Quantization of Reissner-Nordstr\"{o}m Black Holes and Their Non-Singular Quantum Behavior

Quantization of different regions of the Reissner-Nordstr\"{o}m space time (charged black hole) is done in the framework of loop quantum gravity. The geometry of Reissner-Nordstr\"{o}m space-time is expressed in terms of Ashtekar variables which form the classical phase space of such a black hole. Using the loop quantization of phase space, the issue of singularity avoidance of such a black hole is addressed; based on spherically symmetry reduced models of loop quantum gravity, the operator analogue of the diverging factor of scalar curvature of the charged black hole is constructed and is shown to exhibit an upper bounded spectrum. This local criterion, together with the global one (non-singular quantum evolution equation) proves the avoidance of charged black hole singularity in symmetry reduced models of loop quantum gravity.Comment: To be published in the proceeding of Quantum Theory: Reconsideration of Foundations-6 (QTRF-6

SingNet: A Real-time Singing Voice Beat and Downbeat Tracking System

Singing voice beat and downbeat tracking posses several applications in automatic music production, analysis and manipulation. Among them, some require real-time processing, such as live performance processing and auto-accompaniment for singing inputs. This task is challenging owing to the non-trivial rhythmic and harmonic patterns in singing signals. For real-time processing, it introduces further constraints such as inaccessibility to future data and the impossibility to correct the previous results that are inconsistent with the latter ones. In this paper, we introduce the first system that tracks the beats and downbeats of singing voices in real-time. Specifically, we propose a novel dynamic particle filtering approach that incorporates offline historical data to correct the online inference by using a variable number of particles. We evaluate the performance on two datasets: GTZAN with the separated vocal tracks, and an in-house dataset with the original vocal stems. Experimental result demonstrates that our proposed approach outperforms the baseline by 3-5%.Comment: Accepted for 2023 International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP-2023

SingFake: Singing Voice Deepfake Detection

The rise of singing voice synthesis presents critical challenges to artists and industry stakeholders over unauthorized voice usage. Unlike synthesized speech, synthesized singing voices are typically released in songs containing strong background music that may hide synthesis artifacts. Additionally, singing voices present different acoustic and linguistic characteristics from speech utterances. These unique properties make singing voice deepfake detection a relevant but significantly different problem from synthetic speech detection. In this work, we propose the singing voice deepfake detection task. We first present SingFake, the first curated in-the-wild dataset consisting of 28.93 hours of bonafide and 29.40 hours of deepfake song clips in five languages from 40 singers. We provide a train/val/test split where the test sets include various scenarios. We then use SingFake to evaluate four state-of-the-art speech countermeasure systems trained on speech utterances. We find these systems lag significantly behind their performance on speech test data. When trained on SingFake, either using separated vocal tracks or song mixtures, these systems show substantial improvement. However, our evaluations also identify challenges associated with unseen singers, communication codecs, languages, and musical contexts, calling for dedicated research into singing voice deepfake detection. The SingFake dataset and related resources are available online.Comment: Submitted to ICASSP 202

The Prevalence of Musculoskeletal Disorders and its Relation with Fatigue and Occupational Burnout in the Staff of a Petrochemical Industry

Background: Occupational burnout is a sign of various fatigue states and can cause diseases like musculoskeletal disorders. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders and its relation with fatigue and occupational burnout in the staff of a petrochemical industry. Methods: The present study is a descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study conducted on 121 personnel working in a petrochemical industry in 2017. For data collection, the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI) questionnaire, Nordic questionnaire, and Maslach Burnout questionnaire were used. Data were analyzed using SPSS 22 and the significance level was considered 0.05. Results: In general, 71.1% of the subjects suffered from at least one musculoskeletal disorder in their organs during the past year. There was no significant relation between musculoskeletal disorders and occupational burnout. Musculoskeletal disorders were significantly associated with decreased motivation (P=0.035), one of the fatigue domains. Musculoskeletal disorders were also significantly related with the type of occupation (P = 0.017). Conclusion: Musculoskeletal disorders are probably related with some fields of fatigue and burnout. Further studies should be done. Keywords: Musculoskeletal Disorders, Fatigue, Occupational Burnout, Petrochemical

Comparative Conflict Resolution Tactics among Monolinguals and Bilinguals

Bilingualism refers to individuals’ talent to understand and generate two languages naturally. This study is aimed at comparing the tactics of conflict resolution between monolingual and bilingual. In this study of cross-sectional analysis 30 monolingual subjects (3 males, 27 females) and 30 bilingual subjects (3 males, 27 females) were selected by available sampling method and have responded to the Comparison of Conflict Tactics questionnaire (Murray. Ayashtras). For data analysis, multivariate analysis of variance test was used. Results showed that there is significant differences between bilingual and monolingual in individuals’ reasoning tactics in conflict resolution of self and father, (p = 0.01) and parents (0.04). There is significant difference between the two group of bilingual and monolingual in verbal aggression tactics in conflict resolution of self and father (p = 0.014) , mother& self (p = 0.007); self &mother (p = 0.005) and parents (0p = 0.02).In aggression tactic was not seen as significant difference between bilinguals and monolinguals. Also, between age, sex and education with conflict resolution of reasoning, verbal aggression, physical aggression, in all forms, there was no significant difference between the two groups. Results indicated that monolingual people were better in half of conflict resolution tactics of reasoning and verbal aggression compared to the bilinguals and this requires trainings for conflict resolution of bilingual community

