Search results for: voice coil

Authors: Khenfer Koummich Fatma, Hendel Fatiha, Mesbahi Larbi

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This paper presents an approach based on Hidden Markov Models (HMM: Hidden Markov Model) using HTK tools. The goal is to create a human-machine interface with a voice recognition system that allows the operator to teleoperate a mentor robot to execute specific tasks as rotate, raise, close, etc. This system should take into account different levels of environmental noise. This approach has been applied to isolated words representing the robot commands pronounced in two languages: French and Arabic. The obtained recognition rate is the same in both speeches, Arabic and French in the neutral words. However, there is a slight difference in favor of the Arabic speech when Gaussian white noise is added with a Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) equals 30 dB, in this case; the Arabic speech recognition rate is 69%, and the French speech recognition rate is 80%. This can be explained by the ability of phonetic context of each speech when the noise is added.

Keywords: Arabic speech recognition, Hidden Markov Model (HMM), HTK, noise, TIMIT, voice command

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Authors: Peng Liu, Maria Justo Alonso, Hans Martin Mathisen

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A theoretical model is developed to evaluate the performance and energy saving potential of an air handling unit integrated with a membrane energy exchanger in cold climates. The recovered sensible and latent heat, fan preheating use for frost prevention and heating energy consumed by heating coil after the ventilator is compared for the air handling unit combined heat and energy exchanger respectively. A concept of coefficient of performance of air handling unit is presented and applied to assess the energy use of air handling unit (AHU) in cold climates. The analytic results indicate downsizing of the preheating coil before exchanger and heating coils after exchanger are expected since the required power to preheat and condition the air is reduced compared to heat exchanger when the MEE is integrated with AHU. Simultaneously, a superior ratio of energy recovered (RER) is obtained from AHU build-in a counter-flow MEE. The AHU with sensible-only heat exchanger has noticeably low RER, around 1 at low outdoor air temperature where the maximum energy rate is desired to condition the severe cold and dry air.

Keywords: membrane energy exchanger, cold climate, energy efficient building, HVAC

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Authors: Rika Aoki

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The aim of this paper is to investigate whether being bilinguals facilitates or impedes the perception of a third language. The present study conducted a perception experiment in which Mandarin-Japanese bilinguals categorized a Voice-Onset-Time (VOT) continuum into English /b/ or /p/. The results show that early bilinguals were influenced by both Mandarin and Japanese, while late bilinguals behaved in a similar manner to Mandarin monolinguals Thus, it can be concluded that in the present study having two languages did not help bilinguals to perceive L3 stop contrast native-likely.

Keywords: bilinguals, perception, third language acquisition, voice-onset-time

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Authors: Karl Baker-Green, Ian Woolsey

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Historically, a variety of methods have been used to access the student voice within higher education, including module evaluations and informal classroom feedback. However, currently, the views articulated in student-staff-committee meetings bear the most weight and can therefore have the most significant impact on departmental policy. Arguably, these forums are exclusionary as several students, including those who experience severe anxiety, might feel unable to participate in this face-to-face (large) group activities. Similarly, students who declare a disability, but are not in possession of a learning contract, are more likely to withdraw from their studies than those whose additional needs have been formally recognised. It is also worth noting that whilst the number of disabled students in Higher Education has increased in recent years, the percentage of those who have been issued a learning contract has decreased. These issues foreground the need to explore the educational experiences of students with or without a learning contract in order to identify their respective aspirations and needs and therefore help shape education policy. This is in keeping with the ‘Nothing about us without us’, agenda, which recognises that disabled individuals are best placed to understand their own requirements and the most effective strategies to meet these.

Keywords: education, student voice, student experience, student retention

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Authors: B. S. Premalatha, Kausalya Sahani

