bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Spatial separation between two sounds affects the timing of action potentials elicited by the sounds in the rat's auditory midbrain neurons
Authors: Chot Mathiang , Zhang Huiming
Published: November 2023

Timing of action potentials (i.e., spikes) elicited by sounds is used by auditory neurons to encode and process acoustic information. In the presence of multiple sounds, the timing of sound-driven spikes is dependent on the temporal, spectral, and spatial relationships among the sounds. We used two tone bursts with different frequencies to form a train of stimuli that were presented at a random odor and a constant rate. Such a train was used to mimic two competing sounds that occurred at the same (50%) probability or a novel sound (i.e., a low probability oddball sound) that was interleaved with a frequently occurring background sound (i.e., a high probability standard sound). We used the rat as an animal model to study how the spatial relationship between two sounds affected the timing of spikes elicited by the sounds in individual neurons in the auditory midbrain. Results indicate that a lower probability of sound presentation led to a higher temporal precision of the timing of the first spike elicited by the sound and the timing could be affected by a spatial separation between two sounds. These results are important for understanding neural mechanisms responsible for hearing in a natural acoustic environment.
Contralateral suppression of input/output function of distortion-product otoacoustic emissions in young adults
Authors: Lee Sinyoung , Hara Yuta , Koike Takuji
Published: November 2023

The level of distortion-product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) could be suppressed by contralateral stimulus caused by medial olivocochlear reflex. Several studies reported potential clinical application of contralateral suppression of DPOAEs as evaluation in both cochlear afferents and efferents. In this study, changes of input-output (I/O) function of DPOAEs induced by contralateral stimulation were measured for investigating the characteristic features of the suppression in normal-hearing adults. Subjects were set to be in their 20s or 30s for excluding the influence of aging. Pink noise was used for contralateral stimulation and magnitude of the noise was set to from 60 dBA to 65 dBA. As the results, there were two types of changes in I/O function of the cubic DP component (2f 1-f 2). First type shows slight reduction of the DP level overall without change of the saturation curve. The other type shows significant reduction when low sound pressure level of probe tone was applied, and the probe tone level where start to saturate was shifted to higher probe tone level. Suppression magnitude of the cubic component was higher in subjects who had higher level of not only cubic component but also quintic component (3f 1-2f 2).
The babble of articulatory learning networks
Authors: Menon Aarya N. , Arenberg Clark
Published: November 2023

Articulatory learning models utilize traditional neural network approaches to model speech. However,they differ in their inclusion of an intermediary step in which the model is trained to produce sound utilizing a physical model of the human vocal tract. This style of training is theoretically able to represent the impact of the physical nature of the human vocal tract on language in a way that is more directly translatable to the physical world. This project seeks to create an articulatory learning model which is trained to recognize and repeat input sounds utilizing the University of Wisconsin’s X-Ray Microbeam Database. We attempt this utilizing an inverse model which seeks to predict the vocal tract configuration of a given speech signal, and a forward model which predicts the acoustic form produced by vocal tract configurations. Further, we analyze the performance of the model across various training lengths to investigate the comparison to child language learning that is commonly made when implementing models of this type. Should this analysis of articulatory learners be valid, we look to find commonalities in the phonetic patterning of articulatory learning neural networks and those observed in the phonetic acquisition stages of child language development.
Extrinsic information based enhanced Doppler compensation for high-speed underwater acoustic mobile communication
Authors: Liang Yaokun , Yu Hua , Lin Jiahong , Ji Fei , Chen Fangjiong
Published: November 2023

In high-speed underwater acoustic mobile communication, achieving robust Doppler compensation is crucial due to the unpredictable changes in the Doppler factor. Due to the difficulty in optimizing Doppler estimation in turbo equalization through closed-form methods, a joint design of Doppler compensation, channel equalization, and decoding, is proposed to improve the accuracy of the Doppler compensation through integrated methods. Specifically, the proposed scheme utilizes extrinsic information provided by the decoder to evaluate the effectiveness of Doppler compensation because the extrinsic information indirectly reflects the accuracy of Doppler estimation. The proposed algorithm performs parallel Doppler resampling through multiple joint Doppler compensation, equalization, and decoding to optimize Doppler estimation by searching for the best extrinsic information. With iterative Doppler compensation and channel equalization, the accuracy of Doppler estimation is enhanced, leading to improved signal detection performance. The proposed algorithm was verified by underwater test data collected in Qiandao Lake, Hangzhou, China in May 2016. The results of this evaluation provide practical validation and demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in real-world underwater acoustic communication scenarios.
Reconstruction of individualized near-field head-related transfer functions from a small set of far-field data based on tensor decomposition
Authors: Zhao Tong , Xie Bosun , Zhu Jun
Published: November 2023

