. Teaching music theory is a profession with high vocal demands. More background noise is associated with increased vocal loading and may indirectly increase the risk for voice disorders. Correlations between VLI and self-assessments suggest that these teachers are well aware of their vocal demands and feel their effect on voice quality and vocal fatigue. Visual analog scales seem to represent a useful tool for subjective vocal loading assessment and associated symptoms in these professional voice users. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The effectiveness of the installation of a mobile voice communication system in a university hospital.

Science.gov (United States)

Hanada, Eisuke; Fujiki, Tadayoshi; Nakakuni, Hideaki; Sullivan, Corbet Vernon

2006-04-01

In large hospitals, collaborative clinical practice is currently emphasized, with members of various departments expected to work as a team. The importance of accurate communication among the team members is of utmost importance. To improve such communication, the introduction of mobile voice communication systems has received much attention in Japan. Shimane University Hospital also introduced a Personal Handy-phone System (PHS) for doctors. In the traditional setting, much time was wasted searching for doctors through multiple calls on fixed-line telephones. In order to measure the effectiveness of our system, the change in the number of calls made on fixed-line telephones before and after PHS installation was compared. The total number of calls was reduced by more than 35%, and the number of calls to the wards on weekdays was reduced by half. Mobile telecommunication systems with small output power, such as PHS, are known to cause little interference with medical devices which makes it possible to use mobile voice communication safely in hospitals. The improvement in communication by this systems resulted in an improvement in labor efficiency.

Internet versus mail

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olsen, Søren Bøye

In a choice experiment setup, this paper suggests that internet surveys can be a viable alternative to traditional mail surveys when gathering feedback from a sample of respondents. In a study concerning preferences for avoiding encroachment of nature areas in future motorway planning in Denmark......, two samples of respondents are surveyed – one by internet and one by mail. Results suggest that additional self-selection mechanisms in the internet survey mode lead to the internet sample being less representative of the survey population than is the case for the mail sample. Similar response rates...... are obtained in the two samples, but the internet sample is apparently less prone to protest bidding. A thorough parametric analysis cannot reject that stated preferences elicited by use of the two different modes of sampling are identical. This suggests that the fear of a potential survey mode effect...

Voice loops as coordination aids in space shuttle mission control.

Science.gov (United States)

Patterson, E S; Watts-Perotti, J; Woods, D D

1999-01-01

Voice loops, an auditory groupware technology, are essential coordination support tools for experienced practitioners in domains such as air traffic management, aircraft carrier operations and space shuttle mission control. They support synchronous communication on multiple channels among groups of people who are spatially distributed. In this paper, we suggest reasons for why the voice loop system is a successful medium for supporting coordination in space shuttle mission control based on over 130 hours of direct observation. Voice loops allow practitioners to listen in on relevant communications without disrupting their own activities or the activities of others. In addition, the voice loop system is structured around the mission control organization, and therefore directly supports the demands of the domain. By understanding how voice loops meet the particular demands of the mission control environment, insight can be gained for the design of groupware tools to support cooperative activity in other event-driven domains.

Writing with Voice

Science.gov (United States)

Kesler, Ted

2012-01-01

In this Teaching Tips article, the author argues for a dialogic conception of voice, based in the work of Mikhail Bakhtin. He demonstrates a dialogic view of voice in action, using two writing examples about the same topic from his daughter, a fifth-grade student. He then provides five practical tips for teaching a dialogic conception of voice in…

Marshall’s Voice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Halper Thomas

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Most judicial opinions, for a variety of reasons, do not speak with the voice of identifiable judges, but an analysis of several of John Marshall’s best known opinions reveals a distinctive voice, with its characteristic language and style of argumentation. The power of this voice helps to account for the influence of his views.

Syllogisms delivered in an angry voice lead to improved performance and engagement of a different neural system compared to neutral voice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kathleen Walton Smith

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Despite the fact that most real-world reasoning occurs in some emotional context, very little is known about the underlying behavioral and neural implications of such context. To further understand the role of emotional context in logical reasoning we scanned 15 participants with fMRI while they engaged in logical reasoning about neutral syllogisms presented through the auditory channel in a sad, angry, or neutral tone of voice. Exposure to angry voice led to improved reasoning performance compared to exposure to sad and neutral voice. A likely explanation for this effect is that exposure to expressions of anger increases selective attention toward the relevant features of target stimuli, in this case the reasoning task. Supporting this interpretation, reasoning in the context of angry voice was accompanied by activation in the superior frontal gyrus—a region known to be associated with selective attention. Our findings contribute to a greater understanding of the neural processes that underlie reasoning in an emotional context by demonstrating that two emotional contexts, despite being of the same (negative valence, have different effects on reasoning.

English Voicing in Dimensional Theory*

Science.gov (United States)

Iverson, Gregory K.; Ahn, Sang-Cheol

2007-01-01

Assuming a framework of privative features, this paper interprets two apparently disparate phenomena in English phonology as structurally related: the lexically specific voicing of fricatives in plural nouns like wives or thieves and the prosodically governed “flapping” of medial /t/ (and /d/) in North American varieties, which we claim is itself not a rule per se, but rather a consequence of the laryngeal weakening of fortis /t/ in interaction with speech-rate determined segmental abbreviation. Taking as our point of departure the Dimensional Theory of laryngeal representation developed by Avery & Idsardi (2001), along with their assumption that English marks voiceless obstruents but not voiced ones (Iverson & Salmons 1995), we find that an unexpected connection between fricative voicing and coronal flapping emerges from the interplay of familiar phonemic and phonetic factors in the phonological system. PMID:18496590

Using the Voice to Design Ceramics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Flemming Tvede; Jensen, Kristoffer

2011-01-01

Digital technology makes new possibilities in ceramic craft. This project is about how experiential knowledge that the craftsmen gains in a direct physical and tactile interaction with a responding material can be transformed and utilized in the use of digital technologies. The project presents...... to make ceramic results. The system demonstrates the close connection between digital technology and craft practice....... SoundShaping, a system to create ceramics from the human voice. Based on a generic audio feature extraction system, and the principal component analysis to ensure that the pertinent information in the voice is used, a 3D shape is created using simple geometric rules. This shape is output to a 3D printer...

A pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis-Pre-clinical trials of controlling the voice onset and offset.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmadi, Farzaneh; Noorian, Farzad; Novakovic, Daniel; van Schaik, André

2018-01-01

Despite emergent progress in many fields of bionics, a functional Bionic Voice prosthesis for laryngectomy patients (larynx amputees) has not yet been achieved, leading to a lifetime of vocal disability for these patients. This study introduces a novel framework of Pneumatic Bionic Voice Prostheses as an electronic adaptation of the Pneumatic Artificial Larynx (PAL) device. The PAL is a non-invasive mechanical voice source, driven exclusively by respiration with an exceptionally high voice quality, comparable to the existing gold standard of Tracheoesophageal (TE) voice prosthesis. Following PAL design closely as the reference, Pneumatic Bionic Voice Prostheses seem to have a strong potential to substitute the existing gold standard by generating a similar voice quality while remaining non-invasive and non-surgical. This paper designs the first Pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis and evaluates its onset and offset control against the PAL device through pre-clinical trials on one laryngectomy patient. The evaluation on a database of more than five hours of continuous/isolated speech recordings shows a close match between the onset/offset control of the Pneumatic Bionic Voice and the PAL with an accuracy of 98.45 ±0.54%. When implemented in real-time, the Pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis controller has an average onset/offset delay of 10 milliseconds compared to the PAL. Hence it addresses a major disadvantage of previous electronic voice prostheses, including myoelectric Bionic Voice, in meeting the short time-frames of controlling the onset/offset of the voice in continuous speech.

Voice similarity in identical twins.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Gysel, W D; Vercammen, J; Debruyne, F

2001-01-01

If people are asked to discriminate visually the two individuals of a monozygotic twin (MT), they mostly get into trouble. Does this problem also exist when listening to twin voices? Twenty female and 10 male MT voices were randomly assembled with one "strange" voice to get voice trios. The listeners (10 female students in Speech and Language Pathology) were asked to label the twins (voices 1-2, 1-3 or 2-3) in two conditions: two standard sentences read aloud and a 2.5-second midsection of a sustained /a/. The proportion correctly labelled twins was for female voices 82% and 63% and for male voices 74% and 52% for the sentences and the sustained /a/ respectively, both being significantly greater than chance (33%). The acoustic analysis revealed a high intra-twin correlation for the speaking fundamental frequency (SFF) of the sentences and the fundamental frequency (F0) of the sustained /a/. So the voice pitch could have been a useful characteristic in the perceptual identification of the twins. We conclude that there is a greater perceptual resemblance between the voices of identical twins than between voices without genetic relationship. The identification however is not perfect. The voice pitch possibly contributes to the correct twin identifications.

Mail-order pharmacy experience of veterans living with AIDS/HIV.

Science.gov (United States)

Desai, Karishma Rohanraj; Chewning, Betty; Wilcox, Andrew; Safdar, Nasia

2018-02-01

The VA system is the largest single provider of healthcare in the United States and to individuals infected with HIV specifically. High quality medication management is particularly important since HIV is a chronic infectious condition which requires taking multiple medications with strict requirements for adherence to medication regimens. Veterans Administration (VA) patients are required to obtain all chronic medications using the VA mail-order pharmacy system. Drawing on Donabedian's Quality Improvement framework, this study sought to examine experiences that Veterans with HIV have with the Veterans Administration medication mail-order system, and to explore opportunities for quality improvement. A sequential, explanatory mixed-methods design was used to interview Veterans receiving care at a Midwestern Veterans Administration Hospital using a mail-order experience survey followed by in-depth interviews. All 57 Veterans, out of 72, who were successfully contacted consented to participate. Overall, Veterans evaluated the mail-order service positively and valued the accuracy (correct medication delivery). However, a notable problem emerged with respect to assuring access to HIV medications with about half (47%) indicating running out of HIV medication. Respondents identified structural issues with respect to days covered by mailed medications (90 versus current 30 days) and process issues with scheduling new refills. Veterans also indicated the information sheets were too long, complex and not helpful for their queries. Patients were open to pharmacists playing an active role during clinic visits and felt this would help manage their conditions better. Veterans generally reported that the VA Mail-order service was of high quality. However, some findings indicate there are opportunities to improve this service to be more patient-centered particularly for vulnerable HIV patients. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The structure of voice communications in a system for notification about accidents in mines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Belyayev, N F; Khaynovskiy, A V

1979-01-01

The dictionary of voice communications about routes and the time for outlet of people is analyzed. A classification of voice reports is given in order to isolate the constant and variable parts. Two methods for realizing a device for voice outlet of information for the ''Trudovskaya'' mine of the ''Donetskugol''' production union are examined.

Kurumsal Bilgi Kaynağı Olarak E-posta Yönetim Sistemleri = E-mail Management Systems as an Enterprise Information Resource

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Külcü, Özgür

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Çalışmada, e-posta kullanımı ve yönetimine ilişkin uluslararası koşullar incelenmekte, bu çerçevede Türkiye’de 28 kurum örneğinde gerçekleştirilen anket verileri değerlendirilmektedir. Betimleme yönteminin kullanıldığı çalışmada literatür incelemesi ve anket tekniklerine dayanarak gerekli veriler elde edilmiştir. Araştırmada e-posta kullanımına ilişkin elde edilen verilerin, ilgili alanda sistemler geliştirmeye çalışan araştırmacılara yardımcı olması beklenmektedir. Kurumsal e-posta yönetimine ilişkin temel sorunlar arasında mesajların üretimi, düzenlenmesi, ayıklanması ve uzun süre korunmasını içeren e-posta yönetim sistemlerinin geliştirilmesi yer almaktadır. Ayrıca insan kaynakları, mali ve idari konuların yönetimi ile belge ve arşiv yönetimi çalışmalarını kapsamına alan, içerisine e-posta yönetiminin de dâhil olduğu sistemlerin bütünleştirilmesi güncel araştırma konuları arasındadır. / This study examines the universal usage and management of e-mail communication and compares with the data, gathered from 28 Turkish institutions. This is a descriptive research in nature and the quantitative data were collected through surveys. It is expected that the results one-mail communication and its usage styles will shed a ligth into researcher who are working on system development. One of the basic problems of organizational e-mail management systems are lack of e-mail systems including message creation, maintenance, disposition, and long term preservation. Furthermore, the results indicate that integration of human resources management, financial and administrative management systems and archival management systems with e-mail managment system is another major problem.

Tips for Healthy Voices

Science.gov (United States)

... prevent voice problems and maintain a healthy voice: Drink water (stay well hydrated): Keeping your body well hydrated by drinking plenty of water each day (6-8 glasses) is essential to maintaining a healthy voice. The ...

The use of electronic mail in biomedical communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Costello, R; Shaw, A; Cheetham, R; Moots, R J

2000-01-01

To determine whether there are statistically significant differences in the content of electronic mail (e-mail) and conventional mail sent to authors of papers published in medical journals. Prospective study by postal questionnaire. Over two one-month periods, corresponding authors of papers published in medical journals were asked to record details of the correspondence prompted by their publications. Conventional and e-mail correspondence received. Reprint requests. Content of correspondence. Quality of correspondence. Eighty-two of 96 authors replied. Fifty received e-mail (mean, 5.7+/-8.8 e-mails per author) and 72 received conventional mail (15.5+/-32.8 letters per author) (p mails and only 53% of correspondence sent by conventional mail (p electronic mail. However, the content of e-mail may be of greater scientific relevance. Electronic mail can be encouraged without fear of diminishing the quality of the communications received.

Your Cheatin' Voice Will Tell on You: Detection of Past Infidelity from Voice.

Science.gov (United States)

Hughes, Susan M; Harrison, Marissa A

2017-01-01

Evidence suggests that many physical, behavioral, and trait qualities can be detected solely from the sound of a person's voice, irrespective of the semantic information conveyed through speech. This study examined whether raters could accurately assess the likelihood that a person has cheated on committed, romantic partners simply by hearing the speaker's voice. Independent raters heard voice samples of individuals who self-reported that they either cheated or had never cheated on their romantic partners. To control for aspects that may clue a listener to the speaker's mate value, we used voice samples that did not differ between these groups for voice attractiveness, age, voice pitch, and other acoustic measures. We found that participants indeed rated the voices of those who had a history of cheating as more likely to cheat. Male speakers were given higher ratings for cheating, while female raters were more likely to ascribe the likelihood to cheat to speakers. Additionally, we manipulated the pitch of the voice samples, and for both sexes, the lower pitched versions were consistently rated to be from those who were more likely to have cheated. Regardless of the pitch manipulation, speakers were able to assess actual history of infidelity; the one exception was that men's accuracy decreased when judging women whose voices were lowered. These findings expand upon the idea that the human voice may be of value as a cheater detection tool and very thin slices of vocal information are all that is needed to make certain assessments about others.

Electronic Mail and the Writing Instructor.

Science.gov (United States)

Hawisher, Gail E.; Moran, Charles

1993-01-01

Discusses the growing importance of electronic mail among academicians. Offers a rhetoric and a pedagogy that include electronic mail in their fields of vision. Argues that writing instructors should continue to do research into the issues inherent in electronic mail. (HB)

Perceiving a stranger's voice as being one's own: a 'rubber voice' illusion?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zane Z Zheng

2011-04-01

Full Text Available We describe an illusion in which a stranger's voice, when presented as the auditory concomitant of a participant's own speech, is perceived as a modified version of their own voice. When the congruence between utterance and feedback breaks down, the illusion is also broken. Compared to a baseline condition in which participants heard their own voice as feedback, hearing a stranger's voice induced robust changes in the fundamental frequency (F0 of their production. Moreover, the shift in F0 appears to be feedback dependent, since shift patterns depended reliably on the relationship between the participant's own F0 and the stranger-voice F0. The shift in F0 was evident both when the illusion was present and after it was broken, suggesting that auditory feedback from production may be used separately for self-recognition and for vocal motor control. Our findings indicate that self-recognition of voices, like other body attributes, is malleable and context dependent.

Unfamiliar voice identification: Effect of post-event information on accuracy and voice ratings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Harriet Mary Jessica Smith

2014-04-01

Full Text Available This study addressed the effect of misleading post-event information (PEI on voice ratings, identification accuracy, and confidence, as well as the link between verbal recall and accuracy. Participants listened to a dialogue between male and female targets, then read misleading information about voice pitch. Participants engaged in verbal recall, rated voices on a feature checklist, and made a lineup decision. Accuracy rates were low, especially on target-absent lineups. Confidence and accuracy were unrelated, but the number of facts recalled about the voice predicted later lineup accuracy. There was a main effect of misinformation on ratings of target voice pitch, but there was no effect on identification accuracy or confidence ratings. As voice lineup evidence from earwitnesses is used in courts, the findings have potential applied relevance.

A pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis-Pre-clinical trials of controlling the voice onset and offset.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Farzaneh Ahmadi

Full Text Available Despite emergent progress in many fields of bionics, a functional Bionic Voice prosthesis for laryngectomy patients (larynx amputees has not yet been achieved, leading to a lifetime of vocal disability for these patients. This study introduces a novel framework of Pneumatic Bionic Voice Prostheses as an electronic adaptation of the Pneumatic Artificial Larynx (PAL device. The PAL is a non-invasive mechanical voice source, driven exclusively by respiration with an exceptionally high voice quality, comparable to the existing gold standard of Tracheoesophageal (TE voice prosthesis. Following PAL design closely as the reference, Pneumatic Bionic Voice Prostheses seem to have a strong potential to substitute the existing gold standard by generating a similar voice quality while remaining non-invasive and non-surgical. This paper designs the first Pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis and evaluates its onset and offset control against the PAL device through pre-clinical trials on one laryngectomy patient. The evaluation on a database of more than five hours of continuous/isolated speech recordings shows a close match between the onset/offset control of the Pneumatic Bionic Voice and the PAL with an accuracy of 98.45 ±0.54%. When implemented in real-time, the Pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis controller has an average onset/offset delay of 10 milliseconds compared to the PAL. Hence it addresses a major disadvantage of previous electronic voice prostheses, including myoelectric Bionic Voice, in meeting the short time-frames of controlling the onset/offset of the voice in continuous speech.

A pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis—Pre-clinical trials of controlling the voice onset and offset

Science.gov (United States)

Noorian, Farzad; Novakovic, Daniel; van Schaik, André

2018-01-01

Despite emergent progress in many fields of bionics, a functional Bionic Voice prosthesis for laryngectomy patients (larynx amputees) has not yet been achieved, leading to a lifetime of vocal disability for these patients. This study introduces a novel framework of Pneumatic Bionic Voice Prostheses as an electronic adaptation of the Pneumatic Artificial Larynx (PAL) device. The PAL is a non-invasive mechanical voice source, driven exclusively by respiration with an exceptionally high voice quality, comparable to the existing gold standard of Tracheoesophageal (TE) voice prosthesis. Following PAL design closely as the reference, Pneumatic Bionic Voice Prostheses seem to have a strong potential to substitute the existing gold standard by generating a similar voice quality while remaining non-invasive and non-surgical. This paper designs the first Pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis and evaluates its onset and offset control against the PAL device through pre-clinical trials on one laryngectomy patient. The evaluation on a database of more than five hours of continuous/isolated speech recordings shows a close match between the onset/offset control of the Pneumatic Bionic Voice and the PAL with an accuracy of 98.45 ±0.54%. When implemented in real-time, the Pneumatic Bionic Voice prosthesis controller has an average onset/offset delay of 10 milliseconds compared to the PAL. Hence it addresses a major disadvantage of previous electronic voice prostheses, including myoelectric Bionic Voice, in meeting the short time-frames of controlling the onset/offset of the voice in continuous speech. PMID:29466455

Legal and policy issues associated with monitoring employee E-mail

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Segura, M.A.; Rither, A.C.

1997-01-01

This paper examines the legal issues involved with employer monitoring of employee e-mail. In addition to identifying pertinent legal issues, the paper provides guidelines that will help the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) establish a program for monitoring outgoing e-mail to insure compliance with company policies, particularly those regarding protection of trade secrets and proprietary information, and to comply with the Department of Energy`s (DOE) procedures for protecting Export Controlled Information (ECI). Electronic communication has allowed companies to enhance efficiency, responsiveness and effectiveness. E-mail allows employees to transmit all types of data to other individuals inside and outside of their companies. The ease with which information can be transmitted by e-mail has placed trade secrets, proprietary information, and other sensitive data at risk from inadvertent disclosure by employees. As employers attempt to protect their interests through measures such as monitoring e-mail, they may expose themselves to liability under federal and state laws for violating employee privacy. Business use of e-mail has proliferated so rapidly that the federal and state legal systems have not been able to adequately address the issues arising out of its use in the workplace.

75 FR 10529 - Mail Classification Change

Science.gov (United States)

2010-03-08

... POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION [Docket Nos. MC2010-19; Order No. 415] Mail Classification Change...-filed Postal Service request to make a minor modification to the Mail Classification Schedule. The.... concerning a change in classification which reflects a change in terminology from Bulk Mailing Center (BMC...

E-mail, decisional styles, and rest breaks.

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, James R; Phillips, James G

2007-10-01

E-mail is a common but problematic work application. A scale was created to measure tendencies to use e-mail to take breaks (e-breaking); and self-esteem and decisional style (vigilance, procrastination, buck-passing, hypervigilance) were used to predict the self-reported and actual e-mail behaviors of 133 participants (students and marketing employees). Individuals who were low in defensive avoidance (buck-passing) engaged in more e-mailing per week, both in time spent on e-mail and message volume. E-breakers were more likely to engage in behavioral procrastination and spent more time on personal e-mail.

Application of Al techniques to a voice actuated computer system for reconstructing and displaying magnetic resonance imaging data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sherley, P.L.; Pujol, A. Jr.; Meadow, J.S.

1990-01-01

This paper reports that to provide a means of rendering complex computer architectures, languages, and input/output modalities transparent to experienced and inexperienced users, research is being conducted to develop a voice driven/voice response computer graphics imaging system. The system will be used for reconstructing and displaying computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging scan data. In conjunction with this study, an artificial intelligence (AI) control strategy was developed to interface the voice components and support software to the computer graphics functions implemented on the Sun Microsystems 4/280 color graphics workstation. Based on generated text and converted renditions of verbal utterances by the user, the AI control strategy determines the user's intent and develops and validates a plan. The program type and parameters within the plan are used as input to the graphics system for reconstructing and displaying medical image data corresponding to that perceived intent. If the plan is not valid, the control strategy queries the user for additional informaiton. The control strategy operates in a conversation mode and vocally provides system status reports. A detailed examination of the various AI techniques is presented with major emphasis being placed on their specific roles within the total control strategy structure

Literature review of voice recognition and generation technology for Army helicopter applications

Science.gov (United States)

Christ, K. A.

1984-08-01

This report is a literature review on the topics of voice recognition and generation. Areas covered are: manual versus vocal data input, vocabulary, stress and workload, noise, protective masks, feedback, and voice warning systems. Results of the studies presented in this report indicate that voice data entry has less of an impact on a pilot's flight performance, during low-level flying and other difficult missions, than manual data entry. However, the stress resulting from such missions may cause the pilot's voice to change, reducing the recognition accuracy of the system. The noise present in helicopter cockpits also causes the recognition accuracy to decrease. Noise-cancelling devices are being developed and improved upon to increase the recognition performance in noisy environments. Future research in the fields of voice recognition and generation should be conducted in the areas of stress and workload, vocabulary, and the types of voice generation best suited for the helicopter cockpit. Also, specific tasks should be studied to determine whether voice recognition and generation can be effectively applied.

Improving Higher Education Practice through Student Evaluation Systems: Is the Student Voice Being Heard?

Science.gov (United States)

Blair, Erik; Valdez Noel, Keisha

2014-01-01

Many higher education institutions use student evaluation systems as a way of highlighting course and lecturer strengths and areas for improvement. Globally, the student voice has been increasing in volume, and capitalising on student feedback has been proposed as a means to benefit teacher professional development. This paper examines the student…

BEWARE OF OPENING ATTACHMENTS IN E-MAIL

CERN Multimedia

2000-01-01

Following the recent e-mail viruses you are asked to be cautious when opening e-mail attachments on your PC. Attachments that are apparently harmless might hide active content producing nasty effects as soon as they are opened. Some of these so called 'Trojan horses' can conceal themselves in very attractive pictures and funny slide shows.On the PC Windows infrastructure, CERN runs software to protect users from known viruses, but new ones can sometimes arrive before our software recognises them. They can enter your system when you open an attachment. To remove them it may be necessary to re-install the Windows software on your PC.

[Role of aerodynamic parameters in voice function assessment].

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Yong-qing; Lin, Sheng-zhi; Xu, Xin-lin; Zhou, Li; Zhuang, Pei-yun; Jiang, Jack J

2012-10-01

To investigate the application and significance of aerodynamic parameters in voice function assessment. The phonatory aerodynamic system (PAS) was used to collect aerodynamic parameters from subjects with normal voice, vocal fold polyp, vocal fold cyst, and vocal fold immobility. Multivariate statistical analysis was used to compare measurements across groups. Phonation threshold flow (PTF), mean flow rate (MFR), maximum phonation time (MPT), and glottal resistance (GR) in one hundred normal subjects were significantly affected by sex (P efficiency (VE) were not (P > 0.05). PTP, PTF, MFR, SGP, and MPT were significantly different between normal voice and voice disorders (P 0.05). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis found that PTP, PTF, SGP, MFR, MPT, and VE in one hundred thirteen voice dis orders had similar diagnostic utility (P aerodynamic parameters of the three degrees of voice dysfunction due to vocal cord polyps were compared and found to have no significant differences (P > 0.05). PTP, PTF, MFR, SGP and MPT in forty one patients with vocal polyps were significantly different after surgical resection of vocal cord polyps (P aerodynamic parameters can objectively and effectively evaluate the variations of vocal function, and have good auxiliary diagnostic value.

21 CFR 1321.01 - DEA mailing addresses.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 9 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false DEA mailing addresses. 1321.01 Section 1321.01 Food and Drugs DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE DEA MAILING ADDRESSES § 1321.01 DEA mailing addresses. The following table provides information regarding mailing addresses to be used...

34 CFR 300.505 - Electronic mail.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 34 Education 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Electronic mail. 300.505 Section 300.505 Education... DISABILITIES Procedural Safeguards Due Process Procedures for Parents and Children § 300.505 Electronic mail. A....508 by an electronic mail communication, if the public agency makes that option available. (Authority...

Performance of wavelet analysis and neural networks for pathological voices identification

Science.gov (United States)

Salhi, Lotfi; Talbi, Mourad; Abid, Sabeur; Cherif, Adnane

2011-09-01

Within the medical environment, diverse techniques exist to assess the state of the voice of the patient. The inspection technique is inconvenient for a number of reasons, such as its high cost, the duration of the inspection, and above all, the fact that it is an invasive technique. This study focuses on a robust, rapid and accurate system for automatic identification of pathological voices. This system employs non-invasive, non-expensive and fully automated method based on hybrid approach: wavelet transform analysis and neural network classifier. First, we present the results obtained in our previous study while using classic feature parameters. These results allow visual identification of pathological voices. Second, quantified parameters drifting from the wavelet analysis are proposed to characterise the speech sample. On the other hand, a system of multilayer neural networks (MNNs) has been developed which carries out the automatic detection of pathological voices. The developed method was evaluated using voice database composed of recorded voice samples (continuous speech) from normophonic or dysphonic speakers. The dysphonic speakers were patients of a National Hospital 'RABTA' of Tunis Tunisia and a University Hospital in Brussels, Belgium. Experimental results indicate a success rate ranging between 75% and 98.61% for discrimination of normal and pathological voices using the proposed parameters and neural network classifier. We also compared the average classification rate based on the MNN, Gaussian mixture model and support vector machines.

Relationship Between Voice and Motor Disabilities of Parkinson's Disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Majdinasab, Fatemeh; Karkheiran, Siamak; Soltani, Majid; Moradi, Negin; Shahidi, Gholamali

2016-11-01

To evaluate voice of Iranian patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and find any relationship between motor disabilities and acoustic voice parameters as speech motor components. We evaluated 27 Farsi-speaking PD patients and 21 age- and sex-matched healthy persons as control. Motor performance was assessed by the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale part III and Hoehn and Yahr rating scale in the "on" state. Acoustic voice evaluation, including fundamental frequency (f0), standard deviation of f0, minimum of f0, maximum of f0, shimmer, jitter, and harmonic to noise ratio, was done using the Praat software via /a/ prolongation. No difference was seen between the voice of the patients and the voice of the controls. f0 and its variation had a significant correlation with the duration of the disease, but did not have any relationships with the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale part III. Only limited relationship was observed between voice and motor disabilities. Tremor is an important main feature of PD that affects motor and phonation systems. Females had an older age at onset, more prolonged disease, and more severe motor disabilities (not statistically significant), but phonation disorders were more frequent in males and showed more relationship with severity of motor disabilities. Voice is affected by PD earlier than many other motor components and is more sensitive to disease progression. Tremor is the most effective part of PD that impacts voice. PD has more effect on voice of male versus female patients. Copyright © 2016 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Dragon Stream Cipher for Secure Blackbox Cockpit Voice Recorder

Science.gov (United States)

Akmal, Fadira; Michrandi Nasution, Surya; Azmi, Fairuz

2017-11-01

Aircraft blackbox is a device used to record all aircraft information, which consists of Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR). Cockpit Voice Recorder contains conversations in the aircraft during the flight.Investigations on aircraft crashes usually take a long time, because it is difficult to find the aircraft blackbox. Then blackbox should have the ability to send information to other places. Aircraft blackbox must have a data security system, data security is a very important part at the time of information exchange process. The system in this research is to perform the encryption and decryption process on Cockpit Voice Recorder by people who are entitled by using Dragon Stream Cipher algorithm. The tests performed are time of data encryption and decryption, and avalanche effect. Result in this paper show us time encryption and decryption are 0,85 seconds and 1,84 second for 30 seconds Cockpit Voice Recorder data witn an avalanche effect 48,67 %.

