Rough Ones Research Articles

Medidas espectrais e cepstrais em mulheres com disfonia comportamental

ABSTRACT Purpose To investigate whether there are differences in cepstral and spectral acoustic measures between women with behavioral dysphonia with and without laryngeal lesions and verify whether there is a correlation between such measures and the auditory-perceptual evaluation of voice quality. Methods The sample comprised 78 women with behavioral dysphonia without laryngeal lesions (BDWOL) and 68 with behavioral dysphonia with laryngeal lesions (vocal nodules) (BDWL). Cepstral peak prominence (CPP), cepstral peak prominence-smoothed (CPPS), spectral decrease, and H1-H2 (difference between the amplitude of the first and second harmonics) were extracted. They were submitted to the auditory-perceptual evaluation (APE) of the grade of hoarseness (GH), roughness (RO), breathiness (BR), and strain (ST). Results BDWL women had higher H1-H2 values and lower CPP and CPPS values than BDWOL women. More deviant voices had lower CPP and CPPS values. Breathy voices had lower CPP and CPPS values and higher H1-H2 values than rough ones. There was a weak negative correlation between CPP and RO, a moderate negative correlation with GH, and a strong negative correlation with BR. CPPS had a moderate negative correlation with GH, RO, and BR. H1-H2 had a weak positive correlation with BR. There was a weak positive correlation between spectral decrease and ST. Conclusion H1-H2, CPP, and CPPS were different between BDWOL and BDWL women. Furthermore, cepstral and spectral measures were correlated with the different APE parameters.

Surface roughness effect on dynamic wettability in imbibition process

Dynamic wetting on rough surface is important in imbibition processes in micro- and nano- channels. Due to high computational costs, the previous studies by direct numerical simulations mostly adopted two-dimensional (2D) simplifications of surface with roughness. The cutting-edge advances in high performance computing make it possible to conduct three-dimensional (3D) direct simulations. This work presents 3D simulations on channel flows with roughness on walls via the GPU-based multiphase lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). The effects from 3D roughness morphology are investigated. In contrast to the wettability alternation in 2D rough ones, the 3D rough hydrophilic surfaces remain hydrophilic and Wenzel state at even low capillary numbers (Ca). The apparent contact angle follows the hydrodynamic model on rough surfaces except for a more sensitivity to Ca. The results also indicate that the 2D simplifications overestimate the pressure drop for rough channels, while underestimate over 20% for smooth channels. Therefore, it is crucial to consider 3D structures of surface roughness for dynamic wetting in real channels.

Experimental assessment and modeling of solar air heater with V shape roughness on absorber plate

A roughness of the absorber plate can improve the efficiency of a solar air heater. To boost the efficiency of triangle solar air heaters, this research presents the results of a comparison study between with and without rib roughness on absorber plates. Both use black paint with graphene nanoparticles infused into it, coating an absorber plate. Both numerical and experimental methods have been used to examine the impact of surface roughness on friction factors and heat transport properties. ANSYS 14.5 software module and RNG turbulence, k-€ model is used to conduct a three-dimensional simulation and solve the governing equations in the turbulent situation. Based on experimental data, it has been established that smooth plates are more efficient in converting heat into useful work than rough ones, on average, by a factor of 4.82 and 4.46, respectively. The length of the duct in the solar air heater mitigates the temperature gradient seen in the simulation result. The roughness of V-shaped ribs has a far larger effect on the heat transfer and friction factor properties than do variations in relative roughness pitch (P/e) and Reynolds number (Re). Experimental observations supported by modeling and simulation confirms that triangular duct absorber surface roughness provides improved outcome.

Core-shell dry adhesives for rough surfaces via electrically responsive self-growing strategy.

Bioinspired dry adhesives have an extraordinary impact in the field of robotic manipulation and locomotion. However, there is a considerable difference between artificial structures and biological ones regarding surface adaptability, especially for rough surfaces. This can be attributed to their distinct structural configuration and forming mechanism. Here, we propose a core-shell adhesive structure that is obtained through a growth strategy, i.e., an electrically responsive self-growing core-shell structure. This growth strategy results in a specific mushroom-shaped structure with a rigid core and a soft shell, which exhibits excellent adhesion on typical target surfaces with roughness ranging from the nanoscale to the microscale up to dozens of micrometers. The proposed adhesion strategy extends dry adhesives from smooth surfaces to rough ones, especially for rough surfaces with roughness up to dozens or hundreds of micrometers, opening an avenue for the development of dry adhesive-based devices and systems.

New Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-butylacrylate) Copolymer Biointerfaces and Their Characteristic Influence on Cell Behavior In Vitro.

Designing and obtaining new synthetic smart biointerfaces with specific and controlled characteristics relevant for applications in biomedical and bioengineering domains represents one of the main challenges in these fields. In this work, Matrix-Assisted Pulsed Laser Evaporation (MAPLE) is used to obtain synthetic biointerfaces of poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide-butyl acrylate) p(NIPAM-BA) copolymer with different characteristics (i.e., roughness, porosity, wettability), and their effect on normal HEK 293 T and murine melanoma B16-F1 cells is studied. For this, the influence of various solvents (chloroform, dimethylsulfoxide, water) and fluence variation (250–450 mJ/cm2) on the morphological, roughness, wettability, and physico–chemical characteristics of the coatings are evaluated by atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, contact angle measurements, Fourier-transform-IR spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Coatings obtained by the spin coating method are used for reference. No significant alteration in the chemistry of the surfaces is observed for the coatings obtained by both methods. All p(NIPAM-BA) coatings show hydrophilic character, with the exception of those obtained with chloroform at 250 mJ/cm2. The surface morphology is shown to depend on both solvent type and laser fluence and it ranges from smooth surfaces to rough and porous ones. Physico–chemical and biological analysis reveal that the MAPLE deposition method with fluences of 350–450 mJ/cm2 when using DMSO solvent is more appropriate for bioengineering applications due to the surface characteristics (i.e., pore presence) and to the good compatibility with normal cells and cytotoxicity against melanoma cells.

Geometric control of sliding friction

Controlling and predicting friction is a significant scientific and technological issue. It is our everyday experience that two smooth surfaces slide more easily over each other than two rough ones, due to interlocking of the rough surfaces. However, the interpretation of such friction forces is difficult since other contributions arise from e.g. adhesion forces, that are harder to control. Here, we demonstrate that designer macroscopic roughness can be used to control, dynamically tune and quantitatively predict friction. We show that the roughness allows to tune the friction coefficient by more than an order of magnitude, which can be explained completely by a simple Coulombic friction model. A kirigami metamaterial surface with externally tunable roughness allows us to show that this understanding of geometrical friction can be used to control on-the-fly the friction in a single system by dynamically controlling its roughness.

Oviposition site selection and attachment ability of Propylea quatuordecimpunctata and Harmonia axyridis from the egg to the adult stage

AbstractSurface features of plants can influence the searching efficiency and survival of predatory insects. Surfaces act as barriers preventing attachment of both phytophages and also their insect predators. In this regard, we focused on the oviposition site selection and the attachment ability of all life stages (eggs, larvae, imagines) of two common ladybird species, Propylea quatuordecimpunctata and Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), on artificial and natural substrates with different surface features and properties (roughness, wettability). Both species preferred a hydrophilic surface as the oviposition site and this can be correlated with the better performance of both larvae and adults on these substrates compared with hydrophobic ones. The egg glue of both ladybird species can wet hydrophobic surfaces such as those of many plant leaves and also with prominent 3D wax coverage. The surface roughness has an important role in the oviposition site selection in P. quatuordecimpunctata, but not in H. axyridis. The oviposition preference for smooth surfaces in P. quatuordecimpunctata could be due to better performance of larvae on smooth substrates compared with rough ones. The egg glue of both species can adapt to artificial and natural surfaces characterized by different asperity sizes faithfully replicating their shape, except for very high asperity sizes or big trichomes. The results of the present research can shed light on the mechanical ecology of the evolutionary successful Coccinellidae and may aid in the development of suitable substrates for coccinellid egg‐laying, in order to improve the mass rearing technique of species used in biological control.

Classification and Diagnosis of Pulmonary Nodules in Thoracic Surgery Using CT Image Segmentation Algorithm

