Whistled Moroccan Tamazight: phonetics and phonology

OpenAIRE

Meyer , Julien; Gautheron , Bernard; Ridouane , Rachid

2015-01-01

International audience; This paper reports the results of a pilot phonetic study of whistled Moroccan Tamazight. Whistled speech is an ancient traditional and natural practice that consists in a phonetic emulation and transformation of the spoken signal into a simple melodic line made up of frequency and amplitude modulations of a whistled signal. It is primarily used for long distance communication. We recorded four Moroccan Tamazight speakers in the High Atlas producing this special speech ...

PEMBELAJARAN KALAM BERBASIS PHONETIC ACCURACY UNTUK MENINGKATKAN KEMAMPUAN BERBICARA BAHASA ARAB

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Kholisin Kholisin

2016-11-01

Full Text Available This study aims to develop the the teaching and learning model of kalam (conversation based on phonetic accuracy to improve students’ ability in speaking Arabic. The research was conducted through questionnaires, interviews, error analysis, and content analysis. The results of the study described as follows. There are two forms of phonetic errors in student’s pronunciation, namely the segmental and supra-segmental errors; most of the teachers and students did not care to the phonetic errors on students speech; however, most of them consider that it is important to have a special emphasis on the phonetic element  in learning kalam; the teaching material subjects of kalam used all this time did not emphasize  specifically on phonetic accuracy; and the teachers and students suggested that the textbook of kalam be completed with special training of phonetic accuracy and be done early. Based on these results, the teaching and learning models of kalam need to be designed

Acoustic-phonetic cues to word boundary location: Evidence from word spotting

OpenAIRE

Dumay, Nicolas; Content, Alain; Frauenfelder, Ulrich Hans

1999-01-01

This research examined acoustic-phonetic cues to word boundary location in French consonant clusters, and assessed their use in on-line lexical segmentation. Two word-spotting experiments manipulated the alignment between word targets and syllable boundaries. A perceptual cost of such misalignment was observed for obstruent-liquid clusters but not for /s/ + obstruent clusters. For the former clusters, the analysis of a corpus of utterances showed systematic variations in segment durations as ...

Phonetic Symbols through Audiolingual Method to Improve the Students' Listening Skill

Science.gov (United States)

Samawiyah, Zuhrotun; Saifuddin, Muhammad

2016-01-01

Phonetic symbols present linguistics feature to how the words are pronounced or spelled and they offer a way to easily identify and recognize the words. Phonetic symbols were applied in this research to give the students clear input and a comprehension toward English words. Moreover, these phonetic symbols were applied within audio-lingual method…

Phonetics, Phonology, and Applied Linguistics.

Science.gov (United States)

Nadasdy, Adam

1995-01-01

Examines recent trends in phonetics and phonology and their influence on second language instruction, specifically grammar and lexicography. An annotated bibliography discusses nine important works in the field. (99 references) (MDM)

Neural Mechanisms Underlying Cross-Modal Phonetic Encoding.

Science.gov (United States)

Shahin, Antoine J; Backer, Kristina C; Rosenblum, Lawrence D; Kerlin, Jess R

2018-02-14

Audiovisual (AV) integration is essential for speech comprehension, especially in adverse listening situations. Divergent, but not mutually exclusive, theories have been proposed to explain the neural mechanisms underlying AV integration. One theory advocates that this process occurs via interactions between the auditory and visual cortices, as opposed to fusion of AV percepts in a multisensory integrator. Building upon this idea, we proposed that AV integration in spoken language reflects visually induced weighting of phonetic representations at the auditory cortex. EEG was recorded while male and female human subjects watched and listened to videos of a speaker uttering consonant vowel (CV) syllables /ba/ and /fa/, presented in Auditory-only, AV congruent or incongruent contexts. Subjects reported whether they heard /ba/ or /fa/. We hypothesized that vision alters phonetic encoding by dynamically weighting which phonetic representation in the auditory cortex is strengthened or weakened. That is, when subjects are presented with visual /fa/ and acoustic /ba/ and hear /fa/ ( illusion-fa ), the visual input strengthens the weighting of the phone /f/ representation. When subjects are presented with visual /ba/ and acoustic /fa/ and hear /ba/ ( illusion-ba ), the visual input weakens the weighting of the phone /f/ representation. Indeed, we found an enlarged N1 auditory evoked potential when subjects perceived illusion-ba , and a reduced N1 when they perceived illusion-fa , mirroring the N1 behavior for /ba/ and /fa/ in Auditory-only settings. These effects were especially pronounced in individuals with more robust illusory perception. These findings provide evidence that visual speech modifies phonetic encoding at the auditory cortex. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The current study presents evidence that audiovisual integration in spoken language occurs when one modality (vision) acts on representations of a second modality (audition). Using the McGurk illusion, we show

Phonetics of English in the nineteenth century

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

grew. This was reflected in the appearance of a large number of books and other publications dealing with speech sound, and also in the application of phonetics to such diverse areas as language teaching, elocution, teaching the deaf, shorthand writing and dialectology. The nineteenth century can...... therefore be said to be the era when the true foundations of the modern disciplines of phonetics and phonology were laid. This collection features works by well-known figures such as Isaac Pitman, Alexander Ellis, Alexander Melville Bell, and Henry Sweet. In addition, contributions of less well...

THE EFFECT OF INTIMACY AND STATUS DISCREPANCY ON SALIENT AND NON-SALIENT CONFLICT STRATEGIES OF JAPANESE.

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Nakatsugawa, Satomi; Takai, Jiro

2015-10-01

It has been claimed that Japanese people prefer passive forms of conflict strategies to preserve interpersonal harmony. This study aimed to identify some conditions in which such passive strategies are used. The effects of target intimacy and status discrepancy on the intent and use of salient and non-salient conflict strategies were examined, along with respondent sex differences. Questionnaires were collected from 205 Japanese university students. Results indicated that women were more likely to have non-salient intents than men and that intimacy affected considerateness intent but not avoidance intent. Active non-salient strategy was affected by status while passive non-salient strategy was affected by intimacy. Overall, target characteristics proved to be a strong factor in the intents and strategies employed in conflict situations of Japanese.

Graphemes Sharing Phonetic Features Tend to Induce Similar Synesthetic Colors.

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, Mi-Jeong; Kim, Yeseul; Shin, Ji-Young; Kim, Chai-Youn

2017-01-01

Individuals with grapheme-color synesthesia experience idiosyncratic colors when viewing achromatic letters or digits. Despite large individual differences in grapheme-color association, synesthetes tend to associate graphemes sharing a perceptual feature with similar synesthetic colors. Sound has been suggested as one such feature. In the present study, we investigated whether graphemes of which representative phonemes have similar phonetic features tend to be associated with analogous synesthetic colors. We tested five Korean multilingual synesthetes on a color-matching task using graphemes from Korean, English, and Japanese orthography. We then compared the similarity of synesthetic colors induced by those characters sharing a phonetic feature. Results showed that graphemes associated with the same phonetic feature tend to induce synesthetic color in both within- and cross-script analyses. Moreover, this tendency was consistent for graphemes that are not transliterable into each other as well as graphemes that are. These results suggest that it is the perceptual-i.e., phonetic-properties associated with graphemes, not just conceptual associations such as transliteration, that determine synesthetic color.

Phonetic Change in Newfoundland English

Science.gov (United States)

Clarke, Sandra

2012-01-01

Newfoundland English has long been considered autonomous within the North American context. Sociolinguistic studies conducted over the past three decades, however, typically suggest cross-generational change in phonetic feature use, motivated by greater alignment with mainland Canadian English norms. The present study uses data spanning the past…

A retrospective study of phonetic inventory complexity in acquisition of Spanish: Implications for phonological universals

OpenAIRE

Cataño, Lorena; Barlow, Jessica A.; Moyna, María Irene

2009-01-01

This study evaluates 39 different phonetic inventories of 16 Spanish-speaking children (ages 0;11 to 5;1) in terms of hierarchical complexity. Phonetic featural differences are considered in order to evaluate the proposed implicational hierarchy of Dinnsen et al.’s phonetic inventory typology for English. The children’s phonetic inventories are examined independently and in relation to one another. Five hierarchical complexity levels are proposed, similar to those of English and other languag...

Does the Recording Medium Influence Phonetic Transcription of Cleft Palate Speech?

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Klintö, Kristina; Lohmander, Anette

2017-01-01

Background: In recent years, analyses of cleft palate speech based on phonetic transcriptions have become common. However, the results vary considerably among different studies. It cannot be excluded that differences in assessment methodology, including the recording medium, influence the results. Aims: To compare phonetic transcriptions from…

Phonetic imitation from an individual-difference perspective: subjective attitude, personality and "autistic" traits.

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Yu, Alan C L; Abrego-Collier, Carissa; Sonderegger, Morgan

2013-01-01

Numerous studies have documented the phenomenon of phonetic imitation: the process by which the production patterns of an individual become more similar on some phonetic or acoustic dimension to those of her interlocutor. Though social factors have been suggested as a motivator for imitation, few studies has established a tight connection between language-external factors and a speaker's likelihood to imitate. The present study investigated the phenomenon of phonetic imitation using a within-subject design embedded in an individual-differences framework. Participants were administered a phonetic imitation task, which included two speech production tasks separated by a perceptual learning task, and a battery of measures assessing traits associated with Autism-Spectrum Condition, working memory, and personality. To examine the effects of subjective attitude on phonetic imitation, participants were randomly assigned to four experimental conditions, where the perceived sexual orientation of the narrator (homosexual vs. heterosexual) and the outcome (positive vs. negative) of the story depicted in the exposure materials differed. The extent of phonetic imitation by an individual is significantly modulated by the story outcome, as well as by the participant's subjective attitude toward the model talker, the participant's personality trait of openness and the autistic-like trait associated with attention switching.

Phonetic imitation from an individual-difference perspective: subjective attitude, personality and "autistic" traits.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alan C L Yu

Full Text Available Numerous studies have documented the phenomenon of phonetic imitation: the process by which the production patterns of an individual become more similar on some phonetic or acoustic dimension to those of her interlocutor. Though social factors have been suggested as a motivator for imitation, few studies has established a tight connection between language-external factors and a speaker's likelihood to imitate. The present study investigated the phenomenon of phonetic imitation using a within-subject design embedded in an individual-differences framework. Participants were administered a phonetic imitation task, which included two speech production tasks separated by a perceptual learning task, and a battery of measures assessing traits associated with Autism-Spectrum Condition, working memory, and personality. To examine the effects of subjective attitude on phonetic imitation, participants were randomly assigned to four experimental conditions, where the perceived sexual orientation of the narrator (homosexual vs. heterosexual and the outcome (positive vs. negative of the story depicted in the exposure materials differed. The extent of phonetic imitation by an individual is significantly modulated by the story outcome, as well as by the participant's subjective attitude toward the model talker, the participant's personality trait of openness and the autistic-like trait associated with attention switching.

The interaction of short-term and long-term memory in phonetic category formation

Science.gov (United States)

Harnsberger, James D.

2002-05-01

This study examined the role that short-term memory capacity plays in the relationship between novel stimuli (e.g., non-native speech sounds, native nonsense words) and phonetic categories in long-term memory. Thirty native speakers of American English were administered five tests: categorial AXB discrimination using nasal consonants from Malayalam; categorial identification, also using Malayalam nasals, which measured the influence of phonetic categories in long-term memory; digit span; nonword span, a short-term memory measure mediated by phonetic categories in long-term memory; and paired-associate word learning (word-word and word-nonword pairs). The results showed that almost all measures were significantly correlated with one another. The strongest predictor for the discrimination and word-nonword learning results was nonword (r=+0.62) and digit span (r=+0.51), respectively. When the identification test results were partialed out, only nonword span significantly correlated with discrimination. The results show a strong influence of short-term memory capacity on the encoding of phonetic detail within phonetic categories and suggest that long-term memory representations regulate the capacity of short-term memory to preserve information for subsequent encoding. The results of this study will also be discussed with regards to resolving the tension between episodic and abstract models of phonetic category structure.

Phonetics in the Beginning and Intermediate Oral Proficiency-Oriented French Classroom.

Science.gov (United States)

Dansereau, Diane

1995-01-01

It is proposed that early introduction to basic French phonetic features and systematic emphasis on phonics allows students to learn to speak French clearly understandable to native speakers and relatively accent-free. In addition, this approach tends to improve listening skills. Important phonetic features to include in classwork are detailed.…

English Language Teaching: phonetics, phonology and auditory processing contributions.

Science.gov (United States)

Araújo, Letícia Maria Martins; Feniman, Mariza Ribeiro; Carvalho, Fernanda Ribeiro Pinto de; Lopes-Herrera, Simone Aparecida

2010-01-01

interrelation of phonetics, phonology and auditory processing in English Language Teaching. to determine whether prior contact with English phonetics favors general learning of this language (L2), i.e. second language, in Portuguese speakers; to verify performance of these individuals in an auditory processing test prior to and after being taught L2. participants of the study were eight college students who had only studied English in high school. These participants were divided into two groups: control group - were only enrolled in English classes; experimental group - were enrolled in English phonetic classes prior to their enrollment in English classes. Participants were submitted to an auditory processing test and to an oral test in English (Oral Test) prior to and after the classes. Data were analyzed in the same way, i.e. prior to and after the classes. these were expressed statistically by T-Student's test. Analyses indicated no difference in performance between groups. Scores indicated better performance of the control group for answering questions in English in the Oral Test. The experimental group had better performance in the auditory processing test after being enrolled to English phonetic classes and English course. prior basic knowledge of English did not enhance general learning (improvement in pronunciation) of the second language, however, it improved the ability of temporal processing in the used test.

Phonetic and phonological imitation of intonation in two varieties of Italian

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Mariapaola eD'Imperio

2014-11-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to test whether both phonetic and phonological representations of intonation can be rapidly modified when imitating utterances belonging to a different regional variety of the same language. Our main hypothesis was that tonal alignment, just as other phonetic features of speech, would be rapidly modified by Italian speakers when imitating pitch accents of a different (Southern variety of Italian. In particular, we tested whether Bari Italian speakers would produce later peaks for their native rising L+H* (question pitch accent in the process of imitating Neapolitan Italian rising L*+H accents. Also, we tested whether BI speakers are able to modify other phonetic properties (pitch level as well as phonological characteristics (changes in tonal composition of the same contour. In a follow-up study, we tested if the reverse was also true, i.e. whether NI speakers would produce earlier peaks within the L*+H accent in the process of imitating the L+H* of BI questions, despite the presence of a contrast between two rising accents in this variety. Our results show that phonetic detail of tonal alignment can be successfully modified by both BI and NI speakers when imitating a model speaker of the other variety. The hypothesis of a selective imitation process preventing alignment modifications in NI was hence not supported. Moreover the effect was significantly stronger for low frequency words. Participants were also able to imitate other phonetic cues, in that they modified global utterance pitch level. Concerning phonological convergence, speakers modified the tonal specification of the edge tones in order to resemble that of the other variety by either suppressing or increasing the presence of a final H%. Hence, our data show that intonation imitation leads to fast modification of both phonetic and phonological intonation representations including detail of tonal alignment and pitch scaling.

Modelling the Architecture of Phonetic Plans: Evidence from Apraxia of Speech

Science.gov (United States)

Ziegler, Wolfram

2009-01-01

In theories of spoken language production, the gestural code prescribing the movements of the speech organs is usually viewed as a linear string of holistic, encapsulated, hard-wired, phonetic plans, e.g., of the size of phonemes or syllables. Interactions between phonetic units on the surface of overt speech are commonly attributed to either the…

Mapping Phonetic Features for Voice-Driven Sound Synthesis

Science.gov (United States)

Janer, Jordi; Maestre, Esteban

In applications where the human voice controls the synthesis of musical instruments sounds, phonetics convey musical information that might be related to the sound of the imitated musical instrument. Our initial hypothesis is that phonetics are user- and instrument-dependent, but they remain constant for a single subject and instrument. We propose a user-adapted system, where mappings from voice features to synthesis parameters depend on how subjects sing musical articulations, i.e. note to note transitions. The system consists of two components. First, a voice signal segmentation module that automatically determines note-to-note transitions. Second, a classifier that determines the type of musical articulation for each transition based on a set of phonetic features. For validating our hypothesis, we run an experiment where subjects imitated real instrument recordings with their voice. Performance recordings consisted of short phrases of saxophone and violin performed in three grades of musical articulation labeled as: staccato, normal, legato. The results of a supervised training classifier (user-dependent) are compared to a classifier based on heuristic rules (user-independent). Finally, from the previous results we show how to control the articulation in a sample-concatenation synthesizer by selecting the most appropriate samples.

A model for ethical practices in clinical phonetics and linguistics.

Science.gov (United States)

Powell, Thomas W

2007-01-01

The emergence of clinical phonetics and linguistics as an area of scientific inquiry gives rise to the need for guidelines that define ethical and responsible conduct. The diverse membership of the International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association (ICPLA) and the readership of this journal are uniquely suited to consider ethical issues from diverse perspectives. Accordingly, this paper introduces a multi-tiered six-factor model for ethical practices to stimulate discussion of ethical issues.

Phonetic Imitation from an Individual-Difference Perspective: Subjective Attitude, Personality and “Autistic” Traits

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Alan C. L.; Abrego-Collier, Carissa; Sonderegger, Morgan

2013-01-01

Numerous studies have documented the phenomenon of phonetic imitation: the process by which the production patterns of an individual become more similar on some phonetic or acoustic dimension to those of her interlocutor. Though social factors have been suggested as a motivator for imitation, few studies has established a tight connection between language-external factors and a speaker’s likelihood to imitate. The present study investigated the phenomenon of phonetic imitation using a within-subject design embedded in an individual-differences framework. Participants were administered a phonetic imitation task, which included two speech production tasks separated by a perceptual learning task, and a battery of measures assessing traits associated with Autism-Spectrum Condition, working memory, and personality. To examine the effects of subjective attitude on phonetic imitation, participants were randomly assigned to four experimental conditions, where the perceived sexual orientation of the narrator (homosexual vs. heterosexual) and the outcome (positive vs. negative) of the story depicted in the exposure materials differed. The extent of phonetic imitation by an individual is significantly modulated by the story outcome, as well as by the participant’s subjective attitude toward the model talker, the participant’s personality trait of openness and the autistic-like trait associated with attention switching. PMID:24098665

Phonetic characteristics of vocalizations during pain

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lautenbacher, Stefan; Salinas-Ranneberg, Melissa; Niebuhr, Oliver; Kunz, Miriam

2017-01-01

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: There have, yet, been only few attempts to phonetically characterize the vocalizations of pain, although there is wide agreement that moaning, groaning, or other nonverbal utterance can be indicative of pain. We studied the production of vowels "u," "a," "i", and "schwa"

Phonetic radicals, not phonological coding systems, support orthographic learning via self-teaching in Chinese.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Luan; Wang, Hua-Chen; Castles, Anne; Hsieh, Miao-Ling; Marinus, Eva

2018-07-01

According to the self-teaching hypothesis (Share, 1995), phonological decoding is fundamental to acquiring orthographic representations of novel written words. However, phonological decoding is not straightforward in non-alphabetic scripts such as Chinese, where words are presented as characters. Here, we present the first study investigating the role of phonological decoding in orthographic learning in Chinese. We examined two possible types of phonological decoding: the use of phonetic radicals, an internal phonological aid, andthe use of Zhuyin, an external phonological coding system. Seventy-three Grade 2 children were taught the pronunciations and meanings of twelve novel compound characters over four days. They were then exposed to the written characters in short stories, and were assessed on their reading accuracy and on their subsequent orthographic learning via orthographic choice and spelling tasks. The novel characters were assigned three different types of pronunciation in relation to its phonetic radical - (1) a pronunciation that is identical to the phonetic radical in isolation; (2) a common alternative pronunciation associated with the phonetic radical when it appears in other characters; and (3) a pronunciation that is unrelated to the phonetic radical. The presence of Zhuyin was also manipulated. The children read the novel characters more accurately when phonological cues from the phonetic radicals were available and in the presence of Zhuyin. However, only the phonetic radicals facilitated orthographic learning. The findings provide the first empirical evidence of orthographic learning via self-teaching in Chinese, and reveal how phonological decoding functions to support learning in non-alphabetic writing systems. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Phonological length, phonetic duration and aphasia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gilbers, D.G.; Bastiaanse, Y.R.M.; van der Linde, K.J.

1997-01-01

This study discusses an error type that is expected to occur in aphasics suffering from a phonological disorder, i.e. Wernicke's and conduction aphasics, but not in aphasics suffering from a phonetic disorder, i.e. Broca's aphasics. The critical notion is 'phonological length'. It will be argued

Pronunciation and phonetics a practical guide for English language teachers

CERN Document Server

Brown, Adam

2014-01-01

This engaging, succinct text is an introduction to both phonetics and phonology as applied to the teaching of pronunciation to English language learners. Section 1 selectively covers the main areas of phonetics and phonology, without going into any area in more depth than the average English language teacher requires or that the average English language teacher trainee can handle. Section 2 focuses on practical issues related to learners and how they learn languages, and what represents good practice in terms of classroom activities for pronunciation—including aspects such as targets, motiva

Graphemes Sharing Phonetic Features Tend to Induce Similar Synesthetic Colors

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, Mi-Jeong; Kim, Yeseul; Shin, Ji-Young; Kim, Chai-Youn

2017-01-01

Individuals with grapheme-color synesthesia experience idiosyncratic colors when viewing achromatic letters or digits. Despite large individual differences in grapheme-color association, synesthetes tend to associate graphemes sharing a perceptual feature with similar synesthetic colors. Sound has been suggested as one such feature. In the present study, we investigated whether graphemes of which representative phonemes have similar phonetic features tend to be associated with analogous synesthetic colors. We tested five Korean multilingual synesthetes on a color-matching task using graphemes from Korean, English, and Japanese orthography. We then compared the similarity of synesthetic colors induced by those characters sharing a phonetic feature. Results showed that graphemes associated with the same phonetic feature tend to induce synesthetic color in both within- and cross-script analyses. Moreover, this tendency was consistent for graphemes that are not transliterable into each other as well as graphemes that are. These results suggest that it is the perceptual—i.e., phonetic—properties associated with graphemes, not just conceptual associations such as transliteration, that determine synesthetic color. PMID:28348537

Acoustic cues identifying phonetic transitions for speech segmentation

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Van Niekerk, DR

2008-11-01

Full Text Available The quality of corpus-based text-to-speech (TTS) systems depends strongly on the consistency of boundary placements during phonetic alignments. Expert human transcribers use visually represented acoustic cues in order to consistently place...

Lexical exposure to native language dialects can improve non-native phonetic discrimination.

Science.gov (United States)

Olmstead, Annie J; Viswanathan, Navin

2018-04-01

Nonnative phonetic learning is an area of great interest for language researchers, learners, and educators alike. In two studies, we examined whether nonnative phonetic discrimination of Hindi dental and retroflex stops can be improved by exposure to lexical items bearing the critical nonnative stops. We extend the lexical retuning paradigm of Norris, McQueen, and Cutler (Cognitive Psychology, 47, 204-238, 2003) by having naive American English (AE)-speaking participants perform a pretest-training-posttest procedure. They performed an AXB discrimination task with the Hindi retroflex and dental stops before and after transcribing naturally produced words from an Indian English speaker that either contained these tokens or not. Only those participants who heard words with the critical nonnative phones improved in their posttest discrimination. This finding suggests that exposure to nonnative phones in native lexical contexts supports learning of difficult nonnative phonetic discrimination.

A Comparative Study on Motor Skills in 5-Year-Old Children with Phonological and Phonetic Disorders

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Fatemeh Hasanati

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Background and Aim: Speech as a motor phenomenon requires repetitive and rapid function of articulatory organs performing extremely fine movements. Practice on motor skills results in facilitation in treatment progress of children with phonological disorders. The purpose of this study was to compare motor skills in 5-year-old children with phonological and phonetic disorders.Methods: Thirty-two children age 5 years, 16 with phonemical speech sound disorders and 16 with difficulty at a phonetic level participated in this study. TOLD Test was performed for linguistic skills investigation among children. Phonetic test, Wepman test, diadochokinesis and oral assessment was used for diagnosis between phonological and phonetic disorders. The children were also evaluated with Oseretsky motor developmental scale .Results: In comparison, mean scores of movement skills between both groups showed significant difference (p=0.006 and children with phonetic disorder got significantly higher scores on all part of this test.Conclusions: The findings of this study support the idea that speech sound disorders are frequently associated with motor problems, and that type of articulation disorder affects the motor performance in a different way. Phonological disorders seem to have more impact on motor performance than phonetic disorders. The results authenticate the need to pay more attention to the motor skills of children with articulation disorders.

Social Interaction in Infants' Learning of Second-Language Phonetics: An Exploration of Brain-Behavior Relations.

Science.gov (United States)

Conboy, Barbara T; Brooks, Rechele; Meltzoff, Andrew N; Kuhl, Patricia K

2015-01-01

Infants learn phonetic information from a second language with live-person presentations, but not television or audio-only recordings. To understand the role of social interaction in learning a second language, we examined infants' joint attention with live, Spanish-speaking tutors and used a neural measure of phonetic learning. Infants' eye-gaze behaviors during Spanish sessions at 9.5-10.5 months of age predicted second-language phonetic learning, assessed by an event-related potential measure of Spanish phoneme discrimination at 11 months. These data suggest a powerful role for social interaction at the earliest stages of learning a new language.

Salient Object Detection via Structured Matrix Decomposition.

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Houwen; Li, Bing; Ling, Haibin; Hu, Weiming; Xiong, Weihua; Maybank, Stephen J

2016-05-04

Low-rank recovery models have shown potential for salient object detection, where a matrix is decomposed into a low-rank matrix representing image background and a sparse matrix identifying salient objects. Two deficiencies, however, still exist. First, previous work typically assumes the elements in the sparse matrix are mutually independent, ignoring the spatial and pattern relations of image regions. Second, when the low-rank and sparse matrices are relatively coherent, e.g., when there are similarities between the salient objects and background or when the background is complicated, it is difficult for previous models to disentangle them. To address these problems, we propose a novel structured matrix decomposition model with two structural regularizations: (1) a tree-structured sparsity-inducing regularization that captures the image structure and enforces patches from the same object to have similar saliency values, and (2) a Laplacian regularization that enlarges the gaps between salient objects and the background in feature space. Furthermore, high-level priors are integrated to guide the matrix decomposition and boost the detection. We evaluate our model for salient object detection on five challenging datasets including single object, multiple objects and complex scene images, and show competitive results as compared with 24 state-of-the-art methods in terms of seven performance metrics.

Viewing speech in action: speech articulation videos in the public domain that demonstrate the sounds of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

OpenAIRE

Nakai, S.; Beavan, D.; Lawson, E.; Leplâtre, G.; Scobbie, J. M.; Stuart-Smith, J.

2016-01-01

In this article, we introduce recently released, publicly available resources, which allow users to watch videos of hidden articulators (e.g. the tongue) during the production of various types of sounds found in the world’s languages. The articulation videos on these resources are linked to a clickable International Phonetic Alphabet chart ([International Phonetic Association. 1999. Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet. ...

Mastering the International Phonetic Alphabet; Guide and Workbook.

Science.gov (United States)

Decker, Donald M.

The present volume, containing lessons with practice and review exercises, offers a systematic presentation of the symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) most widely used as a simplified means of representing the pronunciation of General American English. The transcription symbols presented are those primarily employed by Kenyon and…

Spelling and Phonetic Inconsistencies in English: A Problem for ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

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every letter would be a phonetic symbol representing one sound and one ... There are variants of the plural and past tense morpheme: .... Our duty as language teachers is to teach the language and ..... (1994) English Grammar,. Composition ...

Salient man-made structure detection in infrared images

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Dong-jie; Zhou, Fu-gen; Jin, Ting

2013-09-01

Target detection, segmentation and recognition is a hot research topic in the field of image processing and pattern recognition nowadays, among which salient area or object detection is one of core technologies of precision guided weapon. Many theories have been raised in this paper; we detect salient objects in a series of input infrared images by using the classical feature integration theory and Itti's visual attention system. In order to find the salient object in an image accurately, we present a new method to solve the edge blur problem by calculating and using the edge mask. We also greatly improve the computing speed by improving the center-surround differences method. Unlike the traditional algorithm, we calculate the center-surround differences through rows and columns separately. Experimental results show that our method is effective in detecting salient object accurately and rapidly.

Forensic Automatic Speaker Recognition Based on Likelihood Ratio Using Acoustic-phonetic Features Measured Automatically

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Huapeng Wang

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Forensic speaker recognition is experiencing a remarkable paradigm shift in terms of the evaluation framework and presentation of voice evidence. This paper proposes a new method of forensic automatic speaker recognition using the likelihood ratio framework to quantify the strength of voice evidence. The proposed method uses a reference database to calculate the within- and between-speaker variability. Some acoustic-phonetic features are extracted automatically using the software VoiceSauce. The effectiveness of the approach was tested using two Mandarin databases: A mobile telephone database and a landline database. The experiment's results indicate that these acoustic-phonetic features do have some discriminating potential and are worth trying in discrimination. The automatic acoustic-phonetic features have acceptable discriminative performance and can provide more reliable results in evidence analysis when fused with other kind of voice features.

Computerised output of phonetic codes in Devanagari script by dot-matrix printers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Somasundaram, S.; Suri, M.M.K.; Khatua, R.

1987-01-01

This report describes the development of a computer software for converting hex-octal, alpha-numeric and pure-alpha mode input in English into 'phenetic Devanagari characters', which can be printed through dot-matrix printers in 2 passes of print-head, along with English text in the same lines. If multilingual terminals presently available in India, are used, it requires 4 passes of print-head for printing phonetic Devanagari characters, and English text also is converted into phonetic Devanagari script during printing. Thus, the software reported in this, is an improvement over the facilities currently available in Indian market. 9 tables, 2 refs. (author)

Extracting of implicit information in English advertising texts with phonetic and lexical-morphological means

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Traikovskaya Natalya Petrovna

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The article deals with phonetic and lexical-morphological language means participating in the process of extracting implicit information in English-speaking advertising texts for men and women. The functioning of phonetic means of the English language is not the basis for implication of information in advertising texts. Lexical and morphological means play the role of markers of relevant information, playing the role of the activator ofimplicit information in the texts of advertising.

Czech Verse Processing System KVĚTA: Phonetic and Metrical Components

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Plecháč, Petr

2016-01-01

Roč. 7, č. 2 (2016), s. 159-174 ISSN 1337-7892 Institutional support: RVO:68378068 Keywords : Verse Processing * KVĚTA * Czech language * phonetic and metrical annotation Subject RIV: AJ - Letters, Mass-media, Audiovision

The Phonetics of Head and Body Movement in the Realization of American Sign Language Signs.

Science.gov (United States)

Tyrone, Martha E; Mauk, Claude E

2016-01-01

Because the primary articulators for sign languages are the hands, sign phonology and phonetics have focused mainly on them and treated other articulators as passive targets. However, there is abundant research on the role of nonmanual articulators in sign language grammar and prosody. The current study examines how hand and head/body movements are coordinated to realize phonetic targets. Kinematic data were collected from 5 deaf American Sign Language (ASL) signers to allow the analysis of movements of the hands, head and body during signing. In particular, we examine how the chin, forehead and torso move during the production of ASL signs at those three phonological locations. Our findings suggest that for signs with a lexical movement toward the head, the forehead and chin move to facilitate convergence with the hand. By comparison, the torso does not move to facilitate convergence with the hand for signs located at the torso. These results imply that the nonmanual articulators serve a phonetic as well as a grammatical or prosodic role in sign languages. Future models of sign phonetics and phonology should take into consideration the movements of the nonmanual articulators in the realization of signs. © 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Phonetic Accounts of Timed Responses in Syllable Monitoring Experiments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rietveld, A.C.M.; Schiller, N.O.; Caspers, J.; Chen, Y.; Heeren, W.; Pacilly, J.; Schiller, N.O.; Zanten, E. van

2014-01-01

This paper reports a syllable monitoring experiment that examines the role of segmental phonetic information in Dutch. Participants were presented with lists of spoken words and were required to detect auditorily specified targets that matched or did not match the initial syllable of the spoken

Dementias show differential physiological responses to salient sounds.

Science.gov (United States)

Fletcher, Phillip D; Nicholas, Jennifer M; Shakespeare, Timothy J; Downey, Laura E; Golden, Hannah L; Agustus, Jennifer L; Clark, Camilla N; Mummery, Catherine J; Schott, Jonathan M; Crutch, Sebastian J; Warren, Jason D

2015-01-01

Abnormal responsiveness to salient sensory signals is often a prominent feature of dementia diseases, particularly the frontotemporal lobar degenerations, but has been little studied. Here we assessed processing of one important class of salient signals, looming sounds, in canonical dementia syndromes. We manipulated tones using intensity cues to create percepts of salient approaching ("looming") or less salient withdrawing sounds. Pupil dilatation responses and behavioral rating responses to these stimuli were compared in patients fulfilling consensus criteria for dementia syndromes (semantic dementia, n = 10; behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia, n = 16, progressive nonfluent aphasia, n = 12; amnestic Alzheimer's disease, n = 10) and a cohort of 26 healthy age-matched individuals. Approaching sounds were rated as more salient than withdrawing sounds by healthy older individuals but this behavioral response to salience did not differentiate healthy individuals from patients with dementia syndromes. Pupil responses to approaching sounds were greater than responses to withdrawing sounds in healthy older individuals and in patients with semantic dementia: this differential pupil response was reduced in patients with progressive nonfluent aphasia and Alzheimer's disease relative both to the healthy control and semantic dementia groups, and did not correlate with nonverbal auditory semantic function. Autonomic responses to auditory salience are differentially affected by dementias and may constitute a novel biomarker of these diseases.

ACTION RECOGNITION USING SALIENT NEIGHBORING HISTOGRAMS

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ren, Huamin; Moeslund, Thomas B.

2013-01-01

Combining spatio-temporal interest points with Bag-of-Words models achieves state-of-the-art performance in action recognition. However, existing methods based on “bag-ofwords” models either are too local to capture the variance in space/time or fail to solve the ambiguity problem in spatial...... and temporal dimensions. Instead, we propose a salient vocabulary construction algorithm to select visual words from a global point of view, and form compact descriptors to represent discriminative histograms in the neighborhoods. Those salient neighboring histograms are then trained to model different actions...

Phonetic Encoding of Coda Voicing Contrast under Different Focus Conditions in L1 vs. L2 English.

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Jiyoun; Kim, Sahayng; Cho, Taehong

2016-01-01

This study investigated how coda voicing contrast in English would be phonetically encoded in the temporal vs. spectral dimension of the preceding vowel (in vowel duration vs. F1/F2) by Korean L2 speakers of English, and how their L2 phonetic encoding pattern would be compared to that of native English speakers. Crucially, these questions were explored by taking into account the phonetics-prosody interface, testing effects of prominence by comparing target segments in three focus conditions (phonological focus, lexical focus, and no focus). Results showed that Korean speakers utilized the temporal dimension (vowel duration) to encode coda voicing contrast, but failed to use the spectral dimension (F1/F2), reflecting their native language experience-i.e., with a more sparsely populated vowel space in Korean, they are less sensitive to small changes in the spectral dimension, and hence fine-grained spectral cues in English are not readily accessible. Results also showed that along the temporal dimension, both the L1 and L2 speakers hyperarticulated coda voicing contrast under prominence (when phonologically or lexically focused), but hypoarticulated it in the non-prominent condition. This indicates that low-level phonetic realization and high-order information structure interact in a communicatively efficient way, regardless of the speakers' native language background. The Korean speakers, however, used the temporal phonetic space differently from the way the native speakers did, especially showing less reduction in the no focus condition. This was also attributable to their native language experience-i.e., the Korean speakers' use of temporal dimension is constrained in a way that is not detrimental to the preservation of coda voicing contrast, given that they failed to add additional cues along the spectral dimension. The results imply that the L2 phonetic system can be more fully illuminated through an investigation of the phonetics-prosody interface in connection

Of ens 'n' ands: observations on the phonetic make-up of a coordinator and its uses in talk-in-interaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Barth-Weingarten, Dagmar

2012-03-01

In grammar books, the various functions of and as phrasal coordinator and clausal conjunction are treated as standard knowledge. In addition, studies on the uses of and in everyday talk-in-interaction have described its discourse-organizational functions on a more global level. In the phonetic literature, in turn, a range of phonetic forms of and have been listed. Yet, so far few studies have related the phonetic features of and to its function. This contribution surveys a range of phonetic forms of and in a corpus of private American English telephone conversations. It shows that the use of forms such as [ænd], [εn], or [en], among others, is not random but, in essence, correlates with the syntactic-pragmatic scope of and and the cognitive closeness of the items the and connects. This, in turn, allows the phonetic design of and to contribute to the organization of turn-taking. The findings presented are based on conversation-analytic and interactional-linguistic methodology, which includes quantitative analyses.

Listeners are maximally flexible in updating phonetic beliefs over time.

Science.gov (United States)

Saltzman, David; Myers, Emily

2018-04-01

Perceptual learning serves as a mechanism for listenexrs to adapt to novel phonetic information. Distributional tracking theories posit that this adaptation occurs as a result of listeners accumulating talker-specific distributional information about the phonetic category in question (Kleinschmidt & Jaeger, 2015, Psychological Review, 122). What is not known is how listeners build these talker-specific distributions; that is, if they aggregate all information received over a certain time period, or if they rely more heavily upon the most recent information received and down-weight older, consolidated information. In the present experiment, listeners were exposed to four interleaved blocks of a lexical decision task and a phonetic categorization task in which the lexical decision blocks were designed to bias perception in opposite directions along a "s"-"sh" continuum. Listeners returned several days later and completed the identical task again. Evidence was consistent with listeners using a relatively short temporal window of integration at the individual session level. Namely, in each individual session, listeners' perception of a "s"-"sh" contrast was biased by the information in the immediately preceding lexical decision block, and there was no evidence that listeners summed their experience with the talker over the entire session. Similarly, the magnitude of the bias effect did not change between sessions, consistent with the idea that talker-specific information remains flexible, even after consolidation. In general, results suggest that listeners are maximally flexible when considering how to categorize speech from a novel talker.

The phonetics of talk in interaction--introduction to the special issue.

Science.gov (United States)

Ogden, Richard

2012-03-01

This overview paper provides an introduction to work on naturally-occurring speech data, combining techniques of conversation analysis with techniques and methods from phonetics. The paper describes the development of the field, highlighting current challenges and progress in interdisciplinary work. It considers the role of quantification and its relationship to a qualitative methodology. It presents the conversation analytic notion of sequence as a version of context, and argues that sequences of talk constrain relevant phonetic design, and so provide one account for variability in naturally occurring speech. The paper also describes the manipulation of speech and language on many levels simultaneously. All of these themes occur and are explored in more detail in the papers contained in this special issue.

Dementias show differential physiological responses to salient sounds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Phillip David Fletcher

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Abnormal responsiveness to salient sensory signals is often a prominent feature of dementia diseases, particularly the frontotemporal lobar degenerations, but has been little studied. Here we assessed processing of one important class of salient signals, looming sounds, in canonical dementia syndromes. We manipulated tones using intensity cues to create percepts of salient approaching (‘looming’ or less salient withdrawing sounds. Pupil dilatation responses and behavioural rating responses to these stimuli were compared in patients fulfilling consensus criteria for dementia syndromes (semantic dementia, n=10; behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia, n=16, progressive non-fluent aphasia, n=12; amnestic Alzheimer’s disease, n=10 and a cohort of 26 healthy age-matched individuals. Approaching sounds were rated as more salient than withdrawing sounds by healthy older individuals but this behavioural response to salience did not differentiate healthy individuals from patients with dementia syndromes. Pupil responses to approaching sounds were greater than responses to withdrawing sounds in healthy older individuals and in patients with semantic dementia: this differential pupil response was reduced in patients with progressive nonfluent aphasia and Alzheimer’s disease relative both to the healthy control and semantic dementia groups, and did not correlate with nonverbal auditory semantic function. Autonomic responses to auditory salience are differentially affected by dementias and may constitute a novel biomarker of these diseases.

Dementias show differential physiological responses to salient sounds

Science.gov (United States)

Fletcher, Phillip D.; Nicholas, Jennifer M.; Shakespeare, Timothy J.; Downey, Laura E.; Golden, Hannah L.; Agustus, Jennifer L.; Clark, Camilla N.; Mummery, Catherine J.; Schott, Jonathan M.; Crutch, Sebastian J.; Warren, Jason D.

2015-01-01

Abnormal responsiveness to salient sensory signals is often a prominent feature of dementia diseases, particularly the frontotemporal lobar degenerations, but has been little studied. Here we assessed processing of one important class of salient signals, looming sounds, in canonical dementia syndromes. We manipulated tones using intensity cues to create percepts of salient approaching (“looming”) or less salient withdrawing sounds. Pupil dilatation responses and behavioral rating responses to these stimuli were compared in patients fulfilling consensus criteria for dementia syndromes (semantic dementia, n = 10; behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia, n = 16, progressive nonfluent aphasia, n = 12; amnestic Alzheimer's disease, n = 10) and a cohort of 26 healthy age-matched individuals. Approaching sounds were rated as more salient than withdrawing sounds by healthy older individuals but this behavioral response to salience did not differentiate healthy individuals from patients with dementia syndromes. Pupil responses to approaching sounds were greater than responses to withdrawing sounds in healthy older individuals and in patients with semantic dementia: this differential pupil response was reduced in patients with progressive nonfluent aphasia and Alzheimer's disease relative both to the healthy control and semantic dementia groups, and did not correlate with nonverbal auditory semantic function. Autonomic responses to auditory salience are differentially affected by dementias and may constitute a novel biomarker of these diseases. PMID:25859194

Practice makes perfect? The pedagogic value of online independent phonetic transcription practice for speech and language therapy students.

Science.gov (United States)

Titterington, Jill; Bates, Sally

2018-01-01

Accuracy of phonetic transcription is a core skill for speech and language therapists (SLTs) worldwide (Howard & Heselwood, 2002). The current study investigates the value of weekly independent online phonetic transcription tasks to support development of this skill in year one SLT students. Using a mixed methods observational design, students enrolled in a year one phonetics module completed 10 weekly homework activities in phonetic transcription on a stand-alone tutorial site (WebFon (Bates, Matthews & Eagles, 2010)) and 5 weekly online quizzes (the 'Ulster Set' (Titterington, unpublished)). Student engagement with WebFon was measured in terms of the number of responses made to 'sparks' on the University's Virtual Learning Environment Discussion Board. Measures of phonetic transcription accuracy were obtained for the 'Ulster Set' and for a stand-alone piece of coursework at the end of the module. Qualitative feedback about experience with the online learning was gathered via questionnaire. A positive significant association was found between student engagement with WebFon and performance in the 'Ulster Set', and between performance in the 'Ulster Set' and final coursework. Students valued both online independent learning resources as each supported different learning needs. However, student compliance with WebFon was significantly lower than with the 'Ulster Set'. Motivators and inhibitors to engagement with the online resources were investigated identifying what best maximised engagement. These results indicate that while 'independent' online learning can support development of phonetic transcription skills, the activities must be carefully managed and constructively aligned to assessment providing the level of valance necessary to ensure effective engagement.

Dim target detection method based on salient graph fusion

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Ruo-lan; Shen, Yi-yan; Jiang, Jun

2018-02-01

Dim target detection is one key problem in digital image processing field. With development of multi-spectrum imaging sensor, it becomes a trend to improve the performance of dim target detection by fusing the information from different spectral images. In this paper, one dim target detection method based on salient graph fusion was proposed. In the method, Gabor filter with multi-direction and contrast filter with multi-scale were combined to construct salient graph from digital image. And then, the maximum salience fusion strategy was designed to fuse the salient graph from different spectral images. Top-hat filter was used to detect dim target from the fusion salient graph. Experimental results show that proposal method improved the probability of target detection and reduced the probability of false alarm on clutter background images.

Limitations of the influence of English phonetics and phonology on L2 Spanish rhotics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael Kevin Olsen

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This study investigates L2 Spanish rhotic production in intermediate learners of Spanish, specifically addressing the duration of the influence of L1 English rhotic articulations and a phonetic environment involving English taps on the acquisition of Spanish taps and trills that Olsen (2012 found. Results from multiple linear regressions involving thirty-five students in Spanish foreign language classes show that the effect of English rhotic articulations evident in beginners has disappeared after four semesters of Spanish study. However, results from paired samples t-tests show that these more advanced learners produced accurate taps significantly more in words containing phonetic environments that produce taps in English. This effect is taken as evidence that L1 phonetic influences have a shorter duration on L2 production than do L1 phonological influences. These results provide insights into L2 rhotic acquisition which Spanish educators and students can use to formulate reasonable pronunciation expectations.

A Pedagogical Study of Tone Neutralization in Cibemba Phonetics ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Nekky Umera

distinct schools of thought have emerged in relation to tone in teaching phonetics ... the argument of the present writer is that the phenomenon of tone is essentially a ... Three notable published books in the area of Cibemba grammar have also ..... Sharman (1956) Tabulation of tenses in a Bantu language (Bemba). Africa.

PET studies of phonetic processing of speech: review, replication, and reanalysis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zatorre, R J; Meyer, E; Gjedde, A

1996-01-01

Positron emission tomography was used to investigate cerebral blood flow (CBF) changes associated with the processing of speech. In a first experiment, normal right-handed volunteers were scanned under two conditions that required phonetic processing (discrimination of final consonants and phoneme...... monitoring), and one baseline condition of passive listening. Analysis was carried out by paired-image subtraction, with MRI overlay for anatomical localization. Comparison of each phonetic condition with the baseline condition revealed increased CBF in the left frontal lobe, close to the border between...... Broca's area and the motor cortex, and in a left parietal region. A second experiment showed that this area was not activated by a semantic judgement task. Reanalysis of data from an earlier study, in which various baseline conditions were used, confirmed that this region of left frontal cortex...

Combined Electrophysiological and Behavioral Evidence for the Suppression of Salient Distractors.

Science.gov (United States)

Gaspelin, Nicholas; Luck, Steven J

2018-05-15

Researchers have long debated how salient-but-irrelevant features guide visual attention. Pure stimulus-driven theories claim that salient stimuli automatically capture attention irrespective of goals, whereas pure goal-driven theories propose that an individual's attentional control settings determine whether salient stimuli capture attention. However, recent studies have suggested a hybrid model in which salient stimuli attract visual attention but can be actively suppressed by top-down attentional mechanisms. Support for this hybrid model has primarily come from ERP studies demonstrating that salient stimuli, which fail to capture attention, also elicit a distractor positivity (P D ) component, a putative neural index of suppression. Other support comes from a handful of behavioral studies showing that processing at the salient locations is inhibited compared with other locations. The current study was designed to link the behavioral and neural evidence by combining ERP recordings with an experimental paradigm that provides a behavioral measure of suppression. We found that, when a salient distractor item elicited the P D component, processing at the location of this distractor was suppressed below baseline levels. Furthermore, the magnitude of behavioral suppression and the magnitude of the P D component covaried across participants. These findings provide a crucial connection between the behavioral and neural measures of suppression, which opens the door to using the P D component to assess the timing and neural substrates of the behaviorally observed suppression.

Connection of functional quality of partial removable dentures and the degree of patients' phonetic adaptation.

Science.gov (United States)

Artjomenko, Victoria; Vidzis, Aldis; Zigurs, Guntis

2015-01-01

Phonetic adaptation is a complex biological phenomenon with a highly individual course, depending on the patient's motivation to use prosthesis, on the functional quality of removable dentures. The aim of the study was to estimate phonetic adaptation in patients with partial dentures, connecting it to alteration in speech quality and dentures functional value. We examined some peculiarities of phonetic adaptation in 50 patients with removable dentures (50 patients with natural dentition were invited for the control group). The standardized evaluation protocols (12 speech quality determining parameters) were developed separately for Latvian and Russian native speakers. 500 speech video samples were recorded and analysed according to pre-established guidelines. The connection of speech quality and the functional quality of the dentures was assessed. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 20.0. P values equal to or less than 0.05 were considered to be statistically significant. In patients with appropriate functional quality of removable dentures distorted speech production was detected in 25% (pk=0.008) cases and in patients with inappropriate functional quality of the prosthesis - in 40% (pkdentures functional value were satisfied with their speech performance in 96% (pk=0.674), in the group with inappropriate dentures functional value only 59% (premovable dentures depends on the patient's individual adaptation capacity, prosthetic design and functional value. Thus statistically significant correlation between removable partial dentures functional value, duration of usage and the degree of patients' phonetic adaptation (p<0.001) may be considered to be confirmed.

Magnitude of phonetic distinction predicts success at early word learning in native and non-native accents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paola eEscudero

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Although infants perceptually attune to native vowels and consonants well before 12 months, at 13–15 months, they have difficulty learning to associate novel words that differ by their initial consonant (e.g., BIN and DIN to their visual referents. However, this difficulty may not apply to all minimal-pair novel words. While Canadian English (CE 15-month-olds failed to respond to a switch from the newly learned word DEET to the novel nonword DOOT, they did notice a switch from DEET to DIT (Curtin, Fennell, & Escudero, 2009. Those authors argued that early word learners capitalize on large phonetic differences, seen in CE DEET–DIT, but not on smaller phonetic differences, as in CE DEET–DOOT. To assess this hypothesis, we tested Australian English (AusE 15-month-olds, as AusE has a smaller magnitude of phonetic difference in both novel word pairs. Two groups of infants were trained on the novel word DEET and tested on the vowel switches in DIT and DOOT, produced by an AusE female speaker or the same CE female speaker as in Curtin et al. (2009. If the size of the phonetic distinction plays a more central role than native accent experience in early word learning, AusE children should more easily recognize both of the unfamiliar but larger CE vowel switches than the more familiar but smaller AusE ones. The results support our phonetic-magnitude hypothesis: AusE children taught and tested with the CE-accented novel words looked longer to both of the switch test trials (DIT, DOOT than same test trials (DEET, while those who heard the AusE-accented tokens did not notice either switch. Implications of our findings for models of early word learning are discussed.

Phonetic Pause Unites Phonology and Semantics against Morphology and Syntax

Science.gov (United States)

Sakarna, Ahmad Khalaf; Mobaideen, Adnan

2012-01-01

The present study investigates the phonological effect triggered by the different types of phonetic pause used in Quran on morphology, syntax, and semantics. It argues that Quranic pause provides interesting evidence about the close relation between phonology and semantics, from one side, and semantics, morphology, and syntax, from the other…

On the Phonetic Consonance in Quranic Verses-Final "Fawa?il"

Science.gov (United States)

Aldubai, Nadhim Abdulamalek

2015-01-01

The present research aims to discuss the phonological patterns in Quranic verse-final pauses ("fawa?il") in order to provide an insight into the phonetic network governing the symmetrical and the asymmetrical pauses ("fawa?il") in terms of concordance ("al-nasaq al-?awti"). The data are collected from different parts…

Permanent phonetic identification code for radiation workers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khatua, R.; Somasundaram, S.; Srivastava, D.N.

1987-01-01

This report describes a system of self-checking short and easily memorisable 4-digit 'Permanent Phonetic Radiation Code' (PPRC) using radix 128 for Indians occupationally exposed to radiation, to facilitate entry of all radiation dose data pertaining to an individual in a single record of a file. The logic of PPRC is computer compatible. The necessary computer program has been developed in Health Physics Division for printing the PPRCs in Devanagari script through dot-matrix printers for making it understandable to the majority of the persons concerned. (author)

Salient cues improve prospective remembering in Korsakoff's syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Altgassen, Mareike; Ariese, Laura; Wester, Arie J; Kessels, Roy P C

2016-06-01

Korsakoff's syndrome is characterized by deficits in episodic memory and executive functions. Both cognitive functions are needed to remember to execute delayed intentions (prospective memory, PM), an ability that is crucial for independent living in everyday life. So far, PM has only been targeted by one study in Korsakoff's syndrome. This study explored the effects of executive control demands on PM to shed further light on a possible interdependence of memory and executive functions in Korsakoff's syndrome, Twenty-five individuals with Korsakoff's syndrome and 23 chronic alcoholics (without amnesia) performed a categorization task into which a PM task was embedded that put either high or low demands on executive control processes (using low vs. high salient cues). Overall, Korsakoff patients had fewer PM hits than alcoholic controls. Across groups, participants had fewer PM hits when cues were low salient as compared to high salient. Korsakoff patients performed better on PM when highly salient cues were presented than cues of low salience, while there were no differential effects for alcoholic controls. While overall Korsakoff patients' showed a global PM deficit, the extent of this deficit was moderated by the executive control demands of the task applied. This indicated further support for an interrelation of executive functions and memory performance in Korsakoff. Positive clinical implications of the work Prospective memory (PM) performance in Korsakoff's syndrome is related to executive control load. Increasing cues' salience improves PM performance in Korsakoff's syndrome. Salient visual aids may be used in everyday life to improve Korsakoff individuals' planning and organization skills. Cautions or limitations of the study Results were obtained in a structured laboratory setting and need to be replicated in a more naturalistic setting to assess their transferability to everyday life. Given the relatively small sample size, individual predictors of PM

The process of production/adaptation of phonetics and phonology’s didactic material for visual deficient

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edson Carlos Romualdo

2015-02-01

Full Text Available This paper describes the process of production and adaptation of phonetics and phonology teaching material for the visually impaired. The research was motivated by the lack of means to represent phonetic and phonological symbols to a visually impaired undergraduate student of the Language and Literature Course of Universidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM [Maringá State University], Brazil, due to the fact that these symbols are elementary for the professional development of future Portuguese teachers. Considering this shortcoming and in favor of educational inclusion, the intention was to find the best method to represent these symbols. Half-structured interviews were undertaken with special education professionals who work with the visually impaired, which insisted that the Braille method is the most efficient resource for teaching and learning for these students. The result of this research was the adaptation to the Braille system, by professionals of the Centro de Apoio Pedagógico (CAP [Center for Pedagogical Aid] in Maringá, of a book on phonetics and phonology, including symbols, organized for teachers’ formation.

Variable Rate Characteristic Waveform Interpolation Speech Coder Based on Phonetic Classification

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

WANG Jing; KUANG Jing-ming; ZHAO Sheng-hui

2007-01-01

A variable-bit-rate characteristic waveform interpolation (VBR-CWI) speech codec with about 1.8kbit/s average bit rate which integrates phonetic classification into characteristic waveform (CW) decomposition is proposed.Each input frame is classified into one of 4 phonetic classes.Non-speech frames are represented with Bark-band noise model.The extracted CWs become rapidly evolving waveforms (REWs) or slowly evolving waveforms (SEWs) in the cases of unvoiced or stationary voiced frames respectively, while mixed voiced frames use the same CW decomposition as that in the conventional CWI.Experimental results show that the proposed codec can eliminate most buzzy and noisy artifacts existing in the fixed-bit-rate characteristic waveform interpolation (FBR-CWI) speech codec, the average bit rate can be much lower, and its reconstructed speech quality is much better than FS 1016 CELP at 4.8kbit/s and similar to G.723.1 ACELP at 5.3kbit/s.

Current superimposition variable flux reluctance motor with 8 salient poles

Science.gov (United States)

Takahara, Kazuaki; Hirata, Katsuhiro; Niguchi, Noboru; Kohara, Akira

2017-12-01

We propose a current superimposition variable flux reluctance motor for a traction motor of electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles, which consists of 10 salient poles in the rotor and 12 slots in the stator. However, iron losses of this motor in high rotation speed ranges is large because the number of salient poles is large. In this paper, we propose a current superimposition variable flux reluctance motor that consists of 8 salient poles and 12 slots. The characteristics of the 10-pole-12-slot and 8-pole-12-slot current superimposition variable flux reluctance motors are compared using finite element analysis under vector control.

