Pitch Deviation Research Articles

Cross-Linguistic Comparison of the Pitch and Temporal Profiles between L1 and Chinese L2 Speakers of Spanish

Cross-linguistic studies between intonational languages suggest that there is a universal trend during the L2 learning process regarding pitch and temporal characteristics. We extend these hypotheses to Chinese learners of Peninsular Spanish-a new pairing of tone and non-tone languages. Using six pitch and temporal metrics, we examine how Chinese learners’ pitch and temporal profiles deviated from those of L1 native speakers and explore the factors that may contribute to L2 speech deviations. The Discourse Completion Task was conducted to elicit five question types produced by 37 participants, who were divided into three language groups. Consistent with previous literature, our study shows that Chinese L2 learners had a compression of pitch span (at both the utterance and syllable levels) and pitch variability, as well as a strong reduction of pitch change rate, speech rate, and articulation rate compared to L1 Spanish speakers. Most pitch and temporal deviations in L2 Spanish intonation are closely linked to psychological and cognitive attributes rather than being determined by physiological factors or L1 tonal transfer. Moreover, the lack of prosodic knowledge of the target intonation patterns concerning the different question types may also hinder L2 learners from approaching a native-like pitch and temporal profile.

English

Wireless communication has become increasingly popular in recent years due to its mobility, portability and efficient service. Quality Voice Communication is the basic need of all such devices. Due to the significant spectrum demand, the bandwidth allocated to Professional Radio devices is decreasing. This results in lowering voice/ speech quality. Due to limited bandwidth, the design of Radio is changing. The main change is shifting from Analogue signal processing to Digital signal processing of speech and radio signals. The conversion of analogue-natured speech to digital form itself creates loss and faithfulness. Such Radio includes a voice coder for analogue to digital conversion of speech. Human spoken language, speaker (male or female), and pronunciation play an essential role in direct voice and Radio communication. It is the primary object which decides the design of low bandwidth coder. This paper deals with Marathi language characteristics and the interdependence of language constructs that affects voice/speech quality. In this paper, we extracted features of the Marathi language using PRAAT software and analyzed its constructs using statistical tools. The actual testing on Radio is carried out. The speech quality observed during such testing is correlated with statistical results. It is shown that the standard deviation in pitch and formants in male speech is less (average 35%) compared to the standard deviation in pitch and formants in female speech. This results in lowering the quality of male speech compared to female speech. It is also shown that some vowels and combinations of certain vowels and consonants produce poor speech quality compared to others.

A new fault detection strategy for wind turbine rotor imbalance based on multi-condition vibration signal analysis

Aiming at the problem that it is difficult to accurately detect the position and magnitude of pitch angle deviation (PAD) fault of wind turbine (WT) in operation at the same time, this paper proposes a novel multi-parameter synergy mechanism based on a double threshold judgment method combined with power spectral density analysis. First, the influence of different PADs of a single blade on the time domain information of WT parameters under different turbulent wind speeds is discussed. Second, according to the changing rule of three blade parameters caused by the single blade PAD, the double threshold judgment method is introduced to determine the faulty blade and the direction of PAD. Third, this paper put forward the concept of characteristic frequency power ratio. Based on the characteristic frequency of the power spectrum, a method is proposed to determine the magnitude of PAD. Finally, a complete set of fault detection and identification flow for single blade PAD was established. This detection strategy is more accurate and faster than the traditional methods and does not need to add additional data acquisition equipment in the wind power generation system.