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Background: Glomus jugulare tumors arise within the jugular foramen and are commonly seen in females particularly on the left side. Surgical excision of the tumor may cause lower cranial nerve deficits. Cranial nerve involvement produces hoarseness of voice, slurred speech, and dysphagia along with other physical symptoms, thereby affecting the quality of life of individuals. Though oncological clearance is mainly emphasized on while treating these individuals, little importance is given to their communication, voice and swallowing problems, which play a crucial part in daily functioning. Objective: To examine the functions of voice, speech and swallowing outcomes of the subjects, following excision of glomus jugulare tumor. Methods: Two female subjects aged 56 and 62 years had come with a complaint of change in voice, inability to swallow and reduced clarity of speech following surgery for left glomus jugulare tumor were participants of the study. Their surgical information revealed multiple cranial nerve palsies involving the left facial, left superior and recurrent branches of the vagus nerve, left pharyngeal, left soft palate, left hypoglossal and vestibular nerves. Functional outcomes of voice, speech and swallowing were evaluated by perceptual and objective assessment procedures. Assessment included the examination of oral structures and functions, dysarthria by Frenchey dysarthria assessment, cranial nerve functions and swallowing functions. MDVP and Dr. Speech software were used to evaluate acoustic parameters of voice and quality of voice respectively. Results: The study revealed that both the subjects, subsequent to excision of glomus jugulare tumor, showed a varied picture of affected oral structure and functions, articulation, voice and swallowing functions. The cranial nerve assessment showed impairment of the vagus, hypoglossal, facial and glossopharyngeal nerves. Voice examination indicated vocal cord paralysis associated with breathy quality of voice, weak voluntary cough, reduced pitch and loudness range, and poor respiratory support. Perturbation parameters as jitter, shimmer were affected along with s/z ratio indicative of voice fold pathology. Reduced MPD(Maximum Phonation Duration) of vowels indicated that disturbed coordination between respiratory and laryngeal systems. Hypernasality was found to be a prominent feature which reduced speech intelligibility. Imprecise articulation was seen in both the subjects as the hypoglossal nerve was affected following surgery. Injury to vagus, hypoglossal, gloss pharyngeal and facial nerves disturbed the function of swallowing. All the phases of swallow were affected. Aspiration was observed before and during the swallow, confirming the oropharyngeal dysphagia. All the subsystems were affected as per Frenchey Dysarthria Assessment signifying the diagnosis of flaccid dysarthria. Conclusion: There is an observable communication and swallowing difficulty seen following excision of glomus jugulare tumor. Even with complete resection, extensive rehabilitation may be necessary due to significant lower cranial nerve dysfunction. The finding of the present study stresses the need for involvement of as speech and swallowing therapist for pre-operative counseling and assessment of functional outcomes.

Keywords: functional outcome, glomus jugulare tumor excision, multiple cranial nerve impairment, speech and swallowing

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Authors: Muhammad Abdullah Arafat, Nahrin Nowrose

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Wireless charging of electric vehicles is becoming more and more attractive as large amount of power can now be transferred to a reasonable distance using magnetic resonance coupling method. However, proper tuning of the compensation network is required to achieve maximum power transmission. Due to the variation of coil distance from the nominal value as a result of change in tire condition, change in weight or uneven road condition, the tuning of the compensation network has become challenging. In this paper, a tuning method has been described to determine the optimum values of the compensation network in order to maximize the average output power. The simulation results show that 5.2 percent increase in average output power is obtained for 10 percent variation in coupling coefficient using the optimum values without the need of additional space and electro-mechanical components. The proposed method is applicable to both static and dynamic charging of electric vehicles.

Keywords: coupling coefficient, electric vehicles, magnetic resonance coupling, tuning capacitor, wireless power transfer

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Authors: Hyeong-Gyu Park, Hak-Gon Noh, Beom-Soo Kang, Jeong Kim

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Electromagnetic forming (EMF) process is one of a high-speed forming process, which uses an electromagnetic body (Lorentz) force to deform work-piece. Advantages of EMF are summarized as improvement of formability, reduction in wrinkling, non-contact forming. In this study, the spiral coil is considered to evaluate formability in terms of pressure distribution of the forming process. It also is represented forming results of numerical analysis using ANSYS code. In the numerical simulation, RLC circuit coupled with spiral coil was made to consider the design parameters such as system input current and electromagnetic force. The simulation results show that even though input peak currents level are same level in each case, forming condition is certainly different because of frequency of input current and magnitude of current density and magnetic flux density. Finally, the simulation results appear that electromagnetic forming force apparently affected by input current frequency which determines magnitude of current density and magnetic flux density.

Keywords: electromagnetic forming, high-speed forming, RLC circuit, Lorentz force

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Authors: Saira Hossain

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Well-being commonly refers to the concept that equates to a good life. Similarly, student well-being can be understood as a notion of a good life at school. What constitutes a good life at school for students? – is an emerging question that poses huge interest in this area of research. Student well-being is not only associated with a student’s socio-emotional and academic development at school but also success in life after school as an adult. Today, student well-being is a popular agenda for educators, policymakers, teachers, parents, and most importantly, for students. With the emergence of student well-being, student's voice in matters important to them at school is increasingly getting priority. However, the coin has another side too. Despite the growing importance of understanding student well-being, it is still an alien concept in countries like Bangladesh. The education system of Bangladesh is highly rigid, centralized, and exam-focused. Student's academic achievement has been given the utmost priority at school, whereas their voice, as well as their well-being, is grossly neglected in practice. In this regard, the study set out to explore students' conceptualization of well-being at school in Bangladesh. The study was qualitative. It employed a participatory research approach to elicit the views of 25 secondary school students of aged 14-16 in Bangladesh to explore the concept of well-being. Data analysis was conducted following the thematic analysis technique. The results suggested that student conceptualized well-being as a multidimensional concept with multiple domains, including having, being, relating, feeling, thinking, functioning, and striving. The future implication of the study findings is discussed. Additionally, the study also underscores the implication of the participatory approach as a research technique to explore students' opinion in Bangladesh, where there exists a culture of silence regarding the student's voice.