39 CFR 121.1 - First-Class Mail.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 39 Postal Service 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false First-Class Mail. 121.1 Section 121.1 Postal Service UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE POST OFFICE SERVICES [DOMESTIC MAIL] SERVICE STANDARDS FOR MARKET-DOMINANT MAIL PRODUCTS § 121.1 First-Class Mail. (a) For all intra-Sectional Center Facility (SCF) domestic...

The Role of Occupational Voice Demand and Patient-Rated Impairment in Predicting Voice Therapy Adherence.

Science.gov (United States)

Ebersole, Barbara; Soni, Resha S; Moran, Kathleen; Lango, Miriam; Devarajan, Karthik; Jamal, Nausheen

2018-05-01

Examine the relationship among the severity of patient-perceived voice impairment, perceptual dysphonia severity, occupational voice demand, and voice therapy adherence. Identify clinical predictors of increased risk for therapy nonadherence. A retrospective cohort study of patients presenting with a chief complaint of persistent dysphonia at an interdisciplinary voice center was done. The Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI-10) and the Voice-Related Quality of Life (V-RQOL) survey scores, clinician rating of dysphonia severity using the Grade score from the Grade, Roughness Breathiness, Asthenia, and Strain scale, occupational voice demand, and patient demographics were tested for associations with therapy adherence, defined as completion of the treatment plan. Classification and Regression Tree (CART) analysis was performed to establish thresholds for nonadherence risk. Of 166 patients evaluated, 111 were recommended for voice therapy. The therapy nonadherence rate was 56%. Occupational voice demand category, VHI-10, and V-RQOL scores were the only factors significantly correlated with therapy adherence (P demand are significantly more likely to be nonadherent with therapy than those with high occupational voice demand (P 40 is a significant cutoff point for predicting therapy nonadherence (P demand and patient perception of impairment are significantly and independently correlated with therapy adherence. A VHI-10 score of ≤9 or a V-RQOL score of >40 is a significant cutoff point for predicting nonadherence risk. Copyright © 2018 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Electrolarynx Voice Recognition Utilizing Pulse Coupled Neural Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fatchul Arifin

2010-08-01

Full Text Available The laryngectomies patient has no ability to speak normally because their vocal chords have been removed. The easiest option for the patient to speak again is by using electrolarynx speech. This tool is placed on the lower chin. Vibration of the neck while speaking is used to produce sound. Meanwhile, the technology of "voice recognition" has been growing very rapidly. It is expected that the technology of "voice recognition" can also be used by laryngectomies patients who use electrolarynx.This paper describes a system for electrolarynx speech recognition. Two main parts of the system are feature extraction and pattern recognition. The Pulse Coupled Neural Network – PCNN is used to extract the feature and characteristic of electrolarynx speech. Varying of β (one of PCNN parameter also was conducted. Multi layer perceptron is used to recognize the sound patterns. There are two kinds of recognition conducted in this paper: speech recognition and speaker recognition. The speech recognition recognizes specific speech from every people. Meanwhile, speaker recognition recognizes specific speech from specific person. The system ran well. The "electrolarynx speech recognition" has been tested by recognizing of “A” and "not A" voice. The results showed that the system had 94.4% validation. Meanwhile, the electrolarynx speaker recognition has been tested by recognizing of “saya” voice from some different speakers. The results showed that the system had 92.2% validation. Meanwhile, the best β parameter of PCNN for electrolarynx recognition is 3.

What the voice reveals

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ko, Sei Jin

2007-01-01

Given that the voice is our main form of communication, we know surprisingly little about how it impacts judgment and behavior. Furthermore, the modern advancement in telecommunication systems, such as cellular phones, has meant that a large proportion of our everyday interactions are conducted

39 CFR 111.1 - Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual; incorporated by...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 39 Postal Service 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual; incorporated by reference of regulations governing domestic mail services... the approval of the Director of the Federal Register.” In conformity with that provision, and with 39...

The Belt voice: Acoustical measurements and esthetic correlates

Science.gov (United States)

Bounous, Barry Urban

This dissertation explores the esthetic attributes of the Belt voice through spectral acoustical analysis. The process of understanding the nature and safe practice of Belt is just beginning, whereas the understanding of classical singing is well established. The unique nature of the Belt sound provides difficulties for voice teachers attempting to evaluate the quality and appropriateness of a particular sound or performance. This study attempts to provide answers to the question "does Belt conform to a set of measurable esthetic standards?" In answering this question, this paper expands on a previous study of the esthetic attributes of the classical baritone voice (see "Vocal Beauty", NATS Journal 51,1) which also drew some tentative conclusions about the Belt voice but which had an inadequate sample pool of subjects from which to draw. Further, this study demonstrates that it is possible to scientifically investigate the realm of musical esthetics in the singing voice. It is possible to go beyond the "a trained voice compared to an untrained voice" paradigm when evaluating quantitative vocal parameters and actually investigate what truly beautiful voices do. There are functions of sound energy (measured in dB) transference which may affect the nervous system in predictable ways and which can be measured and associated with esthetics. This study does not show consistency in measurements for absolute beauty (taste) even among belt teachers and researchers but does show some markers with varying degrees of importance which may point to a difference between our cognitive learned response to singing and our emotional, more visceral response to sounds. The markers which are significant in determining vocal beauty are: (1) Vibrancy-Characteristics of vibrato including speed, width, and consistency (low variability). (2) Spectral makeup-Ratio of partial strength above the fundamental to the fundamental. (3) Activity of the voice-The quantity of energy being produced. (4

Diagnostic value of voice acoustic analysis in assessment of occupational voice pathologies in teachers.

Science.gov (United States)

Niebudek-Bogusz, Ewa; Fiszer, Marta; Kotylo, Piotr; Sliwinska-Kowalska, Mariola

2006-01-01

It has been shown that teachers are at risk of developing occupational dysphonia, which accounts for over 25% of all occupational diseases diagnosed in Poland. The most frequently used method of diagnosing voice diseases is videostroboscopy. However, to facilitate objective evaluation of voice efficiency as well as medical certification of occupational voice disorders, it is crucial to implement quantitative methods of voice assessment, particularly voice acoustic analysis. The aim of the study was to assess the results of acoustic analysis in 66 female teachers (aged 40-64 years), including 35 subjects with occupational voice pathologies (e.g., vocal nodules) and 31 subjects with functional dysphonia. The acoustic analysis was performed using the IRIS software, before and after a 30-minute vocal loading test. All participants were subjected also to laryngological and videostroboscopic examinations. After the vocal effort, the acoustic parameters displayed statistically significant abnormalities, mostly lowered fundamental frequency (Fo) and incorrect values of shimmer and noise to harmonic ratio. To conclude, quantitative voice acoustic analysis using the IRIS software seems to be an effective complement to voice examinations, which is particularly helpful in diagnosing occupational dysphonia.

47 CFR 25.260 - Time sharing between DoD meteorological satellite systems and non-voice, non-geostationary...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Time sharing between DoD meteorological satellite systems and non-voice, non-geostationary satellite systems in the 400.15-401 MHz band. 25.260 Section 25.260 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) COMMON CARRIER SERVICES...

Pengoperasian Beban Listrik Fase Tunggal Terkendali Melalui Minimum System Berbasis Mikrokontroler Dan Sensor Voice Recognition (Vr)

OpenAIRE

Goeritno, Arief; Ginting, Sandy Ferdiansyah; Yatim, Rakhmad

2017-01-01

Minimum system berbasis mikrokontroler dan sensor voice recognition (VR) sebagai pengendali aktuator telah digunakan untuk pengoperasian beban listrik fase tunggal. Minimum system adalah suatu sistem yang tersusun melalui 2 (dua) tahapan, yaitu (a) diagram rangkaian dan bentuk fisis board dan (b) pengawatan terintegrasi terhadap minimum system pada sistem mikrokontroler ATmega16. Keberadaan sistem mikrokontroler pada minimum system perlu program tertanam melalui pemrograman berbasis bahasa ...

Objective voice parameters in Colombian school workers with healthy voices

NARCIS (Netherlands)

L.C. Cantor Cutiva (Lady Catherine); A. Burdorf (Alex)

2015-01-01

textabstractObjectives: To characterize the objective voice parameters among school workers, and to identify associated factors of three objective voice parameters, namely fundamental frequency, sound pressure level and maximum phonation time. Materials and methods: We conducted a cross-sectional

Towards understanding and managing the learning process in mail sorting.

Science.gov (United States)

Berglund, M; Karltun, A

2012-01-01

This paper was based on case study research at the Swedish Mail Service Division and it addresses learning time to sort mail at new districts and means to support the learning process on an individual as well as organizational level. The study population consisted of 46 postmen and one team leader in the Swedish Mail Service Division. Data were collected through measurements of time for mail sorting, interviews and a focus group. The study showed that learning to sort mail was a much more complex process and took more time than expected by management. Means to support the learning process included clarification of the relationship between sorting and the topology of the district, a good work environment, increased support from colleagues and management, and a thorough introduction for new postmen. The identified means to support the learning process require an integration of human, technological and organizational aspects. The study further showed that increased operations flexibility cannot be reinforced without a systems perspective and thorough knowledge about real work activities and that ergonomists can aid businesses to acquire this knowledge.

Pedagogic Voice: Student Voice in Teaching and Engagement Pedagogies

Science.gov (United States)

Baroutsis, Aspa; McGregor, Glenda; Mills, Martin

2016-01-01

In this paper, we are concerned with the notion of "pedagogic voice" as it relates to the presence of student "voice" in teaching, learning and curriculum matters at an alternative, or second chance, school in Australia. This school draws upon many of the principles of democratic schooling via its utilisation of student voice…

Voice Savers for Music Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Cookman, Starr

2012-01-01

Music teachers are in a class all their own when it comes to voice use. These elite vocal athletes require stamina, strength, and flexibility from their voices day in, day out for hours at a time. Voice rehabilitation clinics and research show that music education ranks high among the professionals most commonly affected by voice problems.…

Effectiveness and Limitations of E-Mail Security Protocols

OpenAIRE

M. Tariq Banday

2011-01-01

Simple Mail Transport Protocol is the most widely adopted protocol for e-mail delivery. However, it lackssecurity features for privacy, authentication of sending party, integrity of e-mail message, nonrepudiationand consistency of e-mail envelope. To make e-mail communication secure and private,e-mail servers incorporate one or more security features using add-on security protocols. The add-onsecurity protocols provide a reasonable security but have several limitations. This paper discussesli...

Experiences with voice to design ceramics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Flemming Tvede; Jensen, Kristoffer

2014-01-01

This article presents SoundShaping, a system to create ceramics from the human voice and thus how digital technology makes new possibilities in ceramic craft. The article is about how experiential knowledge that the craftsmen gains in a direct physical and tactile interaction with a responding...... material can be transformed and utilised in the use of digital technologies. SoundShaping is based on a generic audio feature extraction system and the principal component analysis to ensure that the pertinent information in the voice is used. Moreover, 3D shape is created using simple geometric rules....... The shape is output to a 3D printer to make ceramic results. The system demonstrates the close connection between digital technology and craft practice. Several experiments and reflections demonstrate the validity of this work....

Experiences with Voice to Design Ceramics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Flemming Tvede; Jensen, Kristoffer

2013-01-01

This article presents SoundShaping, a system to create ceramics from the human voice and thus how digital technology makes new possibilities in ceramic craft. The article is about how experiential knowledge that the craftsmen gains in a direct physical and tactile interaction with a responding...... material can be transformed and utilized in the use of digital technologies. SoundShaping is based on a generic audio feature extraction system and the principal component analysis to ensure that the pertinent information in the voice is used. Moreover, 3D shape is created using simple geometric rules....... The shape is output to a 3D printer to make ceramic results. The system demonstrates the close connection between digital technology and craft practice. Several experiments and reflections demonstrate the validity of this work....

Synchronous visualization of multimodal measurements on lips and glottis: comparison between brass instruments and the human voice production system.

OpenAIRE

Hézard , Thomas; FREOUR , Vincent; Causse , René; Hélie , Thomas; Scavone , Gary P.

2013-01-01

cote interne IRCAM: Hezard13a; None / None; National audience; Brass instruments and the human voice production system are both composed of a vibrating "human valve" (constriction in a pipe) coupled to an acoustic resonator: lips coupled to the brass instrument or vocal folds coupled to the vocal tract. In both cases, the aeroacoustic coupling is responsible for the self-oscillations and a large variety of regimes. Additionally, brass instruments and voice share difficulties for the...

Mechanics of human voice production and control.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Zhaoyan

2016-10-01

As the primary means of communication, voice plays an important role in daily life. Voice also conveys personal information such as social status, personal traits, and the emotional state of the speaker. Mechanically, voice production involves complex fluid-structure interaction within the glottis and its control by laryngeal muscle activation. An important goal of voice research is to establish a causal theory linking voice physiology and biomechanics to how speakers use and control voice to communicate meaning and personal information. Establishing such a causal theory has important implications for clinical voice management, voice training, and many speech technology applications. This paper provides a review of voice physiology and biomechanics, the physics of vocal fold vibration and sound production, and laryngeal muscular control of the fundamental frequency of voice, vocal intensity, and voice quality. Current efforts to develop mechanical and computational models of voice production are also critically reviewed. Finally, issues and future challenges in developing a causal theory of voice production and perception are discussed.

Voting-based Classification for E-mail Spam Detection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bashar Awad Al-Shboul

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The problem of spam e-mail has gained a tremendous amount of attention. Although entities tend to use e-mail spam filter applications to filter out received spam e-mails, marketing companies still tend to send unsolicited e-mails in bulk and users still receive a reasonable amount of spam e-mail despite those filtering applications. This work proposes a new method for classifying e-mails into spam and non-spam. First, several e-mail content features are extracted and then those features are used for classifying each e-mail individually. The classification results of three different classifiers (i.e. Decision Trees, Random Forests and k-Nearest Neighbor are combined in various voting schemes (i.e. majority vote, average probability, product of probabilities, minimum probability and maximum probability for making the final decision. To validate our method, two different spam e-mail collections were used.

A self-teaching image processing and voice-recognition-based, intelligent and interactive system to educate visually impaired children

Science.gov (United States)

Iqbal, Asim; Farooq, Umar; Mahmood, Hassan; Asad, Muhammad Usman; Khan, Akrama; Atiq, Hafiz Muhammad

2010-02-01

A self teaching image processing and voice recognition based system is developed to educate visually impaired children, chiefly in their primary education. System comprises of a computer, a vision camera, an ear speaker and a microphone. Camera, attached with the computer system is mounted on the ceiling opposite (on the required angle) to the desk on which the book is placed. Sample images and voices in the form of instructions and commands of English, Urdu alphabets, Numeric Digits, Operators and Shapes are already stored in the database. A blind child first reads the embossed character (object) with the help of fingers than he speaks the answer, name of the character, shape etc into the microphone. With the voice command of a blind child received by the microphone, image is taken by the camera which is processed by MATLAB® program developed with the help of Image Acquisition and Image processing toolbox and generates a response or required set of instructions to child via ear speaker, resulting in self education of a visually impaired child. Speech recognition program is also developed in MATLAB® with the help of Data Acquisition and Signal Processing toolbox which records and process the command of the blind child.

Syllogisms delivered in an angry voice lead to improved performance and engagement of a different neural system compared to neutral voice

OpenAIRE

Kathleen Walton Smith; Laura-Lee eBalkwill; Oshin eVartanian; Vinod eGoel; Vinod eGoel

2015-01-01

Despite the fact that most real-world reasoning occurs in some emotional context, very little is known about the underlying behavioral and neural implications of such context. To further understand the role of emotional context in logical reasoning we scanned 15 participants with fMRI while they engaged in logical reasoning about neutral syllogisms presented through the auditory channel in a sad, angry, or neutral tone of voice. Exposure to angry voice led to improved reasoning performance co...

You're a What? Voice Actor

Science.gov (United States)

Liming, Drew

2009-01-01

This article talks about voice actors and features Tony Oliver, a professional voice actor. Voice actors help to bring one's favorite cartoon and video game characters to life. They also do voice-overs for radio and television commercials and movie trailers. These actors use the sound of their voice to sell a character's emotions--or an advertised…

Mapping Phonetic Features for Voice-Driven Sound Synthesis

Science.gov (United States)

Janer, Jordi; Maestre, Esteban

In applications where the human voice controls the synthesis of musical instruments sounds, phonetics convey musical information that might be related to the sound of the imitated musical instrument. Our initial hypothesis is that phonetics are user- and instrument-dependent, but they remain constant for a single subject and instrument. We propose a user-adapted system, where mappings from voice features to synthesis parameters depend on how subjects sing musical articulations, i.e. note to note transitions. The system consists of two components. First, a voice signal segmentation module that automatically determines note-to-note transitions. Second, a classifier that determines the type of musical articulation for each transition based on a set of phonetic features. For validating our hypothesis, we run an experiment where subjects imitated real instrument recordings with their voice. Performance recordings consisted of short phrases of saxophone and violin performed in three grades of musical articulation labeled as: staccato, normal, legato. The results of a supervised training classifier (user-dependent) are compared to a classifier based on heuristic rules (user-independent). Finally, from the previous results we show how to control the articulation in a sample-concatenation synthesizer by selecting the most appropriate samples.

Voice - How humans communicate?

Science.gov (United States)

Tiwari, Manjul; Tiwari, Maneesha

2012-01-01

Voices are important things for humans. They are the medium through which we do a lot of communicating with the outside world: our ideas, of course, and also our emotions and our personality. The voice is the very emblem of the speaker, indelibly woven into the fabric of speech. In this sense, each of our utterances of spoken language carries not only its own message but also, through accent, tone of voice and habitual voice quality it is at the same time an audible declaration of our membership of particular social regional groups, of our individual physical and psychological identity, and of our momentary mood. Voices are also one of the media through which we (successfully, most of the time) recognize other humans who are important to us-members of our family, media personalities, our friends, and enemies. Although evidence from DNA analysis is potentially vastly more eloquent in its power than evidence from voices, DNA cannot talk. It cannot be recorded planning, carrying out or confessing to a crime. It cannot be so apparently directly incriminating. As will quickly become evident, voices are extremely complex things, and some of the inherent limitations of the forensic-phonetic method are in part a consequence of the interaction between their complexity and the real world in which they are used. It is one of the aims of this article to explain how this comes about. This subject have unsolved questions, but there is no direct way to present the information that is necessary to understand how voices can be related, or not, to their owners.

Speaker's voice as a memory cue.

Science.gov (United States)

Campeanu, Sandra; Craik, Fergus I M; Alain, Claude

2015-02-01

Speaker's voice occupies a central role as the cornerstone of auditory social interaction. Here, we review the evidence suggesting that speaker's voice constitutes an integral context cue in auditory memory. Investigation into the nature of voice representation as a memory cue is essential to understanding auditory memory and the neural correlates which underlie it. Evidence from behavioral and electrophysiological studies suggest that while specific voice reinstatement (i.e., same speaker) often appears to facilitate word memory even without attention to voice at study, the presence of a partial benefit of similar voices between study and test is less clear. In terms of explicit memory experiments utilizing unfamiliar voices, encoding methods appear to play a pivotal role. Voice congruency effects have been found when voice is specifically attended at study (i.e., when relatively shallow, perceptual encoding takes place). These behavioral findings coincide with neural indices of memory performance such as the parietal old/new recollection effect and the late right frontal effect. The former distinguishes between correctly identified old words and correctly identified new words, and reflects voice congruency only when voice is attended at study. Characterization of the latter likely depends upon voice memory, rather than word memory. There is also evidence to suggest that voice effects can be found in implicit memory paradigms. However, the presence of voice effects appears to depend greatly on the task employed. Using a word identification task, perceptual similarity between study and test conditions is, like for explicit memory tests, crucial. In addition, the type of noise employed appears to have a differential effect. While voice effects have been observed when white noise is used at both study and test, using multi-talker babble does not confer the same results. In terms of neuroimaging research modulations, characterization of an implicit memory effect

Integrating cues of social interest and voice pitch in men's preferences for women's voices

OpenAIRE

Jones, Benedict C; Feinberg, David R; DeBruine, Lisa M; Little, Anthony C; Vukovic, Jovana

2008-01-01

Most previous studies of vocal attractiveness have focused on preferences for physical characteristics of voices such as pitch. Here we examine the content of vocalizations in interaction with such physical traits, finding that vocal cues of social interest modulate the strength of men's preferences for raised pitch in women's voices. Men showed stronger preferences for raised pitch when judging the voices of women who appeared interested in the listener than when judging the voices of women ...

Data Equivalency of an Interactive Voice Response System for Home Assessment of Back Pain and Function

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

William S Shaw

2007-01-01

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Interactive voice response (IVR systems that collect survey data using automated, push-button telephone responses may be useful to monitor patients’ pain and function at home; however, its equivalency to other data collection methods has not been studied.

Foetal response to music and voice.

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Qahtani, Noura H

2005-10-01

To examine whether prenatal exposure to music and voice alters foetal behaviour and whether foetal response to music differs from human voice. A prospective observational study was conducted in 20 normal term pregnant mothers. Ten foetuses were exposed to music and voice for 15 s at different sound pressure levels to find out the optimal setting for the auditory stimulation. Music, voice and sham were played to another 10 foetuses via a headphone on the maternal abdomen. The sound pressure level was 105 db and 94 db for music and voice, respectively. Computerised assessment of foetal heart rate and activity were recorded. 90 actocardiograms were obtained for the whole group. One way anova followed by posthoc (Student-Newman-Keuls method) analysis was used to find if there is significant difference in foetal response to music and voice versus sham. Foetuses responded with heart rate acceleration and motor response to both music and voice. This was statistically significant compared to sham. There was no significant difference between the foetal heart rate acceleration to music and voice. Prenatal exposure to music and voice alters the foetal behaviour. No difference was detected in foetal response to music and voice.

Save our inboxes! Use e-mail wisely

CERN Multimedia

Achintya Rao

2013-01-01

At CERN, with collaborators all over the world, e-mail is inevitably the primary means of communication: we use it for everything from coordinating projects to organising lunches. But e-mail can also be one of the most inefficient means of communication we have! Here's how to fix it.   Let’s get straight to the point: we receive too many e-mails. Think about all the e-mails that you deleted without a second thought. Think about the times you’ve unnecessarily been in CC. Take a look at the unread e-mails sitting in your inbox at this very moment, ones that you have no intention of ever looking at. You can, however, tame this overload with a few simple measures and turn e-mail into an important communication and productivity tool. Many recommendations for improving e-mail etiquette suggest an abrasive approach riddled with bullet points. In a vastly multi-cultural setting such as CERN, however this approach may fail. So, here are a few dos and don’ts based o...

Influence of classroom acoustics on the voice levels of teachers with and without voice problems: a field study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pelegrin Garcia, David; Lyberg-Åhlander, Viveka; Rydell, Roland

2010-01-01

of the classroom. The results thus suggest that teachers with voice problems are more aware of classroom acoustic conditions than their healthy colleagues and make use of the more supportive rooms to lower their voice levels. This behavior may result from an adaptation process of the teachers with voice problems...... of the voice problems was made with a questionnaire and a laryngological examination. During teaching, the sound pressure level at the teacher’s position was monitored. The teacher’s voice level and the activity noise level were separated using mixed Gaussians. In addition, objective acoustic parameters...... of Reverberation Time and Voice Support were measured in the 30 empty classrooms of the study. An empirical model shows that the measured voice levels depended on the activity noise levels and the voice support. Teachers with and without voice problems were differently affected by the voice support...

39 CFR 111.2 - Availability of the Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 39 Postal Service 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Availability of the Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual. 111.2 Section 111.2 Postal Service UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE POST OFFICE SERVICES [DOMESTIC MAIL] GENERAL INFORMATION ON POSTAL SERVICE § 111.2...

78 FR 12234 - Promotions and Incentive Programs for First-Class Mail and Standard Mail

Science.gov (United States)

2013-02-22

... No. R2013-1) on October 11, 2012 to offer six new promotions in 2013 and the PRC approved the 2013... Promotional Programs The six promotional programs, in calendar order are: 1. Direct Mail Mobile Coupon and... preparer in the by/for fields. Full-service mailings are limited to 9,999 pieces if submitted via Postal...

Visuelle Analyse von E-mail-Verkehr

OpenAIRE

Mansmann, Florian

2003-01-01

Diese Arbeit beschreibt Methoden zur visuellen geographischen Analyse von E-mail Verkehr.Aus dem Header einer E-mail können Hostadressen und IP-Adressen herausgefiltert werden. Anhand einer Datenbank werden diesen Host- und IP-Adressen geographische Koordinaten zugeordnet.Durch eine Visualisierung werden in übersichtlicher Art und Weise mehrere tausend E-mail Routen dargestellt. Zusätzlich dazu wurden interktive Manipulationsmöglichkeiten vorgestellt, welche eine visuelle Exploration der Date...

Mobile Communication Devices, Ambient Noise, and Acoustic Voice Measures.

Science.gov (United States)

Maryn, Youri; Ysenbaert, Femke; Zarowski, Andrzej; Vanspauwen, Robby

2017-03-01

The ability to move with mobile communication devices (MCDs; ie, smartphones and tablet computers) may induce differences in microphone-to-mouth positioning and use in noise-packed environments, and thus influence reliability of acoustic voice measurements. This study investigated differences in various acoustic voice measures between six recording equipments in backgrounds with low and increasing noise levels. One chain of continuous speech and sustained vowel from 50 subjects with voice disorders (all separated by silence intervals) was radiated and re-recorded in an anechoic chamber with five MCDs and one high-quality recording system. These recordings were acquired in one condition without ambient noise and in four conditions with increased ambient noise. A total of 10 acoustic voice markers were obtained in the program Praat. Differences between MCDs and noise condition were assessed with Friedman repeated-measures test and posthoc Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, both for related samples, after Bonferroni correction. (1) Except median fundamental frequency and seven nonsignificant differences, MCD samples have significantly higher acoustic markers than clinical reference samples in minimal environmental noise. (2) Except median fundamental frequency, jitter local, and jitter rap, all acoustic measures on samples recorded with the reference system experienced significant influence from room noise levels. Fundamental frequency is resistant to recording system, environmental noise, and their combination. All other measures, however, were impacted by both recording system and noise condition, and especially by their combination, often already in the reference/baseline condition without added ambient noise. Caution is therefore warranted regarding implementation of MCDs as clinical recording tools, particularly when applied for treatment outcomes assessments. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Understanding the 'Anorexic Voice' in Anorexia Nervosa.

Science.gov (United States)

Pugh, Matthew; Waller, Glenn

2017-05-01

In common with individuals experiencing a number of disorders, people with anorexia nervosa report experiencing an internal 'voice'. The anorexic voice comments on the individual's eating, weight and shape and instructs the individual to restrict or compensate. However, the core characteristics of the anorexic voice are not known. This study aimed to develop a parsimonious model of the voice characteristics that are related to key features of eating disorder pathology and to determine whether patients with anorexia nervosa fall into groups with different voice experiences. The participants were 49 women with full diagnoses of anorexia nervosa. Each completed validated measures of the power and nature of their voice experience and of their responses to the voice. Different voice characteristics were associated with current body mass index, duration of disorder and eating cognitions. Two subgroups emerged, with 'weaker' and 'stronger' voice experiences. Those with stronger voices were characterized by having more negative eating attitudes, more severe compensatory behaviours, a longer duration of illness and a greater likelihood of having the binge-purge subtype of anorexia nervosa. The findings indicate that the anorexic voice is an important element of the psychopathology of anorexia nervosa. Addressing the anorexic voice might be helpful in enhancing outcomes of treatments for anorexia nervosa, but that conclusion might apply only to patients with more severe eating psychopathology. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Experiences of an internal 'anorexic voice' are common in anorexia nervosa. Clinicians should consider the role of the voice when formulating eating pathology in anorexia nervosa, including how individuals perceive and relate to that voice. Addressing the voice may be beneficial, particularly in more severe and enduring forms of anorexia nervosa. When working with the voice, clinicians should aim to address both the content of the voice and how

Voice and choice in health care in England: understanding citizen responses to dissatisfaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Dowding, Keith; John, Peter

2011-01-01

Using data from a five-year online survey the paper examines the effects of relative satisfaction with health services on individuals' voice-and-choice activity in the English public health care system. Voice is considered in three parts – individual voice (complaints), collective voice voting and participation (collective action). Exercising choice is seen in terms of complete exit (not using health care), internal exit (choosing another public service provider) and private exit (using private health care). The interaction of satisfaction and forms of voice and choice are analysed over time. Both voice and choice are correlated with dissatisfaction with those who are unhappy with the NHS more likely to privately voice and to plan to take up private health care. Those unable to choose private provision are likely to use private voice. These factors are not affected by items associated with social capital – indeed, being more trusting leads to lower voice activity.

