Corpus design for a unit selection TtS system with application to Bulgarian

In this paper we present the process of designing an efficient speech corpus for the first unit selection speech synthesis system for Bulgarian, along with some significant preliminary results regarding the quality of the resulted system. As the initial corpus is a crucial factor for the quality delivered by the Text-to-Speech system, special effort has been given in designing a complete and efficient corpus for use in a unit selection TTS system. The targeted domain of the TTS system and hence that of the corpus is the news reports, and although it is a restricted one, it is characterized by an unlimited vocabulary. The paper focuses on issues regarding the design of an optimal corpus for such a framework and the ideas on which our approach was based on. A novel multi-stage approach is presented, with special attention given to language and speaker dependent issues, as they affect the entire process. The paper concludes with the presentation of our results and the evaluation experiments, which provide clear evidence of the quality level achieved. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.

Increased capacity per unit-cost by oversampling

It is demonstrated that doubling the sampling rate recovers some of the loss in capacity incurred on the bandlimited Gaussian channel with a one-bit output quantizer. © 2010 IEEE.

Multiple color reflection in a single unit cell using double-layer electrochromic reaction

Multiple color states have been realized in single unit cell using double electrochromic (EC) reaction. The precise control of bistability in EC compounds which can maintain several colors on the two separated electrodes allows this new type of pixel to be realized. The specific electrical driving gives a way to maintain both sides in the reduced EC states and this colors overlapping in the vertical view direction can achieve the black state. The four color states (G, B, W, BK) in one cell/pixel can make a valuable progress to achieve a high quality color devices such like electronic paper, outdoor billboard, smart window and flexible display using external light source. © 2012 Optical Society of America.

The flow of steel into the construction sector

Half of the world's annual production of steel is used in constructing buildings and infrastructure. Producing this steel causes significant amounts of carbon dioxide to be released into the atmosphere. Climate change experts recommend this amount be halved by 2050; however steel demand is predicted to have doubled by this date. As process efficiency improvements will not reach the required 75% reduction in emissions per unit steel output, new methods must be examined to deliver service using less steel production. To apply such methods successfully to construction, it must first be known where steel is used currently within the industry. This information is not available so a methodology is proposed to estimate it from known data. Results are presented for steel flows by product for ten construction sectors for both the UK and the world in 2006. An estimate for steel use within a 'typical' building is also published for the first time. Industrial buildings and utility infrastructure are identified as the largest end-uses of steel, while superstructure is confirmed as the main use of steel in a building. The results highlight discrepancies in previous steel estimates and life-cycle assessments, and will inform future research on lowering demand for steel, hence reducing carbon emissions. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Graphics processing unit cooling solutions: Acoustic characteristics

The change in acoustic characteristics in personal computers to console gaming and home entertainment systems with the change in the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), is presented. The tests are carried out using identical configurations of the software and system hardware. The prime components of the hardware used in the project are central processing unit, motherboard, hard disc drive, memory, power supply, optical drive, and additional cooling system. The results from the measurements taken for each GPU tested are analyzed and compared. The test results are obtained using a photo tachometer and reflective tape adhered to one particular fan blade. The test shows that loudness is a psychoacoustic metric developed by Zwicker and Fastal that aims to quantify how loud a sound is perceived as compared to a standard sound. The acoustic experiment reveals that the inherent noise generation mechanism increases with the increase of the complexity of the cooling solution.

Implementation of trailer steering control on a multi-unit vehicle at high speeds

A high-speed path-following controller for long combination vehicles (LCVs) was designed and implemented on a test vehicle consisting of a rigid truck towing a dolly and a semitrailer. The vehicle was driven through a 3.5 m wide lane change maneuver at 80 km/h. The axles of the dolly and trailer were steered actively by electrically-controlled hydraulic actuators. Substantial performance benefits were recorded compared with the unsteered vehicle. For the best controller weightings, performance improvements relative to unsteered case were: lateral tracking error 75% reduction, rearward amplification (RA) of lateral acceleration 18% reduction, and RA of yaw rate 37% reduction. This represents a substantial improvement in stability margins. The system was found to work well in conjunction with the braking-based stability control system of the towing vehicle with no negative interaction effects being observed. In all cases, the stability control system and the steering system improved the yaw stability of the combination. © 2014 by ASME.