Sound Source Localization Based on SRP-PHAT Spatial Spectrum and Deep Neural Network

Microphone array-based sound source localization(SSL)is a challenging task in adverse acoustic scenarios.To address this,a novel SSL algorithm based on deep neural network(DNN)using steered response power-phase transform(SRP-PHAT)spatial spectrum as input feature is presented in this paper.Since the SRP-PHAT spatial power spectrum contains spatial location information,it is adopted as the input feature for sound source localization.DNN is exploited to extract the efficient location information from SRP-PHAT spatial power spectrum due to its advantage on extracting high-level features.SRP-PHAT at each steering position within a frame is arranged into a vector,which is treated as DNN input.A DNN model which can map the SRP-PHAT spatial spectrum to the azimuth of sound source is learned from the training signals.The azimuth of sound source is estimated through trained DNN model from the testing signals.Experiment results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm significantly improves localization performance whether the training and testing condition setup are the same or not,and is more robust to noise and reverberation.

Speech Separation Algorithm Using Gated Recurrent Network Based on Microphone Array

Speech separation is an active research topic that plays an important role in numerous applications,such as speaker recognition,hearing pros-thesis,and autonomous robots.Many algorithms have been put forward to improve separation performance.However,speech separation in reverberant noisy environment is still a challenging task.To address this,a novel speech separation algorithm using gate recurrent unit(GRU)network based on microphone array has been proposed in this paper.The main aim of the proposed algorithm is to improve the separation performance and reduce the computational cost.The proposed algorithm extracts the sub-band steered response power-phase transform(SRP-PHAT)weighted by gammatone filter as the speech separation feature due to its discriminative and robust spatial position in formation.Since the GRU net work has the advantage of processing time series data with faster training speed and fewer training parameters,the GRU model is adopted to process the separation featuresof several sequential frames in the same sub-band to estimate the ideal Ratio Masking(IRM).The proposed algorithm decomposes the mixture signals into time-frequency(TF)units using gammatone filter bank in the frequency domain,and the target speech is reconstructed in the frequency domain by masking the mixture signal according to the estimated IRM.The operations of decomposing the mixture signal and reconstructing the target signal are completed in the frequency domain which can reduce the total computational cost.Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm realizes omnidirectional speech sep-aration in noisy and reverberant environments,provides good performance in terms of speech quality and intelligibility,and has the generalization capacity to reverberate.

Effects of Size and Microstructures on Infrared Spectra of Pyrolusites

Nanofibrous pyrolusite （β-MnO2） was synthesized. The particle shape changes from nanofibers to nanoparticles after grinding, and the phase structure does not change. The local environment around the central manganese ion has a slight change in nanoparticles related to nanofibers. Fourier transform infrared （FTIR） spectra showed that A2u mode frequency shifts from 514 cm-1 to 574 cm-1 to 617 cm-1 gradually while the particle shape and size change from long nanofibers to short fibers and to nanoparticles. The extra vibrational band that is unpredicted by factor group analysis originates from the contribution of A2u mode of the particles with different sizes and shapes in the studied sample. On the basis of Rietveld refinement analysis of XRD profiles and the FTIR spectra, we think that two kinds of MnO6 octahedral geometries, i.e., 4 long＋2 short and 4 short＋2 long, could exist in pyrolusites synthesized by different route. The maximum vibrational frequency in the FTIR spectra of pyrolusites is sensitive to these micro-structures. Assignment of four vibrational bands in the middle and far infrared region has been made.

Cell-Cycle-Dependent Variations in the FTIR Spectroscopy of HeLa Cells Treated with Trichostatin A

It is quite complex to evaluate the mechanism of action for antitumor drugs on cancer cells.Studies have pointed out that there is an unique advantage of Fourier transform infrared spectrum to obtain a fingerprint of all molecules present in the cells when cancer cells were exposed to anti-cancer drugs.Trichostatin A(TSA) is a most potent reversible inhibitor of mammalian histone deacetylases.It can inhibit cancer cell growth in vitro and in vivo.In the present study,HeLa cells were exposed to 0,50,100,200,300 and 400 nmol·L-1 TSA,and FTIR spectra were applied to evaluate the effect of TSA on cancer cells.Results show that there is some significant relationship between the changes in FTIR absorption and cell cycle arresting.On the other hand,this investigation shows that the concentration of TSA had to be more than 200 nmol·L-1 in order to ensure A1 080 cm-1/A1 540 cm-1≥1 for inhibiting cell proliferation.

