• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.109-115
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• 2011

The purposes of this study were to identify acoustic parameters of connected speech and to contribute to acoustic analysis of dysphonic voice about patient's natural speech voice as well as sustained phonation of vowels. Acoustic parameters of sentences included LTAS (long-term average spectrum) mean and spectral slope over frequence ranges such as 0-4kHz, 0-6kHz, 0-8kHz, 0-12.5kHz as well as HNR. Acoustic parameters of the vowel 'a' included jitter, RAP, shimmer, NHR, and HNR. Based on 'G' of GRBAS for the severity of dysphonia, two experienced raters judged and classified as four groups including controls, mild, moderate and severe dysphonic group. Connected speech was two sentences extracted from 'stroll' passage. Parameters of the vowel and LTAS mean of the sentences were measured by CSL. The spectral slope of the sentences and HNR of the vowel and the sentences were measured by Praat. Data were statistically analyzed by Spearman correlation and Kruskal-Wallis test using SPSS 12.0. The results of this study are as follows: First, jitter, RAP, shimmer and NHR were significantly different between the groups. Second, for several frequencies, LTAS mean and spectral slope of the sentences were significantly different between the groups. Third, the HNR of the sentences were significantly different between the groups. Forth, there was a presence of correlation between HNR and NHR of the vowel and HNR of the sentences. Accordingly, this study concluded that LTAS, spectral slope, and HNR were predictive parameters of connected speech voice for dysphonic voice.

• Proceedings of the KSPS conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.92-95
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• 2006

The purpose of this study is to find the acoustic parameters on frequency domain to distinguish the Korean nasals, /m, n, ng/ from each other. Since it is not easy to characterize the antiformant on frequency domain, we suggest the new parameters that are calculated by LTAS(Long term average spectrum). Maximum energy value and its frequency and minimum energy and its frequency of zero are obtained from the spectrum respectively. In addition, slope1, slope2, total energy value, centroid, skewness, and kurtosis are suggested as new parameters as well. The parameters that are revealed as to be statistically signigicant difference are roughly peak1_a, zero_f, slope_1, slope_2, highENG, zero_ENG, and centroid.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.421-438
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• 1999

In this paper a practical limit load estimating procedure is proposed for general pipe-elbow structures subjected to complex loading (in-plane and out-of-plane bending, internal pressure and axial force). The explicit calculating formulae are presented on the basis of theoretical analysis combined with numerical simulation. Von Mises' yield criterion is adopted in both analytical and numerical calculation. The finite element examination shows that the method provides a simple but satisfactory prediction of pipe structures in engineering plastic analysis.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.89-94
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• 2012

The aim of this study is to investigate the usefulness of the parameter CPP (cepstral peak prominence) and LTAS (long term average spectrum) band energy for an analysis of breathy voice with vocal fold paralysis. Thirty-four female subjects who have vocal paralysis after thyroidectomy participated in this study. According to the perceptual judgements by three speech pathologists and one phonetic scholar, subjects were divided into two groups: breathy voice group (n = 21) and non-breathy voice group (n = 13). Maximum sustained phonation task was measured for acoustic analysis. CPP-related (i.e. mean F0, mean CPP, and mean CPPs) and LTAS-related (i.e. minimum, maximum, and mean) parameters were used. Independent samples t-test was conducted. Regarding CPP, there are significant differences in mean CPP and mean CPPs between groups. The values of mean CPP and CPPs in the non-breathy voice group are higher than those in the breathy voice group. The CPP could be regarded as the useful parameter for breathy voice analysis in the clinic. When it comes to LTAS, energy from 0 to 2 kHz are significantly different between groups. The minimum value of non-breathy group is lower than that of breathy group, whereas the maximum value of non-breathy group is higher. The frequency band below 2 kHz seems to be related to breathy voice.

• MALSORI
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• no.60
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• pp.67-84
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• 2006

The purpose of this study is to find some acoustic parameters on frequency domain to distinguish the Korean nasals, $/m,\;n,\;{\eta}/$ from each other. The new parameters are devised on the basis of LTAS (Long Term Average Spectrum). The maximum peak amplitude and the relevant formant frequency are measured in low and high frequency range, respectively. The frequency of spectral valley and its energy level are also obtained in the specific frequency range of the spectrum. Spectral slope, total energy value in specific frequency range, statistical distribution of spectral energy like centroid, skewness, and kurtosis are suggested as new parameters as well. The parameters that show statistically significant differences across nasals are summerized as follows. 1) in syllable initial positions: the total energy value from 1,500 to 2,200 Hz(zeroENG); 2) in syllable final positions: the peak amplitude of the first formant(peak1_a), the formant frequency with maximum peak amplitude from 4,000 to 8,000 Hz(peak2_f), the maximum peak amplitude of the formant frequency from 4,000 to 8,000 Hz(peak2_a), and the total energy value from 1,500 to 2,200 Hz(zeroENG).

