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In this article, a novel and simple design procedure for multibit chipless radio frequency identification (RFID) tags is introduced, which is based on the characteristics of dual-mode loop resonator (DMLR) and open-loop resonator (OLR). By removing a small patch element from the symmetry axis of the DMLR, a simple geometrical transition to an OLR to obtain different frequency codes can be achieved. Since the DMLR and OLR provide dual- and single-resonant frequencies, three different frequency codes can be observed using one resonator. Thus, 3 ${N}$ codes can be performed by coupling N resonators to input/output (I/O) ports. Even-odd mode analysis over the coupling mechanism of a single resonator is provided to characterize the frequency responses of the proposed resonators. To prove the proposed approach, two multiresonator circuits having four resonators were fabricated and tested in a good agreement. In the test environment, two horn antennas and a vector network analyzer have been utilized as transmitter and reader. Next, in order to achieve size reduction, meandered resonators are utilized instead of conventional DMLR and OLR. Based on these resonators, two RFID tags, including wideband monopole antennas integrated into the seven-resonator circuits on the same board, were also fabricated and tested.

This article contributes to the studies of sound symbolism, systematic relationships between sounds and meanings. Specifically, we build on a series of studies conducted within a research paradigm called “Pokémonastics,” which uses the Pokémon universe to explore sound symbolic patterns. Inspired by a study of existing English Pokémon names, two experiments were conducted in which English speakers were provided with pairs of pre-evolution and post-evolution Pokémon characters, the latter of which were larger. The participants were given two name choices whose members were systematically different in some phonological properties. The results show the following sound symbolic patterns to be productive: (1) names with higher segment counts are more likely to be associated with post-evolution characters than names with lower segment counts, (2) names containing [a] are more likely to be associated with post-evolution characters than names containing [i], (3) names containing [u] are more likely to be associated with post-evolution characters than names containing [i], and (4) names containing coronal consonants are more likely to be associated with post-evolution characters than names containing labial consonants. Overall, the current results suggest that phonological considerations come into play when English speakers name new fictional creatures. Implications of the current results for the theories of sound symbolism are discussed throughout the paper.

This contribution is aimed to show that careful ionospheric modelling can enhance the single-frequency code single point positioning (SPP) performance for both kinematic and static scenarios. Atten...

The widely cited frequency code hypothesis attempts to explain a diverse range of communicative phenomena through the acoustic projection of body size. The set of phenomena includes size sound symbolism (using /i/ to signal smallness in words such asteeny), intonational phonology (using rising contours to signal questions) and the indexing of social relations via vocal modulation, such as lowering one's voice pitch to signal dominance. Among other things, the frequency code is commonly interpreted to suggest that polite speech should be universally signalled via high pitch owing to the association of high pitch with small size and submissiveness. We present a cross-cultural meta-analysis of polite speech of 101 speakers from seven different languages. While we find evidence for cross-cultural variation, voice pitch is on average lower when speakers speak politely, contrary to what the frequency code predicts. We interpret our findings in the light of the fact that pitch has a multiplicity of possible communicative meanings. Cultural and contextual variation determines which specific meanings become manifest in a specific interactional context. We use the evidence from our meta-analysis to propose an updated view of the frequency code hypothesis that is based on the existence of many-to-many mappings between speech acoustics and communicative interpretations.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Voice modulation: from origin and mechanism to social impact (Part I)’.

Experimental and cross-linguistic evidence suggests that certain speech sounds are associated with size, especially high front vowels with ‘small’ and low back vowels with ‘large’. However, empirical evidence that speech sounds are statistically associated with magnitude across words within a language has been mixed and open to methodological critique. Here, we used a random-forest analysis of a near-exhaustive set of English size adjectives (e.g.,tiny, gargantuan) to determine whether the English lexicon is characterized by size-symbolic patterns. We show that sound structure is highly predictive of semantic size in size adjectives, most strongly for the phonemes /ɪ/, /i/, /ɑ/, and /t/. In comparison, an analysis of a much larger set of more than 2,500 general vocabulary words rated for size finds no evidence for size sound symbolism, thereby suggesting that size sound symbolism is restricted to size adjectives. Our findings are the first demonstration that size sound symbolism is a statistical property of the English lexicon.

