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Purpose: Generalizations can be made about the order in which speech sounds are added to a child's phonemic inventory and the ways that child speech deviates from adult targets in a given language. Developmental and disordered speech patterns are presumed to reflect differences in both phonological knowledge and skilled motor control, but the relative contribution of motor control remains unknown. The ability to differentially control anterior versus posterior regions of the tongue increases with age, and thus, complexity of tongue shapes is believed to reflect an individual's capacity for skilled motor control of speech structures. Method: The current study explored the relationship between tongue complexity and phonemic development in children (ages 4-6 years) with and without speech sound disorder producing various phonemes. Using established metrics of tongue complexity derived from ultrasound images, we tested whether tongue complexity incrementally increased with age in typical development, whether tongue complexity differed between children with and without speech sound disorder, and whether tongue complexity differed based on perceptually rated accuracy (correct vs. incorrect) for late-developing phonemes in both diagnostic groups. Results: Contrary to hypothesis, age was not significantly associated with tongue complexity in our typical child sample, with the exception of one association between age and complexity of /t/ for one measure. Phoneme was a significant predictor of tongue complexity, and typically developing children had more complex tongue shapes for /r/ than children with speech sound disorder. Those /r/ tokens that were rated as perceptually correct had higher tongue complexity than the incorrect tokens, independent of diagnostic classification. Conclusions: Quantification of tongue complexity can provide a window into articulatory patterns characterizing children's speech development, including differences that are perceptually covert. With the increasing availability of ultrasound imaging, these measures could help identify individuals with a prominent motor component to their speech sound disorder and could help match those individuals with a corresponding motor-based treatment approach. Supplemental Material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha. 14880039, During the process of speech maturation, a child must acquire perceptual-phonological knowledge and articulatory-motor control. In the phonological domain, the child must learn which sounds are contrastive (in perception and [...]

Author(s): Ryuji Hirayama [sup.1] , Diego Martinez Plasencia [sup.1] , Nobuyuki Masuda [sup.2] , Sriram Subramanian [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) School of Engineering and Informatics, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK [...], Science-fiction movies portray volumetric systems that provide not only visual but also tactile and audible three-dimensional (3D) content. Displays based on swept-volume surfaces.sup.1,2, holography.sup.3, optophoretics.sup.4, plasmonics.sup.5 or lenticular lenslets.sup.6 can create 3D visual content without the need for glasses or additional instrumentation. However, they are slow, have limited persistence-of-vision capabilities and, most importantly, rely on operating principles that cannot produce tactile and auditive content as well. Here we present the multimodal acoustic trap display (MATD): a levitating volumetric display that can simultaneously deliver visual, auditory and tactile content, using acoustophoresis as the single operating principle. Our system traps a particle acoustically and illuminates it with red, green and blue light to control its colour as it quickly scans the display volume. Using time multiplexing with a secondary trap, amplitude modulation and phase minimization, the MATD delivers simultaneous auditive and tactile content. The system demonstrates particle speeds of up to 8.75 metres per second and 3.75 metres per second in the vertical and horizontal directions, respectively, offering particle manipulation capabilities superior to those of other optical or acoustic approaches demonstrated until now. In addition, our technique offers opportunities for non-contact, high-speed manipulation of matter, with applications in computational fabrication.sup.7 and biomedicine.sup.8. A volumetric display that can simultaneously deliver visual, tactile and auditory content is demonstrated.

