Applied Geological Maps and Geospatial Techniques

Exam paper (Supplementary) for first semeste

Articulatory Synthesis for Data Augmentation in Phoneme Recognition

While numerous studies on automatic speech recognition have been published in recent years describing data augmentation strategies based on time or frequency domain signal processing, few works exist on the artificial extensions of training data sets using purely synthetic speech data. In this work, the German KIEL corpus was augmented with synthetic data generated with the state-of-the-art articulatory synthesizer VOCALTRACTLAB. It is shown that the additional synthetic data can lead to a significantly better performance in single-phoneme recognition in certain cases, while at the same time, the performance can also decrease in other cases, depending on the degree of acoustic naturalness of the synthetic phonemes. As a result, this work can potentially guide future studies to improve the quality of articulatory synthesis via the link between synthetic speech production and automatic speech recognition

Modelling microprosodic effects can lead to an audible improvement in articulatory synthesis

When pitch is explicitly modelled for parametric speech synthesis, microprosodic variations of the fundamental frequency f0 are usually disregarded by current intonation models. While there are numerous studies dealing with the nature and the origin of microprosody, little research has been done on its audibility and its effect on the naturalness of synthetic speech. In this work, the influence of obstruent-related microprosodic variations on the perceived naturalness of articulatory speech synthesis was studied. A small corpus of 20 German words and sentences was re-synthesized using the state-of-the-art articulatory synthesizer VocalTractLab. The pitch contours of the real utterances were extracted and fitted with the Target-Approximation-Model. After the real microprosodic variations were removed from the obtained pitch contours, synthetic variations were applied based on a microprosody model. Subsequently, multiple stimuli with different microprosody amplitudes were synthesized and evaluated in a listening experiment. The results indicate that microprosodic variations are barely audible, but can lead to a greater perceived naturalness of the synthesized speech in certain cases

Energy Technology

Exam paper for second semester: Energy Technolog

Sport Psychology

Exam paper for first semester: Sport Psycholog

Evoc-Learn - High quality simulation of early vocal learning

Evoc-Learn is a system for simulating early vocal learning of spoken language in ways that can overcome some of the major bottlenecks in vocal learning. The system consists of VocalTractLab, a geometrical three-dimensional vocal tract model for simulating aeroacoustics and articulatory dynamics, a coarticulation model for controlling the temporal dynamics of articulation, and a sensory feedback system for guiding the learning process. We will demonstrate each component of Evoc-Learn and show how they work together to simulate the learning of highly intelligible speech

Collaborative capacity development to complement stroke rehabilitation in Africa

This scholarly book focuses on stroke in Africa. Stroke is a leading cause of disability among adults of all ages, contributing significantly to health care costs related to long term implications, particularly if rehabilitation is sub-optimal. Given the burden of stroke in Africa, there is a need for a book that focuses on functioning African stroke survivors and the implications for rehabilitation within the African context. In addition, there is a need to progress with contextualised, person-centred, evidence-based guidance for the rehabilitation of people with stroke in Africa, thereby enabling them to lead socially and economically meaningful lives. The research incorporated in the book used a range of primary and secondary methodological approaches (scoping reviews, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, descriptive studies, surveys, health economics, and clinical practice guideline methodology) to shed new insights into African-centred issues and strategies to optimise function post-stroke

The human keratins: biology and pathology

The keratins are the typical intermediate filament proteins of epithelia, showing an outstanding degree of molecular diversity. Heteropolymeric filaments are formed by pairing of type I and type II molecules. In humans 54 functional keratin genes exist. They are expressed in highly specific patterns related to the epithelial type and stage of cellular differentiation. About half of all keratins—including numerous keratins characterized only recently—are restricted to the various compartments of hair follicles. As part of the epithelial cytoskeleton, keratins are important for the mechanical stability and integrity of epithelial cells and tissues. Moreover, some keratins also have regulatory functions and are involved in intracellular signaling pathways, e.g. protection from stress, wound healing, and apoptosis. Applying the new consensus nomenclature, this article summarizes, for all human keratins, their cell type and tissue distribution and their functional significance in relation to transgenic mouse models and human hereditary keratin diseases. Furthermore, since keratins also exhibit characteristic expression patterns in human tumors, several of them (notably K5, K7, K8/K18, K19, and K20) have great importance in immunohistochemical tumor diagnosis of carcinomas, in particular of unclear metastases and in precise classification and subtyping. Future research might open further fields of clinical application for this remarkable protein family

INCLUSIVE ECONOMICS AND THE INTERNATIONALECONOMIC ORDER

Inclusive economics(IE)or economic inclusivity is fundamental to the globalchallenges of inequality, systemic risk and fair governance inaddressing globaleconomic disparities. The sustainability of theglobal economy is developing intoarguably the highest global priority. Asthe world becomeever more a ‘globalvillage’, inclusive economics is seen as an avenue that has potential for steeringglobalisation and global economic governance(GEG) decision- making towardsgreater sustainability. But IE comes with significant implications for the economy,if betterunderstood, as it is not simply a perfect fit to the profit-driven marketsystem. This necessitates adjustments within the international economicorder.Pressure from theglobal civil societyis increasingin order for the globaleconomy to become more socially responsible and less purely profit-driven(capitalistic). It is therefore of critical importance to investigatewhat IE is – evenas it evolves – and what its implications are. The question at the heart of the issueis how to advanceeconomic inclusivityglobally, as a central priorityfortheinternational economic order,in a way toensuregenuine economic progress