Thermal aging behavior of high performance poly(vinyl alcohol) hydrogel

The thermal aging behavior of poly （ vinyl alcohol ） （ PVA ） hydrogel was studied at four different temperatures of 40 ℃, 50 ℃, 60 ℃ and 70 ℃ in one year. The samples of PVA hydrogel were closely covered by plastic film. The changes of their chemical structures and physical properties during aging were measured through different measurable techniques including tensile testing, gel permeation chromatography （ GPC ）, viscosity analysis, and Fourier transform infrared （FTIR） spec- trum. The results showed that the molecular weight of PVA in hydrogel changed little with time and temperature. FTIR spectra of PVA in all the samples were similar to those of the original samples. The tensile strength of PVA hydrogel didn＇t change until the 330th days.

AN IMPROVED ALGORITHM OF GMM VOICE CONVERSION SYSTEM BASED ON CHANGING THE TIME-SCALE

This paper improves and presents an advanced method of the voice conversion system based on Gaussian Mixture Models(GMM) models by changing the time-scale of speech.The Speech Transformation and Representation using Adaptive Interpolation of weiGHTed spectrum(STRAIGHT) model is adopted to extract the spectrum features,and the GMM models are trained to generate the conversion function.The spectrum features of a source speech will be converted by the conversion function.The time-scale of speech is changed by extracting the converted features and adding to the spectrum.The conversion voice was evaluated by subjective and objective measurements.The results confirm that the transformed speech not only approximates the characteristics of the target speaker,but also more natural and more intelligible.

Highly efficient photo-thermal synergistic catalysis of CO_(2)methanation over La_(1-x)Ce_(x)NiO_(3)perovskite-catalyst

Solar-driven photo-thermal catalytic CO_(2)methanation reaction is a promising technology to alleviate the problems posed by greenhouse gases emissions.However,designing advanced photo-thermal catalysts remains a research challenge for CO_(2)methanation reaction.In this work,a series of ABO3(A=lanthanide,B=transition metal)perovskite catalysts with Ce-substituted LaNiO3(La_(1-x)Ce_(x)NiO_(3),x=0,0.2,0.5,0.8,1)were synthesized for CO_(2)methanation.The La_(0.2)Ce_(0.8)NiO_(3) exhibited the highest CH_(4) formation rate of 258.9 mmol·g^(-1)·hcat-1,CO_(2)conversion of 55.4%and 97.2%CH_(4) selectivity at 300℃with the light intensity of 2.9 W·cm^(-2).Then the catalysts were thoroughly analyzed by physicochemical structure and optical properties characterizations.The partial substitution of the A-site provided more active sites for the adsorption and activation of CO_(2)/H_(2).The sources of the active sites were considered to be the oxygen vacancies(O_(v))created by lattice distortions due to different species of ions(La^(3+),Ce^(4+),Ce^(3+))and exsolved Ni0 by H_(2)reduction.The catalysts have excellent light absorption absorbance and low electron-hole(e^(-)/h^(+))recombination rate,which greatly contribute to the excellent performance in photo-thermal synergistic catalysis(PTC)CO_(2)methanation.The results of in situ irradiated electron paramagnetic resonance spectrometer(ISI-EPR)and ISI-X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS)indicated that the aggregation of unpaired electrons near the defects and Ni metal(from La and Ce ions to Ov and Ni0)accelerated adsorption and activation of CO_(2)/H_(2).At last,the catalyst properties and structure were correlated with the proposed reaction mechanism from the in situ diffuse reflection infrared Fourier transform spectrum(DRIFTS)measurements.The in situ precipitation of the B-site enhanced the dispersion of Ni,while its enriched photoelectrons upon illumination further promote hydrogen dissociation.More H^(*)spillover accelerated the rate-determining step(RDS)of HCOO*hydrogenation.This work provides the theoretical basis for the development of catalysts and industrial application.

