33 CFR 86.05 - Sound signal intensity and range of audibility.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Sound signal intensity and range... HOMELAND SECURITY INLAND NAVIGATION RULES ANNEX III: TECHNICAL DETAILS OF SOUND SIGNAL APPLIANCES Whistles § 86.05 Sound signal intensity and range of audibility. A whistle on a vessel shall provide, in the...

33 CFR 86.05 - Sound signal intensity and range of audibility.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Sound signal intensity and range... HOMELAND SECURITY INLAND NAVIGATION RULES ANNEX III: TECHNICAL DETAILS OF SOUND SIGNAL APPLIANCES Whistles § 86.05 Sound signal intensity and range of audibility. A whistle on a vessel shall provide, in the...

33 CFR 86.05 - Sound signal intensity and range of audibility.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Sound signal intensity and range... HOMELAND SECURITY INLAND NAVIGATION RULES ANNEX III: TECHNICAL DETAILS OF SOUND SIGNAL APPLIANCES Whistles § 86.05 Sound signal intensity and range of audibility. A whistle on a vessel shall provide, in the...

NFL Films audio, video, and film production facilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berger, Russ; Schrag, Richard C.; Ridings, Jason J.

2003-04-01

The new NFL Films 200,000 sq. ft. headquarters is home for the critically acclaimed film production that preserves the NFL's visual legacy week-to-week during the football season, and is also the technical plant that processes and archives football footage from the earliest recorded media to the current network broadcasts. No other company in the country shoots more film than NFL Films, and the inclusion of cutting-edge video and audio formats demands that their technical spaces continually integrate the latest in the ever-changing world of technology. This facility houses a staggering array of acoustically sensitive spaces where music and sound are equal partners with the visual medium. Over 90,000 sq. ft. of sound critical technical space is comprised of an array of sound stages, music scoring stages, audio control rooms, music writing rooms, recording studios, mixing theaters, video production control rooms, editing suites, and a screening theater. Every production control space in the building is designed to monitor and produce multi channel surround sound audio. An overview of the architectural and acoustical design challenges encountered for each sophisticated listening, recording, viewing, editing, and sound critical environment will be discussed.

33 CFR 86.05 - Sound signal intensity and range of audibility.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... direction of the forward axis of the whistle and at a distance of 1 meter from it, a sound pressure level in... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Sound signal intensity and range... HOMELAND SECURITY INLAND NAVIGATION RULES ANNEX III: TECHNICAL DETAILS OF SOUND SIGNAL APPLIANCES Whistles...

The Technique of the Sound Studio: Radio, Record Production, Television, and Film. Revised Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nisbett, Alec

Detailed explanations of the studio techniques used in radio, record, television, and film sound production are presented in as non-technical language as possible. An introductory chapter discusses the physics and physiology of sound. Subsequent chapters detail standards for sound control in the studio; explain the planning and routine of a sound…

Measuring School Climate for Gauging Principal Performance: A Review of the Validity and Reliability of Publicly Accessible Measures. A Quality School Leadership Issue Brief

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clifford, Matthew; Menon, Roshni; Gangi, Tracy; Condon, Christopher; Hornung, Katie

2012-01-01

This policy brief provides principal evaluation system designers information about the technical soundness and cost (i.e., time requirements) of publicly available school climate surveys. The authors focus on the technical soundness of school climate surveys because they believe that using validated and reliable surveys as an outcomes measure can…

33 CFR 86.09 - Positioning of whistles.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... high as practicable on a vessel, in order to reduce interception of the emitted sound by obstructions and also to minimize hearing damage risk to personnel. The sound pressure level of the vessel's own... NAVIGATION RULES ANNEX III: TECHNICAL DETAILS OF SOUND SIGNAL APPLIANCES Whistles § 86.09 Positioning of...

33 CFR 86.09 - Positioning of whistles.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... high as practicable on a vessel, in order to reduce interception of the emitted sound by obstructions and also to minimize hearing damage risk to personnel. The sound pressure level of the vessel's own... NAVIGATION RULES ANNEX III: TECHNICAL DETAILS OF SOUND SIGNAL APPLIANCES Whistles § 86.09 Positioning of...

33 CFR 86.21 - Intensity of signal.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Intensity of signal. 86.21... NAVIGATION RULES ANNEX III: TECHNICAL DETAILS OF SOUND SIGNAL APPLIANCES Bell or Gong § 86.21 Intensity of signal. A bell or gong, or other device having similar sound characteristics shall produce a sound...

33 CFR 86.21 - Intensity of signal.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Intensity of signal. 86.21... NAVIGATION RULES ANNEX III: TECHNICAL DETAILS OF SOUND SIGNAL APPLIANCES Bell or Gong § 86.21 Intensity of signal. A bell or gong, or other device having similar sound characteristics shall produce a sound...

33 CFR 86.21 - Intensity of signal.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Intensity of signal. 86.21... NAVIGATION RULES ANNEX III: TECHNICAL DETAILS OF SOUND SIGNAL APPLIANCES Bell or Gong § 86.21 Intensity of signal. A bell or gong, or other device having similar sound characteristics shall produce a sound...

33 CFR 86.21 - Intensity of signal.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Intensity of signal. 86.21... NAVIGATION RULES ANNEX III: TECHNICAL DETAILS OF SOUND SIGNAL APPLIANCES Bell or Gong § 86.21 Intensity of signal. A bell or gong, or other device having similar sound characteristics shall produce a sound...

33 CFR 86.21 - Intensity of signal.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Intensity of signal. 86.21... NAVIGATION RULES ANNEX III: TECHNICAL DETAILS OF SOUND SIGNAL APPLIANCES Bell or Gong § 86.21 Intensity of signal. A bell or gong, or other device having similar sound characteristics shall produce a sound...

The Development of Infants’ use of Property-poor Sounds to Individuate Objects

PubMed Central

Wilcox, Teresa; Smith, Tracy R.

2010-01-01

There is evidence that infants as young as 4.5 months use property-rich but not property-poor sounds as the basis for individuating objects (Wilcox et al., 2006). The current research sought to identify the age at which infants demonstrate the capacity to use property-poor sounds. Using the task of Wilcox et al., infants aged 7 and 9 months were tested. The results revealed that 9- but not 7-month-olds demonstrated sensitivity to property-poor sounds (electronic tones) in an object individuation task. Additional results confirmed that the younger infants were sensitive to property-rich sounds (rattle sounds). These are the first positive results obtained with property-poor sounds in infants and lay the foundation for future research to identify the underlying basis for the developmental hierarchy favoring property-rich over property-poor sounds and possible mechanisms for change. PMID:20701977

Global early warning systems for natural hazards: systematic and people-centred.

PubMed

Basher, Reid

2006-08-15

To be effective, early warning systems for natural hazards need to have not only a sound scientific and technical basis, but also a strong focus on the people exposed to risk, and with a systems approach that incorporates all of the relevant factors in that risk, whether arising from the natural hazards or social vulnerabilities, and from short-term or long-term processes. Disasters are increasing in number and severity and international institutional frameworks to reduce disasters are being strengthened under United Nations oversight. Since the Indian Ocean tsunami of 26 December 2004, there has been a surge of interest in developing early warning systems to cater to the needs of all countries and all hazards.

Propagation of Sound in Matter.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-03-01

Attenuation in Liquid Helium at 1 GHz; Technical Report No. 28, April 1969. 2. Kriss, Michael A., Size Effects in Liquid Helium II as Measured by Fourth...Helium, Technical Report No. 30, October 1969. 4. Scott, Stephen A., A Specific Heat and Fourth Sound Measurement of Size Effects in Liquid Helium...Rudnick, Superfluid Helmholtz Resonators, Phys. Rev. 174, No. 1, 326 (October 1968). 2. E. Guyon and I. Rudnick, Size Effects in Superfluid Helium II, Le

48 CFR 927.402-1 - General.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... PATENTS, DATA, AND COPYRIGHTS Technical Data and Copyrights 927.402-1 General. (a) The provisions herein... technical data. The satisfaction of these needs and the achievement of DOE's objectives through a sound data... delivery of technical data and rights in technical data. The legal rights which the Government acquires in...

Physiological and Psychological Evaluation of Strength of Auditory Stimulus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Umehara, Susumu; Asano, Hirotoshi; Ide, Hideto

In this study, we evaluated the pleasantness or unpleasantness experienced by human beings depending on the intensity of sound; using the nasal skin temperature that was determined using thermograms obtained from an infrared thermograph. Many studies have been carried out on the influence of sound intensity on human beings. However, the effect of sound has not been evaluated on the basis of facial skin temperature. We evaluated the experienced with variations in changes in the pleasure or displeasure noise; this was evaluated on the basis of facial skin temperature, electroencephalogram, and heart rate variability. The experimental results showed that the effect of variations in the sound intensity on the changes in the pleasure or displeasure experienced by human beings can be quantitatively evaluated on the basis of facial skin temperature.

WODA Technical Guidance on Underwater Sound from Dredging.

PubMed

Thomsen, Frank; Borsani, Fabrizio; Clarke, Douglas; de Jong, Christ; de Wit, Pim; Goethals, Fredrik; Holtkamp, Martine; Martin, Elena San; Spadaro, Philip; van Raalte, Gerard; Victor, George Yesu Vedha; Jensen, Anders

2016-01-01

The World Organization of Dredging Associations (WODA) has identified underwater sound as an environmental issue that needs further consideration. A WODA Expert Group on Underwater Sound (WEGUS) prepared a guidance paper in 2013 on dredging sound, including a summary of potential impacts on aquatic biota and advice on underwater sound monitoring procedures. The paper follows a risk-based approach and provides guidance for standardization of acoustic terminology and methods for data collection and analysis. Furthermore, the literature on dredging-related sounds and the effects of dredging sounds on marine life is surveyed and guidance on the management of dredging-related sound risks is provided.

Characteristics of Sounds Emitted During High-Resolution Marine Geophysical Surveys

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-03-24

In addition, the close proximity of side walls had the potential to reflect sound back into the well, thus contributing to the overall measurement... wall reflections. The reduced amplitude for sounds radiated near the side wall may have been the result of the greater angular displacement between...NUWC-NPT Technical Report 12,203 24 March 2016 Characteristics of Sounds Emitted During High-Resolution Marine Geophysical Surveys

Research on the Integration of IT Network Technology and TV Production and Broadcasting System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Wenqing

2017-12-01

In recent years, based on the development of China’s economy and the progress of science and technology, China’s TV industry has made great progress and provided a new platform for residents to understand the social situation. In this situation, in order to protect the efficiency of the TV system and the steady improvement on quality, technical staff have strengthened the rational use of IT technology, and as a basis to promote the sound of television production system. Based on this, this paper focuses on the connotation of IT network technology, and discusses the integration of the design and TV production system, hoping to realize the sustainable development of China’s TV industry.

Bibliography of Supersonic Cruise Research (SCR) program from 1977 to mid-1980

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hoffman, S.

1980-01-01

The supersonic cruise research (SCR) program, initiated in July 1972, includes system studies and the following disciplines: propulsion, stratospheric emission impact, structures and materials, aerodynamic performance, and stability and control. In a coordinated effort to provide a sound basis for any future consideration that may be given by the United States to the development of an acceptable commercial supersonic transport, integration of the technical disciplines was undertaken, analytical tools were developed, and wind tunnel, flight, and laboratory investigations were conducted. The present bibliography covers the time period from 1977 to mid-1980. It is arranged according to system studies and the above five SCR disciplines. There are 306 NASA reports and 135 articles, meeting papers, and company reports cited.

Guiding Restoration Principles

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-12-01

novaeangliae). Rapid, unexplained declines in the populations of the southern pod of resident Puget Sound orcas (Orcinus orca ), groundfi sh such as...Guiding Restoration Principles 1 Technical Report 2004-03 Guiding Restoration Principles Prepared in support of the Puget Sound ...Kurt Fresh, Tom Mumford and Miles Logsdon Puget Sound Nearshore Partnership WDFW - P.O. Box 43145, Olympia Washington 98504-3145 U.S. Army Corps of

Multihazard risk analysis and disaster planning for emergency services as a basis for efficient provision in the case of natural hazards - case study municipality of Au, Austria

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maltzkait, Anika; Pfurtscheller, Clemens

2014-05-01

Multihazard risk analysis and disaster planning for emergency services as a basis for efficient provision in the case of natural hazards - case study municipality of Au, Austria A. Maltzkait (1) & C. Pfurtscheller (1) (1) Institute for Interdisciplinary Mountain Research (IGF), Austrian Academy of Sciences, Innsbruck, Austria The extreme flood events of 2002, 2005 and 2013 in Austria underlined the importance of local emergency services being able to withstand and reduce the adverse impacts of natural hazards. Although for legal reasons municipal emergency and crisis management plans exist in Austria, they mostly do not cover risk analyses of natural hazards - a sound, comparable assessment to identify and evaluate risks. Moreover, total losses and operational emergencies triggered by natural hazards have increased in recent decades. Given sparse public funds, objective budget decisions are needed to ensure the efficient provision of operating resources, like personnel, vehicles and equipment in the case of natural hazards. We present a case study of the municipality of Au, Austria, which was hardly affected during the 2005 floods. Our approach is primarily based on a qualitative risk analysis, combining existing hazard plans, GIS data, field mapping and data on operational efforts of the fire departments. The risk analysis includes a map of phenomena discussed in a workshop with local experts and a list of risks as well as a risk matrix prepared at that workshop. On the basis for the exact requirements for technical and non-technical mitigation measures for each natural hazard risk were analysed in close collaboration with members of the municipal operation control and members of the local emergency services (fire brigade, Red Cross). The measures includes warning, evacuation and, technical interventions with heavy equipment and personnel. These results are used, first, to improve the municipal emergency and crisis management plan by providing a risk map, and a list of risks and, second, to check if the local emergency forces can cope with the different risk scenarios using locally available resources. The emergency response plans will identify possible resource deficiencies in personnel, vehicles and equipment. As qualitative methods and data are used, uncertainties in the study emerged in finding definitions for safety targets, in the construction of the different risk scenarios, in the inherent uncertainty beyond the probability of occurrence and the intensity of natural hazards, also in the case of the expectable losses. Finally, we used available studies and expert interviews to develop objective rules for investment decisions for the fire departments and the Red Cross to present an empirically sound basis for the efficient provision of intervention in the case of natural hazards for the municipality of Au. Again, the regulations for objective provision were developed in close collaboration with the emergency services.

Test Technical Manual 2014 GED® Test

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

GED Testing Service, 2014

2014-01-01

This manual was written to provide technical information regarding the General Educational Development (GED®) test as evidence that the GED® test is technically sound. Throughout this manual, documentation is provided regarding the development of the GED® test and data collection activities, as well as evidence of reliability and validity. This…

[Lung auscultation: an old skill with new interpretation and terminology].

PubMed

Peros-Golubicić, T

1994-01-01

The lung sound auscultation is a part of everyday practice of most physicians. This skill used to be in practice in antique times, but it did not gain any particular attention until the beginning of the 19th century when Laennec systematized his observations, so that the method became generally accepted as the means of examining the patient. Today the stethoscope has almost become the symbol of medical profession, and without it no worthy caricature on behalf of a physician is possible. In this article except short historical review of the lung auscultation, the new technical innovations, including the use of computers which have led to new insights into the characteristics of the lung sounds in health and disease have been shown. Indeed, the technical innovations have insured more accurate measurement of all characteristics of lung sounds, and in connection with this enabled the coining of new terms, especially for adventitious lung sounds. As the whole civilized world has agreed upon the terminology, in the radiance of the above mentioned we are also proposing new terminology for adventitious lung sounds.

Application of a methodology for categorizing and differentiating urban soundscapes using acoustical descriptors and semantic-differential attributes.

PubMed

Torija, Antonio J; Ruiz, Diego P; Ramos-Ridao, A F

2013-07-01

A subjective and physical categorization of an ambient sound is the first step to evaluate the soundscape and provides a basis for designing or adapting this ambient sound to match people's expectations. For this reason, the main goal of this work is to develop a categorization and differentiation analysis of soundscapes on the basis of acoustical and perceptual variables. A hierarchical cluster analysis, using 15 semantic-differential attributes and acoustical descriptors to include an equivalent sound-pressure level, maximum-minimum sound-pressure level, impulsiveness of the sound-pressure level, sound-pressure level time course, and spectral composition, was conducted to classify soundscapes into different typologies. This analysis identified 15 different soundscape typologies. Furthermore, based on a discriminant analysis the acoustical descriptors, the crest factor (impulsiveness of the sound-pressure level), and the sound level at 125 Hz were found to be the acoustical variables with the highest impact in the differentiation of the recognized types of soundscapes. Finally, to determine how the different soundscape typologies differed from each other, both subjectively and acoustically, a study was performed.

Techniques and applications for binaural sound manipulation in human-machine interfaces

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Begault, Durand R.; Wenzel, Elizabeth M.

1990-01-01

The implementation of binaural sound to speech and auditory sound cues (auditory icons) is addressed from both an applications and technical standpoint. Techniques overviewed include processing by means of filtering with head-related transfer functions. Application to advanced cockpit human interface systems is discussed, although the techniques are extendable to any human-machine interface. Research issues pertaining to three-dimensional sound displays under investigation at the Aerospace Human Factors Division at NASA Ames Research Center are described.

Techniques and applications for binaural sound manipulation in human-machine interfaces

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Begault, Durand R.; Wenzel, Elizabeth M.

1992-01-01

The implementation of binaural sound to speech and auditory sound cues (auditory icons) is addressed from both an applications and technical standpoint. Techniques overviewed include processing by means of filtering with head-related transfer functions. Application to advanced cockpit human interface systems is discussed, although the techniques are extendable to any human-machine interface. Research issues pertaining to three-dimensional sound displays under investigation at the Aerospace Human Factors Division at NASA Ames Research Center are described.

Monitoring the Ocean Using High Frequency Ambient Sound

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-10-01

even identify specific groups within the resident killer whale type ( Puget Sound Southern Resident pods J, K and L) because these groups have...particular, the different populations of killer whales in the NE Pacific Ocean. This has been accomplished by detecting transient sounds with short...high sea state (the sound of spray), general shipping - close and distant, clanking and whale calls and clicking. These sound sources form the basis

TECHNICAL BASIS FOR A CANDIDATE BUILDING MATERIALS RADIUM STANDARD

EPA Science Inventory

The report summarizes the technical basis for a candidate building materials radium standard. It contains the standard and a summary of the technical basis for the standard. (NOTE: The Florida Radon Research Program (FRRP), sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency and the...

Underwater sound from the whale's point of view

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arveson, Paul T.

2003-04-01

There have been numerous reports in the recent literature of apparently stressful effects on marine mammals due to sonar experiments. But another man-made source-the radiated noise from ships-contributes significantly to the ocean ambient, nearly everywhere and all the time. The technical basis for this talk is a set of accurate and detailed measurements of the radiated noise of a typical cargoship [P. Arveson and D. Vendittis, ``Radiated noise characteristics of a large cargo ship,'' J. Acoust. Soc. Am. (2000)]. However, the talk will be a popular-level demonstration and a (necessarily) fictitious narrative of acoustical experiences from a humpback whale's point of view. Room acoustics permitting, the audience should be able to gain an experiential insight into the environmental impact of shipping noise on the life and habits of these creatures.

Resource protection and resource management of drinking water-reservoirs in Thuringia--a prerequisite for high drinking-water quality.

PubMed

Willmitzer, H

2000-01-01

In face of widespread pollution of surface waters, strategies must be developed for the use of surface waters which protect the high quality standards of drinking water, starting with the catchment area via the reservoir to the consumer. As a rule, priority is given to the avoidance of contaminants directly at their point of origin. Water protection is always cheaper than expensive water-body restoration and water treatment. Complementary to the generally practised technical methods of raw water treatment with all their associated problems of energy input requirements, costs, and waste products, there is an increasing number of environmentally sound treatment technologies which use ecological principles as a basis to support the self-cleaning properties of flowing and dammed waters.

Floods on Duck River in the vicinity of Centerville, Tennessee

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

This flood hazard information report describes the extent and severity of the flood potential along a selected reach of the Duck River in the vicinity of Centerville, Tennessee. The report was prepared in response to a request by the town for up-to-date information regarding the flood potential along the studied stream reach in order to better administer its floodplain management program. This report does not propose plans or the solution of identified flood problems along the studied stream reach. Rather, the information and technical data contained herein are intended to provide a sound basis for informed decisions regarding the wisemore » use of flood-prone lands within the town of Centerville and the surrounding portion of Hickman County. 3 references, 8 figures, 6 tables.« less

Sound propagation elements in evaluation of en route noise of advanced turbofan aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sutherland, Louis C.; Wesler, John

1990-01-01

Cruise noise from an advanced turboprop aircraft is reviewed on the basis of available wind tunnel data to estimate the aircraft noise signature at the source. Available analytical models are used to evaluate the sound levels at the ground. The analysis allows reasonable estimates to be made of the community noise levels that might be generated during cruise by such aircraft, provides the basis for preliminary comparisons with available data on noise of existing aircraft during climb and helps to identify the dominant elements of the sound propagation models applicable to this situation.

The results of marine electromagnetic sounding with a high-power remote source in the Kola Bay in the Barents Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grigoriev, V. F.; Korotaev, S. M.; Kruglyakov, M. S.; Orekhova, D. A.; Popova, I. V.; Tereshchenko, E. D.; Tereshchenko, P. E.; Schors, Yu. G.

2013-05-01

The first Russian six-component seafloor electromagnetic (EM) receivers were tested in an experiment carried out in Kola Bay in the Barents Sea. The signals transmitted by a remote high-power ELF source at several frequencies in the decahertz range were recorded by six receivers deployed on the seafloor along the profile crossing the Kola Bay. Although not all the stations successfully recorded all the six components due to technical failures, the quality of the data overall is quite suitable for interpretation. The interpretation was carried out by the three-dimensional (3D) modeling of an electromagnetic field with neural network inversion. The a priori geoelectrical model of Kola Bay, which was reconstructed by generalizing the previous geological and geophysical data, including the data of the ground magnetotelluric sounding and magnetovariational profiling, provided the EM fields that are far from those measured in the experiment. However, by a step-by-step modification of the initial model, we achieved quite a satisfactory fit. The resulting model provides the basis for introducing the corrections into the previous notions concerning the regional geological and geophysical structure of the region and particularly the features associated with fault tectonics.

Acoustic Studies of New Materials: Quasicrystals, Low-Loss Glasses, and High Tc Superconductors

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-08-01

REFEREED JOURNALS TECHNICAL REPORTS PUBLISHED 1. NSF Final Progress Report 2. Tania Slawecki M.S. Thesis "Measuring fourth sound in silica aerogel " 3...Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School Department of Physics Measuring Fourth Sound in Silica Aerogel A Thesis in Physics by Tania Maria...Slawecki Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science December 1989 Abstract Measuring Fourth Sound in Silica

40 CFR 204.55-2 - Requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... § 204.54. (c)(1) In lieu of testing compressors of every configuration, as described in paragraph (b) of... category which emits the highest sound level in dBA based on best technical judgment, emission test data... section as having the highest sound level (estimated or actual) within the category. (iv) Compliance of...

40 CFR 205.55-2 - Compliance with standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... as described in paragraph (b) of this section, the manufacturer may elect to verify the configuration... the highest sound pressure level (dBA) based on his best technical judgment and/or emission test data... section as having the highest sound pressure level (estimated or actual) within the category; and (iv...

40 CFR 205.55-2 - Compliance with standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... as described in paragraph (b) of this section, the manufacturer may elect to verify the configuration... the highest sound pressure level (dBA) based on his best technical judgment and/or emission test data... section as having the highest sound pressure level (estimated or actual) within the category; and (iv...

40 CFR 204.55-2 - Requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... § 204.54. (c)(1) In lieu of testing compressors of every configuration, as described in paragraph (b) of... category which emits the highest sound level in dBA based on best technical judgment, emission test data... section as having the highest sound level (estimated or actual) within the category. (iv) Compliance of...

Experiments in Sound and Structural Vibrations Using an Air-Analog Model Ducted Propulsion System

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-08-01

Department of Aerospace S~and Mechanical Engineering I 20070904056 I EXPERIMENTS IN SOUND AND STRUCTURAL VIBRATIONS USING AN AIR -ANALOG MODEL DUCTED...SOUND AND STRUCTURAL * VIBRATIONS USING AN AIR -ANALOG MODEL DUCTED PROPULSION SYSTEM FINAL TECHNICAL REPORT Prepared by: Scott C. Morris Assistant...Vibration Using Air - 5b. GRANT NUMBER Analog Model Ducted Propulsion Systems N00014-1-0522 5C. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) 5d. PROJECT NUMBER

Airborne sound transmission loss characteristics of wood-frame construction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rudder, F. F., Jr.

1985-03-01

This report summarizes the available data on the airborne sound transmission loss properties of wood-frame construction and evaluates the methods for predicting the airborne sound transmission loss. The first part of the report comprises a summary of sound transmission loss data for wood-frame interior walls and floor-ceiling construction. Data bases describing the sound transmission loss characteristics of other building components, such as windows and doors, are discussed. The second part of the report presents the prediction of the sound transmission loss of wood-frame construction. Appropriate calculation methods are described both for single-panel and for double-panel construction with sound absorption material in the cavity. With available methods, single-panel construction and double-panel construction with the panels connected by studs may be adequately characterized. Technical appendices are included that summarize laboratory measurements, compare measurement with theory, describe details of the prediction methods, and present sound transmission loss data for common building materials.

Leveraging Independent Management and Chief Engineer Hierarchy: Vertically and Horizontally-Derived Technical Authority Value

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barley, Bryan; Newhouse, Marilyn

2012-01-01

In the development of complex spacecraft missions, project management authority is usually extended hierarchically from NASA's highest agency levels down to the implementing institution's project team level, through both the center and the program. In parallel with management authority, NASA utilizes a complementary, but independent, hierarchy of technical authority (TA) that extends from the agency level to the project, again, through both the center and the program. The chief engineers (CEs) who serve in this technical authority capacity oversee and report on the technical status and ensure sound engineering practices, controls, and management of the projects and programs. At the lowest level, implementing institutions assign project CEs to technically engage projects, lead development teams, and ensure sound technical principles, processes, and issue resolution. At the middle level, programs and centers independently use CEs to ensure the technical success of their projects and programs. At the agency level, NASA's mission directorate CEs maintain technical cognizance over every program and project in their directorate and advise directorate management on the technical, cost, schedule, and programmatic health of each. As part of this vertically-extended CE team, a program level CE manages a continually varying balance between penetration depth and breadth across his or her assigned missions. Teamwork issues and information integration become critical for management at all levels to ensure value-added use of both the synergy available between CEs at the various agency levels, and the independence of the technical authority at each organization.

Calibration of Clinical Audio Recording and Analysis Systems for Sound Intensity Measurement.

PubMed

Maryn, Youri; Zarowski, Andrzej

2015-11-01

Sound intensity is an important acoustic feature of voice/speech signals. Yet recordings are performed with different microphone, amplifier, and computer configurations, and it is therefore crucial to calibrate sound intensity measures of clinical audio recording and analysis systems on the basis of output of a sound-level meter. This study was designed to evaluate feasibility, validity, and accuracy of calibration methods, including audiometric speech noise signals and human voice signals under typical speech conditions. Calibration consisted of 3 comparisons between data from 29 measurement microphone-and-computer systems and data from the sound-level meter: signal-specific comparison with audiometric speech noise at 5 levels, signal-specific comparison with natural voice at 3 levels, and cross-signal comparison with natural voice at 3 levels. Intensity measures from recording systems were then linearly converted into calibrated data on the basis of these comparisons, and validity and accuracy of calibrated sound intensity were investigated. Very strong correlations and quasisimilarity were found between calibrated data and sound-level meter data across calibration methods and recording systems. Calibration of clinical sound intensity measures according to this method is feasible, valid, accurate, and representative for a heterogeneous set of microphones and data acquisition systems in real-life circumstances with distinct noise contexts.

Educational Support System for Experiments Involving Construction of Sound Processing Circuits

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Takemura, Atsushi

2012-01-01

This paper proposes a novel educational support system for technical experiments involving the production of practical electronic circuits for sound processing. To support circuit design and production, each student uses a computer during the experiments, and can learn circuit design, virtual circuit making, and real circuit making. In the…

Transitioning from Analog to Digital Audio Recording in Childhood Speech Sound Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shriberg, Lawrence D.; Mcsweeny, Jane L.; Anderson, Bruce E.; Campbell, Thomas F.; Chial, Michael R.; Green, Jordan R.; Hauner, Katherina K.; Moore, Christopher A.; Rusiewicz, Heather L.; Wilson, David L.

2005-01-01

Few empirical findings or technical guidelines are available on the current transition from analog to digital audio recording in childhood speech sound disorders. Of particular concern in the present context was whether a transition from analog- to digital-based transcription and coding of prosody and voice features might require re-standardizing…

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory institutional plan FY 1997--2002

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

1996-10-01

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory`s core mission is to deliver environmental science and technology in the service of the nation and humanity. Through basic research fundamental knowledge is created of natural, engineered, and social systems that is the basis for both effective environmental technology and sound public policy. Legacy environmental problems are solved by delivering technologies that remedy existing environmental hazards, today`s environmental needs are addressed with technologies that prevent pollution and minimize waste, and the technical foundation is being laid for tomorrow`s inherently clean energy and industrial processes. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory also applies its capabilities to meet selected nationalmore » security, energy, and human health needs; strengthen the US economy; and support the education of future scientists and engineers. Brief summaries are given of the various tasks being carried out under these broad categories.« less

76 FR 11238 - Notice of Technical Conference

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-01

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Notice of Technical Conference Docket No... Alta Wind VIII, LLC Alta Windpower Development, LLC TGP Development Company, LLC Puget Sound Energy... York Canyon, LLC Green Borders Geothermal, LLC v. Terra-Gen Dixie EL10-36-002 Valley, LLC Terra-Gen...

Verification of the Hydrodynamic and Sediment Transport Hybrid Modeling System for Cumberland Sound and Kings Bay Navigation Channel, Georgia

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-07-01

TECHNICAL REPORT HL-89-14 VERIFICATION OF THE HYDRODYNAMIC AND Si SEDIMENT TRANSPORT HYBRID MODELING SYSTEM FOR CUMBERLAND SOUND AND I’) KINGS BAY...Hydrodynamic and Sediment Transport Hybrid Modeling System for Cumberland Sound and Kings Bay Navigation Channel, Georgia 12 PERSONAL AUTHOR(S) Granat...Hydrodynamic results from RMA-2V were used in the numerical sediment transport code STUDH in modeling the interaction of the flow transport and

Expansion of Discovery of Sound in the Sea (DOSITS) Content and Outreach FY11-FY12

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-09-30

Content and Outreach FY11-FY12 Kathleen J. Vigness -Raposa, Ph.D. Marine Acoustics, Inc. 809 Aquidneck Ave. Middletown, RI 02842 phone: (401) 847...Discovery of Sound in the Sea Award Number: N00014-12-10252. Dr. Kathleen Vigness -Raposa from Marine Acoustics Inc. is the co-Principal Investigator...on the Discovery of Sound in the Sea project with Gail Scrowcroft from URI. Dr. Vigness -Raposa provides technical guidance for URI personnel on

Nonlinear Acoustics: Propagation in a Periodic Waveguide, Scattering of Sound by Sound, Propagation through a Three-Layer Fluid, and Nonlinearity Parameters of Sea Water

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-08-19

Visiting Research Fellow, on leave from institute of Sound and Vibration Research, University of Southampton , England W. M. Wright, Consultant...on Lithotripsy (Extra-Corporeal Shock Wave Applications - Technical and Clinical Problems), Univer- sity of Florida, Gainesville, 12-13 March 1988...Society of America, Seattle, 16-20 May 1988. ABSTRACT: J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 83, S5 (1988). 0574 0 b4 . D. T. Blackstock, "Physical aspects of lithotripsy

TEACHING AND TRAINING WITH MOTION PICTURES (MAGNETIC SOUND).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bell and Howell Co., Lincolnwood, IL.

THE PREPARATION OF A MAGNETIC-SOUND TRACK FOR 16 MM. MOTION PICTURE FILMS IS DESCRIBED. IN SCRIPT PREPARATION, THE SCRIPT SHOULD BE WRITTEN IN NARRATIVE FORM TO INCLUDE ALL SHOTS NEEDED AND TO SUPPLEMENT AND GIVE INFORMATION NOT IN THE FILM. LANGUAGE SHOULD BE KEPT SIMPLE, AND UNAVOIDABLE TECHNICAL TERMS SHOULD BE EXPLAINED. IN REWRITING THE…

75 FR 58304 - Navigation and Navigable Waters; Technical, Organizational, and Conforming Amendments, Sector...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-24

... [email protected] . If you have questions on viewing the docket, call Renee V. Wright, Program... Sec. 3.65-10 to read as follows: Sec. 3.65-10 Sector Puget Sound Marine Inspection Zone and Captain of the Port Zone. Sector Puget Sound's office is located in Seattle, WA. The boundaries of Sector Puget...

Video and Sound Production: Flip out! Game on!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hunt, Marc W.

2013-01-01

The author started teaching TV and sound production in a career and technical education (CTE) setting six years ago. The first couple months of teaching provided a steep learning curve for him. He is highly experienced in his industry, but teaching the content presented a new set of obstacles. His students had a broad range of abilities,…

Environmentally Sound Small-Scale Livestock Projects. Guidelines for Planning Series Number 5.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacobs, Linda

This document was developed in response to the need for simplified technical information for planning environmentally sound small-scale projects in third world countries. It is aimed specifically at those who are planning or managing small-scale livestock projects in less-developed areas of the tropics and sub-tropics. The guidelines included in…

Disposal Site Selection. Technical Appendix - Phase 1 (Central Puget Sound). Volume 3

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-06-01

Department of Natural lesources Kevin Anderson, State of Washington Department of Ecology Carl Kassebaum, U.S. Evironmental Protection Agency Prepared for...Physical Fate at Open Waer Sites. Technical Report D-78-47, U.S. Army &nineer Waterways 2Xperltent Station. Vicksburg, Mississippi. Johnson, B.H., and

Non-technical skills training to enhance patient safety.

PubMed

Gordon, Morris

2013-06-01

  Patient safety is an increasingly recognised issue in health care. Systems-based and organisational methods of quality improvement, as well as education focusing on key clinical areas, are common, but there are few reports of educational interventions that focus on non-technical skills to address human factor sources of error. A flexible model for non-technical skills training for health care professionals has been designed based on the best available evidence, and with sound theoretical foundations.   Educational sessions to improve non-technical skills in health care have been described before. The descriptions lack the details to allow educators to replicate and innovate further.   A non-technical skills training course that can be delivered as either a half- or full-day intervention has been designed and delivered to a number of mixed groups of undergraduate medical students and doctors in postgraduate training. Participant satisfaction has been high and patient safety attitudes have improved post-intervention.   This non-technical skills educational intervention has been built on a sound evidence base, and is described so as to facilitate replication and dissemination. With the key themes laid out, clinical educators will be able to build interventions focused on numerous clinical issues that pay attention to human factor contributors to safety. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

None

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Traylor, T.D.; Hicks, S.C.

1994-03-01

Transportation Energy Research announces on a monthly basis the current worldwide research and development information available on energy-efficient, environmentally sound transportation technologies. Its purpose is to enhance the technology transfer efforts of the Department of Energy. This publication contains the abstracts of DOE reports, journal articles, conference papers, patents, theses, and monographs added to the Energy Science and Technology Database during the past month. Also included are US information obtained through acquisition programs or interagency agreements and international information obtained through the International Energy Agency`s Energy Technology Data Exchange or government-to-government agreements. The DOE Office of Transportation Technologies (OTT) managesmore » federal R&D programs aimed at improving transportation-sector energy efficiency. OTT currently supports activities in four major program areas: Electric and Hybrid Vehicles; Advanced Propulsion Systems; and magnetic levitation technology; Advanced Materials. DOE and DOE contractors can obtain copies for $4.00 per issue by using VISA, MasterCard, or OSTI deposit accounts. Contact the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, P.O. Box 62, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, Attention: Information Services. For further information, call (615) 576-8401. Public availability is by subscription from the US Department of Commerce, Technology Administration, National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA 22161. Order PB94-900900.« less

A Review: Characteristics of Noise Absorption Material

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amares, S.; Sujatmika, E.; Hong, T. W.; Durairaj, R.; Hamid, H. S. H. B.

2017-10-01

Noise is always treated as a nuisance to human and even noise pollution appears in the environmental causing discomfort. This also concerns the engineering design that tends to cultivate this noise propagation. Solution such as using material to absorb the sound have been widely used. The fundamental of the sound absorbing propagation, sound absorbing characteristics and its factors are minimally debated. Furthermore, the method in order to pertain sound absorbing related to the sound absorption coefficient is also limited, as many studies only contributes in result basis and very little in literature aspect. This paper revolves in providing better insight on the importance of sound absorption and the materials factors in obtaining the sound absorption coefficient.

[Acoustic conditions in open plan office - Application of technical measures in a typical room].

PubMed

Mikulski, Witold

2018-03-09

Noise in open plan offices should not exceed acceptable levels for the hearing protection. Its major negative effects on employees are nuisance and impediment in execution of work. Specific technical solutions should be introduced to provide proper acoustic conditions for work performance. Acoustic evaluation of a typical open plan office was presented in the article published in "Medycyna Pracy" 5/2016. None of the rooms meets all the criteria, therefore, in this article one of the rooms was chosen to apply different technical solutions to check the possibility of reaching proper acoustic conditions. Acoustic effectiveness of those solutions was verified by means of digital simulation. The model was checked by comparing the results of measurements and calculations before using simulation. The analyzis revealed that open plan offices supplemented with signals for masking speech signals can meet all the required criteria. It is relatively easy to reach proper reverberation time (i.e., sound absorption). It is more difficult to reach proper values of evaluation parameters determined from A-weighted sound pressure level (SPLA) of speech. The most difficult is to provide proper values of evaluation parameters determined from speech transmission index (STI). Finally, it is necessary (besides acoustic treatment) to use devices for speech masking. The study proved that it is technically possible to reach proper acoustic condition. Main causes of employees complaints in open plan office are inadequate acoustic work conditions. Therefore, it is necessary to apply specific technical solutions - not only sound absorbing suspended ceiling and high acoustic barriers, but also devices for speech masking. Med Pr 2018;69(2):153-165. This work is available in Open Access model and licensed under a CC BY-NC 3.0 PL license.

Atmospheric effects on microphone array analysis of aircraft vortex sound

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2006-05-08

This paper provides the basis of a comprehensive analysis of vortex sound propagation : through the atmosphere in order to assess real atmospheric effects on acoustic array : processing. Such effects may impact vortex localization accuracy and detect...

THE EFFECT OF VISUAL FEEDBACK ON PRONUNCIATION IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING. TERMINATION OF RESEARCH REPORT.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

JENSON, PAUL G.; WESTERMEIER, FRANZ X.

A RESEARCH PROJECT USING THE OSCILLOSCOPE TO DETERMINE VISUAL FEEDBACK IN THE TEACHING OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE PRONUNCIATION WAS TERMINATED BECAUSE OF TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES THAT COULD NOT BE RESOLVED WITH THE EQUIPMENT AVAILABLE. FAILURE IS ATTRIBUTED TO SUCH FACTORS AS (1) THE SPEECH SOUND WAVES SOUND THE SAME THOUGH THEIR WAVE SHAPES DIFFER, (2)…

Leo Szilard Lectureship Award: Science Matters - Technical Dimensions of Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Agreements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Timbie, James

2017-01-01

Agreements to reduce nuclear arms and prevent proliferation of nuclear weapons are technical as well as political documents. They must be both technically sound and politically acceptable. This presentation illustrates technical aspects of arms control and non-proliferation agreements, with examples from SALT I, INF, the HEU Agreement, START, and the Iran nuclear negotiations, drawing on 44 years of personal experience in the negotiation of these agreements. The lecture is designed to convey an appreciation of the role that individuals with technical training can play in diplomatic efforts to reduce nuclear forces and prevent nuclear proliferation.

Economic Evaluation of Building Design, Construction, Operation and Maintenance. Instructor's Manual.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ruegg, Rosalie T.; Marshall, Harold E.

This instructor's manual describes each section of a 3-day technical seminar on how to measure the economic impact of alternative designs, systems, and operation and maintenance strategies in federal buildings. The manual was prepared to help instructors of the General Services Administration conduct technically sound and comprehensive seminars.…

Final report on technical work accomplished under contract NASw-2953

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fredricks, R. W.

1977-01-01

A report is given on the technical work accomplished in the area of plasma physics. The subjects covered are: (1) oblique whistler instabilities, (2) current-limited electron beam injection, (3) three-dimensional ion sound turbulence, (4) theoretical aspects of sounder antenna operation and (5) whistler modes in bow shock structures.

Qualification and Development Needs for Technical Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

El Tell, Khalaf; Al-Maaitah, Ayman

Vast and rapid changes in global technologies have made development of a sound and efficient system of technical education (TE) critical for Oman and the other Arab Gulf countries. Producing TE graduates with the skills needed for success in today's global economy requires TE teachers with the following qualifications: mastery of the core skills…

76 FR 14966 - Supplemental Notice of Technical Conference

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-18

......... Puget Sound Energy, Inc EL10-72-001. Terra-Gen Dixie Valley, LLC, TGP Dixie EL10-29-002. Development...-000. Cedar Creek Wind Energy, LLC RC11-1-000. Milford Wind Corridor Phase I, LLC.... RC11-2-000. Sun... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Supplemental Notice of Technical...

Application effectiveness of the microtremor survey method in the exploration of geothermal resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tian, Baoqing; Xu, Peifen; Ling, Suqun; Du, Jianguo; Xu, Xueqiu; Pang, Zhonghe

2017-10-01

Geophysical techniques are critical tools of geothermal resource surveys. In recent years, the microtremor survey method, which has two branch techniques (the microtremor sounding technique and the two-dimensional (2D) microtremor profiling technique), has become a common method for geothermal resource exploration. The results of microtremor surveys provide important deep information for probing structures of geothermal storing basins and researching the heat-controlling structures, as well as providing the basis for drilling positions of geothermal wells. In this paper, the southern Jiangsu geothermal resources area is taken as a study example. By comparing the results of microtremor surveys and drilling conclusions, and analyzing microtremor survey effectiveness, and geological and technical factors such as observation radius and sampling frequency, we study the applicability of the microtremor survey method and the optimal way of working with this method to achieve better detection results. A comparative study of survey results and geothermal drilling results shows that the microtremor sounding technique effectively distinguishes sub-layers and determines the depth of geothermal reservoirs in the area with excellent layer conditions. The error of depth is generally no more than 8% compared with the results of drilling. It detects deeper by adjusting the size of the probing radius. The 2D microtremor profiling technique probes exactly the buried structures which display as low velocity anomalies in the apparent velocity profile of the S-wave. The anomaly is the critical symbol of the 2D microtremor profiling technique to distinguish and explain the buried geothermal structures. 2D microtremor profiling results provide an important basis for locating exactly the geothermal well and reducing the risk of drilling dry wells.

MEG dual scanning: a procedure to study real-time auditory interaction between two persons

PubMed Central

Baess, Pamela; Zhdanov, Andrey; Mandel, Anne; Parkkonen, Lauri; Hirvenkari, Lotta; Mäkelä, Jyrki P.; Jousmäki, Veikko; Hari, Riitta

2012-01-01

Social interactions fill our everyday life and put strong demands on our brain function. However, the possibilities for studying the brain basis of social interaction are still technically limited, and even modern brain imaging studies of social cognition typically monitor just one participant at a time. We present here a method to connect and synchronize two faraway neuromagnetometers. With this method, two participants at two separate sites can interact with each other through a stable real-time audio connection with minimal delay and jitter. The magnetoencephalographic (MEG) and audio recordings of both laboratories are accurately synchronized for joint offline analysis. The concept can be extended to connecting multiple MEG devices around the world. As a proof of concept of the MEG-to-MEG link, we report the results of time-sensitive recordings of cortical evoked responses to sounds delivered at laboratories separated by 5 km. PMID:22514530

Hearing in three dimensions: Sound localization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wightman, Frederic L.; Kistler, Doris J.

1990-01-01

The ability to localize a source of sound in space is a fundamental component of the three dimensional character of the sound of audio. For over a century scientists have been trying to understand the physical and psychological processes and physiological mechanisms that subserve sound localization. This research has shown that important information about sound source position is provided by interaural differences in time of arrival, interaural differences in intensity and direction-dependent filtering provided by the pinnae. Progress has been slow, primarily because experiments on localization are technically demanding. Control of stimulus parameters and quantification of the subjective experience are quite difficult problems. Recent advances, such as the ability to simulate a three dimensional sound field over headphones, seem to offer potential for rapid progress. Research using the new techniques has already produced new information. It now seems that interaural time differences are a much more salient and dominant localization cue than previously believed.

Annoyance caused by the sounds of a magnetic levitation train

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vos, Joos

2004-04-01

In a laboratory study, the annoyance caused by the passby sounds from a magnetic levitation (maglev) train was investigated. The listeners were presented with various sound fragments. The task of the listeners was to respond after each presentation to the question: ``How annoying would you find the sound in the preceding period if you were exposed to it at home on a regular basis?'' The independent variables were (a) the driving speed of the maglev train (varying from 100 to 400 km/h), (b) the outdoor A-weighted sound exposure level (ASEL) of the passbys (varying from 65 to 90 dB), and (c) the simulated outdoor-to-indoor reduction in sound level (windows open or windows closed). As references to the passby sounds from the maglev train (type Transrapid 08), sounds from road traffic (passenger cars and trucks) and more conventional railway (intercity trains) were included for rating also. Four important results were obtained. Provided that the outdoor ASELs were the same, (1) the annoyance was independent of the driving speed of the maglev train, (2) the annoyance caused by the maglev train was considerably higher than that caused by the intercity train, (3) the annoyance caused by the maglev train was hardly different from that caused by road traffic, and (4) the results (1)-(3) held true both for open or closed windows. On the basis of the present results, it might be expected that the sounds are equally annoying if the ASELs of the maglev-train passbys are at least 5 dB lower than those of the intercity train passbys. Consequently, the results of the present experiment do not support application of a railway bonus to the maglev-train sounds.