50[B.sub.2][O.sub.3]-(50-x)Te[O.sub.2]-xCdO glass system, with x = 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 mol% have been prepared, to measure the longitudinal ultrasonic attenuation at frequencies of 2,4,6, and 14 MHz in the temperature range from 120 to 300 K. Well-defined broad peaks of the absorption curves were observed at different temperatures depending on the glass composition and the operating frequency. The maximum peaks shifted to higher temperatures with the increase of the operating frequency implying the presence of some kind of relaxation process. This process is suggested as due to the thermally activated relaxation process. The variation of the average activation energy of the process mainly depends on the CdO mol% content. Such dependence was analyzed in terms of the loss of standard linear solid type, with low dispersion and a broad distribution of Arrhenius type relaxation with temperature independent relaxation strength. The obtained acoustic activation energy values were quantitatively interpreted in terms of the number of loss centers (number of oxygen atoms that vibrate in the double well potential). Key words: boro-tellurate glasses, ultrasonic velocity, activation energy, deformation potential, thermal expansion coefficient. Nous preparons des verres 50[B.sub.2][O.sub.3]-(50-x)Te[O.sub.2]-xCdO, avec x = 0,10, 20, 30, 40 et 50 mol%, afin de mesurer l'attenuation ultrasonique longitudinale aux frequences de 2, 4, 6 et 14 MHz, dans un domaine de temperature entre 120 et 300 K. Nous observons des pics larges bien definis dans les courbes d'absorption a differentes temperatures, dependant de la composition du verre et de la frequence d'operation. Le maximum des pics se deplace a des temperatures plus elevees avec l'augmentation de la frequence d'operation, ce qui implique une sorte de processus de relaxation et suggere un mecanisme de relaxation active thermiquement. La variation de l'energie moyenne d'activation depend surtout du contenu en mol% de Cd. Une telle dependance est etudiee en termes de la perte du type solide lineaire standard, avec faible dispersion et une large distribution de relaxation de type Arrhenius et une force de relaxation independante de la temperature. Les valeurs d'energie d'activation acoustique sont interpretees quantitativement en fonction du nombre de centres perdus (nombre d'atomes d'oxygene qui vibrent dans le potentiel a deux centres). [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles : verres bore-tellurates, vitesse ultrasonique, energie d'activation, potentiel de deformation, coefficient d'expansion thermique., 1. Introduction Tellurite, borate, and boro-tellurite glasses have been widely investigated for their scientific interest and practical applications [1-5]. Borate glasses are known for having high thermal stability, high chemical [...]

2-Aminoacetophenone is known as the aroma impact compound responsible for untypical aging off-flavour (UTA) in Vitis vinifera wines. Wines showing this note described as acacia blossom, naphtalene note, furniture polish, [...], The unpleasant odor of an off-flavor is mostly caused by only one or, sometimes, several volatile compounds with very low odor threshold values giving the typical unpleasant odor taint of the spoiled food product. 2-Aminoacetophenone is an aroma compound which causes the untypical aging off-flavor in Vitis vinifera white wines. Ultrasound assisted headspace solid phase microextraction (UA-HS-SPME) and direct immersion solid phase microextraction (DI-SPME) coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) were tested and optimized for determination of 2-aminoacetophenone in Riesling wines fermented by different yeast strains. Keywords: Riesling wine, off-flavour, 2-aminoacetophenone, SPME, GC-MS DOI: 10.1134/S1061934815070102

It is known that calcium orthophosphate nanocrystals possess two properties essential for bone tissue physiology: they are in dynamic equilibrium with the biological environment in the resorption-mineralization cycle, and their [...], A set of analytical techniques is proposed for studying samples of calcium hydroxyapatite (HA) synthesized on the basis of calcium nitrate or calcium hydroxide as precursors. A comparative study of particle size distribution in HA samples is performed using capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dynamic light scattering (DS), and static light scattering (SS). The effect of heat treatment on the morphology of the synthesized products is evaluated. It is found that the effect of ultrasound (US) on the dispersity of HA particles in aqueous suspensions depends on the nature of the precursor and heat treatment. It is shown that the HA particles synthesized from calcium hydroxide (HA-OH) aggregate more rapidly than the particles synthesized from calcium nitrate (HA-N[O.sub.3]). After the ultrasonic treatment of suspensions, the relative concentration of large HA-N[O.sub.3] submicroparticles increased, while particle size distribution in the suspension of HA-OH remained virtually the same. The heat treatment of HA powders at 900°C reduced the ability of particles to aggregate. It is found by CZE that, with increasing time of ultrasonication of suspensions, the relative concentration of nanoscaled and similar in size HA-N[O.sub.3] submicroparticles increased markedly, while it changed only slightly in the HA-OH suspension. The reasons for the differences are discussed. A procedure for determining the concentration of HA submicroparticles in suspension by CZE is proposed. A linear dependence of normalized peak areas on HA concentration in suspension is obtained. Keywords: calcium hydroxyapatite, ultrasound, capillary zone electrophoresis, scanning electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, static light scattering DOI: 10.1134/S1061934815050032

