bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Simulating acoustic waves in acoustic black hole analogues
Authors: Schenke Sören , Sewerin Fabian , van Wachem Berend , Denner Fabian
Published: May 2022

We present a physical model and a numerical method to simulate nonlinear acoustic waves emitted from moving boundaries in a moving background flow field with transition from subsonic to supersonic flow speeds. The physical model is based on a convective form of the Westervelt equation and accounts for the motion of the background medium and the progressive distortion of a finite amplitude acoustic wave. A suitable coordinate transformation in physical space allows us to accommodate the motion of the wave emitting boundary, while solving the governing equation in a fixed computational domain using standard finite difference techniques. We present the case of an oscillating spherical wave emitting boundary with an induced spherical flow as a prototypical example of an acoustic black hole analogue, where the acoustic waves cannot escape from the horizon of sonic flow speed during the contraction phase. It is demonstrated that the accelerating motion of the wave emitting boundary gives rise to frequency sidebands and amplitude modulations of the acoustic wave. The influence of the background flow speed on this nonlinear Doppler effect is investigated with the present methodology, thus contributing to an improved understanding of the acoustic wave behavior in the proximity of a sonic horizon.
Temporal and spectral analysis of melody perception with different simulated cochlear implant coding strategies
Authors: Pratiwi Epri W. , Wu Chao-Min
Published: May 2022

This study examined the contribution of pitch and rhythm cues in melody recognition, as well as the quality from three well-known CI coding strategies, Advanced Combinational Encoder (ACE), Fundamental Frequency Modulation (F0mod), and Envelope Enhancement (EE). Firstly, we processed the 30 popular melodies of Taiwan children's songs using NCU-CI, a cochlear implant simulation software. In the pilot subjective listening test (n = 5), rhythm cues perceived better (p < 0.05) by having a higher percent correct and faster response time than pitch cues. Foremost, rhythm cues processed by ACE strategy achieved the best score, 86.80%. Then, objective tests were conducted to measure the spectral and temporal quality of processed melody using log spectral distance (LSD), intensity mismatch pattern, and envelope difference index (EDI). LSD between original and processed by the ACE, F0mod, and EE strategy were 2.10, 2.16, and 2.19, respectively. Then, average intensity mismatch patterns between original and processed by the ACE, F0mod, and EE strategy were 5.9, 6.4, and 6.0, respectively. The lower LSD and intensity mismatch pattern, the better the amplitude melody and spectral quality was preserved. Then, EDI between original and processed by the ACE, F0mod, and EE strategy were 0.11, 0.11, and 0.15, respectively. The higher EDI, the better the temporal envelope was preserved. It reveals that rhythm cues combined with the ACE strategy performed the best feature in CI melody perception.
Extracting useful machine learning features from acoustic resonance spectra of coupled multi-body structures
Authors: Greenhall John , Davis Eric S. , Kendall Peter , Graham Alan , Sinha Dipen N. , Pantea Cristian
Published: May 2022

The usefulness of machine learning algorithms is highly dependent on the formulation of relevant features that sufficiently represent the model. Acoustic resonance spectra consist of a series of peaks, representing resonant modes of the system and contain detailed information about the system structure, material, boundary forces, etc. We present a technique for extracting useful features from dense acoustic resonance spectra of multi-component systems. For simple geometries, the resonance spectrum is relatively sparse and it is feasible to track individual peaks to quantify properties of the system. However, for multi-component systems, the acoustic resonance spectra consist of overlapping peaks, corresponding to resonances in different components. As a result, a high density of peaks exists, and some peak positions are sensitive to changes in the contact between components. Thus, tracking specific resonance modes becomes challenging. Instead, we combine principles from wavelet transformation, nonlinear normalization, and genetic algorithm optimization to extract useful features from complicated acoustic resonance spectra. We demonstrate this technique on simulated acoustic resonance spectra for multi-layer structures. Here, we are measuring the thickness of a specific layer, which is hampered by changes in the acoustic resonance spectrum due to variation in the other layer thicknesses as well as delamination defects.
Improvement of ray-based blind deconvolution through kurtosis-based phase correction
Authors: Yoon Seunghyun , Yang Haesang , Seong Woojae
Published: May 2022

Ray-based blind deconvolution (RBD) has demonstrated remarkable performance on several in situ underwater acoustic data. RBD estimates the channel impulse response by compensating the source phase estimated by beamforming. However, when beamforming fails to achieve the desired signal-to-noise ratio, RBD fails to achieve the expected performance. To address this issue, we propose an improved RBD framework that uses the kurtosis of the channel impulse response to provide additional phase correction after beamforming. The proposed method is validated with the measurement data from the shallow-water acoustic variability experiment 2015 using a high-frequency (11–31 kHz) broadband source and a vertical line array of 16 sensors located approximately 3 km away. The results are compared with conventional RBD and discussed from an optimization point of view.
Offshore wind turbines as an anthropogenic noise source
Authors: Stocker Michael
Published: May 2022