Annoyance caused by the sounds of a magnetic levitation train.

PubMed

Vos, Joos

2004-04-01

In a laboratory study, the annoyance caused by the passby sounds from a magnetic levitation (maglev) train was investigated. The listeners were presented with various sound fragments. The task of the listeners was to respond after each presentation to the question: "How annoying would you find the sound in the preceding period if you were exposed to it at home on a regular basis?" The independent variables were (a) the driving speed of the maglev train (varying from 100 to 400 km/h), (b) the outdoor A-weighted sound exposure level (ASEL) of the passbys (varying from 65 to 90 dB), and (c) the simulated outdoor-to-indoor reduction in sound level (windows open or windows closed). As references to the passby sounds from the maglev train (type Transrapid 08), sounds from road traffic (passenger cars and trucks) and more conventional railway (intercity trains) were included for rating also. Four important results were obtained. Provided that the outdoor ASELs were the same, (1) the annoyance was independent of the driving speed of the maglev train, (2) the annoyance caused by the maglev train was considerably higher than that caused by the intercity train, (3) the annoyance caused by the maglev train was hardly different from that caused by road traffic, and (4) the results (1)-(3) held true both for open or closed windows. On the basis of the present results, it might be expected that the sounds are equally annoying if the ASELs of the maglev-train passbys are at least 5 dB lower than those of the intercity train passbys. Consequently, the results of the present experiment do not support application of a railway bonus to the maglev-train sounds.

Multi-level basis selection of wavelet packet decomposition tree for heart sound classification.

PubMed

Safara, Fatemeh; Doraisamy, Shyamala; Azman, Azreen; Jantan, Azrul; Abdullah Ramaiah, Asri Ranga

2013-10-01

Wavelet packet transform decomposes a signal into a set of orthonormal bases (nodes) and provides opportunities to select an appropriate set of these bases for feature extraction. In this paper, multi-level basis selection (MLBS) is proposed to preserve the most informative bases of a wavelet packet decomposition tree through removing less informative bases by applying three exclusion criteria: frequency range, noise frequency, and energy threshold. MLBS achieved an accuracy of 97.56% for classifying normal heart sound, aortic stenosis, mitral regurgitation, and aortic regurgitation. MLBS is a promising basis selection to be suggested for signals with a small range of frequencies. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

DEMONSTRATION OF FUEL CELLS TO RECOVER ENERGY FROM LANDFILL GAS - PHASE III. DEMONSTRATION TESTS - PHASE IV. GUIDELINES AND RECOMMENDATIONS- VOLUME 1. TECHNICAL REPORT

EPA Science Inventory

The report summarizes the results of a four-phase program to demonstrate that fuel cell energy recovery using a commercial phosphoric acid fuel cell is both environmentally sound and commercially feasible. Phase I, a conceptual design and evaluation study, addressed the technical...

Letter-Sound Knowledge: Exploring Gender Differences in Children When They Start School Regarding Knowledge of Large Letters, Small Letters, Sound Large Letters, and Sound Small Letters

PubMed Central

Sigmundsson, Hermundur; Eriksen, Adrian D.; Ofteland, Greta Storm; Haga, Monika

2017-01-01

This study explored whether there is a gender difference in letter-sound knowledge when children start at school. 485 children aged 5–6 years completed assessment of letter-sound knowledge, i.e., large letters; sound of large letters; small letters; sound of small letters. The findings indicate a significant difference between girls and boys in all four factors tested in this study in favor of the girls. There are still no clear explanations to the basis of a presumed gender difference in letter-sound knowledge. That the findings have origin in neuro-biological factors cannot be excluded, however, the fact that girls probably have been exposed to more language experience/stimulation compared to boys, lends support to explanations derived from environmental aspects. PMID:28951726

Concerning the sound insulation of building elements made up of light concretes. [acoustic absorption efficiency calculations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Giurgiu, I. I.

1974-01-01

The sound insulating capacity of building elements made up of light concretes is considered. Analyzing differentially the behavior of light concrete building elements under the influence of incident acoustic energy and on the basis of experimental measurements, coefficients of correction are introduced into the basic formulas for calculating the sound insulating capacity for the 100-3,2000 Hz frequency band.

Body language in health care: a contribution to nursing communication.

PubMed

de Rezende, Rachel de Carvalho; de Oliveira, Rosane Mara Pontes; de Araújo, Sílvia Teresa Carvalho; Guimarães, Tereza Cristina Felippe; do Espírito Santo, Fátima Helena; Porto, Isaura Setenta

2015-01-01

to classify body language used in nursing care, and propose "Body language in nursing care" as an analytical category for nursing communication. quantitative research with the systematic observation of 21:43 care situations, with 21 members representing the nursing teams of two hospitals. Empirical categories: sound, facial, eye and body expressions. sound expressions emphasized laughter. Facial expressions communicated satisfaction and happiness. Eye contact with members stood out in visual expressions. The most frequent body expressions were head movements and indistinct touches. nursing care team members use body language to establish rapport with patients, clarify their needs and plan care. The study classified body language characteristics of humanized care, which involves, in addition to technical, non-technical issues arising from nursing communication.

Marketability requirements for fault detection and diagnostics in commercial buildings

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Heinemeier, K.H.

Fault Detection and Diagnostics (FDD) is a technology that has a great potential for improving performance and reducing energy consumed in commercial buildings, and is rapidly becoming feasible for the buildings sector. Scientists have developed algorithms for FDD, and are making plans for field-testing and demonstration of these methods in real buildings. These efforts will provide a sound technical basis for FDD product offerings. FDD has the potential to dramatically improve the quality of operation of buildings. However, progress on technical issues is only one step towards implementing FDD in the market. FDD cannot be expected to have a majormore » impact on buildings unless market issues are addressed. Many questions will have to be answered regarding the users of FDD systems, the usability of the product, the market for FDD, and the nature of possible FDD offerings. It is crucial to consider marketing issues in parallel with the more technical issues. Constraints and opportunities that will be faced in marketing the products must be recognized early in technology development, and addressed and integrated into designs to ensure an appropriate system design. This paper identified a number of key questions that will arise in addressing marketability issues. These questions will have to be answered individually by technology developers and entities intending to market FDD. This paper presents some of the considerations that must go into the answering the questions, and provides a framework for analyzing the market requirements.« less

Nonlinear Acoustics: Periodic Waveguide, Scattering of Sound by Sound, Three-Layer Fluid, Finite Amplitude Sound in a Medium Having a Distribution of Relaxation Processes, and Production of an Isolated Negative Pulse in Water

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-06-03

propagation and shape of the waveform," Conference on Lithotripsy (Extra-Corporeal Shock Wave Applications - Technical and Clinical Problems), Univer- sity of...Blackstock, "Physical aspects of lithotripsy ," Paper GG1, 115th Meeting, Acoustical Society of America, Seattle, 16-20 May 1988. ABSTRACT: J. Acoust...Am. 90, 2244(A) (1991). kAlso supported in part by Grant NAG-1-1204 and University of Southampton , Eng- land. 49 1992 ONR Contract Code 1109 JS 1. F

Technical basis for implementation of remote reading capabilities for radiological control instruments at tank farms

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

PIERSON, R.M.

1999-10-27

This document provides the technical basis for use of remote reading capabilities with radiological control instruments at River Protection Project facilities. The purpose of this document is to evaluate applications of remote reading capabilities with Radiological Control instrumentation to allow continuous monitoring of radiation dose rates at River Protection Project (RPP) facilities. In addition this document provides a technical basis and implementing guidelines for remote monitoring of dose rates and their potential contribution to maintaining radiation exposures ALARA.

76 FR 60931 - Records Schedules; Availability and Request for Comments

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-09-30

..., fact sheets, slogans, posters, publications, videos, and public service announcements. 2. Department of... publications, directives, technical advisories, photographs, posters, motion pictures, video, and sound...

Modeling Quantum Teleportation with Quantum Tools in Python (QuTiP)

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-12-01

FORM TO THE ABOVE ADDRESS. 1. REPORT DATE (DD-MM-YYYY) December 2017 2. REPORT TYPE Technical Report 3. DATES COVERED (From - To) June 1, 2017... technical report we evaluate one in particular, the Quantum Tools in Python (QuTiP) package, to determine its suitability for use in the simulation of...found that QuTiP is technically sound in that it is able to reproduce several published findings, and that it saves significant program design time due

Dimensions of vehicle sounds perception.

PubMed

Wagner, Verena; Kallus, K Wolfgang; Foehl, Ulrich

2017-10-01

Vehicle sounds play an important role concerning customer satisfaction and can show another differentiating factor of brands. With an online survey of 1762 German and American customers, the requirement characteristics of high-quality vehicle sounds were determined. On the basis of these characteristics, a requirement profile was generated for every analyzed sound. These profiles were investigated in a second study with 78 customers using real vehicles. The assessment results of the vehicle sounds can be represented using the dimensions "timbre", "loudness", and "roughness/sharpness". The comparison of the requirement profiles and the assessment results show that the sounds which are perceived as pleasant and high-quality, more often correspond to the requirement profile. High-quality sounds are characterized by the fact that they are rather gentle, soft and reserved, rich, a bit dark and not too rough. For those sounds which are assessed worse by the customers, recommendations for improvements can be derived. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

FIELD CHECK MANUAL FOR LANGUAGE LABORATORIES, A SERIES OF TESTS WHICH A NON-TECHNICAL PERSON CAN CONDUCT TO VERIFY SPECIFICATIONS.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

GRITTNER, FRANK; PAVLAT, RUSSELL

IN ORDER TO ASSIST NON-TECHNICAL PEOPLE IN SCHOOLS TO CONDUCT A FIELD CHECK OF LANGUAGE LABORATORY EQUIPMENT BEFORE THEY MAKE FINAL PAYMENTS, THIS MANUAL OFFERS CRITERIA, TESTS, AND METHODS OF SCORING THE QUALITY OF THE EQUIPMENT. CHECKLISTS ARE PROVIDED FOR EVALUATING CONSOLE FUNCTIONS, TAPE RECORDERS, AMPLIFIERS, SOUND QUALITY (INCLUDING…

Take a Page from Your Coach's Play Book: Teaching Technical and Tactical Skills in Athletic Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hawkins, Jeremy R.; Sharp, Elizabeth B.; Williams, Skip M.

2015-01-01

Context: The ability to demonstrate sound clinical reasoning is needed for a practicing athletic trainer. However, instruction on how to make a correct clinical decision may be deficient in many athletic training programs. Objective: To provide an overview of how to teach technical and tactical skills, using both a tradition and a nontraditional…

77 FR 39800 - Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Air Travel: Draft Technical Assistance Manual

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-05

... specific learning disabilities. (Sec. 382.3). What is not considered a physical or mental impairment... Secretary 14 CFR Part 382 Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Air Travel: Draft Technical... [Docket No. DOT-OST-2012--0098] Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Air Travel: Draft...

Applications of the TIROS-N sounding and cloud motion wind enhancement for the FGGE 'special effort'. [Global Weather Experiment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Atlas, R.

1980-01-01

In January of 1978, a panel of experts recommended that a 'special effort' be made to enhance and edit satellite soundings and cloud tracked winds in data sparse regions. It was felt that these activities would be necessary to obtain maximum benefits from an evaluation of satellite data during the Global Weather Experiment (FGGE). The 'special effort' is being conducted for the two special observing periods of FGGE. More than sixty cases have been selected for enhancement on the basis of meteorological interest. These cases include situations of blocking, cutoff low development, cyclogenesis, and tropical circulations. The sounding data enhancement process consists of supplementing the operational satellite sounding data set with higher resolution soundings in meteorologically active regions, and with new soundings where data voids or soundings of questionable quality exist.

Developing a Weighted Measure of Speech Sound Accuracy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Preston, Jonathan L.; Ramsdell, Heather L.; Oller, D. Kimbrough; Edwards, Mary Louise; Tobin, Stephen J.

2011-01-01

Purpose: To develop a system for numerically quantifying a speaker's phonetic accuracy through transcription-based measures. With a focus on normal and disordered speech in children, the authors describe a system for differentially weighting speech sound errors on the basis of various levels of phonetic accuracy using a Weighted Speech Sound…

Suppression of sound radiation to far field of near-field acoustic communication system using evanescent sound field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fujii, Ayaka; Wakatsuki, Naoto; Mizutani, Koichi

2016-01-01

A method of suppressing sound radiation to the far field of a near-field acoustic communication system using an evanescent sound field is proposed. The amplitude of the evanescent sound field generated from an infinite vibrating plate attenuates exponentially with increasing a distance from the surface of the vibrating plate. However, a discontinuity of the sound field exists at the edge of the finite vibrating plate in practice, which broadens the wavenumber spectrum. A sound wave radiates over the evanescent sound field because of broadening of the wavenumber spectrum. Therefore, we calculated the optimum distribution of the particle velocity on the vibrating plate to reduce the broadening of the wavenumber spectrum. We focused on a window function that is utilized in the field of signal analysis for reducing the broadening of the frequency spectrum. The optimization calculation is necessary for the design of window function suitable for suppressing sound radiation and securing a spatial area for data communication. In addition, a wide frequency bandwidth is required to increase the data transmission speed. Therefore, we investigated a suitable method for calculating the sound pressure level at the far field to confirm the variation of the distribution of sound pressure level determined on the basis of the window shape and frequency. The distribution of the sound pressure level at a finite distance was in good agreement with that obtained at an infinite far field under the condition generating the evanescent sound field. Consequently, the window function was optimized by the method used to calculate the distribution of the sound pressure level at an infinite far field using the wavenumber spectrum on the vibrating plate. According to the result of comparing the distributions of the sound pressure level in the cases with and without the window function, it was confirmed that the area whose sound pressure level was reduced from the maximum level to -50 dB was extended. Additionally, we designed a sound insulator so as to realize a similar distribution of the particle velocity to that obtained using the optimized window function. Sound radiation was suppressed using a sound insulator put above the vibrating surface in the simulation using the three-dimensional finite element method. On the basis of this finding, it was suggested that near-field acoustic communication which suppressed sound radiation can be realized by applying the optimized window function to the particle velocity field.

The Behavior of IAPWS-95 from 250 to 300 K and Pressures up to 400 MPa: Evaluation Based on Recently Derived Property Data

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wagner, Wolfgang, E-mail: Wagner@thermo.rub.de; Thol, Monika

2015-12-15

Over the past several years, considerable scientific and technical interest has been focused on accurate thermodynamic properties of fluid water covering part of the subcooled (metastable) region and the stable liquid from the melting line up to about 300 K and pressures up to several hundred MPa. Between 2000 and 2010, experimental density data were published whose accuracy was not completely clear. The scientific standard equation of state for fluid water, the IAPWS-95 formulation, was developed on the basis of experimental data for thermodynamic properties that were available by 1995. In this work, it is examined how IAPWS-95 behaves withmore » respect to the experimental data published after 1995. This investigation is carried out for temperatures from 250 to 300 K and pressures up to 400 MPa. The starting point is the assessment of the current data situation. This was mainly performed on the basis of data for the density, expansivity, compressibility, and isobaric heat capacity, which were derived in 2015 from very accurate speed-of-sound data. Apart from experimental data and these derived data, property values calculated from the recently published equation of state for this region of Holten et al. (2014) were also used. As a result, the unclear data situation could be clarified, and uncertainty values could be estimated for the investigated properties. In the region described above, detailed comparisons show that IAPWS-95 is able to represent the latest experimental data for the density, expansivity, compressibility, speed of sound, and isobaric heat capacity to within the uncertainties given in the release on IAPWS-95. Since the release does not contain uncertainty estimates for expansivities and compressibilities, the statement relates to the error propagation of the given uncertainty in density. Due to the lack of experimental data for the isobaric heat capacity for pressures above 100 MPa, no uncertainty estimates are given in the release for this pressure range. Results of the investigation of IAPWS-95 concerning its behavior with regard to the isobaric heat capacity in the high-pressure low-temperature region are also presented. Comparisons with very accurate speed-of-sound data published in 2012 showed that the uncertainty estimates of IAPWS-95 in speed of sound could be decreased for temperatures from 283 to 473 K and pressures up to 400 MPa.« less

National Vaccine Policy: ethical equity issues.

PubMed

Jayakrishnan, T

2013-01-01

The ministry of health and family welfare published the national vaccination policy in April 2011. The policy document drew severe criticism from several public health experts. A review of the print and web-based literature on the national vaccine policy was done and the issues of ethics and equity involved in introducing new vaccines under the Universal Immunisation Programme (UIP) were studied. The average coverage of the UIP vaccines at the national level is below 50%. Despite this, the policy document did not state any concrete strategy for increasing the coverage. The main stumbling block for evidence-based vaccine policy in India is the lack of reliable epidemiological data, which makes it difficult for the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation to offer sound technical advice to the government. No attempts have been made to prioritise diseases or the selection of vaccines. The policy suggests the introduction of the following vaccines in the UIP: Haemophilus influenzae type b, pneumococcal vaccine, rotavirus vaccines and human papillomavirus (HPV). This selection is on the grounds of the vaccines' availability, not on the basis of epidemiological evidence or proven cost-effectiveness. This is a critical review of the current vaccination policy and the move to include the rotavirus and HPV vaccines in the UIP.

A noise-reduction program in a pediatric operation theatre is associated with surgeon's benefits and a reduced rate of complications: a prospective controlled clinical trial.

PubMed

Engelmann, Carsten R; Neis, Jan Philipp; Kirschbaum, Clemens; Grote, Gudela; Ure, Benno M

2014-05-01

We assessed the impact of a noise-reduction program in a pediatric operating theatre. Adverse effects from noise pollution in theatres have been demonstrated. In 156 operations spatially resolved, sound levels were measured before and after a noise-reduction program on the basis of education, rules, and technical devices (Sound Ear). Surgical complications were recorded. The surgeon's biometric (saliva cortisol, electrodermal activity) and behavioral stress responses (questionnaires) were measured and correlated with mission protocols and individual noise sensitivity. Median noise levels in the control group versus the interventional group were reduced by -3 ± 3 dB(A) (63 vs 59 dB(A), P < 0.001) with a grossly decreased number of peaks greater than 70 dB(A) (Δn = -61/hour, P < 0.01). The intervention significantly reduced non-operation-related noise. The incidence of postoperative complications was significantly lower in patients of the intervention group (n = 10/56 vs 20/58 control; P < 0.05). "Responders," surgeons with an above-average noise sensitivity (correlation r = -0.6 for the work subscale of the NoiseQ questionnaire, P < 0.05), experienced improved intrateam communication, a decrease in disturbing conversations and sudden noise peaks (P < 0.05). Biometrically, the intervention decreased both the surgeon's pre- to postoperative rise in cortisol by approximately 20% and the surgeon's electrodermal potentials of greater than 15 μS, indicating severe stress by 60% (P > 0.05). Spontaneous noise during pediatric operations attains the magnitude of a lawn mower and peaks resemble a passing truck. The sound intensity could be reduced by 50% by specific measures. This reduction was associated with a significantly lowered number of postoperative complications. The surgeon's benefits are idiosyncratic with "responders" experiencing marked improvements.

Measurements of humpback whale song sound levels received by a calf in association with a singer.

PubMed

Chen, Jessica; Pack, Adam A; Au, Whitlow W L; Stimpert, Alison K

2016-11-01

Male humpback whales produce loud "songs" on the wintering grounds and some sing while escorting mother-calf pairs, exposing them to near-continuous sounds at close proximity. An Acousonde acoustic and movement recording tag deployed on a calf off Maui, Hawaii captured sounds produced by a singing male escort. Root-mean-square received levels ranged from 126 to 158 dB re 1 μPa. These levels represent rare direct measurements of sound to which a newly born humpback calf may be naturally exposed by a conspecific, and may provide a basis for informed decisions regarding anthropogenic sound levels projected near calves.

Shock waves and the Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings equation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Isom, Morris P.; Yu, Yung H.

1991-01-01

The expansion of the double divergence of the generalized Lighthill stress tensor, which is the basis of the concept of the role played by shock and contact discontinuities as sources of dipole and monopole sound, is presently applied to the simplest transonic flows: (1) a fixed wing in steady motion, for which there is no sound field, and (2) a hovering helicopter blade that produces a sound field. Attention is given to the contribution of the shock to sound from the viewpoint of energy conservation; the shock emerges as the source of only the quantity of entropy.

Sound Generation by Aircraft Wake Vortices

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hardin, Jay C.; Wang, Frank Y.

2003-01-01

This report provides an extensive analysis of potential wake vortex noise sources that might be utilized to aid in their tracking. Several possible mechanisms of aircraft vortex sound generation are examined on the basis of discrete vortex dynamic models and characteristic acoustic signatures calculated by application of vortex sound theory. It is shown that the most robust mechanisms result in very low frequency infrasound. An instability of the vortex core structure is discussed and shown to be a possible mechanism for generating higher frequency sound bordering the audible frequency range. However, the frequencies produced are still low and cannot explain the reasonably high-pitched sound that has occasionally been observed experimentally. Since the robust mechanisms appear to generate only very low frequency sound, infrasonic tracking of the vortices may be warranted.

Sound For Animation And Virtual Reality

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hahn, James K.; Docter, Pete; Foster, Scott H.; Mangini, Mark; Myers, Tom; Wenzel, Elizabeth M.; Null, Cynthia (Technical Monitor)

1995-01-01

Sound is an integral part of the experience in computer animation and virtual reality. In this course, we will present some of the important technical issues in sound modeling, rendering, and synchronization as well as the "art" and business of sound that are being applied in animations, feature films, and virtual reality. The central theme is to bring leading researchers and practitioners from various disciplines to share their experiences in this interdisciplinary field. The course will give the participants an understanding of the problems and techniques involved in producing and synchronizing sounds, sound effects, dialogue, and music. The problem spans a number of domains including computer animation and virtual reality. Since sound has been an integral part of animations and films much longer than for computer-related domains, we have much to learn from traditional animation and film production. By bringing leading researchers and practitioners from a wide variety of disciplines, the course seeks to give the audience a rich mixture of experiences. It is expected that the audience will be able to apply what they have learned from this course in their research or production.

On the effectiveness of vocal imitations and verbal descriptions of sounds.

PubMed

Lemaitre, Guillaume; Rocchesso, Davide

2014-02-01

Describing unidentified sounds with words is a frustrating task and vocally imitating them is often a convenient way to address the issue. This article reports on a study that compared the effectiveness of vocal imitations and verbalizations to communicate different referent sounds. The stimuli included mechanical and synthesized sounds and were selected on the basis of participants' confidence in identifying the cause of the sounds, ranging from easy-to-identify to unidentifiable sounds. The study used a selection of vocal imitations and verbalizations deemed adequate descriptions of the referent sounds. These descriptions were used in a nine-alternative forced-choice experiment: Participants listened to a description and picked one sound from a list of nine possible referent sounds. Results showed that recognition based on verbalizations was maximally effective when the referent sounds were identifiable. Recognition accuracy with verbalizations dropped when identifiability of the sounds decreased. Conversely, recognition accuracy with vocal imitations did not depend on the identifiability of the referent sounds and was as high as with the best verbalizations. This shows that vocal imitations are an effective means of representing and communicating sounds and suggests that they could be used in a number of applications.

Evaluation of Routine Atmospheric Sounding Measurements using Unmanned Systems (ERASMUS): Final Technical Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

de Boer, Gijs; Lawrence, Dale; Palo, Scott

2017-03-29

This final technical report details activities undertaken as part of the referenced project. Included is information on the preparation of aircraft for deployment to Alaska, summaries of the three deployments covered under this project, and a brief description of the dataset and science directions pursued. Additionally, we provide information on lessons learned, publications, and presentations resulting from this work.

Lung Diagnosis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1985-01-01

NASA research in aircraft sound production provided a theoretical basis for a mode of the production of human respiratory sounds. Respiratory changes that occur after inhaling cigarette smoke may be recorded and analyzed. The research team includes representatives from the Medical College of Virginia, RTI, Bruel and Kjaer Instruments. A commercial market as a diagnostic tool is anticipated.

Discovering Structure in Auditory Input: Evidence from Williams Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elsabbagh, Mayada; Cohen, Henri; Karmiloff-Smith, Annette

2010-01-01

We examined auditory perception in Williams syndrome by investigating strategies used in organizing sound patterns into coherent units. In Experiment 1, we investigated the streaming of sound sequences into perceptual units, on the basis of pitch cues, in a group of children and adults with Williams syndrome compared to typical controls. We showed…

A Review of Legal Decisions Relevant to Technical Standards Used in Pharmacy School Admissions

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

The implementation of an effective and legally sound technical standards procedure for pharmacy schools requires a proactive approach by admissions officers. Applicants with disabilities are accorded significant rights that must not be infringed during the admissions process in order to ensure compliance with applicable law. This article provides a review of applicable state cases, federal cases, and OCR decisions and guidance to help pharmacy schools identify procedures and implement technical standards into their admissions processes as required by ACPE Standards 2016. PMID:28381897

Technical aspects of a demonstration tape for three-dimensional sound displays

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Begault, Durand R.; Wenzel, Elizabeth M.

1990-01-01

This document was developed to accompany an audio cassette that demonstrates work in three-dimensional auditory displays, developed at the Ames Research Center Aerospace Human Factors Division. It provides a text version of the audio material, and covers the theoretical and technical issues of spatial auditory displays in greater depth than on the cassette. The technical procedures used in the production of the audio demonstration are documented, including the methods for simulating rotorcraft radio communication, synthesizing auditory icons, and using the Convolvotron, a real-time spatialization device.

Separating pitch chroma and pitch height in the human brain

PubMed Central

Warren, J. D.; Uppenkamp, S.; Patterson, R. D.; Griffiths, T. D.

2003-01-01

Musicians recognize pitch as having two dimensions. On the keyboard, these are illustrated by the octave and the cycle of notes within the octave. In perception, these dimensions are referred to as pitch height and pitch chroma, respectively. Pitch chroma provides a basis for presenting acoustic patterns (melodies) that do not depend on the particular sound source. In contrast, pitch height provides a basis for segregation of notes into streams to separate sound sources. This paper reports a functional magnetic resonance experiment designed to search for distinct mappings of these two types of pitch change in the human brain. The results show that chroma change is specifically represented anterior to primary auditory cortex, whereas height change is specifically represented posterior to primary auditory cortex. We propose that tracking of acoustic information streams occurs in anterior auditory areas, whereas the segregation of sound objects (a crucial aspect of auditory scene analysis) depends on posterior areas. PMID:12909719

Separating pitch chroma and pitch height in the human brain.

PubMed

Warren, J D; Uppenkamp, S; Patterson, R D; Griffiths, T D

2003-08-19

Musicians recognize pitch as having two dimensions. On the keyboard, these are illustrated by the octave and the cycle of notes within the octave. In perception, these dimensions are referred to as pitch height and pitch chroma, respectively. Pitch chroma provides a basis for presenting acoustic patterns (melodies) that do not depend on the particular sound source. In contrast, pitch height provides a basis for segregation of notes into streams to separate sound sources. This paper reports a functional magnetic resonance experiment designed to search for distinct mappings of these two types of pitch change in the human brain. The results show that chroma change is specifically represented anterior to primary auditory cortex, whereas height change is specifically represented posterior to primary auditory cortex. We propose that tracking of acoustic information streams occurs in anterior auditory areas, whereas the segregation of sound objects (a crucial aspect of auditory scene analysis) depends on posterior areas.

47 CFR 64.1703 - Dispute resolution default process.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... dispute resolution and the other funding parties) shall be asked by the panel whether there is knowledge... technically sound solution and base its recommendation upon the substantive evidence presented to the panel...

CLARIFY (Trademark): An On-Line Guide for Revising Technical Prose,

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-11-01

it appears that writers nominalize in an unconscious attempt to make their prose sound significant. Sociolinguistic studies consistently show that...technical information more effectively than a varied mix of long and short sentences. And there are no empirical studies to suggest that varied sentence...earlier studies , especially those that contrast memory and comprehension - 18 - topic" and "agent." New instance,;--that is, elements of new sentences

Improving the Effectiveness of Electronic Health Record-Based Referral Processes

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Electronic health records are increasingly being used to facilitate referral communication in the outpatient setting. However, despite support by technology, referral communication between primary care providers and specialists is often unsatisfactory and is unable to eliminate care delays. This may be in part due to lack of attention to how information and communication technology fits within the social environment of health care. Making electronic referral communication effective requires a multifaceted “socio-technical” approach. Using an 8-dimensional socio-technical model for health information technology as a framework, we describe ten recommendations that represent good clinical practices to design, develop, implement, improve, and monitor electronic referral communication in the outpatient setting. These recommendations were developed on the basis of our previous work, current literature, sound clinical practice, and a systems-based approach to understanding and implementing health information technology solutions. Recommendations are relevant to system designers, practicing clinicians, and other stakeholders considering use of electronic health records to support referral communication. PMID:22973874

Direct Cast U-6Nb – 2017 Progress on Cylindrical Castings

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aikin, Jr., Robert M.

2017-10-04

This report describes work to further develop a sound technical basis and best practices for mold design and process parameters for the Direct Casting of U-6wt%Nb components. One major challenge to the production of U-6Nb components is the propensity for niobium segregation during casting and solidification. This is especially true for cylindrical castings where the vertical side walls allow flotation of Nb resulting in severe inverse macrosegregation. In this work, a small (120 mm diameter by 180 mm tall) and large cylinder (250 mm diameter by 310 mm tall) are examined with a focus on reducing, or eliminating, niobium segregation.more » It is demonstrated that counter gravity casting (top-to-bottom solidification) can be used to minimize segregation in the small cylinder. Attempts to counter gravity cast the large cylinder were unsuccessful, in large part due to size limitations of the current furnace. A path forward for casting of the large cylinders is discussed.« less

Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources of the West Greenland-East Canada Province, 2008

USGS Publications Warehouse

Schenk, Christopher J.; Bird, Kenneth J.; Brown, Philip J.; Charpentier, Ronald R.; Gautier, Donald L.; Houseknecht, David W.; Klett, Timothy R.; Pawlewicz, Mark J.; Shah, Anjana; Tennyson, Marilyn E.

2008-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently assessed the undiscovered oil and gas potential of the West Greenland?East Canada Province as part of the USGS Circum-Arctic Oil and Gas Resource Appraisal effort. The West Greenland?East Canada Province is essentially the offshore area between west Greenland and east Canada and includes Baffin Bay, Davis Strait, Lancaster Sound, and Nares Strait west of and including Kane Basin. The tectonic evolution of the West Greenland?East Canada Province led to the formation of several major structural domains that are the geologic basis for the five assessment units (AU) defined in this study. The five AUs encompass the entire province. Each AU was assessed in its entirety for undiscovered, technically recoverable (assuming absence of sea ice) oil and gas resources, but the assessment results reported here are only for those portions of each AU that are north of the Arctic Circle, as that latitude defines the area of the Circum-Arctic oil and gas assessment.

Waste Receiving and Processing (WRAP) Module 1 Hazards Assessment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

CAMPBELL, L.R.

1999-09-29

This document establishes the technical basis in support of Emergency Planning activities for the WRAP Module 1 Facility on the Hanford Site. Through this document, the technical basis for the development of facility specific Emergency Action Levels and Emergency Planning Zone is demonstrated.

Opti-Tool: EPA Region 1's Stormwater Management Optimization Tool

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Opti-Tool assists stormwater managers & consulting engineers in preparing technically sound & cost-effective watershed SW mgmt plans to achieve needed pollutant & volume reductions more affordably from developed landscapes throughout the New England Region

Velocity and attenuation of sound in arterial tissues

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rooney, J. A.; Gammell, P. M.; Hestenes, J. D.; Chin, H. P.; Blankenhorn, D. H.

1982-01-01

The velocity of sound in excised human and canine arterial tissues is measured in order to serve as a basis for the development and application of ultrasonic techniques for the diagnosis of atherosclerotic lesions. Measurements of sound velocity at different regions of 11 human and six canine aortas were made by a time delay spectrometer technique at frequencies from 2 to 10 MHz, and compared with ultrasonic attenuation parameters and the results of biochemical assays. Sound velocity is found to increase with increasing attenuation at all frequencies, and with increasing collagen content. A strong dependence of sound velocity on cholesterol content or low calcium contents is not observed, although velocities of up to 2000 m/sec are observed in highly organized calcified lesions. A decrease in velocity with decreasing temperature is also noted. It is thus concluded that it is principally the differences in tissue collagen levels that contribute to image formation according to sound velocity.

Method and Apparatus of Measuring Velocity and Sound Attenuation Coefficient in Bulk Materials Based on the Analysis of the Structure of Sound-Insulation Materials on the Basis of Perlite

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kapranov, B. I.; Mashanov, A. P.

2017-04-01

This paper presents the results of research and describes the apparatus for measuring the acoustic characteristics of bulk materials. Ultrasound, it has passed through a layer of bulk material, is further passes through an air gap. The presence of air gap prevents from measuring tract mechanical contacts, but complicates the measurement technology Studies were conducted on the example of measuring the acoustic characteristics of the widely used perlite-based sound-proofing material.

Reverberation impairs brainstem temporal representations of voiced vowel sounds: challenging “periodicity-tagged” segregation of competing speech in rooms

PubMed Central

Sayles, Mark; Stasiak, Arkadiusz; Winter, Ian M.

2015-01-01

The auditory system typically processes information from concurrently active sound sources (e.g., two voices speaking at once), in the presence of multiple delayed, attenuated and distorted sound-wave reflections (reverberation). Brainstem circuits help segregate these complex acoustic mixtures into “auditory objects.” Psychophysical studies demonstrate a strong interaction between reverberation and fundamental-frequency (F0) modulation, leading to impaired segregation of competing vowels when segregation is on the basis of F0 differences. Neurophysiological studies of complex-sound segregation have concentrated on sounds with steady F0s, in anechoic environments. However, F0 modulation and reverberation are quasi-ubiquitous. We examine the ability of 129 single units in the ventral cochlear nucleus (VCN) of the anesthetized guinea pig to segregate the concurrent synthetic vowel sounds /a/ and /i/, based on temporal discharge patterns under closed-field conditions. We address the effects of added real-room reverberation, F0 modulation, and the interaction of these two factors, on brainstem neural segregation of voiced speech sounds. A firing-rate representation of single-vowels' spectral envelopes is robust to the combination of F0 modulation and reverberation: local firing-rate maxima and minima across the tonotopic array code vowel-formant structure. However, single-vowel F0-related periodicity information in shuffled inter-spike interval distributions is significantly degraded in the combined presence of reverberation and F0 modulation. Hence, segregation of double-vowels' spectral energy into two streams (corresponding to the two vowels), on the basis of temporal discharge patterns, is impaired by reverberation; specifically when F0 is modulated. All unit types (primary-like, chopper, onset) are similarly affected. These results offer neurophysiological insights to perceptual organization of complex acoustic scenes under realistically challenging listening conditions. PMID:25628545

How pleasant sounds promote and annoying sounds impede health: a cognitive approach.

PubMed

Andringa, Tjeerd C; Lanser, J Jolie L

2013-04-08

This theoretical paper addresses the cognitive functions via which quiet and in general pleasurable sounds promote and annoying sounds impede health. The article comprises a literature analysis and an interpretation of how the bidirectional influence of appraising the environment and the feelings of the perceiver can be understood in terms of core affect and motivation. This conceptual basis allows the formulation of a detailed cognitive model describing how sonic content, related to indicators of safety and danger, either allows full freedom over mind-states or forces the activation of a vigilance function with associated arousal. The model leads to a number of detailed predictions that can be used to provide existing soundscape approaches with a solid cognitive science foundation that may lead to novel approaches to soundscape design. These will take into account that louder sounds typically contribute to distal situational awareness while subtle environmental sounds provide proximal situational awareness. The role of safety indicators, mediated by proximal situational awareness and subtle sounds, should become more important in future soundscape research.

Propagation of second sound in a superfluid Fermi gas in the unitary limit

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Arahata, Emiko; Nikuni, Tetsuro

2009-10-15

We study sound propagation in a uniform superfluid gas of Fermi atoms in the unitary limit. The existence of normal and superfluid components leads to appearance of two sound modes in the collisional regime, referred to as first and second sounds. The second sound is of particular interest as it is a clear signal of a superfluid component. Using Landau's two-fluid hydrodynamic theory, we calculate hydrodynamic sound velocities and these weights in the density response function. The latter is used to calculate the response to a sudden modification of the external potential generating pulse propagation. The amplitude of a pulsemore » which is proportional to the weight in the response function is calculated, the basis of the approach of Nozieres and Schmitt-Rink for the BCS-BEC. We show that, in a superfluid Fermi gas at unitarity, the second-sound pulse is excited with an appreciate amplitude by density perturbations.« less

Communities of Sound: Examining Meaningful Engagement with Generative Music Making and Virtual Ensembles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dillon, Steve; Adkins, Barbara; Brown, Andrew; Hirche, Kathy

2009-01-01

In this article, we examine the affordances of the concept of "network jamming" as a means of facilitating social and cultural interaction, that provides a basis for unified communities that use sound and visual media as their key expressive medium. This article focuses upon the development of a means of measuring social and musical benefit…

Microfaunal analysis of late Quaternary deposits of the northern Bering Sea.

USGS Publications Warehouse

McDougall, K.

1982-01-01

Holocene microfaunal associations and distribution patterns define three inner-shelf (1-20m) biofacies in Norton Sound, northern Bering Sea. The Holocene facies relations are the basis for interpreting early Holocene and late Pleistocene environmental conditions in the NE Bering Sea area. Norton Sound cores provide evidence of two marine transgressions and a varying river input.-from Author

Golden Gate National Recreation Area : acoustical monitoring 2007/2008

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-03-01

In 2007, the Natural Sounds Program (NPS) received a technical assistance request to collect baseline acoustical data at Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA). During the summer (June September 2007) and winter (January February 2008),...

Development of Technical Basis for Burnup Credit Regulatory Guidance in the United States

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Parks, Cecil V; Wagner, John C; Mueller, Don

2011-01-01

In the United States (U.S.) there has been and continues to be considerable interest in the increased use of burnup credit as part of the safety basis for SNF systems and this interest has motivated numerous technical studies related to the application of burnup credit for maintaining subcriticality. Responding to industry requests and needs, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission initiated a burnup credit research program, with support from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, to develop regulatory guidance and the supporting technical basis for allowing and expanding the use of burnup credit in pressurized-water reactor SNF storage and transport applications. Themore » objective of this paper is to summarize the work and significant accomplishments, with references to the technical reports and publications for complete details.« less

The mandate for a proper preservation in histopathological tissues.

PubMed

Comănescu, Maria; Arsene, D; Ardeleanu, Carmen; Bussolati, G

2012-01-01

A sequence of technically reproducible procedures is mandatory to guarantee a proper preservation of tissues and to build up the basis for sound diagnoses. However, while the goal of these procedures was, until recently, to assure only structural (histological and cytological) preservation, an appropriate preservation of antigenic properties and of nucleic acid integrity is now additionally requested, in order to permit pathologists to provide the biological information necessary for the adoption of personalized therapies. The present review analyses the sequence of technical steps open to critical variations. Passages such as dehydration, paraffin embedding, sectioning and staining are relatively well standardized and allow adoption of dedicated (automatic) apparatuses, while other pre-analytical steps, i.e. time and modalities of transfer of surgical specimens from the surgical theatre to the pathology laboratory (s.c. "ischemia time") and the type and length of fixation are not standardized and are a potential cause of discrepancies in diagnostic results. Our group is involved in European-funded projects tackling these problems with the concrete objective of implementing a model of effective tumors investigations by high performance genetic and molecular methodologies. The problem of the discrepant quality level of histopathological and cytological preparations involved five European countries and exploiting the potential of "virtual slide technology". Concrete issues, techniques and pitfalls, as well as proposed guidelines for processing the tissues are shown in this presentation.

Numerical Prediction of Combustion-induced Noise using a hybrid LES/CAA approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ihme, Matthias; Pitsch, Heinz; Kaltenbacher, Manfred

2006-11-01

Noise generation in technical devices is an increasingly important problem. Jet engines in particular produce sound levels that not only are a nuisance but may also impair hearing. The noise emitted by such engines is generated by different sources such as jet exhaust, fans or turbines, and combustion. Whereas the former acoustic mechanisms are reasonably well understood, combustion-generated noise is not. A methodology for the prediction of combustion-generated noise is developed. In this hybrid approach unsteady acoustic source terms are obtained from an LES and the propagation of pressure perturbations are obtained using acoustic analogies. Lighthill's acoustic analogy and a non-linear wave equation, accounting for variable speed of sound, have been employed. Both models are applied to an open diffusion flame. The effects on the far field pressure and directivity due to the variation of speed of sound are analyzed. Results for the sound pressure level will be compared with experimental data.

Musical Sound, Instruments, and Equipment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Photinos, Panos

2017-12-01

'Musical Sound, Instruments, and Equipment' offers a basic understanding of sound, musical instruments and music equipment, geared towards a general audience and non-science majors. The book begins with an introduction of the fundamental properties of sound waves, and the perception of the characteristics of sound. The relation between intensity and loudness, and the relation between frequency and pitch are discussed. The basics of propagation of sound waves, and the interaction of sound waves with objects and structures of various sizes are introduced. Standing waves, harmonics and resonance are explained in simple terms, using graphics that provide a visual understanding. The development is focused on musical instruments and acoustics. The construction of musical scales and the frequency relations are reviewed and applied in the description of musical instruments. The frequency spectrum of selected instruments is explored using freely available sound analysis software. Sound amplification and sound recording, including analog and digital approaches, are discussed in two separate chapters. The book concludes with a chapter on acoustics, the physical factors that affect the quality of the music experience, and practical ways to improve the acoustics at home or small recording studios. A brief technical section is provided at the end of each chapter, where the interested reader can find the relevant physics and sample calculations. These quantitative sections can be skipped without affecting the comprehension of the basic material. Questions are provided to test the reader's understanding of the material. Answers are given in the appendix.

7 CFR 653.3 - Adaptation of technical standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 6 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Adaptation of technical standards. 653.3 Section 653.3..., DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE SUPPORT ACTIVITIES TECHNICAL STANDARDS § 653.3 Adaptation of technical standards. Technical standards and criteria developed on a national basis may require special adaptation to meet local...

7 CFR 653.3 - Adaptation of technical standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 6 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Adaptation of technical standards. 653.3 Section 653.3..., DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE SUPPORT ACTIVITIES TECHNICAL STANDARDS § 653.3 Adaptation of technical standards. Technical standards and criteria developed on a national basis may require special adaptation to meet local...

7 CFR 653.3 - Adaptation of technical standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 6 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Adaptation of technical standards. 653.3 Section 653.3..., DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE SUPPORT ACTIVITIES TECHNICAL STANDARDS § 653.3 Adaptation of technical standards. Technical standards and criteria developed on a national basis may require special adaptation to meet local...

7 CFR 653.3 - Adaptation of technical standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 6 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Adaptation of technical standards. 653.3 Section 653.3..., DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE SUPPORT ACTIVITIES TECHNICAL STANDARDS § 653.3 Adaptation of technical standards. Technical standards and criteria developed on a national basis may require special adaptation to meet local...

Selection of Electronic Resources.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weathers, Barbara

1998-01-01

Discusses the impact of electronic resources on collection development; selection of CD-ROMs, (platform, speed, video and sound, networking capability, installation and maintenance); selection of laser disks; and Internet evaluation (accuracy of content, authority, objectivity, currency, technical characteristics). Lists Web sites for evaluating…

Advancing innovative high-speed remote-sensing highway infrastructure assessment using emerging technologies : technical report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2017-02-01

Asset management is a strategic approach to the optimal allocation of resources for the management, operation, maintenance, and preservation of transportation infrastructure. Asset management combines engineering and economic principles with sound bu...

76 FR 3057 - Special Local Regulation; Hydroplane Races Within the Captain of the Port Puget Sound Area of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-01-19

...: November 24, 2010. G.T. Blore, Rear Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard, Commander, Thirteenth Coast Guard District.... Voluntary consensus standards are technical standards (e.g., specifications of materials, performance...

Technical engineering services in support of the Nike-Tomahawk sounding rocket vehicle system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1972-01-01

Task assignments in support of the Nike-Tomahawk vehicles, which were completed from May, 1970 through November 1972 are reported. The services reported include: analytical, design and drafting, fabrication and modification, and field engineering.

Personal evaluation structure of environmental sounds: experiments of subjective evaluation using subjects' own terms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kawai, Keiji; Kojima, Takaya; Hirate, Kotaroh; Yasuoka, Masahito

2004-10-01

In this study, we conducted an experiment to investigate the evaluation structure that lies at the basis of peoples' psychological evaluation of environmental sounds. In the experiment, subjects were given cards on each of which a name of one of the environmental sounds in the specified context is written. Then they did the following three tasks: (1) to sort the cards into groups by the similarity of their impressions of the imagined sounds; (2) to name each group with the word that best represented their overall impression of the group; and (3) to evaluate all sounds on the cards using the words obtained in the previous task. These tasks were done twice: once assuming they heard the sounds at ease inside their homes and once while walking outside in a resort theme park. We analysed the similarity of imagined impression between the sounds with a cluster analysis and clusters of sounds were produced, namely, sounds labelled "natural," "transportation," and so on. A principal component analysis revealed the three major factors of the evaluation structure for both contexts and they were interpreted as preference, activity and sense of daily life.