Head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) are essential for virtual auditory display. Generally, near-field HRTFs vary with source direction, distance, frequency, and individual. The huge dimensionality of data makes the measurement or calculation of individualized near-field HRTFs difficult. In the present work, a method to estimate individualized near-field HRTFs with high directional and distance resolution from a small set of directional measured or calculated data at a far-field distance is proposed. Based on tensor decomposition, the near-field HRTFs are decomposed into a weighted combination of direction-, distance-, frequency-, and a few of individual-related modes. The universal direction-, distance-, and frequency-modes as well as the weights are evaluated from a baseline near-field HRTFs dataset. For an arbitrary new individual outside the baseline dataset, the individual modes are estimated from a small set of directional measured or calculated of far-field HRTFs, and then the individualized near-field HRTFs with high directional resolution are estimated. An example of analysis indicates that 15 individual modes account for more than 98 % individual-related energy variation of HRTFs; and near-field HRTFs with high directional resolution can be estimated from far-field data of 30 directional measurements or calculations. Two psychoacoustic experiments validate the proposed method.
Experimental validation of a multi-material acoustic black hole
Authors: Austin Beth , Cheer Jordan , Bastola Anil
Published: November 2023

Geometric acoustic black holes (ABHs) have already been proven as an effective passive vibration control measure in plates and beams. However, the thin geometries inherent to the design raise concerns about the structure’s resistance to damage through fatigue. Multi-material ABHs (MM-ABHs) have been proposed as an alternative solution where by the material properties vary along the direction of wave propagation instead of the geometry. This, in theory, produces a change in acoustic impedance without the issues of fatigue seen in the geometric ABHs. Previous work has been performed on the design and modeling of polymer multi-material ABHs. This work discusses practices for experimental measurement and validation of multi-material ABHs produced through additive manufacturing.
Target sound extraction on reverberant mixture
Authors: Choi Dayun , Choi Jung-Woo
Published: November 2023

Target sound extraction is a task to extract only a desired sound signal from a mixture of different sounds, using a clue given by a target class label or a target signal similar to the desired sound. Currently, available network architectures for this task are designed to handle only dry sounds. In this work, we introduce a transformer-based target sound extraction model that can extract reverberant sounds. To separate reverberant sound mixtures, we begin with the Dense Frequency-Time Attentive Network (DeFT-AN) architecture developed for speech enhancement tasks, which generates the complex short-time Fourier transform (STFT) mask of clean speech from a noisy reverberant mixture to suppress noises. To make DeFT-AN compatible with the target sound extraction task, we modify its architecture such that the embedding vector for the target class label can be fused in the middle of sequentially connected DeFT-A blocks constituting DeFT-AN. We demonstrate that the transformer-based speech enhancement model can be successfully converted into a target sound extraction model and outperforms state-of-the-art extraction models in the test carried out with reverberant mixtures.
Review of PAM studies in the Coastal Waters West of Taiwan during 2013–2022
Authors: Hu Wei-Chun , Chen Chi-Fang , Lee Pei-Yi P.
Published: November 2023

Taiwan is making efforts to transform its energy system in response to the global trend of climate change, vigorously developing renewable energy to achieve the goal of “Net Zero” emissions by 2050. However, the development of offshore wind farms may have an impact on the ecological environment of the vast western waters. The coastal waters are heavily used for human activities, and the adjacent protected reefs and estuary areas have abundant biodiversity, which may be greatly affected and require priority investigation. In recent years, passive underwater acoustic monitoring has been widely used. In addition to sound levels, it is also used for biodiversity surveys and ocean environmental impact assessments. This paper provides a review of passive acoustic monitoring studies conducted along the western coast of Taiwan in the past decade. The study period encompasses the pre-construction, construction, and operational phases of the first offshore wind turbine demonstration project, as well as the current underwater noise characteristics during the construction phase of offshore wind farms. During the large-scale development of offshore wind farms, passive acoustic monitoring is a great way to maintain a good and sustainable marine environment.
Dependence of sonoporation efficiency on microbubble size: An in vitro monodisperse microbubble study
Authors: van Elburg Benjamin , Deprez Joke , van den Broek Martin , De Smedt Stefaan , Versluis Michel , Lajoinie Guillaume , Lentacker Ine , Segers Tim
Published: November 2023

Sonoporation is the process where intracellular drug delivery is facilitated by ultrasound-driven microbubble oscillations. Several mechanisms have been proposed to relate microbubble dynamics to sonoporation including shear and normal stress. The present work aims to gain insight into the role of microbubble size on sonoporation by varying the microbubble size of monodisperse microbubble suspensions. Sonoporation experiments were performed in vitro on cell monolayers at an ultrasound frequency of 1 MHz at varying acoustic pressures (250–750 kPa) and pulse length (10, 100, 1000 cycles). Sonoporation efficiency was quantified using flow cytometry by measuring the FITC-dextran (4 kDa and 2 MDa) fluorescence intensity in 10,000 cells per experiment. We demonstrate that the bubble oscillation amplitude is nearly independent of the equilibrium bubble radius at acoustic pressure amplitudes that induce sonoporation (≥500 kPa). However, we show that sonoporation efficiency is strongly dependent on the equilibrium bubble size and most efficiently induced by off-resonance 4.7-μm radius bubbles. These 4.7-μm bubbles are an order of magnitude more efficient than the polydisperse bubbles. We discuss that for our system shear stress is highly unlikely the mechanism of action, while we show that sonoporation efficiency correlates well with an estimate of the bubble-induced normal stress.
Estimation of tension distribution on drumheads by visualization of high-order modes using Fourier transform profilometry
Authors: Hashimoto Ryota , Oikawa Yasuhiro
Published: November 2023