Keywords: Bangladesh, participatory research, secondary school, student well-being

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Authors: Eko Liao, Cheryl Zhang

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Employee job crafting refers to employee’s proactive behaviors of making customized changes to their jobs on cognitive, relationship, and task levels. Previous studies have investigated different situations triggering employee’s job crafting. However, much less is known about what would be the consequences for both employee themselves and their work groups. Guided by conservation of resources theory (COR), this study investigates how employees job crafting increases their objective task performance and promotive voice behaviors at work. It is argued that employee would gain more resources when they actively craft their job tasks, which in turn increase their job performance and encourage them to have more constructive speak-up behaviors. Specifically, employee’s psychological resources (i.e., job engagement) and relational resources (i.e., leader-member relationships) would be enhanced from effective crafting behaviors, because employees are more likely to regard their job tasks as meaningful, and their leaders would be more likely to notice and recognize their dedication at work when employees craft their job frequently. To test this research model, around 400 employees from various Chinese organizations from mainland China joins the two-wave data collection stage. Employee’s job crafting behaviors in three aspects are measured at time 1. Perception of resource gain (job engagement and leader-member exchange), voice, and job performance are measured at time 2. The research model is generally supported. This study contributes to the job crafting literature by broadening the theoretical lens to a resource-based perspective. It also has practical implications that organizations should pay more attention to employee crafting behaviors because they are closely related to employees in-role performance and constructive voice behaviors.

Keywords: job crafting, resource-based perspective, voice, job performance

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Authors: Jonathan Ogwal, Louis H. Kamulegeya, John M. Bwanika, Davis Musinguzi

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Introduction: Community retail Pharmacy drug distribution points (CRPDDP) were implemented in the Lango sub-region as part of the Ministry of Health’s response to improving access and adherence to antiretroviral treatment (ART). Clients received their ART refills from nearby local pharmacies; as such, the need for continuous engagement through mobile phone appointment reminders and health messages. We share learnings from the implementation of mobile text reminders and voice call follow-ups among ART clients attending the CRPDDP program in northern Uganda. Methods: A retrospective data review of electronic medical records from four pharmacies allocated for CRPDDP in the Lira and Apac districts of the Lango sub-region in Northern Uganda was done from February to August 2022. The process involved collecting phone contacts of eligible clients from the health facility appointment register and uploading them onto a messaging platform customized by Rapid-pro, an open-source software. Client information, including code name, phone number, next appointment date, and the allocated pharmacy for ART refill, was collected and kept confidential. Contacts received appointment reminder messages and other messages on positive living as an ART client. Routine voice call follow-ups were done to ascertain the picking of ART from the refill pharmacy. Findings: In total, 1,354 clients were reached from the four allocated pharmacies found in urban centers. 972 clients received short message service (SMS) appointment reminders, and 382 were followed up through voice calls. The majority (75%) of the clients returned for refills on the appointed date, 20% returned within four days after the appointment date, and the remaining 5% needed follow-up where they reported that they were not in the district by the appointment date due to other engagements. Conclusion: The use of mobile text reminders and voice call follow-ups improves the attendance of community retail pharmacy refills.

Keywords: antiretroviral treatment, community retail drug distribution points, mobile text reminders, voice call follow-up

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Authors: Amy Atkinson

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Teacher burnout and dissatisfaction is a concerning challenge for visual art (VA) programs within the western (Canadian) educational context, however VA programs who offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum within international schools are thriving. The purpose of this research was to investigate the experiences of Canadian-educated seasoned VA teachers within a range of curriculums, administrative systems and locations focusing on issues related to the VA teaching experience such as viability of the artist-teacher relationship, teaching satisfaction and teacher burnout. Research was conducted using an auto-ethnography approach coupled with a comparative case study method using in-depth interviews. Insights were uncovered into VA teacher’s lived experience, values and decisions, occupational ideology, cultural knowledge, and perspectives. Research for creation methods were explored to develop a creative narrative to amplify teacher voice; endeavouring to make the obscure vivid, empathy possible, direct attention to individuality and locate the universal. Case study results sustain ethnographic observations revealing that VA teachers are experiencing more efficacy, satisfaction and success, with less burn out within the international school/IB context.

Keywords: international baccalaureate, autoethnography, teacher voice, visual arts

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Authors: Zanib Nafees, Amir Razaghizad, Ibtisam Mahmoud, Abhinav Sharma, Renzo Cecere

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More than one million surgeries are performed each year in Canada, resulting in more than 100,000 associated serious adverse events (SAEs) per year. These are defined as unintended injuries or complications that adversely affect the well-being of patients. In recent years, there has been a proliferation of digital health interventions that have the potential to assist, monitor, and educate patients—facilitating self-care following post-operative discharge. Among digital health, interventions are interactive-voice response technologies (IVRs), which have been shown to be highly effective in certain medical settings. Although numerous IVR-based interventions have been developed, their effectiveness and utility remain unclear, notably in post-operative settings. To the best of our knowledge, no systematic or scoping reviews have evaluated this topic to date. Thus, the objective of this scoping review protocol is to systematically map and explore the literature and evidence describing and examining IVR tools, implementation, evaluation, outcome, and experience for post-operative patients. The focus will be primarily on the evaluation of baseline performance status, clinical assessment, treatment outcomes, and patient management, including self-management and self-monitoring. The objective of this scoping review is to assess the extent of the literature to direct future research efforts by identifying gaps and limitations in the literature and to highlight relevant determinants of positive outcomes in the emerging field of IVR monitoring for health outcomes in post-operative patients.

