Bandwidth extension of speech signals: a catalyst for the introduction of wideband speech coding?

The restricted audio quality of today's telephone networks is mainly due to the narrowband (NB) limitation to the frequency range from about 300 Hz to 3.4 kHz. Meanwhile, codecs for wideband (WB) telephony (50 Hz to 7 kHz) exist with significantly improved speech intelligibility and naturalness. However, the broad introduction of wideband speech coding requires strong efforts of both network operators and their customers because many elements of the networks (i.e., terminals and network nodes) have to be modified. An intermediate step to overcome the narrowband limitation can be achieved by applying artificial bandwidth extension (BWE) in the receiver. In this article we review the basic principles of bandwidth extension, and discuss several application scenarios in which both wideband coding and BWE complement each other. The introduction of BWE methods in terminals and networks may help to speed up the introduction of true wideband speech coding in the near future.     

Lipid composition of the membrane released after an in vitro acrosome reaction of epididymal boar sperm

Prior to fertilization, mammalian sperm must undergo the acrosome reaction, which involves modifications of the plasma and outer acrosomal membranes followed by vesiculation and release of the membranes. The membrane fraction that was released from caudal boar sperm undergoing an in vitro acrosome-like reaction was isolated and characterized with respect to density, marker enzymes and lipid composition. This membrane had a lower phospholipid/protein ratio (mg/mg) than the sperm plasma membrane, whereas both membranes had similar molar sterol/phospholipid ratios. The major phospholipid was sphingomyelin, followed by phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylcholine, whereas in the plasma membrane the order was reversed; the two major phosphoglycerides contained alkylacyl and alkenylacyl species in addition to the diacyl species. The released membrane also contained lower amounts of cholesterol sulfate and unsaturated fatty acids than the plasma membranes. These results, in combination with our studies on the changes of the sperm membranes during maturation and acrosome reaction, will allow a better understanding of the mechanism of the sperm acrosome reaction.     

Trans activation of the Escherichia coli ato structural genes by a regulatory protein from Bacillus megaterium: potential use in polyhydroxyalkanoate production

A Bacillus megaterium genomic fragment, which encoded an activator homologous to sigma 54 regulators and which was capable of activating Escherichia coli ato genes in trans, was detected in a gene library of B. megaterium screened for beta-ketothiolase activity. The fragment presented only one complete open reading frame (ORF1), which encoded a protein of 398 amino acids. The recombinant plasmid complemented mutations in the Escherichia coli atoC regulatory gene. The constitutive expression of the E. coli ato operon mediated by ORF1 could be useful for the synthesis of polyhydroxyalkanoates with different flexibility properties by recombinant E. coli strains.