In this study, higher vibration modes of drumheads were visualized using Fourier transform profilometry (FTP) for simplifying drum tuning process. In our previous work, we confirmed that images of the (1,1) mode of a drumhead had some curved nodal lines due to non-uniform tension and that it provided visual cues on the state of drum tuning. However, when there were two areas with low tension on a drumhead, non-uniform tension did not curve the nodal lines. Therefore, focusing only on the (1,1) mode can lead to misinterpreting a non-uniform state as uniform. In this research, we expand the scope of visualization to higher modes in order to alleviate this problem. If nodal lines can be visualized even in higher modes, information not included in the (1,1) mode can be obtained, which will allow us to know the tuning state more faithfully. In a visualization experiment, we focused mainly on the (2,1) mode, which consists of two nodal lines. FTP-based visualization confirmed that even when the tension distribution had two areas with low tension, those nodal lines curved around each area. Based on this, it became able to estimate tension distribution that had been challenging with only the (1,1) mode considered.
An automated pop song mashup system using drum swapping
Authors: Wu Xinyang , Horner Andrew
Published: November 2023

Music mashups blend elements from two or more songs. They are extremely popular among both composers and listeners since they carry the emotional power of the original songs, plus delightful new surprises. A few automated systems have appeared on the mashup scene, but the results are often heavy-handed and muddy, since they usually combine everything from both songs, and therefore, lack the nuance and clarity of hand-crafted mashups by professional composers. We propose a mashup system “Rhythm Fusion” that allows users to swap the drum track from one song into another. We use a beat-tracking algorithm to synchronize and align the songs. In our preliminary subjective tests, 10 songs were used to generate 100 combinations. Of these, 27% of the variations were rated more musically satisfying than the original. These results indicate that drum swapping alone has much promise for music mashups, and will guide our future work on swapping both drums and bass stems from different songs in automated music mashups, and eventually other components as well.
Assessing noise impacts from light aircraft
Authors: Tonner Martin P.
Published: November 2023

Typically in Australia, aircraft noise is assessed against the Building Site Acceptability criteria set out in Australian Standard 2021:2015 Acoustics-Aircraft noise intrusion-Building siting and construction (AS 2021), which uses the Australian Noise Exposure Forecast (ANEF) system for land use planning around airports. However, the ANEF system and AS 2021 are not intended to present information about potential impacts from aircraft noise (such as from light aircraft operations) that may be experienced within the community and are considered deficient as a useful tool for describing aircraft noise to potential noise sensitive receivers. This paper discusses a methodology that may be used to better subjectively assess the environmental noise impacts from light aircraft taking into account the issues related to light aircraft operations, such as the level, duration and tonal content of noise from the aircraft. The paper will focus on observations made on a recent study of noise monitoring undertaken in March 2023 for light aircraft trial flights in Canberra ACT. This paper discusses a methodology that may be used to better subjectively assess the environmental noise impacts from light aircraft taking into account the issues related to light aircraft operations, such as the level, duration and tonal content of noise from the aircraft. The paper will focus on observations made on a recent study of noise monitoring undertaken in March 2023 for light aircraft trial flights in Canberra ACT.
The hunt for hidden hearing loss—Linking animal and human studies
Authors: McAlpine David , Monaghan Jessica J. , Mikiel-Hunter Jason
Published: November 2023

Many otherwise normal-hearing individuals experience listening problems not apparent from their hearing thresholds. Carefully controlled animal studies using invasive techniques in a range of species have established a clear link between exposure to loud sounds and a range of pathologies underlying this hidden hearing loss (HHL), including cochlear synaptopathy and elevated central gain. Despite progress in these pre-clinical models, however, evidence supporting the existence of HHL in humans remains inconclusive. Here, I review studies of animal models of HHL demonstrating evidence consistent with the types of issues reported by humans who experience problems listening in background noise despite having normal to near-normal hearing thresholds. I suggest that the nature of hearing loss reported by humans—often gradual and multi-factorial—requires us to conceptualize HHL as a system-level listening problem, rather than a coding deficit in sensory processing within the inner ear. I hypothesize that listening deficits in HHL arise from the brain’s homeostatic response to altered sensory input modifying total system gain to stabilize long-term neural activity. Few animal studies have approached the problem from this perspective, while homeostatic responses, such as mal-adaptation to the longer-term statistical structure of acoustic environments, are unlikely to be captured by clinical assessments.
Noise and structural vibration assessment of the Qubit 360 partition wall system
Authors: Reboredo Gasalla Pablo
Published: November 2023