A Voice-Based E-Examination Framework for Visually Impaired Students in Open and Distance Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Azeta, Ambrose A.; Inam, Itorobong A.; Daramola, Olawande

2018-01-01

Voice-based systems allow users access to information on the internet over a voice interface. Prior studies on Open and Distance Learning (ODL) e-examination systems that make use of voice interface do not sufficiently exhibit intelligent form of assessment, which diminishes the rigor of examination. The objective of this paper is to improve on…

Using Electronic Mail to Conduct Survey Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Thach, Liz

1995-01-01

Describes public and private online networks and the characteristics of electronic mail. Reviews the literature on survey research conducted via electronic mail, and examines the issues of design, implementation, and response. A table displays advantages and disadvantages of electronic mail surveys. (AEF)

Voice application development for Android

CERN Document Server

McTear, Michael

2013-01-01

This book will give beginners an introduction to building voice-based applications on Android. It will begin by covering the basic concepts and will build up to creating a voice-based personal assistant. By the end of this book, you should be in a position to create your own voice-based applications on Android from scratch in next to no time.Voice Application Development for Android is for all those who are interested in speech technology and for those who, as owners of Android devices, are keen to experiment with developing voice apps for their devices. It will also be useful as a starting po

Shared Semantics and the Use of Organizational Memories for E-Mail Communications.

Science.gov (United States)

Schwartz, David G.

1998-01-01

Examines the use of shared semantics information to link concepts in an organizational memory to e-mail communications. Presents a framework for determining shared semantics based on organizational and personal user profiles. Illustrates how shared semantics are used by the HyperMail system to help link organizational memories (OM) content to…

Application for automatic e-mail forwarding

OpenAIRE

Skupek, Rok

2010-01-01

The diploma thesis has two main goals: the first objective is to develop a dynamic library, which will contain methods able to download e-mail messages from mail server using POP3 protocol. The second objective involves development of application for processing and distribution of e-mail messages. Introduction cointains presentation of a practical application example in real time situation. Here are described procedures used for development of server - client communication library, which u...

Voice-to-Phoneme Conversion Algorithms for Voice-Tag Applications in Embedded Platforms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yan Ming Cheng

2008-08-01

Full Text Available We describe two voice-to-phoneme conversion algorithms for speaker-independent voice-tag creation specifically targeted at applications on embedded platforms. These algorithms (batch mode and sequential are compared in speech recognition experiments where they are first applied in a same-language context in which both acoustic model training and voice-tag creation and application are performed on the same language. Then, their performance is tested in a cross-language setting where the acoustic models are trained on a particular source language while the voice-tags are created and applied on a different target language. In the same-language environment, both algorithms either perform comparably to or significantly better than the baseline where utterances are manually transcribed by a phonetician. In the cross-language context, the voice-tag performances vary depending on the source-target language pair, with the variation reflecting predicted phonological similarity between the source and target languages. Among the most similar languages, performance nears that of the native-trained models and surpasses the native reference baseline.

Success with voice recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Sferrella, Sheila M

2003-01-01

You need a compelling reason to implement voice recognition technology. At my institution, the compelling reason was a turnaround time for Radiology results of more than two days. Only 41 percent of our reports were transcribed and signed within 24 hours. In November 1998, a team from Lehigh Valley Hospital went to RSNA and reviewed every voice system on the market. The evaluation was done with the radiologist workflow in mind, and we came back from the meeting with the vendor selection completed. The next steps included developing a business plan, approval of funds, reference calls to more than 15 sites and contract negotiation, all of which took about six months. The department of Radiology at Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network (LVHHN) is a multi-site center that performs over 360,000 procedures annually. The department handles all modalities of radiology: general diagnosis, neuroradiology, ultrasound, CT Scan, MRI, interventional radiology, arthography, myelography, bone densitometry, nuclear medicine, PET imaging, vascular lab and other advanced procedures. The department consists of 200 FTEs and a medical staff of more than 40 radiologists. The budget is in the $10.3 million range. There are three hospital sites and four outpatient imaging center sites where services are provided. At Lehigh Valley Hospital, radiologists are not dedicated to one subspecialty, so implementing a voice system by modality was not an option. Because transcription was so far behind, we needed to eliminate that part of the process. As a result, we decided to deploy the system all at once and with the radiologists as editors. The planning and testing phase took about four months, and the implementation took two weeks. We deployed over 40 workstations and trained close to 50 physicians. The radiologists brought in an extra radiologist from our group for the two weeks of training. That allowed us to train without taking a radiologist out of the department. We trained three to six

77 FR 28259 - Mailings of Lithium Batteries

Science.gov (United States)

2012-05-14

... POSTAL SERVICE 39 CFR Part 111 Mailings of Lithium Batteries AGENCY: Postal Service TM . ACTION... international mailing of lithium batteries and devices containing lithium batteries. This prohibition also extends to the mailing of lithium batteries to and from an APO, FPO, or DPO location. However, this...

Risk factors for voice problems in teachers.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kooijman, P.G.C.; Jong, F.I.C.R.S. de; Thomas, G.; Huinck, W.J.; Donders, A.R.T.; Graamans, K.; Schutte, H.K.

2006-01-01

In order to identify factors that are associated with voice problems and voice-related absenteeism in teachers, 1,878 questionnaires were analysed. The questionnaires inquired about personal data, voice complaints, voice-related absenteeism from work and conditions that may lead to voice complaints

Risk factors for voice problems in teachers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kooijman, P. G. C.; de Jong, F. I. C. R. S.; Thomas, G.; Huinck, W.; Donders, R.; Graamans, K.; Schutte, H. K.

2006-01-01

In order to identify factors that are associated with voice problems and voice-related absenteeism in teachers, 1,878 questionnaires were analysed. The questionnaires inquired about personal data, voice complaints, voice-related absenteeism from work and conditions that may lead to voice complaints

Simulating Policy Processes through Electronic Mail.

Science.gov (United States)

Flynn, John P.

1987-01-01

Focuses on the use of electronic mail for teaching and learning about social welfare policy processes and compares electronic mail as a simulation medium to more structured computer applications. (Author)

A User Authentication Based on Personal History- A User Authentication System Using E-mail History -

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Masakatsu Nishigaki

2007-04-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes a user authentication using personal history of each user. Here, authentication is done by giving answers to questions about the history of user's daily life. Users do not have to memorize any password, since the passwords are what users already know by experience. In addition, everyday-life experience increases day by day, and thus the question could change on every authentication trial. In this paper, a user authentication system using user's e-mail history is shown as a prototype of our proposal, and some basic experiments to evaluate the availability of the system are carried out.

Voice disorders and mental health in teachers: a cross-sectional nationwide study.

Science.gov (United States)

Nerrière, Eléna; Vercambre, Marie-Noël; Gilbert, Fabien; Kovess-Masféty, Viviane

2009-10-02

Teachers, as professional voice users, are at particular risk of voice disorders. Among contributing factors, stress and psychological tension could play a role but epidemiological data on this problem are scarce. The aim of this study was to evaluate prevalence and cofactors of voice disorders among teachers in the French National Education system, with particular attention paid to the association between voice complaint and psychological status. The source data come from an epidemiological postal survey on physical and mental health conducted in a sample of 20,099 adults (in activity or retired) selected at random from the health plan records of the national education system. Overall response rate was 53%. Of the 10,288 respondents, 3,940 were teachers in activity currently giving classes to students. In the sample of those with complete data (n = 3,646), variables associated with voice disorders were investigated using logistic regression models. Studied variables referred to demographic characteristics, socio-professional environment, psychological distress, mental health disorders (DSM-IV), and sick leave. One in two female teachers reported voice disorders (50.0%) compared to one in four males (26.0%). Those who reported voice disorders presented higher level of psychological distress. Sex- and age-adjusted odds ratios [95% confidence interval] were respectively 1.8 [1.5-2.2] for major depressive episode, 1.7 [1.3-2.2] for general anxiety disorder, and 1.6 [1.2-2.2] for phobia. A significant association between voice disorders and sick leave was also demonstrated (1.5 [1.3-1.7]). Voice disorders were frequent among French teachers. Associations with psychiatric disorders suggest that a situation may exist which is more complex than simple mechanical failure. Further longitudinal research is needed to clarify the comorbidity between voice and psychological disorders.

Voice disorders and mental health in teachers: a cross-sectional nationwide study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gilbert Fabien

2009-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Teachers, as professional voice users, are at particular risk of voice disorders. Among contributing factors, stress and psychological tension could play a role but epidemiological data on this problem are scarce. The aim of this study was to evaluate prevalence and cofactors of voice disorders among teachers in the French National Education system, with particular attention paid to the association between voice complaint and psychological status. Methods The source data come from an epidemiological postal survey on physical and mental health conducted in a sample of 20,099 adults (in activity or retired selected at random from the health plan records of the national education system. Overall response rate was 53%. Of the 10,288 respondents, 3,940 were teachers in activity currently giving classes to students. In the sample of those with complete data (n = 3,646, variables associated with voice disorders were investigated using logistic regression models. Studied variables referred to demographic characteristics, socio-professional environment, psychological distress, mental health disorders (DSM-IV, and sick leave. Results One in two female teachers reported voice disorders (50.0% compared to one in four males (26.0%. Those who reported voice disorders presented higher level of psychological distress. Sex- and age-adjusted odds ratios [95% confidence interval] were respectively 1.8 [1.5-2.2] for major depressive episode, 1.7 [1.3-2.2] for general anxiety disorder, and 1.6 [1.2-2.2] for phobia. A significant association between voice disorders and sick leave was also demonstrated (1.5 [1.3-1.7]. Conclusion Voice disorders were frequent among French teachers. Associations with psychiatric disorders suggest that a situation may exist which is more complex than simple mechanical failure. Further longitudinal research is needed to clarify the comorbidity between voice and psychological disorders.

Did Your Mailed Ballot Count: The Unrecognized Unreliability of Voting By Mail

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alec Yasinsac

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Voting By Mail (VBM was developed to support absentee voters. It was originally intended to handle canonical absentee voters who now fall under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Voting Act (UOCAVA and those with legally acceptable reasons for being unable to appear at the polls on Election Day. Its use slowly expanded to more casual justifications, such as those with planned Election Day travel. More recently, there has been a trend of further expansion to on-demand VBM in many states. As a result, the percentage of VBM ballots has skyrocketed, with little research regarding its impacts on security, privacy, reliability, and accuracy on U. S. elections. In virtually every close election, the outcome must await tabulation of VBM ballots. Yet, VBM may be the least reliable voting approach in wide spread use today. Vote By Mail fraud is recognized by some as possibly the single greatest security vulnerability in U. S. elections. The lack of in-person, at-the-polls accountability makes absentee ballots the tool of choice for those inclined to commit fraud," the Florida Department of Law Enforcement concluded in 1998, after a mayoral election in Miami was thrown out when officials learned that "vote brokers" had signed hundreds of phony absentee ballots.1 Conversely, others recognize theoretical weaknesses in VBM, but generally dismiss its practical impact [1, 2]. Others continue to promote VBM expansion [3, 4]. In this paper, we identify inherent, widespread vulnerability in VBM systems and illustrate their practical impact with numerous examples. We show specifically why VBM systems are not auditable and demonstrate how their unreliability can negatively impact real elections.

E-mail to SMS service change

CERN Multimedia

IT Department

2010-01-01

If you have a CERN e-mail account, you have probably already used one of the popular services that CERN’s IT Department offers to CERN users: the mail2SMS service. It allows any CERN e-mail account holder to send short messages (SMS) free of charge to CERN GSM phone numbers. Further to recent negotiations with our GSM operator, this service has been extended. It is now possible to send short messages free of charge to any Swiss mobile number. This extension of service aims at replacing the similar service that was made available by SWITCH(1) to CERN users (address: mobilenumber@sms.switch.ch). Because of repeated abuse, this service will be definitively stopped for CERN users on 15th January 2010. Please keep in mind that CERN’s e-mail to SMS service still has some restrictions: messages can only be sent from CERN mail accounts, and not from personal ones, such as GMAIL, MSN, Yahoo; the maximum length of the message is 160 characters (standard maximum SMS length); and only Swiss mobile...

Decision support system in an international-voice-services business company

Science.gov (United States)

Hadianti, R.; Uttunggadewa, S.; Syamsuddin, M.; Soewono, E.

2017-01-01

We consider a problem facing by an international telecommunication services company in maximizing its profit. From voice services by controlling cost and business partnership. The competitiveness in this industry is very high, so that any efficiency from controlling cost and business partnership can help the company to survive in the very high competitiveness situation. The company trades voice traffic with a large number of business partners. There are four trading schemes that can be chosen by this company, namely, flat rate, class tiering, volume commitment, and revenue capped. Each scheme has a specific characteristic on the rate and volume deal, where the last three schemes are regarded as strategic schemes to be offered to business partner to ensure incoming traffic volume for both parties. This company and each business partner need to choose an optimal agreement in a certain period of time that can maximize the company’s profit. In this agreement, both parties agree to use a certain trading scheme, rate and rate/volume/revenue deal. A decision support system is then needed in order to give a comprehensive information to the sales officers to deal with the business partners. This paper discusses the mathematical model of the optimal decision for incoming traffic volume control, which is a part of the analysis needed to build the decision support system. The mathematical model is built by first performing data analysis to see how elastic the incoming traffic volume is. As the level of elasticity is obtained, we then derive a mathematical modelling that can simulate the impact of any decision on trading to the revenue of the company. The optimal decision can be obtained from these simulations results. To evaluate the performance of the proposed method we implement our decision model to the historical data. A software tool incorporating our methodology is currently in construction.

Voice quality in relation to voice complaints and vocal fold condition during the screening of female student teachers.

Science.gov (United States)

Meulenbroek, Leo F P; de Jong, Felix I C R S

2011-07-01

The purpose of this study was to compare the perceptual examination of voice quality with the condition of the vocal folds and voice complaints during voice screening in female student teachers. This research was a cross-sectional study in 214 starting student teachers using the four-point grade scale of the GRBAS and laryngostroboscopic assessment of the vocal folds. The voice quality was assessed by speech pathologists using the ordinal 4-point G-scale (overall dysphonia) of the GRBAS method in a running speech sample. Glottal closure and vocal fold lesions were recorded. A questionnaire was used for assessing voice complaints. More students with an insufficient glottal closure (89%) were rated dysphonic compared with students with sufficient glottal closure (80%). Students with sufficient glottal closure had a significantly lower mean G-score (1.21) compared with the group with insufficient glottal closure (1.52) (P = 0.038). This study showed a larger percentage of students with vocal fold lesions (96%) labeled a dysphonic voice compared to students with no vocal fold problems (81%). Students with no vocal fold lesions had a significantly lower mean G-score (1.20) compared with the group with vocal fold lesions (2.05) (P=0.002). A dysphonic voice (G≥1) was rated in 76% of the students without voice complaints compared with 86% of the students with voice complaints. Students with no voice complaints had a lower mean G-score (1.07) compared with the group with voice complaints (1.41) (P=0.090). The present study showed that perceptual assessment of the voice and voice complaints is not sufficient to check if the future professional is at risk. Therefore, preventive measures are needed to detect students at risk early in their education and this depends on broader assessment: on the one hand, assessing voice quality and voice complaints and on the other hand, examination of the vocal folds of all starting students. Copyright © 2011 The Voice Foundation

VOICE QUALITY BEFORE AND AFTER THYROIDECTOMY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dora CVELBAR

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Voice disorders are a well-known complication which is often associated with thyroid gland diseases and because voice is still the basic mean of communication it is very important to maintain its quality healthy. Objectives: The aim of this study referred to questions whether there is a statistically significant difference between results of voice self-assessment, perceptual voice assessment and acoustic voice analysis before and after thyroidectomy and whether there are statistically significant correlations between variables of voice self-assessment, perceptual assessment and acoustic analysis before and after thyroidectomy. Methods: This scientific research included 12 participants aged between 41 and 76. Voice self-assessment was conducted with the help of Croatian version of Voice Handicap Index (VHI. Recorded reading samples were used for perceptual assessment and later evaluated by two clinical speech and language therapists. Recorded samples of phonation were used for acoustic analysis which was conducted with the help of acoustic program Praat. All of the data was processed through descriptive statistics and nonparametric statistical methods. Results: Results showed that there are statistically significant differences between results of voice self-assessments and results of acoustic analysis before and after thyroidectomy. Statistically significant correlations were found between variables of perceptual assessment and acoustic analysis. Conclusion: Obtained results indicate the importance of multidimensional, preoperative and postoperative assessment. This kind of assessment allows the clinician to describe all of the voice features and provides appropriate recommendation for further rehabilitation to the patient in order to optimize voice outcomes.

Aerodynamic and sound intensity measurements in tracheoesophageal voice

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Grolman, Wilko; Eerenstein, Simone E. J.; Tan, Frédérique M. L.; Tange, Rinze A.; Schouwenburg, Paul F.

2007-01-01

BACKGROUND: In laryngectomized patients, tracheoesophageal voice generally provides a better voice quality than esophageal voice. Understanding the aerodynamics of voice production in patients with a voice prosthesis is important for optimizing prosthetic designs and successful voice rehabilitation.

Crossing Cultures with Multi-Voiced Journals

Science.gov (United States)

Styslinger, Mary E.; Whisenant, Alison

2004-01-01

In this article, the authors discuss the benefits of using multi-voiced journals as a teaching strategy in reading instruction. Multi-voiced journals, an adaptation of dual-voiced journals, encourage responses to reading in varied, cultured voices of characters. It is similar to reading journals in that they prod students to connect to the lives…

[Applicability of Voice Handicap Index to the evaluation of voice therapy effectiveness in teachers].

Science.gov (United States)

Niebudek-Bogusz, Ewa; Kuzańska, Anna; Błoch, Piotr; Domańska, Maja; Woźnicka, Ewelina; Politański, Piotr; Sliwińska-Kowalska, Mariola

2007-01-01

The aim of this study was to assess the applicability of Voice Handicap Index (VHI) to the evaluation of effectiveness of functional voice disorders treatment in teachers. The subjects were 45 female teachers with functional dysphonia who evaluated their voice problems according to the subjective VHI scale before and after phoniatric management. Group I (29 patients) were subjected to vocal training, whereas group II (16 patients) received only voice hygiene instructions. The results demonstrated that differences in the mean VHI score before and after phoniatric treatment were significantly higher in group 1 than in group II (p teacher's dysphonia.

Voice parameters and videonasolaryngoscopy in children with vocal nodules: a longitudinal study, before and after voice therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Valadez, Victor; Ysunza, Antonio; Ocharan-Hernandez, Esther; Garrido-Bustamante, Norma; Sanchez-Valerio, Araceli; Pamplona, Ma C

2012-09-01

Vocal Nodules (VN) are a functional voice disorder associated with voice misuse and abuse in children. There are few reports addressing vocal parameters in children with VN, especially after a period of vocal rehabilitation. The purpose of this study is to describe measurements of vocal parameters including Fundamental Frequency (FF), Shimmer (S), and Jitter (J), videonasolaryngoscopy examination and clinical perceptual assessment, before and after voice therapy in children with VN. Voice therapy was provided using visual support through Speech-Viewer software. Twenty patients with VN were studied. An acoustical analysis of voice was performed and compared with data from subjects from a control group matched by age and gender. Also, clinical perceptual assessment of voice and videonasolaryngoscopy were performed to all patients with VN. After a period of voice therapy, provided with visual support using Speech Viewer-III (SV-III-IBM) software, new acoustical analyses, perceptual assessments and videonasolaryngoscopies were performed. Before the onset of voice therapy, there was a significant difference (ptherapy period, a significant improvement (pvocal nodules were no longer discernible on the vocal folds in any of the cases. SV-III software seems to be a safe and reliable method for providing voice therapy in children with VN. Acoustic voice parameters, perceptual data and videonasolaryngoscopy were significantly improved after the speech therapy period was completed. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Interactive Augmentation of Voice Quality and Reduction of Breath Airflow in the Soprano Voice.

Science.gov (United States)

Rothenberg, Martin; Schutte, Harm K

2016-11-01

In 1985, at a conference sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, Martin Rothenberg first described a form of nonlinear source-tract acoustic interaction mechanism by which some sopranos, singing in their high range, can use to reduce the total airflow, to allow holding the note longer, and simultaneously enrich the quality of the voice, without straining the voice. (M. Rothenberg, "Source-Tract Acoustic Interaction in the Soprano Voice and Implications for Vocal Efficiency," Fourth International Conference on Vocal Fold Physiology, New Haven, Connecticut, June 3-6, 1985.) In this paper, we describe additional evidence for this type of nonlinear source-tract interaction in some soprano singing and describe an analogous interaction phenomenon in communication engineering. We also present some implications for voice research and pedagogy. Copyright © 2016 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Listen to a voice

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hølge-Hazelton, Bibi

2001-01-01

Listen to the voice of a young girl Lonnie, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at 16. Imagine that she is deeply involved in the social security system. She lives with her mother and two siblings in a working class part of a small town. She is at a special school for problematic youth, and her...

Interventions for preventing voice disorders in adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruotsalainen, J H; Sellman, J; Lehto, L; Jauhiainen, M; Verbeek, J H

2007-10-17

Poor voice quality due to a voice disorder can lead to a reduced quality of life. In occupations where voice use is substantial it can lead to periods of absence from work. To evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to prevent voice disorders in adults. We searched MEDLINE (PubMed, 1950 to 2006), EMBASE (1974 to 2006), CENTRAL (The Cochrane Library, Issue 2 2006), CINAHL (1983 to 2006), PsychINFO (1967 to 2006), Science Citation Index (1986 to 2006) and the Occupational Health databases OSH-ROM (to 2006). The date of the last search was 05/04/06. Randomised controlled clinical trials (RCTs) of interventions evaluating the effectiveness of treatments to prevent voice disorders in adults. For work-directed interventions interrupted time series and prospective cohort studies were also eligible. Two authors independently extracted data and assessed trial quality. Meta-analysis was performed where appropriate. We identified two randomised controlled trials including a total of 53 participants in intervention groups and 43 controls. One study was conducted with teachers and the other with student teachers. Both trials were poor quality. Interventions were grouped into 1) direct voice training, 2) indirect voice training and 3) direct and indirect voice training combined.1) Direct voice training: One study did not find a significant decrease of the Voice Handicap Index for direct voice training compared to no intervention.2) Indirect voice training: One study did not find a significant decrease of the Voice Handicap Index for indirect voice training when compared to no intervention.3) Direct and indirect voice training combined: One study did not find a decrease of the Voice Handicap Index for direct and indirect voice training combined when compared to no intervention. The same study did however find an improvement in maximum phonation time (Mean Difference -3.18 sec; 95 % CI -4.43 to -1.93) for direct and indirect voice training combined when compared to no

Designing a Voice Controlled Interface For Radio : Guidelines for The First Generation of Voice Controlled Public Radio

OpenAIRE

Päärni, Anna

2017-01-01

From being a fictional element in sci-fi, voice control has become a reality, with inventions such as Apple's Siri, and interactive voice response (IVR) when calling your doctor's office. The combination of radio’s strength as a hands-free medium, public radio’s mission to reach across all platforms and the rise of voice makes up a relevant intersection; voice controlled public radio in Sweden. This thesis has aimed to investigate how radio listeners wish to interact using voice control to li...

The Use of Electronic Mail in Biomedical Communication

OpenAIRE

Costello, Richard; Shaw, Anthony; Cheetham, Roz; Moots, Robert J.

2000-01-01

Objectives: To determine whether there are statistically significant differences in the content of electronic mail (e-mail) and conventional mail sent to authors of papers published in medical journals.

Voice and silence in organizations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Moaşa, H.

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Unlike previous research on voice and silence, this article breaksthe distance between the two and declines to treat them as opposites. Voice and silence are interrelated and intertwined strategic forms ofcommunication which presuppose each other in such a way that the absence of one would minimize completely the other’s presence. Social actors are not voice, or silence. Social actors can have voice or silence, they can do both because they operate at multiple levels and deal with multiple issues at different moments in time.

Predicting Voice Disorder Status From Smoothed Measures of Cepstral Peak Prominence Using Praat and Analysis of Dysphonia in Speech and Voice (ADSV).

Science.gov (United States)

Sauder, Cara; Bretl, Michelle; Eadie, Tanya

2017-09-01

The purposes of this study were to (1) determine and compare the diagnostic accuracy of a single acoustic measure, smoothed cepstral peak prominence (CPPS), to predict voice disorder status from connected speech samples using two software systems: Analysis of Dysphonia in Speech and Voice (ADSV) and Praat; and (2) to determine the relationship between measures of CPPS generated from these programs. This is a retrospective cross-sectional study. Measures of CPPS were obtained from connected speech recordings of 100 subjects with voice disorders and 70 nondysphonic subjects without vocal complaints using commercially available ADSV and freely downloadable Praat software programs. Logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were used to evaluate and compare the diagnostic accuracy of CPPS measures. Relationships between CPPS measures from the programs were determined. Results showed acceptable overall accuracy rates (75% accuracy, ADSV; 82% accuracy, Praat) and area under the ROC curves (area under the curve [AUC] = 0.81, ADSV; AUC = 0.91, Praat) for predicting voice disorder status, with slight differences in sensitivity and specificity. CPPS measures derived from Praat were uniquely predictive of disorder status above and beyond CPPS measures from ADSV (χ 2 (1) = 40.71, P disorder status using either program. Clinicians may consider using CPPS to complement clinical voice evaluation and screening protocols. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Take control of Apple Mail in Leopard

CERN Document Server

Kissell, Joe

2009-01-01

Go under the hood with new (and old) features in Apple Mail in Leopard! Are you using Apple Mail in Leopard effectively? In this book, completely updated from its previous Panther and Tiger editions, author Joe Kissell provides comprehensive guidance, with a focus on new and updated features. You'll learn how to use and customize the Mail window, control the size and styling of incoming messages, and make rules to move messages into different mailboxes automatically. The book covers outgoing mail, showing you smart ways to address messages, send attachments, and send HTML-based messages. Bu

You've got mail! An examination of a statewide direct-mail marketing campaign to promote deceased organ donor registrations.

Science.gov (United States)

Quick, Brian L; LaVoie, Nicole R; Morgan, Susan E; Bosch, Dave

2015-11-01

This study extends previous direct-mail campaigns by evaluating the effectiveness of a marketing campaign promoting organ donation message strategies from the vantage point of organ donors, organ recipients, individuals on the waiting list, or a combination of these three frames. Illinois residents were randomly assigned to one of four organ donation brochures disseminated via U.S. postal mail. Registrations occurred via the Internet and U.S. postal mail. Individuals register at a greater rate following exposure to the combination framed message compared to organ donor, organ recipient, and waiting list narratives. The campaign revealed that individuals are more likely to register via U.S. postal mail than the Internet. Direct-mail marketing efforts were shown to be an effective approach to promote organ and tissue donation registrations. The results demonstrated a preference for the combination framed brochure. The results are discussed with an emphasis on the practical implications of utilizing direct-mail marketing efforts to promote organ donation among young adults. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

76 FR 17787 - Market Dominant Negotiated Service Agreement (NSA) for First-Class Mail and Standard Mail

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-31

... POSTAL SERVICE 39 CFR Part 111 Market Dominant Negotiated Service Agreement (NSA) for First- Class....1, to establish a new Negotiated Service Agreement (NSA) Market Dominant product for First-Class... Gifford at 202-268-8082. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This new NSA for First-Class Mail and Standard Mail is...

A voice-actuated wind tunnel model leak checking system

Science.gov (United States)

Larson, William E.

1989-01-01

A computer program has been developed that improves the efficiency of wind tunnel model leak checking. The program uses a voice recognition unit to relay a technician's commands to the computer. The computer, after receiving a command, can respond to the technician via a voice response unit. Information about the model pressure orifice being checked is displayed on a gas-plasma terminal. On command, the program records up to 30 seconds of pressure data. After the recording is complete, the raw data and a straight line fit of the data are plotted on the terminal. This allows the technician to make a decision on the integrity of the orifice being checked. All results of the leak check program are stored in a database file that can be listed on the line printer for record keeping purposes or displayed on the terminal to help the technician find unchecked orifices. This program allows one technician to check a model for leaks instead of the two or three previously required.

Clinical voice analysis of Carnatic singers.

Science.gov (United States)

Arunachalam, Ravikumar; Boominathan, Prakash; Mahalingam, Shenbagavalli

2014-01-01

Carnatic singing is a classical South Indian style of music that involves rigorous training to produce an "open throated" loud, predominantly low-pitched singing, embedded with vocal nuances in higher pitches. Voice problems in singers are not uncommon. The objective was to report the nature of voice problems and apply a routine protocol to assess the voice. Forty-five trained performing singers (females: 36 and males: 9) who reported to a tertiary care hospital with voice problems underwent voice assessment. The study analyzed their problems and the clinical findings. Voice change, difficulty in singing higher pitches, and voice fatigue were major complaints. Most of the singers suffered laryngopharyngeal reflux that coexisted with muscle tension dysphonia and chronic laryngitis. Speaking voices were rated predominantly as "moderate deviation" on GRBAS (Grade, Rough, Breathy, Asthenia, and Strain). Maximum phonation time ranged from 4 to 29 seconds (females: 10.2, standard deviation [SD]: 5.28 and males: 15.7, SD: 5.79). Singing frequency range was reduced (females: 21.3 Semitones and males: 23.99 Semitones). Dysphonia severity index (DSI) scores ranged from -3.5 to 4.91 (females: 0.075 and males: 0.64). Singing frequency range and DSI did not show significant difference between sex and across clinical diagnosis. Self-perception using voice disorder outcome profile revealed overall severity score of 5.1 (SD: 2.7). Findings are discussed from a clinical intervention perspective. Study highlighted the nature of voice problems (hyperfunctional) and required modifications in assessment protocol for Carnatic singers. Need for regular assessments and vocal hygiene education to maintain good vocal health are emphasized as outcomes. Copyright © 2014 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Mail Service

CERN Multimedia

TS-FM Group

2004-01-01

Tuesday 19 October 2004 Please note that the distribution and collection of mail are likely to be disrupted on Tuesday, October 19, 2004, because of traffic and other restrictions enforced on that day in connection with CERN's fiftieth anniversary celebrations. The service may be completely interrupted in certain areas. Group TS-FM, Tel. 77551

E-mail marketing grows up: a primer for the managed care industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Dysart, J

2000-02-01

Managed care plans are jumping onto the electronic marketing bandwagon in a big way, taking advantage of not only the basic E-mail system but also expanding on that medium and developing creative vehicles to send the health plan's message. In this article, the author describes how E-mail technology is being used to hone the marketing edge in MCOs.