Monitored Natural Attenuation of Inorganic Contaminants in Ground Water Volume 1 – Technical Basis for Assessment

EPA Science Inventory

This document represents the first volume of a set of three volumes that address the technical basis and requirements for assessing the potential applicability of MNA as part of a ground-water remedy for plumes with non-radionuclide and/or radionuclide inorganic contaminants. Vo...

Technique of Automated Control Over Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Procedures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bureev, A. Sh; Kiseleva, E. Yu; Kutsov, M. S.; Zhdanov, D. S.

2016-01-01

The article describes a technique of automated control over cardiopulmonary resuscitation procedures on the basis of acoustic data. The research findings have allowed determining the primary important characteristics of acoustic signals (sounds of blood circulation in the carotid artery and respiratory sounds) and proposing a method to control the performance of resuscitation procedures. This method can be implemented as a part of specialized hardware systems.

76 FR 18672 - Safety Zone; Big Rock Blue Marlin Air Show; Bogue Sound, Morehead City, NC

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-04-05

...-AA00 Safety Zone; Big Rock Blue Marlin Air Show; Bogue Sound, Morehead City, NC AGENCY: Coast Guard... Safety Zone for the ``Big Rock Blue Marlin Air Show'', an aerial demonstration to be held over the waters... Register. Basis and Purpose On June 11, 2011 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament...

The Influence of Environmental Sound Training on the Perception of Spectrally Degraded Speech and Environmental Sounds

PubMed Central

Sheft, Stanley; Gygi, Brian; Ho, Kim Thien N.

2012-01-01

Perceptual training with spectrally degraded environmental sounds results in improved environmental sound identification, with benefits shown to extend to untrained speech perception as well. The present study extended those findings to examine longer-term training effects as well as effects of mere repeated exposure to sounds over time. Participants received two pretests (1 week apart) prior to a week-long environmental sound training regimen, which was followed by two posttest sessions, separated by another week without training. Spectrally degraded stimuli, processed with a four-channel vocoder, consisted of a 160-item environmental sound test, word and sentence tests, and a battery of basic auditory abilities and cognitive tests. Results indicated significant improvements in all speech and environmental sound scores between the initial pretest and the last posttest with performance increments following both exposure and training. For environmental sounds (the stimulus class that was trained), the magnitude of positive change that accompanied training was much greater than that due to exposure alone, with improvement for untrained sounds roughly comparable to the speech benefit from exposure. Additional tests of auditory and cognitive abilities showed that speech and environmental sound performance were differentially correlated with tests of spectral and temporal-fine-structure processing, whereas working memory and executive function were correlated with speech, but not environmental sound perception. These findings indicate generalizability of environmental sound training and provide a basis for implementing environmental sound training programs for cochlear implant (CI) patients. PMID:22891070

Sound propagation in a duct of periodic wall structure. [numerical analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kurze, U.

1978-01-01

A boundary condition, which accounts for the coupling in the sections behind the duct boundary, is given for the sound-absorbing duct with a periodic structure of the wall lining and using regular partition walls. The soundfield in the duct is suitably described by the method of differences. For locally active walls this renders an explicit approximate solution for the propagation constant. Coupling may be accounted for by the method of differences in a clear manner. Numerical results agree with measurements and yield information which has technical applications.

A System And Method To Determine Thermophysical Properties Of A Multi-Component Gas At Arbitrary Temperature And Pressure

DOEpatents

Morrow, Thomas E.; Behring, II, Kendricks A.

2004-03-09

A method to determine thermodynamic properties of a natural gas hydrocarbon, when the speed of sound in the gas is known at an arbitrary temperature and pressure. Thus, the known parameters are the sound speed, temperature, pressure, and concentrations of any dilute components of the gas. The method uses a set of reference gases and their calculated density and speed of sound values to estimate the density of the subject gas. Additional calculations can be made to estimate the molecular weight of the subject gas, which can then be used as the basis for mass flow calculations, to determine the speed of sound at standard pressure and temperature, and to determine various thermophysical characteristics of the gas.

Device For Determining Therophysical Properties Of A Multi-Component Gas At Arbitrary Temperature And Pressure

DOEpatents

Morrow, Thomas B.; Behring, II, Kendricks A.

2005-02-01

A computer product for determining thermodynamic properties of a natural gas hydrocarbon, when the speed of sound in the gas is known at an arbitrary temperature and pressure. Thus, the known parameters are the sound speed, temperature, pressure, and concentrations of any dilute components of the gas. The method uses a set of reference gases and their calculated density and speed of sound values to estimate the density of the subject gas. Additional calculations can be made to estimate the molecular weight of the subject gas, which can then be used as the basis for mass flow calculations, to determine the speed of sound at standard pressure and temperature, and to determine various thermophysical characteristics of the gas.

Echolocation of insects using intermittent frequency-modulated sounds.

PubMed

Matsuo, Ikuo; Takanashi, Takuma

2015-09-01

Using echolocation influenced by Doppler shift, bats can capture flying insects in real three-dimensional space. On the basis of this principle, a model that estimates object locations using frequency modulated (FM) sound was proposed. However, no investigation was conducted to verify whether the model can localize flying insects from their echoes. This study applied the model to estimate the range and direction of flying insects by extracting temporal changes from the time-frequency pattern and interaural range difference, respectively. The results obtained confirm that a living insect's position can be estimated using this model with echoes measured while emitting intermittent FM sounds.

Speed of sound and ideal-gas heat capacity of freon R-236ea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Komarov, S. G.; Gruzdev, V. A.; Stankus, S. V.

2008-09-01

Speed of sound in the gaseous freon R-236ea with the purity of 99.68 mol. % has been measured by the method of ultrasonic interferometer in the range from 263 to 423 K and at pressures from 17 kPA to 4.2 MPa. Errors of temperature, pressure, and speed of sound measurement were estimated to be within +/- 20 mK, ± 1.5 kPa, and ±(0.1+0.2) % respectively. Temperature dependence of ideal-gas heat capacity of R-236ea has been calculated on the basis of the obtained data.

Auditory performance in an open sound field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fluitt, Kim F.; Letowski, Tomasz; Mermagen, Timothy

2003-04-01

Detection and recognition of acoustic sources in an open field are important elements of situational awareness on the battlefield. They are affected by many technical and environmental conditions such as type of sound, distance to a sound source, terrain configuration, meteorological conditions, hearing capabilities of the listener, level of background noise, and the listener's familiarity with the sound source. A limited body of knowledge about auditory perception of sources located over long distances makes it difficult to develop models predicting auditory behavior on the battlefield. The purpose of the present study was to determine the listener's abilities to detect, recognize, localize, and estimate distances to sound sources from 25 to 800 m from the listing position. Data were also collected for meteorological conditions (wind direction and strength, temperature, atmospheric pressure, humidity) and background noise level for each experimental trial. Forty subjects (men and women, ages 18 to 25) participated in the study. Nine types of sounds were presented from six loudspeakers in random order; each series was presented four times. Partial results indicate that both detection and recognition declined at distances greater than approximately 200 m and distance estimation was grossly underestimated by listeners. Specific results will be presented.

Science Serves Society.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sneed, G. C.

This book discusses how some of the topics taught in a conventional physics course have been used to solve interesting technical problems in industry, medicine, agriculture, transportation, and other areas of society. The topics include heat, optics, magnetism and electricity, nuclear physics, and sound. (MLH)

10 CFR 830.205 - Technical safety requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... must: (1) Develop technical safety requirements that are derived from the documented safety analysis... 10 Energy 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Technical safety requirements. 830.205 Section 830.205 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY NUCLEAR SAFETY MANAGEMENT Safety Basis Requirements § 830.205 Technical...

7 CFR 1775.35 - Eligibility.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... (CONTINUED) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE GRANTS Technical Assistance and Training Grants § 1775.35 Eligibility. (a... provide technical assistance and/or training on a regional basis to associations as provided in § 1775.33... resources to provide technical assistance and/or training to associations in rural areas through its staff...

10 CFR 830.205 - Technical safety requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... must: (1) Develop technical safety requirements that are derived from the documented safety analysis... 10 Energy 4 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Technical safety requirements. 830.205 Section 830.205 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY NUCLEAR SAFETY MANAGEMENT Safety Basis Requirements § 830.205 Technical...

The Euratom Seventh Framework Programme FP7 (2007-2011)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garbil, R.

2010-10-01

The objective of the Seventh Euratom Framework Program in the area of nuclear fission and radiation protection is to establish a sound scientific and technical basis to accelerate practical developments of nuclear energy related to resource efficiency, enhancing safety performance, cost-effectiveness and safer management of long-lived radioactive waste. Key cross-cutting topics such as the nuclear fuel cycle, actinide chemistry, risk analysis, safety assessment, even societal and governance issues are linked to the individual technical areas. Research need to explore new scientific and techno- logical opportunities and to respond in a flexible way to new policy needs that arise. The following activities are to be pursued. (a) Management of radioactive waste, research on partitioning and transmutation and/or other concepts aimed at reducing the amount and/or hazard of the waste for disposal; (b) Reactor systems research to underpin the con- tinued safe operation of all relevant types of existing reactor systems (including fuel cycle facilities), life-time extension, development of new advanced safety assessment methodologies and waste-management aspects of future reactor systems; (c) Radiation protection research in particular on the risks from low doses on medical uses and on the management of accidents; (d) Infrastructures and support given to the availability of, and cooperation between, research infrastructures necessary to maintain high standards of technical achievement, innovation and safety in the European nuclear sector and Research Area. (e) Human resources, mobility and training support to be provided for the retention and further development of scientific competence, human capacity through joint training activities in order to guarantee the availability of suitably qualified researchers, engineers and employees in the nuclear sector over the longer term.

Final Technical Report for GO17004 Regulatory Logic: Codes and Standards for the Hydrogen Economy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nakarado, Gary L.

The objectives of this project are to: develop a robust supporting research and development program to provide critical hydrogen behavior data and a detailed understanding of hydrogen combustion and safety across a range of scenarios, needed to establish setback distances in building codes and minimize the overall data gaps in code development; support and facilitate the completion of technical specifications by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for gaseous hydrogen refueling (TS 20012) and standards for on-board liquid (ISO 13985) and gaseous or gaseous blend (ISO 15869) hydrogen storage by 2007; support and facilitate the effort, led by the NFPA,more » to complete the draft Hydrogen Technologies Code (NFPA 2) by 2008; with experimental data and input from Technology Validation Program element activities, support and facilitate the completion of standards for bulk hydrogen storage (e.g., NFPA 55) by 2008; facilitate the adoption of the most recently available model codes (e.g., from the International Code Council [ICC]) in key regions; complete preliminary research and development on hydrogen release scenarios to support the establishment of setback distances in building codes and provide a sound basis for model code development and adoption; support and facilitate the development of Global Technical Regulations (GTRs) by 2010 for hydrogen vehicle systems under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations and Working Party on Pollution and Energy Program (ECE-WP29/GRPE); and to Support and facilitate the completion by 2012 of necessary codes and standards needed for the early commercialization and market entry of hydrogen energy technologies.« less

Comment on “Rain dance”

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Orville, Harold D.

A recent news brief about cloud seeding work being conducted in Cohuila, Mexico, (“Rain Dance,” Eos, July 23, 1996) contained unfounded, off-hand remarks that are a disservice to many scientists and professionals in the cloud physics and weather modification community. The news brief stated that “most previous attempts to catalyze rainfall by cloud seeding have produced inconclusive results, and almost none of the experiments have had a sound scientific basis.” The inconclusive results are primarily statistical; many outstanding scientific results have developed from the 50-year history of research into weather modification.Also, most of the work that I know about has proceeded on the scientific basis that was developed over the years by the scientific and operational communities, and it is improving with time. It is grossly inaccurate to say that almost none of the experiments have had a sound scientific basis. Improvements in technology are strengthening that scientific basis, and current physical and numerical studies being conducted in many places are improving understanding. (See reviews of the status of weather modification from the American Meteorological Society [1992] and the World Meteorological Organization [1992].)

A Circular Model of Thinking Processes as a Basis of Technical Understanding

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Menger, Julia

2010-01-01

Children often experience the influence of technology around them, but there is little emphasis placed on technology within a scientific education in Grundschule (primary schools) in Germany. One of the reasons for this could be a lack of research projects that ascertain young learners' conceptions of technical issues. So there is no basis for…

How Pleasant Sounds Promote and Annoying Sounds Impede Health: A Cognitive Approach

PubMed Central

Andringa, Tjeerd C.; Lanser, J. Jolie L.

2013-01-01

This theoretical paper addresses the cognitive functions via which quiet and in general pleasurable sounds promote and annoying sounds impede health. The article comprises a literature analysis and an interpretation of how the bidirectional influence of appraising the environment and the feelings of the perceiver can be understood in terms of core affect and motivation. This conceptual basis allows the formulation of a detailed cognitive model describing how sonic content, related to indicators of safety and danger, either allows full freedom over mind-states or forces the activation of a vigilance function with associated arousal. The model leads to a number of detailed predictions that can be used to provide existing soundscape approaches with a solid cognitive science foundation that may lead to novel approaches to soundscape design. These will take into account that louder sounds typically contribute to distal situational awareness while subtle environmental sounds provide proximal situational awareness. The role of safety indicators, mediated by proximal situational awareness and subtle sounds, should become more important in future soundscape research. PMID:23567255

A Compilation of Articles Reporting Research Sponsored by the Office of Naval Research

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-07-01

i-A /VGR P Technical Reports Nos 378,379,380,381 and 382 A COMPILATION OF ARTICLES REPORTING RESEARCH SPONSORED BY THE OFFICE OF NAVAL RESEARCH...SPONSORED BY ( THE OFFICE OF NAVAL RESEARCH#’ "I ZIP Office o ---- Contract JINY(601-Z.7-OO502IProject N 1 __ terge C, Anderson Associate Chairman for...SPONSORED BY THE OFFICE OF NAVAL RESEARCH TECHNICAL REPORT NO. 378 The Depth Variability of Meridional Gradients of Temperature, Salinity and Sound

Satellite voice broadcast. Volume 2: System study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bachtell, E. E.; Bettadapur, S. S.; Coyner, J. V.; Farrell, C. E.

1985-01-01

The Technical Volume of the Satellite Broadcast System Study is presented. Designs are synthesized for direct sound broadcast satellite systems for HF-, VHF-, L-, and Ku-bands. Methods are developed and used to predict satellite weight, volume, and RF performance for the various concepts considered. Cost and schedule risk assessments are performed to predict time and cost required to implement selected concepts. Technology assessments and tradeoffs are made to identify critical enabling technologies that require development to bring technical risk to acceptable levels for full scale development.

The Author’s Guide to Writing Air Force Flight Test Center Technical Reports

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-08-01

or designated technical expert 2. Author(s): you and anyone also listed as an author 3. Author’s lead at the test organization 4. An operator...it was designed to do, not what it actually did (it should not sound like results). 4. Objectives: State the general objective(s). Do not list the...met or could not meet design objectives and whether or not it was cleared for operational release, as applicable. Do not provide recommendations

Hox2 Genes Are Required for Tonotopic Map Precision and Sound Discrimination in the Mouse Auditory Brainstem.

PubMed

Karmakar, Kajari; Narita, Yuichi; Fadok, Jonathan; Ducret, Sebastien; Loche, Alberto; Kitazawa, Taro; Genoud, Christel; Di Meglio, Thomas; Thierry, Raphael; Bacelo, Joao; Lüthi, Andreas; Rijli, Filippo M

2017-01-03

Tonotopy is a hallmark of auditory pathways and provides the basis for sound discrimination. Little is known about the involvement of transcription factors in brainstem cochlear neurons orchestrating the tonotopic precision of pre-synaptic input. We found that in the absence of Hoxa2 and Hoxb2 function in Atoh1-derived glutamatergic bushy cells of the anterior ventral cochlear nucleus, broad input topography and sound transmission were largely preserved. However, fine-scale synaptic refinement and sharpening of isofrequency bands of cochlear neuron activation upon pure tone stimulation were impaired in Hox2 mutants, resulting in defective sound-frequency discrimination in behavioral tests. These results establish a role for Hox factors in tonotopic refinement of connectivity and in ensuring the precision of sound transmission in the mammalian auditory circuit. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Noise and stress: a comprehensive approach.

PubMed Central

Westman, J C; Walters, J R

1981-01-01

The fundamental purposes of hearing are to alert and to warn. As a result sound directly evokes emotions and actions. The processing of sound by the brain is outlined to provide a biological and psychological basis for understanding the way in which sound can become a human stressor. The auditory orienting response, startle reflex and defensive response translate sound stimuli into action and sometimes into stress induced bodily changes through "fight or flight" neural mechanisms. The literature on the health and mental health effects of noise then is reviewed in the context of an integrated model that offers a holistic approach to noise research and public policy formulation. The thesis of this paper is that research upon, and efforts to prevent or minimize the harmful effects of noise have suffered from the lack of a full appreciation of the ways in which humans process and react to sound. PMID:7333243

Observation of topological valley transport of sound in sonic crystals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Jiuyang; Qiu, Chunyin; Ye, Liping; Fan, Xiying; Ke, Manzhu; Zhang, Fan; Liu, Zhengyou

2017-04-01

The concept of valley pseudospin, labelling quantum states of energy extrema in momentum space, is attracting attention because of its potential as a new type of information carrier. Compared with the non-topological bulk valley transport, realized soon after predictions, topological valley transport in domain walls is extremely challenging owing to the inter-valley scattering inevitably induced by atomic-scale imperfections--but an electronic signature was recently observed in bilayer graphene. Here, we report the experimental observation of topological valley transport of sound in sonic crystals. The macroscopic nature of sonic crystals permits a flexible and accurate design of domain walls. In addition to a direct visualization of the valley-selective edge modes through spatial scanning of the sound field, reflection immunity is observed in sharply curved interfaces. The topologically protected interface transport of sound, strikingly different from that in traditional sound waveguides, may serve as the basis for designing devices with unconventional functions.

The emotional symbolism of two English e-sounds: /i/ as in "cheap" is pleasant and /I/ as in "chip" active.

PubMed

Whissell, Cynthia

2003-02-01

This article aligns the symbolism of the long (/i/) and short (/I/) e sounds in English with the two dimensions of emotional space-Pleasantness and Activation. On the basis of this alignment, the four quadrants of emotional space are labelled Cheerful (high /i/, high /I/), Cheerless (low /i/, low /I/), Tough (low /i/, high /I/), and Tender (high /i/, low /I/). In four phases, data from over 50 samples (mainly, poetry, song lyrics, and names) were plotted and compared in terms of their use of the two e sounds. Significant and meaningful differences among samples were discovered in all phases. The placement of samples in quadrants was additionally informative. Data samples including many long e sounds (/i/) tended to be more Pleasant and those including many short e sounds (/I/) tended to be more Active.

When Does Speech Sound Disorder Matter for Literacy? The Role of Disordered Speech Errors, Co-Occurring Language Impairment and Family Risk of Dyslexia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hayiou-Thomas, Marianna E.; Carroll, Julia M.; Leavett, Ruth; Hulme, Charles; Snowling, Margaret J.

2017-01-01

Background: This study considers the role of early speech difficulties in literacy development, in the context of additional risk factors. Method: Children were identified with speech sound disorder (SSD) at the age of 3½ years, on the basis of performance on the Diagnostic Evaluation of Articulation and Phonology. Their literacy skills were…

Cortical encoding of pitch: Recent results and open questions

PubMed Central

Walker, Kerry M.M.; Bizley, Jennifer K.; King, Andrew J.; Schnupp, Jan W.H.

2011-01-01

It is widely appreciated that the key predictor of the pitch of a sound is its periodicity. Neural structures which support pitch perception must therefore be able to reflect the repetition rate of a sound, but this alone is not sufficient. Since pitch is a psychoacoustic property, a putative cortical code for pitch must also be able to account for the relationship between the amount to which a sound is periodic (i.e. its temporal regularity) and the perceived pitch salience, as well as limits in our ability to detect pitch changes or to discriminate rising from falling pitch. Pitch codes must also be robust in the presence of nuisance variables such as loudness or timbre. Here, we review a large body of work on the cortical basis of pitch perception, which illustrates that the distribution of cortical processes that give rise to pitch perception is likely to depend on both the acoustical features and functional relevance of a sound. While previous studies have greatly advanced our understanding, we highlight several open questions regarding the neural basis of pitch perception. These questions can begin to be addressed through a cooperation of investigative efforts across species and experimental techniques, and, critically, by examining the responses of single neurons in behaving animals. PMID:20457240

AN INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK FOR WATERSHED ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT

EPA Science Inventory

Watershed approaches to water quality management have become popular, because they can address multiple point and non-point sources and the influences of land use. Developing technically-sound watershed management strategies can be challenging due to the need to 1) account for mu...

A Web Policy Primer.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levine, Elliott

2001-01-01

Sound technology policies can spell the difference between an effective website and an online nightmare. An effective web development policy addresses six key areas: roles and responsibilities, content/educational value, privacy and safety, adherence to copyright laws, technical standards, and use of commercial sites and services. (MLH)

PCs: Key to the Future. Business Center Provides Sound Skills and Good Attitudes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pay, Renee W.

1991-01-01

The Advanced Computing/Management Training Program at Jordan Technical Center (Sandy, Utah) simulates an automated office to teach five sets of skills: computer architecture and operating systems, word processing, data processing, communications skills, and management principles. (SK)

Report: Region 6 Needs to Improve Oversight Practices

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Report #10-P-0100, April 14, 2010. Region 6’s documentation of its oversight was not sufficient to determine whether CANM’s allegations had merit or whether NMED’s actions and decisions with regard to the MWL monitoring wells were technically sound.

47 CFR 68.316 - Hearing aid compatibility: Technical requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... the Telecommunications Industry Association: Electronic Industries Association Recommended Standard RS... electronic amplifying device, intended to increase the loudness of sound and worn to compensate for impaired... telephones, e.g., proprietary or digital telephones, an appropriate feed circuit and termination shall be...

47 CFR 68.316 - Hearing aid compatibility: Technical requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... the Telecommunications Industry Association: Electronic Industries Association Recommended Standard RS... electronic amplifying device, intended to increase the loudness of sound and worn to compensate for impaired... telephones, e.g., proprietary or digital telephones, an appropriate feed circuit and termination shall be...

Why Do People Like Loud Sound? A Qualitative Study.

PubMed

Welch, David; Fremaux, Guy

2017-08-11

Many people choose to expose themselves to potentially dangerous sounds such as loud music, either via speakers, personal audio systems, or at clubs. The Conditioning, Adaptation and Acculturation to Loud Music (CAALM) Model has proposed a theoretical basis for this behaviour. To compare the model to data, we interviewed a group of people who were either regular nightclub-goers or who controlled the sound levels in nightclubs (bar managers, musicians, DJs, and sound engineers) about loud sound. Results showed four main themes relating to the enjoyment of loud sound: arousal/excitement, facilitation of socialisation, masking of both external sound and unwanted thoughts, and an emphasis and enhancement of personal identity. Furthermore, an interesting incidental finding was that sound levels appeared to increase gradually over the course of the evening until they plateaued at approximately 97 dBA Leq around midnight. Consideration of the data generated by the analysis revealed a complex of influential factors that support people in wanting exposure to loud sound. Findings were considered in terms of the CAALM Model and could be explained in terms of its principles. From a health promotion perspective, the Social Ecological Model was applied to consider how the themes identified might influence behaviour. They were shown to influence people on multiple levels, providing a powerful system which health promotion approaches struggle to address.

Sound Processing Features for Speaker-Dependent and Phrase-Independent Emotion Recognition in Berlin Database

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anagnostopoulos, Christos Nikolaos; Vovoli, Eftichia

An emotion recognition framework based on sound processing could improve services in human-computer interaction. Various quantitative speech features obtained from sound processing of acting speech were tested, as to whether they are sufficient or not to discriminate between seven emotions. Multilayered perceptrons were trained to classify gender and emotions on the basis of a 24-input vector, which provide information about the prosody of the speaker over the entire sentence using statistics of sound features. Several experiments were performed and the results were presented analytically. Emotion recognition was successful when speakers and utterances were “known” to the classifier. However, severe misclassifications occurred during the utterance-independent framework. At least, the proposed feature vector achieved promising results for utterance-independent recognition of high- and low-arousal emotions.

EXPANDING THE ROLE OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMMUNOASSAYS: TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES REGULATORY ISSUES AND COMMUNICATION VEHICLES

EPA Science Inventory

Large numbers of samples are commonplace in environmental monitoring and human exposure assessment studies. When the goals of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of research and Development (sound methods, integrated with human and ecological health, common sense...

Historical trends in the accumulation of chemicals in Puget Sound. National status and trends program for marine environmental quality: Technical memo

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lefkovitz, L.F.; Cullinan, V.I.; Crecelius, E.A.

The purpose of the study is to: (1) continue monitoring historical trends in the concentration of contaminants in Puget Sound sediments, and (2) quantify recent trends in the recovery of contaminated sediments. Results from this study can be compared with those obtained in the 1982 study to determine whether sediment quality is still improving and to estimate the rate of recovery. A statistically significant reduction in sediment contamination over the past 20 years would provide empirical evidence that environmental regulation has had a positive impact on the water quality in Puget Sound. Chemical trends were evaluated from six age-dated sedimentmore » cores collected from the main basin of Puget Sound. Chemical analyses included metals, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), PCBs and chlorinated pesticides, nutrients (total nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P)), butyl tins, and total organic carbon (TOC). Sedimentation (cm/yr) and deposition rates (g/sq cm/yr) were estimated using a steady-state Pb-210 dating technique.« less

A French national research project to the creation of an auscultation's school: the ASAP project.

PubMed

Andrès, Emmanuel; Reichert, Sandra; Gass, Raymond; Brandt, Christian

2009-05-01

Auscultation of pulmonary sounds provides valuable clinical information but has been regarded as a tool of low diagnostic value due to the inherent subjectivity in the evaluation of these sounds. This paper describes an ambitious study of in the so-called ASAP project or "Analyse de Sons Auscultatoires et Pathologiques". ASAP is a 3-year-long French collaborative project developed in the context of the News Technologies of Information and Communication. ASAP aims at making evolve the auscultation technics: by 1) the development objective tools for the analyse of auscultation sounds: electronic stethoscopes paired with computing device; 2) the creation of an auscultation sounds' database in order to compare and identify the acoustical and visual signatures of the pathologies; and 3) the capitalisation of these new auscultation techniques around the creation of a teaching unit: "Ecole de l'Auscultation". This auscultation's school will be destined to the initial and continuous formation of the medical attendants.

Sound field measurement in a double layer cavitation cluster by rugged miniature needle hydrophones.

PubMed

Koch, Christian

2016-03-01

During multi-bubble cavitation the bubbles tend to organize themselves into clusters and thus the understanding of properties and dynamics of clustering is essential for controlling technical applications of cavitation. Sound field measurements are a potential technique to provide valuable experimental information about the status of cavitation clouds. Using purpose-made, rugged, wide band, and small-sized needle hydrophones, sound field measurements in bubble clusters were performed and time-dependent sound pressure waveforms were acquired and analyzed in the frequency domain up to 20 MHz. The cavitation clusters were synchronously observed by an electron multiplying charge-coupled device (EMCCD) camera and the relation between the sound field measurements and cluster behaviour was investigated. Depending on the driving power, three ranges could be identified and characteristic properties were assigned. At low power settings no transient and no or very low stable cavitation activity can be observed. The medium range is characterized by strong pressure peaks and various bubble cluster forms. At high power a stable double layer was observed which grew with further increasing power and became quite dynamic. The sound field was irregular and the fundamental at driving frequency decreased. Between the bubble clouds completely different sound field properties were found in comparison to those in the cloud where the cavitation activity is high. In between the sound field pressure amplitude was quite small and no collapses were detected. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

NASA Glenn's Acoustical Testing Laboratory Awarded Accreditation by the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Akers, James C.; Cooper, Beth A.

2004-01-01

NASA Glenn Research Center's Acoustical Testing Laboratory (ATL) provides a comprehensive array of acoustical testing services, including sound pressure level, sound intensity level, and sound-power-level testing per International Standards Organization (ISO)1 3744. Since its establishment in September 2000, the ATL has provided acoustic emission testing and noise control services for a variety of customers, particularly microgravity space flight hardware that must meet International Space Station acoustic emission requirements. The ATL consists of a 23- by 27- by 20-ft (height) convertible hemi/anechoic test chamber and a separate sound-attenuating test support enclosure. The ATL employs a personal-computer-based data acquisition system that provides up to 26 channels of simultaneous data acquisition with real-time analysis (ref. 4). Specialized diagnostic tools, including a scanning sound-intensity system, allow the ATL's technical staff to support its clients' aggressive low-noise design efforts to meet the space station's acoustic emission requirement. From its inception, the ATL has pursued the goal of developing a comprehensive ISO 17025-compliant quality program that would incorporate Glenn's existing ISO 9000 quality system policies as well as ATL-specific technical policies and procedures. In March 2003, the ATL quality program was awarded accreditation by the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP) for sound-power-level testing in accordance with ISO 3744. The NVLAP program is administered by the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the U.S. Department of Commerce and provides third-party accreditation for testing and calibration laboratories. There are currently 24 NVLAP-accredited acoustical testing laboratories in the United States. NVLAP accreditation covering one or more specific testing procedures conducted in accordance with established test standards is awarded upon successful completion of an intensive onsite assessment that includes proficiency testing and documentation review. The ATL NVLAP accreditation currently applies specifically to its ISO 3744 soundpower- level determination procedure (see the photograph) and supporting ISO 17025 quality system, although all ATL operations are conducted in accordance with its quality system. The ATL staff is currently developing additional procedures to adapt this quality system to the testing of space flight hardware in accordance with International Space Station acoustic emission requirements.<

Geologic Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources of the West Greenland-East Canada Province

USGS Publications Warehouse

Schenk, Christopher J.

2010-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently assessed the potential for undiscovered oil and gas resources of the West Greenland-East Canada Province as part of the USGS Circum-Arctic Resource Appraisal program. The province lies in the offshore area between western Greenland and eastern Canada and includes Baffin Bay, Davis Strait, Lancaster Sound, and Nares Strait west of and including part of Kane Basin. A series of major tectonic events led to the formation of several distinct structural domains that are the geologic basis for defining five assessment units (AU) in the province, all of which are within the Mesozoic-Cenozoic Composite Total Petroleum System (TPS). Potential petroleum source rocks within the TPS include strata of Ordovician, Early and Late Cretaceous, and Paleogene ages. The five AUs defined for this study-the Eurekan Structures AU, Northwest Greenland Rifted Margin AU, Northeast Canada Rifted Margin AU, Baffin Bay Basin AU, and the Greater Ungava Fault Zone AU-encompass the entire province and were assessed for undiscovered, technically recoverable resources.

Status and problems of fusion reactor development.

PubMed

Schumacher, U

2001-03-01

Thermonuclear fusion of deuterium and tritium constitutes an enormous potential for a safe, environmentally compatible and sustainable energy supply. The fuel source is practically inexhaustible. Further, the safety prospects of a fusion reactor are quite favourable due to the inherently self-limiting fusion process, the limited radiologic toxicity and the passive cooling property. Among a small number of approaches, the concept of toroidal magnetic confinement of fusion plasmas has achieved most impressive scientific and technical progress towards energy release by thermonuclear burn of deuterium-tritium fuels. The status of thermonuclear fusion research activity world-wide is reviewed and present solutions to the complicated physical and technological problems are presented. These problems comprise plasma heating, confinement and exhaust of energy and particles, plasma stability, alpha particle heating, fusion reactor materials, reactor safety and environmental compatibility. The results and the high scientific level of this international research activity provide a sound basis for the realisation of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), whose goal is to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of a fusion energy source for peaceful purposes.

Mississippi and Louisiana Estuarine Areas. Freshwater Diversion to Lake Pontchartrain Basin and Mississippi Sound. Feasibility Study. Volume 2. Technical Appendixes, A, B, C, D.

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-04-01

Resource Inventory, March 1979. k/Over half of the reef is within Mobile Bay with an additional 870 acres occuring within Mississippi Sound. 2 / Deegan ...13.7 to 16.2 feet per year resulting In land loss rates of 1,670 to 2,093 acres per year prior to 1960 ( Craig et al., 1978). In Mississippi, land loss...contrlhuted to the increased width of canals. The annual increase in canal width has been estimated at 2 to 5 percent per year ( Craig et al., 197A). A

Dredged Material Disposal Study, U.S. Navy Home Port, Everett, Washington. Technical Supplement.

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-09-01

Group (CVBG) Home Port at Puget Sound in the east waterway of Everett Harbor, Washington (Fig- ure 1). Construction of the home port facility will...significant portion of the material remains in "clumps." This situation is especially true for the Puget Sound area, where much of the dredging is done...0; P’RFOPM %G ORCA % 2A-ON 60 0 CE SYMBOL 7a NAME OF %𔃺’OR .G ORGAN ZATON, ’, .. ’\\VES 1 (It applicable) Hv.drauli’s Laboratory WESHE 5c ADDRESS Ccty

Configuration Management Plan for K Basins

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Weir, W.R.; Laney, T.

This plan describes a configuration management program for K Basins that establishes the systems, processes, and responsibilities necessary for implementation. The K Basins configuration management plan provides the methodology to establish, upgrade, reconstitute, and maintain the technical consistency among the requirements, physical configuration, and documentation. The technical consistency afforded by this plan ensures accurate technical information necessary to achieve the mission objectives that provide for the safe, economic, and environmentally sound management of K Basins and the stored material. The configuration management program architecture presented in this plan is based on the functional model established in the DOE Standard, DOE-STD-1073-93,more » {open_quotes}Guide for Operational Configuration Management Program{close_quotes}.« less

Enlightened Use of Passive Voice in Technical Writing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Trammell, M. K.

1981-01-01

The passive voice as a normal, acceptable, and established syntactic form in technical writing is defended. Passive/active verb ratios, taken from sources including 'antipassivist' text books, are considered. The suitability of the passive voice in technical writing which involves unknown or irrelevant agents is explored. Three 'myths' that the passive (1) utilizes an abnormal and artificial word order, (2) is lifeless, and (3) is indirect are considered. Awkward and abnormal sounding examples encountered in text books are addressed in terms of original context. Unattractive or incoherent passive sentences are explained in terms of inappropriate conversion from active sentences having (1) short nominal or pronominal subjects or (2) verbs with restrictions on their passive use.

A system to simulate and reproduce audio-visual environments for spatial hearing research.

PubMed

Seeber, Bernhard U; Kerber, Stefan; Hafter, Ervin R

2010-02-01

The article reports the experience gained from two implementations of the "Simulated Open-Field Environment" (SOFE), a setup that allows sounds to be played at calibrated levels over a wide frequency range from multiple loudspeakers in an anechoic chamber. Playing sounds from loudspeakers in the free-field has the advantage that each participant listens with their own ears, and individual characteristics of the ears are captured in the sound they hear. This makes an easy and accurate comparison between various listeners with and without hearing devices possible. The SOFE uses custom calibration software to assure individual equalization of each loudspeaker. Room simulation software creates the spatio-temporal reflection pattern of sound sources in rooms which is played via the SOFE loudspeakers. The sound playback system is complemented by a video projection facility which can be used to collect or give feedback or to study auditory-visual interaction. The article discusses acoustical and technical requirements for accurate sound playback against the specific needs in hearing research. An introduction to software concepts is given which allow easy, high-level control of the setup and thus fast experimental development, turning the SOFE into a "Swiss army knife" tool for auditory, spatial hearing and audio-visual research. Crown Copyright 2009. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A System to Simulate and Reproduce Audio-Visual Environments for Spatial Hearing Research

PubMed Central

Seeber, Bernhard U.; Kerber, Stefan; Hafter, Ervin R.

2009-01-01

The article reports the experience gained from two implementations of the “Simulated Open-Field Environment” (SOFE), a setup that allows sounds to be played at calibrated levels over a wide frequency range from multiple loudspeakers in an anechoic chamber. Playing sounds from loudspeakers in the free-field has the advantage that each participant listens with their own ears, and individual characteristics of the ears are captured in the sound they hear. This makes an easy and accurate comparison between various listeners with and without hearing devices possible. The SOFE uses custom calibration software to assure individual equalization of each loudspeaker. Room simulation software creates the spatio-temporal reflection pattern of sound sources in rooms which is played via the SOFE loudspeakers. The sound playback system is complemented by a video projection facility which can be used to collect or give feedback or to study auditory-visual interaction. The article discusses acoustical and technical requirements for accurate sound playback against the specific needs in hearing research. An introduction to software concepts is given which allow easy, high-level control of the setup and thus fast experimental development, turning the SOFE into a “Swiss army knife” tool for auditory, spatial hearing and audio-visual research. PMID:19909802

Tutorial and Guidelines on Measurement of Sound Pressure Level in Voice and Speech.

PubMed

Švec, Jan G; Granqvist, Svante

2018-03-15

Sound pressure level (SPL) measurement of voice and speech is often considered a trivial matter, but the measured levels are often reported incorrectly or incompletely, making them difficult to compare among various studies. This article aims at explaining the fundamental principles behind these measurements and providing guidelines to improve their accuracy and reproducibility. Basic information is put together from standards, technical, voice and speech literature, and practical experience of the authors and is explained for nontechnical readers. Variation of SPL with distance, sound level meters and their accuracy, frequency and time weightings, and background noise topics are reviewed. Several calibration procedures for SPL measurements are described for stand-mounted and head-mounted microphones. SPL of voice and speech should be reported together with the mouth-to-microphone distance so that the levels can be related to vocal power. Sound level measurement settings (i.e., frequency weighting and time weighting/averaging) should always be specified. Classified sound level meters should be used to assure measurement accuracy. Head-mounted microphones placed at the proximity of the mouth improve signal-to-noise ratio and can be taken advantage of for voice SPL measurements when calibrated. Background noise levels should be reported besides the sound levels of voice and speech.

Offshore Wind Energy Systems Engineering Curriculum Development

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

McGowan, Jon G.; Manwell, James F.; Lackner, Matthew A.

2012-12-31

Utility-scale electricity produced from offshore wind farms has the potential to contribute significantly to the energy production of the United States. In order for the U.S. to rapidly develop these abundant resources, knowledgeable scientists and engineers with sound understanding of offshore wind energy systems are critical. This report summarizes the development of an upper-level engineering course in "Offshore Wind Energy Systems Engineering." This course is designed to provide students with a comprehensive knowledge of both the technical challenges of offshore wind energy and the practical regulatory, permitting, and planning aspects of developing offshore wind farms in the U.S. This coursemore » was offered on a pilot basis in 2011 at the University of Massachusetts and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), TU Delft, and GL Garrad Hassan have reviewed its content. As summarized in this report, the course consists of 17 separate topic areas emphasizing appropriate engineering fundamentals as well as development, planning, and regulatory issues. In addition to the course summary, the report gives the details of a public Internet site where references and related course material can be obtained. This course will fill a pressing need for the education and training of the U.S. workforce in this critically important area. Fundamentally, this course will be unique due to two attributes: an emphasis on the engineering and technical aspects of offshore wind energy systems, and a focus on offshore wind energy issues specific to the United States.« less

The design of long wavelength planetary SAR sensor and its applications for monitoring shallow sub-surface of Moon and planets.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, K.

2015-12-01

SAR observations over planetary surface have been conducted mainly in two ways. The first is the subsurface sounding, for example Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) and Shallow Surface Radar (SHARAD), using ground penetration capability of long wavelength electromagnetic waves. On the other hand, imaging SAR sensors using burst mode design have been employed to acquire surface observations in the presence of opaque atmospheres such as in the case of Venus and Titan. We propose a lightweight SAR imaging system with P/L band wavelength to cover the vertical observation gap of these planetary radar observation schemes. The sensor is for investigating prominent surface and near-subsurface geological structures and physical characteristics. Such measurements will support landers and rover missions as well as future manned missions. We evaluate required power consumption, and estimate mass and horizontal resolution, which can be as good as 3-7 meters. Initial specifications for P/L dual band SARs for the lunar case at 130 km orbital altitude were designed already based on a assumptions that sufficient size antenna (>3m width diameter or width about 3m and >10kg weight) can be equipped. Useful science measurements to be obtained include: (1) derivation of subsurface regolith depth; 2) Surface and shallow subsurface radar imaging, together with radar ranging techniques such as radargrammetry and inteferometry. The concepts in this study can be used as an important technical basis for the future solid plant/satellite missions and already proposed for the 2018 Korean Lunar mission.

Optical Sound Generation and Amplification

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-01-15

acoustic cavitation threshold of water with concentration of the polymer additives polyethylene oxide and guar gum . It was found that small amounts of...Technical Library 2800 Powder Mill Road Adelphi, Maryland 20783 1 copy 3 copies 1 copy 1 copy 1 copy 1 copy 1 copy Naval Air Development Center

Controlled field testing : Puget Sound Help Me (PuSHMe) operational test. Task 2 technical memorandum : final report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-10-01

This report provides a general introduction to the use of panel designs in transportation surveys. Through examples drawn from the transportation literature, it illustrates how panel designs can be used to address a variety of transportation issues. ...

System Accountability Report 2013-14. Revised

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Board of Governors, State University System of Florida, 2015

2015-01-01

Information Resource Management - State University System of Florida (IRM-SUS) is the primary collector and provider of data concerning state universities that is used to make sound education policy decisions. The office provides technical assistance to those using the information, state and federal reporting support, those supplying information,…

Technical Specifications for Spread Function Model.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-05-01

ocean: theory and observation," J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 59, 818-838 (1976). 40. J. A. Neubert , *Coherence and its sound field structure in the...6000 Executive Boulevard Rockville, MD 20852 ATTN: Paul Etter 10. University of Miami RSMAS-OEN 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway Miami, PL 33149 ATTN: F

33 CFR 86.23 - Construction.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Construction. 86.23 Section 86.23 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY INLAND NAVIGATION RULES ANNEX III: TECHNICAL DETAILS OF SOUND SIGNAL APPLIANCES Bell or Gong § 86.23 Construction. Bells and gongs...

33 CFR 86.23 - Construction.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Construction. 86.23 Section 86.23 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY INLAND NAVIGATION RULES ANNEX III: TECHNICAL DETAILS OF SOUND SIGNAL APPLIANCES Bell or Gong § 86.23 Construction. Bells and gongs...

33 CFR 86.23 - Construction.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Construction. 86.23 Section 86.23 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY INLAND NAVIGATION RULES ANNEX III: TECHNICAL DETAILS OF SOUND SIGNAL APPLIANCES Bell or Gong § 86.23 Construction. Bells and gongs...

33 CFR 86.23 - Construction.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Construction. 86.23 Section 86.23 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY INLAND NAVIGATION RULES ANNEX III: TECHNICAL DETAILS OF SOUND SIGNAL APPLIANCES Bell or Gong § 86.23 Construction. Bells and gongs...

33 CFR 86.23 - Construction.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Construction. 86.23 Section 86.23 Navigation and Navigable Waters COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY INLAND NAVIGATION RULES ANNEX III: TECHNICAL DETAILS OF SOUND SIGNAL APPLIANCES Bell or Gong § 86.23 Construction. Bells and gongs...

ERCMExpress. Volume 2, Issue 3

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

US Department of Education, 2006

2006-01-01

This issue of the Emergency Response and Crisis Management (ERCM) Technical Assistance Center's "ERCMExpress" promotes emergency exercises as an effective way to validate school safety plans. Simulations of emergency situations, or emergency exercises, are integral to a sound school safety plan. They offer opportunities for district and schools to…

47 CFR 79.103 - Closed caption decoder requirements for all apparatus.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... RADIO SERVICES CLOSED CAPTIONING AND VIDEO DESCRIPTION OF VIDEO PROGRAMMING § 79.103 Closed caption... receive or play back video programming transmitted simultaneously with sound, if such apparatus is... closed-captioned video programming pursuant to the provisions of this section, if technically feasible...

47 CFR 79.103 - Closed caption decoder requirements for all apparatus.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... RADIO SERVICES CLOSED CAPTIONING AND VIDEO DESCRIPTION OF VIDEO PROGRAMMING § 79.103 Closed caption... receive or play back video programming transmitted simultaneously with sound, if such apparatus is... closed-captioned video programming pursuant to the provisions of this section, if technically feasible...

48 CFR 2009.570-2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... work to be performed under an NRC contract which: (1) May diminish its capacity to give impartial, technically sound, objective assistance and advice, or may otherwise result in a biased work product; or (2) May result in its being given an unfair competitive advantage. Potential conflict of interest means...

48 CFR 2009.570-2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... work to be performed under an NRC contract which: (1) May diminish its capacity to give impartial, technically sound, objective assistance and advice, or may otherwise result in a biased work product; or (2) May result in its being given an unfair competitive advantage. Potential conflict of interest means...

28 CFR 17.41 - Access to classified information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... character, trustworthiness, honesty, reliability, discretion, and sound judgment, as well as freedom from... does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or...

32 CFR 651.40 - Introduction.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

..., allowing public review and comment on the proposal and providing a basis for informed decision-making. (b) The NEPA process should support sound, informed, and timely (early) decision-making; not produce...

Auditory Task Irrelevance: A Basis for Inattentional Deafness

PubMed Central

Scheer, Menja; Bülthoff, Heinrich H.; Chuang, Lewis L.