High-rise buildings can be highly susceptible to the action of dynamic loads produced by the action of wind and earthquakes. Creaky noise towers can be a major, and often overlooked, consideration in the design and operation of new developments. A reliable and considered approach to assessing creaky towers is needed to achieve relevant standards and to minimize environmental impacts on buildings and structures. In collaboration with Swinburne University of Technology and Traxx Metal Framing Systems, our team tested the structure-borne noise and vibration responses of a lightweight prototype implementing a patented vibration isolation system for building movements, Qubit 360. The primary goal of this research work was to refine, develop, and test this innovative system that can be used in multi-storey constructions and confirm the structural and vibro-acoustic behavior during a loading series of lateral drift simulating the movement of a building. Monitoring a structure with the Multi-Axis Substructure Testing System under the dynamics effects of different loading events allowed our team to understand the dynamic behavior of a lightweight prototype, and improve its safety, reliability, performance, and comfort. The proposed abstract will focus on an overview of the process involved in the laboratory and will present the vibro-acoustics results for a number of different specimens that implement the isolation system.
Classification of underwater soundscapes using raw hydroacoustic signals
Authors: Nie Leixin , Zhang Yonglin , Wang HaiBin
Published: November 2023

Automatic classification of underwater soundscapes remains an open problem, mainly due to the challenges posed by multi-source interferences. Accurately classifying anthropogenic sounds in the marine environment, specifically those emanating from surface-ships, is concerned in this study. To achieve this, the convolutional neural network (CNN) with sine-cardinal-likeconstrained convolutional kernels is proposed, where kernels represent unsolved filter coefficients. Raw signals of sound pressures passively received by the hydrophone are used directly in this method without the need for the routine time-frequency analysis (TFA) beforehand. The convolutional layer with constrained kernels plays a crucial role in extracting features from hydroacoustic signals, effectively acting as a learnable extension of the bandpass filter groups with flexible bandwidth. One significant advantage of the proposed approach is its adaptive filtering capability based on the real-world data, which makes it effectively filter out irrelevant interference sounds. Such heterogeneous interferences often exhibit diverse unknown spectral ranges, making them challenging for conventional TFA with fixed parameters. By leveraging this adaptability, the output of the convolutional layer serves as a task-specific spectrogram, customized to the classifier after being trained on hydroacoustic data. The experiments on the ShipsEar dataset demonstrate the promising results of our solution than TFA and vanilla CNN.
Graph Neural Networks for source localization using Ships-of-Opportunity spectrograms
Authors: Castro-Correa Jhon A. , Badiey Mohsen , Giraldo Jhony H. , Malliaros Fragkiskos D.
Published: November 2023

Traditional underwater source localization methods have primarily relied on optimization techniques, matched-field processing, beamforming, and, more recently, deep learning approaches. However, these methods often fail to exploit the spatial correlation of data due to their representation in a regular domain. Nowadays, data collection commonly occurs in complex domains, like sensor networks, where signals and features are best represented as graphs based on feature similarity metrics. In a graph representation setting, each sensor or feature corresponds to a node in the graph, accompanied by a feature vector that may or may not vary with time. As edges define spatial relationships, spatio-temporal information is considered simultaneously during the learning process. This work proposes a novel graph learning module for source localization using Ships-of-Opportunity (SOO) spectrograms, which represent mid-frequency acoustic broadband signals (360-1100Hz) collected during the 2017 Seabed Characterization Experiment (SBCEX17). The proposed approach employs a semi-supervisedlearning algorithm on a graph constructed through a k-nearest neighbor (k-NN) algorithm, incorporating features extracted from the spectrograms using a backbone architecture. The efficacy of the proposed approach is demonstrated through model evaluation on both synthetic and measured data, validating the generalization power of the architecture. [Work supported by ONR under Grant No. N00014-21-1-2760.]
Direct acoustic communication between underwater and airborne nodes
Authors: Yang Shaojian , Yang Yimu , Tu Xingbin , Lu Xuesong , Yan Wei , Qu Fengzhong
Published: November 2023

Direct acoustic communication between underwater and airborne nodes has always been considered unfeasible due to the energy loss caused by the strong surface reflection of sound waves. However, contrary to popular belief, our study demonstrates that underwater transducers can effectively transmit detectable acoustic signals in the air. To investigate this phenomenon, we conducted an experiment involving the deployment of an underwater transducer at a depth of 1 m, while an unoccupied aerial vehicle equipped with a voice recorder was positioned at various altitudes ranging from 2 to 30 m and horizontal distances of 0–30 m. Sound pressure levels were measured at 20 different positions within the frequency range of 10–20kHz, and orthogonal frequency division multiplex acoustic communication signals were recorded at specific positions. Our findings reveal the successful establishment of a direct acoustic communication link between the water and air interface, achieving a data rate of 4.565 kbps. This study opens up new possibilities for practical applications in underwater-to-air communication systems.
Exploring sound absorption properties of porous wood-based eco-friendly materials for noise reduction in buildings
Authors: Kumar Nishant , Soni Kirti , Singh Mahavir
Published: November 2023

