Cepstral analysis based on the Glimpse proportion measure for improving the intelligibility of HMM-based synthetic speech in noise

In this paper we introduce a new cepstral coefficient extraction method based on an intelligibility measure for speech in noise, the Glimpse Proportion measure. This new method aims to increase the intelligibility of speech in noise by modifying the clean speech, and has applications in scenarios such as public announcement and car navigation systems. We first explain how the Glimpse Proportion measure operates and further show how we approximated it to integrate it into an existing spectral envelope parameter extraction method commonly used in the HMM-based speech synthesis framework. We then demonstrate how this new method changes the modelled spectrum according to the characteristics of the noise and show results for a listening test with vocoded and HMM-based synthetic speech. The test indicates that the proposed method can significantly improve intelligibility of synthetic speech in speech shaped noise. Index Terms — cepstral coefficient extraction, objective measure for speech intelligibility, Lombard speech, HMM-based speech synthesis 1

An investigation of children's peer trust across culture: is the composition of peer trust universal?

The components of children's trust in same-gender peers (trust beliefs, ascribed trustworthiness, and dyadic reciprocal trust) were examined in samples of 8- to 11-year-olds from the UK, Italy, and Japan. Trust was assessed by children's ratings of the extent to which same-gender classmates kept promises and kept secrets. Social relations analyses confirmed that children from each country showed significant: (a) actor variance demonstrating reliable individual differences in trust beliefs, (b) partner variance demonstrating reliable individual differences in ascribed trustworthiness, and (c ) relationship variance demonstrating unique relationships between interaction partners. Cultural differences in trust beliefs and ascribed trustworthiness also emerged and these differences were attributed to the tendency for children from cultures that value societal goals to share personal information with the peer group

Master Formulae Approach to Photon Fusion Reactions

We analyze the $\gamma\gamma\to \pi\pi, KK, \eta\eta, \pi\eta$ reactions through $\sqrt{s}=2$ GeV, using the master formula approach to QCD with three flavors. In this approach, the constraints of broken chiral symmetry, unitarity and crossing symmetry are manifest in all channels. The pertinent vacuum correlators are analyzed at tree level using straightforward resonance saturation methods. A one-loop chiral power counting analysis at treshold is also carried out and compared to standard chiral perturbation theory. Our results are in overall agreement with the existing data in all channels. We predict the strange meson polarizabilities and a very small cross section for $\gamma\gamma\to\eta\eta$.Comment: 19 pages LaTeX, 7 figure

Dilepton and Photon Emission Rates from a Hadronic Gas III

We extend our early analyses of the dilepton and photon emission rates from a hadronic gas to account for strange mesons using a density expansion. The emission rates are reduced to vacuum correlation functions using three-flavor chiral reduction formulas, and the latters are assessed in terms of empirical data. Using a fire-ball, we compare our results to the low and intermediate mass dilepton data available from CERN. Our results suggest that a baryon free hadronic gas does not account for the excess of low mass dielectrons observed at CERES but do well in accounting for the intermediate dimuons at HELIOS. The same observations apply to the recent low and high $p_t$ dielectron rates from CERES.Comment: 12 pages LaTeX, 11 eps figure

AKARI near-infrared spectroscopy of the aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbon emission features in the galactic superwind of M 82

Aims. We investigate the properties of hydrocarbon grains in the galactic superwind of M 82. Methods. With AKARI, we performed near-infrared (2.5 - 4.5 um) spectroscopic observations of 34 regions in M 82 including its northern and southern halos. Results. Many of the spectra show strong emission at 3.3 um due to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and relatively weak features at 3.4 - 3.6 um due to aliphatic hydrocarbons. In particular, we clearly detect the PAH 3.3 um emission and the 3.4 - 3.6 um features in halo regions, which are located at a distance of 2 kpc away from the galactic center. We find that the ratios of the 3.4 - 3.6 um features to the 3.3 um feature intensity significantly increase with distance from the galactic center, while the ratios of the 3.3 um feature to the AKARI 7 um band intensity do not. Conclusions. Our results clearly confirm the presence of small PAHs even in a harsh environment of the halo of M 82. The results also reveal that the aliphatic hydrocarbons emitting the 3.4 - 3.6 um features are unusually abundant in the halo, suggesting that small carbonaceous grains are produced by shattering of larger grains in the galactic superwind.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in A&