Broadband photochromic effect and photoluminescence modulation in rare-earth-doped(Pb,La)(Zr,Ti)O3 ceramics

The broadband photochromic effect on undoped and rare-earth-doped lead lanthanum zirconate titanate(PLZT) ceramics was studied under the illumination of ultraviolet light at 360 nm. The photocarriers’ trapping and detrapping processes of thermal disconnected traps played the vital role in both darkening and bleaching processes. The interaction between photocarrier traps and rare-earth ion energy levels was demonstrated, which influenced the photochromatic darkening performance greatly. The transformation of photoluminescence spectra in Er3+-doped PLZT ceramics also improved the physical picture of the trap’s distribution of the materials.This work could be used to modulate the photoluminescence and lasing behavior.

Water-enhanced plastic deformation in felsic rocks

Using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FTIR),we measured water contents in quartz and feldspar for four kinds of felsic rocks,i.e.,undeformed granite,banded granitic gneiss,fine-grained felsic mylonite,and fine-grained quartz-mica schist,collected from Pengguan Complex and Kangding Complex in the Longmenshan tectonic zone,Sichuan,China.The absorbance spectra suggest that water in coarse-grained quartz and feldspar of undeformed granite and banded granitic gneiss occurs mainly as hydroxyl in crystal defects,and water in most of fine-grained quartz and feldspar of felsic mylonite is molecular water in inclusions and liquid-type water in grain boundaries,but in some cases it still occurs as hydroxyl in crystal defects.Water content of quartz in undeformed granite is 0.001 wt%-0.009 wt %,and that of feldspar 0.005 wt%-0.02 wt%.The banded granitic gneiss shows water contents of 0.002 wt%-0.011 wt% in quartz and 0.012 wt%-0.036 wt% in feldspar.Quartz ribbon and feldspar ribbon in fine-grained felsic mylonite show that their water contents are similar to those of coarse-grained quartz and feldspar in granite,0.002 wt%-0.011 wt%,and 0.004 wt%-0.02 wt%,respectively.Water contents of fine-grained quartz and feldspar are respectively 0.004 wt%-0.02 wt% and 0.012 wt%-0.06 wt%.Water content of quartz in fine-grained quartz-mica schist is 0.007 wt%-0.15 wt%.Water-bearing minerals display much higher water contents than those of nominally anhydrous minerals,and the percentage of water-bearing minerals in felsic rocks increases with the strain of rocks.These new data indicate that hydroxyl in crystal defects has basically not been released during the shear deformation,and on the contrary,the increase in molecular water in inclusions and liquid-type water in grain boundaries as well as water-bearing minerals after shear deformation leads to a significant increase of the water content in deformed rocks.Based on data of creep tests,it is inferred here that the fine-grained mylonites with more water have much lower strength than that of the weakly deformed coarse-grained rocks in the middle crust,and this indicates that trace amount of water significantly helped develop the ductile shear zone.

Chemical Liquid Phase Deposition of Thin Aluminum Oxide Films

Thin aluminum oxide films were deposited by a new and simple physicochemical method called chemical liquid phase deposition (CLD) on semiconductor materials. Aluminum sulfate with crystallized water and sodium bicarbonate were used as precursors for film growth, and the control of the system抯 pH value played an important role in this experiment. The growth rate is 12 nm/h with the deposition at [Al2(SO4)3]=0.0837 molL-1, [NaHCO3]=0.214 molL-1, 15 ℃. Post-growth annealing not only densifies and purifies the films, but results in film crystallization as well. Excellent quality of Al2O3 films in this work is supported by electron dispersion spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectrum, X-ray diffraction spectrum and scanning electron microscopy photograph.