On the speaker discriminatory power asymmetry regarding acoustic-phonetic parameters and the impact of speaking style

This study aimed to assess what we refer to as the speaker discriminatory power asymmetry and its forensic implications in comparisons performed in different speaking styles: spontaneous dialogues vs. interviews. We also addressed the impact of data sampling on the speaker's discriminatory performance concerning different acoustic-phonetic estimates. The participants were 20 male speakers, Brazilian Portuguese speakers from the same dialectal area. The speech material consisted of spontaneous telephone conversations between familiar individuals, and interviews conducted between each individual participant and the researcher. Nine acoustic-phonetic parameters were chosen for the comparisons, spanning from temporal and melodic to spectral acoustic-phonetic estimates. Ultimately, an analysis based on the combination of different parameters was also conducted. Two speaker discriminatory metrics were examined: Cost Log-likelihood-ratio (Cllr) and Equal Error Rate (EER) values. A general speaker discriminatory trend was suggested when assessing the parameters individually. Parameters pertaining to the temporal acoustic-phonetic class depicted the weakest performance in terms of speaker contrasting power as evidenced by the relatively higher Cllr and EER values. Moreover, from the set of acoustic parameters assessed, spectral parameters, mainly high formant frequencies, i.e., F3 and F4, were the best performing in terms of speaker discrimination, depicting the lowest EER and Cllr scores. The results appear to suggest a speaker discriminatory power asymmetry concerning parameters from different acoustic-phonetic classes, in which temporal parameters tended to present a lower discriminatory power. The speaking style mismatch also seemed to considerably impact the speaker comparison task, by undermining the overall discriminatory performance. A statistical model based on the combination of different acoustic-phonetic estimates was found to perform best in this case. Finally, data sampling has proven to be of crucial relevance for the reliability of discriminatory power assessment

Barreiras e facilitadores à integração dos serviços de depressão e tuberculose na rede de atenção primária no Brasil

Mental disorders can affect up to 70% of individuals with tuberculosis (TB). The World Health Organization (WHO) End TB Strategy explicitly calls for TB and mental health service integration. The goal of this study was to explore the barriers and facilitators to integrating depression treatment in the TB Control Program and primary care system in the municipality of Itaboraí - Rio de Janeiro, using Interpersonal Counseling (IPC). IPC is an evidence-based treatment for depression that can be delivered by non-mental health specialists with expert supervision. This study was conducted between 2016 and 2017 in the municipality of Itaboraí. Data collection consisted of six focus groups (n = 42) with health professionals (n = 29), program coordinators (n = 7) and TB patients (n = 6). The main potential barriers identified were poverty, political instability, an overburdened and under-resourced health system, high levels of distress among professionals, violence in the community and stigma related to mental health and TB. Potential facilitators included a high receptivity to, and demand for, mental health training; strong community relationships through the Community Health Workers (CHW); overall acceptability of IPC delivered by non-specialists for the treatment of depression among individuals with and without comorbid TB. Despite many challenges, integrating depression treatment into primary care in Itaboraí using IPC was perceived as an acceptable and feasible option.Os transtornos mentais podem afetar até 70% dos indivíduos com tuberculose (TB). A Organização Mundial da Saúde (OMS), como estratégia para o fim da TB, exige a integração do seu tratamento com a saúde mental. O objetivo deste estudo foi explorar as barreiras e facilitadores para integrar serviços de saúde mental no Programa de Controle de Tuberculose (PCT) e em Unidades de Saúde da Família (USF) do município de Itaboraí – Rio de Janeiro, com a aplicação do Aconselhamento Interpessoal (AIP). O AIP é um tratamento para depressão baseado em evidências que pode ser aplicado por não especialistas em saúde mental com supervisão especializada. Seis grupos focais foram realizados entre 2016 e 2017 no município de Itaboraí. A amostra (n=42) incluiu profissionais de saúde (n=29), coordenadores de programas (n=7) e pacientes com TB (n=6). Os grandes desafios encontrados foram: pobreza, instabilidade política, um sistema de saúde sobrecarregado e com poucos recursos, alta frequência de estresse entre os profissionais, violência na comunidade e estigma relacionado à saúde mental e à TB. Os facilitadores potenciais incluíram uma grande receptividade e demanda para capacitações em saúde mental; boa relação com a comunidade pelos Agentes Comunitários de Saúde (ACS) e; aceitação geral do AIP aplicado por não especialistas em saúde mental para o tratamento de depressão em pessoas com e sem TB. Apesar de muitos desafios, integrar o tratamento de depressão na atenção primária de Itaboraí aplicando o AIP foi percebido como uma alternativa aceitável e factível