Keywords: digital healthcare technologies, post-surgery, interactive voice technology, interactive voice response

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Authors: E. Krasnova, E. Bulgakova, V. Shchemelinin

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The paper deals with acoustic-spectrographic voice identification method in terms of its performance in non-native language speech. Performance evaluation is conducted by comparing the result of the analysis of recordings containing native language speech with recordings that contain foreign language speech. Our research is based on Tajik and Russian speech of Tajik native speakers due to the character of the criminal situation with drug trafficking. We propose a pilot experiment that represents a primary attempt enter the field.

Keywords: speaker identification, acoustic-spectrographic method, non-native speech, performance evaluation

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Authors: Malika Hammouche

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The novel Pillars of Salt, written by Fadia Faqir in 1996, is a good example where storytelling is utilized as a traditional material to underline the author’s womanist ideology. A study of narrative could be fruitfully combined with that of ideology in this case. This combination could be demonstrated through the narrative technique used by Fadia Faqir in Pillars of Salt (1996), reflecting her anti-colonial ideology. The first step of this work will highlight the storyteller’s narrative in the novel representing, on the one hand, the imperial voice, and on the other exoticism and orientalism. The second step will demonstrate how Faqir’s narrative technique uses focalization as a narratological tool to negotiate her space. Faqir gives a voice to the female protagonist of the novel within the androcentric bias of Arab narrative theory to point to and amend the orientalist discourse typical to colonial literature. The orientalist discourse is represented through the voice of the storyteller in the novel. The juxtaposition of the storyteller’s and the female protagonist narratives is borrowed from the Arab literary background. It is a postcolonial counter-discursive strategy used by the author as a traditional material to underline her Arabo Islamic Womanist ideology in this novel.

Keywords: Arabo Islamic womanism, focalization, ideology, narrative technique, orientalist

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Authors: Amar Ghelani

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People with auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) who seek support from mental health services commonly report feeling unheard and invalidated in their interactions with social workers and psychiatric professionals. Current mental health training and clinical approaches have proven to be inadequate in addressing the complex nature of voice hearing. Childhood trauma is a key factor in the development of AVH and can render people more vulnerable to hearing both supportive and/or disturbing voices. Lived experiences of racism, poverty, and immigration are also associated with development of what is broadly classified as psychosis. Despite evidence affirming the influence of environmental factors on voice hearing, the Western biomedical system typically conceptualizes this experience as a symptom of genetically-based mental illnesses which requires diagnosis and treatment. Overemphasis on psychiatric medications, referrals, and directive approaches to people’s problems has shifted clinical interventions away from assessing and addressing problems directly related to AVH. The Maastricht approach offers voice hearers and mental health workers an alternative and respectful starting point for understanding and coping with voices. The approach was developed by voice hearers in partnership with mental health professionals and entails an innovative method to assess and create meaning from voice hearing and related life stressors. The objectives of the approach are to help people who hear voices: (1) understand the problems and/or people the voices may represent in their history, and (2) cope with distress and find solutions to related problems. The Maastricht approach has also been found to help voice hearers integrate emotional conflicts, reduce avoidance or fear associated with AVH, improve therapeutic relationships, and increase a sense of control over internal experiences. The proposed oral presentation will be guided by a recovery-oriented theoretical framework which suggests healing from psychological wounds occurs through social connections and community support systems. The presentation will start with a brainstorming exercise to identify participants pre-existing knowledge of the subject matter. This will lead into a literature review on the relations between trauma, intersectionality, and AVH. An overview of the Maastricht approach and review of research related to its therapeutic risks and benefits will follow. Participants will learn trauma-informed coping skills and questions which can help voice hearers make meaning from their experiences. The presentation will conclude with a review of resources and learning opportunities where participants can expand their knowledge of the Hearing Voices Movement and Maastricht approach.

Keywords: Maastricht interview, recovery, therapeutic assessment, voice hearing

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Authors: Eren Özceylan, Cihan Çetinkaya

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Quality function deployment (QFD) is a technique to assist transform the voice of the customer into engineering characteristics for a product/service. With the difference of existing studies, QFD is applied to an educational area that is a service sector which is not a manufacturing firm. The objective of the study is to design the undergraduate program according to students’ desire and expectations. To do so, third and fourth year students of industrial engineering department of Gaziantep University are considered as customers. Some suggestions about lecturers, courses, exams and facility for how to satisfy students’ demands are presented and as a result, sharing the materials of courses is the most important requirement among others.

