AIM To evaluate the cyclic fatigue fracture resistance of engine-driven F2 ProTaper instruments under reciprocating movement. METHODOLOGY A sample of 30 NiTi ProTaper F2 instruments was used. An artificial canal was made from a stainless steel tube, allowing the instruments to rotate freely. During mechanical testing, different movement kinematics and speeds were used, which resulted in three...

We present a framework for the analysis and synthesis of acoustical instruments based on data driven probabilistic inference modeling Audio time series and boundary conditions of a played instrument are recorded and the non linear mapping from the control data into the audio space is inferred using the general inference framework of Cluster Weighted Modeling The resulting model is used for real...

In this paper we present a revised and improved version of a recently proposed extended source-filter model for sound synthesis, transformation and hybridization of harmonic instruments. This extension focuses mainly on the application for impulsively excited instruments like piano or guitar, but also improves synthesis results for continuously driven instruments including their hybrids. This t...

Theoretical accounts as well as behavioral studies reporting animacy effects offer inconsistent and sometimes contradictory results. A possible explanation for these inconsistencies may be inadvertent biases in the stimuli selected for test - with category-specific effects driven by characteristics of test stimuli other than animacy per se. In this study, we pit animacy against feature structur...

Cyclic fatigue of nickel-titanium, engine-driven instruments was studied by determining the effect of canal curvature and operating speed on the breakage of Lightspeed instruments. A new method of canal curvature evaluation that addressed both angle and abruptness of curvature was introduced. Canal curvature was simulated by constructing six curved stainless-steel guide tubes with angles of cur...

This paper presents an ongoing project for augmenting acoustic instruments with active acoustics. Active acoustics are defined as audio-rate vibration driven into the instruments physical structure, inducing air-borne sound output. The instrument’s acoustic sound is thus doubled by an electronic soundscape radiating from the same source. The article is centered on a case study on two guitars, o...

Whereas John Hunter (1728-93) the anatomist, zoologist, physiologist, pathologist and museum collector receives unceasing eulogy, his work as a practising surgeon is curiously neglected. As far as can be determined, there are no studies devoted to his instruments and operative technique before a personal investigation in 1991, perhaps for the good reason that these would prove inconclusive. Nev...