Integrated vehicle control using adaptive control allocation

SummaryThe focus of this paper is an integrated, fault‐tolerant vehicle control algorithm for the overall stability of ground vehicles. The proposed scheme comprises a high‐level controller that creates a virtual control input and a low‐level adaptive control allocator that distributes the virtual control effort among redundant actuators. The proposed control framework distinguishes itself from earlier results in the literature by its ability to blend active suspension, steering and traction control channels, in the presence of uncertainties and time‐varying dynamics, without the need for fault identification. The control structure is validated in the simulation environment using a fourteen‐degree‐of‐freedom non‐linear vehicle model. The integrated controller is compared to the case of a conventional control approach where each control problem is solved separately. Our results show that, compared to the conventional approach, the proposed method ensures that the vehicle follows driver inputs with up to % higher longitudinal maneuver velocity, despite the presence of actuator failures and slippery road conditions. Furthermore, to demonstrate the benefit of integrating active suspension control to the overall control scheme, we replaced the suspension control of the proposed approach with an independent suspension control system for comparison purposes. We then showed that the integrated case provided % lower roll angle deviation, and % lower pitch angle deviation, in the presence of actuator effectiveness loss and adverse road conditions.

Uncertainty of Vowel Predictions as a Digital Biomarker for Ataxic Dysarthria.

Dysarthria is a common manifestation across cerebellar ataxias leading to impairments in communication, reduced social connections, and decreased quality of life. While dysarthria symptoms may be present in other neurological conditions, ataxic dysarthria is a perceptually distinct motor speech disorder, with the most prominent characteristics being articulation and prosody abnormalities along with distorted vowels. We hypothesized that uncertainty of vowel predictions by an automatic speech recognition system can capture speech changes present in cerebellar ataxia. Speech of participants with ataxia (N=61) and healthy controls (N=25) was recorded during the "picture description" task. Additionally, participants' dysarthric speech and ataxia severity were assessed on a Brief Ataxia Rating Scale (BARS). Eight participants with ataxia had speech and BARS data at two timepoints. A neural network trained for phoneme prediction was applied to speech recordings. Average entropy of vowel tokens predictions (AVE) was computed for each participant's recording, together with mean pitch and intensity standard deviations (MPSD and MISD) in the vowel segments. AVE and MISD demonstrated associations with BARS speech score (Spearman's rho=0.45 and 0.51), and AVE demonstrated associations with BARS total (rho=0.39). In the longitudinal cohort, Wilcoxon pairwise signed rank test demonstrated an increase in BARS total and AVE, while BARS speech and acoustic measures did not significantly increase. Relationship of AVE to both BARS speech and BARS total, as well as the ability to capture disease progression even in absence of measured speech decline, indicates the potential of AVE as a digital biomarker for cerebellar ataxia.

Correction to: Nonlinear dynamics of harmonic drive considering pitch deviation

Correction to: Nonlinear dynamics of harmonic drive considering pitch deviation

Cone–hole docking mechanism for a modular reconfigurable mobile robot and its characteristic analysis

Purpose The purpose of this paper is that the modular mobile robots reformed the multimachine joint mode to achieve obstacle-crossing, climbing and other multifunctional inspection in unstructured environment under the connection of the cone–hole docking mechanism. Design/methodology/approach An arc-shaped docking cone head with a posture-maintaining spring and two arc-shaped connecting rods that formed a ring round hole were designed to achieve large tolerance docking. Before active locking, the coordination between structures was used to achieve passive locking, which mitigated the docking impact of modular robots in unstructured environment. Using the locking ring composed of the two arc-shaped connecting rods, open-loop and closed-loop motion characteristics were obtained through the mutual motion of the connecting rod and the sliding block to achieve active locking, which not only ensured high precision docking, but also achieved super docking stability. Findings The cone–hole docking mechanism had the docking tolerance performance of position deviation of 6mm and pitch deviation of 8° to achieve docking of six degrees of freedom (6-DOF), which had a load capacity of 230 N to achieve super docking stability. Under the connection of the cone–hole docking mechanism, the modular mobile robots reformed the multimachine joint mode to achieve obstacle-crossing, climbing and other multifunctional inspection in unstructured environment. Originality/value Based on mechanical analysis of universal models, a cone–hole docking mechanism combining active and passive functions, six-dimensional constraints could be implemented, was proposed in this paper. The characteristics of the posture-maintaining spring in the cone docking head and the compression spring at the two ends of two arc-shaped connecting rods were used to achieve docking with large tolerance. Passive locking and active locking modules were designed, mitigating impact load and the locking did not require power to maintain, which not only ensured high precision docking, but also achieved super docking stability.