Keywords: higher education, quality function deployment, quality house, voice of customer

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Authors: Denise F. Brown, Melina McConatha

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African Americans utilizing the art of vocal expressions, particularly for self-expression, has been a historical avenue of advocating for social justice and human rights. Vocal expressions can take many forms, such as singing, poetry, storytelling, and acting. Many well-known artists, politicians, leaders, and teachers used their voices to promote the causes and concerns of the African American community as well as the expression of their own experiences of being 'black' in America. The purpose of this project was to evaluate the perceptions of African American students in utilizing their voices for self-awareness, interview skills, and social change after attending a three-part workshop on vocal advocacy. This research utilized the framework of black feminism to understand empowerment in advocacy and self-expression. Students participated in learning about the power of their voices, and what purpose presence, and passion they discovered through the Immersive Voice workshop. There were three areas covered in the workshop. The first area was the power of the voice, the second area was the application of vocal passion, and the third area was applying the vocal power to express personal interest, interests of advocating for others, and confidence and speaking to others to further careers, i.e., using vocal power for job interviewing skills. The students were instructed to prepare for the workshops by completing a pre-workshop open-ended survey. There were a total of 15 students that participated. After the workshop ended, the students were instructed to complete a post-workshop survey. The surveys were assessed by evaluating both themes and codes from student's written feedback. From the pre-workshop survey, students were given a survey for them to provide feedback regarding the power of voice prior to participating in the workshops. From the student's responses, the theme (advocating for self and others) emerged as it related to student's feedback on what it means to advocate. There were three codes that led to the theme, having knowledge about advocating for self and others, gaining knowledge to advocate for self and others, and using that knowledge to advocate for self and others. After the students completed participation in the workshops, a post workshop- survey was given to the students. Students' feedback was assessed, and the same theme emerged, 'advocating for self and others.' The codes related to the theme, however, were different and included using vocal power (a term students learned during the workshop) to represent self, represent others, and obtain a job/career. In conclusion, the results of the survey showed that students still perceived advocating as speaking up for themselves and other people. After the workshop, students still continued to associate advocacy with helping themselves and helping others but were able to be more specific about how the sound of their voice could help in advocating, and how they could use their voice to represent themselves in getting a job or starting a career.

Keywords: advocacy, command, self-expression, voice

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Authors: Rama Munajat

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Discourse information levels may be viewed from either a background-foreground distinction or a multi-level perspective, and cross-linguistic studies on this area suggest that each information level is marked by a specific linguistic device. In this sense, Sundanese, spoken in Indonesia’s West Javanese Province, further differentiates the background and foreground information into ordinary and significant types. This paper will report an ongoing shift from particle-to-active voice marking in the way Sundanese signals foregrounding events. The shift relates to decades of contact with Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesia’s official language) and linguistic compatibility between the two surface marking strategies. Representative data analyzed include three groups of short stories in both Sundanese and Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian) published in three periods: before 1945, 1965-2006, and 2016-2019. In the first group of Sundanese data, forward-moving events dominantly appear in particle KA (Kecap Anteuran, word-accompanying) constructions, where the KA represents different particles that co-occur with a special group of verbs. The second group, however, shows that the foregrounded events are more frequently described in active-voice forms with a subject-predicate (SP) order. Subsequently, the third offers stronger evidence for the use of the SP structure. As for the Indonesian data, the foregrounding events in the first group occur in verb-initial and passive-voice constructions, while in the second and third, the events more frequently appear in active-voice structures (subject-predicate sequence). The marking shift above suggests a structural influence from Indonesian, stemmed from generational differences among authors of the Sundanese short stories, particularly related to their education and language backgrounds. The first group of short stories – published before 1945 or before Indonesia's independence from Dutch – were written by native speakers of Sundanese who spoke Indonesian as a foreign language and went through the Dutch education system. The second group of authors, on the other hand, represents a generation of Sundanese native speakers who spoke Indonesian as a second language. Finally, the third group consists of authors who are bilingual speakers of both Sundanese and Indonesian. The data suggest that the last two groups of authors completed the Indonesian education system. With these, the use of subject-predicate sequences to denote foregrounding events began to appear more frequently in the second group and then became more dominant in those of the third. The coded data also signify that cohesion, coherence, and pragmatic purposes in Particle KA constructions are intact in their respective active-voice structure counterparts. For instance, the foregrounding events in Particle KA constructions occur in Sentence-initial KA and Pre-verbal KA forms, whereas those in the active-voice are described in Subject-Predicate (SP) and Zero-Subject active-voice patterns. Cross-language data further demonstrate that the Sentence-initial KA and the SP active-voice structures each contain an overt noun phrase (NP) co-referential with one of the entities introduced in a preceding context. Similarly, the pre-verbal KA and Zero-Subject active-voice patterns have a deleted noun phrase unambiguously referable to the only one entity previously mentioned. The presence and absence of an NP inform a pragmatic strategy to place prominence on topic/given and comment/new information, respectively.