The pivot from offshore oil to offshore wind has ushered in the advancement and development of offshore windfarms. While wind energy generation is an environmental improvement with regards to decreasing atmospheric carbon associated with fossil fuel energy generation, it does not come without environmental costs. Siting, construction, installation, operations, and maintenance are all accompanied by noise—from airborne and underwater sound transmission, to benthic substrate vibration and mechanical impulse propagation. These noises will be transforming the soundscapes of large areas of our Outer Continental Shelf habitats, with known and unknown impacts on marine and avian biota. This presentation will provide an overview of turbine and windfarm noise sources with a focus on the known and potential biological impacts.
Analysis of underwater sounds from impact pile driving at the Block Island Wind Farm
Authors: Amaral Jennifer L. , Miller James H. , Potty Gopu R. , Vigness-Raposa Kathleen J. , Lin Ying-Tsong , Frankel Adam S. , Newhall Arthur E. , Wilkes Daniel R. , Gavrilov Alexander N.
Published: May 2022

Impact pile driving creates intense, impulsive sound that radiates into the surrounding environment. Piles driven vertically into the seabed generate an azimuthally symmetric underwater sound field whereas piles driven on an angle will generate an azimuthally dependent sound field. Measurements were made during impact pile driving of raked piles to secure jacket foundation structures to the seabed at the Block Island Wind Farm at ranges between 500 m and 15 km. These measurements were analyzed to investigate variations in rise time, decay time, pulse duration, kurtosis, and sound received levels as a function of range and azimuth. Variations in the radiated sound field along opposing azimuths resulted in differences in measured sound exposure levels of up to 10 dB and greater due to the pile rake as the sound propagated in range. The raked pile configuration was modeled using an equivalent axisymmetric FEM model to describe the azimuthally dependent measured sound fields and compared to the measured data. These measurements made during wind farm construction will be presented and discussed. [Work supported by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.]
Sound field variability and mode coupling in the presence of internal Kelvin waves in Lake Kinneret, Israel
Authors: Uzhansky Ernst , Lun'kov Andrey , Katsnelson Boris
Published: May 2022

Spatiotemporal variability of the low- and mid-frequency sound field in the presence of internal Kelvin waves (IKWs) was studied theoretically and in experiment in Lake Kinneret, Israel. The experiments were done in 2021, where sound field was being recorded during two days (two periods of IKW) using two synchronized vertical line arrays (VLAs) of ten hydrophones each and 10 m between them, deployed in the center of the lake (depth ∼41 m). Wideband linearly frequency modulated sound signals (300Hz–7 kHz) were transmitted from the source deployed near the shore (depth ∼11 m, distance 5.5 km from VLA). IKWs were registered with thermistor strings together with CTD. Sound speed profile is characterized by the thermocline located between 15 and 20 m of the depth with sound speeds 1510 and 1480 m/s above and below the thermocline, respectively. The sound propagation modeling was done using a Parabolic Equation and Normal Modes approaches, considering the real parameters of the gas-saturated bottom and the bathymetry. Results show strong mode coupling along the acoustic track, initiating ∼12 dB variability of the sound intensity. Results of modeling are verified in the experiment. [This work was supported by RFBR, grant 20-55-S52005.]
Macriaphone: A Stargazer’s microphone design
Authors: Titovich Alexey , Titovich Alex
Published: May 2022

A highly directional, single channel microphone design is presented. The design utilizes a line of sight waveguide similar to a Keplerian reflector-type telescope. The key feature is that the waveguide is acoustically reflection-less thereby preventing off-axis reflected and diffracted fields from contaminating the measurement. The signal in the desired direction is amplified by a parabolic reflector, which terminates the waveguide and supports a single microphone at its focal point. The resulting directivity index is superior to that of a parabolic reflector microphone. Due to the line-of-sight cone provided by the waveguide, this device is particularly well suited for measuring distant sound, which is, why it is called the macriaphone (meaning far away sound in Greek). Theoretical background, numerical predictions, and experimental results from the prototype are presented.
Autonomous system for in-field observation of responses to vocalizations of Alston’s singing mouse
Authors: Cushing Colby W. , Smith Samantha K. , Clyde John T. , Wilson Preston S. , Phelps Steven M.
Published: May 2022

Ranging throughout central America, Alston’s singing mice (Scotinomys teguina) are known for their long songs, which consist of rapidly repeated, frequency-modulated notes. Singing mice are the first rodents shown to exchange calls at rates resembling human conversation, which are used in mate attraction and male-male competition. Despite being researched in laboratory settings, few studies have examined the impact of the vocalizations in a natural environment. Unlike singing mice, most small rodents make high-frequency sounds at nighttime, to avoid attracting predators. We aim to observe why singing mice can produce long-distance, low-frequency songs, despite the predation risk. To do so, we developed a Raspberry Pi-based system to generate artificial mouse vocalizations at regularly scheduled intervals and record audio data of approaching predators and singing mice. This device was designed to be powered with a standard car battery and a backup lithium-ion battery to function for approximately two weeks in the field without interruption. An Adam A3X studio monitor was deconstructed and retrofitted with a USB microphone, two-terabyte hard drive, backup battery, and amplifier. This presentation will describe the construction of the device and issues with functionality addressed during the design process. [Work supported by UT Integrative Biology Dept., SWAN Howard-McCarley Award.]
On the development of virtual reality tools to aid in the design interior soundscapes
Authors: Yilmazer Semiha , Davies Patricia , Yilmazer Cengiz
Published: May 2022