This study was aimed at studying the pulmonary nodule (PN) classification and diagnosis through computed tomography (CT) images based on segmentation algorithms. 120 PN patients were taken as research subjects. Linear filter fine segmentation algorithm under 3D region growth was compared with the initial segmentation algorithm and applied to images of PN patients. The results showed that the segmentation effect of the proposed algorithm was at the upper-middle level. The cases of patients with smoking history were greatly more than those without (χ2 = 1.256, P < 0.05 ). Benign and malignant PNs were classified, and morphological features included rough ones and round-like ones. The size characteristics included edge length and area. The gray-scale features included the uniformity of the gray-scale value and the mean value of the gray-scale value. The operation time of pulmonary lobectomy (76.2 ± 23.1 min) was obviously longer than that of pulmonary wedge resection (27.5.2 ± 4.5 min) ( P < 0.05 ). The surgical blood loss of patients who underwent pulmonary lobectomy (125 ± 42 mL) was remarkably higher versus patients who underwent pulmonary wedge resection (51.6 ± 13.8 mL) ( P < 0.05 ). After the operation, the length of stay of patients who underwent lobectomy (8.6 ± 1.4 days) was evidently longer than that of patients who underwent wedge resection (6.4 ± 1.2 days) ( P < 0.05 ). The classification of benign and malignant PNs can effectively obtain the shape and size characteristics of PNs. Preoperative positioning surgery based on classification can shorten the operation time, reduce the amount of bleeding during the operation, and help improve the success rate of surgical resection.

3D‐Printed Pneumatically Controlled Soft Suction Cups for Gripping Fragile, Small, and Rough Objects

A 3D‐printed pneumatically actuated soft suction gripper with an elastomer film is proposed. Suction in such gripper is actively controlled by applying a negative pressure behind the film. The elastomeric gripper body is 3D‐printed, making it easy to customize and integrate into future robotic gripping systems. The gripper can pick a wide variety of objects, such as delicate fruits, small parts, and parts with uneven loads, with high pull‐off forces (over 7.4 N with ∅ 20 mm/55 kPa). The achieved pull‐off forces are significantly higher than the previously reported suction cup grippers with films and more comparable with commercial vacuum grippers. The pull‐off forces show no significant differences with surfaces of varying roughness (up to root‐mean‐square roughness of 5.66 μm) and the gripper is able to pick and release target objects repeatedly. The gripper is also compared with a commercial vacuum gripper with comparable dimensions. It outperforms the commercial gripper in the case of fragile objects, objects smaller than the gripper diameter, and objects with uneven loads. It can apply high pull‐off forces while having controllable release, and is suitable for gripping a wide variety of real‐world objects, including heavy, rough, small, thin, and fragile ones.

Emergent Field-Driven Robot Swarm States.

We present an ecology-inspired form of active matter consisting of a robot swarm. Each robot moves over a planar dynamic resource environment represented by a large light-emitting diode array in search of maximum light intensity; the robots deplete (dim) locally by their presence the local light intensity and seek maximum light intensity. Their movement is directed along the steepest local light intensity gradient; we call this emergent symmetry breaking motion "field drive." We show there emerge dynamic and spatial transitions similar to gas, crystalline, liquid, glass, and jammed states as a function of robot density, resource consumption rates, and resource recovery rates. Paradoxically the nongas states emerge from smooth, flat resource landscapes, not rough ones, and each state can directly move to a glassy state if the resource recovery rate is slow enough, at any robot density.

Морфологическая оценка слизистых мочевого пузыря и влагалища при хроническом цистите у женщин

The study involved 107 women aged 20 to 52 years with chronic recurrent cystitis (57 of them with leukoplakia) developing under conditions of a pathogenic and/or opportunistic infection. All patients underwent a conventional clinical and instrumental examination. Biopsy samples for culture-based and microscopic examination were taken from the area of the Pawlik’s trigone of the vagina and the Lieutaud’s trigone of the urinary bladder, in case of leukoplakia — from the field of visually healthy tissue. The carried out cytomorphological analysis and assessment of pathological processes in the adjacent tissues suggest that the infection from the vagina penetrates through the intersynaptic clefts, interstitial cell nests, the blood and lymphatic microcirculatory system into the bladder, causing cystitis inherent changes — from initial morphological forms to rough ones, up to leukoplakia. A complex of clinical, functional and pathomorphological changes that fit into the framework of the chronic cystovaginitis concept was identified.

Flow-Spurt Transition under Shear Deformation of Concentrated Suspensions

The rheological properties of concentrated suspensions containing 55 and 60 vol % aluminum particles are studied. This concentration range corresponds to the transition from the viscoelastic to the elastoplastic behavior of the suspensions. Moreover, this range is most favorable for powder injection molding of metals and ceramics. The measurements are performed in a rheometer at different shear stresses. Elastoplastic deformations take place at low stresses, while separation, i.e., the rupture of the adhesion contact between the bulk suspension and the boundary of a solid wall of the rheometer, is observed with an increase in the stress. The rupture of the adhesion contact occurs with time, and this process is characterized by a dependence of the lifetime (durability) of the contact on stress. This dependence is of an exponential character. The replacement of smooth working surfaces of the rheometer by rough ones leads to some increase in the stresses. This reflects the replacement of the adhesion separation by the formation of discontinuities in the bulk suspension at the asperities of the rough surface. The observed behavior of the concentrated suspensions in the aforementioned range of compositions is represented by a mechanical model, into which a new element has been introduced. It is represented by a friction pair with variable length (and, accordingly, variable friction force). The spurt arises when a threshold force that induces displacement over the friction surface is reached.