Keywords: discourse analysis, foregrounding marking, pragmatics, language contact

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Authors: Amy Y. Wang, Eko L. Yi

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Can vicarious experiences of workplace ostracism affect employees’ willingness to voice? Given the increasingly interdependent nature of the modern workplace in which employees rely on social interactions to fulfill organizational goals, workplace ostracism –the extent to which an individual perceives that he or she is ignored or excluded by others in the workplace– has garnered significant interest from scholars and practitioners alike. Extending beyond conventional studies that largely focus on the perspectives and outcomes of ostracized targets, we address the indirect effects of workplace ostracism on third-party employees embedded in the same social context. Using a social information processing approach, we propose that the ostracism of coworkers acts as political information that influences third-party employees in their decisions to engage in risky and discretionary behaviors such as employee voice. To make sense of and to navigate through experiences of workplace ostracism, we posit that both political understanding and political skill allow third party employees to minimize the risks and uncertainty of voicing. This conceptual model was tested by a study involving 154 supervisor-subordinate dyads of a publicly listed bio-technology firm located in Mainland China. Each supervisor and their direct subordinates composed of a work team; each team had a minimum of two subordinates and a maximum of four subordinates. Human resources used the master list to distribute the ID coded questionnaires to the matching names. All studied constructs were measured using existing scales proved effective in previous literature. Hypotheses were tested using Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Hierarchal Multiple Regression. All three hypotheses were supported which showed that employees were less likely to engage in voice behaviors when their coworkers reported having experienced ostracism in the workplace. Results also showed a significant three-way interaction between political understanding and political skill on the relationship between coworkers’ ostracism and employee voice, indicating that political savviness is a valuable resource in mitigating ostracism’s negative and indirect effects. Our results illustrated that an employee’s coworkers being ostracized indeed adversely impacted his or her own voice behavior. However, not all individuals reacted passively to the social context; rather, we found that politically savvy individuals – possessing both political understanding and political skill – and their voice behaviors were less impacted by ostracism in their work environment. At the same time, we found that having only political understanding or only political skill was significantly less effective in mitigating ostracism’s negative effects, suggesting a necessary duality of political knowledge and political skill in combatting ostracism. Organizational implications, recommendations, and future research ideas are also discussed.

Keywords: employee voice, organizational politics, social information processing, workplace ostracism

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Authors: Soodabeh Dehghan, Siavash Hamidzadeh, Naqshbandi Seyyed Salahedin, Ali Mohammad Safania

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The present research with the aim of the relationship between organizational silence and organizational voice with quality of work-life among employees of the sport and youth departments of Tehran Province was done. The statistical population of this research includes all employees of the sport and youth departments of Tehran province, and considering the not very large number of society, the sample and society were considered to be the same, and the sample was considered as the whole number. To measure each of these variables, a questionnaire was used. The research questionnaire was presented in four sections. The results showed that, since the extension of the process of organizational silence is usually done by managers, their attitude and attitudes toward this phenomenon are prioritized and also because silence reduces learning due to lack of knowledge sharing, makes it less effective and makes changes more difficult, it is necessary to take steps to break the silence and to further urge the staff (employees) to express their beliefs (organizational voices) and to share them in the organization's fate individuals, whose beliefs are respected and so called taken into account in the organization, would be dependent on the organization and feel obliged to remain with the organization during the hardships. This affects employees' quality of work life and their satisfaction too much.

Keywords: organizational silence, organizational voice, quality of work life, the sports and youth departments of Tehran province

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Authors: K. Prabhu, K. Dinesh, M. Ranjani, M. Suhitha

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During the tough times of covid, those people who were hospitalized found it difficult to always convey what they wanted to or needed to the attendee. Sometimes the attendees might also not be there. In that case, the patients can use simple hand gestures to control electrical appliances (like its set it for a zero watts bulb)and three other gestures for voice note intimation. In this AI-based hand recognition project, NodeMCU is used for the control action of the relay, and it is connected to the firebase for storing the value in the cloud and is interfaced with the python code via raspberry pi. For three hand gestures, a voice clip is added for intimation to the attendee. This is done with the help of Google’s text to speech and the inbuilt audio file option in the raspberry pi 4. All the five gestures will be detected when shown with their hands via the webcam, which is placed for gesture detection. The personal computer is used for displaying the gestures and for running the code in the raspberry pi imager.

