62 research outputs found
Age-Related Differences in the Effects of Masker Cuing on Releasing Chinese Speech From Informational Masking
The aims of the present study were to examine whether familiarity with a masker improves word recognition in speech masking situations and whether there are age-related differences in the effects of masker cuing. Thirty-two older listeners (range = 59–74; mean age = 66.41 years) with high-frequency hearing loss and 32 younger normal-hearing listeners (range = 21–28; mean age = 23.73) participated in this study, all of whom spoke Chinese as their first language. Two experiments were conducted and 16 younger and 16 older listeners were used in each experiment. The masking speech with different content from target speech with syntactically correct but semantically meaningless was a continuous recording of meaningless Chinese sentences spoken by two talkers. The masker level was adjusted to produce signal-to-masker ratios of -12, -8, -4, and 0 dB for the younger participants and -8, -4, 0, and 4 dB for the older participants. Under masker-priming conditions, a priming sentence, spoken by the masker talkers, was presented in quiet three times before a target sentence was presented together with a masker sentence 4 s later. In Experiment 1, using same-sentence masker-priming (identical to the masker sentence), the masker-priming improved the identification of the target sentence for both age groups compared to when no priming was provided. However, the amount of masking release was less in the older adults than in the younger adults. In Experiment 2, two kinds of primes were considered: same-sentence masker-priming, and different-sentence masker-priming (different from the masker sentence in content for each keyword). The results of Experiment 2 showed that both kinds of primes improved the identification of the targets for both age groups. However, the release from speech masking in both priming conditions was less in the older adults than in the younger adults, and the release from speech masking in both age groups was greater with same-sentence masker-priming than with different-sentence masker-priming. These results suggest that both the voice and content cues of a masker could be used to release target speech from maskers in noisy listening conditions. Furthermore, there was an age-related decline in masker-priming-induced release from speech masking
Ultrathin MgB2 films fabricated on Al2O3 substrate by hybrid physical-chemical vapor deposition with high Tc and Jc
Ultrathin MgB2 superconducting films with a thickness down to 7.5 nm are
epitaxially grown on (0001) Al2O3 substrate by hybrid physical-chemical vapor
deposition method. The films are phase-pure, oxidation-free and continuous. The
7.5 nm thin film shows a Tc(0) of 34 K, which is so far the highest Tc(0)
reported in MgB2 with the same thickness. The critical current density of
ultrathin MgB2 films below 10 nm is demonstrated for the first time as Jc ~
10^6 A cm^{-2} for the above 7.5 nm sample at 16 K. Our results reveal the
excellent superconducting properties of ultrathin MgB2 films with thicknesses
between 7.5 and 40 nm on Al2O3 substrate.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, 2 table
Fully Band Resolved Scattering Rate in MgB2 Revealed by Nonlinear Hall Effect and Magnetoresistance Measurements
We have measured the normal state temperature dependence of the Hall effect
and magnetoresistance in epitaxial MgB2 thin films with variable disorders
characterized by the residual resistance ratio RRR ranging from 4.0 to 33.3. A
strong nonlinearity of the Hall effect and magnetoresistance have been found in
clean samples, and they decrease gradually with the increase of disorders or
temperature. By fitting the data to the theoretical model based on the
Boltzmann equation and ab initio calculations for a four-band system, for the
first time, we derived the scattering rates of these four bands at different
temperatures and magnitude of disorders. Our method provides a unique way to
derive these important parameters in multiband systems.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Influence of Intrinsic Electronic Properties on Light Transmission through Subwavelength Holes on Gold and MgB2 Thin Films
We show how intrinsic material properties modify light transmission through
subwavelength hole arrays on thin metallic films in the THz regime. We compare
the temperature-dependent transmittance of Au films and MgB films. The
experimental data is consistent with analytical calculations, and is attributed
to the temperature change of the conductivity of both films. The transmission
versus conductivity is interpreted within the open resonator model when taking
the skin depth into consideration. We also show that the efficiency of this
temperature control depends on the ratio of the transmission peak frequency to
the superconducting energy gap in MgB films.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure
Potential applications of wastes from energy generation particularly biochar in Malaysia.
In Malaysia, abundant agricultural wastes are generated yearly. Therefore it is beneficial to discover new ways to utilize the wastes and employ the carbon source in different industries. Biochar are produced through many heat treatments such as combustion, gasification and pyrolysis for energy generation. The characteristics of these stable carbons such as the physical properties, chemical composition, surface area and surface chemistry determine the effectiveness of the cabon in different applications. Biochar has the ability to retain carbon and this condition is advantageous to prevent the release of carbon back to the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide. Application of biochar to soil helps to improve soil fertility and raise agricultural productivity. Biochar also has the ability to reduce carbon dioxide in the flue gas system. There have only been a few studies that discuss on the potential applications of this agriculture waste. The biochar's potential application as carbon sequester for soil application, energy production and dye sorption is being explored in this paper
Age-Related Differences in the Effects of Masker Cuing on Releasing Chinese Speech From Informational Masking
Bisphenol A induces cholesterol biosynthesis in HepG2 cells via SREBP-2/HMGCR signaling pathway
Improvement of signal-to-noise ratio in parallel neuron arrays with spatially nearest neighbor correlated noise.
We theoretically investigate the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a parallel array of leaky integrate-and-fire (LIF) neurons that receives a weak periodic signal and uses spatially nearest neighbor correlated noise. By using linear response theory, we derive the analytic expression of the SNR. The results show that the amplitude of internal noise can be increased up to an optimal value, which corresponds to a maximum SNR. Given the existence of spatially nearest neighbor correlated noise in the neural ensemble, the SNR gain of the collective ensemble response can exceed unity, especially for a negative correlation. This nonlinear collective phenomenon of SNR gain amplification may be related to the array stochastic resonance. In addition, we show that the SNR can be improved by varying the number of neurons, frequency, and amplitude of the weak periodic signal. We expect that this investigation will be useful for both controlling the collective response of neurons and enhancing weak signal transmission
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