2018-01-01

Objective This study investigates the neural basis of inattentional deafness, which could result from task irrelevance in the auditory modality. Background Humans can fail to respond to auditory alarms under high workload situations. This failure, termed inattentional deafness, is often attributed to high workload in the visual modality, which reduces one’s capacity for information processing. Besides this, our capacity for processing auditory information could also be selectively diminished if there is no obvious task relevance in the auditory channel. This could be another contributing factor given the rarity of auditory warnings. Method Forty-eight participants performed a visuomotor tracking task while auditory stimuli were presented: a frequent pure tone, an infrequent pure tone, and infrequent environmental sounds. Participants were required either to respond to the presentation of the infrequent pure tone (auditory task-relevant) or not (auditory task-irrelevant). We recorded and compared the event-related potentials (ERPs) that were generated by environmental sounds, which were always task-irrelevant for both groups. These ERPs served as an index for our participants’ awareness of the task-irrelevant auditory scene. Results Manipulation of auditory task relevance influenced the brain’s response to task-irrelevant environmental sounds. Specifically, the late novelty-P3 to irrelevant environmental sounds, which underlies working memory updating, was found to be selectively enhanced by auditory task relevance independent of visuomotor workload. Conclusion Task irrelevance in the auditory modality selectively reduces our brain’s responses to unexpected and irrelevant sounds regardless of visuomotor workload. Application Presenting relevant auditory information more often could mitigate the risk of inattentional deafness. PMID:29578754

Sound-by-sound thalamic stimulation modulates midbrain auditory excitability and relative binaural sensitivity in frogs

PubMed Central

Ponnath, Abhilash; Farris, Hamilton E.

2014-01-01

Descending circuitry can modulate auditory processing, biasing sensitivity to particular stimulus parameters and locations. Using awake in vivo single unit recordings, this study tested whether electrical stimulation of the thalamus modulates auditory excitability and relative binaural sensitivity in neurons of the amphibian midbrain. In addition, by using electrical stimuli that were either longer than the acoustic stimuli (i.e., seconds) or presented on a sound-by-sound basis (ms), experiments addressed whether the form of modulation depended on the temporal structure of the electrical stimulus. Following long duration electrical stimulation (3–10 s of 20 Hz square pulses), excitability (spikes/acoustic stimulus) to free-field noise stimuli decreased by 32%, but returned over 600 s. In contrast, sound-by-sound electrical stimulation using a single 2 ms duration electrical pulse 25 ms before each noise stimulus caused faster and varied forms of modulation: modulation lasted <2 s and, in different cells, excitability either decreased, increased or shifted in latency. Within cells, the modulatory effect of sound-by-sound electrical stimulation varied between different acoustic stimuli, including for different male calls, suggesting modulation is specific to certain stimulus attributes. For binaural units, modulation depended on the ear of input, as sound-by-sound electrical stimulation preceding dichotic acoustic stimulation caused asymmetric modulatory effects: sensitivity shifted for sounds at only one ear, or by different relative amounts for both ears. This caused a change in the relative difference in binaural sensitivity. Thus, sound-by-sound electrical stimulation revealed fast and ear-specific (i.e., lateralized) auditory modulation that is potentially suited to shifts in auditory attention during sound segregation in the auditory scene. PMID:25120437

Sound-by-sound thalamic stimulation modulates midbrain auditory excitability and relative binaural sensitivity in frogs.

PubMed

Ponnath, Abhilash; Farris, Hamilton E

2014-01-01

Descending circuitry can modulate auditory processing, biasing sensitivity to particular stimulus parameters and locations. Using awake in vivo single unit recordings, this study tested whether electrical stimulation of the thalamus modulates auditory excitability and relative binaural sensitivity in neurons of the amphibian midbrain. In addition, by using electrical stimuli that were either longer than the acoustic stimuli (i.e., seconds) or presented on a sound-by-sound basis (ms), experiments addressed whether the form of modulation depended on the temporal structure of the electrical stimulus. Following long duration electrical stimulation (3-10 s of 20 Hz square pulses), excitability (spikes/acoustic stimulus) to free-field noise stimuli decreased by 32%, but returned over 600 s. In contrast, sound-by-sound electrical stimulation using a single 2 ms duration electrical pulse 25 ms before each noise stimulus caused faster and varied forms of modulation: modulation lasted <2 s and, in different cells, excitability either decreased, increased or shifted in latency. Within cells, the modulatory effect of sound-by-sound electrical stimulation varied between different acoustic stimuli, including for different male calls, suggesting modulation is specific to certain stimulus attributes. For binaural units, modulation depended on the ear of input, as sound-by-sound electrical stimulation preceding dichotic acoustic stimulation caused asymmetric modulatory effects: sensitivity shifted for sounds at only one ear, or by different relative amounts for both ears. This caused a change in the relative difference in binaural sensitivity. Thus, sound-by-sound electrical stimulation revealed fast and ear-specific (i.e., lateralized) auditory modulation that is potentially suited to shifts in auditory attention during sound segregation in the auditory scene.

Scanning silence: mental imagery of complex sounds.

PubMed

Bunzeck, Nico; Wuestenberg, Torsten; Lutz, Kai; Heinze, Hans-Jochen; Jancke, Lutz

2005-07-15

In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we investigated the neural basis of mental auditory imagery of familiar complex sounds that did not contain language or music. In the first condition (perception), the subjects watched familiar scenes and listened to the corresponding sounds that were presented simultaneously. In the second condition (imagery), the same scenes were presented silently and the subjects had to mentally imagine the appropriate sounds. During the third condition (control), the participants watched a scrambled version of the scenes without sound. To overcome the disadvantages of the stray acoustic scanner noise in auditory fMRI experiments, we applied sparse temporal sampling technique with five functional clusters that were acquired at the end of each movie presentation. Compared to the control condition, we found bilateral activations in the primary and secondary auditory cortices (including Heschl's gyrus and planum temporale) during perception of complex sounds. In contrast, the imagery condition elicited bilateral hemodynamic responses only in the secondary auditory cortex (including the planum temporale). No significant activity was observed in the primary auditory cortex. The results show that imagery and perception of complex sounds that do not contain language or music rely on overlapping neural correlates of the secondary but not primary auditory cortex.

Selective attention to sound location or pitch studied with fMRI.

PubMed

Degerman, Alexander; Rinne, Teemu; Salmi, Juha; Salonen, Oili; Alho, Kimmo

2006-03-10

We used 3-T functional magnetic resonance imaging to compare the brain mechanisms underlying selective attention to sound location and pitch. In different tasks, the subjects (N = 10) attended to a designated sound location or pitch or to pictures presented on the screen. In the Attend Location conditions, the sound location varied randomly (left or right), while the pitch was kept constant (high or low). In the Attend Pitch conditions, sounds of randomly varying pitch (high or low) were presented at a constant location (left or right). Both attention to location and attention to pitch produced enhanced activity (in comparison with activation caused by the same sounds when attention was focused on the pictures) in widespread areas of the superior temporal cortex. Attention to either sound feature also activated prefrontal and inferior parietal cortical regions. These activations were stronger during attention to location than during attention to pitch. Attention to location but not to pitch produced a significant increase of activation in the premotor/supplementary motor cortices of both hemispheres and in the right prefrontal cortex, while no area showed activity specifically related to attention to pitch. The present results suggest some differences in the attentional selection of sounds on the basis of their location and pitch consistent with the suggested auditory "what" and "where" processing streams.

Ten rules for asset protection planning.

PubMed

Adkisson, Jay D; Keller, Lawrence B

2013-12-01

Asset protection planning is a highly technical area of legal planning. Because of the fraudulent transfer laws, asset protection planning must be done in advance of any claim, be technically sound, not rely upon secrecy, and avoid any number of critical mistakes including keeping personal and business assets separate. Physicians who engage in asset protection planning must avoid critical mistakes, and not count on bankruptcy to provide relief from creditors. General rules and cautions for those who are considering the creation of an asset protection plan for their personal assets.

Why Do People Like Loud Sound? A Qualitative Study

PubMed Central

Welch, David; Fremaux, Guy

2017-01-01

Many people choose to expose themselves to potentially dangerous sounds such as loud music, either via speakers, personal audio systems, or at clubs. The Conditioning, Adaptation and Acculturation to Loud Music (CAALM) Model has proposed a theoretical basis for this behaviour. To compare the model to data, we interviewed a group of people who were either regular nightclub-goers or who controlled the sound levels in nightclubs (bar managers, musicians, DJs, and sound engineers) about loud sound. Results showed four main themes relating to the enjoyment of loud sound: arousal/excitement, facilitation of socialisation, masking of both external sound and unwanted thoughts, and an emphasis and enhancement of personal identity. Furthermore, an interesting incidental finding was that sound levels appeared to increase gradually over the course of the evening until they plateaued at approximately 97 dBA Leq around midnight. Consideration of the data generated by the analysis revealed a complex of influential factors that support people in wanting exposure to loud sound. Findings were considered in terms of the CAALM Model and could be explained in terms of its principles. From a health promotion perspective, the Social Ecological Model was applied to consider how the themes identified might influence behaviour. They were shown to influence people on multiple levels, providing a powerful system which health promotion approaches struggle to address. PMID:28800097

Characterizing urban areas with good sound quality: development of a research protocol.

PubMed

van Kempen, Elise; Devilee, Jeroen; Swart, Wim; van Kamp, Irene

2014-01-01

Due to rapid urbanization, the spatial variation between wanted and unwanted sounds will decrease or even disappear. Consequently, the characteristics of (urban) areas where people can temporarily withdraw themselves from urban stressors such as noise may change or become increasingly scarce. Hardly any research has been carried out into the positive health effects of spending time in areas with a good sound quality. One of the problems is that an overview of what aspects determines good sound quality in urban areas and how these are interrelated is lacking. This paper reviews the literature pertaining to the sound quality of urban areas. Aim is to summarize what is known about the influence of social, spatial, and physical aspects other than sounds, on peoples' perception of urban sound qualities. Literature from both conventional sound research and from the so-called soundscape field, published between 2000 and the beginning of 2013 in English or Dutch, was evaluated. Although a general set of validated indicators that can be directly applied, is not available yet, a set of indicators was derived from the literature. These form the basis of a study protocol that will be applied in "Towards a Sustainable acoustic Environment", a project that aims to describe sound qualities at a low-scale level. Key-elements of this study protocol, including a questionnaire and the systematic audit of neighborhoods, were presented in this paper.

Characterizing the 3-D atmosphere with NUCAPS sounding products from multiple platforms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barnet, C. D.; Smith, N.; Gambacorta, A.; Wheeler, A. A.; Sjoberg, W.; Goldberg, M.

2017-12-01

The JPSS Proving Ground and Risk Reduction (PGRR) Program launched the Sounding Initiative in 2014 to develop operational applications that use 3-D satellite soundings. These are near global daily swaths of vertical atmospheric profiles of temperature, moisture and trace gas species. When high vertical resolution satellite soundings first became available, their assimilation into user applications was slow: forecasters familiar with 2-D satellite imagery or 1-D radiosondes did not have the technical capability nor product knowledge to readily ingest satellite soundings. Similarly, the satellite sounding developer community lacked wherewithal to understand the many challenges forecasters face in their real time decision-making. It took the PGRR Sounding Initiative to bring these two communities together and develop novel applications that now depend on NUCAPS soundings. NUCAPS - the NOAA Unique Combined Atmospheric Processing System - is platform agnostic and generates satellite soundings from measurements made by infrared and microwave sounder pairs on the MetOp (IASI/AMSU) and Suomi NPP (CrIS/ATMS) polar-orbiting platforms. We highlight here three new applications developed under the PGRR Sounding Initiative. They are, (i) aviation: NUCAPS identifies cold air "blobs" that causes jet fuel to freeze, (ii) severe weather: NUCAPS identifies areas of convective initiation, and (iii) air quality: NUCAPS identifies stratospheric intrusions and tracks long-range transport of biomass burning plumes. The value of NUCAPS being platform agnostic will become apparent with the JPSS-1 launch. NUCAPS soundings from Suomi NPP and JPSS-1, being 50 min apart, could capture fast-changing weather events and together with NUCAPS soundings from the two MetOp platforms ( 4 hours earlier in the day than JPSS) could characterize diurnal cycles. In this paper, we will summarize key accomplishments and assess whether NUCAPS maintains enough continuity in its sounding products from multiple platforms to sufficiently characterize atmospheric evolution at localized scales. With this we will address one of the primary data requirements that emerged in the Sounding Initiative, namely the need for a time sequence of satellite sounding products.

Sight over sound in the judgment of music performance.

PubMed

Tsay, Chia-Jung

2013-09-03

Social judgments are made on the basis of both visual and auditory information, with consequential implications for our decisions. To examine the impact of visual information on expert judgment and its predictive validity for performance outcomes, this set of seven experiments in the domain of music offers a conservative test of the relative influence of vision versus audition. People consistently report that sound is the most important source of information in evaluating performance in music. However, the findings demonstrate that people actually depend primarily on visual information when making judgments about music performance. People reliably select the actual winners of live music competitions based on silent video recordings, but neither musical novices nor professional musicians were able to identify the winners based on sound recordings or recordings with both video and sound. The results highlight our natural, automatic, and nonconscious dependence on visual cues. The dominance of visual information emerges to the degree that it is overweighted relative to auditory information, even when sound is consciously valued as the core domain content.

Sight over sound in the judgment of music performance

PubMed Central

Tsay, Chia-Jung

2013-01-01

Social judgments are made on the basis of both visual and auditory information, with consequential implications for our decisions. To examine the impact of visual information on expert judgment and its predictive validity for performance outcomes, this set of seven experiments in the domain of music offers a conservative test of the relative influence of vision versus audition. People consistently report that sound is the most important source of information in evaluating performance in music. However, the findings demonstrate that people actually depend primarily on visual information when making judgments about music performance. People reliably select the actual winners of live music competitions based on silent video recordings, but neither musical novices nor professional musicians were able to identify the winners based on sound recordings or recordings with both video and sound. The results highlight our natural, automatic, and nonconscious dependence on visual cues. The dominance of visual information emerges to the degree that it is overweighted relative to auditory information, even when sound is consciously valued as the core domain content. PMID:23959902

MAC/FAC: A Model of Similarity-Based Retrieval. Technical Report #59.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Forbus, Kenneth D.; And Others

A model of similarity-based retrieval is presented that attempts to capture these seemingly contradictory psychological phenomena: (1) structural commonalities are weighed more heavily than surface commonalities in soundness or similarity judgments (when both members are present); (2) superficial similarity is more important in retrieval from…

User group deployment : Puget Sound Help Me (PuSHMe) Operational Test. Task 3 technical memorandum

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1996-05-01

This paper summarizes travel trends in the United States and five regional areas for the period 1970-1995. Travel is summarized at the annual, monthly, weekly, and daily time scales. Data sources for this study included the annual automobile travel e...

System Accountability Report 2013-14. Appendix: Data Tables

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Board of Governors, State University System of Florida, 2013

2013-01-01

Information Resource Management-State University System of Florida (IRM-SUS) is the primary collector and provider of data concerning state universities that is used to make sound education policy decisions. The office provides technical assistance to those using the information, state and federal reporting support, those supplying information,…

An Outline of English Spelling. Technical Report 55.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Russell, Paula

The purpose of this booklet is to provide a definition of phonological and morphological principles governing the English spelling system. Included in the discussion are an exhaustive list of sound-to-spelling correspondences, lists of common prefixes and suffixes, and rules for combining affixes with base morphemes. Charts provided outline…

2014 Higher Education Summit/SUS Data Workshop Proceedings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Board of Governors, State University System of Florida, 2014

2014-01-01

Information Resource Management--State University System of Florida (IRM-SUS) is the primary collector and provider of data concerning state universities that is used to make sound education policy decisions. The office provides technical assistance to those using the information, state and federal reporting support, those supplying information,…

40 CFR 63.1367 - Recordkeeping requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... operator must keep records of the DOT certification required by § 63.1362(c)(6)(ii) and the pressure relief... permit authority, greater risk to human health or the environment than if the emission points were... guidance that the Administrator makes available for use or any other technically sound information or...

40 CFR 63.1259 - Recordkeeping requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... required by § 63.1253(f)(2) and the pressure relief vent setting and the leak detection records specified... human health or the environment than if the storage tanks and process vents were controlled according to... guidance that the Administrator makes available for use or any other technically sound information or...

40 CFR 63.1259 - Recordkeeping requirements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... operator must keep records of the DOT certification required by § 63.1253(f)(2) and the pressure relief... option of the operating permit authority, greater risk to human health or the environment than if the... for use or any other technically sound information or methods. (ii) An emissions averaging plan that...

English Intonation and Computerized Speech Synthesis. Technical Report No. 287.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levine, Arvin

This work treats some of the important issues encountered in an attempt to synthesize natural sounding English speech from arbitrary written text. Details of the systems that interact in producing speech are described. The principal systems dealt with are phonology (intonation), phonetics, syntax, semantics, and text-view (discourse). Technical…

Bild- und Tontraeger im Fremdsprachenunterricht. Eine rentable Investition? (Visual and Sound Media in Foreign Language Teaching--A Profitable Investment?)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Macht, Konrad

1978-01-01

Discusses a "rational concept" of integration of audiovisual teaching aids into the foreign language teaching process that would be based on a positive evaluation of teacher-centered instruction. Offers a model for integration of human and technical media. (IFS/WGA)

The Nineteenth Amy Morris Homans Lecture. The Long Green Line.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Becker, Beverly June

1985-01-01

Physical educators have been over-attentive to the technical and professional prerequisites perceived as necessary for a first job or graduate school. Yet, all students need a sound liberal education if they are going to be contributing members of a society and live rich, productive, and rewarding lives. (MT)

KEEP Reading Research: 1972-1975. Technical Report No. 57.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Au, Kathryn H.

This report presents a summary of reading research conducted by the Kamehameha Early Education Program (KEEP) during 1972-75. Research was conducted in four areas: student industriousness, reading readiness, teaching of sound-symbol relationships, and language (especially dialect interference). With regard to industriousness, it was found that…

Conceptual Foundations of Risk Theory. Technical Bulletin No. 1731.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weiss, Michael D.

Understanding the way farmers respond to risk is a prerequisite for sound agricultural policymaking. Clarifying established agricultural economic theory to describe how individuals make choices among risky alternatives and providing a more precise set of concepts for studying behavior under risk contributes to such an understanding. A…

Communications Satellite Receiver Systems for Public Schools: A Technical Primer.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Texas Education Agency, Austin.

Designed to aid school districts contemplating use of some of the telecommunications services now available by satellite, this document contains information on home satellite receiving dishes (Television Receive-Only--TVROs), which can receive radio signals carrying television, sound, and data. This information includes: some factors involved in…

Spent nuclear fuel canister storage building conceptual design report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Swenson, C.E.

This Conceptual Design Report provides the technical basis for the Spent Nuclear Fuels Project, Canister Storage Building, and as amended by letter (correspondence number 9555700, M.E. Witherspoon to E.B. Sellers, ``Technical Baseline and Updated Cost Estimate for the Canister Storage Building``, dated October 24, 1995), includes the project cost baseline and Criteria to be used as the basis for starting detailed design in fiscal year 1995.

Salient, Irrelevant Sounds Reflexively Induce Alpha Rhythm Desynchronization in Parallel with Slow Potential Shifts in Visual Cortex.

PubMed

Störmer, Viola; Feng, Wenfeng; Martinez, Antigona; McDonald, John; Hillyard, Steven

2016-03-01

Recent findings suggest that a salient, irrelevant sound attracts attention to its location involuntarily and facilitates processing of a colocalized visual event [McDonald, J. J., Störmer, V. S., Martinez, A., Feng, W. F., & Hillyard, S. A. Salient sounds activate human visual cortex automatically. Journal of Neuroscience, 33, 9194-9201, 2013]. Associated with this cross-modal facilitation is a sound-evoked slow potential over the contralateral visual cortex termed the auditory-evoked contralateral occipital positivity (ACOP). Here, we further tested the hypothesis that a salient sound captures visual attention involuntarily by examining sound-evoked modulations of the occipital alpha rhythm, which has been strongly associated with visual attention. In two purely auditory experiments, lateralized irrelevant sounds triggered a bilateral desynchronization of occipital alpha-band activity (10-14 Hz) that was more pronounced in the hemisphere contralateral to the sound's location. The timing of the contralateral alpha-band desynchronization overlapped with that of the ACOP (∼240-400 msec), and both measures of neural activity were estimated to arise from neural generators in the ventral-occipital cortex. The magnitude of the lateralized alpha desynchronization was correlated with ACOP amplitude on a trial-by-trial basis and between participants, suggesting that they arise from or are dependent on a common neural mechanism. These results support the hypothesis that the sound-induced alpha desynchronization and ACOP both reflect the involuntary cross-modal orienting of spatial attention to the sound's location.

Geographical and political predictors of emotion in the sounds of favorite baby names.

PubMed

Whissell, Cynthia

2006-02-01

The top 5 favorite boys' and girls' names from each state of the USA in 2000 and 2003 were analyzed in terms of the emotional associations of their component sounds and sound pronounceability. These were significantly and variously correlated with a historical factor (year), geographic factors (compass directions), and a political factor (percentage of the popular vote cast for President Bush in 2004). The expected stereotypical sex differences were observed: girls' names were longer, more pleasant, less active, and easier to pronounce (p < .01). It was possible to predict emotional associations and pronounceability (R2 = .27-.48, p < .01) on the basis of historical, geographical, and political variables.

Basic Writing Concepts for Scientists and Engineers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mitchell, John H.

1980-01-01

Notes the differences between poetry and technical communication. Charges English teacher/humanists with confusing students about emotional writing, style, and effective technical communication. Offers five concepts that technical writing teachers can use to place "style" on a rational basis and to make students understand the true purposes of…

Parallel Algorithms for Groebner-Basis Reduction

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-09-25

22209 ELEMENT NO. NO. NO. ACCESSION NO. 11. TITLE (Include Security Classification) * PARALLEL ALGORITHMS FOR GROEBNER -BASIS REDUCTION 12. PERSONAL...All other editions are obsolete. Productivity Engineering in the UNIXt Environment p Parallel Algorithms for Groebner -Basis Reduction Technical Report

Taxonomy for Common-Cause Failure Vulnerability and Mitigation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wood, Richard Thomas; Korsah, Kofi; Mullens, James Allen

2015-09-01

Applying current guidance and practices for common-cause failure (CCF) mitigation to digital instrumentation and control (I&C) systems has proven problematic, and the regulatory environment has been unpredictable. The potential for CCF vulnerability inhibits I&C modernization, thereby challenging the long-term sustainability of existing plants. For new plants and advanced reactor concepts, concern about CCF vulnerability in highly integrated digital I&C systems imposes a design burden that results in higher costs and increased complexity. The regulatory uncertainty in determining which mitigation strategies will be acceptable (e.g., what diversity is needed and how much is sufficient) drives designers to adopt complicated, costly solutionsmore » devised for existing plants. To address the conditions that constrain the transition to digital I&C technology by the US nuclear industry, crosscutting research is needed to resolve uncertainty, demonstrate necessary characteristics, and establish an objective basis for qualification of digital technology for nuclear power plant (NPP) I&C applications. To fulfill this research need, Oak Ridge National Laboratory is investigating mitigation of CCF vulnerability for nuclear-qualified applications. The outcome of this research is expected to contribute to a fundamentally sound, comprehensive basis to qualify digital technology for nuclear power applications. This report documents the development of a CCF taxonomy. The basis for the CCF taxonomy was generated by determining consistent terminology and establishing a classification approach. The terminology is based on definitions from standards, guides, and relevant nuclear power industry technical reports. The classification approach is derived from identified classification schemes focused on I&C systems and key characteristics, including failure modes. The CCF taxonomy provides the basis for a systematic organization of key systems aspects relevant to analyzing the potential for CCF vulnerability and the suitability of mitigation techniques. Development of an effective CCF taxonomy will help to provide a framework for establishing the objective analysis and assessment capabilities desired to facilitate rigorous identification of fault types and triggers that are the fundamental elements of CCF.« less

Development of the Astrobee F sounding rocket system.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jenkins, R. B.; Taylor, J. P.; Honecker, H. J., Jr.

1973-01-01

The development of the Astrobee F sounding rocket vehicle through the first flight test at NASA-Wallops Station is described. Design and development of a 15 in. diameter, dual thrust, solid propellant motor demonstrating several new technology features provided the basis for the flight vehicle. The 'F' motor test program described demonstrated the following advanced propulsion technology: tandem dual grain configuration, low burning rate HTPB case-bonded propellant, and molded plastic nozzle. The resultant motor integrated into a flight vehicle was successfully flown with extensive diagnostic instrumentation.-

Effect of Intense Sound Waves on a Stationary Gas Flame

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hahnemann, H; Ehret, L

1950-01-01

Intense sound waves with a resonant frequency of 5000 cycles per second were imposed on a stationary propane-air flame issuing from a nozzle. In addition to a slight increase of the flame velocity, a fundamental change both in the shape of the burning zone and in the flow pattern could be observed. An attempt is made to explain the origin of the variations in the flame configuration on the basis of transition at the nozzle from jet flow to potential flow.

Ground-water resources in the tri-state region adjacent to the Lower Delaware River

USGS Publications Warehouse

Barksdale, Henry C.; Greenman, David W.; Lang, Solomon Max; Hilton, George Stockbridge; Outlaw, Donald E.

1958-01-01

The maximum beneficial utilization of the ground-water resources cannot be accomplished in haphazard fashion. It must be planned and controlled on the basis of sound, current information about the hydrology of the various aquifers. Continued and, in some areas, intensified investigations of the ground-water resources of the region should form the basis for such planning and control.

Technical Basis for Water Chemistry Control of IGSCC in Boiling Water Reactors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gordon, Barry; Garcia, Susan

Boiling water reactors (BWRs) operate with very high purity water. However, even the utilization of near theoretical conductivity water cannot prevent intergranular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC) of sensitized stainless steel, wrought nickel alloys and nickel weld metals under oxygenated conditions. IGSCC can be further accelerated by the presence of certain impurities dissolved in the coolant. The goal of this paper is to present the technical basis for controlling various impurities under both oxygenated, i.e., normal water chemistry (NWC) and deoxygenated, i.e., hydrogen water chemistry (HWC) conditions for mitigation of IGSCC. More specifically, the effects of typical BWR ionic impurities (e.g., sulfate, chloride, nitrate, borate, phosphate, etc.) on IGSCC propensities in both NWC and HWC environments will be discussed. The technical basis for zinc addition to the BWR coolant will also provided along with an in-plant example of the most severe water chemistry transient to date.

Chinese Scientific and Technical Information Institutions: Development and Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yanning, Zheng

2011-01-01

The collection, storage, processing, and dissemination of scientific and technical information make an important basis for economic and social development as well as for scientific development. A nation has to develop the right mechanisms and modalities to collect, store, process, and disseminate scientific and technical information tailored to…

77 FR 31868 - Notice of Submission of Proposed Information Collection to OMB; Office of Native American...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-30

... Proposed Information Collection to OMB; Office of Native American Programs (ONAP) Training and Technical.... 552) authorizes HUD to award training and technical assistance contracts on a competitive basis. HUD intends to competitively award training and technical assistance contracts to national and regional...

22 CFR 126.1 - Prohibited exports and sales to certain countries.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

...-case basis, for supplies of arms and related materials or technical training and assistance intended... Haiti, supplies of arms and related materials for technical training and assistance intended solely for..., defense services or technical data subject to this subchapter may be made to any country referred to in...

Colonialism and Secondary Technical Education in Hong Kong: 1945-1997

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lau, Wai Wah; Kan, Flora

2011-01-01

This study examines the influence of the colonial experience (1945-1997) on the planning of secondary technical education in Hong Kong. Specifically, the origins of secondary technical institutions and their positioning in secondary education are examined. Primary source materials are used as the basis of investigation and analysis, supplemented…

Mathematical simulation of sound propagation in a flow channel with impedance walls

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Osipov, A. A.; Reent, K. S.

2012-07-01

The paper considers the specifics of calculating tonal sound propagating in a flow channel with an installed sound-absorbing device. The calculation is performed on the basis of numerical integrating on linearized nonstationary Euler equations using a code developed by the authors based on the so-called discontinuous Galerkin method. Using the linear theory of small perturbations, the effect of the sound-absorbing lining of the channel walls is described with the modified value of acoustic impedance proposed by the authors, for which, under flow channel conditions, the traditional classification of the active and reactive types of lining in terms of the real and imaginary impedance values, respectively, remains valid. To stabilize the computation process, a generalized impedance boundary condition is proposed in which, in addition to the impedance value itself, some additional parameters are introduced characterizing certain fictitious properties of inertia and elasticity of the impedance surface.

The Physiological Basis of Chinese Höömii Generation.

PubMed

Li, Gelin; Hou, Qian

2017-01-01

The study aimed to investigate the physiological basis of vibration mode of sound source of a variety of Mongolian höömii forms of singing in China. The participant is a Mongolian höömii performing artist who was recommended by the Chinese Medical Association of Art. He used three types of höömii, namely vibration höömii, whistle höömii, and overtone höömii, which were compared with general comfortable pronunciation of /i:/ as control. Phonation was observed during /i:/. A laryngostroboscope (Storz) was used to determine vibration source-mucosal wave in the throat. For vibration höömii, bilateral ventricular folds approximated to the midline and made contact at the midline during pronunciation. Ventricular and vocal folds oscillated together as a single unit to form a composite vibration (double oscillator) sound source. For whistle höömii, ventricular folds approximated to the midline to cover part of vocal folds, but did not contact each other. It did not produce mucosal wave. The vocal folds produced mucosal wave to form a single vibration sound source. For overtone höömii, the anterior two-thirds of ventricular folds touched each other during pronunciation. The last one-third produced the mucosal wave. The vocal folds produced mucosal wave at the same time, which was a composite vibration (double oscillator) sound source mode. The Höömii form of singing, including mixed voices and multivoice, was related to the presence of dual vibration sound sources. Its high overtone form of singing (whistle höömii) was related to stenosis at the resonance chambers' initiation site (ventricular folds level). Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Dual-channel Extreme Ultraviolet Continuum Experiment: Sounding Rocket EUV Observations of Local B Stars to Determine Their Potential for Supplying Intergalactic Ionizing Radiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erickson, Nicholas; Green, James C.; France, Kevin; Stocke, John T.; Nell, Nicholas

2018-06-01

We describe the scientific motivation and technical development of the Dual-channel Extreme Ultraviolet Continuum Experiment (DEUCE). DEUCE is a sounding rocket payload designed to obtain the first flux-calibrated spectra of two nearby B stars in the EUV 650-1150Å bandpass. This measurement will help in understanding the ionizing flux output of hot B stars, calibrating stellar models and commenting on the potential contribution of such stars to reionization. DEUCE consists of a grazing incidence Wolter II telescope, a normal incidence holographic grating, and the largest (8” x 8”) microchannel plate detector ever flown in space, covering the 650-1150Å band in medium and low resolution channels. DEUCE will launch on December 1, 2018 as NASA/CU sounding rocket mission 36.331 UG, observing Epsilon Canis Majoris, a B2 II star.

Noise in early childhood education institutions.

PubMed

Bitar, Mariangela Lopes; Calaço, Luiz Ferreira; Simões-Zenari, Marcia

2018-01-01

High sound pressure levels have been observed in schools, and its interference in the health of children and teachers it was taken to analyze these levels in childhood education centers serving children aged zero to six years, investigate the staff's perceptions concerning noise exposure and identify the auditory conditions of these workers and the occurrence of diseases. The study was conducted in ten institutions employing 320 workers. Sound pressure levels were measured according to the technical norms; employees completed a questionnaire on the perception of noise and underwent auditory evaluation. There was high sound pressure level and differences between institutions, situations and places. Most employees are considered exposed to noise with attention and concentration difficulties, anxiety and headache. About 30% of employees had bilateral sensorineural hearing loss in specific frequency. The sound pressure levels found can affect children's learning and the health of all. The employees also perceived elevated levels of noise and indicated some possible negative aspects in their work routine. Actions to improve the acoustic comfort in these institutions will be discussed with the management teams.

Access to Space: Hands on flight instrument experience for sophomores at UW

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holzworth, R. H.; Harnett, E. M.; Winglee, R. M.; Chinowsky, T. M.; McCarthy, M. P.

2003-12-01

Students at the college sophomore level, with no science or technical prerequisites, form teams to design and fabricate sounding balloon payloads. This 200 level class promotes interest in research and involves a mixture of lectures about the upper atmosphere and space environment coupled with an intense laboratory experience. Students are taught rudimentary electronics and fabrication techniques, culminating after just 4 weeks of the flight of a CricketSat instrument (single, thermistor-controlled tone telemetry modulation; kit by Bob Twiggs at Stanford) on a sounding balloon. Following this appetite whetting, student teams design, test, calibrate and interface an instrument of their own choosing to a telemetry system for sounding balloon flight. During Spring 2003 student built payloads included devices to measure direct and reflected solar radiation, magnetic field variations, temperature and pressure, and even a small 'biosphere' with crickets which actually survived flight to near 30km altitude! Students go on a one day field trip to launch the sounding balloons and attempt recovery. This is followed by the last two weeks of data analysis and final report writing.

Using science soundly: The Yucca Mountain standard

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fri, R.W.

1995-09-01

Using sound science to shape government regulation is one of the most hotly argued topics in the ongoing debate about regulatory reform. Even though no one advaocates using unsound science, the belief that even the best science will sweep away regulatory controversy is equally foolish. As chair of a National Research Council (NRC) committee that studied the scientific basis for regulating high-level nuclear waste disposal, the author learned that science alone could resolve few of the key regulatory questions. Developing a standard that specifies a socially acceptable limit on the human health effects of nuclear waste releases involves many decisions.more » As the NRC committee learned in evaluating the scientific basis for the Yucca Mountain standard, a scientifically best decision rarely exists. More often, science can only offer a useful framework and starting point for policy debates. And sometimes, science`s most helpful contribution is to admit that it has nothing to say. The Yucca mountain study clearly illustrates that excessive faith in the power of science is more likely to produce messy frustration than crisp decisions. A better goal for regulatory reform is the sound use of science to clarify and contain the inevitable policy controversy.« less

Acoustic deterrence of bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis) to a broadband sound stimulus

USGS Publications Warehouse

Vetter, Brooke J.; Murchy, Kelsie; Cupp, Aaron R.; Amberg, Jon J.; Gaikowski, Mark P.; Mensinger, Allen F.

2017-01-01

Recent studies have shown the potential of acoustic deterrents against invasive silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix). This study examined the phonotaxic response of the bighead carp (H. nobilis) to pure tones (500–2000 Hz) and playbacks of broadband sound from an underwater recording of a 100 hp outboard motor (0.06–10 kHz) in an outdoor concrete pond (10 × 5 × 1.2 m) at the U.S. Geological Survey Upper Midwest Environmental Science Center in La Crosse, WI. The number of consecutive times the fish reacted to sound from alternating locations at each end of the pond was assessed. Bighead carp were relatively indifferent to the pure tones with median consecutive responses ranging from 0 to 2 reactions away from the sound source. However, fish consistently exhibited significantly (P < 0.001) greater negative phonotaxis to the broadband sound (outboard motor recording) with an overall median response of 20 consecutive reactions during the 10 min trials. In over 50% of broadband sound tests, carp were still reacting to the stimulus at the end of the trial, implying that fish were not habituating to the sound. This study suggests that broadband sound may be an effective deterrent to bighead carp and provides a basis for conducting studies with wild fish.

Where is the level of neutral buoyancy for deep convection?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takahashi, Hanii; Luo, Zhengzhao

2012-08-01

This study revisits an old concept in meteorology - level of neutral buoyancy (LNB). The classic definition of LNB is derived from the parcel theory and can be estimated from the ambient sounding (LNB_sounding) without having to observe any actual convective cloud development. In reality, however, convection interacts with the environment in complicated ways; it will eventually manage to find its own effective LNB and manifests it through detraining masses and developing anvils (LNB_observation). This study conducts a near-global survey of LNB_observation for tropical deep convection using CloudSat data and makes comparison with the corresponding LNB_sounding. The principal findings are as follows: First, although LNB_sounding provides a reasonable upper bound for convective development, correlation between LNB_sounding and LNB_observation is low suggesting that ambient sounding contains limited information for accurately predicting the actual LNB. Second, maximum mass outflow is located more than 3 km lower than LNB_sounding. Hence, from convective transport perspective, LNB_sounding is a significant overestimate of the “destination” height level of the detrained mass. Third, LNB_observation is consistently higher over land than over ocean, although LNB_sounding is similar between land and ocean. This difference is likely related to the contrasts in convective strength and environment between land and ocean. Finally, we estimate the bulk entrainment rates associated with the observed deep convection, which can serve as an observational basis for adjusting GCM cumulus parameterization.

Schools in the Making: Mapping Digital Spaces of Evidence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Decuypere, Mathias; Ceulemans, Carlijne; Simons, Maarten

2014-01-01

In this article, the focus is on educational governing in the making. Drawing on conceptual underpinnings of socio-technical approaches, this implies an interest both on the way in which a sound knowledge base for policy measures is created, as on the distribution of that knowledge through publically available instruments. Governing by evidence…

Technical and Scientific Support for Passive Acoustic Monitoring in the Research Cruise MED09

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-09-30

The sound analysis workstation developed for previous Sirena cruises was further improved with 8 channels recording capability at 192kHz and 2...This dataset will be compared with the one produced in Sirena 08 (Alboran Sea only) and included in distribution/density models being developed at

Wood decay and the cleanup crew

Treesearch

Kevin T. Smith; Jessie A. Glaeser

2017-01-01

Arborists are encouraged to recognize the wood-decay process as an important factor in tree health and public safety. Technical experts who develop training materials to recognize wood-decay processes in living trees are frequently forest pathologists. Much of the history of forest pathology was to support production of sound, high-quality timber. That heritage is...

Scoping risk assessment protection against oil spills in the marine waters of northwest Washington State, volume 2. technical appendices

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-07-18

On April 28, 1996 the White House issued the Department of Transportation (DOT) : Action Plan to Address Vessel and Environmental Safety in Puget Sound-Area Waters. : The Action Plan outlines several related tasks, the first stage of which was to : r...

Numerical Simulation of Oregon Inlet Control Structures’ Effects on Storm and Tide Elevations in Pamlico Sound.

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-04-01

Technical Director was Mr. F. R. Brown. Acceston For -- t 3 T RA&i S -cunced El 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PREFACE... CONTINNTAL SHELFN.- .. .. SCALE’ -20 𔃺 0 0~ 20 3MM. Figure 3. Offshore model computational grid 8 ............ .......... ... ..i .OR ..... ....O

Cinematography; A Guide for Film Makers and Film Teachers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Malkiewicz, J. Kris

Concentrating on the work of the cinematographer--the man behind the camera or in charge of the shooting--this book also touches on techniques of sound recording, cutting, and production logistics. Technical discussions designed to provide the basic principles and techniques of cinematography are presented about cameras, films and sensitometry,…

Disposal Site Selection Technical Appendix. Phase 2. (North and South Puget Sound)

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-09-01

target species were sampled at each site. This reflects in part variation in the habitat preferences of the selected target species. The ichthyofauna ...Region. Mar. Geol., 64:291-312. Carr, W.E.S. and C.A. Adams. 1973. Food Habits of Juvenile Marine Fishes Occupying Seagrass Beds in the Estuarine Zone

The Predictive Validity of CBM Writing Indices for Eighth-Grade Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amato, Janelle M.; Watkins, Marley W.

2011-01-01

Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) is an alternative to traditional assessment techniques. Technical work has begun to identify CBM writing indices that are psychometrically sound for monitoring older students' writing proficiency. This study examined the predictive validity of CBM writing indices in a sample of 447 eighth-grade students.…

A Professional Development Climate Course for Sustainable Agriculture in Australia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

George, David; Clewett, Jeff; Birch, Colin; Wright, Anthony; Allen, Wendy

2009-01-01

There are few professional development courses in Australia for the rural sector concerned with climate variability, climate change and sustainable agriculture. The lack of educators with a sound technical background in climate science and its applications in agriculture prevents the delivery of courses either stand-alone or embedded in other…

37 CFR Appendix A to Part 202 - Technical Guidelines Regarding Sound Physical Condition

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... excessive wear. B. Physical Appurtenances of Deposit Copy. 1. Physical Housing of Video Tape Copy. (a) In... generation copy from an edited master tape and must reproduce a flawless and consistent electronic signal... portions must reproduce a flawless and consistent electronic signal without any audible defects. (17 U.S.C...

37 CFR Appendix A to Part 202 - Technical Guidelines Regarding Sound Physical Condition

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... excessive wear. B. Physical Appurtenances of Deposit Copy. 1. Physical Housing of Video Tape Copy. (a) In... generation copy from an edited master tape and must reproduce a flawless and consistent electronic signal... portions must reproduce a flawless and consistent electronic signal without any audible defects. (17 U.S.C...

2013 Higher Education Summit/SUS Data Workshop Proceedings. Session: IRM Data Workshop

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Board of Governors, State University System of Florida, 2013

2013-01-01

Information Resource Management--State University System of Florida (IRM-SUS) is the primary collector and provider of data concerning state universities that is used to make sound education policy decisions. The office provides technical assistance to those using the information, state and federal reporting support, those supplying information,…

Children's quality of life in a noisy world

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schulte-Fortkamp, Brigitte

2004-05-01

On 30 April 2003 during the International Forum Noise Awareness Day European experts from the fields of medicine, acoustics, sociology, psychology, city planning, and traffic regulation led the current discussion on the risks of noise pollution for children at the Institute of Technical Acoustics at the Berlin Technical University, Germany. Studies probing into the negative effects of noise exposure upon the psychic, cognitive, and emotional functions of children are of a quite recent date. Even the quality of life of children as auto-directed experience and functionality is only now starting to get recognized; of special interest are the changes in self-awareness, performance, and health. The Forum focused upon methodological reflections for the collection of data as well as studies regarding the living conditions of children under sound exposure from different perspectives. In this context the research of sound effects has taken initial tentative steps to break away from the tried-and-true procedures of the last 30 years. Next to applied science, investigating fundamentals will need to be considered. Aiming at a networking process is one of the goals conducting the ``Tag gegen Lrm-International Noise Awareness Day.''

Righting elicited by novel or familiar auditory or vestibular stimulation in the haloperidol-treated rat: rat posturography as a model to study anticipatory motor control.

PubMed

Clark, Callie A M; Sacrey, Lori-Ann R; Whishaw, Ian Q

2009-09-15

External cues, including familiar music, can release Parkinson's disease patients from catalepsy but the neural basis of the effect is not well understood. In the present study, posturography, the study of posture and its allied reflexes, was used to develop an animal model that could be used to investigate the underlying neural mechanisms of this sound-induced behavioral activation. In the rat, akinetic catalepsy induced by a dopamine D2 receptor antagonist (haloperidol 5mg/kg) can model human catalepsy. Using this model, two experiments examined whether novel versus familiar sound stimuli could interrupt haloperidol-induced catalepsy in the rat. Rats were placed on a variably inclined grid and novel or familiar auditory cues (single key jingle or multiple key jingles) were presented. The dependent variable was movement by the rats to regain equilibrium as assessed with a movement notation score. The sound cues enhanced movements used to regain postural stability and familiar sound stimuli were more effective than unfamiliar sound stimuli. The results are discussed in relation to the idea that nonlemniscal and lemniscal auditory pathways differentially contribute to behavioral activation versus tonotopic processing of sound.

Experimental study of sound propagation in a flexible duct

PubMed

Huang; Choy; So; Chong

2000-08-01

Propagation of sound in a flexible duct is investigated both theoretically and experimentally. Strong coupling of sound and flexural waves on the duct wall is found when the wall-to-air mass ratio is of the order of unity. The axial phase speed of sound approaches the in vacuo speed of flexural waves (subsonic in this case) at low frequencies. However, a speed higher than the isentropic sound speed in free space (340 m/s) is found beyond a critical frequency which is a function of the mass ratio. Experiments using a duct with a finite section of tensioned membrane are compared with the propagating modes pertaining to the infinite membrane model. Satisfactory quantitative agreement is obtained and the measured phase speed ranges from 8.3 to 1348 m/s. In the moderate frequency range, the theory predicts high spatial damping rate for the subsonic waves, which is consistent with the experimental observation that subsonic waves become increasingly undetectable as the frequency increases. Substantial sound reflection is observed at the interface between the rigid and the flexible segments of the duct without cross-section discontinuity, which, together with the high spatial damping, could form a basis for passive control of low-frequency duct noise.

Interior sound field control using generalized singular value decomposition in the frequency domain.

PubMed

Pasco, Yann; Gauthier, Philippe-Aubert; Berry, Alain; Moreau, Stéphane

2017-01-01

The problem of controlling a sound field inside a region surrounded by acoustic control sources is considered. Inspired by the Kirchhoff-Helmholtz integral, the use of double-layer source arrays allows such a control and avoids the modification of the external sound field by the control sources by the approximation of the sources as monopole and radial dipole transducers. However, the practical implementation of the Kirchhoff-Helmholtz integral in physical space leads to large numbers of control sources and error sensors along with excessive controller complexity in three dimensions. The present study investigates the potential of the Generalized Singular Value Decomposition (GSVD) to reduce the controller complexity and separate the effect of control sources on the interior and exterior sound fields, respectively. A proper truncation of the singular basis provided by the GSVD factorization is shown to lead to effective cancellation of the interior sound field at frequencies below the spatial Nyquist frequency of the control sources array while leaving the exterior sound field almost unchanged. Proofs of concept are provided through simulations achieved for interior problems by simulations in a free field scenario with circular arrays and in a reflective environment with square arrays.

Evaluation of alternatives to sound barrier walls.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-06-01

The existing INDOTs noise wall specification was developed primarily on the basis of knowledge of the conventional precast concrete : panel systems. Currently, the constructed cost of conventional noise walls is approximately $2 million per linear...

Proposal Tools for ASTRO-E

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mukai, K.; ASTRO-E Guest Observer Facility Team

1998-12-01

The XRS instrument on board ASTRO-E is expected to last about two years, before it runs out of cryogen. This leads us to place a particular emphasis on the technical aspects of the observing proposals to maximize the scientific return, more so than for missions/instruments with longer life times. In this talk, we will introduce the tools that we provide for you to write technically sound ASTRO-E XRS proposals. They include PIMMS/W3pimms and xspec/WebSpec for exposure time calculation, simaste for more detailed simulations (particularly of extended sources), and Wasabi, the Web-based observation visualization tool.