This paper presents a case study of sound symbolism, cases in which certain sounds tend to be associated with particular meanings. We used the corpus of all Japanese Pokémon names available as of October 2016. We tested the effects of voiced obstruents, mora counts, and vowel quality on Pokémon characters' size, weight, strength parameters, and evolution levels. We found that the number of voiced obstruents in Pokémon names correlates positively with size, weight, evolution levels, and general strength parameters, except for speed. We argue that this result is compatible with the frequency code hypothesis of Ohala. The number of moras in Pokémon names correlates positively with size, weight, evolution levels, and all strength parameters. Vowel height is also shown to have an influence on size and weight - Pokémon characters with initial high vowels tend to be smaller and lighter, although the effect size is not very large. Not only does this paper offer a new case study of sound symbolism, it provides evidence that sound symbolism is at work when naming proper nouns.

This study evaluated a new smartphone-based program to support independent leisure and communication activities in five participants with mild to moderate intellectual disability, visual and/or motor impairments, and poor speech. The new program relied on the use of two Samsung Galaxy A3 smartphone devices with Android 5.1 operating system. The participants placed mini objects or pictures fitted with special frequency code labels on one of the two smartphones to make their activity requests. This smartphone was able to read the labels and verbalize the related requests. Such verbalizations (a) triggered the S-voice of the second smartphone and (b) opened the corresponding leisure activity files or telephone contacts for the participants. All participants learned to use the new program. Their mean cumulative percentages of session time spent engaging with independently accessed leisure and communication activities ranged from about 80 to about 90 with the program while being zero without the program. These results indicate that the new smartphone-based program may be an effective resource for people with multiple disabilities.

We tested the influence of perceptual features on semantic associations between the acoustic characteristics of vowels and the notion of size. To this end, we designed an experiment in which we manipulated size on two dissociable levels: the physical size of the pictures presented during the experiment (perceptual level) and the implied size of the objects depicted in the pictures (semantic level). Participants performed an Implicit Association Test in which the pictures of small objects were larger than those of large objects – that is, the actual size ratio on the semantic level was inverted on the perceptual level. Our results suggest that participants matched visual and acoustic stimuli in accordance with the content of the pictures (i.e., the inferred size of the depicted object), whereas directly perceivable features (i.e., the physical size of the picture) had only a marginal influence on participants’ performance. Moreover, as the experiment has been conducted at two different sites (Japan and Germany), the results also suggest that the participants’ cultural background or mother tongue had only a negligible influence on the effect. Our results, therefore, support the assumption that associations across sensory modalities can be motivated by the semantic interpretation of presemantic stimuli.

There is accumulating evidence that, from bacteria to mammalian cells, messenger RNAs (mRNAs) are produced in intermittent bursts – a much ‘noisier’ process than traditionally thought. Based on quantitative measurements at individual promoters, diverse phenomenological models have been proposed for transcriptional bursting. Nevertheless, the underlying molecular mechanisms and significance for cellular signalling remain elusive. Here, we review recent progress, address the above issues and illuminate our viewpoints with simulation results. Despite being widely used in modelling and in interpreting experimental data, the traditional two‐state model is far from adequate to describe or infer the molecular basis and stochastic principles of transcription. In bacteria, DNA supercoiling contributes to the bursting of those genes that express at high levels and are topologically constrained in short loops; moreover, low‐affinity cis‐regulatory elements and unstable protein complexes can play a key role in transcriptional regulation. Integrating data on the architecture, kinetics, and transcriptional input–output function is a promising approach to uncovering the underlying dynamic mechanism. For eukaryotes, distinct bursting features described by the multi‐scale and continuum models coincide with those predicted by four theoretically derived principles that govern how the transcription apparatus operates dynamically. This consistency suggests a unified framework for comprehending bursting dynamics at the level of the structural and kinetic basis of transcription. Moreover, the existing models can be unified by a generic model. Remarkably, transcriptional bursting enables regulatory information to be transmitted in a digital manner, with the burst frequency representing the strength of regulatory signals. Such a mode guarantees high fidelity for precise transcriptional regulation and also provides sufficient randomness for realizing cellular heterogeneity.