SonOpt: understanding the behaviour of bi-objective population-based optimisation algorithms through sound

We present an extension of SonOpt, the first ever openly available tool for the sonification of bi-objective population-based optimisation algorithms. SonOpt has already introduced benefits on the understanding of algorithmic behaviour by proposing the use of sound as a medium for the process monitoring of bi-objective optimisation algorithms. The first edition of SonOpt utilised two different sonification paths to provide information on convergence, population diversity, recurrence of objective values across consecutive generations and the shape of the approximation set. The present extension provides further insight through the introduction of a third sonification path, which involves hypervolume contributions to facilitate the understanding of the relative importance of non-dominated solutions. Using a different sound generation approach than the existing ones, this newly proposed sonification path utilizes pitch deviations to highlight the distribution of hypervolume contributions across the approximation set. To demonstrate the benefits of SonOpt we compare the sonic results obtained from two popular population-based multi-objective optimisation algorithms, Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II) and Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithm based on Decomposition (MOEA/D), and use a Multi-objective Random Search (MRS) approach as a baseline. The three algorithms are applied to numerous test problems and showcase how sonification can reveal various aspects of the optimisation process that may not be obvious from visualisation alone. SonOpt is available for download at https://github.com/tasos-a/SonOpt-2.0.

Calibration of a Rotary Encoder and a Polygon Using a Two-Autocollimator Method

In this work, we propose a two-autocollimator method in which all pitch angle deviations of a polygon and angle errors of a rotary encoder can be calibrated simultaneously. A polygon with any number of faces can be calibrated. Any face of the polygon is a measurement cycle of one. Compared to a traditional method, cross-calibration calibrates a rotary encoder and a polygon. This method can simultaneously calibrate all pitch angle deviations of the polygon and angle errors of the rotary encoder. The measurement cycle depends on how many faces the polygon has. There are 24 measurement cycles for a 24-faced polygon. In the experiment, we use two autocollimators to calibrate a 24-faced polygon and the SelfA rotary encoder to conduct the proposed two-autocollimator method. According to the uncertainty evaluation, the expanded uncertainty is 0.46”. For a 95% confidence level, the coverage factor is 2.00. To verify all pitch angle deviations, the shift-angle method, based on cross-calibration, uses one autocollimator to measure the same polygon. The difference in pitch angle deviations is smaller than ±0.28”. The maximum En-value is 0.58. The SelfA rotary encoder comprises 12 read heads and calibrates using self-calibration. The difference in angle errors is smaller than ±0.27”. The maximum En-value is 0.59. The two En-values mean that the proposed two-autocollimator method is practical.

Separation of rotary table radial error motions in gear pitch measurements using harmonic regeneration

During precision or on-machine gear pitch measurements, radial error motions of the rotary table (RT) are non-negligible factors that affect the measurement accuracy and repeatability. In this paper, an error separation method using harmonic regeneration (the ES–HR method) is presented to reduce the influence of the RT radial error motions. First, the gear pitch deviations are measured over several laps. Then, the measurement results are decomposed into different period components by a discrete Fourier transform and the integral period components are extracted to regenerate the pitch deviations. Using this method, the influence of the non-integral period RT radial error motions and most of the random errors can be eliminated. Finally, the influence of the integral period RT radial error motions, acquired synchronously or in advance, are subtracted from the regenerated pitch deviations and the actual gear pitch deviations without the influence of RT radial error motions are obtained. Experimental results showed that this proposed method can effectively eliminate the influence of the RT radial error motions and has better accuracy and less uncertainty than the pitch deviations evaluation algorithm that uses a multi-lap average. Additionally, this method does not require changes in the position of the gear relative to the RT as do existing error separation methods, and it can be easily used for measurements at production sites or on machines.

The Montreal split ring applicator: Towards highly adaptive gynecological brachytherapy using 3D-printed biocompatible patient-specific interstitial caps.

