Voice Activity Detection (VAD) is considered as an important pre-processing step in speech processing systems such as speech enhancement, speech recognition, gender and age identification. VAD helps in reducing the time required to process speech data and to improve final system accuracy by focusing the work on the voiced part of the speech. An automatic technique for VAD using Fuzzy-Neuro technique (FN-AVAD) is presented in this paper. The aim of this work is to alleviate the problem of choosing the best threshold value in traditional VAD methods and achieves automaticity by combining fuzzy clustering and machine learning techniques. Four features are extracted from each speech segment, which are short term energy, zero-crossing rate, autocorrelation, and log energy. A modified version of fuzzy C-Means is then used to cluster speech segments into three clusters; two clusters for voice and one for unvoiced. After that, three feed forward neural networks are trained to adjust their weights, in which each network represents one cluster. To make the final decision regarding the class type of a given speech segment, the membership degrees of this segment in all clusters along with neural networks' decisions are given to a defuzzification step which finally gives the class type of that segment. The proposed FN-AVAD is tested on the public multimodal emotion database, Surrey AudioVisual Expressed Emotion (SAVEE), and the error rate was 2.08%. The achieved results are comparable to the results achieved by the current published works in the literature.
The aim of the present study is to evaluate the effectiveness of using Art as therapy to reduce the symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyper Activity Disorder (ADHD), in primary school children.
A clinical approach was used to test the validity of the hypothesis of our study, conducted on two second and fourth-year primary school pupils from Algiers, aged 7 and 9 years respectively.
In addition to the clinical observation and interview, we made use of the "Conners" scale for a (pre and post intervention) ADHD assessment, consisting of a combination of Art media in the form of mosaic works on purposely prepared panels. After 10 therapy sessions, results revealed the effectiveness of Art therapy in reducing ADHD in primary education
The moisture sorption isotherms of Mefenamic acid tablets were investigated by measuring the experimental equilibrium moisture content (EMC) using the static method of saturated salt solutions at three temperatures (25, 35, and 45°C) and water activity range from 0.056 to 0.8434. The results showed that EMC increased when relative humidity increased and the sorption capacity decreased, the tablets became less hygroscopic and more stable when the temperature increased at constant water activity. The sorption curves had a sigmoid shape, type II according to Brunauer’s classification. The hysteresis effect was significant along with the whole sorption process. The results were fitted to three models: Oswin, Smith, and Guggen
... Show MoreNew complexes have been prepared from the new ligand [N1,N5-bis(3-hydroxyphenyl)-2- oxopentanediamide] derived from 2-Oxoglutaric acid and 3-aminophenol. Accordingly its binudear Mn(II),Co(II),Ni(II),Pd(II) and VO(II) complexes were prepared.. These compounds have been characterized by FT-IR, UV-Vis,Mass, 1H-NMR spectra, TGA curve, Chloride containing ,Molar conductance and atomic absorption. The characterization results gave binuclear complexes and pentadentate coordination and tetrahedral geometry for each Cobalt, Nickel, Manganese and Copper complexes otherwise Palladium complex gave a square planar geometry and Vanadium complex gave a square pyramidal geometry and the ligand is tetradentate. The biological activities for the new compoun
... Show MoreTriticale is being evaluated as a substitute for corn in animal feed and as a forage crop for Florida. Storage of triticale seed is difficult in Florida's hot and humid climate, and more information about the relationships between equilibrium moisture content (EMC) and equilibrium relative humidity (ERH) at constant temperature (sorption isotherms) of triticale is needed to develop improved storage methods. Therefore, the primary research objective was to measure the EMC for triticale seed at different ERH values at three different constant temperatures (5°C, 23°C, and 35°C) using six desiccation jars containing different saturated salt concentrations. The secondary objective was to determine the best fit equation describing these relati
... Show MoreIn the latest years there has been a profound evolution in computer science and technology, which incorporated several fields. Under this evolution, Content Base Image Retrieval (CBIR) is among the image processing field. There are several image retrieval methods that can easily extract feature as a result of the image retrieval methods’ progresses. To the researchers, finding resourceful image retrieval devices has therefore become an extensive area of concern. Image retrieval technique refers to a system used to search and retrieve images from digital images’ huge database. In this paper, the author focuses on recommendation of a fresh method for retrieving image. For multi presentation of image in Convolutional Neural Network (CNN),
... Show MoreVehicular ad hoc network (VANET) is a distinctive form of Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET) that has attracted increasing research attention recently. The purpose of this study is to comprehensively investigate the elements constituting a VANET system and to address several challenges that have to be overcome to enable a reliable wireless communications within a vehicular environment. Furthermore, the study undertakes a survey of the taxonomy of existing VANET routing protocols, with particular emphasis on the strengths and limitations of these protocols in order to help solve VANET routing issues. Moreover, as mobile users demand constant network access regardless of their location, this study seeks to evaluate various mobility models for vehi
... Show MoreWith the recent growth of global populations, main roads in cities have witnessed an evident increase in the number of vehicles. This has led to unprecedented challenges for authorities in managing the traffic of ambulance vehicles to provide medical services in emergency cases. Despite the high technologies associated with medical tracks and advanced traffic management systems, there is still a current delay in ambulances’ attendance in times of emergency to provide patients with vital aid. Therefore, it is indispensable to introduce a new emergency service system that enables the ambulance to reach the patient in the least congested and shortest paths. However, designing an effici
In recent years, the number of applications utilizing mobile wireless sensor networks (WSNs) has increased, with the intent of localization for the purposes of monitoring and obtaining data from hazardous areas. Location of the event is very critical in WSN, as sensing data is almost meaningless without the location information. In this paper, two Monte Carlo based localization schemes termed MCL and MSL* are studied. MCL obtains its location through anchor nodes whereas MSL* uses both anchor nodes and normal nodes. The use of normal nodes would increase accuracy and reduce dependency on anchor nodes, but increases communication costs. For this reason, we introduce a new approach called low communication cost schemes to reduce communication
... Show MoreThis paper presents the dynamic responses of generators in a multi-machine power system. The fundamental swing equations for a multi-machine stability analysis are revisited. The swing equations are solved to investigate the influence of a three-phase fault on the network largest load bus. The Nigerian 330kV transmission network was used as a test case for the study. The time domain simulation approach was explored to determine if the system could withstand a 3-phase fault. The stability of the transmission network is estimated considering the dynamic behaviour of the system under various contingency conditions. This study identifies Egbin, Benin, Olorunsogo, Akangba, Sakete, Omotosho and Oshogbo as the key buses w
... Show MoreThe ongoing research to improve the clinical outcome of titanium implants has resulted in the implementation of multiple approaches to deliver osteogenic growth factors accelerating and sustaining osseointegration. Here we show the presentation of human bone morphogenetic protein 7 (BMP-7) adsorbed to titanium discs coated with poly(ethyl acrylate) (PEA). We have previously shown that PEA promotes fibronectin organization into nanonetworks exposing integrin- and growth-factor-binding domains, allowing a synergistic interaction at the integrin/growth factor receptor level. Here, titanium discs were coated with PEA and fibronectin and then decorated with ng/mL doses of BMP-7. Human mesenchymal stem cells were used to investigate cellular resp
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