Voice Activity Detection (VAD) is considered as an important pre-processing step in speech processing systems such as speech enhancement, speech recognition, gender and age identification. VAD helps in reducing the time required to process speech data and to improve final system accuracy by focusing the work on the voiced part of the speech. An automatic technique for VAD using Fuzzy-Neuro technique (FN-AVAD) is presented in this paper. The aim of this work is to alleviate the problem of choosing the best threshold value in traditional VAD methods and achieves automaticity by combining fuzzy clustering and machine learning techniques. Four features are extracted from each speech segment, which are short term energy, zero-crossing rate, autocorrelation, and log energy. A modified version of fuzzy C-Means is then used to cluster speech segments into three clusters; two clusters for voice and one for unvoiced. After that, three feed forward neural networks are trained to adjust their weights, in which each network represents one cluster. To make the final decision regarding the class type of a given speech segment, the membership degrees of this segment in all clusters along with neural networks' decisions are given to a defuzzification step which finally gives the class type of that segment. The proposed FN-AVAD is tested on the public multimodal emotion database, Surrey AudioVisual Expressed Emotion (SAVEE), and the error rate was 2.08%. The achieved results are comparable to the results achieved by the current published works in the literature.
Background: The treatment of dental tissues proceeding to adhesive procedures is a crucial step in the bonding protocol and decides the clinical success ofrestorations. This study was conducted in vitro, with the aim of evaluating thenanoleakage on the interface between the adhesive system and the dentine treated by five surface modalities using scanning electron microscopy and energydispersiveX-ray spectrometry. Materials and methods: Twenty five extracted premolars teeth were selected in the study. Standardized class V cavities were prepared on the buccal and lingual surfaces then the teeth divided into five main groups of (5 teeth in each group n=10) according to the type of dentine surface treatment that was used: Group (A): dentine was
... Show MoreThis research explores the preparation of polypyrrole (PPy) using chemical oxidation and its enhancement with graphene oxide (GO) for optical sensor applications. PPy was synthesized by polymerizing pyrrole monomers with ferric chloride (Fe2Cl3) as the oxidant. The resulting PPy was then combined with GO to form a composite material, aiming to improve its electrical and optical properties. Polypyrrole nanofibers were obtained and after adding graphene oxide, the sensitivity increased. Characterization techniques including UV-Vis spectroscopy, DC conductivity measurements, Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) and response of photocurrent analysis were employed. The incorporation of GO into PPy resulted in a significant reducti
... Show MoreColloidal silver nanoparticles were prepared by single step green synthesis using aqueous extracts of the leaves of thyme as a function of different molar concentration of AgNO3 (1,2,3,4 mM(. The Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), UV-Visible and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to characterize the resultant AgNPs. The surface Plasmon resonance was observed at wavelength of 444 nm. The four intensive peaks of XRD pattern indicate the crystalline nature and the face centered cubic structure of the AgNPs. The average crystallite size of the AgNPs ranged from 18 to 22 nm. The FESEM image illustrated the well dispersion of the AgNPs and the spherical shape of the nanoparticles with a particle size distribution be
... Show MoreThis paper is concerned with the numerical solutions of the vorticity transport equation (VTE) in two-dimensional space with homogenous Dirichlet boundary conditions. Namely, for this problem, the Crank-Nicolson finite difference equation is derived. In addition, the consistency and stability of the Crank-Nicolson method are studied. Moreover, a numerical experiment is considered to study the convergence of the Crank-Nicolson scheme and to visualize the discrete graphs for the vorticity and stream functions. The analytical result shows that the proposed scheme is consistent, whereas the numerical results show that the solutions are stable with small space-steps and at any time levels.
Renewable energy technology is growing fast especially photovoltaic (PV) system to move the conventional electricity generation and distribution towards smart grid. However, similar to monthly electricity bill, the PV energy producers can only monitor their energy PV generation once a month. Any malfuntion in PV system components may reduce the performance of the system without notice. Thus, developing a real-time monitoring system of PV production is very crucial for early detection. In addition, electricity consumption is also important to be monitored more frequently to increase energy savings awareness among consumers. Hardware based Internet-of-Thing (IoT) monitoring and control system is widely used. However, the implementation of
... Show MoreIncremental sheet forming (ISF) is a metal forming technology in which small incremental deformations determine the final shape. The sheet is deformed by a hemispherical tool that follows the required shape contour to deform the sheet into the desired geometry. In this study, single point incremental sheet forming (SPIF) has been implemented in dentistry to manufacture a denture plate using two types of stainless steel, 304 and 316L, with an initial thickness of 0.5mm and 0.8mm, respectively. Stainless steel was selected due to its biocompatibility and reasonable cost. A three-dimensional (3D) analysis procedure was conducted to evaluate the manufactured part's geometrical accuracy and thickness distribution. The obtained results confirm
... Show More1267 Objectives Aim to evaluate 198Au nanoparticles (AuNP) biodistribution and uptake in a human prostate model for treatment. Many phytochemicals are known to have anti-tumor properties but have short half-lives in vivo. We hypothesized that using these phytochemicals to formulate and coat AuNP would inhibit enzyme cleavage and enhance their anti-tumor properties. Initial evaluations were performed in SCID mice bearing PC3 tumors. Methods : 198AuNP were formulated with the following gum Arabic, epigalocatechin gallate (EGCg) pomegranate extract and mangiferin extract. The resultant nanoparticles were evaluated in normal mice and in human prostate bearing SCID mice. The tumor bearing mice were injected intratumorally with 3-5 uCi of 198A
... Show MoreCoated sand (CS) filter media was investigated to remove phenol and 4-nitrophenol from aqueous solutions in batch experiments. Local sand was subjected to surface modification as impregnated with iron. The influence of process variables represented by solution pH value, contact time, initial concentration and adsorbent dosage on removal efficiency of phenol and 4-nitrophenol onto CS was studied. Batch studies were performed to evaluate the adsorption process, and it was found that the Langmuir isotherm effectively fits the experimental data for the adsorbates better than the Freundlich model with the CS highest adsorption capacity of 0.45 mg/g for 4-nitrophenol and 0.25 mg/g for phenol. The CS was found to adsorb 85% of 4-nitrophenol and
... Show MoreThe main aim of this study is to evaluate the remaining oil in previously produced zones, locate the water productive zone and look for any bypassed oil behind casing in not previously perforated intervals. Initial water saturation was calculated from digitized open hole logs using a cut-off value of 10% for irreducible water saturation. The integrated analysis of the thermal capture cross section, Sigma and Carbon/oxygen ratio was conducted and summarized under well shut-in and flowing conditions. The logging pass zone run through sandstone Zubair formation at north Rumaila oil field. The zones where both the Sigma and the C/O analysis show high remaining oil saturation similar to the open hole oil saturation, could be good oil zones that
... Show More