5 research outputs found
Enhancement of perceived quality of service for voice over internet protocol systems
Voice over Internet Protocol (WIP) applications are becoming more and more popular in
the telecommunication market. Packet switched V61P systems have many technical advantages
over conventional Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), including its efficient and flexible
use of the bandwidth, lower cost and enhanced security.
However, due to the IP network's "Best Effort" nature, voice quality are not naturally guaranteed
in the VoIP services. In fact, most current Vol]P services can not provide as good a voice
quality as PSTN. IP Network impairments such as packet loss, delay and jitter affect perceived
speech quality as do application layer impairment factors, such as codec rate and audio features.
Current perceived Quality of Service (QoS) methods are mainly designed to be used
in a PSTN/TDM environment and their performance in V6IP environment is unknown. It is a
challenge to measure perceived speech quality correctly in V61P system and to enhance user
perceived speech quality for VoIP system.
The main goal of this project is to evaluate the accuracy of the existing ITU-T speech quality
measurement method (Perceptual Evaluation of Speech Quality - PESQ) in mobile wireless
systems in the context of V61P, and to develop novel and efficient methods to enhance the user
perceived speech quality for emerging V61P services especially in mobile V61P environment.
The main contributions of the thesis are threefold:
(1) A new discovery of PESQ errors in mobile VoIP environment. A detailed investigation
of PESQ performance in mobile VoIP environment was undertaken and included setting up a
PESQ performance evaluation platform and testing over 1800 mobile-to-mobile and mobileto-
PSTN calls over a period of three months. The accuracy issues of PESQ algorithm was
investigated and main problems causing inaccurate PESQ score (improper time-alignment in
the PESQ algorithm) were discovered
.
Calibration issues for a safe and proper PESQ testing
in mobile environment were also discussed in the thesis.
(2) A new, simple-to-use, V611Pjit ter buffer algorithm. This was developed and implemented
in a commercial mobile handset. The algorithm, called "Play Late Algorithm", adaptively alters
the playout delay inside a speech talkspurt without introducing unnecessary extra end-to-end
delay. It can be used as a front-end to conventional static or adaptive jitter buffer algorithms
to provide improved performance. Results show that the proposed algorithm can increase user
perceived quality without consuming too much processing power when tested in live wireless
VbIP networks.
(3) A new QoS enhancement scheme. The new scheme combines the strengths of adaptive
codec bit rate (i. e. AMR 8-modes bit rate) and speech priority marking (i. e. giving high priority
for the beginning of a voiced segment). The results gathered on a simulation and emulation test
platform shows that the combined method provides a better user perceived speech quality than
separate adaptive sender bit rate or packet priority marking methods
rhTPO Ameliorates Radiation-Induced Long-Term Hematopoietic Stem Cell Injury in Mice
Exposure to medium and high doses of ionizing radiation (IR) can induce long-term bone marrow (BM) suppression. We previously showed that recombinant human thrombopoietin (rhTPO) significantly promotes recovery from hematopoietic-acute radiation syndrome, but its effect on long-term BM suppression remains unknown. C57BL/6 mice were exposed to 6.5 Gy γ-rays of total body irradiation (TBI) at a dose-rate of 63.01 cGy per minute, and the mice were treated with rhTPO (100 μg; intramuscular injection) or vehicle at 2 h after TBI. All mice were killed one or two months after TBI for analysis of peripheral blood cell counts, long-term hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) frequency, and BM-derived clonogenic activity. The HSC self-renewal capacity was analyzed by BM transplantation. The levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and ratios of γH2AX+ and p16, p53, and p21 mRNA in HSCs were measured by flow cytometry and real-time polymerase chain reaction, respectively. Treatment with rhTPO reduced long-term myelosuppression by improving long-term hematopoietic reconstitution (p p < 0.05). Moreover, rhTPO treatment was associated with a sustained reduction in long-term ROS production, reduction of long-term DNA damage, diminished p53/p21 mRNA expression, and prevention of senescence after TBI. This study suggests rhTPO is an effective agent for treating IR-induced long-term BM injury because it regulates hematopoietic remodeling and HSC cycle disorder through the ROS/p53/p21/p16 pathway long term after IR