Localization and Selection of Speaker Specific Information with Statistical Modeling

International audienceStatistical modeling of the speech signal has been widely used in speaker recognition. The performance obtained with this type of modeling is excellent in laboratories but decreases dramatically for telephone or noisy speech. Moreover, it is difficult to know which piece of information is taken into account by the system. In order to solve this problem and to improve the current systems, a better understanding of the nature of the information used by statistical methods is needed. This knowledge should allow to select only the relevant information or to add new sources of information. The first part of this paper presents experiments that aim at localizing the most useful acoustic events for speaker recognition. The relation between the discriminant ability and the speech's events nature is studied. Particularly, the phonetic content, the signal stability and the frequency domain are explored. Finally, the potential of dynamic information contained in the relation between a frame and its p neighbours is investigated. In the second part, the authors suggest a new selection procedure designed to select the pertinent features. Conventional feature selection techniques (ascendant selection, knockout) allow only global and a posteriori knowledge about the relevance of an information source. However, some speech clusters may be very efficient to recognize a particular speaker, whereas they can be non informative for another one. Moreover, some information classes may be corrupted or even missing for particular recording conditions. This necessity fo

Conceptions about teaching and learning of expressivity in music among Higher Education teachers and students

This work aimed to analyse factors related to conceptions and beliefs about expressivity in music among students and teachers. A questionnaire with 11 Likert-type items was developed covering the main factors included in the literature of teaching-learning of expressivity and emotion in music. Through exploratory factor analysis three factors were identified: expressive technique (ET), emotional expression (EE), and self-learning of expressivity (SLE). Comparisons between teachers and students showed that teachers had significant higher scores in EE with no differences in ET or SLE, although the effect size for SLE was high. The three factors are proposed as a tool for the assessment of conceptions of expressivity and its learning in both teachers and advanced students of music for teaching and research objectives

Comparison of beliefs about teaching and learning of emotional expression in music performance between Spanish and English HE students of music

Despite an increase in research on emotional expression in music and its teaching and learning, little is known about the beliefs and conceptualizations that students hold regarding musical expression, and how they differ depending on educational context. To address this gap, a comparison was made between a sample of 79 UK and 117 Spanish higher education students of music, who were asked to indicate their beliefs about expressivity, most useful instructional methods to develop expressive performance, and factors that influence expressiveness and its teaching and learning. Results indicated agreement, but also several significant differences across cohorts. UK students endorsed the idea more strongly that musical context (i.e., piece and instrument) influences expressivity and the choice of teaching strategy, while Spanish students linked expressivity more strongly to particular music-emotional characteristics. Both groups considered using technical explanation as the better method for teaching expressivity, whilst modelling was considered the worst. On the other hand, they agreed that the choice of the teaching approach should depend on the age of the student with modelling being preferred for younger age groups, and technique for adults only. These results highlight differences in the understanding of musical expressivity that parallel academic debates on emotional vs. stylistic expressiveness

Cavography with hydrogen peroxide. Accidental injection of hydrogen peroxide into the inferior vena cava

Contrast cavography during removal of a vena cava filter in pa- tients treated via thrombectomy for pulmonary embolism is a widely performed procedure, which may involve potentially serious com- plications if the human factor fails. Accidental injection of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) after mistaking it for contrast material can have fatal consequences. We present the case of a patient who was acciden- tally injected with a high quantity of hydrogen peroxide. The prepa- ration of a preoperative checklist, the amount of H202 injected and the operator’s skill in aspirating the substance are decisive factors in avoiding such complications

Characterization of polypyrrole/phosphotungstate membranes by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy

The aim of this study was to design and prepare multifunctional PPy/PW12O403- membranes useful for the development of smart textile fabrics and wastewaters treatments based on the application of electrochemical techniques. These PPy/PW12O403- membranes have been characterized by means of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy by using electrochemical cells with different configurations based on the use of two-, three-, or four-electrode experiments. The activation energy of the films in the temperature range 35-70 degrees C was 170 meV. It has been demonstrated that after measuring the PPy films in different NaCl solutions, both the rate of ionic exchange and the diffusion processes through the membrane are faster for more concentrated solutions. Ionic exchange and diffusion were very prevented with a large cation as tetramethylammonium. The impedance spectra obtained with metal/polymer/electrolyte configuration show that the electrical conduction developed through coatings in strong acid solution is controlled by finite-length diffusion processes with reflective boundary conditions. At pH 13, the electrical response proceeds through the oxide layer (Fe and Cr oxides) and the steel/electrolyte interface. In this case, the polymeric coating is very porous due to the counter-ion disintegration. The decomposition of the counter-ion was corroborated by means of energy dispersive X-ray and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Authors thank to the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (contract CTM2011-23583) and Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (Primeros Proyectos de Investigacion (PAID-06-10)) for the financial support. J. Molina is grateful to the Conselleria d'Educacio, Formacio i Ocupacio (Generalitat Valenciana) for the Programa VALi+D Postdoctoral Fellowship.Bonastre Cano, JA.; Molina Puerto, J.; Galvan, JC.; Cases Iborra, FJ. (2014). Characterization of polypyrrole/phosphotungstate membranes by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Synthetic Metals. 187:37-45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.synthmet.2013.10.020S374518

Anatomical dissection of the mimic facial musculature: iconographic review as a support to the complementary treatments in facial rejuvenation

