Speech Enhancement With Inventory Style Speech Resynthesis

We present a new method for the enhancement of speech. The method is designed for scenarios in which targeted speaker enrollment as well as system training within the typical noise environment are feasible. The proposed procedure is fundamentally different from most conventional and state-of-the-art denoising approaches. Instead of filtering a distorted signal we are resynthesizing a new “clean” signal based on its likely characteristics. These characteristics are estimated from the distorted signal. A successful implementation of the proposed method is presented. Experiments were performed in a scenario with roughly one hour of clean speech training data. Our results show that the proposed method compares very favorably to other state-of-the-art systems in both objective and subjective speech quality assessments. Potential applications for the proposed method include jet cockpit communication systems and offline methods for the restoration of audio recordings.

Development of the Heat and Energy Concept Inventory: Preliminary Results on the Prevalence and Persistence of Engineering Students' Misconceptions

BACKGROUND Students frequently hold a number of misconceptions related to temperature, heat and energy. There is not currently a concept inventory with sufficiently high internal reliability to assess these concept areas for research purposes. Consequently, there is little data on the prevalence of these misconceptions amongst undergraduate engineering students. PURPOSE (HYPOTHESIS) This work presents the Heat and Energy Concept Inventory (HECI) to assess prevalent misconceptions related to: (1) Temperature vs. Energy, (2) Temperature vs. Perceptions of Hot and Cold, (3) Factors that affect the Rate vs. Amount of Heat Transfer and (4) Thermal Radiation. The HECI is also used to document the prevalence of misconceptions amongst undergraduate engineering students. DESIGN/METHOD Item analysis, guided by classical test theory, was used to refine individual questions on the HECI. The HECI was used in a one group, pre-test-post-test design to assess the prevalence and persistence of targeted misconceptions amongst a population of undergraduate engineering students at diverse institutions. RESULTS Internal consistency reliability was assessed using Kuder-Richardson Formula 20; values were 0.85 for the entire instrument and ranged from 0.59 to 0.76 for the four subcategories of the HECI. Student performance on the HECI went from 49.2% to 54.5% after instruction. Gains on each of the individual subscales of the HECI, while generally statistically significant, were similarly modest. CONCLUSIONS The HECI provides sufficiently high estimates of internal consistency reliability to be used as a research tool to assess students' understanding of the targeted concepts. Use of the instrument demonstrates that student misconceptions are both prevalent and resistant to change through standard instruction.

Pesiqta Rabbati: a text-linguistic and form-analytical analysis of the rabbinic homily

Pesiqta Rabbati is a unique homiletic midrash that follows the liturgical calendar in its presentation of homilies for festivals and special Sabbaths. This article attempts to utilize Pesiqta Rabbati in order to present a global theory of the literary production of rabbinic/homiletic literature. In respect to Pesiqta Rabbati it explores such areas as dating, textual witnesses, integrative apocalyptic meta-narrative, describing and mapping the structure of the text, internal and external constraints that impacted upon the text, text linguistic analysis, form-analysis: problems in the texts and linguistic gap-filling, transmission of text, strict formalization of a homiletic unit, deconstructing and reconstructing homiletic midrashim based upon form-analytic units of the homily, Neusner’s documentary hypothesis, surface structures of the homiletic unit, and textual variants. The suggested methodology may assist scholars in their production of editions of midrashic works by eliminating superfluous material and in their decoding and defining of ancient texts.

Investigation of Human-Structure Interaction Through Experimental and Analytical Studies

Vibration serviceability is a widely recognized design criterion for assembly-type structures, such as stadiums, that are likely subjected to rhythmic human-induced excitation. Human-induced excitation of a structure occurs from the movement of the occupants such as walking, running, jumping, or dancing. Vibration serviceability is based on the level of comfort that people have with the vibrations of a structure. Current design guidance uses the natural frequency of the structure to assess vibration serviceability. However, a phenomenon known as human-structure interaction suggests that there is a dynamic interaction between the structure and passive occupants, altering the natural frequency of the system. Human-structure interaction is dependent on many factors, including the dynamic properties of the structure, posture of the occupants, and relative size of the crowd. It is unknown if the shift in natural frequency due to humanstructure interaction is significant enough to warrant consideration in the design process. This study explores the interface of both structural and crowd characteristics through experimental testing to determine if human-structure interaction should be considered because of its potential impact on serviceability assessment. An experimental test structure that represents the dynamic properties of a cantilevered stadium structure was designed and constructed. Experimental modal analysis was implemented to determine the dynamic properties of the empty test structure and when occupied with up to seven people arranged in different locations and postures. Comparisons of the dynamic properties were made between the empty and occupied testing configurations and analytical results from the use of a dynamic crowd model recommended from the Joint Working Group of Europe. Data trends lead to the development of a refined dynamic crowd model. This dynamic model can be used in conjunction with a finite element model of the test structure to estimate the dynamic influence due to human-structure interaction due to occupants standing with straight knees. In the future, the crowd model will be refined and can aid in assessing the dynamic properties of in-service stadium structures.

The Behavior Rating Inventory Of Executive Function - Self-Report Version (Brief-Sr) And The Delis-Kaplan Executive Function Sys

The assessment of executive functions is an area of study that has seen considerable development in recent years. Despite much research examining the validity of various measures of executive functions from both a direct and indirect format, little evidence exists in the extant literature evaluating the correspondence between these types of measures. The current study examined the extent of correspondence, comprising concurrent validity, between the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS) and the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function ¿ Self-Report Version (BRIEF-SR). Participants included 30 undergraduate and high school students 18 years of age. Results indicated mixed evidence of concurrent validity between the two measures of executive functions. The findings obtained suggest both expected significant, negative correlation as well as lack of expected correlation between the measures. Suggestions for future research in the assessment of executive functions are discussed.