Can simulations of interiors spaces (visual and acoustic) be used to improve designs of spaces within buildings? The first step in the simulation of the sounds in a space is to characterize typical sound sources and their locations within the space. The next step is to characterize the paths from the sources to the user, based on geometry and materials used. Combining the contributions from all sources, is it possible to create sounds that are similar to sounds in the real environment? How close do simulated and measured sounds need to be to evoke similar emotional responses from users? The same questions arise for the visual experience and for interactions between the visual and acoustic experiences. Are there metrics that can be used to guide improvements in the virtual environment to match the real experience in the built environments? To start to answer these questions, a sound simulation program using an image source modeling approach was developed for spaces in an existing building. The impulse responses from the image source model and the measured impulse responses are compared, as are simulated and measured sounds. Room acoustics and sound quality metrics for the virtual and real sounds are also compared.
Post Sonica: a speculative design project that cultivates community and sense of place within the city soundscape
Authors: Green Andrew
Published: May 2022

There is a strong history of soundscape reverence and reflection in Utah. From Messiaen to Ussachevsky, scholars and composers alike have been inspired by the state’s sonic environment. Using these individuals’ reflective works as a muse while simultaneously incorporating R. Murray Schafer’s insights on soundscapes, I performed a sound sample study across Salt Lake City. Analyzing my samples led me to design a public installation that explores the ways in which our sonic environments affect daily life at the intersection of time, sound, and place. The concept for post sonica is a granite cylinder (4 ft. wide × 3 ft. high). Three arms rotate from the center at variable speeds in response to the strength and pitch of the sounds around them. Pads at the arms’ ends wear away separate paths in the granite base with each pass, creating the sonic “fingerprint” of a place over time. User engagement is necessarily bidirectional; as passersby are moved to interact with the device, their moment of reflection is captured and physicalized by the spinning arms. In this way, post sonica is a reminder of an urban community’s fundamental interconnectedness and the ever-present soundscape that functions as a part of it all.
Efficient metamodeling of acoustic metasurfaces with variable sized design domains
Authors: Wiest Tyler J. , Seepersad Carolyn C. , Haberman Michael R.
Published: May 2022

Traditional approaches to numerically model acoustic metasurfaces (AMS) with deeply subwavelength features require tremendous computational expense. Metamodels created using machine learning (ML) methods are promising techniques to efficiently and accurately model macroscopic AMS behavior while considering subwavelength features. However, many ML methods require a fixed quantity of design features so that ML model input dimensionality is constant. This work presents a metamodeling approach that is valid for metamaterial systems whose design domain has variable input feature dimensionalities. An example is an AMS consisting of variable numbers of cells, each with potentially unique geometry. We achieve improved modeling efficiency by representing design feature connectivity as an attributed graph and training a neural network (NN)-based model to operate on the attributes of graph elements. The metamodel is trained to update each attribute from state-to-state in a dynamic process. This NN architecture enables a single model to represent the behavior of an asymmetrically absorbing AMS composed of variable numbers of cells and nonperiodic geometry. The NN architecture can therefore be trained on data that includes a large proportion of systems with a small domain size but that is generalized to predict performance for larger systems that require greater computational expense for analysis.
Interval uncertainty propagation in metamaterial beams using machine learning based optimization
Authors: Van Belle Lucas , Igea Felipe , Deckers Elke , Cicirello Alice
Published: May 2022

Metamaterials have recently emerged in the search for lightweight noise and vibration solutions. One of their appealing properties for noise control engineering is the ability to create stop bands, which are frequency ranges without free wave propagation. These stop bands arise from the sub-wavelength addition of identically tuned resonators in or on a host structure. However, when manufacturing metamaterials, variability in material properties and geometry is inevitably introduced. On the one hand, the metamaterial attenuation performance can deteriorate due to variability, while on the other hand, variability can even broaden their typically narrowband performance. During the early phases in the design, when often little information concerning the inherent variability is available, it would be desirable to be able to assess the input uncertainty effects on the performance of metamaterials. This work focuses on the numerical assessment of the impact of uncertainties in resonator properties on the vibration attenuation performance of metamaterial beams. To this end, a machine learning based optimization strategy, the so-called Bayesian optimization, is employed in a recently developed non-intrusive uncertainty propagation approach. This enables a very efficient evaluation of the upper and lower bounds on the metamaterial performance, with the uncertain resonator parameters defined as interval variables.
Judgments of gay and heterosexual male speakers of American English: Which consonants do listeners rely on to form their sexual orientation judgments?
Authors: Tracy Erik C.
Published: May 2022