Current superimposition variable flux reluctance motor with 8 salient poles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Takahara Kazuaki

2017-12-01

Full Text Available We propose a current superimposition variable flux reluctance motor for a traction motor of electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles, which consists of 10 salient poles in the rotor and 12 slots in the stator. However, iron losses of this motor in high rotation speed ranges is large because the number of salient poles is large. In this paper, we propose a current superimposition variable flux reluctance motor that consists of 8 salient poles and 12 slots. The characteristics of the 10-pole-12-slot and 8-pole-12-slot current superimposition variable flux reluctance motors are compared using finite element analysis under vector control.

Predicting word-recognition performance in noise by young listeners with normal hearing using acoustic, phonetic, and lexical variables.

Science.gov (United States)

McArdle, Rachel; Wilson, Richard H

2008-06-01

To analyze the 50% correct recognition data that were from the Wilson et al (this issue) study and that were obtained from 24 listeners with normal hearing; also to examine whether acoustic, phonetic, or lexical variables can predict recognition performance for monosyllabic words presented in speech-spectrum noise. The specific variables are as follows: (a) acoustic variables (i.e., effective root-mean-square sound pressure level, duration), (b) phonetic variables (i.e., consonant features such as manner, place, and voicing for initial and final phonemes; vowel phonemes), and (c) lexical variables (i.e., word frequency, word familiarity, neighborhood density, neighborhood frequency). The descriptive, correlational study will examine the influence of acoustic, phonetic, and lexical variables on speech recognition in noise performance. Regression analysis demonstrated that 45% of the variance in the 50% point was accounted for by acoustic and phonetic variables whereas only 3% of the variance was accounted for by lexical variables. These findings suggest that monosyllabic word-recognition-in-noise is more dependent on bottom-up processing than on top-down processing. The results suggest that when speech-in-noise testing is used in a pre- and post-hearing-aid-fitting format, the use of monosyllabic words may be sensitive to changes in audibility resulting from amplification.

A Model of Classification of Phonemic and Phonetic Negative Transfer: The case of Turkish –English Interlanguage with Pedagogical Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sinan Bayraktaroğlu

2011-04-01

Full Text Available This article introduces a model of classification of phonemic and phonetic negative- transfer based on an empirical study of Turkish-English Interlanguage. The model sets out a hierarchy of difficulties, starting from the most crucial phonemic features affecting “intelligibility”, down to other distributional, phonetic, and allophonic features which need to be acquired if a “near-native” level of phonological competence is aimed at. Unlike previous theoretical studies of predictions of classification of phonemic and phonetic L1 interference (Moulton 1962a 1962b; Wiik 1965, this model is based on an empirical study of the recorded materials of Turkish-English IL speakers transcribed allophonically using the IPA Alphabet and diacritics. For different categories of observed systematic negative- transfer and their avoidance of getting “fossilized” in the IL process, remedial exercises are recommended for the teaching and learning BBC Pronunciation. In conclusıon, few methodological phonetic techniques, approaches, and specifications are put forward for their use in designing the curriculum and syllabus content of teaching L2 pronunciation.

Caracteristiques de trois systemes informatiques de transcription phonetique et graphemique (Characteristics of Three Computer-Based Systems of Phonetic and Graphemic Transcription).

Science.gov (United States)

Marty, Fernand

Three computer-based systems for phonetic/graphemic transcription of language are described, compared, and contrasted. The text is entirely in French, with examples given from the French language. The three approaches to transcription are: (1) text entered in standard typography and exiting in phonetic transcription with markers for rhythmic…

Processes and variations in language economisation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jonathan R. White

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This article analyses the processes of reducing language in textchats produced by non-native speakers of English. We propose that forms are reduced because of their high frequency and because of the discourse context. A wide variety of processes are attested in the literature, and we find different forms of clippings in our data, including mixtures of different clippings, homophone respellings, phonetic respellings including informal oral forms, initialisms (but no acronyms, and mixtures of clipping together with homophone and phonetic respellings. Clippings were the most frequent process (especially back-clippings and initialisms, followed by homophone respellings. There were different ways of metalinguistically marking reduction, but capitalisation was by far the most frequent. There is much individual variation in the frequencies of the different processes, although most were within normal distribution. The fact that non-native speakers seem to generally follow reduction patterns of native speakers suggests that reduction is a universal process.

N170 Tuning in Chinese: Logographic Characters and Phonetic Pinyin Script

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Qin, Rui; Maurits, Natasha; Maassen, Ben

2016-01-01

In alphabetic languages, print consistently elicits enhanced, left-lateralized N170 responses in the event-related potential compared to control stimuli. In the current study, we adopted a cross-linguistic design to investigate N170 tuning to logographic Chinese and to "pinyin," an auxiliary phonetic system in Chinese. The results…

A programme for bidirectional phonology and phonetics and their acquisition and evolution

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boersma, P.; Benz, A.; Mattausch, J.

2011-01-01

This paper summarizes an existing bidirectional six-level model of phonology and phonetics (and a bit of morphology). Bidirectionality in this case refers to the modelling of both the speaking process (production) and the listening process (comprehension). The elements of the grammar (the

Accommodating variation: dialects, idiolects, and speech processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Kraljic, Tanya; Brennan, Susan E; Samuel, Arthur G

2008-04-01

Listeners are faced with enormous variation in pronunciation, yet they rarely have difficulty understanding speech. Although much research has been devoted to figuring out how listeners deal with variability, virtually none (outside of sociolinguistics) has focused on the source of the variation itself. The current experiments explore whether different kinds of variation lead to different cognitive and behavioral adjustments. Specifically, we compare adjustments to the same acoustic consequence when it is due to context-independent variation (resulting from articulatory properties unique to a speaker) versus context-conditioned variation (resulting from common articulatory properties of speakers who share a dialect). The contrasting results for these two cases show that the source of a particular acoustic-phonetic variation affects how that variation is handled by the perceptual system. We also show that changes in perceptual representations do not necessarily lead to changes in production.

Audio-visual identification of place of articulation and voicing in white and babble noise.

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Alm, Magnus; Behne, Dawn M; Wang, Yue; Eg, Ragnhild

2009-07-01

Research shows that noise and phonetic attributes influence the degree to which auditory and visual modalities are used in audio-visual speech perception (AVSP). Research has, however, mainly focused on white noise and single phonetic attributes, thus neglecting the more common babble noise and possible interactions between phonetic attributes. This study explores whether white and babble noise differentially influence AVSP and whether these differences depend on phonetic attributes. White and babble noise of 0 and -12 dB signal-to-noise ratio were added to congruent and incongruent audio-visual stop consonant-vowel stimuli. The audio (A) and video (V) of incongruent stimuli differed either in place of articulation (POA) or voicing. Responses from 15 young adults show that, compared to white noise, babble resulted in more audio responses for POA stimuli, and fewer for voicing stimuli. Voiced syllables received more audio responses than voiceless syllables. Results can be attributed to discrepancies in the acoustic spectra of both the noise and speech target. Voiced consonants may be more auditorily salient than voiceless consonants which are more spectrally similar to white noise. Visual cues contribute to identification of voicing, but only if the POA is visually salient and auditorily susceptible to the noise type.

Infant-Directed Speech Supports Phonetic Category Learning in English and Japanese

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Werker, Janet F.; Pons, Ferran; Dietrich, Christiane; Kajikawa, Sachiyo; Fais, Laurel; Amano, Shigeaki

2007-01-01

Across the first year of life, infants show decreased sensitivity to phonetic differences not used in the native language [Werker, J. F., & Tees, R. C. (1984). Cross-language speech perception: evidence for perceptual reorganization during the first year of life. "Infant Behaviour and Development," 7, 49-63]. In an artificial language learning…

Phonological simplifications, apraxia of speech and the interaction between phonological and phonetic processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Galluzzi, Claudia; Bureca, Ivana; Guariglia, Cecilia; Romani, Cristina

2015-05-01

Research on aphasia has struggled to identify apraxia of speech (AoS) as an independent deficit affecting a processing level separate from phonological assembly and motor implementation. This is because AoS is characterized by both phonological and phonetic errors and, therefore, can be interpreted as a combination of deficits at the phonological and the motoric level rather than as an independent impairment. We apply novel psycholinguistic analyses to the perceptually phonological errors made by 24 Italian aphasic patients. We show that only patients with relative high rate (>10%) of phonetic errors make sound errors which simplify the phonology of the target. Moreover, simplifications are strongly associated with other variables indicative of articulatory difficulties - such as a predominance of errors on consonants rather than vowels - but not with other measures - such as rate of words reproduced correctly or rates of lexical errors. These results indicate that sound errors cannot arise at a single phonological level because they are different in different patients. Instead, different patterns: (1) provide evidence for separate impairments and the existence of a level of articulatory planning/programming intermediate between phonological selection and motor implementation; (2) validate AoS as an independent impairment at this level, characterized by phonetic errors and phonological simplifications; (3) support the claim that linguistic principles of complexity have an articulatory basis since they only apply in patients with associated articulatory difficulties. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Graphemes Sharing Phonetic Features Tend to Induce Similar Synesthetic Colors

OpenAIRE

Kang, Mi-Jeong; Kim, Yeseul; Shin, Ji-Young; Kim, Chai-Youn

2017-01-01

Individuals with grapheme-color synesthesia experience idiosyncratic colors when viewing achromatic letters or digits. Despite large individual differences in grapheme-color association, synesthetes tend to associate graphemes sharing a perceptual feature with similar synesthetic colors. Sound has been suggested as one such feature. In the present study, we investigated whether graphemes of which representative phonemes have similar phonetic features tend to be associated with analogous synes...

Influence of phonetic context on the dysphonic event: contribution of new methodologies for the analysis of pathological voice.

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Revis, J; Galant, C; Fredouille, C; Ghio, A; Giovanni, A

2012-01-01

Widely studied in terms of perception, acoustics or aerodynamics, dysphonia stays nevertheless a speech phenomenon, closely related to the phonetic composition of the message conveyed by the voice. In this paper, we present a series of three works with the aim to understand the implications of the phonetic manifestation of dysphonia. Our first study proposes a new approach to the perceptual analysis of dysphonia (the phonetic labeling), which principle is to listen and evaluate each phoneme in a sentence separately. This study confirms the hypothesis of Laver that the dysphonia is not a constant noise added to the speech signal, but a discontinuous phenomenon, occurring on certain phonemes, based on the phonetic context. However, the burden of executing the task has led us to look to the techniques of automatic speaker recognition (ASR) to automate the procedure. With the collaboration of the LIA, we have developed a system for automatic classification of dysphonia from the techniques of ASR. This is the subject of our second study. The first results obtained with this system suggest that the unvoiced consonants show predominant performance in the task of automatic classification of dysphonia. This result is surprising since it is often assumed that dysphonia occurs only on laryngeal vibration. We started looking for explanations of this phenomenon and we present our assumptions and experiences in the third work we present.

More than a boundary shift: Perceptual adaptation to foreign-accented speech reshapes the internal structure of phonetic categories.

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Xin; Theodore, Rachel M; Myers, Emily B

2017-01-01

The literature on perceptual learning for speech shows that listeners use lexical information to disambiguate phonetically ambiguous speech sounds and that they maintain this new mapping for later recognition of ambiguous sounds for a given talker. Evidence for this kind of perceptual reorganization has focused on phonetic category boundary shifts. Here, we asked whether listeners adjust both category boundaries and internal category structure in rapid adaptation to foreign accents. We investigated the perceptual learning of Mandarin-accented productions of word-final voiced stops in English. After exposure to a Mandarin speaker's productions, native-English listeners' adaptation to the talker was tested in 3 ways: a cross-modal priming task to assess spoken word recognition (Experiment 1), a category identification task to assess shifts in the phonetic boundary (Experiment 2), and a goodness rating task to assess internal category structure (Experiment 3). Following exposure, both category boundary and internal category structure were adjusted; moreover, these prelexical changes facilitated subsequent word recognition. Together, the results demonstrate that listeners' sensitivity to acoustic-phonetic detail in the accented input promoted a dynamic, comprehensive reorganization of their perceptual response as a consequence of exposure to the accented input. We suggest that an examination of internal category structure is important for a complete account of the mechanisms of perceptual learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Signs and Transitions: Do They Differ Phonetically and Does It Matter?

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Jantunen, Tommi

2013-01-01

The point of departure of this article is the cluster of three pre-theoretical presuppositions (P) governing modern research on sign languages: (1) that a stream of signing consists of signs (S) and transitions (T), (2) that only Ss are linguistically relevant units, and (3) that there is a qualitative (e.g., phonetic) difference between Ss and…

L'influenza dell'attenzione, della memoria e della discriminazione fonetica nell'apprendimento della seconda lingua nella scuola elementare: Risultati di alcuni test (Influence of Attention, Memory, and Phonetic Discrimination in Second Language Learning in Elementary School: Results of Several Tests).

Science.gov (United States)

Colonna-Preti, Paola; Taeschner, Traute

1987-01-01

Using a new method, 48 children in an elementary school in Rome, Italy, were taught a foreign language (26 English, 22 German) and tested after three years. The authors attempt to explain the variation in test results in terms of the students' attention, memory, and phonetic discrimination. (CFM)

Salient Region Detection via Feature Combination and Discriminative Classifier

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Deming Kong

2015-01-01

Full Text Available We introduce a novel approach to detect salient regions of an image via feature combination and discriminative classifier. Our method, which is based on hierarchical image abstraction, uses the logistic regression approach to map the regional feature vector to a saliency score. Four saliency cues are used in our approach, including color contrast in a global context, center-boundary priors, spatially compact color distribution, and objectness, which is as an atomic feature of segmented region in the image. By mapping a four-dimensional regional feature to fifteen-dimensional feature vector, we can linearly separate the salient regions from the clustered background by finding an optimal linear combination of feature coefficients in the fifteen-dimensional feature space and finally fuse the saliency maps across multiple levels. Furthermore, we introduce the weighted salient image center into our saliency analysis task. Extensive experiments on two large benchmark datasets show that the proposed approach achieves the best performance over several state-of-the-art approaches.

Multi-scale salient feature extraction on mesh models

KAUST Repository

Yang, Yongliang; Shen, ChaoHui

2012-01-01

We present a new method of extracting multi-scale salient features on meshes. It is based on robust estimation of curvature on multiple scales. The coincidence between salient feature and the scale of interest can be established straightforwardly, where detailed feature appears on small scale and feature with more global shape information shows up on large scale. We demonstrate this multi-scale description of features accords with human perception and can be further used for several applications as feature classification and viewpoint selection. Experiments exhibit that our method as a multi-scale analysis tool is very helpful for studying 3D shapes. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.

The Role of Inhibition in Avoiding Distraction by Salient Stimuli.

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Gaspelin, Nicholas; Luck, Steven J

2018-01-01

Researchers have long debated whether salient stimuli can involuntarily 'capture' visual attention. We review here evidence for a recently discovered inhibitory mechanism that may help to resolve this debate. This evidence suggests that salient stimuli naturally attempt to capture attention, but capture can be avoided if the salient stimulus is suppressed before it captures attention. Importantly, the suppression process can be more or less effective as a result of changing task demands or lapses in cognitive control. Converging evidence for the existence of this suppression mechanism comes from multiple sources, including psychophysics, eye-tracking, and event-related potentials (ERPs). We conclude that the evidence for suppression is strong, but future research will need to explore the nature and limits of this mechanism. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Analysis of Phonetic Transcriptions for Danish Automatic Speech Recognition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kirkedal, Andreas Søeborg

2013-01-01

Automatic speech recognition (ASR) relies on three resources: audio, orthographic transcriptions and a pronunciation dictionary. The dictionary or lexicon maps orthographic words to sequences of phones or phonemes that represent the pronunciation of the corresponding word. The quality of a speech....... The analysis indicates that transcribing e.g. stress or vowel duration has a negative impact on performance. The best performance is obtained with coarse phonetic annotation and improves performance 1% word error rate and 3.8% sentence error rate....

Neural correlates of phonetic convergence and speech imitation.

Science.gov (United States)

Garnier, Maëva; Lamalle, Laurent; Sato, Marc

2013-01-01

Speakers unconsciously tend to mimic their interlocutor's speech during communicative interaction. This study aims at examining the neural correlates of phonetic convergence and deliberate imitation, in order to explore whether imitation of phonetic features, deliberate, or unconscious, might reflect a sensory-motor recalibration process. Sixteen participants listened to vowels with pitch varying around the average pitch of their own voice, and then produced the identified vowels, while their speech was recorded and their brain activity was imaged using fMRI. Three degrees and types of imitation were compared (unconscious, deliberate, and inhibited) using a go-nogo paradigm, which enabled the comparison of brain activations during the whole imitation process, its active perception step, and its production. Speakers followed the pitch of voices they were exposed to, even unconsciously, without being instructed to do so. After being informed about this phenomenon, 14 participants were able to inhibit it, at least partially. The results of whole brain and ROI analyses support the fact that both deliberate and unconscious imitations are based on similar neural mechanisms and networks, involving regions of the dorsal stream, during both perception and production steps of the imitation process. While no significant difference in brain activation was found between unconscious and deliberate imitations, the degree of imitation, however, appears to be determined by processes occurring during the perception step. Four regions of the dorsal stream: bilateral auditory cortex, bilateral supramarginal gyrus (SMG), and left Wernicke's area, indeed showed an activity that correlated significantly with the degree of imitation during the perception step.

Two French-Speaking Cases of Foreign Accent Syndrome: An Acoustic-Phonetic Analysis

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Roy, Johanna-Pascale; Macoir, Joel; Martel-Sauvageau, Vincent; Boudreault, Carol-Ann

2012-01-01

Foreign accent syndrome (FAS) is an acquired neurologic disorder in which an individual suddenly and unintentionally speaks with an accent which is perceived as being different from his/her usual accent. This study presents an acoustic-phonetic description of two Quebec French-speaking cases. The first speaker presents a perceived accent shift to…

Auditory-Phonetic Projection and Lexical Structure in the Recognition of Sine-Wave Words

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Remez, Robert E.; Dubowski, Kathryn R.; Broder, Robin S.; Davids, Morgana L.; Grossman, Yael S.; Moskalenko, Marina; Pardo, Jennifer S.; Hasbun, Sara Maria

2011-01-01

Speech remains intelligible despite the elimination of canonical acoustic correlates of phonemes from the spectrum. A portion of this perceptual flexibility can be attributed to modulation sensitivity in the auditory-to-phonetic projection, although signal-independent properties of lexical neighborhoods also affect intelligibility in utterances…

Phonetic characteristics of vocalizations during pain

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Niebuhr, Oliver; Lautenbacher, Stefan; Salinas-Ranneberg, Melissa

2017-01-01

” (central vowel, sounding like a darker “e” as in hesitations like “ehm”)—as experimental approximations to natural vocalizations. Methods: In 50 students vowel production and self-report ratings were assessed during painful and nonpainful heat stimulation (hot water immersion) as well as during baseline......Introduction and Objectives: There have, yet, been only few attempts to phonetically characterize the vocalizations of pain, although there is wide agreement that moaning, groaning, or other nonverbal utterance can be indicative of pain. We studied the production of vowels “u,” “a,” “i”, and “schwa...... pain. Furthermore, changes from nonpainful to painful stimulations in these parameters also significantly predicted concurrent changes in pain ratings. Conclusion: Vocalization characteristics of pain seem to be best described by an increase in pitch and in loudness. Future studies using more specific...

Priming as a Motivating Factor in Sociophonetic Variation and Change.

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, Lynn

2018-04-24

Understanding how and why pronunciations vary and change has been a dominant theme in variationist sociolinguistics (Labov, , ). Linguistic variability has also been an area of focus in psychology and cognitive science. Work from these two fields has shown that where variation exists in language, an alternative form, once used, persists in working memory and has a greater chance of reuse (Bock, ; Bock & Loebell, ; Branigan, Pickering, & Cleland, ). While there have been efforts to connect priming research with sociolinguistics at the level of grammar (Poplack, ; Travis, ), there has been less work which explicitly considers the potential role of priming as a motivating factor in accent variation and change. This paper explores the role of priming in a socially conditioned sound change. There are two main findings: (a) phonetic variants with the same voicing tend to cluster together in naturally occurring speech and (b) repetition of phonetic form interacts with widely attested sociolinguistic predictors of variation. I argue that there are benefits to both cognitive science and sociolinguistics from this synergy: Incorporating research from cognitive science into sociolinguistics provides us with a better understanding of the factors underpinning a sound change in progress; incorporating insights from sociolinguistics into cognitive science shows that priming does not always operate in the same way for all speakers. Copyright © 2018 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Event-related potentials reveal increased distraction by salient global objects in older adults

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wiegand, Iris; Finke, Kathrin; Töllner, Thomas

Age-related changes in visual functions influence how older individuals perceive and react upon objects in their environment. In particular, older individuals might be more distracted by highly salient, irrelevant information. Kanizsa figures induce a ‘global precedence’ effect, which reflects...... a processing advantage for salient whole-object representations relative to configurations of local elements not inducing a global form. We investigated event-related potential (ERP) correlates of age-related decline in visual abilities, and specifically, distractibility by salient global objects in visual...

Distance-dependent pattern blending can camouflage salient aposematic signals.

Science.gov (United States)

Barnett, James B; Cuthill, Innes C; Scott-Samuel, Nicholas E

2017-07-12

The effect of viewing distance on the perception of visual texture is well known: spatial frequencies higher than the resolution limit of an observer's visual system will be summed and perceived as a single combined colour. In animal defensive colour patterns, distance-dependent pattern blending may allow aposematic patterns, salient at close range, to match the background to distant observers. Indeed, recent research has indicated that reducing the distance from which a salient signal can be detected can increase survival over camouflage or conspicuous aposematism alone. We investigated whether the spatial frequency of conspicuous and cryptically coloured stripes affects the rate of avian predation. Our results are consistent with pattern blending acting to camouflage salient aposematic signals effectively at a distance. Experiments into the relative rate of avian predation on edible model caterpillars found that increasing spatial frequency (thinner stripes) increased survival. Similarly, visual modelling of avian predators showed that pattern blending increased the similarity between caterpillar and background. These results show how a colour pattern can be tuned to reveal or conceal different information at different distances, and produce tangible survival benefits. © 2017 The Author(s).

Salient measures of inhibition and switching are associated with frontal lobe gray matter volume in healthy middle-aged and older adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Adólfsdóttir, Steinunn; Haász, Judit; Wehling, Eike; Ystad, Martin; Lundervold, Arvid; Lundervold, Astri J

2014-11-01

To investigate brain-behavior relationships between morphometric brain measures and salient executive function (EF) measures of inhibition and switching. One hundred participants (49-80 years) performed the Color Word Interference Test from the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS). Salient measures of EF components of inhibition and switching, of which the effect of more fundamental skills were regressed out, were analyzed using linear models and a conditional inference trees analysis taking intercorrelations between predictor variables (brain volumes, age, gender, and education) into account. The conditional inference trees analysis demonstrated a primary role of the middle frontal gyrus (MFG) in explaining variations in the salient EF measure of switching and combined inhibition/switching. Age predicted measures of inhibition. The study highlights the importance of considering fundamental cognitive skills and the use of a statistical method taking possible complex relationships between predictor variables into account when interpreting standard EF test results. Further studies should include MRI measures representing neural networks that may relate to CWIT performance, and longitudinal studies are required to investigate any causal relationships. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Preschoolers Benefit from Visually Salient Speech Cues

Science.gov (United States)

Lalonde, Kaylah; Holt, Rachael Frush

2015-01-01

Purpose: This study explored visual speech influence in preschoolers using 3 developmentally appropriate tasks that vary in perceptual difficulty and task demands. They also examined developmental differences in the ability to use visually salient speech cues and visual phonological knowledge. Method: Twelve adults and 27 typically developing 3-…

Correzione Fonetica: Utilita' del Laboratorio Linguistico (Phonetic Correction: The Usefulness of the Language Lab).

Science.gov (United States)

Costamagna, Lidia

1991-01-01

Emphasizes the importance of pronunciation in the teaching of Italian as a second language and discusses a course in phonetics and phonology taught at the University for Foreigners in Perugia, Italy. Common difficulties are highlighted, and lab exercises to overcome these difficulties are provided. (27 references) (CFM)

When message-frame fits salient cultural-frame, messages feel more persuasive

OpenAIRE

Uskul, Ayse K.; Oyserman, Daphna

2010-01-01

The present study examines the persuasive effects of tailored health messages comparing those tailored to match (versus not match) both chronic cultural frame and momentarily salient cultural frame. Evidence from two studies (Study 1: n = 72 European Americans; Study 2: n = 48 Asian Americans) supports the hypothesis that message persuasiveness increases when chronic cultural frame, health message tailoring and momentarily salient cultural frame all match. The hypothesis was tested using a me...

Inverse modelling and pulsating torque minimization of salient pole non-sinusoidal synchronous machines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ait-gougam, Y.; Ibtiouen, R.; Touhami, O. [Laboratoire de Recherche en Electrotechnique, Ecole Nationale Polytechnique, BP 182, El-Harrach 16200 (Algeria); Louis, J.-P.; Gabsi, M. [Systemes et Applications des Technologies de l' Information et de l' Energie (SATIE), CNRS UMR 8029, Ecole Normale Superieure de Cachan, 61 Avenue du President Wilson, 94235 Cachan Cedex (France)

2008-01-15

Sinusoidal motor's mathematical models are usually obtained using classical d-q transformation in the case of salient pole synchronous motors having sinusoidal field distribution. In this paper, a new inverse modelling for synchronous motors is presented. This modelling is derived from the properties of constant torque curves in the Concordia's reference frame. It takes into account the non-sinusoidal field distribution; EMF, self and mutual inductances having non-sinusoidal variations with respect to the angular rotor position. Both copper losses and torque ripples are minimized by adapted currents waveforms calculated from this model. Experimental evaluation was carried out on a DSP-controlled PMSM drive platform. Test results obtained demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in reducing torque ripple. (author)

Line-up member similarity influences the effectiveness of a salient rejection option for eyewitnesses

OpenAIRE

Bruer, Kaila C.; Fitzgerald, Ryan J.; Therrien, Natalie M.; Price, Heather L.

2015-01-01

Visually salient line-up rejection options have not been systematically studied with adult eyewitnesses. We explored the impact of using a non-verbal, salient rejection option on adults' identification accuracy for line-ups containing low- or high-similarity fillers. The non-verbal, salient rejection option had minimal impact on accuracy in low-similarity line-ups, but in high-similarity line-ups its inclusion increased correct rejections for target-absent line-ups as well as incorrect reject...

System and method for smoothing a salient rotor in electrical machines

Science.gov (United States)

Raminosoa, Tsarafidy; Alexander, James Pellegrino; El-Refaie, Ayman Mohamed Fawzi; Torrey, David A.

2016-12-13

An electrical machine exhibiting reduced friction and windage losses is disclosed. The electrical machine includes a stator and a rotor assembly configured to rotate relative to the stator, wherein the rotor assembly comprises a rotor core including a plurality of salient rotor poles that are spaced apart from one another around an inner hub such that an interpolar gap is formed between each adjacent pair of salient rotor poles, with an opening being defined by the rotor core in each interpolar gap. Electrically non-conductive and non-magnetic inserts are positioned in the gaps formed between the salient rotor poles, with each of the inserts including a mating feature formed an axially inner edge thereof that is configured to mate with a respective opening being defined by the rotor core, so as to secure the insert to the rotor core against centrifugal force experienced during rotation of the rotor assembly.

The Effect of Vocalic vs. Consonantal Phonetic Structure on Language Segmentability: the Case of Danish

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Trecca, Fabio; Bleses, Dorthe; Christiansen, Morten Hyllekvist

Danish-learning children are slower in the acquisition of receptive vocabulary than children in a range of other language groups. We have hypothesized that the phonetic structure of Danish, rich in vocoids and long vocalic stretches, might reduce the segmentability of the language and impede...

Verificação da eficiência da abordagem terapêutica miofuncional em casos de desvio fonológico, fonético e fonético-fonológico Efficiency of myofunctional therapy in cases of phonological, phonetic and phonetic-phonological disorders

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patricia Pereira Costa

2011-01-01

Full Text Available TEMA: o tema desta pesquisa é o uso da terapia miofuncional em casos de desvios fonético e/ou fonológicos. PROCEDIMENTOS: foram incluídos sujeitos, de ambos os sexos, com idades entre seis e 13 anos, que apresentassem desvio fonético-fonológico, e alterações do sistema estomatognático, com idade mínima de quatro anos. Considerou-se como critério de exclusão a presença de malformações, síndromes genéticas, suspeita de alterações neurológicas, déficit cognitivo ou psicológico, perda auditiva, diagnóstico de atraso de linguagem, terapia fonoaudiológica anterior, e alterações oclusais. Realizou-se anamnese, avaliação do sistema estomatognático, exame articulatório, triagem auditiva e avaliação otorrinolaringológica. Com os sujeitos selecionados, foram realizados dois atendimentos semanais, de terapia miofuncional. Realizaram-se sondagens a cada oito sessões de atendimento. Foram comparados o número de fones/fonemas da fala e estruturas/aspectos do sistema estomatognático alterados antes e depois da terapia miofuncional, comparação entre os sujeitos em relação ao tempo de terapia de acordo com a alteração de fala apresentada, comparação entre os grupos quanto ao número de fones/fonemas e aspectos os sistema estomatognático alterados antes e depois da terapia miofuncional. RESULTADOS: os sujeitos com desvio fonológico apresentavam entre um e quatro fonemas alterados, os sujeitos com desvio fonético apresentavam um fone alterados; já os sujeitos com desvio fonético-fonológico apresentavam cinco e seis fones/fonemas alterados, respectivamente. Os casos de desvio fonológico e fonético tiveram a fala adequada. Um dos sujeitos com desvio fonético-fonológico teve a fala adequada, e o outro permaneceu com um fone alterado. CONCLUSÃO: a terapia miofuncional demonstrou-se eficiente em casos de desvios fonético e/ou fonológicos.BACKGROUND:the use of myofunctional therapy in cases of phonetic and

Phonetic measures of reduced tongue movement correlate with negative symptom severity in hospitalized patients with first-episode schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.

Science.gov (United States)

Covington, Michael A; Lunden, S L Anya; Cristofaro, Sarah L; Wan, Claire Ramsay; Bailey, C Thomas; Broussard, Beth; Fogarty, Robert; Johnson, Stephanie; Zhang, Shayi; Compton, Michael T

2012-12-01

Aprosody, or flattened speech intonation, is a recognized negative symptom of schizophrenia, though it has rarely been studied from a linguistic/phonological perspective. To bring the latest advances in computational linguistics to the phenomenology of schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders, a clinical first-episode psychosis research team joined with a phonetics/computational linguistics team to conduct a preliminary, proof-of-concept study. Video recordings from a semi-structured clinical research interview were available from 47 first-episode psychosis patients. Audio tracks of the video recordings were extracted, and after review of quality, 25 recordings were available for phonetic analysis. These files were de-noised and a trained phonologist extracted a 1-minute sample of each patient's speech. WaveSurfer 1.8.5 was used to create, from each speech sample, a file of formant values (F0, F1, F2, where F0 is the fundamental frequency and F1 and F2 are resonance bands indicating the moment-by-moment shape of the oral cavity). Variability in these phonetic indices was correlated with severity of Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale negative symptom scores using Pearson correlations. A measure of variability of tongue front-to-back position-the standard deviation of F2-was statistically significantly correlated with the severity of negative symptoms (r=-0.446, p=0.03). This study demonstrates a statistically significant and meaningful correlation between negative symptom severity and phonetically measured reductions in tongue movements during speech in a sample of first-episode patients just initiating treatment. Further studies of negative symptoms, applying computational linguistics methods, are warranted. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Impact of Salient Role Stress on Trajectories of Health in Late Life among Survivors of a Seven-Year Panel Study: Analyses of Individual Growth Curves

Science.gov (United States)

Shaw, Benjamin A.; Krause, Neal

2002-01-01

The purpose of this study is twofold: 1) to model changes in health over time among older adults; and 2) to assess the degree to which stress arising in salient social roles accounts for individual variation in these changes. Individual growth curve analyses using Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) software were employed with longitudinal data…

Morality salience increases adherence to salient norms and values

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gailliot, M.T.; Stillman, T.F.; Schmeichel, B.J.; Maner, J.K.; Plant, E.A.

2008-01-01

Four studies indicate that mortality salience increases adherence to social norms and values, but only when cultural norms and values are salient. In Study 1, mortality salience coupled with a reminder about cultural values of egalitarianism reduced prejudice toward Blacks among non-Black

Acoustic-Phonetic Versus Lexical Processing in Nonnative Listeners Differing in Their Dominant Language.

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Lu-Feng; Koenig, Laura L

2016-09-01

Nonnative listeners have difficulty recognizing English words due to underdeveloped acoustic-phonetic and/or lexical skills. The present study used Boothroyd and Nittrouer's (1988)j factor to tease apart these two components of word recognition. Participants included 15 native English and 29 native Russian listeners. Fourteen and 15 of the Russian listeners reported English (ED) and Russian (RD) to be their dominant language, respectively. Listeners were presented 119 consonant-vowel-consonant real and nonsense words in speech-spectrum noise at +6 dB SNR. Responses were scored for word and phoneme recognition, the logarithmic quotient of which yielded j. Word and phoneme recognition was comparable between native and ED listeners but poorer in RD listeners. Analysis of j indicated less effective use of lexical information in RD than in native and ED listeners. Lexical processing was strongly correlated with the length of residence in the United States. Language background is important for nonnative word recognition. Lexical skills can be regarded as nativelike in ED nonnative listeners. Compromised word recognition in ED listeners is unlikely a result of poor lexical processing. Performance should be interpreted with caution for listeners dominant in their first language, whose word recognition is affected by both lexical and acoustic-phonetic factors.

Phonetic physical feature formula for identification of radiation auxiliary workers and security applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Srivastava, D.N.; Srivastava, M.K.; Kher, R.K.

1997-08-01

This report gives a review of human physical features with the aim of evolving a simple and practical formula which can be used to identify radiation auxiliary workers even if they do not reveal their radiation work history either due to ignorance or intentionally. To have the formula short, the phonetic number system of radix 128 has been employed. The formula finally arrived at consists of three phonetic digits representing 17 features and age in blocks of 8 years. There are four main advantages of this formula. The first is binary division which has more surety and better accuracy. The second is expert redundancy, that is expert examination is not required. Third is very large number of categories (128K=131072). And the fourth is nearly equal probabilities of all categories which make the number of people in each category very few and that simplifies the search. Hence by the scan of a few records, it is easily possible to ascertain whether a person is a new entrant or an old timer. Its application ensures better monitoring of the radiation exposure of auxiliary workers. This formula can also be used by police department and investigating agencies to classify the records of suspected persons for the ease of their identification when they give misleading information

Younger but not older adults benefit from salient feedback during learning

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Michael eHerbert

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Older adults are impaired in reinforcement learning (RL when feedback is partially ambiguous (e.g., Eppinger and Kray, 2011. In this study we examined whether older adults benefit from salient feedback information during learning. We used an electrophysiological approach and investigated 15 younger and 15 older adults with a RL task in which they had to learn stimulus-response associations under two learning conditions. In the positive learning conditions, participants could gain 50 Cents for a correct response but did not gain or lose money (*00 Cent for an incorrect response. In negative learning conditions, they could lose 50 Cents for an incorrect response but did not gain or lose money (*00 Cent for a correct response. As the identical outcome 00 Cent is either better or worse than the alternative outcome depending on the learning condition, this feedback type is ambiguous. To examine the influence of feedback salience we compared this condition with a condition in which positive and negative outcomes were color-coded and thereby clearly separable. The behavioral results indicated that younger adults reached higher accuracy levels under salient feedback conditions. Moreover, the error-related negativity (ERN and the feedback-related negativity (FRN for losses were larger if the good-bad dimension of feedback was salient. Hence, in younger adults salient feedback facilitates the rapid evaluation of outcomes on a good-bad dimension and by this supports learning. In contrast, for older adults we obtained neither behavioral nor electrophysiological effects of feedback salience. The older adults’ performance monitoring system therefore appears less flexible in integrating additional information in this evaluation process.

Salient region detection by fusing bottom-up and top-down features extracted from a single image.

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, Huawei; Fang, Yuming; Zhao, Yao; Lin, Weisi; Ni, Rongrong; Zhu, Zhenfeng

2014-10-01

Recently, some global contrast-based salient region detection models have been proposed based on only the low-level feature of color. It is necessary to consider both color and orientation features to overcome their limitations, and thus improve the performance of salient region detection for images with low-contrast in color and high-contrast in orientation. In addition, the existing fusion methods for different feature maps, like the simple averaging method and the selective method, are not effective sufficiently. To overcome these limitations of existing salient region detection models, we propose a novel salient region model based on the bottom-up and top-down mechanisms: the color contrast and orientation contrast are adopted to calculate the bottom-up feature maps, while the top-down cue of depth-from-focus from the same single image is used to guide the generation of final salient regions, since depth-from-focus reflects the photographer's preference and knowledge of the task. A more general and effective fusion method is designed to combine the bottom-up feature maps. According to the degree-of-scattering and eccentricities of feature maps, the proposed fusion method can assign adaptive weights to different feature maps to reflect the confidence level of each feature map. The depth-from-focus of the image as a significant top-down feature for visual attention in the image is used to guide the salient regions during the fusion process; with its aid, the proposed fusion method can filter out the background and highlight salient regions for the image. Experimental results show that the proposed model outperforms the state-of-the-art models on three public available data sets.

On Being Echolalic: An Analysis of the Interactional and Phonetic Aspects of an Autistic's Language.

Science.gov (United States)

Local, John; Wootton, Tony

1996-01-01

A case study analyzed the echolalia behavior of an autistic 11-year-old boy, based on recordings made in his home and school. Focus was on the subset of immediate echolalia referred to as pure echoing. Using an approach informed by conversation analysis and descriptive phonetics, distinctions are drawn between different forms of pure echo. It is…

Sadhana | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Home; Journals; Sadhana. Peri Bhaskararao. Articles written in Sadhana. Volume 36 Issue 5 October 2011 pp 587-599. Salient phonetic features of Indian languages in speech technology · Peri Bhaskararao · More Details Abstract Fulltext PDF. Speech signal is the basic study and analysis material in speech technology as ...

Salient Public Beliefs Underlying Disaster Preparedness Behaviors: A Theory-Based Qualitative Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Najafi, Mehdi; Ardalan, Ali; Akbarisari, Ali; Noorbala, Ahmad Ali; Elmi, Helen

2017-04-01

Introduction Given the increasing importance of disaster preparedness in Tehran, the capital of Iran, interventions encouraging disaster preparedness behavior (DPB) are needed. This study was conducted to show how an elicitation method can be used to identify salient consequences, referents, and circumstances about DPB and provide recommendations for interventions and quantitative research. A theory-based qualitative study using a semi-structured elicitation questionnaire was conducted with 132 heads of households from 22 districts in Tehran, Iran. Following the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), six open-ended questions were used to record the opinion of people about DPB: advantages of engaging in DPB; disadvantages of doing so; people who approve; people who disapprove; things that make it easy; and things that make it difficult. Content analysis showed the categories of salient consequences, reference groups, and circumstances. The three most frequently mentioned advantages obtained from inhabitants of Tehran were health outcomes (eg, it helps us to save our lives, it provides basic needs, and it protects us until relief workers arrive); other salient advantages were mentioned (eg, helps family reunification). The main disadvantage was preparedness anxiety. Family members were the most frequently mentioned social referent when people were asked who might approve or disapprove of their DPB. The two main circumstances perceived to obstruct DPB included not having enough knowledge or enough time. The results of this qualitative study suggest that interventions to encourage DPB among Tehran inhabitants should address: perceived consequences of DPB on health and other factors beyond health; barriers of not having enough knowledge and time perceived to hinder DPB; and social approval. More accurate research on salient beliefs with close-ended items developed from these open-ended data and with larger sample sizes of Tehran inhabitants is necessary. Research with other

The Mixed Effects of Phonetic Input Variability on Relative Ease of L2 Learning: Evidence from English Learners’ Production of French and Spanish Stop-Rhotic Clusters

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Laura Colantoni

2018-04-01

Full Text Available We examined the consequences of within-category phonetic variability in the input on non-native learners’ production accuracy. Following previous empirical research on the L2 acquisition of phonetics and the lexicon, we tested the hypothesis that phonetic variability facilitates learning by analyzing English-speaking learners’ production of French and Spanish word-medial stop-rhotic clusters, which differ from their English counterparts in terms of stop and rhotic voicing and manner. Crucially, for both the stops and rhotics, there are differences in within-language variability. Twenty native speakers per language and 39 L1 English-learners of French (N = 20 and Spanish (N = 19 of intermediate and advanced proficiency performed a carrier-sentence reading task. A given parameter was deemed to have been acquired when the learners’ production fell within the range of attested native speaker values. An acoustic analysis of the data partially supports the facilitative effect of phonetic variability. To account for the unsupported hypotheses, we discuss a number of issues, including the difficulty of measuring variability, the need to determine the extent to which learners’ perception shapes intake, and the challenge of teasing apart the effects of input variability from those of transferred L1 articulatory patterns.

Methods and Application of Phonetic Label Alignment in Speech Processing Tasks

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M. Myslivec

2000-12-01

Full Text Available The paper deals with the problem of automatic phonetic segmentation ofspeech signals, namely for speech analysis and recognition purposes.Several methods and approaches are described and evaluated from thepoint of view of their accuracy. A complete instruction for creating anannotated database for training a Czech speech recognition system isprovided together with the authors' own experience. The results of thework have found practical applications, for example, in developing atool for semi-automatic speech segmentation, building alarge-vocabulary phoneme-based speech recognition system and designingan aid for learning and practicing pronunciation of words or phrases inthe native or a foreign language.

Estimation of salient regions related to chronic gastritis using gastric X-ray images.

Science.gov (United States)

Togo, Ren; Ishihara, Kenta; Ogawa, Takahiro; Haseyama, Miki

2016-10-01

Since technical knowledge and a high degree of experience are necessary for diagnosis of chronic gastritis, computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) systems that analyze gastric X-ray images are desirable in the field of medicine. Therefore, a new method that estimates salient regions related to chronic gastritis/non-gastritis for supporting diagnosis is presented in this paper. In order to estimate salient regions related to chronic gastritis/non-gastritis, the proposed method monitors the distance between a target image feature and Support Vector Machine (SVM)-based hyperplane for its classification. Furthermore, our method realizes removal of the influence of regions outside the stomach by using positional relationships between the stomach and other organs. Consequently, since the proposed method successfully estimates salient regions of gastric X-ray images for which chronic gastritis and non-gastritis are unknown, visual support for inexperienced clinicians becomes feasible. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

When phonetics matters: creation and perception of female images in song folklore

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Stashko Halyna

2017-06-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a stylistic analysis of female images in American song folklore in order to examine how sound symbolic language elements contribute to the construction of verbal images. The results obtained show the link between sound and meaning and how such phonetic means of stylistics as assonance, alliteration, and onomatopoeia function to reinforce the meanings of words or to set the mood typical of the characters. Their synergy helps create and interpret female images and provides relevant atmosphere and background to them in folk song texts.

Investigation & Comparison in Some Aspects of Phonological Awareness Skill (in both Whole Word & Phonetic Methods in First Grade Female Students

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Ali Dehghan-Ahmadabad

2005-04-01

Full Text Available Objective: Phonological Awareness (PA is a extra linguistic skill and defined as individual awareness of constituent’s sounds of the word . This skill is a prerequisites of learning to Read. Many researchers suggested reciprocal relation between PA and Reading. This research determined level of PA-fundamental ability of reading-in normal first grade femal students of Isfahan & shahinshar to compare two current method of Reading that are used in educational system of Iran. Materials & Methods: The method used in this research is cross-sectional, descriptive-analytic and was done by 106 first grade female students who were normal and selected randomly in Isfahan & shahinshar cities. 51 students had teached by phonetic method and rest of them had teached by whole word method. The selection way of children was: this children had not any articulation, vision, reading, learning and cranial nerve disorders and this children investigated by Phonological Awareness test. scores of children by test calculated and this scores analyzed by t-test in Spss software. Results: The mean score of phonological awareness in phonetic method was 51.98 and in whole word method was 57.46. There was a significant differences between them in their scores (P=0.047. In addition,within subtests of phonological awareness task,mean score of first phoneme omission in whole word method was 4.84 and in phonetic method was 3.33. There was a significant difference between them in their scores (P=0.001. In the rest of subtests was no significant difference between them. Conclusion: Based on this study, a significant correlation could be found in Phonological Awareness between both group and in other hand, there was a significant correlation between scores of first phoneme omission in both groups (Whole word and Phonetic method.Based on importance of phonological awareness as a predictor of reading, we suggest more research in this outline must be done.

The Link between Form and Meaning in British Sign Language: Effects of Iconicity for Phonological Decisions

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, Robin L.; Vinson, David P.; Vigliocco, Gabriella

2010-01-01

Signed languages exploit the visual/gestural modality to create iconic expression across a wide range of basic conceptual structures in which the phonetic resources of the language are built up into an analogue of a mental image (Taub, 2001). Previously, we demonstrated a processing advantage when iconic properties of signs were made salient in a…

Red to green or fast to slow? Infants' visual working memory for "just salient differences".

Science.gov (United States)

Kaldy, Zsuzsa; Blaser, Erik

2013-01-01

In this study, 6-month-old infants' visual working memory for a static feature (color) and a dynamic feature (rotational motion) was compared. Comparing infants' use of different features can only be done properly if experimental manipulations to those features are equally salient (Kaldy & Blaser, 2009; Kaldy, Blaser, & Leslie, 2006). The interdimensional salience mapping method was used to find two objects that each were one Just Salient Difference from a common baseline object (N = 16). These calibrated stimuli were then used in a subsequent two-alternative forced-choice preferential looking memory test (N = 28). Results showed that infants noted the color change, but not the equally salient change in rotation speed. © 2013 The Authors. Child Development © 2013 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

PHONETIC AND NON-PHONETIC LANGUAGES: A CONTRASTIVE STUDY OF ENGLISH AND TURKISH PHONOLOGY FOCUSING ON THE ORTHOGRAPHY-INDUCED PRONUNCIATION PROBLEMS OF TURKISH LEARNERS OF ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (TURKISH EFL LEARNERS

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Amir KHALILZADEH

2014-04-01

Full Text Available The present study aims to investigate the pronunciation problems of Turkish learners of English as a foreign language (Turkish EFL learners due to the orthography system of English. Orthography is a standardized system for using a particular writing system (script to write a particular language. It includes rules of spelling, and may also concern other elements of the written language such as punctuation and capitalization. It is clear that English is a non-phonetic and Turkish is a phonetic language, so it is very natural for the Turkish EFL learners to have some phonological problems in learning English. The author has done a contrastive study concerning three linguistic systems, i.e. consonants, vowels and syllable structures of English and Turkish to find the causes of the problems to be used in teaching English as a foreign language to Turks. The results of the study showed that the problems under discussion are caused by some differences between the orthography and the phonology of the two languages. As a result, English teachers, to be helpful, should focus on the differences and help the Turkish learners overcome the pronunciation problems. The author of the paper believes that an English teacher should be both aware of the differences and be able to teach them effectively to the Turkish EFL learners.

On the concept of “variant” in lexicon studies from a historic-variational perspective

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Américo Venâncio Lopes Machado Filho

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Even though the concept of linguistic variant has been fully established in contemporary sociolinguistic studies, it demands a theoretical review when it is considered from the perspective of lexicon studies, especially when related to historical and variational biases. In this paper, we present limits on identification and characterization of lexical variation, considering formal changes that may occur at other levels of analysis, especially at the morphological or phonetic ones. To support the reflections on the topic, we discuss the process of lexicon constitution in Portuguese and the results of etymological convergence and divergence present in the history of the language. Based on the analysis presented, it is proposed that research on lexical variation should incorporate to this notion any significant formal or content changes.

Research of Features of the Phonetic System of Speech and Identification of Announcers on the Voice

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Roman Aleksandrovich Vasilyev

2013-02-01

Full Text Available In the work the method of the phonetic analysis of speech — allocation of the list of elementary speech units such as separate phonemes from a continuous stream of informal conversation of the specific announcer is offered. The practical algorithm of identification of the announcer — process of definition speaking of the set of announcers is described.

The Assessment of Literal Ornaments in Persian Badi’ Books from the linguistic, Phonetic and Phonologic Viewpoint

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Morteza Heidari

2016-05-01

Full Text Available AbstractThe literal rhetoric (scheme is a most important branch of Persian language aesthetics. The purpose of the knowledge is studying and evaluating the verbal music with applying the instruments that called Ornaments. Ornament as is obvious from its name is all devices that writers using them for making their art fine. With historical skimming over Badi` books, we understand our rhetoricians have gave and dedicated useless names and titles to the literal ornaments rather than analyzing the musical beauties of language. The author has used a historical method and content analysis approach in his research. The sampling kind in this research is stratified sampling; i.e. the Persian Badi` books and linguistic and phonetic books from two old and new classes with regarding indicative criteria have been analyzed.  The author’s essential problem in this article is replying to the question:How the literal ornaments can be analyzed with scientific and measurable principles?In this article the ornaments below are evaluated:Movashshah, Moamma, Mosahhaf, Khifa, Motazalzel, Raqta, Mo`jam, Tanafor, Hazf, Moqatta`, Movassal, Vase` osh-shafatayn, Vasel osh-shafatayn, Heja, Touzi` (Tekrar (Hamhorufi, Hamsedayi, Tekrar-e Heja, The natural relationship between letters and words with theme of poem.The author has reported his findings in below items:1.      The impact of Arabic language and its phonetic rules in Persian Badi` books is very remarkable and sometimes caused faults of Persian writers.2.      The examples that mentioned as samples of literal ornaments are very rare and exceptional.3.      The musical repetition of phonemes and sounds and the concepts associated from them is the only reason of beauty of literal ornaments.4.      In translating the foreign ornaments to Persian has not been used enough accuracy.5.      Occasionally, in explaining the repetition ornament

A review of salient elements defining team collaboration in paediatric rehabilitation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nijhuis, B. J. G.; Reinders-Messelink, H. A.; de Blecourt, A. C. E.; Olijve, W. G.; Groothoff, J. W.; Nakken, H.; Postema, K.; Postuma, K.

Objective: To explicate the complex process of team collaboration and identify salient elements of team collaboration in paediatric rehabilitation. Data sources: After an initial search to define key features of team collaboration a systematic search on team collaboration and the key features was

Semantic Radicals Contribute More Than Phonetic Radicals to the Recognition of Chinese Phonograms: Behavioral and ERP Evidence in a Factorial Study

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Xieshun Wang

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The Chinese phonograms consist of a semantic radical and a phonetic radical. The two types of radicals have different functional contributions to their host phonogram. The semantic radical typically signifies the meaning of the phonogram, while the phonetic radical usually contains a phonological clue to the phonogram’s pronunciation. However, it is still unclear how they interplay with each other when we attempt to recognize a phonogram because previous studies rarely manipulated the functionality of the two types of radicals in a single design. Using a full factorial design, the present study aimed to probe this issue by directly manipulating the functional validity of the two types of radicals in a lexical decision task with both behavioral and event-related potential (ERP measurements. The results showed that recognition of phonograms which were related to their semantic radicals in meaning took a shorter reaction time, showed a lower error rate, and elicited a smaller P200 and a larger N400 than did recognition of those which had no semantic relation with their semantic radicals. However, the validity of phonetic radicals did not show any main effect or interaction with that of semantic radicals on either behavioral or ERP measurements. These results indicated that semantic radicals played a dominant role in the recognition of phonograms. Transparent semantic radicals, which provide valid semantic cues to phonograms, can facilitate the recognition of phonograms.

Sensory-motor relationships in speech production in post-lingually deaf cochlear-implanted adults and normal-hearing seniors: Evidence from phonetic convergence and speech imitation.

Science.gov (United States)

Scarbel, Lucie; Beautemps, Denis; Schwartz, Jean-Luc; Sato, Marc

2017-07-01

Speech communication can be viewed as an interactive process involving a functional coupling between sensory and motor systems. One striking example comes from phonetic convergence, when speakers automatically tend to mimic their interlocutor's speech during communicative interaction. The goal of this study was to investigate sensory-motor linkage in speech production in postlingually deaf cochlear implanted participants and normal hearing elderly adults through phonetic convergence and imitation. To this aim, two vowel production tasks, with or without instruction to imitate an acoustic vowel, were proposed to three groups of young adults with normal hearing, elderly adults with normal hearing and post-lingually deaf cochlear-implanted patients. Measure of the deviation of each participant's f 0 from their own mean f 0 was measured to evaluate the ability to converge to each acoustic target. showed that cochlear-implanted participants have the ability to converge to an acoustic target, both intentionally and unintentionally, albeit with a lower degree than young and elderly participants with normal hearing. By providing evidence for phonetic convergence and speech imitation, these results suggest that, as in young adults, perceptuo-motor relationships are efficient in elderly adults with normal hearing and that cochlear-implanted adults recovered significant perceptuo-motor abilities following cochlear implantation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

2-gram-based Phonetic Feature Generation for Convolutional Neural Network in Assessment of Trademark Similarity

OpenAIRE

Ko, Kyung Pyo; Lee, Kwang Hee; Jang, Mi So; Park, Gun Hong

2018-01-01

A trademark is a mark used to identify various commodities. If same or similar trademark is registered for the same or similar commodity, the purchaser of the goods may be confused. Therefore, in the process of trademark registration examination, the examiner judges whether the trademark is the same or similar to the other applied or registered trademarks. The confusion in trademarks is based on the visual, phonetic or conceptual similarity of the marks. In this paper, we focus specifically o...

Fifty years of progress in acoustic phonetics

Science.gov (United States)

Stevens, Kenneth N.

2004-10-01

Three events that occurred 50 or 60 years ago shaped the study of acoustic phonetics, and in the following few decades these events influenced research and applications in speech disorders, speech development, speech synthesis, speech recognition, and other subareas in speech communication. These events were: (1) the source-filter theory of speech production (Chiba and Kajiyama; Fant); (2) the development of the sound spectrograph and its interpretation (Potter, Kopp, and Green; Joos); and (3) the birth of research that related distinctive features to acoustic patterns (Jakobson, Fant, and Halle). Following these events there has been systematic exploration of the articulatory, acoustic, and perceptual bases of phonological categories, and some quantification of the sources of variability in the transformation of this phonological representation of speech into its acoustic manifestations. This effort has been enhanced by studies of how children acquire language in spite of this variability and by research on speech disorders. Gaps in our knowledge of this inherent variability in speech have limited the directions of applications such as synthesis and recognition of speech, and have led to the implementation of data-driven techniques rather than theoretical principles. Some examples of advances in our knowledge, and limitations of this knowledge, are reviewed.

Salient Predictors of School Dropout among Secondary Students with Learning Disabilities

Science.gov (United States)

Doren, Bonnie; Murray, Christopher; Gau, Jeff M.

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to identify the unique contributions of a comprehensive set of predictors and the most salient predictors of school dropout among a nationally representative sample of students with learning disabilities (LD). A comprehensive set of theoretically and empirically relevant factors was selected for examination. Analyses…

Phonetics and Technology in the Classroom: A Practical Approach to Using Speech Analysis Software in Second-Language Pronunciation Instruction

Science.gov (United States)

Olsen, Daniel J.