Resumo: Este trabalho descreve e analisa um corpus de 17 atitudes prosodicas produzido por 21 falantes do portugues do Brasil (PB). A interpretacao dada a essas atitudes baseia-se em um experimento de escolha livre (free-labelling) do qual participaram 22 ouvintes brasileiros. O agrupamento das diferentes expressoes obtidas no experimento e relacionado aos parâmetros acusticos da prosodia (F0 , intensidade, duracao), e sua interpretacao e feita com base na literatura sobre a manifestacao da expressividade na fala e nas teorias do uso simbolico da voz em interacoes (codigo da frequencia, de Ohala, e codigo do esforco, de Gussenhoven). Os resultados mostram que as principais dimensoes de sentido identificadas pelos ouvintes podem ser reagrupadas em tres grandes categorias: valencia positiva, expressoes assertivas e expressoes dubitativas, dimensoes que se correlacionam com as medidas acusticas. Palavras-chave: prosodia; free-labelling; dimensoes de sentido; medidas acusticas. Abstract: This work presents a description and an analysis of an attitudinal corpus recorded in Brazilian Portuguese by 21 speakers. The interpretation of their performances across 17 situations, by L1 speakers of Brazilian Portuguese, is studied thanks to a free-labelling experiment. The grouping of expressions is then related to acoustic parameters of prosody. The interpretation of these descriptions is done in the light of literature on expression of affect in voice, and theories of symbolic use of voice in spoken interactions (Ohala’s Frequency Code, and Gussenhoven’s Effort Code). Results show that the main dimensions of meaning retrieved by the listeners may be summarized as: positive valence, assertive and dubitative expressions. These dimensions do correlate with the acoustical measures. Keywords: prosody; free-labelling; dimensions of meaning; acoustic measures.

Differential ionospheric slant delays are obtained from a quiet-time, three-dimensional ionospheric electron density model, called the TaiWan Ionosphere Model (TWIM), to be used in code-based differential GPS positioning. The code observations are acquired from nine continuously operating GPS stations around Taiwan whose baseline ranged from 19 to 340 km. Daily 24-hour epoch-per-epoch positioning obtained for 70 most geomagnetic quiet days (2008---2010) for each of the 72 baselines. The performance of TWIM has been compared with the standard operational Klobuchar model (KLB) used by typical single-frequency receivers and the IGS global ionospheric model (GIM). Generally, TWIM performed well in reducing the differential ionospheric delay especially for long baselines and different levels of low solar activity. It has a much better performance compared to the operational KLB model. TWIM also performed similarly with GIM, though GIM has the best performance overall. GIM has the best ionospheric gradient estimates among the three models whose differential ionospheric delay-to-horizontal error ratio is more than 0.25. This is followed closely by TWIM with about 0.20. KLB only has a ratio of

In this exploratory sociophonetic study, we investigated the properties of formal and informal speech registers in Korean. We found that in formal speech, Korean male and female speakers lowered their average fundamental frequency and pitch range. The acoustic signal furthermore exhibited overall less variability, as evidenced by decreased fundamental frequency and intensity standard deviations, and decreased period and amplitude perturbations. Differences in speech registers affected Harmonics-toNoise-ratio and the difference between the first and second harmonic as well, suggesting breathinessrelated changes, and the speech was slower and included more non-lexical fillers such as ah and oh. Unexpectedly, formality also affected breathing patterns, leading to a noticeable increase in the amount of loud ‘‘hissing’’ breath intakes in formal speech. We thus show that a variety of different means of vocal expression play a role in signaling formality in Korean. Further, we outline the implications of this study for phonetic theory and discuss our results with respect to the Frequency Code and research on clear speech. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

The structural flowchart of an intelligent four-channel frequency–code converter, its functions, and its technical characteristics are considered. A self-diagnostics algorithm is proposed.

In this letter, we propose a simple distributed space-frequency code with both timing errors and multiple carrier frequency offsets (CFO) in asynchronous cooperative communications. By employing both the Alamouti coding approach and the transmit repetition diversity technique, full diversity gain can be achieved by the fast symbol-wise maximum likelihood (ML) decoding at the destination node. Analysis and simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Variations of the Craik-O'Brien, Müller-Lyer, reversed Müller-Lyer, orthogonal Müller-Lyer, and Ponzo illusions were created using 10 to 12 parallel lines. 20 participants judged which of two physically equal lines in the patterns appeared longer. For 4 of the 5 patterns, the parallel lines created illusions which corresponded to those produced by the template figures. The results suggest that length is encoded by frequency of neural response and that the parallel line illusions, as well as their classical counterparts, emerge from interactions which distort this frequency code.

