1,721,156 research outputs found
EVALUATING A MARKERLESS METHOD FOR STUDYING ARTICULATORY MOVEMENTS: APPLICATION TO A SYLLABLE REPETITION TASK
Full text linkThe analysis of the articulatory movements allows investigating the kinematic characteristics of some speech disorders. However, the methodologies most used until now, as electromagnetic articulography and optoelectronic systems, are expensive and intrusive which limit their use to specialized laboratories. In this work, we use a completely markerless and low-cost technique to study lip movements during a syllable repetition task. By means of a Kinect-like and an existing face tracking algorithm, we are able to track the movements of the lower lip, testing the performances against a reference method (marker-based optoelectronic system). Good results were obtained in terms of RMSE for the tracking of the lower lip during the repetitions. Some kinematic measures, as opening and closing velocities and accelerations, were also computed. Despite the limitations in terms of image resolution, these results are very promising in the optic of developing a new markerless system for studying speech articulation
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
BioVoice: A multipurpose tool for voice analysis
No full textObjective: This paper introduces BioVoice, a user-friendly software tool for the acoustical analysis of the human voice. It estimates more than 20 acoustical parameters with advanced and robust analysis techniques specifically developed for different vocal emissions, from the newborn to the adult and the singer. Methods: BioVoice performs both time and frequency analyses, detecting the number, length, and percentage of voiced and unvoiced segments and computing fundamental frequency (F0), formant frequencies (F1-F3), noise level, and jitter. The software tool computes the melodic shape of F0 out of 12 basic shapes and allows performing perceptual analysis in newborn and child voice. In the singing voice case, formants up to F5 are computed as well as the quality ratio and parameters concerning vibrato and its regularity. Colour figures and Excel tables show F0, the spectrogram with formants, voiced segments, and quality ratio. Results: Examples of voice analysis in adults, children, newborns, and singers are presented. They show the specific capabilities and the high performance of BioVoice also as compared to another existing software tool. Significance: BioVoice is a free user-friendly software tool for voice analysis that implements new estimation techniques. Basic parameters are computed as well as new ones specifically developed for newborn cry and singing voice analysis, not available with current software tools. Conclusions: BioVoice is capable to deal with low to high pitched voices implementing dedicated tools. Thanks to its simple and intuitive interface, colour figures and Excel tables, it is a valuable tool suitable also for the inexperienced user
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
A comparison and classification of oscillatory characteristics in speech perception and covert speech
Full text linkCovert speech, the mental imagery of speaking, has been studied increasingly to understand and decode thoughts in the context of brain-computer interfaces. In studies of speech comprehension, neural oscillations are thought to play a key role in the temporal encoding of speech. However, little is known about the role of oscillations in covert speech. In this study, we investigated the oscillatory involvements in covert speech and speech perception. Data were collected from 10 participants with 64 channel EEG. Participants heard the words, ‘blue’ and ‘orange’, and subsequently mentally rehearsed them. First, continuous wavelet transform was performed on epoched signals and subsequently two-tailed t-tests between two classes (tasks) were conducted to determine statistical differences in frequency and time (t-CWT). In the current experiment, a task comprised speech perception or covert rehearsal of a word while a condition was the discrimination between tasks. Features were extracted using t-CWT and subsequently classified using a support vector machine. θ and γ phase amplitude coupling (PAC) was also assessed within tasks and across conditions between perception and covert activities (i.e. cross-task). All binary classifications accuracies (80–90%) significantly exceeded chance level, supporting the use of t-CWT in determining relative oscillatory involvements. While the perception condition dynamically invoked all frequencies with more prominent θ and α activity, the covert condition favoured higher frequencies with significantly higher γ activity than perception. Moreover, the perception condition produced significant θ-γ PAC, possibly corroborating a reported linkage between syllabic and phonemic sampling. Although this coupling was found to be suppressed in the covert condition, we found significant cross-task coupling between perception θ and covert speech γ. Covert speech processing appears to be largely associated with higher frequencies of EEG. Importantly, the significant cross-task coupling between speech perception and covert speech, in the absence of within-task covert speech PAC, seems to support the notion that the γ- and θ-bands reflect, respectively, shared and unique encoding processes across tasks
Knowledge management approaches and tools in the nuclear energy industry: evidences and implications from Italian Ansaldo Nucleare Spa
No full text- …