Prior research demonstrated that, upon hearing a single phone, listeners differentiated between gay and heterosexual male talkers of American English. For instance, researchers found that listeners relied on three consonants (e.g., /l/, /n/, and /s/) to form their judgments. It is unclear whether these findings could be replicated and whether there are additional consonants that listeners used. To further explore this, 23 consonants were examined (e.g., /b/, /v/, /s/, /n/, /t/, /f/, /ɛr/, /dʒ/, /θ/, /k/, /ɹ/, /m/, /l/, /g/, /d/, /ʒ/, /w/, /p/, /ɛl/, /ʃ/, /z/, /j/, and /ð/). For 21 of these consonants, listeners heard two tokens each, and heard one token of /θ/ and /ð/. Results were mixed. Listeners relied on both instances of /s/, /w/, /ɛl/, and /z/ to form their judgments, while they relied on only one instance of /b/, /n/, /ɛr/, /dʒ/, /k/, /ɹ/, /l/, /d/, /ʒ/, /p/, and /j/. Listeners didn’t rely on any instances of /v/, /t/, /f/, /g/, /m/, and /ʃ/; they relied on /ð/ and did not rely on /θ/. The only consistent finding, across multiple experiments, is that participants used /s/. Under certain circumstances, they may use additional consonants, but it doesn’t appear as if they use them consistently.
Clearly, fame isn’t everything: Talker familiarity does not mitigate the perceptual consequences of talker variability
Authors: Hatter Emma R. , King Caleb J. , Shorey Anya E. , Stilp Christian E.
Published: May 2022

Familiarity with a talker’s voice provides numerous benefits to speech perception, including faster response times and improved intelligibility both in quiet and amidst competing talkers. However, it is unclear whether familiarity provides resilience against talker variability, or the increased processing costs attributed to hearing speech from multiple different talkers compared to a single talker. Here, listeners completed a speeded word recognition task where stimuli were the words “do” and “to” excised from political speeches, presented in either single- or multiple-talker blocks. Talkers were either famous (the last five U.S. Presidents) or non-famous (other male politicians of similar ages). No information about the talkers was provided. As predicted, listeners categorized words more quickly when spoken by famous talkers. However, talker familiarity did not provide any resiliency to talker variability; reaction times increased (from single- to multiple-talker blocks) by greater amounts for famous talkers than non-famous talkers. In a post-task questionnaire, participants recognized famous talkers better than non-famous talkers from the “do”/”to” target words, a full sentence, or when shown their names and asked if they knew who the talker was. Results were not correlated with self-rated political interest. Thus, familiarity might not alleviate the perceptual consequences of talker variability.
Does having control over background noise affect listening effort or speech perception?
Authors: Francis Alexander L. , Kirk Nicole , Frain Erin , Fong Kirsten , Medina Lopez Paola , Love Jordan , Clougherty Jane E.
Published: May 2022

We have previously shown that individual personality traits, including noise sensitivity, can influence listeners’ assessment of effort and frustration related to noise that interferes with a listening task. Here, we extend our previous research to employ stimuli from a commonly used speech-in-noise task, the coordinate response measure (CRM). On each trial, participants heard a sentence of the form “Ready, CALLSIGN, go to COLOR NUMBER now” presented in a background of steady-state speech-shaped noise. They responded by selecting from a multiple-choice display (two callsigns, four colors, and four numbers). After completing one block of 64 trials with 32 sentences presented at a -4 dB SNR and 32 at -8 dB SNR, half of the participants were allowed to choose to change the noise level, making it either “louder” or “softer” for the next 64 trials. The other participants were assigned to either a louder or softer SNR without a choice. Importantly, half of the trials in the “louder” and “softer” conditions were presented at the same SNR (−6 dB), permitting comparison of performance independently of chosen or assigned difficulty. Results will be discussed in terms of implications for future research on noise sensitivity and long-term health.
Effects of noise, native language, age, and speaker gender on intelligibility in a large corpus of read speech
Authors: Wright Richard A. , Tucker Benjamin V. , Kelley Matthew C. , Oganyan Marina
Published: May 2022

Because speech communication takes place under noisy conditions, investigating the effect of noise on intelligibility is an essential part of understanding speech perception. One challenge is having sufficient numbers of speakers and unique sentences to control for sentence and speaker effects. In an online experiment, we used a corpus of 720 IEEE sentences read by 20 native English speakers (10 male, 10 female) from the Pacific Northwest (WA, OR, ID), which were embedded in three corpus-shaped noise conditions (−2, 0, + 2 dB). Stimuli were presented to undergraduate students at the Universities of Alberta and Washington using a design matrix which ensured that no listener heard a sentence more than once. Participants entered responses into a form which appeared immediately after the stimulus completed playing. Data collection is ongoing, but the current number of listeners is 1269, who responded to 120 items each. We use Levenshtein and Jaro distance measures to compare listener transcription accuracy. We investigate the effects of listener native language, age, and gender. We also investigate effects of the speaker’s gender on transcription accuracy. [Work supported by NIH NIDCD R01 DC006014.]
The neurobiology of the adolescent brain: Interaction between hobby and speech processing
Authors: Wang Yanxin , Huang Connie , Huang Connor , Yang Jeffrey , Yu Yan H.
Published: May 2022

