Deep neural network architectures for dysarthric speech analysis and recognition

Neural Computing and Applications - This paper investigates the ability of deep neural networks (DNNs) to improve the automatic recognition of dysarthric speech through the use of convolutional...     

The Solutions on One-Dimensional Dirac Oscillator with Energy-Dependent Potentials and Their Effects on the Shannon and Fisher Quantities of Quantum Information Theory

Journal of Low Temperature Physics - In this paper, we focus, at first, on the exact solutions on the one-dimensional Dirac oscillator with the energy-dependent potentials. Then, the influence of...     

Alternating current electrophoretic deposition of Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells and the viability of the deposited biofilm in ethanol production

In this work, we have explored the possibility of using asymmetrical alternating current electrophoretic deposition (AC-EPD) process, which we have previously reported for enzyme deposition, to immobilize Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae) cells onto stainless steel substrates. The deposition of S. cerevisiae cells at 30 Hz and 200 V_p-p permits the formation of 89 ± 16 μm thick cell layers in 30 min. The mass of the deposited cells is shown to increase quasi-linearly with the deposition time and the applied amplitude. In order to increase the mechanical stability of the immobilized cells, a thin layer of polyurethane was applied after the AC-EPD of S. cerevisiae cells. The viability of the immobilized cells was tested in the production of ethanol. The results showed that the fermentation process with the immobilized S. cerevisiae cells is more efficient than the fermentation carried out with similarly treated free cells.     

Application of electrostatic precipitator in collection of smoke particles from hospital wastes combustion

The paper reports the development and implementation of a cost-effective electrostatic precipitator (ESP) prototype for the medical wastes incinerator of university hospital centre (CHU) of Sidi-Bel-Abbes, using a water washing system for cleaning electrodes. The impact of medical waste incineration on human health is a topical debate. The incineration process is a safe mode of disposal [OK] of such waste, but it is not an effective solution and needs a pollution control system. Generally, in Africa, cost is the major constraint for manufacturers and users. A half-scale ESP model was initially used for an experimental study in the laboratory. Thereafter, a full-scale model was produced and installed for the incinerator based on the optimal values obtained from this preliminary study.     

Optimising operating conditions in ultrafiltration fouling of pomegranate juice by response surface methodology

The resistance‐in‐series model was used to analyse flux behaviour, which involved the resistances of membrane itself, the fouling and solute concentration polarisation. Response surface methodology was used to establish the relationships between operating parameters and ultrafiltration (UF) efficiency and thus to determine optimal conditions. Experiments were performed according to Box–Behnken design by changing the levels of three parameters, namely transmembrane pressure, feed flow rate and temperature. The fitted mathematical models allowed us to plot isoresponse curves. It was shown that the resistance due to solute concentration polarisation (R_cp) dominated the flux decline (40–74%). The fouling resistance (R_f) varied from 12 to 46%. To optimise simultaneously the three responses studied (R_f, R_cp and permeate limit flux), we applied the desirability function approach which allowed us to determine the best acceptable compromise. The selected UF conditions of the compromise were as follows: three bars, 0.95 L min^?1 and 30 °C. Optimal values of R_f, R_cp and permeate limit flux were equal to 18%, 72% and 19 L h^?1 m^?2, respectively.     

Performance Analysis of Retrial Queueing Systems Using Generalized Stochastic Petri Nets

We consider retrial queueing systems, in which an arriving customer finding the server busy, may repeat his call after a random duration. The consideration of repeated calls introduces great analytical difficulties. In fact, detailed analytical results exist for some special retrial queueing systems, while for many others, the performance evaluation is limited to numerical algorithms, approximation methods and simulation. Retrial queues have been widely used to model many problems in telephone switching systems, telecommunication and computer networks. In this paper, we show a method of modelling and analysing retrial queueing systems, using the Generalized Stochastic Petri nets (GSPNs).     

Estimation of the atmospheric corrosion on metal containers in industrial waste disposal

Solid industrial waste are often stored in metal containers filled with concrete, and placed in well-aerated warehouses. Depending on meteorological conditions, atmospheric corrosion can induce severe material damages to the metal casing, and this damage has to be predicted to achieve safe storage. This work provides a first estimation of the corrosivity of the local atmosphere adjacent to the walls of the container through a realistic modeling of heat transfer phenomena which was developed for this purpose. Subsequent simulations of condensation/evaporation of the water vapor in the atmosphere were carried out. Atmospheric corrosion rates and material losses are easily deduced. For handling realistic data and comparison, two different meteorological contexts were chosen: (1) an oceanic and damp atmosphere and (2) a drier storage location. Some conclusions were also made for the storage configuration in order to reduce the extent of corrosion phenomena.     

A noise-robust front-end for distributed speech recognition in mobile communications

This paper investigates a new front-end processing that aims at improving the performance of speech recognition in noisy mobile environments. This approach combines features based on conventional Mel-cepstral Coefficients (MFCCs), Line Spectral Frequencies (LSFs) and formant-like (FL) features to constitute robust multivariate feature vectors. The resulting front-end constitutes an alternative to the DSR-XAFE (XAFE: eXtended Audio Front-End) available in GSM mobile communications. Our results showed that for highly noisy speech, using the paradigm that combines these spectral cues leads to a significant improvement in recognition accuracy on the Aurora 2 task.