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.
The density functional B3LYP is used to investigate the effect of decorating the silver (Ag) atom on the sensing capability of an AlN nanotube (AlN-NT) in detecting thiophosgene (TP). There is a weak interaction between the pristine AlN-NT and TP with the sensing response (SR) of approximately 9.4. Decoration of the Ag atom into the structure of AlN-NT causes the adsorption energy of TP to decrease from − 6.2 to − 22.5 kcal/mol. Also, the corresponding SR increases significantly to 100.5. Moreover, the recovery time when TP is desorbed from the surface of the Ag-decorated AlN-NT (Ag@AlN-NT) is short, i.e., 24.9 s. The results show that Ag@AlN-NT can selectively detect TP among other gases, such as N2, O2, CO2, CO, and H2O.
Many carbonate reservoirs in the world show a tilted in originally oil-water contact (OOWC) which requires a special consideration in the selection of the capillary pressure curves and an understanding of reservoir fluids distribution while initializing the reservoir simulation models.
An analytical model for predicting the capillary pressure across the interface that separates two immiscible fluids was derived from reservoir pressure transient analysis. The model reflected the entire interaction between the reservoir-aquifer fluids and rock properties measured under downhole reservoir conditions.
This model retained the natural coupling of oil reservoirs with the aquifer zone and treated them as an explicit-region composite system
The power generation of solar photovoltaic (PV) technology is being implemented in every nation worldwide due to its environmentally clean characteristics. Therefore, PV technology is significantly growing in the present applications and usage of PV power systems. Despite the strength of the PV arrays in power systems, the arrays remain susceptible to certain faults. An effective supply requires economic returns, the security of the equipment and humans, precise fault identification, diagnosis, and interruption tools. Meanwhile, the faults in unidentified arc lead to serious fire hazards to commercial, residential, and utility-scale PV systems. To ensure secure and dependable distribution of electricity, the detection of such ha
... Show MoreBackground: Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a neglected disease in tropical countries, including Iraq. Several studies have sought to examine chemotherapies for leishmaniasis treatment but most of them are of toxic and/or undesirable side effect, therefore, the need for investigating new fewer toxic therapies is essential. Aim of study: In this study, the cytotoxic effect of Artemisinin (ART), a novel herbal compound, was screened against the two forms, promastigotes and amastigotes, of the Iraqi isolate of Leishmania tropica, the causative agent of Baghdad boil. Material and methods: Different concentrations (1000, 500, 250, 125, 62.5, 31.25, 15.6 and 7.8) µM of Artemisinin were screened to investigate the leishmanicidal activity of th
... Show MoreIn-vitro biological activities of the free new H4L ( indole-7-thiocarbohydrazone) ligand and its Ni(II), Pd(II) , Pt(II), Cu(II), Ag(I), Zn(II) and Cd(II) complexes are screened against two cancerous cell lines, that revealed significant activity only for [Cu2Cl2(H4L)2(PPh3)2] after 72 h treatment by the highest tested concentrations. The Copper(I) complex was characterized by X-ray Crystallography and the NMR spectra, whereas it has been confirmed to have momentous cytotoxicity against ovarian, breast cancerous cell lines (Caov-3, MCF-7). The apoptosis-inducing properties of the Cu(I) complex have been investigated through fluorescence microscopy visualization, DNA fragmentation analysis and propidium iodide flow cytometry.
The study aims to investigate the antimicrobial activity of propolis obtained from different regions of Iraq compared with that of propolis obtained from Iran. Samples were investigated for their antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Eschericha coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Bacillus cereus , Staphylococcus epidermidis and Candida albicans using standard antimicrobial assays. Marked variations in the antimicrobial activity of the different propolis samples were observed, the method of extraction selected gives the highest antimicrobial activity and the best alcohol concentration using in the extraction of propolis , then the crude extract of propolis showed synergistic effect with some antibiotics in
... Show MoreIntroduction and Aim: Bacteriocins are antimicrobial peptides that have bactericidal and/or bacteriostatic activity against other bacteria. The aim of this study was to assess the antibacterial efficiency of Klebocin a K. pneumoniae bacteriocin, against biofilm formation by clinical isolates of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus MRSA. Materials and Methods: S. aureus isolated from clinical samples was identified according to vitek 2 system Antibiotic susceptibility test was performed according to disc diffusion method. Vitek 2 compact system was also used to detect MRSA strains. Agar well diffusion method was used to evaluate the antibacterial activity of klebocin from K. pneumoniae towards 11 strains of S. aureus by
... Show MoreThe eggshell cuticle is the proteinaceous outermost layer of the eggshell which regulates water exchange and protects against entry of micro-organisms. Outer eggshell and cuticle protein was extracted from domestic chicken. The aim of the research is to find out the effect of the treated and untreated nano particles of egg shells with micro wave cold plasma on the effectiveness of E. coli (negative bacteria) that infect the skin and measure the diameter of bacterial inhibition zone, the eggshell has been prepared by a chemical method (sol gel) and measure the level of acidity and the PH is neutral. The result of Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) shows that the particles diameters become smaller with nano-particles solution than for egg
... Show MoreAntimicrobial resistance is one of the most significant threats to public health worldwide. As opposed to using traditional antibiotics, which are effective against diseases that are multidrug-resistant, it is vital to concentrate on the most innovative antibacterial compounds. These innate bacterial arsenals under the term «bacteriocins» refer to low-molecularweight, heat-stable, membrane-active, proteolytically degradable, and pore-forming cationic peptides. Due to their ability to attack bacteria, viruses, fungi, and biofilm, bacteriocins appear to be the most promising, currently accessible alternative for addressing the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) problem and minimizing the negative effects of antibiotics on the host’s m
... Show More