Experience shapes brain development. However, whether and how different types of hobbies influence speech processing in the developing brain is poorly understood. To increase our understanding of auditory neural responses in individuals with different hobbies, we compared teenagers with different hobbies (music, visual art, sports, and control) in their automatic neural sound encoding accuracy. Event-related potentials were recorded using 65-channel electroencephalogram sensor nets. Participants listened to English syllable contrasts in a passive listening paradigm. Mismatch negativity (MMN) and P3a components of the auditory event-related potentials were examined. We hypothesized that larger MMN will be observed in the musician brain than the rest of the groups. No MMN and P3a differences will be observed in teenagers with hobbies of visual arts and sports. Whether and how hobby modulates neural sound processing will be discussed.
Feature selection for seabed characterization using non-linear regression and decision trees
Authors: Roselli Noah , Rios Diego , Patel Akaash , Sayes Yousef , Michalopoulou Zoi-Heleni
Published: May 2022

Knowledge of the seabed properties in an oceanic waveguide facilitates the understanding of wave propagation in the medium and, eventually, the implementation of tasks such as target detection and localization. Seabed characterization is, thus, a topic of extensive interest in the ocean acoustics research community. In this work, two approaches are implemented towards the task of seabed identification after the application of a preprocessing step that extracts characteristic features from received time-series following the transmission of a broadband sound signal. First, non-linear regression is applied, employing the extracted features and exploiting the relationship between those and geoacoustic properties. This approach leads to estimates of parameters relating to the sediment. Second, a decision tree is implemented, along with Principal Component Analysis, for identifying sediment types using the same features (or subsets of those). This technique is a classification task which maps propagation environments to specific types. Both approaches, tested on synthetic data from five sediment classes, lead to the successful extraction of information in regards to sediment properties. [Work supported by NSF and ONR.]
Comparison of maximum entropy and ResNet-18 inferences of sediment sound speed using surface ship noise
Authors: Neilsen Tracianne B. , Mortenson Michael C. , Nuttall Jacob R. , Amos Stephen M. , Transtrum Mark K. , Knobles David P. , Hodgkiss William
Published: May 2022

The impact of individual seabed properties on sound propagation in the ocean depends on many factors including source-receiver range and frequency band of interest. In this talk, estimates of the sound speed ratio across the water-sediment interface are obtained using a maximum entropy approach and ResNet18, a supervised machine learning model. The input data are spectrograms of surface ship noise from shipping lanes. Synthetic spectrograms are modeled using a ship noise source spectrum and a range-independent normal mode model, ORCA, with a wide range of environments and ship parameters. Experimental data from the New England Mud Patch are used with both inverse methods. The maximum entropy approach uses data-model mismatch to obtain a posterior probability distribution for the parameters of interest. The ResNet18 is trained on the synthetic spectrograms, augmented with additive noise, and then applied to the experimental data. A comparison of the results from these two methods for a variety of ships using different frequency bands will be presented, along with a discussion of the advantages and limitations of each method.
Depth estimation as a sequential process following array invariant range estimation
Authors: Hursky Paul , Verlinden Christopher , Munoz Tessa
Published: May 2022

Range estimation based on the array invariant concept exploits the inherent properties of shallow-water waveguide propagation. Multipath arrivals observed on a vertical line array, indexed on vertical arrival angle and time difference of arrival, form what is known as a beam migration pattern in the shape of an ellipse that is a function of source range and the acoustic invariant beta. Fitting the beam migration pattern to an ellipse yields the source range. A property of this beam migration pattern is that it is independent of source depth. Source depth determines how the multipath arrivals are distributed along that ellipse. We will extend previous work on estimating range and present how to estimate depth. This decouples the two estimates and reduces a 2D search process to two 1D processes. We will explore the CRLB structure of the range and depth estimates and demonstrate the results of processing experiment data from the RADAR 2007 experiment in shallow water off the coast of Portugal.
Emotion recognition in speech and music of Cantonese children with autism spectrum disorder
Authors: Zhou Fang , Chen Si , Chen Xi , Chan Angel Wing Shan , Tang Tempo Po Yi , Mak Natalie , Cheung Bebob , Yee Sara , Fung Claudia
Published: May 2022