Composites have been prepared from devulcanized waste ethylene propylene diene monomer (W-EPDM) rubber by blending with low-density polyethylene (LDPE) in a twin-screw extruder. W-EPDM was treated separately by optimized microwave and ultrasonic radiation. Effect of compatibilizer such as ethylene octane elastomeric copolymer (POE) on the enhancement of mechanical properties of composites was also studied in addition to the radiation treatment. The enhancement of tensile strength (TS) and elongation at break of composite with microwave-treated W-EPDM were increased up to 41% and 62%. Corresponding values were found 44% and 68% for ultrasonic treatment. Higher amount of energy during microwave treatment induced larger and localized cavity formation on the surface of composite results reduction of TS as confirmed from surface morphology study. On the contrary, encapsulation effect of POE only found to be useful to enhance TS of the composites up to 30% with untreated W-EPDM and LDPE. No significant additional strength increase over microwave and ultrasound treatment was found upon using POE. The encapsulation effect of POE disappeared when radiation was applied. FTIR and DMA study revealed the existence of only physical interaction upon microwave and ultrasound treatment. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 55:533-540, 2015., INTRODUCTION As a consequence of rapid growth of rubber-based industries, the amount of waste rubber components has also been increasing since the last few years. The systematic recycling of large [...]

Residual speech sound errors (RSSEs) are a subtype of speech sound disorder in which sounds remain in error beyond the typical age of acquisition (i.e., beyond 8-9 years of age; [...], Purpose: The goals were to (a) test the efficacy of a motor-learning-based treatment that includes ultrasound visual feedback for individuals with residual speech sound errors and (b) explore whether the addition of prosodic cueing facilitates speech sound learning. Method: A multiple-baseline, single-subject design was used, replicated across 8 participants. For each participant, 1 sound context was treated with ultrasound plus prosodic cueing for 7 sessions, and another sound context was treated with ultrasound but without prosodic cueing for 7 sessions. Sessions included ultrasound visual feedback as well as non-ultrasound treatment. Word-level probes assessing untreated words were used to evaluate retention and generalization. Results: For most participants, increases in accuracy of target sound contexts at the word level were observed with the treatment program regardless of whether prosodic cueing was included. Generalization between onset singletons and clusters was observed, as was generalization to sentence-level accuracy. There was evidence of retention during posttreatment probes, including at a 2-month follow-up. Conclusion: A motor-based treatment program that includes ultrasound visual feedback can facilitate learning of speech sounds in individuals with residual speech sound errors.

This study is carried out on the effect of processing conditions including preparation methods, ultrasonication, film thickness, and thermal annealing on the thermal, mechanical, and piezoelectric properties of copolymer of poly(vinylidene difluoride-trifluoroethylene) (P(VDF-TrFE)J. Free-standing films and films on substrates are prepared by solvent casting and spincoating, respectively. The results obtained by differential scanning calorimetry show that the Curie transition of the copolymer films was influenced by the preparation methods, with very little difference in the melting transition. The difference was attributed to a less uniform distribution of TrFE comonomer units within the crystalline and amorphous regions of the spin-coating films. However, no effect of the preparation methods on the piezoelectric properties of the films was observed. It is also found that the short ultrasonication, film thickness higher than critical value of crystallization of P(VDF-TrFE) (about 100 nm), and drying before annealing did not have a significant effect on the properties of the films. Surprisingly, the ultrasonication had a clear impact on the relaxations at high temperature of the polymer chains. In addition, this study indicates that a short annealing by 10 min at 140°C was enough to obtain well-crystallized films, which is interesting from the industrial point of view., INTRODUCTION Since the discovery of its strong piezoelectric activity in 1969 by Kawai [1], poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and its copolymers, in particular the copolymers of vinylidene difluoride and trifluoroethylene P(VDF-TrFE) [...]

In this work, the effect of processing conditions on the production of an intumescent flame-retardant system is studied in polypropylene-based compounds. Two distinct procedures were used: ultrasonic assisted single screw (with a static mixer die) and twin screw extrusion. The flame-retardant, thermal, mechanical, morphological, and rheological properties were measured. It was found that the flame-retardant intumescent content can be diminished from 30 phr (as usually used) to 21 phr using the application of ultrasonic waves during extrusion and with the addition of chemically modified clay to obtain a VO classification according to UL94-V standards. In addition, the processed materials presented improvements in the mechanical properties such as impact resistance (Izod Notched), strain at break and tenacity upon ultrasound application. The online application of ultrasound through a die that produces extensional flows improved greatly the dispersion and distribution of the particles of the intumescent system and the chemically modified clay in the polymer matrix. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 53:2018-2026, 2013. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers, INTRODUCTION Intumescent systems have been widely studied due to their effectiveness as flame-retardant additives. (1-3). These systems have been formulated with various polymers, such as PU, EVA, SBR, PE, LDPE, [...]