2014-01-01

While speech analysis technology has become an integral part of phonetic research, and to some degree is used in language instruction at the most advanced levels, it appears to be mostly absent from the beginning levels of language instruction. In part, the lack of incorporation into the language classroom can be attributed to both the lack of…

Detection of Emotional Faces: Salient Physical Features Guide Effective Visual Search

Science.gov (United States)

Calvo, Manuel G.; Nummenmaa, Lauri

2008-01-01

In this study, the authors investigated how salient visual features capture attention and facilitate detection of emotional facial expressions. In a visual search task, a target emotional face (happy, disgusted, fearful, angry, sad, or surprised) was presented in an array of neutral faces. Faster detection of happy and, to a lesser extent,…

Mismatch negativity evoked by the McGurk-MacDonald effect: a phonetic representation within short-term memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Colin, C; Radeau, M; Soquet, A; Demolin, D; Colin, F; Deltenre, P

2002-04-01

The McGurk-MacDonald illusory percept is obtained by dubbing an incongruent articulatory movement on an auditory phoneme. This type of audiovisual speech perception contributes to the assessment of theories of speech perception. The mismatch negativity (MMN) reflects the detection of a deviant stimulus within the auditory short-term memory and besides an acoustic component, possesses, under certain conditions, a phonetic one. The present study assessed the existence of an MMN evoked by McGurk-MacDonald percepts elicited by audiovisual stimuli with constant auditory components. Cortical evoked potentials were recorded using the oddball paradigm on 8 adults in 3 experimental conditions: auditory alone, visual alone and audiovisual stimulation. Obtaining illusory percepts was confirmed in an additional psychophysical condition. The auditory deviant syllables and the audiovisual incongruent syllables elicited a significant MMN at Fz. In the visual condition, no negativity was observed either at Fz, or at O(z). An MMN can be evoked by visual articulatory deviants, provided they are presented in a suitable auditory context leading to a phonetically significant interaction. The recording of an MMN elicited by illusory McGurk percepts suggests that audiovisual integration mechanisms in speech take place rather early during the perceptual processes.

Salient Beliefs of Secondary School Mathematics Teachers Using Dynamic Geometry Software

Science.gov (United States)

Chan, Kan Kan

2015-01-01

Even though dynamic geometry software (DGS) is becoming an emergent instructional tool for mathematics teachers, many teachers are still in the process of consideration about whether to use it. In order to encourage teachers to use DGS, this study seeks to discover mathematics teachers' salient beliefs about the use of DGS in mathematics class.…

Salient Key Features of Actual English Instructional Practices in Saudi Arabia

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Seghayer, Khalid

2015-01-01

This is a comprehensive review of the salient key features of the actual English instructional practices in Saudi Arabia. The goal of this work is to gain insights into the practices and pedagogic approaches to English as a foreign language (EFL) teaching currently employed in this country. In particular, we identify the following central features…

Comparison of Flux Regulation Ability of the Hybrid Excitation Doubly Salient Machines

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chen, ZhiHui; Wang, Bo; Chen, Zhe

2014-01-01

A hybrid excitation doubly salient machine (DSM) (HEDSM) can adjust the air gap flux with the limited field exciting ampere-turns. There are a few studied structures with different air gap flux regulation abilities. In this paper, several HEDSMs with different structures are analyzed by using an ...

The Effect of Resolution on Detecting Visually Salient Preattentive Features

Science.gov (United States)

2015-06-01

resolutions in descending order (a–e). The plot compiles the areas of interest displayed in the images and each symbol represents 1 of the images. Data...to particular regions in a scene by highly salient 2 features, for example, the color of the flower discussed in the previous example. These...descending order (a–e). The plot compiles the areas of interest displayed in the images and each symbol represents 1 of the images. Data clusters

Sensorless Speed Control including zero speed of Non Salient PM Synchronous Drives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Henrik

This paper presents a position sensorless drive of non salient pole PM synchronous motors for all speeds including zero speed. Using adaptive Lyapunov design a new approach for the design of an observer is developed. The resulting scheme leads to a nonlinear full order observer for the motor states...

Sensorless Speed Control including zero speed of Non Salient PM Synchronous Drives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Henrik

2005-01-01

This paper presents a position sensorless drive of non salient pole PM synchronous motors for all speeds including zero speed. Using adaptive Lyapunov design a new approach for the design of an observer is developed. The resulting scheme leads to a nonlinear full order observer for the motor states...

Sensorless speed Control including Zero Speed on Non Salient PM Synchronous Drives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Henrik

2006-01-01

This paper presents a position sensorless drive of non salient pole PM synchronous motors for all speeds including zero speed. Using adaptive Lyapunov design a new approach for the design of an observer is developed. The resulting scheme leads to a nonlinear full order observer for the motor states...

Syntheses by rules of the speech signal in its amplitude-time representation - melody study - phonetic, translation program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Santamarina, Carole

1975-01-01

The present paper deals with the real-time speech synthesis implemented on a minicomputer. A first program translates the orthographic text into a string of phonetic codes, which is then processed by the synthesis program itself. The method used, a synthesis by rules, directly computes the speech signal in its amplitude-time representation. Emphasis has been put on special cases (diphthongs, 'e muet', consonant-consonant transition) and the implementation of the rhythm and of the melody. (author) [fr

Salient stimuli in advertising: the effect of contrast interval length and type on recall.

Science.gov (United States)

Olsen, G Douglas

2002-09-01

Salient auditory stimuli (e.g., music or sound effects) are commonly used in advertising to elicit attention. However, issues related to the effectiveness of such stimuli are not well understood. This research examines the ability of a salient auditory stimulus, in the form of a contrast interval (CI), to enhance recall of message-related information. Researchers have argued that the effectiveness of the CI is a function of the temporal duration between the onset and offset of the change in the background stimulus and the nature of this stimulus. Three experiments investigate these propositions and indicate that recall is enhanced, providing the CI is 3 s or less. Information highlighted with silence is recalled better than information highlighted with music.

Earliest Memories and Recent Memories of Highly Salient Events--Are They Similar?

Science.gov (United States)

Peterson, Carole; Fowler, Tania; Brandeau, Katherine M.

2015-01-01

Four- to 11-year-old children were interviewed about 2 different sorts of memories in the same home visit: recent memories of highly salient and stressful events--namely, injuries serious enough to require hospital emergency room treatment--and their earliest memories. Injury memories were scored for amount of unique information, completeness…

The Impact of Salient Advertisements on Reading and Attention on Web Pages

Science.gov (United States)

Simola, Jaana; Kuisma, Jarmo; Oorni, Anssi; Uusitalo, Liisa; Hyona, Jukka

2011-01-01

Human vision is sensitive to salient features such as motion. Therefore, animation and onset of advertisements on Websites may attract visual attention and disrupt reading. We conducted three eye tracking experiments with authentic Web pages to assess whether (a) ads are efficiently ignored, (b) ads attract overt visual attention and disrupt…

When message-frame fits salient cultural-frame, messages feel more persuasive.

Science.gov (United States)

Uskul, Ayse K; Oyserman, Daphna

2010-03-01

The present study examines the persuasive effects of tailored health messages comparing those tailored to match (versus not match) both chronic cultural frame and momentarily salient cultural frame. Evidence from two studies (Study 1: n = 72 European Americans; Study 2: n = 48 Asian Americans) supports the hypothesis that message persuasiveness increases when chronic cultural frame, health message tailoring and momentarily salient cultural frame all match. The hypothesis was tested using a message about health risks of caffeine consumption among individuals prescreened to be regular caffeine consumers. After being primed for individualism, European Americans who read a health message that focused on the personal self were more likely to accept the message-they found it more persuasive, believed they were more at risk and engaged in more message-congruent behaviour. These effects were also found among Asian Americans who were primed for collectivism and who read a health message that focused on relational obligations. The findings point to the importance of investigating the role of situational cues in persuasive effects of health messages and suggest that matching content to primed frame consistent with the chronic frame may be a way to know what to match messages to.

Salient value similarity, social trust, and attitudes toward wildland fire management strategies

Science.gov (United States)

Jerry J. Vaske; James D. Absher; Alan D. Bright

2007-01-01

Using the salient value similarity (SVS) model, we predicted that social trust mediated the relationship between SVS and attitudes toward prescribed burns and mechanical thinning. Data were obtained from a mail survey (n = 532) of Colorado residents living in the wildland-urban interface. Results indicated that respondents shared the same values as U...

Exploring dietitians' salient beliefs about shared decision-making behaviors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gagnon Marie-Pierre

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Shared decision making (SDM, a process by which health professionals and patients go through the decision-making process together to agree on treatment, is a promising strategy for promoting diet-related decisions that are informed and value based and to which patients adhere well. The objective of the present study was to identify dietitians' salient beliefs regarding their exercise of two behaviors during the clinical encounter, both of which have been deemed essential for SDM to take place: (1 presenting patients with all dietary treatment options for a given health condition and (2 helping patients clarify their values and preferences regarding the options. Methods Twenty-one dietitians were allocated to four focus groups. Facilitators conducted the focus groups using a semistructured interview guide based on the Theory of Planned Behavior. Discussions were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim, coded, and analyzed with NVivo8 (QSR International, Cambridge, MA software. Results Most participants stated that better patient adherence to treatment was an advantage of adopting the two SDM behaviors. Dietitians identified patients, physicians, and the multidisciplinary team as normative referents who would approve or disapprove of their adoption of the SDM behaviors. The most often reported barriers and facilitators for the behaviors concerned patients' characteristics, patients' clinical situation, and time. Conclusions The implementation of SDM in nutrition clinical practice can be guided by addressing dietitians' salient beliefs. Identifying these beliefs also provides the theoretical framework needed for developing a quantitative survey questionnaire to further study the determinants of dietitians' adoption of SDM behaviors.

Ten Salient Practices of Undergraduate Research Mentors: A Review of the Literature

Science.gov (United States)

Shanahan, Jenny Olin; Ackley-Holbrook, Elizabeth; Hall, Eric; Stewart, Kearsley; Walkington, Helen

2015-01-01

This paper identifies salient practices of faculty mentors of undergraduate research (UR) as indicated in the extensive literature of the past two decades on UR. The well-established benefits for students involved in UR are dependent, first and foremost, on high-quality mentoring. Mentorship is a defining feature of UR. As more and different types…

Simile: the most salient stylistic feature in Kelile and Demne

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Maryam Mahmoodi

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Kelile and Demne is one of the most salient samples of Persian technical prose rhetorical and semantic figures and figures of speech namely simile, metaphor, metonymy and irony are among the stylistic features of this book. Among these, simile, as the most influential imagination tool, play a dominant role in the illustrations of the book. In this article, simile has been analyzed and investigated in all its variations in Kelile and Demne. In this book, simile appears from its most laconic form (eloquent simile to its most extensive form. But the major feature of theirs is their outspokenness, explicitness and sometimes their novelty. Among the likening components, the range of image vocabulary is one of the likening features in this book. Also the point of similarity has been usually abstracted from man's states, shape, place, space, volume and generally affairs concerning visual and tactile senses. So, its perception is not too much difficult. The variety and extension of likening vehicles in this work are worth of contemplating. In analysis of simile on the credit of both parties, we can conclude that ratio-emotional similes are of the most frequent kinds of simile. And Nasrollah Monshi has extended the field of emotional similes and has manipulated the relations between objects in a novel way. Allegoric simile has been used abundantly in Kelile and Demne.  It justifies the didactic function of this text. Allegory approaches its main role in this book. i.e. arguing and convincing. The contents of allegories in this book are moral and political and in terms of from, they are anecdotes of animals and human beings. The types of similes on the credit of form - namely equalization similes implied comparative similes and subtrahend similes - have been also used. Among the salient features of this book, several images together or in interference with each other have been used in one word or sentence. Sometimes similes accompany other

Simile: the most salient stylistic feature in Kelile and Demne

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maryam Mahmoodi

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Kelile and Demne is one of the most salient samples of Persian technical prose rhetorical and semantic figures and figures of speech namely simile, metaphor, metonymy and irony are among the stylistic features of this book. Among these, simile, as the most influential imagination tool, play a dominant role in the illustrations of the book. In this article, simile has been analyzed and investigated in all its variations in Kelile and Demne. In this book, simile appears from its most laconic form (eloquent simile to its most extensive form. But the major feature of theirs is their outspokenness, explicitness and sometimes their novelty. Among the likening components, the range of image vocabulary is one of the likening features in this book. Also the point of similarity has been usually abstracted from man's states, shape, place, space, volume and generally affairs concerning visual and tactile senses. So, its perception is not too much difficult. The variety and extension of likening vehicles in this work are worth of contemplating. In analysis of simile on the credit of both parties, we can conclude that ratio-emotional similes are of the most frequent kinds of simile. And Nasrollah Monshi has extended the field of emotional similes and has manipulated the relations between objects in a novel way. Allegoric simile has been used abundantly in Kelile and Demne.  It justifies the didactic function of this text. Allegory approaches its main role in this book. i.e. arguing and convincing. The contents of allegories in this book are moral and political and in terms of from, they are anecdotes of animals and human beings. The types of similes on the credit of form - namely equalization similes implied comparative similes and subtrahend similes - have been also used. Among the salient features of this book, several images together or in interference with each other have been used in one word or sentence. Sometimes similes accompany other

When Politics Matters: The Impact of Politicians' and Bureaucrats' Policy Preferences on Salient and Nonsalient Policy Areas

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bækgaard, Martin; Blom-Hansen, Jens; Serritzlew, Søren

2015-01-01

whether politics still matters when bureaucratic preferences are taken into account. We do this in a simultaneous test of political and bureaucratic influences on public budgets, a policy measure often studied in the ‘politics matters’ literature. We find that political preferences trump bureaucratic ones...... in policy areas salient to the public, but not in less salient areas. This might be comforting news from a democratic perspective. However, since public budgets represent an easy case for political influence, it is food for thought that political preferences do not always prevail....

The kinematic evolution of the Serra Central Salient, Eastern Brazil: A Neoproterozoic progressive arc in northern Espinhaço fold-thrust belt

Science.gov (United States)

Bersan, Samuel Moreira; Danderfer, André; Lagoeiro, Leonardo; Costa, Alice Fernanda de Oliveira

2017-12-01

Convex-to-the-foreland map-view curves are common features in fold-thrust belts around cratonic areas. These features are easily identifiable in belts composed of supracrustal rocks but have been rarely described in rocks from relatively deeper crustal levels where plastic deformation mechanisms stand out. Several local salients have been described in Neoproterozoic marginal fold-thrust belts around the São Francisco craton. In the northern part of the Espinhaço fold-thrust belt, which borders the eastern portion of the São Francisco craton, both Archean-Paleoproterozoic basement rocks and Proterozoic cover rocks are involved in the so-called Serra Central salient. A combination of conventional structural analysis and microstructural and paleostress studies were conducted to characterize the kinematic and the overall architecture and processes involved in the generation of this salient. The results allowed us to determine that the deformation along the Serra Central salient occur under low-grade metamorphic conditions and was related to a gently oblique convergence with westward mass transport that developed in a confined flow, controlled by two transverse bounding shear zones. We propose that the Serra Central salient nucleates as a basin-controlled primary arc that evolves to a progressive arc with secondary vertical axis rotation. This secondary rotation, well-illustrated by the presence of two almost orthogonal families of folds, was dominantly controlled by buttress effect exert by a basement high located in the foreland of the Serra Central salient.

Spatial discretization methods for air gap permeance calculations in double salient traction motors

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ilhan, E.; Kremers, M.F.J.; Motoasca, T.E.; Paulides, J.J.H.; Lomonova, E.

2012-01-01

Weight limitations in electric/hybrid cars demand the highest possible power-to-weight ratio from the traction motor, as in double salient permanent magnet (PM) machines. Their high flux densities in the air gap result in nonlinear analytical models, which need to be time optimized. The incorporated

Technological and economical analysis of salient pole and permanent magnet synchronous machines designed for wind turbines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Guendogdu, Tayfun, E-mail: tgundogdu@itu.edu.tr [Istanbul Technical University, Department of Electrical Engineering, Ayazaga Campus, 34469 Maslak/Istanbul (Turkey); Koemuergoez, Gueven, E-mail: komurgoz@itu.edu.tr [Istanbul Technical University, Department of Electrical Engineering, Ayazaga Campus, 34469 Maslak/Istanbul (Turkey)

2012-08-15

Chinese export restrictions already reduced the planning reliability for investments in permanent magnet wind turbines. Today the production of permanent magnets consumes the largest proportion of rare earth elements, with 40% of the rare earth-based magnets used for generators and other electrical machines. The cost and availability of NdFeB magnets will likely determine the production rate of permanent magnet generators. The high volatility of rare earth metals makes it very difficult to quote a price. Prices may also vary from supplier to supplier to an extent of up to 50% for the same size, shape and quantity with a minor difference in quality. The paper presents the analysis and the comparison of salient pole with field winding and of peripheral winding synchronous electrical machines, presenting important advantages. A neodymium alloy magnet rotor structure has been considered and compared to the salient rotor case. The Salient Pole Synchronous Machine and the Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine were designed so that the plate values remain constant. The Eddy current effect on the windings is taken into account during the design, and the efficiency, output power and the air-gap flux density obtained after the simulation were compared. The analysis results clearly indicate that Salient Pole Synchronous Machine designs would be attractive to wind power companies. Furthermore, the importance of the design of electrical machines and the determination of criteria are emphasized. This paper will be a helpful resource in terms of examination and comparison of the basic structure and magnetic features of the Salient Pole Synchronous Machine and Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine. Furthermore, an economic analysis of the designed machines was conducted. - Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Importance of the design of electrical machines and the determination of criteria are emphasized. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Machines were investigated in terms of

Technological and economical analysis of salient pole and permanent magnet synchronous machines designed for wind turbines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gündoğdu, Tayfun; Kömürgöz, Güven

2012-01-01

Chinese export restrictions already reduced the planning reliability for investments in permanent magnet wind turbines. Today the production of permanent magnets consumes the largest proportion of rare earth elements, with 40% of the rare earth-based magnets used for generators and other electrical machines. The cost and availability of NdFeB magnets will likely determine the production rate of permanent magnet generators. The high volatility of rare earth metals makes it very difficult to quote a price. Prices may also vary from supplier to supplier to an extent of up to 50% for the same size, shape and quantity with a minor difference in quality. The paper presents the analysis and the comparison of salient pole with field winding and of peripheral winding synchronous electrical machines, presenting important advantages. A neodymium alloy magnet rotor structure has been considered and compared to the salient rotor case. The Salient Pole Synchronous Machine and the Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine were designed so that the plate values remain constant. The Eddy current effect on the windings is taken into account during the design, and the efficiency, output power and the air-gap flux density obtained after the simulation were compared. The analysis results clearly indicate that Salient Pole Synchronous Machine designs would be attractive to wind power companies. Furthermore, the importance of the design of electrical machines and the determination of criteria are emphasized. This paper will be a helpful resource in terms of examination and comparison of the basic structure and magnetic features of the Salient Pole Synchronous Machine and Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine. Furthermore, an economic analysis of the designed machines was conducted. - Highlights: ► Importance of the design of electrical machines and the determination of criteria are emphasized. ► Machines were investigated in terms of efficiency, weight and maintenance requirements. ► An

Further considerations on the phonetics and morphologizations of Hi and Hu̯ in Indoeuropean

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francisco R. Adrados

1981-12-01

Full Text Available The author puts up to date his ideas on Indo-European Laryngeals, which have been published from 1956 onwards. He takes into account new materials as well as new proposals about the most difficult points. He starts exposing some General Phonetics facts which favor his theory and then he offers some new evidence from Anatolian languages which enlarge our knowledge of Indo-European Laryngeals. Then he explains minutely the different treatments of Laryngeals in Post-Anatolian Indo-European, arriving frequently to more economical and simple solutions. The paper ends with a synopsis of the treatments of the six Laryngeals (three with a palatal appendix and three with a labial one in Indo-European.

Salient beliefs about eating and buying dark green vegetables as told by Mid-western African–American women☆

Science.gov (United States)

Sheats, Jylana L.; Middlestadt, Susan E.

2013-01-01

Vegetables in the dark green group are the most nutritious, yet intake is low. Studies suggest that an increase in fruit and vegetables may improve diet-related health outcomes of African Americans. The aim of this exploratory study was to use the Reasoned Action Approach (RAA) to qualitatively assess salient, top-of-the-mind, beliefs (consequences, circumstances and referents) about eating and buying more dark green leafy vegetables each week over the next 3 months. Adult (n = 30), Midwestern African–American women, who buy and prepare food for their household participated in a face-to-face salient belief elicitation. A content analysis of verbatim text and a descriptive analysis were conducted. Findings suggest that the RAA can be used to identify salient consequences, circumstances and referents about eating and buying more dark green leafy vegetables. The use of the RAA allowed for the extraction of specific beliefs that may aid in the development of nutrition education programs that consider the varying priorities, motivators and barriers that subgroups within the population have in regard to buying and consuming dark green leafy vegetables. PMID:23415980

Native-language phonetic and phonological influences on perception of American English approximants by Danish and German listeners

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bohn, Ocke-Schwen; Best, Catherine T.

2012-01-01

/ but lack /w/, thus employing /r/-/l/ but lacking /w/-/j/ and /w/-/r/ as phonological contrasts. However, while the three languages realize /j/ identically, Danish/German “light” alveolar [l] differ modestly from English “velarized” [ɫ], Danish pharyngeal and labiodental approximant realizations of /r, v......, but discrimination was poorer than English and Danish listeners for /w/-/r/ and /r/-/l/, and intermediate for /w/-/j/. Thus, cross-language phonetic relationships among “the same” (or neighboring) phonemes strongly influence perception. These findings, together with systemic consideration of English, Danish...

Affectively salient meaning in random noise: a task sensitive to psychosis liability.

Science.gov (United States)

Galdos, Mariana; Simons, Claudia; Fernandez-Rivas, Aranzazu; Wichers, Marieke; Peralta, Concepción; Lataster, Tineke; Amer, Guillermo; Myin-Germeys, Inez; Allardyce, Judith; Gonzalez-Torres, Miguel Angel; van Os, Jim

2011-11-01

Stable differences in the tendency to attribute meaning and emotional value to experience may represent an indicator of liability to psychosis. A brief task was developed assessing variation in detecting affectively meaningful speech (speech illusion) in neutral random signals (white noise) and the degree to which this was associated with psychometric and familial vulnerability for psychosis. Thirty patients, 28 of their siblings, and 307 controls participated. The rate of speech illusion was compared between cases and controls. In controls, the association between speech illusion and interview-based positive schizotypy was assessed. The hypothesis of a dose-response increase in rate of speech illusion across increasing levels of familial vulnerability for psychosis (controls, siblings of patients, and patients) was examined. Patients were more likely to display speech illusions than controls (odds ratio [OR] = 4.0, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.4-11.7), also after controlling for neurocognitive variables (OR = 3.8, 95% CI = 1.04-14.1). The case-control difference was more accentuated for speech illusion perceived as affectively salient (positively or negatively appraised) than for neutrally appraised speech illusions. Speech illusion in the controls was strongly associated with positive schizotypy but not with negative schizotypy. In addition, the rate of speech illusion increased with increasing level of familial risk for psychotic disorder. The data suggest that the white noise task may be sensitive to psychometric and familial vulnerability for psychosis associated with alterations in top-down processing and/or salience attribution.

Torque Analysis With Saturation Effects for Non-Salient Single-Phase Permanent-Magnet Machines

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lu, Kaiyuan; Ritchie, Ewen

2011-01-01

The effects of saturation on torque production for non-salient, single-phase, permanent-magnet machines are studied in this paper. An analytical torque equation is proposed to predict the instantaneous torque with saturation effects. Compared to the existing methods, it is computationally faster......-element results, and experimental results obtained on a prototype single-phase permanent-magnet machine....

Prediction of chaos in non-salient permanent-magnet synchronous machines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rasoolzadeh, Arsalan [Department of Electrical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Tavazoei, Mohammad Saleh, E-mail: tavazoei@sharif.edu [Department of Electrical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

2012-12-03

This Letter tries to find the area in parameter space of a non-salient Permanent-Magnet Synchronous Machine (PMSM) in which chaos can occur. This area is briefly named as chaotic area. The predicted chaotic area is obtained by checking some conditions which are necessary for existence of chaos in a dynamical system. In this Letter, it is assumed that this machine is in the generator mode, and its model is based on direct and quadrature axis of stator voltages and currents. The information of the predicted area is used in non-chaotic maximum power control of torque in the machine.

Nonlinear Speed Control of Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor with Salient Poles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Kyslan

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the speed control of permanent magnet synchronous motor with salient poles based on two-step linearization method. In the first step, the direct compensation of the nonlinearities in the equations of current is used. In the second step, the input-output linearization in the state space is used for the decoupling of flux and torque axis. Simulated results are compared to the field oriented vector control structure with PI controllers in order to show differences in the performance of both approaches.

Implementation of Phonetic Orthography of the Ukrainian Language in Galicia and Bukovina in 1892: Political, Legal and National Aspects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ulyana Uska

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The article presents an analysis of the Austrian politics regarding the problem of standardization of the Ukrainian language, based on the materials of Austrian State Archives in Vienna and the legal acts of central ministries. We have described the process of introduction of the phonetic spelling in all spheres of life in Galicia and Bukovina, and revealed its geopolitical and nation-oriented meaning. This process was objective and legal; it was based on the principles of the Austro-Slavism and the spirit of modernization.

Alveolar and Velarized Laterals in Albanian and in the Viennese Dialect.

Science.gov (United States)

Moosmüller, Sylvia; Schmid, Carolin; Kasess, Christian H

2016-12-01

A comparison of alveolar and velarized lateral realizations in two language varieties, Albanian and the Viennese dialect, has been performed. Albanian distinguishes the two laterals phonemically, whereas in the Viennese dialect, the velarized lateral was introduced by language contact with Czech immigrants. A categorical distinction between the two lateral phonemes is fully maintained in Albanian. Results are not as straightforward in the Viennese dialect. Most prominently, female speakers, if at all, realize the velarized lateral in word-final position, thus indicating the application of a phonetically motivated process. The realization of the velarized lateral by male speakers, on the other hand, indicates that the velarized lateral replaced the former alveolar lateral phoneme. Alveolar laterals are either realized in perceptually salient positions, thus governed by an input-switch rule, or in front vowel contexts, thus subject to coarticulatory influences. Our results illustrate the subtle interplay of phonology, phonetics and sociolinguistics.

Characterization of the seismically imaged Tuscarora fold system and implications for layer parallel shortening in the Pennsylvania salient

Science.gov (United States)

Mount, Van S.; Wilkins, Scott; Comiskey, Cody S.

2017-12-01

The Tuscarora fold system (TFS) is located in the Pennsylvania salient in the foreland of the Valley and Ridge province. The TFS is imaged in high quality 3D seismic data and comprises a system of small-scale folds within relatively flat-lying Lower Silurian Tuscarora Formation strata. We characterize the TFS structures and infer layer parallel shortening (LPS) directions and magnitudes associated with deformation during the Alleghany Orogeny. Previously reported LPS data in our study area are from shallow Devonian and Carboniferous strata (based on outcrop and core analyses) above the shallowest of three major detachments recognized in the region. Seismic data allows us to characterize LPS at depth in strata beneath the shallow detachment. Our LPS data (orientations and inferred magnitudes) are consistent with the shallow data leading us to surmise that LPS during Alleghanian deformation fanned around the salient and was distributed throughout the stratigraphic section - and not isolated to strata above the shallow detachment. We propose that a NW-SE oriented Alleghanian maximum principal stress was perturbed by deep structure associated with the non-linear margin of Laurentia resulting in fanning of shortening directions within the salient.

Orexin receptor antagonist-induced sleep does not impair the ability to wake in response to emotionally salient acoustic stimuli in dogs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pamela L. Tannenbaum

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The ability to awaken from sleep in response to important stimuli is a critical feature of normal sleep, as is maintaining sleep continuity in the presence of irrelevant background noise. Dual orexin receptor antagonists (DORAs effectively promote sleep across species by targeting the evolutionarily conserved wake-promoting orexin signaling pathway. This study in dogs investigated whether DORA-induced sleep preserved the ability to awaken appropriately to salient acoustic stimuli but remain asleep when exposed to irrelevant stimuli. Sleep and wake in response to DORAs, vehicle, GABA-A receptor modulators (diazepam, eszopiclone and zolpidem and antihistamine (diphenhydramine administration were evaluated in telemetry-implanted adult dogs with continuous electrocorticogram, electromyogram, electrooculogram, and activity recordings. DORAs induced sleep, but GABA-A modulators and antihistamine induced paradoxical hyperarousal. Thus, salience gating studies were conducted during DORA-22 (0.3, 1, and 5 mg/kg; day and night and vehicle nighttime sleep. The acoustic stimuli were either classically conditioned using food reward and positive attention (salient stimulus or presented randomly (neutral stimulus. Once conditioned, the tones were presented at sleep times corresponding to maximal DORA-22 exposure. In response to the salient stimuli, dogs woke completely from vehicle and orexin-antagonized sleep across all sleep stages but rarely awoke to neutral stimuli. Notably, acute pharmacological antagonism of orexin receptors paired with emotionally salient anticipation produced wake, not cataplexy, in a species where genetic (chronic loss of orexin receptor signaling leads to narcolepsy/cataplexy. DORA-induced sleep in this species thereby retains the desired capacity to awaken to emotionally salient acoustic stimuli while preserving uninterrupted sleep in response to irrelevant stimuli.

77 FR 66651 - Salient Advisors, L.P. and MarketShares ETF Trust; Notice of Application

Science.gov (United States)

2012-11-06

... Advisors, L.P. and MarketShares ETF Trust; Notice of Application October 31, 2012 AGENCY: Securities and... ETF Trust (the ``Trust''). Summary of Application: Applicants request an order that permits: (a... statutory trust. The Trust will initially offer one series, the Salient MLP and Energy Infrastructure ETF...

Observance and development of salient quality overprint for tablecloths embroidery with use of RFID technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jana Strauszová

2011-04-01

Full Text Available Mission of this paper is to enable those interested in observance and development quality embroidery typical of the region use with RFID technologies for designing, implementing and providing overprint for tablecloths embroidery. The starting point is present situation and method of observance and development of overprint embroidery. The solution is in scanning of patterns and their saving into database of industrial patterns with implemented RFID tag. This will allow indentifying, evaluating and using overprint for tablecloths embroidery. RFID technology can be applied for observance and development of salient quality any products of individual, organizations and their protected pattern and support creative and innovative acting of individuals and organizations in region. The paper is intended especially for specialists, who are interested in issue observance salient quality in sense of cultural heritage of regions. The paper has been compiled in connection with resolving project KEGA 3/6411/08 Transformation of the already existing study programme Management of production quality to a university-wide bilingual study programme.

OBSERVANCE AND DEVELOPMENT OF SALIENT QUALITY OVERPRINT FOR TABLECLOTHS EMBROIDERY WITH USE OF RFID TECHNOLOGY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

KRISTÍNA ZGODAVOVÁ

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Mission of this paper is to enable those interested in observance and development quality embroidery typical of the region use with RFID technologies for designing, implementing and providing overprint for tablecloths embroidery. The starting point is present situation and method of observance and development of overprint embroidery. The solution is in scanning of patterns and their saving into database of industrial patterns with implemented RFID tag. This will allow indentifying, evaluating and using overprint for tablecloths embroidery. RFID technology can be applied for observance and development of salient quality any products of individual, organizations and their protected pattern and support creative and innovative acting of individuals and organizations in region. The paper is intended especially for specialists, who are interested in issue observance salient quality in sense of cultural heritage of regions. The paper has been compiled in connection with resolving project KEGA 3/6411/08 Transformation of the already existing study programme Management of production quality to a university-wide bilingual study programme.

Paleozoic age of high-pressure metamorphic rocks of the Dakh salient, North-Western Caucasus: results of U-Pb-geochronological study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Somin, M.L.; Levchenkov, O.A.; Kotov, A.B.; Makeev, A.F.; Komarov, A.N.; Ro, N.I.; Lavrishchev, V.A.; Lebedev, V.A.

2007-01-01

U-Pb geochronological studies of an ancient component of the Dakh salient, i.e. metaaplites, which are vein fine-grained rocks made up by albite, microcline, quartz and potash mica, were made. Besides, K-Ar dating of granodiorites breaking through metamorphic rocks was conducted. U-Pb dating of accessory zircons (353 mln. years) defines the lower age boundary of the Dakh salient rock metamorphism. Its upper boundary was identified by K-Ar dating (301 ± 10 mln. years) of hornfels blende of nonmetamophized granodiorites [ru

A novel procedure for examining pre-lexical phonetic-level analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Bashford, James A.; Warren, Richard M.; Lenz, Peter W.

2005-09-01

A recorded word repeated over and over is heard to undergo a series of illusory changes (verbal transformations) to other syllables and words in the listener's lexicon. When a second image of the same repeating word is added through dichotic presentation (with an interaural delay preventing fusion), the two distinct lateralized images of the word undergo independent illusory transformations at the same rate observed for a single image [Lenz et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 107, 2857 (2000)]. However, when the contralateral word differs by even one phoneme, transformation rate decreases dramatically [Bashford et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 110, 2658 (2001)]. This suppression of transformations did not occur when a nonspeech competitor was employed. The present study found that dichotic suppression of transformation rate also is independent of the top-down influence of a verbal competitor's word frequency, neighborhood density, and lexicality. However, suppression did increase with the extent of feature mismatch at a given phoneme position (e.g., transformations for ``dark'' were suppressed more by contralateral ``hark'' than by ``bark''). These and additional findings indicate that dichotic verbal transformations can provide experimental access to a pre-lexical phonetic analysis normally obscured by subsequent processing. [Work supported by NIH.

Differences in phonetic discrimination stem from differences in psychoacoustic abilities in learning the sounds of a second language: Evidence from ERP research.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Yi; Fan, Ruolin; Mo, Lei

2017-01-01

The scientific community has been divided as to the origin of individual differences in perceiving the sounds of a second language (L2). There are two alternative explanations: a general psychoacoustic origin vs. a speech-specific one. A previous study showed that such individual variability is linked to the perceivers' speech-specific capabilities, rather than the perceivers' psychoacoustic abilities. However, we assume that the selection of participants and parameters of sound stimuli might not appropriate. Therefore, we adjusted the sound stimuli and recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) from two groups of early, proficient Cantonese (L1)-Mandarin (L2) bilinguals who differed in their mastery of the Mandarin (L2) phonetic contrast /in-ing/, to explore whether the individual differences in perceiving L2 stem from participants' ability to discriminate various pure tones (frequency, duration and pattern). To precisely measure the participants' acoustic discrimination, mismatch negativity (MMN) elicited by the oddball paradigm was recorded in the experiment. The results showed that significant differences between good perceivers (GPs) and poor perceivers (PPs) were found in the three general acoustic conditions (frequency, duration and pattern), and the MMN amplitude for GP was significantly larger than for PP. Therefore, our results support a general psychoacoustic origin of individual variability in L2 phonetic mastery.

Cross-Linguistic Influence in the Bilingual Mental Lexicon: Evidence of Cognate Effects in the Phonetic Production and Processing of a Vowel Contrast.

Science.gov (United States)

Amengual, Mark

2016-01-01

The present study examines cognate effects in the phonetic production and processing of the Catalan back mid-vowel contrast (/o/-/ɔ/) by 24 early and highly proficient Spanish-Catalan bilinguals in Majorca (Spain). Participants completed a picture-naming task and a forced-choice lexical decision task in which they were presented with either words (e.g., /bɔsk/ "forest") or non-words based on real words, but with the alternate mid-vowel pair in stressed position ((*)/bosk/). The same cognate and non-cognate lexical items were included in the production and lexical decision experiments. The results indicate that even though these early bilinguals maintained the back mid-vowel contrast in their productions, they had great difficulties identifying non-words and real words based on the identity of the Catalan mid-vowel. The analyses revealed language dominance and cognate effects: Spanish-dominants exhibited higher error rates than Catalan-dominants, and production and lexical decision accuracy were also affected by cognate status. The present study contributes to the discussion of the organization of early bilinguals' dominant and non-dominant sound systems, and proposes that exemplar theoretic approaches can be extended to include bilingual lexical connections that account for the interactions between the phonetic and lexical levels of early bilingual individuals.

Systeme de fautes et correction phonetique par la methode verbo-tonale des francophones belges qui apprenent l'espagnol (Phonetic Correction and the Verbo-tonal Method for Teaching Spanish to French-speaking Belgians)

Science.gov (United States)

Sarmiento Padilla, Jose

1974-01-01

Describes experiments in the field of phonetic correction. Several techniques used at the University of Mons for teaching Spanish pronunciation to French-speaking Belgians are explained. (Text is in French.) (PMP)

Phonetic spelling filter for keyword selection in drug mention mining from social media.

Science.gov (United States)

Pimpalkhute, Pranoti; Patki, Apurv; Nikfarjam, Azadeh; Gonzalez, Graciela

2014-01-01

Social media postings are rich in information that often remain hidden and inaccessible for automatic extraction due to inherent limitations of the site's APIs, which mostly limit access via specific keyword-based searches (and limit both the number of keywords and the number of postings that are returned). When mining social media for drug mentions, one of the first problems to solve is how to derive a list of variants of the drug name (common misspellings) that can capture a sufficient number of postings. We present here an approach that filters the potential variants based on the intuition that, faced with the task of writing an unfamiliar, complex word (the drug name), users will tend to revert to phonetic spelling, and we thus give preference to variants that reflect the phonemes of the correct spelling. The algorithm allowed us to capture 50.4 - 56.0 % of the user comments using only about 18% of the variants.

Identification and evaluation of the salient physical activity beliefs of colorectal cancer survivors.

Science.gov (United States)

Speed-Andrews, Amy E; McGowan, Erin L; Rhodes, Ryan E; Blanchard, Chris M; Culos-Reed, S Nicole; Friedenreich, Christine M; Courneya, Kerry S

2014-01-01

Physical activity (PA) has been associated with lower risk of disease recurrence and longer survival in colorectal cancer (CRC) survivors; however, less than one-third of CRC survivors are meeting PA guidelines. Interventions to promote PA in CRC survivors need to understand the most critical beliefs that influence PA behavior. The objective of this study was to examine the strength of associations between the most common PA beliefs of CRC survivors and motivational constructs from the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as well as PA behavior. Colorectal cancer survivors (n = 600) residing in Alberta, Canada, completed self-report questionnaires assessing medical and demographic variables, PA beliefs, constructs from the TPB, and PA behavior. Colorectal cancer survivors identified improved fitness (69.5%), family members (67.3%), and medical/health problems (8.8%) as the most prevalent behavioral, normative, and control beliefs, respectively. All PA beliefs were significantly correlated with all TPB constructs and PA. Physical activity interventions for CRC survivors should target many salient beliefs including behavioral, normative, and control beliefs. Insights into the salient beliefs for PA in CRC survivors can guide nurses in developing successful strategies to promote PA in this population and likely improve quality of life and possibly disease outcomes.

L'application de l'appareil Suvaglingua de correction phonetique a l'enseignement de l'espagnol aux francophones (The Use of the Suvaglingua Synthesizer for Phonetic Correction in Spanish Courses for French Speakers)

Science.gov (United States)

Sarmiento, Jose; And Others

1974-01-01

Describes the use of the verbo-tonal method of phonetic correction and the Suvaglingua synthesizer in Spanish courses at the International School of Interpreters at Mons, France. (Text is in French.) (PMP)

Perceptual Confusions Among Consonants, Revisited: Cross-Spectral Integration of Phonetic-Feature Information and Consonant Recognition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christiansen, Thomas Ulrich; Greenberg, Steven

2012-01-01

The perceptual basis of consonant recognition was experimentally investigated through a study of how information associated with phonetic features (Voicing, Manner, and Place of Articulation) combines across the acoustic-frequency spectrum. The speech signals, 11 Danish consonants embedded...... in Consonant + Vowel + Liquid syllables, were partitioned into 3/4-octave bands (“slits”) centered at 750 Hz, 1500 Hz, and 3000 Hz, and presented individually and in two- or three-slit combinations. The amount of information transmitted (IT) was calculated from consonant- confusion matrices for each feature...... the bands are essentially independent in terms of decoding this feature. Because consonant recognition and Place decoding are highly correlated (correlation coefficient r2 = 0.99), these results imply that the auditory processes underlying consonant recognition are not strictly linear. This may account...

The Rio Pardo salient, northern Araçuaí orogen: an example of a complex basin-controlled fold-thrust belt curve

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Eliza Peixoto

Full Text Available ABSTRACT: The Rio Pardo salient, the large antitaxial curve described by the Araçuaí fold-and-thrust belt along the southeastern edge of the São Francisco craton, is one of the most prominent and one of the least studied features of the Brasiliano Araçuaí-West Congo orogenic system (AWCO. In addition to the Archean/Paleoproterozoic basement, the salient is comprised of metasedimentary rocks mainly from the Neoproterozoic Macaúbas Group and the Salinas Formation. Its western limb occupies a portion of the Espinhaço ridge, where the NS-trending structures of the Araçuaí belt progressively curve NE and E, thereby defining the hinge zone along the Serra Geral on the Minas-Bahia boundary. The eastern limb is NW-trending and marked by a major shear zone. In models postulated to generate the AWCO through the closure of the Neoproterozoic Macaúbas basin, this large curve plays a critical kinematic role. Yet, in spite of this, its development is still not fully understood. How did this curve originate? Which factors controlled its generation? Our field study performed in the northern Araçuaí orogen characterized the kinematic picture of the salient, and led to a model that addresses these questions. The results we obtained indicate that the Rio Pardo salient developed in response to four deformation phases. The contractional D1 and D2 phases are coaxial and responsible for a craton-directed tectonic transport along the salient’s outer arc, which is coupled with an overall southward motion of the inner arc, thereby giving rise to a rather complex kinematic picture. Furthermore, structures of the D1/D2 phases define a zigzag pattern with alternating NE- and NW-trending segments along the salient’s leading edge. Along the NE-trending segments, the metasedimentary rocks are thrust northwestwards on top of the craton basement, while along the NW-trending segments, the supracrustal rocks are displaced along dextral to reverse

STUDYING THE EFFECT OF AN ADDITIONAL ACTIVE RESISTANCE IN THE FIELD WINDING CIRCUIT ON STARTING CHARACTERISTICS OF SALIENT-POLE SYNCHRONOUS MOTORS

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V. S. Malyar

2018-04-01

Full Text Available On the basis of the developed method for calculating steady-state asynchronous operation modes of salient-pole synchronous motors, a procedure of mathematical modelling of the starting characteristics is proposed. The problem of calculating the steady-state asynchronous mode is solved as a boundary value one for differential equations of motor circuit electrical equilibrium. Algebraization of the system of differential equations is carried out by approximating the equations of state using cubic spline functions on a grid of period nodes, taking into account the periodic law of variation of the coordinates. This results in the changeover from continual values to nodal ones. The starting static characteristics are calculated using the parameter continuation method. The study of the effect of the starting resistance value on the asynchronous characteristics of the motor relied on a mathematical model of the motor taking into consideration real field circuits, saturation and asymmetry of the magnetic path.

Magnocellular Bias in Exogenous Attention to Biologically Salient Stimuli as Revealed by Manipulating Their Luminosity and Color.

Science.gov (United States)

Carretié, Luis; Kessel, Dominique; García-Rubio, María J; Giménez-Fernández, Tamara; Hoyos, Sandra; Hernández-Lorca, María

2017-10-01

Exogenous attention is a set of mechanisms that allow us to detect and reorient toward salient events-such as appetitive or aversive-that appear out of the current focus of attention. The nature of these mechanisms, particularly the involvement of the parvocellular and magnocellular visual processing systems, was explored. Thirty-four participants performed a demanding digit categorization task while salient (spiders or S) and neutral (wheels or W) stimuli were presented as distractors under two figure-ground formats: heterochromatic/isoluminant (exclusively processed by the parvocellular system, Par trials) and isochromatic/heteroluminant (preferentially processed by the magnocellular system, Mag trials). This resulted in four conditions: SPar, SMag, WPar, and WMag. Behavioral (RTs and error rates in the task) and electrophysiological (ERPs) indices of exogenous attention were analyzed. Behavior showed greater attentional capture by SMag than by SPar distractors and enhanced modulation of SMag capture as fear of spiders reported by participants increased. ERPs reflected a sequence from magnocellular dominant (P1p, ≃120 msec) to both magnocellular and parvocellular processing (N2p and P2a, ≃200 msec). Importantly, amplitudes in one N2p subcomponent were greater to SMag than to SPar and WMag distractors, indicating greater magnocellular sensitivity to saliency. Taking together, results support a magnocellular bias in exogenous attention toward distractors of any nature during initial processing, a bias that remains in later stages when biologically salient distractors are present.

Flore et menagerie phonetiques; Collages; Tirez a vous la couverture; A propos d'un quiproquo (Phonetic Flora and Fauna; Collages; Take the Covers; A Propos of a Quid Pro Quo).

Science.gov (United States)

Francais dans le Monde, 1987

1987-01-01

Four suggestions for classroom language-learning activities include a series of dot-to-dot phonetics games, small group collage making and presentation, use of magazine covers to stimulate class discussion and introduction of vocabulary, and student-written sketches based on misunderstandings. (MSE)

An elicitation study of critical care nurses' salient hand hygiene beliefs.

Science.gov (United States)

Piras, Susan E; Lauderdale, Jana; Minnick, Ann

2017-10-01

To describe critical care nurses' hand hygiene attitudinal, normative referent, and control beliefs. Hand hygiene is the primary strategy to prevent healthcare-associated infections. Social influence is an underdeveloped hand hygiene strategy. This qualitative descriptive study was conducted with 25 ICU nurses in the southeastern United States. Data were collected using the Nurses' Salient Belief Instrument. Thematic analysis generated four themes: Hand Hygiene is Protective; Nurses look to Nurses; Time-related Concerns; and Convenience is Essential. Nurses look to nurses as hand hygiene referents and believe hand hygiene is a protective behaviour that requires time and functional equipment. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Torque ripple minimization in a doubly salient permanent magnet motors by skewing the rotor teeth

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sheth, N.K.; Sekharbabu, A.R.C.; Rajagopal, K.R.

2006-01-01

This paper presents the effects of skewing the rotor teeth on the performance of an 8/6 doubly salient permanent magnet motor using a simple method, which utilizes the results obtained from the 2-D FE analysis. The optimum skewing angle is obtained as 12-15 o for the least ripple torque without much reduction in the back-emf

Oral methylphenidate normalizes cingulate activity in cocaine addiction during a salient cognitive task

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goldstein, R.Z.; Woicik, P.A.; Maloney, T.; Tomasi, D.; Alia-Klein, N.; Shan, J.; Honorario, J.; Samaras, D.; Wang, R.; Telang, F.; Wang, G.-J.; Volkow, N.D.

2010-01-01

Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) hypoactivations during cognitive demand are a hallmark deficit in drug addiction. Methylphenidate (MPH) normalizes cortical function, enhancing task salience and improving associated cognitive abilities, in other frontal lobe pathologies; however, in clinical trials, MPH did not improve treatment outcome in cocaine addiction. We hypothesized that oral MPH will attenuate ACC hypoactivations and improve associated performance during a salient cognitive task in individuals with cocaine-use disorders (CUD). In the current functional MRI study, we used a rewarded drug cue-reactivity task previously shown to be associated with hypoactivations in both major ACC subdivisions (implicated in default brain function) in CUD compared with healthy controls. The task was performed by 13 CUD and 14 matched healthy controls on 2 d: after ingesting a single dose of oral MPH (20 mg) or placebo (lactose) in a counterbalanced fashion. Results show that oral MPH increased responses to this salient cognitive task in both major ACC subdivisions (including the caudal-dorsal ACC and rostroventromedial ACC extending to the medial orbitofrontal cortex) in the CUD. These functional MRI results were associated with reduced errors of commission (a common impulsivity measure) and improved task accuracy, especially during the drug (vs. neutral) cue-reactivity condition in all subjects. The clinical application of such MPH-induced brain-behavior enhancements remains to be tested.

Salient Region Detection by Fusing Foreground and Background Cues Extracted from Single Image

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qiangqiang Zhou

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Saliency detection is an important preprocessing step in many application fields such as computer vision, robotics, and graphics to reduce computational cost by focusing on significant positions and neglecting the nonsignificant in the scene. Different from most previous methods which mainly utilize the contrast of low-level features, various feature maps are fused in a simple linear weighting form. In this paper, we propose a novel salient object detection algorithm which takes both background and foreground cues into consideration and integrate a bottom-up coarse salient regions extraction and a top-down background measure via boundary labels propagation into a unified optimization framework to acquire a refined saliency detection result. Wherein the coarse saliency map is also fused by three components, the first is local contrast map which is in more accordance with the psychological law, the second is global frequency prior map, and the third is global color distribution map. During the formation of background map, first we construct an affinity matrix and select some nodes which lie on border as labels to represent the background and then carry out a propagation to generate the regional background map. The evaluation of the proposed model has been implemented on four datasets. As demonstrated in the experiments, our proposed method outperforms most existing saliency detection models with a robust performance.

Oral methylphenidate normalizes cingulate activity in cocaine addiction during a salient cognitive task

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Goldstein, R.Z.; Goldstein, R.Z.; Woicik, P.A.; Maloney, T.; Tomasi, D.; Alia-Klein, N.; Shan, J.; Honorario, J.; Samaras, d.; Wang, R.; Telang, F.; Wang, G.-J.; Volkow, N.D.

2010-09-21

Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) hypoactivations during cognitive demand are a hallmark deficit in drug addiction. Methylphenidate (MPH) normalizes cortical function, enhancing task salience and improving associated cognitive abilities, in other frontal lobe pathologies; however, in clinical trials, MPH did not improve treatment outcome in cocaine addiction. We hypothesized that oral MPH will attenuate ACC hypoactivations and improve associated performance during a salient cognitive task in individuals with cocaine-use disorders (CUD). In the current functional MRI study, we used a rewarded drug cue-reactivity task previously shown to be associated with hypoactivations in both major ACC subdivisions (implicated in default brain function) in CUD compared with healthy controls. The task was performed by 13 CUD and 14 matched healthy controls on 2 d: after ingesting a single dose of oral MPH (20 mg) or placebo (lactose) in a counterbalanced fashion. Results show that oral MPH increased responses to this salient cognitive task in both major ACC subdivisions (including the caudal-dorsal ACC and rostroventromedial ACC extending to the medial orbitofrontal cortex) in the CUD. These functional MRI results were associated with reduced errors of commission (a common impulsivity measure) and improved task accuracy, especially during the drug (vs. neutral) cue-reactivity condition in all subjects. The clinical application of such MPH-induced brain-behavior enhancements remains to be tested.

Phonetic basis of phonemic paraphasias in aphasia: Evidence for cascading activation.

Science.gov (United States)

Kurowski, Kathleen; Blumstein, Sheila E

2016-02-01

Phonemic paraphasias are a common presenting symptom in aphasia and are thought to reflect a deficit in which selecting an incorrect phonemic segment results in the clear-cut substitution of one phonemic segment for another. The current study re-examines the basis of these paraphasias. Seven left hemisphere-damaged aphasics with a range of left hemisphere lesions and clinical diagnoses including Broca's, Conduction, and Wernicke's aphasia, were asked to produce syllable-initial voiced and voiceless fricative consonants, [z] and [s], in CV syllables followed by one of five vowels [i e a o u] in isolation and in a carrier phrase. Acoustic analyses were conducted focusing on two acoustic parameters signaling voicing in fricative consonants: duration and amplitude properties of the fricative noise. Results show that for all participants, regardless of clinical diagnosis or lesion site, phonemic paraphasias leave an acoustic trace of the original target in the error production. These findings challenge the view that phonemic paraphasias arise from a mis-selection of phonemic units followed by its correct implementation, as traditionally proposed. Rather, they appear to derive from a common mechanism with speech errors reflecting the co-activation of a target and competitor resulting in speech output that has some phonetic properties of both segments. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A PHONETIC CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH WORDS IN THREE JAPANESE SONGS BY AKB48

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Harwintha Y. Anjarningsih

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Many studies have revealed how Japanese speakers pronounce English words differently. However, not much research has explained the causes of the difference, let alone relating such difference with native language interference. By drawing a comparison between the sound structures of the English and Japanese languages using Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis (CAH, we will see how native language may influence foreign language usage and cause pronunciation differences in popular songs. Transcriptions of three AKB48’s songs – Heavy Rotation, Sugar Rush, and Namida Surprise – will be used as the data sources to determine native language interference. Our findings show that additions of vowel sounds, changes of syllable, changes of height and place of vowel articulation, replacements of a consonant with another consonant, and elisions of consonants happened to the English words across the three songs. These phonetic changes should inform discussions about the relationship between lyrics and melody in songs that incorporate two or more languages (i.e., bilingual.

MASTICATION, PHONETICS AND ESTHETICS AS A FINAL RESULT OF PARTIAL OR COMPLETE DENTURE TREATMENT.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kalina Georgieva

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Three target groups- dentists/ dental students, dental technicians and patients were asked to fill in an anonymous questionnaire about their satisfaction of the final results after prosthetic treatment with removable dentures using a scale from 1 to 5 (1- completely dissatisfied, 2-dissatisfied, 3-indifferent, 4-satisfied, 5-completely satisfied. The mean results (including colour, shape and size of artificial teeth, arrangement of front teeth, colour of artificial gums, phonetics, mastication, natural smile, enough space for tongue for all three groups of respondents were compared. Dental technicians (4,34 are more satisfied than dentists/dental students (3,62 and patients (3,53. A successful outcome of prosthetic treatment depends on one hand on the professional approach of the dental team and on the other hand on the patient’s motivation and cooperation. The predictive final results and realistic expectations lead to satisfaction of all participants in the treatment process.

Design and analysis of a flux intensifying permanent magnet embedded salient pole wind generator

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Yujing; Jin, Ping; Lin, Heyun; Yang, Hui; Lyu, Shukang

2018-05-01

This paper presents an improved flux intensifying permanent magnet embedded salient pole wind generator (FI-PMESPWG) with mirror symmetrical magnetizing directions permanent magnet (PM) for improving generator's performances. The air-gap flux densities, the output voltage, the cogging torque and the d- and q-axis inductances of FI-PMESPWG are all calculated and analyzed by using the finite element method (FEM). To highlight the advantages of the proposed FI-PMESPWG, an original permanent magnet embedded salient pole wind generator (PMESPWG) model is adopted for comparison under the same operating conditions. The calculating results show that the air-gap flux densities of FI-PMESPWG are intensified with the same magnet amounts because the PMs are set in a form of V shape in each pole. The difference between d-axis inductance and q-axis inductance of the proposed FI-PMESPWG is reduced. Thus, the output power of the proposed FI-PMESPWG reaches a higher value than that of the original PMESPWG at the same current phase angle. The cogging torque is diminished because the flux path is changed. All the analysis results indicate that the electromagnetic characteristics of the proposed FI-PMESPWG are significantly better than that of the original PMESPWG.

Remote Sensing of Martian Terrain Hazards via Visually Salient Feature Detection

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Milli, S.; Shaukat, A.; Spiteri, C.; Gao, Y.

2014-04-01

The main objective of the FASTER remote sensing system is the detection of rocks on planetary surfaces by employing models that can efficiently characterise rocks in terms of semantic descriptions. The proposed technique abates some of the algorithmic limitations of existing methods with no training requirements, lower computational complexity and greater robustness towards visual tracking applications over long-distance planetary terrains. Visual saliency models inspired from biological systems help to identify important regions (such as rocks) in the visual scene. Surface rocks are therefore completely described in terms of their local or global conspicuity pop-out characteristics. These local and global pop-out cues are (but not limited to); colour, depth, orientation, curvature, size, luminance intensity, shape, topology etc. The currently applied methods follow a purely bottom-up strategy of visual attention for selection of conspicuous regions in the visual scene without any topdown control. Furthermore the choice of models used (tested and evaluated) are relatively fast among the state-of-the-art and have very low computational load. Quantitative evaluation of these state-ofthe- art models was carried out using benchmark datasets including the Surrey Space Centre Lab Testbed, Pangu generated images, RAL Space SEEKER and CNES Mars Yard datasets. The analysis indicates that models based on visually salient information in the frequency domain (SRA, SDSR, PQFT) are the best performing ones for detecting rocks in an extra-terrestrial setting. In particular the SRA model seems to be the most optimum of the lot especially that it requires the least computational time while keeping errors competitively low. The salient objects extracted using these models can then be merged with the Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) generated from the same navigation cameras in order to be fused to the navigation map thus giving a clear indication of the rock locations.