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.1191-1196
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• 2008

Staphylococcus aureus is a common etiologic agent for Gram-positive sepsis, and its lipoteichoic acid (LTA) may be important in causing Gram-positive bacterial septic shock. Here, we demonstrate that highly purified LTA (pLTA) isolated from Lactobacillus plantarum inhibited S. aureus LTA (aLTA)-induced TNF-${\alpha}$ production in THP-1 cells. Whereas pLTA scarcely induced TNF-${\alpha}$ production, aLTA induced excessive TNF-${\alpha}$ production. Interestingly, aLTA-induced TNF-${\alpha}$ production was inhibited by pLTA pretreatment. Compared with pLTA, aLTA induced a strong signal transduction through the MyD88, NF-${\kappa}B$, and MAP kinases. This signaling, however, was reduced by a pLTA pretreatment, and resulted in the inhibition of aLTA-induced TNF-${\alpha}$ production. Whereas dealanylated LTAs, as well as native LTAs, contributed to TNF-${\alpha}$ induction or TNF-${\alpha}$ reduction, deacylated LTAs did not, indicating that the acyl chain of LTA played an important role in the LTA-mediated immune regulation. These results suggest that pLTA may act as an antagonist for aLTA, and that an antagonistic pLTA may be a useful agent for suppressing the septic shock caused by Gram-positive bacteria.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.423-444
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• 2013

Tourism in Thoi Son Islet has been the advanced model for rural tourism in the Mekong Delta region since the 1990s. The continuously rising number of tourists, however, has also created problems that affect sustainable rural development. To understand these problems, this research analyzed how rural tourism has been operated through the methodology of a stakeholder network. After investigating the network among key stakeholders (Ho Chi Minh travel agencies (HCMTAs), local travel agencies (LTAs), and local residents, the result showed that in the current model, HCMTAs and LTAs have played the role of connectors, working as hubs to shift tourists (demand) to match local residents (supply), with the networking being dominated by signed contracts (formal networks). The networks between LTAs and local residents are both formal and informal. Inter- and intra-networks among local residents are dominated by informal networks of established working relationships based on networks of family, friends, and neighbors. Moreover, this research has found that there is no cooperating network among LTAs. Among owners of tourist sites was not also found cooperating network. The primary motivating factor for these stakeholders is price competition; this has led to a disproportionately small share of revenue for local stakeholders, with most tourism revenue going to HCMTAs. Additionally, because of the high competition among local stakeholders, this results in local stakeholders having little or no negotiating power when conducting business with HCMTAs. Meanwhile the Tien Giang Tourism Association is inefficient in fostering cooperation among local stakeholders to increase their negotiating power.

• Journal of Clinical Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.212-222
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• 2018

Background and Objectives : The purpose of this study was to compare the measured values of acoustic and auditory perceptual assessments between normal and functional dysphonia (FD) groups. Materials and Methods : 102 subjects with FD and 59 normal voice groups were participated in this study. Mid-vowel portion of the sustained vowel /a/ and two sentences of 'Sanchaek' were edited, concatenated, and analyzed by Praat script. And then auditory-perceptual (AP) rating was completed by three listeners. Results : The FD group showed higher acoustic voice quality index version 2.02 and version 3.01 (AVQIv2 and AVQIv3), slope, Hammarberg index (HAM), grade (G) and overall severity (OS), values than normal group. Additionally, smoothed cepstral peak prominence in Praat (PraatCPPS), tilt, low-to high spectral band energies (L/H ratio), long-term average spectrum (LTAS) in FD group were lower than normal voice group. And the correlation among measured values ranged from -0.250 to 0.960. In ROC curve analysis, cutoff values of AVQIv2, AVQIv3, PraatCPPS, slope, tilt, L/H ratio, HAM, and LTAS were 3.270, 2.013, 13.838, -22.286, -9.754, 369.043, 27.912, and 34.523, respectively, and the AUC of each analysis was over .890 in AVQIv2, AVQIv3, and PraatCPPS, over 0.731 in HAM, tilt, and slope, over 0.605 in LTAS and L/H ratio. Conclusions : In conclusion, AVQI and CPPS showed the highest predictive power for distinguishing between normal and FD groups. Acoustic analyses and AP rating as noninvasive examination can reinforce the screening capability of FD and help to establish efficient diagnosis and treatment process plan for FD.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.9 no.10
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• pp.4250-4267
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• 2015

Although many revocable group signature schemes has been proposed in vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs), the existing schemes suffer from long computation delay on revocation that they cannot adapt to the dynamic VANETs. Based on Chinese remainder theorem and Schnorr signature algorithm, this paper proposes an efficient revocable group signature scheme in VANETs. In the proposed scheme, it only need to update the corresponding group public key when a member quits the group, and in the meanwhile the key pairs of unchanged group members are not influenced. Furthermore, this scheme can achieve privacy protection by making use of blind certificates. Before joining to the VANETs, users register at local trusted agencies (LTAs) with their ID cards to obtain blind certificates. The blind certificate will be submitted to road-side units (RSUs) to verify the legality of users. Thus, the real identities of users can be protected. In addition, if there is a dispute, users can combine to submit open applications to RSUs against a disputed member. And LTAs can determine the real identity of the disputed member. Moreover, since the key pairs employed by a user are different in different groups, attackers are not able to track the movement of users with the obtained public keys in a group. Furthermore, performance analysis shows that proposed scheme has less computation cost than existing schemes.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.733-751
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• 2007

The metis element method (Hung 1978) has been applied to analyse free edge interlaminar stresses and delamination in composite laminates, which are subjected to extension and bending. The paper recalls Lekhnitskii's solution for generalized plane strain state of composite laminate and Wang's singular solution for determination of stress singularity order and of eigen coefficients $C_m$ for delamination problem. Then the formulae of metis displacement finite element in two-dimensional problem are established. Computation of the stress intensity factors and the energy release rates are presented in details. The energy release rate, G, is computed by Irwin's virtual crack technique using metis elements. Finally, results of interlaminar stresses, the three stress intensity factors and the energy release rates for delamination crack in composite laminates under extension and bending are illustrated and compared with the literature to demonstrate the efficiency of the present method.