Analysis of failure of voice production by a sound-producing voice prosthesis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Torn, M.; van Gogh, C.D.L.; Verdonck-de Leeuw, I M; Festen, J.M.; Mahieu, H.F.

OBJECTIVE: To analyse the cause of failing voice production by a sound-producing voice prosthesis (SPVP). METHODS: The functioning of a prototype SPVP is described in a female laryngectomee before and after its sound-producing mechanism was impeded by tracheal phlegm. This assessment included:

Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) in a Control Center Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Pirani, Joseph; Calvelage, Steven

2010-01-01

The technology of transmitting voice over data networks has been available for over 10 years. Mass market VoIP services for consumers to make and receive standard telephone calls over broadband Internet networks have grown in the last 5 years. While operational costs are less with VoIP implementations as opposed to time division multiplexing (TDM) based voice switches, is it still advantageous to convert a mission control center s voice system to this newer technology? Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC) has converted its mission voice services to a commercial product that utilizes VoIP technology. Results from this testing, design, and installation have shown unique considerations that must be addressed before user operations. There are many factors to consider for a control center voice design. Technology advantages and disadvantages were investigated as they refer to cost. There were integration concerns which could lead to complex failure scenarios but simpler integration for the mission infrastructure. MSFC HOSC will benefit from this voice conversion with less product replacement cost, less operations cost and a more integrated mission services environment.

E-mail security: new restriction on attachments

CERN Multimedia

The Mail Team

2006-01-01

In order to further protect CERN mail users against viruses that spread using malicious files, from 1st March onwards dangerous file types already forbidden as mail attachments will also be forbidden as contents of an archive attachment (.zip and .rar compressed files). More details, including a list of blocked file types, can be found at http://cern.ch/mmmservices/Help/?kbid=171010 The Mail Team

E-mail security: new restriction on attachments

CERN Multimedia

The Mail Team

2006-01-01

In order to further protect CERN mail users against viruses that spread using malicious files, from 1st March onwards dangerous file types already forbidden as mail attachments will also be forbidden as contents of an archive attachment (.zip and .rar compressed files). More details, including a list of blocked file types, can be found at http://cern.ch/mmmservices/Help/?kbid=171010. The Mail Team

The relation of vocal fold lesions and voice quality to voice handicap and psychosomatic well-being

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smits, R.; Marres, H.A.; de Jong, F.

2012-01-01

BACKGROUND: Voice disorders have a multifactorial genesis and may be present in various ways. They can cause a significant communication handicap and impaired quality of life. OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of vocal fold lesions and voice quality on voice handicap and psychosomatic well-being.

Voice Morphing Using 3D Waveform Interpolation Surfaces and Lossless Tube Area Functions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lavner Yizhar

2005-01-01

Full Text Available Voice morphing is the process of producing intermediate or hybrid voices between the utterances of two speakers. It can also be defined as the process of gradually transforming the voice of one speaker to that of another. The ability to change the speaker's individual characteristics and to produce high-quality voices can be used in many applications. Examples include multimedia and video entertainment, as well as enrichment of speech databases in text-to-speech systems. In this study we present a new technique which enables production of a given number of intermediate voices or of utterances which gradually change from one voice to another. This technique is based on two components: (1 creation of a 3D prototype waveform interpolation (PWI surface from the LPC residual signal, to produce an intermediate excitation signal; (2 a representation of the vocal tract by a lossless tube area function, and an interpolation of the parameters of the two speakers. The resulting synthesized signal sounds like a natural voice lying between the two original voices.

Any time, anywhere : communications system keeps employees connected

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Louie, J.

2007-07-15

Cisco Systems Canada is a leading computer networking company that has developed a business solution for the oil and gas sector that allows employees to communicate more effectively. Cisco Unified Communications provides a set of applications or services that can ride on top an existing data network. The network allows telephone conferencing through a centrally located internal application, saving companies the cost of using a conferencing service. Cisco Unified Meeting place allows workers at different locations to discuss, review and edit documents in real time. Other applications can be added and made available to everyone. Pengrowth Energy Trust, which implemented the Cisco system a few years ago, claims it is much faster and more convenient than the previous system. Pengrowth has benefited from the its tie-in with e-mail server Microsoft Exchange. Users can listen to voice mails on their computers and also have the option of listening to their e-mails when they call into the office. The system provides a very well tracked record and also allows four-digit dialing throughout most of the company's multiple locations, thereby eliminating costly long distance charges. Pengrowth is now considering implementing other new products from Cisco, such as the Unified Mobility Manager which links cell phones and desk phones. It was concluded that Cisco systems offer the advantages of flexibility, mobility and cost reduction. 1 fig.

77 FR 71643 - Standard Mail Pricing

Science.gov (United States)

2012-12-03

... POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION [Docket No. R2013-1; Order No.1556] Standard Mail Pricing AGENCY: Postal Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The Commission is noticing a recent Postal Service filing concerning Standard Mail pricing and related matters. This notice informs the public of the filing...

Voice Onset Time in Azerbaijani Consonants

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ali Jahan

2009-10-01

Full Text Available Objective: Voice onset time is known to be cue for the distinction between voiced and voiceless stops and it can be used to describe or categorize a range of developmental, neuromotor and linguistic disorders. The aim of this study is determination of standard values of voice onset time for Azerbaijani language (Tabriz dialect. Materials & Methods: In this description-analytical study, 30 Azeris persons whom were selected conveniently by simple selection, uttered 46 monosyllabic words initiating with 6 Azerbaijani stops twice. Using Praat software, the voice onset time values were analyzed by waveform and wideband spectrogram in milliseconds. Vowel effect, sex differences and the effect of place of articulation on VOT, were evaluated and data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA test. Results: There was no significant difference in voice onset time between male and female Azeris speakers (P<0.05. Vowel and place of articulation had significant correlation with voice onset time (P<0.001. Voice onset time values for /b/, /p/, /d/, /t/, /g/, /k/, and [c], [ɟ] allophones were 10.64, 86.88, 13.35, 87.09, 26.25, 100.62, 131.19, 63.18 mili second, respectively. Conclusion: Voice onset time values are the same for Azerbaijani men and women. However, like many other languages, back and high vowels and back place of articulation lengthen VOT. Also, voiceless stops are aspirated in this language and voiced stops have positive VOT values.

75 FR 39477 - New Standards for Domestic Mailing Services

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-09

... markets, test new mailpieces, and increase the frequency of their mailings at reduced net postage prices... growth of automation letter-size mail, particularly pieces that are part of full-service Intelligent Mail[supreg] automation mailings entered at PostalOne![supreg] acceptance facilities. Accordingly, we propose...

Does CPAP treatment affect the voice?

Science.gov (United States)

Saylam, Güleser; Şahin, Mustafa; Demiral, Dilek; Bayır, Ömer; Yüceege, Melike Bağnu; Çadallı Tatar, Emel; Korkmaz, Mehmet Hakan

2016-12-20

The aim of this study was to investigate alterations in voice parameters among patients using continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. Patients with an indication for CPAP treatment without any voice problems and with normal laryngeal findings were included and voice parameters were evaluated before and 1 and 6 months after CPAP. Videolaryngostroboscopic findings, a self-rated scale (Voice Handicap Index-10, VHI-10), perceptual voice quality assessment (GRBAS: grade, roughness, breathiness, asthenia, strain), and acoustic parameters were compared. Data from 70 subjects (48 men and 22 women) with a mean age of 44.2 ± 6.0 years were evaluated. When compared with the pre-CPAP treatment period, there was a significant increase in the VHI-10 score after 1 month of treatment and in VHI- 10 and total GRBAS scores, jitter percent (P = 0.01), shimmer percent, noise-to-harmonic ratio, and voice turbulence index after 6 months of treatment. Vague negative effects on voice parameters after the first month of CPAP treatment became more evident after 6 months. We demonstrated nonsevere alterations in the voice quality of patients under CPAP treatment. Given that CPAP is a long-term treatment it is important to keep these alterations in mind.

Managing dysphonia in occupational voice users.

Science.gov (United States)

Behlau, Mara; Zambon, Fabiana; Madazio, Glaucya

2014-06-01

Recent advances with regard to occupational voice disorders are highlighted with emphasis on issues warranting consideration when assessing, training, and treating professional voice users. Findings include the many particularities between the various categories of professional voice users, the concept that the environment plays a major role in occupational voice disorders, and that biopsychosocial influences should be analyzed on an individual basis. Assessment via self-evaluation protocols to quantify the impact of these disorders is mandatory as a component of an evaluation and to document treatment outcomes. Discomfort or odynophonia has evolved as a critical symptom in this population. Clinical trials are limited and the complexity of the environment may be a limitation in experiment design. This review reinforced the need for large population studies of professional voice users; new data highlighted important factors specific to each group of voice users. Interventions directed at student teachers are necessities to not only improving the quality of future professionals, but also to avoid the frustration and limitations associated with chronic voice problems. The causative relationship between the work environment and voice disorders has not yet been established. Randomized controlled trials are lacking and must be a focus to enhance treatment paradigms for this population.

77 FR 70849 - International Mail Contract

Science.gov (United States)

2012-11-27

... POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION [Docket No. R2013-2; Order No.1550] International Mail Contract... Service filing concerning a Type 2 rate adjustment in conjunction with a mail contract with China Post... Equivalent Agreement, November 15, 2012 (Notice). Contract history and scope. The Agreement is a successor to...

36 CFR 1236.22 - What are the additional requirements for managing electronic mail records?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION RECORDS MANAGEMENT ELECTRONIC RECORDS MANAGEMENT Additional... other related records. (3) If the electronic mail system identifies users by codes or nicknames or... accordance with the provisions of GRS 23, Item 5. (5) Draft documents that are circulated on electronic mail...

Don’t let your mail leak

CERN Multimedia

Computer Security Team

2012-01-01

At CERN, data privacy is of paramount importance, and we are currently developing a comprehensive data protection policy. For example, your CERN mailbox and your “private” folders on AFS and DFS are considered yours...   You might feel like you have nothing to hide, but we are not only talking about personal e-mail: data privacy also pertains to financial mail (acquisitions, tenders), mail related to HR (contracts, assessments), medical information, etc.  As this is considered “private” even if it is work-related, the data cannot normally be accessed by your supervisor, the AFS/DFS/mail service administrators or even the Computer Security Team. Tight procedures have been established for the rare cases where such access is necessary, and these require the prior approval of the CERN Computer Security Officer or the IT Department Head, the Legal Service and the DG (see here for more details). Data privacy is not only the responsibility of the O...

Epidemiology of Voice Disorders in Latvian School Teachers.

Science.gov (United States)

Trinite, Baiba

2017-07-01

The prevalence of voice disorders in the teacher population in Latvia has not been studied so far and this is the first epidemiological study whose goal is to investigate the prevalence of voice disorders and their risk factors in this professional group. A wide cross-sectional study using stratified sampling methodology was implemented in the general education schools of Latvia. The self-administered voice risk factor questionnaire and the Voice Handicap Index were completed by 522 teachers. Two teachers groups were formed: the voice disorders group which included 235 teachers with actual voice problems or problems during the last 9 months; and the control group which included 174 teachers without voice disorders. Sixty-six percent of teachers gave a positive answer to the following question: Have you ever had problems with your voice? Voice problems are more often found in female than male teachers (68.2% vs 48.8%). Music teachers suffer from voice disorders more often than teachers of other subjects. Eighty-two percent of teachers first faced voice problems in their professional carrier. The odds of voice disorders increase if the following risk factors exist: extra vocal load, shouting, throat clearing, neglecting of personal health, background noise, chronic illnesses of the upper respiratory tract, allergy, job dissatisfaction, and regular stress in the working place. The study findings indicated a high risk of voice disorders among Latvian teachers. The study confirmed data concerning the multifactorial etiology of voice disorders. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Discovery and analysis of e-mail-driven business processes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stuit, Marco; Wortmann, Hans

E-mail is used as the primary tool for business communication and collaboration. This paper presents a novel e-mail interaction mining method to discover and analyze e-mail-driven business processes. An e-mail-driven business process is perceived as a human collaboration process that consists of

Electronic Mail in Academic Settings: A Multipurpose Communications Tool.

Science.gov (United States)

D'Souza, Patricia Veasey

1992-01-01

Explores possible uses of electronic mail in three areas of the academic setting: instruction, research, and administration. Electronic mail is defined, the components needed to get started with electronic mail are discussed, and uses and benefits of electronic mail in diverse educational environments are suggested. (12 references) (DB)

Very low bit rate voice for packetized mobile applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Knittle, C.D.; Malone, K.T.

1991-01-01

This paper reports that transmitting digital voice via packetized mobile communications systems that employ relatively short packet lengths and narrow bandwidths often necessitates very low bit rate coding of the voice data. Sandia National Laboratories is currently developing an efficient voice coding system operating at 800 bits per second (bps). The coding scheme is a modified version of the 2400 bps NSA LPC-10e standard. The most significant modification to the LPC-10e scheme is the vector quantization of the line spectrum frequencies associated with the synthesis filters. An outline of a hardware implementation for the 800 bps coder is presented. The speech quality of the coder is generally good, although speaker recognition is not possible. Further research is being conducted to reduce the memory requirements and complexity of the vector quantizer, and to increase the quality of the reconstructed speech. This work may be of use dealing with nuclear materials

Multi-Frame Rate Based Multiple-Model Training for Robust Speaker Identification of Disguised Voice

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Prasad, Swati; Tan, Zheng-Hua; Prasad, Ramjee

2013-01-01

Speaker identification systems are prone to attack when voice disguise is adopted by the user. To address this issue,our paper studies the effect of using different frame rates on the accuracy of the speaker identification system for disguised voice.In addition, a multi-frame rate based multiple......-model training method is proposed. The experimental results show the superior performance of the proposed method compared to the commonly used single frame rate method for three types of disguised voice taken from the CHAINS corpus....

Enhanced Living by Assessing Voice Pathology Using a Co-Occurrence Matrix.

Science.gov (United States)

Muhammad, Ghulam; Alhamid, Mohammed F; Hossain, M Shamim; Almogren, Ahmad S; Vasilakos, Athanasios V

2017-01-29

A large number of the population around the world suffers from various disabilities. Disabilities affect not only children but also adults of different professions. Smart technology can assist the disabled population and lead to a comfortable life in an enhanced living environment (ELE). In this paper, we propose an effective voice pathology assessment system that works in a smart home framework. The proposed system takes input from various sensors, and processes the acquired voice signals and electroglottography (EGG) signals. Co-occurrence matrices in different directions and neighborhoods from the spectrograms of these signals were obtained. Several features such as energy, entropy, contrast, and homogeneity from these matrices were calculated and fed into a Gaussian mixture model-based classifier. Experiments were performed with a publicly available database, namely, the Saarbrucken voice database. The results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed system in light of its high accuracy and speed. The proposed system can be extended to assess other disabilities in an ELE.

14 CFR 1212.603 - Mailing lists.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 5 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Mailing lists. 1212.603 Section 1212.603 Aeronautics and Space NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION PRIVACY ACT-NASA REGULATIONS Instructions for NASA Employees § 1212.603 Mailing lists. NASA will not sell, rent, or otherwise disclose an...

Design of real-time voice over internet protocol system under bandwidth network

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Li; Gong, Lina

2017-04-01

With the increasing bandwidth of the network and network convergence accelerating, VoIP means of communication across the network is becoming increasingly popular phenomenon. The real-time identification and analysis for VOIP flow over backbone network become the urgent needs and research hotspot of network operations management. Based on this, the paper proposes a VoIP business management system over backbone network. The system first filters VoIP data stream over backbone network and further resolves the call signaling information and media voice. The system can also be able to design appropriate rules to complete real-time reduction and presentation of specific categories of calls. Experimental results show that the system can parse and process real-time backbone of the VoIP call, and the results are presented accurately in the management interface, VoIP-based network traffic management and maintenance provide the necessary technical support.

Identifying hidden voice and video streams

Science.gov (United States)

Fan, Jieyan; Wu, Dapeng; Nucci, Antonio; Keralapura, Ram; Gao, Lixin

2009-04-01

Given the rising popularity of voice and video services over the Internet, accurately identifying voice and video traffic that traverse their networks has become a critical task for Internet service providers (ISPs). As the number of proprietary applications that deliver voice and video services to end users increases over time, the search for the one methodology that can accurately detect such services while being application independent still remains open. This problem becomes even more complicated when voice and video service providers like Skype, Microsoft, and Google bundle their voice and video services with other services like file transfer and chat. For example, a bundled Skype session can contain both voice stream and file transfer stream in the same layer-3/layer-4 flow. In this context, traditional techniques to identify voice and video streams do not work. In this paper, we propose a novel self-learning classifier, called VVS-I , that detects the presence of voice and video streams in flows with minimum manual intervention. Our classifier works in two phases: training phase and detection phase. In the training phase, VVS-I first extracts the relevant features, and subsequently constructs a fingerprint of a flow using the power spectral density (PSD) analysis. In the detection phase, it compares the fingerprint of a flow to the existing fingerprints learned during the training phase, and subsequently classifies the flow. Our classifier is not only capable of detecting voice and video streams that are hidden in different flows, but is also capable of detecting different applications (like Skype, MSN, etc.) that generate these voice/video streams. We show that our classifier can achieve close to 100% detection rate while keeping the false positive rate to less that 1%.

Optical voice encryption based on digital holography.

Science.gov (United States)

Rajput, Sudheesh K; Matoba, Osamu

2017-11-15

We propose an optical voice encryption scheme based on digital holography (DH). An off-axis DH is employed to acquire voice information by obtaining phase retardation occurring in the object wave due to sound wave propagation. The acquired hologram, including voice information, is encrypted using optical image encryption. The DH reconstruction and decryption with all the correct parameters can retrieve an original voice. The scheme has the capability to record the human voice in holograms and encrypt it directly. These aspects make the scheme suitable for other security applications and help to use the voice as a potential security tool. We present experimental and some part of simulation results.

Smooth Mailing

Science.gov (United States)

Palmer, Tracey

2010-01-01

In fundraising today, a wealth of communications tools makes it increasingly easier to contact prospective donors--but is it getting harder to really connect with them? Do the new tools work as well as the old ones? In the second decade of online marketing, all the tools of the trade are subject to scrutiny. Direct mail has been a mainstay of the…

Low Impedance Voice Coils for Improved Loudspeaker Efficiency

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Iversen, Niels Elkjær; Knott, Arnold; Andersen, Michael A. E.

2015-01-01

In modern audio systems utilizing switch-mode amplifiers the total efficiency is dominated by the rather poor efficiency of the loudspeaker. For decades voice coils have been designed so that nominal resistances of 4 to 8 Ohms is obtained, despite modern audio amplifiers, using switch-mode techno...... responses are estimated. For this woofer it is shown that the sensitivity can be improved approximately 1 dB, corresponding to a 30% efficiency improvement, just by increasing the fill factor using a low impedance voice coil with rectangular wire....

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Technology as a Global Learning Tool: Information Systems Success and Control Belief Perspectives

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Charlie C.; Vannoy, Sandra

2013-01-01

Voice over Internet Protocol- (VoIP) enabled online learning service providers struggling with high attrition rates and low customer loyalty issues despite VoIP's high degree of system fit for online global learning applications. Effective solutions to this prevalent problem rely on the understanding of system quality, information quality, and…

Performance of Phonatory Deviation Diagrams in Synthesized Voice Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Lopes, Leonardo Wanderley; da Silva, Karoline Evangelista; da Silva Evangelista, Deyverson; Almeida, Anna Alice; Silva, Priscila Oliveira Costa; Lucero, Jorge; Behlau, Mara

2018-05-02

To analyze the performance of a phonatory deviation diagram (PDD) in discriminating the presence and severity of voice deviation and the predominant voice quality of synthesized voices. A speech-language pathologist performed the auditory-perceptual analysis of the synthesized voice (n = 871). The PDD distribution of voice signals was analyzed according to area, quadrant, shape, and density. Differences in signal distribution regarding the PDD area and quadrant were detected when differentiating the signals with and without voice deviation and with different predominant voice quality. Differences in signal distribution were found in all PDD parameters as a function of the severity of voice disorder. The PDD area and quadrant can differentiate normal voices from deviant synthesized voices. There are differences in signal distribution in PDD area and quadrant as a function of the severity of voice disorder and the predominant voice quality. However, the PDD area and quadrant do not differentiate the signals as a function of severity of voice disorder and differentiated only the breathy and rough voices from the normal and strained voices. PDD density is able to differentiate only signals with moderate and severe deviation. PDD shape shows differences between signals with different severities of voice deviation. © 2018 S. Karger AG, Basel.

The interaction of tone with voicing and foot structure: evidence from Kera phonetics and phonology

Science.gov (United States)

Pearce, Mary Dorothy

This thesis uses acoustic measurements as a basis for the phonological analysis of the interaction of tone with voicing and foot structure in Kera (a Chadic language). In both tone spreading and vowel harmony, the iambic foot acts as a domain for spreading. Further evidence for the foot comes from measurements of duration, intensity and vowel quality. Kera is unusual in combining a tone system with a partially independent metrical system based on iambs. In words containing more than one foot, the foot is the tone bearing unit (TBU), but in shorter words, the TBU is the syllable. In perception and production experiments, results show that Kera speakers, unlike English and French, use the fundamental frequency as the principle cue to 'Voicing" contrast. Voice onset time (VOT) has only a minor role. Historically, tones probably developed from voicing through a process of tonogenesis, but synchronically, the feature voice is no longer contrastive and VOT is used in an enhancing role. Some linguists have claimed that Kera is a key example for their controversial theory of long-distance voicing spread. But as voice is not part of Kera phonology, this thesis gives counter-evidence to the voice spreading claim. An important finding from the experiments is that the phonological grammars are different between village women, men moving to town and town men. These differences are attributed to French contact. The interaction between Kera tone and voicing and contact with French have produced changes from a 2-way voicing contrast, through a 3-way tonal contrast, to a 2-way voicing contrast plus another contrast with short VOT. These diachronic and synchronic tone/voicing facts are analysed using laryngeal features and Optimality Theory. This thesis provides a body of new data, detailed acoustic measurements, and an analysis incorporating current theoretical issues in phonology, which make it of interest to Africanists and theoreticians alike.

Occupational risk factors and voice disorders.

Science.gov (United States)

Vilkman, E

1996-01-01

From the point of view of occupational health, the field of voice disorders is very poorly developed as compared, for instance, to the prevention and diagnostics of occupational hearing disorders. In fact, voice disorders have not even been recognized in the field of occupational medicine. Hence, it is obviously very rare in most countries that the voice disorder of a professional voice user, e.g. a teacher, a singer or an actor, is accepted as an occupational disease by insurance companies. However, occupational voice problems do not lack significance from the point of view of the patient. We also know from questionnaires and clinical studies that voice complaints are very common. Another example of job-related health problems, which has proved more successful in terms of its occupational health status, is the repetition strain injury of the elbow, i.e. the "tennis elbow". Its textbook definition could be used as such to describe an occupational voice disorder ("dysphonia professional is"). In the present paper the effects of such risk factors as vocal loading itself, background noise and room acoustics and low relative humidity of the air are discussed. Due to individual factors underlying the development of professional voice disorders, recommendations rather than regulations are called for. There are many simple and even relatively low-cost methods available for the prevention of vocal problems as well as for supporting rehabilitation.

Analyzing E-mail communication of prospective learners

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anurag SAXENA

2005-10-01

Full Text Available Analyzing E-mail communication of prospective learners Vibha JOSHIAnurag SAXENA Reader School of Management IGNOU, New Delhi, INDIA ABSTRACT Today, computer has replaced all means of communication significantly. E-mail is the most popular means of communication through computers. It has vanished the boundaries between the cities, countries and continents. Earlier Studies that used this medium, had shown evidence of higher quality of responses and also significant cost savings feature of this method (mainly for convenience of dispatch for research purposes. In this communication, an attempt has been made to utilize email responses of prospective learners in education discipline based programs offered through open learning system. The inception of this study is linked to the creation of website (http://www.ignou.ac.in/ and availability of information related to all activated and prospective programs of studies, various school of studies, faculty email addresses and faculty vis-à-vis program coordinator in the University. The present study analyzed 65 email responses received from July 2002 to till date by the researcher on her email ID. These respondents got the email ID from the University website and due to their eagerness to attain qualifications in the field of education/guidance/educational management, sent an e-mail to the program coordinator(s. These email responses were analyzed in order to visualize the learner profiles and viability of the ongoing as well as prospective programs of studies. This paper tries to analyze the e-mail responses of the people who either by surfing IGNOU’s website or from other sources came to know about the various programs of studies offered by the School of Education. The study validates that there is an amount of hidden information even in the curiosity of the learners.

Clinical Voices - an update

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fusaroli, Riccardo; Weed, Ethan

Anomalous aspects of speech and voice, including pitch, fluency, and voice quality, are reported to characterise many mental disorders. However, it has proven difficult to quantify and explain this oddness of speech by employing traditional statistical methods. In this talk we will show how...

Enhanced Living by Assessing Voice Pathology Using a Co-Occurrence Matrix

OpenAIRE

Muhammad, Ghulam; Alhamid, Mohammed F.; Hossain, M. Shamim; Almogren, Ahmad S.; Vasilakos, Athanasios V.

2017-01-01

A large number of the population around the world suffers from various disabilities. Disabilities affect not only children but also adults of different professions. Smart technology can assist the disabled population and lead to a comfortable life in an enhanced living environment (ELE). In this paper, we propose an effective voice pathology assessment system that works in a smart home framework. The proposed system takes input from various sensors, and processes the acquired voice signals an...

Changes after voice therapy in objective and subjective voice measurements of pediatric patients with vocal nodules.

Science.gov (United States)

Tezcaner, Ciler Zahide; Karatayli Ozgursoy, Selmin; Ozgursoy, Selmin Karatayli; Sati, Isil; Dursun, Gursel

2009-12-01

The aim of this study was to analyze the efficiency of the voice therapy in children with vocal nodules by using the acoustic analysis and subjective assessment. Thirty-nine patients with vocal fold nodules, aged between 7 and 14, were included in the study. Each subject had voice therapy led by an experienced voice therapist once a week. All diagnostic and follow-up workouts were performed before the voice therapy and after the third or the sixth month. Transoral and/or transnasal videostroboscopic examination and acoustic analysis were achieved using multi-dimensional voice program (MDVP) and subjective analysis with GRBAS scale. As for the perceptual assessment, the difference was significant for four parameters out of five. A significant improvement was found in the acoustic analysis parameters of jitter, shimmer, and noise-to-harmonic ratio. The voice therapy which was planned according to patients' needs, age, compliance and response to therapy had positive effects on pediatric patients with vocal nodules. Acoustic analysis and GRBAS may be used successfully in the follow-up of pediatric vocal nodule treatment.

7 CFR 319.55-7 - Importations by mail.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... foreign mailing point by a special mailing tag directing the package to a Plant Protection and Quarantine... 7 Agriculture 5 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Importations by mail. 319.55-7 Section 319.55-7 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) ANIMAL AND PLANT HEALTH INSPECTION...

Technology Corner: Analysing E-mail Headers For Forensic Investigation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Tariq Banday

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Electronic Mail (E-Mail, which is one of the most widely used applications of Internet, has become a global communication infrastructure service.  However, security loopholes in it enable cybercriminals to misuse it by forging its headers or by sending it anonymously for illegitimate purposes, leading to e-mail forgeries. E-mail messages include transit handling envelope and trace information in the form of structured fields which are not stripped after messages are delivered, leaving a detailed record of e-mail transactions.  A detailed header analysis can be used to map the networks traversed by messages, including information on the messaging software and patching policies of clients and gateways, etc. Cyber forensic e-mail analysis is employed to collect credible evidence to bring criminals to justice. This paper projects the need for e-mail forensic investigation and lists various methods and tools used for its realization. A detailed header analysis of a multiple tactic spoofed e-mail message is carried out in this paper. It also discusses various possibilities for detection of spoofed headers and identification of its originator. Further, difficulties that may be faced by investigators during forensic investigation of an e-mail message have been discussed along with their possible solutions.

Objective Voice Parameters in Colombian School Workers with Healthy Voices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lady Catherine Cantor Cutiva

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Objectives: To characterize the objective voice parameters among school workers, and to identi­fy associated factors of three objective voice parameters, namely fundamental frequency, sound pressure level and maximum phonation time. Materials and methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study among 116 Colombian teachers and 20 Colombian non-teachers. After signing the informed consent form, participants filled out a questionnaire. Then, a voice sample was recorded and evaluated perceptually by a speech therapist and by objective voice analysis with praat software. Short-term environmental measurements of sound level, temperature, humi­dity, and reverberation time were conducted during visits at the workplaces, such as classrooms and offices. Linear regression analysis was used to determine associations between individual and work-related factors and objective voice parameters. Results: Compared with men, women had higher fundamental frequency (201 Hz for teachers and 209 for non-teachers vs. 120 Hz for teachers and 127 for non-teachers and sound pressure level (82 dB vs. 80 dB, and shorter maximum phonation time (around 14 seconds vs. around 16 seconds. Female teachers younger than 50 years of age evidenced a significant tendency to speak with lower fundamental frequen­cy and shorter mpt compared with female teachers older than 50 years of age. Female teachers had significantly higher fundamental frequency (66 Hz, higher sound pressure level (2 dB and short phonation time (2 seconds than male teachers. Conclusion: Female teachers younger than 50 years of age had significantly lower F0 and shorter mpt compared with those older than 50 years of age. The multivariate analysis showed that gender was a much more important determinant of variations in F0, spl and mpt than age and teaching occupation. Objectively measured temperature also contributed to the changes on spl among school workers.