Effect of roughness-regulated migration and distribution of particles on the structural evolution of flowing polymer blends

We report that the surface roughness of solid particles plays a crucial role in determining their migration and distribution within flowing polymer blends as well as their regulation ability toward the blend morphology. During slow shearing, smooth particles exhibit remarkable accumulation at the droplet/matrix interface while the rough ones prefer to locate within the droplets uniformly. As a result, droplets tend to adopt a vorticity alignment due to the strong interfacial jamming effect upon the addition of a small amount of smooth particles. In contrast, more rough particles are needed to induce a similar phenomenon via a rheological enhancement effect. The prominent discrepancy in the behavior of two kinds of particles in the blend could be understood by the diffusion and contact line pinning behavior of particles controlled by their surface roughness. Exploring the underlying mechanism may have an important implication for a rational design of universal particle emulsifiers for multiphase materials such as polymer blends and functional emulsions.

Influence of surface roughness and phosphate coating on galling resistance of medium-grade carbon steel

The aim of this research work was to investigate the influence of surface roughness and presence of phosphate coating on the galling resistance of medium-grade carbon steel. Galling resistance was evaluated in terms of coefficient of friction level and stability, critical loads for galling initiation, surface quality, and volume of adhered material, analysed by load-scanner test rig as a function of load. Results of the investigation show that best galling resistance is not provided by very smooth surfaces but with semi rough ones (Ra = 0.21–0.28 μm), obtained by fine turning. Furthermore, by phosphating and formation of low-friction Mn–P coating superior galling resistance for medium-grade carbon steel is provided, at the same time diminishing effect of surface roughness.

Restructured PtNi on ultrathin nickel hydroxide for enhanced performance in hydrogen evolution and methanol oxidation

Due to the negative impact of overusing traditional fossil fuels on the environment, electrochemical reactions that can minimize the generation of toxic materials during the process, including hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and methanol oxidation reaction (MOR), have been drawing increasing attention. In order to get more outstanding catalysts for both HER and MOR, we combined well-defined PtNi concave nanocubes (CNCs) bounded by high-index facets (HIFs) with Ni(OH)2 nanosheets via a facile hydrothermal process and successfully obtained hybrid PtNi/Ni(OH)2−x, where x means the initial mass of Ni(OH)2 in the synthesis. Remarkably, after the combination, the smooth surfaces of as-prepared PtNi CNCs were transmuted into rough ones made up of PtNi nanospheres (5–7 nm), with Ni(OH)2 nanosheets serving as the substrate. Therefore, benefiting from the merging step, the open-framework structure with more active sites exposed was formed. Besides, the unique synergistic effect and electronic effect inside PtNi alloy and between PtNi to Ni(OH)2, as well as the appropriate mass ratio of the two components make PtNi/Ni(OH)2-4.0 an excellent electrocatalyst with enhanced activity and promoted stability for both HER and MOR, which is superior to that of commercial Pt black and PtNi CNCs enclosed by HIFs. We believe that this work may potentially be applied in effective electrocatalyst construction and energy conversion.

Influence of sample slenderness and boundary conditions in triaxial test - a review

In the past decades an extensive work was done in order to improve the performance and increase the reliability of triaxial testing. Among the several changes made in order to solve the inaccuracies of the traditional test configuration, two of them are discussed in this paper: the sample slenderness [in other words, the H/D ratio] and the introduction of smooth end platens instead of the rough ones. By using H/D=1 and not the usual H/D=2 ratio, the formation of a single line-rapture and the bulge shape seem prevented. The smooth ends decrease the restrain at the top and bottom of the sample. From a theoretical point of view the effects of these changes are clear, but experimentally, the results coming from various studies are contradictory. The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the previous findings on the topic, including both laboratory and FEM modelling test programs.