The reaction of maleic anhydride (MAH) grafted onto propylene-based copolymer (DP) without adding any initiator was conducted through ultrasound assisted extrusion in this article. The effects of ultrasound power, die temperature, and MAH content on the grafting degree and efficiency were studied. With increasing ultrasound power, the grafting degree and efficiency of DP-g-MAH increase. The presence of ultrasound with higher power and lower die temperature is beneficial to increase the grafting degree and efficiency. The increase of MAH content can increase the grafting degree but reduce the grafting efficiency. Based on the results of melt flow index, dynamical ideological, gel permeation chromatograph (GPC), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) tests, the mechanisms of the grafting reaction were proposed. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 52:51&-524, 2012. © 2011 Society of Plastics Engineers, INTRODUCTION As one general way to polarize polyolefin (PO), maleic anhydride (MAH) is grafted onto macromolecular chains of PO in solid (1), (2), solution (3), (4), or melt (5-13), PO [...]

The high density polyethylene (HDPE) and polyamide 6 (PA6) blend melts with a droplet-matrix microstructure were investigated using ultrasonic diagnosis system. The blend composition, as well as the particle size of the dispersed PA6 phase controlled by adding various amounts of the reactive compatibilizer HDPE grafted with maleic anhydride (HDPE-g-MAH), was, respectively, correlated with the ultrasonic velocity and attenuation. The results showed that ultrasonic velocity was insensitive to the particle size but varied linearly with the blend composition. However, the decrease of ultrasonic attenuation with the increasing content of HDPE-g-MAH suggested that the attenuation depended greatly on the particle size. Further investigations revealed that there was a good linear relationship between the excess attenuation and the size of the dispersed phase. Our results present that ultrasonic technique may be served as a promising technique for exploring phase morphology of polymer blends during processing. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 52:338-345, 2012. ©2011 Society of Plastics Engineers, INTRODUCTION The phase morphology of multiphase polymer blends, as well as its evolution, is a basic issue in polymer processing area (1). The size, shape, spatial distribution, and time evolution [...]

Ultrasonic atomization was conducted using 2.4 MHz ultrasound generator to produce polymeric particles from the solutions of water-soluble polymers like poly (ethylene oxide) (PEO), poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), and poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP). In the series of solutions containing these polymers of various molecular weights, the shear viscosity and surface tension were varied; such differences, however, could not account for the observed trends in the atomization behavior. It was found that the availability of droplet formation and size of the droplets depend strongly on the extensional characteristics of polymer solutions along with the apparent extensional viscosities and the longest relaxation times. The extensional properties of polymer solutions were effectively measured by capillary breakup extensional rheometry (CaBER) and provided a rational basis to understand the essential role of fluid viscoelasticity in ultrasonic atomization. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 51:2446-2452, 2011. ©2011 Society of Plastics Engineers, INTRODUCTION Ultrasonic atomization is a useful way to produce fine droplets ranging from a few microns to submicrons depending on the mechanical construction of atomizers and physicochemical properties of the [...]

