Single channel speech enhancement by colored spectrograms

Speech enhancement concerns the processes required to remove unwanted background sounds from the target speech to improve its quality and intelligibility. In this paper, a novel approach for single-channel speech enhancement is presented, using colored spectrograms. We propose the use of a deep neural network (DNN) architecture adapted from the pix2pix generative adversarial network (GAN) and train it over colored spectrograms of speech to denoise them. After denoising, the colors of spectrograms are translated to magnitudes of short-time Fourier transform (STFT) using a shallow regression neural network. These estimated STFT magnitudes are later combined with the noisy phases to obtain an enhanced speech. The results show an improvement of almost 0.84 points in the perceptual evaluation of speech quality (PESQ) and 1% in the short-term objective intelligibility (STOI) over the unprocessed noisy data. The gain in quality and intelligibility over the unprocessed signal is almost equal to the gain achieved by the baseline methods used for comparison with the proposed model, but at a much reduced computational cost. The proposed solution offers a comparative PESQ score at almost 10 times reduced computational cost than a similar baseline model that has generated the highest PESQ score trained on grayscaled spectrograms, while it provides only a 1% deficit in STOI at 28 times reduced computational cost when compared to another baseline system based on convolutional neural network-GAN (CNN-GAN) that produces the most intelligible speech.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, 5 table

On enhancing model-based expectation maximization source separation in dynamic reverberant conditions using automatic Clifton effect

[EN] Source separation algorithms based on spatial cues generally face two major problems. The first one is their general performance degradation in reverberant environments and the second is their inability to differentiate closely located sources due to similarity of their spatial cues. The latter problem gets amplified in highly reverberant environments as reverberations have a distorting effect on spatial cues. In this paper, we have proposed a separation algorithm, in which inside an enclosure, the distortions due to reverberations in a spatial cue based source separation algorithm namely model-based expectation-maximization source separation and localization (MESSL) are minimized by using the Precedence effect. The Precedence effect acts as a gatekeeper which restricts the reverberations entering the separation system resulting in its improved separation performance. And this effect is automatically transformed into the Clifton effect to deal with the dynamic acoustic conditions. Our proposed algorithm has shown improved performance over MESSL in all kinds of reverberant conditions including closely located sources. On average, 22.55% improvement in SDR (signal to distortion ratio) and 15% in PESQ (perceptual evaluation of speech quality) is observed by using the Clifton effect to tackle dynamic reverberant conditions.This project is funded by Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan, under project no. 6330/KPK/NRPU/R&D/HEC/2016.Gul, S.; Khan, MS.; Shah, SW.; Lloret, J. (2020). On enhancing model-based expectation maximization source separation in dynamic reverberant conditions using automatic Clifton effect. International Journal of Communication Systems. 33(3):1-18. https://doi.org/10.1002/dac.421011833

Doing Pre-operative Investigations in Emergency Department; a Clinical Audit

Introduction: Pre-operative investigations for emergency surgical patients differ between centers. Following established guidelines can reduce unnecessary investigation, cost of treatment and hospital stay. The present audit was carried out to evaluate the condition of doing pre-operative investigations for three common surgical emergencies compared to National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines and local criteria.Methods: A retrospective clinical audit of acute-appendicitis, abscess and hernia patients admitted to the emergency department was carried out over a one-year period from July 2014 to July 2015. Data of laboratory investigations, their indication, cost and duration of hospital stay was collected and compared with NICE-guidelines.Results: A total of 201 patients were admitted to the emergency department during the audit period. These included 77(38.3%) cases of acute-appendicitis, 112 (55.7%) cases of abscesses, and 12 (6%) cases of hernia. Investigations not indicated by NICE-guidelines included 42 (20.9%) full blood counts, 29 (14.4%) random blood sugars, 26 (12.9%) urea tests, 4 (2%) chest x-rays, 13 (6.5%) electrocardiographs, and 58 (28.9%) urine analyses. These cost 25,675 Rupees (245.46 Dollars) in unnecessary investigation costs and 65.7 days of additional hospital stay.Conclusions: Unnecessary investigations for emergency surgical patients can be reduced by following NICE-guidelines. This will reduce workload on emergency services, treatment costs and the length of hospital stay

PSYCHOANALYTIC READING OF“ THE YELLOWALLPAPER” BY CHAROLLETE PERKINS GILMAN

“The yellow wallpaper” authored by Charollete Perkins Gilman at the start of the 19th century is considered as a champion of feminist literature. It is interpreted as the story of women suppressed in phallocentric society. It is popularly celebrated as tale of woman winning her due place in a society where men rule and women obey. My research focuses on psychoanalytic reading of this powerful short story. It is trying to probe deep down into the psyche of the protagonist of the story and obviously writer of the story. The feminists interpretation celebrate it as liberation of women in 19th century by their husbands, brothers and men in several other roles in their surroundings

Teacher agency in early bi/multilingual education: An insight from the government primary schools of Balochistan

Balochistan is the province known for its language and cultural diversity. In the early phase, young children acquire their first language (Balochi, Pashto, Punjabi, Sindhi, and, Persian). Moreover, in their school phase, they are bound to learn Urdu (National language of Pakistan) and English (Official language of Pakistan) languages. Additionally, the family language of the majority of the children differs from the teaching and learning practices of educational institutes. The un/less educated parents (that do not speak socially dominating language) often hesitate while communicating with school while monitoring the language progress of their children. In this research project, the researcher focused on the important role that the agency plays in students’ basic language learning need in the government primary schools of Balochistan (Pakistan). Besides, teacher agency in a bilingual/multilingual context, at the best information of the researcher, is not previously explored in the context of Pakistan in general and Balochistan in particular. In this research study, the research will identify, how teachers experience agency while implementing language policy in government primary school of Balochistan. This study falls under interpretative research. Creswell (2009) explained interpretive research as ‘not much has been written about the topic or the population being studied, and the researcher seeks to listen to participants and build an understanding based on what is heard’ (p. 26). This research technique would assist the researcher to investigate primary school teacher agency while teaching English to students from multi-lingual/cultural backgrounds. Based on the major findings the researcher concluded that teachers need to own the responsibility for their learning. Lastly, this paper highlighted the role of the school administration and Education department can play to improve teacher agency so that the teachers continue to improve their teaching methodologies and accelerate students learning practices