In the last few years, there has been an increase in the use of eco-friendly materials in the area of acoustics made from natural fibers. These materials are preferable to synthetic materials because of their benefits, such as raw material availability, cost-effective processing costs, safe handling, and equivalent acoustic qualities. The main objective of this study is to find out how well the material made from vetiver grass absorbs sound. Following the International Standard ISO 354-2003 and ASTM 423-90, sound absorption tests were done in a reverberation chamber to find the Sound Absorption Coefficient (SAC) and Noise Reduction Coefficient (NRC) over a wide range of frequencies from 100–4000 Hz. To enhance the way the material absorbs noise, several ASTM E795-16 mountings were examined and tested. These mountings, which have air cavity sizes ranging from 0 mm (hard base) to 50, 100, and 300 mm, include J, E600, C50, D10, and C10. The most effective technique to enhance the material's acoustic qualities to lower noise was identified by comparing the SAC and NRC readings of samples with various-sized air gaps. The fitting of C10 with a SynthPF 10 × 50 back and a 50 mm air gap produced the best results (NRC 0.82). The produced porous pine boards with a density of 400 kg/m3 and a width of 20 mm met all the physical and mechanical property standards of the Indian Standards. The study shows that noise-absorbing materials made from vetiver grass could be used in buildings in ways that are better for the environment.
Developing a Global Library of Underwater Biological Sounds and a World Oceans passive acoustic monitoring day
Authors: Parsons Miles , Di Iorio Lucia , Looby Audrey , Mooney T A. , Simpson Steve , Jarriel Sierra
Published: November 2023

The volumes of “Ocean Sound” recordings now being collected in aquatic systems around the world have reached a level that has necessitated a new wave of data sharing, processing, and analysis techniques to help detect, identify, and assess an increasing number of known and unknown sound sources and sound types. These new tools are matched with a need for reference material to assist the rapidly growing bioacoustics research community, and a process to standardize how they are characterized and reported. A working group of the International Quiet Ocean Experiment proposed the development of a Global Library of Underwater Biological Sound (GLUBS) to integrate new and existing applications to help address these needs. Two initial objectives of GLUBS have been to increase awareness of unknown sounds and to develop a community-wide project that can broaden our understanding of aquatic soundscapes around the world. To that end, we discuss recent developments in designing GLUBS, incorporating underwater sonifery as a searchable trait on the World Register of Marine Species, initiating a recent global community effort to simultaneously record aquatic soundscapes on World Oceans Day, and a drive to agree on a standard process for characterizing newly described sounds.
Two-dimensional mapping of impulsive ambient sound on a coral reef using vector sensors
Authors: Thode Aaron M. , Kim Katherine , Freeman Lauren A.
Published: November 2023

Coral reef health is an important focus of tropical marine park management. Evidence exists that passive acoustic measurements of reef sound are associated with reef health and ecodiversity, but its utility would be enhanced by an ability to localize and map source distributions. Since much reef noise is impulsive, arising from both fish and crustaceans, localization could be achieved by collecting relative time-of-arrival information across synchronized spatially separated hydrophones. However, the sheer number of bioacoustic pulses in many reef environments can overwhelm attempts to associate sounds between sensors, Here we discuss how directional acoustic vector sensors sidestep these issues and permit 2-D mapping of thousands of pulses an hour, using data collected from two locations off the Big Island of Hawaii in 2020. At one location, three sensors spaced 20 m apart found acoustic activity was only present along the current-facing side of a 100 m long block reef. A second location set in the middle of more complex topography found several acoustic “hotspots” that remained stable over a month’s worth of measurements. A new generation of vector instrumentation is permitting this approach to be extended to crustacean noise in the kilohertz range. [Work sponsored by ONR and DARPA.]
Change of piezoelectric signal in cancellous bone with ultrasound attenuation
Authors: Hosokawa Atsushi
Published: November 2023

Bone fracture healing can be accelerated by ultrasound irradiation. The bone formation can be accompanied by the piezoelectric effect in the bone. To establish the healing method for a joint bone, which is mostly occupied by cancellous bone, the piezoelectric properties in cancellous bone are required to sufficiently understand. Because of large ultrasound attenuation in cancellous bone, the ultrasound wave may be weakly transmitted to the deep part, and the piezoelectric signal may be weakly generated. In this study, the change of the piezoelectric signal in cancellous bone due to the ultrasound attenuation was investigated by numerical simulation. A cubic cancellous bone model was reconstructed from the X-ray microcomputed tomographic image of bovine bone. The cancellous bone models with different thicknesses were created by reducing the size in each direction parallel and perpendicular to the main trabecular orientation. Using a piezoelectric finite-difference time-domain (PE-FDTD) method, the piezoelectric signals generated in cancellous bone by ultrasound irradiation in the thickness direction were simulated, together with the ultrasound signal waveforms propagated through the bone. The variations of the piezoelectric and ultrasound signal amplitudes with the thickness showed that the piezoelectric signal could be scarcely detected at the deep part in cancellous bone.
Variation in pre-nasal raising of TRAP in Australian English
Authors: Penney Joshua , Cox Felicity , Palethorpe Sallyanne
Published: November 2023