Red to Green or Fast to Slow? Infants' Visual Working Memory for "Just Salient Differences"

Science.gov (United States)

Kaldy, Zsuzsa; Blaser, Erik

2013-01-01

In this study, 6-month-old infants' visual working memory for a static feature (color) and a dynamic feature (rotational motion) was compared. Comparing infants' use of different features can only be done properly if experimental manipulations to those features are equally salient (Kaldy & Blaser, 2009; Kaldy, Blaser, & Leslie,…

Somatosensory BOLD fMRI reveals close link between salient blood pressure changes and the murine neuromatrix.

Science.gov (United States)

Reimann, Henning Matthias; Todiras, Mihail; Hodge, Russ; Huelnhagen, Till; Millward, Jason Michael; Turner, Robert; Seeliger, Erdmann; Bader, Michael; Pohlmann, Andreas; Niendorf, Thoralf

2018-05-15

The neuromatrix, or "pain matrix", is a network of cortical brain areas which is activated by noxious as well as salient somatosensory stimulation. This has been studied in mice and humans using blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI. Here we demonstrate that BOLD effects observed in the murine neuromatrix in response to salient somatosensory stimuli are prone to reflect mean arterial blood pressure (MABP) changes, rather than neural activity. We show that a standard electrostimulus typically used in murine somatosensory fMRI can induce substantial elevations in MABP. Equivalent drug-induced MABP changes - without somatosensory stimulation - evoked BOLD patterns in the neuromatrix strikingly similar to those evoked by electrostimulation. This constitutes a serious caveat for murine fMRI. The regional specificity of these BOLD patterns can be attributed to the co-localization of the neuromatrix with large draining veins. Based on these findings we propose a cardiovascular support mechanism whereby abrupt elevations in MABP provide additional energy supply to the neuromatrix and other essential brain areas in fight-or-flight situations. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cross-dialectal variation in formant dynamics of American English vowels

Science.gov (United States)

Fox, Robert Allen; Jacewicz, Ewa

2009-01-01

This study aims to characterize the nature of the dynamic spectral change in vowels in three distinct regional varieties of American English spoken in the Western North Carolina, in Central Ohio, and in Southern Wisconsin. The vowels ∕ɪ, ε, e, æ, aɪ∕ were produced by 48 women for a total of 1920 utterances and were contained in words of the structure ∕bVts∕ and ∕bVdz∕ in sentences which elicited nonemphatic and emphatic vowels. Measurements made at the vowel target (i.e., the central 60% of the vowel) produced a set of acoustic parameters which included position and movement in the F1 by F2 space, vowel duration, amount of spectral change [measured as vector length (VL) and trajectory length (TL)], and spectral rate of change. Results revealed expected variation in formant dynamics as a function of phonetic factors (vowel emphasis and consonantal context). However, for each vowel and for each measure employed, dialect was a strong source of variation in vowel-inherent spectral change. In general, the dialect-specific nature and amount of spectral change can be characterized quite effectively by position and movement in the F1 by F2 space, vowel duration, TL (but not VL which underestimates formant movement), and spectral rate of change. PMID:19894839

Local Variation of Hashtag Spike Trains and Popularity in Twitter

Science.gov (United States)

Sanlı, Ceyda; Lambiotte, Renaud

2015-01-01

We draw a parallel between hashtag time series and neuron spike trains. In each case, the process presents complex dynamic patterns including temporal correlations, burstiness, and all other types of nonstationarity. We propose the adoption of the so-called local variation in order to uncover salient dynamical properties, while properly detrending for the time-dependent features of a signal. The methodology is tested on both real and randomized hashtag spike trains, and identifies that popular hashtags present regular and so less bursty behavior, suggesting its potential use for predicting online popularity in social media. PMID:26161650

The interaction between acoustic salience and language experience in developmental speech perception: evidence from nasal place discrimination.

Science.gov (United States)

Narayan, Chandan R; Werker, Janet F; Beddor, Patrice Speeter

2010-05-01

Previous research suggests that infant speech perception reorganizes in the first year: young infants discriminate both native and non-native phonetic contrasts, but by 10-12 months difficult non-native contrasts are less discriminable whereas performance improves on native contrasts. In the current study, four experiments tested the hypothesis that, in addition to the influence of native language experience, acoustic salience also affects the perceptual reorganization that takes place in infancy. Using a visual habituation paradigm, two nasal place distinctions that differ in relative acoustic salience, acoustically robust labial-alveolar [ma]-[na] and acoustically less salient alveolar-velar [na]-[ enga], were presented to infants in a cross-language design. English-learning infants at 6-8 and 10-12 months showed discrimination of the native and acoustically robust [ma]-[na] (Experiment 1), but not the non-native (in initial position) and acoustically less salient [na]-[ enga] (Experiment 2). Very young (4-5-month-old) English-learning infants tested on the same native and non-native contrasts also showed discrimination of only the [ma]-[na] distinction (Experiment 3). Filipino-learning infants, whose ambient language includes the syllable-initial alveolar (/n/)-velar (/ eng/) contrast, showed discrimination of native [na]-[ enga] at 10-12 months, but not at 6-8 months (Experiment 4). These results support the hypothesis that acoustic salience affects speech perception in infancy, with native language experience facilitating discrimination of an acoustically similar phonetic distinction [na]-[ enga]. We discuss the implications of this developmental profile for a comprehensive theory of speech perception in infancy.

Design of salient pole PM synchronous machines for a vehicle traction application. Analysis and implementation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rilla, M.

2012-07-01

This doctoral thesis presents a study on the development of a liquid-cooled frame salient pole permanent-magnet-exited traction machine for a four-wheel-driven electric car. The emphasis of the thesis is put on a radial flux machine design in order to achieve a light-weight machine structure for traction applications. The design features combine electromagnetic and thermal design methods, because traction machine operation does not have a strict operating point. Arbitrary load cycles and the flexible supply require special attention in the design process. It is shown that accurate modelling of the machine magnetic state is essential for high-performance operation. The saturation effect related to the cross-saturation has to be taken carefully into account in order to achieve the desired operation. Two prototype machines have been designed and built for testing: one totally enclosed machine with a special magnet module pole arrangement and another through-ventilated machine with a more traditional embedded magnet structure. Both structures are built with magnetically salient structures in order to increase the torque production capability with the reluctance torque component. Both machine structures show potential for traction usage. However, the traditional embedded magnet design turns out to be mechanically the more secure one of these two machine options. (orig.)

Amplitude modulation of sexy phrases is salient for song attractiveness in female canaries (Serinus canaria).

Science.gov (United States)

Pasteau, Magali; Ung, Davy; Kreutzer, Michel; Aubin, Thierry

2012-07-01

Song discrimination and recognition in songbird species have usually been studied by measuring responses to song playbacks. In female canaries, Serinus canaria, copulation solicitation displays (CSDs) are used as an index of female preferences, which are related to song recognition. Despite the fact that many studies underline the role of song syntax in this species, we observed that short segments of songs (a few seconds long) are enough for females to discriminate between conspecific and heterospecific songs, whereas such a short duration is not sufficient to identify the syntax rules. This suggests that other cues are salient for song recognition. In this experiment, we investigated the influence of amplitude modulation (AM) on the responses (CSDs) of female canaries to song playbacks. We used two groups of females: (1) raised in acoustic isolation and (2) raised in normal conditions. When adult, we tested their preferences for sexy phrases with different AMs. We broadcast three types of stimuli: (1) songs with natural canary AM, (2) songs with AM removed, or (3) song with wren Troglodytes troglodytes AM. Results indicate that female canaries prefer and have predispositions for a song type with the natural canary AM. Thus, this acoustic parameter is a salient cue for song attractiveness.

Selecting salient frames for spatiotemporal video modeling and segmentation.

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Xiaomu; Fan, Guoliang

2007-12-01

We propose a new statistical generative model for spatiotemporal video segmentation. The objective is to partition a video sequence into homogeneous segments that can be used as "building blocks" for semantic video segmentation. The baseline framework is a Gaussian mixture model (GMM)-based video modeling approach that involves a six-dimensional spatiotemporal feature space. Specifically, we introduce the concept of frame saliency to quantify the relevancy of a video frame to the GMM-based spatiotemporal video modeling. This helps us use a small set of salient frames to facilitate the model training by reducing data redundancy and irrelevance. A modified expectation maximization algorithm is developed for simultaneous GMM training and frame saliency estimation, and the frames with the highest saliency values are extracted to refine the GMM estimation for video segmentation. Moreover, it is interesting to find that frame saliency can imply some object behaviors. This makes the proposed method also applicable to other frame-related video analysis tasks, such as key-frame extraction, video skimming, etc. Experiments on real videos demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method.

A Fault-Tolerant Parallel Structure of Single-Phase Full-Bridge Rectifiers for a Wound-Field Doubly Salient Generator

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chen, Zhihui; Chen, Ran; Chen, Zhe

2013-01-01

The fault-tolerance design is widely adopted for high-reliability applications. In this paper, a parallel structure of single-phase full-bridge rectifiers (FBRs) (PS-SPFBR) is proposed for a wound-field doubly salient generator. The analysis shows the potential fault-tolerance capability of the PS...

The flexible engagement of monitoring processes in non-focal and focal prospective memory tasks with salient cues.

Science.gov (United States)

Hefer, Carmen; Cohen, Anna-Lisa; Jaudas, Alexander; Dreisbach, Gesine

2017-09-01

Prospective memory (PM) refers to the ability to remember to perform a delayed intention. Here, we aimed to investigate the ability to suspend such an intention and thus to confirm previous findings (Cohen, Gordon, Jaudas, Hefer, & Dreisbach, 2016) demonstrating the ability to flexibly engage in monitoring processes. In the current study, we presented a perceptually salient PM cue (bold and red) to rule out that previous findings were limited to non-salient and, thus, easy to ignore PM cues. Moreover, we used both a non-focal (Experiment 1) and a focal PM (Experiment 2) cue. In both Experiments, three groups of participants performed an Eriksen flanker task as an ongoing task with an embedded PM task (they had to remember to press the F1 key if a pre-specified cue appeared). Participants were assigned to either a control condition (performed solely the flanker task), a standard PM condition (performed the flanker task along with the PM task), or a PM delayed condition (performed the flanker task but were instructed to postpone their PM task intention). The results of Experiment 1 with the non-focal PM cue closely replicated those of Cohen et al. (2016) and confirmed that participants were able to successfully postpone the PM cue intention without additional costs even when the PM cue was a perceptually salient one. However, when the PM cue was focal (Experiment 2), it was much more difficult for participants to ignore it as evidenced by commission errors and slower latencies on PM cue trials. In sum, results showed that the focality of the PM cue plays a more crucial role in the flexibility of the monitoring process whereas the saliency of the PM cue does not. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Laryngeal Features Are Phonetically Abstract: Mismatch Negativity Evidence from Arabic, English, and Russian

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kevin T. Schluter

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Many theories of phonology assume that the sound structure of language is made up of distinctive features, but there is considerable debate about how much articulatory detail distinctive features encode in long-term memory. Laryngeal features such as voicing provide a unique window into this question: while many languages have two-way contrasts that can be given a simple binary feature account [±VOICE], the precise articulatory details underlying these contrasts can vary significantly across languages. Here, we investigate a series of two-way voicing contrasts in English, Arabic, and Russian, three languages that implement their voicing contrasts very differently at the articulatory-phonetic level. In three event-related potential experiments contrasting English, Arabic, and Russian fricatives along with Russian stops, we observe a consistent pattern of asymmetric mismatch negativity (MMN effects that is compatible with an articulatorily abstract and cross-linguistically uniform way of marking two-way voicing contrasts, as opposed to an articulatorily precise and cross-linguistically diverse way of encoding them. Regardless of whether a language is theorized to encode [VOICE] over [SPREAD GLOTTIS], the data is consistent with a universal marking of the [SPREAD GLOTTIS] feature.

Identificación de nombres personales por medio de sistemas de codificación fonética Personal name identification through phonetic codification systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carmen Gálvez

2006-01-01

Full Text Available La necesidad de identificar las variantes de los nombres personales es un problema muy conocido en diversas aplicaciones, tales como los sistemas de recuperación de información (SRI, las bibliotecas digitales, las bases de datos de pacientes en un hospital, los sistemas de reservas aéreas, o los sistemas de censo. Los métodos de codificación fonética constituyen uno de los procedimientos para la solución de este problema, permitiendo obtener cadenas canónicas o normalizadas. Estos sistemas se engloban dentro de las técnicas generales de equiparación aproximada de cadenas. En este trabajo se realiza una revisión de los procesos que utilizan los sistemas Soundex, Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex, Phonix, Metaphone y NYSIIS para la asignación de claves fonéticas. La codificación fonética permite reducir a una forma común aquellos nombres personales que son similares en cuanto a su pronunciación, haciendo más sencilla la comparación de una cadena con otra, debido a que se almacena el código generado en lugar del nombre completo. Sin embargo, la principal limitación de estos sistemas es que son dependientes del lenguaje utilizado, lo que hace necesario la realización de modificaciones de acuerdo al idioma que se va a emplear.The need to identify the variants of personal names is a well-known problem in applications such as information retrieval systems (IRS, digital libraries, databases of patients in a hospital, the electronic systems of air reserves, or the systems of census. The phonetic codification methods constitute one of the procedures for the solution of this problem, permitting to obtain canonical or normalized names. These systems are included inside the general techniques of approximate string matching. In this work a revision of the processes is carried out that utilize the Soundex, Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex, Phonix, Metaphone and NYSIIS systems for the assignment of phonetic keys. The phonetic codification permits reduce to a

Genetically-based olfactory signatures persist despite dietary variation.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jae Kwak

Full Text Available Individual mice have a unique odor, or odortype, that facilitates individual recognition. Odortypes, like other phenotypes, can be influenced by genetic and environmental variation. The genetic influence derives in part from genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC. A major environmental influence is diet, which could obscure the genetic contribution to odortype. Because odortype stability is a prerequisite for individual recognition under normal behavioral conditions, we investigated whether MHC-determined urinary odortypes of inbred mice can be identified in the face of large diet-induced variation. Mice trained to discriminate urines from panels of mice that differed both in diet and MHC type found the diet odor more salient in generalization trials. Nevertheless, when mice were trained to discriminate mice with only MHC differences (but on the same diet, they recognized the MHC difference when tested with urines from mice on a different diet. This indicates that MHC odor profiles remain despite large dietary variation. Chemical analyses of urinary volatile organic compounds (VOCs extracted by solid phase microextraction (SPME and analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS are consistent with this inference. Although diet influenced VOC variation more than MHC, with algorithmic training (supervised classification MHC types could be accurately discriminated across different diets. Thus, although there are clear diet effects on urinary volatile profiles, they do not obscure MHC effects.

A chimpanzee recognizes synthetic speech with significantly reduced acoustic cues to phonetic content.

Science.gov (United States)

Heimbauer, Lisa A; Beran, Michael J; Owren, Michael J

2011-07-26

A long-standing debate concerns whether humans are specialized for speech perception, which some researchers argue is demonstrated by the ability to understand synthetic speech with significantly reduced acoustic cues to phonetic content. We tested a chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) that recognizes 128 spoken words, asking whether she could understand such speech. Three experiments presented 48 individual words, with the animal selecting a corresponding visuographic symbol from among four alternatives. Experiment 1 tested spectrally reduced, noise-vocoded (NV) synthesis, originally developed to simulate input received by human cochlear-implant users. Experiment 2 tested "impossibly unspeechlike" sine-wave (SW) synthesis, which reduces speech to just three moving tones. Although receiving only intermittent and noncontingent reward, the chimpanzee performed well above chance level, including when hearing synthetic versions for the first time. Recognition of SW words was least accurate but improved in experiment 3 when natural words in the same session were rewarded. The chimpanzee was more accurate with NV than SW versions, as were 32 human participants hearing these items. The chimpanzee's ability to spontaneously recognize acoustically reduced synthetic words suggests that experience rather than specialization is critical for speech-perception capabilities that some have suggested are uniquely human. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

O dizer de fonoaudiólogos sobre a evolução terapêutica de crianças com distúrbios fonológicos/fonéticos What speech therapist are telling about therapeutic evolution of children with phonological/phonetic disorders

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Paula Ramos

2009-03-01

Full Text Available OBJETIVOS: investigar fatores que contribuem de forma decisiva na evolução terapêutica nos casos de distúrbios fonológico/fonético, bem como quais abordagens são utilizadas pelos fonoaudiólogos para tratar tais distúrbios. MÉTODOS: dezoito fonoaudiólogos que atendem tal distúrbio foram entrevistados sobre questões relativas à evolução e métodos terapêuticos. RESULTADOS: demonstram um grupo de profissionais provenientes de distintas instituições com predomínio do uso de abordagens fonológicas, embora citem a problemática emocional como um aspecto que dificulta a evolução terapêutica. Afirmam não terem formação para lidar com tal aspecto, mas não a buscam em supervisões ou cursos de formação. CONCLUSÕES: a dificuldade mais mencionada foi a resistência da criança a aceitar o trabalho instrumental de fala, sendo esta encarada como de origem emocional, sendo esse aspecto um dos referidos como deficitários na formação profissional. Abordagens fonéticas e fonológicas foram as mais citadas pelos profissionais.PURPOSE: to investigate relevant therapy factors on evolution of children with phonological/phonetic disorders and theatrical approaches of therapy chosen by therapists. METHODS: eighteen speech therapists had been interviewed about therapeutic approaches and evolution of phonological/phonetic disorders children. RESULTS: it shows that phonological and phonetical approaches are predominant despite emotional factors are relevant because they create child resistances to therapy. The therapists do not study these factors in supervision or graduation courses. CONCLUSIONS: the most mentioned difficulty was the child's resistance to accept the instrumental work of speech, and it is treated as an emotional factor, being this aspect one of those referred to as deficient in the professional qualification. Phonetic and phonological approaches are the more used in therapy.

Salient features, response and operation of Lead-Free Gulmarg Neutron Monitor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mufti, S.; Chatterjee, S.; Ishtiaq, P.M.; Darzi, M.A.; Mir, T.A.; Shah, G.N.

2016-01-01

Lead-Free Gulmarg Neutron Monitor (LFGNM) provides continuous ground level intensity measurements of atmospheric secondary neutrons produced in interactions of primary cosmic rays with the Earth's constituent atmosphere. We report the LFGNM detector salient features and simulation of its energy response for 10"−"1"1 MeV to 10"4 MeV energy incident neutrons using the FLUKA Monte Carlo package. An empirical calibration of the LFGNM detector carried out with a Pu–Be neutron source for maximising its few MeV neutron counting sensitivity is also presented. As an illustration of its functionality a single representative transient solar modulation event recorded by LFGNM depicting Forbush decrease in integrated neutron data for which the geospace consequences are well known is also presented. Performance of LFGNM under actual observation conditions for effectively responding to transient solar modulation is seen to compare well with other world-wide conventional neutron monitors.

Sociophonetics: The Role of Words, the Role of Context, and the Role of Words in Context.

Science.gov (United States)

Hay, Jennifer

2018-03-02

This paper synthesizes a wide range of literature from sociolinguistics and cognitive psychology, to argue for a central role for the "word" as a vehicle of language variation and change. Three crucially interlinked strands of research are reviewed-the role of context in associative learning, the word-level storage of phonetic and contextual detail, and the phonetic consequences of skewed distributions of words across different contexts. I argue that the human capacity for associative learning, combined with attention to fine-phonetic detail at the level of the word, plays a significant role in predicting a range of subtle but systematically robust observed socioindexical patterns in speech production and perception. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Topics in Cognitive Science published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Appraisals of Salient Visual Elements in Web Page Design

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Johanna M. Silvennoinen

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Visual elements in user interfaces elicit emotions in users and are, therefore, essential to users interacting with different software. Although there is research on the relationship between emotional experience and visual user interface design, the focus has been on the overall visual impression and not on visual elements. Additionally, often in a software development process, programming and general usability guidelines are considered as the most important parts of the process. Therefore, knowledge of programmers’ appraisals of visual elements can be utilized to understand the web page designs we interact with. In this study, appraisal theory of emotion is utilized to elaborate the relationship of emotional experience and visual elements from programmers’ perspective. Participants (N=50 used 3E-templates to express their visual and emotional experiences of web page designs. Content analysis of textual data illustrates how emotional experiences are elicited by salient visual elements. Eight hierarchical visual element categories were found and connected to various emotions, such as frustration, boredom, and calmness, via relational emotion themes. The emotional emphasis was on centered, symmetrical, and balanced composition, which was experienced as pleasant and calming. The results benefit user-centered visual interface design and researchers of visual aesthetics in human-computer interaction.

Exploring Phonetic and Phonological Variation: RP and the Nigerian ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... Nigerian university, a hierarchy of the intelligibility of RP vowel phonemes is established. This not only provides evidence that intelligibility is a phenomenon which may be examined from a non-native speaker perspective, it also identifies specific features of RP segmental phonology which presents problems to Nigerians.

Most people do not ignore salient invalid cues in memory-based decisions.

Science.gov (United States)

Platzer, Christine; Bröder, Arndt

2012-08-01

Former experimental studies have shown that decisions from memory tend to rely only on a few cues, following simple noncompensatory heuristics like "take the best." However, it has also repeatedly been demonstrated that a pictorial, as opposed to a verbal, representation of cue information fosters the inclusion of more cues in compensatory strategies, suggesting a facilitated retrieval of cue patterns. These studies did not properly control for visual salience of cues, however. In the experiment reported here, the cue salience hierarchy established in a pilot study was either congruent or incongruent with the validity order of the cues. Only the latter condition increased compensatory decision making, suggesting that the apparent representational format effect is, rather, a salience effect: Participants automatically retrieve and incorporate salient cues irrespective of their validity. Results are discussed with respect to reaction time data.

Reading of kana (phonetic symbols for syllables) in Japanese children with spastic diplegia and periventricular leukomalacia.

Science.gov (United States)

Yokochi, K

2000-01-01

In 31 Japanese children with spastic diplegia and periventricular leukomalacia (PVL), the age at which they could read Hiragana (phonetic symbols for syllables) and psychometric data were examined. Reading of Hiragana was achieved between 2 and 8 years of age in all subjects except one. Four children could read Hiragana at 2 to 3 years of age, an age which is considered early among Japanese children. Performance IQs of the Wechsler Scale were lower than Verbal IQs in 18 of 19 children who were administered this test, and DQs of the cognitive adaptive (C-A) area of the K-form developmental test (a popular test in Japan) were lower than those of the language social area in all 12 children taking this test. Among eight children having performance IQs or DQs of C-A less than 50, seven acquired reading ability of Hiragana at 8 years of age or below. A visuoperceptual disorder manifested by diplegic children with PVL does not affect the acquisition of Kana-reading ability.

Deep Salient Feature Based Anti-Noise Transfer Network for Scene Classification of Remote Sensing Imagery

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Xi Gong

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Remote sensing (RS scene classification is important for RS imagery semantic interpretation. Although tremendous strides have been made in RS scene classification, one of the remaining open challenges is recognizing RS scenes in low quality variance (e.g., various scales and noises. This paper proposes a deep salient feature based anti-noise transfer network (DSFATN method that effectively enhances and explores the high-level features for RS scene classification in different scales and noise conditions. In DSFATN, a novel discriminative deep salient feature (DSF is introduced by saliency-guided DSF extraction, which conducts a patch-based visual saliency (PBVS algorithm using “visual attention” mechanisms to guide pre-trained CNNs for producing the discriminative high-level features. Then, an anti-noise network is proposed to learn and enhance the robust and anti-noise structure information of RS scene by directly propagating the label information to fully-connected layers. A joint loss is used to minimize the anti-noise network by integrating anti-noise constraint and a softmax classification loss. The proposed network architecture can be easily trained with a limited amount of training data. The experiments conducted on three different scale RS scene datasets show that the DSFATN method has achieved excellent performance and great robustness in different scales and noise conditions. It obtains classification accuracy of 98.25%, 98.46%, and 98.80%, respectively, on the UC Merced Land Use Dataset (UCM, the Google image dataset of SIRI-WHU, and the SAT-6 dataset, advancing the state-of-the-art substantially.

Masculine men articulate less clearly.

Science.gov (United States)

Kempe, Vera; Puts, David A; Cárdenas, Rodrigo A

2013-12-01

In previous research, acoustic characteristics of the male voice have been shown to signal various aspects of mate quality and threat potential. But the human voice is also a medium of linguistic communication. The present study explores whether physical and vocal indicators of male mate quality and threat potential are linked to effective communicative behaviors such as vowel differentiation and use of more salient phonetic variants of consonants. We show that physical and vocal indicators of male threat potential, height and formant position, are negatively linked to vowel space size, and that height and levels of circulating testosterone are negatively linked to the use of the aspirated variant of the alveolar stop consonant /t/. Thus, taller, more masculine men display less clarity in their speech and prefer phonetic variants that may be associated with masculine attributes such as toughness. These findings suggest that vocal signals of men's mate quality and/or dominance are not confined to the realm of voice acoustics but extend to other aspects of communicative behavior, even if this means a trade-off with speech patterns that are considered communicatively advantageous, such as clarity and indexical cues to higher social class.

Fiches pratiques: Si on jouait a la famille Dubois...; Pic et pic...et phonetique; Les rendez-vous des souvenirs; A l'ami (Practical Ideas: Let's Play House; Tick and Tick...and Phonetic; Rendezvous with Memories; To My Friend).

Science.gov (United States)

Bravo, Maria Antonia Lavandera; And Others

1991-01-01

Four activities for French language classroom use are presented, including a simulation of the relationships and communication within a family; pronunciation instruction through phonetic transcription; cultural awareness through students' analysis of their own and their parents' specific memories; and analysis and comparison of a literary text and…

Combining Formal and Functional Approaches to Topic Structure

Science.gov (United States)

Zellers, Margaret; Post, Brechtje

2012-01-01

Fragmentation between formal and functional approaches to prosodic variation is an ongoing problem in linguistic research. In particular, the frameworks of the Phonetics of Talk-in-Interaction (PTI) and Empirical Phonology (EP) take very different theoretical and methodological approaches to this kind of variation. We argue that it is fruitful to…

Salient aspects of PBP2A-inhibition; A QSAR Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Ogunleye, Adewale J; Eniafe, Gabriel O; Inyang, Olumide K; Adewumi, Benjamin; Omotuyi, Olaposi I

2018-05-15

Backgound: Inhibition of penicillin binding protein 2A (PBP2A) represents a sound drug design strategy in combatting Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Considering the urgent need for effective antimicrobials in combatting MRSA infections, we have developed a statistically robust ensemble of molecular descriptors (1, 2, & 3-D) from compounds targeting PBP2A in vivo. 37 (training set: 26, test set: 11) PBP2A-inhibitors were submitted for descriptor generation after which an unsupervised, non-exhaustive genetic algorithm (GA) was deployed for fishing out the best descriptor subset. Assignment of descriptors to a regression model was accomplished with the Partial Least Square (PLS) algorithm. At the end, an ensemble of 30 descriptors accurately predicted the ligand bioactivity, IC50 (R = 0.9996, R2 = 0.9992, R2a = 0.9949, SEE =, 0.2297 Q2LOO = 0.9741). Inferentially, we noticed that the overall efficacy of this model greatly depends on atomic polarizability and negative charge (electron) density. Besides the formula derived, the high dimensional model also offers critical insights into salient cheminformatics parameter to note during hit-to-lead PBP2A-antagonist optimization. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

Developmental change in tone perception in Mandarin monolingual, English monolingual, and Mandarin-English bilingual infants: Divergences between monolingual and bilingual learners.

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Leher; Fu, Charlene S L; Seet, Xian Hui; Tong, Ashley P Y; Wang, Joelle L; Best, Catherine T

2018-09-01

Most languages use lexical tone to discriminate the meanings of words. There has been recent interest in tracking the development of tone categories during infancy. These studies have focused largely on monolingual infants learning either a tone language or a non-tone language. It remains to be seen how bilingual infants learning one tone language (e.g., Mandarin) and one non-tone language (e.g., English) discriminate tones. Here, we examined infants' discrimination of two Mandarin tones pairs: one salient and one subtle. Discrimination was investigated in three groups: Mandarin-English bilinguals, English monolinguals, and Mandarin monolinguals at 6 months and 9 months of age in a cross-sectional design. Results demonstrated relatively strong Mandarin tone discrimination in Mandarin monolinguals, with salient tone discrimination at 6 months and both salient and subtle tone discrimination at 9 months. English monolinguals discriminated neither contrast at 6 months but discriminated the salient contrast at 9 months. Surprisingly, there was no evidence for tone discrimination in Mandarin-English bilingual infants. In a second experiment, 12- and 13-month-old Mandarin-English bilingual and English monolingual infants were tested to determine whether bilinguals would demonstrate tone sensitivity at a later age. Results revealed a lack of tone sensitivity at 12 or 13 months in bilingual infants, yet English monolingual infants were sensitive to both salient and subtle Mandarin tone contrasts at 12 or 13 months. Our findings provide evidence for age-related convergence in Mandarin tone discrimination in English and Mandarin monolingual infants and for a distinct pattern of tone discrimination in bilingual infants. Theoretical implications for phonetic category acquisition are discussed. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Analysis of a Phonological Variation in Oraukwu Dialect of Igbo: A ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper is an analysis of the use of the phoneme /Ɩ/ for /r/ in Oraukwu dialect of Igbo. It takes into cognizance the phonetic – phonological variability of ordinary speech. Oraukwu speakers virtually do not use the phoneme /r/ in their speech. Rather, the use phoneme / / where the phoneme /r/ should occur. For instance ...

Hedgehog signaling mediates adaptive variation in a dynamic functional system in the cichlid feeding apparatus.

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Yinan; Albertson, R Craig

2014-06-10

Adaptive variation in the craniofacial skeleton is a key component of resource specialization and habitat divergence in vertebrates, but the proximate genetic mechanisms that underlie complex patterns of craniofacial variation are largely unknown. Here we demonstrate that the Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway mediates widespread variation across a complex functional system that affects the kinematics of lower jaw depression--the opercular four-bar linkage apparatus--among Lake Malawi cichlids. By using a combined quantitative trait locus mapping and population genetics approach, we show that allelic variation in the Hh receptor, ptch1, affects the development of distinct bony elements in the head that represent two of three movable links in this functional system. The evolutionarily derived allele is found in species that feed from the water column, and is associated with shifts in anatomy that translate to a four-bar system capable of faster jaw rotation. Alternatively, the ancestral allele is found in species that feed on attached algae, and is associated with the development of a four-bar system that predicts slower jaw movement. Experimental manipulation of the Hh pathway during cichlid development recapitulates functionally salient natural variation in craniofacial geometry. In all, these results significantly extend our understanding of the mechanisms that fine-tune the craniofacial skeletal complex during adaptation to new foraging niches.

Detection of emotional faces: salient physical features guide effective visual search.

Science.gov (United States)

Calvo, Manuel G; Nummenmaa, Lauri

2008-08-01

In this study, the authors investigated how salient visual features capture attention and facilitate detection of emotional facial expressions. In a visual search task, a target emotional face (happy, disgusted, fearful, angry, sad, or surprised) was presented in an array of neutral faces. Faster detection of happy and, to a lesser extent, surprised and disgusted faces was found both under upright and inverted display conditions. Inversion slowed down the detection of these faces less than that of others (fearful, angry, and sad). Accordingly, the detection advantage involves processing of featural rather than configural information. The facial features responsible for the detection advantage are located in the mouth rather than the eye region. Computationally modeled visual saliency predicted both attentional orienting and detection. Saliency was greatest for the faces (happy) and regions (mouth) that were fixated earlier and detected faster, and there was close correspondence between the onset of the modeled saliency peak and the time at which observers initially fixated the faces. The authors conclude that visual saliency of specific facial features--especially the smiling mouth--is responsible for facilitated initial orienting, which thus shortens detection. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved).

From Pixels to Region: A Salient Region Detection Algorithm for Location-Quantification Image

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Mengmeng Zhang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Image saliency detection has become increasingly important with the development of intelligent identification and machine vision technology. This process is essential for many image processing algorithms such as image retrieval, image segmentation, image recognition, and adaptive image compression. We propose a salient region detection algorithm for full-resolution images. This algorithm analyzes the randomness and correlation of image pixels and pixel-to-region saliency computation mechanism. The algorithm first obtains points with more saliency probability by using the improved smallest univalue segment assimilating nucleus operator. It then reconstructs the entire saliency region detection by taking these points as reference and combining them with image spatial color distribution, as well as regional and global contrasts. The results for subjective and objective image saliency detection show that the proposed algorithm exhibits outstanding performance in terms of technology indices such as precision and recall rates.

El efecto de la amenaza intergrupal y la identidad social saliente en la creencia en teorías de conspiración sobre el terrorismo en Indonesia: la angustia colectiva como un mediador

OpenAIRE

Mashuri, Ali; Zaduqisti, Esti

2015-01-01

The present study tested how intergroup threat (high versus low) and social identity as a Muslim (salient versus non-salient) affected belief in conspiracy theories. Data among Indonesian Muslim students (N = 139) from this study demonstrated that intergroup threat and social identity salience interacted to influence belief in conspiracy theories. High intergroup threat triggered greater belief in conspiracy theories than low intergroup threat, more prominently in the condition in which parti...

A view not to be missed: Salient scene content interferes with cognitive restoration

Science.gov (United States)

Van der Jagt, Alexander P. N.; Craig, Tony; Brewer, Mark J.; Pearson, David G.

2017-01-01

Attention Restoration Theory (ART) states that built scenes place greater load on attentional resources than natural scenes. This is explained in terms of "hard" and "soft" fascination of built and natural scenes. Given a lack of direct empirical evidence for this assumption we propose that perceptual saliency of scene content can function as an empirically derived indicator of fascination. Saliency levels were established by measuring speed of scene category detection using a Go/No-Go detection paradigm. Experiment 1 shows that built scenes are more salient than natural scenes. Experiment 2 replicates these findings using greyscale images, ruling out a colour-based response strategy, and additionally shows that built objects in natural scenes affect saliency to a greater extent than the reverse. Experiment 3 demonstrates that the saliency of scene content is directly linked to cognitive restoration using an established restoration paradigm. Overall, these findings demonstrate an important link between the saliency of scene content and related cognitive restoration. PMID:28723975

A view not to be missed: Salient scene content interferes with cognitive restoration.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexander P N Van der Jagt

Full Text Available Attention Restoration Theory (ART states that built scenes place greater load on attentional resources than natural scenes. This is explained in terms of "hard" and "soft" fascination of built and natural scenes. Given a lack of direct empirical evidence for this assumption we propose that perceptual saliency of scene content can function as an empirically derived indicator of fascination. Saliency levels were established by measuring speed of scene category detection using a Go/No-Go detection paradigm. Experiment 1 shows that built scenes are more salient than natural scenes. Experiment 2 replicates these findings using greyscale images, ruling out a colour-based response strategy, and additionally shows that built objects in natural scenes affect saliency to a greater extent than the reverse. Experiment 3 demonstrates that the saliency of scene content is directly linked to cognitive restoration using an established restoration paradigm. Overall, these findings demonstrate an important link between the saliency of scene content and related cognitive restoration.

Attentional Capture by Salient Distractors during Visual Search Is Determined by Temporal Task Demands

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kiss, Monika; Grubert, Anna; Petersen, Anders

2012-01-01

The question whether attentional capture by salient but taskirrelevant visual stimuli is triggered in a bottom–up fashion or depends on top–down task settings is still unresolved. Strong support for bottom–up capture was obtained in the additional singleton task, in which search arrays were visible...... until response onset. Equally strong evidence for top–down control of attentional capture was obtained in spatial cueing experiments in which display durations were very brief. To demonstrate the critical role of temporal task demands on salience-driven attentional capture, we measured ERP indicators...... component that was followed by a late Pd component, suggesting that they triggered attentional capture, which was later replaced by location-specific inhibition. When search arrays were visible for only 200 msec, the distractor-elicited N2pc was eliminated and was replaced by a Pd component in the same time...

Combining formal and functional approaches to topic structure

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zellers, M.; Post, B.

2012-01-01

Fragmentation between formal and functional approaches to prosodic variation is an ongoing problem in linguistic research. In particular, the frameworks of the Phonetics of Talk-in-Interaction (PTI) and Empirical Phonology (EP) take very different theoretical and methodological approaches to this

A brief review of salient factors influencing adult eating behaviour.

Science.gov (United States)

Emilien, Christine; Hollis, James H

2017-12-01

A better understanding of the factors that influence eating behaviour is of importance as our food choices are associated with the risk of developing chronic diseases such as obesity, CVD, type 2 diabetes or some forms of cancer. In addition, accumulating evidence suggests that the industrial food production system is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emission and may be unsustainable. Therefore, our food choices may also contribute to climate change. By identifying the factors that influence eating behaviour new interventions may be developed, at the individual or population level, to modify eating behaviour and contribute to society's health and environmental goals. Research indicates that eating behaviour is dictated by a complex interaction between physiology, environment, psychology, culture, socio-economics and genetics that is not fully understood. While a growing body of research has identified how several single factors influence eating behaviour, a better understanding of how these factors interact is required to facilitate the developing new models of eating behaviour. Due to the diversity of influences on eating behaviour this would probably necessitate a greater focus on multi-disciplinary research. In the present review, the influence of several salient physiological and environmental factors (largely related to food characteristics) on meal initiation, satiation (meal size) and satiety (inter-meal interval) are briefly discussed. Due to the large literature this review is not exhaustive but illustrates the complexity of eating behaviour. The present review will also highlight several limitations that apply to eating behaviour research.

Forced to remember: when memory is biased by salient information.

Science.gov (United States)

Santangelo, Valerio

2015-04-15

The last decades have seen a rapid growing in the attempt to understand the key factors involved in the internal memory representation of the external world. Visual salience have been found to provide a major contribution in predicting the probability for an item/object embedded in a complex setting (i.e., a natural scene) to be encoded and then remembered later on. Here I review the existing literature highlighting the impact of perceptual- (based on low-level sensory features) and semantics-related salience (based on high-level knowledge) on short-term memory representation, along with the neural mechanisms underpinning the interplay between these factors. The available evidence reveal that both perceptual- and semantics-related factors affect attention selection mechanisms during the encoding of natural scenes. Biasing internal memory representation, both perceptual and semantics factors increase the probability to remember high- to the detriment of low-saliency items. The available evidence also highlight an interplay between these factors, with a reduced impact of perceptual-related salience in biasing memory representation as a function of the increasing availability of semantics-related salient information. The neural mechanisms underpinning this interplay involve the activation of different portions of the frontoparietal attention control network. Ventral regions support the assignment of selection/encoding priorities based on high-level semantics, while the involvement of dorsal regions reflects priorities assignment based on low-level sensory features. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Fast Calculation Model and Theoretical Analysis of Rotor Unbalanced Magnetic Pull for Inter-Turn Short Circuit of Field Windings of Non-Salient Pole Generators

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Guangtao Zhang

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Inter-turn short circuit of field windings (ISCFW may cause the field current of a generator to increase, output reactive power to decrease, and unit vibration to intensify, seriously affecting its safe and stable operation. Full integration of mechanical and electrical characteristics can improve the sensitivity of online monitoring, and detect the early embryonic period fault of small turns. This paper studies the calculations and variations of unbalanced magnetic pull (UMP, of which the excitation source of rotor vibration is the basis and key to online fault monitoring. In grid load operation, ISCFW are first calculated with the multi-loop method, so as to obtain the numerical solutions of the stator and the rotor currents during the fault. Next, the air-gap magnetic field of the ISCFW is analyzed according to the actual composition modes of the motor loops in the fault, so as to obtain the analytic expressions of the air-gap magnetic motive force (MMF and magnetic density. The UMP of the rotor is obtained by solving the integral of the Maxwell stress. The correctness of the electric quantity calculation is verified by the ISCFW experiment, conducted in a one pair-pole non-salient pole model machine. On this basis, comparing the simulation analysis with the calculation results of the model in this paper not only verifies the accuracy of the electromagnetic force calculation, but also proves that the latter has the advantages of a short time consumption and high efficiency. Finally, the influencing factors and variation law of UMP are analyzed by means of an analytic model. This develops a base for the online monitoring of ISCFW with the integration of mechanical and electrical information.

Analysis of Salient Feature Jitter in the Cochlea for Objective Prediction of Temporally Localized Distortion in Synthesized Speech

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Wenliang Lu

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Temporally localized distortions account for the highest variance in subjective evaluation of coded speech signals (Sen (2001 and Hall (2001. The ability to discern and decompose perceptually relevant temporally localized coding noise from other types of distortions is both of theoretical importance as well as a valuable tool for deploying and designing speech synthesis systems. The work described within uses a physiologically motivated cochlear model to provide a tractable analysis of salient feature trajectories as processed by the cochlea. Subsequent statistical analysis shows simple relationships between the jitter of these trajectories and temporal attributes of the Diagnostic Acceptability Measure (DAM.

Student Perception Problems in Using Historical Language: Semantic/Phonetic Connotation and Concept Loss

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Erhan METİN

2012-05-01

, literature is reviewed, observation and interview techniques are used. In this study, the students in secondary schools are observed in history classes to see how they use historical language. Moreover, the relationship between history education and language is analyzed from student perspective thus, perception problems which emerge while the students use historical language are identified. The results about these perception problems, semantic connotation and phonetic connotation, which are identified and defined in this study, are illustrated. The study is based on the observations of 168 9-grade students in four different schools. Student-centered language problems which are identified according to the results of data collected and mentioned in detail in the study are defined as semantic connotation, phonetic connotation and concept loss. The connotation problem in this study is not being able to associate definite or specific meanings with words, historical names and concepts exactly. The meanings of the words differ according to the contexts they are used in and also to the contexts the speaker and the listener encounter them. When the words are used, they evoke the previous contexts the listener used them and these connotations are the possible meanings that the listener may understand. These results may explain secondary school students’ language problems in history classes. However, is should never be forgotten that history education is a part of life. Therefore, history education contains some things from human life. We can see this in the students’ use of historical language. In sum, in this study language problems in history education are emphasized. Moreover, it is revealed that history teachers play a significant role in developing students’ perception by enhancing the number of language sources used. Thus, it is aimed that students are able to analyze the past with its all richness and complexity. Students’ perception problems in using historical

Web-based audiovisual phonetic table program application as e-learning of pronunciation practice in undergraduate degree program

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Retnomurti Ayu Bandu

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Verbal-based learning such as English pronunciation practice requires the existence of an effective e-learning because if it is directly given without any learning media, inaccuracies in pronunciation, spelling, repetition will usually occur in the spoken language. Therefore, this study aims to develop e-learning to be used in the Pronunciation Practice class, Indraprasta PGRI University. This research belongs to Research and Development are: requires an analysis, develops syllabus and teaching materials, creates and develops e-learning, tries and revises the media. Consequently, there is a need to develop module in the classroom into a versatile technology web-based module in the form of Phonetic Table Program. The result is carried out in pronunciation practice classes to find more details on some parts that may still not be detected by the researchers. Thus, the use of technology has become a necessity to assist students in achieving the learning objectives. Therefore, the process of communication in learning will attract more students’ interest and provide facilities to understand the sound system of English as it is equipped with buttons to practice presented by nonnative speakers. Non-native speakers’ selection are based on the consideration that they quickly adapt helping other students who are less fluent in English.

AN ASSESSMENT ON THE TOPICS RELATED TO PHONOLOGY AND PHONETICS CONTAINED IN THE HIGH SCHOOL COURSE BOOKS ORTAÖĞRETİM DİL BİLGİSİ KİTAPLARINDAKİ SES BİLGİSİ ve SES BİLİMİYLE İLGİLİ KONULAR ÜERİNE BİR DEĞERLENDİRME

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Mehmet SOLMAZ

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Course books are the most widely used sources by both students and teachers in attaining knowledge. Researches show that in language teaching classes also the most widely used materials are the course books. The purpose of this study was to appraise the grammar course books in the secondary schools, where at least four million students go on, on the account of phonetics and aspects related to phonetics. Three different grammar books prepared for different programs were analyzed and many lackings and shortcomings were realized related to phonetics and issues related to phonetics. The findings of the study showed that scientific principles and methods are not applied enough in the preparation of the grammar course books Ders kitapları, bilgiye ulaşma konusunda öğrenciler ve öğretmenler tarafından günümüzde en sık başvurulan ders araçlarıdır. Yapılan araştırmalar, dil bilgisi öğretiminde de en çok kullanılan öğretim malzemelerinin ders kitapları olduğunu ortaya koymaktadır. Bu araştırmada, dört milyondan fazla öğrencinin öğrenim gördüğü ortaöğretim basamağında kullanılan dil bilgisi ders kitapları, dil biliminin ses bilgisi ve ses bilimi alanıyla ilgili konular açısından değerlendirilmiştir. Farklı öğretim programları için hazırlanmış olan üç ayrı ders kitabının incelendiği çalışmada, söz konusu ders kitaplarında ses bilgisi ve ses bilimiyle ilgili çeşitli eksikliklerle ele alınan konularda birçok problem tespit edilmiştir. Araştırmanın bulguları, ortaöğretim basamağında kullanılan dil bilgisi ders kitaplarının hazırlanmasında bilimsel ilke ve yöntemlere yeterince uyulmadığını ortaya koymaktadır.

Study of the scientific reasoning methods: Identifying the salient reasoning characteristics exhibited by engineers and scientists in an R&D environment

Science.gov (United States)

Kuhn, William F.

At the core of what it means to be a scientist or engineer is the ability to think rationally using scientific reasoning methods. Yet, typically if asked, scientist and engineers are hard press for a reply what that means. Some may argue that the meaning of scientific reasoning methods is a topic for the philosophers and psychologist, but this study believes and will prove that the answers lie with the scientists and engineers, for who really know the workings of the scientific reasoning thought process than they. This study will provide evidence to the aims: (a) determine the fundamental characteristics of cognitive reasoning methods exhibited by engineer/scientists working in R&D projects, (b) sample the engineer/scientist community to determine their views as to the importance, frequency, and ranking of each of characteristics towards benefiting their R&D projects, (c) make concluding remarks regarding any identified competency gaps in the exhibited or expected cognitive reasoning methods of engineer/scientists working on R&D projects. To drive these aims are the following three research questions. The first, what are the salient characteristics of cognitive reasoning methods exhibited by engineer/scientists in an R&D environment? The second, what do engineer/scientists consider to be the frequency and importance of the salient cognitive reasoning methods characteristics? And the third, to what extent, if at all, do patent holders and technical fellows differ with regard to their perceptions of the importance and frequency of the salient cognitive reasoning characteristics of engineer/scientists? The methodology and empirical approach utilized and described: (a) literature search, (b) Delphi technique composed of seven highly distinguish engineer/scientists, (c) survey instrument directed to distinguish Technical Fellowship, (d) data collection analysis. The results provide by Delphi Team answered the first research question. The collaborative effort validated

Salient aspects of inflation and growth in selected countries Aspectos mais salientes da inflação e do crescimento em países selecionados

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Pichai Chumvichitra

1982-11-01

Full Text Available Análise do figurativo dos problemas de inflação e de crescimento e seu trade-off. Com o problema de choques externos, os acontecimentos exógenos afetaram extremamente suas relações. Uma observação empírica de vários países e vários períodos daria a compreensão mais útil e complementaria análises mais abrangentes de problemas. Alguns resultados obtidos de indicadores econômicos específicos refletiram aspectos salientes desse problema, tal como o papel de tomador de preço, a inflexibilidade da oferta de produto e a moeda passiva que produziram mudanças não antecipadas permitiram explorar persistentemente a característica desse problema em geral para vários países.This paper comments on the figurative problems of inflation and growth, and the character of its trade-off a topic which was the subject of heated numerous studies in developed countries. As a problem of external shocks, the unexpected procedures produce an extra point of their relationship. The observation of evidence in several level of country experiences and various periods should provide a useful comprehension and complement to the wide analysis of these problems. Some lessons obtained from the specific economic indicators reflect to general aspects of the subject under the role of price taker, inflexibility output supply and passive money which make the unexpected changes explore persistently to the character of this problem in general for many countries.

Good phonetic errors in poor spellers are associated with right-handedness and possible weak utilisation of visuospatial abilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Eglinton, Elizabeth; Annett, Marian

2008-06-01

Poor spellers in normal schools, who were not poor readers, were studied for handedness, visuospatial and other cognitive abilities in order to explore contrasts between poor spellers with and without good phonology. It was predicted by the right shift (RS) theory of handedness and cerebral dominance that those with good phonology would have strong bias to dextrality and relative weakness of the right hemisphere, while those without good phonology would have reduced bias to dextrality and relative weakness of the left hemisphere. Poor spellers with good phonetic equivalent spelling errors (GFEs) included fewer left-handers (2.4%) than poor spellers without GFEs (24.4%). Differences for hand skill were as predicted. Tests of visuospatial processing found no differences between the groups in levels of ability, but there was a marked difference in pattern of correlations between visuospatial test scores and homophonic word discrimination. Whereas good spellers (GS) and poor spellers without GFEs showed positive correlations between word discrimination and visuospatial ability, there were no significant correlations for poor spellers with GFEs. The differences for handedness and possibly for the utilisation of visuospatial skills suggest that surface dyslexics differ from phonological dyslexics in cerebral specialisation and perhaps in the quality of inter-hemispheric relations.

Quantitative microbiome profiling links gut community variation to microbial load.

Science.gov (United States)

Vandeputte, Doris; Kathagen, Gunter; D'hoe, Kevin; Vieira-Silva, Sara; Valles-Colomer, Mireia; Sabino, João; Wang, Jun; Tito, Raul Y; De Commer, Lindsey; Darzi, Youssef; Vermeire, Séverine; Falony, Gwen; Raes, Jeroen

2017-11-23

Current sequencing-based analyses of faecal microbiota quantify microbial taxa and metabolic pathways as fractions of the sample sequence library generated by each analysis. Although these relative approaches permit detection of disease-associated microbiome variation, they are limited in their ability to reveal the interplay between microbiota and host health. Comparative analyses of relative microbiome data cannot provide information about the extent or directionality of changes in taxa abundance or metabolic potential. If microbial load varies substantially between samples, relative profiling will hamper attempts to link microbiome features to quantitative data such as physiological parameters or metabolite concentrations. Saliently, relative approaches ignore the possibility that altered overall microbiota abundance itself could be a key identifier of a disease-associated ecosystem configuration. To enable genuine characterization of host-microbiota interactions, microbiome research must exchange ratios for counts. Here we build a workflow for the quantitative microbiome profiling of faecal material, through parallelization of amplicon sequencing and flow cytometric enumeration of microbial cells. We observe up to tenfold differences in the microbial loads of healthy individuals and relate this variation to enterotype differentiation. We show how microbial abundances underpin both microbiota variation between individuals and covariation with host phenotype. Quantitative profiling bypasses compositionality effects in the reconstruction of gut microbiota interaction networks and reveals that the taxonomic trade-off between Bacteroides and Prevotella is an artefact of relative microbiome analyses. Finally, we identify microbial load as a key driver of observed microbiota alterations in a cohort of patients with Crohn's disease, here associated with a low-cell-count Bacteroides enterotype (as defined through relative profiling).

Rich Reduction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Niebuhr, Oliver

2016-01-01

Managing and, ideally, explaining phonetic variation has ever since been a key issue in the speech sciences. In this context, the major contribution of Lindblom's H&H theory was to replace the futile search for invariance by an explainable variance based on the tug-of-war metaphor. Recent empiric...

Signing at the beginning makes ethics salient and decreases dishonest self-reports in comparison to signing at the end

Science.gov (United States)

Shu, Lisa L.; Mazar, Nina; Gino, Francesca; Ariely, Dan; Bazerman, Max H.

2012-01-01

Many written forms required by businesses and governments rely on honest reporting. Proof of honest intent is typically provided through signature at the end of, e.g., tax returns or insurance policy forms. Still, people sometimes cheat to advance their financial self-interests—at great costs to society. We test an easy-to-implement method to discourage dishonesty: signing at the beginning rather than at the end of a self-report, thereby reversing the order of the current practice. Using laboratory and field experiments, we find that signing before—rather than after—the opportunity to cheat makes ethics salient when they are needed most and significantly reduces dishonesty. PMID:22927408

Signing at the beginning makes ethics salient and decreases dishonest self-reports in comparison to signing at the end.

Science.gov (United States)

Shu, Lisa L; Mazar, Nina; Gino, Francesca; Ariely, Dan; Bazerman, Max H

2012-09-18

Many written forms required by businesses and governments rely on honest reporting. Proof of honest intent is typically provided through signature at the end of, e.g., tax returns or insurance policy forms. Still, people sometimes cheat to advance their financial self-interests-at great costs to society. We test an easy-to-implement method to discourage dishonesty: signing at the beginning rather than at the end of a self-report, thereby reversing the order of the current practice. Using laboratory and field experiments, we find that signing before-rather than after-the opportunity to cheat makes ethics salient when they are needed most and significantly reduces dishonesty.

Investigating the feasibility of using partial least squares as a method of extracting salient information for the evaluation of digital breast tomosynthesis

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, George Z.; Myers, Kyle J.; Park, Subok

2013-03-01

Digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) has shown promise for improving the detection of breast cancer, but it has not yet been fully optimized due to a large space of system parameters to explore. A task-based statistical approach1 is a rigorous method for evaluating and optimizing this promising imaging technique with the use of optimal observers such as the Hotelling observer (HO). However, the high data dimensionality found in DBT has been the bottleneck for the use of a task-based approach in DBT evaluation. To reduce data dimensionality while extracting salient information for performing a given task, efficient channels have to be used for the HO. In the past few years, 2D Laguerre-Gauss (LG) channels, which are a complete basis for stationary backgrounds and rotationally symmetric signals, have been utilized for DBT evaluation2, 3 . But since background and signal statistics from DBT data are neither stationary nor rotationally symmetric, LG channels may not be efficient in providing reliable performance trends as a function of system parameters. Recently, partial least squares (PLS) has been shown to generate efficient channels for the Hotelling observer in detection tasks involving random backgrounds and signals.4 In this study, we investigate the use of PLS as a method for extracting salient information from DBT in order to better evaluate such systems.

Salient design features of secondary containment structure of Narora Atomic Power Project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rahalkar, B.D.

1975-01-01

Design of the secondary containment structure for Narora Atomic Power Project is an improvement over the two earlier structures at of Rajasthan and Kalpakkam wherein Candu-type of reactors are involved. The major improvements envisaged are : to limit the leakage through the double containment envelope to 0.1% of volume of the building per day as against 0.1% per hour achieved for earlier stations; to separate heavy water atmosphere from that of light water for effective heavy water recovery; and better man-rem budgetting by limiting inner containment structure upto boiler room floor level and making boiler room area accessible during normal operation for servicing of light water system equipment. Narora Atomic Power Station is located in the Indo-Gangetic alluvial plains in seismically active zone IV. Comprehensive soil investigation, including dynamic properties of soil is required to be undertaken as the foundation level of the containment structure is 17 M below the ground level. The salient results of this investigation relevant to the foundations as well as type of foundation proposed are presented in brief. Double containment concept similar to that adopted for Kalpakkam station is provided for this station also. However, necessary changes in design to withstand large earthquake forces are required to be made. These design problems are discussed in brief. (author)

PHONETIC METHOD (IDENTIFICACIÓN DE LOS FONEMAS) MEJORA LA PRONUNCIACIÓN DEL INGLÉS EN LOS ALUMNOS DEL CENTRO DE IDIOMAS, NIVEL BÁSICO I, UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL HERMILIO VALDIZÁN, PILLCO MARCA, 2015

OpenAIRE

Vega Zevallos, Susan

2016-01-01

El Phonetic Method a través de la identificación de los fonemas mejoró la pronunciación del inglés, y los alumnos no dependerán de la exacta pronunciación de un docente y hablar correctamente ya que al identificar los fonemas y a través de estos, los sonidos, ellos mejoraron su pronunciación por si mismos; leyendo los fonemas de los diccionarios, libros, etc. El diseño empleado fue el cuasi experimental, de nivel explicativo o de comprobación de hipótesis causales donde el objetivo fue realiz...

