Tonal structure and pitch targets in Italian focus constituents

This work investigates the tonal structure of the focal accent in narrow focus statements of Neapolitan Italian. The formal properties of this accent lend themselves to two competing analyses. Specifically, this accent could equally be described as a HL accentual fall or as a LH rise. The two analyses were evaluated on the basis of a set of utterances containing focus constituents with varying number of words. Long narrow focus constituents present in fact a medial F0 minimum that appears to be an actual tonal target. Such a target might be part of either a HL or of a LH accent. Tonal as well as timing evidence appear to lend support to the LH hypothesis. An important consequence is that the final fall of statement focus constituents must be analyzed as a tonal event that is separate from the nuclear pitch accent and is analogous to the question final fall

A Novel Remote Visual Inspection System for Bridge Predictive Maintenance

Predictive maintenance on infrastructures is currently a hot topic. Its importance is proportional to the damages resulting from the collapse of the infrastructure. Bridges, dams and tunnels are placed on top on the scale of severity of potential damages due to the fact that they can cause loss of lives. Traditional inspection methods are not objective, tied to the inspector’s experience and require human presence on site. To overpass the limits of the current technologies and methods, the authors of this paper developed a unique new concept: a remote visual inspection system to perform predictive maintenance on infrastructures such as bridges. This is based on the fusion between advanced robotic technologies and the Automated Visual Inspection that guarantees objective results, high-level of safety and low processing time of the results

Towards Scalable Strain Gauge-Based Joint Torque Sensors

During recent decades, strain gauge-based joint torque sensors have been commonly used to provide high-fidelity torque measurements in robotics. Although measurement of joint torque/force is often required in engineering research and development, the gluing and wiring of strain gauges used as torque sensors pose difficulties during integration within the restricted space available in small joints. The problem is compounded by the need for a scalable geometric design to measure joint torque. In this communication, we describe a novel design of a strain gauge-based mono-axial torque sensor referred to as square-cut torque sensor (SCTS), the significant features of which are high degree of linearity, symmetry, and high scalability in terms of both size and measuring range. Most importantly, SCTS provides easy access for gluing and wiring of the strain gauges on sensor surface despite the limited available space. We demonstrated that the SCTS was better in terms of symmetry (clockwise and counterclockwise rotation) and more linear. These capabilities have been shown through finite element modeling (ANSYS) confirmed by observed data obtained by load testing experiments. The high performance of SCTS was confirmed by studies involving changes in size, material and/or wings width and thickness. Finally, we demonstrated that the SCTS can be successfully implementation inside the hip joints of miniaturized hydraulically actuated quadruped robot-MiniHyQ. This communication is based on work presented at the 18th International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots (CLAWAR)

The effect of early exposure in the production of Salerno Italian question intonation

The study explores the effect of early language exposure in the production of question intonation in Salerno Italian. In particular, we tested the hypothesis that exposure to other varieties represents a possible source of variability in nuclear tune choice. Ten speakers from Salerno were selected and divided into two groups according to whether or not they had at least a non-native parent. Information-seeking yes-no questions and information-seeking wh-questions were elicited using a Reading Task. Results show that part of the variability found in the use of intonation can be attributed to the presence vs absence of early exposure. Specifically, such results concern differences in the distribution of tunes mirroring that of the variety to which speakers were exposed. Finally, the study highlights the need of taking into account different sources of variation when investigating a language’s intonational grammar

O apêndice nasal: dados aerodinâmicos e duracionais

Neste trabalho, investigou-se a variabilidade acústica da realização da vogal nasal em PB encontrada em contextos segmentados manualmente a partir da visualização de forma de onda e espectrograma. Especificamente, dir-se-ia que um murmúrio nasal discernível pode ser medido apenas quando a vogal nasal precede uma oclusiva e não quando precede uma fricativa. De acordo com uma hipótese alternativa, não haveria diferença entre os gestos nasais dos dois diferentes contextos. Assim, lançando-se mão de dados acústicos e aerodinâmicos (fluxo de ar nasal e oral) identificou-se um apêndice nasal tanto antes de /p/ (contexto oclusivo) como antes de /f/ (contexto fricativo), que corresponde ao gesto de fechamento labial e mostra elevado nível de fluxo de ar nasal. A hipótese alternativa, então, se confirma, enquanto a diferença acústica é explicada em termos de sobreposição de gestos