Phonetically raised and fronted realizations of pre-nasal TRAP are increasingly common in Australian English with previous research suggesting that greater raising may be associated with speakers from monolingual English-speaking backgrounds. Here, we present the results of an acoustic examination of pre-nasal TRAP raising (which we refer to as HAND) in a corpus of speech recordings from 183 adolescent speakers (aged 15–18) from five areas of Sydney that differ according to levels of linguistic diversity and the major heritage languages spoken (English-only, Arabic, Chinese, Indian, and Vietnamese). We extracted 1971 items containing the HAND vowel, along with 1807 items of pre-obstruent TRAP and 540 items of pre-obstruent DRESS. We calculated the degree of raising in HAND relative to pre-obstruent TRAP and DRESS through Euclidean Distance. The results show increased HAND raising in female speakers, although less raising is seen in the area with the highest proportion of Vietnamese language background speakers. Among male speakers the greatest incidence of raising is seen in the area with the lowest level of linguistic diversity (i.e., highest level of English-speaking background). These results suggest that HAND raising is associated with English-speaking backgrounds, but also that this is a change led by females.
Worldwide detection of rocket launches for space missions using International Monitoring System infrasound arrays
Authors: Pilger Christoph , Hupe Patrick , Gaebler Peter
Published: November 2023

The signals of rocket launches can be detected at infrasound arrays in thousands of kilometers distance. We use microbarometer arrays, which are part of the International Monitoring System (IMS) for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), to identify and characterize rocket launches all over the world. We studied more than 1000 launch events for space missions and their infrasonic signatures. Even small-lift launch vehicles such as Electron rockets starting from New Zealand with payloads of only a few hundreds of kilograms, e.g., for small satellites, can regularly be detected by one or more remote infrasound stations. We present selected cases of interest, including the latest NASA Artemis 1 Space Launch System and SpaceX Starship launches as well as airborne rocket starts and small-lift launches by different companies. Furthermore, we present a systematic analysis of infrasound recorded from multiple and regularly launched vehicles like Ariane 5, Falcon 9, and various Soyuz and Long March rocket types. Our main focus is on the connection between the observed signatures and propagation-corrected acoustic amplitudes of rocket launches as well as rocket parameters like payload, size and thrust, rocket stage, and engine characteristics of different rocket types.
Design, development, and testing of an inflatable earplug
Authors: Dietz Anthony
Published: November 2023

Current earplugs can be categorized into the following types: roll-down foam, push-to-fit foam, premolded, custom-molded, and formable. Here, we present a new type of earplug that has the potential to be easier to insert and more comfortable than other types of earplugs. The earplug consists of a slender stem that is inserted into the ear canal, and a fluid-filled bulb that rests in the concha. The stem comprises a central core enclosed in an inflatable sheath while the bulb is formed from a bi-stable hemisphere. The insertion method for this earplug is unlike that of current earplug types. The wearer slips the stem into their ear canal, then pushes the bulb, squeezing fluid to inflate the sheath at its tip until the hemisphere pops into its stable inverted form. The inflated sheath forms a comfortable acoustic seal deep in the ear canal. To remove, the wearer deflates the sheath by pulling a tab attached to the hemisphere to pop it back to its normal state, which deflates the sheath and refills the bulb. The design of the earplug is presented, along with the results of attenuation and life tests.
A comparative analysis of intraglottal geometry and velocity flow fields: Excised human, canine, and synthetic vocal fold models
Authors: Michaud-Dorko Jacob , Farbos de Luzan Charles , Dion Greg , Gutmark Ephraim , Oren Liran
Published: November 2023

Synthetic vocal fold models imitate the characteristics of human vocal folds and offer advantages over tissue models, such as accessibility and prolonged lifespan, all while producing comparable vibration frequencies to those in humans. Nonetheless, due to their simplified design, they may not fully capture the intricate behavior observed in tissue models like the canine larynx model. Canine larynges, like human’s, exhibit a vertical mucosal wave, which yields a phase delay between the inferior and superior edges of the vocal folds free margin. Consequently, a divergent glottis forms during closing, producing intraglottal flow separation vortices (FSVs) that increase voice loudness and intelligibility. To bridge the knowledge gap between silicone and tissue vocal fold models, we compared the intraglottal geometry and velocity flow fields during phonation of these three models. At low subglottal pressures, the synthetic model displayed small divergence angles and no flow separation, where both tissues models exhibited FSVs. At higher pressures, FSVs observed in tissue models were correlated with increased glottal flow waveform skewing and higher MFDR values. These findings highlight why the excised canine larynx model should be the preferred choice over synthetic vocal fold models for studying the aerodynamics and fluid-structure interaction during phonation.
Impact of COVID-19 on Physical Activity, Fatigue, and Frailty in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study
Authors: Knoop Veerle , Costenoble Axelle , Debain Aziz , Van der Meulen Kristof , De Vriendt Patricia , Gorus Ellen , Bravenboer Bert , Jansen Bart , Scafoglieri Aldo , Bautmans Ivan , _ _
Published: November 2023