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurological and developmental disorder and people with ASD are found to have difficulties in speech communication and social interactions. Previous studies revealed that the performance of autistic children in emotion recognition from music and speech was less accurate compared to typically developing (TD) controls. However, there are few studies on emotion recognition from tonal languages and a direct comparison between speech and music. The current study examined emotion recognition by Cantonese-speaking children with and without ASD aged from 8 to 11. The stimuli for speech perception were recorded by an actor and the clips for music perception were segmented from piano songs, presenting different emotions (angry, happy, sad, fear, and tender). Results showed that ASD group showed a higher accuracy rate in recognizing fear and tender and a lower rate in recognizing angry, happy, and sad in the emotion recognition from speech, though the results did not reach significance. The identification rate from music differed significantly from the TD group, showing a lower accuracy in general. The outcome indicates that Cantonese ASD children may have difficulties in emotion recognition more from music and may have a better judgment on certain negative emotions like fear.
Impact of face masks on second language word identification
Authors: Lin Yu-Jung , Isakson Joshua , Keane Emma
Published: May 2022

The current study investigated the effects of face masks on the intelligibility of second language (L2) speech. Specifically, we examined whether L2 learners of Mandarin and English identify words in their L2s less accurately when the speakers spoke through masks. Seven Mandarin native speakers whose L2 is English and seven English native speakers whose L2 is Mandarin were asked to identify the words they heard in videos, where English and Mandarin native speakers pronounced monosyllabic words in their native languages with and without surgical masks. The first languages (L1s) of these 14 subjects, the language of the videos, the mask conditions (with mask versus without mask), the noise conditions (quiet versus noisy), and the speaker gender (male versus female) were included in the experimental design. Preliminary results suggested that L2 word identification was significantly impacted when the background noise was present. Furthermore, the accuracy of L2 word identification in the male-speaker condition was significantly lower than the female-speaker condition when masks were worn. These findings were compared to the L1 perception data to demonstrate how the use of masks may negatively impact L2 perception to a greater degree than L1 perception.
Distribution of Culturable Phosphate-Solubilizing Bacteria in Soil Aggregates and Their Potential for Phosphorus Acquisition
Authors: He Donglan , Wan Wenjie
Published: May 2022

Phosphate-solubilizing bacteria are responsible for inorganic P solubilization and organic P mineralization. Elucidating the linkage between phosphate-solubilizing bacterial number and P-cycling-related gene abundance is important to isolate plant-growth-promoting bacteria for agro-ecosystems.
Simulated Leaching of Foliar Applied Copper Bactericides on the Soil Microbiome Utilizing Various Beta Diversity Resemblance Measurements
Authors: Strayer-Scherer A. , Timilsina S. , Liao Y. Y. , Young M. , Rosskopf E. N. , Vallad G. E. , Goss E. M. , Santra S. , Jones J. B. , Hong J. C. , Paret M. L.
Published: May 2022

Nanotechnology-based elemental composites have gained popularity for their potential applications in plant disease management due to their enhanced antimicrobial properties. However, little is known about their potential impact on the environment.
Antimicrobial Susceptibility Survey of Invasive Haemophilus influenzae in the United States in 2016
Authors: Potts Caelin C. , Rodriguez-Rivera Lorraine D. , Retchless Adam C. , Buono Sean A. , Chen Alexander T. , Marjuki Henju , Blain Amy E. , Wang Xin
Published: May 2022

Antibiotics play an important role for the treatment and prevention of invasive
Haemophilus influenzae
disease. Antimicrobial resistance survey of invasive
H. influenzae
isolates collected in 2016 showed that the US
H. influenzae
population remained susceptible to clinically relevant antibiotics, except for ampicillin.
Association between social deprivation and disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis: a systematic literature review
Authors: Dey Mrinalini , Busby Amanda , Elwell Helen , Lempp Heidi , Pratt Arthur , Young Adam , Isaacs John , Nikiphorou Elena
Published: May 2022

Physical and mental illnesses are driven by ethnicity, social, environmental and economic determinants. Novel theoretical frameworks in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) focus on links and adverse interactions between and within biological and social factors. This review aimed to summarise associations between socioeconomic status (SES) and RA disease activity, and implications for future research. Articles studying the association between SES and RA disease activity were identified, from 1946 until March 2021. The research question was: Is there an association between social deprivation and disease activity in people with RA? Articles meeting inclusion criteria were examined by one author, with 10% screened at abstract and full paper stage by a second author. Disagreements were resolved with input from a third reviewer. Information was extracted on definition/measure of SES, ethnicity, education, employment, comorbidities, disease activity and presence/absence of association between SES and disease activity. Initially, 1750 articles were identified, with 30 articles ultimately included. SES definition varied markedly—10 articles used a formal scale and most used educational attainment as a proxy. Most studies controlled for lifestyle factors including smoking and body mass index, and comorbidities. Twenty-five articles concluded an association between SES and RA disease activity; two were unclear; three found no association. We have demonstrated the association between low SES and worse RA outcomes. There is a need for further research into the mechanisms underpinning this, including application of mixed-methods methodology and consideration of syndemic frameworks to understand bio–bio and bio–social interactions, to examine disease drivers and outcomes holistically.
Shorebirds ingest plastics too: what we know, what we do not know, and what we should do next
Authors: Flemming Scott A. , Lanctot Richard B. , Price Courtney , Mallory Mark L. , Kühn Susanne , Drever Mark C. , Barry Tom , Provencher Jennifer F.
Published: May 2022