Inferential determination of various properties of a gas mixture

DOEpatents

Morrow, Thomas B.; Behring, II, Kendricks A.

2007-03-27

Methods for inferentially determining various properties of a gas mixture, when the speed of sound in the gas is known at an arbitrary temperature and pressure. The method can be applied to natural gas mixtures, where the known parameters are the sound speed, temperature, pressure, and concentrations of any dilute components of the gas. The method uses a set of reference gases and their calculated density and speed of sound values to estimate the density of the subject gas. Additional calculations can be made to estimate the molecular weight of the subject gas, which can then be used as the basis for heating value calculations. The method may also be applied to inferentially determine density and molecular weight for gas mixtures other than natural gases.

Sound from apollo rockets in space.

PubMed

Cotten, D; Donn, W L

1971-02-12

Low-frequency sound has been recorded on at least two occasions in Bermuda with the passage of Apollo rocket vehicles 188 kilometers aloft. The signals, which are reminiscent of N-waves from sonic booms, are (i) horizontally coherent; (ii) have extremely high (supersonic) trace velocities across the tripartite arrays; (iii) have nearly identical appearance and frequencies; (iv) have essentially identical arrival times after rocket launch; and (v) are the only coherent signals recorded over many hours. These observations seem to establish that the recorded sound comes from the rockets at high elevation. Despite this high elevation, the values of surface pressure appear to be explainable on the basis of a combination of a kinetic theory approach to shock formation in rarefied atmospheres with established gas-dynamics shock theory.

Sparse representation of Gravitational Sound

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rebollo-Neira, Laura; Plastino, A.

2018-03-01

Gravitational Sound clips produced by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are considered within the particular context of data reduction. We advance a procedure to this effect and show that these types of signals can be approximated with high quality using significantly fewer elementary components than those required within the standard orthogonal basis framework. Furthermore, a local measure sparsity is shown to render meaningful information about the variation of a signal along time, by generating a set of local sparsity values which is much smaller than the dimension of the signal. This point is further illustrated by recourse to a more complex signal, generated by Milde Science Communication to divulge Gravitational Sound in the form of a ring tone.

Human knee joint sound during the Lachman test: Comparison between healthy and anterior cruciate ligament-deficient knees.

PubMed

Tanaka, Kazunori; Ogawa, Munehiro; Inagaki, Yusuke; Tanaka, Yasuhito; Nishikawa, Hitoshi; Hattori, Koji

2017-05-01

The Lachman test is clinically considered to be a reliable physical examination for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) deficiency. However, the test involves subjective judgement of differences in tibial translation and endpoint quality. An auscultation system has been developed to allow assessment of the Lachman test. The knee joint sound during the Lachman test was analyzed using fast Fourier transformation. The purpose of the present study was to quantitatively evaluate knee joint sounds in healthy and ACL-deficient human knees. Sixty healthy volunteers and 24 patients with ACL injury were examined. The Lachman test with joint auscultation was evaluated using a microphone. Knee joint sound during the Lachman test (Lachman sound) was analyzed by fast Fourier transformation. As quantitative indices of the Lachman sound, the peak sound (Lachman peak sound) as the maximum relative amplitude (acoustic pressure) and its frequency were used. In healthy volunteers, the mean Lachman peak sound of intact knees was 100.6 Hz in frequency and -45 dB in acoustic pressure. Moreover, a sex difference was found in the frequency of the Lachman peak sound. In patients with ACL injury, the frequency of the Lachman peak sound of the ACL-deficient knees was widely dispersed. In the ACL-deficient knees, the mean Lachman peak sound was 306.8 Hz in frequency and -63.1 dB in acoustic pressure. If the reference range was set at the frequency of the healthy volunteer Lachman peak sound, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were 83.3%, 95.6%, 95.2%, and 85.2%, respectively. Knee joint auscultation during the Lachman test was capable of judging ACL deficiency on the basis of objective data. In particular, the frequency of the Lachman peak sound was able to assess ACL condition. Copyright © 2016 The Japanese Orthopaedic Association. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Plastic modes of listening: affordance in constructed sound environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sjolin, Anders

This thesis is concerned with how the ecological approach to perception with the inclusion of listening modes, informs the creation of sound art installation, or more specifically as referred to in this thesis as constructed sound environments. The basis for the thesis has been a practiced based research where the aim and purpose of the written part of this PhD project has been to critically investigate the area of sound art, in order to map various approaches towards participating in and listening to a constructed sound environment. The main areas has been the notion of affordance as coined by James J. Gibson (1986), listening modes as coined by Pierre Schaeffer (1966) and further developed by Michel Chion (1994), aural architects as coined by Blesser and Salter (2007) and the holistic approach towards understanding sound art developed by Brandon LaBelle (2006). The findings within the written part of the thesis, based on a qualitative analysis, have informed the practice that has resulted in artefacts in the form of seven constructed sound environments that also functions as case studies for further analysis. The aim of the practice has been to exemplify the methodology, strategy and progress behind the organisation and construction of sound environments The research concerns point towards the acknowledgment of affordance as the crucial factor in understanding a constructed sound environment. The affordance approach govern the idea that perceiving a sound environment is a top-down process where the autonomic quality of a constructed sound environment is based upon the perception of structures of the sound material and its relationship with speaker placement and surrounding space. This enables a researcher to side step the conflicting poles of musical/abstract and non-musical/realistic classification of sound elements and regard these poles as included, not separated elements in the analysis of a constructed sound environment.

The Use and Value of Defense Technical Information Center Products and Services.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roderer, Nancy K.; And Others

This study describes the use and value of the major information products and services provided by the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC). These products and services include technical report distribution on an on-demand basis and through the Automatic Document Distribution (ADD) program; secondary information dissemination through online…

Developments in Technical Education in the British Caribbean, 1940-60.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pemberton, S. Macpherson

The paper discusses developments in technical education in the British West Indies from 1940-1960 emphasizing the relation between education and economic development. The objective is to analyze the economic basis of progress in technical education. The document is presented in four chapters. Chapter I summarizes historical background prior to…

Space Solar Power Demonstrations: Challenges and Progress

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Howell, Joe T.; Mankins, John C.; Lavoie, Anthony R. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

The prospects of using electrical power beamed from space are coming closer to reality with the continued pursuit and improvements in the supporting space solar research and technology. Space Solar Power (SSP) has been explored off and on for approximately three decades as a viable alternative and clean energy source. Results produced through the more recent Space Solar Power Exploratory Research and Technology (SERT) program involving extensive participation by industry, universities, and government has provided a sound technical basis for believing that technology can be improved to the extent that SSP systems can be built, economically feasible, and successfully deployed in space. Considerable advancements have been made in conceptual designs and supporting technologies including solar power generation, wireless power transmission, power management distribution, thermal management and materials, and the integrated systems engineering assessments. Basic technologies have progressed to the point were the next logical step is to formulate and conduct sophisticated demonstrations involving prototype hardware as final proof of concepts and identify high end technology readiness levels in preparation for full scale SSP systems designs. In addition to continued technical development issues, environmental and safety issues must be addressed and appropriate actions taken to reassure the public and prepare them for the future use of this alternative renewable energy resource. Accomplishing these objectives will allow informed future decisions regarding further SSP and related R&D investments by both NASA management and prospective external partners. In particular, accomplishing these objectives will also guide further definition of SSP and related technology roadmaps including performance objectives, resources and schedules; including 'multi-purpose' applications (terrestrial markets, science, commercial development of space, and other government missions).

A Real-Life Basis for Reports in Business and Technical Writing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stephenson, William

1987-01-01

For students who have difficulty finding material for writing formal business and technical reports, suggests keeping a file folder of clippings about new products and services taken from a leading newspaper.(NH)

A multi-modal solution for the transmission of sound in nonuniform ducts

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eversman, W.

1976-01-01

The method of weighted residuals in the form of a modified Galerkin method with boundary residuals is developed for the study of the transmission of sound in nonuniform ducts carrying a steady compressible flow. In this formulation the steady flow is modeled as essentially one-dimensional but with a kinematic modification to force tangency of the flow at the duct walls. Good agreement has been obtained with known results for transmission and reflection coefficients in hard walled ducts up to near sonic velocities. In ducts with acoustically compliant boundaries good comparisons have been more difficult to achieve except at low Mach numbers. The problem of transmission in a straight, acoustically treated duct with a uniform flow has been formulated and the Galerkin method used with basis functions derived from the case when flow is absent. Results indicate that favorable comparisons with exact computations can be obtained if care is taken in choosing the basis functions.

The Relations between Astronomy and Music in Medieval Armenia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vardumyan, Arpi

2015-07-01

In Middle Ages Astronomy and Music were included in the four sciences, together with Mathematics and Geometry. From ancient times philosophers thought that harmony lies in the basis of world creation. The Earth was in the centre of the Universe, and the seven planets went around it, the Sun and the Moon in their number. Harmony was also in the basis of music, with seven sounds due to seven planets. It was considered that owing to harmonic rotation cosmic universal music appears, and it is not attainable for human ear as it is used to it. Medieval connoisseurs of music therapy believed that for healing a person his astrological data must first be cleared out, in order to define in which musical mode should sound the melody in order to treat him/her. Comparing music with astrology they considered easier to practise the first one because the celestial luminaries are much higher and farther from people.

Technical basis for nuclear accident dosimetry at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kerr, G.D.; Mei, G.T.

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Environmental, Safety, and Health Emergency Response Organization has the responsibility of providing analyses of personnel exposures to neutrons and gamma rays from a nuclear accident. This report presents the technical and philosophical basis for the dose assessment aspects of the nuclear accident dosimetry (NAD) system at ORNL. The issues addressed are regulatory guidelines, ORNL NAD system components and performance, and the interpretation of dosimetric information that would be gathered following a nuclear accident.

Sound stream segregation: a neuromorphic approach to solve the “cocktail party problem” in real-time

PubMed Central

Thakur, Chetan Singh; Wang, Runchun M.; Afshar, Saeed; Hamilton, Tara J.; Tapson, Jonathan C.; Shamma, Shihab A.; van Schaik, André

2015-01-01

The human auditory system has the ability to segregate complex auditory scenes into a foreground component and a background, allowing us to listen to specific speech sounds from a mixture of sounds. Selective attention plays a crucial role in this process, colloquially known as the “cocktail party effect.” It has not been possible to build a machine that can emulate this human ability in real-time. Here, we have developed a framework for the implementation of a neuromorphic sound segregation algorithm in a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). This algorithm is based on the principles of temporal coherence and uses an attention signal to separate a target sound stream from background noise. Temporal coherence implies that auditory features belonging to the same sound source are coherently modulated and evoke highly correlated neural response patterns. The basis for this form of sound segregation is that responses from pairs of channels that are strongly positively correlated belong to the same stream, while channels that are uncorrelated or anti-correlated belong to different streams. In our framework, we have used a neuromorphic cochlea as a frontend sound analyser to extract spatial information of the sound input, which then passes through band pass filters that extract the sound envelope at various modulation rates. Further stages include feature extraction and mask generation, which is finally used to reconstruct the targeted sound. Using sample tonal and speech mixtures, we show that our FPGA architecture is able to segregate sound sources in real-time. The accuracy of segregation is indicated by the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the segregated stream (90, 77, and 55 dB for simple tone, complex tone, and speech, respectively) as compared to the SNR of the mixture waveform (0 dB). This system may be easily extended for the segregation of complex speech signals, and may thus find various applications in electronic devices such as for sound segregation and speech recognition. PMID:26388721

Sound stream segregation: a neuromorphic approach to solve the "cocktail party problem" in real-time.

PubMed

Thakur, Chetan Singh; Wang, Runchun M; Afshar, Saeed; Hamilton, Tara J; Tapson, Jonathan C; Shamma, Shihab A; van Schaik, André

2015-01-01

The human auditory system has the ability to segregate complex auditory scenes into a foreground component and a background, allowing us to listen to specific speech sounds from a mixture of sounds. Selective attention plays a crucial role in this process, colloquially known as the "cocktail party effect." It has not been possible to build a machine that can emulate this human ability in real-time. Here, we have developed a framework for the implementation of a neuromorphic sound segregation algorithm in a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). This algorithm is based on the principles of temporal coherence and uses an attention signal to separate a target sound stream from background noise. Temporal coherence implies that auditory features belonging to the same sound source are coherently modulated and evoke highly correlated neural response patterns. The basis for this form of sound segregation is that responses from pairs of channels that are strongly positively correlated belong to the same stream, while channels that are uncorrelated or anti-correlated belong to different streams. In our framework, we have used a neuromorphic cochlea as a frontend sound analyser to extract spatial information of the sound input, which then passes through band pass filters that extract the sound envelope at various modulation rates. Further stages include feature extraction and mask generation, which is finally used to reconstruct the targeted sound. Using sample tonal and speech mixtures, we show that our FPGA architecture is able to segregate sound sources in real-time. The accuracy of segregation is indicated by the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the segregated stream (90, 77, and 55 dB for simple tone, complex tone, and speech, respectively) as compared to the SNR of the mixture waveform (0 dB). This system may be easily extended for the segregation of complex speech signals, and may thus find various applications in electronic devices such as for sound segregation and speech recognition.

[The parallelisms in of sound signal of domestic sheep and Northern fur seals].

PubMed

Nikol'skiĭ, A A; Lisitsina, T Iu

2011-01-01

The parallelisms in communicative behavior of domestic sheep and Northern fur seals within a herd are accompanied by parallelisms in parameters of sound signal, the calling scream. This signal ensures ties between babies and their mothers at a long distance. The basis of parallelisms is formed by amplitude modulation at two levels: the one being a direct amplitude modulation of the carrier frequency and the other--modulation of the carrier frequency oscillation. Parallelisms in the signal oscillatory process result in corresponding parallelisms in the structure of its frequency spectrum.

RELEASE OF DRIED RADIOACTIVE WASTE MATERIALS TECHNICAL BASIS DOCUMENT

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

KOZLOWSKI, S.D.

2007-05-30

This technical basis document was developed to support RPP-23429, Preliminary Documented Safety Analysis for the Demonstration Bulk Vitrification System (PDSA) and RPP-23479, Preliminary Documented Safety Analysis for the Contact-Handled Transuranic Mixed (CH-TRUM) Waste Facility. The main document describes the risk binning process and the technical basis for assigning risk bins to the representative accidents involving the release of dried radioactive waste materials from the Demonstration Bulk Vitrification System (DBVS) and to the associated represented hazardous conditions. Appendices D through F provide the technical basis for assigning risk bins to the representative dried waste release accident and associated represented hazardous conditionsmore » for the Contact-Handled Transuranic Mixed (CH-TRUM) Waste Packaging Unit (WPU). The risk binning process uses an evaluation of the frequency and consequence of a given representative accident or represented hazardous condition to determine the need for safety structures, systems, and components (SSC) and technical safety requirement (TSR)-level controls. A representative accident or a represented hazardous condition is assigned to a risk bin based on the potential radiological and toxicological consequences to the public and the collocated worker. Note that the risk binning process is not applied to facility workers because credible hazardous conditions with the potential for significant facility worker consequences are considered for safety-significant SSCs and/or TSR-level controls regardless of their estimated frequency. The controls for protection of the facility workers are described in RPP-23429 and RPP-23479. Determination of the need for safety-class SSCs was performed in accordance with DOE-STD-3009-94, Preparation Guide for US. Department of Energy Nonreactor Nuclear Facility Documented Safety Analyses, as described below.« less

An overview of forestry in the Farm Bill and Natural Resources Conservation Service forestry resources

Treesearch

Andy Henriksen

2010-01-01

Since 1935, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) (originally the Soil Conservation Service) has provided leadership in a partnership effort to help America's private landowners and managers conserve their soil, water, and other natural resources. NRCS employees provide technical assistance based on sound science and suited to a customer's...

DEMONSTRATION OF FUEL CELLS TO RECOVER ENERGY FROM LANDFILL GAS - PHASE III. DEMONSTRATION TESTS - PHASE IV. GUIDELINES AND DEMONSTRATIONS - VOLUME 2. APPENDICES

EPA Science Inventory

The report summarizes the results of a four-phase program to demonstrate that fuel cell energy recovery using a commercial phosphoric acid fuel cell is both environmentally sound and commercially feasible. Phase I, a conceptual design and evaluation study, addressed the technical...

Phoneme Segmenting Alignment with the Common Core Foundational Skills Standard Two: Grades K-1. Technical Report #1227

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sáez, Leilani; Irvin, P. Shawn; Alonzo, Julie; Tindal, Gerald

2012-01-01

In 2006, the easyCBM reading assessment system was developed to support the progress monitoring of phoneme segmenting, letter names and sounds recognition, word reading, passage reading fluency, and comprehension skill development in elementary schools. More recently, the Common Core Standards in English Language Arts have been introduced as a…

Transforming Glycoscience: A Roadmap for the Future

Treesearch

Robert Moon

2012-01-01

This report has been reviewed in draft form by persons chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise in accordance with procedures approved by the National Research Council’s Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making the published report as sound...

Fiscal Year 2003 Appendix, Budget of the United States of America

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-01-01

the specifica- tions shall include requirements for— (I) a fountain; (II) extensive use of trees and flowering plants from each of the 50 States; (III...Estimates Reports issued ...................................................................................... 12 12 12 Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin...disadvantaged farmers and ranchers. The USDA will provide outreach, training, and technical assistance on sound farm management and production, crop

75 FR 31306 - Approval and Promulgation of State Implementation Plans; State of Colorado; Interstate Transport...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-06-03

... violations of the NAAQS: `` * * * [h]owever, as a reflection of emission levels, the relatively (to the 1997..., even if the WRAP presentation submitted by the commenter were technically sound, the conclusion drawn... Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Wall v. U.S. EPA, 265 F.3d 426, 436 (6th Cir. 2001...

47 CFR 90.763 - EA, Regional and nationwide system operations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... on a case-by-case basis upon submission by the EA or Regional licensee of: (A) A technical analysis... by a licensee or the Commission, an EA or regional licensee shall furnish the technical parameters...

Aeroacoustic analysis of the human phonation process based on a hybrid acoustic PIV approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lodermeyer, Alexander; Tautz, Matthias; Becker, Stefan; Döllinger, Michael; Birk, Veronika; Kniesburges, Stefan

2018-01-01

The detailed analysis of sound generation in human phonation is severely limited as the accessibility to the laryngeal flow region is highly restricted. Consequently, the physical basis of the underlying fluid-structure-acoustic interaction that describes the primary mechanism of sound production is not yet fully understood. Therefore, we propose the implementation of a hybrid acoustic PIV procedure to evaluate aeroacoustic sound generation during voice production within a synthetic larynx model. Focusing on the flow field downstream of synthetic, aerodynamically driven vocal folds, we calculated acoustic source terms based on the velocity fields obtained by time-resolved high-speed PIV applied to the mid-coronal plane. The radiation of these sources into the acoustic far field was numerically simulated and the resulting acoustic pressure was finally compared with experimental microphone measurements. We identified the tonal sound to be generated downstream in a small region close to the vocal folds. The simulation of the sound propagation underestimated the tonal components, whereas the broadband sound was well reproduced. Our results demonstrate the feasibility to locate aeroacoustic sound sources inside a synthetic larynx using a hybrid acoustic PIV approach. Although the technique employs a 2D-limited flow field, it accurately reproduces the basic characteristics of the aeroacoustic field in our larynx model. In future studies, not only the aeroacoustic mechanisms of normal phonation will be assessable, but also the sound generation of voice disorders can be investigated more profoundly.

Identification of impact force acting on composite laminated plates using the radiated sound measured with microphones

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Atobe, Satoshi; Nonami, Shunsuke; Hu, Ning; Fukunaga, Hisao

2017-09-01

Foreign object impact events are serious threats to composite laminates because impact damage leads to significant degradation of the mechanical properties of the structure. Identification of the location and force history of the impact that was applied to the structure can provide useful information for assessing the structural integrity. This study proposes a method for identifying impact forces acting on CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced plastic) laminated plates on the basis of the sound radiated from the impacted structure. Identification of the impact location and force history is performed using the sound pressure measured with microphones. To devise a method for identifying the impact location from the difference in the arrival times of the sound wave detected with the microphones, the propagation path of the sound wave from the impacted point to the sensor is examined. For the identification of the force history, an experimentally constructed transfer matrix is employed to relate the force history to the corresponding sound pressure. To verify the validity of the proposed method, impact tests are conducted by using a CFRP cross-ply laminate as the specimen, and an impulse hammer as the impactor. The experimental results confirm the validity of the present method for identifying the impact location from the arrival time of the sound wave detected with the microphones. Moreover, the results of force history identification show the feasibility of identifying the force history accurately from the measured sound pressure using the experimental transfer matrix.

The Brain Basis for Misophonia.

PubMed

Kumar, Sukhbinder; Tansley-Hancock, Olana; Sedley, William; Winston, Joel S; Callaghan, Martina F; Allen, Micah; Cope, Thomas E; Gander, Phillip E; Bamiou, Doris-Eva; Griffiths, Timothy D

2017-02-20

Misophonia is an affective sound-processing disorder characterized by the experience of strong negative emotions (anger and anxiety) in response to everyday sounds, such as those generated by other people eating, drinking, chewing, and breathing [1-8]. The commonplace nature of these sounds (often referred to as "trigger sounds") makes misophonia a devastating disorder for sufferers and their families, and yet nothing is known about the underlying mechanism. Using functional and structural MRI coupled with physiological measurements, we demonstrate that misophonic subjects show specific trigger-sound-related responses in brain and body. Specifically, fMRI showed that in misophonic subjects, trigger sounds elicit greatly exaggerated blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) responses in the anterior insular cortex (AIC), a core hub of the "salience network" that is critical for perception of interoceptive signals and emotion processing. Trigger sounds in misophonics were associated with abnormal functional connectivity between AIC and a network of regions responsible for the processing and regulation of emotions, including ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), posteromedial cortex (PMC), hippocampus, and amygdala. Trigger sounds elicited heightened heart rate (HR) and galvanic skin response (GSR) in misophonic subjects, which were mediated by AIC activity. Questionnaire analysis showed that misophonic subjects perceived their bodies differently: they scored higher on interoceptive sensibility than controls, consistent with abnormal functioning of AIC. Finally, brain structural measurements implied greater myelination within vmPFC in misophonic individuals. Overall, our results show that misophonia is a disorder in which abnormal salience is attributed to particular sounds based on the abnormal activation and functional connectivity of AIC. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

"Going the Extra Mile in Downscaling: Why Downscaling is not ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This presentation provides an example of doing additional work for preprocessing global climate model data for use in regional climate modeling simulations with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. In this presentation, results from 15 months of downscaling the Community Earth System Model (CESM) were shown, both using the out-of-the-box downscaling of CESM and also with a modification to setting the inland lake temperatures. The National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) Atmospheric Modeling and Analysis Division (AMAD) conducts research in support of EPA mission to protect human health and the environment. AMAD research program is engaged in developing and evaluating predictive atmospheric models on all spatial and temporal scales for forecasting the air quality and for assessing changes in air quality and air pollutant exposures, as affected by changes in ecosystem management and regulatory decisions. AMAD is responsible for providing a sound scientific and technical basis for regulatory policies based on air quality models to improve ambient air quality. The models developed by AMAD are being used by EPA, NOAA, and the air pollution community in understanding and forecasting not only the magnitude of the air pollution problem, but also in developing emission control policies and regulations for air quality improvements.

Ten-year experience of remote medical education in Asia.

PubMed

Shimizu, Shuji; Kudo, Kuriko; Antoku, Yasuaki; Hu, Min; Okamura, Koji; Nakashima, Naoki

2014-11-01

Moving images are often essential in medical education, to learn new procedures and advanced skills, but, in the past, high-quality movie transmission was technically much more challenging than transmitting still pictures because of technological limitations and cost. We established a new system, taking advantage of two advanced technologies, the digital video transport system (DVTS) and the research and education network (REN), which enabled satisfactory telemedicine on a routine basis. Between 2003 and 2013, we organized 360 programs connecting 221 hospitals or facilities in 34 countries in Asia and beyond. The two main areas were endoscopy and surgery, with 113 (31%) and 106 (29%) events, respectively. Teleconferences made up 76% of the total events, with the remaining 24% being live demonstrations. Multiple connections were more popular (63%) than one-to-one connections (37%). With continuous technological development, new high-definition H.323 and Vidyo(®) (Hackensack, NJ) systems were used in 47% and 39% of events in 2011 and 2012, respectively. The evaluation by questionnaires was favorable on image and sound quality as well as programs. Remote medical education with moving images was well accepted in Asia with changing needs and developing technologies.

Topological supersymmetry breaking: The definition and stochastic generalization of chaos and the limit of applicability of statistics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ovchinnikov, Igor V.; Schwartz, Robert N.; Wang, Kang L.

2016-03-01

The concept of deterministic dynamical chaos has a long history and is well established by now. Nevertheless, its field theoretic essence and its stochastic generalization have been revealed only very recently. Within the newly found supersymmetric theory of stochastics (STS), all stochastic differential equations (SDEs) possess topological or de Rahm supersymmetry and stochastic chaos is the phenomenon of its spontaneous breakdown. Even though the STS is free of approximations and thus is technically solid, it is still missing a firm interpretational basis in order to be physically sound. Here, we make a few important steps toward the construction of the interpretational foundation for the STS. In particular, we discuss that one way to understand why the ground states of chaotic SDEs are conditional (not total) probability distributions, is that some of the variables have infinite memory of initial conditions and thus are not “thermalized”, i.e., cannot be described by the initial-conditions-independent probability distributions. As a result, the definitive assumption of physical statistics that the ground state is a steady-state total probability distribution is not valid for chaotic SDEs.

"Updates to Model Algorithms & Inputs for the Biogenic ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

We have developed new canopy emission algorithms and land use data for BEIS. Simulations with BEIS v3.4 and these updates in CMAQ v5.0.2 are compared these changes to the Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols from Nature (MEGAN) and evaluated the simulations against observations. This has resulted in improvements in model evaluations of modeled isoprene, NOx, and O3. The National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) Atmospheric Modeling and Analysis Division (AMAD) conducts research in support of EPA mission to protect human health and the environment. AMAD research program is engaged in developing and evaluating predictive atmospheric models on all spatial and temporal scales for forecasting the air quality and for assessing changes in air quality and air pollutant exposures, as affected by changes in ecosystem management and regulatory decisions. AMAD is responsible for providing a sound scientific and technical basis for regulatory policies based on air quality models to improve ambient air quality. The models developed by AMAD are being used by EPA, NOAA, and the air pollution community in understanding and forecasting not only the magnitude of the air pollution problem, but also in developing emission control policies and regulations for air quality improvements.

OCGen Module Mooring Project

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

McEntee, Jarlath

Ocean Renewable Power Company's OCGen Module Mooring Project provided an extensive research, design, development, testing and data collection effort and analysis conducted with respect to a positively buoyant, submerged MHK device secured to the seabed using a tensioned mooring system. Different analytic tools were evaluated for their utility in the design of submerged systems and their moorings. Deployment and testing of a prototype OCGen® system provided significant data related to mooring line loads and system attitude and station keeping. Mooring line loads were measured in situ and reported against flow speeds. The Project made a significant step in the developmentmore » of designs, methodologies and practices related to floating and mooring of marine hydrokinetic (MHK) devices. Importantly for Ocean Renewable Power Company, the Project provided a sound basis for advancing a technically and commercially viable OCGen® Power System. The OCGen® Power System is unique in the MHK industry and, in itself, offers distinct advantages of MHK devices that are secured to the seabed using fixed structural frames. Foremost among these advantages are capital and operating cost reductions and increased power extraction by allowing the device to be placed at the most energetic level of the water column.« less

Ten-Year Experience of Remote Medical Education in Asia

PubMed Central

Kudo, Kuriko; Antoku, Yasuaki; Hu, Min; Okamura, Koji; Nakashima, Naoki

2014-01-01

Abstract Background: Moving images are often essential in medical education, to learn new procedures and advanced skills, but, in the past, high-quality movie transmission was technically much more challenging than transmitting still pictures because of technological limitations and cost. Materials and Methods: We established a new system, taking advantage of two advanced technologies, the digital video transport system (DVTS) and the research and education network (REN), which enabled satisfactory telemedicine on a routine basis. Results: Between 2003 and 2013, we organized 360 programs connecting 221 hospitals or facilities in 34 countries in Asia and beyond. The two main areas were endoscopy and surgery, with 113 (31%) and 106 (29%) events, respectively. Teleconferences made up 76% of the total events, with the remaining 24% being live demonstrations. Multiple connections were more popular (63%) than one-to-one connections (37%). With continuous technological development, new high-definition H.323 and Vidyo® (Hackensack, NJ) systems were used in 47% and 39% of events in 2011 and 2012, respectively. The evaluation by questionnaires was favorable on image and sound quality as well as programs. Conclusions: Remote medical education with moving images was well accepted in Asia with changing needs and developing technologies. PMID:25272006

"Total Deposition (TDEP) Maps" | Science Inventory | US EPA

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The presentation provides an update on the use of a hybrid methodology that relies on measured values from national monitoring networks and modeled values from CMAQ to produce of maps of total deposition for use in critical loads and other ecological assessments. Additionally, comparisons of the deposition values from the hybrid approach are compared with deposition estimates from other methodologies. The National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) Atmospheric Modeling and Analysis Division (AMAD) conducts research in support of EPA mission to protect human health and the environment. AMAD research program is engaged in developing and evaluating predictive atmospheric models on all spatial and temporal scales for forecasting the air quality and for assessing changes in air quality and air pollutant exposures, as affected by changes in ecosystem management and regulatory decisions. AMAD is responsible for providing a sound scientific and technical basis for regulatory policies based on air quality models to improve ambient air quality. The models developed by AMAD are being used by EPA, NOAA, and the air pollution community in understanding and forecasting not only the magnitude of the air pollution problem, but also in developing emission control policies and regulations for air quality improvements.

Environmental Education in Technical and Vocational Education. A Discussion Document for Unesco Training Seminars on the Incorporation of Environmental Education into Technical and Vocational Education. Environmental Education Series 24.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grabe, Sven

This paper is intended to serve as the basis for discussion of the scope and place of environmental education in technical and vocational education. It is addressed primarily to administrators, curriculum developers, and other active participants in the definition of scope and content of technical and vocational courses. After a brief introduction…

[Sound improves distinction of low intensities of light in the visual cortex of a rabbit].

PubMed

Polianskiĭ, V B; Alymkulov, D E; Evtikhin, D V; Chernyshev, B V

2011-01-01

Electrodes were implanted into cranium above the primary visual cortex of four rabbits (Orictolagus cuniculus). At the first stage, visual evoked potentials (VEPs) were recorded in response to substitution of threshold visual stimuli (0.28 and 0.31 cd/m2). Then the sound (2000 Hz, 84 dB, duration 40 ms) was added simultaneously to every visual stimulus. Single sounds (without visual stimuli) did not produce a VEP-response. It was found that the amplitude ofVEP component N1 (85-110 ms) in response to complex stimuli (visual and sound) increased 1.6 times as compared to "simple" visual stimulation. At the second stage, paired substitutions of 8 different visual stimuli (range 0.38-20.2 cd/m2) by each other were performed. Sensory spaces of intensity were reconstructed on the basis of factor analysis. Sensory spaces of complexes were reconstructed in a similar way for simultaneous visual and sound stimulation. Comparison of vectors representing the stimuli in the spaces showed that the addition of a sound led to a 1.4-fold expansion of the space occupied by smaller intensities (0.28; 1.02; 3.05; 6.35 cd/m2). Also, the addition of the sound led to an arrangement of intensities in an ascending order. At the same time, the sound 1.33-times narrowed the space of larger intensities (8.48; 13.7; 16.8; 20.2 cd/m2). It is suggested that the addition of a sound improves a distinction of smaller intensities and impairs a dis- tinction of larger intensities. Sensory spaces revealed by complex stimuli were two-dimensional. This fact can be a consequence of integration of sound and light in a unified complex at simultaneous stimulation.

Automatic blood pressure measuring system (M092)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nolte, R. W.

1977-01-01

The Blood Pressure Measuring System is described. It measures blood pressure by the noninvasive Korotkoff sound technique on a continual basis as physical stress is imposed during experiment M092, Lower Body Negative Pressure, and experiment M171, Metabolic Activity.

NPR design basis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Locke, G.L.

1958-09-08

The design basis is composed of requirements and conditions for the design of the reactor plant (composed of the reactor and heat dissipation system). Its intent is to insure that the final product meets the economic, safety, and technical objectives of the project. The design basis is dependent on the ground rules, objectives, technical criteria, and practical design considerations. This document is being issued with the understanding that these items are not yet firmly established in all respects, and therefore, the numbers put down here are subject to change. Consideration of the spectrum of probable changes that might be mademore » leads to the conclusion that the numbers here are close to the final ones and are satisfactory as a basis for the initial stages of design. Some numbers are omitted because of insufficient data at this time.« less

Noise exposure in movie theaters: a preliminary study of sound levels during the showing of 25 films.

PubMed

Warszawa, Anna; Sataloff, Robert T

2010-09-01

The harmful effects of noise exposure during leisure-time activities are beginning to receive some scrutiny. We conducted a preliminary study to investigate the noise levels during the showings of 25 different films. During each screening, various sound measurements were made with a dosimeter. The movies were classified on the basis of both their Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) rating and their genre, and the size of the theater and the size of the audience were taken into consideration in the final analysis. Our findings suggest that the sound levels of many movies might be harmful to hearing, although we can draw no definitive conclusions. We did not discern any relationship between noise levels and either MPAA rating or genre. Further studies are recommended.

32 CFR 37.420 - Should I tell proposers that we will not disclose information that they submit?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... documents; and (ii) Business plans and technical information submitted on a confidential basis. (c) If proposers desire to protect business plans and technical information for five years from FOIA disclosure...

'Noises in the head': a prospective study to characterize intracranial sounds after cranial surgery.

PubMed

Sivasubramaniam, Vinothan; Alg, Varinder Singh; Frantzias, Joseph; Acharya, Shami Yesha; Papadopoulos, Marios Costa; Martin, Andrew James

2016-08-01

Patients often report sounds in the head after craniotomy. We aim to characterize the prevalence and nature of these sounds, and identify any patient, pathology, or technical factors related to them. These data may be used to inform patients of this sometimes unpleasant, but harmless effect of cranial surgery. Prospective observational study of patients undergoing cranial surgery with dural opening. Eligible patients completed a questionnaire preoperatively and daily after surgery until discharge. Subjects were followed up at 14 days with a telephone consultation. One hundred fifty-one patients with various pathologies were included. Of these, 47 (31 %) reported hearing sounds in their head, lasting an average 4-6 days (median, 4 days, mean, 6 days, range, 1-14 days). The peak onset was the first postoperative day and the most commonly used descriptors were 'clicking' [20/47 (43 %)] and 'fluid moving' in the head [9/47 (19 %)]. A significant proportion (42 %, 32/77) without a wound drain experienced intracranial sounds compared to those with a drain (20 %, 15/74, p < 0.01); there was no difference between suction and gravity drains. Approximately a third of the patients in both groups (post-craniotomy sounds group: 36 %, 17/47; group not reporting sounds: 31 %, 32/104), had postoperative CT scans for unrelated reasons: 73 % (8/11) of those with pneumocephalus experienced intracranial sounds, compared to 24 % (9/38) of those without pneumocephalus (p < 0.01). There was no significant association with craniotomy site or size, temporal bone drilling, bone flap replacement, or filling of the surgical cavity with fluid. Sounds in the head after cranial surgery are common, affecting 31 % of patients. This is the first study into this subject, and provides valuable information useful for consenting patients. The data suggest pneumocephalus as a plausible explanation with which to reassure patients, rather than relying on anecdotal evidence, as has been the case to date.

Research philosophy: towards an understanding.

PubMed

Crossan, Frank

2003-01-01

In this paper, Frank Crossan argues that the distinction between quantitative and qualitative philosophies and research methods is sometimes overstated, and that triangulation of methods in contemporary research is common. It is, therefore, important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each approach, and this paper aims to provide the novice researcher with a basis for developing that understanding. A descriptive analysis of the philosophies of positivism and post-positivist thinking in relation to research methodology is presented both as an introduction to the philosophical basis of research, and as a sound basis from which to discuss the 'quantitative-qualitative' debate.

Design Considerations for Aural Vital Signs Using PZT Piezoelectric Ceramics Sensor Based on the Computerization Method.

PubMed

Noimanee, Suranan; Tunkasiri, Tawee; Siriwitayakorn, Kingkeo; Tantrakoon, Jerapong

2007-11-11

The purpose was to illustrate how system developed for measurement of the aural vital signs such as patient's heart and lung sounds in the hospital. For heart sounds measurement must operate the frequency response between 20 - 800 Hz, and lung sounds measurement must operate the frequency response between 160 - 4,000 Hz. The method was designed PZT piezoelectric ceramics for both frequency response in the same PZT sensor. It converts a signal from aural vital sign form to voltage signal. The signal is suitably amplified and re-filtered in band pass frequency band. It is converted to digital signal by an analog to digital conversion circuitry developed for the purpose. The results were that all signals can fed to personal computer through the sound card port. With the supporting software for drawing of graphic on the screen, the signal for a specific duration is accessed and stored in the computer's memory in term of each patient's data. In conclusion, the data of each patient call dot pcg (.pcg) for drawing graph and dot wave (.wave) for sound listening or automatic sending via electronic mail to the physician for later analysis of interpreting the sounds on the basis of their time domain and frequency domain representation to diagnose heart disorders.

Complex coevolution of wing, tail, and vocal sounds of courting male bee hummingbirds.

PubMed

Clark, Christopher J; McGuire, Jimmy A; Bonaccorso, Elisa; Berv, Jacob S; Prum, Richard O

2018-03-01

Phenotypic characters with a complex physical basis may have a correspondingly complex evolutionary history. Males in the "bee" hummingbird clade court females with sound from tail-feathers, which flutter during display dives. On a phylogeny of 35 species, flutter sound frequency evolves as a gradual, continuous character on most branches. But on at least six internal branches fall two types of major, saltational changes: mode of flutter changes, or the feather that is the sound source changes, causing frequency to jump from one discrete value to another. In addition to their tail "instruments," males also court females with sound from their syrinx and wing feathers, and may transfer or switch instruments over evolutionary time. In support of this, we found a negative phylogenetic correlation between presence of wing trills and singing. We hypothesize this transference occurs because wing trills and vocal songs serve similar functions and are thus redundant. There are also three independent origins of self-convergence of multiple signals, in which the same species produces both a vocal (sung) frequency sweep, and a highly similar nonvocal sound. Moreover, production of vocal, learned song has been lost repeatedly. Male bee hummingbirds court females with a diverse, coevolving array of acoustic traits. © 2018 The Author(s). Evolution © 2018 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Humpback whale bioacoustics: From form to function

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mercado, Eduardo, III

This thesis investigates how humpback whales produce, perceive, and use sounds from a comparative and computational perspective. Biomimetic models are developed within a systems-theoretic framework and then used to analyze the properties of humpback whale sounds. First, sound transmission is considered in terms of possible production mechanisms and the propagation characteristics of shallow water environments frequented by humpback whales. A standard source-filter model (used to describe human sound production) is shown to be well suited for characterizing sound production by humpback whales. Simulations of sound propagation based on normal mode theory reveal that optimal frequencies for long range propagation are higher than the frequencies used most often by humpbacks, and that sounds may contain spectral information indicating how far they have propagated. Next, sound reception is discussed. A model of human auditory processing is modified to emulate humpback whale auditory processing as suggested by cochlear anatomical dimensions. This auditory model is used to generate visual representations of humpback whale sounds that more clearly reveal what features are likely to be salient to listening whales. Additionally, the possibility that an unusual sensory organ (the tubercle) plays a role in acoustic processing is assessed. Spatial distributions of tubercles are described that suggest tubercles may be useful for localizing sound sources. Finally, these models are integrated with self-organizing feature maps to create a biomimetic sound classification system, and a detailed analysis of individual sounds and sound patterns in humpback whale 'songs' is performed. This analysis provides evidence that song sounds and sound patterns vary substantially in terms of detectability and propagation potential, suggesting that they do not all serve the same function. New quantitative techniques are also presented that allow for more objective characterizations of the long term acoustic features of songs. The quantitative framework developed in this thesis provides a basis for theoretical consideration of how humpback whales (and other cetaceans) might use sound. Evidence is presented suggesting that vocalizing humpbacks could use sounds not only to convey information to other whales, but also to collect information about other whales. In particular, it is suggested that some sounds currently believed to be primarily used as communicative signals, might be primarily used as sonar signals. This theoretical framework is shown to be generalizable to other baleen whales and to toothed whales.

The Sounds of Space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gurnett, Donald

2009-11-01

The popular concept of space is that it is a vacuum, with nothing of interest between the stars, planets, moons and other astronomical objects. In fact most of space is permeated by plasma, sometimes quite dense, as in the solar corona and planetary ionospheres, and sometimes quite tenuous, as is in planetary radiation belts. Even less well known is that these space plasmas support and produce an astonishing large variety of waves, the ``sounds of space.'' In this talk I will give you a tour of these space sounds, starting with the very early discovery of ``whistlers'' nearly a century ago, and proceeding through my nearly fifty years of research on space plasma waves using spacecraft-borne instrumentation. In addition to being of scientific interest, some of these sounds can even be described as ``musical,'' and have served as the basis for various musical compositions, including a production called ``Sun Rings,'' written by the well-known composer Terry Riley, that has been performed by the Kronos Quartet to audiences all around the world.

The social vocalization repertoire of east Australian migrating humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae).

PubMed

Dunlop, Rebecca A; Noad, Michael J; Cato, Douglas H; Stokes, Dale

2007-11-01

Although the songs of humpback whales have been extensively studied, other vocalizations and percussive sounds, referred to as "social sounds," have received little attention. This study presents the social vocalization repertoire of migrating east Australian humpback whales from a sample of 660 sounds recorded from 61 groups of varying composition, over three years. The social vocalization repertoire of humpback whales was much larger than previously described with a total of 34 separate call types classified aurally and by spectrographic analysis as well as statistically. Of these, 21 call types were the same as units of the song current at the time of recording but used individually instead of as part of the song sequence, while the other 13 calls were stable over the three years of the study and were not part of the song. This study provides a catalog of sounds that can be used as a basis for future studies. It is an essential first step in determining the function, contextual use and cultural transmission of humpback social vocalizations.

A Discrete Constraint for Entropy Conservation and Sound Waves in Cloud-Resolving Modeling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zeng, Xi-Ping; Tao, Wei-Kuo; Simpson, Joanne

2003-01-01

Ideal cloud-resolving models contain little-accumulative errors. When their domain is so large that synoptic large-scale circulations are accommodated, they can be used for the simulation of the interaction between convective clouds and the large-scale circulations. This paper sets up a framework for the models, using moist entropy as a prognostic variable and employing conservative numerical schemes. The models possess no accumulative errors of thermodynamic variables when they comply with a discrete constraint on entropy conservation and sound waves. Alternatively speaking, the discrete constraint is related to the correct representation of the large-scale convergence and advection of moist entropy. Since air density is involved in entropy conservation and sound waves, the challenge is how to compute sound waves efficiently under the constraint. To address the challenge, a compensation method is introduced on the basis of a reference isothermal atmosphere whose governing equations are solved analytically. Stability analysis and numerical experiments show that the method allows the models to integrate efficiently with a large time step.

Examination of Faculty Expectations of Technical College Administrators as an Important Factor in High Performing Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dupuis, Phyllis A.

2009-01-01

Popular thought supports the notion that faculty expectations of technical college administrators appear to be linked to the success or failure of an institution at accomplishing its mission. These expectations provide the basis for the development of relationships that foster the growth of technical training and thus the growth of a skilled…

Strategic Mobility 21 Technical Plan

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-09-06

or grant. b. Technical documents with this statement may be made available or sold to the public and foreign nationals, companies, and governments ...including adversary governments , and may be exported. c. This statement may not be used on technical documents that formerly were classified...Transportation Technologies (CCDOTT), a government -industry academic collaborative enterprise. 2 Dual-use technology serves as a basis for both

Case Study on Technical and Vocational Education in Japan. Case Studies on Technical and Vocational Education in Asia and the Pacific.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Iwamoto, Muneharu

In the course of Japan's economic progress, remarkable changes have occurred in the structure of industry and employment. Workers are in extremely short supply in such occupations as mining, manufacturing and construction, services, transportation and communication, sales, and professional and technical. On the basis of recommendations of the…

Health education of population in conection with widespread use of laser radiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kashuba, V. A.; Bykhovskiy, A. V.

1984-06-01

Rapid development of laser technology and its adaptation in many areas of national economy make it mandatory to develop a state system of laser safety. Due to absence of visible injuries of those working with laser equipment, a certain degree of bravado has developed among the technical personnel servicing laser instruments. There are no courses available for technicians and professionals concerning safety procedures. To solve this problem, a coordinated program must be organized country-wide with cooperation of physicians, labor safety specialists, preventive medicine experts and hygienists. Stressing the preventive aspects, this effort should lead to development of sound habits and proper technical knowhow.

7 CFR 1484.52 - What are the guidelines for computing the value of non-cash contributions?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

..., claim up to the equivalent of a step 10, GS-15 for professional personnel and up to the current... value of indirect expenditures. Allocate value on the basis of sound management and accounting...

7 CFR 1484.52 - What are the guidelines for computing the value of non-cash contributions?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

..., claim up to the equivalent of a step 10, GS-15 for professional personnel and up to the current... value of indirect expenditures. Allocate value on the basis of sound management and accounting...

On the completeness and the linear dependence of the Cartesian multipole series in representing the solution to the Helmholtz equation.

