1,721,279 research outputs found
Consonant gemination in Italian. The nasal and liquid case
Full text linkAll Italian consonants affected by gemination, that is affricates, fricatives, liquids, nasals, and stops, were analyzed within a project named GEMMA that lasted over a span of about 25 years. Results of the analysis on stops, as published in (Esposito, A., and Di Benedetto, M. G. (1999). “Acoustic and Perceptual Study of Gemination in Italian Stops,” The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, ASA, Vol. 30, pp. 175-185) showed that the main acoustic cue to gemination in Italian was closure duration, while frequency and energy domain parameters were not significantly affected by gemination. This paper - the first of a set of two covering all remaining consonants - addresses nasals and liquids; its companion paper addresses affricates and fricatives. Results on nasals and liquids confirm the findings on stops, in particular that the primary acoustic cue to gemination in Italian is durational in nature and corresponds to a lengthened consonant duration. Results also show an inverse correlation between consonant and pre-consonant vowel durations which is, however, also present when considering singleton vs. geminate word sets separately, indicating a sort of duration compensation between these segments to eventually preserve rhythmical structures; this inverse correlation is reinforced when considering singleton and geminate sets combined. Classification tests of singleton vs. geminate consonants show that, for both nasals and liquids, best classification scores are obtained when consonant duration is used as a classification parameter. Although slightly less performing, the ratio between consonant and pre-consonant vowel durations is also a potential good candidate for automatic classification of geminate vs singleton nasals and liquids in Italian
Consonant gemination in Italian. The affricate and fricative case
Full text linkConsonant gemination in Italian affricates and fricatives was investigated, completing the overall study of gemination of Italian consonants. Results of the analysis of other consonant categories, i.e. stops, nasals, and liquids, showed that closure duration for stops and consonant duration for nasals and liquids, form the most salient acoustic cues to gemination. Frequency and energy domain parameters were not significantly affected by gemination in a systematic way for all consonant classes. Results on fricatives and affricates confirmed the above findings, i.e., that the primary acoustic correlate of gemination is durational in nature and corresponds to a lengthened consonant duration for fricative geminates and a lengthened closure duration for affricate geminates. An inverse correlation between consonant and pre-consonant vowel durations was present for both consonant categories, and also for both singleton and geminate word sets when considered separately. This effect was reinforced for combined sets, confirming the hypothesis that a durational compensation between different phonemes may serve to preserve rhythmical structures. Classification tests of single vs. geminate consonants using the durational acoustic cues as classification parameters confirmed their validity, and highlighted peculiarities of the two consonant classes. In particular, a relatively poor classification performance was observed for affricates, which led to refining the analysis by considering dental vs. non-dental affricates in two different sets. Results support the hypothesis that dental affricates, in Italian, may not appear in intervocalic position as singletons but only in their geminate form
How does cruciate ligament rupture treatment affect range of motion in dogs?
No full textThis study aimed at evaluating the changes in passive range of motion (ROM) of the stifle joint associated with cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) rupture in dogs and assessing whether the surgical treatment carried out on the affected joints affected additional changes. A retrospective cohort study design was used. The clinical records of dogs treated with tibial tuberosity advancement (TTA), tibial plateau leveling osteotomy (TPLO) and tight rope (TR) were reviewed as were the extension angle (EA), flexion angle (FA) and lameness. The data recorded at T0, before surgery, were compared with the data at 1 month and 6 months post-surgery. The data were classified as normal or abnormal. The main results obtained one month after surgery indicated that dogs treated with TTA showed a significant worsening of flexion (the FA was abnormal in 69.6 % of dogs at T0 and 80.4 % at T1 with p = 0.0208). Dogs treated with TPLO achieved asignificant improvement in extension (the EA was normal in 16.7 % of dogs at T0 and in 33.3 % at T1 with p < 0.0001), and in flexion (the FA was normal in 23.8 % of dogs at T0 and 43.5 % at T6 with p = 0.0434). The dogs treated with TR showed a significant worsening of extension (the EA was abnormal in 68.8 % of dogs at T0 and in 81.3 % at T1 with p = 0.0024). Six months post-surgery, the ROM value was not normal in 100 % of the stifle joints; however, the lameness significantly improved with each procedure. This study confirmed the influence of surgical procedures on changes in ROM and provided useful indications for planning therapy to improve and speed up the postoperative rehabilitation process in dogs