Concerns about the impact of plastics pollution on the environment have been growing since the 1970s. Marine debris has reportedly entangled and (or) been ingested by 914 marine species ranging from microinvertebrates to large marine mammals. Shorebirds have a high potential to be exposed to and ingest plastics pollution, as many species migrate long distances and periodically concentrate around shorelines, coastal areas, and estuaries that can have elevated levels of plastics pollution. Currently, little is understood about plastics exposure, frequency of occurrence (FO), and potential impacts relating to shorebirds. In this study, we catalogued and reviewed available studies across the globe that examined plastics pollution in shorebirds. We then quantified relevant traits of species and their environments to explore how shorebirds may be exposed to plastics pollution. Of 1106 samples from 26 shorebird species described within 16 studies that examined plastic ingestion, 53% of individuals contained some form of plastics pollution. Overall, Haematopodidae (oystercatchers) had the highest FO of plastics, followed by Recurvirostridae (avocets), Scolopacidae (sandpipers, phalaropes, godwits, and curlews), and Charadriidae (plovers). Plastics FO was much greater among species that migrated across marine areas (either oceanic or coastal) than those species that used continental flyways. Species that foraged at sea, on mudflats, or on beaches had higher average FO of plastic ingestion than species that foraged in upland or freshwater environments. Finally, species that used a sweeping foraging mode showed higher levels of ingested plastics and contained a far greater number of plastic pieces than all other techniques. These conclusions are based on a limited number of species and samples, with the distribution of samples skewed taxonomically and geographically. Using the combined knowledge of known shorebirds–plastics interactions and shorebird ecology, we present a hierarchical approach to identifying shorebirds that may be more vulnerable and susceptible to plastic ingestion. We provide recommendations on sampling protocols and future areas of research.
Why even source-free gravity must be quantized
Authors: Deser S.
Published: May 2022

I note, on the most elementary grounds: its classical ultraviolet catastrophe, that even source-free General Relativity must be quantized, despite some eminent opinions to the contrary and with a little fine print.
Traversable wormholes with like-Casimir complexity supported with arbitrarily small amount of exotic matter
Authors: Avalos R. , Fuenmayor E. , Contreras E.
Published: May 2022

In this work we construct traversable wormholes geometries in the framework of the complexity factor. We provide the redshift function of a Casimir traversable wormhole which, in combination with a non-vanishing complexity factor, leads to a traversable wormhole with a minimum amount of exotic matter. The shape function and the embedding diagram are shown and discussed. The tidal accelerations and the time required to get through the wormholes are estimated.
Effect of interface morphology on thermal contact resistance in thermal management of electronic devices
Authors: Chen Yu-Zheng , Feng Shi-Wei , Zhang Ya-Min , He Xin , Bai Kun , Li Xuan
Published: May 2022

The interfacial thermal resistance between two solid materials is usually obvious in thermal management technology, but there is still no way to eliminate it nor uniform measurement standard. When taking thermal measurements because the surface roughness of instrument probe and device package directly affects the interface morphology, the change of total thermal resistance caused by the thermal contact resistance (TCR) fluctuations disturbs the accuracy of internal thermal analysis of device. We prepared samples with different surface roughness and performed thermal measurements on them, compared with test under vacuum environment and the condition filled with thermal interface materials, respectively. We found the heat-transfer mechanism of interface. More importantly, it is shown that in the interval of surface roughness [Formula: see text], the TCR shows good consistency when filled with thermal interface materials. This result will help to improve the convenience of measurement for the accuracy of thermal measurement technology.
The Effect of IS-Innovation Strategy Alignment on Corporate Performance: Investigating the Role of Environmental Uncertainty by Heterogeneity
Authors: Yoshikuni Adilson Carlos , Lucas Edimilson Costa
Published: May 2022

The study investigates how the alignment at the processing levels between information systems (IS) strategy, through strategy-as-practice approach, and innovation influences corporate performance (CP) under environmental uncertainty from 856 Brazilian firms by PLS-SEM. The results indicated that all approaches of alignment between IS strategy and innovation have strong influences on CP. The alignment with ambidextrous innovation had a 62% higher contribution on CP than alignment between exploitative innovations. Additionally, exploitative innovations had positive effects on CP under high hostility environments; and explorative and ambidextrous innovations had positive large and strong effects on CP under high dynamic environments.
Polar harmonic Maaß forms and holomorphic projection
Authors: Males Joshua , Mono Andreas , Rolen Larry
Published: May 2022

