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The possibility of using a commercially available structural analysis program to predict the response of a floor system due to walking excitation as given in AISC Design Guide 11, Floor Vibrations Due to Human Activity (Murray, et al., 1997) was explored. This research included ideal floors that did not have measured values as well as several case study floors that do have measured values for the fundamental frequency. First, multiple model set-ups and loading protocols are applied to the ideal floors and the results compared to results from the Design Guide procedure. A recommendation of the best combination of a model set-up and loading protocol that best matches the Design Guide procedure results is made. Then, case study floors are modeled with the recommended model set-up and loading protocol, and the results compared to the results from the Design Guide procedure and to measured fundamental frequencies. The peak accelerations are also compared to subjective evaluations as to the acceptability of the system. Next, multiple systems were analyzed using five different modeling techniques, including the Design Guide Method, an alteration of the Design Guide Method, the Rayleigh Method, the Analytical Method, and the structural analysis program method, in an attempt to determine the source of discrepancies between the structural analysis program method and the Design Guide method. Finally, conclusions are drawn regarding the structural analysis program procedure as well as possible sources of differences. In general, the structural analysis program procedure reliably predicts the fundamental frequency of a floor system, but does not predict the Design Guide peak acceleration under dynamic loading. The difference in the effective mass of a system between the two methods is a source of discrepancy. / Master of Science

Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) is a condition caused by in-utero exposure to opioids, and its occurrence is increasing nationwide. NAS patients are newborns who can experience withdrawal symptoms including tremors, poor feeding, and respiratory distress. Presently, the Finnegan Scoring System, a subjective rating scale, is commonly used to judge the patient's condition and determine appropriate treatment methods. This project sought to develop a sensor system that is capable of objectively assessing symptoms of withdrawal, including tremors and high pitched cry. The system developed is composed of five wireless accelerometers, for attachment to a subject's limbs and chest, and an external microphone. The sensor system is targeted toward quantifying limb movements of the subject and recording audio information that includes samples of the subject's cry. The sensor system was used as part of a research study, and data was collected from recruited participants. A total of 29 out of 30 desired participants were enrolled and studied as part of the data collection process. Gathered data was analyzed using MATLAB, with motion data being searched for tremor activity in NAS participants, and cry samples searched for unique characteristics. Results generated indicate that detection of tremors was successful, and that the average fundamental frequency of cry differs between the NAS and non-NAS participants. Future considerations for this project include expanding to measure more symptoms, and system refinement to minimize the number of sensors. / Master of Science / Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) is a condition affecting newborns, caused by exposure to opioids before birth, and its occurrence is increasing nationwide. NAS patients are newborns who can experience withdrawal symptoms including tremors, poor feeding, and respiratory distress. Presently, the Finnegan Scoring System, a manual scoring method, is commonly used to judge the patient’s condition and determine appropriate treatment methods. This project sought to develop a sensor system that is capable of measuring symptoms of withdrawal, specifically tremors and high pitched cry. The system developed is composed of five wireless accelerometers, for attachment to a subject’s limbs and chest, and an external microphone. The sensor system is targeted toward quantifying limb movements of the subject and recording audio information that includes samples of the subject’s cry. The sensor system was used as part of a research study, and data was collected from recruited participants. A total of 29 out of 30 desired participants were enrolled and studied as part of the data collection process. Gathered data was analyzed using MATLAB, with motion data being searched for tremor activity in NAS participants, and cry samples searched for unique characteristics. Results generated indicate that detection of tremors was successful, and that the average cry for NAS participants was higher pitched than those of non-NAS participants. Future considerations for this project include expanding to measure more symptoms, and minimizing the number of sensors used. If successful, such a system could be used to assist medical personnel and continuously monitor NAS newborns.

This thesis deals with the analysis methods used to fundamental frequency detection and methods for changing the fundamental frequency of the audio signal containing vocals. It also explores general musical intonation theory. On the basis of this analysis, suitable methods are selected for the follow realization software fine-tuning vocal audio signal.