Synchronous Adaptive Resolver-to-Digital Converter for FPGA-Based High-Performance Control Loops
No full textThis paper deals with a gain scheduling synchronous demodulation scheme useful to obtain speed and position measurements from resolver position sensors. The proposed algorithm is devoted to a field-programmable gate array implementation in order to provide the elaborated information for very low latency control loops. The presented design allows getting accurate estimations in a wide range of rotational speeds without requiring costly off-the-shelf integrated circuits and leads to higher accuracy at low speed if compared to commercial solutions. To this purpose, the resolver excitation circuit has been simplified working directly with a square wave signal, and the resolver frequency behavior due to the nonsinusoidal excitation has been considered
Mo3. A modular mobility model for future generation mobile wireless networks
Full text linkMobility modeling in 5G and beyond 5G must address typical features such as time-varying correlation between mobility patterns of different nodes, and their variation ranging from macro-mobility (kilometer range) to micro-mobility (sub-meter range). Current models have strong limitations in doing so: the widely used reference-based models, such as the Reference Point Group Mobility (RPGM), lack flexibility and accuracy, while the more sophisticated rule-based (i.e. behavioral) models are complex to set-up and tune. This paper introduces a new rule-based Modular Mobility Model, named Mo3, that provides accuracy and flexibility on par with behavioral models, while preserving the intuitiveness of the reference-based approach, and is based on five rules: 1) Individual Mobility, 2) Correlated Mobility, 3) Collision Avoidance, 4) Obstacle Avoidance and 5) Upper Bounds Enforcement. Mo3 avoids introducing acceleration vectors to define rules, as behavioral models do, and this significantly reduces complexity. Rules are mapped one-to-one onto five modules, that can be independently enabled or replaced. Comparison of time-correlation features obtained with Mo3 vs. reference-based models, and in particular RPGM, in pure micro-mobility and mixed macro-mobility / micro-mobility scenarios, shows that Mo3 and RPGM generate mobility patterns with similar topological properties (intra-group and inter-group distances), but that Mo3 preserves a spatial correlation that is lost in RPGM -at no price in terms of complexity -making it suitable for adoption in 5G and beyond 5G
Decentralized control of finite state systems: A game theoretic approach
Full text linkIn this paper we consider a pair of interconnected, nondeterministic and metric finite state systems and address a control problem where controllers are designed for enforcing local specifications expressed in terms of regular languages, up to a desired accuracy. The control architecture considered is decentralized, that is each controller can only communicate with the corresponding plant. Since plant systems are interconnected, the part of the specification that can be enforced on one system depends on the part that can be applied on the other one. We show how this dependency can be formalized in terms of equilibria, by extending game theory to the present framework. We introduce notions of equilibria, Nash equilibria and dominant equilibria. When controlled plants are at an equilibrium, they satisfy a part of their specification; when they are at a Nash equilibrium, deviation of each plant from its control strategy may correspond to a loss in terms of the part of specification enforced; when they are at a dominant equilibrium, there is no other equilibrium where plants can achieve larger parts of the corresponding specifications. A characterization of these notions is derived and checkable conditions are discussed. An example in the context of multi-agent systems with shared resources is also included. (c) 2025 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Local infill-frame interaction under seismic loads: Investigation through refined micro-modeling
No full textThe paper investigates the complex local interaction occurring between masonry infills and reinforced concrete (RC) frames subject to seismic loads, and its impact on the actual distribution of internal forces in frame members. A high-fidelity damage mechanics-based micro-modeling approach is adopted for the analysis. The modeling framework provides distinct physical modeling of masonry components (units and mortar) and of the reinforced concrete members as continuum 2D nonlinear elements. The STKO software platform for OpenSees is used to implement the modeling framework. Experimental validations are carried out with four infilled frame specimens arranged with different masonry typologies, including calcarenite unit, hollow clay unit, solid clay brick, and hollow clay brick masonries. The actual distribution of internal forces within the frame members is revealed via numerical integration of the nodal forces at different cross-sections. A comprehensive parametric study further investigates the key role of masonry design parameters on the distribution of shear demand and the expected damage mechanism, providing relevant insights about the design as well as the assessment of infilled frames
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