Automatic speaker recognition may achieve remarkable performance in matched training and test conditions. Conversely, results drop significantly in incompatible noisy conditions. Furthermore, feature extraction significantly affects performance. Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients MFCCs are most commonly used in this field of study. The literature has reported that the conditions for training and testing are highly correlated. Taken together, these facts support strong recommendations for using MFCC features in similar environmental conditions (train/test) for speaker recognition. However, with noise and reverberation present, MFCC performance is not reliable. To address this, we propose a new feature 'entrocy' for accurate and robust speaker recognition, which we mainly employ to support MFCC coefficients in noisy environments. Entrocy is the fourier transform of the entropy, a measure of the fluctuation of the information in sound segments over time. Entrocy features are combined with MFCCs to generate a composite feature set which is tested using the gaussian mixture model (GMM) speaker recognition method. The proposed method shows improved recognition accuracy over a range of signal-to-noise ratios.
High performance self-consolidating concrete HP-SCC is one of the most complex types of concrete which have the capacity to consolidated under its own weight, have excellent homogeneity and high durability. This study aims to focus on the possibility of using industrial by-products like Silica fumes SF in the preparation of HP-SCC enhanced with discrete steel fibers (DSF) and monofilament polypropylene fibers (PPF). From experimental results, it was found that using DSF with volume fraction of 0.50 %; a highly improvements were gained in the mechanical properties of HP-SCC. The compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, flexural strength and elastic modulus improved about 65.7 %, 70.5 %, 41.7 % and 80.3 % at 28 days age, respectively
... Show MorePure grade II titanium disks were coated with a thin coating of polyetherketoneketone (PEKK) polymer by RF magnetron sputtering using either nitrogen or argon gas. Sputtering technique was employed at 50 W for one hour at 60°C with continuous flow of nitrogen or argon gas. Field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) showed a continuous, homogeneous, rough PEKK surface coating without cracks. In addition, cross-sectional FE-SEM revealed an average coat thickness of 1.86 μm with argon gas and 1.96 μm with nitrogen gas. There was homogenous adhesion between the coating layer and substrate. The elemental analysis of titanium substrate revealed the presence of carbon, titanium, and oxygen. The RF magnetron sputtering with argon or ni
... Show MorePolycrystalline Cadmium Oxide (CdO) thin films were prepared
using pulsed laser deposition onto glass substrates at room
temperature with different thicknesses of (300, 350 and 400)nm,
these films were irradiated with cesium-137(Cs-137) radiation. The
thickness and irradiation effects on structural and optical properties
were studied. It is observed by XRD results that films are
polycrystalline before and after irradiation, with cubic structure and
show preferential growth along (111) and (200) directions. The
crystallite sizes increases with increasing of thickness, and decreases
with gamma radiation, which are found to be within the range
(23.84-4.52) nm and (41.44-4.974)nm before and after irradiation for
This work was conducted to study the treatment of industrial waste water, and more particularly those in the General Company of Electrical Industries.This waste water, has zinc ion with maximum concentration in solution of 90 ppm.
The reuse of such effluent can be made possible via appropriate treatments, such as chemical coagulation, Na2S is used as coagulant.
The parameters that influenced the waste water treatment are: temperature, pH, dose of coagulant and settling time.
It was found that the best condition for zinc removal, within the range of operation used ,were a temperature of 20C a pH value of 13 , a coagulant dose of 15 g Na2S /400ml solution and a settling time of 7 days. Under these conditions the zinc concentrat
Klebsilla pneumoniae is one of must opportunistic pathogens that causes nosocomial infection, UTI, respiratory tract infections and blood infections. ZrO2 nanoparticles have antimicrobial activity against some pathogenic bacteria and fungi. Ceftazidime is one of third generation cephalosporins groups of antibiotecs, characterized by its broad spectrum on bacteria in general and particularly on Enterobacteriaceae family like Klebsiella spp. Method: Diverse clinical samples of Klebsilla pneumoniae were isolated from several hospitals in Baghdad – Iraq and ZrO2 nanoparticles was investigated against it. Ceftazidime was also investigated against K. pneumoniae. Both of ZrO2 nanoparticles and ceftazidime were mixed together and investigated aga
... Show MoreIn this study, six square reinforced concrete flat plates with dimensions of (1500×1500×100) mm were tested under a concentrated load applied on a column located at the center of the slabs. One of these slabs was the control specimen, whereas, in the others, steel angles (steel collars) were used, fixed at the connection region between the slab and the column to investigate the effect of the presence of these collars on punching shear strength. Five thicknesses were used (4, 5, 6, 8, 10mm) with constant legs of angles (75×75) mm of the steel collars to investigate the effects on the punching shear resistance with respect to the control slab. The results of the experimental study show that the punching shear resistance increased b
... Show MoreIn this article, the casting method was used to prepare poly(methyl methacrylate)/hydroxyapatite (PMMA/HA) nanocomposite films incorporated with different contents (0.5, 1, and 1.5 wt%) of graphene nanoplatelets (Gnp). The chemical properties and surface morphology of the PMMA/HA blend and PMMA/HA/Gnp nanocomposite were characterized using FTIR, and SEM analysis. Besides, the thermal conductivity, dielectric and electrical properties at (1–107 Hz) of the PMMA/HA blend and PMMA/HA/Gnp composites were investigated. The structural analysis showed that the synthesized composites had a low agglomerated state, with multiple wrinkles of graphene flakes in the PMMA/HA blend. The thermal conductivity was improved by more than 35-fold its value for
... Show More