Voice Quality Estimation in Wireless Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Petr Zach

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This article deals with the impact of Wireless (Wi-Fi networks on the perceived quality of voice services. The Quality of Service (QoS metrics must be monitored in the computer network during the voice data transmission to ensure proper voice service quality the end-user has paid for, especially in the wireless networks. In addition to the QoS, research area called Quality of Experience (QoE provides metrics and methods for quality evaluation from the end-user’s perspective. This article focuses on a QoE estimation of Voice over IP (VoIP calls in the wireless networks using network simulator. Results contribute to voice quality estimation based on characteristics of the wireless network and location of a wireless client.

The Influence of Sleep Disorders on Voice Quality.

Science.gov (United States)

Rocha, Bruna Rainho; Behlau, Mara

2017-09-19

To verify the influence of sleep quality on the voice. Descriptive and analytical cross-sectional study. Data were collected by an online or printed survey divided in three parts: (1) demographic data and vocal health aspects; (2) self-assessment of sleep and vocal quality, and the influence that sleep has on voice; and (3) sleep and voice self-assessment inventories-the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and the Voice Handicap Index reduced version (VHI-10). A total of 862 people were included (493 women, 369 men), with a mean age of 32 years old (maximum age of 79 and minimum age of 18 years old). The perception of the influence that sleep has on voice showed a difference (P influence a voice handicap are vocal self-assessment, ESS total score, and self-assessment of the influence that sleep has on voice. The absence of daytime sleepiness is a protective factor (odds ratio [OR] > 1) against perceived voice handicap; the presence of daytime sleepiness is a damaging factor (OR influences voice. Perceived poor sleep quality is related to perceived poor vocal quality. Individuals with a voice handicap observe a greater influence of sleep on voice than those without. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Central voice production and pathophysiology of spasmodic dysphonia.

Science.gov (United States)

Mor, Niv; Simonyan, Kristina; Blitzer, Andrew

2018-01-01

Our ability to speak is complex, and the role of the central nervous system in controlling speech production is often overlooked in the field of otolaryngology. In this brief review, we present an integrated overview of speech production with a focus on the role of central nervous system. The role of central control of voice production is then further discussed in relation to the potential pathophysiology of spasmodic dysphonia (SD). Peer-review articles on central laryngeal control and SD were identified from PUBMED search. Selected articles were augmented with designated relevant publications. Publications that discussed central and peripheral nervous system control of voice production and the central pathophysiology of laryngeal dystonia were chosen. Our ability to speak is regulated by specialized complex mechanisms coordinated by high-level cortical signaling, brainstem reflexes, peripheral nerves, muscles, and mucosal actions. Recent studies suggest that SD results from a primary central disturbance associated with dysfunction at our highest levels of central voice control. The efficacy of botulinum toxin in treating SD may not be limited solely to its local effect on laryngeal muscles and also may modulate the disorder at the level of the central nervous system. Future therapeutic options that target the central nervous system may help modulate the underlying disorder in SD and allow clinicians to better understand the principal pathophysiology. NA.Laryngoscope, 128:177-183, 2018. © 2017 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.

The Educational Impact of E-Mail: Extraverted versus Introverted Students.

Science.gov (United States)

Kunderewicz, Larisa; Michener, Stacey; Chambliss, Catherine

College students (N=151) completed surveys assessing the relationship between e-mail use and extraversion. The variables studied included time spent on e-mail; the frequency of e-mail usage; and the purposes e-mail served for each student. The results suggest that extraverts use e-mail as a form of procrastination more than introverts, and that…

The Sound of Voice: Voice-Based Categorization of Speakers' Sexual Orientation within and across Languages.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Simone Sulpizio

Full Text Available Empirical research had initially shown that English listeners are able to identify the speakers' sexual orientation based on voice cues alone. However, the accuracy of this voice-based categorization, as well as its generalizability to other languages (language-dependency and to non-native speakers (language-specificity, has been questioned recently. Consequently, we address these open issues in 5 experiments: First, we tested whether Italian and German listeners are able to correctly identify sexual orientation of same-language male speakers. Then, participants of both nationalities listened to voice samples and rated the sexual orientation of both Italian and German male speakers. We found that listeners were unable to identify the speakers' sexual orientation correctly. However, speakers were consistently categorized as either heterosexual or gay on the basis of how they sounded. Moreover, a similar pattern of results emerged when listeners judged the sexual orientation of speakers of their own and of the foreign language. Overall, this research suggests that voice-based categorization of sexual orientation reflects the listeners' expectations of how gay voices sound rather than being an accurate detector of the speakers' actual sexual identity. Results are discussed with regard to accuracy, acoustic features of voices, language dependency and language specificity.

Development of a reporting system with voice entry for radiological imaging and its application for liver scintigraphy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shishido, Fumio; Matsumoto, Toru; Tateno, Yukio

1984-01-01

A system radiological imaging reports with voice data-entry was developed and was used for liver scintigraphy. The system consists of speech recognizer DP-200 (NEC), and microprocessor PC-8801 (NEC) with a CRT display, a printer, and floppy disc units. The data obtained by the system can be transfered to minicomputer ACOS-700 by means of floppy disc with off line. It is suggested that the system is useful for making an imaging report and for data-acquisition for efficacy study of medical imaging. (author)

[Diagnostics and therapy in professional voice-users].

Science.gov (United States)

Richter, B; Echternach, M

2010-04-01

Voice is one of the most important instruments for expression and communication in humans. Dysphonia remains very frequent. Generally people in voice-intensive professions, such as teachers, call center employees, singers and actors suffer from these complaints. In recent years methods have been developed which facilitate appropriate diagnosis and therapy, based on the criteria of evidence based medicine, in voice patients appropriate to their degree of disease. The basic protocol of the European Laryngological Society offers a standardized evaluation of multidimensional voice parameters. In our own patient collective there were statistically significant improvements in voice quality, according to a pre/post mean value comparison, in both phonomicrosurgical (n=45) and voice therapy (n=30) patients in relation to RBH, DSI and VHI.

39 CFR 233.3 - Mail covers.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

.... For purpose of these regulations, the following terms are hereby defined. (1) Mail cover is the... criminal law. (3) When time is of the essence, the Chief Postal Inspector, or designee, may act upon an... furnish information as defined in § 233.3(c)(1) to any person, except as authorized by a mail cover order...

PENGIRIMAN E-MAIL SPAM SEBAGAI KEJAHATAN CYBER DI INDONESIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eka Nugraha Putra

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The Internet is part of the development of technology, where the internet provides many impacts, both positive and negative. Currently, privacy issues on the internet have also become a complicated legal issue, this is due to quite a number of privacy-related issues, but not all countries in the world manage privacy issues on the internet. As a means of communicating the Internet has introduced e-mail that provides convenience and practicality. But in its development e-mail has an adverse impact on its users in the form of e-mail spam. In terms of its actions, sending spam e-mail is quite a disadvantage, even violate the privacy. Some countries have also set it to one type of cybercrime (cybercrime. This research will discuss e-mail spam in Indonesia, how the legislation in Indonesia see the action of this spam e-mail, is there any possibility of spam e-mail is criminalized as a cybercrime. The research will also look at how spam e-mails violate privacy and review and analyze internet privacy settings in Indonesia in relation to the criminalization of spam email.

75 FR 76282 - Domestic Shipping Services Pricing and Mailing Standards Changes

Science.gov (United States)

2010-12-08

... United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM[reg]), to reflect changes to prices and mailing standards for the following Shipping Services: Express Mail[reg], Priority Mail[reg], Parcel Select[reg... following changes to Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM...

[Design of standard voice sample text for subjective auditory perceptual evaluation of voice disorders].

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jin-rang; Sun, Yan-yan; Xu, Wen

2010-09-01

To design a speech voice sample text with all phonemes in Mandarin for subjective auditory perceptual evaluation of voice disorders. The principles for design of a speech voice sample text are: The short text should include the 21 initials and 39 finals, this may cover all the phonemes in Mandarin. Also, the short text should have some meanings. A short text was made out. It had 155 Chinese words, and included 21 initials and 38 finals (the final, ê, was not included because it was rarely used in Mandarin). Also, the text covered 17 light tones and one "Erhua". The constituent ratios of the initials and finals presented in this short text were statistically similar as those in Mandarin according to the method of similarity of the sample and population (r = 0.742, P text were statistically not similar as those in Mandarin (r = 0.731, P > 0.05). A speech voice sample text with all phonemes in Mandarin was made out. The constituent ratios of the initials and finals presented in this short text are similar as those in Mandarin. Its value for subjective auditory perceptual evaluation of voice disorders need further study.

Analysis of E-mail Transactions in Virtual Reference Services

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Astutik Nur Qomariyah

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Today, the use of traditional reference desk in the academic libraries has been rarely used, thus expanding or even move to a virtual reference service. A minimum level of virtual reference services are provided in the academic library is currently in general is the electronic mail (e-mail. One of the academic library specifically provide virtual reference services via e-mail is a Petra Christian University (PCU Library (refdesk@petra.ac.id.. In such services librarians provide assistance to users in finding information and answer questions. This study aimed to analyze the transaction reference services virtually through e-mail at the PCU Library, with a view of the types of questions based on user background, the writing style of language communication interaction used based on user background, and cultural values are revealed behind the user in virtual reference services (e-mail. This study uses content analysis (content analysis of the transcript e-mail received librarians of reference services began March 10 until June 16, 2015. The results showed that the types of questions asked in reference service virtual (e-mail in the Library UK Petra include: specific search, access online resources, operation of online resources, policies and procedures for services, and library holdings with background the student (PCU and non-PCU, faculty, and librarians. Based on the background of users found that overall more types of questions asked in virtual reference services (e-mail is a problem of access to online resources, and generally submitted by the students. Then, the writing style of the user's language in interaction reference service virtual (e-mail tends to be formal, which includes the word greeting, the message will be delivered, and regards cover, either by the student (PCU and non-PCU, lecturer, or librarians. While cultural values that revealed the background behind the user in virtual reference services (e-mail is obedience, courtesy and

Voice pedagogy-what do we need?

Science.gov (United States)

Gill, Brian P; Herbst, Christian T

2016-12-01

The final keynote panel of the 10th Pan-European Voice Conference (PEVOC) was concerned with the topic 'Voice pedagogy-what do we need?' In this communication the panel discussion is summarized, and the authors provide a deepening discussion on one of the key questions, addressing the roles and tasks of people working with voice students. In particular, a distinction is made between (1) voice building (derived from the German term 'Stimmbildung'), primarily comprising the functional and physiological aspects of singing; (2) coaching, mostly concerned with performance skills; and (3) singing voice rehabilitation. Both public and private educators are encouraged to apply this distinction to their curricula, in order to arrive at more efficient singing teaching and to reduce the risk of vocal injury to the singers concerned.

The effects of mailing design characteristics on direct mail campaign performance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Feld, S.; Frenzen, H.; Krafft, Manfred; Peters, K.; Verhoef, P.C.

Designing effective direct mail pieces is considered a key success factor in direct marketing. However, related published empirical research is scarce while design recommendations are manifold and often conflicting. Compared with prior work, our study aims to provide more elaborate and empirically

Teleradiology with DICOM e-mail: recommendations of rate at GIT; Teleradiologie mit DICOM E-mail: Empfehlungen der rate at GIT

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mildenberger, P.; Kaemmerer, M.; Klos, G.; Schuetze, B. [Klinik und Poliklinik fuer Radiologie, Johannes Gutenberg-Univ. Mainz (Germany); Engelmann, U. [Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Abt. Medizinische und Biologische Informatik, Heidelberg (Germany); Ruggiero, S.; Runa, A.; Weisser, G. [Inst. fuer Klinische Radiologie, Universitaetsklinikum Mannheim (Germany); Schroeter, A. [CHILI GmbH, Heidelberg (Germany); Walz, M. [TUeV Industrie Service GmbH, TUeV-SUeD-Gruppe, Aerztliche Stelle fuer Qualitaetssicherung in der Radiologie, Eschborn (Germany)

2005-05-01

E-mail is ideal for ad-hoc connections in teleradiology. The DICOM standard offers the possibility to append DICOM data types as a MIME attachment to any e-mail, thus ensuring the transmission of the original DICOM data. Nevertheless, there are additional requirements (e.g. protection of data privacy) which must be obeyed. Because of the lack of given standards which would grant interoperability as well as manufacturer independence, teleradiology has not been established in Germany until today. Therefore, the IT-Team (Arbeitsgemeinschaft fuer Informationstechnologie, rate at GIT) of the Radiological Society of Germany (Deutsche Roentgengesellschaft, DRG) set up an initiative to standardise telemedicine by using e-mail. Its members agreed that an e-mail-based variant would be the most practicable way to a communication solution - as easy to implement as to use. In their opinion, e-mail represents the smallest common denominator for a safe data interchange that would fulfill the legal advantages for telemedicine in Germany. (orig.)

Tactical Voice Communications Over Shipboard Local Area Networks

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Urie, Glenn

2001-01-01

The United States Navy's next generation ship(s) scheduled for commissioning in the year 2004 and beyond will integrate tactical shipboard voice communications system into the local area network (LAN...

Analyzing the mediated voice - a datasession

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lawaetz, Anna

Broadcasted voices are technologically manipulated. In order to achieve a certain autencity or sound of “reality” paradoxically the voices are filtered and trained in order to reach the listeners. This “mis-en-scene” is important knowledge when it comes to the development of a consistent method o...... of analysis of the mediated voice...

The impact of e-mail in acquiring and retaining whole-blood donors: a comparative analysis of the Puget Sound Blood Center donor e-mail communication program.

Science.gov (United States)

Geyer, Maria Elena

2005-12-01

With the emergence of e-mail as a common form of communication, it is important to understand the role and impact e-mail can have on acquiring and retaining whole-blood donors. Whole-blood donors who opted in to receive e-mail communications (n = 43,232) from the Puget Sound Blood Center (PSBC) and as a result participated in one or more of five e-mail marketing campaigns between July 2002 and March 2003 were studied. New donors with e-mail addresses grew by 74 percent over the measurement period compared with 2 percent growth of those without e-mail addresses. Nearly 15,000 prospective donors were reached as a result of donors passing along e-mails they received from PSBC to friends and family. Nearly 5 percent of PSBC e-mail campaign recipients registered to donate online. PSBC e-mail campaigns have outperformed e-mail marketing industry mean open rates by 44 percent and click-through rates by 36 percent. E-mail is now a mainstream communication medium. It has proven to be an effective method of reaching new donors and generating new donation registrations. Donors respond more favorably to e-mail communications from PSBC compared with e-mail they receive from other organizations. Deeper understanding of how different segments of blood donors use e-mail may help blood centers adjust their donor acquisition and retention programs. New recruitment methods are needed to grow the overall donor base, and e-mail appears to have the potential to make a significant contribution to meeting this objective.

Effects of voice harmonic complexity on ERP responses to pitch-shifted auditory feedback.

Science.gov (United States)

Behroozmand, Roozbeh; Korzyukov, Oleg; Larson, Charles R

2011-12-01

The present study investigated the neural mechanisms of voice pitch control for different levels of harmonic complexity in the auditory feedback. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded in response to+200 cents pitch perturbations in the auditory feedback of self-produced natural human vocalizations, complex and pure tone stimuli during active vocalization and passive listening conditions. During active vocal production, ERP amplitudes were largest in response to pitch shifts in the natural voice, moderately large for non-voice complex stimuli and smallest for the pure tones. However, during passive listening, neural responses were equally large for pitch shifts in voice and non-voice complex stimuli but still larger than that for pure tones. These findings suggest that pitch change detection is facilitated for spectrally rich sounds such as natural human voice and non-voice complex stimuli compared with pure tones. Vocalization-induced increase in neural responses for voice feedback suggests that sensory processing of naturally-produced complex sounds such as human voice is enhanced by means of motor-driven mechanisms (e.g. efference copies) during vocal production. This enhancement may enable the audio-vocal system to more effectively detect and correct for vocal errors in the feedback of natural human vocalizations to maintain an intended vocal output for speaking. Copyright © 2011 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multipath for Agricultural and Rural Information Services in China

Science.gov (United States)

Ge, Ningning; Zang, Zhiyuan; Gao, Lingwang; Shi, Qiang; Li, Jie; Xing, Chunlin; Shen, Zuorui

Internet cannot provide perfect information services for farmers in rural regions in China, because farmers in rural regions can hardly access the internet by now. But the wide coverage of mobile signal, telephone line, and television network, etc. gave us a chance to solve the problem. The integrated pest management platform of Northern fruit trees were developed based on the integrated technology, which can integrate the internet, mobile and fixed-line telephone network, and television network, to provide integrated pest management(IPM) information services for farmers in rural regions in E-mail, telephone-voice, short message, voice mail, videoconference or other format, to users' telephone, cell phone, personal computer, personal digital assistant(PDA), television, etc. alternatively. The architecture and the functions of the system were introduced in the paper. The system can manage the field monitoring data of agricultural pests, deal with enquiries to provide the necessary information to farmers accessing the interactive voice response(IVR) in the system with the experts on-line or off-line, and issue the early warnings about the fruit tree pests when it is necessary according to analysis on the monitoring data about the pests of fruit trees in variety of ways including SMS, fax, voice and intersystem e-mail.The system provides a platform and a new pattern for agricultural technology extension with a high coverage rate of agricultural technology in rural regions, and it can solve the problem of agriculture information service 'last kilometer' in China. The effectiveness of the system was certified.

Smartphone App for Voice Disorders

Science.gov (United States)

... on. Feature: Taste, Smell, Hearing, Language, Voice, Balance Smartphone App for Voice Disorders Past Issues / Fall 2013 ... developed a mobile monitoring device that relies on smartphone technology to gather a week's worth of talking, ...

Hearing Voices and Seeing Things

Science.gov (United States)

... Facts for Families Guide Facts for Families - Vietnamese Hearing Voices and Seeing Things No. 102; Updated October ... delusions (a fixed, false, and often bizarre belief). Hearing voices or seeing things that are not there ...

AT89S52 Microcontroller Based Digital Compass With Voice Output

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fahmi Fardiyan Arief

2008-04-01

Full Text Available In this paper, the design of digital compass with voice output is described, so that the blind can also use it. The digital compass is designed based on up-graded conventional compass. In the axis direction of conventional compass be added a disc as source of wind direction information, and phototransistor as sensor. The digital compass system is designed, based on AT89S52 microcontroller, as control of all interfaces and read sensor. The LCD component is used as display and ISD 2590 IC as voice recorder. The IC can record with maximum capacity 90 seconds. The voices output of compass is divided into 8 direction from the north, southwest, west and the next. The result showed that the design of digital compass work as like conventional compass completely by voice feature.

Optimization of territory control of the mail carrier by using Hungarian methods

Science.gov (United States)

Supian, S.; Wahyuni, S.; Nahar, J.; Subiyanto

2018-03-01

In this paper, the territory control of the mail carrier from the central post office Bandung in delivering the package to the destination location was optimized by using Hungarian method. Sensitivity analysis against data changes that may occur was also conducted. The sampled data in this study are the territory control of 10 mail carriers who will be assigned to deliver mail package to 10 post office delivery centers in Bandung. The result of this research is the combination of territory control optimal from 10 mail carriers as follows: mail carrier 1 to Cikutra, mail carrier 2 to Ujung Berung, mail carrier 3 to Dayeuh Kolot, mail carrier 4 to Padalarang, mail carrier 5 to Situ Saeur, mail carrier 6 to Cipedes, mail carrier 7 to Cimahi, mail carrier 8 to Soreang, mail carrier 9 to Asia-Afrika, mail carrier 10 to Cikeruh. Based on this result, manager of the central post office Bandung can make optimal decisions to assign tasks to their mail carriers.

Clinical Features of Psychogenic Voice Disorder and the Efficiency of Voice Therapy and Psychological Evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Tezcaner, Zahide Çiler; Gökmen, Muhammed Fatih; Yıldırım, Sibel; Dursun, Gürsel

2017-11-06

The aim of this study was to define the clinical features of psychogenic voice disorder (PVD) and explore the treatment efficiency of voice therapy and psychological evaluation. Fifty-eight patients who received treatment following the PVD diagnosis and had no organic or other functional voice disorders were assessed retrospectively based on laryngoscopic examinations and subjective and objective assessments. Epidemiological characteristics, accompanying organic and psychological disorders, preferred methods of treatment, and previous treatment outcomes were examined for each patient. A comparison was made based on voice disorders and responses to treatment between patients who received psychotherapy and patients who did not. Participants in this study comprised 58 patients, 10 male and 48 female. Voice therapy was applied in all patients, 54 (93.1%) of whom had improvement in their voice. Although all patients were advised to undergo psychological assessment, only 60.3% (35/58) of them underwent psychological assessment. No statistically significant difference was found between patients who did receive psychological support concerning their treatment responses and patients who did not. Relapse occurred in 14.7% (5/34) of the patients who applied for psychological assessment and in 50% (10/20) of those who did not. There was a statistically significant difference in relapse rates, which was higher among patients who did not receive psychological support (P therapy is an efficient treatment method for PVD. However, in the long-term follow-up, relapse of the disease is observed to be higher among patients who failed to follow up on the recommendation for psychological assessment. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

FonaDyn - A system for real-time analysis of the electroglottogram, over the voice range

Science.gov (United States)

Ternström, Sten; Johansson, Dennis; Selamtzis, Andreas

2018-01-01

From soft to loud and low to high, the mechanisms of human voice have many degrees of freedom, making it difficult to assess phonation from the acoustic signal alone. FonaDyn is a research tool that combines acoustics with electroglottography (EGG). It characterizes and visualizes in real time the dynamics of EGG waveforms, using statistical clustering of the cycle-synchronous EGG Fourier components, and their sample entropy. The prevalence and stability of different EGG waveshapes are mapped as colored regions into a so-called voice range profile, without needing pre-defined thresholds or categories. With appropriately 'trained' clusters, FonaDyn can classify and map voice regimes. This is of potential scientific, clinical and pedagogical interest.

Reliability in perceptual analysis of voice quality.

Science.gov (United States)

Bele, Irene Velsvik

2005-12-01

This study focuses on speaking voice quality in male teachers (n = 35) and male actors (n = 36), who represent untrained and trained voice users, because we wanted to investigate normal and supranormal voices. In this study, both substantial and methodologic aspects were considered. It includes a method for perceptual voice evaluation, and a basic issue was rater reliability. A listening group of 10 listeners, 7 experienced speech-language therapists, and 3 speech-language therapist students evaluated the voices by 15 vocal characteristics using VA scales. Two sets of voice signals were investigated: text reading (2 loudness levels) and sustained vowel (3 levels). The results indicated a high interrater reliability for most perceptual characteristics. Connected speech was evaluated more reliably, especially at the normal level, but both types of voice signals were evaluated reliably, although the reliability for connected speech was somewhat higher than for vowels. Experienced listeners tended to be more consistent in their ratings than did the student raters. Some vocal characteristics achieved acceptable reliability even with a smaller panel of listeners. The perceptual characteristics grouped in 4 factors reflected perceptual dimensions.

[Hearing voices does not always constitute a psychosis].

Science.gov (United States)

Sommer, I E C; van der Spek, D W

2016-01-01

Hearing voices (i.e. auditory verbal hallucinations) is mainly known as part of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. However, hearing voices is a symptom that can occur in many psychiatric, neurological and general medical conditions. We present three cases of non-psychotic patients with auditory verbal hallucinations caused by different disorders. The first patient is a 74-year-old male with voices due to hearing loss, the second is a 20-year-old woman with voices due to traumatisation. The third patient is a 27-year-old woman with voices caused by temporal lobe epilepsy. Hearing voices is a phenomenon that occurs in a variety of disorders. Therefore, identification of the underlying disorder is essential to indicate treatment. Improvement of coping with the voices can reduce their impact on a patient. Antipsychotic drugs are especially effective when hearing voices is accompanied by delusions or disorganization. When this is not the case, the efficacy of antipsychotic drugs will probably not outweigh the side-effects.

Permanent Quadriplegia Following Replacement of Voice Prosthesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Ozturk, Kayhan; Erdur, Omer; Kibar, Ertugrul

2016-11-01

The authors presented a patient with quadriplegia caused by cervical spine abscess following voice prosthesis replacement. The authors present the first reported permanent quadriplegia patient caused by voice prosthesis replacement. The authors wanted to emphasize that life-threatening complications may be faced during the replacement of voice prosthesis. Care should be taken during the replacement of voice prosthesis and if some problems have been faced during the procedure patients must be followed closely.

Updating signal typing in voice: addition of type 4 signals.

Science.gov (United States)

Sprecher, Alicia; Olszewski, Aleksandra; Jiang, Jack J; Zhang, Yu

2010-06-01

The addition of a fourth type of voice to Titze's voice classification scheme is proposed. This fourth voice type is characterized by primarily stochastic noise behavior and is therefore unsuitable for both perturbation and correlation dimension analysis. Forty voice samples were classified into the proposed four types using narrowband spectrograms. Acoustic, perceptual, and correlation dimension analyses were completed for all voice samples. Perturbation measures tended to increase with voice type. Based on reliability cutoffs, the type 1 and type 2 voices were considered suitable for perturbation analysis. Measures of unreliability were higher for type 3 and 4 voices. Correlation dimension analyses increased significantly with signal type as indicated by a one-way analysis of variance. Notably, correlation dimension analysis could not quantify the type 4 voices. The proposed fourth voice type represents a subset of voices dominated by noise behavior. Current measures capable of evaluating type 4 voices provide only qualitative data (spectrograms, perceptual analysis, and an infinite correlation dimension). Type 4 voices are highly complex and the development of objective measures capable of analyzing these voices remains a topic of future investigation.

39 CFR 20.3 - Availability of the International Mail Manual.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 39 Postal Service 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Availability of the International Mail Manual. 20.3 Section 20.3 Postal Service UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE INTERNATIONAL MAIL INTERNATIONAL POSTAL SERVICE § 20.3 Availability of the International Mail Manual. Copies of the International Mail Manual may...

Acoustic cues for the recognition of self-voice and other-voice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mingdi eXu

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Self-recognition, being indispensable for successful social communication, has become a major focus in current social neuroscience. The physical aspects of the self are most typically manifested in the face and voice. Compared with the wealth of studies on self-face recognition, self-voice recognition (SVR has not gained much attention. Converging evidence has suggested that the fundamental frequency (F0 and formant structures serve as the key acoustic cues for other-voice recognition (OVR. However, little is known about which, and how, acoustic cues are utilized for SVR as opposed to OVR. To address this question, we independently manipulated the F0 and formant information of recorded voices and investigated their contributions to SVR and OVR. Japanese participants were presented with recorded vocal stimuli and were asked to identify the speaker—either themselves or one of their peers. Six groups of 5 peers of the same sex participated in the study. Under conditions where the formant information was fully preserved and where only the frequencies lower than the third formant (F3 were retained, accuracies of SVR deteriorated significantly with the modulation of the F0, and the results were comparable for OVR. By contrast, under a condition where only the frequencies higher than F3 were retained, the accuracy of SVR was significantly higher than that of OVR throughout the range of F0 modulations, and the F0 scarcely affected the accuracies of SVR and OVR. Our results indicate that while both F0 and formant information are involved in SVR, as well as in OVR, the advantage of SVR is manifested only when major formant information for speech intelligibility is absent. These findings imply the robustness of self-voice representation, possibly by virtue of auditory familiarity and other factors such as its association with motor/articulatory representation.

Measurement of voice onset time in maxillectomy patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Hattori, Mariko; Sumita, Yuka I; Taniguchi, Hisashi

2014-01-01

Objective speech evaluation using acoustic measurement is needed for the proper rehabilitation of maxillectomy patients. For digital evaluation of consonants, measurement of voice onset time is one option. However, voice onset time has not been measured in maxillectomy patients as their consonant sound spectra exhibit unique characteristics that make the measurement of voice onset time challenging. In this study, we established criteria for measuring voice onset time in maxillectomy patients for objective speech evaluation. We examined voice onset time for /ka/ and /ta/ in 13 maxillectomy patients by calculating the number of valid measurements of voice onset time out of three trials for each syllable. Wilcoxon's signed rank test showed that voice onset time measurements were more successful for /ka/ and /ta/ when a prosthesis was used (Z = -2.232, P = 0.026 and Z = -2.401, P = 0.016, resp.) than when a prosthesis was not used. These results indicate a prosthesis affected voice onset measurement in these patients. Although more research in this area is needed, measurement of voice onset time has the potential to be used to evaluate consonant production in maxillectomy patients wearing a prosthesis.

Measurement of Voice Onset Time in Maxillectomy Patients

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mariko Hattori

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Objective speech evaluation using acoustic measurement is needed for the proper rehabilitation of maxillectomy patients. For digital evaluation of consonants, measurement of voice onset time is one option. However, voice onset time has not been measured in maxillectomy patients as their consonant sound spectra exhibit unique characteristics that make the measurement of voice onset time challenging. In this study, we established criteria for measuring voice onset time in maxillectomy patients for objective speech evaluation. We examined voice onset time for /ka/ and /ta/ in 13 maxillectomy patients by calculating the number of valid measurements of voice onset time out of three trials for each syllable. Wilcoxon’s signed rank test showed that voice onset time measurements were more successful for /ka/ and /ta/ when a prosthesis was used (Z=−2.232, P=0.026 and Z=−2.401, P=0.016, resp. than when a prosthesis was not used. These results indicate a prosthesis affected voice onset measurement in these patients. Although more research in this area is needed, measurement of voice onset time has the potential to be used to evaluate consonant production in maxillectomy patients wearing a prosthesis.