A INFLUÊNCIA DA INOVAÇÃO NO ENSINO, QUALIDADE E COMPROMETIMENTO SOBRE A RETENÇÃO DE ALUNOS NO ENSINO SUPERIOR

In the educational context, several teaching methodologies have been used to improve the quality, the commitment and the retention of students. Given the above, this study aims to analyze the relationships of innovation, quality, commitment and retention in six institutions of higher education. The methodology used was a quantitative and descriptive research, through the analysis of six research hypotheses, which were tested by the modeling of structural equations. The results indicate that innovations in higher education, expressed in through active learning methodologies, contribute to quality and commitment, so that educational institutions can obtain students' permanence

Speech Therapy Practice in the Intensive Care Unit of a hospital of infectious diseases of Alagoas Atuação da fonoaudiologia em unidade de terapia intensiva de um hospital de doenças infecciosas de alagoas

ABSTRACT Purpose: to describe the speech therapy in Intensive Care Unit of a main-hospital. Methods: the sample consisted in all records of the minutes book of the research site in 2014. The period data was collected and tabulated in Excel®, analyzed using statistical methods and the results was presented in graphs and tables. Results: in the sample of 166 patients, 77 has participated the research. 40 (51.9%) through speech therapy and 37 (48.1%) through monitoring. This number of patients assisted by speech therapy service was significant, once the average hospital stay was twenty days by the severity of the main-pathologies. Most patients that had some kind of speech therapy was discharged from the intensive care unit being transferred to other hospital units

Mitochondrial physiology

As the knowledge base and importance of mitochondrial physiology to evolution, health and disease expands, the necessity for harmonizing the terminology concerning mitochondrial respiratory states and rates has become increasingly apparent. The chemiosmotic theory establishes the mechanism of energy transformation and coupling in oxidative phosphorylation. The unifying concept of the protonmotive force provides the framework for developing a consistent theoretical foundation of mitochondrial physiology and bioenergetics. We follow the latest SI guidelines and those of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) on terminology in physical chemistry, extended by considerations of open systems and thermodynamics of irreversible processes. The concept-driven constructive terminology incorporates the meaning of each quantity and aligns concepts and symbols with the nomenclature of classical bioenergetics. We endeavour to provide a balanced view of mitochondrial respiratory control and a critical discussion on reporting data of mitochondrial respiration in terms of metabolic flows and fluxes. Uniform standards for evaluation of respiratory states and rates will ultimately contribute to reproducibility between laboratories and thus support the development of data repositories of mitochondrial respiratory function in species, tissues, and cells. Clarity of concept and consistency of nomenclature facilitate effective transdisciplinary communication, education, and ultimately further discovery

Mitochondrial physiology

As the knowledge base and importance of mitochondrial physiology to evolution, health and disease expands, the necessity for harmonizing the terminology concerning mitochondrial respiratory states and rates has become increasingly apparent. The chemiosmotic theory establishes the mechanism of energy transformation and coupling in oxidative phosphorylation. The unifying concept of the protonmotive force provides the framework for developing a consistent theoretical foundation of mitochondrial physiology and bioenergetics. We follow the latest SI guidelines and those of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) on terminology in physical chemistry, extended by considerations of open systems and thermodynamics of irreversible processes. The concept-driven constructive terminology incorporates the meaning of each quantity and aligns concepts and symbols with the nomenclature of classical bioenergetics. We endeavour to provide a balanced view of mitochondrial respiratory control and a critical discussion on reporting data of mitochondrial respiration in terms of metabolic flows and fluxes. Uniform standards for evaluation of respiratory states and rates will ultimately contribute to reproducibility between laboratories and thus support the development of data repositories of mitochondrial respiratory function in species, tissues, and cells. Clarity of concept and consistency of nomenclature facilitate effective transdisciplinary communication, education, and ultimately further discovery