This study aimed to describe the level of physical activity and its relation to fatigue and frailty during the COVID-19 pandemic in community-dwelling older adults aged 80 years and over. Three hundred and ninety-one older adults (aged 86.5 ± 3.00) completed a survey including physical activity, the Mobility Tiredness scale, and the FRAIL scale. Linear regression analysis was conducted to assess whether the variables age, sex, and physical activity (independent factors) were significantly related to fatigue and frailty. Respectively, 30.5% and 24.7% of the participants reported a decrease in walking and in energy-intensive activities; 25.4% reported increased sedentary behavior. A lower level of physical activity was associated with higher levels of fatigue and increased frailty risk (p < .05), independently from psychological symptoms. These results are important because participants with lower levels of physical activity and more sedentary behavior are more likely to feel fatigued and have higher risk to be frail.
Physical Activity Changes From Before to During the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults in Finland
Authors: Lindeman Katja , Karavirta Laura , Eronen Johanna , Kajan Niina , Portegijs Erja , Rantanen Taina
Published: November 2023

This study aimed to compare community-dwelling older adults’ physical activity (PA) during the COVID-19 restrictions in 2020 to their PA levels 2 years before and investigate associations between earlier physical performance and PA levels over the follow-up. Participants’ (n = 809, initial age 75–85 years) self-reported PA was assessed at baseline in 2017–2018 and May/June 2020 as total weekly minutes of walking and vigorous PA. Physical performance was assessed at baseline using the maximal handgrip strength and Short Physical Performance Battery tests. During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, a median change in total weekly minutes of walking and vigorous PA among all participants was + 20.0 (interquartile range: −60.0 to 120.0, p < .001) min per week compared with 2 years earlier. Higher baseline Short Physical Performance Battery total scores were associated with higher total weekly minutes of walking and vigorous PA over the follow-up in men and women, and better handgrip strength in women.
Baseline Measures of Physical Activity and Function Do Not Predict Future Fall Incidence in Sedentary Older Adults: A Prospective Cohort Study
Authors: Whitten Justin , Barrett Rod , Carty Christopher P. , Tarabochia Dawn , MacDonald David , Graham David
Published: November 2023

Physical activity (PA) and physical function (PF) are modifiable risk factors for falls in older adults, but their ability to predict future fall incidence is unclear. The purpose of this study was to determine the predictive ability of baseline measures of PA, PF, and lower limb strength on future falls. A total of 104 participants underwent baseline assessments of PA, PF, and lower limb strength. Falls were monitored prospectively for 12 months. Eighteen participants fell at least once during the 12-month follow-up. Participants recorded almost exclusively sedentary levels of activity. PA, PF, and lower limb strength did not differ between fallers and nonfallers. Twelve participants, who reported a minor musculoskeletal injury in the past 6 months, experienced a fall. The results of this study suggest that in a cohort of highly functioning, sedentary older adults, PA does not distinguish fallers from nonfallers and that the presence of a recent musculoskeletal injury appears to be a possible risk factor for falling.
Understanding Physical Behaviors During Periods of Accelerometer Wear and Nonwear in College Students
Authors: Montoye Alexander H.K. , Clevenger Kimberly A. , Boudreaux Benjamin D. , Schmidt Michael D.
Published: November 2023

Accelerometers are increasingly used to measure 24-hr movement behaviors but are sometimes removed intermittently (e.g., for sleep or bathing), resulting in missing data. This study compared physical behaviors between times a hip-placed accelerometer was worn versus not worn in a college student sample. Participants (n = 115) wore a hip-placed ActiGraph during waking times and a thigh-placed activPAL continuously for at least 7 days (mean ± SD 7.5 ± 1.1 days). Thirteen nonwear algorithms determined ActiGraph nonwear; days included in the analysis had to have at least 1 min where the ActiGraph classified nonwear while participant was classified as awake by the activPAL. activPAL data for steps, time in sedentary behaviors (SB), light-intensity physical activity (LPA), and moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA) from ActiGraph wear times were then compared with activPAL data from ActiGraph nonwear times. Participants took more steps (10.2–11.8 steps/min) and had higher proportions of MVPA (5.0%–5.9%) during ActiGraph wear time than nonwear time (3.1–8.0 steps/min, 0.8%–1.3% in MVPA). Effects were variable for SB (62.6%–66.9% of wear, 45.5%–76.2% of nonwear) and LPA (28.2%–31.5% of wear, 23.0%–53.2% of nonwear) depending on nonwear algorithm. Rescaling to a 12-hr day reduced SB and LPA error but increased MVPA error. Requiring minimum wear time (e.g., 600 min/day) reduced error but resulted in 10%–22% of days removed as invalid. In conclusion, missing data had minimal effect on MVPA but resulted in underestimation of SB and LPA. Strategies like scaling SB and LPA, but not MVPA, may improve physical behavior estimates from incomplete accelerometer data.
An xG of Their Own: Using Expected Goals to Explore the Analytical Shortcomings of Misapplied Gender Schemas in Football
Authors: Narayanan Sachin , Pifer N. David
Published: November 2023