Multidimensional assessment of strongly irregular voices such as in substitution voicing and spasmodic dysphonia: a compilation of own research.

Science.gov (United States)

Moerman, Mieke; Martens, Jean-Pierre; Dejonckere, Philippe

2015-04-01

This article is a compilation of own research performed during the European COoperation in Science and Technology (COST) action 2103: 'Advance Voice Function Assessment', an initiative of voice and speech processing teams consisting of physicists, engineers, and clinicians. This manuscript concerns analyzing largely irregular voicing types, namely substitution voicing (SV) and adductor spasmodic dysphonia (AdSD). A specific perceptual rating scale (IINFVo) was developed, and the Auditory Model Based Pitch Extractor (AMPEX), a piece of software that automatically analyses running speech and generates pitch values in background noise, was applied. The IINFVo perceptual rating scale has been shown to be useful in evaluating SV. The analysis of strongly irregular voices stimulated a modification of the European Laryngological Society's assessment protocol which was originally designed for the common types of (less severe) dysphonia. Acoustic analysis with AMPEX demonstrates that the most informative features are, for SV, the voicing-related acoustic features and, for AdSD, the perturbation measures. Poor correlations between self-assessment and acoustic and perceptual dimensions in the assessment of highly irregular voices argue for a multidimensional approach.

SPAM: Beware of e-mails asking for passwords

CERN Multimedia

IT Department

2008-01-01

CERN’s Computing Rules (Operational Circular No. 5) require that passwords remain confidential and never be given to anyone, not even helpdesk or other support personnel. If you think that your password could have been exposed then you must immediately change it. Cybercriminals are making growing use of fake e-mail messages and Web sites to steal account and identity information from users. This technique is called ‘phishing’. The fake e-mails often look real and try to trick you into giving your password or other personal data. CERN has recently been targeted by a fake e-mail message which requested users to send their username, password and date of birth. This case was promptly blocked by the CERN Mail Service, but future cases may still occur. Users need to be vigilant regarding any requests for passwords or personal data. Fake e-mails should be immediately deleted. In case of questions on this topic, you may contact mailto:helpdesk@cern.ch. CERN IT Department

Voice and choice by delegation.

Science.gov (United States)

van de Bovenkamp, Hester; Vollaard, Hans; Trappenburg, Margo; Grit, Kor

2013-02-01

In many Western countries, options for citizens to influence public services are increased to improve the quality of services and democratize decision making. Possibilities to influence are often cast into Albert Hirschman's taxonomy of exit (choice), voice, and loyalty. In this article we identify delegation as an important addition to this framework. Delegation gives individuals the chance to practice exit/choice or voice without all the hard work that is usually involved in these options. Empirical research shows that not many people use their individual options of exit and voice, which could lead to inequality between users and nonusers. We identify delegation as a possible solution to this problem, using Dutch health care as a case study to explore this option. Notwithstanding various advantages, we show that voice and choice by delegation also entail problems of inequality and representativeness.

Direct e-mail marketing: Case of Serbia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Končar Jelena A.

2005-01-01

Full Text Available Direct e-mail marketing refers to approaching customers directly, without employing intermediaries. It represents a direct mode of communication with the target population, which affects the creation of stronger and more loyal relationships with prospective customers, compared to traditional direct marketing resources (TV, radio, print and advertising panels, etc. The main goal of direct e-mail marketing is building long-term "one to one" relationships with current and prospective customers. Direct e-mail marketing is not aimed at momentary sale, but at boosting certain product preferences due to the engagement of numerous electronic media.

39 CFR 20.4 - Amendments to the International Mail Manual.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 39 Postal Service 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Amendments to the International Mail Manual. 20.4 Section 20.4 Postal Service UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE INTERNATIONAL MAIL INTERNATIONAL POSTAL SERVICE § 20.4 Amendments to the International Mail Manual. New issues of the International Mail Manual will be...

Singing Voice Analysis, Synthesis, and Modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Youngmoo E.

The singing voice is the oldest musical instrument, but its versatility and emotional power are unmatched. Through the combination of music, lyrics, and expression, the voice is able to affect us in ways that no other instrument can. The fact that vocal music is prevalent in almost all cultures is indicative of its innate appeal to the human aesthetic. Singing also permeates most genres of music, attesting to the wide range of sounds the human voice is capable of producing. As listeners we are naturally drawn to the sound of the human voice, and, when present, it immediately becomes the focus of our attention.

Effects of Medications on Voice

Science.gov (United States)

... ENTCareers Marketplace Find an ENT Doctor Near You Effects of Medications on Voice Effects of Medications on Voice Patient Health Information News ... replacement therapy post-menopause may have a variable effect. An inadequate level of thyroid replacement medication in ...

Validity of Mind Monitoring System as a Mental Health Indicator using Voice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Naoki Hagiwara

2017-05-01

Full Text Available We have been developing a method of evaluating the mental health condition of a person based on the sound of their voice. Currently, we have applied this technology to create a smartphone application that shows the vitality and the mental activity as mental health condition indices. Using voice to measure one’s mental health condition is a non-invasive method. Moreover, this application can be used continually through a smartphone call. Unlike a periodic checkup every year, it could be used for monitoring on a daily basis. The purpose of this study is to compare the vitality index to the widely used Beck depression inventory (BDI and to evaluate its validity. This experiment was conducted at the Center of Innovation Program of the University of Tokyo with 50 employees of one corporation as participants between early December 2015 and early February 2016. Each participant was given a smartphone with our application that recorded his/her voice automatically during calls. In addition, the participants had to read and record a fixed phrase daily. The BDI test was conducted at the beginning of the experimental period. The vitality index was calculated based on the voice data collected during the first two weeks of the experiment and was considered as the vitality index at the time when the BDI test was conducted. When the vitality and the mental activity indicators were compared to BDI score, we found that there was a negative correlation between the BDI score and these indices. Additionally, these indices were a useful method to discriminate a participant of high risk of disease with a high BDI score. And the mental activity index shows a higher performance than the vitality index.

V2S: Voice to Sign Language Translation System for Malaysian Deaf People

Science.gov (United States)

Mean Foong, Oi; Low, Tang Jung; La, Wai Wan

The process of learning and understand the sign language may be cumbersome to some, and therefore, this paper proposes a solution to this problem by providing a voice (English Language) to sign language translation system using Speech and Image processing technique. Speech processing which includes Speech Recognition is the study of recognizing the words being spoken, regardless of whom the speaker is. This project uses template-based recognition as the main approach in which the V2S system first needs to be trained with speech pattern based on some generic spectral parameter set. These spectral parameter set will then be stored as template in a database. The system will perform the recognition process through matching the parameter set of the input speech with the stored templates to finally display the sign language in video format. Empirical results show that the system has 80.3% recognition rate.

The Voices of the Documentarist

Science.gov (United States)

Utterback, Ann S.

1977-01-01

Discusses T. S. Elliot's essay, "The Three Voices of Poetry" which conceptualizes the position taken by the poet or creator. Suggests that an examination of documentary film, within the three voices concept, expands the critical framework of the film genre. (MH)

75 FR 29893 - Business Reply Mail Online Application Option

Science.gov (United States)

2010-05-28

... POSTAL SERVICE 39 CFR Part 111 Business Reply Mail Online Application Option AGENCY: Postal Service TM . ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Postal Service TM will revise the Mailing Standards of the... option to obtain a Business Reply Mail[supreg] (BRM) permit online. Additionally, the electronic version...

How new subscribers use cancer-related online mailing lists.

Science.gov (United States)

Rimer, Barbara K; Lyons, Elizabeth J; Ribisl, Kurt M; Bowling, J Michael; Golin, Carol E; Forlenza, Michael J; Meier, Andrea

2005-07-01

Online cancer-related support is an under-studied resource that may serve an important function in the information seeking, care, and support of cancer patients and their families. With over 9.8 million cancer survivors (defined as anyone living with cancer) in the United States alone and the number growing worldwide, it is important to understand how they seek and use online resources to obtain the information they need, when they need it, and in a form and manner appropriate to them. These are stated cancer communication goals of the US National Cancer Institute. Our purposes are to (1) present background information about online mailing lists and electronic support groups, (2) describe the rationale and methodology for the Health eCommunities (HeC) study, and (3) present preliminary baseline data on new subscribers to cancer-related mailing lists. In particular, we describe subscribers' use of mailing lists, their reasons for using them, and their reactions to participating shortly after joining the lists. From April to August 2004, we invited all new subscribers to 10 Association of Cancer Online Resources mailing lists to complete Web-based surveys. We analyzed baseline data from the respondents to examine their perceptions about cancer-related mailing lists and to describe how cancer patients and survivors used these lists in the period shortly after joining them. Cumulative email invitations were sent to 1368 new mailing list subscribers; 293 Web surveys were completed within the allotted time frame (21.4% response rate). Most respondents were over age 50 (n = 203, 72%), white (n = 286, 98%), college graduates (n = 161, 55%), and had health insurance (n = 283, 97%). About 41% (n = 116) of new subscribers reported spending 1 to 3 hours per day reading and responding to list messages. They used the mailing lists for several reasons. Among the most frequently reported, 62% (n = 179) strongly agreed they used mailing lists to obtain information on how to deal

Obligatory and facultative brain regions for voice-identity recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Roswandowitz, Claudia; Kappes, Claudia; Obrig, Hellmuth; von Kriegstein, Katharina

2018-01-01

Abstract Recognizing the identity of others by their voice is an important skill for social interactions. To date, it remains controversial which parts of the brain are critical structures for this skill. Based on neuroimaging findings, standard models of person-identity recognition suggest that the right temporal lobe is the hub for voice-identity recognition. Neuropsychological case studies, however, reported selective deficits of voice-identity recognition in patients predominantly with right inferior parietal lobe lesions. Here, our aim was to work towards resolving the discrepancy between neuroimaging studies and neuropsychological case studies to find out which brain structures are critical for voice-identity recognition in humans. We performed a voxel-based lesion-behaviour mapping study in a cohort of patients (n = 58) with unilateral focal brain lesions. The study included a comprehensive behavioural test battery on voice-identity recognition of newly learned (voice-name, voice-face association learning) and familiar voices (famous voice recognition) as well as visual (face-identity recognition) and acoustic control tests (vocal-pitch and vocal-timbre discrimination). The study also comprised clinically established tests (neuropsychological assessment, audiometry) and high-resolution structural brain images. The three key findings were: (i) a strong association between voice-identity recognition performance and right posterior/mid temporal and right inferior parietal lobe lesions; (ii) a selective association between right posterior/mid temporal lobe lesions and voice-identity recognition performance when face-identity recognition performance was factored out; and (iii) an association of right inferior parietal lobe lesions with tasks requiring the association between voices and faces but not voices and names. The results imply that the right posterior/mid temporal lobe is an obligatory structure for voice-identity recognition, while the inferior parietal

Electronic mail : attitudes, self-efficacy, and effective communication

OpenAIRE

Kandies, Jerry T.

1994-01-01

The purpose of this study was (a) to investigate the functional use of e-mail in a university setting and the relationship of attitudes toward and self-efficacy with email technology, and (b) to evaluate writing effectiveness in an electronic medium. The study also sought to determine if certain personal characteristics could serve as predictor variables for explaining e-mail use, attitudes toward email, and self-efficacy with e-mail technology. The population of inter...

77 FR 64775 - New Mailing Standards for Domestic Mailing Services Products

Science.gov (United States)

2012-10-23

...'s Web site at www.prc.gov . The Postal Service's proposed rule includes several mail classification... Tracing \\TM\\ We are removing language concerning the old Confirm[supreg] service from DMM 503.15.0, because all Confirm subscriptions will end by January of 2013. IMb Tracing now provides a service similar...

The effect of voice quality on hiring decisions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lea Tylečková

2017-09-01

Full Text Available This paper examines the effect of voice quality on hiring decisions. Considering voice quality an important tool in an individual’s self-presentation in the job market, it may very well enhance his/her job prospects, while some voice qualities may affect employers’ judgments in a negative way. Five men and five women were recorded reading four different utterances representing answers to job interviewers’ questions in four different phonation guises: modal, breathy, creaky and pressed. 38 professional employment interviewers recorded the speakers’ hireability and personality ratings (likeability, self-confidence and trustworthiness on 7-point semantic differential scales based on the speakers’ voice. The results revealed a significant effect of the phonation guises on the speakers’ ratings with the modal voice being superior to the cluster of non-modal voices. Interestingly, the non-modal guises were evaluated in a very similar way, except for the self-confidence category with the breathy voice getting the lowest scores on the one hand and the pressed voice correlating with high self-confidence ratings on the other.

Can a voice disorder be an occupational disease?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daša Gluvajić

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Voice disorders are all changes in the voice quality that can be detected by hearing. Some etiological factors that contribute to the development of voice disorders are related to occupation, working environment and working conditions. In modern societies one third of the labour force works in professions with vocal loading. In such professions, voice disorders influence work ability and quality of life. For an occupational disease, the exposure to harmful factors in the workplace is essential and causes the development of a disorder in a previously healthy individual. In some European countries, voice disorders in teachers, which do not improve after proper treatment are recognized as occupational diseases. In Slovenia, no organic or functional voice disorder is listed on the current list of occupational diseases. Prevention and cure of occupational voice disorders can contribute to better safety at the workplace and improve the workers’ health. Voice professionals must also know that they are responsible for their own health and that they must actively take care of it.

31 CFR 560.508 - Telecommunications and mail transactions authorized.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 31 Money and Finance: Treasury 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Telecommunications and mail... REGULATIONS Licenses, Authorizations and Statements of Licensing Policy § 560.508 Telecommunications and mail... telecommunications and mail between the United States and Iran are authorized. For purposes of this section, the term...

19 CFR 145.2 - Mail subject to Customs examination.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 19 Customs Duties 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Mail subject to Customs examination. 145.2 Section 145.2 Customs Duties U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY; DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY (CONTINUED) MAIL IMPORTATIONS General Provisions § 145.2 Mail subject to Customs...

Voice user interface design for emerging multilingual markets

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Van Huyssteen, G

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Multilingual emerging markets hold many opportunities for the application of spoken language technologies, such as automatic speech recognition (ASR) or test-to-speech (TTS) technologies in interactive voice response (IVR) systems. However...

Mail2Print online tutorial

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2016-01-01

Mail2print is a feature which allows you to send documents to a printer by mail. This tutorial (text attached to the event page) explains how to use this service. Content owner: Vincent Nicolas Bippus Presenter: Pedro Augusto de Freitas Batista Tell us what you think via e-learning.support at cern.ch More tutorials in the e-learning collection of the CERN Document Server (CDS) https://cds.cern.ch/collection/E-learning%20modules?ln=en All info about the CERN rapid e-learning project is linked from http://twiki.cern.ch/ELearning  

Probing echoic memory with different voices.

Science.gov (United States)

Madden, D J; Bastian, J

1977-05-01

Considerable evidence has indicated that some acoustical properties of spoken items are preserved in an "echoic" memory for approximately 2 sec. However, some of this evidence has also shown that changing the voice speaking the stimulus items has a disruptive effect on memory which persists longer than that of other acoustical variables. The present experiment examined the effect of voice changes on response bias as well as on accuracy in a recognition memory task. The task involved judging recognition probes as being present in or absent from sets of dichotically presented digits. Recognition of probes spoken in the same voice as that of the dichotic items was more accurate than recognition of different-voice probes at each of three retention intervals of up to 4 sec. Different-voice probes increased the likelihood of "absent" responses, but only up to a 1.4-sec delay. These shifts in response bias may represent a property of echoic memory which should be investigated further.

Voice disorders in teachers. A review.

Science.gov (United States)

Martins, Regina Helena Garcia; Pereira, Eny Regina Bóia Neves; Hidalgo, Caio Bosque; Tavares, Elaine Lara Mendes

2014-11-01

Voice disorders are very prevalent among teachers and consequences are serious. Although the literature is extensive, there are differences in the concepts and methodology related to voice problems; most studies are restricted to analyzing the responses of teachers to questionnaires and only a few studies include vocal assessments and videolaryngoscopic examinations to obtain a definitive diagnosis. To review demographic studies related to vocal disorders in teachers to analyze the diverse methodologies, the prevalence rates pointed out by the authors, the main risk factors, the most prevalent laryngeal lesions, and the repercussions of dysphonias on professional activities. The available literature (from 1997 to 2013) was narratively reviewed based on Medline, PubMed, Lilacs, SciELO, and Cochrane library databases. Excluded were articles that specifically analyzed treatment modalities and those that did not make their abstracts available in those databases. The keywords included were teacher, dysphonia, voice disorders, professional voice. Copyright © 2014 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

School Voices: Challenges Facing Education Systems after Identity-Based Conflicts

Science.gov (United States)

Weinstein, Harvey M.; Freedman, Sarah Warshauer; Hughson, Holly

2007-01-01

We describe our research on the role of education in the social reconstruction of countries after mass conflict. Our studies focus on the voices of those least heard in the discourse--teachers, students, administrators and parents. We examine schools in four societies that experienced profound violence, ethnic cleansing and genocide during the…

Optimal dose-response relationships in voice therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Roy, Nelson

2012-10-01

Like other areas of speech-language pathology, the behavioural management of voice disorders lacks precision regarding optimal dose-response relationships. In voice therapy, dosing can presumably vary from no measurable effect (i.e., no observable benefit or adverse effect), to ideal dose (maximum benefit with no adverse effects), to doses that produce toxic or harmful effects on voice production. Practicing specific vocal exercises will inevitably increase vocal load. At ideal doses, these exercises may be non-toxic and beneficial, while at intermediate or high doses, the same exercises may actually be toxic or damaging to vocal fold tissues. In pharmacology, toxicity is a critical concept, yet it is rarely considered in voice therapy, with little known regarding "effective" concentrations of specific voice therapies vs "toxic" concentrations. The potential for vocal fold tissue damage related to overdosing on specific vocal exercises has been under-studied. In this commentary, the issue of dosing will be explored within the context of voice therapy, with particular emphasis placed on possible "overdosing".

Work-related voice disorder

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paulo Eduardo Przysiezny

2015-04-01

Full Text Available INTRODUCTION: Dysphonia is the main symptom of the disorders of oral communication. However, voice disorders also present with other symptoms such as difficulty in maintaining the voice (asthenia, vocal fatigue, variation in habitual vocal fundamental frequency, hoarseness, lack of vocal volume and projection, loss of vocal efficiency, and weakness when speaking. There are several proposals for the etiologic classification of dysphonia: functional, organofunctional, organic, and work-related voice disorder (WRVD.OBJECTIVE: To conduct a literature review on WRVD and on the current Brazilian labor legislation.METHODS: This was a review article with bibliographical research conducted on the PubMed and Bireme databases, using the terms "work-related voice disorder", "occupational dysphonia", "dysphonia and labor legislation", and a review of labor and social security relevant laws.CONCLUSION: WRVD is a situation that frequently is listed as a reason for work absenteeism, functional rehabilitation, or for prolonged absence from work. Currently, forensic physicians have no comparative parameters to help with the analysis of vocal disorders. In certain situations WRVD may cause, work disability. This disorder may be labor-related, or be an adjuvant factor to work-related diseases.

Tobacco industry marketing: an analysis of direct mail coupons and giveaways.

Science.gov (United States)

Brock, Betsy; Schillo, Barbara A; Moilanen, Molly

2015-09-01

Despite marketing prohibitions, tobacco company marketing expenditures in the USA have continued to grow with tobacco companies shifting focus towards point-of-sale-marketing and direct marketing to consumers through the mail and on the web. The purpose of this observational study was to investigate the content of direct marketing sent in response to registrations on select industry websites. An analysis of 659 tobacco company direct mail marketing pieces received between July 2011 and June 2012 was conducted. Mailings were coded for type and value of tobacco coupons, type of tobacco products promoted with coupons and number and type of giveaways offered. The most common type of mailing was tobacco coupon distribution; 86.5% of the mailings contained at least one coupon. Mailings with coupons had an average estimated coupon value of $4.17. The total coupon value of each mailing varied by the type of coupon offer and product promoted. The Camel and Marlboro coupon mailings heavily promoted snus, with over half of Camel coupon mailings (60.9%) and nearly half (44.8%) of Marlboro coupon mailings promoting snus alone. In addition, 47.9% of Marlboro coupon mailings and 11.4% of Camel mailings promoted snus alongside cigarettes. Tobacco companies use direct mail marketing to communicate with consumers and provide valuable tobacco coupons. More research is needed to understand the content of these mailings and how they are used by tobacco consumers in order to develop effective policy solutions. 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.

Human voice perception.

Science.gov (United States)

Latinus, Marianne; Belin, Pascal

2011-02-22

We are all voice experts. First and foremost, we can produce and understand speech, and this makes us a unique species. But in addition to speech perception, we routinely extract from voices a wealth of socially-relevant information in what constitutes a more primitive, and probably more universal, non-linguistic mode of communication. Consider the following example: you are sitting in a plane, and you can hear a conversation in a foreign language in the row behind you. You do not see the speakers' faces, and you cannot understand the speech content because you do not know the language. Yet, an amazing amount of information is available to you. You can evaluate the physical characteristics of the different protagonists, including their gender, approximate age and size, and associate an identity to the different voices. You can form a good idea of the different speaker's mood and affective state, as well as more subtle cues as the perceived attractiveness or dominance of the protagonists. In brief, you can form a fairly detailed picture of the type of social interaction unfolding, which a brief glance backwards can on the occasion help refine - sometimes surprisingly so. What are the acoustical cues that carry these different types of vocal information? How does our brain process and analyse this information? Here we briefly review an emerging field and the main tools used in voice perception research. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Global surveillance of emerging diseases: the ProMED-mail perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John P. Woodall

2001-01-01

Full Text Available The Internet is changing the way global disease surveillance is conducted. Countries and international organizations are increasingly placing their outbreak reports on the Internet, which speeds up distribution and therefore prevention and control. The World Health Organization (WHO has recognized the value of nongovernmental organizations and the media in reporting outbreaks, which it then attempts to verify through its country offices. However, WHO and other official sources are constrained in their reporting by the need for bureaucratic clearance. ProMED-mail has no such constraints, and posts outbreak reports 7 days a week. It is moderated by infectious disease specialists who add relevant comments. Thus, ProMED-mail complements official sources and provides early warning of outbreaks. Its network is more than 20,000 people in over 150 countries, who place their computers and time at the network's disposal and report on outbreaks of which they have knowledge. Regions and countries could benefit from adopting the ProMED-mail approach to complement their own disease surveillance systems.

78 FR 76533 - New Mailing Standards for Domestic Mailing Services Products

Science.gov (United States)

2013-12-18

... accountable mail, including a Return Receipt (Form 3811) purchased with the applicable extra service. Although..., and for firearms to require a Form 1508 submission with the claim. Also, gift cards, most of which are... delivery record by purchasing a return receipt. Bulk proof of delivery service (6.0) is also available if...

Specific features of modern voice protection systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roman A. Ustinov

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Nowadays, speech technologies are among the most vibrant sectors of the world’s economy. Of high importance is the problem of ensuring the security of speech information (SI. Here we discuss SI protection systems within a modern communication model. The model is multimodal, multithreaded, and implies a large number of subscribers interacting via several communication lines. With this in mind, we perform a detailed analysis of threats to the confidentiality, integrity and accessibility of SI. Existing methods of counteraction against these threats are discussed, and shown to be insufficient to ensure the safety of voice messages (VM in full. Mean while, there are new threats to the integrity and accessibility of SI, the solutions for which are either do not exist, or only being developed. We propose our original approach to counter these threats. Steganography methods are the most promising for ensuring the integrity of the VM.  In particular, using audiomarkers allows one to reliably trace speaker’sidentity throughout the entire communication session. In order to counter the threats to SI availability due to the capacity of the communication channel and the limited volumes of VM data storage, it is necessary to improve existing adaptive speech compression algorithms, along with developing new ones. Furthermore, such algorithms must keep the specified level of speech intelligibility.

Factors associated with voice disorders among teachers: a case-control study.

Science.gov (United States)

Giannini, Susana Pimentel Pinto; Latorre, Maria do Rosário Dias de Oliveira; Ferreira, Léslie Piccolotto

2013-01-01

We aimed at verifying an association between voice disorders/stress and loss of work ability among female teachers who work in São Paulo's public school system. This is a paired case- control study. The case group was composed offiteachers with alterations in speech and larynges assessments, and the control group was formed by teachers without alterations in these evaluations who work in the same schools. Both groups answered the following questionnaires: Conditions of Vocal Production-Teachers, Job Stress Scale, and Work Ability Index. The analysis was performed using the chi-square association test and logistic regression models with the purpose of estimating the association between independent variables and voice disorders. We found differences between the groups in relation to stress in the workplace under high demand, a situation that poses greater risks of adverse reactions to the workers' physical and mental health. Regarding the ability to work, the categories poor and moderate ability for work are associated with voice disorders, regardless of job stress factors, age, and the unsatisfactory acoustic properties of the classrooms. This study confirmed the association between voice disorders and job stress, as well as between voice disorders and loss of work ability.

How to help teachers' voices.

Science.gov (United States)

Saatweber, Margarete

2008-01-01

It has been shown that teachers are at high risk of developing occupational dysphonia, and it has been widely accepted that the vocal characteristics of a speaker play an important role in determining the reactions of listeners. The functions of breathing, breathing movement, breathing tonus, voice vibrations and articulation tonus are transmitted to the listener. So we may conclude that listening to the teacher's voice at school influences children's behavior and the perception of spoken language. This paper presents the concept of Schlaffhorst-Andersen including exercises to help teachers improve their voice, breathing, movement and their posture. Copyright 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Analysis of E-mail Transactions in Virtual Reference Services

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Astutik Nur Qomariyah

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Today, the use of traditional reference desk in the academic libraries has been rarely used, thus expanding or even move to a virtual reference service. A minimum level of virtual reference services are provided in the academic library is currently in general is the electronic mail (e-mail. One of the academic library specifically provide virtual reference services via e-mail is a Petra Christian University (PCU Library (ref-desk@petra.ac.id.. In such services librarians provide assistance to users in finding information and answer questions. This study aimed to analyze the transaction reference services virtually through e-mail at the PCU Library, with a view of the types of questions based on user background, the writing style of language communication interaction used based on user background, and cultural values are revealed behind the user in virtual reference services (e-mail. This study uses content analysis (content analysis of the transcript e-mail received librarians of reference services began March 10 until June 16, 2015. The results showed that the types of questions asked in reference service virtual (e-mail in the Library UK Petra include: specific search, access online resources, operation of online resources, policies and procedures for services, and library holdings with background the student (PCU and non-PCU, faculty, and librarians. Based on the background of users found that overall more types of questions asked in virtual reference services (e-mail is a problem of access to online resources, and generally submitted by the students. Then, the writing style of the user's language in interaction reference service virtual (e-mail tends to be formal, which includes the word greeting, the message will be delivered, and regards cover, either by the student (PCU and non-PCU, lecturer, or librarians. While cultural values that revealed the background behind the user in virtual reference services (e-mail is obedience, courtesy and

Recommendations: Introducing the quality system into the use of significant ionizing radiation sources in radiotherapy. TLD audit by mail within the quality system in radiotherapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ekendahl, D.; Valenta, J.; Horakova, I.

2005-01-01

The publication consists of the following sections: TLD measurement methodology (Description of the TLD system; Dose determination); TLD audit in radiotherapy: methodologies and evaluation of results (Checking the dose calculated by the planning system and beam quality control; Checking the calculated dose distribution using a versatile phantom; Checking the calculated doses for linear accelerators with multilammelar collimators; Evaluation and analysis of results; Organizing a performing audits by mail); and Annexes: Detailed guidelines and protocols for radiotherapy departments. (P.A.)

BEBAN JARINGAN SAAT MENGAKSES EMAIL DARI BEBERAPA MAIL SERVER

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Husni Thamrin

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Expensive internet facilities require prudent in its use both as a source of information and communication media. This paper discusses observations of the perceived burden of network bandwidth when accessing some of the mail server using a webmail application. Mail server in question consists of three commercial server and 2 non-commercial server. Data when it download home page, while logged in, open the email, and during idle logout recorded with sniffer Wireshark. Observations in various situations and scenarios indicate that access Yahoo email gives the network load is very high while the SquirrelMail gives the network load is very low than 5 other mail servers. For an institution, use a local mail server (institutional is highly recommended in the context of banddwidth savings.

1 CFR 5.7 - Delivery and mailing.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 1 General Provisions 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Delivery and mailing. 5.7 Section 5.7 General Provisions ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE OF THE FEDERAL REGISTER THE FEDERAL REGISTER GENERAL § 5.7 Delivery and mailing. The Government Printing Office shall distribute the Federal Register by delivery or by deposit at...

Musculoskeletal Pain and Occupational Variables in Teachers With Voice Disorders and in Those With Healthy Voices-A Pilot Study.