The Reflection of Edmund Burke’s Sublime in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Selected Poetry

This paper explores Edmund Burke’s concept ‘the sublime’ in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poetry. Coupled with his concept of ‘the beautiful’, Burke’s the sublime features conspicuous in creative arts. While beauty is an integral constituent or rather product of art, the sublime is no less desirable in amplifying a given piece of art. Unlike the beautiful, reflection of the sublime is considerably rare in poetry specifically the romantic. Coleridge is an exception in creating sublime effect in his poetry. His major poems especially The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan not only reflect but almost embody the sublime as shown in this analysis. The secret of Coleridge’s fame as a supernatural poet owes largely to his use of the sublime. While the thematic critiques of Coleridge’s poetry are overshadowed by the supernatural, this brief textual analysis is an improvement in being different, entailing the sublime

Criminal Behaviour in the Context of Various Criminal Theories

Criminal activity has been in society for as much as there has been mankind. Socioeconomic and sociocultural criminogenic factors both contribute to crime. The research of subcultures frequently replaces the study of criminals as a social type. The research on crime and the study of conduct are not synonymous. Attempts to discover the basic differences between crime and non-crime, considered as behavior, and between criminals and non-criminals, considered as different types of individuals, have yielded evidence that seems to undermine the very assumption upon which such attempts have been founded. The belief that there is a fundamental distinction between criminal and non-criminal activity is dubious.The majority of crimes go unreported and unrecorded. Any sample of presumed non-criminals is questionable due to research on self-reported offenses accessible to public and private groups but not the police, white collar crime, and factors connected to differential reported crime.The percentages are comparatively high for lower middle class, minority group, youthful, male, itinerant, and urban populations for the majority of offending categories. It is debatable if variances in behavior among various groups of individuals account for discrepancies in crime rates. Criminology may look into whether laws penalize actions that are typical of those with less authority but not those with more power. People progressively pick up the fundamentals of illegal behavior and disdain the law more and more. When someone is officially assigned to a certain delinquent stigma, they start to identify with the appropriate social group and act accordingly. The qualitative research methodology has been applied tothe following article

Standard of surgical venous thrombo-prophylaxis in admitted patients

Objective: To determine the standard of venous-thrombosis prophylaxis at the Surgical Department of Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar. Methods: A retrospective clinical audit of patients admitted to the surgical department over a one-year period from July 2014 to July 2015 was carried out. Data on risk assessment for venous thrombosis and prophylaxis was collected, including indications for enoxaparin and graduated stockings, their prescription and use. The correct dose and timing for enoxaparin, review of prophylaxis and counselling was also noted. Results: 157 patients, including 37 (23.6%) males and 120 (76.4%) females requiring thromboembolism prophylaxis were admitted to the emergency department during the audit period. Mean age was 50.97±12.74 years. Enoxaparin was indicated in all 157 patients, prescribed to 126 (80.3%) and administered in 120 (76.4%), respectively. Only 80 (51%) patients received the correct dosage and 85 (54.1%) patients received it at the required time. Graduated stockings were indicated in 110 (70.1%) patients, prescribed in 35(22.3%) cases and applied in 28 (17.8%), respectively. Review of prophylaxis was not performed in any of the patients at 72 hours. Counselling and information was provided to 31 (19.7%) patients. Thrombotic events occurred in 17 (10.8%) cases, of which 12 (7.6%) were lower limb deep venous thromboses and 5 (3.2%) were cases of pulmonary embolism. Conclusions: The audit fell short of the guidelines. Enoxaparin was prescribed and administered only in certain cases, both with the wrong timing and dosage. Stockings administration was rare and its counselling was lacking. Review of management was not performed in any case. The proposed recommendations should be implemented and assessed afterwards with a second audit cycle. [Arch Clin Exp Surg 2017; 6(2.000): 74-80

Feathers, eggs, and blood as bioindicators of heavy metals and their impact on DNA damage in captive Pavo cristatus

ABSTRACTHeavy metals and their genotoxic effects in captive Indian Peafowl (Pavo cristatus) residing in various regions of Punjab, Pakistan, specifically, Wildlife Park Bahawalpur (WPB), Jallo Wildlife Park Lahore (JWPL), and Wildlife Park Murree (WPM) were evaluated in blood, feathers, eggshell and egg content samples. The Single-cell gel electrophoresis (Comet) assay was performed to evaluate DNA damage. The results showed that the concentration of Cr was significantly high (P < 0.05) in Blood (3.79 µg/g), Feather (4.87 µg/g), Egg shell (51.02 µg/g) and Egg Content (13.59 µg/g) samples of Jallo Wildlife Park Lahore followed by Pb, Mn, Ni and Co. The highest (P < 0.05) metal accumulation was found in eggshell samples due to its porous structure as compared to other samples. Likewise region-wise analysis showed that Jallo Wildlife Park Lahore appeared to be more polluted than WPB and WPM. Indian Peafowl kept at WPM and JWPL exhibited higher levels of genotoxicity compared to the birds kept at WPB. This disparity can be attributed to the increased exposure to pollution and heightened stress experienced by the peafowl in the former two locations. This study concluded that among all the three study sites of Punjab, the WPB is most suitable for housing captive animals and birds