O apêndice nasal: dados aerodinâmicos e duracionais

Neste trabalho, investigou-se a variabilidade acústica da realização da vogal nasal em PB encontrada em contextos segmentados manualmente a partir da visualização de forma de onda e espectrograma. Especificamente, dir-se-ia que um murmúrio nasal discernível pode ser medido apenas quando a vogal nasal precede uma oclusiva e não quando precede uma fricativa. De acordo com uma hipótese alternativa, não haveria diferença entre os gestos nasais dos dois diferentes contextos. Assim, lançando-se mão de dados acústicos e aerodinâmicos (fluxo de ar nasal e oral) identificou-se um apêndice nasal tanto antes de /p/ (contexto oclusivo) como antes de /f/ (contexto fricativo), que corresponde ao gesto de fechamento labial e mostra elevado nível de fluxo de ar nasal. A hipótese alternativa, então, se confirma, enquanto a diferença acústica é explicada em termos de sobreposição de gestos

An Outline of Fused Deposition Modeling: System Models and Control Strategies

Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) is a type of Additive Manufacturing (AM) technology that is becoming increasingly common in numerous applications thanks to its versatility and reduced material waste. However, the complex physical phenomena occurring during extrusion, including the dynamics of non-Newtonian fluids, viscoelastic behaviors and rheology, make the use of heuristic observations preferable to that of analytical approaches. Consequently, engineers have focused on optimizing materials and hardware rather than control algorithms. The limited knowledge about extrusion and deposition dynamics usually confines the control action to the motion of the printing head while keeping a constant flow rate. Existing attempts to synchronize motion and extrusion consists of open loop compensations, which, however, require identified transfer functions or need to be tuned manually. This article aims to compactly review FDM technologies from a control perspective by presenting (i) the models of extrusion and deposition and (ii) the control strategies currently adopted in industry

The Oxford handbook of language prosody

This chapter reviews the prosodic systems and intonational phonology of a group of Southern European languages: Italian, French, Greek, and Maltese. It describes their stress, phrasing, rhythm, and intonational phonology, with particular attention to phonologically informed experimental work. In the case of Italian, given the lack of a spoken standard (which is only used by professional speakers) and the descriptions of quite a number of varieties (e.g. Bari, Florence, Naples, Palermo, Pisa, and Rome, inter alia), this review highlights common prosodic and phrasing features first, and subsequently covers any definable variety-specific intonational features. For French, the survey focuses on hexagonal French, while Athenian Greek is the representative variety for Greek, with some excursions into regional varieties. For Maltese, the chapter only focuses on its standard.peer-reviewe

An Outline of Fused Deposition Modeling: System Models and Control Strategies

Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) is a type of Additive Manufacturing (AM) technology that is becoming increasingly common in numerous applications thanks to its versatility and reduced material waste. However, the complex physical phenomena occurring during extrusion, including the dynamics of non-Newtonian fluids, viscoelastic behaviors and rheology, make the use of heuristic observations preferable to that of analytical approaches. Consequently, engineers have focused on optimizing materials and hardware rather than control algorithms. The limited knowledge about extrusion and deposition dynamics usually confines the control action to the motion of the printing head while keeping a constant flow rate. Existing attempts to synchronize motion and extrusion consists of open loop compensations, which, however, require identified transfer functions or need to be tuned manually. This article aims to compactly review FDM technologies from a control perspective by presenting (i) the models of extrusion and deposition and (ii) the control strategies currently adopted in industry

FLEGX: Multibody Approach in Flexible Structure Design and Control

Nowadays the robotic challenges are various and many of these are oriented towards bioinspired, safe and energy efficient solutions. The analysis of these systems traditionally is performed by considering rigid bodies and ideal connections thanks to the easier approach in studying their motion and performances. However, in all the cases when the structural deformations determine the magnitude of the external forces acting on the mechanism, the structural flexibility cannot be neglected. Considering these needs, the authors propose the development of a flexible robotic leg as a first step in the design of a jumping humanoid robot. It is called FLEGX (FLEXible Leg) and it has a double layer control system: low and high level respectively. The first one aims at obtaining an order reduction model, while the latter tends to produce a stable orbit in the state space variable to perform a controlled sequence of jumps. FLEGX design validation was performed using the software MSC.Nastran R and MSC.Adams R -Matlab/Simulink R integrated environment. Future works concern an extended campaign of experimental tests on the physical to collect data useful for validate the numerical models