Science.gov (United States)

da Silva Vitor, Jhonatan; Siqueira, Larissa Thaís Donalonso; Ribeiro, Vanessa Veis; Ramos, Janine Santos; Brasolotto, Alcione Ghedini; Silverio, Kelly Cristina Alves

2017-07-01

This study aimed to compare musculoskeletal pain perception in teachers with voice disorders and in those with healthy voices, and to investigate the relationship between musculoskeletal pain and occupational variables (ie, work journey per week and working period). Forty-three classroom teachers were divided into two groups: dysphonic group (DG), 32 classroom teachers with voice complaints and voice disorders; and non-DG, 11 classroom teachers without voice complaints and who are vocally healthy. The musculoskeletal pain investigation survey was used to investigate the frequency and intensity of the pain. Occupational variables, such as work journey per week and working period, were investigated by the Voice Production Condition-Teacher questionnaire. The statistical tests used were the Spearman correlation (P ≤ 0.05) and the Mann-Whitney U test (P ≤ 0.05). There was no difference between the frequency and the intensity of musculoskeletal pain regarding dysphonia. Work journey per week was positively related to the frequency and the intensity of laryngeal pain in the DG. The working period had a negative relationship to the frequency and the intensity of musculoskeletal pain in the submandibular region in the DG. Classroom teachers with voice disorders and those with healthy voices do not have differences regarding the frequency and the intensity of musculoskeletal pain. Besides dysphonia the pain is an important symptom to be considered in classroom teachers. The occupational variables contributed to the presence of musculoskeletal pain in the region near the larynx, which appears to be directly proportional to work journey per week and inversely proportional to the working period. Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Obligatory and facultative brain regions for voice-identity recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Roswandowitz, Claudia; Kappes, Claudia; Obrig, Hellmuth; von Kriegstein, Katharina

2018-01-01

Recognizing the identity of others by their voice is an important skill for social interactions. To date, it remains controversial which parts of the brain are critical structures for this skill. Based on neuroimaging findings, standard models of person-identity recognition suggest that the right temporal lobe is the hub for voice-identity recognition. Neuropsychological case studies, however, reported selective deficits of voice-identity recognition in patients predominantly with right inferior parietal lobe lesions. Here, our aim was to work towards resolving the discrepancy between neuroimaging studies and neuropsychological case studies to find out which brain structures are critical for voice-identity recognition in humans. We performed a voxel-based lesion-behaviour mapping study in a cohort of patients (n = 58) with unilateral focal brain lesions. The study included a comprehensive behavioural test battery on voice-identity recognition of newly learned (voice-name, voice-face association learning) and familiar voices (famous voice recognition) as well as visual (face-identity recognition) and acoustic control tests (vocal-pitch and vocal-timbre discrimination). The study also comprised clinically established tests (neuropsychological assessment, audiometry) and high-resolution structural brain images. The three key findings were: (i) a strong association between voice-identity recognition performance and right posterior/mid temporal and right inferior parietal lobe lesions; (ii) a selective association between right posterior/mid temporal lobe lesions and voice-identity recognition performance when face-identity recognition performance was factored out; and (iii) an association of right inferior parietal lobe lesions with tasks requiring the association between voices and faces but not voices and names. The results imply that the right posterior/mid temporal lobe is an obligatory structure for voice-identity recognition, while the inferior parietal lobe is

Video-Voice Project (Zambia) | IDRC - International Development ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Video-Voice Project (Zambia). The Zambian health care system has been negatively affected by globalization and faces severe resource constraints. The government has adopted a health reform that emphasizes public participation. This approach requires an informed citizenry, however, at a time when the country is facing ...

The effects of voice and manual control mode on dual task performance

Science.gov (United States)

Wickens, C. D.; Zenyuh, J.; Culp, V.; Marshak, W.

1986-01-01

Two fundamental principles of human performance, compatibility and resource competition, are combined with two structural dichotomies in the human information processing system, manual versus voice output, and left versus right cerebral hemisphere, in order to predict the optimum combination of voice and manual control with either hand, for time-sharing performance of a dicrete and continuous task. Eight right handed male subjected performed a discrete first-order tracking task, time-shared with an auditorily presented Sternberg Memory Search Task. Each task could be controlled by voice, or by the left or right hand, in all possible combinations except for a dual voice mode. When performance was analyzed in terms of a dual-task decrement from single task control conditions, the following variables influenced time-sharing efficiency in diminishing order of magnitude, (1) the modality of control, (discrete manual control of tracking was superior to discrete voice control of tracking and the converse was true with the memory search task), (2) response competition, (performance was degraded when both tasks were responded manually), (3) hemispheric competition, (performance degraded whenever two tasks were controlled by the left hemisphere) (i.e., voice or right handed control). The results confirm the value of predictive models invoice control implementation.

77 FR 65279 - Domestic Competitive Products Pricing and Mailing Standards Changes

Science.gov (United States)

2012-10-26

... POSTAL SERVICE 39 CFR Part 111 Domestic Competitive Products Pricing and Mailing Standards Changes... and mailing standards for the following competitive products: Express Mail[supreg], Priority Mail.... SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This final rule describes new prices and product features for competitive products...

Voiced Excitations

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Holzricher, John

2004-01-01

To more easily obtain a voiced excitation function for speech characterization, measurements of skin motion, tracheal tube, and vocal fold, motions were made and compared to EM sensor-glottal derived...

Voice Disorders in Occupations with Vocal Load in Slovenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Boltežar, Lučka; Šereg Bahar, Maja

2014-12-01

The aim of this paper is to compare the prevalence of voice disorders and the risk factors for them in different occupations with a vocal load in Slovenia. A meta-analysis of six different Slovenian studies involving teachers, physicians, salespeople, catholic priests, nurses and speech-and-language therapists (SLTs) was performed. In all six studies, similar questions about the prevalence of voice disorders and the causes for them were included. The comparison of the six studies showed that more than 82% of the 2347 included subjects had voice problems at some time during their career. The teachers were the most affected by voice problems. The prevalent cause of voice problems was the vocal load in teachers and salespeople and respiratory-tract infections in all the other occupational groups. When the occupational groups were compared, it was stated that the teachers had more voice problems and showed less care for their voices than the priests. The physicians had more voice problems and showed better consideration of vocal hygiene rules than the SLTs. The majority of all the included subjects did not receive instructions about voice care during education. In order to decrease the prevalence of voice disorders in vocal professionals, a screening program is recommended before the beginning of their studies. Regular courses on voice care and proper vocal technique should be obligatory for all professional voice users during their career. The inclusion of dysphonia in the list of occupational diseases should be considered in Slovenia as it is in some European countries.

9. mail Moskvasse minna ei tohi / Heiki Suurkask

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

Suurkask, Heiki, 1972-

2004-01-01

Autori arvates tähendaks Eesti Vabariigi presidendi visiit 9. mail Moskvasse sõjaroimarite õigeksmõistmist. Lisa: Kas Eesti president peaks minema 9. mail Moskvasse? Küsimusele vastavad: Heiki Ahonen, Dimitri Klenski, Karmo Tüür

Noise Source Visualization Using a Digital Voice Recorder and Low-Cost Sensors.

Science.gov (United States)

Cho, Yong Thung

2018-04-03

Accurate sound visualization of noise sources is required for optimal noise control. Typically, noise measurement systems require microphones, an analog-digital converter, cables, a data acquisition system, etc., which may not be affordable for potential users. Also, many such systems are not highly portable and may not be convenient for travel. Handheld personal electronic devices such as smartphones and digital voice recorders with relatively lower costs and higher performance have become widely available recently. Even though such devices are highly portable, directly implementing them for noise measurement may lead to erroneous results since such equipment was originally designed for voice recording. In this study, external microphones were connected to a digital voice recorder to conduct measurements and the input received was processed for noise visualization. In this way, a low cost, compact sound visualization system was designed and introduced to visualize two actual noise sources for verification with different characteristics: an enclosed loud speaker and a small air compressor. Reasonable accuracy of noise visualization for these two sources was shown over a relatively wide frequency range. This very affordable and compact sound visualization system can be used for many actual noise visualization applications in addition to educational purposes.

Measurement of Voice Onset Time in Maxillectomy Patients

OpenAIRE

Hattori, Mariko; Sumita, Yuka I.; Taniguchi, Hisashi

2014-01-01

Objective speech evaluation using acoustic measurement is needed for the proper rehabilitation of maxillectomy patients. For digital evaluation of consonants, measurement of voice onset time is one option. However, voice onset time has not been measured in maxillectomy patients as their consonant sound spectra exhibit unique characteristics that make the measurement of voice onset time challenging. In this study, we established criteria for measuring voice onset time in maxillectomy patients ...

Voice, Schooling, Inequality, and Scale

Science.gov (United States)

Collins, James

2013-01-01

The rich studies in this collection show that the investigation of voice requires analysis of "recognition" across layered spatial-temporal and sociolinguistic scales. I argue that the concepts of voice, recognition, and scale provide insight into contemporary educational inequality and that their study benefits, in turn, from paying attention to…

Publication’s e-mail marketing procedure

OpenAIRE

Ebrahim, Nader Ale

2016-01-01

Your research findings and publications have to reach thousands of your peers and colleagues by sending an email. If you have recently published a study that would be of interest to others in your field, market it through email. “E-mail marketing” allow the researchers to increase the research impact and citations for their publications. This workshop will provide various techniques to increase the visibility and enhance the impact of researcher’s output by employing the publications E-mail m...

Voice restoration following total laryngectomy by tracheoesophageal prosthesis: Effect on patients' quality of life and voice handicap in Jordan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wreikat Mahmoud M

2008-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Little has been reported about the impact of tracheoesophageal (TE speech on individuals in the Middle East where the procedure has been gaining in popularity. After total laryngectomy, individuals in Europe and North America have rated their quality of life as being lower than non-laryngectomized individuals. The purpose of this study was to evaluate changes in quality of life and degree of voice handicap reported by laryngectomized speakers from Jordan before and after establishment of TE speech. Methods Twelve male Jordanian laryngectomees completed the University of Michigan Head & Neck Quality of Life instrument and the Voice Handicap Index pre- and post-TE puncture. Results All subjects showed significant improvements in their quality of life following successful prosthetic voice restoration. In addition, voice handicap scores were significantly reduced from pre- to post-TE puncture. Conclusion Tracheoesophageal speech significantly improved the quality of life and limited the voice handicap imposed by total laryngectomy. This method of voice restoration has been used for a number of years in other countries and now appears to be a viable alternative within Jordan.

Self-Reported Acute and Chronic Voice Disorders in Teachers.

Science.gov (United States)

Rossi-Barbosa, Luiza Augusta Rosa; Barbosa, Mirna Rossi; Morais, Renata Martins; de Sousa, Kamilla Ferreira; Silveira, Marise Fagundes; Gama, Ana Cristina Côrtes; Caldeira, Antônio Prates

2016-11-01

The present study aimed to identify factors associated with self-reported acute and chronic voice disorders among municipal elementary school teachers in the city of Montes Claros, in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The dependent variable, self-reported dysphonia, was determined via a single question, "Have you noticed changes in your voice quality?" and if so, a follow-up question queried the duration of this change, acute or chronic. The independent variables were dichotomized and divided into five categories: sociodemographic and economic data; lifestyle; organizational and environmental data; health-disease processes; and voice. Analyses of associated factors were performed via a hierarchical multiple logistic regression model. The present study included 226 teachers, of whom 38.9% reported no voice disorders, 35.4% reported an acute disorder, and 25.7% reported a chronic disorder. Excessive voice use daily, consuming more than one alcoholic drink per time, and seeking medical treatment because of voice disorders were associated factors for acute and chronic voice disorders. Consuming up to three glasses of water per day was associated with acute voice disorders. Among teachers who reported chronic voice disorders, teaching for over 15 years and the perception of disturbing or unbearable noise outside the school were both associated factors. Identification of organizational, environmental, and predisposing risk factors for voice disorders is critical, and furthermore, a vocal health promotion program may address these issues. Copyright © 2016 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Common diagnoses and treatments in professional voice users.

Science.gov (United States)

Franco, Ramon A; Andrus, Jennifer G

2007-10-01

Common problems among all patients seen by the laryngologist are also common among professional voice users. These include laryngopharyngeal reflux, muscle tension dysphonia, fibrovascular vocal fold lesions (eg, nodules and polyps), cysts, vocal fold scarring, changes in vocal fold mobility, and age-related changes. Microvascular lesions and their associated sequelae of vocal fold hemorrhage and laryngitis due to voice overuse are more common among professional voice users. Much more common among professional voice users is the negative impact that voice problems have on their ability to work, on their overall sense of well-being, and sometimes on their very sense of self. This article reviews the diagnosis and treatment options for these and other problems among professional voice users, describing the relevant roles of medical treatment, voice therapy, and surgery. The common scenario of multiple concomitant entities contributing to a symptom complex is underscored. Emphasis is placed on gaining insight into the "whole" patient so that individualized management plans can be developed. Videos of select diagnoses accompany this content online.

Engaging retailers: giving them voice or controlling their voice, a supplier's perspective

OpenAIRE

Jackson, Keith; Jackson, Jacqui; Hopkinson, Gillian

2013-01-01

This full paper from the Marketing and Retail track of BAM 2013 investigates the relationships between suppliers and retailers in the UK convenience store sector in terms of Hirschman's model whereby members of a group can influence it by either expressing their opinions (voice) or leaving it in protest (exit). Suppliers may create loyalty among retailers by raising exit costs and/or allowing them to express their voices. The investigation was carried out using the recorded turnover of the to...

Securing E-mail Communication Using Hybrid Cryptosystem on Android-based Mobile Devices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andri Zakariya

2012-12-01

Full Text Available One of the most popular internet services is electronic mail (e-mail. By using mobile devices with internet connection, e-mail can be widely used by anyone to exchange information anywhere and anytime whether public or confidential. Unfortunately, there are some security issues with email communication; e-mail is sent in over open networks and e-mail is stored on potentially insecure mail servers. Moreover, e-mail has no integrity protection so the body can be undectected altered in transit or on the e-mail server. E-mail also has no data origin authentication, so people cannot be sure that the emails they receive are from the e-mail address owner. In order to solve this problem, this study proposes a secure method of e-mail communication on Android-based mobile devices using a hybrid cryptosystem which combines symmetric encryption, asymmetric encryption and hash function. The experimental results show that the proposed method succeeded in meeting those aspects of information security including confidentiality, data integrity, authentication, and non-repudiation.

MOBILIZED STATE´S WORKERS: VOICES IN THE MEDIATIC CONSTRUCTION OF THEIR IDENTITIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patricia Mariel Sorribas

2014-06-01

Full Text Available In this study we analyze the identity fields of state workers in Cordoba (Argentina from the media frames developed by the largest newspaper coverage at the provincial level for the period 2002-2006. This will distinguish the different voices from which it is possible to reconstruct the identities (voices of the press, the protagonists and antagonists. Between the protagonist and antagonist build the identity of these workers around the axis unprivileged/privileged. The voice of the press makes their frames using other criteria, characterizing the protagonists based on the level of unification and massiveness of the actions of them, differing governmental procedures. The identity construction of the figure of the antagonist from the three voices is much more complex. This construction reveals that as of labor dispute, the content of the newspaper discourse shifts to a definition of political identities in the party system.

Development of a TLD mailed system for remote dosimetry audit for 192Ir HDR and PDR sources

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roue, Amelie; Venselaar, Jack L.M.; Ferreira, Ivaldo H.; Bridier, Andre; Dam, Jan van

2007-01-01

Background and purpose: In the framework of an ESTRO ESQUIRE project, the BRAPHYQS Physics Network and the EQUAL-ESTRO laboratory have developed a procedure for checking the absorbed dose to water in the vicinity of HDR or PDR sources using a mailed TLD system. The methodology and the materials used in the procedure are based on the existing EQUAL-ESTRO external radiotherapy dose checks. Materials and methods: A phantom for TLD postal dose assurance service, adapted to accept catheters from different HDR afterloaders, has been developed. The phantom consists of three PMMA tubes supporting catheters placed at 120 degrees around a central TLD holder. A study on the use of LiF powder type DTL 937 (Philitech) has been performed in order to establish the TLD calibration in dose-to-water at a given distance from 192 Ir source, as well as to determine all correction factors to convert the TLD reading into absorbed dose to water. The dosimetric audit is based on the comparison between the dose to water measured with the TL dosimeter and the dose calculated by the clinical TPS. Results of the audits are classified in four different levels depending on the ratio of the measured dose to the stated dose. The total uncertainty budget in the measurement of the absorbed dose to water using TLD near an 192 Ir HDR source, including TLD reading, correction factors and TLD calibration coefficient, is determined as 3.27% (1 s). Results: To validate the procedures, the external audit was first tested among the members of the BRAPHYQS Network. Since November 2004, the test has been made available for use by all European brachytherapy centres. To date, 11 centres have participated in the checks and the results obtained are very encouraging. Nevertheless, one error detected has shown the usefulness of this audit. Conclusion: A method of absorbed dose to water determination in the vicinity of an 192 Ir brachytherapy source was developed for the purpose of a mailed TL dosimetry system. The

Development of a TLD mailed system for remote dosimetry audit for (192)Ir HDR and PDR sources.

Science.gov (United States)

Roué, Amélie; Venselaar, Jack L M; Ferreira, Ivaldo H; Bridier, André; Van Dam, Jan

2007-04-01

In the framework of an ESTRO ESQUIRE project, the BRAPHYQS Physics Network and the EQUAL-ESTRO laboratory have developed a procedure for checking the absorbed dose to water in the vicinity of HDR or PDR sources using a mailed TLD system. The methodology and the materials used in the procedure are based on the existing EQUAL-ESTRO external radiotherapy dose checks. A phantom for TLD postal dose assurance service, adapted to accept catheters from different HDR afterloaders, has been developed. The phantom consists of three PMMA tubes supporting catheters placed at 120 degrees around a central TLD holder. A study on the use of LiF powder type DTL 937 (Philitech) has been performed in order to establish the TLD calibration in dose-to-water at a given distance from (192)Ir source, as well as to determine all correction factors to convert the TLD reading into absorbed dose to water. The dosimetric audit is based on the comparison between the dose to water measured with the TL dosimeter and the dose calculated by the clinical TPS. Results of the audits are classified in four different levels depending on the ratio of the measured dose to the stated dose. The total uncertainty budget in the measurement of the absorbed dose to water using TLD near an (192)Ir HDR source, including TLD reading, correction factors and TLD calibration coefficient, is determined as 3.27% (1s). To validate the procedures, the external audit was first tested among the members of the BRAPHYQS Network. Since November 2004, the test has been made available for use by all European brachytherapy centres. To date, 11 centres have participated in the checks and the results obtained are very encouraging. Nevertheless, one error detected has shown the usefulness of this audit. A method of absorbed dose to water determination in the vicinity of an (192)Ir brachytherapy source was developed for the purpose of a mailed TL dosimetry system. The accuracy of the procedure was determined. This method allows a

VoiceThread as a Peer Review and Dissemination Tool for Undergraduate Research

Science.gov (United States)

Guertin, L. A.

2012-12-01

VoiceThread has been utilized in an undergraduate research methods course for peer review and final research project dissemination. VoiceThread (http://www.voicethread.com) can be considered a social media tool, as it is a web-based technology with the capacity to enable interactive dialogue. VoiceThread is an application that allows a user to place a media collection online containing images, audio, videos, documents, and/or presentations in an interface that facilitates asynchronous communication. Participants in a VoiceThread can be passive viewers of the online content or engaged commenters via text, audio, video, with slide annotations via a doodle tool. The VoiceThread, which runs across browsers and operating systems, can be public or private for viewing and commenting and can be embedded into any website. Although few university students are aware of the VoiceThread platform (only 10% of the students surveyed by Ng (2012)), the 2009 K-12 edition of The Horizon Report (Johnson et al., 2009) lists VoiceThread as a tool to watch because of the opportunities it provides as a collaborative learning environment. In Fall 2011, eleven students enrolled in an undergraduate research methods course at Penn State Brandywine each conducted their own small-scale research project. Upon conclusion of the projects, students were required to create a poster summarizing their work for peer review. To facilitate the peer review process outside of class, each student-created PowerPoint file was placed in a VoiceThread with private access to only the class members and instructor. Each student was assigned to peer review five different student posters (i.e., VoiceThread images) with the audio and doodle tools to comment on formatting, clarity of content, etc. After the peer reviews were complete, the students were allowed to edit their PowerPoint poster files for a new VoiceThread. In the new VoiceThread, students were required to video record themselves describing their research

78 FR 63433 - International Mailing Services: Proposed Price Changes-CPI

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2013-10-24

... POSTAL SERVICE 39 CFR Part 20 International Mailing Services: Proposed Price Changes--CPI AGENCY... mailing services price adjustments with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), effective on January 26... Postal Service, International Mail Manual (IMM[supreg]) to reflect these new price changes. DATES: We...

Two-component network model in voice identification technologies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edita K. Kuular

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Among the most important parameters of biometric systems with voice modalities that determine their effectiveness, along with reliability and noise immunity, a speed of identification and verification of a person has been accentuated. This parameter is especially sensitive while processing large-scale voice databases in real time regime. Many research studies in this area are aimed at developing new and improving existing algorithms for presentation and processing voice records to ensure high performance of voice biometric systems. Here, it seems promising to apply a modern approach, which is based on complex network platform for solving complex massive problems with a large number of elements and taking into account their interrelationships. Thus, there are known some works which while solving problems of analysis and recognition of faces from photographs, transform images into complex networks for their subsequent processing by standard techniques. One of the first applications of complex networks to sound series (musical and speech analysis are description of frequency characteristics by constructing network models - converting the series into networks. On the network ontology platform a previously proposed technique of audio information representation aimed on its automatic analysis and speaker recognition has been developed. This implies converting information into the form of associative semantic (cognitive network structure with amplitude and frequency components both. Two speaker exemplars have been recorded and transformed into pertinent networks with consequent comparison of their topological metrics. The set of topological metrics for each of network models (amplitude and frequency one is a vector, and together  those combine a matrix, as a digital "network" voiceprint. The proposed network approach, with its sensitivity to personal conditions-physiological, psychological, emotional, might be useful not only for person identification

Voice over IP Security

CERN Document Server

Keromytis, Angelos D

2011-01-01

Voice over IP (VoIP) and Internet Multimedia Subsystem technologies (IMS) are rapidly being adopted by consumers, enterprises, governments and militaries. These technologies offer higher flexibility and more features than traditional telephony (PSTN) infrastructures, as well as the potential for lower cost through equipment consolidation and, for the consumer market, new business models. However, VoIP systems also represent a higher complexity in terms of architecture, protocols and implementation, with a corresponding increase in the potential for misuse. In this book, the authors examine the

39 CFR 20.2 - Effective date of the International Mail Manual.

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2010-07-01

... 39 Postal Service 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Effective date of the International Mail Manual. 20.2 Section 20.2 Postal Service UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE INTERNATIONAL MAIL INTERNATIONAL POSTAL SERVICE § 20.2 Effective date of the International Mail Manual. The provisions of the International Mail...

The singer's voice range profile: female professional opera soloists.

Science.gov (United States)

Lamarche, Anick; Ternström, Sten; Pabon, Peter

2010-07-01

This work concerns the collection of 30 voice range profiles (VRPs) of female operatic voice. We address the questions: Is there a need for a singer's protocol in VRP acquisition? Are physiological measurements sufficient or should the measurement of performance capabilities also be included? Can we address the female singing voice in general or is there a case for categorizing voices when studying phonetographic data? Subjects performed a series of structured tasks involving both standard speech voice protocols and additional singing tasks. Singers also completed an extensive questionnaire. Physiological VRPs differ from performance VRPs. Two new VRP metrics, the voice area above a defined level threshold and the dynamic range independent from the fundamental frequency (F(0)), were found to be useful in the analysis of singer VRPs. Task design had no effect on performance VRP outcomes. Voice category differences were mainly attributable to phonation frequency-based information. Results support the clinical importance of addressing the vocal instrument as it is used in performance. Equally important is the elaboration of a protocol suitable for the singing voice. The given context and instructions can be more important than task design for performance VRPs. Yet, for physiological VRP recordings, task design remains critical. Both types of VRPs are suggested for a singer's voice evaluation. Copyright (c) 2010 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Collaboration and conquest: MTD as viewed by voice teacher (singing voice specialist) and speech-language pathologist.

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Goffi-Fynn, Jeanne C; Carroll, Linda M

2013-05-01

This study was designed as a qualitative case study to demonstrate the process of diagnosis and treatment between a voice team to manage a singer diagnosed with muscular tension dysphonia (MTD). Traditionally, literature suggests that MTD is challenging to treat and little in the literature directly addresses singers with MTD. Data collected included initial medical screening with laryngologist, referral to speech-language pathologist (SLP) specializing in voice disorders among singers, and adjunctive voice training with voice teacher trained in vocology (singing voice specialist or SVS). Initial target goals with SLP included reducing extrinsic laryngeal tension, using a relaxed laryngeal posture, and effective abdominal-diaphragmatic support for all phonation events. Balance of respiratory forces, laryngeal coordination, and use of optimum filtering of the source signal through resonance and articulatory awareness was emphasized. Further work with SVS included three main goals including a lowered breathing pattern to aid in decreasing subglottic air pressure, vertical laryngeal position to lower to allow for a relaxed laryngeal position, and a top-down singing approach to encourage an easier, more balanced registration, and better resonance. Initial results also emphasize the retraining of subject toward a sensory rather than auditory mode of monitoring. Other areas of consideration include singers' training and vocal use, the psychological effects of MTD, the personalities potentially associated with it, and its relationship with stress. Finally, the results emphasize that a positive rapport with the subject and collaboration between all professionals involved in a singer's care are essential for recovery. Copyright © 2013 The Voice Foundation. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Multivariate sensitivity to voice during auditory categorization.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Yune Sang; Peelle, Jonathan E; Kraemer, David; Lloyd, Samuel; Granger, Richard

2015-09-01

Past neuroimaging studies have documented discrete regions of human temporal cortex that are more strongly activated by conspecific voice sounds than by nonvoice sounds. However, the mechanisms underlying this voice sensitivity remain unclear. In the present functional MRI study, we took a novel approach to examining voice sensitivity, in which we applied a signal detection paradigm to the assessment of multivariate pattern classification among several living and nonliving categories of auditory stimuli. Within this framework, voice sensitivity can be interpreted as a distinct neural representation of brain activity that correctly distinguishes human vocalizations from other auditory object categories. Across a series of auditory categorization tests, we found that bilateral superior and middle temporal cortex consistently exhibited robust sensitivity to human vocal sounds. Although the strongest categorization was in distinguishing human voice from other categories, subsets of these regions were also able to distinguish reliably between nonhuman categories, suggesting a general role in auditory object categorization. Our findings complement the current evidence of cortical sensitivity to human vocal sounds by revealing that the greatest sensitivity during categorization tasks is devoted to distinguishing voice from nonvoice categories within human temporal cortex. Copyright © 2015 the American Physiological Society.

Trailblazers and Cassandras: Other Voices in Northern Ireland

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

McQuaid, Sara Dybris

2012-01-01

’ voices and alternative positions in the process of conflict interpretation and resolution. This essay will outline a ‘thumbnail’ sketch of three areas in which ‘other’ voices are sidelined or silenced: in terms of political discourses; community discourses; and wider academic and public discourses......’ and ‘Cassandras’ the essay concludes that the arguments forwarded by other voices are not disappeared but adapted and realigned to the reigning discourses, and that there is not so much a culture of silence surrounding ‘other’ voices as a certain selective and sectarian hearing in picking them up. Whilst...... it follows that ‘other’ voices have failed to dissolve the magnetic field of Northern Irish politics, the essay suggests that in order to rise to current political challenges in Northern Ireland it is worthwhile sounding out the historical and contemporary ‘other’ voices for carefully thought out and non...

The Show with the Voice: An [Au]/-[o]-tophonographic Parody

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David D.J. Sander Scheidt

2008-05-01

Full Text Available According to my claim that voice as a phenomenon cannot be materialised or located, neither in the (voice organ of the self nor in the (ear of the other, I coined the term [au]/[o]-tophonography for my examination of the possibilities of performing subjectivity in writing and in sound productions. Drawing on the theory of performativity in its deconstructive senses (see BUTLER, 1993, 1997, 1999/1990; DERRIDA, 1988/1972, 1997/1967, 2002/1981; SMITH, 1995 my performative epistemology reaches beyond the theoretical, including the practical and the aesthetical, aiming at questioning notions of "self", "audience", "voice", "writing" and "communication". "The show with the voice" (http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs-texte/2-08/08-2-27_audio.mp3 is an example of this practice. It parodies the medico-scientific approach to the human voice by presenting some of its possible appearances (the "normal", the "disordered", the "homosexual" and the "transsexual" voice in an audio collage that takes the shape of a mock tutorial. Through re-contextualising and re-compiling voice samples from different sources that are usually kept apart (e.g. the lecturer's voice, the researcher's voice, the artist's voice, the autobiographer's voice I open a space for a multidisciplinary and creative perspective to the examination of voice. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0802279

Muted 'voice': The writing of two groups of postgraduate ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate and account for the weak emergence of 'voice' in the writing of students embarking upon their postgraduate studies in Geosciences. The two elements of 'voice' that are emphasised are 'voice' as style of expression and 'voice' as the ability to write distinctly, yet building upon ...

Neural effects of environmental advertising: An fMRI analysis of voice age and temporal framing.