Keywords: nodeMCU, AI technology, gesture, patient

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Authors: YingWei Tan, XueFeng Ding

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Attention-based voice activity detection models have gained significant attention in recent years due to their fast training speed and ability to capture a wide contextual range. The inclusion of multi-head style and position embedding in the attention architecture are crucial. Having multiple attention heads allows for differential focus on different parts of the sequence, while position embedding provides guidance for modeling dependencies between elements at various positions in the input sequence. In this work, we propose an approach by considering each head as a node, enabling the application of graph neural networks (GNN) to identify correlations among the different nodes. In addition, we adopt an implementation named rotary position embedding (RoPE), which encodes absolute positional information into the input sequence by a rotation matrix, and naturally incorporates explicit relative position information into a self-attention module. We evaluate the effectiveness of our method on a synthetic dataset, and the results demonstrate its superiority over the baseline CRNN in scenarios with low signal-to-noise ratio and noise, while also exhibiting robustness across different noise types. In summary, our proposed framework effectively combines the strengths of CNN and RNN (LSTM), and further enhances detection performance through the integration of graph neural networks and rotary position embedding.

Keywords: voice activity detection, CRNN, graph neural networks, rotary position embedding

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Authors: P. Revathi, T. Mrunalini, K. Padma Priya, P. Ramya, R. Saranya

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During the tough times of covid, those people who were hospitalized found it difficult to always convey what they wanted to or needed to the attendee. Sometimes the attendees might also not be there. In that case, the patients can use simple hand gestures to control electrical appliances (like its set it for a zero watts bulb)and three other gestures for voice note intimation. In this AI-based hand recognition project, NodeMCU is used for the control action of the relay, and it is connected to the firebase for storing the value in the cloud and is interfaced with the python code via raspberry pi. For three hand gestures, a voice clip is added for intimation to the attendee. This is done with the help of Google’s text to speech and the inbuilt audio file option in the raspberry pi 4. All the 5 gestures will be detected when shown with their hands via a webcam which is placed for gesture detection. A personal computer is used for displaying the gestures and for running the code in the raspberry pi imager.

Keywords: onion harvesting, automatic pluging, camera, raspberry pi

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Authors: Mohammed Arif, Abdessalam Kifouche

Abstract:

Speech is a very convenient way of communication between people and machines. It conveys information about the identity of the talker. Since speaker recognition technology is increasingly securing our everyday lives, the objective of this paper is to develop two automatic text-independent speaker verification systems (TI SV) using low-level spectral features and machine learning methods. (i) The first system is based on a support vector machine (SVM), which was widely used in voice signal processing with the aim of speaker recognition involving verifying the identity of the speaker based on its voice characteristics, and (ii) the second is based on Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) and Universal Background Model (UBM) to combine different functions from different resources to implement the SVM based.

Keywords: speaker verification, text-independent, support vector machine, Gaussian mixture model, cepstral analysis

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Authors: Hai Quang Hong Dam, Hai Ho, Minh Hoang Le Ngo

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This paper investigates the problem of blind speech separation from the speech mixture of two speakers. A voice activity detector employing the Steered Response Power - Phase Transform (SRP-PHAT) is presented for detecting the activity information of speech sources and then the desired speech signals are extracted from the speech mixture by using an optimal beamformer. For evaluation, the algorithm effectiveness, a simulation using real speech recordings had been performed in a double-talk situation where two speakers are active all the time. Evaluations show that the proposed blind speech separation algorithm offers a good interference suppression level whilst maintaining a low distortion level of the desired signal.

Keywords: blind speech separation, voice activity detector, SRP-PHAT, optimal beamformer

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Authors: Ana Paula Melchiors Stahlschmidt

Abstract:

This paper discusses the role of music as a ludic activity and constituent element of voice in the construction and consolidation of the relationship of the baby and his/her mother or caretaker, evaluating its implications in his/her psychic structure and constitution as a subject. The work was based on the research developed as part of the author’s doctoral activities carried out from her insertion in a project of the Music Department of Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul - UFRGS, which objective was the development of musical activities with groups of babies from 0 to 24 months old and their caretakers. Observations, video recordings of the meetings, audio testemonies, and evaluation tools applied to group participants were used as instruments for this research. Information was collected on the participation of 195 babies, among which 8 were more focused on through interviews with their mothers or caretakers. These interviews were analyzed based on the referential of French Discourse Analysis, Psychoanalysis, Psychology of Development and Musical Education. The results of the research were complemented by other posterior experiences that the author developed with similar groups, in a context of a private clinic. The information collected allowed the observation of the ludic and structural functions of musical activities, when developed in a structured environment, as well as the importance of the musicality of the mother’s voice to the psychical structuring of the baby, allowing his/her insertion in the language and his/her constituition as a subject.

Keywords: music and babies, maternal voice, Psychoanalysis and music, psychology and music

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Authors: Kirsten B. Hillman

Abstract:

There is a growing body of qualitative research in adult mental health and music therapy contexts which highlights user perspectives; however, only a very small sub-section of this literature pertains to people with lived experiences of psychological trauma. This paper will provide a meta-synthesis of this existing body of research, with the intention to present a cohesive overview of salient themes in this research and a platform for the under-represented voices of those with lived experience. This synthesis will be contextualised within a broader discussion of ‘Voice’ in trauma and music therapy research, considering its layered meanings: including literal expressive vocalising and musical expression, voicing after experiences of silencing, and the possibilities of experiencing self-determination and agency in therapy after trauma.