PubMed

Liu, Yangfan; Bolton, J Stuart

2016-08-01

The (Cartesian) multipole series, i.e., the series comprising monopole, dipoles, quadrupoles, etc., can be used, as an alternative to the spherical or cylindrical wave series, in representing sound fields in a wide range of problems, such as source radiation, sound scattering, etc. The proofs of the completeness of the spherical and cylindrical wave series in these problems are classical results, and it is also generally agreed that the Cartesian multipole series spans the same space as the spherical waves: a rigorous mathematical proof of that statement has, however, not been presented. In the present work, such a proof of the completeness of the Cartesian multipole series, both in two and three dimensions, is given, and the linear dependence relations among different orders of multipoles are discussed, which then allows one to easily extract a basis from the multipole series. In particular, it is concluded that the multipoles comprising the two highest orders in the series form a basis of the whole series, since the multipoles of all the lower source orders can be expressed as a linear combination of that basis.

75 FR 54918 - Draft Regulatory Guide, DG-1247, “Design-Basis Hurricane and Hurricane Missiles for Nuclear Power...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-09

... that the staff uses in evaluating specific problems or postulated accidents, and data that the staff... turbine missiles. NUREG/CR 7004 is the technical basis for regulatory guidance on design-basis hurricane... hurricane wind speeds for new nuclear power plants. [[Page 54919

47 CFR 51.307 - Duty to provide access on an unbundled basis to network elements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... network elements. 51.307 Section 51.307 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED... Carriers § 51.307 Duty to provide access on an unbundled basis to network elements. (a) An incumbent LEC... service, nondiscriminatory access to network elements on an unbundled basis at any technically feasible...

47 CFR 51.307 - Duty to provide access on an unbundled basis to network elements.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... network elements. 51.307 Section 51.307 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED... Carriers § 51.307 Duty to provide access on an unbundled basis to network elements. (a) An incumbent LEC... service, nondiscriminatory access to network elements on an unbundled basis at any technically feasible...

Moving towards the goals of FP2020 - classifying contraceptives.

PubMed

Festin, Mario Philip R; Kiarie, James; Solo, Julie; Spieler, Jeffrey; Malarcher, Shawn; Van Look, Paul F A; Temmerman, Marleen

2016-10-01

With the renewed focus on family planning, a clear and transparent understanding is needed for the consistent classification of contraceptives, especially in the commonly used modern/traditional system. The World Health Organization Department of Reproductive Health and Research and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) therefore convened a technical consultation in January 2015 to address issues related to classifying contraceptives. The consultation defined modern contraceptive methods as having a sound basis in reproductive biology, a precise protocol for correct use and evidence of efficacy under various conditions based on appropriately designed studies. Methods in country programs like Fertility Awareness Based Methods [such as Standard Days Method (SDM) and TwoDay Method], Lactational Amenorrhea Method (LAM) and emergency contraception should be reported as modern. Herbs, charms and vaginal douching are not counted as contraceptive methods as they have no scientific basis in preventing pregnancy nor are in country programs. More research is needed on defining and measuring use of emergency contraceptive methods, to reflect their contribution to reducing unmet need. The ideal contraceptive classification system should be simple, easy to use, clear and consistent, with greater parsimony. Measurement challenges remain but should not be the driving force to determine what methods are counted or reported as modern or not. Family planning programs should consider multiple attributes of contraceptive methods (e.g., level of effectiveness, need for program support, duration of labeled use, hormonal or nonhormonal) to ensure they provide a variety of methods to meet the needs of women and men. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Transitioning from analog to digital audio recording in childhood speech sound disorders.

PubMed

Shriberg, Lawrence D; McSweeny, Jane L; Anderson, Bruce E; Campbell, Thomas F; Chial, Michael R; Green, Jordan R; Hauner, Katherina K; Moore, Christopher A; Rusiewicz, Heather L; Wilson, David L

2005-06-01

Few empirical findings or technical guidelines are available on the current transition from analog to digital audio recording in childhood speech sound disorders. Of particular concern in the present context was whether a transition from analog- to digital-based transcription and coding of prosody and voice features might require re-standardizing a reference database for research in childhood speech sound disorders. Two research transcribers with different levels of experience glossed, transcribed, and prosody-voice coded conversational speech samples from eight children with mild to severe speech disorders of unknown origin. The samples were recorded, stored, and played back using representative analog and digital audio systems. Effect sizes calculated for an array of analog versus digital comparisons ranged from negligible to medium, with a trend for participants' speech competency scores to be slightly lower for samples obtained and transcribed using the digital system. We discuss the implications of these and other findings for research and clinical practise.

Transitioning from analog to digital audio recording in childhood speech sound disorders

PubMed Central

Shriberg, Lawrence D.; McSweeny, Jane L.; Anderson, Bruce E.; Campbell, Thomas F.; Chial, Michael R.; Green, Jordan R.; Hauner, Katherina K.; Moore, Christopher A.; Rusiewicz, Heather L.; Wilson, David L.

2014-01-01

Few empirical findings or technical guidelines are available on the current transition from analog to digital audio recording in childhood speech sound disorders. Of particular concern in the present context was whether a transition from analog- to digital-based transcription and coding of prosody and voice features might require re-standardizing a reference database for research in childhood speech sound disorders. Two research transcribers with different levels of experience glossed, transcribed, and prosody-voice coded conversational speech samples from eight children with mild to severe speech disorders of unknown origin. The samples were recorded, stored, and played back using representative analog and digital audio systems. Effect sizes calculated for an array of analog versus digital comparisons ranged from negligible to medium, with a trend for participants’ speech competency scores to be slightly lower for samples obtained and transcribed using the digital system. We discuss the implications of these and other findings for research and clinical practise. PMID:16019779

On the Propagation of Plane Acoustic Waves in a Duct With Flexible and Impedance Walls

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Frendi, Abdelkader; Vu, Bruce

2003-01-01

This Technical Memorandum (TM) discusses the harmonic and random plane acoustic waves propagating from inside a duct to its surroundings. Various duct surfaces are considered, such as rigid, flexible, and impedance. In addition, the effects of a mean flow are studied when the duct alone is considered. Results show a significant reduction in overall sound pressure levels downstream of the impedance wall for both mean flow and no mean flow cases and for a narrow duct. When a wider duct is used, the overall sound pressure level (OSPL) reduction downstream of the impedance wall is much smaller. In the far field, the directivity is such that the overall sound pressure level is reduced by about 5 decibels (dB) on the side of the impedance wall. When a flexible surface is used, the far field directivity becomes asymmetric with an increase in the OSPL on the side of the flexible surface of about 7 dB.

Influence of implantable hearing aids and neuroprosthesison music perception.

PubMed

Rahne, Torsten; Böhme, Lars; Götze, Gerrit

2012-01-01

The identification and discrimination of timbre are essential features of music perception. One dominating parameter within the multidimensional timbre space is the spectral shape of complex sounds. As hearing loss interferes with the perception and enjoyment of music, we approach the individual timbre discrimination skills in individuals with severe to profound hearing loss using a cochlear implant (CI) and normal hearing individuals using a bone-anchored hearing aid (Baha). With a recent developed behavioral test relying on synthetically sounds forming a spectral continuum, the timbre difference was changed adaptively to measure the individual just noticeable difference (JND) in a forced-choice paradigm. To explore the differences in timbre perception abilities caused by the hearing mode, the sound stimuli were varied in their fundamental frequency, thus generating different spectra which are not completely covered by a CI or Baha system. The resulting JNDs demonstrate differences in timbre perception between normal hearing individuals, Baha users, and CI users. Beside the physiological reasons, also technical limitations appear as the main contributing factors.

Technical indicators of economic performance in dairy sheep farming.

PubMed

Theodoridis, A; Ragkos, A; Roustemis, D; Arsenos, G; Abas, Z; Sinapis, E

2014-01-01

In this study, the level of technical efficiency of 58 sheep farms rearing the Chios breed in Greece was measured through the application of the stochastic frontier analysis method. A Translog stochastic frontier production function was estimated using farm accounting data of Chios sheep farms and the impact of various socio-demographic and biophysical factors on the estimated efficiency of the farms was evaluated. The farms were classified into efficiency groups on the basis of the estimated level of efficiency and a technical and economic descriptive analysis was applied in order to illustrate an indicative picture of their structure and productivity. The results of the stochastic frontier model indicate that there are substantial production inefficiencies among the Chios sheep farms and that these farms could increase their production through the improvement of technical efficiency, whereas the results of the inefficiency effects model reveal that the farm-specific explanatory factors can partly explain the observed efficiency differentials. The measurement of technical inefficiency and the detection of its determinants can be used to form the basis of policy recommendations that could contribute to the development of the sector.

The sound of dental tissue ablation as a possible parameter for conservative dentistry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Robles, Fábio Renato P.; Mendes, Fausto Medeiros; Matos, Adriana Bona

2007-02-01

Studies in cariology have been struggling for the development of caries prevention techniques, precocious diagnoses of lesions, re-mineralization of incipient carious lesions and early restorative intervention with minimally invasive procedures. When removing caries, healthy dental structure is often removed inadvertently during its final phase, for being quite difficult to precise the limits between viable and decayed dental tissues clinically. With laser technologies, a subjective clinical hint, often used to indicate when tissue ablation should be stopped is that different sounds are perceptive whether in carious (bass) or in healthy (treble) dental structure; when sound produced by ablation turned treble it would mean that healthy tissue was reached. This study aims to classify those audio differences and to turn them into objective parameters for a conservative operative dentistry with minimally invasive tissue removal when using erbium lasers. Twenty freshly extracted human teeth were used (10 decayed and 10 sound teeth). Dentine was erbium laser irradiated under same parameters, distance and refrigeration and a mono directional microphone was set 10 cm far from the operative area in order to capture and record the ablation produced sounds when working either on carious or healthy dentine. Ten pulses per file were then analysed in a computer software (200 analyses). It was permitted to draw similarities among the patterns in each group (decayed and healthy teeth) as well as differences between decayed and healthy produced sounds. Audio analysis came out to be a technical reliable objective parameter to determine whether laser ablated dentine substrates are decayed or sound; therefore it can be proposed as a conservative parameter, avoiding unnecessary removal of healthy dentine and restricting it to carious one.

On the Acoustics of Emotion in Audio: What Speech, Music, and Sound have in Common.

PubMed

Weninger, Felix; Eyben, Florian; Schuller, Björn W; Mortillaro, Marcello; Scherer, Klaus R

2013-01-01

WITHOUT DOUBT, THERE IS EMOTIONAL INFORMATION IN ALMOST ANY KIND OF SOUND RECEIVED BY HUMANS EVERY DAY: be it the affective state of a person transmitted by means of speech; the emotion intended by a composer while writing a musical piece, or conveyed by a musician while performing it; or the affective state connected to an acoustic event occurring in the environment, in the soundtrack of a movie, or in a radio play. In the field of affective computing, there is currently some loosely connected research concerning either of these phenomena, but a holistic computational model of affect in sound is still lacking. In turn, for tomorrow's pervasive technical systems, including affective companions and robots, it is expected to be highly beneficial to understand the affective dimensions of "the sound that something makes," in order to evaluate the system's auditory environment and its own audio output. This article aims at a first step toward a holistic computational model: starting from standard acoustic feature extraction schemes in the domains of speech, music, and sound analysis, we interpret the worth of individual features across these three domains, considering four audio databases with observer annotations in the arousal and valence dimensions. In the results, we find that by selection of appropriate descriptors, cross-domain arousal, and valence regression is feasible achieving significant correlations with the observer annotations of up to 0.78 for arousal (training on sound and testing on enacted speech) and 0.60 for valence (training on enacted speech and testing on music). The high degree of cross-domain consistency in encoding the two main dimensions of affect may be attributable to the co-evolution of speech and music from multimodal affect bursts, including the integration of nature sounds for expressive effects.

NASA's Lessons Learned and Technical Standards: A Logical Marriage

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gill, Paul; Vaughan, William W.; Garcia, Danny; Weinstein, Richard

2001-01-01

Lessons Learned have been the basis for our accomplishments throughout the ages. They have been passed down from father to son, mother to daughter, teacher to pupil, and older to younger worker. Lessons Learned have also been the basis for NASA's accomplishments for more than forty years. Both government and industry have long recognized the need to systematically document and utilize the knowledge gained from past experiences in order to avoid the repetition of failures and mishaps. Lessons Learned have formed the foundation for discoveries, inventions, improvements, textbooks, and Technical Standards.

Using Animations to Teach Biology: Past & Future Research on the Attributes that Underlie Pedagogically Sound Animations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Day, Danton H.

2008-01-01

The most effective teachers use a diversity of methods and approaches to assist their students in the learning process. Multiple technical resources (commonly referred to as multimedia) are currently used by many instructors to communicate difficult topics and concepts to their students in meaningful ways. The issue that arises is not only how to…

"Encouragement of Sound Education amongst the Industrial Classes:" Mechanics' Institutes and Working-Class Membership 1838-1881

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walker, Martyn

2013-01-01

Historians and educationalists have often assumed that working-class adult education emerged at the beginning of the twentieth century with the introduction of state-funded technical colleges. This was not the case. In 1823, the Glasgow Mechanics' Institute was opened and within a few years similar institutions were being established across the…

Standard Setting as Psychometric Due Process: Going a Little Further Down an Uncertain Road.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cizek, Gregory J.

The concept of due process provides an analogy for the process of standard setting that emphasizes many of the procedural and substantive elements of the process over technical and statistical concerns. Surely such concerns can and should continue to be addressed. However, a sound rationale for standard setting does not rest on this foundation.…

Quetzal or not Quetzal, that is the question... . On the stairs of the Castillo monument in Chichen Itza

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elizondo-Garza, Fernando J.

2002-11-01

Some speculation will be presented about the hypothesis that states that the reflected sounds in the stairs of the Castillo building in Chichen Itza, Mexico, imitates the song of the quetzal bird. Some aspects of construction, both technical and social, are discussed as well as issues related with myth and fantasies.

Standards and Trade in the 1990s

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-01-01

in the 1990s This Technical Committee decided to work efforts made by EWOS (European Work - on ENs and ENVs for, among ...EMC work is that it possible, the results of our global partner, cannot be performed in isolation, by one the International Electrotechnical Commis...evolution of standards ficient operation and sound management and conformity assessment in the United depend on the

Forest inventories generate scientifically sound information on the forest resource, but do our data and information really matter?

Treesearch

Christoph Keinn; Goran Stahl

2009-01-01

Current research in forest inventory focuses very much on technical-statistical problems geared mainly to the optimization of data collection and information generation. The basic assumption is that better information leads to better decisions and, therefore, to better forest management and forest policy. Not many studies, however, strive to explicitly establish the...

TREX13 Data Analysis/Modeling

DTIC Science & Technology

2018-03-29

www.apl.washington.edu 29 Mar 2018 To: Dr. Robert H. Headrick Office of Naval Research (Code 322) 875 North Randolph Street Arlington, VA 22203-1995...Benjamin Blake Naval Research Laboratory Defense Technical Information Center DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A. Approved for public release; distribution is... quantitatively impact sound behavior. To gain quantitative knowledge, TREX13 was designed to contemporaneously measure acoustics quantities and environmental

NFL Films music scoring stage and control room space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berger, Russ; Schrag, Richard C.; Ridings, Jason J.

2003-04-01

NFL Films' new 200,000 sq. ft. corporate headquarters is home to an orchestral scoring stage used to record custom music scores to support and enhance their video productions. Part of the 90,000 sq. ft. of sound critical technical space, the music scoring stage and its associated control room are at the heart of the audio facilities. Driving the design were the owner's mandate for natural light, wood textures, and an acoustical environment that would support small rhythm sections, soloists, and a full orchestra. Being an industry leader in cutting-edge video and audio formats, the NFLF required that the technical spaces allow the latest in technology to be continually integrated into the infrastructure. Never was it more important for a project to hold true to the adage of ``designing from the inside out.'' Each audio and video space within the facility had to stand on its own with regard to user functionality, acoustical accuracy, sound isolation, noise control, and monitor presentation. A detailed look at the architectural and acoustical design challenges encountered and the solutions developed for the performance studio and the associated control room space will be discussed.

Education in acoustics in Argentina

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miyara, Federico

2002-11-01

Over the last decades, education in acoustics (EA) in Argentina has experienced ups and downs due to economic and political issues interfering with long term projects. Unlike other countries, like Chile, where EA has reached maturity in spite of the acoustical industry having shown little development, Argentina has several well-established manufacturers of acoustic materials and equipment but no specific career with a major in acoustics. At the university level, acoustics is taught as a complementary--often elective--course for careers such as architecture, communication engineering, or music. In spite of this there are several research centers with programs covering environmental and community noise, effects of noise on man, acoustic signal processing, musical acoustics and acoustic emission, and several national and international meetings are held each year in which results are communicated and discussed. Several books on a variety of topics such as sound system, architectural acoustics, and noise control have been published as well. Another chapter in EA is technical and vocational education, ranging between secondary and postsecondary levels, with technical training on sound system operation or design. Over the last years there have been several attempts to implement master degrees in acoustics or audio engineering, with little or no success.

Amplitude modulation detection by human listeners in sound fields.

PubMed

Zahorik, Pavel; Kim, Duck O; Kuwada, Shigeyuki; Anderson, Paul W; Brandewie, Eugene; Srinivasan, Nirmal

2011-10-01

The temporal modulation transfer function (TMTF) approach allows techniques from linear systems analysis to be used to predict how the auditory system will respond to arbitrary patterns of amplitude modulation (AM). Although this approach forms the basis for a standard method of predicting speech intelligibility based on estimates of the acoustical modulation transfer function (MTF) between source and receiver, human sensitivity to AM as characterized by the TMTF has not been extensively studied under realistic listening conditions, such as in reverberant sound fields. Here, TMTFs (octave bands from 2 - 512 Hz) were obtained in 3 listening conditions simulated using virtual auditory space techniques: diotic, anechoic sound field, reverberant room sound field. TMTFs were then related to acoustical MTFs estimated using two different methods in each of the listening conditions. Both diotic and anechoic data were found to be in good agreement with classic results, but AM thresholds in the reverberant room were lower than predictions based on acoustical MTFs. This result suggests that simple linear systems techniques may not be appropriate for predicting TMTFs from acoustical MTFs in reverberant sound fields, and may be suggestive of mechanisms that functionally enhance modulation during reverberant listening.

Noise annoyance caused by magnetic levitation train passbys

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vos, Joos

2004-05-01

In a laboratory study, the annoyance caused by the passby sounds from a magnetic levitation (maglev) train was investigated. The outdoor A-weighted sound exposure level (ASEL) of the maglev sounds varied from 65 to 90 dB. The driving speed of the maglev train varied from 100 to 400 km/h. Four important results were obtained. Provided that the outdoor ASELs were the same, (1) the annoyance was independent of the driving speed of the maglev train, (2) the annoyance caused by the maglev train was considerably higher than that caused by intercity trains, (3) the annoyance caused by the maglev train was hardly different from that caused by road traffic (passenger cars and trucks), and (4) the results (1)-(3) held true both for open or closed windows. On the basis of the present results, it might be expected that the sounds are equally annoying if the ASELs of the maglev-train passbys are at least 5 dB lower than those of the intercity train passbys. Consequently, the results of the present experiment do not support application of a railway bonus to the maglev-train sounds. Issues for future research, such as exploring further contributions of nonacoustic factors, will be discussed.

Arc/Arg3.1 mRNA expression reveals a subcellular trace of prior sound exposure in adult primary auditory cortex.

PubMed

Ivanova, T N; Matthews, A; Gross, C; Mappus, R C; Gollnick, C; Swanson, A; Bassell, G J; Liu, R C

2011-05-05

Acquiring the behavioral significance of sound has repeatedly been shown to correlate with long term changes in response properties of neurons in the adult primary auditory cortex. However, the molecular and cellular basis for such changes is still poorly understood. To address this, we have begun examining the auditory cortical expression of an activity-dependent effector immediate early gene (IEG) with documented roles in synaptic plasticity and memory consolidation in the hippocampus: Arc/Arg3.1. For initial characterization, we applied a repeated 10 min (24 h separation) sound exposure paradigm to determine the strength and consistency of sound-evoked Arc/Arg3.1 mRNA expression in the absence of explicit behavioral contingencies for the sound. We used 3D surface reconstruction methods in conjunction with fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) to assess the layer-specific subcellular compartmental expression of Arc/Arg3.1 mRNA. We unexpectedly found that both the intranuclear and cytoplasmic patterns of expression depended on the prior history of sound stimulation. Specifically, the percentage of neurons with expression only in the cytoplasm increased for repeated versus singular sound exposure, while intranuclear expression decreased. In contrast, the total cellular expression did not differ, consistent with prior IEG studies of primary auditory cortex. Our results were specific for cortical layers 3-6, as there was virtually no sound driven Arc/Arg3.1 mRNA in layers 1-2 immediately after stimulation. Our results are consistent with the kinetics and/or detectability of cortical subcellular Arc/Arg3.1 mRNA expression being altered by the initial exposure to the sound, suggesting exposure-induced modifications in the cytoplasmic Arc/Arg3.1 mRNA pool. Copyright © 2011 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Arc/Arg3.1 mRNA expression reveals a sub-cellular trace of prior sound exposure in adult primary auditory cortex

PubMed Central

Ivanova, Tamara; Matthews, Andrew; Gross, Christina; Mappus, Rudolph C.; Gollnick, Clare; Swanson, Andrew; Bassell, Gary J.; Liu, Robert C.

2011-01-01

Acquiring the behavioral significance of a sound has repeatedly been shown to correlate with long term changes in response properties of neurons in the adult primary auditory cortex. However, the molecular and cellular basis for such changes is still poorly understood. To address this, we have begun examining the auditory cortical expression of an activity-dependent effector immediate early gene (IEG) with documented roles in synaptic plasticity and memory consolidation in the hippocampus: Arc/Arg3.1. For initial characterization, we applied a repeated 10 minute (24 hour separation) sound exposure paradigm to determine the strength and consistency of sound-evoked Arc/Arg3.1 mRNA expression in the absence of explicit behavioral contingencies for the sound. We used 3D surface reconstruction methods in conjunction with fluorescent in-situ hybridization (FISH) to assess the layer-specific sub-cellular compartmental expression of Arc/Arg3.1 mRNA. We unexpectedly found that both the intranuclear and cytoplasmic patterns of expression depended on the prior history of sound stimulation. Specifically, the percentage of neurons with expression only in the cytoplasm increased for repeated versus singular sound exposure, while intranuclear expression decreased. In contrast, the total cellular expression did not differ, consistent with prior IEG studies of primary auditory cortex. Our results were specific for cortical layers 3–6, as there was virtually no sound driven Arc/Arg3.1 mRNA in layers 1–2 immediately after stimulation. Our results are consistent with the kinetics and/or detectability of cortical sub-cellular Arc/Arg3.1 mRNA expression being altered by the initial exposure to the sound, suggesting exposure-induced modifications in the cytoplasmic Arc/Arg3.1 mRNA pool. PMID:21334422

Background noise exerts diverse effects on the cortical encoding of foreground sounds.

PubMed

Malone, B J; Heiser, Marc A; Beitel, Ralph E; Schreiner, Christoph E

2017-08-01

In natural listening conditions, many sounds must be detected and identified in the context of competing sound sources, which function as background noise. Traditionally, noise is thought to degrade the cortical representation of sounds by suppressing responses and increasing response variability. However, recent studies of neural network models and brain slices have shown that background synaptic noise can improve the detection of signals. Because acoustic noise affects the synaptic background activity of cortical networks, it may improve the cortical responses to signals. We used spike train decoding techniques to determine the functional effects of a continuous white noise background on the responses of clusters of neurons in auditory cortex to foreground signals, specifically frequency-modulated sweeps (FMs) of different velocities, directions, and amplitudes. Whereas the addition of noise progressively suppressed the FM responses of some cortical sites in the core fields with decreasing signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), the stimulus representation remained robust or was even significantly enhanced at specific SNRs in many others. Even though the background noise level was typically not explicitly encoded in cortical responses, significant information about noise context could be decoded from cortical responses on the basis of how the neural representation of the foreground sweeps was affected. These findings demonstrate significant diversity in signal in noise processing even within the core auditory fields that could support noise-robust hearing across a wide range of listening conditions. NEW & NOTEWORTHY The ability to detect and discriminate sounds in background noise is critical for our ability to communicate. The neural basis of robust perceptual performance in noise is not well understood. We identified neuronal populations in core auditory cortex of squirrel monkeys that differ in how they process foreground signals in background noise and that may contribute to robust signal representation and discrimination in acoustic environments with prominent background noise. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.

Land Ethics--Who Needs Them?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roberts, B.

1985-01-01

Identifies land degradation as Australia's most urgent environmental problem and recommends the development of a land ethic for soil conservation. Presents a 15-point conservation education plan that encourages a sustainable ecological basis for rural production and also cultivates ecologically sound habits toward nature. (ML)

The opponent channel population code of sound location is an efficient representation of natural binaural sounds.

PubMed

Młynarski, Wiktor

2015-05-01

In mammalian auditory cortex, sound source position is represented by a population of broadly tuned neurons whose firing is modulated by sounds located at all positions surrounding the animal. Peaks of their tuning curves are concentrated at lateral position, while their slopes are steepest at the interaural midline, allowing for the maximum localization accuracy in that area. These experimental observations contradict initial assumptions that the auditory space is represented as a topographic cortical map. It has been suggested that a "panoramic" code has evolved to match specific demands of the sound localization task. This work provides evidence suggesting that properties of spatial auditory neurons identified experimentally follow from a general design principle- learning a sparse, efficient representation of natural stimuli. Natural binaural sounds were recorded and served as input to a hierarchical sparse-coding model. In the first layer, left and right ear sounds were separately encoded by a population of complex-valued basis functions which separated phase and amplitude. Both parameters are known to carry information relevant for spatial hearing. Monaural input converged in the second layer, which learned a joint representation of amplitude and interaural phase difference. Spatial selectivity of each second-layer unit was measured by exposing the model to natural sound sources recorded at different positions. Obtained tuning curves match well tuning characteristics of neurons in the mammalian auditory cortex. This study connects neuronal coding of the auditory space with natural stimulus statistics and generates new experimental predictions. Moreover, results presented here suggest that cortical regions with seemingly different functions may implement the same computational strategy-efficient coding.

Time-domain electromagnetic soundings collected in Dawson County, Nebraska, 2007-09

USGS Publications Warehouse

Payne, Jason; Teeple, Andrew

2011-01-01

Between April 2007 and November 2009, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Central Platte Natural Resources District, collected time-domain electro-magnetic (TDEM) soundings at 14 locations in Dawson County, Nebraska. The TDEM soundings provide information pertaining to the hydrogeology at each of 23 sites at the 14 locations; 30 TDEM surface geophysical soundings were collected at the 14 locations to develop smooth and layered-earth resistivity models of the subsurface at each site. The soundings yield estimates of subsurface electrical resistivity; variations in subsurface electrical resistivity can be correlated with hydrogeologic and stratigraphic units. Results from each sounding were used to calculate resistivity to depths of approximately 90-130 meters (depending on loop size) below the land surface. Geonics Protem 47 and 57 systems, as well as the Alpha Geoscience TerraTEM, were used to collect the TDEM soundings (voltage data from which resistivity is calculated). For each sounding, voltage data were averaged and evaluated statistically before inversion (inverse modeling). Inverse modeling is the process of creating an estimate of the true distribution of subsurface resistivity from the mea-sured apparent resistivity obtained from TDEM soundings. Smooth and layered-earth models were generated for each sounding. A smooth model is a vertical delineation of calculated apparent resistivity that represents a non-unique estimate of the true resistivity. Ridge regression (Interpex Limited, 1996) was used by the inversion software in a series of iterations to create a smooth model consisting of 24-30 layers for each sounding site. Layered-earth models were then generated based on results of smooth modeling. The layered-earth models are simplified (generally 1 to 6 layers) to represent geologic units with depth. Throughout the area, the layered-earth models range from 2 to 4 layers, depending on observed inflections in the raw data and smooth model inversions. The TDEM data collected were considered good results on the basis of root mean square errors calculated after inversion modeling, comparisons with borehole geophysical logging, and repeatability.

10 CFR 603.420 - Disclosure of information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... types that are exempt: (i) Proposals, proposal abstracts, and supporting documents; and (ii) Business plans and technical information submitted on a confidential basis. (c) If proposers desire to protect business plans and technical information for five years from FOIA disclosure requirements, they must mark...

10 CFR 63.114 - Requirements for performance assessment.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... GEOLOGIC REPOSITORY AT YUCCA MOUNTAIN, NEVADA Technical Criteria Postclosure Performance Assessment § 63..., hydrology, and geochemistry (including disruptive processes and events) of the Yucca Mountain site, and the... disposal, and provide for the technical basis for parameter ranges, probability distributions, or bounding...

10 CFR 63.114 - Requirements for performance assessment.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... GEOLOGIC REPOSITORY AT YUCCA MOUNTAIN, NEVADA Technical Criteria Postclosure Performance Assessment § 63..., hydrology, and geochemistry (including disruptive processes and events) of the Yucca Mountain site, and the... disposal, and provide for the technical basis for parameter ranges, probability distributions, or bounding...

10 CFR 63.114 - Requirements for performance assessment.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... GEOLOGIC REPOSITORY AT YUCCA MOUNTAIN, NEVADA Technical Criteria Postclosure Performance Assessment § 63..., hydrology, and geochemistry (including disruptive processes and events) of the Yucca Mountain site, and the... disposal, and provide for the technical basis for parameter ranges, probability distributions, or bounding...

10 CFR 63.114 - Requirements for performance assessment.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... GEOLOGIC REPOSITORY AT YUCCA MOUNTAIN, NEVADA Technical Criteria Postclosure Performance Assessment § 63..., hydrology, and geochemistry (including disruptive processes and events) of the Yucca Mountain site, and the... disposal, and provide for the technical basis for parameter ranges, probability distributions, or bounding...

10 CFR 63.114 - Requirements for performance assessment.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... GEOLOGIC REPOSITORY AT YUCCA MOUNTAIN, NEVADA Technical Criteria Postclosure Performance Assessment § 63..., hydrology, and geochemistry (including disruptive processes and events) of the Yucca Mountain site, and the... disposal, and provide for the technical basis for parameter ranges, probability distributions, or bounding...

Agreement between the government of the Federal Republic of Germany and the government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics concerning scientific-technical cooperation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1986-01-01

An agreement between the government of the Federal Republic of Germany and the government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics concerning scientific technical cooperation is disclosed. The parties to the treaty agree to promote scientific and technical cooperation on a basis of equality, reciprocity and mutual advantage.

Thermal spray manual for machinery components

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Travis, R.; Ginther, C.; Herbstritt, M.

1995-12-31

The Thermal Spray Manual For Machinery Components is a National Shipbuilding Research (SP-7) Project. This Manual is being developed by Puget Sound Naval Shipyard with the help of other government thermal spray facilities and SP-7 panel members. The purpose of the manual is to provide marine repair facilities with a ``how to do`` document that will be ``user friendly`` and known to be technically sound through production experience. The manual`s intent is to give marine repair facilities the ability to maximize the thermal spray process as a repair method for machinery components and to give these facilities guidelines on howmore » to become qualified to receive certification that they meet the requirements of Military Standard 1687A.« less

Ultraviolet photometry from the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory. XXI - Absolute energy distribution of stars in the ultraviolet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bless, R. C.; Code, A. D.; Fairchild, E. T.

1976-01-01

The absolute energy distribution in the ultraviolet is given for the stars alpha Vir, eta UMa, and alpha Leo. The calibration is based on absolute heterochromatic photometry between 2920 and 1370 A carried out with an Aerobee sounding rocket. The fundamental radiation standard is the synchrotron radiation from 240-MeV electrons in a certain synchrotron storage ring. On the basis of the sounding-rocket calibration, the preliminary OAO-2 spectrometer calibration has been revised; the fluxes for the three program stars are tabulated in energy per second per square centimeter per unit wavelength interval.

Sound propagation through a variable area duct - Experiment and theory

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Silcox, R. J.; Lester, H. C.

1981-01-01

A comparison of experiment and theory has been made for the propagation of sound through a variable area axisymmetric duct with zero mean flow. Measurement of the acoustic pressure field on both sides of the constricted test section was resolved on a modal basis for various spinning mode sources. Transmitted and reflected modal amplitudes and phase angles were compared with finite element computations. Good agreement between experiment and computation was obtained over a wide range of frequencies and modal transmission variations. The study suggests that modal transmission through a variable area duct is governed by the throat modal cut-off ratio.

Light scattering in gas mixtures - Evidence of fast and slow sound modes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clouter, M. J.; Luo, H.; Kiefte, H.; Zollweg, J. A.

1990-02-01

Campa and Cohen (1989) have predicted that dilute, binary mixtures of gases with disparate masses should exhibit a (fast) sound mode whose velocity is considerably greater than expected on the basis of conventional hydrodynamic theory, and which should be observable via light-scattering experiments. Effects that are consistent with this prediction were observed in the Brillouin spectra of the H2 + Ar system, but were not detected for the case of CH4 + SF6. Results for the SF6 + H2 mixture demonstrate the existence of an analogous slow-mode contribution to the spectrum.

Method of identification of patent trends based on descriptions of technical functions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Korobkin, D. M.; Fomenkov, S. A.; Golovanchikov, A. B.

2018-05-01

The use of the global patent space to determine the scientific and technological priorities for the technical systems development (identifying patent trends) allows one to forecast the direction of the technical systems development and, accordingly, select patents of priority technical subjects as a source for updating the technical functions database and physical effects database. The authors propose an original method that uses as trend terms not individual unigrams or n-gram (usually for existing methods and systems), but structured descriptions of technical functions in the form “Subject-Action-Object” (SAO), which in the authors’ opinion are the basis of the invention.

Anatomical Correlates of Non-Verbal Perception in Dementia Patients

PubMed Central

Lin, Pin-Hsuan; Chen, Hsiu-Hui; Chen, Nai-Ching; Chang, Wen-Neng; Huang, Chi-Wei; Chang, Ya-Ting; Hsu, Shih-Wei; Hsu, Che-Wei; Chang, Chiung-Chih

2016-01-01

Purpose: Patients with dementia who have dissociations in verbal and non-verbal sound processing may offer insights into the anatomic basis for highly related auditory modes. Methods: To determine the neuronal networks on non-verbal perception, 16 patients with Alzheimer’s dementia (AD), 15 with behavior variant fronto-temporal dementia (bv-FTD), 14 with semantic dementia (SD) were evaluated and compared with 15 age-matched controls. Neuropsychological and auditory perceptive tasks were included to test the ability to compare pitch changes, scale-violated melody and for naming and associating with environmental sound. The brain 3D T1 images were acquired and voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used to compare and correlated the volumetric measures with task scores. Results: The SD group scored the lowest among 3 groups in pitch or scale-violated melody tasks. In the environmental sound test, the SD group also showed impairment in naming and also in associating sound with pictures. The AD and bv-FTD groups, compared with the controls, showed no differences in all tests. VBM with task score correlation showed that atrophy in the right supra-marginal and superior temporal gyri was strongly related to deficits in detecting violated scales, while atrophy in the bilateral anterior temporal poles and left medial temporal structures was related to deficits in environmental sound recognition. Conclusions: Auditory perception of pitch, scale-violated melody or environmental sound reflects anatomical degeneration in dementia patients and the processing of non-verbal sounds are mediated by distinct neural circuits. PMID:27630558

Anatomical Correlates of Non-Verbal Perception in Dementia Patients.

PubMed

Lin, Pin-Hsuan; Chen, Hsiu-Hui; Chen, Nai-Ching; Chang, Wen-Neng; Huang, Chi-Wei; Chang, Ya-Ting; Hsu, Shih-Wei; Hsu, Che-Wei; Chang, Chiung-Chih

2016-01-01

Patients with dementia who have dissociations in verbal and non-verbal sound processing may offer insights into the anatomic basis for highly related auditory modes. To determine the neuronal networks on non-verbal perception, 16 patients with Alzheimer's dementia (AD), 15 with behavior variant fronto-temporal dementia (bv-FTD), 14 with semantic dementia (SD) were evaluated and compared with 15 age-matched controls. Neuropsychological and auditory perceptive tasks were included to test the ability to compare pitch changes, scale-violated melody and for naming and associating with environmental sound. The brain 3D T1 images were acquired and voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used to compare and correlated the volumetric measures with task scores. The SD group scored the lowest among 3 groups in pitch or scale-violated melody tasks. In the environmental sound test, the SD group also showed impairment in naming and also in associating sound with pictures. The AD and bv-FTD groups, compared with the controls, showed no differences in all tests. VBM with task score correlation showed that atrophy in the right supra-marginal and superior temporal gyri was strongly related to deficits in detecting violated scales, while atrophy in the bilateral anterior temporal poles and left medial temporal structures was related to deficits in environmental sound recognition. Auditory perception of pitch, scale-violated melody or environmental sound reflects anatomical degeneration in dementia patients and the processing of non-verbal sounds are mediated by distinct neural circuits.

Neural spike-timing patterns vary with sound shape and periodicity in three auditory cortical fields

PubMed Central

Lee, Christopher M.; Osman, Ahmad F.; Volgushev, Maxim; Escabí, Monty A.

2016-01-01

Mammals perceive a wide range of temporal cues in natural sounds, and the auditory cortex is essential for their detection and discrimination. The rat primary (A1), ventral (VAF), and caudal suprarhinal (cSRAF) auditory cortical fields have separate thalamocortical pathways that may support unique temporal cue sensitivities. To explore this, we record responses of single neurons in the three fields to variations in envelope shape and modulation frequency of periodic noise sequences. Spike rate, relative synchrony, and first-spike latency metrics have previously been used to quantify neural sensitivities to temporal sound cues; however, such metrics do not measure absolute spike timing of sustained responses to sound shape. To address this, in this study we quantify two forms of spike-timing precision, jitter, and reliability. In all three fields, we find that jitter decreases logarithmically with increase in the basis spline (B-spline) cutoff frequency used to shape the sound envelope. In contrast, reliability decreases logarithmically with increase in sound envelope modulation frequency. In A1, jitter and reliability vary independently, whereas in ventral cortical fields, jitter and reliability covary. Jitter time scales increase (A1 < VAF < cSRAF) and modulation frequency upper cutoffs decrease (A1 > VAF > cSRAF) with ventral progression from A1. These results suggest a transition from independent encoding of shape and periodicity sound cues on short time scales in A1 to a joint encoding of these same cues on longer time scales in ventral nonprimary cortices. PMID:26843599

Statistics of natural binaural sounds.

PubMed

Młynarski, Wiktor; Jost, Jürgen

2014-01-01

Binaural sound localization is usually considered a discrimination task, where interaural phase (IPD) and level (ILD) disparities at narrowly tuned frequency channels are utilized to identify a position of a sound source. In natural conditions however, binaural circuits are exposed to a stimulation by sound waves originating from multiple, often moving and overlapping sources. Therefore statistics of binaural cues depend on acoustic properties and the spatial configuration of the environment. Distribution of cues encountered naturally and their dependence on physical properties of an auditory scene have not been studied before. In the present work we analyzed statistics of naturally encountered binaural sounds. We performed binaural recordings of three auditory scenes with varying spatial configuration and analyzed empirical cue distributions from each scene. We have found that certain properties such as the spread of IPD distributions as well as an overall shape of ILD distributions do not vary strongly between different auditory scenes. Moreover, we found that ILD distributions vary much weaker across frequency channels and IPDs often attain much higher values, than can be predicted from head filtering properties. In order to understand the complexity of the binaural hearing task in the natural environment, sound waveforms were analyzed by performing Independent Component Analysis (ICA). Properties of learned basis functions indicate that in natural conditions soundwaves in each ear are predominantly generated by independent sources. This implies that the real-world sound localization must rely on mechanisms more complex than a mere cue extraction.

Statistics of Natural Binaural Sounds

PubMed Central

Młynarski, Wiktor; Jost, Jürgen

2014-01-01

Binaural sound localization is usually considered a discrimination task, where interaural phase (IPD) and level (ILD) disparities at narrowly tuned frequency channels are utilized to identify a position of a sound source. In natural conditions however, binaural circuits are exposed to a stimulation by sound waves originating from multiple, often moving and overlapping sources. Therefore statistics of binaural cues depend on acoustic properties and the spatial configuration of the environment. Distribution of cues encountered naturally and their dependence on physical properties of an auditory scene have not been studied before. In the present work we analyzed statistics of naturally encountered binaural sounds. We performed binaural recordings of three auditory scenes with varying spatial configuration and analyzed empirical cue distributions from each scene. We have found that certain properties such as the spread of IPD distributions as well as an overall shape of ILD distributions do not vary strongly between different auditory scenes. Moreover, we found that ILD distributions vary much weaker across frequency channels and IPDs often attain much higher values, than can be predicted from head filtering properties. In order to understand the complexity of the binaural hearing task in the natural environment, sound waveforms were analyzed by performing Independent Component Analysis (ICA). Properties of learned basis functions indicate that in natural conditions soundwaves in each ear are predominantly generated by independent sources. This implies that the real-world sound localization must rely on mechanisms more complex than a mere cue extraction. PMID:25285658

44 CFR 67.6 - Basis of appeal.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... technically incorrect. Because scientific and technical correctness is often a matter of degree rather than...), appellants are required to demonstrate that alternative methods or applications result in more correct... due to error in application of hydrologic, hydraulic or other methods or use of inferior data in...

44 CFR 67.6 - Basis of appeal.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... technically incorrect. Because scientific and technical correctness is often a matter of degree rather than...), appellants are required to demonstrate that alternative methods or applications result in more correct... due to error in application of hydrologic, hydraulic or other methods or use of inferior data in...

44 CFR 67.6 - Basis of appeal.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... technically incorrect. Because scientific and technical correctness is often a matter of degree rather than...), appellants are required to demonstrate that alternative methods or applications result in more correct... due to error in application of hydrologic, hydraulic or other methods or use of inferior data in...

44 CFR 67.6 - Basis of appeal.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... technically incorrect. Because scientific and technical correctness is often a matter of degree rather than...), appellants are required to demonstrate that alternative methods or applications result in more correct... due to error in application of hydrologic, hydraulic or other methods or use of inferior data in...

Technical aspects of neurostimulation: Focus on equipment, electric field modeling, and stimulation protocols.

PubMed

Klooster, D C W; de Louw, A J A; Aldenkamp, A P; Besseling, R M H; Mestrom, R M C; Carrette, S; Zinger, S; Bergmans, J W M; Mess, W H; Vonck, K; Carrette, E; Breuer, L E M; Bernas, A; Tijhuis, A G; Boon, P

2016-06-01

Neuromodulation is a field of science, medicine, and bioengineering that encompasses implantable and non-implantable technologies for the purpose of improving quality of life and functioning of humans. Brain neuromodulation involves different neurostimulation techniques: transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), and deep brain stimulation (DBS), which are being used both to study their effects on cognitive brain functions and to treat neuropsychiatric disorders. The mechanisms of action of neurostimulation remain incompletely understood. Insight into the technical basis of neurostimulation might be a first step towards a more profound understanding of these mechanisms, which might lead to improved clinical outcome and therapeutic potential. This review provides an overview of the technical basis of neurostimulation focusing on the equipment, the present understanding of induced electric fields, and the stimulation protocols. The review is written from a technical perspective aimed at supporting the use of neurostimulation in clinical practice. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Relationship of stage mensuration data to the performance of new and used cascade impactors.

PubMed

Roberts, Daryl L; Romay, Francisco J

2005-01-01

Cascade impaction is a standard test method for characterizing the quality of inhalable drug products. The sizes of the nozzles on each stage of the impactor are the critical dimensions for the performance of the impactor. Compendial reference methods call for periodic measurement of the size of the nozzles on each stage, a procedure known as stage mensuration. There is however currently no guidance on acceptable mensuration criteria. We aim to remedy this situation by providing a sound basis for understanding and using mensuration data, be it for acceptance criteria for new impactors or for the setting of mensuration tolerances for in-use impactors. We first show that multi-nozzle impactor stages behave as if all of the nozzles are equal in size to an effective diameter, , that is composed of the area-mean and areamedian diameters, W* and , calculated directly from the individual nozzle diameters for all nozzles on a given stage (equation 1): W= (W*)(2/3) x (W)(1/3) (1). Hence, the effective diameter provides an intuitive and technically sound basis for setting acceptance criteria for new and in-use impactors. We tabulate these criteria for the Mark II eight-stage Andersen cascade impactor and the Next Generation Pharmaceutical Impactor in a manner similar to the tables of critical impactor dimensions published in EP Supplement 5.1 and in USP 28. For two different impactors or for one impactor measured at two different times (e.g., at manufacture and in use), we find that the D50 values of a given stage are related to the effective diameters by D(50,2)/D(50,1)= (W(2)/W(1))(3/2) (2). Using the stage mensuration data for new, as-manufactured NGIs, we compare the D(50 )values of the first 125 as-manufactured NGIs with those of the archivally calibrated NGI. We further establish that the archivally calibrated NGI has D(50) values within 0.3% of an entirely perfect, hypothetical NGI with all nozzles equal to the nominal nozzle diameters. We also apply the equations to a specific mensurated impactor to show that a used impactor with some nozzles outside of the original manufacturing specifications can have the same aerodynamic performance as a new impactor.