Surface Effects on Boundary Friction with Additive-Free Lubricating Films: Coupled Influence of Roughness and Material Properties

This work deals with the friction mechanisms of non-conforming contacts lubricated with additive-free poly-alpha olefins in the boundary regime at mean pressures between 0.3 and 0.9 GPa. To analyse the coupled influence of surface roughness and material, the surfaces involved in these experiments were made of steel or DLC-coated steel with a roughness from the nanometer to the micrometer. On the one hand, DLC–DLC contacts presented the lowest friction level with hardly any influence of the surface roughness on the boundary friction coefficient: we showed that the high hardness of these surfaces prevented from significant wear and that boundary friction arose from the shearing of a nanometric fluid layer, physisorbed on the surfaces. On the other hand, steel–steel and steel–DLC contacts presented roughness-dependent higher friction coefficients. Two trends arose according to the contact composite roughness. For rough ones, friction was controlled by the plastic deformation of micrometric asperities. For smooth ones, the dulled asperities did not allow significant local pressure rises, but they occupied a large fraction of the contact area. The boundary friction level was then controlled by the area left available for the lubricant between these conforming asperities and valleys.

The Hierarchies of Multivalued Attribute Domains and Corresponding Applications in Data Mining

In mobile computing, machine learning models for natural language processing (NLP) have become one of the most attractive focus areas in research. Association rules among attributes are common knowledge patterns, which can often provide potential and useful information such as mobile users′ interests. Actually, almost each attribute is associated with a hierarchy of the domain. Given an relation R = (U, A) and any cut αa on the hierarchy for every attribute a, there is another rough relation RΦ, where Φ = (αa : a ∈ A). This paper will establish the connection between the functional dependencies in R and RΦ, propose the method for extracting reducts in RΦ, and demonstrate the implementation of proposed method on an application in data mining of association rules. The method for acquiring association rules consists of the following three steps: (1) translating natural texts into relations, by NLP; (2) translating relations into rough ones, by attributes analysis or fuzzy k‐means (FKM) clustering; and (3) extracting association rules from concept lattices, by formal concept analysis (FCA). Our experimental results show that the proposed methods, which can be applied directly to regular mobile data such as healthcare data, improved quality, and relevance of rules.

Performance of the phonatory deviation diagram in the evaluation of rough and breathy synthesized voices.

IntroductionVoice disorders alter the sound signal in several ways, combining several types of vocal emission disturbances and noise. The phonatory deviation diagram is a two-dimensional chart that allows the evaluation of the vocal signal based on the combination of periodicity (jitter, shimmer, and correlation coefficient) and noise (Glottal to Noise Excitation) measurements. The use of synthesized signals, where one has a greater control and knowledge of the production conditions, may allow a better understanding of the physiological and acoustic mechanisms underlying the vocal emission and its main perceptual-auditory correlates regarding the intensity of the deviation and types of vocal quality.ObjectiveTo analyze the performance of the phonatory deviation diagram in the discrimination of the presence and degree of roughness and breathiness in synthesized voices.Methods871 synthesized vocal signals were used corresponding to the vowel /ɛ/. The perceptual-auditory analysis of the degree of roughness and breathiness of the synthesized signals was performed using visual analogue scale. Subsequently, the signals were categorized regarding the presence/absence of these parameters based on the visual analogue scale cutoff values. Acoustic analysis was performed by assessing the distribution of vocal signals according to the phonatory deviation diagram area, quadrant, shape, and density. The equality of proportions and the chi-square tests were performed to compare the variables.ResultsRough and breathy vocal signals were located predominantly outside the normal range and in the lower right quadrant of the phonatory deviation diagram. Voices with higher degrees of roughness and breathiness were located outside the area of normality in the lower right quadrant and had concentrated density.ConclusionThe normality area and the phonatory deviation diagram quadrant can discriminate healthy voices from rough and breathy ones. Voices with higher degrees of roughness and breathiness are proportionally located outside the area of normality, in the lower right quadrant and with concentrated density.

Functional morphology of tarsal adhesive pads and attachment ability in ticks Ixodes ricinus (Arachnida, Acari, Ixodidae).

The presence of well-developed, elastic claws on ticks and widely pilose hosts led us to hypothesise that ticks are mostly adapted to attachment and locomotion on rough, strongly corrugated and hairy, felt-like substrates. However, by using a combination of morphological and experimental approaches, we visualised the ultrastructure of attachment devices of Ixodes ricinus and showed that this species adheres more strongly to smooth surfaces than to rough ones. Between paired, elongated, curved, elastic claws, I. ricinus bears a large, flexible, foldable adhesive pad, which represents an adaptation to adhesion on smooth surfaces. Accordingly, ticks attached strongest to glass and to surface profiles similar to those of the human skin, generating safety factors (attachment force relative to body weight) up to 534 (females). Considerably lower attachment force was found on silicone substrates and as a result of thanatosis after jolting.