Abstract: Provided are methods of assessing activity of a promoter region. The methods include culturing a cell including a nucleic acid, the nucleic acid including a region that encodes an enzyme donor (ED) operably coupled to a promoter region, under conditions in which the ED is expressed when the promoter region is active. The methods further include contacting the ED, if expressed, with an enzyme acceptor (EA) to form ED-EA complexes having enzymatic activity. The methods further include detecting the level of the enzymatic activity to assess activity of the promoter region. Activity of the promoter region may be indicative, and therefore may be used to assess, the activity of a cellular signaling pathway of interest and/or of endogenous or exogenous (e.g., introduced) transcription factors of interest. Cells, compositions, and kits that find use, e.g., in practicing the methods of the present disclosure, are also provided.

Abstract: A technique for separating an acoustic signal into a voiced (V) component corresponding to an electrolaryngeal source and an unvoiced (U) component corresponding to a turbulence source. The technique can be used to improve the quality of electrolaryngeal speech, and may be adapted for use in a special purpose telephone. A method according to the invention extracts a segment of consecutive values from the original stream of numerical values, and performs a discrete Fourier transform on the this first group of values. Next, a second group of values is extracted from components of the discrete Fourier transform result which correspond to an electrolaryngeal fixed repetition rate, F0, and harmonics thereof. An inverse-Fourier transform is applied to the second group of values, to produce a representation of a segment of the V component. Multiple V component segments are then concatenated to form a V component sample stream.

Abstract: A technique for separating an acoustic signal into a voiced (V) component corresponding to an electrolaryngeal source and an unvoiced (U) component corresponding to a turbulence source. The technique can be used to improve the quality of electrolaryngeal speech, and may be adapted for use in a special purpose telephone. A method according to the invention extracts a segment of consecutive values from the original stream of numerical values, and performs a discrete Fourier transform on the this first group of values. Next, a second group of values is extracted from components of the discrete Fourier transform result which correspond to an electrolaryngeal fixed repetition rate, F0, and harmonics thereof. An inverse-Fourier transform is applied to the second group of values, to produce a representation of a segment of the V component. Multiple V component segments are then concatenated to form a V component sample stream.