Collective Bargaining Can Enhance Quality of Worklife.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Knott, Ildiko

1984-01-01

Examines elements of labor-management relationships in educational institutions, suggesting that communication on a noncrisis basis is crucial to healthy labor relations which are adversarial rather than confrontational. Describes a mature stage of labor-management relation and stresses the importance of sound grievance procedures. (LAL)

GEONETCast Americas - Architecture

Science.gov Websites

, - Improving weather information, forecasting and warning, - Improving the management and protection of information as a basis for sound decision making, and will enhance delivery of benefits to society." as management of energy resources, - Understanding, assessing, predicting, mitigating, and adapting to climate

Academic Departments: Problems, Variations, and Alternatives.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McHenry, Dean E.; And Others

Do academic departments promote scholarship, protect higher learning from stagnation and interference, and provide a sound basis for hiring and advancing faculty? Or do they stifle teaching and research, foster parochialism, and limit the development of professors and students? There exist operating alternatives to conventional departments. Those…

Identification of Modeling Approaches To Support Common-Cause Failure Analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Korsah, Kofi; Wood, Richard Thomas

2015-06-01

Experience with applying current guidance and practices for common-cause failure (CCF) mitigation to digital instrumentation and control (I&C) systems has proven problematic, and the regulatory environment has been unpredictable. The impact of CCF vulnerability is to inhibit I&C modernization and, thereby, challenge the long-term sustainability of existing plants. For new plants and advanced reactor concepts, the issue of CCF vulnerability for highly integrated digital I&C systems imposes a design burden resulting in higher costs and increased complexity. The regulatory uncertainty regarding which mitigation strategies are acceptable (e.g., what diversity is needed and how much is sufficient) drives designers to adoptmore » complicated, costly solutions devised for existing plants. The conditions that constrain the transition to digital I&C technology by the U.S. nuclear industry require crosscutting research to resolve uncertainty, demonstrate necessary characteristics, and establish an objective basis for qualification of digital technology for usage in Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) I&C applications. To fulfill this research need, Oak Ridge National Laboratory is conducting an investigation into mitigation of CCF vulnerability for nuclear-qualified applications. The outcome of this research is expected to contribute to a fundamentally sound, comprehensive technical basis for establishing the qualification of digital technology for nuclear power applications. This report documents the investigation of modeling approaches for representing failure of I&C systems. Failure models are used when there is a need to analyze how the probability of success (or failure) of a system depends on the success (or failure) of individual elements. If these failure models are extensible to represent CCF, then they can be employed to support analysis of CCF vulnerabilities and mitigation strategies. Specifically, the research findings documented in this report identify modeling approaches that can be adapted to contribute to the basis for developing systematic methods, quantifiable measures, and objective criteria for evaluating CCF vulnerabilities and mitigation strategies.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Johnson, Gary E.; Thom, Ronald M.; Whiting, Allan H.

The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), in coordination with the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) and NOAA Fisheries, originated this project (BPA Project No. 2002-076; Contract No. DE-AC06-76RL01830, Release No. 652-24). Their intent was to develop a useful habitat restoration plan for the lower Columbia River and estuary to help guide restoration efforts and fulfill Reasonable and Prudent Alternative Action 159 of the 2000 National Marine Fisheries Service Biological Opinion on operation of the Federal Columbia River Power System. This document focuses on salmon habitat, although its ecosystem-based approach necessarily affects other species as well. Salmon habitat restoration ismore » best undertaken within the context of other biota and physical processes using an ecosystem perspective. The anticipated audience for the plan includes entities responsible for, interested in, or affected by habitat restoration in the lower Columbia River and estuary. Timeframes to apply this plan extend from the immediate (2003-2004) to the near-term (2005-2006) to the long-term (2007 and beyond). We anticipate and encourage that the plan be revised as new knowledge and experience are attained. A team comprised of the Columbia River Estuary Study Taskforce (CREST), the Lower Columbia River Estuary Partnership (Estuary Partnership), and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) wrote this document. The BPA and the COE, as the responsible Action Agencies, provided technical oversight. The Estuary Partnership's Science Work Group, NOAA Fisheries Habitat Conservation Division, Northwest Power Planning Council (NPPC) staff, and state and tribal fisheries management agencies reviewed drafts. The Independent Scientific Advisory Board of the NPPC reviewed and commented on the 90% draft. Revisions were incorporated into the final draft document subsequently released for public review. Extensive efforts were made to ensure a sound technical and policy basis and to solicit input from all interested parties.« less

Tracing the neural basis of auditory entrainment.

PubMed

Lehmann, Alexandre; Arias, Diana Jimena; Schönwiesner, Marc

2016-11-19

Neurons in the auditory cortex synchronize their responses to temporal regularities in sound input. This coupling or "entrainment" is thought to facilitate beat extraction and rhythm perception in temporally structured sounds, such as music. As a consequence of such entrainment, the auditory cortex responds to an omitted (silent) sound in a regular sequence. Although previous studies suggest that the auditory brainstem frequency-following response (FFR) exhibits some of the beat-related effects found in the cortex, it is unknown whether omissions of sounds evoke a brainstem response. We simultaneously recorded cortical and brainstem responses to isochronous and irregular sequences of consonant-vowel syllable /da/ that contained sporadic omissions. The auditory cortex responded strongly to omissions, but we found no evidence of evoked responses to omitted stimuli from the auditory brainstem. However, auditory brainstem responses in the isochronous sound sequence were more consistent across trials than in the irregular sequence. These results indicate that the auditory brainstem faithfully encodes short-term acoustic properties of a stimulus and is sensitive to sequence regularity, but does not entrain to isochronous sequences sufficiently to generate overt omission responses, even for sequences that evoke such responses in the cortex. These findings add to our understanding of the processing of sound regularities, which is an important aspect of human cognitive abilities like rhythm, music and speech perception. Copyright © 2016 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Digital video applications in radiologic education: theory, technique, and applications.

PubMed

Hennessey, J G; Fishman, E K; Ney, D R

1994-05-01

Computer-assisted instruction (CAI) has great potential in medical education. The recent explosion of multimedia platforms provides an environment for the seemless integration of text, images, and sound into a single program. This article discusses the role of digital video in the current educational environment as well as its future potential. An indepth review of the technical decisions of this new technology is also presented.

An introduction to scriptwriting for video and multimedia.

PubMed

Guth, J

1995-06-01

The elements of audiovisual productions are explained and illustrated, including words, moving images, still images, graphics, narration, music, landscape sounds, pacing and tilting and font styles. Three different production styles are analysed, and examples of those styles are discussed. Rules for writing spoken words, composing blocks of information, and explaining technical information to a lay audience are also provided. Storyboard and scripting forms and examples are included.

Grazing and Rangeland Development for Livestock Production. A Handbook for Volunteers. Agriculture Technology for Developing Countries. Appropriate Technologies for Development. Reprint R-47.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sprague, Howard B.; And Others

This handbook, developed for training Peace Corps volunteers, reviews the basic principles that underlie sound grazing land management and indicates the application of these principles for livestock production in the tropics and subtropics. The handbook is made up of three technical series bulletins. The first bulletin covers management of…

Space fabrication demonstration system, technical volume

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

The automatic beam builder ABB was developed, fabricated, and demonstrated within the established contract cost and schedule constraints. The ABB demonstrated the feasibility of: producing lightweight beams automatically within the required rate of 1 to 5 ft of completed beam per minute and producing structurally sound beams with axial design load of 5538 N based on the Grumman photovoltaic satellite solar power system design reference structure.

Assessing the Implementation and Cost of High Quality Early Care and Education: A Review of the Literature. OPRE Report 2016-31

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Caronongan, Pia; Kirby, Gretchen; Boller, Kimberly; Modlin, Emily; Lyskawa, Julia

2016-01-01

This report summarizes the findings of a literature review conducted as part of the Assessing the Implementation and Cost of High-Quality Early Care and Education (ECE-ICHQ) project. The project's goal is to create a technically sound and feasible instrument that will provide consistent, systematic measures of the implementation and costs of…

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

The Environmental Engineering Committee conducted a preliminary review of the above document in March 1986, and identified obvious errors or omissions which are explained in detail in its initial report. The Office of Solid Waste asked the Committee to review the final draft ACL guidance when it was ready for publications in the Federal Register. This report represents the Committee's review of the final draft which was found to be well-written and technically sound.

Investigation of the Searching Efficiency and Cost of Creating a Remote Access Catalog for the New York State Library. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buckland, Lawrence F.; Madden, Mary

From experimental work performed, and reported upon in this document, it is concluded that converting the New York State Library (NYSL) shelf list sample to machine readable form, and searching this shelf list using a remote access catalog are technically sound concepts though the capital costs of data conversion and system installation will be…

DIY EOS: Experimentally Validated Equations of State for Planetary Fluids to GPa Pressures, Tools for Understanding Planetary Processes and Habitability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vance, Steven; Brown, J. Michael; Bollengier, Olivier

2016-10-01

Sound speeds are fundamental to seismology, and provide a path allowing the accurate determination of thermodynamic potentials. Prior equations of state (EOS) for pure ammonia (Harr and Gallagher 1978, Tillner-Roth et al. 1993) are based primarily on measured densities and heat capacities. Sound speeds, not included in the fitting, are poorly predicted.We couple recent high pressure sound speed data with prior densities and heat capacities to generate a new equation of state. Our representation fits both the earlier lower pressure work as well as measured sound speeds to 4 GPa and 700 K and the Hugoniot to 70 GPa and 6000 K.In contrast to the damped polynomial representation previously used, our equation of state is based on local basis functions in the form of tensor b-splines. Regularization allows the thermodynamic surface to be continued into regimes poorly sampled by experiments. We discuss application of this framework for aqueous equations of state validated by experimental measurements. Preliminary equations of state have been prepared applying the local basis function methodology to aqueous NH3, Mg2SO4, NaCl, and Na2SO4. We describe its use for developing new equations of state, and provide some applications of the new thermodynamic data to the interior structures of gas giant planets and ocean worlds.References:L. Haar and J. S. Gallagher. Thermodynamic properties of ammonia. American Chemical Society and the American Institute of Physics for the National Bureau of Standards, 1978.R. Tillner-Roth, F. Harms-Watzenberg, and H. Baehr. Eine neue fundamentalgleichung fuer ammoniak. DKV TAGUNGSBERICHT, 20:67-67, 1993.

Forecasting near-surface weather conditions and precipitation in Alaska's Prince William Sound with the PWS-WRF modeling system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olsson, Peter Q.; Volz, Karl P.; Liu, Haibo

2013-07-01

In the summer of 2009, several scientific teams engaged in a field program in Prince William Sound (PWS), Alaska to test an end-to-end atmosphere/ocean prediction system specially designed for this region. The "Sound Predictions Field Experiment" (FE) was a test of the PWS-Observing System (PWS-OS) and the culmination of a five-year program to develop an observational and prediction system for the Sound. This manuscript reports on results of an 18-day high-resolution atmospheric forecasting field project using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model.Special attention was paid to surface meteorological properties and precipitation. Upon reviewing the results of the real-time forecasts, modifications were incorporated in the PWS-WRF modeling system in an effort to improve objective forecast skill. Changes were both geometric (model grid structure) and physical (different physics parameterizations).The weather during the summer-time FE was typical of the PWS in that it was characterized by a number of minor disturbances rotating around an anchored low, but with no major storms in the Gulf of Alaska. The basic PWS-WRF modeling system as implemented operationally for the FE performed well, especially considering the extremely complex terrain comprising the greater PWS region.Modifications to the initial PWS-WRF modeling system showed improvement in predicting surface variables, especially where the ambient flow interacted strongly with the terrain. Prediction of precipitation on an accumulated basis was more accurate than prediction on a day-to-day basis. The 18-day period was too short to provide reliable assessment and intercomparison of the quantitative precipitation forecasting (QPF) skill of the PWS-WRF model variants.

Independent technical review, handbook

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

Purpose Provide an independent engineering review of the major projects being funded by the Department of Energy, Office of Environmental Restoration and Waste Management. The independent engineering review will address questions of whether the engineering practice is sufficiently developed to a point where a major project can be executed without significant technical problems. The independent review will focus on questions related to: (1) Adequacy of development of the technical base of understanding; (2) Status of development and availability of technology among the various alternatives; (3) Status and availability of the industrial infrastructure to support project design, equipment fabrication, facility construction,more » and process and program/project operation; (4) Adequacy of the design effort to provide a sound foundation to support execution of project; (5) Ability of the organization to fully integrate the system, and direct, manage, and control the execution of a complex major project.« less

Associations between sperm abnormalities, breed, age, and scrotal circumference in beef bulls

PubMed Central

Menon, Ajitkumar G.; Barkema, Herman W.; Wilde, Randy; Kastelic, John P.; Thundathil, Jacob C.

2011-01-01

The objectives of this study were to determine the associations of breed, age, and scrotal circumference (SC), and their interaction, on the prevalence of sperm abnormalities in beef bulls in Alberta, Canada, and the percentage of satisfactory potential breeders identified during breeding soundness examination solely due to normal sperm morphology. Eosin-nigrosin stained semen smears and evaluation reports of 1642 bull breeding soundness evaluations were procured from 6 veterinary clinics in Alberta. Sperm morphology was determined for at least 100 sperm per bull. The most common defects were detached head [4.86% ± 5.71%; mean ± standard deviation (s)], distal midpiece reflex (6.19% ± 9.13%), and bent tail (1.01% ± 1.54%). Although breed, age, and SC did not significantly affect the prevalence of head or midpiece defects, morphologically normal or abnormal sperm, tail defects were more prevalent in Angus and Hereford bulls compared with other breeds. Overall, solely on the basis of sperm morphology, 1363 (83.0%) bulls were classified as satisfactory potential breeders and the remainder 279 (17.0%) as unsatisfactory (> 30% abnormal sperm, > 20% defective heads, or both). Although not significantly different, the breed with the highest percentage of satisfactory potential breeders was Limousin (90.6%) and the lowest was Hereford (78.8%). That 17% of bulls subjected to breeding soundness evaluation were designated as unsatisfactory solely on the basis of sperm morphology highlights its importance. PMID:22468020

Use of a microwave diagnostics technique to measure the temperature of an axisymmetric ionized gas flow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsel'Sov, Iu. G.; Kondrat'ev, A. S.

1990-12-01

A method is developed for determining the temperature of an ionized gas on the basis of electron-density sounding. This technique is used to measure the cross-sectional temperature distribution of an axisymmetric ionized gas flow using microwave diagnostics.

32 CFR 644.21 - General.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 4 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true General. 644.21 Section 644.21 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY (CONTINUED) REAL PROPERTY REAL ESTATE HANDBOOK... design memorandums. (3) The purpose of the planning function is to establish a sound basis for the...

29 CFR 4903.21 - Application of Federal Claims Collection Standards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Section 4903.21 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY CORPORATION... is feasible on a case-by-case basis in the exercise of sound discretion. In making such... against which offset is contemplated. (b) Repayment agreements. The PBGC will exercise its discretion in...

Internal dosimetry technical basis manual

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1990-12-20

The internal dosimetry program at the Savannah River Site (SRS) consists of radiation protection programs and activities used to detect and evaluate intakes of radioactive material by radiation workers. Examples of such programs are: air monitoring; surface contamination monitoring; personal contamination surveys; radiobioassay; and dose assessment. The objectives of the internal dosimetry program are to demonstrate that the workplace is under control and that workers are not being exposed to radioactive material, and to detect and assess inadvertent intakes in the workplace. The Savannah River Site Internal Dosimetry Technical Basis Manual (TBM) is intended to provide a technical and philosophicalmore » discussion of the radiobioassay and dose assessment aspects of the internal dosimetry program. Detailed information on air, surface, and personal contamination surveillance programs is not given in this manual except for how these programs interface with routine and special bioassay programs.« less

FLAMMABLE GAS TECHNICAL BASIS DOCUMENT

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

KRIPPS, L.J.

2005-02-18

This document describes the qualitative evaluation of frequency and consequences for double shell tank (DST) and single shell tank (SST) representative flammable gas accidents and associated hazardous conditions without controls. The evaluation indicated that safety-significant SSCs and/or TSRS were required to prevent or mitigate flammable gas accidents. Discussion on the resulting control decisions is included. This technical basis document was developed to support of the Tank Farms Documented Safety Analysis (DSA) and describes the risk binning process for the flammable gas representative accidents and associated represented hazardous conditions. The purpose of the risk binning process is to determine the needmore » for safety-significant structures, systems, and components (SSC) and technical safety requirement (TSR)-level controls for a given representative accident or represented hazardous condition based on an evaluation of the event frequency and consequence.« less

Statistical classification of drug incidents due to look-alike sound-alike mix-ups.

PubMed

Wong, Zoie Shui Yee

2016-06-01

It has been recognised that medication names that look or sound similar are a cause of medication errors. This study builds statistical classifiers for identifying medication incidents due to look-alike sound-alike mix-ups. A total of 227 patient safety incident advisories related to medication were obtained from the Canadian Patient Safety Institute's Global Patient Safety Alerts system. Eight feature selection strategies based on frequent terms, frequent drug terms and constituent terms were performed. Statistical text classifiers based on logistic regression, support vector machines with linear, polynomial, radial-basis and sigmoid kernels and decision tree were trained and tested. The models developed achieved an average accuracy of above 0.8 across all the model settings. The receiver operating characteristic curves indicated the classifiers performed reasonably well. The results obtained in this study suggest that statistical text classification can be a feasible method for identifying medication incidents due to look-alike sound-alike mix-ups based on a database of advisories from Global Patient Safety Alerts. © The Author(s) 2014.

A finite difference solution for the propagation of sound in near sonic flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hariharan, S. I.; Lester, H. C.

1983-01-01

An explicit time/space finite difference procedure is used to model the propagation of sound in a quasi one-dimensional duct containing high Mach number subsonic flow. Nonlinear acoustic equations are derived by perturbing the time-dependent Euler equations about a steady, compressible mean flow. The governing difference relations are based on a fourth-order, two-step (predictor-corrector) MacCormack scheme. The solution algorithm functions by switching on a time harmonic source and allowing the difference equations to iterate to a steady state. The principal effect of the non-linearities was to shift acoustical energy to higher harmonics. With increased source strengths, wave steepening was observed. This phenomenon suggests that the acoustical response may approach a shock behavior at at higher sound pressure level as the throat Mach number aproaches unity. On a peak level basis, good agreement between the nonlinear finite difference and linear finite element solutions was observed, even through a peak sound pressure level of about 150 dB occurred in the throat region. Nonlinear steady state waveform solutions are shown to be in excellent agreement with a nonlinear asymptotic theory.

Multi-sensory learning and learning to read.

PubMed

Blomert, Leo; Froyen, Dries

2010-09-01

The basis of literacy acquisition in alphabetic orthographies is the learning of the associations between the letters and the corresponding speech sounds. In spite of this primacy in learning to read, there is only scarce knowledge on how this audiovisual integration process works and which mechanisms are involved. Recent electrophysiological studies of letter-speech sound processing have revealed that normally developing readers take years to automate these associations and dyslexic readers hardly exhibit automation of these associations. It is argued that the reason for this effortful learning may reside in the nature of the audiovisual process that is recruited for the integration of in principle arbitrarily linked elements. It is shown that letter-speech sound integration does not resemble the processes involved in the integration of natural audiovisual objects such as audiovisual speech. The automatic symmetrical recruitment of the assumedly uni-sensory visual and auditory cortices in audiovisual speech integration does not occur for letter and speech sound integration. It is also argued that letter-speech sound integration only partly resembles the integration of arbitrarily linked unfamiliar audiovisual objects. Letter-sound integration and artificial audiovisual objects share the necessity of a narrow time window for integration to occur. However, they differ from these artificial objects, because they constitute an integration of partly familiar elements which acquire meaning through the learning of an orthography. Although letter-speech sound pairs share similarities with audiovisual speech processing as well as with unfamiliar, arbitrary objects, it seems that letter-speech sound pairs develop into unique audiovisual objects that furthermore have to be processed in a unique way in order to enable fluent reading and thus very likely recruit other neurobiological learning mechanisms than the ones involved in learning natural or arbitrary unfamiliar audiovisual associations. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Functional morphology of the sound-generating labia in the syrinx of two songbird species.

PubMed

Riede, Tobias; Goller, Franz

2010-01-01

In songbirds, two sound sources inside the syrinx are used to produce the primary sound. Laterally positioned labia are passively set into vibration, thus interrupting a passing air stream. Together with subsyringeal pressure, the size and tension of the labia determine the spectral characteristics of the primary sound. Very little is known about how the histological composition and morphology of the labia affect their function as sound generators. Here we related the size and microstructure of the labia to their acoustic function in two songbird species with different acoustic characteristics, the white-crowned sparrow and zebra finch. Histological serial sections of the syrinx and different staining techniques were used to identify collagen, elastin and hyaluronan as extracellular matrix components. The distribution and orientation of elastic fibers indicated that the labia in white-crowned sparrows are multi-layered structures, whereas they are more uniformly structured in the zebra finch. Collagen and hyaluronan were evenly distributed in both species. A multi-layered composition could give rise to complex viscoelastic properties of each sound source. We also measured labia size. Variability was found along the dorso-ventral axis in both species. Lateral asymmetry was identified in some individuals but not consistently at the species level. Different size between the left and right sound sources could provide a morphological basis for the acoustic specialization of each sound generator, but only in some individuals. The inconsistency of its presence requires the investigation of alternative explanations, e.g. differences in viscoelastic properties of the labia of the left and right syrinx. Furthermore, we identified attachments of syringeal muscles to the labia as well as to bronchial half rings and suggest a mechanism for their biomechanical function.

Functional morphology of the sound-generating labia in the syrinx of two songbird species

PubMed Central

Riede, Tobias; Goller, Franz

2010-01-01

In songbirds, two sound sources inside the syrinx are used to produce the primary sound. Laterally positioned labia are passively set into vibration, thus interrupting a passing air stream. Together with subsyringeal pressure, the size and tension of the labia determine the spectral characteristics of the primary sound. Very little is known about how the histological composition and morphology of the labia affect their function as sound generators. Here we related the size and microstructure of the labia to their acoustic function in two songbird species with different acoustic characteristics, the white-crowned sparrow and zebra finch. Histological serial sections of the syrinx and different staining techniques were used to identify collagen, elastin and hyaluronan as extracellular matrix components. The distribution and orientation of elastic fibers indicated that the labia in white-crowned sparrows are multi-layered structures, whereas they are more uniformly structured in the zebra finch. Collagen and hyaluronan were evenly distributed in both species. A multi-layered composition could give rise to complex viscoelastic properties of each sound source. We also measured labia size. Variability was found along the dorso-ventral axis in both species. Lateral asymmetry was identified in some individuals but not consistently at the species level. Different size between the left and right sound sources could provide a morphological basis for the acoustic specialization of each sound generator, but only in some individuals. The inconsistency of its presence requires the investigation of alternative explanations, e.g. differences in viscoelastic properties of the labia of the left and right syrinx. Furthermore, we identified attachments of syringeal muscles to the labia as well as to bronchial half rings and suggest a mechanism for their biomechanical function. PMID:19900184

The Opponent Channel Population Code of Sound Location Is an Efficient Representation of Natural Binaural Sounds

PubMed Central

Młynarski, Wiktor

2015-01-01

In mammalian auditory cortex, sound source position is represented by a population of broadly tuned neurons whose firing is modulated by sounds located at all positions surrounding the animal. Peaks of their tuning curves are concentrated at lateral position, while their slopes are steepest at the interaural midline, allowing for the maximum localization accuracy in that area. These experimental observations contradict initial assumptions that the auditory space is represented as a topographic cortical map. It has been suggested that a “panoramic” code has evolved to match specific demands of the sound localization task. This work provides evidence suggesting that properties of spatial auditory neurons identified experimentally follow from a general design principle- learning a sparse, efficient representation of natural stimuli. Natural binaural sounds were recorded and served as input to a hierarchical sparse-coding model. In the first layer, left and right ear sounds were separately encoded by a population of complex-valued basis functions which separated phase and amplitude. Both parameters are known to carry information relevant for spatial hearing. Monaural input converged in the second layer, which learned a joint representation of amplitude and interaural phase difference. Spatial selectivity of each second-layer unit was measured by exposing the model to natural sound sources recorded at different positions. Obtained tuning curves match well tuning characteristics of neurons in the mammalian auditory cortex. This study connects neuronal coding of the auditory space with natural stimulus statistics and generates new experimental predictions. Moreover, results presented here suggest that cortical regions with seemingly different functions may implement the same computational strategy-efficient coding. PMID:25996373

Differences between Outdoor and Indoor Sound Levels for Open, Tilted, and Closed Windows

PubMed Central

Locher, Barbara; Piquerez, André; Habermacher, Manuel; Ragettli, Martina; Cajochen, Christian; Vienneau, Danielle; Foraster, Maria; Müller, Uwe; Wunderli, Jean Marc

2018-01-01

Noise exposure prediction models for health effect studies normally estimate free field exposure levels outside. However, to assess the noise exposure inside dwellings, an estimate of indoor sound levels is necessary. To date, little field data is available about the difference between indoor and outdoor noise levels and factors affecting the damping of outside noise. This is a major cause of uncertainty in indoor noise exposure prediction and may lead to exposure misclassification in health assessments. This study aims to determine sound level differences between the indoors and the outdoors for different window positions and how this sound damping is related to building characteristics. For this purpose, measurements were carried out at home in a sample of 102 Swiss residents exposed to road traffic noise. Sound pressure level recordings were performed outdoors and indoors, in the living room and in the bedroom. Three scenarios—of open, tilted, and closed windows—were recorded for three minutes each. For each situation, data on additional parameters such as the orientation towards the source, floor, and room, as well as sound insulation characteristics were collected. On that basis, linear regression models were established. The median outdoor–indoor sound level differences were of 10 dB(A) for open, 16 dB(A) for tilted, and 28 dB(A) for closed windows. For open and tilted windows, the most relevant parameters affecting the outdoor–indoor differences were the position of the window, the type and volume of the room, and the age of the building. For closed windows, the relevant parameters were the sound level outside, the material of the window frame, the existence of window gaskets, and the number of windows. PMID:29346318

Differences between Outdoor and Indoor Sound Levels for Open, Tilted, and Closed Windows.

PubMed

Locher, Barbara; Piquerez, André; Habermacher, Manuel; Ragettli, Martina; Röösli, Martin; Brink, Mark; Cajochen, Christian; Vienneau, Danielle; Foraster, Maria; Müller, Uwe; Wunderli, Jean Marc

2018-01-18

Noise exposure prediction models for health effect studies normally estimate free field exposure levels outside. However, to assess the noise exposure inside dwellings, an estimate of indoor sound levels is necessary. To date, little field data is available about the difference between indoor and outdoor noise levels and factors affecting the damping of outside noise. This is a major cause of uncertainty in indoor noise exposure prediction and may lead to exposure misclassification in health assessments. This study aims to determine sound level differences between the indoors and the outdoors for different window positions and how this sound damping is related to building characteristics. For this purpose, measurements were carried out at home in a sample of 102 Swiss residents exposed to road traffic noise. Sound pressure level recordings were performed outdoors and indoors, in the living room and in the bedroom. Three scenarios-of open, tilted, and closed windows-were recorded for three minutes each. For each situation, data on additional parameters such as the orientation towards the source, floor, and room, as well as sound insulation characteristics were collected. On that basis, linear regression models were established. The median outdoor-indoor sound level differences were of 10 dB(A) for open, 16 dB(A) for tilted, and 28 dB(A) for closed windows. For open and tilted windows, the most relevant parameters affecting the outdoor-indoor differences were the position of the window, the type and volume of the room, and the age of the building. For closed windows, the relevant parameters were the sound level outside, the material of the window frame, the existence of window gaskets, and the number of windows.

Understanding and managing experiential aspects of soundscapes at Muir woods national monument.

PubMed

Pilcher, Ericka J; Newman, Peter; Manning, Robert E

2009-03-01

Research has found that human-caused noise can detract from the quality of the visitor experience in national parks and related areas. Moreover, impacts to the visitor experience can be managed by formulating indicators and standards of quality as suggested in park and outdoor recreation management frameworks, such as Visitor Experience and Resource Protection (VERP), as developed by the U.S. National Park Service. The research reported in this article supports the formulation of indicators and standards of quality for human-caused noise at Muir Woods National Monument, California. Phase I identified potential indicators of quality for the soundscape of Muir Woods. A visitor "listening exercise" was conducted, where respondents identified natural and human-caused sounds heard in the park and rated the degree to which each sound was "pleasing" or "annoying." Certain visitor-caused sounds such as groups talking were heard by most respondents and were rated as annoying, suggesting that these sounds may be a good indicator of quality. Loud groups were heard by few people but were rated as highly annoying, whereas wind and water were heard by most visitors and were rated as highly pleasing. Phase II measured standards of quality for visitor-caused noise. Visitors were presented with a series of 30-second audio clips representing increasing amounts of visitor-caused sound in the park. Respondents were asked to rate the acceptability of each audio clip on a survey. Findings suggest a threshold at which visitor-caused sound is judged to be unacceptable, and is therefore considered as noise. A parallel program of sound monitoring in the park found that current levels of visitor-caused sound sometimes violate this threshold. Study findings provide an empirical basis to help formulate noise-related indicators and standards of quality in parks and related areas.

A training system of orientation and mobility for blind people using acoustic virtual reality.

PubMed

Seki, Yoshikazu; Sato, Tetsuji

2011-02-01

A new auditory orientation training system was developed for blind people using acoustic virtual reality (VR) based on a head-related transfer function (HRTF) simulation. The present training system can reproduce a virtual training environment for orientation and mobility (O&M) instruction, and the trainee can walk through the virtual training environment safely by listening to sounds such as vehicles, stores, ambient noise, etc., three-dimensionally through headphones. The system can reproduce not only sound sources but also sound reflection and insulation, so that the trainee can learn both sound location and obstacle perception skills. The virtual training environment is described in extensible markup language (XML), and the O&M instructor can edit it easily according to the training curriculum. Evaluation experiments were conducted to test the efficiency of some features of the system. Thirty subjects who had not acquired O&M skills attended the experiments. The subjects were separated into three groups: a no-training group, a virtual-training group using the present system, and a real-training group in real environments. The results suggested that virtual-training can reduce "veering" more than real-training and also can reduce stress as much as real training. The subjective technical and anxiety scores also improved.

Sounds and Charrière: the rest of the story.

PubMed

Bowen, Diana K; Wan, Julian; Engel, Rainer; Lyon, Richard P; Dielubanza, Elodi; Bloom, David A

2014-12-01

Parisian cutler Joseph-Frédéric-Benoît Charrière (1803-1876) contributed greatly to surgical disciplines with innovative tools, but his legacy is the gauge system he developed in 1842 that is still used for catheters, probes, and dilators. Sounding devices have been documented in the surgical armamentarium since 3000 BC, with practitioners such as Hippocrates, Galen, Celsus, and Al-Zahrawi espousing theories on sounding and the related topics of stones and urinary obstruction. The medical revolution in 19th-century Paris propelled technology and one of the most influential men involved was Charrière, who pioneered diverse technical processes in the manufacturing of surgical instruments, led one of the largest instrument manufacturing companies, and improved on tools introduced by predecessors including his mentor Guillaume Dupuytren. Most importantly he created the catheter scale that, despite not being favored in its country of origin, became an international standard and is known today as the French system. The classification of sounds, catheters, and bougies has undergone many variations throughout the years, but the French scale still holds in current medical practice as an accurate and nearly universal sizing tool. Copyright © 2014 Journal of Pediatric Urology Company. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Presentation to U.S.-Canada Bilateral Technical Working Group

EPA Science Inventory

DHS and EPA have collaborated in the development of a draft charter for Technical Working Group (TWG) to serve as the basis of negotiations of bilateral agreements with other countries. The TWG would provide a mechanism for sharing both response and R&D expertise and experience i...

40 CFR 40.150 - Evaluation of applications.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

.... Relevancy, coupled with the results of technical review, will provide the basis for funding recommendations... will be reviewed for technical merit by at least one reviewer within EPA and at least two reviewers.... Recommendations for continuation of funding will be based on progress toward the accomplishment of the goals set...

Project DIVIDE Instrument Development. Technical Report # 0810

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ketterlin-Geller, Leanne; Jung, Eunju; Geller, Josh; Yovanoff, Paul

2008-01-01

In this technical report, we describe the development of cognitive diagnostic test items that form the basis of the diagnostic system for Project DIVIDE (Dynamic Instruction Via Individually Designed Environments). The construct underlying the diagnostic test is division of fractions. We include a description of the process we used to identify the…

The softest sound levels of the human voice in normal subjects.

PubMed

Šrámková, Hana; Granqvist, Svante; Herbst, Christian T; Švec, Jan G

2015-01-01

Accurate measurement of the softest sound levels of phonation presents technical and methodological challenges. This study aimed at (1) reliably obtaining normative data on sustained softest sound levels for the vowel [a:] at comfortable pitch; (2) comparing the results for different frequency and time weighting methods; and (3) refining the Union of European Phoniatricians' recommendation on allowed background noise levels for scientific and equipment manufacturers' purposes. Eighty healthy untrained participants (40 females, 40 males) were investigated in quiet rooms using a head-mounted microphone and a sound level meter at 30 cm distance. The one-second-equivalent sound levels were more stable and more representative for evaluating the softest sustained phonations than the fast-time-weighted levels. At 30 cm, these levels were in the range of 48-61 dB(C)/41-53 dB(A) for females and 49 - 64 dB(C)/35-53 dB(A) for males (5% to 95% quantile range). These ranges may serve as reference data in evaluating vocal normality. In order to reach a signal-to-noise ratio of at least 10 dB for more than 95% of the normal population, the background noise should be below 25 dB(A) and 38 dB(C), respectively, for the softest phonation measurements at 30 cm distance. For the A-weighting, this is 15 dB lower than the previously recommended value.

Evaluation of damping loss factor of flat laminates by sound transmission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parrinello, A.; Ghiringhelli, G. L.

2018-06-01

A novel approach to investigate and evaluate the damping loss factor of a planar multilayered structure is presented. A statistical analysis reveals the connection between the damping properties of the structure and the transmission of sound through the thickness of its laterally infinite counterpart. The obtained expression for the panel loss factor involves all the derivatives of the transmission and reflection coefficients of the layered structure with respect each layer damping. The properties of the fluid for which the sound transmission is evaluated are chosen to fulfil the hypotheses on the basis of the statistical formulation. A transfer matrix approach is used to compute the required transmission and reflection coefficients, making it possible to deal with structures having arbitrary stratifications of different layers and also granting high efficiency in a wide frequency range. Comparison with alternative formulations and measurements demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.

Lateralization of Travelling Wave Response in the Hearing Organ of Bushcrickets

PubMed Central

Palghat Udayashankar, Arun; Kössl, Manfred; Nowotny, Manuela

2014-01-01

Travelling waves are the physical basis of frequency discrimination in many vertebrate and invertebrate taxa, including mammals, birds, and some insects. In bushcrickets (Tettigoniidae), the crista acustica is the hearing organ that has been shown to use sound-induced travelling waves. Up to now, data on mechanical characteristics of sound-induced travelling waves were only available along the longitudinal (proximal-distal) direction. In this study, we use laser Doppler vibrometry to investigate in-vivo radial (anterior-posterior) features of travelling waves in the tropical bushcricket Mecopoda elongata. Our results demonstrate that the maximum of sound-induced travelling wave amplitude response is always shifted towards the anterior part of the crista acustica. This lateralization of the travelling wave response induces a tilt in the motion of the crista acustica, which presumably optimizes sensory transduction by exerting a shear motion on the sensory cilia in this hearing organ. PMID:24465889

Benchmarks for time-domain simulation of sound propagation in soft-walled airways: Steady configurations

PubMed Central

Titze, Ingo R.; Palaparthi, Anil; Smith, Simeon L.

2014-01-01

Time-domain computer simulation of sound production in airways is a widely used tool, both for research and synthetic speech production technology. Speed of computation is generally the rationale for one-dimensional approaches to sound propagation and radiation. Transmission line and wave-reflection (scattering) algorithms are used to produce formant frequencies and bandwidths for arbitrarily shaped airways. Some benchmark graphs and tables are provided for formant frequencies and bandwidth calculations based on specific mathematical terms in the one-dimensional Navier–Stokes equation. Some rules are provided here for temporal and spatial discretization in terms of desired accuracy and stability of the solution. Kinetic losses, which have been difficult to quantify in frequency-domain simulations, are quantified here on the basis of the measurements of Scherer, Torkaman, Kucinschi, and Afjeh [(2010). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 128(2), 828–838]. PMID:25480071

Experiments on the applicability of MAE techniques for predicting sound diffraction by irregular terrains. [Matched Asymptotic Expansion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Berthelot, Yves H.; Pierce, Allan D.; Kearns, James A.

1987-01-01

The sound field diffracted by a single smooth hill of finite impedance is studied both analytically, within the context of the theory of Matched Asymptotic Expansions (MAE), and experimentally, under laboratory scale modeling conditions. Special attention is given to the sound field on the diffracting surface and throughout the transition region between the illuminated and the shadow zones. The MAE theory yields integral equations that are amenable to numerical computations. Experimental results are obtained with a spark source producing a pulse of 42 microsec duration and about 130 Pa at 1 m. The insertion loss of the hill is inferred from measurements of the acoustic signals at two locations in the field, with subsequent Fourier analysis on an IBM PC/AT. In general, experimental results support the predictions of the MAE theory, and provide a basis for the analysis of more complicated geometries.

Simulation of Jet Noise with OVERFLOW CFD Code and Kirchhoff Surface Integral

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kandula, M.; Caimi, R.; Voska, N. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

An acoustic prediction capability for supersonic axisymmetric jets was developed on the basis of OVERFLOW Navier-Stokes CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) code of NASA Langley Research Center. Reynolds-averaged turbulent stresses in the flow field are modeled with the aid of Spalart-Allmaras one-equation turbulence model. Appropriate acoustic and outflow boundary conditions were implemented to compute time-dependent acoustic pressure in the nonlinear source-field. Based on the specification of acoustic pressure, its temporal and normal derivatives on the Kirchhoff surface, the near-field and the far-field sound pressure levels are computed via Kirchhoff surface integral, with the Kirchhoff surface chosen to enclose the nonlinear sound source region described by the CFD code. The methods are validated by a comparison of the predictions of sound pressure levels with the available data for an axisymmetric turbulent supersonic (Mach 2) perfectly expanded jet.

Sound Trust and the Ethics of Telecare.

PubMed

Voerman, Sander A; Nickel, Philip J

2017-02-01

The adoption of web-based telecare services has raised multifarious ethical concerns, but a traditional principle-based approach provides limited insight into how these concerns might be addressed and what, if anything, makes them problematic. We take an alternative approach, diagnosing some of the main concerns as arising from a core phenomenon of shifting trust relations that come about when the physician plays a less central role in the delivery of care, and new actors and entities are introduced. Correspondingly, we propose an applied ethics of trust based on the idea that patients should be provided with good reasons to trust telecare services, which we call sound trust. On the basis of this approach, we propose several concrete strategies for safeguarding sound trust in telecare. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press, on behalf of The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy Inc. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Simulation of Supersonic Jet Noise with the Adaptation of Overflow CFD Code and Kirchhoff Surface Integral

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kandula, Max; Caimi, Raoul; Steinrock, T. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

An acoustic prediction capability for supersonic axisymmetric jets was developed on the basis of OVERFLOW Navier-Stokes CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) code of NASA Langley Research Center. Reynolds-averaged turbulent stresses in the flow field are modeled with the aid of Spalart-Allmaras one-equation turbulence model. Appropriate acoustic and outflow boundary conditions were implemented to compute time-dependent acoustic pressure in the nonlinear source-field. Based on the specification of acoustic pressure, its temporal and normal derivatives on the Kirchhoff surface, the near-field and the far-field sound pressure levels are computed via Kirchhoff surface integral, with the Kirchhoff surface chosen to enclose the nonlinear sound source region described by the CFD code. The methods are validated by a comparison of the predictions of sound pressure levels with the available data for an axisymmetric turbulent supersonic (Mach 2) perfectly expanded jet.

Fourth Computational Aeroacoustics (CAA) Workshop on Benchmark Problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dahl, Milo D. (Editor)

2004-01-01

This publication contains the proceedings of the Fourth Computational Aeroacoustics (CAA) Workshop on Benchmark Problems. In this workshop, as in previous workshops, the problems were devised to gauge the technological advancement of computational techniques to calculate all aspects of sound generation and propagation in air directly from the fundamental governing equations. A variety of benchmark problems have been previously solved ranging from simple geometries with idealized acoustic conditions to test the accuracy and effectiveness of computational algorithms and numerical boundary conditions; to sound radiation from a duct; to gust interaction with a cascade of airfoils; to the sound generated by a separating, turbulent viscous flow. By solving these and similar problems, workshop participants have shown the technical progress from the basic challenges to accurate CAA calculations to the solution of CAA problems of increasing complexity and difficulty. The fourth CAA workshop emphasized the application of CAA methods to the solution of realistic problems. The workshop was held at the Ohio Aerospace Institute in Cleveland, Ohio, on October 20 to 22, 2003. At that time, workshop participants presented their solutions to problems in one or more of five categories. Their solutions are presented in this proceedings along with the comparisons of their solutions to the benchmark solutions or experimental data. The five categories for the benchmark problems were as follows: Category 1:Basic Methods. The numerical computation of sound is affected by, among other issues, the choice of grid used and by the boundary conditions. Category 2:Complex Geometry. The ability to compute the sound in the presence of complex geometric surfaces is important in practical applications of CAA. Category 3:Sound Generation by Interacting With a Gust. The practical application of CAA for computing noise generated by turbomachinery involves the modeling of the noise source mechanism as a vortical gust interacting with an airfoil. Category 4:Sound Transmission and Radiation. Category 5:Sound Generation in Viscous Problems. Sound is generated under certain conditions by a viscous flow as the flow passes an object or a cavity.

Development of technical skills in Electrical Power Engineering students: A case study of Power Electronics as a Key Course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hussain, I. S.; Azlee Hamid, Fazrena

2017-08-01

Technical skills are one of the attributes, an engineering student must attain by the time of graduation, as per recommended by Engineering Accreditation Council (EAC). This paper describes the development of technical skills, Programme Outcome (PO) number 5, in students taking the Bachelor of Electrical Power Engineering (BEPE) programme in Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN). Seven courses are identified to address the technical skills development. The course outcomes (CO) of the courses are designed to instill the relevant technical skills with suitable laboratory activities. Formative and summative assessments are carried out to gauge students’ acquisition of the skills. Finally, to measure the attainment of the technical skills, key course concept is used. The concept has been implemented since 2013, focusing on improvement of the programme instead of the cohort. From the PO attainment analysis method, three different levels of PO attainment can be calculated: from the programme level, down to the course and student levels. In this paper, the attainment of the courses mapped to PO5 is measured. It is shown that Power Electronics course, which is the key course for PO5, has a strong attainment at above 90%. PO5 of other six courses are also achieved. As a conclusion, by embracing outcome-based education (OBE), the BEPE programme has a sound method to develop technical psychomotor skills in the degree students.

A Functional Neuroimaging Study of Sound Localization: Visual Cortex Activity Predicts Performance in Early-Blind Individuals

PubMed Central

Gougoux, Frédéric; Zatorre, Robert J; Lassonde, Maryse; Voss, Patrice

2005-01-01

Blind individuals often demonstrate enhanced nonvisual perceptual abilities. However, the neural substrate that underlies this improved performance remains to be fully understood. An earlier behavioral study demonstrated that some early-blind people localize sounds more accurately than sighted controls using monaural cues. In order to investigate the neural basis of these behavioral differences in humans, we carried out functional imaging studies using positron emission tomography and a speaker array that permitted pseudo-free-field presentations within the scanner. During binaural sound localization, a sighted control group showed decreased cerebral blood flow in the occipital lobe, which was not seen in early-blind individuals. During monaural sound localization (one ear plugged), the subgroup of early-blind subjects who were behaviorally superior at sound localization displayed two activation foci in the occipital cortex. This effect was not seen in blind persons who did not have superior monaural sound localization abilities, nor in sighted individuals. The degree of activation of one of these foci was strongly correlated with sound localization accuracy across the entire group of blind subjects. The results show that those blind persons who perform better than sighted persons recruit occipital areas to carry out auditory localization under monaural conditions. We therefore conclude that computations carried out in the occipital cortex specifically underlie the enhanced capacity to use monaural cues. Our findings shed light not only on intermodal compensatory mechanisms, but also on individual differences in these mechanisms and on inhibitory patterns that differ between sighted individuals and those deprived of vision early in life. PMID:15678166

The Sound and the Fury—Bees Hiss when Expecting Danger

PubMed Central

Galizia, C. Giovanni

2015-01-01

Honey bees are important model systems for the investigation of learning and memory and for a better understanding of the neuronal basics of brain function. Honey bees also possess a rich repertoire of tones and sounds, from queen piping and quacking to worker hissing and buzzing. In this study, we tested whether the worker bees’ sounds can be used as a measure of learning. We therefore conditioned honey bees aversively to odours in a walking arena and recorded both their sound production and their movement. Bees were presented with two odours, one of which was paired with an electric shock. Initially, the bees did not produce any sound upon odour presentation, but responded to the electric shock with a strong hissing response. After learning, many bees hissed at the presentation of the learned odour, while fewer bees hissed upon presentation of another odour. We also found that hissing and movement away from the conditioned odour are independent behaviours that can co-occur but do not necessarily do so. Our data suggest that hissing can be used as a readout for learning after olfactory conditioning, but that there are large individual differences between bees concerning their hissing reaction. The basis for this variability and the possible ecological relevance of the bees’ hissing remain to be investigated. PMID:25747702

The sound and the fury--bees hiss when expecting danger.

PubMed

Wehmann, Henja-Niniane; Gustav, David; Kirkerud, Nicholas H; Galizia, C Giovanni

2015-01-01

Honey bees are important model systems for the investigation of learning and memory and for a better understanding of the neuronal basics of brain function. Honey bees also possess a rich repertoire of tones and sounds, from queen piping and quacking to worker hissing and buzzing. In this study, we tested whether the worker bees' sounds can be used as a measure of learning. We therefore conditioned honey bees aversively to odours in a walking arena and recorded both their sound production and their movement. Bees were presented with two odours, one of which was paired with an electric shock. Initially, the bees did not produce any sound upon odour presentation, but responded to the electric shock with a strong hissing response. After learning, many bees hissed at the presentation of the learned odour, while fewer bees hissed upon presentation of another odour. We also found that hissing and movement away from the conditioned odour are independent behaviours that can co-occur but do not necessarily do so. Our data suggest that hissing can be used as a readout for learning after olfactory conditioning, but that there are large individual differences between bees concerning their hissing reaction. The basis for this variability and the possible ecological relevance of the bees' hissing remain to be investigated.