Electromagnetic characteristics and static torque of a solid salient poles synchronous motor computed by 3D-finite element method magnetics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Popnikolova Radevska, Mirka; Cundev, Milan; Petkovska, Lidija

2002-01-01

In these paper is presented a methodology for numerical determination and complex analysis of the electromagnetic characteristics of the Solid Salient Poles Synchronous Motor, with rated data: 2.5 kW, 240 V and 1500 r.p.m.. A mathematical model and original algorithm for the nonlinear and iterative calculations by using Finite Element Method in 3D domain will be given. The program package FEM-3D will be used to perform automatically mesh generation of the finite elements in the 3D domain, calculation of the magnetic field distribution, as well as electromagnetic characteristics and Static torque in SSPSM. (Author)

The Acoustic Correlates of Perceived Masculinity, Perceived Femininity, and Perceived Sexual Orientation

Science.gov (United States)

Munson, Benjamin

2007-01-01

Previous studies have shown that a subset of gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) and heterosexual adults produce distinctive patterns of phonetic variation that allow listeners to detect their sexual orientation from audio-only samples of read speech. The current investigation examined the extent to which judgments of sexual orientation from speech…

A CARAMANIAN BOOK, YEÑI HAZNE AND ITS CHARACTERS OF LINGUISTIC (SPELLING AND PHONETIC / KARAMANLICA BIR KITAP YEÑI HAZNE ve DIL ÖZELLIKLERI (IMLÂ ÖZELLIKLERI ve SES BILGISI

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Hayrullah KAHYA (M.A.H.

2008-11-01

Full Text Available Caramanians were Orthodox Christian in Anatolia.They used to both speak Turkish and use Greek alphabetin their texts. They particularly lived in Anatolia, forinstance; in Karaman, Konya, Kayseri, Isparta, Burdur,Aydın, Black Sea area. In addition, Istanbul, Syria andthe Balkans etc. Although they were Turkish (particularlyPechenek, Kuman Turks, they were managed byByzantion as paid soldiers in Anatolian area in 11.century, espacially in the Toros Mountains and after thattime, they began to adopt Orthodox Christian. Now, Theyhave lived in Greece since the population replacement in1923.In this study, spelling and phonetic of aCaramanian book with the name Yeñi Hazne which wasprinted in Venice in 1756 is examined.

Reading Skill and Exposure to Orthography Influence Speech Production.

Science.gov (United States)

Saletta, Meredith; Goffman, Lisa; Brentari, Diane

2016-03-01

Orthographic experience during the acquisition of novel words may influence production processing in proficient readers. Previous work indicates interactivity among lexical, phonological, and articulatory processing; we hypothesized that experience with orthography can also influence phonological processing. Phonetic accuracy and articulatory stability were measured as adult, proficient readers repeated and read aloud nonwords, presented in auditory or written modalities and with variations in orthographic neighborhood density. Accuracy increased when participants had read the nonwords earlier in the session, but not when they had only heard them. Articulatory stability increased with practice, regardless of whether nonwords were read or heard. Word attack skills, but not reading comprehension, predicted articulatory stability. Findings indicate that kinematic and phonetic accuracy analyses provide insight into how orthography influences implicit language processing.

The ability of left- and right-hemisphere damaged individuals to produce prosodic cues to disambiguate Korean idiomatic sentences

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Seung-Yun Yang

2014-05-01

Three speech language pathologists with training in phonetics participated as raters for vocal qualities. Nasality was significantly salient vocal quality of idiomatic utterances. Conclusion The findings support that (1 LHD negatively affected the production of durational cues and RHD negatively affected the production of fundamental frequency cues in idiomatic-literal contrasts; (2 healthy listeners successfully identified idiomatic and literal versions of ambiguous sentences produced by healthy speakers but not by RHD speakers; (3 Productions in brain-damaged participants approximated HC’s measures in the repetition tasks, but not in the elicitation tasks; (4 Nasal voice quality was judged to be associated with idiomatic utterances in all groups of participants. Findings agree with previous studies indicating HC’s abilities to discriminate literal versus idiomatic meanings in ditropically ambiguous idioms, as well as deficient processing of pitch production and impaired pragmatic ability in RHD.

Stimulus-response correspondence in go-nogo and choice tasks: Are reactions altered by the presence of an irrelevant salient object?

Science.gov (United States)

Lien, Mei-Ching; Pedersen, Logan; Proctor, Robert W

2016-11-01

In 2-choice tasks, responses are faster when stimulus location corresponds to response location, even when stimulus location is irrelevant. Dolk et al. (J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 39:1248-1260, 2013a) found this stimulus-response correspondence effect with a single response location in a go-nogo task when an irrelevant Japanese waving cat was present. They argued that salient objects trigger spatial coding of the response relative to that object. We examined this claim using both behavioral and lateralized readiness potential (LRP) measures. In Experiment 1 participants determined the pitch of a left- or right-positioned tone, whereas in Experiment 2 they determined the color of a dot within a centrally located hand pointing left, right, or straight ahead. In both experiments, participants performed a go-nogo task with the right-index finger and a 2-choice task with both index fingers, with a left-positioned Japanese waving cat present or absent. For the go-nogo task, the cat induced a correspondence effect on response times (RT) to the tones (Experiment 1) but not the visual stimuli (Experiment 2). For the 2-choice task, a correspondence effect was evident in all conditions in both experiments. Cat's presence/absence did not significantly modulate the effect for right and left responses, although there was a trend toward increased RT and LRP for right responses in Experiment 1. The results imply that a salient, irrelevant object could provide a reference frame for response coding when attention is available to process it, as is likely in an auditory task (Experiment 1) but not a visual task (Experiment 2).

Discurso del Presidente Saliente

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Juan Jacobo Muñoz

1994-09-01

Full Text Available

Santafé de Bogotá, D.C., 17 de mayo de 1994

Señor Ministro de Salud Pública
Señor presidente de la Academia Colombiana de la Lengua
Señores miembros de la Junta Directiva de la Academia Nal. de Medicina, saliente
Señores miembros de la Junta Directiva de la Academia Na/. de Medicina, entrante
Señores Académicos
Señoras y señores:

Un número crecido de académicos, de amplia mayoría, eligió para las dignidades de la Mesa Directiva a los doctores Gilberto Rueda Pérez, como presidente; Roberto De Zubiría Consuegra como vicepresidente; Zoilo Cuéllar Montoya como secretario y Gonzalo López Escovar, como tesorero.

Los académicos hicieron la mejor escogencia. El doctor Gilberto Rueda Pérez es uno de los miembros más destacados de la corporación, por su prestancia personal y por sus condiciones profesionales. Ha trabajado en enfermedades pulmonares, especialmente en tuberculosis, constituyéndose en uno de los más destacados especialistas en estos temas, sobre los cuales ha publicado un crecido número de comunicaciones.

El doctor Roberto De Zubiría Consuegra, a quien veremos en el futuro en altas posiciones, es un internista connotado, que ha llegado a la concepción médica integral, concibiendo al hombre como un conjunto inseparable de materia y espíritu.

Ilustre oftalmólogo cuyos antepasados han estado en esta Academia, el doctor Zoilo Cuéllar Montoya llega a la Secretaría a escalar todos los peldaños, como sus familiares. Nos ha demostrado ya su presencia y su capacidad investigativa.

Ocupará la Tesorería, un cirujano y gastroenterólogo distinguido, el doctor Gonzalo López Escobar, joven miembro de nuestra profesión, en la cual ya se distingue como elemento brillante y que

Real-time power angle determination of salient-pole synchronous machine based on air gap measurements

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Despalatovic, Marin; Jadric, Martin; Terzic, Bozo [FESB University of Split, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, R. Boskovica bb, 21000 Split (Croatia)

2008-11-15

This paper presents a new method for the real-time power angle determination of the salient-pole synchronous machines. This method is based on the terminal voltage and air gap measurements, which are the common features of the hydroturbine generator monitoring system. The raw signal of the air gap sensor is used to detect the rotor displacement with reference to the fundamental component of the terminal voltage. First, the algorithm developed for the real-time power angle determination is tested using the synthetic data obtained by the standard machine model simulation. Thereafter, the experimental investigation is carried out on the 26 MVA utility generator. The validity of the method is verified by comparing with another method, which is based on a tooth gear mounted on the rotor shaft. The proposed real-time algorithm has an adequate accuracy and needs a very short processing time. For applications that do not require real-time processing, such as the estimation of the synchronous machine parameters, the accuracy is additionally increased by applying an off-line data-processing algorithm. (author)

Age-related variations of visuo-motor adaptation beyond explicit knowledge

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Herbert eHeuer

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Visuo-motor adaptation suffers at older working age. The age-related decline of behavioural adjustments is accompanied by reduced explicit knowledge of the visuo-motor transformation. It disappears when explicit knowledge is kept constant across the age range, except for particularly high levels of explicit knowledge. According to these findings, at older adult age both the acquisition of explicit knowledge and its application for strategic corrections become poorer. Recently it has been posited that visuo-motor adaptation can involve model-free reinforcement mechanisms of learning in addition to model-based mechanisms. We tested whether age-related declines of reinforcement learning can also contribute to the age-related changes of visuo-motor adaptation. Therefore we enhanced the contribution of reinforcement learning to visuo-motor adaptation by way of introducing salient markers of success and failure during practice. With such modified practice conditions, there were residual age-related variations of behavioural adjustments at all levels of explicit knowledge, even when explicit knowledge was absent. The residual age-related variations were observed for practiced target directions only, but not for new target directions. These findings are consistent with an age-related decline of model-free reinforcement learning as a third factor in the age-related decline of visuo-motor adaptation. Under practice conditions, which spur model-free reward-based learning, this factor adds to the decrements of the acquisition of explicit knowledge and its use for strategic corrections.

Perceptually Salient Regions of the Modulation Power Spectrum for Musical Instrument Identification.

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Thoret, Etienne; Depalle, Philippe; McAdams, Stephen

2017-01-01

The ability of a listener to recognize sound sources, and in particular musical instruments from the sounds they produce, raises the question of determining the acoustical information used to achieve such a task. It is now well known that the shapes of the temporal and spectral envelopes are crucial to the recognition of a musical instrument. More recently, Modulation Power Spectra (MPS) have been shown to be a representation that potentially explains the perception of musical instrument sounds. Nevertheless, the question of which specific regions of this representation characterize a musical instrument is still open. An identification task was applied to two subsets of musical instruments: tuba, trombone, cello, saxophone, and clarinet on the one hand, and marimba, vibraphone, guitar, harp, and viola pizzicato on the other. The sounds were processed with filtered spectrotemporal modulations with 2D Gaussian windows. The most relevant regions of this representation for instrument identification were determined for each instrument and reveal the regions essential for their identification. The method used here is based on a "molecular approach," the so-called bubbles method. Globally, the instruments were correctly identified and the lower values of spectrotemporal modulations are the most important regions of the MPS for recognizing instruments. Interestingly, instruments that were confused with each other led to non-overlapping regions and were confused when they were filtered in the most salient region of the other instrument. These results suggest that musical instrument timbres are characterized by specific spectrotemporal modulations, information which could contribute to music information retrieval tasks such as automatic source recognition.

Measuring salient food attitudes and food-related values. An elaborated, conflicting and interdependent system.

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Hauser, Mirjam; Jonas, Klaus; Riemann, Rainer

2011-10-01

Consumer food choice behaviour in post-industrial countries is complex and influenced by a multitude of interacting variables. This study looked at the antecedents of behaviour and examined salient food-related values and attitudes. To discover personal meanings and patterns of everyday food choices across different situations we used a qualitative approach in the form of repertory grid interviews. An analysis of the personal constructs elicited from a representative sample of 100 Swiss consumers revealed elaborated value systems. The food-related values can be summarised as: authenticity/naturalness, conviviality, health, quality/indulgence, convenience, and price. The salience of these values and their negatively evaluated counterparts differed for various social eating situations and product categories. Consumers' personal values also differed significantly from their perception of current trends in eating culture. In every-day food choices interdependent food-related values compete and are thus a possible cause of ambivalence and conflicts. The findings offer explanations of discrepancies between values/attitudes and behaviour that may be due to situational constraints and habits. Implications for companies include the need for strategic realignment to regain consumers' trust by providing comprehensive value-congruent food solutions that also consider health and ethical criteria. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Differential Difficulties in Perception of Tashlhiyt Berber Consonant Quantity Contrasts by Native Tashlhiyt Listeners vs. Berber-Naïve French Listeners.

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Hallé, Pierre A; Ridouane, Rachid; Best, Catherine T

2016-01-01

In a discrimination experiment on several Tashlhiyt Berber singleton-geminate contrasts, we find that French listeners encounter substantial difficulty compared to native speakers. Native listeners of Tashlhiyt perform near ceiling level on all contrasts. French listeners perform better on final contrasts such as fit-fitt than initial contrasts such as bi-bbi or sir-ssir. That is, French listeners are more sensitive to silent closure duration in word-final voiceless stops than to either voiced murmur or frication duration of fully voiced stops or voiceless fricatives in word-initial position. We propose, tentatively, that native speakers of French, a language in which gemination is usually not considered to be phonemic, have not acquired quantity contrasts but yet exhibit a presumably universal sensitivity to rhythm, whereby listeners are able to perceive and compare the relative temporal distance between beats given by successive salient phonetic events such as a sequence of vowel nuclei.

Correlation between maximum phonetically balanced word recognition score and pure-tone auditory threshold in elder presbycusis patients over 80 years old.

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Deng, Xin-Sheng; Ji, Fei; Yang, Shi-Ming

2014-02-01

The maximum phonetically balanced word recognition score (PBmax) showed poor correlation with pure-tone thresholds in presbycusis patients older than 80 years. To study the characteristics of monosyllable recognition in presbycusis patients older than 80 years of age. Thirty presbycusis patients older than 80 years were included as the test group (group 80+). Another 30 patients aged 60-80 years were selected as the control group (group 80-) . PBmax was tested by Mandarin monosyllable recognition test materials with the signal level at 30 dB above the averaged thresholds of 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz (4FA) or the maximum comfortable level. The PBmax values of the test group and control group were compared with each other and the correlation between PBmax and predicted maximum speech recognition scores based on 4FA (PBmax-predict) were statistically analyzed. Under the optimal test conditions, the averaged PBmax was (77.3 ± 16.7) % for group 80- and (52.0 ± 25.4) % for group 80+ (p < 0.001). The PBmax of group 80- was significantly correlated with PBmax-predict (Spearman correlation = 0.715, p < 0.001). The score for group 80+ was less statistically correlated with PBmax-predict (Spearman correlation = 0.572, p = 0.001).

The role of salient beliefs in graduates’ intention to apply

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Samantha Adams

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Orientation: Organisations compete fiercely to recruit the best graduates, because they consider them a rich source of future talent. In the recruitment literature, it has become increasingly important to understand the factors that influence graduate applicant intentions. Research purpose: Drawing on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB, we tested a model proposing that applicant intention is a function of their attitude towards applying, beliefs about referent other’s expectations (subjective norms and perceived behavioural control with respect to this behaviour. Motivation for the study: The study was motivated by the need to shed light on graduate applicants’ decisions to apply to an organisation of their choice. Research approach, design and method: The study used a quantitative design to test hypotheses that attitudes towards behaviour, norms and control beliefs would influence intention to apply. We surveyed prospective job seekers (N = 854 studying at a South African university about their beliefs regarding the job application process. Main findings: Structural equation modelling showed reasonable fit of the proposed model to the survey data. Latent variable analysis demonstrated that perceived behavioural control and subjective norm explained intention to apply. With the combination of all three variables, only attitude towards applying did not play a significant role in the prediction of intention to apply, which is contrary to previous research. Practical/managerial implications: The findings highlight the role of salient control beliefs in the application process. Efforts by universities and organisations to affect intentions to apply may potentially benefit from focusing on support services that could enhance feelings of control and minimise perceived obstacles. Recruiters could focus on control to increase potential recruitment pools. Contribution/value-add: The study contributes to the recruitment literature in three ways

A Synthetic Fusion Rule for Salient Region Detection under the Framework of DS-Evidence Theory

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Naeem Ayoub

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Saliency detection is one of the most valuable research topics in computer vision. It focuses on the detection of the most significant objects/regions in images and reduces the computational time cost of getting the desired information from salient regions. Local saliency detection or common pattern discovery schemes were actively used by the researchers to overcome the saliency detection problems. In this paper, we propose a bottom-up saliency fusion method by taking into consideration the importance of the DS-Evidence (Dempster–Shafer (DS theory. Firstly, we calculate saliency maps from different algorithms based on the pixels-level, patches-level and region-level methods. Secondly, we fuse the pixels based on the foreground and background information under the framework of DS-Evidence theory (evidence theory allows one to combine evidence from different sources and arrive at a degree of belief that takes into account all the available evidence. The development inclination of image saliency detection through DS-Evidence theory gives us better results for saliency prediction. Experiments are conducted on the publicly available four different datasets (MSRA, ECSSD, DUT-OMRON and PASCAL-S. Our saliency detection method performs well and shows prominent results as compared to the state-of-the-art algorithms.

Phraseology and diatopic variation in Spanish

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Antonio Pamies Bertrán

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Phraseology and idioms have been scantly investigated in the field of dialectology, compared to the rich tradition of phonetic and lexicological studies that made available long ago accurate dialectal maps and atlases for all the languages of Europe. There is no lack of irony in this given the etymology of the word idiom itself(

Individual differences in language ability are related to variation in word recognition, not speech perception: Evidence from eye-movements

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McMurray, Bob; Munson, Cheyenne; Tomblin, J. Bruce

2013-01-01

Purpose This study examined speech perception deficits associated with individual differences in language ability contrasting auditory, phonological or lexical accounts by asking if lexical competition is differentially sensitive to fine-grained acoustic variation. Methods 74 adolescents with a range of language abilities (including 35 impaired) participated in an experiment based on McMurray, Tanenhaus and Aslin (2002). Participants heard tokens from six 9-step Voice Onset Time (VOT) continua spanning two words (beach/peach, beak/peak, etc), while viewing a screen containing pictures of those words and two unrelated objects. Participants selected the referent while eye-movements to each picture were monitored as a measure of lexical activation. Fixations were examined as a function of both VOT and language ability. Results Eye-movements were sensitive to within-category VOT differences: as VOT approached the boundary, listeners made more fixations to the competing word. This did not interact with language ability, suggesting that language impairment is not associated with differential auditory sensitivity or phonetic categorization. Listeners with poorer language skills showed heightened competitors fixations overall, suggesting a deficit in lexical processes. Conclusions Language impairment may be better characterized by a deficit in lexical competition (inability to suppress competing words), rather than differences phonological categorization or auditory abilities. PMID:24687026

Individual differences in language ability are related to variation in word recognition, not speech perception: evidence from eye movements.

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McMurray, Bob; Munson, Cheyenne; Tomblin, J Bruce

2014-08-01

The authors examined speech perception deficits associated with individual differences in language ability, contrasting auditory, phonological, or lexical accounts by asking whether lexical competition is differentially sensitive to fine-grained acoustic variation. Adolescents with a range of language abilities (N = 74, including 35 impaired) participated in an experiment based on McMurray, Tanenhaus, and Aslin (2002). Participants heard tokens from six 9-step voice onset time (VOT) continua spanning 2 words (beach/peach, beak/peak, etc.) while viewing a screen containing pictures of those words and 2 unrelated objects. Participants selected the referent while eye movements to each picture were monitored as a measure of lexical activation. Fixations were examined as a function of both VOT and language ability. Eye movements were sensitive to within-category VOT differences: As VOT approached the boundary, listeners made more fixations to the competing word. This did not interact with language ability, suggesting that language impairment is not associated with differential auditory sensitivity or phonetic categorization. Listeners with poorer language skills showed heightened competitors fixations overall, suggesting a deficit in lexical processes. Language impairment may be better characterized by a deficit in lexical competition (inability to suppress competing words), rather than differences in phonological categorization or auditory abilities.

Broca’s Area as a Pre-articulatory Phonetic Encoder: Gating the Motor Program

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Valentina Ferpozzi

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The exact nature of the role of Broca’s area in control of speech and whether it is exerted at the cognitive or at the motor level is still debated. Intraoperative evidence of a lack of motor responses to direct electrical stimulation (DES of Broca’s area and the observation that its stimulation induces a “speech arrest” without an apparent effect on the ongoing activity of phono-articulatory muscles, raises the argument. Essentially, attribution of direct involvement of Broca’s area in motor control of speech, requires evidence of a functional connection of this area with the phono-articulatory muscles’ motoneurons. With a quantitative approach we investigated, in 20 patients undergoing surgery for brain tumors, whether DES delivered on Broca’s area affects the recruitment of the phono-articulatory muscles’ motor units. The electromyography (EMG of the muscles active during two speech tasks (object picture naming and counting was recorded during and in absence of DES on Broca’s area. Offline, the EMG of each muscle was analyzed in frequency (power spectrum, PS and time domain (root mean square, RMS and the two conditions compared. Results show that DES on Broca’s area induces an intensity-dependent “speech arrest.” The intensity of DES needed to induce “speech arrest” when applied on Broca’s area was higher when compared to the intensity effective on the neighboring pre-motor/motor cortices. Notably, PS and RMS measured on the EMG recorded during “speech arrest” were superimposable to those recorded at baseline. Partial interruptions of speech were not observed. Speech arrest was an “all-or-none” effect: muscle activation started only by removing DES, as if DES prevented speech onset. The same effect was observed when stimulating directly the subcortical fibers running below Broca’s area. Intraoperative data point to Broca’s area as a functional gate authorizing the phonetic translation to be executed

Emergence of category-level sensitivities in non-native speech sound learning

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Emily eMyers

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Over the course of development, speech sounds that are contrastive in one’s native language tend to become perceived categorically: that is, listeners are unaware of variation within phonetic categories while showing excellent sensitivity to speech sounds that span linguistically meaningful phonetic category boundaries. The end stage of this developmental process is that the perceptual systems that handle acoustic-phonetic information show special tuning to native language contrasts, and as such, category-level information appears to be present at even fairly low levels of the neural processing stream. Research on adults acquiring non-native speech categories offers an avenue for investigating the interplay of category-level information and perceptual sensitivities to these sounds as speech categories emerge. In particular, one can observe the neural changes that unfold as listeners learn not only to perceive acoustic distinctions that mark non-native speech sound contrasts, but also to map these distinctions onto category-level representations. An emergent literature on the neural basis of novel and non-native speech sound learning offers new insight into this question. In this review, I will examine this literature in order to answer two key questions. First, where in the neural pathway does sensitivity to category-level phonetic information first emerge over the trajectory of speech sound learning? Second, how do frontal and temporal brain areas work in concert over the course of non-native speech sound learning? Finally, in the context of this literature I will describe a model of speech sound learning in which rapidly-adapting access to categorical information in the frontal lobes modulates the sensitivity of stable, slowly-adapting responses in the temporal lobes.

The socially-weighted encoding of spoken words: A dual-route approach to speech perception

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Meghan eSumner

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Spoken words are highly variable. A single word may never be uttered the same way twice. As listeners, we regularly encounter speakers of different ages, genders, and accents, increasing the amount of variation we face. How listeners understand spoken words as quickly and adeptly as they do despite this variation remains an issue central to linguistic theory. We propose that learned acoustic patterns are mapped simultaneously to linguistic representations and to social representations. In doing so, we illuminate a paradox that results in the literature from, we argue, the focus on representations and the peripheral treatment of word-level phonetic variation. We consider phonetic variation more fully and highlight a growing body of work that is problematic for current theory: Words with different pronunciation variants are recognized equally well in immediate processing tasks, while an atypical, infrequent, but socially-idealized form is remembered better in the long-term. We suggest that the perception of spoken words is socially-weighted, resulting in sparse, but high-resolution clusters of socially-idealized episodes that are robust in immediate processing and are more strongly encoded, predicting memory inequality. Our proposal includes a dual-route approach to speech perception in which listeners map acoustic patterns in speech to linguistic and social representations in tandem. This approach makes novel predictions about the extraction of information from the speech signal, and provides a framework with which we can ask new questions. We propose that language comprehension, broadly, results from the integration of both linguistic and social information.

The socially weighted encoding of spoken words: a dual-route approach to speech perception.

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Sumner, Meghan; Kim, Seung Kyung; King, Ed; McGowan, Kevin B

2013-01-01

Spoken words are highly variable. A single word may never be uttered the same way twice. As listeners, we regularly encounter speakers of different ages, genders, and accents, increasing the amount of variation we face. How listeners understand spoken words as quickly and adeptly as they do despite this variation remains an issue central to linguistic theory. We propose that learned acoustic patterns are mapped simultaneously to linguistic representations and to social representations. In doing so, we illuminate a paradox that results in the literature from, we argue, the focus on representations and the peripheral treatment of word-level phonetic variation. We consider phonetic variation more fully and highlight a growing body of work that is problematic for current theory: words with different pronunciation variants are recognized equally well in immediate processing tasks, while an atypical, infrequent, but socially idealized form is remembered better in the long-term. We suggest that the perception of spoken words is socially weighted, resulting in sparse, but high-resolution clusters of socially idealized episodes that are robust in immediate processing and are more strongly encoded, predicting memory inequality. Our proposal includes a dual-route approach to speech perception in which listeners map acoustic patterns in speech to linguistic and social representations in tandem. This approach makes novel predictions about the extraction of information from the speech signal, and provides a framework with which we can ask new questions. We propose that language comprehension, broadly, results from the integration of both linguistic and social information.

Illuminating the role of cholinergic signaling in circuits of attention and emotionally salient behaviors

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Antonio eLuchicchi

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Acetylcholine (ACh signaling underlies specific aspects of cognitive functions and behaviors, including attention, learning, memory and motivation. Alterations in ACh signaling are involved in the pathophysiology of multiple neuropsychiatric disorders. In the central nervous system, ACh transmission is mainly guaranteed by dense innervation of select cortical and subcortical regions from disperse groups of cholinergic neurons within the basal forebrain (e.g. diagonal band, medial septal, nucleus basalis and the pontine-mesencephalic nuclei, respectively. Despite the fundamental role of cholinergic signaling in the CNS and the long standing knowledge of the organization of cholinergic circuitry, remarkably little is known about precisely how ACh release modulates cortical and subcortical neural activity and the behaviors these circuits subserve. Growing interest in cholinergic signaling in the CNS focuses on the mechanism(s of action by which endogenously released ACh regulates cognitive functions, acting as a neuromodulator and /or as a direct transmitter via nicotinic and muscarinic receptors. The development of optogenetic techniques has provided a valuable toolbox with which we can address these questions, as it allows the selective manipulation of the excitability of cholinergic inputs to the diverse array of cholinergic target fields within cortical and subcortical domains. Here, we review recent papers that use the light-sensitive opsins in the cholinergic system to elucidate the role of ACh in circuits related to attention and emotionally salient behaviors. In particular, we highlight recent optogenetic studies which have tried to disentangle the precise role of ACh in the modulation of cortical-, hippocampal- and striatal-dependent functions.

Overweight consumers' salient beliefs on omega-3-enriched functional foods in Australia's Illawarra region.

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Patch, Craig S; Tapsell, Linda C; Williams, Peter G

2005-01-01

To determine consumer salient beliefs toward functional foods enriched with omega-3 fatty acids. Focus group interviews with adult consumers using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as a theoretical framework. Community-based residents living in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. Forty-two overweight participants (29 female, 13 male) aged 30 to 80 years recruited by advertisement and attending 1 of 6 focus groups, which were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Content analysis was carried out, and subcategories were developed to capture the emerging themes according to the TPB model. Most participants were aware of a range of potential benefits of omega-3 fatty acids, but they had reservations about the ability of omega-3-enriched foods to deliver a health benefit. They were concerned about whether these foods were labeled clearly and about the possibility of overdosing. Family and friends were viewed as important in introducing participants to novel foods on the market. Participants regarded dietitians as a credible source and were least trusting of food companies and scientists. Overall, participants reported that cost was a major barrier, and that they would not necessarily trade taste for health benefits. Adding omega-3 fatty acids to foods regarded as less healthful was viewed more as a gimmick rather than a real health benefit. The consumer attitudes and purchase intentions identified in this study will be helpful to educators as they plan messages and strategies to guide dietary choices related to products enriched with omega-3 fatty acids.

Hemispheric processing in reading Chinese characters: statistical, experimental, and cognitive modeling

OpenAIRE

Hsiao, Janet Hui-wen

2006-01-01

In Chinese orthography, phonetic compounds comprise about 80% of the most frequent characters. They contain separate phonological and semantic elements, referred to as phonetic and semantic radicals respectively. A dominant type exists in which the se-mantic radical appears on the left and the phonetic radical on the right (SP characters); an opposite, minority structure also exists in which the semantic radical appears on the right and the phonetic radical on the left (PS characters). Throug...

The speech perception skills of children with and without speech sound disorder.

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Hearnshaw, Stephanie; Baker, Elise; Munro, Natalie

To investigate whether Australian-English speaking children with and without speech sound disorder (SSD) differ in their overall speech perception accuracy. Additionally, to investigate differences in the perception of specific phonemes and the association between speech perception and speech production skills. Twenty-five Australian-English speaking children aged 48-60 months participated in this study. The SSD group included 12 children and the typically developing (TD) group included 13 children. Children completed routine speech and language assessments in addition to an experimental Australian-English lexical and phonetic judgement task based on Rvachew's Speech Assessment and Interactive Learning System (SAILS) program (Rvachew, 2009). This task included eight words across four word-initial phonemes-/k, ɹ, ʃ, s/. Children with SSD showed significantly poorer perceptual accuracy on the lexical and phonetic judgement task compared with TD peers. The phonemes /ɹ/ and /s/ were most frequently perceived in error across both groups. Additionally, the phoneme /ɹ/ was most commonly produced in error. There was also a positive correlation between overall speech perception and speech production scores. Children with SSD perceived speech less accurately than their typically developing peers. The findings suggest that an Australian-English variation of a lexical and phonetic judgement task similar to the SAILS program is promising and worthy of a larger scale study. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Interaction and Representational Integration: Evidence from Speech Errors

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Goldrick, Matthew; Baker, H. Ross; Murphy, Amanda; Baese-Berk, Melissa

2011-01-01

We examine the mechanisms that support interaction between lexical, phonological and phonetic processes during language production. Studies of the phonetics of speech errors have provided evidence that partially activated lexical and phonological representations influence phonetic processing. We examine how these interactive effects are modulated…

On the status of the phoneme /b/ in heritage speakers of Spanish

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Rajiv Rao

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This study examined intervocalic productions of /b/ in heritage speakers of Spanish residing in the United States. Eleven speakers were divided into two groups based on at-home exposure to Spanish, and subsequently completed reading and picture description tasks eliciting productions of intervocalic /b/ showing variation in word position, syllable stress, and orthography. The mixed-effects results revealed that while both groups manifested three clear phonetic categories, the group with more at-home experience followed a phonological rule of spirantization to a pure approximant to a higher degree across the data. The less-target-like stop and tense approximant allophones appeared more in the reading task, in stressed syllables, and in the less experienced group. Word boundary position interacted with group and task to induce less-target-like forms as well. The findings emphasize the influence of language background, linguistic context, orthography, and cognitive demands of tasks in accounting for heritage phonetics and phonology.

Effective leadership in salient groups: revisiting leader-member exchange theory from the perspective of the social identity theory of leadership.

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Hogg, Michael A; Martin, Robin; Epitropaki, Olga; Mankad, Aditi; Svensson, Alicia; Weeden, Karen

2005-07-01

Two studies compared leader-member exchange (LMX) theory and the social identity theory of leadership. Study 1 surveyed 439 employees of organizations in Wales, measuring work group salience, leader-member relations, and perceived leadership effectiveness. Study 2 surveyed 128 members of organizations in India, measuring identification not salience and also individualism/collectivism. Both studies provided good support for social identity predictions. Depersonalized leader-member relations were associated with greater leadership effectiveness among high-than low-salient groups (Study 1) and among high than low identifiers (Study 2). Personalized leadership effectiveness was less affected by salience (Study 1) and unaffected by identification (Study 2). Low-salience groups preferred personalized leadership more than did high-salience groups (Study 1). Low identifiers showed no preference but high identifiers preferred depersonalized leadership (Study 2). In Study 2, collectivists did not prefer depersonalized as opposed to personalized leadership, whereas individualists did, probably because collectivists focus more on the relational self.

Historical Variations in Inner Core Rotation and Polar Motion at Decade Timescales

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Dumberry, M.

2005-12-01

Exchanges of angular momentum between the mantle, the fluid core and the solid inner core result in changes in the Earth's rotation. Torques in the axial direction produce changes in amplitude, or changes in length of day, while torques in the equatorial direction lead to changes in orientation of the rotation vector with respect to the mantle, or polar motion. In this work, we explore the possibility that a combination of electromagnetic and gravitational torques on the inner core can reproduce the observed decadal variations in polar motion known as the Markowitz wobble. Torsional oscillations, which involve azimuthal motions in the fluid core with typical periods of decades, entrain the inner core by electromagnetic traction. When the inner core is axially rotated, its surfaces of constant density are no longer aligned with the gravitational potential from mantle density heterogeneities, and this results in a gravitational torque between the two. The axial component of this torque has been previously described and is believed to be partly responsible for decadal changes in length of day. In this work, we show that it has also an equatorial component, which produces a tilt of the inner core and results in polar motion. The polar motion produced by this mechanism depends on the density structure in the mantle, the rheology of the inner core, and the time-history of the angle of axial misalignment between the inner core and the mantle. We reconstruct the latter using a model of torsional oscillations derived from geomagnetic secular variation. From this time-history, and by using published models of mantle density structure, we show that we can reproduce the salient characteristics of the Markowitz wobble: an eccentric decadal polar motion of 30-50 milliarcsecs oriented along a specific longitude. We discuss the implications of this result, noting that a match in both amplitude and phase of the observed Markowitz wobble allows the recovery of the historical

Variational principles for locally variational forms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brajercik, J.; Krupka, D.

2005-01-01

We present the theory of higher order local variational principles in fibered manifolds, in which the fundamental global concept is a locally variational dynamical form. Any two Lepage forms, defining a local variational principle for this form, differ on intersection of their domains, by a variationally trivial form. In this sense, but in a different geometric setting, the local variational principles satisfy analogous properties as the variational functionals of the Chern-Simons type. The resulting theory of extremals and symmetries extends the first order theories of the Lagrange-Souriau form, presented by Grigore and Popp, and closed equivalents of the first order Euler-Lagrange forms of Hakova and Krupkova. Conceptually, our approach differs from Prieto, who uses the Poincare-Cartan forms, which do not have higher order global analogues

Top-Down Prioritization of Salient Items May Produce the So-Called Stimulus-Driven Capture

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Hanna Benoni

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The current study proposes that top-down attentional prioritization of salient items may produce the so-called stimulus-driven capture. To test this proposal, the “expectation-based paradigm” was designed on the basis of a visual search task. In Experiment 1, a task-irrelevant singleton frame was presented at the same location in 70% of the trials. The target was either presented at chance level within the singleton location, or away from it. In line with the singleton capture phenomenon, participants were faster in identifying the target when it appeared in the singleton location compared to non-singleton locations. However, leaving out the singleton frame in 30% of the trials led to a similar effect; participants were faster in identifying the target when it appeared in the expected singleton location compared to expected non-singletons locations (a “quasi-capture” effect. These results suggest that the participants allocated their attention to the expected singleton location, rather than that the singleton itself captured attention. In Experiment 2, the same task-irrelevant color singleton was presented in a random position in 70% of the trials. This color frame was shown as a non-singleton in all of the 30% singleton-absent multicolored trials. A similar facilitation effect was obtained when the target appeared in the expected singleton color frame compared to other frames, in singleton-absent trials as in singleton-present trials. These results further support the idea that instances of singleton capture can be explained by top-down attentional shifts toward singleton items. Theoretical implications of these results are discussed. Mostly, the study calls to consider the possibility that all sources of attentional control may be represented by a continuous variable of top-down control, including the category of “physical salience.”

Top-Down Prioritization of Salient Items May Produce the So-Called Stimulus-Driven Capture

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Benoni, Hanna

2018-01-01

The current study proposes that top-down attentional prioritization of salient items may produce the so-called stimulus-driven capture. To test this proposal, the “expectation-based paradigm” was designed on the basis of a visual search task. In Experiment 1, a task-irrelevant singleton frame was presented at the same location in 70% of the trials. The target was either presented at chance level within the singleton location, or away from it. In line with the singleton capture phenomenon, participants were faster in identifying the target when it appeared in the singleton location compared to non-singleton locations. However, leaving out the singleton frame in 30% of the trials led to a similar effect; participants were faster in identifying the target when it appeared in the expected singleton location compared to expected non-singletons locations (a “quasi-capture” effect). These results suggest that the participants allocated their attention to the expected singleton location, rather than that the singleton itself captured attention. In Experiment 2, the same task-irrelevant color singleton was presented in a random position in 70% of the trials. This color frame was shown as a non-singleton in all of the 30% singleton-absent multicolored trials. A similar facilitation effect was obtained when the target appeared in the expected singleton color frame compared to other frames, in singleton-absent trials as in singleton-present trials. These results further support the idea that instances of singleton capture can be explained by top-down attentional shifts toward singleton items. Theoretical implications of these results are discussed. Mostly, the study calls to consider the possibility that all sources of attentional control may be represented by a continuous variable of top-down control, including the category of “physical salience.” PMID:29599731

Interaction and representational integration: Evidence from speech errors

OpenAIRE

Goldrick, Matthew; Baker, H. Ross; Murphy, Amanda; Baese-Berk, Melissa

2011-01-01

We examine the mechanisms that support interaction between lexical, phonological and phonetic processes during language production. Studies of the phonetics of speech errors have provided evidence that partially activated lexical and phonological representations influence phonetic processing. We examine how these interactive effects are modulated by lexical frequency. Previous research has demonstrated that during lexical access, the processing of high frequency words is facilitated; in contr...

A Variational Model for Two-Phase Immiscible Electroosmotic Flow at Solid Surfaces

KAUST Repository

Shao, Sihong

2012-01-01

We develop a continuum hydrodynamic model for two-phase immiscible flows that involve electroosmotic effect in an electrolyte and moving contact line at solid surfaces. The model is derived through a variational approach based on the Onsager principle of minimum energy dissipation. This approach was first presented in the derivation of a continuum hydrodynamic model for moving contact line in neutral two-phase immiscible flows (Qian, Wang, and Sheng, J. Fluid Mech. 564, 333-360 (2006)). Physically, the electroosmotic effect can be formulated by the Onsager principle as well in the linear response regime. Therefore, the same variational approach is applied here to the derivation of the continuum hydrodynamic model for charged two-phase immiscible flows where one fluid component is an electrolyte exhibiting electroosmotic effect on a charged surface. A phase field is employed to model the diffuse interface between two immiscible fluid components, one being the electrolyte and the other a nonconductive fluid, both allowed to slip at solid surfaces. Our model consists of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equation for momentum transport, the Nernst-Planck equation for ion transport, the Cahn-Hilliard phase-field equation for interface motion, and the Poisson equation for electric potential, along with all the necessary boundary conditions. In particular, all the dynamic boundary conditions at solid surfaces, including the generalized Navier boundary condition for slip, are derived together with the equations of motion in the bulk region. Numerical examples in two-dimensional space, which involve overlapped electric double layer fields, have been presented to demonstrate the validity and applicability of the model, and a few salient features of the two-phase immiscible electroosmotic flows at solid surface. The wall slip in the vicinity of moving contact line and the Smoluchowski slip in the electric double layer are both investigated. © 2012 Global-Science Press.

Low-Frequency Cortical Entrainment to Speech Reflects Phoneme-Level Processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Di Liberto, Giovanni M; O'Sullivan, James A; Lalor, Edmund C

2015-10-05

The human ability to understand speech is underpinned by a hierarchical auditory system whose successive stages process increasingly complex attributes of the acoustic input. It has been suggested that to produce categorical speech perception, this system must elicit consistent neural responses to speech tokens (e.g., phonemes) despite variations in their acoustics. Here, using electroencephalography (EEG), we provide evidence for this categorical phoneme-level speech processing by showing that the relationship between continuous speech and neural activity is best described when that speech is represented using both low-level spectrotemporal information and categorical labeling of phonetic features. Furthermore, the mapping between phonemes and EEG becomes more discriminative for phonetic features at longer latencies, in line with what one might expect from a hierarchical system. Importantly, these effects are not seen for time-reversed speech. These findings may form the basis for future research on natural language processing in specific cohorts of interest and for broader insights into how brains transform acoustic input into meaning. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

CORTICAL RESPONSES TO SALIENT NOCICEPTIVE AND NOT NOCICEPTIVE STIMULI IN VEGETATIVE AND MINIMAL CONSCIOUS STATE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

MARINA eDE TOMMASO

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Aims Questions regarding perception of pain in non-communicating patients and the management of pain continue to raise controversy both at a clinical and ethical level. The aim of this study was to examine the cortical response to salient multimodal visual, acoustic, somatosensory electric non nociceptive and nociceptive laser stimuli and their correlation with the clinical evaluation.Methods: Five Vegetative State (VS, 4 Minimally Conscious State (MCS patients and 11 age- and sex-matched controls were examined. Evoked responses were obtained by 64 scalp electrodes, while delivering auditory, visual, non-noxious electrical and noxious laser stimulation, which were randomly presented every 10 sec. Laser, somatosensory, auditory and visual evoked responses were identified as a negative-positive (N2-P2 vertex complex in the 500 msec post-stimulus time. We used Nociception Coma Scale-Revised (NCS-R and Coma Recovery Scale (CRS-R for clinical evaluation of pain perception and consciousness impairment.Results: The laser evoked potentials (LEPs were recognizable in all cases. Only one MCS patient showed a reliable cortical response to all the employed stimulus modalities. One VS patient did not present cortical responses to any other stimulus modality. In the remaining participants, auditory, visual and electrical related potentials were inconstantly present. Significant N2 and P2 latency prolongation occurred in both VS and MCS patients. The presence of a reliable cortical response to auditory, visual and electric stimuli was able to correctly classify VS and MCS patients with 90% accuracy. Laser P2 and N2 amplitudes were not correlated with the CRS-R and NCS-R scores, while auditory and electric related potentials amplitude were associated with the motor response to pain and consciousness recovery. Discussion: pain arousal may be a primary function also in vegetative state patients while the relevance of other stimulus modalities may indicate the

Discrimination and identification of long vowels in children with typical language development and specific language impairment

Science.gov (United States)

Datta, Hia; Shafer, Valerie; Kurtzberg, Diane

2004-05-01

Researchers have claimed that children with specific language impairment (SLI) have particular difficulties in discriminating and identifying phonetically similar and brief speech sounds (Stark and Heinz, 1966; Studdert-Kennedy and Bradley, 1997; Sussman, 1993). In a recent study (Shafer et al., 2004), children with SLI were reported to have difficulty in processing brief (50 ms), phonetically similar vowels (/I-E/). The current study investigated perception of long (250 ms), phonetically similar vowels (/I-E/) in 8- to 10-year-old children with SLI and typical language development (TLD). The purpose was to examine whether phonetic similarity in vowels leads to poorer speech-perception in the SLI group. Behavioral and electrophysiological methods were employed to examine discrimination and identification of a nine-step vowel continuum from /I/ to /E/. Similar performances in discrimination were found for both groups, indicating that lengthening vowel duration indeed improves discrimination of phonetically similar vowels. However, these children with SLI showed poor behavioral identification, demonstrating that phonetic similarity of speech sounds, irrespective of their duration, contribute to the speech perception difficulty observed in SLI population. These findings suggest that the deficit in these children with SLI is at the level of working memory or long term memory representation of speech.

The Routledge Dictionary of English Language Studies

CERN Document Server

Pearce, Michael

2012-01-01

Filled with real examples of the way people use English in different contexts, The Routledge Dictionary of English Language Studies is an indispensable guide to the richness and variety of the English language for both students and the general reader.From abbreviation to zero-article, via fricative and slang, the Dictionary contains over 600 wide ranging and informative entries covering:the core areas of language description and analysis: phonetics and phonology, grammar, lexis, semantics, pragmatics and discoursesociolinguistics, including entries on social and regional variation, stylistic v

Okuma Yazma Öğretimi Yöntemleri Ve “Ses Temelli Cümle Yöntemi” Uygulaması The Methods Of Teaching Reading And Writing In Turkish: Practice The Phonetic Based Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raşit KOÇ

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Reading has been one of the prominent educational activitiessince the invention of writing. In the present time reading become moreimportant if the reading activity is done for plesaure or to get the rightinformation. It is also important to read quickly and comprehend themain idea. For these reasons learning “how to read and write” well inTurkish by following the appropriate steps in teaching “how to read andwrite” is very important.The methods of literacy teaching have developed very much overtime in Turkey like all over the world. In Turkey, usage of letter methodwas used for a long time. After the letter method, phonetic method,syllabic method, vocable method, and sentence method were employedto train literacy.Old Turkish teaching curriculum which reflects behavioristteaching theory was criticized for several reasons. These reasons arethat the old curriculum motivated students to memorize, and was noteffective for lasting literacy habits on students. After several smallchanges on the curriculum, a new literacy teaching curriculum wasadopted in 2005.The foundation of the new curriculum is the constructive theory.After adapting the constructivist teaching theory, literacy teachingcurriculum became phonetic based sentence method. With this newmethod, the writing style was also changed. At this time hand writingwas reintroduced.So this study firstly explains the methods used in the teaching ofreading and writing activities and their advantages and disadvantages.The study secondly reveals the views about the teaching of reading andwriting using phonetic based sentence method. Okumak, insanoğlunun yazıyı icadından beri var olan bir etkinliktir. Bilgi edinmek ve zevk almak için yapılan bu iş günümüzde daha da önemli bir hâl almıştır. Günümüz bilgi çağında her alandaki yenilikleri ve değişiklikleri takip edebilmek için hızlı ve anlayarak okumak oldukça önemlidir. Bu sebeple en iyi ve en kısa sürede okumayı �

Dynamics of nonholonomic systems from variational principles embedded variation identity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guo Yongxin; Liu Shixing; Liu Chang; Chang Peng

2009-01-01

Nondeterminacy of dynamics, i.e., the nonholonomic or the vakonomic, fundamental variational principles, e.g., the Lagrange-d'Alembert or Hamiltonian, and variational operators, etc., of nonholonomic mechanical systems can be attributed to the non-uniqueness of ways how to realize nonholonomic constraints. Making use of a variation identity of nonholonomic constraints embedded into the Hamilton's principle with the method of Lagrange undetermined multipliers, three kinds of dynamics for the nonholonomic systems including the vakonomic and nonholonomic ones and a new one are obtained if the variation is respectively reduced to three conditional variations: vakonomic variation, Hoelder's variation and Suslov's variation, defined by the identity. Therefore, different dynamics of nonholonomic systems can be derived from an integral variational principle, utilizing one way of embedding constraints into the principle, with different variations. It is verified that the similar embedding of the identity into the Lagrange-d'Alembert principle gives rise to the nonholonomic dynamics but fails to give the vakonomic one unless the constraints are integrable.

Perception and the temporal properties of speech

Science.gov (United States)

Gordon, Peter C.

1991-11-01

Four experiments addressing the role of attention in phonetic perception are reported. The first experiment shows that the relative importance of two cues to the voicing distinction changes when subjects must perform an arithmetic distractor task at the same time as identifying a speech stimulus. The voice onset time cue loses phonetic significance when subjects are distracted, while the F0 onset frequency cue does not. The second experiment shows a similar pattern for two cues to the distinction between the vowels /i/ (as in 'beat') and /I/ (as in 'bit'). Together these experiments indicate that careful attention to speech perception is necessary for strong acoustic cues to achieve their full phonetic impact, while weaker acoustic cues achieve their full phonetic impact without close attention. Experiment 3 shows that this pattern is obtained when the distractor task places little demand on verbal short term memory. Experiment 4 provides a large data set for testing formal models of the role of attention in speech perception. Attention is shown to influence the signal to noise ratio in phonetic encoding. This principle is instantiated in a network model in which the role of attention is to reduce noise in the phonetic encoding of acoustic cues. Implications of this work for understanding speech perception and general theories of the role of attention in perception are discussed.

Dynamics of nonholonomic systems from variational principles embedded variation identity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Guo Yongxin, E-mail: yxguo@lnu.edu.c [College of Physics, Liaoning University, Shenyang 110036 (China); Liu Shixing [College of Physics, Liaoning University, Shenyang 110036 (China); Liu Chang; Chang Peng [Department of Applied Mechanics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081 (China)

2009-10-19

Nondeterminacy of dynamics, i.e., the nonholonomic or the vakonomic, fundamental variational principles, e.g., the Lagrange-d'Alembert or Hamiltonian, and variational operators, etc., of nonholonomic mechanical systems can be attributed to the non-uniqueness of ways how to realize nonholonomic constraints. Making use of a variation identity of nonholonomic constraints embedded into the Hamilton's principle with the method of Lagrange undetermined multipliers, three kinds of dynamics for the nonholonomic systems including the vakonomic and nonholonomic ones and a new one are obtained if the variation is respectively reduced to three conditional variations: vakonomic variation, Hoelder's variation and Suslov's variation, defined by the identity. Therefore, different dynamics of nonholonomic systems can be derived from an integral variational principle, utilizing one way of embedding constraints into the principle, with different variations. It is verified that the similar embedding of the identity into the Lagrange-d'Alembert principle gives rise to the nonholonomic dynamics but fails to give the vakonomic one unless the constraints are integrable.

Contributions of speech science to the technology of man-machine voice interactions

Science.gov (United States)

Lea, Wayne A.

1977-01-01

Research in speech understanding was reviewed. Plans which include prosodics research, phonological rules for speech understanding systems, and continued interdisciplinary phonetics research are discussed. Improved acoustic phonetic analysis capabilities in speech recognizers are suggested.

PRISM, a Novel Visual Metaphor Measuring Personally Salient Appraisals, Attitudes and Decision-Making: Qualitative Evidence Synthesis.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tom Sensky

Full Text Available PRISM (the Pictorial Representation of Illness and Self Measure is a novel, simple visual instrument. Its utility was initially discovered serendipitously, but has been validated as a quantitative measure of suffering. Recently, new applications for different purposes, even in non-health settings, have encouraged further exploration of how PRISM works, and how it might be applied. This review will summarise the results to date from applications of PRISM and propose a generic conceptualisation of how PRISM works which is consistent with all these applications.A systematic review, in the form of a qualitative evidence synthesis, was carried out of all available published data on PRISM.Fifty-two publications were identified, with a total of 8254 participants. Facilitated by simple instructions, PRISM has been used with patient groups in a variety of settings and cultures. As a measure of suffering, PRISM has, with few exceptions, behaved as expected according to Eric Cassell's seminal conceptualisation of suffering. PRISM has also been used to assess beliefs about or attitudes to stressful working conditions, interpersonal relations, alcohol consumption, and suicide, amongst others.This review supports PRISM behaving as a visual metaphor of the relationship of objects (eg 'my illness' to a subject (eg 'myself' in a defined context (eg 'my life at the moment'. As a visual metaphor, it is quick to complete and yields personally salient information. PRISM is likely to have wide applications in assessing beliefs, attitudes, and decision-making, because of its properties, and because it yields both quantitative and qualitative data. In medicine, it can serve as a generic patient-reported outcome measure. It can serve as a tool for representational guidance, can be applied to developing strategies visually, and is likely to have applications in coaching, psychological assessment and therapeutic interventions.

Calculus of variations

CERN Document Server

Elsgolc, L E; Stark, M

1961-01-01

Calculus of Variations aims to provide an understanding of the basic notions and standard methods of the calculus of variations, including the direct methods of solution of the variational problems. The wide variety of applications of variational methods to different fields of mechanics and technology has made it essential for engineers to learn the fundamentals of the calculus of variations. The book begins with a discussion of the method of variation in problems with fixed boundaries. Subsequent chapters cover variational problems with movable boundaries and some other problems; sufficiency

Cortical responses to salient nociceptive and not nociceptive stimuli in vegetative and minimal conscious state

Science.gov (United States)

de Tommaso, Marina; Navarro, Jorge; Lanzillotti, Crocifissa; Ricci, Katia; Buonocunto, Francesca; Livrea, Paolo; Lancioni, Giulio E.

2015-01-01

Aims: Questions regarding perception of pain in non-communicating patients and the management of pain continue to raise controversy both at a clinical and ethical level. The aim of this study was to examine the cortical response to salient visual, acoustic, somatosensory electric non-nociceptive and nociceptive laser stimuli and their correlation with the clinical evaluation. Methods: Five Vegetative State (VS), 4 Minimally Conscious State (MCS) patients and 11 age- and sex-matched controls were examined. Evoked responses were obtained by 64 scalp electrodes, while delivering auditory, visual, non-noxious electrical and noxious laser stimulation, which were randomly presented every 10 s. Laser, somatosensory, auditory and visual evoked responses were identified as a negative-positive (N2-P2) vertex complex in the 500 ms post-stimulus time. We used Nociception Coma Scale-Revised (NCS-R) and Coma Recovery Scale (CRS-R) for clinical evaluation of pain perception and consciousness impairment. Results: The laser evoked potentials (LEPs) were recognizable in all cases. Only one MCS patient showed a reliable cortical response to all the employed stimulus modalities. One VS patient did not present cortical responses to any other stimulus modality. In the remaining participants, auditory, visual and electrical related potentials were inconstantly present. Significant N2 and P2 latency prolongation occurred in both VS and MCS patients. The presence of a reliable cortical response to auditory, visual and electric stimuli was able to correctly classify VS and MCS patients with 90% accuracy. Laser P2 and N2 amplitudes were not correlated with the CRS-R and NCS-R scores, while auditory and electric related potentials amplitude were associated with the motor response to pain and consciousness recovery. Discussion: pain arousal may be a primary function also in vegetative state patients while the relevance of other stimulus modalities may indicate the degree of cognitive and motor

Articulatory mediation of speech perception: a causal analysis of multi-modal imaging data.

Science.gov (United States)

Gow, David W; Segawa, Jennifer A

2009-02-01

The inherent confound between the organization of articulation and the acoustic-phonetic structure of the speech signal makes it exceptionally difficult to evaluate the competing claims of motor and acoustic-phonetic accounts of how listeners recognize coarticulated speech. Here we use Granger causation analyzes of high spatiotemporal resolution neural activation data derived from the integration of magnetic resonance imaging, magnetoencephalography and electroencephalography, to examine the role of lexical and articulatory mediation in listeners' ability to use phonetic context to compensate for place assimilation. Listeners heard two-word phrases such as pen pad and then saw two pictures, from which they had to select the one that depicted the phrase. Assimilation, lexical competitor environment and the phonological validity of assimilation context were all manipulated. Behavioral data showed an effect of context on the interpretation of assimilated segments. Analysis of 40 Hz gamma phase locking patterns identified a large distributed neural network including 16 distinct regions of interest (ROIs) spanning portions of both hemispheres in the first 200 ms of post-assimilation context. Granger analyzes of individual conditions showed differing patterns of causal interaction between ROIs during this interval, with hypothesized lexical and articulatory structures and pathways driving phonetic activation in the posterior superior temporal gyrus in assimilation conditions, but not in phonetically unambiguous conditions. These results lend strong support for the motor theory of speech perception, and clarify the role of lexical mediation in the phonetic processing of assimilated speech.

Can mergers-in-progress be unmerged in speech accommodation?