Viktiga aspekter av kommunikationen styrs från höger hjärnhalva, däribland emotionell prosodi. Forskningen inom detta område har dock hittills varit ganska begränsad. En aspekt, som inte undersökts än, är jämförelse av deltagarens egen och lyssnares skattning av röstens uttrycksfullhet. Syftet med studien vara att undersöka förmågan att uttrycka emotionell prosodi efter stroke i höger hemisfär. Deltagare var tre patienter med stroke i höger hemisfär samt tre kontrollpersoner utan neurologisk sjukdom/skada eller problem med tal eller röst. Sammansättningen i grupperna av deltagare med stroke respektive kontrollpersoner var likvärdig avseende kön, ålder, dialektområde och utbildningsnivå. Emotionell prosodi undersöktes genom flera metoder: akustisk analys av grundtonsvariation samt deltagarnas egen såväl som lyssnares skattning av röstens uttrycksfullhet. I resultaten framkommer tendenser, som indikerar en skillnad mellan deltagarna med stroke i höger hemisfär och kontrollpersonerna. För deltagarna med stroke sågs mindre grundtonsvariation och lägre skattningar av röstens uttrycksfullhet. Då deltagarantalet var litet, bör resultaten tolkas med försiktighet. De tendenser till skillnader mellan försöks- och kontrollpersonerna som ses i resultaten motiverar dock för vidare studier. / Important aspects of communication, including emotional prosody, are regulated from the right hemisphere. However, the research in the area of emotional prosody has so far been rather limited. One of the aspects that have not been examined yet is the comparison of the participant’s own rating of voice expression with ratings by listeners. The aim of the study was to assess expressive emotional prosody after right-hemisphere stroke. Participants were three patients with right-hemisphere stroke and three controls without neurological conditions or problems regarding speech or voice. The groups of participants with stroke and the controls were matched regarding sex, age, dialect and level of education. Emotional prosody was examined using multiple methods: acoustic analysis of variation in fundamental frequency and the participants’ own as well as listeners’ rating of voice expression. The results show tendencies that indicate a difference between the participants with right-hemisphere stroke and the controls. The participants with stroke showed smaller variations in fundamental frequency and lower ratings of voice expression. Due to the small sample size in the present study, results should be treated with caution. However, the tendencies shown in the results regarding differences between subjects and controls would justify further studies.

An Analytical Strip Method (ASM) for the analysis of stiffened and non-stiffened antisymmetric laminated composite plates is derived by considering the bending-extension coupling effect for bending, free vibration and buckling. A system of three equations of equilibrium, governing the general response of arbitrarily laminated composite plates, is reduced to a single eighth order partial differential equation in terms of a displacement function. The displacement function is solved in a single series form to determine the displacement, fundamental frequency, and buckling load of antisymmetric cross-ply and angle-ply laminated composite plates. The solution is applicable to rectangular plates with two opposite edges simply supported, while the other edges are simply supported, clamped, free, beam supported, or any combinations of these boundary conditions. This method overcomes the limitations of other analytical methods (Navier’s and Lévy’s), and provides an alternative to numerical, semi-numerical, and approximate methods of analysis. Numerical examples of bending, free vibration, and buckling of antisymmetric laminated composite plates are presented in tabular and graphical form. Whenever possible, the results of the present study are compared with those published in the literature and/or ANSYS solutions. The comparison firmly establishes that this method could be used for the analysis of antisymmetric laminated composite plates. Future research needs are identified for the aspects that have not been reached by the present study and others.

Digitized acoustical signals of Byzantine music performed by Iakovos Nafpliotis are used to extract the fundamental frequency of each note of the diatonic scale. These empirical results are then contrasted to the theoretical suggestions and previous empirical findings. Several parametric and non-parametric spectral parameter estimation methods are implemented. These include: (1) Phase vocoder method, (2) McAulay-Quatieri method, (3) Levinson-Durbin algorithm,(4) YIN, (5) Quinn & Fernandes Estimator, (6) Pisarenko Frequency Estimator, (7) MUltiple SIgnal Characterization (MUSIC) algorithm, (8) Periodogram method, (9) Quinn & Fernandes Filtered Periodogram, (10) Rife & Vincent Estimator, and (11) the Fourier transform. Algorithm performance was very precise. The psychophysical aspect of human pitch discrimination is explored. The results of eight (8) psychoacoustical experiments were used to determine the aural just noticeable difference (jnd) in pitch and deduce patterns utilized to customize acceptable performable pitch deviation to the application at hand. These customizations [Acceptable Performance Difference (a new measure of frequency differential acceptability), Perceptual Confidence Intervals (a new concept of confidence intervals based on psychophysical experiment rather than statistics of performance data), and one based purely on music-theoretical asymphony] are proposed, discussed, and used in interpretation of results. The results suggest that Nafpliotis' intervals are closer to just intonation than Byzantine theory (with minor exceptions), something not generally found in Thrasivoulos Stanitsas' data. Nafpliotis' perfect fifth is identical to the just intonation, even though he overstretches his octaveby fifteen (15)cents. His perfect fourth is also more just, as opposed to Stanitsas' fourth which is directionally opposite. Stanitsas' tendency to exaggerate the major third interval A4-F4 is still seen in Nafpliotis, but curbed. This is the only noteworthy departure from just intonation, with Nafpliotis being exactly Chrysanthian (the most exaggerated theoretical suggestion of all) and Stanitsas overstretching it even more than Nafpliotis and Chrysanth. Nafpliotis ascends in the second tetrachord more robustly diatonically than Stanitsas. The results are reported and interpreted within the framework of Acceptable Performance Differences.

