Purpose: to present a methodological approach for interpreting perceptual judgments of vocal quality by a group of evaluators who used the script Vocal Profile Analysis Scheme. Methods: cross-sectional study based on 90 speech samples from 25 female teachers with voice disorders and/or laryngeal changes. Prior to the perceptual judgment, we performed three perceptual tasks to select samples which were then presented to five evaluators using the Experiment script MFC 3.2 (software PRAAT). Next, we applied a sequence of tests based on successive approaches to inter-and intra-evaluator behavior. Data were treated by statistical analysis (Cochran and Selenor tests).Results: with respect to the analysis of the evaluators' performance, it was possible to define those that presented the best results, in terms of reliability and proximity of analyses, compared to the most experienced evaluator, excluding one. The results of the cluster analysis also allowed designing a voice quality profile of the group of speakers studied. Conclusions: the proposal of a methodological approach allowed defining evaluators whose judgments were based on phonetic knowledge, and drawing a vocal quality profile of the group of samples analyzed.

A methodology for rock-excavation structuralreliability analysis that uses Distinct Element ResumoEsse artigo apresenta uma metodologia para incorporação de incertezas à modelagem numérica pelo méto-do dos elementos distintos em análises de confiabilidade estrutural de escavações em rocha. A metodologia foi desenvolvida levando em conta que os métodos de modelagem numérica normalmente empregados fornecem resultados pontuais, determinados a partir de parâmetros de entrada fixos, sem que sejam considerados seus respectivos erros. Entretanto a análise da estabilidade de estruturas em rocha envolve incertezas decorrentes da variabilidade inerente aos processos geológicos, da incerteza a respeito da hipótese de comportamento mecâni-co adotada e, também, das incertezas associadas aos parâmetros adotados na formulação do modelo numérico. Essas fontes de incerteza podem ser levadas em conta em modelos determinísticos simples, mas, na modelagem numérica, onde os resultados são de diversas naturezas, cabendo ao pesquisador analisá-los para obter suas conclusões, faz-se necessário o desenvolvimento de uma metodologia nova, baseada em simulações de Monte Carlo, com o emprego dos princípios da Lógica Paraconsistente, e que será apresentada na análise de um talude final de uma cava de mineração de grandes dimensões. Palavras-chave:Modelos numéricos, método dos elementos distintos, Lógica Paraconsistente, mineração, talude.

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The present study aims at evaluating a corpus designed for voice quality settings analysis (Laver, 1980). It addresses the role of keyspeech segments for the identification of voice quality settings. The corpus, recorded by 60 speakers, contained repetitions of 10 keyspeech sentences, and semi-spontaneous speech samples. These samples were evaluated by two expert subjects according to the BP-VPAS Profile (Camargo, Madureira, 2008). These data were analyzed by means of an artificial neural network and statistically by multiple regression analysis. The data reinforce the importance of the description of voice quality based on the phonetic model and the relevant role of keyspeech segments.

In the ceramic tile decoration process, the set of variables that can cause hue variation is quite wide and independent of the methodology used in the production. The understanding of the effects of these variables over the final expected result is of great importance to the producers, especially if it could be done before the ceramic tile's sintering stage. The quality of the decoration is linked to the deposited dot shape and its filling with ink. It is proposed in this paper the determination of a 'quality index', comparing the theoretical deposition pattern and a real deposition obtained with samples. Measuring the values of the areas with and without ink, using the statistical tool of the ROC curve, it was obtained the values for sensibility=0.791, specificity=0.830, precision=0.802 and quality index=0.768. The method is intended to be used prior to the sintering step for hue variation control.

The present study aims at investigating the power of acoustic measures to predict voice quality settings detected perceptually. The corpus was composed by speech samples recorded by 60 subjects. The audio samples were analyzed in PRAAT by means of the SG Expression Evaluator Script (Barbosa, 2009), which extracts f0 and f0 first derivate, intensity, spectral tilt and long-term average spectrum measures. The same samples were perceptually evaluated by means of the Voice Profile Analysis Scheme for Brazilian Portuguese (BP-VPAS). The methodological procedures made it possible to identify the clusters related to the acoustic measures group and that of the perceptual judgement results (cluster analysis) as well as to correlate these two groups (canonic correlation analysis).