Recently, Mertens, Ono and the third author studied mock modular analogues of Eisenstein series. Their coefficients are given by small divisor functions, and have shadows given by classical Shimura theta functions. Here, we construct a class of small divisor functions [Formula: see text] and prove that these generate the holomorphic part of polar harmonic Maaß forms of weight [Formula: see text]. To this end, we essentially compute the holomorphic projection of mixed harmonic Maaß forms in terms of Jacobi polynomials, but without assuming the structure of such forms. Instead, we impose translation invariance and suitable growth conditions on the Fourier coefficients. Specializing to a certain choice of characters, we obtain an identity between [Formula: see text] and Hurwitz class numbers, and ask for more such identities. Moreover, we prove [Formula: see text]-adic congruences of our small divisor functions when [Formula: see text] is an odd prime. If [Formula: see text] is non-trivial we rewrite the generating function of [Formula: see text] as a linear combination of Appell–Lerch sums and their first two normalized derivatives. Lastly, we offer a connection of our construction to meromorphic Jacobi forms of index [Formula: see text] and false theta functions.
Decoding of Raman spectroscopy-encoded suspension arrays based on the detail constraint cycle domain adaptive model
Authors: Yao Yu , Xue Kaiwen , Liu Liwang , Zhu Shanshan , Yue Chengfeng , Ji Yanhong
Published: May 2022

Previous studies have already shown that Raman spectroscopy can be used in the encoding of suspension array technology. However, almost all existing convolutional neural network-based decoding approaches rely on supervision with ground truth, and may not be well generalized to unseen datasets, which were collected under different experimental conditions, applying with the same coded material. In this study, we propose an improved model based on CyCADA, named as Detail constraint Cycle Domain Adaptive Model (DCDA). DCDA implements the classification of unseen datasets through domain adaptation, adapts representations at the encode level with decoder-share, and enforces coding features while leveraging a feat loss. To improve detailed structural constraints, DCDA takes downsample connection and skips connection. Our model improves the poor generalization of existing models and saves the cost of the labeling process for unseen target datasets. Compared with other models, extensive experiments and ablation studies show the superiority of DCDA in terms of classification stability and generalization. The model proposed by the research achieves a classification with an accuracy of 100% when applied in datasets, in which the spectrum in the source domain is far less than the target domain.
Evaluation of Countries’ Capacities for Addressing Climate Change in the Post-Paris Era
Authors: JI Zhixuan , WANG Mou , YANG Xinran , KANG Wenmei
Published: May 2022

The Paris Agreement signed in 2015 basically established the post-2020 international climate system. The agreement no longer emphasizes the differences between countries of the North and South. It requested each country to outline and communicate their post-2020 climate actions, which were legally termed as “nationally determined contributions” (NDCs). However, in the process of negotiating the implementation rules and regulations, there is still a big divide between developing and developed countries. Thus it is important to evaluate countries’ responsibilities, obligations and capacities for addressing climate change in the post-Paris era. By adopting the Delphi method, this paper establishes a more comprehensive index system to quantitatively evaluate countries’ capacities for addressing climate change, and to further identify and determine their capacities under the Paris Agreement. According to the evaluation results, there is still a large gap between developed and developing countries in their capacities for addressing climate change. Developing countries with weak capacities fall behind mainly in terms of the industrialization process, Human Development Index (HDI) and urbanization rate. Developed countries with strong capacities lack commitments and actions in terms of helping developing countries to mitigate and adapt to climate change. This paper, by expanding the use of the Delphi method with a multi-dimensional evaluation system that includes a historical responsibility index, attempts to provide a reference for differentiating countries’ capacities and responsibilities in global climate governance, and to promote a more equitable and reasonable global climate governance system.
FPGA Architecture Exploration for DNN Acceleration
Authors: Roorda Esther , Rasoulinezhad Seyedramin , Leong Philip H. W. , Wilton Steven J. E.
Published: May 2022

Recent years have seen an explosion of machine learning applications implemented on
Field-Programmable Gate Arrays
(FPGAs)
. FPGA vendors and researchers have responded by updating their fabrics to more efficiently implement machine learning accelerators, including innovations such as enhanced
Digital Signal Processing (DSP)
blocks and hardened systolic arrays. Evaluating architectural proposals is difficult, however, due to the lack of publicly available benchmark circuits.

This paper addresses this problem by presenting an open-source benchmark circuit generator that creates realistic DNN-oriented circuits for use in FPGA architecture studies. Unlike previous generators, which create circuits that are agnostic of the underlying FPGA, our circuits explicitly instantiate embedded blocks, allowing for meaningful comparison of recent architectural proposals without the need for a complete inference
computer-aided design (CAD)
flow. Our circuits are compatible with the VTR CAD suite, allowing for architecture studies that investigate routing congestion and other low-level architectural implications.

In addition to addressing the lack of machine learning benchmark circuits, the architecture exploration flow that we propose allows for a more comprehensive evaluation of FPGA architectures than traditional static benchmark suites. We demonstrate this through three case studies which illustrate how realistic benchmark circuits can be generated to target different heterogeneous FPGAs.