The addition of interstitial (IS) needles to intra-cavitary (IC) brachytherapy applicators is associated with improved outcomes in locally advanced cervical cancers involving parametrial tumor extensions. The purpose of this work was to validate a clinical workflow involving 3D-printed caps for a commercial IC split ring applicator that enable using IS needle trajectories tailored to each treatment. A dedicated software module was developed in this work allowing users to design patient-specific IS caps without knowledge of computer-aided design (CAD) software. This software module was integrated to 3D Brachy, a commercial software developed by Adaptiiv Medical Technologies Inc. For validation of the workflow, CAD models of ground truth caps with five IS needle trajectories were designed with Fusion 360™, 3D-printed, assembled with a split ring applicator, and CT-scanned with radio-opaque markers. 3D Brachy was then applied to generate a replica based on trajectories reconstructed from the radio-opaque markers. A comparison between ground truth and replicated IS needle trajectories was done using intersection points with planes at the level of the cervix (z = 0 cm) and a representative needle depth (z = 3 cm). Prototypes of interstitial caps 3D-printed in both BioMed Amber and BioMed Clear SLA resins were tested to be functional both pre- and post-sterilization for IS needles with obliquity angles ≤ 45°. Distance-to-agreement at z = 0 cm and 3 cm as well as deviations in pitch and yaw angles of the five IS needle trajectories were found to have mean values of 3.3 ±2.1 mm, 7.3 ±2.0 mm, 2.9° ±2.3°, and 7.0° ±7.0°, respectively. The clinical workflow for image-guided adaptive cervical cancer brachytherapy using the Montreal split ring applicator was validated.

Research on Preload and Stress Distribution of Small-Size Precision Threaded Connection Considering Geometric Deviation

The small-size threaded connection is one of the main connection methods for complex and precision electromechanical products such as aerospace equipment. The geometric deviation is unavoidable in the thread manufacturing process, which will lead to the problem of excessive dispersion of the connection preload and uneven stress distribution, resulting in a low product qualification rate and a short stability period. In this paper, the influence of thread geometric deviation on preload and stress distribution is studied by taking the small-size M2 thread commonly used in high-end aerospace precision products. Firstly, the thread engagement model with geometric parameters is established, and the influence of different types of geometric deviations on the preload is analyzed. Secondly, the mechanism of non-uniform stress distribution on the connector in the process of thread engagement is analyzed. Finally, the accuracy of the simulation model and the analysis results are verified by the small-size thread-tightening experiment. The results show that the pitch diameter deviation, profile angle deviation, and pitch deviation of precision thread affect the preload and stress distribution, among which the profile angle deviation has a significant influence on the preload and stress distribution.

Kinetic and kinematic comparisons in high school pitchers with low and high pitch location consistency.

Although ball velocity has often been associated with increased kinetics at the upper extremity and risk of injury in youth and adolescent pitchers, it is unclear if the performance metric pitch location consistency has any positive or negative associations with pitching kinetics. High school pitchers (n=59) pitched 8-12 fastballs using 3D motion capture (480 Hz). Pitchers were divided into high-consistency (HiCon) and low-consistency (LoCon) groups based on the absolute center deviation of each pitcher's pitch to the center of the pitcher's mean pitch location. Ninety-five percent confidence ellipses with major and minor radii were constructed, and kinematics and kinetics were compared between groups. Compared with LoCon pitchers, HiCon pitchers had decreased lead hip flexion at elbow extension (40°±12° vs. 52°±13°, respectively, P=.008), and at foot contact, decreased back hip extension (-1° ±10° vs. -10° ±13°, respectively, P=.038) and increased back hip internal rotation (9°±15° vs. -2° ± 15°, respectively, P=.043). LoCon pitchers achieved maximum lead hip flexion earlier in the pitch (61.3%±23.2% vs. 75.8%±15.1%, respectively, P=.039). A multiregression model predicted 0.49 of variance in pitch location consistency using kinematic inputs. Pitchers who differ in pitch location consistency outcomes do not appear to demonstrate physiologically unsafe kinematics. High school pitchers who strive for improved pitch consistency can consider adjusting parameters of hip kinematics during early portions of the pitch.