Revisiting the speaker discriminatory power of vowel formant frequencies

The data comprises of vowel formant and vowel duration values for two speaking styles: Dialogue and Interview.Acoustic-phonetic parameters:• F1: the first formant frequency in Hertz measured at oral vowels mid-points;• F2: the second formant frequency in Hertz measured at oral vowels mid-points;• F3: the third formant frequency in Hertz measured at oral vowels mid-points;• F4: the fourth formant frequency in Hertz measured at oral vowels mid-points;• Vowel duration: defined as the duration of oral monophthongs including the seven phonemic vowelsof Brazilian PortugueseThe participants are 20 subjects, all male, Brazilian Portuguese (BP) speakers from the same dialectal area (state of Alagoas). Each speaker is coded with a letter and a different letter number, e.g., A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2.The "Random" column was employed to arrange the data order randomly during tests.</p

Acoustic analysis of vowel formant frequencies in genetically-related and non-genetically related speakers with implications for forensic speaker comparison

The purpose of this study was to explore the speaker-discriminatory potential of vowel formant mean frequencies in comparisons of identical twin pairs and non-genetically related speakers. The influences of lexical stress and the vowels’ acoustic distances on the discriminatory patterns of formant frequencies were also assessed. Acoustic extraction and analysis of the first four speech formants F1-F4 were carried out using spontaneous speech materials. The recordings comprise telephone conversations between identical twin pairs while being directly recorded through high-quality microphones. The subjects were 20 male adult speakers of Brazilian Portuguese (BP), aged between 19 and 35. As for comparisons, stressed and unstressed oral vowels of BP were segmented and transcribed manually in the Praat software. F1-F4 formant estimates were automatically extracted from the middle points of each labeled vowel. Formant values were represented in both Hertz and Bark. Comparisons within identical twin pairs using the Bark scale were performed to verify whether the measured differences would be potentially significant when following a psychoacoustic criterion. The results revealed consistent patterns regarding the comparison of low-frequency and high-frequency formants in twin pairs and non-genetically related speakers, with high-frequency formants displaying a greater speaker-discriminatory power compared to low-frequency formants. Among all formants, F4 seemed to display the highest discriminatory potential within identical twin pairs, followed by F3. As for non-genetically related speakers, both F3 and F4 displayed a similar high discriminatory potential. Regarding vowel quality, the central vowel /a/ was found to be the most speaker-discriminatory segment, followed by front vowels. Moreover, stressed vowels displayed a higher inter-speaker discrimination than unstressed vowels in both groups; however, the combination of stressed and unstressed vowels was found even more explanatory in terms of the observed differences. Although identical twins displayed a higher phonetic similarity, they were not found phonetically identical

Measuring the impact of data size on the speaker discriminatory performance: a spontaneous speech-based study

This study aimed to analyze the impact of the amount of data on the discriminatory performance of acoustic-phonetic parameters, some of which are frequently assessed in forensic speaker comparisons. Parameters from three distinct phonetic domains were considered, namely, spectral, melodic, and temporal, which were assessed separately within the same phonetic domain and in combination. The speech material consisted of spontaneous telephone conversations between two subjects. During the recording sessions, the participants were placed in different rooms, not directly seeing, hearing, or interacting with each other. The speakers were encouraged to start a conversation using a mobile phone while being simultaneously recorded. All recordings were carried out with a high resolution (44.1 kHz and 16-bit). Data segmentation and transcription were performed in the Praat software [1]. The participants were 20 male subjects, Brazilian Portuguese speakers from the same dialectal area. Their age ranged from 19 to 35 years, with a mean of 26.4 years. Although the subjects (10 identical twin pairs) were recruited from a twin research project, cf. [2, 3, 4], the focus here was comparisons among all speakers (i.e., 190 inter-speaker comparisons) rather than on individual twin pair