Comparative Conflict Resolution Tactics among Monolinguals and Bilinguals

Bilingualism refers to individuals’ talent to understand and generate two languages naturally. This study is aimed at comparing the tactics of conflict resolution between monolingual and bilingual. In this study of cross-sectional analysis 30 monolingual subjects (3 males, 27 females) and 30 bilingual subjects (3 males, 27 females) were selected by available sampling method and have responded to the Comparison of Conflict Tactics questionnaire (Murray. Ayashtras). For data analysis, multivariate analysis of variance test was used. Results showed that there is significant differences between bilingual and monolingual in individuals’ reasoning tactics in conflict resolution of self and father, (p = 0.01) and parents (0.04). There is significant difference between the two group of bilingual and monolingual in verbal aggression tactics in conflict resolution of self and father (p = 0.014) , mother& self (p = 0.007); self &mother (p = 0.005) and parents (0p = 0.02).In aggression tactic was not seen as significant difference between bilinguals and monolinguals. Also, between age, sex and education with conflict resolution of reasoning, verbal aggression, physical aggression, in all forms, there was no significant difference between the two groups. Results indicated that monolingual people were better in half of conflict resolution tactics of reasoning and verbal aggression compared to the bilinguals and this requires trainings for conflict resolution of bilingual community

IZVORIŠTE POJMA NEUROGENE BOLI U RANOSREDNJEVJEKOVNOJ PERZIJI (9.-12. STOLJEĆE)

Neuropathic pain is supposed to be a post-renaissance described medical entity. Although it is often believed that John Fothergill (1712-1780) provided the first description of this condition in 1773, a review of the medieval Persian medical writings will show the fact that neuropathic pain was a medieval-originated concept. “Auojae Asab” [Nerve-originated Pain]was used as a medical term in medieval Persian medical literature for pain syndromes which etiologically originated from nerves. Physicians like Rhazes (d. 925 CE), Haly Abbas (d. 982 CE), Avicenna (d. 1037 CE), and Jorjani (d. 1137 CE) have discussed multiple aspects of nerve-originated pain including its classification, etiology, differentiating characteristics, different qualities, and pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatments. Recognizing medieval scholars’ views on nerve-originated pain can lighten old historical origins of this concept.Smatra se kako je neurogena bol medicinski entitet opisan u postrenesansnom dobu. Mada se često vjeruje kako je ovo stanje prvi opisao John Fothergill (1712.–1780.) 1773. godine, prikaz perzijskih srednjovjekovnih medicinskih zapisa pokazat će da je neurogena bol pojam koji potječe iz srednjeg vijeka. Termin Auojae Asab [Bol koja potječe iz živca] bio je korišten u perzijskoj srednjovjekovnoj medicinskoj literaturi za sindrome boli koji su etiološki potjecali od živaca. Liječnici poput Rhazesa (u. 925.), Halyja Abbasa (u. 982.), Avicenne (u. 1037.) i Jorjanija (u. 1137.) razmatrali su više aspekata boli koja potječe od živaca, uključujući njezinu klasifikaciju, etiologiju, diferencirajuća obilježja, različita svojstva, farmakološki i ne-farmakološki tretman. Uvažavanje stajališta srednjovjekovnih znanstvenika može rasvijetliti staro povijesno izvorište ovog pojma

Edible Film Based on Lallemantia peltata L. Seed Gum: Development and Characterization

A novel edible film was developed using Lallemantia peltata (L.) seed gum (LSG), and its water sensitivity, physico-mechanical, barriers, microstructural and thermal properties as a function of glycerol concentration (20, 30, 40, 50 and 60% w/w) were studied. Different models were also used to investigate the water sorption of the LSG films. Unplasticized LSG films were brittle and difficult to handle which were effectively modified by glycerol addition. Water sensitivity, oxygen permeability, and elongation of LSG films were increased with increasing glycerol concentration. Also, increasing of glycerol concentration resulted in reduction of tensile strength, glass transition temperature (Tg) and melting temperature (Tm) of the films. Electron scanning micrographs revealed a smooth surfaceand compact cross-section microstructure in LSG films.The films showed sigmoid shape type II water sorption isotherms, representing typical features of most of biopolymers. Accordingly, the results suggest that LSG films containing desired glycerol concentration could potentially be used as edible films in food packaging