Ultrasonic velocity measurements have previously proven valuable in measuring the development of stiffness of cement mixtures. We have successfully applied this technique to 'cemented paste backfill' (CPB), an engineered mine backfill material having significantly higher void ratio and lower binder content than conventional mortars and concretes. The development of P- and S-waves was measured for samples containing 3% and 5% Portland cement, for a 1 week period after mixing. Two sets of samples were tested; one stored in air and one submerged in water. For the air-dried samples, a declination in P-wave velocity was seen due to moisture loss, followed by a small increase in velocity due to continued cement hydration. The submerged samples showed constant P-wave velocity. The S-wave velocity increased for both sets of samples, showing greater increase for the air-dried samples, which reflects the effect of the suction developed on stiffness. However, the effect of binder content variation on stiffness is less significant in air-drying CPB than in submerged CPB. The results compare well with the trends reported for hydrating materials as well as natural soils, suggesting that ultrasonic wave measurements can be used as a nondestructive test to be correlated with other forms of laboratory testing. Key words: cemented paste backfill, ultrasonic, wave velocity, hydration, self-desiccation. Les mesures de vitesse ultrasoniques ont prouve leur utilite pour la mesure de la rigidite de melanges de ciment. Nous avons applique cette technique au 'remblai cimente en pate', un materiau de remblayage minier qui comporte un indice des vides plus eleve et un contenu en liant plus faible que les mortiers et betons conventionnels. Le developpement des ondes P et S a ete mesure pour des echantillons ayant 3 % et 5 % de ciment Portland, et ce, pendant une periode d'une semaine suivant le melange. Deux series d'echantillons ont ete testees : une serie d'echantillons conserves a l'air et une serie d'echantillons submerges dans l'eau. Pour les echantillons seches a l'air, une diminution de la vitesse des ondes P a ete observee en raison de la perte d'humidite, suivie par une faible augmentation de la vitesse due a la poursuite de l'hydratation du ciment. Les echantillons submerges ont presente une vitesse constante des ondes P. La vitesse des ondes S a augmente pour les deux series d'echantillons, avec une augmentation plus elevee pour les echantillons seches a l'air, ce qui demontre l'impact de la succion developpee sur la rigidite. Cependant, l'effet de la variation du contenu en liant sur la rigidite est moins significatif pour les RCP seches a l'air que pour les RCP submerges. Les resultats se comparent bien avec les tendances rapportees pour les materiaux hydratants ainsi que pour les sols naturels, ce qui suggere que les mesures de vitesse des ondes ultrasoniques peuvent etre utilisees comme essai non destructif pouvant etre correle aux autres types d'essais en laboratoire. Mots-cles : remblai cimente en pate, ultrasonique, vitesse des ondes, hydratation, dessiccation. [Traduit par la Redaction], Introduction The use of cemented paste backfill (CPB) in the mining industry has increased over the past two decades. The CPB is the result of mixing mine tailings, which is [...]

The application of intense ultrasound to a liquid-gas interface results in the formation of an ultrasonic fountain and generates both mist and vapor from the liquid. Here, the composition of the vapor and aerosol above an ultrasonic fountain is determined as a function of irradiation time and compared with the results of sparging for five different solutions. The experimental apparatus for determining the efficiency of separation consists of a glass vessel containing a piezoelectric transducer driven at either 1.65 or 2.40 MHz. Dry nitrogen is passed over the ultrasonic fountain to remove the vapor and aerosol. The composition of the liquid solutions are recorded as a function of irradiation time using gas chromatography, refractive index measurement, nuclear magnetic resonance, or spectrophotometry. Data are presented for ethanol-water and ethyl acetate-ethanol solutions, cobalt chloride in water, colloidal silica, and colloidal gold. The experiments show that ultrasonic distillation produces separations that are somewhat less complete than what is obtained using sparging. 10.1021/ac102057g

Characterization of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) systems using ex vivo tissues is an important part of the preclinical testing for new HIFU devices. In ex vivo characterization, the lesion volume produced by the absorption of HIFU energy is quantified as operational parameters are varied. This paper examines the three methods used for lesion-volume quantification: histology, magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, and numerical calculations. The methods were studied in the context of a clinically relevant problem for HIFU procedures--that of quantifying the change in the lesion volume with changing sonication time. The lesion volumes of sonicated samples of porcine liver were determined using the three methods, at focal intensities ranging from 800 W/[cm.sup.2] to 1700 W/[cm.sup.2] and sonication times between 20 s and 40 s. It was found that histology consistently yielded lower lesion volumes than the other two methods, and the calculated values were below magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at high applied energies. Still the three methods agreed with each other to within a [+ or -] 10% difference for all of the experiments. Increasing the sonication time produced much larger changes in the lesion volume than increasing the acoustic intensity, for the same total energy expenditure, at lower energy (less than 1000 J) levels. At higher energy levels, (around 1500 J), increasing the sonication time and increasing the intensity produced roughly the same change in the lesion volume for the same total energy expenditure. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4001739] Keywords: HIFU, MRL lesion size, sonication time, histology

Author(s): Ayse Agbas [sup.1] , Bagdagül Aksu [sup.1] , Güzide Dogan [sup.2] , Türkan Ikizceli [sup.3] , Hatice Nilgün Duru Selçuk [sup.4] , Murat Elevli [sup.4] Author Affiliations: (Aff1) Department [...]