Although professional women’s football has benefitted from recent surges in popularity, challenges to progress and distinguish the sport persist. The gender-schema theory explains the tendency for individuals to hold female sports to male standards, a phenomenon that leads to negative outcomes in areas such as media representation and consumer perception. One area in which schemas have a more discreet effect is player and team performance, where the assumption that technical metrics developed in men’s football are transferable to women’s football remains unfounded. Using expected goals, a metric synonymous with the probability of a shot being scored, we highlight how variables important to shot quality and shot execution differ across gender, and how attempts to evaluate female footballers with models built on men’s data increase estimation errors. These results have theoretical and practical implications for the role they play in reframing schemas and improving the methods used to evaluate performance in women’s sports.
PI3K-C2β limits mTORC1 signaling and angiogenic growth
Authors: Kobialka Piotr , Llena Judith , Deleyto-Seldas Nerea , Munar-Gelabert Margalida , Dengra Jose A. , Villacampa Pilar , Albinyà-Pedrós Alba , Muixi Laia , Andrade Jorge , van Splunder Hielke , Angulo-Urarte Ana , Potente Michael , Grego-Bessa Joaquim , Castillo Sandra D. , Vanhaesebroeck Bart , Efeyan Alejo , Graupera Mariona
Published: November 2023

Phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI3Ks) phosphorylate intracellular inositol lipids to regulate signaling and intracellular vesicular trafficking. Mammals have eight PI3K isoforms, of which class I PI3Kα and class II PI3K-C2α are essential for vascular development. The class II PI3K-C2β is also abundant in endothelial cells. Using in vivo and in vitro approaches, we found that PI3K-C2β was a critical regulator of blood vessel growth by restricting endothelial mTORC1 signaling. Mice expressing a kinase-inactive form of PI3K-C2β displayed enlarged blood vessels without corresponding changes in endothelial cell proliferation or migration. Instead, inactivation of PI3K-C2β resulted in an increase in the size of endothelial cells, particularly in the sprouting zone of angiogenesis. Mechanistically, we showed that the aberrantly large size of PI3K-C2β mutant endothelial cells was caused by mTORC1 activation, which sustained growth in these cells. Consistently, pharmacological inhibition of mTORC1 with rapamycin normalized vascular morphogenesis in PI3K-C2β mutant mice. Together, these results identify PI3K-C2β as a crucial determinant of endothelial signaling and illustrate the importance of mTORC1 regulation during angiogenic growth.
Stress granules plug holes
Authors: Foley John F.
Published: November 2023

Ruptures in lysosomal membranes stimulate the formation of stress granules that plug the holes to enable repair.
Population pharmacokinetic modeling and target attainment analyses of rezafungin for the treatment of candidemia and invasive candidiasis
Authors: Roepcke Stefan , Passarell Julie , Walker Helen , Flanagan Shawn
Published: November 2023

Rezafungin is a chemically and metabolically stable echinocandin with a longer half-life than other echinocandins, allowing for a once-weekly intravenous infusion versus a daily infusion. Rezafungin is approved in the US for the treatment of candidemia and/or invasive candidiasis and is in development for the prevention of invasive fungal disease caused by
Candida
,
Aspergillus
, and
Pneumocystis
spp. in immunosuppressed patients. A population pharmacokinetic (PPK) model was developed using data from five Phase 1, one Phase 2, and one Phase 3 study. The model found to best describe the available data was a three-compartment PPK model with first-order elimination characterized by the parameters clearance (CL), central volume (V1), peripheral volume (V23), intercompartmental clearance 1, and intercompartmental clearance 2. The variability model included correlated interindividual variability in CL, V1, and V23 and a proportional residual variability model. The following statistically significant covariates were identified: albumin concentrations on V23; body surface area (BSA) on CL, V1, and V23; and disease state on CL and V1. Disease states were defined as patients from the Phase 2 and Phase 3 studies and hepatically impaired subjects. Covariates of BSA, disease state, or albumin, included in the final model, were not associated with clinically meaningful changes in PK, nor were any other patient factors, indicating that a common dose regimen is adequate for all adult patients. Target attainment simulations were performed to estimate the probability of achieving PK/pharmacodynamic targets across the range of minimum inhibitory concentration values for six species of
Candida
.