Science.gov (United States)

Babel, Molly; McAuliffe, Michael; Haber, Graham

2013-01-01

This study examines spontaneous phonetic accommodation of a dialect with distinct categories by speakers who are in the process of merging those categories. We focus on the merger of the NEAR and SQUARE lexical sets in New Zealand English, presenting New Zealand participants with an unmerged speaker of Australian English. Mergers-in-progress are a uniquely interesting sound change as they showcase the asymmetry between speech perception and production. Yet, we examine mergers using spontaneous phonetic imitation, which is phenomenon that is necessarily a behavior where perceptual input influences speech production. Phonetic imitation is quantified by a perceptual measure and an acoustic calculation of mergedness using a Pillai-Bartlett trace. The results from both analyses indicate spontaneous phonetic imitation is moderated by extra-linguistic factors such as the valence of assigned conditions and social bias. We also find evidence for a decrease in the degree of mergedness in post-exposure productions. Taken together, our results suggest that under the appropriate conditions New Zealanders phonetically accommodate to Australian English and that in the process of speech imitation, mergers-in-progress can, but do not consistently, become less merged.

Can mergers-in-progress be unmerged in speech accommodation?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Molly eBabel

2013-09-01

Full Text Available This study examines spontaneous phonetic accommodation of a dialect with distinct categories by speakers who are in the process of merging those categories. We focus on the merger of the NEAR and SQUARE lexical sets in New Zealand English, presenting New Zealand participants with an unmerged speaker of Australian English. Mergers-in-progress are a uniquely interesting sound change as they showcase the asymmetry between speech perception and production. Yet, we examine mergers using spontaneous phonetic imitation, which is phenomenon that is necessarily a behavior where perceptual input influences speech production. Phonetic imitation is quantified by a perceptual measure and an acoustic calculation of mergedness using a Pillai-Bartlett trace. The results from both analyses indicate spontaneous phonetic imitation is moderated by extra-linguistic factors such as the valence of assigned conditions and social bias. We also find evidence for a decrease in the degree of mergedness in post-exposure productions. Taken together, our results suggest that under the appropriate conditions New Zealanders phonetically accommodate to Australian English and that in the process of speech imitation, mergers-in-progress can, but do not consistently, become less merged.

Variational and quasi-variational inequalities in mechanics

CERN Document Server

Kravchuk, Alexander S

2007-01-01

The essential aim of the present book is to consider a wide set of problems arising in the mathematical modelling of mechanical systems under unilateral constraints. In these investigations elastic and non-elastic deformations, friction and adhesion phenomena are taken into account. All the necessary mathematical tools are given: local boundary value problem formulations, construction of variational equations and inequalities, and the transition to minimization problems, existence and uniqueness theorems, and variational transformations (Friedrichs and Young-Fenchel-Moreau) to dual and saddle-point search problems. Important new results concern contact problems with friction. The Coulomb friction law and some others are considered, in which relative sliding velocities appear. The corresponding quasi-variational inequality is constructed, as well as the appropriate iterative method for its solution. Outlines of the variational approach to non-stationary and dissipative systems and to the construction of the go...

Calculus of variations

CERN Document Server

Elsgolc, Lev D

2007-01-01

This concise text offers both professionals and students an introduction to the fundamentals and standard methods of the calculus of variations. In addition to surveys of problems with fixed and movable boundaries, it explores highly practical direct methods for the solution of variational problems.Topics include the method of variation in problems with fixed boundaries; variational problems with movable boundaries and other problems; sufficiency conditions for an extremum; variational problems of constrained extrema; and direct methods of solving variational problems. Each chapter features nu

Effects of gender and regional dialect on prosodic patterns in American English

Science.gov (United States)

Clopper, Cynthia G.; Smiljanic, Rajka

2011-01-01

While cross-dialect prosodic variation has been well established for many languages, most variationist research on regional dialects of American English has focused on the vowel system. The current study was designed to explore prosodic variation in read speech in two regional varieties of American English: Southern and Midland. Prosodic dialect variation was analyzed in two domains: speaking rate and the phonetic expression of pitch movements associated with accented and phrase-final syllables. The results revealed significant effects of regional dialect on the distributions of pauses, pitch accents, and phrasal-boundary tone combinations. Significant effects of talker gender were also observed on the distributions of pitch accents and phrasal-boundary tone combinations. The findings from this study demonstrate that regional and gender identity features are encoded in part through prosody, and provide further motivation for the close examination of prosodic patterns across regional and social varieties of American English. PMID:21686317

A contrastive analysis of the sound structure of Sotho-Tswana for ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The paper addresses second language teaching of phonetic, phonological and prosodic features in the Sotho-Tswana languages (Southern Bantu) from a linguistic perspective. It motivates the inclusion of phonetic, phonological and prosodic background knowledge in second language teaching, and singles out potential ...

CHANGES IN PHONETICS IN THE WORDS BORROWED BY THE KYRGYZ LANGUAGE KIRGIZ TÜRKÇESİNDE ALINTI KELİMELERDEKİ SES DEĞİŞMELERİ

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cüneyt AKIN

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Throughout history, the Kyrgyz people borrowed many words and concepts especially on religion and ethics as a result of their relations with the Arabs and the Arabic language. They also borrowed many words of Persian origin on commerce, husbandry and agriculture from the Uzbek and Tajik peoples due to their relations with them in those fields. As a result of their close relations with the Russians which started in the tsar period, they not only made Russian as their official language and first language in their daily life due to the high pressure, but also borrowed many political, administrative, scientific and philosophical concepts from Russian, without phonetically changing many of them. Still geographically close to the Mongol and Chinese peoples, the Kyrgyz people got close to them, and even fought them in history. And as a result of such relations, they borrowed some words related to nomadic societies.This study aims to reveal changes in phonetics in the words borrowed by the Kyrgyz language from Arabic, Persian, Mongolian, Chinese and Russian in order to show the power of purification of the Kyrgyz language by means of examining its rules that it applies on borrowed words. Kırgızlar tarihi süreçte, Araplar ve Arapça ile ilişkileri neticesinde özellikle din ve ahlaka dair çok sayıda kelime ve kavram alıntılamışlardır. Özbek ve Taciklerle olan ticarî ilişkileri, hayvancılık ve tarım alnındaki münasebetleriyle birlikte ise, bu alanlara ilişkin çok sayıda Farsça kökenli kelimeyi bünyesine katmışlardır. Ruslarla Çarlık döneminde başlayan yakın temas sonucu da, resmi dillerini Rusça yapmaya, günlük konuşmalarında Rusçayı ana dil düzeyinde kullanmaya varan yoğun baskının tesiriyle, büyük bir kısmını fonetik değişime uğratmadan benimsemek durumunda kalarak, çok sayıda siyasi, idari, bilimsel ve felsefi kelime ve kavram alıntısı yapmıştır. Moğollar ve Çinlilerle coğrafi bakımdan g

Convergence of laughter in conversational speech: effects of quantity, temporal alignment and imitation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Trouvain, Jürgen; Truong, Khiet Phuong

A crucial feature of spoken interaction is joint activity at various linguistic and phonetic levels that requires fine-tuned coordination. This study gives a brief overview on how laughing in conversational speech can be phonetically analysed as partner-specific adaptation and joint vocal action.

Expression robust 3D face recognition via mesh-based histograms of multiple order surface differential quantities

KAUST Repository

Li, Huibin

2011-09-01

This paper presents a mesh-based approach for 3D face recognition using a novel local shape descriptor and a SIFT-like matching process. Both maximum and minimum curvatures estimated in the 3D Gaussian scale space are employed to detect salient points. To comprehensively characterize 3D facial surfaces and their variations, we calculate weighted statistical distributions of multiple order surface differential quantities, including histogram of mesh gradient (HoG), histogram of shape index (HoS) and histogram of gradient of shape index (HoGS) within a local neighborhood of each salient point. The subsequent matching step then robustly associates corresponding points of two facial surfaces, leading to much more matched points between different scans of a same person than the ones of different persons. Experimental results on the Bosphorus dataset highlight the effectiveness of the proposed method and its robustness to facial expression variations. © 2011 IEEE.

Listening to accented speech in a second language: First language and age of acquisition effects.

Science.gov (United States)

Larraza, Saioa; Samuel, Arthur G; Oñederra, Miren Lourdes

2016-11-01

Bilingual speakers must acquire the phonemic inventory of 2 languages and need to recognize spoken words cross-linguistically; a demanding job potentially made even more difficult due to dialectal variation, an intrinsic property of speech. The present work examines how bilinguals perceive second language (L2) accented speech and where accommodation to dialectal variation takes place. Dialectal effects were analyzed at different levels: An AXB discrimination task tapped phonetic-phonological representations, an auditory lexical-decision task tested for effects in accessing the lexicon, and an auditory priming task looked for semantic processing effects. Within that central focus, the goal was to see whether perceptual adjustment at a given level is affected by 2 main linguistic factors: bilinguals' first language and age of acquisition of the L2. Taking advantage of the cross-linguistic situation of the Basque language, bilinguals with different first languages (Spanish or French) and ages of acquisition of Basque (simultaneous, early, or late) were tested. Our use of multiple tasks with multiple types of bilinguals demonstrates that in spite of very similar discrimination capacity, French-Basque versus Spanish-Basque simultaneous bilinguals' performance on lexical access significantly differed. Similarly, results of the early and late groups show that the mapping of phonetic-phonological information onto lexical representations is a more demanding process that accentuates non-native processing difficulties. L1 and AoA effects were more readily overcome in semantic processing; accented variants regularly created priming effects in the different groups of bilinguals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Effects of Fundamental Frequency and Duration Variation on the Perception of South Kyungsang Korean Tones

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Seung-Eun

2013-01-01

The perception of lexical tones is addressed through research on South Kyungsang Korean, spoken in the southeastern part of Korea. Based on an earlier production study (Chang, 2008a, 2008b), a categorization experiment was conducted to determine the perceptually salient aspects of the perceptual nature of a high tone and a rising tone. The…

Leptin regulates dopamine responses to sustained stress in humans

OpenAIRE

Burghardt, Paul R; Love, Tiffany M; Stohler, Christian S.; Hodgkinson, Colin; Shen, Pei-Hong; Enoch, Mary Ann; Goldman, David; Zubieta, Jon-Kar

2012-01-01

Neural systems that identify and respond to salient stimuli are critical for survival in a complex and changing environment. In addition, interindividual differences, including genetic variation, hormonal, and metabolic status likely influence the behavioral strategies and neuronal responses to environmental challenges. Here we examined the relationship between leptin allelic variation and plasma leptin levels with DAD2/3R availability in vivo as measured with [11C]raclopride Positron Emissio...

Is there much variation in variation? Revisiting statistics of small area variation in health services research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ibáñez Berta

2009-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The importance of Small Area Variation Analysis for policy-making contrasts with the scarcity of work on the validity of the statistics used in these studies. Our study aims at 1 determining whether variation in utilization rates between health areas is higher than would be expected by chance, 2 estimating the statistical power of the variation statistics; and 3 evaluating the ability of different statistics to compare the variability among different procedures regardless of their rates. Methods Parametric bootstrap techniques were used to derive the empirical distribution for each statistic under the hypothesis of homogeneity across areas. Non-parametric procedures were used to analyze the empirical distribution for the observed statistics and compare the results in six situations (low/medium/high utilization rates and low/high variability. A small scale simulation study was conducted to assess the capacity of each statistic to discriminate between different scenarios with different degrees of variation. Results Bootstrap techniques proved to be good at quantifying the difference between the null hypothesis and the variation observed in each situation, and to construct reliable tests and confidence intervals for each of the variation statistics analyzed. Although the good performance of Systematic Component of Variation (SCV, Empirical Bayes (EB statistic shows better behaviour under the null hypothesis, it is able to detect variability if present, it is not influenced by the procedure rate and it is best able to discriminate between different degrees of heterogeneity. Conclusion The EB statistics seems to be a good alternative to more conventional statistics used in small-area variation analysis in health service research because of its robustness.

O papel do conhecimento do nome das letras no início da aprendizagem da leitura: evidência de indivíduos com síndrome de Down Modularity of action programs in normal and Down syndrome individuals

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Cláudia Cardoso-Martins

2006-01-01

Full Text Available O presente estudo investiga as estratégias que indivíduos com síndrome de Down utilizam para aprender a ler palavras no início da aprendizagem da leitura. Indivíduos com síndrome de Down que conheciam ou não o nome das letras aprenderam a ler dois tipos de grafias simplificadas: grafias fonéticas, em que as letras correspondiam a sons na pronúncia das palavras (Ex.: BTRA para beterraba e grafias visuais, em que as letras não representavam sons na pronúncia das palavras, mas eram visualmente mais salientes (Ex.: U Q L G para detetive. Os resultados questionam a hipótese de que indivíduos com síndrome de Down aprendem a ler visualmente. Os indivíduos que não conheciam o nome das letras acharam ambos os tipos de grafia muito difíceis. Por outro lado, os indivíduos que conheciam o nome das letras acharam as grafias fonéticas significativamente mais fáceis do que as grafias visuais.This study investigates the reading strategies that are used by individuals with Down syndrome when they begin to learn to read Portuguese. Individuals with Down syndrome who knew or did not know the name of the letters learned to read two types of simplified spellings: phonetic spellings in which the letters corresponded to sounds in the pronunciation of words (e.g., BTRA for beterraba 'beet', and visual spellings in which the letters bore no relationship to sounds in the pronunciation of words, but which were visually more outstanding (e.g., U Q L G for detetive 'detective'. Results questioned the view that individuals with Down syndrome learn to read visually. The individuals who did not know the name of the letters found both type of spellings very difficult. In contrast, the individuals who knew the name of the letters learned the phonetic spellings more easily than the visual spellings.

The development of the Biblical Hebrew vowels

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Suchard, B.D.

2016-01-01

In historical linguistics, the prevailing view is that sound change is phonetically regular: within one language variety, the same sound in the same phonetic environment always undergoes the same sound changes, regardless of other factors like word meaning or part of speech. Many of the sound

Grammatical constraints on phonological encoding in speech production.

Science.gov (United States)

Heller, Jordana R; Goldrick, Matthew

2014-12-01

To better understand the influence of grammatical encoding on the retrieval and encoding of phonological word-form information during speech production, we examine how grammatical class constraints influence the activation of phonological neighbors (words phonologically related to the target--e.g., MOON, TWO for target TUNE). Specifically, we compare how neighbors that share a target's grammatical category (here, nouns) influence its planning and retrieval, assessed by picture naming latencies, and phonetic encoding, assessed by word productions in picture names, when grammatical constraints are strong (in sentence contexts) versus weak (bare naming). Within-category (noun) neighbors influenced planning time and phonetic encoding more strongly in sentence contexts. This suggests that grammatical encoding constrains phonological processing; the influence of phonological neighbors is grammatically dependent. Moreover, effects on planning times could not fully account for phonetic effects, suggesting that phonological interaction affects articulation after speech onset. These results support production theories integrating grammatical, phonological, and phonetic processes.

Recognition of speaker-dependent continuous speech with KEAL

Science.gov (United States)

Mercier, G.; Bigorgne, D.; Miclet, L.; Le Guennec, L.; Querre, M.

1989-04-01

A description of the speaker-dependent continuous speech recognition system KEAL is given. An unknown utterance, is recognized by means of the followng procedures: acoustic analysis, phonetic segmentation and identification, word and sentence analysis. The combination of feature-based, speaker-independent coarse phonetic segmentation with speaker-dependent statistical classification techniques is one of the main design features of the acoustic-phonetic decoder. The lexical access component is essentially based on a statistical dynamic programming technique which aims at matching a phonemic lexical entry containing various phonological forms, against a phonetic lattice. Sentence recognition is achieved by use of a context-free grammar and a parsing algorithm derived from Earley's parser. A speaker adaptation module allows some of the system parameters to be adjusted by matching known utterances with their acoustical representation. The task to be performed, described by its vocabulary and its grammar, is given as a parameter of the system. Continuously spoken sentences extracted from a 'pseudo-Logo' language are analyzed and results are presented.

On Spoken English Phoneme Evaluation Method Based on Sphinx-4 Computer System

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Li Qin

2017-12-01

Full Text Available In oral English learning, HDPs (phonemes that are hard to be distinguished are areas where Chinese students frequently make mistakes in pronunciation. This paper studies a speech phoneme evaluation method for HDPs, hoping to improve the ability of individualized evaluation on HDPs and help provide a personalized learning platform for English learners. First of all, this paper briefly introduces relevant phonetic recognition technologies and pronunciation evaluation algorithms and also describes the phonetic retrieving, phonetic decoding and phonetic knowledge base in the Sphinx-4 computer system, which constitute the technological foundation for phoneme evaluation. Then it proposes an HDP evaluation model, which integrates the reliability of the speech processing system and the individualization of spoken English learners into the evaluation system. After collecting HDPs of spoken English learners and sorting them into different sets, it uses the evaluation system to recognize these HDP sets and at last analyzes the experimental results of HDP evaluation, which proves the effectiveness of the HDP evaluation model.

Phonologic-graphemic transcodifier for Portuguese Language spoken in Brazil (PLB)

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Fragadasilva, Francisco Jose; Saotome, Osamu; Deoliveira, Carlos Alberto

An automatic speech-to-text transformer system, suited to unlimited vocabulary, is presented. The basic acoustic unit considered are the allophones of the phonemes corresponding to the Portuguese language spoken in Brazil (PLB). The input to the system is a phonetic sequence, from a former step of isolated word recognition of slowly spoken speech. In a first stage, the system eliminates phonetic elements that don't belong to PLB. Using knowledge sources such as phonetics, phonology, orthography, and PLB specific lexicon, the output is a sequence of written words, ordered by probabilistic criterion that constitutes the set of graphemic possibilities to that input sequence. Pronunciation differences of some regions of Brazil are considered, but only those that cause differences in phonological transcription, because those of phonetic level are absorbed, during the transformation to phonological level. In the final stage, all possible written words are analyzed for orthography and grammar point of view, to eliminate the incorrect ones.

Lexical and articulatory interactions in children’s language production

Science.gov (United States)

Heisler, Lori; Goffman, Lisa; Younger, Barbara

2009-01-01

Traditional models of adult language processing and production include two levels of representation: lexical and sublexical. The current study examines the influence of the inclusion of a lexical representation (i.e., a visual referent and/or object function) on the stability of articulation as well as on phonetic accuracy and variability in typically developing children and children with specific language impairment (SLI). A word learning paradigm was developed so that we could compare children’s production with and without lexical representation. The variability and accuracy of productions were examined using speech kinematics as well as traditional phonetic accuracy measures. Results showed that phonetic forms with lexical representation were produced with more articulatory stability than phonetic forms without lexical representation. Using more traditional transcription measures, a paired lexical referent generally did not influence segmental accuracy (percent consonant correct and type token ratio). These results suggest that lexical and articulatory levels of representation are not completely independent. Implications for models of language production are discussed. PMID:20712738

Lexical and articulatory interactions in children's language production.

Science.gov (United States)

Heisler, Lori; Goffman, Lisa; Younger, Barbara

2010-09-01

Traditional models of adult language processing and production include two levels of representation: lexical and sublexical. The current study examines the influence of the inclusion of a lexical representation (i.e. a visual referent and/or object function) on the stability of articulation as well as on phonetic accuracy and variability in typically developing children and children with specific language impairment (SLI). A word learning paradigm was developed so that we could compare children's production with and without lexical representation. The variability and accuracy of productions were examined using speech kinematics as well as traditional phonetic accuracy measures. Results showed that phonetic forms with lexical representation were produced with more articulatory stability than phonetic forms without lexical representation. Using more traditional transcription measures, a paired lexical referent generally did not influence segmental accuracy (percent consonant correct and type token ratio). These results suggest that lexical and articulatory levels of representation are not completely independent. Implications for models of language production are discussed.

Quantum Variational Calculus

OpenAIRE

Malinowska , Agnieszka B.; Torres , Delfim

2014-01-01

International audience; Introduces readers to the treatment of the calculus of variations with q-differences and Hahn difference operators Provides the reader with the first extended treatment of quantum variational calculus Shows how the techniques described can be applied to economic models as well as other mathematical systems This Brief puts together two subjects, quantum and variational calculi by considering variational problems involving Hahn quantum operators. The main advantage of it...

Developing Theory to Guide Building Practitioners' Capacity to Implement Evidence-Based Interventions.

Science.gov (United States)

Leeman, Jennifer; Calancie, Larissa; Kegler, Michelle C; Escoffery, Cam T; Herrmann, Alison K; Thatcher, Esther; Hartman, Marieke A; Fernandez, Maria E

2017-02-01

Public health and other community-based practitioners have access to a growing number of evidence-based interventions (EBIs), and yet EBIs continue to be underused. One reason for this underuse is that practitioners often lack the capacity (knowledge, skills, and motivation) to select, adapt, and implement EBIs. Training, technical assistance, and other capacity-building strategies can be effective at increasing EBI adoption and implementation. However, little is known about how to design capacity-building strategies or tailor them to differences in capacity required across varying EBIs and practice contexts. To address this need, we conducted a scoping study of frameworks and theories detailing variations in EBIs or practice contexts and how to tailor capacity-building to address those variations. Using an iterative process, we consolidated constructs and propositions across 24 frameworks and developed a beginning theory to describe salient variations in EBIs (complexity and uncertainty) and practice contexts (decision-making structure, general capacity to innovate, resource and values fit with EBI, and unity vs. polarization of stakeholder support). The theory also includes propositions for tailoring capacity-building strategies to address salient variations. To have wide-reaching and lasting impact, the dissemination of EBIs needs to be coupled with strategies that build practitioners' capacity to adopt and implement a variety of EBIs across diverse practice contexts.

Normal variants of the intracranial circulation demonstrated by MR angiography at 3 T

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Parmar, H.; Sitoh, Y.Y.; Hui, F.

2005-01-01

Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) at 3 T offers increased signal to noise ratio with better background suppression, leading to exquisite depiction of the intracranial circulation. We present a pictorial review of the normal variations and anomalies of the intracranial circulation detected on MRA performed on a high field 3 T clinical scanner using parallel imaging techniques. The salient imaging features of these anomalies and normal variations are discussed with relevance to clinical practice

English speech acquisition in 3- to 5-year-old children learning Russian and English.

Science.gov (United States)

Gildersleeve-Neumann, Christina E; Wright, Kira L

2010-10-01

English speech acquisition in Russian-English (RE) bilingual children was investigated, exploring the effects of Russian phonetic and phonological properties on English single-word productions. Russian has more complex consonants and clusters and a smaller vowel inventory than English. One hundred thirty-seven single-word samples were phonetically transcribed from 14 RE and 28 English-only (E) children, ages 3;3 (years;months) to 5;7. Language and age differences were compared descriptively for phonetic inventories. Multivariate analyses compared phoneme accuracy and error rates between the two language groups. RE children produced Russian-influenced phones in English, including palatalized consonants and trills, and demonstrated significantly higher rates of trill substitution, final devoicing, and vowel errors than E children, suggesting Russian language effects on English. RE and E children did not differ in their overall production complexity, with similar final consonant deletion and cluster reduction error rates, similar phonetic inventories by age, and similar levels of phonetic complexity. Both older language groups were more accurate than the younger language groups. We observed effects of Russian on English speech acquisition; however, there were similarities between the RE and E children that have not been reported in previous studies of speech acquisition in bilingual children. These findings underscore the importance of knowing the phonological properties of both languages of a bilingual child in assessment.

Prosodic Marking of Narrow Focus in Seoul Korean

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Hae-Sung Jeon

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This paper explores prosodic marking of narrow (corrective focus in Seoul Korean. Korean lacks lexical stress and it has a phonologized association between the Accentual Phrase (AP initial segment and intonation. In the experiment, 4 speakers read sentences including a two-item list which were designed to elicit either an L or H AP-initial tone. The durational variations, the pitch events at prosodic boundaries, and 'F''0 'span in 32 sentences read neutrally and 64 sentences read with one of the items under focus were analyzed. The results show that the focused constituent consistently initiates a new prosodic phrase. In comparison to the neutrally spoken or defocused counterpart, the focused constituent was more likely to be realized as an Intonational Phrase (IP in some contexts. Bitonal IP boundary tones were more likely to occur under focus than monotonal tones. In addition, in focused constituents, durational expansion particularly at the phrase-edges, expansion in 'F''0 'span, and raising of the phrase-initial pitch were observed. On the other hand, defocused constituents were not phonetically reduced compared to the neutral counterparts. The results imply that the phonetic cues spreading over the focused constituent complement the exaggerated prosodic boundaries.

Perceptual Training of Second-Language Vowels: Does Musical Ability Play a Role?

Science.gov (United States)

Ghaffarvand Mokari, Payam; Werner, Stefan

2018-01-01

The present study attempts to extend the research on the effects of phonetic training on the production and perception of second-language (L2) vowels. We also examined whether success in learning L2 vowels through high-variability intensive phonetic training is related to the learners' general musical abilities. Forty Azerbaijani learners of…

Electrophysiological Study of Algorithmically Processed Metric/Rhythmic Variations in Language and Music

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Magne Cyrille

2007-01-01

Full Text Available This work is the result of an interdisciplinary collaboration between scientists from the fields of audio signal processing, phonetics and cognitive neuroscience aiming at studying the perception of modifications in meter, rhythm, semantics and harmony in language and music. A special time-stretching algorithm was developed to work with natural speech. In the language part, French sentences ending with tri-syllabic congruous or incongruous words, metrically modified or not, were made. In the music part, short melodies made of triplets, rhythmically and/or harmonically modified, were built. These stimuli were presented to a group of listeners that were asked to focus their attention either on meter/rhythm or semantics/harmony and to judge whether or not the sentences/melodies were acceptable. Language ERP analyses indicate that semantically incongruous words are processed independently of the subject's attention thus arguing for automatic semantic processing. In addition, metric incongruities seem to influence semantic processing. Music ERP analyses show that rhythmic incongruities are processed independently of attention, revealing automatic processing of rhythm in music.

Electrophysiological Study of Algorithmically Processed Metric/Rhythmic Variations in Language and Music

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Richard Kronland-Martinet

2007-12-01

Full Text Available This work is the result of an interdisciplinary collaboration between scientists from the fields of audio signal processing, phonetics and cognitive neuroscience aiming at studying the perception of modifications in meter, rhythm, semantics and harmony in language and music. A special time-stretching algorithm was developed to work with natural speech. In the language part, French sentences ending with tri-syllabic congruous or incongruous words, metrically modified or not, were made. In the music part, short melodies made of triplets, rhythmically and/or harmonically modified, were built. These stimuli were presented to a group of listeners that were asked to focus their attention either on meter/rhythm or semantics/harmony and to judge whether or not the sentences/melodies were acceptable. Language ERP analyses indicate that semantically incongruous words are processed independently of the subject's attention thus arguing for automatic semantic processing. In addition, metric incongruities seem to influence semantic processing. Music ERP analyses show that rhythmic incongruities are processed independently of attention, revealing automatic processing of rhythm in music.

Leptin regulates dopamine responses to sustained stress in humans.

Science.gov (United States)

Burghardt, Paul R; Love, Tiffany M; Stohler, Christian S; Hodgkinson, Colin; Shen, Pei-Hong; Enoch, Mary-Anne; Goldman, David; Zubieta, Jon-Kar

2012-10-31

Neural systems that identify and respond to salient stimuli are critical for survival in a complex and changing environment. In addition, interindividual differences, including genetic variation and hormonal and metabolic status likely influence the behavioral strategies and neuronal responses to environmental challenges. Here, we examined the relationship between leptin allelic variation and plasma leptin levels with DAD2/3R availability in vivo as measured with [(11)C]raclopride PET at baseline and during a standardized pain stress challenge. Allelic variation in the leptin gene was associated with varying levels of dopamine release in response to the pain stressor, but not with baseline D2/3 receptor availability. Circulating leptin was also positively associated with stress-induced dopamine release. These results show that leptin serves as a regulator of neuronal function in humans and provides an etiological mechanism for differences in dopamine neurotransmission in response to salient stimuli as related to metabolic function. The capacity for leptin to influence stress-induced dopaminergic function is of importance for pathological states where dopamine is thought to play an integral role, such as mood, substance-use disorders, eating disorders, and obesity.

Genetics and variation

Science.gov (United States)

John R. Jones; Norbert V. DeByle

1985-01-01

The broad genotypic variability in quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.), that results in equally broad phenotypic variability among clones is important to the ecology and management of this species. This chapter considers principles of aspen genetics and variation, variation in aspen over its range, and local variation among clones. For a more...

Some remarks on variational and quasi-variational inequalities of monotone operators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Siddiqi, A.H.

1990-08-01

In this paper we study a fairly general class of variational and quasi-variational inequalities problem which represent some important physical phenomena. Several well-known results concerning variational inequalities are special cases of our results. Existence, uniqueness and numerical analysis of this problem have been studied. (author). 39 refs

Ensembl variation resources

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Marin-Garcia Pablo

2010-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The maturing field of genomics is rapidly increasing the number of sequenced genomes and producing more information from those previously sequenced. Much of this additional information is variation data derived from sampling multiple individuals of a given species with the goal of discovering new variants and characterising the population frequencies of the variants that are already known. These data have immense value for many studies, including those designed to understand evolution and connect genotype to phenotype. Maximising the utility of the data requires that it be stored in an accessible manner that facilitates the integration of variation data with other genome resources such as gene annotation and comparative genomics. Description The Ensembl project provides comprehensive and integrated variation resources for a wide variety of chordate genomes. This paper provides a detailed description of the sources of data and the methods for creating the Ensembl variation databases. It also explores the utility of the information by explaining the range of query options available, from using interactive web displays, to online data mining tools and connecting directly to the data servers programmatically. It gives a good overview of the variation resources and future plans for expanding the variation data within Ensembl. Conclusions Variation data is an important key to understanding the functional and phenotypic differences between individuals. The development of new sequencing and genotyping technologies is greatly increasing the amount of variation data known for almost all genomes. The Ensembl variation resources are integrated into the Ensembl genome browser and provide a comprehensive way to access this data in the context of a widely used genome bioinformatics system. All Ensembl data is freely available at http://www.ensembl.org and from the public MySQL database server at ensembldb.ensembl.org.

Variation and Mathematics Pedagogy

Science.gov (United States)

Leung, Allen

2012-01-01

This discussion paper put forwards variation as a theme to structure mathematical experience and mathematics pedagogy. Patterns of variation from Marton's Theory of Variation are understood and developed as types of variation interaction that enhance mathematical understanding. An idea of a discernment unit comprising mutually supporting variation…

Resource Endowments and Responses to Regulatory Pressure: Publications of Economics, Management, and Political Science Departments of Turkish Universities in Indexed Journals, 2000-2008

Science.gov (United States)

Onder, Cetin; Kasapoglu-Onder, Rana

2011-01-01

This paper investigates how differences in resource endowments of universities shape variation in their response to regulatory pressures. Earlier research on higher education institutions tends to conceive regulatory rules as the primary basis of action and does not attend to differences in the salient characteristics of universities. This paper…

Equatorial F-region plasma depletion drifts: latitudinal and seasonal variations

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A. A. Pimenta

2003-12-01

Full Text Available The equatorial ionospheric irregularities have been observed in the past few years by different techniques (e.g. ground-based radar, digisonde, GPS, optical instruments, in situ satellite and rocket instrumentation, and its time evolution and propagation characteristics can be used to study important aspects of ionospheric dynamics and thermosphere-ionosphere coupling. At present, one of the most powerful optical techniques to study the large-scale ionospheric irregularities is the all-sky imaging photometer system, which normally measures the strong F-region nightglow 630 nm emission from atomic oxygen. The monochromatic OI 630 nm emission images usually show quasi-north-south magnetic field-aligned intensity depletion bands, which are the bottomside optical signatures of large-scale F-region plasma irregularities (also called plasma bubbles. The zonal drift velocities of the plasma bubbles can be inferred from the space-time displacement of the dark structures (low intensity regions seen on the images. In this study, images obtained with an all-sky imaging photometer, using the OI 630 nm nightglow emission, from Cachoeira Paulista (22.7° S, 45° W, 15.8° S dip latitude, Brazil, have been used to determine the nocturnal monthly and latitudinal variation characteristics of the zonal plasma bubble drift velocities in the low latitude (16.7° S to 28.7° S region. The east and west walls of the plasma bubble show a different evolution with time. The method used here is based on the western wall of the bubble, which presents a more stable behavior. Also, the observed zonal plasma bubble drift velocities are compared with the thermospheric zonal neutral wind velocities obtained from the HWM-90 model (Hedin et al., 1991 to investigate the thermosphere-ionosphere coupling. Salient features from this study are presented and discussed.Key words. Ionosphere (ionosphere-atmosphere interactions; ionospheric irregularities; instruments and techniques

The Emergent Writing Process of a Preschool Child.

Science.gov (United States)

Cruikshank, Maureen

2001-01-01

Used writing samples, informal observations, and formal interviews and observations over 6 weeks to document a 4-year-old's emergent writing process. Found that the subject made the transition from the pre-phonetic to the semi-phonetic writing stages at an early age. Also found that young children's low tolerance level for frustration has…

Foveal splitting causes differential processing of Chinese orthography in the male and female brain.

Science.gov (United States)

Hsiao, Janet Hui-Wen; Shillcock, Richard

2005-10-01

Chinese characters contain separate phonetic and semantic radicals. A dominant character type exists in which the semantic radical is on the left and the phonetic radical on the right; an opposite, minority structure also exists, with the semantic radical on the right and the phonetic radical on the left. We show that, when asked to pronounce isolated tokens of these two character types, males responded significantly faster when the phonetic information was on the right, whereas females showed a non-significant tendency in the opposite direction. Recent research on foveal structure and reading suggests that the two halves of a centrally fixated character are initially processed in different hemispheres. The male brain typically relies more on the left hemisphere for phonological processing compared with the female brain, causing this gender difference to emerge. This interaction is predicted by an implemented computational model. This study supports the existence of a gender difference in phonological processing, and shows that the effects of foveal splitting in reading extend far enough into word recognition to interact with the gender of the reader in a naturalistic reading task.

Salient Features of the 2015 Gorkha, Nepal Earthquake in Relation to Earthquake Cycle and Dynamic Rupture Models

Science.gov (United States)

Ampuero, J. P.; Meng, L.; Hough, S. E.; Martin, S. S.; Asimaki, D.

2015-12-01

Two salient features of the 2015 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquake provide new opportunities to evaluate models of earthquake cycle and dynamic rupture. The Gorkha earthquake broke only partially across the seismogenic depth of the Main Himalayan Thrust: its slip was confined in a narrow depth range near the bottom of the locked zone. As indicated by the belt of background seismicity and decades of geodetic monitoring, this is an area of stress concentration induced by deep fault creep. Previous conceptual models attribute such intermediate-size events to rheological segmentation along-dip, including a fault segment with intermediate rheology in between the stable and unstable slip segments. We will present results from earthquake cycle models that, in contrast, highlight the role of stress loading concentration, rather than frictional segmentation. These models produce "super-cycles" comprising recurrent characteristic events interspersed by deep, smaller non-characteristic events of overall increasing magnitude. Because the non-characteristic events are an intrinsic component of the earthquake super-cycle, the notion of Coulomb triggering or time-advance of the "big one" is ill-defined. The high-frequency (HF) ground motions produced in Kathmandu by the Gorkha earthquake were weaker than expected for such a magnitude and such close distance to the rupture, as attested by strong motion recordings and by macroseismic data. Static slip reached close to Kathmandu but had a long rise time, consistent with control by the along-dip extent of the rupture. Moreover, the HF (1 Hz) radiation sources, imaged by teleseismic back-projection of multiple dense arrays calibrated by aftershock data, was deep and far from Kathmandu. We argue that HF rupture imaging provided a better predictor of shaking intensity than finite source inversion. The deep location of HF radiation can be attributed to rupture over heterogeneous initial stresses left by the background seismic activity

A salient region detection model combining background distribution measure for indoor robots.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Na; Xu, Hui; Wang, Zhenhua; Sun, Lining; Chen, Guodong

2017-01-01

Vision system plays an important role in the field of indoor robot. Saliency detection methods, capturing regions that are perceived as important, are used to improve the performance of visual perception system. Most of state-of-the-art methods for saliency detection, performing outstandingly in natural images, cannot work in complicated indoor environment. Therefore, we propose a new method comprised of graph-based RGB-D segmentation, primary saliency measure, background distribution measure, and combination. Besides, region roundness is proposed to describe the compactness of a region to measure background distribution more robustly. To validate the proposed approach, eleven influential methods are compared on the DSD and ECSSD dataset. Moreover, we build a mobile robot platform for application in an actual environment, and design three different kinds of experimental constructions that are different viewpoints, illumination variations and partial occlusions. Experimental results demonstrate that our model outperforms existing methods and is useful for indoor mobile robots.

Intrapopulation genome size variation in D. melanogaster reflects life history variation and plasticity.

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Lisa L Ellis

2014-07-01

Full Text Available We determined female genome sizes using flow cytometry for 211 Drosophila melanogaster sequenced inbred strains from the Drosophila Genetic Reference Panel, and found significant conspecific and intrapopulation variation in genome size. We also compared several life history traits for 25 lines with large and 25 lines with small genomes in three thermal environments, and found that genome size as well as genome size by temperature interactions significantly correlated with survival to pupation and adulthood, time to pupation, female pupal mass, and female eclosion rates. Genome size accounted for up to 23% of the variation in developmental phenotypes, but the contribution of genome size to variation in life history traits was plastic and varied according to the thermal environment. Expression data implicate differences in metabolism that correspond to genome size variation. These results indicate that significant genome size variation exists within D. melanogaster and this variation may impact the evolutionary ecology of the species. Genome size variation accounts for a significant portion of life history variation in an environmentally dependent manner, suggesting that potential fitness effects associated with genome size variation also depend on environmental conditions.

Intrapopulation Genome Size Variation in D. melanogaster Reflects Life History Variation and Plasticity

Science.gov (United States)

Ellis, Lisa L.; Huang, Wen; Quinn, Andrew M.; Ahuja, Astha; Alfrejd, Ben; Gomez, Francisco E.; Hjelmen, Carl E.; Moore, Kristi L.; Mackay, Trudy F. C.; Johnston, J. Spencer; Tarone, Aaron M.

2014-01-01

We determined female genome sizes using flow cytometry for 211 Drosophila melanogaster sequenced inbred strains from the Drosophila Genetic Reference Panel, and found significant conspecific and intrapopulation variation in genome size. We also compared several life history traits for 25 lines with large and 25 lines with small genomes in three thermal environments, and found that genome size as well as genome size by temperature interactions significantly correlated with survival to pupation and adulthood, time to pupation, female pupal mass, and female eclosion rates. Genome size accounted for up to 23% of the variation in developmental phenotypes, but the contribution of genome size to variation in life history traits was plastic and varied according to the thermal environment. Expression data implicate differences in metabolism that correspond to genome size variation. These results indicate that significant genome size variation exists within D. melanogaster and this variation may impact the evolutionary ecology of the species. Genome size variation accounts for a significant portion of life history variation in an environmentally dependent manner, suggesting that potential fitness effects associated with genome size variation also depend on environmental conditions. PMID:25057905

Rurality/Urbanism and Extended Familism Among Working- and Lower-Class Blacks.

Science.gov (United States)

Dietrich, Katheryn Thomas

A comprehensive look is taken at the rural-urban variation in extended familism among a segment of the population for which extended familism purportedly is especially salient: lower and working class black Americans. The study is guided by the general hypothesis that rurality/urbanism affects extended familism when nonecological variables are…

Visualizing Uncertainty for Data Fusion Graphics: Review of Selected Literature and Industry Approaches

Science.gov (United States)

2015-06-09

salient, which may divert attention inappropriately, but that intrinsic variation of colour brightness may be used to counterbalance this effect...8.2 Colour ................................................................................................................. 40 8.3 Data and...2-5: Examples of data presentation for a Maritime ATC task. ............................ 15 Figure 2-6: Two methods using colour and geometry in

Building intentions with the theory of planned behaviour: a qualitative assessment of salient beliefs about pharmacy value added services in Malaysia.

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Christine Liang Hoay; Hassali, Mohamed Azmi; Saleem, Fahad; Shafie, Asrul Akmal; Aljadhay, Hisham; Gan, Vincent B Y

2016-12-01

To improve pharmaceutical care delivery in Malaysia, the Ministry of Health (MOH) had introduced the concept of value added services (VAS). Despite its reported convenience and advantages, VAS utilization rate is low in the country. The study aims to explore patients' understanding, beliefs and expectations towards VAS in Malaysia using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) as the theoretical model. A qualitative methodology was used whereby face-to-face interviews were conducted with 12 patients who collected partial medicine supplies from government pharmacies. Participants were recruited using purposive and snowball sampling method in the state of Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. Interviews were audio-recorded. Verbatim transcription and thematic content analysis were performed on the data. Thematic content analysis yielded five major themes: (i) attitudes towards using VAS, (ii) subjective norms, (iii) perceived behavioural control, (iv) lack of knowledge and understanding of VAS and (v) expectations towards VAS. The interviews explored and informed new information about salient beliefs towards pharmacy VAS. The findings suggest that VAS is still in its infancy and a more robust and effective advertising and marketing campaign is needed to boost the adoption rate. Behavioural attitudes, subjective norms and perceived control elements were discussed and serve as important variables of interest in future study. Expectations towards VAS serve as an important guideline to further improve patient-oriented services. © 2015 The Authors. Health Expectations Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The contribution of additive genetic variation to personality variation: heritability of personality.

Science.gov (United States)

Dochtermann, Ned A; Schwab, Tori; Sih, Andrew

2015-01-07

Individual animals frequently exhibit repeatable differences from other members of their population, differences now commonly referred to as 'animal personality'. Personality differences can arise, for example, from differences in permanent environmental effects--including parental and epigenetic contributors--and the effect of additive genetic variation. Although several studies have evaluated the heritability of behaviour, less is known about general patterns of heritability and additive genetic variation in animal personality. As overall variation in behaviour includes both the among-individual differences that reflect different personalities and temporary environmental effects, it is possible for personality to be largely genetically influenced even when heritability of behaviour per se is quite low. The relative contribution of additive genetic variation to personality variation can be estimated whenever both repeatability and heritability are estimated for the same data. Using published estimates to address this issue, we found that approximately 52% of animal personality variation was attributable to additive genetic variation. Thus, while the heritability of behaviour is often moderate or low, the heritability of personality is much higher. Our results therefore (i) demonstrate that genetic differences are likely to be a major contributor to variation in animal personality and (ii) support the phenotypic gambit: that evolutionary inferences drawn from repeatability estimates may often be justified. © 2014 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

Variational submanifolds of Euclidean spaces

Science.gov (United States)

Krupka, D.; Urban, Z.; Volná, J.

2018-03-01

Systems of ordinary differential equations (or dynamical forms in Lagrangian mechanics), induced by embeddings of smooth fibered manifolds over one-dimensional basis, are considered in the class of variational equations. For a given non-variational system, conditions assuring variationality (the Helmholtz conditions) of the induced system with respect to a submanifold of a Euclidean space are studied, and the problem of existence of these "variational submanifolds" is formulated in general and solved for second-order systems. The variational sequence theory on sheaves of differential forms is employed as a main tool for the analysis of local and global aspects (variationality and variational triviality). The theory is illustrated by examples of holonomic constraints (submanifolds of a configuration Euclidean space) which are variational submanifolds in geometry and mechanics.

Bilateral renal artery variation

OpenAIRE

Üçerler, Hülya; Üzüm, Yusuf; İkiz, Z. Aslı Aktan

2014-01-01

Each kidney is supplied by a single renal artery, although renal artery variations are common. Variations of the renal arteryhave become important with the increasing number of renal transplantations. Numerous studies describe variations in renalartery anatomy. Especially the left renal artery is among the most critical arterial variations, because it is the referred side forresecting the donor kidney. During routine dissection in a formalin fixed male cadaver, we have found a bilateral renal...

Tackling the complexity in speech

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

section includes four carefully selected chapters. They deal with facets of speech production, speech acoustics, and/or speech perception or recognition, place them in an integrated phonetic-phonological perspective, and relate them in more or less explicit ways to aspects of speech technology. Therefore......, we hope that this volume can help speech scientists with traditional training in phonetics and phonology to keep up with the latest developments in speech technology. In the opposite direction, speech researchers starting from a technological perspective will hopefully get inspired by reading about...... the questions, phenomena, and communicative functions that are currently addressed in phonetics and phonology. Either way, the future of speech research lies in international, interdisciplinary collaborations, and our volume is meant to reflect and facilitate such collaborations...

Studying Variation in Tunes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Janssen, B.; van Kranenburg, P.

2014-01-01

Variation in music can be caused by different phenomena: conscious, creative manipulation of musical ideas; but also unconscious variation during music recall. It is the latter phenomenon that we wish to study: variation which occurs in oral transmission, in which a melody is taught without the help

From Phonemes to Articulatory Codes: An fMRI Study of the Role of Broca's Area in Speech Production

Science.gov (United States)

de Zwart, Jacco A.; Jansma, J. Martijn; Pickering, Martin J.; Bednar, James A.; Horwitz, Barry

2009-01-01

We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the neuroanatomical substrates of phonetic encoding and the generation of articulatory codes from phonological representations. Our focus was on the role of the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) and in particular whether the LIFG plays a role in sublexical phonological processing such as syllabification or whether it is directly involved in phonetic encoding and the generation of articulatory codes. To answer this question, we contrasted the brain activation patterns elicited by pseudowords with high– or low–sublexical frequency components, which we expected would reveal areas related to the generation of articulatory codes but not areas related to phonological encoding. We found significant activation of a premotor network consisting of the dorsal precentral gyrus, the inferior frontal gyrus bilaterally, and the supplementary motor area for low– versus high–sublexical frequency pseudowords. Based on our hypothesis, we concluded that these areas and in particular the LIFG are involved in phonetic and not phonological encoding. We further discuss our findings with respect to the mechanisms of phonetic encoding and provide evidence in support of a functional segregation of the posterior part of Broca's area, the pars opercularis. PMID:19181696

Independence of early speech processing from word meaning.

Science.gov (United States)

Travis, Katherine E; Leonard, Matthew K; Chan, Alexander M; Torres, Christina; Sizemore, Marisa L; Qu, Zhe; Eskandar, Emad; Dale, Anders M; Elman, Jeffrey L; Cash, Sydney S; Halgren, Eric

2013-10-01

We combined magnetoencephalography (MEG) with magnetic resonance imaging and electrocorticography to separate in anatomy and latency 2 fundamental stages underlying speech comprehension. The first acoustic-phonetic stage is selective for words relative to control stimuli individually matched on acoustic properties. It begins ∼60 ms after stimulus onset and is localized to middle superior temporal cortex. It was replicated in another experiment, but is strongly dissociated from the response to tones in the same subjects. Within the same task, semantic priming of the same words by a related picture modulates cortical processing in a broader network, but this does not begin until ∼217 ms. The earlier onset of acoustic-phonetic processing compared with lexico-semantic modulation was significant in each individual subject. The MEG source estimates were confirmed with intracranial local field potential and high gamma power responses acquired in 2 additional subjects performing the same task. These recordings further identified sites within superior temporal cortex that responded only to the acoustic-phonetic contrast at short latencies, or the lexico-semantic at long. The independence of the early acoustic-phonetic response from semantic context suggests a limited role for lexical feedback in early speech perception.

Anatomic variation and orgasm: Could variations in anatomy explain differences in orgasmic success?

Science.gov (United States)

Emhardt, E; Siegel, J; Hoffman, L

2016-07-01

Though the public consciousness is typically focused on factors such as psychology, penis size, and the presence of the "G-spot," there are other anatomical and neuro-anatomic differences that could play an equal, or more important, role in the frequency and intensity of orgasms. Discovering these variations could direct further medical or procedural management to improve sexual satisfaction. The aim of this study is to review the available literature of anatomical sexual variation and to explain why this variation may predispose some patients toward a particular sexual experience. In this review, we explored the available literature on sexual anatomy and neuro-anatomy. We used PubMed and OVID Medline for search terms, including orgasm, penile size variation, clitoral variation, Grafenberg spot, and benefits of orgasm. First we review the basic anatomy and innervation of the reproductive organs. Then we describe several anatomical variations that likely play a superior role to popular known variation (penis size, presence of g-spot, etc). For males, the delicate play between the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems is vital to achieve orgasm. For females, the autonomic component is more complex. The clitoris is the primary anatomical feature for female orgasm, including its migration toward the anterior vaginal wall. In conclusions, orgasms are complex phenomena involving psychological, physiological, and anatomic variation. While these variations predispose people to certain sexual function, future research should explore how to surgically or medically alter these. Clin. Anat. 29:665-672, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Introduction to global variational geometry

CERN Document Server

Krupka, Demeter

2015-01-01

The book is devoted to recent research in the global variational theory on smooth manifolds. Its main objective is an extension of the classical variational calculus on Euclidean spaces to (topologically nontrivial) finite-dimensional smooth manifolds; to this purpose the methods of global analysis of differential forms are used. Emphasis is placed on the foundations of the theory of variational functionals on fibered manifolds - relevant geometric structures for variational principles in geometry, physical field theory and higher-order fibered mechanics. The book chapters include: - foundations of jet bundles and analysis of differential forms and vector fields on jet bundles, - the theory of higher-order integral variational functionals for sections of a fibred space, the (global) first variational formula in infinitesimal and integral forms- extremal conditions and the discussion of Noether symmetries and generalizations,- the inverse problems of the calculus of variations of Helmholtz type- variational se...

Genome Variation Map: a data repository of genome variations in BIG Data Center

OpenAIRE

Song, Shuhui; Tian, Dongmei; Li, Cuiping; Tang, Bixia; Dong, Lili; Xiao, Jingfa; Bao, Yiming; Zhao, Wenming; He, Hang; Zhang, Zhang

2017-01-01

Abstract The Genome Variation Map (GVM; http://bigd.big.ac.cn/gvm/) is a public data repository of genome variations. As a core resource in the BIG Data Center, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, GVM dedicates to collect, integrate and visualize genome variations for a wide range of species, accepts submissions of different types of genome variations from all over the world and provides free open access to all publicly available data in support of worldwide research a...

Emotion Regulation from Early Adolescence to Emerging Adulthood and Middle Adulthood: Age Differences, Gender Differences, and Emotion-Epecific Developmental Variations

Science.gov (United States)

Zimmermann, Peter; Iwanski, Alexandra

2014-01-01

Despite the growing research on emotion regulation, the empirical evidence for normative age-related emotion regulation patterns is rather divergent. From a life-span perspective, normative age changes in emotion regulation may be more salient applying the same methodological approach on a broad age range examining both growth and decline during…

Visual Attention to Print-Salient and Picture-Salient Environmental Print in Young Children

Science.gov (United States)

Neumann, Michelle M.; Summerfield, Katelyn; Neumann, David L.

2015-01-01

Environmental print is composed of words and contextual cues such as logos and pictures. The salience of the contextual cues may influence attention to words and thus the potential of environmental print in promoting early reading development. The present study explored this by presenting pre-readers (n = 20) and beginning readers (n = 16) with…

Quantum variational calculus

CERN Document Server

Malinowska, Agnieszka B

2014-01-01

This Brief puts together two subjects, quantum and variational calculi by considering variational problems involving Hahn quantum operators. The main advantage of its results is that they are able to deal with nondifferentiable (even discontinuous) functions, which are important in applications. Possible applications in economics are discussed. Economists model time as continuous or discrete. Although individual economic decisions are generally made at discrete time intervals, they may well be less than perfectly synchronized in ways discrete models postulate. On the other hand, the usual assumption that economic activity takes place continuously, is nothing else than a convenient abstraction that in many applications is far from reality. The Hahn quantum calculus helps to bridge the gap between the two families of models: continuous and discrete. Quantum Variational Calculus is self-contained and unified in presentation. It provides an opportunity for an introduction to the quantum calculus of variations fo...

Sociolinguistic variables and cognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, Erik R

2011-11-01

Sociolinguistics has examined mental organization of language only sporadically. Meanwhile, areas of linguistics that deal with cognitive organization seldom delve deeply into language variation. Variation is essential for understanding how language is structured cognitively, however. Three kinds of evidence are discussed to illustrate this point. First, style shifting demonstrates that language users develop detailed associations of when to produce specific linguistic forms, depending on the pragmatic context. Second, variation in fine-grained phonetic cues shows that cognitive organization applies to linguistic forms not otherwise known to be under speakers' control. Finally, experiments on dialect comprehension and identification demonstrate that listeners have detailed cognitive associations of language variants with groups of people, whether or not they can produce the same variants themselves. A model is presented for how sociolinguistic knowledge can be viewed in relation to other parts of language with regard to cognitive and neural representations. WIREs Cogni Sci 2011 2 701-716 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.152 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Vascular Variations Associated with Intracranial Aneurysms.

Science.gov (United States)

Orakdogen, Metin; Emon, Selin Tural; Somay, Hakan; Engin, Taner; Is, Merih; Hakan, Tayfun

2017-01-01

To investigate the vascular variations in patients with intracranial aneurysm in circle of Willis. We used the data on 128 consecutive intracranial aneurysm cases. Cerebral angiography images were analyzed retrospectively. Arteries were grouped as anterior cerebral arterial system (ACS), posterior cerebral arterial system (PCS) and middle cerebral arterial system (MCS) for grouping vascular variations. Lateralization, being single/multiple, gender; and also any connection with accompanying aneurysms" number, localization, dimension, whether bleeding/incidental aneurysm has been inspected. Variations were demonstrated in 57.8% of the cases. The most common variation was A1 variation (34.4%). The rate of variations was 36.7%, 24.2% and 10.2% respectively in ACS, PCS and MCS. MCS variations were significantly higher in males. Anterior communicating artery (ACoA) aneurysm observance rates were significantly higher and posterior communicating artery (PCoA) aneurysm and middle cerebral artery (MCA) aneurysm observance rates were significantly lower when compared to "no ACS variation detected" cases. In "PCS variation detected" cases, PCoA aneurysm observance rates and coexistence of multiple variations were significantly higher. The rate of vascular variations in patients with aneurysms was 57.8%. Arterial hypoplasia and aplasia were the most common variations. ACS was the most common region that variations were located in; they were mostly detected on the right side. Coexistence of ACoA aneurysm was higher than PCoA and MCA aneurysms. In the PCS variations group, PCoA aneurysms were the most common aneurysms that accompanying the variation and multiple variations were more common than in the other two groups. The variations in MCS were most common in males.

[Changes in the EEG spectral power during perception of neutral and emotionally salient words in schizophrenic patients, their relatives and healthy individuals from the general population].

Science.gov (United States)

Alfimova, M V; Uvarova, L G

2007-01-01

To search for EEG-correlates of emotional processing that might be indicators of genetic predisposition to schizophrenia, changes in EEG spectral power during perception of neutral and emotionally salient words were examined in 36 schizophrenic patients, 50 of their unaffected first-degree relatives, and 47 healthy individuals without any family history of psychoses. In healthy persons, passive listening to neutral words induced minimum changes in cortical rhythmical activity, predominantly in the form of synchronization of slow and fast waves, whereas perception of emotional words was followed by a generalized depression of the alpha and beta1 activity and a locally specific decrease in the power of theta and beta2 frequency bands. The patients and their relatives showed a decrease in the alpha and beta1 activity simultaneously with an increase in the power of delta activity in response to both groups of words. Thus, in the patients and their relatives, reactions to neutral and emotional words were ulterior as a result of augmented reactions to the neutral words. These findings suggest that the EEG changes reflect familial and possibly hereditable abnormal involuntary attention. No prominent decrease in reactivity to emotional stimuli was revealed in schizophrenic families.

Cytoplasmic genetic variation and extensive cytonuclear interactions influence natural variation in the metabolome

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Joseph, Bindu; Corwin, Jason A.; Li, Baohua

2013-01-01

Understanding genome to phenotype linkages has been greatly enabled by genomic sequencing. However, most genome analysis is typically confined to the nuclear genome. We conducted a metabolomic QTL analysis on a reciprocal RIL population structured to examine how variation in the organelle genomes...... was a central hub in the epistatic network controlling the plant metabolome. This epistatic influence manifested such that the cytoplasmic background could alter or hide pairwise epistasis between nuclear loci. Thus, cytoplasmic genetic variation plays a central role in controlling natural variation...... in metabolomic networks. This suggests that cytoplasmic genomes must be included in any future analysis of natural variation....