A la hora de valorar las múltiples técnicas empleadas en el rejuvenecimiento facial y centrándonos de manera particular en aquellos procedimientos mínimamente invasivos complementarios a las intervenciones habituales en Cirugía Plástica-Estética, cobra especial relevancia el conocimiento exhaustivo de las estructuras musculares implicadas en la mímica facial. A tal efecto, se ha realizado un estudio anatómico en cadáveres frescos, en los que se han disecado las principales estructuras referidas. Se presenta un resumen iconográfico de los músculos faciales implicados, haciendo hincapié en su anatomía descriptiva y funcional, así como un recuerdo de las principales áreas problemáticas por alguna circunstancia especial (presencia de un nervio sensitivo o motor).To value the multiple technologies involved in facial rejuvenation and focusing in those minimally invasive complementary procedures to the usual Plastic and Aesthetic Surgeries, it´s very important the exhaustive knowledge of the muscular structures involved in the facial movements. To such an effect, an anatomical study has been realized in fresh corpses, dissecting the principal above-mentioned structures. We present an iconographic summary of the facial implied muscles, emphasizing in his descriptive and functional anatomy, as well as a recollection of the principal problematic areas for some special circumstance (presence of a sensory or motor nerv

Efecto del limado de los dientes de aguja en lechones sobre el rendimiento al destete

La presencia de dientes de aguja es una preocupación importante para el bienestar y el rendimiento de los lechones al destete. El objetivo del estudio fue comparar el rendimiento de los lechones cuando se liman los dientes, considerando la paridad de la cerda. Para ello se analizaron 1.798 lechones de genética Hypor [cerdas Landrace x Large White cruzadas con machos German Pietrain]; 162 camadas fueron asignadas aleatoriamente a los grupos control (C: 871 lechones) o tratado (T: 915 lechones). No se detectó un efecto significativo del sexo en peso al destete (PD; P = 0, 390), ganancia media diaria (GMD; P = 0, 375) ni tiempo hasta el destete (TD; P = 0, 785). Se detectaron efectos significativos de la interacción grupo x paridad de la cerda (G x PC) sobre PD ( P 0, 05). El limado de dientes mejor ó la tasa de crecimiento hasta el destete en lechones de primíparas y cerdas de 2-6 partos, pero esta técnica no sería recomendable para lechones de cerdas maduras. The presence of needle teeth is an important issue for piglet welfare and performance. The objective of this study was to compare teeth grinding versus intact teeth in terms of piglet weaning performance, taking into account the sow''s parity. A number of 1, 798 piglets from Hypor Genetics [(Landrace x Large White sows) x German Pietrain boards] were studied; 162 litters were randomly assigned to the control (C: 871 piglets) or treated group (T: 915 piglets). Sex had no significant effects on wean weight (WW; P = 0.390), average daily gain (ADG; P = 0.375) and time of weaning (TW; P = 0.785). Significant interactive effects group x sow''s parity (GxSP) were observed for WW (P 0.05). Grinding improved growth until weaning of piglets from primiparous and parity 2-6 sows, but the use of this technique would not be advisable for piglets from mature sows

In Car Audio

This chapter presents implementations of advanced in Car Audio Applications. The system is composed by three main different applications regarding the In Car listening and communication experience. Starting from a high level description of the algorithms, several implementations on different levels of hardware abstraction are presented, along with empirical results on both the design process undergone and the performance results achieved

Impact of intramammary inoculation of inactivated Lactobacillus rhamnosus and antibiotics on the milk microbiota of water buffalo with subclinical mastitis

Water buffalo mastitis represents a major issue in terms of animal health, cost of therapy, premature culling and decreased milk yeld. The emergence of antibiotic resistance has led to investigate strategies to avoid or reduce antibiotics\u2019 based therapies, in particular during subclinical mastitis. The use of Generally Regarded As Safe bacteria (GRAS) such as Lactobacillus rhamnosus to restore the unbalance in mammary gland microbiota could provide potential corrective measures. The aim of this study was to investigate the changes in milk microbiota after the intramammary treatment with inactivated cultures of Lactobacillus rhamnosus of mammary gland quarters naturally affected by subclinical mastitis as compared to antibiotic therapy.A number of 43 quarters affected by subclinical mastitis with no signs of clinical inflammation and aerobic culture positive for pathogens were included in the study. The experimental design was as follows: 11 quarters were treated with antibiotics, 15 with inactivated cultures of Lactobacillus rhmnosus and 17 with PBS as negative control, by means of intrammary injection. Samples were collected at eight time points, pre- (T-29, T-21, T-15, T-7, T0 days) and post- treatment (T1, T2, and T6 days). Microbiological culture and Somatic Cell Count (SCC) were perfomed on all the samples, and microbiota was determined on milk samples collected at T0 and T6 by amplifying the V4 region of 16S rRNA gene by PCR and sequencing using next generation sequencing technique. Treatment with Lactobacillus rhamnosus elicited a strong chemotactic response, as determined by a significant increase of leukocytes in milk, but did not change the microbiological culture results of the treated quarters. For what concerns the analysis of the microbiota, the treatment with Lactobacillus rhamnosus induced the modification in relative abundance of some genera such as Pseudomonas and 5-7N15. As expected, antibiotic treatment caused major changes in microbiota structure with an increase of Methylobacterium relative abundance. No changes were detected after PBS treatment. In conclusion, the present findings demonstrated that the in vivo intrammmary treatment with Lactobacillus rhamnosus has a transient pro-inflammatory activity by increasing SCC and is capable to modify the microbiota of milk after six days from inoculation, albeit slightly, even when the bacterial cultures were heat inactivated. Further studies are necessary to assess the potential use of this GRAS as supportive therapy against mastitis