Master of Science / Department of Civil Engineering / Hani G. Melhem / This study reports the results of an analytical, experimental and a numerical study (proof of concept study) on a proposed method for extracting the pseudo-free-vibration response of a structure using ambient vibration, usually of a random nature, as a source of excitation to detect any change in the dynamic properties of a structure that may be caused by damage. The structural response contains not only a random component but also a component reflecting the dynamic properties of the structure, comparable to the free vibration for a given initial condition. Structural response to the arbitrary excitation is recorded by one or several accelerometers with a desired data-collection frequency and resolution. The free-vibration response of the structure is then extracted from this data by removing the random component of the response by the method proposed in this study. The features of the free-vibration response of the structure extracted by a suitable method, namely Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) in this study, can be used for change detection. Possible change of the pattern of these features is dominantly linked to the change in dynamic properties of the system, caused by possible damage. To show the applicability of the concept, besides an analytical verification using Newmark’s linear acceleration method, two steel portal frames with different flexural stiffness were made in the steel workshop of the structural laboratory for an experimental study. These structures were also numerically modeled using a finite element software. A wireless accelerometer with a sampling frequency rate of 2046 Hz was affixed on the top of the physical structure, at the same location where the acceleration was recorded for the corresponding numerical model. The physical structure was excited manually by an arbitrary hit and the response of the structure to this excitation, in terms of the acceleration on the top of the structure, was recorded. The pseudo-free-vibration response was extracted and transferred into frequency domain using FFT. The frequency with the largest magnitude which is the fundamental frequency of the structure was traced. This was repeated for several independent excitations and the fundamental frequencies were observed to be the same, showing that the process can correctly identify the natural frequencies of the structure. Similarly, the numerical model was excited and for several base excitation cases, the fundamental frequencies were found to be the same. Considering the acceptable accuracy of the results from the two numerical models in simulating the response of their corresponding physical models, additional numerical models were analyzed to show the consistency and applicability of the proposed method for a range of flexural stiffness and damping ratio. The results confirm that the proposed method can precisely extract the pseudo-free-vibration response of the structures and detect the structural frequencies regardless of the excitation. The fundamental frequency is tied to the stiffness and a larger stiffness leads to a higher frequency, as expected, regardless of the simulated ambient excitation.

Garsų sintezavimas – tai procesas, kurio metu yra „gaminamas “ garsas, kuris šiandien turi būti kuo natūralesnis. Šiame baigiamajame darbe yra apžvelgiama garso samprata ir jo charakteristika: garso galia, dažnio sąvoka, fundamentalus dažnis ir harmonika, garsų tipai. Panaudojant adityvųjį garsų sintezės metodą aprašomi pianino natų sintezavimo tyrimai. Buvo sukurtas sintezavimo algoritmas, juo remiantis atlikti sintezavimo eksperimentai. Sintezavimo algoritmas buvo tobulinamas tiek, kad sintezuotos pianino natų gamos skambėjimas, beveik nesiskiria nuo tikrosios. / Sounds synthesis - a process which is "produced" sound. Nowadays this sound has to be the most natural. This research is an overview of the concept of sound and its characteristics: sound power, frequency concept, fundamental frequency and harmonics, sound types. Using additive synthesis as a fusion of sounds has described in the piano music synthesizing research. Synthesis algorithm has been developed, it is based on a synthesis experiments. Synthesis algorithm has been improved so that the synthesized piano notes ringing in range, almost no different from the real one.