Computational Modeling of Oddball Sequence Processing Exposes Common and Differential Auditory Network Changes in First-Episode Schizophrenia-Spectrum Disorders and Schizophrenia.

Differences in sound relevance filtering in schizophrenia are proposed to represent a key index of biological changes in brain function in the illness. This study featured a computational modeling approach to test the hypothesis that processing differences might already be evident in first-episode, becoming more pronounced in the established illness. Auditory event-related potentials to a typical oddball sequence (rare pitch deviations amongst regular sounds) were recorded from 90 persons with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (40 first-episode schizophrenia-spectrum, 50 established illness) and age-matched healthy controls. The data were analyzed using dynamic causal modeling to identify the changes in effective connectivity that best explained group differences. Group differences were linked to intrinsic (within brain region) connectivity changes. In activity-dependent measures these were restricted to the left auditory cortex in first-episode schizophrenia-spectrum but were more widespread in the established illness. Modeling suggested that both established illness and first-episode schizophrenia-spectrum groups expressed significantly lower inhibition of inhibitory interneuron activity and altered gain on superficial pyramidal cells with the data indicative of differences in both putative N-methyl-d-aspartate glutamate receptor activity-dependent plasticity and classic neuromodulation. The study provides further support for the notion that examining the ability to alter responsiveness to structured sound sequences in schizophrenia and first-episode schizophrenia-spectrum could be informative to uncovering the nature and progression of changes in brain function during the illness. Furthermore, modeling suggested that limited differences present at first-episode schizophrenia-spectrum may become more expansive with illness progression.

Nonlinear dynamics of harmonic drive considering pitch deviation

Nonlinear dynamics of harmonic drive considering pitch deviation

Design and Testing of a Compact Optical Angle Sensor for Pitch Deviation Measurement of a Scale Grating with a Small Angle of Diffraction

The design and testing of different optical heads were performed to evaluate the pitch deviation of a diffraction scale grating with a small diffraction angle. Based on the proposed pitch deviation evaluation method employing optical angle sensors based on laser autocollimation, a modified optical head with position-sensitive detectors (PSDs) is first designed and constructed by following the conventional optical configuration. Owing to the small angle of diffraction of the first-order diffracted beams, the modified optical head has a large working distance, resulting in poor sensor stability. Therefore, a novel and compact optical head employing a pair of small prisms is designed and developed to shorten the working distance of the optical head. An additional modification was also made to the developed compact optical head in such a way that collimator objectives (COs) in the laser autocollimation units are removed to improve the sensor sensitivity. Experimental comparisons were conducted using the three types of optical heads to verify the feasibility of the developed optical angle sensor with PSDs.

Comparison of physical workload in upper extremities between left- and right-hand ultrasound scanning

Ames, IA Cardiac sonographers suffer from high prevalence of work-related upper extremity musculoskeletal pain due to awkward postures and fatigue accumulation. Sonographers can choose either left- or right-hand scanning, or alternate between both, however, the impact of each scanning technique on the upper extremity muscles remains unknown. Four ambidextrous cardiac sonographers performed between four to six cardiac scans using left- and right-hand while postural and muscle activity were collected from specific muscles on the upper extremities. A comparison of the posture showed that apart from forearm pitch and 90th percentile upper arm deviation, upper extremity postures between the two scanning techniques did not differ significantly. Furthermore, while right-hand scanning (RHS) appeared to induce slightly higher muscle activity in the deltoids compared to left-hand scanning (LHS), the difference between the two techniques was not significant. We recommend alternating between these two techniques to distribute muscle stress evenly to prevent muscle overuse.