Variation tolerant SoC design

Science.gov (United States)

Kozhikkottu, Vivek J.

The scaling of integrated circuits into the nanometer regime has led to variations emerging as a primary concern for designers of integrated circuits. Variations are an inevitable consequence of the semiconductor manufacturing process, and also arise due to the side-effects of operation of integrated circuits (voltage, temperature, and aging). Conventional design approaches, which are based on design corners or worst-case scenarios, leave designers with an undesirable choice between the considerable overheads associated with over-design and significantly reduced manufacturing yield. Techniques for variation-tolerant design at the logic, circuit and layout levels of the design process have been developed and are in commercial use. However, with the incessant increase in variations due to technology scaling and design trends such as near-threshold computing, these techniques are no longer sufficient to contain the effects of variations, and there is a need to address variations at all stages of design. This thesis addresses the problem of variation-tolerant design at the earliest stages of the design process, where the system-level design decisions that are made can have a very significant impact. There are two key aspects to making system-level design variation-aware. First, analysis techniques must be developed to project the impact of variations on system-level metrics such as application performance and energy. Second, variation-tolerant design techniques need to be developed to absorb the residual impact of variations (that cannot be contained through lower-level techniques). In this thesis, we address both these facets by developing robust and scalable variation-aware analysis and variation mitigation techniques at the system level. The first contribution of this thesis is a variation-aware system-level performance analysis framework. We address the key challenge of translating the per-component clock frequency distributions into a system-level application

Neural Correlates of Indicators of Sound Change in Cantonese: Evidence from Cortical and Subcortical Processes

OpenAIRE

Maggu, Akshay R.; Liu, Fang; Antoniou, Mark; Wong, Patrick C. M.

2016-01-01

Across time, languages undergo changes in phonetic, syntactic, and semantic dimensions. Social, cognitive, and cultural factors contribute to sound change, a phenomenon in which the phonetics of a language undergo changes over time. Individuals who misperceive and produce speech in a slightly divergent manner (called innovators) contribute to variability in the society, eventually leading to sound change. However, the cause of variability in these individuals is still unknown. In this study, ...

Polish Phoneme Statistics Obtained On Large Set Of Written Texts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bartosz Ziółko

2009-01-01

Full Text Available The phonetical statistics were collected from several Polish corpora. The paper is a summaryof the data which are phoneme n-grams and some phenomena in the statistics. Triphonestatistics apply context-dependent speech units which have an important role in speech recognitionsystems and were never calculated for a large set of Polish written texts. The standardphonetic alphabet for Polish, SAMPA, and methods of providing phonetic transcriptions are described.

Kyushu Neuro Psychiatry (Selected Articles),

Science.gov (United States)

1983-04-22

to left and vertical lines from bottom to top. (Note: it is possible to write Japanese either vertically or horizontally.) But it was possible to read...five words in phonetic characters ( hiragana ) and in Chinese characters (kanji). 3) Copying short and long sentences: short sentences of forteen...was conducted on Day 3 and Day 6. The subjects were asked to write the five hiragana (phonetic, cursive characters) and kanji (Chinese characters

Auditory Modeling for Noisy Speech Recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

2000-01-01

multiple platforms including PCs, workstations, and DSPs. A prototype version of the SOS process was tested on the Japanese Hiragana language with good...judgment among linguists. American English has 48 phonetic sounds in the ARPABET representation. Hiragana , the Japanese phonetic language, has only 20... Japanese Hiragana ," H.L. Pfister, FL 95, 1995. "State Recognition for Noisy Dynamic Systems," H.L. Pfister, Tech 2005, Chicago, 1995. "Experiences

Exploring language variation across Europe

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hovy, Dirk; Johannsen, Anders Trærup

2016-01-01

Language varies not only between countries, but also along regional and sociodemographic lines. This variation is one of the driving factors behind language change. However, investigating language variation is a complex undertaking: the more factors we want to consider, the more data we need. Tra...... use of large amounts of data and provides statistical analyses, maps, and interactive features that enable scholars to explore language variation in a data-driven way.......Language varies not only between countries, but also along regional and sociodemographic lines. This variation is one of the driving factors behind language change. However, investigating language variation is a complex undertaking: the more factors we want to consider, the more data we need...... training in both variational linguistics and computational methods, a combination that is still not common. We take a first step here to alleviate the problem by providing an interface to explore large-scale language variation along several socio-demographic factors without programming knowledge. It makes...

The retroflex r of Brazilian Portuguese: theories of origin and a case study of language attitudes in Minas Gerais

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iiris Rennicke

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Some scholars have linked the emergence of retroflex rhotics in Brazilian Portuguese to language contact with indigenous peoples or the neutralization of posteriorized coda liquids. In this article arguments are presented in favour of an independent phonetic change, linking BP to the variation in rhotics found in other languages. In addition, the results of an original language attitude study conducted in the state of Minas Gerais are presented and analysed. They show a social and geographical prejudice related to the speakers using retroflex rhotics, but also partially present a recurring result in language attitude studies: prestige accents score well in dimensions such as competence and status, and non-prestige accents score well in solidarity.

Quantas sílabas tem “cháv(ena”? Sobre o impacto dos apagamentos vocálicos na segmentação silábica de crianças no ensino pré-escolar

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria João Freitas

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The current study discusses the type of linguistic information assessed during the performance of tasks designed to test phonological awareness: (i phonological knowledge, stored in the phonological representations in the mental lexicon; (ii phonetic detail, available in the acoustic stimuli. We therefore evaluated 23 Portuguese children (mean age: 5;04, all preschoolers, in order to avoid the effect of orthographic representations. All children were submitted to a word segmentation task, which included 19 distractor stimuli and 7 target stimuli controlled for the presence/absence of unstressed vowels, based on the possible phonetic formats of these words in spontaneous speech. The results showed that children do not process the stimuli on the basis of one single type of linguistic information (phonological information in the lexical representations or acoustic properties of the stimuli. The children’s answers, namely the ones coded as segmentation errors, lead us to the formulate an hypothesis according to which several strategies may be activated during performance of tasks designed to assess phonological awareness: processing the word’s phonological representation; processing the phonetic detail in the acoustic stimulus; processing representations of different phonetic formats of a single word in European Portuguese, which seem to be part of the children’s awareness of their language.

Music lessons improve auditory perceptual and cognitive performance in deaf children.

Science.gov (United States)

Rochette, Françoise; Moussard, Aline; Bigand, Emmanuel

2014-01-01

Despite advanced technologies in auditory rehabilitation of profound deafness, deaf children often exhibit delayed cognitive and linguistic development and auditory training remains a crucial element of their education. In the present cross-sectional study, we assess whether music would be a relevant tool for deaf children rehabilitation. In normal-hearing children, music lessons have been shown to improve cognitive and linguistic-related abilities, such as phonetic discrimination and reading. We compared auditory perception, auditory cognition, and phonetic discrimination between 14 profoundly deaf children who completed weekly music lessons for a period of 1.5-4 years and 14 deaf children who did not receive musical instruction. Children were assessed on perceptual and cognitive auditory tasks using environmental sounds: discrimination, identification, auditory scene analysis, auditory working memory. Transfer to the linguistic domain was tested with a phonetic discrimination task. Musically trained children showed better performance in auditory scene analysis, auditory working memory and phonetic discrimination tasks, and multiple regressions showed that success on these tasks was at least partly driven by music lessons. We propose that musical education contributes to development of general processes such as auditory attention and perception, which, in turn, facilitate auditory-related cognitive and linguistic processes.

Music lessons improve auditory perceptual and cognitive performance in deaf children

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Françoise eROCHETTE

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Despite advanced technologies in auditory rehabilitation of profound deafness, deaf children often exhibit delayed cognitive and linguistic development and auditory training remains a crucial element of their education. In the present cross-sectional study, we assess whether music would be a relevant tool for deaf children rehabilitation. In normal-hearing children, music lessons have been shown to improve cognitive and linguistic-related abilities, such as phonetic discrimination and reading. We compared auditory perception, auditory cognition, and phonetic discrimination between 14 profoundly deaf children who completed weekly music lessons for a period of 1.5 to 4 years and 14 deaf children who did not receive musical instruction. Children were assessed on perceptual and cognitive auditory tasks using environmental sounds: discrimination, identification, auditory scene analysis, auditory working memory. Transfer to the linguistic domain was tested with a phonetic discrimination task. Musically-trained children showed better performance in auditory scene analysis, auditory working memory and phonetic discrimination tasks, and multiple regressions showed that success on these tasks was at least partly driven by music lessons. We propose that musical education contributes to development of general processes such as auditory attention and perception, which, in turn, facilitate auditory-related cognitive and linguistic processes.

Equatorial F-region plasma depletion drifts: latitudinal and seasonal variations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. A. Pimenta

Full Text Available The equatorial ionospheric irregularities have been observed in the past few years by different techniques (e.g. ground-based radar, digisonde, GPS, optical instruments, in situ satellite and rocket instrumentation, and its time evolution and propagation characteristics can be used to study important aspects of ionospheric dynamics and thermosphere-ionosphere coupling. At present, one of the most powerful optical techniques to study the large-scale ionospheric irregularities is the all-sky imaging photometer system, which normally measures the strong F-region nightglow 630 nm emission from atomic oxygen. The monochromatic OI 630 nm emission images usually show quasi-north-south magnetic field-aligned intensity depletion bands, which are the bottomside optical signatures of large-scale F-region plasma irregularities (also called plasma bubbles. The zonal drift velocities of the plasma bubbles can be inferred from the space-time displacement of the dark structures (low intensity regions seen on the images. In this study, images obtained with an all-sky imaging photometer, using the OI 630 nm nightglow emission, from Cachoeira Paulista (22.7° S, 45° W, 15.8° S dip latitude, Brazil, have been used to determine the nocturnal monthly and latitudinal variation characteristics of the zonal plasma bubble drift velocities in the low latitude (16.7° S to 28.7° S region. The east and west walls of the plasma bubble show a different evolution with time. The method used here is based on the western wall of the bubble, which presents a more stable behavior. Also, the observed zonal plasma bubble drift velocities are compared with the thermospheric zonal neutral wind velocities obtained from the HWM-90 model (Hedin et al., 1991 to investigate the thermosphere-ionosphere coupling. Salient features from this study are presented

Explaining variation in the uptake of HPV vaccination in England

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Whynes David K

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background In England, two national programmes of HPV vaccination for girls have been instituted, a routine programme for 12- and 13-year-olds and a catch-up programme for 17- and 18-year-olds. Uptake rates across the country have been far from uniform, and this research sought to identify factors explaining the variation in uptake by locality. Methods An association between uptake, deprivation and ethnic background had been established in pilot research. The present analysis was conducted at an aggregate, Primary Care Trust (PCT, level for the first year of the programmes. Published measures of HPV vaccination uptake, material deprivation, ethnic composition of PCT populations, primary care quality, and uptake of cervical screening and of other childhood immunisations were collated. Strong evidence of collinearity amongst the explanatory variables required a factor analysis to be undertaken. This provided four independent factors, used thereafter in regression models to explain uptake by PCT. Results The factor analysis revealed that ethnic composition was associated with attitudes towards cervical screening and other childhood vaccinations, whilst material deprivation and quality of primary care were orthogonal. Ethnic composition, early childhood vaccination, cervical screening and primary care quality were found to be influential in predicting uptake in both the routine and the catch-up cohorts, although with a lower degree of confidence in the case of the last two independent variables. Lower primary care quality was significant in explaining a greater fall in vaccination uptake between the first two doses in the catch-up cohort. Greater deprivation was a significant explanatory factor for both uptake and the fall in uptake between doses for the catch-up cohort but not for uptake in the routine cohort. Conclusion These results for uptake of the first year of the national programme using aggregate data corroborate findings from

Variational principles

CERN Document Server

Moiseiwitsch, B L

2004-01-01

This graduate-level text's primary objective is to demonstrate the expression of the equations of the various branches of mathematical physics in the succinct and elegant form of variational principles (and thereby illuminate their interrelationship). Its related intentions are to show how variational principles may be employed to determine the discrete eigenvalues for stationary state problems and to illustrate how to find the values of quantities (such as the phase shifts) that arise in the theory of scattering. Chapter-by-chapter treatment consists of analytical dynamics; optics, wave mecha

Pluck or Luck: Does Trait Variation or Chance Drive Variation in Lifetime Reproductive Success?

Science.gov (United States)

Snyder, Robin E; Ellner, Stephen P

2018-04-01

While there has been extensive interest in how intraspecific trait variation affects ecological processes, outcomes are highly variable even when individuals are identical: some are lucky, while others are not. Trait variation is therefore important only if it adds substantially to the variability produced by luck. We ask when trait variation has a substantial effect on variability in lifetime reproductive success (LRS), using two approaches: (1) we partition the variation in LRS into contributions from luck and trait variation and (2) we ask what can be inferred about an individual's traits and with what certainty, given their observed LRS. In theoretical stage- and size-structured models and two empirical case studies, we find that luck usually dominates the variance of LRS. Even when individuals differ substantially in ways that affect expected LRS, unless the effects of luck are substantially reduced (e.g., low variability in reproductive life span or annual fecundity), most variance in lifetime outcomes is due to luck, implying that departures from "null" models omitting trait variation will be hard to detect. Luck also obscures the relationship between realized LRS and individual traits. While trait variation may influence the fate of populations, luck often governs the lives of individuals.

Genome Variation Map: a data repository of genome variations in BIG Data Center.

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Shuhui; Tian, Dongmei; Li, Cuiping; Tang, Bixia; Dong, Lili; Xiao, Jingfa; Bao, Yiming; Zhao, Wenming; He, Hang; Zhang, Zhang

2018-01-04

The Genome Variation Map (GVM; http://bigd.big.ac.cn/gvm/) is a public data repository of genome variations. As a core resource in the BIG Data Center, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, GVM dedicates to collect, integrate and visualize genome variations for a wide range of species, accepts submissions of different types of genome variations from all over the world and provides free open access to all publicly available data in support of worldwide research activities. Unlike existing related databases, GVM features integration of a large number of genome variations for a broad diversity of species including human, cultivated plants and domesticated animals. Specifically, the current implementation of GVM not only houses a total of ∼4.9 billion variants for 19 species including chicken, dog, goat, human, poplar, rice and tomato, but also incorporates 8669 individual genotypes and 13 262 manually curated high-quality genotype-to-phenotype associations for non-human species. In addition, GVM provides friendly intuitive web interfaces for data submission, browse, search and visualization. Collectively, GVM serves as an important resource for archiving genomic variation data, helpful for better understanding population genetic diversity and deciphering complex mechanisms associated with different phenotypes. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Genome Variation Map: a data repository of genome variations in BIG Data Center

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, Dongmei; Li, Cuiping; Tang, Bixia; Dong, Lili; Xiao, Jingfa; Bao, Yiming; Zhao, Wenming; He, Hang

2018-01-01

Abstract The Genome Variation Map (GVM; http://bigd.big.ac.cn/gvm/) is a public data repository of genome variations. As a core resource in the BIG Data Center, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, GVM dedicates to collect, integrate and visualize genome variations for a wide range of species, accepts submissions of different types of genome variations from all over the world and provides free open access to all publicly available data in support of worldwide research activities. Unlike existing related databases, GVM features integration of a large number of genome variations for a broad diversity of species including human, cultivated plants and domesticated animals. Specifically, the current implementation of GVM not only houses a total of ∼4.9 billion variants for 19 species including chicken, dog, goat, human, poplar, rice and tomato, but also incorporates 8669 individual genotypes and 13 262 manually curated high-quality genotype-to-phenotype associations for non-human species. In addition, GVM provides friendly intuitive web interfaces for data submission, browse, search and visualization. Collectively, GVM serves as an important resource for archiving genomic variation data, helpful for better understanding population genetic diversity and deciphering complex mechanisms associated with different phenotypes. PMID:29069473

Conversation à Paris avec un étudiant

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Anita Berit

2010-01-01

The article treats lexical, syntactic and phonetic components of the speech of a Parisian student. Data are collected within the framework of the project "Phonologie du français contemporain" (directed by Durand, Laks and Lyche).......The article treats lexical, syntactic and phonetic components of the speech of a Parisian student. Data are collected within the framework of the project "Phonologie du français contemporain" (directed by Durand, Laks and Lyche)....

General inverse problems for regular variation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Damek, Ewa; Mikosch, Thomas Valentin; Rosinski, Jan

2014-01-01

Regular variation of distributional tails is known to be preserved by various linear transformations of some random structures. An inverse problem for regular variation aims at understanding whether the regular variation of a transformed random object is caused by regular variation of components ...

Variationally Asymptotically Stable Difference Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Goo YoonHoe

2007-01-01

Full Text Available We characterize the h-stability in variation and asymptotic equilibrium in variation for nonlinear difference systems via n∞-summable similarity and comparison principle. Furthermore we study the asymptotic equivalence between nonlinear difference systems and their variational difference systems by means of asymptotic equilibria of two systems.

Variational Transition State Theory

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Truhlar, Donald G. [Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States)

2016-09-29

This is the final report on a project involving the development and applications of variational transition state theory. This project involved the development of variational transition state theory for gas-phase reactions, including optimized multidimensional tunneling contributions and the application of this theory to gas-phase reactions with a special emphasis on developing reaction rate theory in directions that are important for applications to combustion. The development of variational transition state theory with optimized multidimensional tunneling as a useful computational tool for combustion kinetics involved eight objectives.

Existence of evolutionary variational solutions via the calculus of variations

Science.gov (United States)

Bögelein, Verena; Duzaar, Frank; Marcellini, Paolo

In this paper we introduce a purely variational approach to time dependent problems, yielding the existence of global parabolic minimizers, that is ∫0T ∫Ω [uṡ∂tφ+f(x,Du)] dx dt⩽∫0T ∫Ω f(x,Du+Dφ) dx dt, whenever T>0 and φ∈C0∞(Ω×(0,T),RN). For the integrand f:Ω×R→[0,∞] we merely assume convexity with respect to the gradient variable and coercivity. These evolutionary variational solutions are obtained as limits of maps depending on space and time minimizing certain convex variational functionals. In the simplest situation, with some growth conditions on f, the method provides the existence of global weak solutions to Cauchy-Dirichlet problems of parabolic systems of the type ∂tu-divDξf(x,Du)=0 in Ω×(0,∞).

Small Vocabulary with Saliency Matching for Video Copy Detection

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ren, Huamin; Moeslund, Thomas B.; Tang, Sheng

2013-01-01

The importance of copy detection has led to a substantial amount of research in recent years, among which Bag of visual Words (BoW) plays an important role due to its ability to effectively handling occlusion and some minor transformations. One crucial issue in BoW approaches is the size of vocab......The importance of copy detection has led to a substantial amount of research in recent years, among which Bag of visual Words (BoW) plays an important role due to its ability to effectively handling occlusion and some minor transformations. One crucial issue in BoW approaches is the size...... matching algorithm based on salient visual words selection. More specifically, the variation of visual words across a given video are represented as trajectories and those containing locally asymptotically stable points are selected as salient visual words. Then we attempt to measure the similarity of two...... videos through saliency matching merely based on the selected salient visual words to remove false positives. Our experiments show that a small codebook with saliency matching is quite competitive in video copy detection. With the incorporation of the proposed saliency matching, the precision can...

Genetic Variation in the Nuclear and Organellar Genomes Modulates Stochastic Variation in the Metabolome, Growth, and Defense

Science.gov (United States)

Joseph, Bindu; Corwin, Jason A.; Kliebenstein, Daniel J.

2015-01-01

Recent studies are starting to show that genetic control over stochastic variation is a key evolutionary solution of single celled organisms in the face of unpredictable environments. This has been expanded to show that genetic variation can alter stochastic variation in transcriptional processes within multi-cellular eukaryotes. However, little is known about how genetic diversity can control stochastic variation within more non-cell autonomous phenotypes. Using an Arabidopsis reciprocal RIL population, we showed that there is significant genetic diversity influencing stochastic variation in the plant metabolome, defense chemistry, and growth. This genetic diversity included loci specific for the stochastic variation of each phenotypic class that did not affect the other phenotypic classes or the average phenotype. This suggests that the organism's networks are established so that noise can exist in one phenotypic level like metabolism and not permeate up or down to different phenotypic levels. Further, the genomic variation within the plastid and mitochondria also had significant effects on the stochastic variation of all phenotypic classes. The genetic influence over stochastic variation within the metabolome was highly metabolite specific, with neighboring metabolites in the same metabolic pathway frequently showing different levels of noise. As expected from bet-hedging theory, there was more genetic diversity and a wider range of stochastic variation for defense chemistry than found for primary metabolism. Thus, it is possible to begin dissecting the stochastic variation of whole organismal phenotypes in multi-cellular organisms. Further, there are loci that modulate stochastic variation at different phenotypic levels. Finding the identity of these genes will be key to developing complete models linking genotype to phenotype. PMID:25569687

Toward Meaningful Manufacturing Variation Data in Design - Feature Based Description of Variation in Manufacturing Processes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Eifler, Tobias; Boorla, Srinivasa Murthy; Howard, Thomas J.

2016-01-01

The need to mitigate the effects of manufacturing variation already in design is nowadays commonly acknowledged and has led to a wide use of predictive modeling techniques, tolerancing approaches, etc. in industry. The trustworthiness of corresponding variation analyses is, however, not ensured...... by the availability of sophisticated methods and tools alone, but does evidently also depend on the accuracy of the input information used. As existing approaches for the description of manufacturing variation focus however, almost exclusively, on monitoring and controlling production processes, there is frequently...... a lack of objective variation data in design. As a result, variation analyses and tolerancing activities rely on numerous assumptions made to fill the gaps of missing or incomplete data. To overcome this hidden subjectivity, a schema for a consistent and standardised description of manufacturing...

Fimbrial phase variation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Khandige, Surabhi; Møller-Jensen, Jakob

2016-01-01

Surface fimbriae of pathogenic Escherichia coli facilitate sensing, adhesion and even invasion of host epithelial cells. While it is known that the pathogen has the potential to express a plethora of fimbrial variants susceptible to rapid phase ON/OFF variation, it is an open question if the fimb......Surface fimbriae of pathogenic Escherichia coli facilitate sensing, adhesion and even invasion of host epithelial cells. While it is known that the pathogen has the potential to express a plethora of fimbrial variants susceptible to rapid phase ON/OFF variation, it is an open question...... if the fimbrial diversity seen at the population level is the product of random stochasticity or a concerted effort based on active communication. Here we discuss the possibility of a mechanism alternative to a stochastic fimbrial phase variation model affecting the dynamics of a heterogeneous population....

Variational principles in physics

CERN Document Server

Basdevant, Jean-Louis

2007-01-01

Optimization under constraints is an essential part of everyday life. Indeed, we routinely solve problems by striking a balance between contradictory interests, individual desires and material contingencies. This notion of equilibrium was dear to thinkers of the enlightenment, as illustrated by Montesquieu’s famous formulation: "In all magistracies, the greatness of the power must be compensated by the brevity of the duration." Astonishingly, natural laws are guided by a similar principle. Variational principles have proven to be surprisingly fertile. For example, Fermat used variational methods to demonstrate that light follows the fastest route from one point to another, an idea which came to be known as Fermat’s principle, a cornerstone of geometrical optics. Variational Principles in Physics explains variational principles and charts their use throughout modern physics. The heart of the book is devoted to the analytical mechanics of Lagrange and Hamilton, the basic tools of any physicist. Prof. Basdev...

Variation Tolerant On-Chip Interconnects

CERN Document Server

Nigussie, Ethiopia Enideg

2012-01-01

This book presents design techniques, analysis and implementation of high performance and power efficient, variation tolerant on-chip interconnects.  Given the design paradigm shift to multi-core, interconnect-centric designs and the increase in sources of variability and their impact in sub-100nm technologies, this book will be an invaluable reference for anyone concerned with the design of next generation, high-performance electronics systems. Provides comprehensive, circuit-level explanation of high-performance, energy-efficient, variation-tolerant on-chip interconnect; Describes design techniques to mitigate problems caused by variation; Includes techniques for design and implementation of self-timed on-chip interconnect, delay variation insensitive communication protocols, high speed signaling techniques and circuits, bit-width independent completion detection and process, voltage and temperature variation tolerance.                          

Water quality, Multivariate statistical techniques, submarine out fall, spatial variation, temporal variation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garcia, Francisco; Palacio, Carlos; Garcia, Uriel

2012-01-01

Multivariate statistical techniques were used to investigate the temporal and spatial variations of water quality at the Santa Marta coastal area where a submarine out fall that discharges 1 m3/s of domestic wastewater is located. Two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), cluster and principal component analysis and Krigging interpolation were considered for this report. Temporal variation showed two heterogeneous periods. From December to April, and July, where the concentration of the water quality parameters is higher; the rest of the year (May, June, August-November) were significantly lower. The spatial variation reported two areas where the water quality is different, this difference is related to the proximity to the submarine out fall discharge.

Variational integrators for electric circuits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ober-Blöbaum, Sina; Tao, Molei; Cheng, Mulin; Owhadi, Houman; Marsden, Jerrold E.

2013-01-01

In this contribution, we develop a variational integrator for the simulation of (stochastic and multiscale) electric circuits. When considering the dynamics of an electric circuit, one is faced with three special situations: 1. The system involves external (control) forcing through external (controlled) voltage sources and resistors. 2. The system is constrained via the Kirchhoff current (KCL) and voltage laws (KVL). 3. The Lagrangian is degenerate. Based on a geometric setting, an appropriate variational formulation is presented to model the circuit from which the equations of motion are derived. A time-discrete variational formulation provides an iteration scheme for the simulation of the electric circuit. Dependent on the discretization, the intrinsic degeneracy of the system can be canceled for the discrete variational scheme. In this way, a variational integrator is constructed that gains several advantages compared to standard integration tools for circuits; in particular, a comparison to BDF methods (which are usually the method of choice for the simulation of electric circuits) shows that even for simple LCR circuits, a better energy behavior and frequency spectrum preservation can be observed using the developed variational integrator

A survey of variational principles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lewins, J.D.

1993-01-01

In this article survey of variational principles has been given. Variational principles play a significant role in mathematical theory with emphasis on the physical aspects. There are two principals used i.e. to represent the equation of the system in a succinct way and to enable a particular computation in the system to be carried out with greater accuracy. The survey of variational principles has ranged widely from its starting point in the Lagrange multiplier to optimisation principles. In an age of digital computation, these classic methods can be adapted to improve such calculations. We emphasize particularly the advantage of basic finite element methods on variational principles. (A.B.)

Effect of α variation on a prospective experiment to detect variation of me/mp in diatomic molecules

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beloy, K.; Borschevsky, A.; Schwerdtfeger, P.; Flambaum, V. V.

2011-01-01

We consider the influence of variation in the fine structure constant α on a promising experiment proposed by DeMille et al. to search for variation in the electron-to-proton mass ratio μ using diatomic molecules [DeMille et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 043202 (2008)]. The proposed experiment involves spectroscopically probing the splitting between two nearly degenerate vibrational levels supported by different electronic potentials. Here we demonstrate that this splitting may be equally or more sensitive to variation in α as to variation in μ. For the anticipated experimental precision, this implies that the α variation may not be negligible, as previously assumed, and further suggests that the method could serve as a competitive means to search for α variation as well.

Fonetické rysy kubánské španělštiny

OpenAIRE

Gonzálezová, Julie

2017-01-01

GONZÁLEZOVÁ, Julie: Phonetic Features of Cuban Spanish. [Bachelor thesis]. - Charles University. Faculty of Arts; Department of Romance studies. Hispanic studies. - Supervisor: Mgr. Štěpánka Černikovská, Ph.D. Prague: FF UK, 2017. pp. 44. This thesis examines selected phonetic phenomena of the Spanish spoken in Cuba, providing a theoretical overview of them in current literature and, consequently, giving some evidence of their presence in Cuba with factors that are likely to affect them, base...

The Salient Map Analysis for Research and Teaching (SMART) method: Powerful potential as a formative assessment in the biomedical sciences

Science.gov (United States)

Cathcart, Laura Anne

This dissertation consists of two studies: 1) development and characterization of the Salient Map Analysis for Research and Teaching (SMART) method as a formative assessment tool and 2) a case study exploring how a paramedic instructor's beliefs about learners affect her utilization of the SMART method and vice versa. The first study explored: How can a novel concept map analysis method be designed as an effective formative assessment tool? The SMART method improves upon existing concept map analysis methods because it does not require hierarchically structured concept maps and it preserves the rich content of the maps instead of reducing each map down to a numerical score. The SMART method is performed by comparing a set of students' maps to each other and to an instructor's map. The resulting composite map depicts, in percentages and highlighted colors, the similarities and differences between all of the maps. Some advantages of the SMART method as a formative assessment tool include its ability to highlight changes across time, problematic or alternative conceptions, and patterns of student responses at a glance. Study two explored: How do a paramedic instructor's beliefs about students and learning affect---and become affected by---her use of the SMART method as a formative assessment tool? This case study of Angel, an expert paramedic instructor, begins to address a gap in the emergency medical services (EMS) education literature, which contains almost no research on teachers or pedagogy. Angel and I worked together as participant co-researchers (Heron & Reason, 1997) exploring the affordances of the SMART method. This study, based on those interactions with Angel, involved using open coding to identify themes (Strauss & Corbin, 1998) from Angel's views of students and use of the SMART method. Angel views learning as a sense-making process. She has a multi-faceted view of her students as novices and invests substantial time trying to understand their concept

Ladder variational autoencoders

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sønderby, Casper Kaae; Raiko, Tapani; Maaløe, Lars

2016-01-01

Variational autoencoders are powerful models for unsupervised learning. However deep models with several layers of dependent stochastic variables are difficult to train which limits the improvements obtained using these highly expressive models. We propose a new inference model, the Ladder...... Variational Autoencoder, that recursively corrects the generative distribution by a data dependent approximate likelihood in a process resembling the recently proposed Ladder Network. We show that this model provides state of the art predictive log-likelihood and tighter log-likelihood lower bound compared...

Ladder Variational Autoencoder

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sønderby, Casper Kaae; Raiko, Tapani; Maaløe, Lars

2016-01-01

Variational autoencoders are powerful models for unsupervised learning. However deep models with several layers of dependent stochastic variables are difficult to train which limits the improvements obtained using these highly expressive models. We propose a new inference model, the Ladder...... Variational Autoencoder, that recursively corrects the generative distribution by a data dependent approximate likelihood in a process resembling the recently proposed Ladder Network. We show that this model provides state of the art predictive log-likelihood and tighter log-likelihood lower bound compared...

Individual diet variation in a marine fish assemblage: Optimal Foraging Theory, Niche Variation Hypothesis and functional identity

Science.gov (United States)

Cachera, M.; Ernande, B.; Villanueva, M. C.; Lefebvre, S.

2017-02-01

Individual diet variation (i.e. diet variation among individuals) impacts intra- and inter-specific interactions. Investigating its sources and relationship with species trophic niche organization is important for understanding community structure and dynamics. Individual diet variation may increase with intra-specific phenotypic (or "individual state") variation and habitat variability, according to Optimal Foraging Theory (OFT), and with species trophic niche width, according to the Niche Variation Hypothesis (NVH). OFT proposes "proximate sources" of individual diet variation such as variations in habitat or size whereas NVH relies on "ultimate sources" related to the competitive balance between intra- and inter-specific competitions. The latter implies as a corollary that species trophic niche overlap, taken as inter-specific competition measure, decreases as species niche width and individual niche variation increase. We tested the complementary predictions of OFT and NVH in a marine fish assemblage using stomach content data and associated trophic niche metrics. The NVH predictions were tested between species of the assemblage and decomposed into a between- and a within-functional group component to assess the potential influence of species' ecological function. For most species, individual diet variation and niche overlap were consistently larger than expected. Individual diet variation increased with intra-specific variability in individual state and habitat, as expected from OFT. It also increased with species niche width but in compliance with the null expectation, thus not supporting the NVH. In contrast, species niche overlap increased significantly less than null expectation with both species niche width and individual diet variation, supporting NVH corollary. The between- and within-functional group components of the NVH relationships were consistent with those between species at the assemblage level. Changing the number of prey categories used to

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ORAL PRESENTATION IN PROMOTING LEARNER AUTONOMY IN CLASS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rahmatika Kayyis

2017-02-01

Full Text Available In class of Phonetic phonology, students having confusion about a huge differences of each symbol and its phoneme between Indonesia and English. Only by giving them a lecturer in each meeting would not satisfy their needs. As it simply cannot keep up with it, learners have to be able to process and investigate their curiosity on their own autonomously.  Oral presentation is believed as one of implementations to promote learner autonomy in University environment. 32 students in the class divided into 10 groups presented several topics about phonetic and phonology. The data were collected through observation, interview, and questionaire. Then, they were analyzed using the steps in case study research method. The finding shows that oral presentation had given them “freedom”to discover and autonomy to do their own learning. They also given good response relating of  what they had learnt dan investigated during teaching learning in Phonetic and Phonology Class.

Equilibrium theory : A salient approach

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schalk, S.

1999-01-01

Whereas the neoclassical models in General Equilibrium Theory focus on the existence of separate commodities, this thesis regards 'bundles of trade' as the unit objects of exchange. Apart from commodities and commodity bundles in the neoclassical sense, the term `bundle of trade' includes, for

Menopause: Salient Issues for Counselors.

Science.gov (United States)

Patterson, Marilyn M.; Lynch, Ann Q.

1988-01-01

Discusses issues surrounding menopause, with the idea that counselors are in an ideal position to help change attitudes toward viewing menopause as a time of positive change rather than a time of psychological distress. Reviews historical, sociological, psychological, and attitudinal factors that account for negative responses associated with…

Techniques to assess biological variation in destructive data

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tijskens, L.M.M.; Schouten, R.E.; Jongbloed, G.; Konopacki, P.J.

2018-01-01

Variation is present in all measured data, due to variation between individuals (biological variation) and variation induced by the measuring system (technical variation). Biological variation present in experimental data is not the result of a random process but strictly subject to deterministic

Non-storm irregular variation of the Dst index

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Nakano

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The Dst index has a long-term variation that is not associated with magnetic storms. We estimated the long-term non-storm component of the Dst variation by removing the short-term variation related to magnetic storms. The results indicate that the variation of the non-storm component includes not only a seasonal variation but also an irregular variation. The irregular long-term variation is likely to be due to an anti-correlation with the long-term variation of solar-wind activity. In particular, a clear anti-correlation is observed between the non-storm component of Dst and the long-term variation of the solar-wind dynamic pressure. This means that in the long term, the Dst index tends to increase when the solar-wind dynamic pressure decreases. We interpret this anti-correlation as an indication that the long-term non-storm variation of Dst is influenced by the tail current variation. The long-term variation of the solar-wind dynamic pressure controls the plasma sheet thermal pressure, and the change of the plasma sheet thermal pressure would cause the non-storm tail current variation, resulting in the non-storm variation of Dst.

Solution of problems in calculus of variations via He's variational iteration method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tatari, Mehdi; Dehghan, Mehdi

2007-01-01

In the modeling of a large class of problems in science and engineering, the minimization of a functional is appeared. Finding the solution of these problems needs to solve the corresponding ordinary differential equations which are generally nonlinear. In recent years He's variational iteration method has been attracted a lot of attention of the researchers for solving nonlinear problems. This method finds the solution of the problem without any discretization of the equation. Since this method gives a closed form solution of the problem and avoids the round off errors, it can be considered as an efficient method for solving various kinds of problems. In this research He's variational iteration method will be employed for solving some problems in calculus of variations. Some examples are presented to show the efficiency of the proposed technique

Daniel Jones

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

underrated, impact on the American structuralist school. This eight volume collection makes available the first editions of Jones' standard books, i.e. The Pronunciation of English (1909), An English Pronouncing Dictionary (1917) and An Outline of English Phonetics (1918). In addition, Jones' crucial...... pioneering works, now out of print for many decades, are made easily accessible to scholars once again. Numerous articles encompassing a variety of phonetic/phonological topics, for example, phonemic analysis, juncture, models of pronunciation, and historiography, are also included (converted where necessary...

Comparison of spectrographic records of two syllables pronounced from scripts in hiragana and romaji by students with different familiarity with English.

Science.gov (United States)

Ototake, Harumi; Yamada, Jun

2005-10-01

The same syllables /mu/ and /ra/ written in Japanese hiragana and romaji given on a standard speeded naming task elicited phonetically or acoustically different responses in a syllabic hiragana condition and a romaji condition. The participants were two groups of Japanese college students (ns = 15 and 16) with different familiarity with English as a second language. The results suggested that the phonetic reality of syllables represented in these scripts can differ, depending on the interaction between the kind of script and speakers' orthographic familiarity.

Seasonal variation in sports participation.

Science.gov (United States)

Schüttoff, Ute; Pawlowski, Tim

2018-02-01

This study explores indicators describing socio-demographics, sports participation characteristics and motives which are associated with variation in sports participation across seasons. Data were drawn from the German Socio-Economic Panel which contains detailed information on the sports behaviour of adults in Germany. Overall, two different measures of seasonal variation are developed and used as dependent variables in our regression models. The first variable measures the coefficient of (seasonal) variation in sport-related energy expenditure per week. The second variable measures whether activity drops below the threshold as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO). Results suggest that the organisational setting, the intensity and number of sports practised, and the motive for participation are strongly correlated with the variation measures used. For example, both, participation in a sports club and a commercial facility, are associated with reduced seasonal variation and a significantly higher probability of participating at a volume above the WHO threshold across all seasons. These findings give some impetus for policymaking and the planning of sports programmes as well as future research directions.

Consumers' salient beliefs regarding dairy products in the functional food era: a qualitative study using concepts from the theory of planned behaviour.

Science.gov (United States)

Nolan-Clark, Deborah J; Neale, Elizabeth P; Probst, Yasmine C; Charlton, Karen E; Tapsell, Linda C

2011-11-03

Inadequate consumption of dairy products without appropriate dietary substitution may have deleterious health consequences. Social research reveals the factors that may impede compliance with dietary recommendations. This is particularly important given the recent introduction of functional dairy products. One of the challenges for public health professionals is to demonstrate the efficacy of nutrition education in improving attitudes toward nutrient rich foods. The aim of this study was to explore the salient beliefs of adult weight loss trial participants regarding both traditional and functional dairy products and to compare these with a control group not exposed to nutrition education. Six focus groups were conducted, three with weight loss trial completers (n = 15) that had received nutrition education and three with individuals from the same region (n = 14) to act as controls. Transcribed focus groups were coded using the Theory of Planned Behaviour theoretical framework. Non-trial participants perceived dairy foods as weight inducing and were sceptical of functional dairy products. A lack of time/ability to decipher dairy food labels was also discussed by these individuals. In contrast trial participants discussed several health benefits related to dairy foods, practised label reading and were confident in their ability to incorporate dairy foods into their diet. Normative beliefs expressed were similar for both groups indicating that these were more static and less amenable to change through nutrition education than control and behavioural beliefs. Nutrition education provided as a result of weight loss trial participation influenced behavioural and control beliefs relating to dairy products. This study provides a proof of concept indication that nutrition education may improve attitudes towards dairy products and may thus be an important target for public health campaigns seeking to increase intake of this food group.

Consumers' salient beliefs regarding dairy products in the functional food era: a qualitative study using concepts from the theory of planned behaviour

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nolan-Clark Deborah J

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Inadequate consumption of dairy products without appropriate dietary substitution may have deleterious health consequences. Social research reveals the factors that may impede compliance with dietary recommendations. This is particularly important given the recent introduction of functional dairy products. One of the challenges for public health professionals is to demonstrate the efficacy of nutrition education in improving attitudes toward nutrient rich foods. The aim of this study was to explore the salient beliefs of adult weight loss trial participants regarding both traditional and functional dairy products and to compare these with a control group not exposed to nutrition education. Methods Six focus groups were conducted, three with weight loss trial completers (n = 15 that had received nutrition education and three with individuals from the same region (n = 14 to act as controls. Transcribed focus groups were coded using the Theory of Planned Behaviour theoretical framework. Results Non-trial participants perceived dairy foods as weight inducing and were sceptical of functional dairy products. A lack of time/ability to decipher dairy food labels was also discussed by these individuals. In contrast trial participants discussed several health benefits related to dairy foods, practised label reading and were confident in their ability to incorporate dairy foods into their diet. Normative beliefs expressed were similar for both groups indicating that these were more static and less amenable to change through nutrition education than control and behavioural beliefs. Conclusions Nutrition education provided as a result of weight loss trial participation influenced behavioural and control beliefs relating to dairy products. This study provides a proof of concept indication that nutrition education may improve attitudes towards dairy products and may thus be an important target for public health campaigns seeking to increase

Environmental variation partitioned into separate heritable components

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ørsted, Michael; Rohde, Palle Duun; Hoffmann, Ary A

2018-01-01

Trait variation is normally separated into genetic and environmental components, yet genetic factors also control the expression of environmental variation, encompassing plasticity across environmental gradients and within-environment responses. We defined four components of environmental variation......: plasticity across environments, variability in plasticity, variation within environments, and differences in within-environment variation across environments. We assessed these components for cold tolerance across five rearing temperatures using the Drosophila melanogaster Genetic Reference Panel (DGRP...

Salient features and outcomes of Charcot foot – An often-overlooked diabetic complication: A 17-year-experience at a diabetic center in Bangkok

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yotsapon Thewjitcharoen

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Background: Charcot foot is a rare but a serious diabetic condition. Recognition of this often overlooked condition to provide timely and proper management is important for a better prognosis. Limited data on Charcot foot was available in Asians. Aims: The aim of this study is to describe salient features and outcomes of Charcot foot in Thai patients. Method: We presented our experience of 40 cases of Charcot foot patients who were treated from 2000 to 2016 at Theptarin Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand. Results: A total of 40 Charcot foot patients were identified (13 acute, 27 chronic; mean age 58.7 ± 10.2 years; duration of diabetes 18.0 ± 8.8 years; T2DM 95%. The average serum HbA1c level was 9.2 ± 1.9%. While acute Charcot foot was frequently misdiagnosed as cellulitis in almost one-third of patients, osteomyelitis was a leading cause of misdiagnosis in 15% of chronic Charcot foot patients. Ulcer-free rate at 6 and 12 months were observed in 60% and 58% of patients, respectively. The mortality rate was 13% during a median follow-up period of 57 months. Only 61% of the patients resumed walking normally while almost one-fourth of them were wheelchair-bound. Conclusions: Charcot foot in Thai patients mainly developed in long-standing poorly controlled type 2 diabetes with neuropathy, and presented late in the course of the disease. It was often misdiagnosed resulting in improper management and poor outcome which included amputation. Keywords: Charcot foot, Outcomes, Thailand

Coarse Grained Exponential Variational Autoencoders

KAUST Repository

Sun, Ke; Zhang, Xiangliang

2017-01-01

Variational autoencoders (VAE) often use Gaussian or category distribution to model the inference process. This puts a limit on variational learning because this simplified assumption does not match the true posterior distribution, which is usually

Frequency variations of discrete cranial traits in major human populations. I. Supernumerary ossicle variations.

Science.gov (United States)

Hanihara, T; Ishida, H

2001-06-01

Four supernumerary ossicle variations-the ossicle at the lambda, the parietal notch bone, the asterionic bone, and the occipitomastoid bone-were examined for laterality differences, intertrait correlations, sex differences, and between group variations in the samples from around the world. Significant laterality differences were not detected in almost all samples. In some pairs of traits, significant association of occurrence were found. Several geographic samples were sexually dimorphic with respect to the asterionic bone and to a lesser extent for the parietal notch bone. East/Northeast Asians including the Arctic populations in general had lower frequencies of the 4 accessory ossicles. Australians, Melanesians and the majority of the New World peoples, on the other hand, generally had high frequencies. In the western hemisphere of the Old World, Subsaharan Africans had relatively high frequencies. Except for the ossicle at the lambda, the distribution pattern in incidence showed clinal variation from south to north. Any identifiable adaptive value related to environmental or subsistence factors may be expressed in such clinal variation. This may allow us to hypothesise that not only mechanical factors but a founder effect, genetic drift, and population structure could have been the underlying causes for interregional variation and possible clines in the incidences of the accessory ossicles.

Intraspecific variation in social organization by genetic variation, developmental plasticity, social flexibility or entirely extrinsic factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Schradin, Carsten

2013-05-19

Previously, it was widely believed that each species has a specific social organization, but we know now that many species show intraspecific variation in their social organization. Four different processes can lead to intraspecific variation in social organization: (i) genetic variation between individuals owing to local adaptation (between populations) or evolutionarily stable strategies within populations; (ii) developmental plasticity evolved in long-term (more than one generation) unpredictable and short-term (one generation) predictable environments, which is mediated by organizational physiological effects during early ontogeny; (iii) social flexibility evolved in highly unpredictable environments, which is mediated by activational physiological effects in adults; (iv) entirely extrinsic factors such as the death of a dominant breeder. Variation in social behaviour occurs between individuals in the case of genetic variation and developmental plasticity, but within individuals in the case of social flexibility. It is important to study intraspecific variation in social organization to understand the social systems of species because it reveals the mechanisms by which species can adapt to changing environments, offers a useful tool to study the ultimate and proximate causes of sociality, and is an interesting phenomenon by itself that needs scientific explanation.

Advances in the treatment of children with phonological disorders

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ceron, Marizete Ilha

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Treatment of phonological disorders considering extra-linguistic and linguistic variables are important to ensure that the alteration is resolved promptly and in the best manner as possible. Aim: To analyze therapeutic advances (phonetic inventory, phonological system, and distinctive features in children with phonological disorders by considering the therapeutic approach used, the severity of the phonological disorder, age, and the number of therapeutic sessions. Methods: We conducted a case series study of 94 children aged 3 years, 9 months through 8 years, 5 months. The children were divided into groups based on the therapeutic approach used (Modified Cycles, Maximal Oppositions, ABAB-Withdrawal, and Multiple Probes, the severity of their phonological disorder, age, and the number of therapy sessions with each individual. Phonetic inventory, the phonological system, and the number of altered distinctive features were analyzed. Results: The greater the number of therapy sessions, the greater the number of sounds acquired. The number of sounds present in the phonetic inventory and phonological system increased and the severity of the phonological disorder decreased with all of the therapeutic approaches studied. There was also a reduction in the incidence of altered distinctive features. Conclusion: There was a favorable evolution in phonetic inventory and phonological system acquisitions as well as a reduction in the number of altered distinctive features for all 3 therapeutic models regardless of the severity of the phonological disorder, age, or number of sessions.

Solar ultraviolet irradiance variations: a review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lean, J.

1987-01-01

Despite the geophysical importance of solar ultraviolet radiation, specific aspects of its temporal variations have not yet been adequately determined experimentally, nor are the mechanisms for the variability completely understood. Satellite observations have verified the reality of solar ultraviolet irradiance variations over time scales of days and months, and model calculations have confirmed the association of these short-term variations with the evolution and rotation of regions of enhanced magnetic activity on the solar disc. However, neither rocket nor satellite measurements have yet been made with sufficient accuracy and regularity to establish unequivocally the nature of the variability over the longer time of the 11-year solar cycle. The comparative importance for the long-term variations of local regions of enhanced magnetic activity and global scale activity perturbations is still being investigated. Solar ultraviolet irradiance variations over both short and long time scales are reviewed, with emphasis on their connection to solar magnetic activity. Correlations with ground-based measures of solar variability are examined because of the importance of the ground-based observations as historical proxies of ultraviolet irradiance variations. Current problems in understanding solar ultraviolet irradiance variations are discussed, and the measurements planned for solar cycle 22, which may resolve these problems, are briefly described. copyright American Geophysical Union 1987

Variational transition state theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Truhlar, D.G.

1986-01-01

This project is concerned with the development and applications of generalized transition state theory and multidimensional tunneling approximations to chemical reaction rates. They have developed and implemented several practical versions of variational transition state theory (VTST), namely canonical variational theory (CVT), improved canonical variational theory (ICVT), and microcanonical variational theory (μVT). They have also developed and implemented several accurate multidimensional semiclassical tunneling approximations, the most accurate of which are the small-curvature semiclassical adiabatic (SCSA), large-curvature version-3 (LC3), and least-action (LA) approximations. They have applied the methods to thermal rate constants, using transmission coefficients based on ground-state tunneling, and they have also presented and applied adiabatic and diabatic extensions to calculated rate constants for vibrationally excited reactants. Their general goal is to develop accurate methods for calculating chemical reaction rate constants that remain practical even for reasonably complicated molecules. The approximations mentioned above yield rate constants for systems whose potential energy surface is known or assumed. Thus a second, equally important aspect of their work is the determination or modeling, semi-empirically and/or from electronic structure calculations, of potential energy surfaces

Auditory and phonetic category formation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Goudbeek, Martijn; Cutler, A.; Smits, R.; Swingley, D.; Cohen, Henri; Lefebvre, Claire

2017-01-01

Among infants' first steps in language acquisition is learning the relevant contrasts of the language-specific phonemic repertoire. This learning is viewed as the formation of categories in a multidimensional psychophysical space. Research in the visual modality has shown that for adults, some kinds

Norms and stigma regarding pregnancy decisions during an unintended pregnancy: Development and predictors of scales among young women in the U.S. South

OpenAIRE

Rice, Whitney S.; Turan, Bulent; Stringer, Kristi L.; Helova, Anna; White, Kari; Cockrill, Kate; Turan, Janet M.

2017-01-01

Background Norms and stigma regarding pregnancy decisions (parenting, adoption, and abortion) are salient to maternal well-being, particularly for groups disproportionately affected by unintended pregnancy. However, there are few validated measures of individual-level perceptions of norms and stigma around pregnancy decisions. Additionally, little is known about variation in the content of norms regarding pregnancy decisions, and in stigma related to violations of these norms, across socio-de...

Influence of Design Variations on Systems Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Tumer, Irem Y.; Stone, Robert B.; Huff, Edward M.; Norvig, Peter (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

High-risk aerospace components have to meet very stringent quality, performance, and safety requirements. Any source of variation is a concern, as it may result in scrap or rework. poor performance, and potentially unsafe flying conditions. The sources of variation during product development, including design, manufacturing, and assembly, and during operation are shown. Sources of static and dynamic variation during development need to be detected accurately in order to prevent failure when the components are placed in operation. The Systems' Health and Safety (SHAS) research at the NASA Ames Research Center addresses the problem of detecting and evaluating the statistical variation in helicopter transmissions. In this work, we focus on the variations caused by design, manufacturing, and assembly of these components, prior to being placed in operation (DMV). In particular, we aim to understand and represent the failure and variation information, and their correlation to performance and safety and feed this information back into the development cycle at an early stage. The feedback of such critical information will assure the development of more reliable components with less rework and scrap. Variations during design and manufacturing are a common source of concern in the development and production of such components. Accounting for these variations, especially those that have the potential to affect performance, is accomplished in a variety ways, including Taguchi methods, FMEA, quality control, statistical process control, and variation risk management. In this work, we start with the assumption that any of these variations can be represented mathematically, and accounted for by using analytical tools incorporating these mathematical representations. In this paper, we concentrate on variations that are introduced during design. Variations introduced during manufacturing are investigated in parallel work.

Normal variation of hepatic artery

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Inn; Nam, Myung Hyun; Rhim, Hyun Chul; Koh, Byung Hee; Seo, Heung Suk; Kim, Soon Yong

1987-01-01

This study was an analyses of blood supply of the liver in 125 patients who received hepatic arteriography and abdominal aortography from Jan. 1984 to Dec. 1986 at the Department of Radiology of Hanyang University Hospital. A. Variations in extrahepatic arteries: 1. The normal extrahepatic artery pattern occurred in 106 of 125 cases (84.8%) ; Right hepatic and left hepatic arteries arising from the hepatic artery proper and hepatic artery proper arising from the common hepatic artery. 2. The most common type of variation of extrahepatic artery was replaced right hepatic artery from superior mesenteric artery: 6 of 125 cases (4.8%). B. Variations in intrahepatic arteries: 1. The normal intrahepatic artery pattern occurred in 83 of 125 cases (66.4%). Right hepatic and left hepatic arteries arising from the hepatic artery proper and middle hepatic artery arising from lower portion of the umbilical point of left hepatic artery. 2. The most common variation of intrahepatic arteries was middle hepatic artery. 3. Among the variation of middle hepatic artery; Right, middle and left hepatic arteries arising from the same location at the hepatic artery proper was the most common type; 17 of 125 cases (13.6%)

Diural TSH variations in hypothyroidism.

Science.gov (United States)

Weeke, J; Laurberg, P

1976-07-01

There is a circadian variation in serum TSH in euthyroid subjects. A similar diurnal variation has been demonstrated in patients with hypothyroidism. In the present study the 24-hour pattern of serum TSH was investigated in eight patients with hypothyroidism of varying severity and in five hypothyroid patients treated with thyroxine (T4). There was a circadian variation in serum TSH in patients with hypothyroidism of moderate degree, and in patients treated for severe hypothyrodism with thyroxine. The pattern was similar to that found in normal subjects, i.e., low TSH levels in the daytime and higher levels at night. In severely hypothyroid patients, no diurnal variation in serum TSH was observed. A practical consequence is that blood samples for TSH measurements in patients with moderately elevated TSH levels are best taken after 1100 h, when the low day levels are reached.

A Dual-Route Model that Learns to Pronounce English Words

Science.gov (United States)

Remington, Roger W.; Miller, Craig S.; Null, Cynthia H. (Technical Monitor)

1995-01-01

This paper describes a model that learns to pronounce English words. Learning occurs in two modules: 1) a rule-based module that constructs pronunciations by phonetic analysis of the letter string, and 2) a whole-word module that learns to associate subsets of letters to the pronunciation, without phonetic analysis. In a simulation on a corpus of over 300 words the model produced pronunciation latencies consistent with the effects of word frequency and orthographic regularity observed in human data. Implications of the model for theories of visual word processing and reading instruction are discussed.

Grapheme-to-phoneme Conversion in Theory and Practice

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Juel Henrichsen, Peter

Tools for mapping between written words and phonetic forms are essential components in many applications of speech technology, such as automatic speech recognition (ASR) and speech synthesis (TTS). Simple converters can be derived from annotated speech corpora using machine learning, and such tools...... are available for almost all European languages and a great number of others. Whereas their performance is adequate for ASR and for low-quality TTS, their lack of precision makes them unfit for linguistic research purposes such as phonetic annotation of spontaneous speech recordings. A common method...

Comparing variation across European countries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thygesen, Lau C; Baixauli-Pérez, Cristobal; Librero-López, Julián

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND: In geographical studies, population distribution is a key issue. An unequal distribution across units of analysis might entail extra-variation and produce misleading conclusions on healthcare performance variations. This article aims at assessing the impact of building more homogeneou...

Variation across mitochondrial gene trees provides evidence for systematic error: How much gene tree variation is biological?

Science.gov (United States)

Richards, Emilie J; Brown, Jeremy M; Barley, Anthony J; Chong, Rebecca A; Thomson, Robert C

2018-02-19

The use of large genomic datasets in phylogenetics has highlighted extensive topological variation across genes. Much of this discordance is assumed to result from biological processes. However, variation among gene trees can also be a consequence of systematic error driven by poor model fit, and the relative importance of biological versus methodological factors in explaining gene tree variation is a major unresolved question. Using mitochondrial genomes to control for biological causes of gene tree variation, we estimate the extent of gene tree discordance driven by systematic error and employ posterior prediction to highlight the role of model fit in producing this discordance. We find that the amount of discordance among mitochondrial gene trees is similar to the amount of discordance found in other studies that assume only biological causes of variation. This similarity suggests that the role of systematic error in generating gene tree variation is underappreciated and critical evaluation of fit between assumed models and the data used for inference is important for the resolution of unresolved phylogenetic questions.

Matter tensor from the Hilbert variational principle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pandres, D. Jr.