Keywords: lived experience, music therapy, trauma, user perspectives

Procedia PDF Downloads 196

Authors: H. Mohit

Abstract:

In automotive air conditioning system, two heat exchangers are used as evaporator and condenser which are placed inside the bonnet of a car in a compact manner. The dust particles from outside and moisture content produced during the process leads to formation of impure particles on the surface of evaporator coil. But in condenser coil, the impure particles are settling down due to dust from atmosphere. The major problem of the heat exchanger used in automotive air conditioning is leakage of refrigerant due to corrosion. This effect of corrosion will lead to damage on the surface of heat exchanger and leakage of refrigerant from the system. To protect from corrosion, coatings are applied on its surfaces. Nowadays, to improve the corrosion resistance of these heat exchangers, hydrophilic coatings are used, which is very expensive. Cryogenic treatment is one method which involves the treatment of materials below -150 °C using the cryogenic fluid such as liquid nitrogen. In this project work, a study of improvement in corrosion resistance of materials of aluminium alloys of various grades as AA 1100, AA 6061, AA 6063 and AA 2024 that are mainly used for fin and tube heat exchangers in automotive air conditioning system is made. In total, five different processes are selected for these grades of aluminium alloy and various parameters like corrosion rate, dimensional stability, hardness and microstructure are measured. The improvements were observed in these parameters while comparing it with conventional heat treatment process.

Keywords: cryogenic treatment, corrosion resistance, dimensional stability, materials science

Procedia PDF Downloads 230

Authors: Xingxing Peng

Abstract:

With the development of society, there are more and more online communication scenarios such as teleconference and online education. In the process of conference communication, the quality of voice communication is a very important part, and noise may cause the communication effect of participants to be greatly reduced. Therefore, voice noise reduction has an important impact on scenarios such as voice calls. This research focuses on the key technologies of the sound transmission process. The purpose is to maintain the audio quality to the maximum so that the listener can hear clearer and smoother sound. Firstly, to solve the problem that the traditional speech enhancement algorithm is not ideal when dealing with non-stationary noise, an adaptive speech noise reduction algorithm is studied in this paper. Traditional noise estimation methods are mainly used to deal with stationary noise. In this chapter, we study the spectral characteristics of different noise types, especially the characteristics of non-stationary Burst noise, and design a noise estimator module to deal with non-stationary noise. Noise features are extracted from non-speech segments, and the noise estimation module is adjusted in real time according to different noise characteristics. This adaptive algorithm can enhance speech according to different noise characteristics, improve the performance of traditional algorithms to deal with non-stationary noise, so as to achieve better enhancement effect. The experimental results show that the algorithm proposed in this chapter is effective and can better adapt to different types of noise, so as to obtain better speech enhancement effect.

Keywords: speech noise reduction, speech enhancement, self-adaptation, Wiener filter algorithm

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Authors: Meltem Kürtüncü, Işın Alkan

Abstract:

Objective: This study was carried out with an experimental design in order to determine whether the lullaby, which was listened from mother’s voice and a stranger’s voice to the babies born at term and hospitalized in neonatal intensive care unit, had an effect on stress and relaxation symptoms of the infants. Method: Data from the study were obtained from 90 newborn babies who were hospitalized in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Zonguldak Maternity And Children Hospital between September 2015-January 2016 and who met the eligibility criteria. Lullaby concert was performed by choosing one of the suitable care hours. Stress and relaxation symptoms were recorded by the researcher on “Newborn response follow-up form” at pre-care and post-care. Results: After lullaby concert when stress symptoms compared to infants in the experimental and control groups before the care was not detected statistically significant difference between crying, contraction, facial grimacing, flushing, cyanosis and the rates of increase in temperature. After care, crying, contractions, facial grimacing, flushing, and restlessness revealed a statistically significant difference between the groups, but as the cyanosis and temperature increased stress responses did not result in a significant difference between the groups. In the control group babies the crying, contraction, facial grimacing, flushing, and restlessness behaviors rates were found to be significantly higher than experimental group babies. After lullaby concert when relaxation symptoms compared to infants in the experimental and control groups before the care, eye contact rates who listen to lullaby from mother’s voice was found to be significantly higher than infants who listen to lullaby from stranger’s voice and infants in the control group. After care as eye contact, smiling, sucking/searching, yawning, non-crying and sleep behaviors relaxation symptoms revealed statistically significant results. In the control group, these behaviors were found statistically lower degree than the experimental groups. Conclusion: Lullaby concerts as masking the ambient noise, reducing the stress symptoms and increasing the relaxation symptoms, and also for soothing and stimulant affects, due to ease the transition to the sleep state should be preferred in the neonatal intensive care units.

Keywords: lullaby, mother voice, relaxation, stress

Procedia PDF Downloads 206