The influence of structure uniformity on resonant frequency of ultra-high frequency radio frequency identification tag thread With normal mode helix dipole antenna

The stable performance of ultra-high frequency radio frequency identification (UHF RFID) tag thread with normal mode helical dipole antenna (NMHDA) was required for industrialized application. The ununiform helical pitches and helical radiuses caused by the unstable tension in the preparation process and material properties of carrying yarn probably deteriorate the performance of UHF RFID tag thread with NMHDA, while previous work focused on the properties of UHF RFID tag thread with uniform structure by finite element simulation. This work conducted numerical experiments with the actual statistical distribution of helical pitch and helical radius, i.e. normal distribution, and discussed the influence of the distributed parameters on resonant frequency. And then, the relationship between structure uniformity and resonant frequency was explored. Furthermore, the relationship was put into practice of the design of UHF RFID tag thread with stable properties. The results show that the fluctuation of resonant frequency first decreases and then increases with the increase of the mean helical pitch ( S me), and the resonant frequency decreases with the increase of the standard deviation of helical pitch ( S st) and that of helical radius ( r st). When the reactance of helical coil linearly changes with helical radius, the mean helical radius ( r me) has a negligible effect on the fluctuation of resonant frequency. The importance of the factors for the resonant frequency conforms to the following order: r me> S st> S me> r st. Additionally, the stable reading range of prototype (14.13 ± 0.06 m) demonstrated the practice of these results in the design of UHF RFID tag thread with NMHDA.

Sompoton: Sabah bamboo mouth organ

This study considered the Sabah traditional bamboo musical instrument, sompoton. The fast Fourier transform (FFT) of sompoton was determined via a Pico oscilloscope. All three sompotons displayed almost similar fundamental frequencies. The individual tubes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8 (except tube 7) of sompoton I, II, and III produced the fundamental frequency (in hertz) as 924, 758, 655, 589, 449, 407, 537, as 954, 779, 655, 614, 469, 387, 552, and as 944, 820, 655, 635, 407, 407, and 552, respectively. The averaged frequency obtained from the three sompotons (with the diatonic frequency and note in bracket) was 940.6 (932.3-A5# tube 1), 785.6 (783.9-G5 tube 2), 655 (659.2-E5 tube 3), 612.6 (622.2-D5# tube 4), 547 (554.3-C5# tube 8), 441.6 (440-A4 tube 5), and 400.3 (392-G4 tube 6). The tunings were remarkably similar in the tonal relationships. The pitch of the drone tube (tube 6) repeated an octave higher at tube 2, the intervals of perfect 4th higher at tube 8, and the intervals of perfect 5th higher at tube 4 were always found. The standard deviations of the fundamental pitch from the three sompotons for tube 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8 were 15.3, 31.5, 0.0, 9.2, 31.6, 11.5, and 8.7, respectively.

Design and Experimental Comparison of PID, LQR and MPC Stabilizing Controllers for Parrot Mambo Mini-Drone

Parrot Mambo mini-drone is a readily available commercial quadrotor platform to understand and analyze the behavior of a quadrotor both in indoor and outdoor applications. This study evaluates the performance of three alternative controllers on a Parrot Mambo mini-drone in an interior environment, including Proportional–Integral–Derivative (PID), Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR), and Model Predictive Control (MPC). To investigate the controllers’ performance, initially, the MATLAB®/Simulink™ environment was considered as the simulation platform. The successful simulation results finally led to the implementation of the controllers in real-time in the Parrot Mambo mini-drone. Here, MPC surpasses PID and LQR in ensuring the system’s stability and robustness in simulation and real-time experiment results. Thus, this work makes a contribution by introducing the impact of MPC on this quadrotor platform, such as system stability and robustness, and showing its efficacy over PID and LQR. All three controllers demonstrate similar tracking performance in simulations and experiments. In steady state, the maximal pitch deviation for the PID controller is 0.075 rad, for the LQR, it is 0.025 rad, and for the MPC, it is 0.04 rad. The maximum pitch deviation for the PID-based controller is 0.3 rad after the take-off impulse, 0.06 rad for the LQR, and 0.17 rad for the MPC.