We present results of a classification improvement approach for a code–modulated visual evoked potential (cVEP) based brain–computer interface (BCI) paradigm using four high–frequency flashing stimuli. Previously published research reports presented successful BCI applications of canonical correlation analysis (CCA) to steady–state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) BCIs. Our team already previously proposed the combined CCA and cVEP techniques’ BCI paradigm. The currently reported study presents the further enhanced results using a support vector machine (SVM) method in application to the cVEP–based BCI.

A smart three-channel frequency-code converter with enhanced survivability is discussed. Self diagnostics and self calibration of the converter are performed without interruption of ongoing conversions.

In this article, two hypotheses were tested to explain attitudinal ratings like SURPRISE, SUGGESTION, REMINDER etc. of four rising nuclear contours observed in a Dutch question corpus and described as (a) H*L H%, (b) H* H%, (c) L*H H% and (d) L* H%. According to one hypothesis, the middle tones in (a) and (c) should be parcelled out, such that their absence produces contours (b) and (d), respectively, predicting communality of meaning within (a, c) that excludes (b, d). That is, (b, d) could be viewed as undershot variants of (a, c), with undershoot expressing a shade of meaning different from that of the fully realised pitch accents. This hypothesis was not confirmed by the data, though. The other hypothesis was based on the concept of the ‘frequency code’, which associ ates high/rising F₀ values with non-assertive behaviour and appeared to provide a much better model to predict listeners’ ratings.

This study investigated how phonological knowledge and psychoacoustic mechanism interact in intonation perception. In the experiment, Mandarin and Cantonese listeners identified Mandarin statement and question in both unfiltered and lowpass filtered contexts. The results show that the importance of different perceptual factors varies depending on the perception materials. Language background plays an important role even in processing low-level psychoacoustic materials. Index Terms: cross-linguistic perception, intonation, Mandarin, the Frequency Code

In previous papers (Smythies et al., 2012, 2014) we presented the general hypothesis that the claustrum may be concerned with information processing operations on synchronized gamma oscillations in the brain at three levels. At the first level (subhypothesis 1) it just magnifies the oscillations in cortico-claustral circuits. At the second level (subhypothesis 2) it may integrate these oscillations. At the third level (subhypothesis 3) it might process the contained spike codes. These previous papers were concentrated upon the first level. In this paper we will review arguments that both subhypotheses 2 and 3 are, at present, unsatisfactory. Subhypothesis 1, however, remains satisfactory. The claustrum consists of a body of densely interconnected P (pyramidal) cells and GABAergic interneurons (INs) arranged in a sheet of gray matter underlying the insula in the basal telencephalon of the mammalian brain. These cells are arranged in functional units, each of which is connected with a particular cortical or subcortical area with which the claustrum maintains reciprocal relationships, which encompass practically every such area. There is evidence that it is particularly concerned with salient activities requiring integration between two or more of these areas [see Smythies et al. (2012, 2014), for details]. One structurally facilitative feature of this anatomy is that the claustrum has a number of afferents/efferents along a topographical spectrum. There are well-defined arrays of visual-, auditory-, and somatosensory-associated zones (or “maps”), plus extensive limbic connections with the ventral claustrum. To the extent studied, individual P cells have been shown to receive a (mostly) modality-specific input. For example, visual zone neurons respond (almost) exclusively to visual stimuli, auditory neurons respond (almost) exclusively to auditory stimuli, etc. (Remedios et al., 2010). The afferent glutamatergic axons of cortical layer VI P cells densely synapse on claustral P cells. In turn, these claustral P cells reciprocate by sending efferents back to the very same cortical area from which their afferent input originated. It has been demonstrated that some claustral P cells have bifurcated axonal projections to different cortical areas. Of particular significance is that claustral P cells also maintain direct contact with claustral GABAergic INs via local collaterals forming a dense axonal array. The INs quite likely form an interactive gap-junction syncytium. This structure entails that the afferent inflow to the claustrum will carry multiple impulses with different power spectra and synchronized at different frequencies that will have ample opportunity to interact in complex ways within the densely packed amorphous syncytium that constitutes the interior of the claustrum. The results of these interactions, in the form of processed and integrated information, might then be transported to selected areas of the brain via the efferent network. The question that we will address now is what is the validity of subhypotheses 2 and 3.

ARCHAEOPTERYX is a physical optics/physical theory of diffraction (PO/PTD)-based code for predicting the radar cross section (RCS) of complex targets. In this paper, the porting of such a code on a parallel virtual machine Beowulf cluster is presented and the speed-up results discussed. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 45: 397–399, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.20834