Science.gov (United States)

Casado-Aranda, Luis-Alberto; Martínez-Fiestas, Myriam; Sánchez-Fernández, Juan

2018-01-15

Ecological information offered to society through advertising enhances awareness of environmental issues, encourages development of sustainable attitudes and intentions, and can even alter behavior. This paper, by means of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and self-reports, explores the underlying mechanisms of processing ecological messages. The study specifically examines brain and behavioral responses to persuasive ecological messages that differ in temporal framing and in the age of the voice pronouncing them. The findings reveal that attitudes are more positive toward future-framed messages presented by young voices. The whole-brain analysis reveals that future-framed (FF) ecological messages trigger activation in brain areas related to imagery, prospective memories and episodic events, thus reflecting the involvement of past behaviors in future ecological actions. Past-framed messages (PF), in turn, elicit brain activations within the episodic system. Young voices (YV), in addition to triggering stronger activation in areas involved with the processing of high-timbre, high-pitched and high-intensity voices, are perceived as more emotional and motivational than old voices (OV) as activations in anterior cingulate cortex and amygdala. Messages expressed by older voices, in turn, exhibit stronger activation in areas formerly linked to low-pitched voices and voice gender perception. Interestingly, a link is identified between neural and self-report responses indicating that certain brain activations in response to future-framed messages and young voices predicted higher attitudes toward future-framed and young voice advertisements, respectively. The results of this study provide invaluable insight into the unconscious origin of attitudes toward environmental messages and indicate which voice and temporal frame of a message generate the greatest subconscious value. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Disability: a voice in Australian bioethics?

Science.gov (United States)

Newell, Christopher

2003-06-01

The rise of research and advocacy over the years to establish a disability voice in Australia with regard to bioethical issues is explored. This includes an analysis of some of the political processes and engagement in mainstream bioethical debate. An understanding of the politics of rejected knowledge is vital in understanding the muted disability voices in Australian bioethics and public policy. It is also suggested that the voices of those who are marginalised or oppressed in society, such as people with disability, have particular contribution to make in fostering critical bioethics.

Investigating the Effects of Glottal Stop Productions on Voice in Children With Cleft Palate Using Multidimensional Voice Assessment Methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Aydınlı, Fatma Esen; Özcebe, Esra; Kulak Kayıkçı, Maviş E; Yılmaz, Taner; Özgür, Fatma F

2016-11-01

The aim was to investigate the effects of glottal stop productions (GS) on voice in children with cleft palate using multidimensional voice assessment methods. This is a prospective case-control study. Children with repaired cleft palate (n = 34) who did not have any vocal fold lesions were separated into two groups based on the results of the articulation test. The glottal stop group (GSG) consisted of 17 children who had GS. The control group (CG) consisted of an equal number of age- and gender-matched children who did not have GS. The voice evaluation protocol included acoustic analysis, Pediatric Voice Handicap Index (pVHI), and perceptual analysis (Grade, Roughness, Breathiness, Asthenia, Strain method). The velopharyngeal statuses of the groups were compared using the nasopharyngoscopy and the nasometer. The total pVHI score and the subscales of the pVHI were found to be significantly higher in the GSG. The F0, jitter, and shimmer were found to be numerically higher in the GSG with the difference being statistically significant in jitter (P speech and language pathology intervention including voice therapy techniques. Copyright © 2016 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The effectiveness of voice therapy for teachers with dysphonia.

Science.gov (United States)

Niebudek-Bogusz, E; Sznurowska-Przygocka, B; Fiszer, M; Kotyło, P; Sinkiewicz, A; Modrzewska, M; Sliwinska-Kowalska, M

2008-01-01

An incorrect voice emission is a risk factor for developing occupational voice disorders. The study aimed at assessing the effectiveness of voice therapy in female teachers with dysphonia. The study comprised 133 subjects with voice disorders, taking part in a vocal training programme. A reference group for the present study included 53 teachers with dysphonia. Questionnaire surveys, phoniatric examination and videostroboscopic evaluation were conducted at initial and control examination. In the study group, an improvement after the vocal training was noted in most of the reported symptoms and also in some quantitative parameters of phoniatric examinations compared to the findings for the reference group. The number of patients who assessed their voice as normal increased significantly after the vocal training (2.3 vs. 46.6%). A significant increase in the mean maximum phonation time, from 13.3 to 16.6 s, was observed. The same applied to voice frequency range (increase from 171 to 226.8 Hz). The outcomes of vocal training, such as a subjective improvement of voice quality and an increase in the quantitative parameters (prolonged maximum phonation time, extended voice range) seem to be important parameters for monitoring the effectiveness of training in correct voice emission. 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Explaining the high voice superiority effect in polyphonic music: evidence from cortical evoked potentials and peripheral auditory models.

Science.gov (United States)

Trainor, Laurel J; Marie, Céline; Bruce, Ian C; Bidelman, Gavin M

2014-02-01

Natural auditory environments contain multiple simultaneously-sounding objects and the auditory system must parse the incoming complex sound wave they collectively create into parts that represent each of these individual objects. Music often similarly requires processing of more than one voice or stream at the same time, and behavioral studies demonstrate that human listeners show a systematic perceptual bias in processing the highest voice in multi-voiced music. Here, we review studies utilizing event-related brain potentials (ERPs), which support the notions that (1) separate memory traces are formed for two simultaneous voices (even without conscious awareness) in auditory cortex and (2) adults show more robust encoding (i.e., larger ERP responses) to deviant pitches in the higher than in the lower voice, indicating better encoding of the former. Furthermore, infants also show this high-voice superiority effect, suggesting that the perceptual dominance observed across studies might result from neurophysiological characteristics of the peripheral auditory system. Although musically untrained adults show smaller responses in general than musically trained adults, both groups similarly show a more robust cortical representation of the higher than of the lower voice. Finally, years of experience playing a bass-range instrument reduces but does not reverse the high voice superiority effect, indicating that although it can be modified, it is not highly neuroplastic. Results of new modeling experiments examined the possibility that characteristics of middle-ear filtering and cochlear dynamics (e.g., suppression) reflected in auditory nerve firing patterns might account for the higher-voice superiority effect. Simulations show that both place and temporal AN coding schemes well-predict a high-voice superiority across a wide range of interval spacings and registers. Collectively, we infer an innate, peripheral origin for the higher-voice superiority observed in human

Colour and texture associations in voice-induced synaesthesia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anja eMoos

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Voice-induced synaesthesia, a form of synaesthesia in which synaesthetic perceptions are induced by the sounds of people’s voices, appears to be relatively rare and has not been systematically studied. In this study we investigated the synaesthetic colour and visual texture perceptions experienced in response to different types of voice quality (e.g. nasal, whisper, falsetto. Experiences of three different groups – self-reported voice synaesthetes, phoneticians and controls – were compared using both qualitative and quantitative analysis in a study conducted online. Whilst, in the qualitative analysis, synaesthetes used more colour and texture terms to describe voices than either phoneticians or controls, only weak differences, and many similarities, between groups were found in the quantitative analysis. Notable consistent results between groups were the matching of higher speech fundamental frequencies with lighter and redder colours, the matching of whispery voices with smoke-like textures and the matching of harsh and creaky voices with textures resembling dry cracked soil. These data are discussed in the light of current thinking about definitions and categorizations of synaesthesia, especially in cases where individuals apparently have a range of different synaesthetic inducers.

Color and texture associations in voice-induced synesthesia

Science.gov (United States)

Moos, Anja; Simmons, David; Simner, Julia; Smith, Rachel

2013-01-01

Voice-induced synesthesia, a form of synesthesia in which synesthetic perceptions are induced by the sounds of people's voices, appears to be relatively rare and has not been systematically studied. In this study we investigated the synesthetic color and visual texture perceptions experienced in response to different types of “voice quality” (e.g., nasal, whisper, falsetto). Experiences of three different groups—self-reported voice synesthetes, phoneticians, and controls—were compared using both qualitative and quantitative analysis in a study conducted online. Whilst, in the qualitative analysis, synesthetes used more color and texture terms to describe voices than either phoneticians or controls, only weak differences, and many similarities, between groups were found in the quantitative analysis. Notable consistent results between groups were the matching of higher speech fundamental frequencies with lighter and redder colors, the matching of “whispery” voices with smoke-like textures, and the matching of “harsh” and “creaky” voices with textures resembling dry cracked soil. These data are discussed in the light of current thinking about definitions and categorizations of synesthesia, especially in cases where individuals apparently have a range of different synesthetic inducers. PMID:24032023

75 FR 56922 - Implementation of the Intelligent Mail Package Barcode

Science.gov (United States)

2010-09-17

... in planning for future mailings and preparing for system changes necessary to adopt the new IMpb... Code 128 barcodes, which make use of Application Identifiers (AI) to define the encoded data and how it... capabilities, the Postal Service is providing advance notice of a future proposal to require customers to...

Using Computer Conferencing and Electronic Mail to Facilitate Group Projects.

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Margaret D.

1996-01-01

Reports on the use of electronic mail and an electronic conferencing system to conduct group projects in three educational psychology courses at the State University of New York College at Cortland. Course design is explained and group project design is described, including assignments and oral presentations during regular class sessions.…

Psychological effects of dysphonia in voice professionals.

Science.gov (United States)

Salturk, Ziya; Kumral, Tolgar Lutfi; Aydoğdu, Imran; Arslanoğlu, Ahmet; Berkiten, Güler; Yildirim, Güven; Uyar, Yavuz

2015-08-01

To evaluate the psychological effects of dysphonia in voice professionals compared to non-voice professionals and in both genders. Cross-sectional analysis. Forty-eight 48 voice professionals and 52 non-voice professionals with dysphonia were included in this study. All participants underwent a complete ear, nose, and throat examination and an evaluation for pathologies that might affect vocal quality. Participants were asked to complete the Turkish versions of the Voice Handicap Index-30 (VHI-30), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). HADS scores were evaluated as HADS-A (anxiety) and HADS-D (depression). Dysphonia status was evaluated by grade, roughness, breathiness, asthenia, and strain (GRBAS) scale perceptually. The results were compared statistically. Significant differences between the two groups were evident when the VHI-30 and PSS data were compared (P = .00001 and P = .00001, respectively). However, neither HADS score (HADS-A and HADS-D) differed between groups. An analysis of the scores in terms of sex revealed that females had significantly higher PSS scores (P = .006). The GRBAS scale revealed no difference between groups (P = .819, .931, .803, .655, and .803, respectively). No between-sex differences in the VHI-30 or HADS scores were evident We found that voice professionals and females experienced more stress and were more dissatisfied with their voices. 4. © 2015 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.

Error-dependent modulation of speech-induced auditory suppression for pitch-shifted voice feedback

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Larson Charles R

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The motor-driven predictions about expected sensory feedback (efference copies have been proposed to play an important role in recognition of sensory consequences of self-produced motor actions. In the auditory system, this effect was suggested to result in suppression of sensory neural responses to self-produced voices that are predicted by the efference copies during vocal production in comparison with passive listening to the playback of the identical self-vocalizations. In the present study, event-related potentials (ERPs were recorded in response to upward pitch shift stimuli (PSS with five different magnitudes (0, +50, +100, +200 and +400 cents at voice onset during active vocal production and passive listening to the playback. Results Results indicated that the suppression of the N1 component during vocal production was largest for unaltered voice feedback (PSS: 0 cents, became smaller as the magnitude of PSS increased to 200 cents, and was almost completely eliminated in response to 400 cents stimuli. Conclusions Findings of the present study suggest that the brain utilizes the motor predictions (efference copies to determine the source of incoming stimuli and maximally suppresses the auditory responses to unaltered feedback of self-vocalizations. The reduction of suppression for 50, 100 and 200 cents and its elimination for 400 cents pitch-shifted voice auditory feedback support the idea that motor-driven suppression of voice feedback leads to distinctly different sensory neural processing of self vs. non-self vocalizations. This characteristic may enable the audio-vocal system to more effectively detect and correct for unexpected errors in the feedback of self-produced voice pitch compared with externally-generated sounds.

Error-dependent modulation of speech-induced auditory suppression for pitch-shifted voice feedback.

Science.gov (United States)

Behroozmand, Roozbeh; Larson, Charles R

2011-06-06

The motor-driven predictions about expected sensory feedback (efference copies) have been proposed to play an important role in recognition of sensory consequences of self-produced motor actions. In the auditory system, this effect was suggested to result in suppression of sensory neural responses to self-produced voices that are predicted by the efference copies during vocal production in comparison with passive listening to the playback of the identical self-vocalizations. In the present study, event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded in response to upward pitch shift stimuli (PSS) with five different magnitudes (0, +50, +100, +200 and +400 cents) at voice onset during active vocal production and passive listening to the playback. Results indicated that the suppression of the N1 component during vocal production was largest for unaltered voice feedback (PSS: 0 cents), became smaller as the magnitude of PSS increased to 200 cents, and was almost completely eliminated in response to 400 cents stimuli. Findings of the present study suggest that the brain utilizes the motor predictions (efference copies) to determine the source of incoming stimuli and maximally suppresses the auditory responses to unaltered feedback of self-vocalizations. The reduction of suppression for 50, 100 and 200 cents and its elimination for 400 cents pitch-shifted voice auditory feedback support the idea that motor-driven suppression of voice feedback leads to distinctly different sensory neural processing of self vs. non-self vocalizations. This characteristic may enable the audio-vocal system to more effectively detect and correct for unexpected errors in the feedback of self-produced voice pitch compared with externally-generated sounds.

Dokumentaalfilm "Maile Grünbergi värvilised maailmad" = "Maile Grünberg's colourful worlds": a documentary / Karin Paulus, Priit Põldme

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

Paulus, Karin, 1975-

2015-01-01

Sisearhitekt Maile Grünbergist ja 2014. aastal temast valminud dokumentaalfilmist "Maile Grünbergi värvilised maailmad". Režissöör Peeter Brambat, tegevprodutsent Priit Põldme, käsikiri Karin Paulus, Peeter Brambat, Priit Põldme. 2014. aasta Kultuurkapitali Arhitektuuripreemia kandidaat

Voice disorders in Nigerian primary school teachers.

Science.gov (United States)

Akinbode, R; Lam, K B H; Ayres, J G; Sadhra, S

2014-07-01

The prolonged use or abuse of voice may lead to vocal fatigue and vocal fold tissue damage. School teachers routinely use their voices intensively at work and are therefore at a higher risk of dysphonia. To determine the prevalence of voice disorders among primary school teachers in Lagos, Nigeria, and to explore associated risk factors. Teaching and non-teaching staff from 19 public and private primary schools completed a self-administered questionnaire to obtain information on personal lifestyles, work experience and environment, and voice disorder symptoms. Dysphonia was defined as the presence of at least one of the following: hoarseness, repetitive throat clearing, tired voice or straining to speak. A total of 341 teaching and 155 non-teaching staff participated. The prevalence of dysphonia in teachers was 42% compared with 18% in non-teaching staff. A significantly higher proportion of the teachers reported that voice symptoms had affected their ability to communicate effectively. School type (public/private) did not predict the presence of dysphonia. Statistically significant associations were found for regular caffeinated drink intake (odds ratio [OR] = 3.07; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.51-6.62), frequent upper respiratory tract infection (OR = 3.60; 95% CI: 1.39-9.33) and raised voice while teaching (OR = 10.1; 95% CI: 5.07-20.2). Nigerian primary school teachers were at risk for dysphonia. Important environment and personal factors were upper respiratory infection, the need to frequently raise the voice when teaching and regular intake of caffeinated drinks. Dysphonia was not associated with age or years of teaching. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Teachers’ voice use in teaching environment. Aspects on speakers’ comfort

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lyberg-Åhlander, Viveka; Rydell, Roland; Löfqvist, Anders

2015-01-01

use and prevalence of voice problems in teachers and to explore their ratings of vocally loading aspects of their working environment. Method: A questionnaire-survey in 467 teachers aiming to explore the prevalence of voice problems in teaching staff identified teachers with voice problems and vocally...... in the teaching environment and aspects of the classroom environment were also measured. Results: Teachers with voice problems were more affected by any loading factor in the work-environment and were more perceptive of the room acoustics. Differences between the groups were found during field......-measurements of the voice, while there were no differences in the findings from the clinical examinations of larynx and voice. Conclusion: Teachers suffering from voice problems react stronger to loading factors in the teaching environment. It is in the interplay between the individual and the work environment that voice...

Assessments of Voice Use and Voice Quality among College/University Singing Students Ages 18–24 through Ambulatory Monitoring with a Full Accelerometer Signal

Science.gov (United States)

Schloneger, Matthew; Hunter, Eric

2016-01-01

The multiple social and performance demands placed on college/university singers could put their still developing voices at risk. Previous ambulatory monitoring studies have analyzed the duration, intensity, and frequency (in Hz) of voice use among such students. Nevertheless, no studies to date have incorporated the simultaneous acoustic voice quality measures into the acquisition of these measures to allow for direct comparison during the same voicing period. Such data could provide greater insight into how young singers use their voices, as well as identify potential correlations between vocal dose and acoustic changes in voice quality. The purpose of this study was to assess the voice use and estimated voice quality of college/university singing students (18–24 y/o, N = 19). Ambulatory monitoring was conducted over three full, consecutive weekdays measuring voice from an unprocessed accelerometer signal measured at the neck. From this signal were analyzed traditional vocal dose metrics such as phonation percentage, dose time, cycle dose, and distance dose. Additional acoustic measures included perceived pitch, pitch strength, LTAS slope, alpha ratio, dB SPL 1–3 kHz, and harmonic-to-noise ratio. Major findings from more than 800 hours of recording indicated that among these students (a) higher vocal doses correlated significantly with greater voice intensity, more vocal clarity and less perturbation; and (b) there were significant differences in some acoustic voice quality metrics between non-singing, solo singing and choral singing. PMID:26897545

Direct e-mail marketing: Case of Serbia

OpenAIRE

Končar Jelena A.; Vukmirović Goran; Katai Žita

2005-01-01

Direct e-mail marketing refers to approaching customers directly, without employing intermediaries. It represents a direct mode of communication with the target population, which affects the creation of stronger and more loyal relationships with prospective customers, compared to traditional direct marketing resources (TV, radio, print and advertising panels, etc). The main goal of direct e-mail marketing is building long-term "one to one" relationships with current and prospective customers....

Underconnectivity between voice-selective cortex and reward circuitry in children with autism.

Science.gov (United States)

Abrams, Daniel A; Lynch, Charles J; Cheng, Katherine M; Phillips, Jennifer; Supekar, Kaustubh; Ryali, Srikanth; Uddin, Lucina Q; Menon, Vinod

2013-07-16

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) often show insensitivity to the human voice, a deficit that is thought to play a key role in communication deficits in this population. The social motivation theory of ASD predicts that impaired function of reward and emotional systems impedes children with ASD from actively engaging with speech. Here we explore this theory by investigating distributed brain systems underlying human voice perception in children with ASD. Using resting-state functional MRI data acquired from 20 children with ASD and 19 age- and intelligence quotient-matched typically developing children, we examined intrinsic functional connectivity of voice-selective bilateral posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS). Children with ASD showed a striking pattern of underconnectivity between left-hemisphere pSTS and distributed nodes of the dopaminergic reward pathway, including bilateral ventral tegmental areas and nucleus accumbens, left-hemisphere insula, orbitofrontal cortex, and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Children with ASD also showed underconnectivity between right-hemisphere pSTS, a region known for processing speech prosody, and the orbitofrontal cortex and amygdala, brain regions critical for emotion-related associative learning. The degree of underconnectivity between voice-selective cortex and reward pathways predicted symptom severity for communication deficits in children with ASD. Our results suggest that weak connectivity of voice-selective cortex and brain structures involved in reward and emotion may impair the ability of children with ASD to experience speech as a pleasurable stimulus, thereby impacting language and social skill development in this population. Our study provides support for the social motivation theory of ASD.

Noise Source Visualization Using a Digital Voice Recorder and Low-Cost Sensors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yong Thung Cho

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Accurate sound visualization of noise sources is required for optimal noise control. Typically, noise measurement systems require microphones, an analog-digital converter, cables, a data acquisition system, etc., which may not be affordable for potential users. Also, many such systems are not highly portable and may not be convenient for travel. Handheld personal electronic devices such as smartphones and digital voice recorders with relatively lower costs and higher performance have become widely available recently. Even though such devices are highly portable, directly implementing them for noise measurement may lead to erroneous results since such equipment was originally designed for voice recording. In this study, external microphones were connected to a digital voice recorder to conduct measurements and the input received was processed for noise visualization. In this way, a low cost, compact sound visualization system was designed and introduced to visualize two actual noise sources for verification with different characteristics: an enclosed loud speaker and a small air compressor. Reasonable accuracy of noise visualization for these two sources was shown over a relatively wide frequency range. This very affordable and compact sound visualization system can be used for many actual noise visualization applications in addition to educational purposes.

15 CFR 748.2 - Obtaining forms; mailing addresses.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Obtaining forms; mailing addresses... APPLICATIONS (CLASSIFICATION, ADVISORY, AND LICENSE) AND DOCUMENTATION § 748.2 Obtaining forms; mailing addresses. (a) You may obtain the forms required by the EAR from any U.S. Department of Commerce District...

21 CFR 1314.100 - Sales limits for mail-order sales.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 9 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Sales limits for mail-order sales. 1314.100 Section 1314.100 Food and Drugs DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE RETAIL SALE OF SCHEDULED LISTED CHEMICAL PRODUCTS Mail-Order Sales § 1314.100 Sales limits for mail-order sales. (a) Each...

Advanced distributed simulation technology: Digital Voice Gateway Reference Guide

Science.gov (United States)

Vanhook, Dan; Stadler, Ed

1994-01-01

The Digital Voice Gateway (referred to as the 'DVG' in this document) transmits and receives four full duplex encoded speech channels over the Ethernet. The information in this document applies only to DVG's running firmware of the version listed on the title page. This document, previously named Digital Voice Gateway Reference Guide, BBN Systems and Technologies Corporation, Cambridge, MA 02138, was revised for revision 2.00. This new revision changes the network protocol used by the DVG, to comply with the SINCGARS radio simulation (For SIMNET 6.6.1). Because of the extensive changes to revision 2.00 a separate document was created rather than supplying change pages.

Voice pitch influences perceptions of sexual infidelity.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Connor, Jillian J M; Re, Daniel E; Feinberg, David R

2011-02-28

Sexual infidelity can be costly to members of both the extra-pair and the paired couple. Thus, detecting infidelity risk is potentially adaptive if it aids in avoiding cuckoldry or loss of parental and relationship investment. Among men, testosterone is inversely related to voice pitch, relationship and offspring investment, and is positively related to the pursuit of short-term relationships, including extra-pair sex. Among women, estrogen is positively related to voice pitch, attractiveness, and the likelihood of extra-pair involvement. Although prior work has demonstrated a positive relationship between men's testosterone levels and infidelity, this study is the first to investigate attributions of infidelity as a function of sexual dimorphism in male and female voices. We found that men attributed high infidelity risk to feminized women's voices, but not significantly more often than did women. Women attributed high infidelity risk to masculinized men's voices at significantly higher rates than did men. These data suggest that voice pitch is used as an indicator of sexual strategy in addition to underlying mate value. The aforementioned attributions may be adaptive if they prevent cuckoldry and/or loss of parental and relationship investment via avoidance of partners who may be more likely to be unfaithful.

Voice Pitch Influences Perceptions of Sexual Infidelity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jillian J.M. O'Connor

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Sexual infidelity can be costly to members of both the extra-pair and the paired couple. Thus, detecting infidelity risk is potentially adaptive if it aids in avoiding cuckoldry or loss of parental and relationship investment. Among men, testosterone is inversely related to voice pitch, relationship and offspring investment, and is positively related to the pursuit of short-term relationships, including extra-pair sex. Among women, estrogen is positively related to voice pitch, attractiveness, and the likelihood of extra-pair involvement. Although prior work has demonstrated a positive relationship between men's testosterone levels and infidelity, this study is the first to investigate attributions of infidelity as a function of sexual dimorphism in male and female voices. We found that men attributed high infidelity risk to feminized women's voices, but not significantly more often than did women. Women attributed high infidelity risk to masculinized men's voices at significantly higher rates than did men. These data suggest that voice pitch is used as an indicator of sexual strategy in addition to underlying mate value. The aforementioned attributions may be adaptive if they prevent cuckoldry and/or loss of parental and relationship investment via avoidance of partners who may be more likely to be unfaithful.

The development of the Spanish verb ir into auxiliary of voice

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vinther, Thora

2005-01-01

spanish, syntax, grammaticalisation, past participle, passive voice, middle voice, language development......spanish, syntax, grammaticalisation, past participle, passive voice, middle voice, language development...

Overgeneral autobiographical memory bias in clinical and non-clinical voice hearers.

Science.gov (United States)

Jacobsen, Pamela; Peters, Emmanuelle; Ward, Thomas; Garety, Philippa A; Jackson, Mike; Chadwick, Paul

2018-03-14

Hearing voices can be a distressing and disabling experience for some, whilst it is a valued experience for others, so-called 'healthy voice-hearers'. Cognitive models of psychosis highlight the role of memory, appraisal and cognitive biases in determining emotional and behavioural responses to voices. A memory bias potentially associated with distressing voices is the overgeneral memory bias (OGM), namely the tendency to recall a summary of events rather than specific occasions. It may limit access to autobiographical information that could be helpful in re-appraising distressing experiences, including voices. We investigated the possible links between OGM and distressing voices in psychosis by comparing three groups: (1) clinical voice-hearers (N = 39), (2) non-clinical voice-hearers (N = 35) and (3) controls without voices (N = 77) on a standard version of the autobiographical memory test (AMT). Clinical and non-clinical voice-hearers also completed a newly adapted version of the task, designed to assess voices-related memories (vAMT). As hypothesised, the clinical group displayed an OGM bias by retrieving fewer specific autobiographical memories on the AMT compared with both the non-clinical and control groups, who did not differ from each other. The clinical group also showed an OGM bias in recall of voice-related memories on the vAMT, compared with the non-clinical group. Clinical voice-hearers display an OGM bias when compared with non-clinical voice-hearers on both general and voices-specific recall tasks. These findings have implications for the refinement and targeting of psychological interventions for psychosis.

Failure of a wireless voice communication system to facilitate recording of physician-patient assignment in the emergency department.

Science.gov (United States)

Mariani, Peter J

2008-11-06

A pilot study was done to assess the feasibility of using a LAN-based voice communication system to convey physician-patient assignment in the emergency department (ED). Via their communicators, physicians were expected to notify registration staff in real-time upon care assumption of each new patient. Over a two month trial, compliance went from poor to dismal, and this method of notification was abandoned.

Sensory Processing: Advances in Understanding Structure and Function of Pitch-Shifted Auditory Feedback in Voice Control

OpenAIRE

Charles R Larson; Donald A Robin

2016-01-01

The pitch-shift paradigm has become a widely used method for studying the role of voice pitch auditory feedback in voice control. This paradigm introduces small, brief pitch shifts in voice auditory feedback to vocalizing subjects. The perturbations trigger a reflexive mechanism that counteracts the change in pitch. The underlying mechanisms of the vocal responses are thought to reflect a negative feedback control system that is similar to constructs developed to explain other forms of motor ...

Machine Learning for Text-Independent Speaker Verification : How to Teach a Machine to RecognizeHuman Voices

OpenAIRE

Imoscopi, Stefano

2016-01-01

The aim of speaker recognition and veri cation is to identify people's identity from the characteristics of their voices (voice biometrics). Traditionally this technology has been employed mostly for security or authentication purposes, identi cation of employees/customers and criminal investigations. During the last decade the increasing popularity of hands-free and voice-controlled systems and the massive growth of media content generated on the internet has increased the need for technique...

Speaking with the voice of authority

CERN Multimedia

2002-01-01

GPB Consulting has developed a scientific approach to voice coaching. A digital recording of the voice is sent to a lab in Switzerland and analyzed by a computer programme designed by a doctor of psychology and linguistics and a scientist at CERN (1 page).

Risk factors for voice quality after radiotherapy for early glottic cancer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hocevar-Boltezar, Irena; Zargi, Miha; Strojan, Primoz

2009-01-01

Background and purpose: In the majority of patients irradiated for early glottic cancer an abnormal voice was reported. The purpose of the study was to determine the factors influencing voice quality after radiotherapy for T1 glottic cancer. Methods: The voices of 75 male patients irradiated for T1 glottic carcinoma were assessed subjectively and objectively by acoustic analyses and aerodynamic measurements. The laryngeal function and morphology were evaluated by videolaryngostroboscopy. The data on smoking habits, the associated diseases influencing voice quality, the extent of the tumor, the type of biopsy, and the irradiation technique were collected from the medical records. The data on the factors influencing voice quality were compared for patients with a normal/near-normal voice and those with a hoarse voice. Results: Voice quality was at least slightly abnormal in 94.7% and 81.3% of patients, when assessed perceptively and objectively, respectively. Smoking after the completed treatment, more severe morphologic alterations of the vocal folds, dryness of the throat, incomplete closure of the vocal folds and functional voice disorders expressed as supraglottic activity adversely influenced the voice quality. A good correlation between the perceptive voice assessment and the acoustic analyses was established. Conclusions: After the successful irradiation for T1 glottic carcinoma, the great majority of the patients have at least a slightly hoarse voice. A better voice outcome could be achieved if radiotherapy was followed by the patient's cessation of smoking and the appropriate voice therapy.

Application Mail Tracking Using RSA Algorithm As Security Data and HOT-Fit a Model for Evaluation System

Science.gov (United States)

Permadi, Ginanjar Setyo; Adi, Kusworo; Gernowo, Rahmad

2018-02-01

RSA algorithm give security in the process of the sending of messages or data by using 2 key, namely private key and public key .In this research to ensure and assess directly systems are made have meet goals or desire using a comprehensive evaluation methods HOT-Fit system .The purpose of this research is to build a information system sending mail by applying methods of security RSA algorithm and to evaluate in uses the method HOT-Fit to produce a system corresponding in the faculty physics. Security RSA algorithm located at the difficulty of factoring number of large coiled factors prima, the results of the prime factors has to be done to obtain private key. HOT-Fit has three aspects assessment, in the aspect of technology judging from the system status, the quality of system and quality of service. In the aspect of human judging from the use of systems and satisfaction users while in the aspect of organization judging from the structure and environment. The results of give a tracking system sending message based on the evaluation acquired.