Variability of road traffic noise recorded by stationary monitoring stations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bąkowski, Andrzej; Radziszewski, Leszek

2017-11-01

The paper presents the analysis results of equivalent sound level recorded by two road traffic noise monitoring stations. The stations were located in Kielce (an example of a medium-size town in Poland) at the roads out of the town in the direction of Kraków and Warszawa. The measurements were carried out through stationary stations monitoring the noise and traffic of motor vehicles. The RMS values based on A-weighted sound level were recorded every 1 s in the buffer and the results were registered every 1 min over the period of investigations. The registered data were the basis for calculating the equivalent sound level for three time intervals: from 6:00 to 18:00, from 18:00 to 22:00 and from 22:00 to 6:00. Analysis included the values of the equivalent sound level recorded for different days of the week split into 24h periods, nights, days and evenings. The data analysed included recordings from 2013. The coefficient of variation and positional variation were proposed for performing comparative analysis of the obtained data scattering. The investigations indicated that the recorded data varied depending on the traffic routes. The differences concerned the values of coefficients of variation of the equivalent sound levels.

Developing a weighted measure of speech sound accuracy.

PubMed

Preston, Jonathan L; Ramsdell, Heather L; Oller, D Kimbrough; Edwards, Mary Louise; Tobin, Stephen J

2011-02-01

To develop a system for numerically quantifying a speaker's phonetic accuracy through transcription-based measures. With a focus on normal and disordered speech in children, the authors describe a system for differentially weighting speech sound errors on the basis of various levels of phonetic accuracy using a Weighted Speech Sound Accuracy (WSSA) score. The authors then evaluate the reliability and validity of this measure. Phonetic transcriptions were analyzed from several samples of child speech, including preschoolers and young adolescents with and without speech sound disorders and typically developing toddlers. The new measure of phonetic accuracy was validated against existing measures, was used to discriminate typical and disordered speech production, and was evaluated to examine sensitivity to changes in phonetic accuracy over time. Reliability between transcribers and consistency of scores among different word sets and testing points are compared. Initial psychometric data indicate that WSSA scores correlate with other measures of phonetic accuracy as well as listeners' judgments of the severity of a child's speech disorder. The measure separates children with and without speech sound disorders and captures growth in phonetic accuracy in toddlers' speech over time. The measure correlates highly across transcribers, word lists, and testing points. Results provide preliminary support for the WSSA as a valid and reliable measure of phonetic accuracy in children's speech.

Mechanisms underlying the temporal precision of sound coding at the inner hair cell ribbon synapse

PubMed Central

Moser, Tobias; Neef, Andreas; Khimich, Darina

2006-01-01

Our auditory system is capable of perceiving the azimuthal location of a low frequency sound source with a precision of a few degrees. This requires the auditory system to detect time differences in sound arrival between the two ears down to tens of microseconds. The detection of these interaural time differences relies on network computation by auditory brainstem neurons sharpening the temporal precision of the afferent signals. Nevertheless, the system requires the hair cell synapse to encode sound with the highest possible temporal acuity. In mammals, each auditory nerve fibre receives input from only one inner hair cell (IHC) synapse. Hence, this single synapse determines the temporal precision of the fibre. As if this was not enough of a challenge, the auditory system is also capable of maintaining such high temporal fidelity with acoustic signals that vary greatly in their intensity. Recent research has started to uncover the cellular basis of sound coding. Functional and structural descriptions of synaptic vesicle pools and estimates for the number of Ca2+ channels at the ribbon synapse have been obtained, as have insights into how the receptor potential couples to the release of synaptic vesicles. Here, we review current concepts about the mechanisms that control the timing of transmitter release in inner hair cells of the cochlea. PMID:16901948

Relationship between breast sound speed and mammographic percent density

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sak, Mark; Duric, Nebojsa; Boyd, Norman; Littrup, Peter; Myc, Lukasz; Faiz, Muhammad; Li, Cuiping; Bey-Knight, Lisa

2011-03-01

Despite some shortcomings, mammography is currently the standard of care for breast cancer screening and diagnosis. However, breast ultrasound tomography is a rapidly developing imaging modality that has the potential to overcome the drawbacks of mammography. It is known that women with high breast densities have a greater risk of developing breast cancer. Measuring breast density is accomplished through the use of mammographic percent density, defined as the ratio of fibroglandular to total breast area. Using an ultrasound tomography (UST) prototype, we created sound speed images of the patient's breast, motivated by the fact that sound speed in a tissue is proportional to the density of the tissue. The purpose of this work is to compare the acoustic performance of the UST system with the measurement of mammographic percent density. A cohort of 251 patients was studied using both imaging modalities and the results suggest that the volume averaged breast sound speed is significantly related to mammographic percent density. The Spearman correlation coefficient was found to be 0.73 for the 175 film mammograms and 0.69 for the 76 digital mammograms obtained. Since sound speed measurements do not require ionizing radiation or physical compression, they have the potential to form the basis of a safe, more accurate surrogate marker of breast density.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hatano, H.; Watanabe, T.

A new system was developed for the reciprocity calibration of acoustic emission transducers in Rayleigh-wave and longitudinal-wave sound fields. In order to reduce interference from spurious waves due to reflections and mode conversions, a large cylindrical block of forged steel was prepared for the transfer medium, and direct and spurious waves were discriminated between on the basis of their arrival times. Frequency characteristics of velocity sensitivity to both the Rayleigh wave and longitudinal wave were determined in the range of 50 kHz{endash}1 MHz by means of electrical measurements without the use of mechanical sound sources or reference transducers. {copyright} {italmore » 1997 Acoustical Society of America.}« less

Allometric scaling theory applied to FIA biomass estimation

Treesearch

David C. Chojnacky

2002-01-01

Tree biomass estimates in the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) database are derived from numerous methodologies whose abundance and complexity raise questions about consistent results throughout the U.S. A new model based on allometric scaling theory ("WBE") offers simplified methodology and a theoretically sound basis for improving the reliability and...

Adolescent Ethnolinguistic Stability and Change: A Longitudinal Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kohn, Mary Elizabeth

2013-01-01

Most sociolinguistic studies rely on apparent time, cross-sectional methods to analyze language change. On the basis of apparent time data, sociolinguists have hypothesized that cultural processes of lifespan change create predictable cycles of linguistic behavior in which adolescents lead in the use of vernacular variants and advance sound change…

The Generalizability of the Youth Self-Report Syndrome Structure in 23 Societies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ivanova, Masha Y.; Achenbach, Thomas M.; Rescorla, Leslie A.; Dumenci, Levent; Almqvist, Fredrik; Bilenberg, Niels; Bird, Hector; Broberg, Anders G.; Dobrean, Anca; Dopfner, Manfred; Erol, Nese; Forns, Maria; Hannesdottir, Helga; Kanbayashi, Yasuko; Lambert, Michael C.; Leung, Patrick; Minaei, Asghar; Mulatu, Mesfin S.; Novik, Torunn; Oh, Kyung Ja; Roussos, Alexandra; Sawyer, Michael; Simsek, Zeynep; Steinhausen, Hans- Christoph; Weintraub, Sheila; Winkler Metzke, Christa; Wolanczyk, Tomasz; Zilber, Nelly; Zukauskiene, Rita; Verhulst, Frank C.

2007-01-01

As a basis for theories of psychopathology, clinical psychology and related disciplines need sound taxonomies that are generalizable across diverse populations. To test the generalizability of a statistically derived 8-syndrome taxonomic model for youth psychopathology, confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) were performed on the Youth Self-Report…

Futuristics for Today's Student: A Course Description.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aanestad, Naedine

The humanities course described in this paper encourages high school students to examine alternatives for the future and to make decisions on the basis of the most desirable outcomes. Classroom instructional materials include films, sound and slide sets, film strips, tape recorders, a record player, and a television. Students participate in…

Does It Make a Sound: Are Open Access Monographs Discoverable in Library Catalogs?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCollough, Aaron

2017-01-01

This article describes an exploratory study examining the common perception among library-based publishers that open access academic publications (especially monographs) are not readily discoverable in library catalogs. Using titles from the Michigan Publishing imprint, digital culture books, the study provides an empirical basis for evaluating…

Linguistic Parameters in Performance Models.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mansell, Philip

This paper deals with problems concerning the nature of the input to a phonetic processor. Several assumptions provide the basis for consideration of the problem. There is a phonological level of processing which reflects the sound structure of the language; the rules associated with it are not affected by variables associated either with the…

Training a Joint and Expeditionary Mindset

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-12-01

associated with the JEM constructs and for using them to create effective computer-mediated training scenarios. The pedagogic model enables development of...ensure the instructional rigor of scenarios and provide a sound basis for determining performance indicators. The pedagogical model enables development...and Subordinate Constructs ........................................................................... 3 Pedagogical Fram ew ork

Being Human: Transdisciplinarity in Nursing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Timmons, Stephen; Edgley, Alison; Meal, Andy; Narayanasamy, Aru

2016-01-01

Nursing as an academic discipline typically draws on a wide range of other disciplines. There is debate about whether this is a sound basis for the discipline, or whether nursing needs to develop a distinctive body of knowledge. The concept of transdisciplinarity, though little discussed in nursing, is of considerable value in understanding…

75 FR 48988 - Urban Park and Recreation Recovery Program Project Performance Reports, Conversion of Use...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-08-12

... Project Performance Reports, Conversion of Use Provisions, and Grant Agreements and Amendments AGENCY.... 2. Conversion of Use Provisions Title: Urban Park and Recovery Program Conversion of Use Provisions...) All alternatives to the conversion have been evaluated and then rejected on a sound basis; (b...

Development of Distinctive Feature Theory.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meyer, Peggy L.

Since the beginning of man's awareness of his language capabilities and language structure, he has assumed that speech is composed of discrete entities. The linguist attempts to establish a model of the workings of these distinctive sounds in a language. Utilizing an historical basis for discussion, this general survey of the distinctive feature…

A Comparison of Traditional Worksheet and Linear Programming Methods for Teaching Manure Application Planning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schmitt, M. A.; And Others

1994-01-01

Compares traditional manure application planning techniques calculated to meet agronomic nutrient needs on a field-by-field basis with plans developed using computer-assisted linear programming optimization methods. Linear programming provided the most economical and environmentally sound manure application strategy. (Contains 15 references.) (MDH)

32 CFR 518.6 - Public information.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... disclosure of the information. Activities must be prepared to present a sound legal basis in support of their...) FOIA handbook. The Department of the Army Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act (DA FOIA/PA) Office shall prepare, in addition to FOIA regulations, a handbook for the use of the public in obtaining...

The Lay Assessment of Subclinical Depression in Daily Life

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mehl, Matthias R.

2006-01-01

This study examined how laypersons assess subclinical depression in others on the basis of information about their daily lives. For 2 days, 96 participants were tracked with the Electronically Activated Recorder, a naturalistic observation method that samples ambient sounds from participants' momentary environments. Judges rated participants'…

Expanding Options for Handicapped Persons Receiving Vocational Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

West Virginia Coll. of Graduate Studies, Institute.

Resulting from a West Virginia training institute, the document provides guidelines (in outline form) for stimulating change in vocational education for handicapped students at the secondary level. Section I on the operational world provides a basis for developing sound organization needed for proper implementation of the guidelines. Steps geared…

Evaluation of performance based approach for determining contribution of environmental factors to pavement deterioration : H P & R implementation study.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1990-11-01

State Legislation requires that cost responsibility studies be available for the 1991 and 1993 Legislative sessions. Part of this legislative requirement includes the need to re-evaluate and establish a sound basis for the weight-mile tax. To be fair...

Sounding Rocket Launches Successfully from Alaska

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-01-28

Caption: Time lapse photo of the NASA Oriole IV sounding rocket with Aural Spatial Structures Probe as an aurora dances over Alaska. All four stages of the rocket are visible in this image. Credit: NASA/Jamie Adkins More info: On count day number 15, the Aural Spatial Structures Probe, or ASSP, was successfully launched on a NASA Oriole IV sounding rocket at 5:41 a.m. EST on Jan. 28, 2015, from the Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska. Preliminary data show that all aspects of the payload worked as designed and the principal investigator Charles Swenson at Utah State University described the mission as a “raging success.” “This is likely the most complicated mission the sounding rocket program has ever undertaken and it was not easy by any stretch," said John Hickman, operations manager of the NASA sounding rocket program office at the Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia. "It was technically challenging every step of the way.” “The payload deployed all six sub-payloads in formation as planned and all appeared to function as planned. Quite an amazing feat to maneuver and align the main payload, maintain the proper attitude while deploying all six 7.3-pound sub payloads at about 40 meters per second," said Hickman. Read more: www.nasa.gov/content/assp-sounding-rocket-launches-succes... NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

Sounding Rocket Launches Successfully from Alaska

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-01-28

A NASA Oriole IV sounding rocket with the Aural Spatial Structures Probe leaves the launch pad on Jan. 28, 2015, from the Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska. Credit: NASA/Lee Wingfield More info: On count day number 15, the Aural Spatial Structures Probe, or ASSP, was successfully launched on a NASA Oriole IV sounding rocket at 5:41 a.m. EST on Jan. 28, 2015, from the Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska. Preliminary data show that all aspects of the payload worked as designed and the principal investigator Charles Swenson at Utah State University described the mission as a “raging success.” “This is likely the most complicated mission the sounding rocket program has ever undertaken and it was not easy by any stretch," said John Hickman, operations manager of the NASA sounding rocket program office at the Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia. "It was technically challenging every step of the way.” “The payload deployed all six sub-payloads in formation as planned and all appeared to function as planned. Quite an amazing feat to maneuver and align the main payload, maintain the proper attitude while deploying all six 7.3-pound sub payloads at about 40 meters per second," said Hickman. Read more: www.nasa.gov/content/assp-sounding-rocket-launches-succes... NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

Radiometric sounding system

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Whiteman, C.D.; Anderson, G.A.; Alzheimer, J.M.

1995-04-01

Vertical profiles of solar and terrestrial radiative fluxes are key research needs for global climate change research. These fluxes are expected to change as radiatively active trace gases are emitted to the earth`s atmosphere as a consequence of energy production and industrial and other human activities. Models suggest that changes in the concentration of such gases will lead to radiative flux divergences that will produce global warming of the earth`s atmosphere. Direct measurements of the vertical variation of solar and terrestrial radiative fluxes that lead to these flux divergences have been largely unavailable because of the expense of making suchmore » measurements from airplanes. These measurements are needed to improve existing atmospheric radiative transfer models, especially under the cloudy conditions where the models have not been adequately tested. A tethered-balloon-borne Radiometric Sounding System has been developed at Pacific Northwest Laboratory to provide an inexpensive means of making routine vertical soundings of radiative fluxes in the earth`s atmospheric boundary layer to altitudes up to 1500 m above ground level. Such vertical soundings would supplement measurements being made from aircraft and towers. The key technical challenge in the design of the Radiometric Sounding System is to develop a means of keeping the radiometers horizontal while the balloon ascends and descends in a turbulent atmospheric environment. This problem has been addressed by stabilizing a triangular radiometer-carrying platform that is carried on the tetherline of a balloon sounding system. The platform, carried 30 m or more below the balloon to reduce the balloon`s effect on the radiometric measurements, is leveled by two automatic control loops that activate motors, gears and pulleys when the platform is off-level. The sensitivity of the automatic control loops to oscillatory motions of various frequencies and amplitudes can be adjusted using filters.« less

Current audiological diagnostics

PubMed Central

Hoth, Sebastian; Baljić, Izet

2017-01-01

Today’s audiological functional diagnostics is based on a variety of hearing tests, whose large number takes account of the variety of malfunctions of a complex sensory organ system and the necessity to examine it in a differentiated manner and at any age of life. The objective is to identify nature and origin of the hearing loss and to quantify its extent as far as necessary to dispose of the information needed to initiate the adequate medical (conservative or operational) treatment or the provision with technical hearing aids or prostheses. Moreover, audiometry provides the basis for the assessment of impairment and handicap as well as for the calculation of the degree of disability. In the present overview, the current state of the method inventory available for practical use is described, starting from basic diagnostics over to complex special techniques. The presentation is systematically grouped in subjective procedures, based on psychoacoustic exploration, and objective methods, based on physical measurements: preliminary hearing tests, pure tone threshold, suprathreshold processing of sound intensity, directional hearing, speech understanding in quiet and in noise, dichotic hearing, tympanogram, acoustic reflex, otoacoustic emissions and auditory evoked potentials. Apart from a few still existing gaps, this method inventory covers the whole spectrum of all clinically relevant functional deficits of the auditory system. PMID:29279727

Air Quality Response Modeling for Decision Support | Science ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Air quality management relies on photochemical models to predict the responses of pollutant concentrations to changes in emissions. Such modeling is especially important for secondary pollutants such as ozone and fine particulate matter which vary nonlinearly with changes in emissions. Numerous techniques for probing pollutant-emission relationships within photochemical models have been developed and deployed for a variety of decision support applications. However, atmospheric response modeling remains complicated by the challenge of validating sensitivity results against observable data. This manuscript reviews the state of the science of atmospheric response modeling as well as efforts to characterize the accuracy and uncertainty of sensitivity results. The National Exposure Research Laboratory′s (NERL′s) Atmospheric Modeling and Analysis Division (AMAD) conducts research in support of EPA′s mission to protect human health and the environment. AMAD′s research program is engaged in developing and evaluating predictive atmospheric models on all spatial and temporal scales for forecasting the Nation′s air quality and for assessing changes in air quality and air pollutant exposures, as affected by changes in ecosystem management and regulatory decisions. AMAD is responsible for providing a sound scientific and technical basis for regulatory policies based on air quality models to improve ambient air quality. The models developed by AMAD are being use

Application of Wavelet Filters in an Evaluation of ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Air quality model evaluation can be enhanced with time-scale specific comparisons of outputs and observations. For example, high-frequency (hours to one day) time scale information in observed ozone is not well captured by deterministic models and its incorporation into model performance metrics lead one to devote resources to stochastic variations in model outputs. In this analysis, observations are compared with model outputs at seasonal, weekly, diurnal and intra-day time scales. Filters provide frequency specific information that can be used to compare the strength (amplitude) and timing (phase) of observations and model estimates. The National Exposure Research Laboratory′s (NERL′s) Atmospheric Modeling and Analysis Division (AMAD) conducts research in support of EPA′s mission to protect human health and the environment. AMAD′s research program is engaged in developing and evaluating predictive atmospheric models on all spatial and temporal scales for forecasting the Nation′s air quality and for assessing changes in air quality and air pollutant exposures, as affected by changes in ecosystem management and regulatory decisions. AMAD is responsible for providing a sound scientific and technical basis for regulatory policies based on air quality models to improve ambient air quality. The models developed by AMAD are being used by EPA, NOAA, and the air pollution community in understanding and forecasting not only the magnitude of the air pollu

Economics and planning in the veterinary undergraduate programme: a model for sub-Saharan Africa.

PubMed

Mlangwa, J E; Kisauzi, D N

1993-09-01

Veterinarians in sub-Saharan Africa work in resource-deficient environments. Decisions taken by veterinarians in this sub-region, on animal health, animal husbandry and public health issues, are therefore influenced by economic factors including macro-economic considerations related to the current structural adjustment programmes being implemented in the sub-region. In turn, decisions or advice given by veterinarians have socio-economic consequences on clients, on the effectiveness of the delivery systems for veterinary services and on the growth of national economies. For these reasons, economics and planning should be essential components of all modern veterinary undergraduate programmes in sub-Saharan Africa, in order to give veterinarians a basis for making decisions and giving advice which is both technically and economically sound. The authors argue that principles of livestock economics, livestock enterprise management, livestock investment analysis and economics of animal health care are necessary elements in economics and planning courses. They propose a division of these elements into discrete course units to allow for flexibility and adaptability to the different curriculum structures of schools in sub-Saharan Africa and, possibly, continuing professional development courses. The resource requirement for teaching the courses, the integration of the units in the undergraduate programme and the problems which are likely to be encountered in developing the courses are discussed.

Mycotoxin Contamination in the EU Feed Supply Chain: A Focus on Cereal Byproducts.

PubMed

Pinotti, Luciano; Ottoboni, Matteo; Giromini, Carlotta; Dell'Orto, Vittorio; Cheli, Federica

2016-02-15

Mycotoxins represent a risk to the feed supply chain with an impact on economies and international trade. A high percentage of feed samples have been reported to be contaminated with more than one mycotoxin. In most cases, the concentrations were low enough to ensure compliance with the European Union (EU) guidance values or maximum admitted levels. However, mycotoxin co-contamination might still exert adverse effects on animals due to additive/synergistic interactions. Studies on the fate of mycotoxins during cereal processing, such as milling, production of ethanol fuels, and beer brewing, have shown that mycotoxins are concentrated into fractions that are commonly used as animal feed. Published data show a high variability in mycotoxin repartitioning, mainly due to the type of mycotoxins, the level and extent of fungal contamination, and a failure to understand the complexity of food processing technologies. Precise knowledge of mycotoxin repartitioning during technological processes is critical and may provide a sound technical basis for feed managers to conform to legislation requirements and reduce the risk of severe adverse market and trade repercussions. Regular, economical and straightforward feed testing is critical to reach a quick and accurate diagnosis of feed quality. The use of rapid methods represents a future challenge.

Execution of a self-directed risk assessment methodology to address HIPAA data security requirements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coleman, Johnathan

2003-05-01

This paper analyzes the method and training of a self directed risk assessment methodology entitled OCTAVE (Operationally Critical Threat Asset and Vulnerability Evaluation) at over 170 DOD medical treatment facilities. It focuses specifically on how OCTAVE built interdisciplinary, inter-hierarchical consensus and enhanced local capabilities to perform Health Information Assurance. The Risk Assessment Methodology was developed by the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University as part of the Defense Health Information Assurance Program (DHIAP). The basis for its success is the combination of analysis of organizational practices and technological vulnerabilities. Together, these areas address the core implications behind the HIPAA Security Rule and can be used to develop Organizational Protection Strategies and Technological Mitigation Plans. A key component of OCTAVE is the inter-disciplinary composition of the analysis team (Patient Administration, IT staff and Clinician). It is this unique composition of analysis team members, along with organizational and technical analysis of business practices, assets and threats, which enables facilities to create sound and effective security policies. The Risk Assessment is conducted in-house, and therefore the process, results and knowledge remain within the organization, helping to build consensus in an environment of differing organizational and disciplinary perspectives on Health Information Assurance.

Mycotoxin Contamination in the EU Feed Supply Chain: A Focus on Cereal Byproducts

PubMed Central

Pinotti, Luciano; Ottoboni, Matteo; Giromini, Carlotta; Dell’Orto, Vittorio; Cheli, Federica

2016-01-01

Mycotoxins represent a risk to the feed supply chain with an impact on economies and international trade. A high percentage of feed samples have been reported to be contaminated with more than one mycotoxin. In most cases, the concentrations were low enough to ensure compliance with the European Union (EU) guidance values or maximum admitted levels. However, mycotoxin co-contamination might still exert adverse effects on animals due to additive/synergistic interactions. Studies on the fate of mycotoxins during cereal processing, such as milling, production of ethanol fuels, and beer brewing, have shown that mycotoxins are concentrated into fractions that are commonly used as animal feed. Published data show a high variability in mycotoxin repartitioning, mainly due to the type of mycotoxins, the level and extent of fungal contamination, and a failure to understand the complexity of food processing technologies. Precise knowledge of mycotoxin repartitioning during technological processes is critical and may provide a sound technical basis for feed managers to conform to legislation requirements and reduce the risk of severe adverse market and trade repercussions. Regular, economical and straightforward feed testing is critical to reach a quick and accurate diagnosis of feed quality. The use of rapid methods represents a future challenge. PMID:26891326

Customisation of an instrument to assess anaesthesiologists' non-technical skills.

PubMed

Jepsen, Rikke M H G; Spanager, Lene; Lyk-Jensen, Helle T; Dieckmann, Peter; Østergaard, Doris

2015-02-22

The objectives of the study were to identify Danish anaesthesiologists' non-technical skills and to customise the Scottish-developed Anaesthetists' Non-Technical Skills instrument for Danish anaesthesiologists. Six semi-structured group interviews were conducted with 31 operating room team members: anaes-thesiologists, nurse anaesthetists, surgeons, and scrub nurses. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using directed content analysis. Anaesthesiologists' non-technical skills were identified, coded, and sorted using the original instrument as a basis. The resulting prototype instrument was discussed with anaesthesiologists from 17 centres to ensure face validity. Interviews lasted 46-67 minutes. Identified examples of anaesthesiologists' good or poor non-technical skills fit the four categories in the original instrument: situation awareness; decision making; team working; and task management. Anaesthesiologists' leadership role in the operating room was emphasised: the original 'Task Management' category was named 'Leadership'. One new element, 'Demonstrating self-awareness' was added under the category 'Situation Awareness'. Compared with the original instrument, half of the behavioural markers were new, which reflected that being aware of and communicating one's own abilities to the team; working systematically; and speaking up to avoid adverse events were important skills. The Anaesthetists' Non-Technical Skills instrument was customised to a Danish setting using the identified non-technical skills for anaesthesiologists and the original instrument as basis. The customised instrument comprises four categories and 16 underpinning elements supported by multiple behavioural markers. Identifying non-technical skills through semi-structured group interviews and analysing them using direct content analysis proved a useful method for customising an assessment instrument to another setting.

Pilot whales attracted to killer whale sounds: acoustically-mediated interspecific interactions in cetaceans.

PubMed

Curé, Charlotte; Antunes, Ricardo; Samarra, Filipa; Alves, Ana Catarina; Visser, Fleur; Kvadsheim, Petter H; Miller, Patrick J O

2012-01-01

In cetaceans' communities, interactions between individuals of different species are often observed in the wild. Yet, due to methodological and technical challenges very little is known about the mediation of these interactions and their effect on cetaceans' behavior. Killer whales (Orcinus orca) are a highly vocal species and can be both food competitors and potential predators of many other cetaceans. Thus, the interception of their vocalizations by unintended cetacean receivers may be particularly important in mediating interspecific interactions. To address this hypothesis, we conducted playbacks of killer whale vocalizations recorded during herring-feeding activity to free-ranging long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas). Using a multi-sensor tag, we were able to track the whales and to monitor changes of their movements and social behavior in response to the playbacks. We demonstrated that the playback of killer whale sounds to pilot whales induced a clear increase in group size and a strong attraction of the animals towards the sound source. These findings provide the first experimental evidence that the interception of heterospecific vocalizations can mediate interactions between different cetacean species in previously unrecognized ways.

Pilot Whales Attracted to Killer Whale Sounds: Acoustically-Mediated Interspecific Interactions in Cetaceans

PubMed Central

Curé, Charlotte; Antunes, Ricardo; Samarra, Filipa; Alves, Ana Catarina; Visser, Fleur; Kvadsheim, Petter H.; Miller, Patrick J. O.

2012-01-01

In cetaceans’ communities, interactions between individuals of different species are often observed in the wild. Yet, due to methodological and technical challenges very little is known about the mediation of these interactions and their effect on cetaceans’ behavior. Killer whales (Orcinus orca) are a highly vocal species and can be both food competitors and potential predators of many other cetaceans. Thus, the interception of their vocalizations by unintended cetacean receivers may be particularly important in mediating interspecific interactions. To address this hypothesis, we conducted playbacks of killer whale vocalizations recorded during herring-feeding activity to free-ranging long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas). Using a multi-sensor tag, we were able to track the whales and to monitor changes of their movements and social behavior in response to the playbacks. We demonstrated that the playback of killer whale sounds to pilot whales induced a clear increase in group size and a strong attraction of the animals towards the sound source. These findings provide the first experimental evidence that the interception of heterospecific vocalizations can mediate interactions between different cetacean species in previously unrecognized ways. PMID:23300613

Chemical contaminants in gray whales (eschichtius robustus) stranded in Alaska, Washington, and California, USA. Technical memo

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Varanasi, U.; Stein, J.E.; Tilbury, K.L.

1993-08-01

The concentrations of chlorinated hydrocarbons (CHs) such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl) ethanes (DDTs), 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis(p- chlorophenyl) ethenes (DDEs), and chlordanes, and essential (e.g., zinc, selenium, copper) and toxic (e.g., mercury, lead) elements were measured in tissues and stomach contents from 22 gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus) stranded between 1988 and 1991. The stranding sites ranged from the relatively pristine areas of Kodiak Island, Alaska, to more urbanized areas in Puget Sound, Washington, and San Francisco Bay, California, with the majority of the sites on the Washington outer coast and in Puget Sound. Similar to concentrations in tissues, no significant differences weremore » observed in concentrations of elements in stomach contents between whales stranded in Puget Sound and whales stranded at the more pristine sites. The lack of data from apparently healthy gray whales limits the assessment of whether the levels of anthropogenic contaminants found in tissues may have deleterious effects on the health of gray whales.« less

The Shock and Vibration Bulletin. Part 3. Vehicle Dynamics and Vibration: Test and Criteria.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-05-01

transformation. As stability is assumed in forward motion. used here it invariably means the Hydraulic suspension is formed for each group static...are used to calcu- late the random rms stress according to the type Tolerable sound pressure levels were of structure. Appropriate random S-N curves...DC AIRCRAFT SURVIVABILITY Dale B. Atkinson, Chairman, Joint Technical Coordinating Group on Aircraft Survivability, Naval Air Systems Command

Instructional Film Research Program; Period: 1 March to 30 June 1949. Progress Report Number 11-12.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park. Coll. of Education.

A combination of a progress report and a technical report, this paper should prove useful as an aid in planning future research, and should prove generally useful to those interested in communication processes by means of sound films, as well as to those who work in the areas of radio and television. Effectively there are two halves to the paper.…

Management Plans Technical Appendix - Phase 1 (Central Puget Sound). Volume 4

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-06-01

measure without substantially more samples and analysis or significantly reducing the desired confidence level . Consequently, the study participants...disposal occurs in ac- (9) An application and a lease fee will be charged at a cordance with permit conditions. Compliance measures rate sufficient to...site are sufficient to characterize the material. The bloassays are a cost effective measure of the biological effects of concern within the disposal

The Effects of Prestige and Identification Factors on Attitude Restructuring and Learning from Sound Films. Rapid Mass Learning. Technical Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kishler, John P.

An experiment was conducted to study the effect that audience attitude toward, and identification with the main character of a film has on learning from the film. Two hypotheses were formulated. 1) People for whom the occupational role of the main character has a high prestige value will learn more factual information from the film and also change…

Noise, A bibliography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, L. L., Jr.

1984-03-01

Noise is the subject of this bibliography which has been developed from the military point-of-view. Operationally it may be defined as sound which lacks musical quality due to its discordant harmonic features. Selection of material coverage has been drawn from the unclassified book, document, and military periodicals holdings of the Morris Swet Technical Library, USAFAS. Inclusion of an item, or omission, neither implies USAFAS indorsement or sanction of the compiler's approach.

Puget Sound Infectious Disease Tracking System

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-03-01

DOH "SECURES" communication system. USER NOTES: Must closely monitor the use of automated notifications, at least until the algorithms are...facilities contiguous to the Ft. Lewis, McChord A.F.B, Bremerton Naval Yard, Everett Home Port, and the NAS Whidbey Island. ( Month 1) Completed...prototypes had the technical capacity to host at least 2 years worth of encounter data for the state of Washington, roughly 1-2 million patient

Feasibility of mining lunar resources for earth use: Circa 2000 AD. Volume 1: Summary

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nishioka, K.; Arno, R. D.; Alexander, A. D.; Slye, R. E.

1973-01-01

The feasibility of obtaining lunar minerals for terrestrial uses is examined. Preliminary results gave indications that it will not be economically feasible to mine, refine, and transport lunar materials to Earth for consumption. A broad systems approach was used to analyze the problem. It was determined that even though the procedure was not economically advisable, the concept for the operations is technically sound.

Development of Experimental Army Enlisted Personnel Selection and Classification Tests and Job Performance Criteria

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-08-01

Covers interaction of type, image, motion, sound, and sequence in Design staging for various media formats including commercials. 3 Computer Programming...the Behavioral & Social Sciences ARI 2511 Jefferson Davis Highway 11. MONITOR REPORT NUMBER Arlington, VA 22202-3926 Technical Report 1168 12...situational judgment test, and indicators of person-environment fit (e.g., job satisfaction). 15. SUBJECT TERMS Behavioral and social science Personnel

Sound Speed and Attenuation in Multiphase Media

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-09-20

Stoll [2] report shear wave speeds between 100 to 300 m/s for sandy sediments with porosities of 40-50%. Hastrup [12:121-127] reports empirical...by a factor of 64. The importance of shear wave conversion in bottom reflection has been treated by Hastrup [12] while the depth dependent...843, 1962 [12] O. F. Hastrup , Acoustic Bottom Reflectivity, Technical Report SR-115 SACLANT Undersea Research Centre, La Spezia, Italy, 1986. [13

[Assessment of acoustic environment and its effect on hearing in jet engine technical personnel].

PubMed

Konopka, Wiesław; Pawlaczyk-Luszczyńska, Małgorzata; Straszyński, Piotr; Sliwińska-Kowalska, Mariola

2004-01-01

Noise produced by jet engines may be harmful to aircraft servicing personnel because of high levels of acoustic pressure. The aim of the study was to assess the acoustic environment of persons exposed to jet engine noise and its effect on hearing. Noise measurements were performed on three jet engines. During the target practice, the following parameters were measured: equivalent noise, pressure level A, maximum sound pressure level A, and peak sound pressure level C. The spectro-analysis covering the range from 0.1 to 20 kHz was conducted. Hearing was assessed in 50 noise-exposed men, aged 24-51 years (mean age, 35.5 years), using PTA, tympanometry and DPOAE. The control group consisted of 40 non-exposed persons with good hearing condition. Maximum levels of acoustic pressure exceeded Polish standards. Comparison between two groups showed that PTA was higher in the exposed persons by 6.3-6.8 dB on average and DPOAE was reduced in the group exposed to jet engine noise more than it could have been expected. Even during a single test, aircraft technical personnel was exposed to (audible) noise that significantly exceeded admissible values. The reduction in DPOAE values in persons exposed to noise of jet engines was incommensurably higher than changes in PTA.

Technical basis for the reduction of the maximum temperature TGA-MS analysis of oxide samples from the 3013 destructive examination program

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Scogin, J. H.

2016-03-24

Thermogravimetric analysis with mass spectroscopy of the evolved gas (TGA-MS) is used to quantify the moisture content of materials in the 3013 destructive examination (3013 DE) surveillance program. Salts frequently present in the 3013 DE materials volatilize in the TGA and condense in the gas lines just outside the TGA furnace. The buildup of condensate can restrict the flow of purge gas and affect both the TGA operations and the mass spectrometer calibration. Removal of the condensed salts requires frequent maintenance and subsequent calibration runs to keep the moisture measurements by mass spectroscopy within acceptable limits, creating delays in processingmore » samples. In this report, the feasibility of determining the total moisture from TGA-MS measurements at a lower temperature is investigated. A temperature of the TGA-MS analysis which reduces the complications caused by the condensation of volatile materials is determined. Analysis shows that an excellent prediction of the presently measured total moisture value can be made using only the data generated up to 700 °C and there is a sound physical basis for this estimate. It is recommended that the maximum temperature of the TGA-MS determination of total moisture for the 3013 DE program be reduced from 1000 °C to 700 °C. It is also suggested that cumulative moisture measurements at 550 °C and 700°C be substituted for the measured value of total moisture in the 3013 DE database. Using these raw values, any of predictions of the total moisture discussed in this report can be made.« less

Technical and economic assessment of processes for the production of butanol and acetone

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1982-01-01

This report represents a preliminary technical and economic evaluation of a process which produces mixed solvents (butaol/acetone/ethanol) via fermentation of sugars derived from renewable biomass resources. The objective is to assess the technology of producing butanol/acetone from biomass, and select a viable process capable of serving as a base case model for technical and economic analysis. It is anticipated that the base case process developed herein can then be used as the basis for subsequent studies concerning biomass conversion processes capable of producing a wide range of chemicals. The general criteria utilized in determining the design basis for the process are profit potential and non-renewable energy displacement potential. The feedstock chosen, aspen wood, was selected from a number of potential renewable biomass resources as the most readily available in the United States and for its relatively large potential for producing reducing sugars.

Interdisciplinary Adventures in Perceptual Ecology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bocast, Christopher S.

A portfolio dissertation that began as acoustic ecology and matured into perceptual ecology, centered on ecomusicology, bioacoustics, and translational audio-based media works with environmental perspectives. The place of music in Western eco-cosmology through time provides a basis for structuring an environmental history of human sound perception. That history suggests that music may stabilize human mental activity, and that an increased musical practice may be essential for the human project. An overview of recent antecedents preceding the emergence of acoustic ecology reveals structural foundations from 20th century culture that underpin modern sound studies. The contextual role that Aldo Leopold, Jacob von Uexkull, John Cage, Marshall McLuhan, and others played in anticipating the development of acoustic ecology as an interdiscipline is detailed. This interdisciplinary aspect of acoustic ecology is defined and defended, while new developments like soundscape ecology are addressed, though ultimately sound studies will need to embrace a broader concept of full-spectrum "sensory" or "perceptual" ecology. The bioacoustic fieldwork done on spawning sturgeon emphasized this necessity. That study yielded scientific recordings and spectrographic analyses of spawning sounds produced by lake sturgeon, Acipenser fulvescens, during reproduction in natural habitats in the Lake Winnebago watershed in Wisconsin. Recordings were made on the Wolf and Embarrass River during the 2011-2013 spawning seasons. Several specimens were dissected to investigate possible sound production mechanisms; no sonic musculature was found. Drumming sounds, ranging from 5 to 7 Hz fundamental frequency, verified the infrasonic nature of previously undocumented "sturgeon thunder". Other characteristic noises of sturgeon spawning including low-frequency rumbles and hydrodynamic sounds were identified. Intriguingly, high-frequency signals resembling electric organ discharges were discovered. These sounds create a distinctive acoustic signature of sturgeon spawning. Media files include concert performance video, sturgeon audio samples, podcasts, radio pieces, music recordings, sound design, and a time-lapse soundscape reconstructed from Aldo Leopold's notes.

Degraded speech sound processing in a rat model of fragile X syndrome

PubMed Central

Engineer, Crystal T.; Centanni, Tracy M.; Im, Kwok W.; Rahebi, Kimiya C.; Buell, Elizabeth P.; Kilgard, Michael P.

2014-01-01

Fragile X syndrome is the most common inherited form of intellectual disability and the leading genetic cause of autism. Impaired phonological processing in fragile X syndrome interferes with the development of language skills. Although auditory cortex responses are known to be abnormal in fragile X syndrome, it is not clear how these differences impact speech sound processing. This study provides the first evidence that the cortical representation of speech sounds is impaired in Fmr1 knockout rats, despite normal speech discrimination behavior. Evoked potentials and spiking activity in response to speech sounds, noise burst trains, and tones were significantly degraded in primary auditory cortex, anterior auditory field and the ventral auditory field. Neurometric analysis of speech evoked activity using a pattern classifier confirmed that activity in these fields contains significantly less information about speech sound identity in Fmr1 knockout rats compared to control rats. Responses were normal in the posterior auditory field, which is associated with sound localization. The greatest impairment was observed in the ventral auditory field, which is related to emotional regulation. Dysfunction in the ventral auditory field may contribute to poor emotional regulation in fragile X syndrome and may help explain the observation that later auditory evoked responses are more disturbed in fragile X syndrome compared to earlier responses. Rodent models of fragile X syndrome are likely to prove useful for understanding the biological basis of fragile X syndrome and for testing candidate therapies. PMID:24713347

Holocene deposition and megathrust splay fault geometries within Prince William Sound, Alaska

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Finn, S.; Liberty, L. M.; Haeussler, P. J.; Pratt, T. L.

2011-12-01

New high resolution sparker seismic reflection data, in conjunction with reprocessed legacy seismic data, provide the basis for a new fault, fold, and Holocene sediment thickness database for Prince William Sound, Alaska. Additionally, legacy airgun seismic data in Prince William Sound and the Gulf of Alaska tie features on these new sparker data to deeper portions of megathrust splay faults. We correlate regionally extensive bathymetric lineaments within Prince William Sound to megathrust splay faults, such as the ones that ruptured in the 1964 M9.2 earthquake. Lastly, we estimate Holocene sediment thickness within Prince William Sound to better constrain the Holocene fault history throughout the region. We identify three seismic facies related to Holocene, Quaternary, and Tertiary strata that are crosscut by numerous high angle normal faults in the hanging wall of the megathrust splay faults. The crustal-scale seismic reflection profiles show splay faults emerging from 20 km depth between the Yakutat block and North American crust and surfacing as the Hanning Bay and Patton Bay faults. A change in exhumation rates, slip rates, and fault orientation appears near Hinchinbrook that we attribute to differences in subducted slab geometry. Based on our slip rate analysis, we calculate average Holocene displacements of 20 m and 100 m in eastern and western Prince William Sound, respectively. Landward of two splay faults exposed on Montague Island, we observe subsidence, faulting, and landslides that record deformation associated with the 1964 and older megathrust earthquakes.

Sigmoid sinus cortical plate dehiscence induces pulsatile tinnitus through amplifying sigmoid sinus venous sound.

PubMed

Tian, Shan; Wang, Lizhen; Yang, Jiemeng; Mao, Rui; Liu, Zhaohui; Fan, Yubo

2017-02-08

Sigmoid sinus cortical plate dehiscence (SSCPD) is common in pulsatile tinnitus (PT) patients, and is treated through SSCPD resurfacing surgery in clinic, but the bio-mechanism is not clear as so far. This study aimed to clarify the bio-mechanism of PT sensation induced by SSCPD, and quantify the relationship of cortical plate (CP) thickness and PT sensation intensity. It was hypothesized that SSCPD would induce PT through significantly amplifying sigmoid sinus (SS) venous sound in this study. Finite element (FE) analysis based on radiology data of typical patient was used to verify this hypothesis, and was validated with clinical reports. In cases with different CP thickness, FE simulations of SS venous sound generation and propagation procedure were performed, involving SS venous flow field, vibration response of tissue overlying dehiscence area (including SS vessel wall and CP) and sound propagation in temporal bone air cells. It was shown in results that SS venous sound at tympanic membrane was 56.9dB in SSCPD case and -45.2dB in intact CP case, and was inaudible in all thin CP cases. It was concluded that SSCPD would directly induce PT through significantly amplifying SS venous sound, and thin CP would not be the only pathophysiology of PT. This conclusion would provide a theoretical basis for the design of SSCPD resurfacing surgery for PT patients with SSCPD or thin CP. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Potential for cogeneration of heat and electricity in California industry, phase 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Davis, H. S.; Gurfield, R. M.; Moretti, V. C.; Slonski, M. L.

1978-01-01

Information collected during an industrial survey of 12 selected plants was organized into four categories: technical, economic, environmental, and institutional. The technical aspects of industrial cogeneration are examined on a site-specific basis. The site-specific economics, environmental constraints, and institutional barriers that impact industrial cogeneration will be further investigated.

Decision Support System for Aquifer Recharge (AR) and Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) Planning, Design, and Evaluation - Principles and Technical Basis

EPA Science Inventory

Aquifer recharge (AR) is a technical method being utilized to enhance groundwater resources through man-made replenishment means, such as infiltration basins and injections wells. Aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) furthers the AR techniques by withdrawal of stored groundwater at...

From Industry to Teaching: The Quality Instruction Program at Hocking Technical College.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moran, Ralph; And Others

This presentation on Hocking Technical College's (HTC's) Quality Instruction Program (QIP) provides a program description and comments from three HTC faculty members who have been involved in the program in various ways. Recognizing that many faculty members are hired on the basis of their industrial credentials rather than their teaching…

Marketing Technology. FasTrak Specialization Integrated Technical and Academic Competency (ITAC). Revised.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ohio State Dept. of Education, Columbus. Div. of Career-Technical and Adult Education.

This document presents the Ohio Integrated Technical and Academic Competency profile for marketing technology. The profile is to serve as the basis for curriculum development in Ohio's secondary, adult, and postsecondary programs. The profile includes a comprehensive listing of 580 specialty and foundation key indicators for evaluating mastery of…

A Critical Review of the Technical Characteristics of Current Preschool Screening Batteries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Emmons, Michael R.; Alfonso, Vincent C.

2005-01-01

The current review provides a summary and evaluation of the technical characteristics of five preschool screening batteries, including the Brigance Screens, DIAL-3, ESI-R, ESP, and FirstSTEP. These norm-referenced instruments were selected on the basis of their commercial availability, description as a screening instrument, and ability to assess…

A consumer guide: tools to manage vegetation and fuels.

Treesearch

David L. Peterson; Louisa Evers; Rebecca A. Gravenmier; Ellen Eberhardt

2007-01-01

Current efforts to improve the scientific basis for fire management on public lands will benefit from more efficient transfer of technical information and tools that support planning, implementation, and effectiveness of vegetation and hazardous fuel treatments. The technical scope, complexity, and relevant spatial scale of analytical and decision support tools differ...

Engineer's Needs for Scientific and Technical Information.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

David, A., Ed.; And Others

This study has as its main object the formulation of an approach, as global and comprehensive as possible, to the multiple aspects of the engineer's needs for scientific and technical information. The basis of the study is an analysis of the engineer's role, its characteristics, different specialties, levels of training, and categories of…

How to Recognize a Quality Technical Education Program.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Doty, Charles R.

Criteria for the evaluation of quality technical educational programs must be identified if follow-up studies are to be effective. Current research shows that problems in the development of such criteria include the tendency to evaluate programs on the basis of organizational structure rather than on the quality of the instructional program…