1976-01-01

We consider the Hilbert variational principle which is conventionally used to derive Einstein's equations for the source-free gravitational field. We show that at least one version of the equivalence principle suggests an alternative way of performing the variation, resulting in a different set of Einstein equations with sources automatically present. This illustrates a technique which may be applied to any theory that is derived from a variational principle and that admits a gauge group. The essential point is that, if one first imposes a gauge condition and then performs the variation, one obtains field equations with source terms which do not appear if one first performs the variation and then imposes the gauge condition. A second illustration is provided by the variational principle conventionally used to derive Maxwell's equations for the source-free electromagnetic field. If one first imposes the Lorentz gauge condition and then performs the variation, one obtains Maxwell's equations with sources present

Preliminary validation of FastaReada as a measure of reading fluency

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zena eElhassan

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Fluent reading is characterized by speed and accuracy in the decoding and comprehension of connected text. Although a variety of measures are available for the assessment of reading skills most tests do not evaluate rate of text recognition as reflected in fluent reading. Here we evaluate FastaReada, a customized computer-generated task that was developed to address some of the limitations of currently available measures of reading skills. FastaReada provides a rapid assessment of reading fluency quantified as words read per minute for connected, meaningful text. To test the criterion validity of FastaReada, 124 mainstream school children with typical sensory, mental and motor development were assessed. Performance on FastaReada was correlated with the established Neale Analysis of Reading Ability (NARA measures of text reading accuracy, rate and comprehension, and common single word measures of pseudoword (non-word reading, phonetic decoding, phonological awareness and mode of word decoding (i.e., visual or eidetic versus auditory or phonetic. The results demonstrated strong positive correlations between FastaReada performance and NARA reading rate (r = .75, accuracy (r = .83 and comprehension (r = .63 scores providing evidence for criterion-related validity. Additional evidence for criterion validity was demonstrated through strong positive correlations between FastaReada and both single word eidetic (r = .81 and phonetic decoding skills (r = .68. The results also demonstrated FastaReada to be a stronger predictor of eidetic decoding than the NARA rate measure, with FastaReada predicting 14.4% of the variance compared to 2.6% predicted by NARA rate. FastaReada was therefore deemed to be a valid tool for educators, clinicians, and research related assessment of reading accuracy and rate. As expected, analysis with hierarchical regressions also highlighted the closer relationship of fluent reading to rapid visual word recognition than to

[Correlation of intraocular pressure variation after visual field examination with 24-hour intraocular pressure variations in primary open-angle glaucoma].

Science.gov (United States)

Noro, Takahiko; Nakamoto, Kenji; Sato, Makoto; Yasuda, Noriko; Ito, Yoshinori; Ogawa, Shumpei; Nakano, Tadashi; Tsuneoka, Hiroshi

2014-10-01

We retrospectively examined intraocular pressure variations after visual field examination in primary open angle glaucoma (POAG), together with its influencing factors and its association with 24-hour intraocular pressure variations. Subjects were 94 eyes (52 POAG patients) subjected to measurements of 24-hour intraocular pressure and of changes in intraocular pressure after visual field examination using a Humphrey Visual Field Analyzer. Subjects were classified into three groups according to the magnitude of variation (large, intermediate and small), and 24-hour intraocular pressure variations were compared among the three groups. Factors influencing intraocular pressure variations after visual field examination and those associated with the large variation group were investigated. Average intraocular pressure variation after visual field examination was -0.28 ± 1.90 (range - 6.0(-) + 5.0) mmHg. No significant influencing factors were identified. The intraocular pressure at 3 a.m. was significantly higher in the large variation group than other two groups (p field examination. Increases in intraocular pressure during the night might be associated with large intraocular pressure variations after visual field examination.

On Gap Functions for Quasi-Variational Inequalities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kouichi Taji

2008-01-01

Full Text Available For variational inequalities, various merit functions, such as the gap function, the regularized gap function, the D-gap function and so on, have been proposed. These functions lead to equivalent optimization formulations and are used to optimization-based methods for solving variational inequalities. In this paper, we extend the regularized gap function and the D-gap functions for a quasi-variational inequality, which is a generalization of the variational inequality and is used to formulate generalized equilibrium problems. These extensions are shown to formulate equivalent optimization problems for quasi-variational inequalities and are shown to be continuous and directionally differentiable.

Exploiting natural variation in Arabidopsis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Molenaar, J.A.; Keurentjes, J.J.B.; Sanchez-Serrano, J.J.; Salinas, J.

2014-01-01

Natural variation for many traits is present within the species Arabidopsis thaliana. This chapter describes the use of natural variation to elucidate genes underlying the regulation of quantitative traits. It deals with the development and use of mapping populations, the detection and handling of

The four variational principles of mechanics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gray, C.G.; Karl, G.; Novikov, V.A.

1996-01-01

We argue that there are four basic forms of the variational principles of mechanics: Hamilton close-quote s least action principle (HP), the generalized Maupertuis principle (MP), and their two reciprocal principles, RHP and RMP. This set is invariant under reciprocity and Legendre transformations. One of these forms (HP) is in the literature: only special cases of the other three are known. The generalized MP has a weaker constraint compared to the traditional formulation, only the mean energy bar E is kept fixed between virtual paths. This reformulation of MP alleviates several weaknesses of the old version. The reciprocal Maupertuis principle (RMP) is the classical limit of Schroedinger close-quote s variational principle of quantum mechanics, and this connection emphasizes the importance of the reciprocity transformation for variational principles. Two unconstrained formulations (UHP and UMP) of these four principles are also proposed, with completely specified Lagrange multipliers Percival close-quote s variational principle for invariant tori and variational principles for scattering orbits are derived from the RMP. The RMP is very convenient for approximate variational solutions to problems in mechanics using Ritz type methods Examples are provided. Copyright copyright 1996 Academic Press, Inc

Observer variation in skeletal radiology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cockshott, W.P.; Park, W.M.

1983-08-01

The factors that affect observer variation in bone radiology are analysed from data in the literature and on the basis of studies carried out at McMaster University on the hands and sacroiliac joints. A plea is made for presenting results in terms of Kappa statistics so that agreement due purely to chance is eliminated. In the conclusions the main variables that affect concordance are listed so that strategies can be developed to reduce observer variation. This is important in serial studies to ensure that the observer variations are smaller than the effect one wishes to measure.

Variation, structure and norms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Harder, Peter

2014-01-01

in linguistics: those that see linguistic norms as antithetical to a descriptive and variational linguistics. Once such a re-evaluation has taken place, however, the social recontextualization of cognition will enable linguistics (including sociolinguistics as an integral part), to eliminate the cracks...... that an evolutionary account can reintegrate the opposed fragments into a whole picture that puts each of them in their ‘ecological position’ with respect to each other. Empirical usage facts should be seen in the context of operational norms in relation to which actual linguistic choices represent adaptations....... Variational patterns should be seen in the context of structural categories without which there would be only ‘differences’ rather than variation. And emergence, individual choice, and flux should be seen in the context of the individual’s dependence on lineages of community practice sustained by collective...

Do key dimensions of seed and seedling functional trait variation capture variation in recruitment probability?

Science.gov (United States)

1. Plant functional traits provide a mechanistic basis for understanding ecological variation among plant species and the implications of this variation for species distribution, community assembly and restoration. 2. The bulk of our functional trait understanding, however, is centered on traits rel...

General quantum variational calculus

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Artur M. C. Brito da Cruz

2018-02-01

Full Text Available We develop a new variational calculus based in the general quantum difference operator recently introduced by Hamza et al. In particular, we obtain optimality conditions for generalized variational problems where the Lagrangian may depend on the endpoints conditions and a real parameter, for the basic and isoperimetric problems, with and without fixed boundary conditions. Our results provide a generalization to previous results obtained for the $q$- and Hahn-calculus.

Generalized quasi variational inequalities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Noor, M.A. [King Saud Univ., Riyadh (Saudi Arabia)

1996-12-31

In this paper, we establish the equivalence between the generalized quasi variational inequalities and the generalized implicit Wiener-Hopf equations using essentially the projection technique. This equivalence is used to suggest and analyze a number of new iterative algorithms for solving generalized quasi variational inequalities and the related complementarity problems. The convergence criteria is also considered. The results proved in this paper represent a significant improvement and refinement of the previously known results.

Convergence analysis of variational and non-variational multigrid algorithms for the Laplace-Beltrami operator

KAUST Repository

Bonito, Andrea

2012-09-01

We design and analyze variational and non-variational multigrid algorithms for the Laplace-Beltrami operator on a smooth and closed surface. In both cases, a uniform convergence for the V -cycle algorithm is obtained provided the surface geometry is captured well enough by the coarsest grid. The main argument hinges on a perturbation analysis from an auxiliary variational algorithm defined directly on the smooth surface. In addition, the vanishing mean value constraint is imposed on each level, thereby avoiding singular quadratic forms without adding additional computational cost. Numerical results supporting our analysis are reported. In particular, the algorithms perform well even when applied to surfaces with a large aspect ratio. © 2011 American Mathematical Society.

Variational integrators in plasma physics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kraus, Michael

2013-01-01

To a large extent, research in plasma physics is concerned with the description and analysis of energy and momentum transfer between different scales and different kinds of waves. In the numerical modelling of such phenomena it appears to be crucial to describe the transfer processes preserving the underlying conservation laws in order to prevent physically spurious solutions. In this work, special numerical methods, so called variational integrators, are developed for several models of plasma physics. Special attention is given to conservation properties like conservation of energy and momentum. By design, variational integrators are applicable to all systems that have a Lagrangian formulation. Usually, equations of motion are derived by Hamilton's action principle and then discretised. In the application of the variational integrator theory, the order of these steps is reversed. At first, the Lagrangian and the accompanying variational principle are discretised, such that discrete equations of motion can be obtained directly by applying the discrete variational principle to the discrete Lagrangian. The advantage of this approach is that the resulting discretisation automatically retains the conservation properties of the continuous system. Following an overview of the geometric formulation of classical mechanics and field theory, which forms the basis of the variational integrator theory, variational integrators are introduced in a framework adapted to problems from plasma physics. The applicability of variational integrators is explored for several important models of plasma physics: particle dynamics (guiding centre dynamics), kinetic theory (the Vlasov-Poisson system) and fluid theory (magnetohydrodynamics). These systems, with the exception of guiding centre dynamics, do not possess a Lagrangian formulation to which the variational integrator methodology is directly applicable. Therefore the theory is extended by linking it to Ibragimov's theory of

Variation as a main feature of norm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Poladova

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The past half-century has witnessed remarkable growth in the study of language variation, and it has now become a highly productive subfield of research in sociolinguistics. Variability is everywhere in language, from the unique details in each production of a sound or sign to the auditory or visual processing of the linguistic signal. All languages that we can observe today show variation; what is more, they vary in identical ways, namely geographically and socially. It’s no secret that languages like English are full of variation. So, the aim of the article is to detect the reasons of variation and to uncover rates of usage of different free variations for a given set of lexical items. The research work is carried out by using the descriptive, comparative methods by subjecting to analysis the specific language materials. The discovery of law of variation became a starting point for the evolution of linguistics. The problem of search of variation facts and its role in the functioning of language system concerns many specialists from the outset. The scope of the investigation was to set up a system out of chaos of phenomena. Currently, the fact of conditionality of variation by system relations existing in the language is considered to be established.

Genetic Variation in Cardiomyopathy and Cardiovascular Disorders.

Science.gov (United States)

McNally, Elizabeth M; Puckelwartz, Megan J

2015-01-01

With the wider deployment of massively-parallel, next-generation sequencing, it is now possible to survey human genome data for research and clinical purposes. The reduced cost of producing short-read sequencing has now shifted the burden to data analysis. Analysis of genome sequencing remains challenged by the complexity of the human genome, including redundancy and the repetitive nature of genome elements and the large amount of variation in individual genomes. Public databases of human genome sequences greatly facilitate interpretation of common and rare genetic variation, although linking database sequence information to detailed clinical information is limited by privacy and practical issues. Genetic variation is a rich source of knowledge for cardiovascular disease because many, if not all, cardiovascular disorders are highly heritable. The role of rare genetic variation in predicting risk and complications of cardiovascular diseases has been well established for hypertrophic and dilated cardiomyopathy, where the number of genes that are linked to these disorders is growing. Bolstered by family data, where genetic variants segregate with disease, rare variation can be linked to specific genetic variation that offers profound diagnostic information. Understanding genetic variation in cardiomyopathy is likely to help stratify forms of heart failure and guide therapy. Ultimately, genetic variation may be amenable to gene correction and gene editing strategies.

MDCT evaluation of sternal variations: Pictorial essay

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Duraikannu, Chary; Noronha, Olma V; Sundarrajan, Pushparajan

2016-01-01

Sternal variations and anomalies have been identified in the past during autopsy or cadaveric studies. Recently, an increasing number of minor sternal variations have been reported with the advent of multidetector computed tomography (CT). Although there are many sternal variations that occur with varying appearance and prevalence, most of them are not recognized or are underreported during routine imaging of thorax. Identification of sternal variations is important to differentiate from pathological conditions and to prevent fatal complications prior to sternal interventions like marrow aspiration or acupuncture. This article aims to describe the minor and asymptomatic sternal variations by multidetector CT and their clinical significance

General strongly nonlinear variational inequalities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Siddiqi, A.H.; Ansari, Q.H.

1990-07-01

In this paper we develop iterative algorithms for finding approximate solutions for new classes of variational and quasi-variational inequalities which include, as special case, some known results in this field. It is shown that the solutions of the iterative schemes converge to the exact solutions. (author). 15 refs

Introduction to the special issue

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gorka Elordieta

2007-06-01

Full Text Available For the past few years there has been an intense and increasing collaboration effort between researchers working on the Iberian languages, and this is particularly true in the realm of phonetics and phonology. The 'Journal of Portuguese Linguistics 'has played a role in contributing to stimulate such a collaborative research focusing on the Iberian languages: first with a Special Issue on 'Variation and Change in the Iberian Languages: the Peninsula and Beyond', and now with a Special Issue on the 'Prosody of Ibero-Romance and Related Languages'. In fact, to broaden its scope of coverage to the Iberian languages has become an explicit goal of the journal. As guest-editors of this issue, we are very pleased to be able to contribute to this objective, which we find an extremely fruitful one.

HGVA: the Human Genome Variation Archive

OpenAIRE

Lopez, Javier; Coll, Jacobo; Haimel, Matthias; Kandasamy, Swaathi; Tarraga, Joaquin; Furio-Tari, Pedro; Bari, Wasim; Bleda, Marta; Rueda, Antonio; Gr?f, Stefan; Rendon, Augusto; Dopazo, Joaquin; Medina, Ignacio

2017-01-01

Abstract High-profile genomic variation projects like the 1000 Genomes project or the Exome Aggregation Consortium, are generating a wealth of human genomic variation knowledge which can be used as an essential reference for identifying disease-causing genotypes. However, accessing these data, contrasting the various studies and integrating those data in downstream analyses remains cumbersome. The Human Genome Variation Archive (HGVA) tackles these challenges and facilitates access to genomic...

Regional variation in short distance homogamy

OpenAIRE

Haandrikman, Karen; van Wissen, Leo

2011-01-01

A third of all Dutch cohabiters choose a partner from the same municipality, so-called short distance homogamy. This article analyses the regional variation in this phenomenon, and it explains this variation in terms of geographical, socioeconomic, demographic and cultural determinants. Population register data on all new cohabiters in 2004 were used. Regression methods were employed to explain spatial patterns. Regional variation in short distance homogamy is largely explained by geographica...

The Importance of Right Otitis Media in Childhood Language Disorders

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paulino Uclés

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Studies relating chronic otitis media and language disorders in children have not reported consistent findings. We carried out the first selective study aimed at discerning the role of chronic right otitis media in children less than 3 years of age in language development. A total of 35 children were studied using a full linguistic protocol, auditory brainstem responses, and middle latency responses. Twelve children had a history of chronic exclusive right otitis media. Seventeen age-matched children were selected as controls. Also, three children having a history of chronic left otitis media were compared with three age-matched controls. Linguistic tests showed significant differences between patients and controls in phonetic, phonological, and syntax scores but not semantics. Correlation studies between linguistic scores and auditory evoked responses in the whole cohort showed a significant coefficient in phonetic and phonological domains. These results emphasize the causative effect of right ear chronic otitis media and indicate that it mainly impairs phonetic and phonological coding of sounds, which may have implications for prophylactic treatment of at-risk children.

Born with an ear for dialects? Structural plasticity in the expert phonetician brain.

Science.gov (United States)

Golestani, Narly; Price, Cathy J; Scott, Sophie K

2011-03-16

Are experts born with particular predispositions, or are they made through experience? We examined brain structure in expert phoneticians, individuals who are highly trained to analyze and transcribe speech. We found a positive correlation between the size of left pars opercularis and years of phonetic transcription training experience, illustrating how learning may affect brain structure. Phoneticians were also more likely to have multiple or split left transverse gyri in the auditory cortex than nonexpert controls, and the amount of phonetic transcription training did not predict auditory cortex morphology. The transverse gyri are thought to be established in utero; our results thus suggest that this gross morphological difference may have existed before the onset of phonetic training, and that its presence confers an advantage of sufficient magnitude to affect career choices. These results suggest complementary influences of domain-specific predispositions and experience-dependent brain malleability, influences that likely interact in determining not only how experience shapes the human brain but also why some individuals become engaged by certain fields of expertise.

Hybrid Iterative Scheme for Triple Hierarchical Variational Inequalities with Mixed Equilibrium, Variational Inclusion, and Minimization Constraints

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lu-Chuan Ceng

2014-01-01

Full Text Available We introduce and analyze a hybrid iterative algorithm by combining Korpelevich's extragradient method, the hybrid steepest-descent method, and the averaged mapping approach to the gradient-projection algorithm. It is proven that, under appropriate assumptions, the proposed algorithm converges strongly to a common element of the fixed point set of finitely many nonexpansive mappings, the solution set of a generalized mixed equilibrium problem (GMEP, the solution set of finitely many variational inclusions, and the solution set of a convex minimization problem (CMP, which is also a unique solution of a triple hierarchical variational inequality (THVI in a real Hilbert space. In addition, we also consider the application of the proposed algorithm to solving a hierarchical variational inequality problem with constraints of the GMEP, the CMP, and finitely many variational inclusions.

The nonholonomic variational principle

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Krupkova, Olga [Department of Algebra and Geometry, Faculty of Science, Palacky University, Tomkova 40, 779 00 Olomouc (Czech Republic); Department of Mathematics, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria 3086 (Australia)], E-mail: krupkova@inf.upol.cz

2009-05-08

A variational principle for mechanical systems and fields subject to nonholonomic constraints is found, providing Chetaev-reduced equations as equations for extremals. Investigating nonholonomic variations of the Chetaev type and their properties, we develop foundations of the calculus of variations on constraint manifolds, modelled as fibred submanifolds in jet bundles. This setting is appropriate to study general first-order 'nonlinear nonitegrable constraints' that locally are given by a system of first-order ordinary or partial differential equations. We obtain an invariant constrained first variation formula and constrained Euler-Lagrange equations both in intrinsic and coordinate forms, and show that the equations are the same as Chetaev equations 'without Lagrange multipliers', introduced recently by other methods. We pay attention to two possible settings: first, when the constrained system arises from an unconstrained Lagrangian system defined in a neighbourhood of the constraint, and second, more generally, when an 'internal' constrained system on the constraint manifold is given. In the latter case a corresponding unconstrained system need not be a Lagrangian, nor even exist. We also study in detail an important particular case: nonholonomic constraints that can be alternatively modelled by means of (co)distributions in the total space of the fibred manifold; in nonholonomic mechanics this happens whenever constraints affine in velocities are considered. It becomes clear that (and why) if the distribution is completely integrable (= the constraints are semiholonomic), the principle of virtual displacements holds and can be used to obtain the constrained first variational formula by a more or less standard procedure, traditionally used when unconstrained or holonomic systems are concerned. If, however, the constraint is nonintegrable, no significant simplifications are available. Among others, some properties of nonholonomic

Diurnal variations of Titan

Science.gov (United States)

Cui, J.; Galand, M.; Yelle, R. V.; Vuitton, V.; Wahlund, J.-E.; Lavvas, P. P.; Mueller-Wodarg, I. C. F.; Kasprzak, W. T.; Waite, J. H.

2009-04-01

We present our analysis of the diurnal variations of Titan's ionosphere (between 1,000 and 1,400 km) based on a sample of Ion Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) measurements in the Open Source Ion (OSI) mode obtained from 8 close encounters of the Cassini spacecraft with Titan. Though there is an overall ion depletion well beyond the terminator, the ion content on Titan's nightside is still appreciable, with a density plateau of ~700 cm-3 below ~1,300 km. Such a plateau is associated with the combination of distinct diurnal variations of light and heavy ions. Light ions (e.g. CH5+, HCNH+, C2H5+) show strong diurnal variation, with clear bite-outs in their nightside distributions. In contrast, heavy ions (e.g. c-C3H3+, C2H3CNH+, C6H7+) present modest diurnal variation, with significant densities observed on the nightside. We propose that the distinctions between light and heavy ions are associated with their different chemical loss pathways, with the former primarily through "fast" ion-neutral chemistry and the latter through "slow" electron dissociative recombination. The INMS data suggest day-to-night transport as an important source of ions on Titan's nightside, to be distinguished from the conventional scenario of auroral ionization by magnetospheric particles as the only ionizing source on the nightside. This is supported by the strong correlation between the observed night-to-day ion density ratios and the associated ion lifetimes. We construct a time-dependent ion chemistry model to investigate the effects of day-to-night transport on the ionospheric structures of Titan. The predicted diurnal variation has similar general characteristics to those observed, with some apparent discrepancies which could be reconciled by imposing fast horizontal thermal winds in Titan's upper atmosphere.

Variational principles for nonpotential operators

CERN Document Server

Filippov, V M

1989-01-01

This book develops a variational method for solving linear equations with B-symmetric and B-positive operators and generalizes the method to nonlinear equations with nonpotential operators. The author carries out a constructive extension of the variational method to "nonvariational" equations (including parabolic equations) in classes of functionals which differ from the Euler-Lagrange functionals. In this connection, some new functions spaces are considered. Intended for mathematicians working in the areas of functional analysis and differential equations, this book would also prove useful for researchers in other areas and students in advanced courses who use variational methods in solving linear and nonlinear boundary value problems in continuum mechanics and theoretical physics.

Fast Variations In Spectrum of Comet Halley

Science.gov (United States)

Borysenko, S. A.

The goal of this work is to research fast variations of spectral lines intensities in spectra of comet Halley. The present research was made on the basis of more then 500 high- resolution spectrogram obtained by L.M. Shulman and H.K. Nazarchuk in November- December, 1985 at the 6-m telescope (SAO, Russia). Some fast variations with different quasiperiods were detected in all the spectrograms. Quasiperiods of these variations were from 15 - 40 min to 1.5 - 2 hours. As data from spacecraft "Vega-2" show, more fast variations with quasiperiods 5 - 10 min are obviously present in cometary time variations. Only the most important lines so as C2, C3, CN, CH and NH2 were analyzed. False periods were checked by comparison of the power spectra of the variations with the computed spectral window of the data. Only false periods about 400 sec (the avarage period of exposition) were detected. An algorithm for analysis of locally Poisson's time series was proposed. Two types of fast variations are detected: 1)high amplitude variations with more long quasiperiods (1.5 - 2 hours) and the coefficient of crosscorrelations between line intensities about 0.9 - 0.95; 2)low amplitude variations with short periods (15 - 40 min), which look like white noise and have the coefficient of crosscorrelations about 0.1 - 0.3. This difference may be caused by nature of variations. The first type variations may be an effect of both active processes in cometary nucleus and streams of solar protons. Analysis of solar proton flux variation with energies >1 MeV in November - Decem- ber 1985 confirms the above-mentioned version. In the second case it may by only inner processes in the nucleus that generate the observed variations. For determination of general parameters of cometary atmosphere, such as the produc- tion rates of radicals C2, C3, CN, CH, and NH2 it was necessary to estimate the contri- bution of dust grains luminiscence into the continuum of the comet. Space and wave- length distribution

Importance of Local Structural Variations on Recrystallization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Juul Jensen, Dorte; Lin, Fengxiang; Zhang, Yubin

2013-01-01

Effects of local variations in the deformation microstructure on subsequent recrystallization are discussed and illustrated by three examples. The three examples consider local variations on different length scales and are: 1. Effects of local variations in the deformation microstructure on the f...

Moment approach to tandem mirror radial transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Siebert, K.D.; Callen, J.D.

1986-02-01

A moment approach is proposed for the study of tandem mirror radial transport in the resonant plateau regime. The salient features of the method are described with reference to axisymmetric tokamak transport theory. In particular, the importance of momentum conservation to the establishment of the azimuthal variations in the electrostatic potential is demonstrated. Also, an ad hoc drift kinetic equation is solved to determine parallel viscosity coefficients which are required to close the moment system

Procedural facade variations from a single layout

KAUST Repository

Bao, Fan

2013-02-19

We introduce a framework to generate many variations of a facade design that look similar to a given facade layout. Starting from an input image, the facade is hierarchically segmented and labeled with a collection of manual and automatic tools. The user can then model constraints that should be maintained in any variation of the input facade design. Subsequently, facade variations are generated for different facade sizes, where multiple variations can be produced for a certain size. Computing such new facade variations has many unique challenges, and we propose a new algorithm based on interleaving heuristic search and quadratic programming. In contrast to most previous work, we focus on the generation of new design variations and not on the automatic analysis of the input\\'s structure. Adding a modeling step with the user in the loop ensures that our results routinely are of high quality. © 2013 ACM.

Procedural facade variations from a single layout

KAUST Repository

Bao, Fan; Schwarz, Michael; Wonka, Peter

2013-01-01

We introduce a framework to generate many variations of a facade design that look similar to a given facade layout. Starting from an input image, the facade is hierarchically segmented and labeled with a collection of manual and automatic tools. The user can then model constraints that should be maintained in any variation of the input facade design. Subsequently, facade variations are generated for different facade sizes, where multiple variations can be produced for a certain size. Computing such new facade variations has many unique challenges, and we propose a new algorithm based on interleaving heuristic search and quadratic programming. In contrast to most previous work, we focus on the generation of new design variations and not on the automatic analysis of the input's structure. Adding a modeling step with the user in the loop ensures that our results routinely are of high quality. © 2013 ACM.

Understanding human DNA sequence variation.

Science.gov (United States)

Kidd, K K; Pakstis, A J; Speed, W C; Kidd, J R

2004-01-01

Over the past century researchers have identified normal genetic variation and studied that variation in diverse human populations to determine the amounts and distributions of that variation. That information is being used to develop an understanding of the demographic histories of the different populations and the species as a whole, among other studies. With the advent of DNA-based markers in the last quarter century, these studies have accelerated. One of the challenges for the next century is to understand that variation. One component of that understanding will be population genetics. We present here examples of many of the ways these new data can be analyzed from a population perspective using results from our laboratory on multiple individual DNA-based polymorphisms, many clustered in haplotypes, studied in multiple populations representing all major geographic regions of the world. These data support an "out of Africa" hypothesis for human dispersal around the world and begin to refine the understanding of population structures and genetic relationships. We are also developing baseline information against which we can compare findings at different loci to aid in the identification of loci subject, now and in the past, to selection (directional or balancing). We do not yet have a comprehensive understanding of the extensive variation in the human genome, but some of that understanding is coming from population genetics.

Genetic variation in California oaks

Science.gov (United States)

Constance I. Millar; Diane L. Delany; Lawrence A. Riggs

1990-01-01

In forestry the importance of genetic variation for successful reproduction, survival and growth has been widely documented for commercial conifers; until recently, little genetic work has been done on the California oaks. Even before the nature of genetic variation was scientifically investigated, its importance was suspected in operational forestry. Many failures of...

Electrophysiological evidence for speech-specific audiovisual integration.

Science.gov (United States)

Baart, Martijn; Stekelenburg, Jeroen J; Vroomen, Jean

2014-01-01

Lip-read speech is integrated with heard speech at various neural levels. Here, we investigated the extent to which lip-read induced modulations of the auditory N1 and P2 (measured with EEG) are indicative of speech-specific audiovisual integration, and we explored to what extent the ERPs were modulated by phonetic audiovisual congruency. In order to disentangle speech-specific (phonetic) integration from non-speech integration, we used Sine-Wave Speech (SWS) that was perceived as speech by half of the participants (they were in speech-mode), while the other half was in non-speech mode. Results showed that the N1 obtained with audiovisual stimuli peaked earlier than the N1 evoked by auditory-only stimuli. This lip-read induced speeding up of the N1 occurred for listeners in speech and non-speech mode. In contrast, if listeners were in speech-mode, lip-read speech also modulated the auditory P2, but not if listeners were in non-speech mode, thus revealing speech-specific audiovisual binding. Comparing ERPs for phonetically congruent audiovisual stimuli with ERPs for incongruent stimuli revealed an effect of phonetic stimulus congruency that started at ~200 ms after (in)congruence became apparent. Critically, akin to the P2 suppression, congruency effects were only observed if listeners were in speech mode, and not if they were in non-speech mode. Using identical stimuli, we thus confirm that audiovisual binding involves (partially) different neural mechanisms for sound processing in speech and non-speech mode. © 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Linking Cognitive and Social Aspects of Sound Change Using Agent-Based Modeling.

Science.gov (United States)

Harrington, Jonathan; Kleber, Felicitas; Reubold, Ulrich; Schiel, Florian; Stevens, Mary

2018-03-26

The paper defines the core components of an interactive-phonetic (IP) sound change model. The starting point for the IP-model is that a phonological category is often skewed phonetically in a certain direction by the production and perception of speech. A prediction of the model is that sound change is likely to come about as a result of perceiving phonetic variants in the direction of the skew and at the probabilistic edge of the listener's phonological category. The results of agent-based computational simulations applied to the sound change in progress, /u/-fronting in Standard Southern British, were consistent with this hypothesis. The model was extended to sound changes involving splits and mergers by using the interaction between the agents to drive the phonological reclassification of perceived speech signals. The simulations showed no evidence of any acoustic change when this extended model was applied to Australian English data in which /s/ has been shown to retract due to coarticulation in /str/ clusters. Some agents nevertheless varied in their phonological categorizations during interaction between /str/ and /ʃtr/: This vacillation may represent the potential for sound change to occur. The general conclusion is that many types of sound change are the outcome of how phonetic distributions are oriented with respect to each other, their association to phonological classes, and how these types of information vary between speakers that happen to interact with each other. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Topics in Cognitive Science published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Cognitive Science Society.

Canonical variate regression.

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Chongliang; Liu, Jin; Dey, Dipak K; Chen, Kun

2016-07-01

In many fields, multi-view datasets, measuring multiple distinct but interrelated sets of characteristics on the same set of subjects, together with data on certain outcomes or phenotypes, are routinely collected. The objective in such a problem is often two-fold: both to explore the association structures of multiple sets of measurements and to develop a parsimonious model for predicting the future outcomes. We study a unified canonical variate regression framework to tackle the two problems simultaneously. The proposed criterion integrates multiple canonical correlation analysis with predictive modeling, balancing between the association strength of the canonical variates and their joint predictive power on the outcomes. Moreover, the proposed criterion seeks multiple sets of canonical variates simultaneously to enable the examination of their joint effects on the outcomes, and is able to handle multivariate and non-Gaussian outcomes. An efficient algorithm based on variable splitting and Lagrangian multipliers is proposed. Simulation studies show the superior performance of the proposed approach. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach in an [Formula: see text] intercross mice study and an alcohol dependence study. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Social context-induced song variation affects female behavior and gene expression.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sarah C Woolley

2008-03-01

Full Text Available Social cues modulate the performance of communicative behaviors in a range of species, including humans, and such changes can make the communication signal more salient. In songbirds, males use song to attract females, and song organization can differ depending on the audience to which a male sings. For example, male zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata change their songs in subtle ways when singing to a female (directed song compared with when they sing in isolation (undirected song, and some of these changes depend on altered neural activity from a specialized forebrain-basal ganglia circuit, the anterior forebrain pathway (AFP. In particular, variable activity in the AFP during undirected song is thought to actively enable syllable variability, whereas the lower and less-variable AFP firing during directed singing is associated with more stereotyped song. Consequently, directed song has been suggested to reflect a "performance" state, and undirected song a form of vocal motor "exploration." However, this hypothesis predicts that directed-undirected song differences, despite their subtlety, should matter to female zebra finches, which is a question that has not been investigated. We tested female preferences for this natural variation in song in a behavioral approach assay, and we found that both mated and socially naive females could discriminate between directed and undirected song-and strongly preferred directed song. These preferences, which appeared to reflect attention especially to aspects of song variability controlled by the AFP, were enhanced by experience, as they were strongest for mated females responding to their mate's directed songs. We then measured neural activity using expression of the immediate early gene product ZENK, and found that social context and song familiarity differentially modulated the number of ZENK-expressing cells in telencephalic auditory areas. Specifically, the number of ZENK-expressing cells in the

Homogenization of variational inequalities for obstacle problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sandrakov, G V

2005-01-01

Results on the convergence of solutions of variational inequalities for obstacle problems are proved. The variational inequalities are defined by a non-linear monotone operator of the second order with periodic rapidly oscillating coefficients and a sequence of functions characterizing the obstacles. Two-scale and macroscale (homogenized) limiting variational inequalities are obtained. Derivation methods for such inequalities are presented. Connections between the limiting variational inequalities and two-scale and macroscale minimization problems are established in the case of potential operators.

Variational integrators in plasma physics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kraus, Michael

2013-07-01

To a large extent, research in plasma physics is concerned with the description and analysis of energy and momentum transfer between different scales and different kinds of waves. In the numerical modelling of such phenomena it appears to be crucial to describe the transfer processes preserving the underlying conservation laws in order to prevent physically spurious solutions. In this work, special numerical methods, so called variational integrators, are developed for several models of plasma physics. Special attention is given to conservation properties like conservation of energy and momentum. By design, variational integrators are applicable to all systems that have a Lagrangian formulation. Usually, equations of motion are derived by Hamilton's action principle and then discretised. In the application of the variational integrator theory, the order of these steps is reversed. At first, the Lagrangian and the accompanying variational principle are discretised, such that discrete equations of motion can be obtained directly by applying the discrete variational principle to the discrete Lagrangian. The advantage of this approach is that the resulting discretisation automatically retains the conservation properties of the continuous system. Following an overview of the geometric formulation of classical mechanics and field theory, which forms the basis of the variational integrator theory, variational integrators are introduced in a framework adapted to problems from plasma physics. The applicability of variational integrators is explored for several important models of plasma physics: particle dynamics (guiding centre dynamics), kinetic theory (the Vlasov-Poisson system) and fluid theory (magnetohydrodynamics). These systems, with the exception of guiding centre dynamics, do not possess a Lagrangian formulation to which the variational integrator methodology is directly applicable. Therefore the theory is extended by linking it to Ibragimov's theory of

From genomic variation to personalized medicine

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wesolowska, Agata; Schmiegelow, Kjeld

Genomic variation is the basis of interindividual differences in observable traits and disease susceptibility. Genetic studies are the driving force of personalized medicine, as many of the differences in treatment efficacy can be attributed to our genomic background. The rapid development...... a considerable amount of the phenotype variability, hence the major difficulty of interpretation lies in the complexity of molecular interactions. This PhD thesis describes the state-of-art of the functional human variation research (Chapter 1) and introduces childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL...... the thesis and includes some final remarks on the perspectives of genomic variation research and personalized medicine. In summary, this thesis demonstrates the feasibility of integrative analyses of genomic variations and introduces large-scale hypothesis-driven SNP exploration studies as an emerging...

Genomic Sequence Variation Markup Language (GSVML).

Science.gov (United States)

Nakaya, Jun; Kimura, Michio; Hiroi, Kaei; Ido, Keisuke; Yang, Woosung; Tanaka, Hiroshi

2010-02-01

With the aim of making good use of internationally accumulated genomic sequence variation data, which is increasing rapidly due to the explosive amount of genomic research at present, the development of an interoperable data exchange format and its international standardization are necessary. Genomic Sequence Variation Markup Language (GSVML) will focus on genomic sequence variation data and human health applications, such as gene based medicine or pharmacogenomics. We developed GSVML through eight steps, based on case analysis and domain investigations. By focusing on the design scope to human health applications and genomic sequence variation, we attempted to eliminate ambiguity and to ensure practicability. We intended to satisfy the requirements derived from the use case analysis of human-based clinical genomic applications. Based on database investigations, we attempted to minimize the redundancy of the data format, while maximizing the data covering range. We also attempted to ensure communication and interface ability with other Markup Languages, for exchange of omics data among various omics researchers or facilities. The interface ability with developing clinical standards, such as the Health Level Seven Genotype Information model, was analyzed. We developed the human health-oriented GSVML comprising variation data, direct annotation, and indirect annotation categories; the variation data category is required, while the direct and indirect annotation categories are optional. The annotation categories contain omics and clinical information, and have internal relationships. For designing, we examined 6 cases for three criteria as human health application and 15 data elements for three criteria as data formats for genomic sequence variation data exchange. The data format of five international SNP databases and six Markup Languages and the interface ability to the Health Level Seven Genotype Model in terms of 317 items were investigated. GSVML was developed as

A min-max variational principle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Georgiev, P.G.

1995-11-01

In this paper a variational principle for min-max problems is proved that is of the same spirit as Deville-Godefroy-Zizler's variational principle for minimization problems. A localization theorem in which the mini-max points for the perturbed function with respect top a given ε-min-max point are localized is presented. 3 refs

Amazing variational approach to chemical reactions

OpenAIRE

Fernández, Francisco M.

2009-01-01

In this letter we analyse an amazing variational approach to chemical reactions. Our results clearly show that the variational expressions are unsuitable for the analysis of empirical data obtained from chemical reactions.

Splines and variational methods

CERN Document Server

Prenter, P M

2008-01-01

One of the clearest available introductions to variational methods, this text requires only a minimal background in calculus and linear algebra. Its self-contained treatment explains the application of theoretic notions to the kinds of physical problems that engineers regularly encounter. The text's first half concerns approximation theoretic notions, exploring the theory and computation of one- and two-dimensional polynomial and other spline functions. Later chapters examine variational methods in the solution of operator equations, focusing on boundary value problems in one and two dimension

Temporal correlation in the Goldberg variations

OpenAIRE

Chestopal, Victor

2010-01-01

An interpreter of the Goldberg Variations is almost completely deprived of such utterly important guidance as the composer's tempo markings, which are as rare in the Goldberg Variations as they are in the other works of Bach. The final goal of my study is to suggest a logical foundation, upon which an interpreter of the Goldberg Variations can make his/her choice of tempi. Upon the analysis of opus's structure, which reveals an impressive panorama of symmetries, I suggest a multilevel system ...

Variations in government contract in Malaysia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jaspal Singh Nachatar

2010-12-01

Full Text Available The complexity of construction works means that it is hardly possible to complete a project without changes to the plans or the construction process itself. There can only be a minority of contracts of any size in which the subject matter when completed is identical in every respect with what was contemplated at the outset. As such, variations are inevitable in even the best-planned contracts. This study is attempted to examine the ways a variation was formed in law and project, in finding out whether the Standard Form of Contract used in Malaysia particularly the government Public Works Department (PWD form has been utilized to the best level in variation cases. Additionally, this study examined the benefits of variations to parties in contract and also provides suggestions and assumptions in an effort to contribute solutions to issues and problem detected. The research methodology used in this study was an extensive review of relevant literature, case study, empirical questionnaires and structured interviews and general observations based on experience and surroundings. The academic study approach incorporated stages such as initial understanding, data and information gathering, analysis of data, findings and conclusion and general suggestions in the study. The major findings of this study, among others, revealed that the existences of variations are common in projects. The main cause of variations was due to client request because of inadequate project objectives for the designer to develop comprehensive design. Besides, the analysis pointed out that the government form of contract the Public Works Department (PWD 203/203A can help in overcoming projects with variation because of the clear defined procedure. This study also found that proper planning and coordination at tender stage can minimize the risk of ‘unwanted’ variations. In conclusion, this study recommended that future research should be done in design and build based contract

One of my kind?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Mette Vedsgaard

2010-01-01

Language attitude studies are of great value to sociolinguistics – they complement studies of linguistic variation and provide studies of linguistic change with valuable insights and explanations. Hence, understanding how language variation is perceived among the members of a speech community...... presents results from a language recognition study carried out in Århus and Copenhagen. By employing the methodology from language attitude research, the study aims at investigating how different groups of adolescents recognize and perceive different speech styles....... is an important part of the study of linguistic variation and its social meaning. Recent studies of language and ethnicity in Denmark show that salient linguistic traits are common to minority background speakers in both Århus and Copenhagen, pointing to the existence of an ethnic variety of Danish. This chapter...

Blood lipid measurements. Variations and practical utility.

Science.gov (United States)

Cooper, G R; Myers, G L; Smith, S J; Schlant, R C

1992-03-25

To describe the magnitude and impact of the major biological and analytical sources of variation in serum lipid and lipoprotein levels on risk of coronary heart disease; to present a way to qualitatively estimate the total intraindividual variation; and to demonstrate how to determine the number of specimens required to estimate, with 95% confidence, the "true" underlying total cholesterol value in the serum of a patient. Representative references on each source of variation were selected from more than 300 reviewed publications, most published within the past 5 years, to document current findings and concepts. Most articles reviewed were in English. Studies on biological sources of variation were selected using the following criteria: representative of published findings, clear statement of either significant or insignificant results, and acquisition of clinical and laboratory data under standardized conditions. Representative results for special populations such as women and children are reported when results differ from those of adult men. References were selected based on acceptable experimental design and use of standardized laboratory lipid measurements. The lipid levels considered representative for a selected source of variation arose from quantitative measurements by a suitably standardized laboratory. Statistical analysis of data was examined to assure reliability. The proposed method of estimating the biological coefficient of variation must be considered to give qualitative results, because only two or three serial specimens are collected in most cases for the estimation. Concern has arisen about the magnitude, impact, and interpretation of preanalytical as well as analytical sources of variation on reported results of lipid measurements of an individual. Preanalytical sources of variation from behavioral, clinical, and sampling sources constitute about 60% of the total variation in a reported lipid measurement of an individual. A technique is presented

A Brief Study of Variation Theory in Quality Management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mostafa Farah Bakhsh

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Variation is part of everyday life and exists all the time. Variation is the product of differences. Difference in nature of processes results in different products during the time. Proper diagnosis of variation patterns in minimizing the loss is necessary. Continuous quality improvement is regarded as successive reduction of performance variation for delivering high quality products to the customers. In Deming viewpoint, quality deviation is classified to two groups of common and special causes. Variation is not a new word, but understanding and concerns about it are modern. First step in performance variation management is acceptance and belief of variation. For proper management of variations, appropriate tools should be used for detection and display of them. Control are useful tools in recognition, analysis and removing process performance variations.

Variation of Parameters in Differential Equations (A Variation in Making Sense of Variation of Parameters)

Science.gov (United States)

Quinn, Terry; Rai, Sanjay

2012-01-01

The method of variation of parameters can be found in most undergraduate textbooks on differential equations. The method leads to solutions of the non-homogeneous equation of the form y = u[subscript 1]y[subscript 1] + u[subscript 2]y[subscript 2], a sum of function products using solutions to the homogeneous equation y[subscript 1] and…

Difference Discrete Variational Principles, Euler-Lagrange Cohomology and Symplectic, Multisymplectic Structures I: Difference Discrete Variational Principle

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

GUO Han-Ying,; LI Yu-Qi; WU Ke1; WANG Shi-Kun

2002-01-01

In this first paper of a series, we study the difference discrete variational principle in the framework of multi-parameter differential approach by regarding the forward difference as an entire geometric object in view of noncommutative differential geometry. Regarding the difference as an entire geometric object, the difference discrete version of Legendre transformation can be introduced. By virtue of this variational principle, we can discretely deal with the variation problems in both the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalisms to get difference discrete Euler-Lagrange equations and canonical ones for the difference discrete versions of the classical mechanics and classical field theory.

Strongly nonlinear parabolic variational inequalities.

Science.gov (United States)

Browder, F E; Brézis, H

1980-02-01

An existence and uniqueness result is established for a general class of variational inequalities for parabolic partial differential equations of the form partial differentialu/ partial differentialt + A(u) + g(u) = f with g nondecreasing but satisfying no growth condition. The proof is based upon a type of compactness result for solutions of variational inequalities that should find a variety of other applications.

Sex reduces genetic variation: a multidisciplinary review.

Science.gov (United States)

Gorelick, Root; Heng, Henry H Q

2011-04-01

For over a century, the paradigm has been that sex invariably increases genetic variation, despite many renowned biologists asserting that sex decreases most genetic variation. Sex is usually perceived as the source of additive genetic variance that drives eukaryotic evolution vis-à-vis adaptation and Fisher's fundamental theorem. However, evidence for sex decreasing genetic variation appears in ecology, paleontology, population genetics, and cancer biology. The common thread among many of these disciplines is that sex acts like a coarse filter, weeding out major changes, such as chromosomal rearrangements (that are almost always deleterious), but letting minor variation, such as changes at the nucleotide or gene level (that are often neutral), flow through the sexual sieve. Sex acts as a constraint on genomic and epigenetic variation, thereby limiting adaptive evolution. The diverse reasons for sex reducing genetic variation (especially at the genome level) and slowing down evolution may provide a sufficient benefit to offset the famed costs of sex. © 2010 The Author(s). Evolution© 2010 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Screening and Follow-Up Monitoring for Substance Use in Primary Care: An Exploration of Rural-Urban Variations.

Science.gov (United States)

Chan, Ya-Fen; Lu, Shou-En; Howe, Bill; Tieben, Hendrik; Hoeft, Theresa; Unützer, Jürgen

2016-02-01

Rates of substance use in rural areas are close to those of urban areas. While recent efforts have emphasized integrated care as a promising model for addressing workforce shortages in providing behavioral health services to those living in medically underserved regions, little is known on how substance use problems are addressed in rural primary care settings. To examine rural-urban variations in screening and monitoring primary care- based patients for substance use problems in a state-wide mental health integration program. This was an observational study using patient registry. The study included adult enrollees (n = 15,843) with a mental disorder from 133 participating community health clinics. We measured whether a standardized substance use instrument was used to screen patients at treatment entry and to monitor symptoms at follow-up visits. While on average 73.6 % of patients were screened for substance use, follow-up on substance use problems after initial screening was low (41.4 %); clinics in small/isolated rural settings appeared to be the lowest (13.6 %). Patients who were treated for a mental disorder or substance abuse in the past and who showed greater psychiatric complexities were more likely to receive a screening, whereas patients of small, isolated rural clinics and those traveling longer distances to the care facility were least likely to receive follow-up monitoring for their substance use problems. Despite the prevalent substance misuse among patients with mental disorders, opportunities to screen this high-risk population for substance use and provide a timely follow-up for those identified as at risk remained overlooked in both rural and urban areas. Rural residents continue to bear a disproportionate burden of substance use problems, with rural-urban disparities found to be most salient in providing the continuum of services for patients with substance use problems in primary care.

Luminosity Variations in Post-AGB Stars

Science.gov (United States)

Mesler, Robert; Henson, G.

2007-12-01

Although much is known about AGB stars and planetary nebulae, relatively little is known about the phase of a star's life in which it transitions between those two states. We have measured the variations in luminosity of a sample of known Post-AGB stars (as well as several candidates) relative to nearby, non-variable stars in order to compare them with theoretical models. The typical behavior of the observed variations is described and an attempt is made to discern whether any periodicity might be present. Luminosity variations were found to be on the order of a few hundredths to a few tenths of a magnitude for the stars that were surveyed, with occasional fluctuations of up to a magnitude. This agrees with current models of Post-AGB stars. Each star fell into one of three categories, which were termed groups 1, 2, and 3. Group 1 stars showed long term, non-periodic luminosity variations on the scale of weeks or longer and were most likely to display some sort of short term, coherent luminosity oscillation (each of which lasted for only a few cycles). Group 2 stars showed erratic, short-term magnitude variations occurring on scales of several days. Group 3 stars showed little or no variation in magnitude. Of the 27 Post-AGB stars that were sampled, five fell into group 1, fifteen fell into group 2, and seven fell into group 3. The luminosity variations tended to be color-independent, and occurred on timescales ranging nearly continuously from a few days to more than a year. No clear periodic behavior was found in any star in our sample. This project was funded by a partnership between the National Science Foundation (NSF AST-0552798), Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU), and the Department of Defense (DoD) ASSURE (Awards to Stimulate and Support Undergraduate Research Experiences) programs.

Exploring subdomain variation in biomedical language

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Séaghdha Diarmuid Ó

2011-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Applications of Natural Language Processing (NLP technology to biomedical texts have generated significant interest in recent years. In this paper we identify and investigate the phenomenon of linguistic subdomain variation within the biomedical domain, i.e., the extent to which different subject areas of biomedicine are characterised by different linguistic behaviour. While variation at a coarser domain level such as between newswire and biomedical text is well-studied and known to affect the portability of NLP systems, we are the first to conduct an extensive investigation into more fine-grained levels of variation. Results Using the large OpenPMC text corpus, which spans the many subdomains of biomedicine, we investigate variation across a number of lexical, syntactic, semantic and discourse-related dimensions. These dimensions are chosen for their relevance to the performance of NLP systems. We use clustering techniques to analyse commonalities and distinctions among the subdomains. Conclusions We find that while patterns of inter-subdomain variation differ somewhat from one feature set to another, robust clusters can be identified that correspond to intuitive distinctions such as that between clinical and laboratory subjects. In particular, subdomains relating to genetics and molecular biology, which are the most common sources of material for training and evaluating biomedical NLP tools, are not representative of all biomedical subdomains. We conclude that an awareness of subdomain variation is important when considering the practical use of language processing applications by biomedical researchers.

Population genetic variation in gene expression is associated withphenotypic variation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fay, Justin C.; McCullough, Heather L.; Sniegowski, Paul D.; Eisen, Michael B.

2004-02-25

The relationship between genetic variation in gene expression and phenotypic variation observable in nature is not well understood. Identifying how many phenotypes are associated with differences in gene expression and how many gene-expression differences are associated with a phenotype is important to understanding the molecular basis and evolution of complex traits. Results: We compared levels of gene expression among nine natural isolates of Saccharomyces cerevisiae grown either in the presence or absence of copper sulfate. Of the nine strains, two show a reduced growth rate and two others are rust colored in the presence of copper sulfate. We identified 633 genes that show significant differences in expression among strains. Of these genes,20 were correlated with resistance to copper sulfate and 24 were correlated with rust coloration. The function of these genes in combination with their expression pattern suggests the presence of both correlative and causative expression differences. But the majority of differentially expressed genes were not correlated with either phenotype and showed the same expression pattern both in the presence and absence of copper sulfate. To determine whether these expression differences may contribute to phenotypic variation under other environmental conditions, we examined one phenotype, freeze tolerance, predicted by the differential expression of the aquaporin gene AQY2. We found freeze tolerance is associated with the expression of AQY2. Conclusions: Gene expression differences provide substantial insight into the molecular basis of naturally occurring traits and can be used to predict environment dependent phenotypic variation.

A variational approach to niche construction.

Science.gov (United States)

Constant, Axel; Ramstead, Maxwell J D; Veissière, Samuel P L; Campbell, John O; Friston, Karl J

2018-04-01

In evolutionary biology, niche construction is sometimes described as a genuine evolutionary process whereby organisms, through their activities and regulatory mechanisms, modify their environment such as to steer their own evolutionary trajectory, and that of other species. There is ongoing debate, however, on the extent to which niche construction ought to be considered a bona fide evolutionary force, on a par with natural selection. Recent formulations of the variational free-energy principle as applied to the life sciences describe the properties of living systems, and their selection in evolution, in terms of variational inference. We argue that niche construction can be described using a variational approach. We propose new arguments to support the niche construction perspective, and to extend the variational approach to niche construction to current perspectives in various scientific fields. © 2018 The Authors.

The circadian variation of premature atrial contractions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Bjørn Strøier; Kumarathurai, Preman; Nielsen, Olav W

2016-01-01

AIMS: The aim of the study was to assess a possible circadian variation of premature atrial contractions (PACs) in a community-based population and to determine if the daily variation could be used to assess a more vulnerable period of PACs in predicting later incidence of atrial fibrillation (AF...... variation in heart rate. After adjusting for relevant risk factors, the risk of AF was equal in all time intervals throughout the day. CONCLUSION: Premature atrial contractions showed a circadian variation in subjects with frequent PACs. No specific time interval of the day was more predictive of AF than...

Demonstrating Patterns in the Views Of Stakeholders Regarding Ethically-Salient Issues in Clinical Research: A Novel Use of Graphical Models in Empirical Ethics Inquiry.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Jane Paik; Roberts, Laura Weiss

Empirical ethics inquiry works from the notion that stakeholder perspectives are necessary for gauging the ethical acceptability of human studies and assuring that research aligns with societal expectations. Although common, studies involving different populations often entail comparisons of trends that problematize the interpretation of results. Using graphical model selection - a technique aimed at transcending limitations of conventional methods - this report presents data on the ethics of clinical research with two objectives: (1) to display the patterns of views held by ill and healthy individuals in clinical research as a test of the study's original hypothesis and (2) to introduce graphical model selection as a key analytic tool for ethics research. In this IRB-approved, NIH-funded project, data were collected from 60 mentally ill and 43 physically ill clinical research protocol volunteers, 47 healthy protocol-consented participants, and 29 healthy individuals without research protocol experience. Respondents were queried on the ethical acceptability of research involving people with mental and physical illness (i.e., cancer, HIV, depression, schizophrenia, and post-traumatic stress disorder) and non-illness related sources of vulnerability (e.g., age, class, gender, ethnicity). Using a statistical algorithm, we selected graphical models to display interrelationships among responses to questions. Both mentally and physically ill protocol volunteers revealed a high degree of connectivity among ethically-salient perspectives. Healthy participants, irrespective of research protocol experience, revealed patterns of views that were not highly connected. Between ill and healthy protocol participants, the pattern of views is vastly different. Experience with illness was tied to dense connectivity, whereas healthy individuals expressed views with sparse connections. In offering a nuanced perspective on the interrelation of ethically relevant responses, graphical

Solar cycle variations in IMF intensity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

King, J.H.

1979-01-01

Annual averages of logarithms of hourly interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) intensities, obtained from geocentric spacecraft between November 1963 and December 1977, reveal the following solar cycle variation. For 2--3 years at each solar minimum period, the IMF intensity is depressed by 10--15% relative to its mean value realized during a broad 9-year period contered at solar maximum. No systematic variations occur during this 9-year period. The solar minimum decrease, although small in relation to variations in some other solar wind parameters, is both statistically and physically significant

Variational form for a viscous plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ishida, A.; Steinhauer, L.C.; Berk, H.L.

1991-01-01

The variational formulation for a fluid plasma including the parallel and gyroviscosities is developed using the basic approach of Berk et al. [Phys. Fluids 24, 2245 (1981)]. The equivalence of the variational problem to the original viscous fluid equations of motion is shown. The theory is developed for an axisymmetric plasma with no magnetic field in the azimuthal direction and therefore applies to field-reversed configurations and axisymmetric mirrors. This theory offers the advantage of describing both parallel and transverse ion kinetic effects within the simplicity afforded by a variational fluid model

Variational theory of nuclear and neutron matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pandharipande, V.R.; Wiringa, R.B.

1989-06-01

In these lectures we will discuss attempts to solve the A = 3 to ∞ nuclear many-body problems with the variational method. We choose the form of a variational wave function Χ v (1, 2 hor-ellipsis A) to describe the ground state. The Χ v and the ground-state energy E v are obtained by minimizing E v = left-angle Χ v |H|Χ v right-angle/left-angle Χ v |Χ v right-angle with respect to variations in Χ v . If the form of the variational wave function is chosen properly we can expect Χ v ∼ Χ 0 and E v ∼ E 0 where Χ 0 and E 0 are the exact ground-state wave function and energy. In general E v ≥ E 0 in variational calculations. 63 refs., 11 figs