Acoustic Measurements Through the Life Span: Jitter, Shimmer, and Standard Deviation of Fundamental Frequency.

Objective: To verify changes in acoustic parameters, namely jitter, shimmer, and standard deviation of the fundamental frequency (dp f), through the life span of vocally healthy Brazilian Portuguese speakers.

Method: In total, 526 voice recordings of subjects without complaints and without vocal disorders, aged between 5 and 93 years old, were included. The recordings were divided into 12 age groups (5 to 7, 8 to 9, 10 to 11, 12, 13 to 15, 16 to 18, 19 to 29, 30 to 39, 40 to 49, 50 to 59, 60 to 69, and 70 to 93 years old).

Rapid Assessment of Sulfate Resistance in Mortar and Concrete.

Extensive research has been conducted on the sulfate attack of concrete structures; however, the need to adopt the use of more sustainable materials is driving a need for a quicker test method to assess sulfate resistance. This work presents accelerated methods that can reduce the time required for assessing the sulfate resistance of mixtures by 70%. Class F fly ash has historically been used in concrete mixtures to improve sulfate resistance.

A Comprehensive Study on Non-Proprietary Ultra-High-Performance Concrete Containing Supplementary Cementitious Materials.

Ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) is a novel cement-based material with exceptional mechanical and durability properties. Silica fume, the primary supplementary cementitious material (SCM) in UHPC, is expensive in North America, so it is often substituted with inexpensive class F fly ash. However, future availability of fly ash is uncertain as the energy industry moves toward renewable energy, which creates an urgent need to find cost-effective and environmentally friendly alternatives to fly ash.

Changes in cortical auditory evoked potentials in response to auditory training in elderly hearing aid users: A pilot study.

Objective: To compare the cortical auditory evoked potential responses pre-and post-Auditory Musical Training associated with hearing aid adaptation in elderly people with presbycusis.

Design: This is a pilot, prospective, randomized, single-blind study.

Study Sample: Eight presbiacusis elderly people between 65 and 80 years, new hearing aid users, divided into two groups participated in the study: Hearing Aid Group: use of hearing aid; and Auditory Training Group: use of hearing aid in addition to musical auditory training for 16 sessions.

From Pre-Service to Professional Teaching: A Longitudinal Study of Two LGBTQ+-identifying First-Year Elementary Teachers' Experiences.

Researchers have documented that being an LGBTQ+-identifying teacher can present particular challenges and marginalizing experiences. This longitudinal, qualitative study is a follow-up to a year-long endeavor documenting the experiences of one gay and one lesbian-identifying preservice teachers as they navigated school and a professional job search. In this study, we followed these same two teachers as they entered their first year of professional teaching in academic year 2015-2016, and we present the experiences, difficulties, challenges, and navigation of these two LGTBQ+-identifying elementary teachers.